Featured on Glamour.com!

I love reading Glamour and I've witnessed some fabulous style and fabulous ladies featured on the Slaves to Fashion blog on Glamour.com. I finally worked up the courage to submit something and Kim brought it to my attention that I was featured as a best dressed reader! I am beyond ecstatic! I saw that a few of my readers left such sweet comments and I'm so appreciative of your comments and love.

My first guest blog post was published this week as well on Capital Gains, an area e-magazine that I freelance for occasionally. It's a sweet publication that focuses on job growth, innovation and economic growth in the region. The editor heard about my blog and asked if I would be willing to do a three part series as a guest blogger. Of course I said yes! And I received so many positive emails from friends and people in the community. I'm so thankful that the community I live in is so supportive. My face hurts from smiling so much yesterday :)

glamour feature

Link to my blog post on Capital Gains!

Out of Print

It's no secret that I'm obsessed with all things literary. I've been a bookworm for as long as I can remember, and most nights I sleep in a worn out George Orwell 1984 t-shirt I stole from my brother. So naturally, I love the concept behind Out of Print Clothing. Each t-shirt is printed with a book title and "treated to feel soft and worn like a well-read book." Furthermore, for each t-shirt sold, a book is donated to a community in need.

I'll take the Catcher in the Rye one, please.

prison stripes

I leave for Philadelphia this Thursday! I have so much to get done at work and at home before then! Ah! I'll be in Philadelphia from Thursday until Sunday. Kim of Crowded Closet and I both didn't realize it was Easter weekend so I get to spend the holiday weekend and part of Sunday with her! But basically that day will be spent traveling back to Lansing, Mich. How exciting. But the weekend should be a blast! Kim has been building up my excitement to visit by suggesting fun things to do and places to go! Restaurants, museums, shops, etc! I have a feeling I'm going to LOVE it there. And I'll be taking a ton of photos to share :)

I've been rolling up the sleeves of my leather jackets lately. I love this look and just discovered I could unzip my sleeves and do something similar with my jackets. Plus, it's warmer out and I want to keep the bad a look so rolling up the sleeves is the perfect alternative to wearing lighter coats or sweaters.
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[tights by american apparel, jacket by gap, dress by silence + noise]
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Some of these were right outside my apartment building near the garage door. I kept running away and hiding when I saw headlights. I'm certain they saw me take off in heels and hide. During the day I feel less self conscious about it, but at night while using a flash--I just feel more exposed. I need to get over it.

with your wicked blood and curls

I love the band Seawolf. Someone suggested that band on a blog 2-3 years ago and liking the name of the band, I decided to check them out. Very rarely do I like virtually every song released by a band or artist and in this case, I love all of theirs. I finally get to see them play in Grand Rapids, Mich. this month! Check them out!

Haley came over to my apartment today to watch the MSU vs Tennessee basketball game while we worked on homework/editing photos. I don't normally care about athletics at all, but I decided to support my alma mater and watch an intense game. And we won! Final four!

I wore this earlier in the week. I've been on the search of a striped shirt just like this for awhile and spotted this at Forever 21 for $12.90. YES. I've been wanting to dress these tapered pants down and when I spotted the striped top and faux leather vest, I pictured it going with these pants.
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[pants by bcbg, top by f21, vest by f 21, wedges by aldo]
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Funny story: My friend Tom went to Buffalo to see Ryan Miller, of 2010 olympic fame (starting goalie for the U.S. team) and goalie for the Buffalo team. He trained him a couple times in the past and went to go see him play with another personal trainer. After church I received a text with a message from Tom letting me know he pooped at Ryan Miller's house. I told him I was impressed. I really am.

wolf like me

I hung out with some other public relations young professionals after work today which was a ton of fun. It's a new group that got started with the Central Michigan Public Relations Society of America chapter to get young people in PR together to just talk over food and drinks and try out different restaurants and venues in the area. It's smaller scale than the other networking groups I'm involved in and I think the first meeting was a success!

I need to make more friends in this industry though. Or maybe just in general. I'm the type of person who is still best friends with people from elementary school and feel like I'm content with who I have in my life, but I need to let more people in. My friend Tom and I discussed this today. He compared his friends with the show Seinfeld with him as Jerry, me as Elaine and his two roommates filling the other two roles and how he was content with us filling those main friendship roles. I'm so thankful for the friends I have. I really do have some awesome people in my life who aren't afraid of tough love ie "Andrea, that's a stupid decision. Don't do that." Which I appreciate. My friends are funny and so out there. One of my best friends, Courtney is a five foot tall, 100 pound pistol who tells me like it is and I know she would attack anyone who did me wrong. She's been one of my best friends for the last 15 years. I miss her constantly and wish Chicago was closer to me. Tom is probably my most honest, but protective friend and I'm so glad I can have such a fab platonic friendship with a member of the opposite sex. I usually rely on Court and Tom for advice. Haley who I've featured on here is also such a great person. I feel like I can't gross her out and she's so incredibly laidback and fun to be around. She's the type of person to try anything and we have pretty much the same taste in music. We're constantly fools dancing around and I feel not so old and uptight around her. Tieka has been a friend of mine since I was 19 and she's just as disgusting as I am. We both grew up with mostly guy friends and we both have that kind of mentality where we don't get caught up in drama. Us with our matching hairy legs--we're a match made in friendship heaven. Blogging has helped me meet new people and make new friends though. I've been able to actually meet and make friends with girls I absolutely love like Kim and Melissa of Crowded Closet and go as far as book a trip to Philly to see them (next week!!)

So I really wanted a hat and although it's tough to fit anything on top of my head with my hair, I bought this hat recently despite these struggles to keep a hat on my head.
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[liquid leggings by rachel rachel roy, oxfords by aldo, hat by bdg, leather jacket by for joseph]
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mulberry

I enjoy days like today when I go to a breakfast meeting (free breakfast) and a lunch meeting (free lunch) and out for a networking event (free food and beer.) It was a productive day despite being out of the office most of the day. I worked on revising my business plan. Each staff person at our office works on developing a business plan with measurable goals/objectives we hope to achieve within one year. At least one of these objectives has to be professional development. My supervisor challenged me to pretty much get off my ass and push myself--I was reminded that successful PR practitioners have overcome fears of public speaking. In order for me to grow into future leadership positions I need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively and be somewhat persuasive. I feel so energized now that I accepted the fact that I NEED to improve and there are so many ways for me to begin to work on this. Time to do more speeches and presentations!

Since it was a little cooler today, I took this as an opportunity to wear my big ol' grey scarf perhaps one last time before it gets too warm.
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[shirt by ecote, skirt by silence + noise, shoes by bcbg, leather jacket by gap, bag by marc jacobs]
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A typical face of mine.
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Now back to editing a TON of photos for a senior portrait session and the wedding from this past weekend!

Blonde Bedhead Giveaway Winner!

According to Random.org, the winner of the Blonde Bedhead Giveaway is Jay!

Congrats, I will be mailing this to you shortly! Thanks everyone for participating!

winner

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I apologize for taking so long to post the winner..I'm technologically challenged and it took me forever to figure out www.random.org. I'm really not an idiot, but in this case, it may seem so.

kcad fashion show

What a busy weekend! I was reunited with Tieka and other fun girls to attend the Bodies of Art Fashion Show hosted by Kendall College, an art school in Grand Rapids Tieka attends. It was at the Brass Works--this cool industrial-ish building and the models were entertaining (think guy with crazy hair strutting down the glittery runway tossing up fake monopoly money.)

I felt like being comfortable so I wore jeans and a loose tee. I just realized everything I'm wearing is BDG. Ha!
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[hat, striped top and jeans by bdg, wedges by aldo]
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Tieka was trying to get a picture of my shoes, but I fell over.
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I photographed the girls before we headed inside the Brass Works and I was loving Hailey's free spiritedness when I photographed her. She hopped and twirled about.
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I really liked this dress made of shopping bags.
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Intermission entertainment was provided by the designers via karaoke. This girl was singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and the guy in front of me busted out his lighter.
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Tieka has such a cute nose.
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Yesterday, I photographed a wedding which was a blast. Despite the snow, I think I succeeded in getting fun shots outside, which I was worried about. I work with the bride and so a lot of work people were there. I love almost everyone I work with so it was fun to be around a ton of them in a non work environment. The bride and groom's family are both hilarious and entertaining. I felt so unprofessional every time I'd keel over from laughing so hard--either at the groomsmen for saying something completely inappropriate or for the guests--ie old people doing the booty drop on the dance floor. I kept wishing I had a video camera to capture it all.

Blonde Bedhead Giveaway!

Friends, thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog. I've been obsessed with fashion for probably my entire life and I wanted an outlet to share things that inspire me, what I'm wearing and my photography. I just started this blog in January and I get so excited when you guys leave encouraging comments and I've made some great friends in the process. So to express my gratitude, I shopped at one of my favorite local shops, Grace Boutique in the quaint Old Town district in Lansing and found this super cute clutch. I want to keep this for myself, but I promise I won't!

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Open to US and international readers. Leave a comment sharing your favorite song of the moment (I want to find new music!) and I'll draw a name by Monday! Please leave your email if don't have a blog so I can follow up if you win!

Thank you again lovelies!

hooray for spring weather!

It was in the 60s today! It will probably snow next week knowing how spontaneous Michigan weather is so I took advantage of it by hopping around in a tank dress after work. I shopped a bit in downtown East Lansing followed by stopping at my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Azteco. Nom!

This tank dress is so comfortable. I added a blue bodysuit and lace tank top underneath to add some color and fun. I think I may live in this dress when summer finally arrives.
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I got all kinds of dirty today on the railroad tracks. Note the dirt all over my hands that I failed to notice until much later.
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[dress by t by alexander wang, blue stapless bodysuit by american apparel, lace tank by kimchi blue, boots by deena & ozzy, knee highs by american apparel, sunglasses by marc by marc jacobs]
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Boo! Dirt all over my butt!
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My photos today became progressively funnier. I've come to realize the only time I enjoy getting photos taken is when I'm running and jumping to see how ridiculous I can look.

Ah, I'm pretty excited for this weekend! I need this week to fly by. I get to see my Tiek and attend the Kendall College of Art and Design Fashion Show on Friday followed by shooting my first wedding of the season on Saturday! Yay!

back in ravenna

Apologies for not updating sooner! I've been sick and been sort of busy. Today I went back to my hometown to visit the fam and take some senior portraits of a lovely girl named Ashley.

I endured rain, wind, mud and burrs in the butt to get some photos of Ashley. Despite all of this, I had an absolute blast. Her older sister Jenny and her mom came along--pointing out cool spots to photograph her and helping to hoist her up in what would normally be unreachable areas such barn lofts and ledges of silos. This kind of commitment guarantees sweet photos. I feel as if every two minutes I was shouting "I love this!" or a high pitched "Oooo!" It's getting me excited for wedding season to start--can't wait to start photographing weddings again!

For some reason, I was feelin' super sassy and silly today which is reflected in my photos. There were some ridiculous ones I won't share here. One looked like I was in labor. My mom brings out the best in me in my photos hehe. I love this dress and is the only bold, bright colored item I own I think.

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[dress by kensie, polka dot tights by american apparel, wedges by aldo]
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So yesterday morning, I awoke and preceded to partake in my normal morning routine by washing my face followed by using a toner. As I wiped my face off with the cotton ball, I realized I had actually used nail polish remover. Too bad I lost the sense of smell due to my cold and couldn't smell that it wasn't facial toner. Fortunately, it did not burn.

I leave you with a cute photo of my mom's new trail horse, Jake.So cute!
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