Hanging on to Fall

sweater: H&M, jeans: Delias, boots: Nordstrom, watch: Michael Kors

These were taken last week before I came down with the death blarg. This week I've been sleeping, sneezing, and wishing I could breath through my nose. But let's think back to happier days of flea market and barn sale shopping where I scored another blue mason jar for only $1! I'm up to 21 jars now for wedding centerpieces and probably will only need a few more depending on the guest count. It was gorgeous this day, if a little cold. I love taking Sunday drives with Kacey out into the country. No rush, pretty fall colors, quaint farms, and a nice cool autumn breeze.

A Modern American Girl - Felicity Learns A Lesson

Felicity was always my favorite doll/character. I liked how she was a tomboy, could ride horses and wasn't quite ready to be a gentlewoman yet. At the same time, I'm pretty sure I liked the doll best because of the long red hair and floor length dresses.

So in honor of a diverse set of both tomboy and girly interests, I'm playing up the menswear inspired blazer and pants along with an edgier watch because I think Felicity would have gladly worn bright pants if she had the option. I put a floral blouse with it though, she is going to school to learn proper etiquette after all. And you better believe Felicity drinks a latte on her way to class. You think she's going to walk into Starbucks and ask for a cup of tea? I don't think so! If asked, she'd flip that cup right over and reply "Thank you, I shall take no more tea" before taking a bite of her scone and walking out the door. Probably with the national anthem playing in the background.

Down for the Count

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Apparently I'm getting too old for little to no sleep on the weekends. I'm out with a head cold of death. Things may be a little quiet around here while I attempt to get rid of this thing by sleeping, overdosing on vitamin C, and making sure I've got plenty of Nyquil. And kleenex. And hand sanitizer. 

Snapshot of the Weekend

I had one whirlwind of a weekend. On Friday Kacey and I drove to Kansas City, MO to surprise his grandma who lives there and his mom who was visiting.

It was a looong drive but totally worth it to have his sister sneak us in the back and completely surprise both his mom and grandma!

Saturday we drove around Kansas City and went shopping at the Plaza. I think I was in a fog most of the day from lack of sleep, but I had a blast despite being a walking zombie. 

Goofing off outside of the art museum. Not pictured: the creepiest beheaded zombie statues ever. I don't get art sometimes. 

Lunch at the Plaza, delicious! 

Sign in Maggie Moos' Ice Cream shop

Saturday night we there was a festival along the river called Firewater. As you can see, the whole river was lit up with bonfires, live music was playing along with various entertainment. It was pretty cool.

You're ok in my book, Kansas City. I'm sorry I never visited you sooner.

All Out of Air

I have not had good luck lately. This is my car tire that went flat. Kacey and I were supposed to take a mini trip this weekend in my car, however the shop can't fix the tire until Monday because they don't have it in stock and I'm currently cruising with a donut. But not an actual yummy donut, which is a shame because that would be awesome and make my day a lot better. It's not a huge deal because we can take Kacey's car, but the blown tire is on top of my laptop being on the fritz and my phone deciding it doesn't want to have service anywhere I need it like at my apartment or at work. So here's hoping that the weekend is a lot better than this past week! TGIF indeed.

Literary Inspirations - A Modern American Girl - Meet Felicity

First, let me say that I grew up absolutely obsessed with American Girl dolls. One Christmas I even dressed up in a girl size version of Felicity's Christmas dress (with a matching blue faux fur headband, it was awesome, let me tell you) and it was the best Christmas ever. I credit those books and dolls for my love of both history and fashion and I have a secret dream to work there someday designing beautiful doll dresses based on historically accurate clothing. Nerd alert over here!

One day when I was randomly reminiscing about that particular Christmas outfit I started thinking about how you could interpret their looks to fit in today. Could you keep the essence of their outfits but still have it trendy and look cute in today's world? I started playing around on Polyvore, and a new feature for my blog was born!

I'll be doing outfits for the original 6 dolls that were around when I was a kid - Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, and Molly. Technically you could argue that Josefina wasn't an original doll since she was added quite a bit later, but I had way too many fun ideas for her so she's staying. I figure I'll follow the books and timelines of the dolls, starting with Meet Felicity and going through Changes for Molly. I aged the outfits up a bit - there's no way I'd put a 9 year old in some of the looks - but I think that makes it a bit more challenging/fun. I'll post these every Thursday as a new feature. I'm super excited, I had a blast making these! I hope you enjoy them as well!

Trying the Trend: Bright Pants

jeans: Forever 21, striped top: H&M, blazer: H&M

shoes: Simply Vera Vera Wang-Kohls, watch: Michael Kors

bracelet: Loft, necklace: Forever 21

I've been seeing people rock bright colored pant/skirts since the summer but I wasn't sure if I could pull them off. Still not sure, but I found some cute, cheap red jeans at Forever 21 that actually fit and weren't a foot too long so I went for it. Fun fact, this old stone building is a little schoolhouse which is apparently the birthplace of Flag Day. I like to think I wore red in tribute of that.

So, ridiculously red pants, yay or nay?

Frosted Pumpkin Bars

Frosted pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. I made them yesterday. I will eat them all because they're so yummy and no you can't have any. (Except you, Leanne. Please feel free to take them out of the fridge and eat all you want because I don't need to eat the entire pan.) My recipe is from my grandma, but the Taste of Home recipe is very similar. Make them and thank me later.  Happy Friday!

Wedding Wednesday - Save the Dates

All images from Wedding Paper Divas

Fun wedding update - Kace and I had our engagement pictures done! We have about 800 to go through to pick our favorites before our photographer will edit them and let me show them here, but I'm really excited about how some of them turned out. I made a few fun things specifically for our Save the Dates (I refuse to call them STDs because apparently I have a 12 year old boy's sense of humor and giggle every time I call them that) and the pictures turned out better than I could have imagined. I can't wait to show you them!

Now that the picture is taken care of, I just need to figure out what I want to do for the actual card part. I spent some time perusing the lovelies at Wedding Paper Divas trying to get ideas. Bad idea, because now I have too many!

Falling for Autumn

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Have I mentioned how much I love fall? I found this list and I agree with everything on it. Let the autumn festivities continue!

Geeking Out Again - Star Wars Style

We're going to do a 180 and move from wedding talk to Star Wars. Yeah that's right. You know what's awesome? A scene from The Empire Strikes Back done as an old black and white silent movie. Observe:

All that's missing is Charlie Chaplin. Now that you've had your geek fill for the day, it's safe to say these aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along.

Weekend of Wedding Stuff

Last week was crazy stressful at work because of very important meetings with the higher ups which resulted in late hours and early mornings and I pretty much spent the whole weekend trying to recuperate. I think I fell asleep at 10 pm on Saturday night because I am a party animal. I think I spent Saturday in an exhausted fog with the exception of one huge event.

I bought my wedding dress! I wish I could show a picture but certain fiances read this and aren't allowed to see such things. I tried on this dress a few months ago and haven't been able to get it out of my head. It was the dress I compared every other dress to and I'm so excited that it's going to be mine! My grandma and my mom came along with me to the shop, and once we bought the dress the consultant broke out the champagne! That's my kind of bridal store! It's a huge relief to have that crossed off the list. I was starting to panic as time ticked down to the 8 month mark so I'm very happy that I don't have to worry about it anymore!

The rest of my weekend was spend at my cousin's bridal shower, which was an afternoon tea!

Yum.

Lot of eating of tea sandwiches and desserts and drinking of tea happened. I'm so excited for Emily and I can't wait for her wedding this November! 

Also, in unrelated news, when did it become October?!?!