Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited to eat mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. I'm definitely of the mindset that while having turkey is a given, the real stars of Thanksgiving are actually the sides. This Hell Bunny dress kind of pays homage to those dishes, with its cranberries, pumpkins, apples, and squash, so it seemed like a fitting choice for this holiday.

To be honest, this silhouette isn't my go-to these days, but it's definitely a cute little dress. It's also pretty lightweight and comfortable, which is good for eating (but not so great for warmth during this time of year). I really like Hell Bunny's seasonal pieces a lot, but I wish the fabric quality was a bit more aligned with the price point. I think I probably will wear this dress tomorrow, maybe with a green cardigan over it to break up the pattern a bit. It also goes perfectly with my little pumpkin necklace!

Outfit Details

Hell Bunny Pumpkin Dress: available here

Pumpkin necklace: Evelyn Mae Creations

Shoes: B.A.I.T. Footwear

What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving dishes? I love hearing what families eat on Thanksgiving. We have mostly the same spread every year, but I think my mom is adding butternut squash soup to the menu this year! We also have this strange family tradition of having green Jell-O. I'm not sure when it started, but it's been part of the holiday since I was born. Tell me the dish you can't live without (or the one that might be silly but is also a must-have) in the comments!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Sweet Summer

I have a tendency to feature dresses here on the blog as soon as I acquire them... but occasionally, there's one that slips through the cracks. This beautiful Hell Bunny dress has been sitting in my closet for about a year now – not because I don't love it, but because it feels too fancy to wear for a lot of occasions. I still haven't found the proper event to really show it off, but I decided that I don't need the "right time" to appreciate my clothes, and promptly put it on during a particularly hot day for a few minutes. Hell Bunny finally launched an online store on their own website (so now you can order directly through them!). Although this dress isn't currently available, they have tons of other cute things – and you can get 10% off your order when you head over to their site!

I'm especially obsessed with the back drape detail – it's just so pretty and romantic. I think this dress would be perfect for a summer wedding (if only I had one to attend!). I actually owned another style of dress in this same fabric, but I found this style to be more flattering on me. This chiffon fabric is quite delicate, and this style seems to be a bit more resilient than the other I tried as well (which started to tear after one wear, unfortunately). This one fared much better, and I hope I can wear it for a longer period next time! Because of all of the lovely detailing on this dress, I opted for simple styling; I'd usually feature more pieces in a blog post, but I don't think it needs a whole lot more than this (maybe a cute clutch and a bracelet, at most)!

Outfit Details

Hell Bunny Summer Dress: exact // similar

Heels: ModCloth

I'm eager for the weekend to arrive (it's official: I'm living for the weekends now), since it'll mean I'll finally be at my new place full-time (with internet, yay!), and I'll have a little free time for blogging. I have a feeling it's still going to be a while before I totally adjust to this new life I'm making for myself, which is okay – I just need to remember to be a little more patient than I usually am. I'm trying to handle everything with grace, but it's not always easy. I think the important part is that I'm trying, and I'm doing something kind of scary, and I hope other people are willing to be a little more patient with me, too.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Sunhats & Sunflowers

Sunflowers are one of my favorite blooms to have around. They're just so cheerful! This is my second sunflower printed dress (it actually has two of my favorite flowers – sunflowers and daisies), and I couldn't wait until late summer to wear it here on the blog. It's actually an older Hell Bunny dress, but I'd been wanting it for quite some time and hadn't had much luck finding it until now. It's the perfect match for this sunflower Erstwilder brooch, and my mom was sweet enough to get me a little sunflower bouquet to make me smile.

Outfit Details

Hell Bunny sunflower dress: swap group (similar here + here)

Sumptuous Sunflower brooch: c/o Erstwilder

Boater hat: Pinup Girl Clothing

Petticoat: Pinup Girl Clothing

Flats: similar

Today is the first day of my new job, and I'm pretty anxious about it, but optimistic. I've said it before, but it's really scary to venture into brand new territory. This week is going to be crazy-busy; I'm moving into my new apartment this weekend, so between getting adjusted to working full-time and packing and everything else, I'm probably going to be stressed out and perhaps not able to blog as much as I'd like – but I have to believe it'll all work out and will be great in the end. Thank you to all of you who have offered words of encouragement and advice – it's been wonderful to have your support.

Really Good Hair Club

I don't wear separates very often, but when I saw this t-shirt from You Were Swell, I knew I had to find a great skirt to go with it.  I've admired Sophie's work for quite some time, and I'm so glad I finally have one of her pieces!  This particular design also comes in tote bag and print form, but I'm glad I bought the top.  My only regret is that you can't see more of the graphic with this outfit!  These photos are from a couple of weeks ago, so apologies for the abundance of snow.  I was so sick of trudging through all of it in my backyard, so I tried to make the front walk work for a location.  I can't wait for nicer weather so that I can scout out some other places for blog photos!  

Quite a bit has happened over the past couple of weeks.  I've spent the last 3 years working in the box office for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and I finally made the decision to leave my job there to start working as an assistant for my mom.  I'm not sure whether or not I've mentioned this, but my mom is a publicist for a lot of arts organizations in Rochester (including the orchestra I was working for), and her business has grown so much that she now needs extra help.  I really enjoyed my time at the box office, and I'm really going to miss my coworkers and managers.  But after three years, I decided that I had gotten about as much out of it as I can, and I felt it was time for me to go in another direction and gain a whole new skill set.  It was a tough decision (and leaving was very bittersweet), but I think this will be good for me in the longterm.  Going out of your comfort zone is a scary thing, but I'm embracing it so that I can grow and figure out my next steps.  I'll be working from home, doing some writing, working with media and learning a lot.  I'm excited to see what the future holds!

Outfit Details

Really Good Hair Club tee: You Were Swell

Hell Bunny skirt: Modern Pinup

Saddle shoes: Unique Vintage

Cardigan: ModCloth

Petticoat: eBay

Socks: similar

Belt: old

Have a great Monday!

xox Sammi

Sweetheart

Even though I have spent the majority of my Valentine's Days as a single gal, I've always sort of liked this holiday.  I mean, any excuse to eat candy and wear pink sort of has my name written all over it.  I stayed really busy last year (and I was quasi-dating someone at the time), so I wasn't all that bummed out.  But I've been very aware of it this year.  It's made me sadder than I care to admit.  I experienced some really nice Valentine's Days in my last relationship, and if I'm being honest, it's still a little bit hard to accept that that particular chapter in my life is over.  I know there will be a point where I'm with someone way better for me and will forget all about February 14ths of relationships past... but for now, I'm still kind of nostalgic for them and feel a little blue this Valentine's Day.  Which is why I'm very glad that ice cream was invented.

I mentioned in my last post that you would be seeing my other pink coat today.  I'm a total coat fanatic, but this one is definitely one of my favorites.  It's so warm and cute!  It's probably not as flattering as some of my other coats, but feeling like a pink ball of fluff is never a bad thing (in my opinion, anyway).  I couldn't figure out what to wear with this coat at first because it's such a statement piece, but then I remembered I hadn't worn this Nishe dress since the summertime, and I liked the idea of incorporating red, pink and white into my outfit for today.

I'm thankful that I won't have a ton of time to dwell on my stint in singledom today, since I have to work and have a performance of my show tonight.  In other circumstances, that might be a total bummer, but I definitely need something to occupy my mind (and keep me from eating my weight in Reese's peanut butter hearts).  Our shows have gone well so far and the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and I've really enjoyed working on music that isn't so typically musical-theatre-y.  I love that too, of course, but a change does a person good.  I need to remember that.

Outfit Details

Hell Bunny coat: Beserk (no longer available)

Nishe dress: ModCloth

Belt: from another dress
Purse: ALDO (old)

Boots: eBay

Have a sweet Valentine's Day!

xox Sammi

Ice princess

I guess you could say I'm a little coat-crazy.  Or maybe a lot coat-crazy.  Alright, I'm downright obsessed with outerwear.  If you live in a place with frigid winters like I do (it was -4 degrees earlier this week!), owning a pretty coat (...or seven) to complete your ensemble -- rather than just covering it up -- makes the cold weather much more bearable.  And when you have a coat as pretty as this one, the rest of the outfit doesn't much matter.

This coat makes me feel like royalty (hence the post title).  This is one of a few Hell Bunny coats I own, and they're all so special, flattering and surprisingly warm.  It can be a challenge to find outerwear that looks decent over crinolines, but this coat has a very accommodating full skirt and the length is perfect for me.  The one downside to this coat is that it doesn't have pockets.  I've been wanting a muff for a while, so maybe I should get one to alleviate the problem of where to put my gloves!

Outfit Details

Hell Bunny coat: available here

Dress (underneath): c/o eShakti

Petticoat: available here

Hat: Neely Auction
Shoes: ModCloth

Have a lovely Saturday!

xox Sammi

Edelweiss

These past couple of weeks have been kind of a blur.  I had planned to have a new Friday Favorites post up yesterday, but I've been working so much that I didn't have the time or energy to finish it.  I'll have a good one up next week, I promise.  I did manage to snap these photos earlier this week, though.  There was one day where the weather was unseasonably warm -- so much so that I didn't even need a coat! -- and I thought I'd grab the opportunity to wear my new Hell Bunny dress.  I'd been eyeing this dress for quite some time, but I couldn't decide on a color (it also comes in green and purple).  It seemed to disappear from Amazon and eBay, but I ended up finding it on the UK Amazon site for very cheap in this blue colorway, so I decided to go for it.  I wish I'd had it in time to do an Oktoberfest post (Novemberfest doesn't have the same ring to it), but I still had to style it with Heidi braids and my pretzel necklace!  (And yes, I know that those things are German and my post title is very much Austrian... but I had to take some creative license here... and make a musical theatre reference.)

As far as life updates: on a positive note, I've been doing pretty well on Weight Watchers this week.  Sometimes when I've tried to go back on it, it's been hard to commit, but I feel much more determined this time.  It's sort of weird how much more I appreciate food when I take the time to account for everything I put in my body.  Food just tastes better, somehow.  And then on a somewhat scary note, my dad was in a pretty bad car accident this week.  He's fine, luckily, but his van was pretty much totaled.  Some guy ran a red light and t-boned right into my dad.  Fortunately, it was on the passenger side (and no one else was in the car).  My road test is in less than 2 weeks, which is sort of ironic timing, since one of the main reasons I avoided driving for so long was because of car accidents.  But my dad is safe, and I know how to keep myself safe while driving, so it's not something that induces fear so much anymore.  So I guess I'm making progress all around!

Outfit Details

Hell Bunny Oktober Dress: Amazon UK

Pretzel necklace: ModCloth (similar)

White flats: YesStyle

Petticoat: eBay

Have a great Saturday!

xox Sammi