Practice Until I Can Buy It!

 So if you follow my sweet friend, Lulu's blog - you'll have learned more about our photography journeys.  We love taking pictures, and just recently have gotten greater passions to take GOOD pictures, got fancy cameras and are taking a class at KC Art Institute.  Along with that, we work at a place with an abundance of creative people.  We got a quick lesson from amazing photography, Drew on blurring the backgrounds.

So I practiced a bit last night keeping my sweet little turquoise rose earrings (from China Town, San Fran) in focus with the background blurry.

I just have the lens my camera came with - so nothing fancy.  Because of that, I used no zoom and had to get pretty close.  I had to back up a bit until my camera would take the photo in auto focus and then used Photoshop to crop a bit.  Unfortunately, because I'm so close, you can see all the dust on my dresser.  Eeeks!

This is as much blur I can get.  My lens doesn't allow full boy pics with blurry backgrounds like I am really wanting!  So my next photography hobby purchase will be a fixed focal 50mm 1.8 lens.  This is what Drew told us we should get to produce this type of photo on a larger scale. The lens I plan to get: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens

And here is what I wore with these little $5 China Town finds... (notice the lighting and photos are not nearly as pretty as the earrings)

 {Stripe blazer - Loft; Belt - Target; Navy dress - H&M; Pink Tights - Target; Boots - Endless.com}

And on another note - I have the winner of the $100 GNC gift certificate/credit!!  Are you ready to see who won?  Without further ado... 

Congrats Cheryl!  Will be getting an email soon...

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Well, These Boots Did NOT Work...

But, I liked the Orange and Gray-Blue color combo...just wished I would have done something different for my tights and footwear...

{Tiered Top - Loft; Orange Skirt - J.Crew; Tall Silver Socks - Banana Republic; Boots - Banana Republic; Gold Cuff Bracelet - Loft}

 Do you ever do that? Later see the picture and kick your self with your badly chosen boots, or whatnot?  Ug. So annoying!!  Oh well... I liked the outfit from the knees-up! :)

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Rustic & Sun Drenched

Someone at my company drives this truck, for real. I've seen it so many times now, that my Lulu and I finally took a 10 minute break for some fun in the sun, and a rustic old truck.

At first I worried about getting too close or even light toughing it because the alarm might sound.  Then I realized this truck would not have an alarm.

I thought posing by this rustic truck was perfect for my rustic outfit.  I wore my work version of blue and red yesterday for the kick off of the Big 12 tournament.  And since KU won, today I'm going to the next game at the Sprint Center.  You probably won't see my outfit I'm wearing today - a bit more sporty, but I'll tweet it and some pics throughout the game instead! :)  Follow Me on Twitter.

Oh, and this is my bun. See?

{Stripe silk top - Loft; Cords - J.Crew; Flats - Marshalls, so old; Necklace - Talbots}

Meanwhile, Lulu was running around the parking lot...

Happy Friday! I hope you get to have a ton of fun in the sun this weekend.

Jump!

Kriss Kross make ya wanna jump, jump!  Tonight at Photography class, Lulu and I were practicing our action shots, so we did a little jumping action!  I compiled mine into an animated gif for your viewing pleasure (you can thank me later). :)

In true schooling fashion, I'm next to lockers and all...

{Pink cardi - J.Crew via Ebay, Plaid shirt - Target; Green capris - Loft; Black flats - Nine West; Bag - Theit}

And remember to check out Lulu's blog, A Candid Life, for our weekly photography assignment and photos for You See, I See.  This week was rough!  We each weren't too excited about our photographs (though I like hers). We had to show one photo showing movement and one showing stop action.  Check it out!

Now for the winner of the $25 Apothica.com giveaway...

Congrats to Diana!!!

Stay tuned for yet another giveaway starting this afternoon!! Something any lady, girl, gal, or woman could use - never to old or young to start!

Washington D.C. Color

This past weekend I was in Washington D.C. - visiting one of my best friend's & going to Lady Gaga concert!  Oh my gosh was it all so fun.  I saw Gaga in KC back in August and it was so fabulous, I had to see her again!  She did not disappoint, and this time having her new song, Born This Way as the finale.

I also spent a lot of time with friends, exploring the city, shopping, eating and taking pictures!  I found so much color in DC, even though the weekend was pretty overcast and windy!

My friend lived in a row of town homes (would you call these brown stones, or is that only a NYC term?), and these were part of her row.  I loved the colors and flaking in paint.

Does anyone recognize this butterfly wall?  It is at Bloomies.  I loved the neon butterflies against the white wall - almost as I love how my friend rocks a turban on her head!  Her bright silk scarf wrapped around her hair is a fun pop of color on any gray day.  I'll have more on this some other time...as I want to try this myself & also have a how-to!

We found a great home store near Logan Circle, call Reincarnations.  It was filled with vibrant home design & decor and I wanted to take it all home!  It was so well priced!  I left with a beautiful pillow that you'll see in my bedroom soon... But look at this teal room (love the double chandelier) and glass heads!

I entered DC in this outfit...and little did I know, that DC was not going to be as warm as I thought - so this stripe blazer (my only "jacket" I brought) was worn a lot, layered on top of the clothing I brought to try to keep me a little warm...

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Day 21 {Burst of color}

Whoa!?  Is it Summer time, or is it the dead of winter??  Well, I went all color crazy on this snowy, melting to muddy, then refreezing to icey winter, and I'm drinking a piña colada in my mind.  Mmm-so good. Take that winter - I'm done with you.

Ok, back to reality and rant over.

{Top - Loft; Belt - Loft; Maxi Dress - Kohl's, Tights - Target; Shoes - DSW}

Yep, even my under layer (ya know, to keep the frost-bite at bay) is bright! Boom.  How are you getting through this winter (for those of you experiencing it)?

Day 12 {Hoot-hoot, Hoot-hoot}

Do purple and orange go ok together?  I kinda like it.  But I like weird color mixtures.  I was inspired by my multi-colored owl necklace (via Forever 21 this summer, similar) and layered on my not-worn-yet Loft tiered tank tunic over my orange (coral?) J.crew turtleneck (last worn on day 1).  Pulled on my skinny jeans and called it a day.  This outfit is super comfy.

Day 11 {Hidden Bling}

Let the repeating begin!!  Sequin shirt first worn on day 5, black hoodie first worn on day 4, and wood skirt first worn on day 1.  I fancied up my hoodie by layering it over sequins, and switched it upfrom day 4 by leaving it unzipped.

 So serious.

This outfit is no laughing matter. Apparently.

Need a refresher on all my pieces?  Go here.  

Want to see my first 7 days? Recap here.

Furry Beast

My last outfit before my 30x30 Remix Challenge that starts tomorrow - a furry beastly outfit.  Well, just partly furry.  I scored the Military Green Wool Blazer with removable Faux-Fur Collar from Loft for 50% off at my local brick and mortar store (not seeing it avail online) a couple weeks ago and finally got the balls to wear it.

Not that you need balls to wear it, but I was unsure by wearing it to work, what kind of feedback I would get.  While I work at an ad agency, where what people wear to work can be a little more creative and some people in my department are great fashionistas (we all have a ton of fun shopping, talking about current deals and fashions) I'm a little more daring sometimes.

I did get a few looks that were questionable or hard to determine what they were thinking, but mainly compliments!  Plus, with this cold weather, the furry collar was warm.

I need some navy tights that are more opaque is what I'm thinking right now looking at this pic.

Outfit Deets:

Jacket - Loft

Gray V-neck Tee - American Apparel

Navy, Metalic Tweed Skirt - Loft

Silver Belt - Old Navy

Navy Tights - Target

Purple Bow Flats - Urban Outfitters (years ago)

Orange you glad to see my outfit?

haha, omg, lame.  Sorry, late night sleeping in the living room (whilst home remodeling ensues in the entire upstairs...more on that to come).  Anyways - I haven't worn this orange crinkle silk skirt from J.Crew too much, and it was staring at me in my closet begging to be worn!  So I added some colors from the purple family to it to make this very Fall looking outfit:

Even wore my fuchsia jacket and light lavender scarf to keep the colors all purpley - sick of purple tones yet?

 I sprayed practically a whole bottle of static guard on my bum and tights before leaving to keep this silky skirt from clinging to my tights in this cold weather.  Did the trick, but now I need more Static Guard.

I really liked this outfit. Felt pretty bold with all the colors, but not too bright or crazy.

Outfit Deets:

Skirt - J.Crew

Top - Lauren Conrad via Kohl's (Gift)

Belt - Loft

Tights - Merona via Target

Shoes - Audrey Brooks via DSW

Jacket - Tulle

Scarf - Express (Gift)

I just realized by typing about these two gifts, that I forgot to share my last Xmas Gift round up!  I'll get that out sometime this week. :)

And did you watch the Bachelor last night?  Lisa M. made it through again, and while not on camera as much as the girls in the thick of the drama, she looked fab, and some other fun fashion finds & looks here.

Stripes Under Stripes

I've mixed stripes with stripes before, and you know my love for stripes...so this time I tried a stripe jacket over a thicker stripe.

My rules (that I completely made up, so take them for what they are) on mixing stripes.  There must be one color that goes from each of the two pieces.  In this case - I had navy in both articles of clothing.  I also think it's good to have different sized stripes.  Here is what I did, and liked:

 Jacket and silk shirt are from Ann Taylor Loft

Outfit extras: Bracelet is also from Loft, shoes from J.Crew (similar, another color) and Jeans from Banana Republic

Happy Monday everyone.  Hope you had a great weekend and that this week goes SUPER fast. hah!

My NYE Outfit - Casual with a hint of bling

Since I'm doing the more low key things this year, I'm actually not planning to wear a dress! I can't believe it!  Here's what I plan to wear...

Loft sequin top with a velvet black blazer, my Gap skinny jeans and black booties.

Tonight the weather is suppose to get pretty bad (even though yesterday was 68 degrees), so who knows, I might be in snow boots! :)  We'll see.  I hope you all have a great and safe evening. Talk to you in 2011.

Red & Turquoise

I put this summer dress to work again, and wore it around the Holidays.  Felt a bit festive in it. :)  I love turquoise mixed with almost any color - like red!  Just made the necklace pop.  Fun color combo.

Outfit Deets:

Dress - Loft from the summer

Necklace - J.Crew via Ebay

Cardi - Simply Vera via Kohl's

Boots - Chinese Laundry via DSW