the barristers ball

This past weekend we attended the Barristers' Banquet for my husband's law school.
It's a formal annual event for the entire law school, and serves as a sort of end-of-year celebration for the graduating third year students.

Rather than buying a new outfit, I opted to pull out my Valentine's Day dress for another night out!
It's one of the prettiest dresses I've ever owned, and it deserved a little more time in the spotlight.

These shoes are one of my favorite pairs.
While I could wear them casually on an almost daily basis, I chose to test them out on a much fancier outfit.
I didn't feel like wearing heels, but wanted to play off of the beautiful shimmers in the dress's fabric, so the gold pointed toe did the trick.
Plus the ankle straps and their little gold notches just add to the unique twist of these shoes! I love them.

Dress: Modcloth, Shoes: Ruche (shop!), or Urbanog
Bangle: Kate Spade, Pinky Ring: Vintage (from Etsy)

I absolutely love getting dressed up.

Now that we're out of the high school/college days, the excuses to go all out in formal wear seem to be few and far between. But being in law school has prolonged our school-life departure for a few more years, so I suppose we'll have to make our own fancy occasions when we enter fully into adult life.

 It was a great night!

apples and doilies

Dress: Ruche (shop!)(remix!), Sweater: Gifted, Scarf: Zulily
Tights: Target, Shoes: Gifted

This week has certainly been a busy one.
In the midst of it all, it's nice to find free time here and there to see good friends, watch favorite shows, and enjoy the beautiful moments.
I love this sweater, because when I first tried it on and showed my husband, he responded,
"Aww, you have a doily on your back!"
It's quite true, and quite wonderful.
I'd say doilies and apples (see the remix here) go quite well together.

emerald + peter pan

Green is my absolute favorite color.
It possibly stems from my obsession with all things Irish growing up, when the shamrock became my "favorite flower". My dad is particularly excited about our Irish heritage, and St. Patrick's Day was always filled with a delicious Irish meal (potatoes, corned beef, cabbage, or Guinness stew, etc.) and lots of Irish spirit.
This vibrant color was more solidified as my true favorite when it became my wedding color!
Green, brown, and gold will always elicit images of the happiest day of my life.

Thus, when the Pantone color of the year was announced as Emerald Green, I knew 2013 was going to be my year.

Top: Ruche, Collar/Top: Ruche, Jeans: Forever 21, 
Booties: Urbanog, Watch: Gifted, Bangle: Gifted/Kate Spade

I've recently become obsessed with Kate Spade.
My best friend has fueled this fire - if there ever was a brand that really defined my friend Becky, it would be Kate Spade. And in that brand we have found love. And color and pattern and style.

She gave me this incredible gold bow bangle for Christmas, and I've hardly stopped wearing it since.

Details are the best.
I have gotten to the point where I hardly ever shop for cheap thrills - it's the statement pieces, the more investment pieces, that grab my attention.
This top was no exception.
And because I'm an Arizona girl, and I never get to see snow, I had to add that Christmas-y pop of red to such a beautiful wintery day!

It's still pretty chilly around here, although the snow has almost all melted away.
Rumor has it we'll be getting more on Friday, so fingers crossed for more snowy photoshoots!