outfit of the day

I window shop online way too much. There's always stuff that I'm always wanting! Anyway, I've been doing a little early spring shopping and saw this darling little dress and just had to share. Isn't it cute? And it's only $40!

Delia's Regina Chambray Dress
Take 15% off with code D15AFF, ends Feb. 4th!

It would look great with this fab blazer. It looks more expensive than it really is.

shopmamie.com - Sail Away with Me blazer

I'm really into soft neutrals for this spring and these pumps fit into that category perfectly.
Giuseppe Zanotti

I love initial necklaces but I've never had a lower case initial, I really like this one, especially with the diamond in the center.

Ariel Gordon Jewelry :: T Initial Pendant

Perfect nail color for the spring!

essie nail colour Polish, Big Spender

Thanks to The Beauty File for helping me open my eyes to nude bags, I have now been on the lookout for one and I love this Marc Jacobs!

MARC JACOBS 'Rio' Quilted Bag

And just some other spring picks from Delia's.
(click on the pictures to take you to the direct link)

I've been trying to keep up with my formspring but I've been getting lots of questions each day so I'm getting to them slowly but surely. If you haven't seen your question come up yet, it's not because I'm ignoring it, I'm just trying to answer them in the order that I've gotten them and now a bit backed up. I think I'm going to take questions until sometime next week and then take down my formspring. It's been fun getting so many questions, I think you all now know more about me than you ever needed to know! haha. Anyway, if you have any more questions for me, leave them here.

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Lookbook: We Love Colors

I'm still on my colored tights/leggings kick so it was perfect timing when We Love Colors sent over a few of their opaque tights and leggings for me to try out. I instantly fell in love with this deep plum color but had a hard time putting together an outfit.

What I'm Wearing:
Cardigan: Aerie
T-shirt: J. Crew
Skirt: Black Monday
Leggings: We Love Colors
Shoes: Miu Miu

The leggings are awesome. They are much thicker than other leggings I own and super comfy. Definitely check out their website for the other colors, they have 51 colors to choose from!

The outfit I admit is not one of my best, I would do a different color top, not sure why I chose that purple when it obviously does not go together! But that's the best part about having a fashion blog is seeing my mistakes and learning from them.

Shop the Lookbook:

:: the cardigan ::

Long cocoon-collar belted cardigan

Or instead maybe this gray blazer, or a printed cardigan.

:: the top ::
Joie Alicia Racer Tank
I think a printed top like this would be cuter with the outfit. I like that it's not matchy matchy and since it's tucked into the sweater it's not a huge focal point just an accent.

A plaid button down could be cute too or ooh, I love this starry top.

:: the skirt ::
Blank Bandage Mini Skirt

A poofy skirt instead? or do I forget about the entire outfit and just wear the leggings with a dress?
Anthropologie Leading Role Dress

:: the leggings ::


We Love Colors - Solid Leggings

:: the shoes ::
L.A.M.B. Tansy II

I think these strappy criss crossy heels would be great or these DVF's (in black).

So, my friends, looking for your suggestions. How would you style the leggings differently?

We Love Colors is offering my readers free shipping with any order, just enter the code styleish. I am loving their Nylon/Lycra Microfiber Tights too so check those out and at only $12.50, you can get a couple of pairs!

pssst... you probably didn't think I'd find you but I did, I see you "borrowing" my posts and posting them one day after me. My readers can tell you are copying my posts. You know who you are. Be your own person, don't copy people's posts, if you want to "borrow" an idea please give credit. Not cool lady, not cool.

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Billy's Birthday Mission Update!

Just wanted to give an update to my brother's birthday mission to help out the Haiti earthquake relief as there is only a few days left! First of all, I am blown away by the generosity and kindness of all of you. I've gotten so many wonderful emails and DM's through twitter about helping out with Billy's Birthday Mission as well as lots of people helping spread the word. The donations have been wonderful and I'm so excited to meet the readers that have booked the photo sessions through their donation.

Billy has now raised almost $13,000! Amazing right? I am so proud of him! There are still a few more days to donate as he's trying to raise as much money before January 31st. If you are in the Seattle area, Billy is holding a beginner dSLR workshop and you can join if you donate or have donated to his mission already. If you have a dSLR but still haven't quite mastered how to use it yet, let Billy help you! Here is his description of the workshop:

I’ll be going to Gas Works Park on Sunday, February 7 @ 3:30PM to do a photography workshop...

Earlier, I helped a donor with her jewelry photography, this time the focus will be on everyday photography and photography basics. I can tell you how to take better photos of people, landscapes (like the beautiful skyline from Gas Works) and details (how to find the little things at a big place like the park.) Whatever you want help with, let me know!

If you’ve already donated, you’re free to join. However I am trying to use this to drive new people and new donations, so please if you or anyone you know has a dusty camera or who wants to sharpen their skills, let them know about this! Since this happens AFTER my fundraiser ends, I need to hear from them before the 31st.

Billy also has a few Mariner's tickets + extra goodies that has been donated that you can get for your donation. Click for information on the tickets.

I am still taking donations for Billy and will send you a print of one of my pictures in return. For a $20+ donation, I will send you an 8x10 of any of my pictures, your choice. I've had a lot of people pick my shoe pictures and lots of love for my Honolulu picture as well. You can pick anything from my flickr but here are some of my favorites that you can pick from.

Thanks again for well, everything really. I am so grateful and thankful to so many of you for helping me out with this as it is something that is so important to me and I am just blown away by the kindness that everyone has shown to me and Billy and especially the people that were affected by the earthquake.

One last thing, the wonderful Gina of Clothes, Inter Alia, has offered to donate $1 to Doctors without Borders for every comment she gets on this post. She wrote a wonderful post about Billy and his photography that you should definitely check out and oh yes, please leave a comment! :)

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Style-ish Steals: Lace

I have been noticing a lot of really pretty lace done well, meaning it does not look like you're wearing lingerie out. Celebs have been doing it well, case in point, my two recent favorites. Rachel McAdams in this gorgeous Stella McCartney (get it here for, oh only $2,895)

Red Carpet Fashion Awards

and Eva Mendes in this pretty white dress with a gorgeous silver blazer. I would think that white lace should only be reserved for weddings but Eva pulls this off fabulously!

Hollywood Reporter

Lace can be quite expensive since it's such a delicate fabric and needs to be handled in the right way but not all of us can spend $3,000 on a dress right? So here are lacey steals for under $50.

Printed lace is always a great alternative to real lace since you won't have to worry about snags!

Eight Sixty Lace Tank Dress

Love that just the sleeves are lace. This color is really pretty too.
ASOS Lace Insert Dress

I would wear this with a cardigan and top it off with a white blazer.
Lace Print Nylon Tricot 3/4 Sleeve Dress

I love drop waist dresses. And gray. This dress is calling my name!

ASOS Drop Waist Lace Dress

I really like this tunic, I would wear it with leggings and this cutie pink blazer!
Forever 21 Lace Screen Tee

Looks pretty normal from the front but click to see the back!
Charlotte Russe Crochet Lace Cardigan

Another back lace surprise. I love these tops when the front looks normal but the back is pretty!
ASOS Lace Back Jersey Front Top

Side lace panels. Great little accent.
Aqua Lace-Trimmed Racerback Tank

I've looked at this skirt online for a bit and keep on thinking that I'll order it but I never do. Maybe I should?

Forever 21 Lace Ruffle Mesh Skirt

Pearls + Lace = a perfect necklace
R.J. Graziano Faux Pearl Laced Necklace

I am always wearing big rings, I love how they added lace into the center.
Betsey johnson pink stone ring

And just a touch on the earrings.
Betsey Johnson Linear Rhinestone Earrings with Lace Ball Drop

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Travel Series: Research

So on my last travel series post, I mentioned my next post was going to be your airport/airplane essentials but I need to backtrack as I got a request from a reader who wants tips on how to prepare before you travel so thought I should post this first. And because I don't like having posts without pictures, I've added a few from our trip to San Francisco.

Even though I'm spontaneous about when we take our trips, once the decisions are made, I do a lot of planning and research.

Booking tickets:
Yapta - I use this to compare prices on tickets on the airlines I use most frequently. It's great for tracking prices if you are planning a trip months in advance (which I actually do occasionally!) I have an account with them so I can select the flights that I am interested in and it will remember those flights so I can come back and check them later on. The prices can fluctuate from day to night so I just keep on checking until I see a price that I think is reasonable. The thing about yapta is that once you buy the tickets, you can keep on tracking that flight and if the price goes under what you bought for, they let you know and you can try to get the difference back from the airline. I've done it before and the airline gave me a voucher for that amount towards my next flight.

Kayak - also to compare prices on flights. I'm the type that doesn't always rely on just one source so Kayak is my back up when I'm done checking on yapta.

Hotels:
Hotwire - if you are okay with surprises, than I highly recommend Hotwire. You choose your dates, location and then they show you several prices for hotels. You can narrow your search even further with the area of the hotel (so say if you are coming to Seattle they have it separated by downtown Pike Place, downtown Seattle Center, Bellevue, Redmond, etc...) and what star rating you prefer to really get it down to something you want. The prices are great but the catch is that you won't find out the name of the hotel until after you book it. When you click on your selection, it often shows you the reviews given by people from trip advisor (leaving out the hotel name still) so you can see what people say about the hotel. I've done this several times, always choosing 4 star and up hotels and have never been disappointed with the results. And the prices truly are fantastic. After it's been booked, I will comparison shop with the hotel booking and other sites like Expedia and the price booked on Hotwire is always a huge discount. Note: You can book flights on Hotwire as well but I've never done it before

Tripadvisor - When I don't go through Hotwire, I always check Tripadvisor first to read the reviews. Most of the reviews I've found are reliable. You definitely find the disgruntled people that seem to complain about everything but you'll also find reviewers that review everything from the service to the bathrooms to the bedsheets. I usually determine where I want to stay by clicking through their "top rated hotels". You just type in the city that you are going and they have a list of hotels as rated by travelers. And what's great is that the top rated does not always mean most expensive, you can find some really great and affordable hotels rated in the top 5. I just click through the top 10, read the reviews and see which one would be the best for us. For example, when going to Cabo, we wanted to find a place that wouldn't have lots of children and no "party hotels" where all the college kids go to. I looked through the reviews and lots of people will tell you that kind of information. I stayed away from the hotels where the reviewers mentioned loud music and lots of kids. We ended up picking Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach (#6 hotel of Cabo hotels) and we really loved it (see our pictures of it here). It was far away from the crazy college kids and there was a separate pool for families so we got what we wanted. Once I've picked a hotel from tripadvisor, I then compare prices through websites like orbitz.com, expedia.com and hotels.com. Always check more than one site. For our hotel in Hong Kong, two of those sites had the same prices but orbitz had it for $80 less per night!

Small Luxury Hotels of the World: Sometimes, I can be quite picky about where I stay so when I'm not in the mood to search for a deal, I head on over to this site which is one of my favorites to browse. I am a huge fan of smaller hotels and this site shows you some of the best of the best.

Design Hotels: If you love modern design like I do, you will love any of the Design Hotels. I can spend an hour on this site clicking each of the different locations and oohing and aahing over the pretty hotels and dreaming of staying at each one. I actually started my search of where I wanted my wedding at by looking at all the Mexico and Caribbean Design Hotels. I fell in love with Rockhouse Hotel in Jamaica but it was booked so then I went looking for hotels nearby which is how I picked Tensing Pen. Lots of people asked me why I picked Jamaica for my wedding and that's basically the events that happened!

General travel:
Travelzoo - A lot of my spontaneous trips come up because of the emails that travelzoo sends to me (sign up on the website). They compile a list of all the great deals, mostly around the US and let you know when airlines are having great flight sales and they mention a lot of package deals for hotels in Mexico and the Caribbean.

Frommer's or Lonely Planet travel guides - I'm the type that likes to have guidebooks so I can read it and highlight stuff that I want to do. J and I don't like to have schedules when we travel (that's the only time I don't schedule my life!) but we do like to know certain places that we want to see so sometime during the trip we make sure to go see it. Read the reviews on amazon to decide which travel guide might be better (it's usually a toss up for me but I usually go for Frommer's unless the reviews tell me it's not worth it.) And make sure to buy the most recent edition, I've seen some places still sell the 2003 version!

Not for Tourists - great website that's supposedly for the locals and I can say that for the Seattle one, it's pretty spot on and a lot of the places they recommend, I would too.

Yelp - I rely on yelp a lot for restaurants in Seattle, so I started using it for when we travel too (US only). Download the iPhone App and a great feature on there is that it can figure out where you are and there's a "what's nearby" feature so you can see reviews for shops and restaurants that are right by where you are standing! It's a great way to figure out a place to eat if you are starving but don't know where exactly you are and don't feel like taking a taxi some place.

I'm no travel expert but I've traveled enough and these tips that I just shared have worked great for me so I hope that this has helped those of you who don't travel as much! Planning travel is hard, there's a lot that you have to look into and you don't want to pay unnecessary high prices. It's definitely a lot of shopping around so be patient, take your time and then look forward to your vacay!

San Francisco was super windy! my hair was in knots after this day.

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pick me, pick me!

Just in case you hadn't heard, Net-a-Porter is giving away a $40,000 Shopping Spree in celebration of their one millionth order. CRAZY right? Enter here if you haven't yet! I'm crossing my fingers and saying "oh please, oh please, oh pretty please, pick me!"

This is only some of what I'd buy if I won.

I want to have these in my possession just so I can stare. Preeetty!

Valentino Rosette metallic peep-toe pumps

I don't wear much yellow but the idea of yellow shoes popping out from under skinny jeans or wide leg pants, I love!

Christian Louboutin Rolando 120 patent leather pumps

Badass!
Brian Atwood Wagner rivet suede pumps

I've been in love with these shoes since they came out but this color is to die for.

Yves Saint Laurent Tribute suede sandals

Another Miu Miu bag love.

Miu Miu Matelasse shiny leather bag

I don't own enough clutches and I think I would make really good use of this one. Swarovski studded? Sign me up!

Marc Jacobs Night In Rio Swarovski-studded clutch

You can't go wrong with a Chloe bag. Especially the Paraty.

Chloé Paraty leather tote

And that's only the shoes and handbags! I haven't even gotten to the clothes yet...

oh please, oh please, oh pretty please, pick me!

What's on your list? :)

Sorry, I think I confused people, you don't actually have to place an order to enter, anyone can enter! Just click here and enter your info. (Net-A-Porter has not asked me to blog about this I just wanted to share it myself because I think it would be so cool if someone I knew won!)

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