Donate 4 Dachshunds

As some of you may know, I write for a blog called Who's Your Dachshund and we have just launched something very special and near and dear to my heart. It would mean the world to me if you clicked on over to read about what we are doing and help us spread the word.

I have copied the post here as well and the donations all go to the same place so it doesn't matter if you donate from here or over at the dachshund blog but please know that your support is greatly appreciated.

THE IDEA...

Being the owners of smaller canine companions – physically at least – we know first-hand how something so small can have such a big impact on our lives. I’m not even going to bother asking if you could imagine a life without your pups. For that reason, it’s only natural that we as animal lovers come together to accomplish something BIG to change the lives of vulnerable animals around the world.

Over the past month, the ten contributors of WYD have connected with nearby animal shelters from Nova Scotia to South Africa; each one filled with incredible people giving abandoned animals the love and attention they deserve. So we figured, why not give each of these shelters a little love and attention of their own?

THE CHALLENGE...

...collect as many donations as we possibly can by the end of April to split between these phenomenal shelters. You can donate securely using our ChipIn widget below. We will be over the moon with even the smallest contributions :)

If you aren't able to contribute financially, there are plenty of other ways you can help spread the word that will be just as appreciated! You can even click 'Copy' on the donation widget to get the HTML code that you can use to include the widget in your own blog posts!



THE DIFFERENCE...

Here are the organizations that we'll be working with over the next month. We'll give you updates and insights into the world of animal rescue and the massive benefit that they have on the lives of millions of animals worldwide. Look forward to video diaries, messages from volunteers, amazing adoption stories and lots of prizes!

Bide Awhile
Tiny Paws Dog Rescue
Midwest Dachshund Rescue
All American Dachshund Rescue
Dachshund Rescue of North America - Maryland Chapter
Dachshund Rescue NW
Central Texas Dachshund Rescue
Second Chance Animal Refuge Society
Kitty and Puppy Haven
FACE Low-cost Spay/Neuter Clinic

Macho and Savvy say,
"Thank you for helping animals find happiness by making a little go a long way!"

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Lookbook: Pink Pashmina

I bought this skirt about a year ago and this was my first time wearing it. Not because it's not cute, I mean, it's a pleated skirt, how can it not be cute right? It's because I do not know what to wear it with! It seems like everything I put with it just doesn't look right. I'll put it on, try to pair something with it, hate it then take it off. I just happened to notice it in my closet that day and decided I need to make it work. To be honest, I still don't think it works as much as I wanted to but I think the bright pink pashmina helps to take the focus off the outfit as a whole.

What I'm Wearing:
Sweater: Banana Republic
Skirt: Banana Republic
Tights: Wet Seal
Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Pashmina: bought it in Taiwan about 5 years ago

I bought the skirt so long ago and I was a little bit bigger then, so it's a whole size too big now. I had to roll the waistband down twice to make it fit. I actually liked it better anyway as it made it into a better length (above my knees rather than below). I bought this pashmina the last time I was in Taiwan with my family and it is awesomely warm. I don't typically wear it as a scarf because it's a very big piece and better worn as a shawl but I was just feeling like a scarf that day and put it on. I was warm all day even though it was raining and I was wearing tights with holes in them.

My hair is so interesting as I've never dyed/highlighted it before but it always lightens up when I'm in the sun. When I came back from Cabo people have been asking me if I highlighted my hair.

I promise I don't do anything too special to my hair but I know that many of you are still waiting for my hair tutorial. I am going to try to put some time aside this weekend to at least write a post about my hair tools and products to start you off with.

Also, I've been getting a ton of questions about my digital perm and how it's holding up since I got it done. My hair now is still wavy but the curls above are a result of my curling iron. However the digital perm has helped my hair retain a curl. Even at the end of the day my curls still look like they do in the picture. Before I got the digital perm my hair would hold a curl for all of 30 minutes before falling out. For all of you that are debating on getting a digital perm I say go for it! I love my hair now more than I ever have, all because of the digital perm.

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Currently Loving: two piece dresses

I am loving these dresses that look like a shirt/skirt combo, much like the dress I wore for this lookbook. They are perfect for work, all you need to do is add a cardigan or a blazer but I also love these for just wearing any time. I have been getting requests about what kind of outfits to wear to parties coming up for this summer. I put together two little outfits that I thought would be perfect for a little summer get together.

My summer outfits always include high heels and lots of fun jewelry. Stick with simple, unfussy dresses and you can always have fun with your accessories and your makeup.

I am really into mixing pink and gold together, I think it's such a fun combo and you can play around with different tones of pink and gold. I am coveting that bronze Marc Jacobs bag, it's a perfect size and it can easily work for both summer and winter. The big baubles that I chose to go with the outfit are great accents that add to the dress by bringing out the pink of the skirt. A neutral eye with a pink glossy lip for a more natural look is simple and pretty. When you've got so much going on with your accessories, you don't want your makeup to be too distracting.

NYX Eyeshadow,Necklace,Floral Bangle,Ring,L'oreal Lip gloss,
ASOS Dress,Miu Miu Platforms,Marc Jacobs Bag

This little bow dress is dressy enough but not to the point of where you might feel *too* dressy. I always get the question, "how dressy should I be?" when going to a party. My answer is that it is always better to be overdressed than underdressed, however, you don't want to be the one in a ballgown when everyone else is in jeans. A little dress like this is casual but it's also enough to stand out amongst a crowd (in a good way).

I thought my new L.A.M.B shoes would go well with this dress along with a fun headband and a big neutral colored bag. I always love adding color with my nails so I chose this fun pinky-red to put on my fingers and toes for just a little added flavor to the outfit.

ASOS Bow Dress, Burberry Bag, Headband, Bangle
OPI Nail Polish,L.A.M.B Faran Sandal

When dressing for a party, don't overthink it. Put on your cutest dress, add your favorite high heels, and be confident! If you feel good, you will look good. It works everytime.

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Lookbook: Cabo

While we were in Cabo I thought about doing lookbooks every day but then I was thinking, I'm just wearing a dress over my bikini, do people really want to see this outfit? So I only had J take pics of one of my outfits and at least take advantage of the pretty background.

What I'm Wearing:
Dress: Forever 21 (also worn here)
Shoes: Charles David (close up here)
Bag: Louis Vuitton (from the Mini Lin Croisette collection)

We were heading out to dinner but stopped at the beach to watch the sunset beforehand, which is why I'm a little bit more dressy. For the most part I lounged around in comfy cotton or jersey dresses. I love this Louis Vuitton bag for travel. I like that it has straps that you can hold or a longer strap that you can wear over your shoulder. Plus it fits my camera perfectly so I don't have to walk around with a camera strapped on my neck the entire time. The sandals are one of my favorites for a beach vacation. The jewels sparkle in the sun and are dressy enough to wear out to dinner. It was cold that night so I stashed a lightweight cardigan in my bag too. Gotta love big bags!

I didn't have enough room to pack my hair dryer (and had to use the one provided in my room) so my hair is lacking any style, but really, when I am on vacation like this, I could care less. It was nice for me to be low maintenance for once in my life. It sure doesn't happen often!

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Fashion Photography

I love fashion photography more than anything, but then add celebrities into it and I seem to love it more. I subscribe to more magazines than you can image just so I can look at the fashion spreads. I tend to be one for very vibrant colors in photos, but I do love the feeling of black and white images. These photos of celebrities by Tony Duran are so inspiring.

pictures from here

I love seeing celebrities in these types of images since we are all usually so bombarded with their paparazzi pictures. I love the "faux" paparazzi set up with Jennifer Lopez, if only everyone could look that glamorous while getting their picture taken!

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Shutterfly Photobook

After I posted about the cover design that J made for a photobook that I was making from this photoshoot, a couple of readers asked to see the book so I wanted to show you how it turned out. I have ordered photobooks from both Shutterfly and Blurb but this time I went with Shutterfly because they have this big 12x12 size and I wanted it to stand out from the smaller photobooks that I had made previously.

The front of the photobook with the design that J created for us

And the back of the book, I of course had to put in a picture of our babies!

Some of my favorite layouts





Here's the last layout with the back page that J put together with the date of the photo shoot.


And for comparison you can see our Blurb book against the Shutterfly book. Look how much bigger it is.

The Blurb book is the standard landscape, 10x8 hardcover image wrap, the Shutterfly book is the 12x12 hard photo cover.

I really liked the Shutterfly book because of the size, it makes all the pictures really dramatic and stand out. Everyone that I've shown this photobook to is wowed by it (and thank you again to KVW photo for taking such beautiful pictures of us!) I love the cover and being able to customize it on both books, it helps that J is very talented and can create beautiful designs. I am working on another one for our wedding pictures from our photographer and I think I'm going to try out the large format landscape (13x11) from Blurb.

Let me know if you are interested in seeing how that one turns out and I will post about it. Not sure when I will do it though. I keep on trying to get to it and then something else comes up so I still have to pick out my favorite photos!

Oh and also, I got a tip from Monica of Ciao Chessa, who is an AMAZING photographer. (go see her blog and her etsy store if you haven't already) to use Adoramapix for ordering prints. They have all these paper choices like lustre, matte, silk, and metallic so I'm definitely going to try them out for our prints.

It's funny how when your wedding is done then you are just done with it. Like I was super motivated to get things done before the wedding and now, just picking out my favorite pictures to give to my parents is a task that just keeps on getting pushed back!

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Currently Loving: Rompers

I am loving rompers for the summer. I've been spotting them on celebs and just think they are adorable. How great does Blake Lively look in this piece? The look is so simple, classy but totally effortless. I love how she matched it with the necklace and the totally hot pumps.

In real life though, I'd be too conscious of wearing something that short with heels. Although I know that it would help elongate the legs, wearing flats with short shorts is just as cute.

I found a couple of cute rompers that I'm planning on putting in my shopping cart and thought that it would be fun to create outfits with them. I get a lot of requests from my readers to post more "recessionista" friendly items and I wanted to play around with it to see if I could create two similar outfits but with totally different price points. The best part of this is that all items can be mixed and match so if you wanted to splurge on the shoes, you could still get the rest of the outfit from the "recessionista" set.

I chose a cute romper that I thought would be cute to wear throughout the summer along with a cardigan (as I mentioned, I am always cold!). I added gladiator sandals because it went with the whole casual chic vibe of the romper. I'm also never one without a big cocktail ring so found some options to wear with this outfit.

Recessionista:

Total outfit cost $94

(All links are linked to the items)

#1 - Lulu's/#2 - Forever 21/#3 - Lulu's/#4 - Forever 21

Richie Rich:

Total outfit cost: $608
#1: C&C Califonia (Revolve Clothing)/ #2: Michael Stars (Revolve Clothing)/ #3 Tory Burch (Nordstrom)/ #5 Ariella Collection (Nordstrom)

You might ask why I decided to mix silvers and golds together but I really love mixing them. I'm not one to just wear gold or just wear silver. The mix of the two makes it modern and fun.

If you want to know my ideal outfit it would be a mix of Recessionist Romper #1, with Richie Rich cardigan #2, Richie Rich sandals #3 and Recessionista ring #4. That total cost would be $475 but the expensive item is the shoes which I feel is always worth splurging. I imagine that the $18 sandals would be cute at first but I can't imagine how comfortable they would be for that price. When buying flats, I like them to be as comfortable as possible. Of course just because shoes are expensive does not mean they will be comfortable but I own many pairs of Tory Burch shoes and find them to hold up really well and are super comfy. I walked through Paris and London in my Tory Burch flats and my feet were quite happy with me.

If you are looking for a mid-range gladiator, I think these Sam Edelman's are fantastic and at $89.95 a great price for a good quality shoe.

Either way, I think both choices could do you no wrong. Since this outfit is more on the side of trendy items, I think the recessionista is a much better choice. However I do always think of the quality of items and how long it would last, which is why I went with the more expensive option of the cardigans. I know I would pair it with a lot more things and would get a lot of wear not only in the summer but in the colder months as well. In fact, I have 3 of those Michael Stars cardigans and I don't know what I would do without them. I wear them all the time over all sorts of tops. They look great and don't lose shape at all even after a ton of washes (which you will find with the cheaper options).

Hope you liked my picks! It was fun putting this together. If I end up liking either of the rompers, I will post up a lookbook of the outfit. But it's gonna be awhile because the weather we are having in Seattle is not going to permit me to wear shorts any time soon!

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Lookbook: L.A.M.B

It's the return of the purple leggings! They are so comfy and fun to wear, I really love the color.

What I'm Wearing:
Tunic: Edun
Skirt: Aritzia (you can't see it but it's there!)
Belt: Forever 21
Shoes: L.A.M.B

I wanted to channel my inner Gwen Stefani

source

Because of my new shoes! (from her line)
L.A.M.B "Faran" Sandal

I have to admit that I haven't been a very big fan of L.A.M.B. It was always a bit too quirky and out there, which is totally her style but I'm not sure how many people in real life can pull it off. However, I have found some great pieces this season and fell in love with a few pair of shoes. I almost got these ones...

L.A.M.B "Layard" heel from heels.com

But when I slipped my feet into the Faran sandals, my husband said I had to get them and I'm never one to argue with him when he loves something on me. Of course being an annoying size 5 my awesome shoe guy (Derek at Nordstrom Salon Shoes in Bellevue!) had to order them for me and I had to wait patiently for them to arrive at my house. I am so not patient when it comes to waiting for shoes to arrive. But hey, I was just happy that they had a 5!

They are so different than all my other shoes as I like to stick with classic shapes. I have more pumps than any kind of shoes but I have been craving some type of gladiator shoes. These ones fulfilled that need as they are a bit gladiator-esque but a bit more classy and can be dressed up at the same time.

So if you know me, my style is much more classic than trendy like Gwen so this is the craziest I go with my studded belt, tunic and bright tights!

Get used to seeing these shoes as I think I will be wearing them a lot this summer! :)

I finally got my new curling iron and I LOVE it! I've never had my hair curl so well. Will do a post soon about my hair tools. I went a little crazy and winged out my eyeliner (I know, so crazy right?) Sorry you can't see it so well (dang my small eyes) but I did a dark brown shimmer shadow on the corners and filled the rest of my lid with a taupe color. I went with a light pink shimmer for the lips.

I took the above picture with our new shutter release cable. I am experimenting with taking my own pictures but it is hard to pose myself FOR myself! Don't worry my personal photog (husband) is not going anywhere. I just like to play around with new camera toys. :)

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Win a $1000 Lucky Brand Shopping Spree

Hi all! If you haven't yet gone to Lucky Style Spotter to win a shopping spree head on over now!

Vote to Win a $1,000 Lucky Brand Shopping Spree
Three aspiring stylists got full access to the Lucky Brand showroom to put their spin on the spring collection. Vote for your favorite for the chance to win a $1,000 Lucky Brand shopping spree.

(click on image for the link)

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Random Friday

I'm having an off-week. I haven't been able to sleep and been worried/stressed about everything. I am completely exhausted. Therefore, here is random mix of things that I just put together, which is definitely unusual for me since I usually love being organized.

So here we go, Random Friday!

Style-ish quick hair tip: Dry shampoo is an essential tool for styling your hair.

Here's a look I did last week. My inspiration for the day was Rachel Zoe. All I remember when I watched her show was her hairstylist doing her hair and making it bigger and bigger. Dry shampoo is the way to go if you're trying to get your hair like this and you don't have a stylist doing your hair. I use Stila hair refresher in Jade Blossom (it smells yummy!) which is also great for when you don't have time to shower but want to freshen your hair. It absorbs all the oils in your hair so that the texture is easier to work with. Put a little bit in your hair, brush it through and then use a round brush to tease your hair at the roots.

source

And for those of you that I may have bored with my hair tip. Here's some shoe pretties to keep you interested! Ooh pretty...

Shoes by Dior. Photos by my awesome husband.

(I have to mention that my pants aren't really that short. I was holding them up. haha, just thought you all might think I was wearing some kind of weird short pants!)

I also wanted to take this time to thank everyone that gave me award and apologize for how long it has taken me to post these. I sincerely adore you and are so flattered that you chose me. Thank you!

from The Emerald Dandy
I pass this onto:
It's Unbeweavable!
Fashion Chalet
StyLust Chic



from Luphia Loves
I pass this onto:
Ciao, Chessa!
Modestly Chic
Not Your Plain Jane


from Through the Looking Glass
I pass this onto:
my so called fabulous life...
Hot Robot
~LOTUS~

I've also been tagged by freetyme to share 6 things that make me happy, so my 6 are:
1. Spending time with my mom and dad
2. Sleeping through the night (something I am lacking for the past week)
3. When I get my engagement ring and wedding bands cleaned and it becomes blind your eyes out sparkly.
4. when my doggy Savvy sleeps and she shuts her eyes so tight. it's looks like she having the best sleep ever.
5. my husband who makes the coffee every morning just how I like it.
6. this picture

cute overload

It's Friday! Yay! Happy weekend everyone!

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Vacay: Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach

Our trip to Cabo was much needed and I think we had too great of a time that coming back to the snow in Seattle was a bit too sad for us. When J and I travel we tend to have very packed schedules with all sorts of things to do as we love exploring the cities we visit. We try to take in everything that we possibly can and at the end of the trip we are quite exhausted. This trip was pretty much the opposite. We spent most of our days just walking around the resort and relaxing by the pool with some kind of yummy frozen beverage in hand. We only went into town for dinners and we did venture out for a day but there really wasn't much to see.

The flight was uneventful which is exactly how you want to start the vacation.

We stayed at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach and the resort was HUGE. There were golf cart kind of vehicles that you could call to take you everywhere but J and I don't mind walking so we only took the carts 3 times the entire trip. It was quite hilly and they had these daunting stairs but I figured since I was stuffing myself with food and fruity drinks I might as well do some walking to burn off those calories.

We woke up to the gorgeous sun every morning but one day I woke up early enough to catch the sun rise and grabbed my camera and snapped some pics on our balcony.

The sunsets were to die for. Everything on the resort just became this beautiful blue-purple color. It was a dream to photograph.

And of course we had to get pictures of each other at the resort. This is my favorite picture I took of J.


my man with his hat and his camera. two must haves in Cabo!


I had to pretend to be a model since my husband seemed to be so good at it...


Gotta love the tripod and the timer!


And then when we had enough of taking pictures of the pretty backgrounds, we just got silly.


My husband has this thing of taking really close up shots, you know those ones that show your pores and that every woman hates? Well, he likes to take those.


The nights were just as beautiful as the days. A little bit chilly but not too bad.


We ate a lot but our favorite dishes there were the shrimp dishes. Everything there that had shrimp in it was seriously awesome. If you ever stay at this resort, get the shrimp tacos at the Bistro restaurant, they were SO good! I have food pictures and all that but I think this post is long enough!

In short, I highly recommend this resort. It was pretty much the farthest resort that you could go to in Cabo. We were so far away from the city and up high in like a mountain that we never got bothered once by crazy spring breakers or such. We talked to a couple at the airport who stayed closer to town and said that the beaches were crazy and the music thumping went on all night. There were some families with kids but they had separate pools and we never really saw them. The majority of people were retirees so there was never any overcrowding at the pools or waiting in line to get drinks. (they actually come to you and ask you if you want anything). The service was always great and the room we got was lovely.

So after a week of sun and fun, we had to kiss Cabo goodbye and hope to be able to come back soon!


We have more pictures on style.ish so hop on over there to check them out!

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