F21 Iggy Azalea Sequin Dress

Hello hello, festive friends! Happy NYE 2015 (or is it more proper to call it NYE 2014??) Okay, not gonna lie, I'm STILL undecided on what I'm wearing tonight. This sparkly short number is a bit more of a traditional glitzy NYE look. I am absolutely obsessed with this outfit, but it's going to be at/below freezing temperatures tonight so I'm a bit conflicted. Meep! This dress has been on the front page of the Forever 21 all holiday season. I thought it was kind of meh when I was viewing it online, but then I saw it person and realized that I NEEDED IT. It's so perfectly sparkly and I love the unique color variation. This dress is definitely getting packed in February for shenanigans in Vegas.

So I know it's usually blogger tradition to do a year-in-review type post at the end of the year, but to be honest, I just haven't been in that introspective mindset that's required for these type of things. I think I might have wasted it all on real talk at the beginning of the month :) The last couple of days in particular I've been feeling like a super couch potato. Not quite the relaxing kind.... the kind where you're a little restless and sort of going stir crazy for no reason. I think it's because I'm feeling a tiny bit guilty for not being as productive as I could be, but Mitch says I should enjoy the downtime of what's left of the holiday season while I can. He's right! It's just one of those moods that comes and goes. I have still managed to find pockets of time to be productive but they have been reserved for catching up on work emails and extensive house cleaning. Anyways, I think introspection and reflection are mindtivities that shouldn't be exclusive to the end of the year, so I'm sure I'll have some things along those lines to share with y'all eventually. I have a couple things swirling around in my brain :)

In the meantime, enjoy some sparkle sparkle shine time! I hope you guys have a great time ringing in the new year, whether you do it with a night out on the town or with NYE specials on the telly snuggled up at home. See you next year!

Dress Forever 21, exact
Motorcycle Jacket Forever 21, similar
Booties Target, exact

THE Black Jumpsuit

WOO Happy Monday, Party Friends! This week, I have NYE glam outfits on my mind. For the first time in a while, I'll actually be going OUT for New Year's! Mitch and I have some of our favorite friends visiting from California and we are rallying to show them the best of Seattle! It's giving us a good excuse to get our plans together to ring in 2015 with a bit more bang than usual. Our good friend, THE Jerry Wang, will be DJing at the Baltic Room and we are riding his coattails onto the guest list! I'm pretty pumped :) Now, the only thing left is.... WHAT TO WEAR?! Not gonna lie, I'm pretty basic when it comes to dressing for an NYE club outing.

Short Skirts! High Heels! Glitter! Sequins! Sparkle! Shine!

Yes. Safe to say, I LOVE dressing up for NYE! Despite my affection for all things glitter, I am for reals playing around with the idea of rocking this jumpsuit this year, although I'm a bit concerned that it's a bit too nice for a club scene. Basically, what I'm saying is, this look is just not trashy enough :) This jumpsuit was a total online impulse buy. I had no idea if it was going to look good but there was just something about it that I really liked. I think the top is designed quite elegantly. With Katrina enabling me the entire way, I had it sent to mi casa and could not be more delighted with the fit!!! The cinched band hits that perfect part of my waist. I'm not sure if the proportion of this jumpsuit just happened to work out well for me or what, but Katrina bought one of her own as well! I'm still undecided about this look for NYE, but it will definitely be in rotation for 2015!

What are y'all doing for NYE? No matter where you're going, I hope your plans include glitter :)

Organza Jumpsuit Forever 21, exact
Structured Blazer H&M, similar here and here
Shoes Jessica Simpson, similar here and here

Muted Winter Pastels

Happy Day After Christmas Day, wonderful friends! The last couple of days have been filled with nothing but food, family, friends and love. I was pretty intentional about keeping the holidays as stress free as possible this year. Mitch and I agreed to not swap presents, we made dinner plans that were more focused on spending time with people rather than creating elaborate meals, and on most days this break, we've tried to go to sleep without making plans for the next day so we can wake up and do what we feel like. Don't get me wrong, I do also love going BIG for the holidays, but after a long fall season of being on the go, some quiet time at home just completely hit the spot for me this year.

Today feels like a good day to catch up. Catch up on cleaning, on card writing, on more netflixing :) I'm thinking a little box day sale hunting might be in order and maybe a second viewing of The Hobbit later tonight! I'm keeping on my relaxed theme with another casual outfit on the blog today. As much as I love the ease and class of dressing in neutrals, color makes my world go round. I'm featuring another scarf courtesy of Hazel Vintage Co. Might I suggest that you hop over to Hello Kim and Kat to see the other ways Katrina and I have styled these scarves? Kat's way is definitely my favorite! You can still use KIM10 for a 10% discount your entire purchase at HVC!

What do you guys have planned for the long weekend? I think I'll also be on the hunt for some sequins and glitter to ring in the New Year next week! Lots of love, my friends! See you again soon!

Yellow Chevron Scarf c/o Hazel Vintage Company
Sweater Forever 21, similar here and here | Crop Top Forever 21
Skirt Forever 21, similar here and here | Quilted Booties DSW, similar

Black, White, and a Touch of Maroon

Merry Christmas Eve, lovely friends! I hope everyone is in ultimate relaxation mode. Mitch and I have been spending a ton of time marathoning shameful Netflix series with his/our roommate. I almost don't want to tell you but I'm going to tell you anyways. Lately we've been watching a lot of Blue Mountain State (SO AWFUL. but also kind of awesome) and Hung (actually pretty awesome. but actually!). We are picking up Mitch's little brother this afternoon and will be continuing the break with more movie watching and chocolate consuming. Oh! And we went and saw the Hobbit yesterday! It was AWESOME. Totally cried, absolutely my favorite in the series. So yea. Mitch and I spend a lot of time watching movies together, lol. Super exciting, yea?

Anyways, you may recognize many if not all of the key pieces in my featured outfit today. I've gotten so much better at remixing pieces in my closet and I love being able to create completely different looks without needing to go to the mall. Don't get me wrong. I love shopping and I will continue to do so, but I still think it's important to make good use of what you already have. The pieces I've recently featured on the blog are this coat, my favorite sweater dress and my favorite black boot that you've already seen once this week and again here.

Tonight and tomorrow we'll be sharing meals with friends. On both nights we'll be hanging out with families that have small children. Not gonna lie, I really like playing around with the young ones and I like to be a bit more dressed down for any rough housing that will inevitably ensue :) I like this outfit because it is put together, but features comfy cozy fabrics that I can move around (and eat!) in. I hope you guys are settled in with your loved ones for the next few days. Thanks for taking the time to stop by on a day that I know y'all are bound to be busy. See you in a couple days! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Coat Coat Calvin Klein, similar CK coats here and here | Sweater Dress Forever 21
Cardigan purchased on travel, similar | Boots Urban Outfitters, similar styles here or here |

Introducing Hello Kim and Kat!

Hello Lovelies! Today I am excited to share with you a project that has been months in the making, Hello Kim and Kat! If you've been following along with my little blog for the last few months, you may have noticed an improvement to my photography and consistency in my posting. A huge part of this is due to my very dear friend, Katrina of The Demure Muse. Since meeting Kat, the creative part of my brain has just been on fire! We work off each other so well and have a ton of fun doing it. We decided to start a blog together to document our friendship and all the shenanigans that come along with it! I'd love it if you could bookmark our blog. You can look forward to style posts, Seattle adventures and oodles of giveaways! You'll continue to see me posting regularly here. I appreciate all of your love and support so far :) Seriously wishing you the happiest of holidays! Love y'all to the moon and back!

Forest Green Fluted Mini Skirt

Happy Monday, Meow Cat Friends! Lol. I feel like I need to find different ways to greet you each post! Gotta keep our relationship fresh and interesting, you know? The best week of the year is HERE! Mitch and I are staying home for the break and having family and friends visit us. As much as I love traveling, I am so excited to be in one place for a little while. Mitch and I are getting a good amount of time off for the holidays so I'm really looking forward to spending quality time with him before the year ends and travel season picks up again. I hope you guys get to make plenty of relaxing and meaningful time with your loved ones this season.

Today on the blog I'm showing off one of my favorite purchases from Florida! This fluted mini skirt is definitely one of the best purchases of the season! The color is this gorgeous deep forest green that almost looks black in some lighting. The fit is incredibly flattering and I love the thick knit fabric. I know what you're thinking.... WTF KIM, a mini skirt in the winter? Well, yea! :D I appreciate Seattle winters. Originally from Eastern Washington, I am used to frigid, icy winters where I need to stay bundled up under layers of bulky fleece. Seattle waffles between slightly icy and early Spring day during the winter months and this particular day felt more like Spring! Don't worry, I didn't parade this around the office... for more than 30 minutes, haha. It's cool it's cool! The skirt is pretty stretchy and you can make it 6 inches longer if you pull on it a bit. I loved how fun and casual this outfit is. It's good to take it easy between high heel days! I paired this with a lovely embroidered top. Another one of my impulse buys that I have no regrets about! It took me a couple tries to figure out how to wear it, but I love how it looks with this skirt!

Special thanks to my new friend, Nini of Nerdly Beautiful for taking these fun photos of me! One of my favorite things about starting this blog is meeting other incredible style bloggers! Nini is also a kickass lady engineer. I love that she's changing the perception of what a typical computer scientist looks like just by being herself.

Utility Jacket Forever 21, similar here and here (a steal!) | Top Forever 21, similarish | Skirt Forever 21, exact
Boots Urban Outfitters, similar styles here or here | Pashmina from Thailand

Oh! And before I bid you goodbye, I really wanted to share with you my favorites from my photo session with Nini. I am completely inspired and swooning over her style. Get the rest of the details and more pretty pictures on her blog, Nerdly Beautiful. I'm looking forward to many more collaborations with you in the future, Nini!

#BCHoliday

Good evening, friends! I'm spending my sunday evening eating yummy chocolates, writing Christmas cards and prepping some of my favorite outfit shots to date for the blog! In my last post, I mentioned that my manager threw my team the most AMAZING "Mad Men" themed holiday party. He created custom cocktails for each of our team members! The idea came about during some boisterous hallway talk about blogging. Larbear (yea, my manager lets me call him this) drops that he has his own blog called LoudTalkNLiquor! WHAT? He's a self proclaimed bourbon enthusiast and has his own tumblr featuring drinks that's he's mixed! Once Brooke (my work BFF) heard of this, she gave him the idea to create custom cocktails for each member of our team. AND HE WAS DOWN! So I sent out an amazingly silly survey to our members and thus began what came to be, #BCHoliday! Everyone contributed either via yummy food, good drinks, balloon animals (!!!), warm smiles and lots of laughs. Here are some of my favorite details from the party on the blog!

No lie, Larbear looked like a legit alcoholic with all of the different bottles he needed to make each drink hoarded in his office. This was only about 1/3 of what he had out! And of course, no party would be complete without yummy noms. Brooke and I took a stroll down the best aisle at Trader Joe's and went for whatever fit our fancy! Healy, our amazing party hostess brought cheese fondue and dippings. My tummy was very happy!

I need to take a minute to brag about these recipe books! Larbear sent me the cocktail list the day before the party. I already had a vision in mind but knew it would be a bit of a stretch to turn it around in 24 hours since I needed to make 11 books that each contained 11 recipies. So what do I do? DO IT ANYWAYS. I went to Target and bee-lined for the dollar section. I STRUCK GOLD and found these super cute blank cards and bought out every pack they had. I also discovered gold alphabet scrapbook stickers and took every sheet home with me as well. Some string, a hole puncher and some glue sticks completed the rest of my supplies. I stalked my facebook and printed out some of my favorite team photos from the year. I couldn't be more happy with the way they turned out! They made lovely keepsakes for everyone to take home.

HOW CUTE ARE THOSE BALLOON ANIMALS?! On the day of the party, we discovered that our teammate Ellen knew how to make balloon animals. SO DUH, Brooke and I immediately got into the car and came back with a balloon pump. I'm pretty sure Ellen spent the rest of the day creating these magnificent creatures for us. AH! I WANT TO SNUGGLE THEM! But they would probably pop from my affection, so instead they are sitting safely in my office. My other favorite party favor were these super fun photo props that Healy found on Etsy! We had A TON of fun snapchatting with them :)

LOL how adorable is Larbear and the rest of my team? BC, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for making my everyday work environment AWESOME. This was such a fantastic and special way to celebrate the end of the year with each of you (minus Kelly, WE MISS YOU GIRL). I am so grateful to have the most supportive, intelligent, good-looking coworkers on the face of the planet! Can't wait to see the incredible things we accomplish together in 2015! #BCForever #LarBearForever