December Wedding

So I will be getting married next year in December - 12.10.11 to be exact.

But next month, one of my good guy friends from college is getting married 12.11.10. I actually told him his wedding date was cooler than ours since it counts down.

Anyways...even though I have a closet-full of dresses, I {of course} have nothing to wear.

I recently heard about a new site called Rent the Runway - once you sign up {for free}, you can RENT designer dresses that usually run $300 to $500 for a four day period. It's perfect for occasions where you want an amazing dress of a designer caliber, but you know you'll only wear it once... like for a wedding.

I was skeptical at first, but upon further research it's an ingenious idea...

You find your dress - 'rent it' for as low as $50 - select the date you want the dress to arrive at your address {it's guaranteed to arrive} - you pick your size plus an additional size {for free} - if you choose, you can pay only $5 or $10 for insurance {so if you spill red wine on it, you're covered!} - the dress arrives {two..in the two sizes you picked} on your date with a pre-paid return package - you wear the dress and return it four days after you receive it.

If you don't like the dress or it doesn't fit, you can return it and let them know and they will give you a full refund.

So I decided that since I have nothing to wear, I decided to give the site a try... The site is so easy to use - it even let me search dresses by 'winter wedding'. Each dress has reviews from others who have rented the dress before - the reviews helped me decide on which sizes to pick.

I found this gorgeous, one-shoulder Robert Rodriguez Black Label dress in a very Decembery {yes, I just made that word up} maroon shade. I'm planning on wearing black pantyhose, my Forever 21 black heels and pairing it with these gold earrings (Forever21), gold bracelet (Charlotte Russe) and fun, gold heart sequined bag (Forever21).

The cool thing is you can also rent another dress for only $30 if you wanted another option - I didn't opt for this, but considered it since it was so cheap to do so.

Have you used Rent the Runway?? Did you like the experience?

I'll let you know how this all works out... stay tuned! If you sign up, consider signing up through me so I can get $20 credits!

A few reasons why I love Forever21...

Forever21 Luv by CharlestonGirlBlog featuring a long sleeve cardigan

Is it Friday Yet?

Working Girl by CharlestonGirlBlog featuring brooches

Friday Night Out - Shoe Dilemma

Tonight a few of my fellow Clemson MBA alums are coming in town for a mini-reunion. I'm the only girl, lol. Anyways... we're doing dinner downtown, followed by a night out on the town visiting bars and who knows what else.

So I've pretty much got my outfit planned - I'm wearing this fun ruffled one-shoulder top from GoJane.com that I adore with this fun and flirty skirt from Forever21. Excuse the skirt appearance in the picture - I had to steal it off of a picture from What I Wore's Jessica since the skirt is no longer on Forever21's site. The picture really doesn't do it justice - it has more purple hues in it and the colors really pop!

And I'm pretty sure I'll be carrying my New York & Co metallic silver ruffled purse.
So onto my dilemma - shoes. What shoes should I wear? The shoes in the photo on the left are very close in resemblance to a pair I have from Forever21. The other shoes on the right are from Old Navy. I think I like the Old Navy pair the best since it makes the outfit more summery -- but these shoes start to hurt my feet if I wear them for long periods of time... and I have a feeling we'll be out late tonight.

But should I wear them anyways...maybe pack flops in my purse to put on just in case?

Or should I dress it up with the beige pumps?

Or........do you have a suggestion for something completely different?

Help!

Nautical on the Brain

Ahoy Mateys!

So I've been obsessed this week with all things nautical...ever since I had the epiphany to decorate my condo in a beachy theme, I've been spending hours reading coastal decor blogs and browsing beach decor retail sites. I've also made several rounds to TJ Maxx, Michaels, and Marshalls (P.S. I found two blue wooden oars at Marshalls - the last two there and I snagged them! Hooray!).

My boyfriend told me last night (while hanging my new Anthro curtains - yay), "Only you would be planning and buying your condo decorations before you've even unpacked." My response? "I have an overactive creative mind that cannot be squelched. I can't help it!" :)

With all things nautical on my mind, I've been itching to wear this cute, navy-striped top I bought a few weeks ago from Forever21.com - but I haven't really figured out what to wear with it...until today! I saw this gorgeous turquoise skirt on Forever21 and from that I was inspired to snag a few other accent pieces (hat, aviators, bag) to complete the look, complete with shoes I already own from Old Navy.


The only thing I don't have is the rope bracelet - which I found on Etsy and was sold already. :*( But... it looks simple enough to make, and I think with the help of my jewelry making savvy friend, I can put together one of my own.

I'm also thinking of tying some knotted rope around the hat...

What do you think? I hope it looks as good on me as I think it looks in this picture. I'll take pictures and post to the blog to get the real verdict from you when I actually wear it...

Smoky Oak Taproom Review

Went to happy hour with the crew of friends tonight, and we decided to try out a new place -- Smoky Oak Taproom. It's a locally owned BBQ restaurant and bar. It's located off of Camp Road on James Island here in Charleston.

They serve a wide variety of beers - which makes the guys happy. I tried to order a fancy beer off of their menu, but I know nothing about specialty beers. The beer with 'chocolate and meat roast flavor' sounded interesting, but I wasn't brave enough. So I settled for Yuengling because I knew it would be good (and my sister is the Marketing rep for Yuengling in Atlanta, so she would be happy to hear that's what I drank).

Maybe it was their Web site, but I had somewhat high expectations for this place...but it wasn't what I expected. It was located really far down Camp Road off of Folly Rd. on James Island, and was in the back of a strip mall. The inside wasn't anything like we thought it would be from the Web site photos - it was more of a local burger joint that happened to have a bar inside, and it wasn't very big.

There wasn't much of any AC inside either - granted it was very humid here tonight, so I guess I can't fault them too bad. But I do fault them for putting the long table we sat at right below the AC piping - which I'm guessing due to the humidity, dripped water on all of us the entire time. We actually turned it into a drinking game...when the water dripped on the table, if you were the last person to touch your nose, you had to drink....lol.

The service was somewhat lacking as well - I was there about thirty minutes before my drink order got taken... and when the waitress did get my order, there was only five minutes left of the happy hour prices. As it got later, the service picked up...

However, the downsides were overshadowed by the food. I had the spinach and artichoke dip which came with warm pita bread. Mmm. And I was going to stop at that, but I saw a patron at a neighboring table get an order of Mac & Cheese...it looked so good, so of course I ordered a bowl of my own. It was delicious!

I'm glad we decided to try somewhere new tonight - but I'm not sure I'll be going back to Smoky Oak anytime soon. I think they are still fairly new and are still working out the kinks - but there's potential there. I hope they can figure it out since it's locally owned...

We went by King St. Grill on James Island on the way (not really on the way) back to Mt. Pleasant to have one more drink - but they were celebrating their one year anniversary with an all you can drink for $15 special...which would have been great if we had started there, but it was already 9:30pm and I was tired and only wanted one more drink... not ten.

This isn't the best picture (my hair is a victim of humidity), but here's the outfit I wore tonight. New dress from Forever21 - somewhat of a nautical feel. The shapes in the pattern remind me of the triangle nautical flags. And my go to summer shoes - my Old Navy wedges. Love these... they make my legs look so long and they were only $30!

Tomorrow night my old roommates and I are throwing a 'housecooling' cookout/party at our house I just moved out of (they move out of it in two weeks) - we're holding a raffle ($1 a ticket) for 'gently used' items we don't want anymore...lol. We're hoping we'll make some money to pay for the cookout food and the keg. I donated a handful of old picture frames, some never worn stripper heels (purchased for a Halloween costume - I swear!), a George Foreman grill and a fake plant... I'm sure my friends will be scrambling to buy tickets to win those items, lol. :)

OOTN (Outfit of the Night)

Sushi Friday by CharlestonGirlBlog featuring lacquer jewelry

F21 does Lilly P

What is everyone wearing on Easter? I can't wait to see all of your blog posts with photos of your Easter outfits.

I've got a new Lilly dress packed...not one of the ones I just got off of Rue La La (they still need to be shortened, etc.)...but one I found randomly on a sale rack in the local Belk for only $40! Even the lady who checked me out at Belk said, "Wow...I've never seen a Lilly Pulitzer dress that cheap!"

I don't know the 'name' of the dress, so I don't have pictures...but I'll post some after this weekend. You'd rather see me in it anyways, right? :) Lol...

I just picked it up this week from my alterations place (along with about four other dresses). I'm always in there with more dresses to be hemmed and taken in around the chest and the waist. The owner gave me 10% off this time..and I said, "Oooh, thanks! Guess I am in here a lot aren't I?" And she said, "Yes! Nothing ever fits you!"

Ha... I guess that's what you get when you're short, big hipped and flat chested. Sigh.

On a random note, I was browsing Forever21's dresses recently and came across this dress...

I'm no Lilly expert or anything, but it instantly reminded me of a Lilly Pulitzer dress -- the style and the pretty floral fabric. I'm not sure it could compare to an actual Lilly dress, but for only $22.80 it's definitely a more affordable Lilly-esque option. Ok, who are we kidding, a LOT more affordable compared to Lilly's prices.

The pattern is a pretty, pastel floral.


I think I immediately thought this looked like a Lilly dress because one of my friends wore a Lilly dress on Sunday that was in this same cut/style.

What do you think? Lilly knock off or not even close?

Forever21 strikes again...

I've read how Forever21 tends to copy designers with their clothes and then sell them way cheaper... and now I've seen it for myself...

Check out this gorgeous skirt from Anthro - I bought this when it went on sale for probably $60 or so dollars. It was originally over $90... I ended up returning it because the fit was off, but I thought it was so pretty...

Well today I was browsing Forever21.com and came across this skirt - not identical, but pretty darn close...even down to the waistband!?! Should I feel guilty that I contributed to Forever21's cheating and bought it? It was only $15.80... how could I not!?! Fingers crossed it fits better than the Anthro skirt.