Friday, May 31, 2013

recap: may

dash_maysie
helllllooooo!  i'm back from my blogging hiatus/wedding adventure/transatlantic travels!  we flew back earlier this week and i've been busy getting things organized so as to not feel so busy.  ha!  unfortunately this (albeit short) week back at work has been a hectic one, but the dash dot needs its monthly recap nonetheless!

[wearing]

i only posted three outfits before i disappeared for wedding-ish stuff.  it's awesome that we returned to the midwest and it was magically summer!  yay for dresses!  and sandals!  and lunches outside!  
dash_may2

[buying]

h&m animal-ish print blouse ($30): i picked this up during some last minute shopping for our trip and it immediately became my go-to shirt.  

h&m turquoise spike pendant: ($5): i spent too long in h&m, got beyonce'd out, and bought this necklace because it looked good with the shirt i was buying.


cos gray jersey tee (€35): i bought this in berlin basically because it was soft.  and i hadn't packed my navy shirt that looks almost exactly like it.


cos printed merino dress (€89): this sack of a dress is going to be awesome belted.  it's kinda like if you wrapped a wool cape around you.  i'm a big fan of the dress+jacket combination for work in the summer, so buying dresses with work-appropriate length and shoulder coverage is a good call.  


cos cotton bib jersey dress (€59): annnnd another sack of a dress that i totally fell for.  i totally tried on more fitted dresses, but these two were my favorites.  the boy really liked all the dude clothes at cos (it's a fancy h&m that doesn't have stores in north america), so i tried on a bajillion things while he was shopping.  


acne "fran" tulle cardigan (gift): the boy and i picked out gifts for each other while we were shopping in berlin.  his gift was a bright blue suede belt and mine was this (very un-photogenic) cardigan.  


may total: $273-ish.  (the exchange rate, taxes, banking fees, etc make this total a bit fuzzy)

i haven't worn three of the pieces yet, but overall i am super happy with the quality of all the pieces i bought and that i didn't walk out of h&m with a giant bag of stuff just because it's all so cheap.  there does seem to be a pretty serious gray theme going on though!  i love buying clothes as souvenirs so that i think about the trip whenever i wear them back home.  

may purchases1


[reading]
meg wolitzer's the interestings: i started reading this on the kindle after the middle book down there started out a little too sad town for vacation reading.  i like it so far, but my mom already warned me that the ending is sad, so it might just stay 47% read for awhile.  

adam johnson's the orphan master's son: i totally believe that this is a good book, but i'm a lightweight and can only read a sad book like once a year.  it's at 3% on the kindle right now. ha.  

ballast's building systems study guide: this is the lamest thing to be reading ever, but it is very good at helping me fall asleep.  and i ambitiously scheduled my next exam in june, so i need to get studying pretty darn quick.   


dash_may3


[getting] 

married!  eep!  it finally hit me at the rehearsal that i was getting married and i've been smiling about it ever since.  luckily i was not as teary-eyed as i thought i might be and everything was just perfect. we're getting photos back next week, so i'll share some when i pick out my favorites.  

dash_may

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

dotty, weddings, and shoes

wedding shoesies, vince camuto, suede wedding pumps, pointy toe wedding shoes
[three things]
1. these are my wedding shoes!  i tried on a bajillion pairs of white "wedding" shoes and was settled on a wedge that was comfortable, but made my toes look a little funny and had a ruffle that looked like it was standing up too straight.  and then one day i had some time to kill and was wandering the non-prom/wedding aisles of DSW and came across these beauties.  they fit like a dream and the cashier did some sort of return/exchange/coupons/points magic that knocked my socks off when i saw the total.  
2. if i desaturate, crank up the contrast, and mess with the blackness slider can i make any photo look like it's ready for a wedding album?  
3. we are totes getting married this weekend!  eeep!  i am finally getting really, really excited to marry my most favorite person ever, go to an awesome party with all our friends and family in one spot, and then go on an epic vacation.  i have seen so much incredible kindess and generousity from my friends, family, future family, colleagues, and clients in the last few weeks that i am so surprised and overwhelmed by it.  i expect to start crying sometime on friday and probably not stop until we get on a plane!  anyway, i'll see y'all back here in june, so have a great month!

Monday, May 6, 2013

dotty, lost cardigans, and walking shoes

leopard+T's
[wearing]
cardigan: old navy 
t tee: forever21
pants: zara (similar)
loafers: dolce vita (similar)

[three things]
1. more pattern mixing.  yup, i'm still doing that.  
2. i wore this for a long day of meetings and the layers, neutral palette, and flats were perfect for all the different meetings.  and my boss's car had some sort of massive electrical failure, so there was way more walking than anticipated.  
3. this cardigan totes got lost in my closet for months.  it's super soft and nicely spotty, so hopefully it won't go into hiding again.  

leopard+T's

leopard+T's

leopard+T's

leopard+T's

Friday, May 3, 2013

friday five: ikea favorites

ikea header
+
four years ago, the boy and i found new homes for all of our furniture and moved across the country to go to grad school.  for our fresh start on decorating, i envisioned a whole lot of white with maybe some gray for accents.  while all of our heavy furniture is white and wood, the cleanliness and simplicity is nice, but it turns out i like color too.  i've mentioned before that we are big fans of ikea since it's really about how you combine pieces, not how much you spend on them.  we made a trip last week to the bigger chicagoland ikea (yup, there are two and we are somehow equidistant from both.)  and i thought i would share some of my favorite things to buy there.  

p.s.
instructions for making the light fixture pictured above can be found over here.

ikea post, couch pillow tableau, mixing pillow patterns, gray striped pillow, white leather couch, living room

ikea post

ikea post

ikea post

ikea post

ikea post
ikea post


Thursday, May 2, 2013

dotty, sweaters, and fall colors

rust sweater remixing, sweater over dress, chevron dress, knit work dress, vince sweater, brown with black, outfit ideas, gray suede boots
[wearing]
sweater: vince (exactly)
dress underneath: cynthia steffe (similar)
scarf: forever21 (similar)
boots: forever21
clutch: neiman marcus+target collaboration

rust sweater remixing

[previously on] rust vince sweater
rust sweater remixing

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

dotty, stripes, and patterned pants

green bag
[wearing]
jacket: theory (exactly)
big shirt: thrifted
pants: gap (exactly)
wedges: elie tahari (similar)
green bag: souvenir from rome

[three things]
1. i'm beginning to think that stripes, especially thin blue stripes, are a neutral pattern.  they seem to get along quite nicely with other patterns.  
2. a big shirt + cropped pants has become one of my favorite outfit combinations.  it works for weekends and with some shiny wedges and a jacket it's perfect for worky too.
3. i've been working on a remixing board on pinterest lately and keep forgetting to mention it on the blogerson.  how am i still so in heart with pinterest?  it has totally replaced facebook as my favorite internet time-waster.  i now have no idea what all the people i haven't talked to in ten years are doing, but have a very strong urge to bake and put washi tape on things.  

green bag