Denim Jacket + Tulle Skirt

It's been extremely warm these past few days so I wanted to get out and enjoy some rays. What better way than "sitting by the dock of the bay..." It's nice to enjoy the simplicities of life sometimes (i.e. sun rays, calming water, swimming turtles etc.). It's also nice when simple pieces in your closet make a great outfit. I took 3 simple basics and put them together to make one fashionable trifecta. I started with my blush pink tulle skirt, added a gray long - sleeve T - Shirt and completed the look with my denim jacket. I accessorized the outfit with a silver statement necklace and a pair of silver sandals that I scored from DSW for less than $20 :) Talk about a bargain (my hubby would be proud)!

Outfit Details: Denim Jacket (Forever 21), Gray T - Shirt (Forever 21), Tulle Skirt (Charolette Russe), Sandals (DSW), Sunnies (Forever 21), Statement Necklace (Fancy Kouture)

Where do you go to find your tranquility? What simplicities in life do you like to enjoy? What simple items in your closet are you madly in love with? I'd love to know in the comments below.

Have an amazing weekend! See you Monday luvs.
-Ali

Fuzzy Jacket + Tulle Skirt

Yesterday, a day we call Valentine's Day, was a day we set aside to celebrate love. People are usually in a frenzy the days leading up to Valentine's Day trying to find the perfect gift(s), perfect card, perfect date/experience etc. If you are one of those people, I pray that you had the perfect day. My Valentine's Day was pretty chill. I went to church, came home took a nap (Sunday naps are a must), caught up on some TV shows, took blog pics for the week, and enjoyed a nice dinner with my #1 Valentine, my hubby!!! Since we know that Valentine's Day is usually synonymous with reds and pinks I chose to pair my blush pink tulle skirt with a plain black tee, my fuzzy blush pink jacket, opaque tights, patent leather pumps, and complimentary accessories. I know wearing pink for V - Day is a tad bit cliche but I really liked how my outfit came together and I received tons of compliments on this pink creation. 

On our way to my photoshoot location I asked my hubby could we stop and purchase some balloons to add dimension to the ambiance for my shoot. Since this shoot was all about the essence of love and showcasing the joys of Valentine's Day I wanted to add a special personal element of LOVE. My husband and I both wrote little notes to our angel DJ on a couple of balloons. It was our way of sending a special note of love to our heavenly valentine. Once the shoot was over I released the balloons and watched them ascend towards the sky. Those balloons took a little piece of my heart to heaven with them. 

Outfit Details: Fuzzy Jacket (Forever 21), Black Tee (H&M), Blush Tulle Skirt (Charlotte Russe),  Patent Leather Pumps (DSW), Black Opaque Tights (Target), Statement Necklace (Forever 21), Earrings (Charlotte Russe), Sunnies (Forever 21)

No matter how you spent your Valentine's Day...alone, with a group of friends, with your bae, boo, or your closest loved ones I hope your day was filled with L-O-V-E and happiness. Happy belated Valentine's Day luvs. I pray you have a magnificent Monday!

Xoxoxo,
-Ali

Mickey Mouse Ear Hat + Tulle Skirt

Where's the most magical place on earth? Some say Disney World! The place where your imagination can run wild and your inner child can come out to play whether you're 2 or 92. When I saw the Mickey Mouse Ear Hat on Choies.com (a Chinese - Based online fast fashion website) I knew that I had to have it. Why? It's unique, it's fun, and playful just like me. You can't take yourself too seriously when you're wearing a Mickey Mouse Ear Hat. I wish I was in Orlando enjoying the atmosphere of Disney World, but nonetheless I had fun shooting this blog post :)

Outfit Details: Mickey Mouse Ear Hat (Choies.com), Tulle Skirt (AshleyMonique!), Snakeskin Patterned Sweatshirt (H&M), Booties (JustFab), Sunnies (Forever 21), Geometric Necklace (Forever 21), Gold Hoop Earrings (Charlotte Russe), Gold Watch (Charming Charlie's)

To "sophisticate" my look a little further I chose to grab my snakeskin patterned sweatshirt, tulle skirt, and caged booties to elevate the look. I chose to go monochromatic in all black to keep the look from looking to "kiddish!" But, I couldn't help to have fun during the photo shoot...I'm blaming it on the ears lol. I can't wait until my son gets old enough so we can take our first family trip to Disney World. Until then, I will have to rock my Mickey Mouse Ear Hat and imagine.

Happy Monday Luvs,
Go out and chase your wildest dreams today!

-Ali

Baby Anderson's Gender Reveal Party

HI!!!! As I type this blog post, I know what you're probably thinking..."WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALI?" Well, now that I finished my Fall 2015 semester, have gotten through the Christmas holiday, and my baby's reveal party...I can FINALLY start blogging again. The last time you saw me was in October. A lot has changed since then...mostly the size of my [preggo] belly. I am now 25 weeks (more than half way there). On December 19, 2015 my husband, close family, and friends celebrated my babies "Gender Reveal!" As a new - age "mom - to - be" I have seen over the past few years gender reveal parties become the new rave. After hours of perusing through Pinterest and YouTube for creative ways to reveal the sex of my baby, I finally was able to come up with a cool way. 

THE PREP
My good friend, whom I call my fashion twin, Ashley was my co - planner for the party. She helped me plan, prep, and execute the party from start to finish. I told her my ideas and she helped me bring them to life.

My awesome party planner Ashley :)

THE INVITES

I created a list of about 42 people to invite to my reveal party. Out of those 42 I had about 35+ show up. Not to bad Baby Anderson :) I used a evite.com a free invitation based website to send out my Reveal Party invites. All you need is the email address and names of your potential attendees and you're all set. It lets them RSVP, comment on a wall, and even add a guest (if you so choose to enable that feature). 

THE DECORATIONS

We used pink, blue, and gold as our color scheme. I purchased pink and blue plates, cutlery, napkins, cups, straws, tablecloths, and tulle to push home the theme for "Team Boy" or "Team Girl." We created centerpieces using mason jars, tulle, sticks, gold confetti, and a glitter cut outs of boy and girl props (mustaches, question marks, pacifiers, bows, lips etc.). We also made props for a photo booth that guests could hold up and take pictures with. I ordered 2 balloon bouquets, and even had mason jars filled with gold confetti where people could place their votes for the party.

The room layout

The voting station

Photo booth props

THE MENU
I wanted my menu to be fun, festive for the occasion, and simplistic so I chose to do a Taco Bar and a Dessert Bar. My taco bar consisted of ground turkey with a bevy of toppings: shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, sour cream, salsa, diced tomatoes, hard and soft taco shells. For the Dessert Bar Ashley and I dipped pretzels and Oreo's into Ghirardelli white and milk chocolate and covered them with pink, blue, and gold sprinkles. We even served cotton candy in cute martini-esque glasses.

The Taco Bar setup

The desserts: Cotton Candy, Pretzels and Oreos dipped in chocolate

THE ITINERARY

A lot of people were wondering...what do you do during a gender reveal party? Honestly, I had no clue. So I searched my friend handy, dandy Google and came up with an itinerary to cover the 2 hour party span to keep my guest entertained and guessing. We had a slideshow playing music and showing pictures of my hubby and I when we were growing up. When guests arrived we had them place their names into a jar with a blue or pink ribbon to indicate which team they were on as far as gender was concerned ("Team Boy" or "Team Girl"). After they voted, we had each of the guest take a picture at my "make - shift" photo booth using props that me and my party planner created to show their team spirit. Once the majority of the guests arrived we went around the room and had all the guests introduce themselves and how they knew us...the "parents - to - be." Once that was complete we served lunch and then played a couple games. After the games were complete we took a final count of "Team Boy" and "Team Girl." Our final count was 13 for Team Girl and 17 for Team Boy. We then passed out the cupcakes and revealed our baby's gender. That moment was so priceless and made the entire day worth it, just to see all the smiles and love in the room! I had the teams take team photos and even did a raffle (a $10 Outback Gift Card) for a member of the winning team...pulled from the mason jar with the winning colors ribbon. I took pictures with guests and then we cleaned up and went home.

Team Boy

Team Girl

The excited parents to be and my baby bump ;)

The hubby and I with the happy grandparents (my parents)

THE REVEAL

We used cupcakes as our medium for the reveal. I saw so many different ideas scrolling through Pinterest from the balloon pop reveal, to the cake reveal. We ended up landing on cupcakes. We had the cupcakes made by Ashleigh Harper from the Candy Bartender (if you're in GA check her out, she was amazing to work with and the cupcakes were great). She made the cupcakes (upon my request) with pink and blue frosting in chocolate and vanilla with a small touch of cotton candy on the top. All the cupcakes were one color EXCEPT 1 which was the actual color of the gender. The actual reveal didn't quite go as planned because I didn't give out the right cupcake for my mom to do the honors. But none the less everyone was excited about our little bundle of joy.

The Gender Reveal cupcakes...they were delicious!

WE'RE HAVING A...

Me and my hubby at the photo booth...with our "Team Boy" crown!

Inspiration for the Centerpieces from Pinterest...Along with the announcement!

MY OUTFIT

Since this is a fashion blog, I have to discuss what I decided to wear. I wanted to wear something that would incorporate pink and blue so not to give away the sex of the baby. Since being pregnant my growing belly has been a little harder to dress (especially wearing pants that aren't stretchy). Being that it is Winter season there isn't as much pink in stores so I searched long and hard until I ran across a pink tulle skirt, chambray button up, and pink and blue statement necklace (all from Charolette Russe). I paired the foundation of my outfit with a shaggy nude vest and tan nude booties. I also got a pedi and mani and chose a very nude pink with gold details on one finger. All in all I think the outfit like the rest of the reveal came together harmoniously. 

Mi Madre and I posting with the bump

Outfit Details: Chambray Button Up (Charolette Russe), Tulle Skirt (Charolette Russe), Shaggy Vest (Forever 21), Statement Necklace (Charolette Russe), Hoop Earrings (Charolette Russe), Watch (Charming Charlie's); Not Shown Fringe Booties (Charolette Russe)

Have you ever attended a Gender Reveal Party? What types of activities did they do at the party? How did they ultimately reveal the sex? I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below. I hope you had an awesome Christmas Holiday. We will be back to our regularly scheduled outfit posts on Wednesday.

See ya soon,
-Ali

Black & Yellow

"Black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow!" Cue Wiz Khalifa stat lol. Ok this isn't technically yellow, but you get my drift right. The funny thing is when I was back in high school, I used to always tease my Debate teacher because she wore all black everyday. I always told her she was allergic to color and she should incorporate more into her daily wardrobe. Now that I'm older I totally understand why she donned all black. It is so easy to dress up or down, and it makes you look like a million bucks. The all black with gold accents helps to "richen" up the look. 

Outfit Detail: Blazer (H&M), Black Tee (H&M), Tulle Skirt (AshleyMonique!), Black Tights (Target), Wedges (Forever 21), Fedora (H&M), Earrings (Beauty Supply), Clutch (Forever 21)

This is ensemble was really fun. The tulle skirt always makes me feel like I'm Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in the City :) Speaking of such, if you're a fan of the Sex in the City franchise then you should definitely binge - watch "The Carrie Diaries" on Netflix (which is the prequel to SITC). It's very witty, their take on 80s fashion is very refreshing. Take my word for it…check it out! 

Happy Monday,

-Ali