In the name of LOVE

Well hello! D.R. has been extremely busy this past week, but now that the week has passed we can show you all some TLC.  So shall we recap on our Valentine's Day? We were fortunate enough to not only have one Valentine, but we each had three! We shared our V-day with our beautiful friends.  Valentine's Day is meant to be spent with ones you love and we did just that. Nothing is more important than loving on your friends.  The four of us got gussied up and went to dinner at Two Urban Licks in Atlanta.  The atmosphere was intimate with dimly lit lights and a live band, which made our night all the more special.  We hope your day of love was spent just the way you hoped.

The Texturizer!!

Let us texturize, shall we?  We are not texturizing our hair, rather we are mixing different fabrics! Since this is a new venture for me, I played with the traditional hard and soft contrast. For my hard I wore my faux leather leggings from H&M and for my softer side, I wore my velour

 blazer.  I purchased my blazer from Park Avenue Thrift Store for $7.57, but received half off since I had a 50% off coupon. My floral printed shirt was thrifted from Park Avenue Outlet. As oddly as it sounds Park Ave, a thrift store, has an outlet store with extremely lower prices. My navy, floral shirt was less than $2.  So a quick background,depending on what day of the week you shop at Park Ave Outlet, nothing costs over $2. Monday everything in the store could only cost .75, but on Friday everything could only cost $1.25. Now back to my outfit!  My $3.93 earrings were found at the popular Goodwill. I added my crown brooch as a $3.53 signature touch, also from Goodwill. I wanted to keep the look dark and in the same color family. However, it would not have been right if I didn't add a pop of color.  My bright yellowish/lime hat was the perfect pop to act as a contrast to the dark side.

The Rare Bird

Lately, I have been so inspired! Prints have found a place back into my heart. I was reintroduced to prints by way of Iris Apfel, Peter Pilotto's Target Collection, and Mara Hoffman's nyfw14 collection.  I was most influenced by Iris Apfel.  She is known as an interior designer and fashion icon. If you consider yourself a true fashionista and do not know who the fabulous Iris Apfel is then I dare you to do some fashion research! You will thank me later for the homework assignment.  Mrs. Apfel's style is confident, outrageous, bold, unpredictable, thrilling, flamboyant, and inspiring.  When asked in an interview by T Magazine, how do you define style, Mrs. Apfel replied, " Attitude, style is attitude attitude attitude. It ain't what you do, its the way you do it." With that in mind, I took my attitude and some fashion inspiration from Mrs. Iris Apfel and strutted my stuff in loud colors, vibrant prints, and my purple turban. And if you too become inspired by The Iris Apfel, but aren't sure where to start, she has her own jewelry collection called Rara Avis (rare bird) sold on HSN. Take a peak of her collection by clicking here!  

Introducing Iris Apfel

Monochromatic Fever

R and I must be more in sync with each other than we thought.  I was so excited about what I was wearing to church this past Sunday when I sent a picture to R and in return she sent one back.  We both seemed to have caught mono, that is the monochromatic bug! I was prancing around looking like a hot pink high lighter, wearing a bright hot pink dress and tights adding a pop of color with purple heels.  R was doing her all black errthang, with black velour blazer and pants throwing in a touch of softness, wearing her beaded pastel pink heels.  

Let Your 20's Roar!!!

My girlfriends and I enjoyed ourselves this past weekend celebrating our radiant friend, Monica's 23rd birthday! Yay for the Jordan year!  We all took a journey back in time and found ourselves grasped in 1923.  We spent the night surrounded by flappers, gangsters, and glamorous dames doing the Charleston and dancing to jazz music.  It was a fun night of illegal drinking (due to the prohibition, for you non-historic ladies and gents), smoking cigarettes (a thing of the 20s), and capturing each moment with a flash.  Most importantly, we were dressed to the tee! I paraded the party in a fitted velvet gown I found while browsing Free Fab'rik! A dress that only cost me $18. And that fabulous white fur draped across my shoulders was $35 courtesy of the Goodwill.  Rachel twirled around the room in her $12.50 soft pink gown and $40 Italian made heels from Rag-O-Rama.  And because I loved my dress so much, it was only right to take the birthday girl thrifting to find the perfect dress for her roaring celebration.  As a Free Fab'rik fanatic, I brought her there to find her attire.  Her angelic white dress was originally $18, but she got it for $6 using Fab'rik great Scoutmob deal! 

Inner "ROYALE"

There comes a time in everyone's personal styling endeavors, when they assemble an outfit that brings out their inner "royale". Although D and I share the same love for fashion and thrifting, our styles slightly differ in taste. I enjoy polished looks that include solid contrast colors like black and white, while she enjoys prime colors and prints, which allow her to stand out. This past Sunday, I pulled out another one of my thrifted finds from Fairfax, click here to read about my Fairfax experience. And boy did I feel spiffy. I wore white fitted pants from Zara with black Ralph Lauren leather boots. To top it all off, I completed my ensemble with my thrifted, embroidered wool double breasted blazer. When it comes to fashion, wear what makes you feel "royale".

Cyber Thrift

Public Service Annoucenment: For all my readers out there who can't get enough of online shopping, I have the next best alternative to enjoying the outdoor hobby of thrifting. thredUP is an online consignment shop that specializes in providing premium brands, like new clothes at reliably low prices. It's a perfect place to find higher end pieces for you brand whores out there (and I know you're out there :)) Once you enter the site, there are options to Shop, Sell, or Donate. I personally have not made a purchase through thredUP yet, but after reading about it in another blog, I just had to share the great news with my readers. If you're excited about making your first purchase through thredUP, be sure to get the 20% off promotional on your first purchase and free shipping over $50 (if you get too excited). Check it out and please share a personal review below!