I have seen the elephant!

Lovahs, you know I adore my sparkly accessories.  You also know that I'm totally cheap when it comes to them.  That's why websites like pnk Elephant make me positively giddy.  Not only is their stuff on trend and fabulous, it's CRAZY affordable.

In addition to a good selection of multiple finger rings that are so hot right now, they've got some great full-finger and cage rings, the above being my favorite.  It looks like something a crazy warlock would wear, or maybe a hardcore, skinny jeans and long hair wearing rock God.  I'd wear it with a floor length dress and lots more silver jewelry,  and my black Frye boots.  I'm talking a look like that of Karen over at Where Did U Get That.  Maybe I'd even pair it with this:

Which would function as a handy weapon for a rocker in a bar brawl, or look great with a simple cocktail dress that I want to make a little cooler.  

I'm also drooling over this cuff that is so sleek, sexy and a great compliment to a bare arm:

This necklace, since Mama never met a layered chain necklace that she didn't need in her life, especially one this well done:

And these earrings, because I want to just wear one and bring the 80s back to life.

Every piece on the website, including the ones I'm lusting after, (Re: everything on the site), is under 20 dollars, and looks wayyy more expensive than it's price tag.  Also, shipping rates often get me down when I'm ordering online, but right on the front page you can see that Pnk Elephant has a flat shipping rate of $5.70, which is extremely reasonable.  Don't wait, click on over and tell me what pieces are calling your name.

P.S. Darlings:  I've started writing articles for the new how-to website Videojug.com, which you should definitely go check out.  You can find my site here , and be sure to check out the great articles by the other fashion and beauty enthusiasts!  From now on, the link to my site will be in the left sidebar, so you can always get there from here!

An itch you can't scratch.

When I am feeling any variation of homesickness or down-on-myselfness, there are two things I want to do.  Number one is go shopping.  Unfortunately, shopping in the UK is a bank account killer for a poor American study abroad student, so that's not happening.  Number two is go out, preferably somewhere I can dance.  That I might be doing tonight, but I'll be straight with you, I'm kind of itching for two different extremes of a "night out": either a frat party (least classy extreme) or a really nice date (most classy).  Ideally, a dinner date that would lead to a cocktail bar afterwards.  Oh, and this is what I want to wear, on this hypothetical (Re: not actually happening anytime this millenium) date, not to the hypothetical frat party, where a tank top, skirt, and flip flops is really all I need.

All three of these pieces are from Asos, which means that if I actually had money, I would actually be able to afford them.  (Well, on a really good day.)  In any case, the dress I'm in love with.  My go to going out pieces are always body conscious; we're talking pencil skirts, mini skirts, and various figure hugging dresses.  This dress has the sexiness of what I like to usually wear in the great slit, but the draping softens the look and makes it a little more romantic, and not club.   

Fact:  When I wear a pair of towering high heels, I feel like I can do anything and get anything I want.  Seriously, I ran for a bus home from a Piccadilly night club in my five inch Guess sandals once, I can rock a heel.  What I love about the shoes here is that they're not black, because I feel like I'm always buying black heels, and that they have this cool combination of soft fabric straps and shiny patent leather.  I'm also a big fan of heels with ankle straps, I feel like they draw the eye up.

Honestly, this bag is completely gratuitous, and I don't even know if it would fit my American cell phone (that I miss soooo much) along with lip gloss, money, etc.  But practicality isn't my thing, and I adore this bag. 

Alas, I do not get to own these clothes, or go on my hypothetical date, or even go to a frat party.  I guess I'll have to settle for the university club and my club clothes. 

Go to Heaven for the Weather

Not to England though, unless you're fond of perpetually grey skies and imminent rain.

Forever 21 top.  H&M skirt.  Target tights.  Frye boots.  Vintage necklace.

Yes, yes, I did style this skirt EXTREMELY SIMILARLY here, but let me tell you why.  Right before I left for England I was thinking about how I saw a woman wearing a pencil skirt with flats and a tshirt, and it really worked for her.  It happened to be the exact skirt I'm wearing above, just in olive green, so I wondered how I could style it myself in a way that didn't look too overdressed for every day.  I stood in front of the mirror in my room, wearing it with a tucked in white t shirt and these boots and frowning, and then Ma goes "I think maybe if you wore it with something that had more volume on top."  WHA BAM!  This outfit, since I had bought this shirt just a few days before.  So, really, props to Ma for that stroke of brilliance.

In any case, I like the way it makes the skirt go from office appropriate or nighttime to casual.  Sorry for the wrinklies, I had to take rather tedious bus rides to and from Morecambe today.  Never have I ever, in my life, lost something on a night out (minus maybe my dignity) until Wednesday night, when I lost my phone at a club.  Lucky for me it was still there, unlucky for me I decided to lose it at the club farthest from campus.  

Love love this necklace, which I picked up at a vintage fair in Chelsea that I stumbled upon last month.  I was on my way to the V&A and then I caught sight of the signs outside the Chelsea Library.  Priorities, you know.  Love this top for reasons we discussed this summer.

Sidenotes: I love how ridiculously green the grass is, especially as the backdrop for the second shot.

Yes, I ripped this title from the song by The Audition, who I am completely obsessed with right now.

Ooof.

So, today I was checking my inbox, and I had an email from a woman founding a new "how to" article website who had come across my blog, liked it, and wanted me to come on over to her website and join the writers there.  And I thought "OH YEAH.  My blog.  That thing I write.  That people read sometimes."

Clearly, I have been lax.  More than lax.  I'm sure there's a word for that that my poor brain cannot produce right now.  Thing is, I went from super awesome amazing London, to crazy vacationing in Berlin and Rome, to now being here at Lancaster University.  Frankly, I thought the American college kids loved them some booze, but then I hadn't met any Brits yet.  Let's just say a good part of "fresher's week", the week before classes actually started, was spent in various states of inebriation.  (Because it's legal here, duh.)  And then there was the first week of classes, and then there was me going back to London to visit my cousin (hi Steve, I know you read this), and, I mean, let's face it.  I'm kind of being the wild child I never was, because here I have the time to do it.

Today though, I refocused, and have spent all day being "Productive Girl" who went all organized on this University's ass, until I found out I needed to pay into my printing budget (gburg unlimited printing, I misses you).  But yeah, I've been cute sometimes here (and abroad) and I have some photos to prove it, and I know you're tired of this semi intelligible rant anyway.  I loveeeeee you and I promise I will get the courage to ask a flatmate to take my picture in a good outfit...tomorrow. 

Soooo the deets.

1. Me and a fragment of the Berlin wall.

2. Eating Doner, the new love of my life, in Berlin.

3. Pretty killer view of rome.

4. Even better view, from the cupola of the Basilica de San Pietro in the Vatican.  Damn straight, they let me in and I climbed a terrifyingly high cupola.

5. This picture needed to be retaken so you could see the inside of the Basilica behind me, but I just really love this picture of me. ha.

6. Killing it at a club in Rome.  My hair was apparently awesome that night.

7. Pre rave with some Lancaster girlies.

8. With a Mojito on an excellent and successful girls night out last Monday.

Photo credit for the last three to....someone with Hannah's camera, Charm, and Hannah, respectively.