Swiss Miss



dress, worn as skirt: Anthropologie (old), long sleeve tee: Old Navy, sweater and boots: Forever21 (old), tights: Target

Sometimes a girl just needs lots of layers. That's how I felt about this outfit for Friday. This red sweater dress is a favorite of mine and it gets a lot of wear out of it during the fall and winter months. But to avoid comments like, "ummm didn't you just wear that last week?" from people who see me on a regular basis I have to mix it up. And voila, turning a dress into a skirt with this fair isle swearter works every time! It added some pattern and warmth all in one to my wardrobe workhorse. It was the perfect outfit for running errands with a cup of hot coco to keep me warm.

Of course taking pictures with me always leads to some silliness...I heart fall!

Style Mixin'

top: jcrew, cardigan: forever21, skirt and tights: anthropologie, shoes: seychelles

Mix a colorful patterned skirt, pair it with spotted tights, a bit of sparkle, add in pieces of my favorite mustard yellow, and this is an outfit I was excited to wear all day. Usually when I wear one loud patterned piece, I go with solids everywhere else but today I felt like I could handle the mixing of two. So, go me!

Lands' End Canvas

Have you guys checked out Lands' End Canvas? The new line of Lands' End clothing brand launched almost 2 years ago; it features trendier men's and women's clothing than the brand's usual offerings. A dress of theirs was featured in Real Simple's September issue and it had me immediately jumping on their website to check out the rest of their Fall line. These are the kind of clothes I can see myself wearing to work or on a trip to the pumpkin patch!

LOVING these red wedges!

images: real simple, lands end canvas

All in a days work

At the beginning of the Summer I assisted a very talented stylist and friend, Kelly Kruthaupt, for a set of commercials filmed at Hoosier Park Casino. Kelly and I styled the wardrobe of all the main characters in the ads and we had ourselfs two days of crazy fun. I think I dreamed of beeping and blinking slot machines for days after we finished. Yours truly even found a way into one of the spots. You can catch me at the 15 second mark; I'm just behind Willy's right shoulder. Next stop: Hollywood!

The 'Key' to Inspiration

I think we're thisclose to finding a place to live! Not only am I looking forward to finally unpacking everything but also decorating it! Visions of where to hang things and how we'll arrange our furniture are keeping me up at night. One of my vision is what to do with this odd little wall between the front door and the garage door. I was inspired by the images of the framed blue keys and the hand painted black frame on the white wall. Ideas of framed skelton keys, key hole plates, hooks, doorknobs, and Alice in Wonderland prints will create one large piece of art on the wall. What do you think? I'm just hoping the vision I see in my head turns out just as well in real life.

links: alice image, key hooks, silver key plate, skelton key, framed keys, painted frame, door knob hook, brass key plate

Floral Brights

sweater anthro, shorts jcrew, shoes seychelles, purse tj maxx

One of my weekend outfits called for a pop of color, a little bit of warmth, a place to put all of my stuff, and a fun pair of shoes. This combination from my closet seemed to do the trick!

Picture an Outfit: Weeds Style

So while my boyfriend spends countless hours studying for the bar, I have taken to re-watching old episodes of Weeds on Netflix. I have a huge girl crush on Mary Louise Parker and Justin Kirk's character, Andy, cracks me up. The constant "how is she going to get out of this mess" story line always keeps me interested. Old characters, and problems she thought she had once solved, always find a way back into her life. Another aspect I love is how Mary Louise's character, Nancy Botwin, is dressed. A good mix of SoCal style, with a splash of western and hippie thrown in. The above still is from episode 5. This perfectly sums up her carefree dressing. Lace up moccasin boots and black knee socks paired with (what looks to me like) a floral romper. Perfect for running errands around town, shopping, or out selling dime bags to your suburban neighbors.

images (l to r): romper, romper, boots

Bookcase Instructions

Nothing makes me happier than a well-styled bookcase. When looking through decor blogs and magazines, I find myself drawn to the bookcases. This is mostly because I'm in awe of how someone could make stacked books and small objects look like a piece of art. I would desperately rearrange my bookshelf in our old apartment trying different groupings and never being satisfied. I organized it once by color, the next time by size, and then again by subject matter. I could never get it right.

But I think my troubles are over. Yesterday, thanks to a great tweet by Emily Henderson (a stylist with great secrets!), I stumbled upon help to turn my jumbled bookcase into a thing of beauty. Kate, from Centsational Girl, has broken down all sorts of things to think about, and adjustments to make to your bookcase to instantly turn it around. When we finally move into a new apartment and I get to decorating, I will no longer feel intimated by styling my bookcase thanks to Kate. You must check out this article, and be sure to click on all the extra links she included in it too. You'll be happy you did.

images: Lonny Magazine, The Art of Doing Stuff

Book Review: Modern Vintage Style

The very talented interior stylist and author, Emily Chalmers, has just published a new book that I am in love with called Modern Vintage Style. If you are someone who collects and decorates with vintage pieces than this book is a must for your bookshelf. Broken into two parts, Emily first showcases great examples of vintage furniture, lighting, textiles, and displays. Then, she shows you how to work these vintage pieces into your home and decorating style so your home life has a wonderful modern vintage feel to it. Modern Vintage Style is really a great resource for inspiration and Emily encourages the reader to have fun with their pieces and collections you want to display in your home. That there are no rules; just trusting your instincts and tastes you'll create the perfect balance of old and new in your home.

This book, as well as her many other wonderful titles of work, can be found in her online shop Caravan, Amazon.com, or at Anthropologie (where I first saw this colorful cover).

Below is a sneak peak at a few pages from my copy; but you really must get one for yourself to drink in all great work of Emily Chalmers, photographer Debi Treloar and writer Ali Hanan did on this book. Enjoy!

All images by: Debi Treloar and words by Ali Hanan

Anthro Model for a Day

I have some amazing photos to share with you guys today. Some of my beautiful co-workers and I got to pretend we were models for a day. Kelly Kruthaupt, an intern at our store, was studying fashion merchandising, and for her final project she wanted to do a photo shoot capturing us in our own unique Anthropologie style.

Kelly asked us to answer a series of questions about ourselves and from the answers she came up with storyboard concept for each one of our shoots, keeping in mind the things we love and what inspires and surrounds our lives. Inspiration ranged from music and fashion to being a new mommy and Parisian lifestyle. Part of my inspiration was drawn from vintage cameras. Combining my love for old collectibles and photography.

Enjoy looking at the beautiful pictures Kelly Kruthaupt styled and shot with our hair done by Crystal Lewis and our makeup done by Cake N Champagne.



Emily



myself

Kendall

Kristin