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. 

London Fashion Weekend!

Warehouse Dress.  Random Rights.  New Look wedges.  Francesca's Collections necklace.

Went to London Fashion Weekend with Charmonique tonight and it was a.maz.ing.  I can't even imagine how great the actual fashion week is.  I enjoyed getting my fun little show bag, my Elle magazine, and shopping at what was essential a huge sample sale.  I picked up a cute Twenty8Twelve dress that I am actually currently wearing to club it up my last night here in London.  I'm going to miss this city so much!!

a look by Ashley Isham

Another Ashley Isham

A killer Bodyamr dress

the catwalk!

Now I'm off to Berlin and Rome tomorrow, so I will talk to you all in a week's time.  Kisses!

Bleeding Hearts of the World Unite!

BDG leggings. Wildfox Couture tee. Frye boots. Candie's vest.

I may have gone to bed at about 3am, but I still had to get up early to take a trip to Buckingham Palace this morning. The rooms in the palace are so opulent, it's incredible. I feel like I could never be comfortable in them, but I guess the state rooms aren't exactly for relaxing. The garden was what I liked best though; there was a lake I wanted to stretch out and contemplate next to.

Bought myself this wildfox tee yesterday as a birthday present. It was on sale at a boutique called Ad Hoc on King's Road, which was awesome because usually Wildfox's stuff is out of my price range. I can't remember the last time I bought a t shirt with something printed on it, but I really like the cheekiness of this bleeding heart one. The faux leather vest was an unexpected find a few days before I left for london, and I love love this acid washed jeggings. When I came out of the dressing room wearing them, I said to my mother "Mom, aren't they MAGIC!?" Her answer? A very flat "No." My mother is morally opposed to acid wash because it's "So 80s". But Ma, that's why I love it.

Twentysomething

H&M jacket.  Old Navy tee.  Primark harem pants.  Hue socks.  Guess heels. 

Today's my 20th birthday, so I spent a significant amount of time planning this outfit out last night.  I'm super excited that I've gotten to spend my birthday here in London..and it's not over yet.  I did some shopping today (found a dress for fashion weekend, eek!) and now I'm going to go get ready to go to a club tonight!  I plan to dance my butt off like a birthday girl should.  I'll post what I wear with tomorrow's post.  Lataaaaa.

As if.

Forever 21 sweater.  H&M blouse.  BDG (urban) leggings. Frye Boots.  Gifted necklace.

Ahaaaa, did I say I'd be posting today's outfit tomorrow?  I lied.  You see, tomorrow's kind of a special day for me, so I figured I'd want to post about tomorrow, tomorrow, instead of today.  Ah repeating the same word always gives me a grammar crisis.  Anyway.

So do I not look like I just dashed out of the pages of a J. Crew catalogue?  I stood in front of my (rather tiny) closet this morning, declaring "I'm tired of looking boring!"  To no one in particular.  My roommate answered "You look fine!"  Of course, at the time I was still in my pajamas, my white hanes t shirt and soffee shorts, but still, fine is not what I usually go for.  This outfit is not as interesting as I'd hoped for...You see, the button down blouse is sheer, which I love, and kind of longish, also awesome, so what I really need is a cropped sweater to wear over it, because I buy longer cut sweaters for my torso usually, like this blue one.  The desired effect would be something like this: 

Literally the ONLY image I could find of this outfit, but you get it.  Really sheer really long blouse, and if you look close you can see her teeny little cropped sweater over it.  I actually like how the blouse covered her high waisted mini skirt too, but you can still see it because the blouse is so sheer.

Sidenote: this is the outfit Cher wears to take her driver's test, since she can't find her most responsible looking shirt.  The scene where she fails played through my head a hundred times when I failed my driver's test the first time.  I also thought of the moment this photo shows "I'm buttcrazy in love with Josh!" the first time I realized I was in love.  Yes, I identify with the movie Clueless, and I don't care who knows it.

P.S. saw the changing of the guard today!  Still want a big fuzzy hat!

I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris

Meant to post this business on Monday, but I ended up coming down with some weird cold/fever that had me sleeping most of the day instead.  Also, forgot to have people take pictures of me in Paris,  because I'm silly.  In any case, here is my Paris sampler for you.

1. view of the Louvre 2. cupid and psyche 3. Arc De Triomphe 4. The Tower and I 5. A view while climbing the tower 6. Sacre Coeur 7. Notre Dame 8. The Seine 9. The Tower Sparkling at night

Highlights of my Parisian experience: Crepes are absolutely delicious.  Despite the fact that I am absolutely terrified of heights, I climbed the Eiffel Tower, all the way up.  I didn't exactly conquer my fear of heights (pretty sure I sweat buckets, and I was clinging desperately to whatever walls were nearest) but I can forever say that I didn't miss out on climbing the tower.  The group I was with stumbled upon a local hangout along the Seine and got to talking with people about school, stereotypes, movies...it was such a European experience.  Toward the end of that night, a young french man even came up to me and said right out "Can I kiss you?  You're gorgeous!"  I didn't let him, but what a compliment!  How french!

I promise to post today's outfit tomorrow, and by the way, I bought a ticket to London fashion weekend yesterday!  I'm super pumped, can't wait to detail it for you guys!