Alumni Dinner Success!

So last night was the dinner that I've been planning for about a month and a half. About 25 people showed up, so it was slightly less than I anticipated, but I was super excited that these 25 people were just as pumped to go as I was!
Fuddrucker's was so nice to all of us and I think they appreciated the business! Here are a few photos:

The Boys!

Some of the early arriving girls!

                                       

I loved all these cute reuniting moments!! Everyone caught up on schools and stories and fab things like that!!

More attendees!

All the tall girls from my graduating class--we're all 6'0'' or above! This was the best skirt photo too! I got so many compliments on it! Go forever21!

A few girls around the AWESOME cake my mom designed, check it out:

A bunch of schools that my classmates are attending!! Everyone loved this! Maroon was one of my high school's colors so we used it as the base. One local grocery store specializes in cakes and they are awesome!

Can you believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve Eve? I always feel like Eloise from Eloise and Christmastime when I say that. I love that book and the movie in New York. What a great Christmas spirit movie! I hope you all are enjoying the pre-Christmas days, and I hope you're all staying safe if you've got as much snow as I do. Avoid the roads and the malls if AT ALL possible!

xxKatie

Busy Bee

Hi all! Today I went power shopping. I had 2 goals in mind and I went shopping knowing what they were. I said in my last post that I like to browse online before I go into the store. I was headed to forever21 in my mall and so I checked the website to see what they might have in store for me. I came across two things on the website that I wanted to look for in the store. Fortunately or unfortunately, I found one of them! Check out this skirt that I snagged:

How cute?! I need an outfit for an alumni function for my high school class that I'm organizing for next Monday the 21st. Imagine this with black tights, a black turtle neck and black boots! I'm so excited that it only set me back $20.99-tax included, it's very me too! I managed to snatch up the very last one in the store, or at least the last one I could find, you know how forever21 stores can be! Here's a photo of the "real life" version that I actually own:

                         

It really is pink, but there isn't really good lighting in my room!!

I also needed a Christmas cocktail dress for a work party that a close co-worker of mine is hosting! She sent out fabulous evites a few days ago, specifying cocktail attire and I don't have any decent dresses for the winter. I grabbed this dress from H&M for ~$35!

How fun is that bow at the top? Click on the photo if you need so you can see the details. It looks nicer as a larger picture! I'm super excited to pair this with black tights and some kind of festive black shoes. My sister is going to wear a similar champagne colored dress with a scoop neckline from Madewell (J. Crew's "cousin" store) with black tights as well!

I am so excited about my week coming up! It should be a lot of fun. And hopefully my hair will be all set to go right around Wednesday because that's my appointment day with my REAL hair woman. I'm crossing my fingers that she can salvage the current color (yucky orange-auburn, not me at ALL) and get it to something respectable-oh college adventures!

I'll keep ya posted for sure!

xxKatie

Halloween!

So for Halloween, my promise to myself was to a) not pay for my costume ideally and b) not look trashy. I am not a huge fan of Halloween, and in my family we try as hard as possible to not celebrate it. Since I've stopped Trick or Treating when I was like in 5th grade-maybe-I've followed in my family's footsteps and never really been into the holiday. However, since being at college Halloween is taken VERY seriously. I attended 3 Halloween parties and attempted to have 3 different costumes. My goals were clear and simple and I somehow managed to fulfill both believe it or not! For my residence hall, we had a "Rave to the Grave". I'm on my residence hall government so I helped a lot in the planning of the event. I was more than happy to help run it but I had left my costume options up to that day...probably not the best idea! I used the trusty old google and ended up being an "autograph book" and had people sign me! Well, not only did it go over well, but I used highlighter for people to sign so it doubled as rave-wear! I'm not a huge fan of this photo, but its a good one of my shirt:

                                         

On the front it said "Are You Famous..." and on the back it said "...cause I could use your autograph". I loved this costume and would definitely recommend it to anyone! These are all people from my hall: a gorilla, me, Lucy Liu, and a USC frat boy (there's nothing in that cup :).

For night 2, a friend hosted a Halloween party at her apartment. Again, wanting to look classy and have an inexpensive (NOT CHEAP) costume I looked through my closet to see what I could come up with. I decided to go with a tried and true costume that I've worn for spirit week. I went as Elle Woods from Legally Blonde!

                                       

I wore a pink and green polka dot shift with a big pink coat on top! I wore Platinum jacks and was so so so comfy! My friend here is dressed up as champagne! I ABSOLUTELY loved her costume! I told her it was just about as sophisticated as a Halloween costume could get! She wore all cream colored clothing and super sparkly gold and pearl jewelry. She even had a logo on her sweater but I'm blocking it...oops! I loved the gold and opaque gift bow she wore on her head and she had a cork in her bag. Too cute!

Finally for the last night, I was basically all out of ideas. Night 3 in a 3 night ordeal that I don't usually celebrate. I broke down and googled "cheap easy Halloween costumes for college kids". Quite a wordy search so I didn't expect to get much. Well, there are some very creative people out there who suggest wonderful costume ideas! I saw a suggestion for Vanna White from Wheel of Fortune, and knew I could do it! My mom recently bought me a black floor length dress from forever21 that I knew could work with some blingin' jewelry and big high heels (Lilly "the High Life Sandal" actually). Vanna always has perfectly coiffed hair, so I decided to borrow a girl's curling iron from 2 doors down, Lucy Liu actually. These were the curls I came up with (thinking of all Summer Wind's curling tips, which work great by the way):

                                             

The quality isn't too good since its from a mirror (EW! so myspace-y I don't ever do it but it was the only way I could get a decent hair shot). I carried around the letter E on a piece of computer paper and asked people if they "Wanted to buy a vowel?". That was when they really knew who I was! Here's a better shot of the whole costume:

                                                    

This friend of my went as Mrs. Polamalou (I'm probably killing the spelling of that name). We went to the last get together with each other!

I'd say that my 2 goals were accomplished both nights successfully! What were you all for Halloween? See any FABULOUS costumes you can't wait to steal next year? Hope everyone had safe holidays!

xxKatie

Calling all Gleeks!

I was scoping out some insider information about Glee, pretty much my favorite TV show on TV, and came upon this website. After poking around and seeing the slide show, I found this photo. Look at her skirt...might we remember someone else who owns that? 

Circa the Busy Bee post I wrote in December, you might all remember that I DO! I wore this skirt to an unofficial alumni function that I organized during our Christmas break! I am SO SO SO excited to be matching a GLEE character! I let out a little victory yelp and my roommate looked at me like I was crazy for being excited about it haha!

There I am with two of my other very tall friends in the skirt. It is a teeny bit hard to see the bow since I don't wear it smack dab in the middle of my waist, but it is the same one! I do admit I'm a big-time Gleek, and this probably goes to prove that! Oh well!!

xxKatie

Wonderful Wallets

Recently, I've gotten back into lugging my VV tote around again. I find myself wanting to take more and more STUFF with me when I go places, that I somehow need a tote bag again. I have so much stuff in that bag right now, I swear it must be bottomless. I also, in my bag of wonders, have this fabulous wallet. I got it from Forever 21 awhile ago. It's a knockoff of a HOBO wallet which runs like $100+ while this one is only $10.50. And I am not buying a $100 WALLET. I love love love the pale green one that a friend of mine has. This is the HOBO wallet (in kind of a not-functional patent maroon color):They have so many useful compartments, a closeable section for change, and an easy access pocket for your I.D. However, $100+ is too much for a wallet alone.

I happened to stumble upon this one in forever 21. Mine is a pale pink color with a black paisley coin section. It is a little different than the HOBO one, but clearly inspired by it.The color I have actually coincidentally matches the pink of the VV whale print that is on my tote bag. This color resembles their logo pink more than the shade used in their silk prints. The inside of these wallets are equally as cute as the HOBO ones, and have all of the features of the HOBO model. They have a place to slide in paper money, a coin purse, credit card slots, and an I.D. "window". The inside of this pink one looks like this:Talk about cute. I mean Pink and Navy, this is my second favorite combination only to pink and green! This print is reminiscent of the Lilly "Audrey" shift dress in the "Vanilla Oh Jackie" print:(I don't think I've used this many pictures in a single blog post ever!!) Anyway, the Forever 21 wallet comes in Yellow, Black, Dark Pink (what I featured), Cream, and Purple (which is more like Dark Blue Violet). If you are in need of a larger wallet, go for this one! The coin purse part of it can double as a cell phone pocket if you're not one to carry coins and jingle! They are still available online, so definitely check them out! I myself have used mine for probably close to a year, and all the hardware is in mint condition, none of the fabric has ripped, the I.D. "window" is as clear as it was when I bought it, and none of the credit card slots or money areas have gotten stretched out!!! Happy shopping!

xxKatie