But I do love the color and these  pants that Bear found me at Sears. And because we bought our appliances from there and had signed up for the rewards program these were $12 free! I love when I find great staples or things I’ll wear a bunch (things that would have been worth splurging on) at great prices.

Top: Cotton On
Pants: Sears
Shoes: Nine West, thrifted
Purse: Michael Kors, gift
Bangle and Watch: India

I’ve also recently been obsessed with this super comfy skirt and top:

Top: Maurice’s
Pants: Old Navy, thrifted
Shoes: India
Watch: Citizen
Sunglasses: Kate Spade

And this leopard print jacket with fun structured shoulders:

Dress: H&M
Shoes: YSL, thrifted
Purse: Michael Kors, gift
Bracelets, Belt and Necklace: Thrifted
Jacket: Thrifted

Do we really only have two weddings to go to this year?? That seems crazy given the 6 we attended last year. We have one more in LA during Thanksgiving weekend but a couple weeks ago we headed to our old haunts in Houston to attend the wedding of our good friends Samir and Rachel! It was so much fun seeing my old coworkers and getting dressed up in all the clothes we brought back from India:

I have a closet the size of most dorm rooms and I’m out of hangers and almost out of space. Yet sometimes I walk in there and can’t find a damn thing to wear. As my friend Amy would say, #firstworldproblems.

I was late for date night last week and ran in and decided to just go with something super simple and this is what I came out wearing. Surprisingly I was happy – usually I feel the need to make every outfit unique. But I like the shape and comfort of this one and love my new-to-me necklace and cuff.

Top: Thrifted
Skirt: Kenneth Cole Outlet
Shoes: Aldo Outlet
Necklace: Garage or Estate Sale
Purse: Gifted from Mom from Michael Kors Outlet

My darling friend Andrea and I had an eye-opening discussion recently. I already knew how much I love to shop (surprise!) and hunt for treasures. But the realization was that I wear the things once or twice and in some extra-awful cases, never, and then donate them or hold onto them for years thinking ‘one day I’ll be invited to a 60′s costume party’. Seriously.

Case in point: I’ve had the cuff and necklace worn in these pictures for months at least. And yes this is the first time I’m wearing them.

So I’m going to continue my thrifting habit (which is not to be confused with my book and magazine hoarding obsession) and wear the items a few times until the thrill is gone and then sell them online for another lucky treasure hunter to find…when I stop being lazy. Want to guess how lazy? I’ve had the Etsy store without anything in it for over a YEAR now. I have the shopping part down, it’s the uploading and pictures taking part that I’m struggling with. Go figure.

As Bear and I plan our wedding, with all the other costs we’ve had this year and our decision to donate $10k to charities in our first year of marriage, we are very careful about all of our expenses. We want the wedding to be unique and memorable but not be embarrassingly expensive or gaudy. We have been thinking about our stationary and wanted to keep the thank-you cards simple and economical while still personalized and of course – not looking cheap. Enter UPrinting.

UPrinting is an online printing company that offers a multitude of printing services such as a customized letterhead or magnets and even stickers! Of all the printing companies, few offer as many great options and services at UPrinting – they let you order free samples of the paper to help you decide and offer online  support all day, every day.

Best of all they are offering a great prize to one reader! You’ll receive 500 pieces of Letterhead (yes, 500!) printed on 5.5″ by 8.5″ 70lb offset paper. Your own personalized letterhead design will be printed (front only) and you’ll receive your package FREE of shipping charge in about 4 days! Giveaway is limited to readers 18 and older and U.S. Residents only.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below! BUT HURRY! Giveaway will end Wednesday, September 28 at 5 pm central time. Only two days!

I’m so excited to design our letterhead that I’m actually looking forward to sending out thank-you notes with our personalized paper!

GIVEAWAY ENDED. Winner: [email protected]

Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given and I will receive letterhead printing service by hosting.

Here are some overdue pictures from our Housewarming this summer as well as the before and after shots of our Dining Room:

Bear got me these ceramic dry-erase cheese labels and I finally put them to use!

Olive Cheese Bread

Party Spoons!

Love this cheese plate I got while thrifting.

Now, this is what our Dining Room looked like before:

It’s the only picture I have and I showed you here what it looked like after we painted but here’s our (nearly) finished product. We are planning on covering all the walls with mirrors so we’re always on the hunt for those and we want to get a yellow rug eventually as well. But for now, I love having company over and serving up meals here!:

All the mirrors are thrifted and the rule is that they all must be under $10. The large one in the middle was an exception and it was $15. The furniture is all from different collections at World Market. Chandelier is from Home Depot! The plate was thrifted and the decorative balls were thrifted/bought new and from various places and here’s what I did for the straw-like ones that I picked up for $5 a bag at a garage sale, originally from Ikea:

Before

After – I just spray painted them gold! EASY!

Would love thoughts or suggestions on the room!

We recently went to my (Bangalore) to introduce Bear to my family, do wedding shopping and of course to visit with all our friends and family. We bought all our clothes and jewelry for the wedding as well as all the stuff for the bridal party. I can’t wait to see everyone wearing it all.

Bear and I decided for our Bridal Shoot coming up (with the fabulous Nathan Russell Photography and his incredibly creative wife and my friend, Amy) that we would go ahead and wear our actual wedding and reception outfits. Head to toe. We paid so much for everything and it’s such a waste if we never wear it again…plus the day of will be so hectic we won’t have a chance for fancy pictures. But those won’t be revealed until January. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite experiences in India (getting sick multiple times is NOT included):

Spending time with my loving (and sometimes out of control) family

My talented cousin doing my mehendi

Hanging out with the animals on my dad’s family’s farm

Getting out of the city

The sweet party my parents threw for us

And my absolute favorite was when Gaurav and I bought this motorcycle for my cousins – they are such good kids and work/study so hard and really needed something more efficient than the bus to get around. It was an amazing experience to be able to help them.

We had our Housewarming this weekend and it was so much fun to show everyone around our new home. Since it was clean I took the opportunity to get some shots of the “finished” rooms. Of course, decorating is an iterative process but I finally feel as though most rooms in the house are at a good point.

Here is the living room before:

We pulled up the carpet, put down laminate, changed the fan/lighting, painted the walls and trim and redid the tile around the fireplace to match the Bianca Carrara marble in our kitchen and the tiles in the bathroom and laundry room. Bear and I loved this room in my Domino book and used the colors as inspiration:

And here is the living room now:

The coffee table, chairs, side tables and most decor pieces (candles, vases, books) were all thrifted or vintage. The sofa table is from World Market, the rug from West Elm as are some of the accessories on the tables and bookshelves and the loveseat is from Ikea. The bookshelves are the same from our old house as well as two more we bought off Craigslist and were just sanded/painted a neutral beige from their former black. The print above the fireplace is from Urban Outfitters.

Still trying to figure out what to do with this area….thoughts?

I still want to put canvas prints of the furbabies up on the staircase wall, put up some curtains and there will always be space for more knick-knacks in the future as well as more pillows for the loveseat, but for now it’s quickly become the center of our home. We’ve had many friends over and it’s perfect for late evenings spent chatting over cocktails.