always a bridesmaid & shoe poll

Well, I'm not ALWAYS a bridesmaid...but I definitely am one this coming weekend. One of my best friends is getting married and I will be one of her bridesmaids.

The wedding is at her and her fiancee's antebellum historic house and property, outdoors, and full of rustic charm.

The bridesmaid dresses are GORGEOUS. Well, at least mine is! :) We did the thing where the bride picks the color/line and the maids pick the style of dress.

Here is my dress (style AND color):

Here's my dilemma, y'all. The ceremony will be outside on their front lawn. That means grass and other turf to tackle. Normally in a situation like that, I'd go with flats. However, because my dress is short, I want to wear heels. And let's face it, I need an excuse to go fancy shoe shopping. BUT, I really have absolutely no idea what kind of shoes to wear with this dress. The shoes need to be brown or brownish. But I could get away with something flesh-colored, I think.

These are sort of what I had in mind. Which color/style do y'all like? Or, do you have a suggestion?

So, there's a peep-toe nude pump, bronze-ish strappy heel, peep toe nude patent pump and a brown strappy sandal. These aren't the actual shoes I'm considering (cough...Jimmy Choos cost more than my monthly car payment...cough) but this style.

Alright blog friends...weigh in and let me know what you think!

freshly pinned

I'm linking up with Jessica over at Jessica N Designs for a quick and dirty Freshly Pinned post.

Here are some of my most recent pins on Pinterest. Not familiar with Pinterest? It's a place to "pin" all of your favorite things on to boards and look at other people's favorite things.

A few of my most recent pins are...

Sensing a theme? I'm digging the diy brooch bouquet, multi-colored diy tiered serving platters and diy bejeweled pumps.

I just unpacked and put up all my jewelry last week so I've been searching for creative ways to display it. I like the idea of something a bit rustic like this chicken wire in a wooden frame or a diy tiered tray (again) but this time for rings and earrings instead of cupcakes. :) Oh, and I'm always pinning pictures of sparkly shoes. I can't help it. And these are flats too!! So they are totally wearable!

What are you pinning lately? Link up here.

If you need a Pinterest invite, send me an email. aprilanne147[at]hotmail[dot]com.

an af-fair to remember

So, the B and I went to the Cape Fear Fair & Expo on Thursday night. (opening night) It was BEAUTIFUL. The lights, sounds, SMELLS...they were all just, well, a bit overwhelming but definitely awesome. There were some really cute animals and some really interesting rides.

The B and I went to the SC State Fair last year and we both thought that this fair had way more diversity when it came to the rides. The only thing I didn't like about the fair were the heckling game attendants who call you out as you walk by and try to entice you to win an oversized stuffed animal or personalized basketball. Thankfully, I have no use for a giant banana with a rastafarian wig, so I was not persuaded by the game masters' attempts.

Here are a few shots from the fair. Be warned that these are iPhone photo pics...so the quality isn't so great. However, it gives you an idea of what it was like.

How AWESOME are their trash cans?? Pretty cool...

Behold the gaming extravaganza. In the top right...the giant banana with a rasta wig. Ridiculous.

Basically, fried oreos are a MUST. And the lemonade. (Don't worry...I didn't get E.Coli...knock on wood.)

The amazingness that is the Deep Fried Oreo.

There were SO many cute bunnies that I wanted. I'm probably allergic to them, but they are so dang cute. I was torn between the ones with the floppy ears and the ones with the stick-up ears so the B suggested one like this guy. He had one up ear and one down ear. He's constantly undecided. I liked him. Plus, he played with his ball and toys a lot. He kept himself entertained. Another plus in a pet.

Well, as y'all are reading this, I'm on my way to (or already back in) Charlotte to finish moving the rest of my stuff and to clean my old place. Then it will officially be official. :)

Have a wonderful weekend and if you're in the Wilmington area, be sure to stop by the Cape Fear Fair!

diy halloween: uses for leftover pumpkin

So, yesterday I blogged about some banging pumpkin ideas (for those of you who are waiting until the last minute). Today, I'm going to talk about what to do when the pumpkin starts to get a bit...um soft and smelly. You know, when the face starts to cave in a bit? Yeah. Or even if it's a freshly carved pumpkin and you have all the pumpkin inside guts that you don't know what to do with. Here are some ideas for your leftover pumpkin:

1. Homemade Pumpkin Facial Mask. Use leftover pumpkin innards to create a natural face mask.

2. Toasted Pumpkin Seeds. Rinse the seeds off and spread them out on a cookie sheet. Pop 'em in the oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or so and remove. Add salt if you like.

3. Whip up this Spicy Pumpkin Soup.

4. Try this awesome Pumpkin Pie Body Scrub. (scroll down the page a bit...after the commentary)

5. If you've got the space and the time, try a DIY pumpkin trebuchet or catapult. :) Caution, don't do it where you might hit your neighbor's house or their car...or just your neighbor.

Happy Friday y'all! Stay tuned later today or tomorrow for a post about the fair!!

diy halloween: not your average jack-o-lantern

A normal carved Jack-o-Lantern is definitely a Halloween staple, but it's also kind of BO-RING. I'm a huge fan of changing up the pumpkin with paint, yarn, fabric and most definitely glitter.

Sort of like these: (from Pinterest)

 

For a more chic look, keep a color palette of 2-3 colors and use pretty stencils.

Pumpkins covered in gathered velvet have a nice posh vibe to them.

How about a little paint AND some sequins? Oh, and a glittered spider too!


How about some yarn-wrapped pumpkins? Yes please!


An average Jack-o-Lantern is pumped up with some glossy black spray paint.

Now, stay tuned tomorrow for the last day of DIY Halloween where we'll discuss the most creative ways to use your leftover pumpkin. :) Happy Thursday!

OOTD: cool safari

Friends, it is time for an OOTD post. It has been quite awhile since I did one. I apologize for my lack of outfit posts lately. Chalk it up to moving and losing access to a tripod. :(

Anywho, this one is titled "Cool Safari". You may recognize this dress from another outfit post. I took a spring/summer dress and "fall-ized" it with black tights and black boots. The outfit photos started out fairly normal...

...and then they progressed pretty quickly to basic ridiculousness with the camera.

That face on the right is one of my new faves. I've never quite seen that face on my face before. Heh. I kind of like it.

Dress: Target

Tights: Target

Boots: Journee by Target

I promise not EVERYTHING I'm wearing is from Target, just the stuff I'm mentioning. Thanks for allowing me to interrupt DIY Halloween week. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

diy halloween: a frightening front door

A wonderful way to draw trick-or-treaters to your house is by having a festive front door! A spiffy li'l Halloween wreath can take care of that. Here are a few cool ideas for a DIY Halloween wreath. Some of them require a trip to the craft store and some of them utilize stuff you have at home.

Enjoy and happy haunting!

Krystal's Halloween Rag Wreath

Orangie's Attic's Trick or Tulle Haunted Halloween Wreath

Cassie's Halloween Yarn Wreath

The Fabric Wreath from 36th Avenue.

Yay for wreath crafts. Also, it's good to lure trick-or-treaters to your home to give them candy. It's bad to make wreaths to lure children to your home in-general. That's a little Hansel and Gretel...

diy halloween: top 5 tuesday

Today's DIY Halloween post is tied into a Top 5 Tuesday post about costumes. In the last few years I've basically been known for my famous Halloween costumes, and because I'm cheap, all of them have been done for under $25. So today, I share with you my Top 5 favorite Halloween costumes that I've made and a brief explanation on how I made it.

In random order:

1) Swine Flu. You will learn that I'm a fan of the double entendree costumes. In this one, I simply found a very cheap light pink sweatsuit and a pair of angel wings from Walmart. I had some scrap pink felt that I cut and sewed into pig ear shapes, stuffed them with plastic grocery bags and sewed them to the hood of the sweatshirt. I had a pig nose already (long story...and it sort of inspired the costume.) Oh, and this was the year of the H1N1 epidemic so it was very timely.

(the powdered sugar on my eye/nose is from a game...it's not...you know)

2) Charlie Chaplin. A black blazer and white dress shirt with a black bowtie. Slick your hair back and wear a black bowler hat. Also, I drew a moustache with black eyeliner. Another accessory I had was a quasi-pageant mother making me "do the walk!" for the costume contest judges. The walk? The classic Charlie Chaplin jovial swagger.

3) Deviled Egg. I bought a white fitted sheet from Walmart and cut a large yellow circle out of construction paper. I folded the sheet in half and cut a slit for my head then stapled the yellow "yolk" to the center of the sheet. I wore devil horns and carried a pitchfork. I also had red wig. All the devil costume stuff was borrowed from a friend.

4) Loofah. Probably the easiest costume ever. I bought what was left of a bolt of purple tulle fabric from Hobby Lobby (about $10 worth) and proceeded to loop and safety pin the loops of it onto an old black tank top I had. I just kept bunching and pinning until it formed a loofah shape. I made a smaller poof and glued it to a headband and added some white yarn to make the hanging cord of the loofah. It was a hit once people figured out what I was.

5) Paula Deen. Okay, well this one hasn't actually happened yet, but it's a sure bet for this year. All I need to actually purchase is a gray wig and I'll wear some bright colored, looser clothing, lots and lots of rings and makeup and I'll walk around handing out sticks of butter and greeting people by saying "Love and best dishes from my kitchen to y'alls!"

What are some of your best homemade or mostly homemade costumes?

diy halloween: a modern costume take

Hiya blog tastic readers!!

I'm going to be doing a few Halloween inspired blog posts this week to get you in the mood for the howliday...I mean holiday. But these posts won't just be your run-of-the-mill Halloween post, these will all have a do-it-yourself (diy) feel to them so that you can not only celebrate this holiday but do it cheaply!

For today's post, I've done a few outfits that will give you the look of a costume without all the of commitment. So maybe your office does a Halloween dress-up party, and you want to find a healthy medium between 3-hole punch Jim and Andy at a cat from Cats, try something like this...

You know how most adult women costumes are ridiculously, um, trashy looking? They show lots 'o' chest and lots 'o' leg and quite frankly, look ridiculous. These ideas will help you look freshly festive without resorting to the old cowgirl or witch standby.

a photo tour of my new condo (with commentary)

For all of you (or both of you) who've requested photos of my new place, I'm posting this today. Before you view them, I'd like to offer 2 requests:
1) I moved in less than a week ago so DON'T JUDGE ME. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I'm going to have to get rid of a lot more stuff. :(
2) Please forgive my photography skills. I am better than this, but it was done on the fly.

Lastly, I will be giving you photo tours (complete with photo commentary) on my bedroom, kitchen and living area. The bathroom and other areas will come later. :) Also, if you can't read the text, just click on the picture and it will open larger.

Well, ladies and germs, there you have it. Feel free to comment away! :) Happy Saturday!

fashion friday: an autumn psa

Ladies, it's that time of year again. The time of year when the air starts to get a bit chilly...at least in the mornings and evenings. It's that time of the year when scarves and hoodies start to break out.

Unfortunately, it's also that time of year when many, many of my female friends decide to wear Ugg boots with mini skirts. Now, I'm not attacking Ugg boots themselves (though in general I do not like them because I think they make a skinny foot/ankle look like Fred Flintstone and I'm not a fan of anything that makes something skinny look LARGER) but merely attacking the preposterous notion of wearing Ugg boots with a mini-skirt and thus exposing 1/2 of the leg.

Maybe I should be clearer? UGG BOOTS ARE FOR WINTER. If it's warm enough to wear a mini skirt and a tank top or short-sleeve tee shirt then it's too warm to wear Ugg boots. Capiesce?

I really don't think I need to say anymore about the ridiculousness of this trend. I commented briefly on it last year but it still prevails. My friend Sharon (at work) pointed me towards the resurgence of this trend yesterday. Obviously, these women are not reading my blog...

The only thing that could make this Ugg boot trend worse would be exposed retro basketball socks, a pout a la Mary Kate Olsen, a furry trapper's hat or bikini bottom ties hanging out of some Soffe shorts. Sigh...

</rant>

Now, feel free to disagree and/or show me an example of this trend done well. I'm not sure it exists.

it's beginning to look a lot like...

I can't help it. As much as I love fall, for me, it really is just a precursor to Christmas. If I don't get my fall decor up soon enough then I usually don't end up putting it out because my Christmas stuff goes up the weekend of Thanksgiving. (I know!) I really just love Christmas so much and I'm actually almost DONE with my Christmas shopping. If I haven't actually purchased the gift then I know what I'll be purchasing already.

But it got me thinking about how I'm going to decorate my new place for Christmas this year. (pics or maybe another VLOG to come soon, I promise!) I did some browsing around on the ol' Pinterest for some Holiday Inspiration and boy, did I find some!

Beautiful and unique yarn ball wreath.

 

Gah, I seriously love this pink room. Not that I could actually DO this, but still...

 

 

 

 

There is something so classy and simple about a bunch of ornaments or painted pinecones in glass jars.

It's beginning to maybe, sorta, kinda start to look a little bit like Christmas!