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.

Thank you all for your support with our loss and for understanding my break from the blog. The grief still punches me in the stomach many times a day and it takes me a moment (or hour) to recover but we are healing slowly. We miss him and love Trigger every moment of every day and we appreciate the love from you all.

Life however doesn’t take too kindly to breaks and while we gave ourselves a week or two, it came back at us full speed. My business is busier than ever (and it’s exciting!) and I’ve been spending a lot of my time volunteering at the shelter (we currently have 3 very cute foster kitties stinking up our guest bathroom in case anyone is interested) and then of course planning the wedding. The house hunt was on hold for awhile but we’re back at it and while we’re being picky, we know we’ll find the right one for us and all furbabies present and future.

I got an email the other day asking if I wanted to attend a special event at Blo Austin, the latest location of a very fun and practical concept of salons – no cut, no color. Just a shampoo and a fun style. I immediately said yes because I needed it to pull me out of my ponytail and smelly animal clothes funk and I’m so glad I did.

The salon is just plain adorable and all the ladies (and guys) are the sweetest. They gave me a ‘Hair Menu’ to look through and I chose the ‘Red Carpet’ look. Ashanti was sweet and did a great job on my blowout!

Before (forgive the unwashed, unstyled hobo look):

After…blown away! (sorry couldn’t resist):

Blo also gave me a bag full of goodies like yoga classes and coupons for future blowouts (in case anyone is interested!) and a trial of the hairspray they used, Aerogel, which is incredibly light and soft. And some fun pink cotton candy – I was tickled pink! Seriously, I must quit with the puns. I blame the champagne. Kidding. Don’t drink and drive, kids.

But DO go out and get your hair did at Blo – they are doing $21 blowouts tomorrow on their opening day! They also offer updos and birthday or bachelorette parties and even come out for events to you. They have locations all over Cali, Florida and TX.

This inspired some much delayed outfits posts:

Skirt, Shoes, Bangles, Belt, Purse: All thrifted and around a couple bucks or less each. Top: Old Navy, also a couple bucks. My whole outfit was like $8-10 I just realized. Score!

Have a blessed weekend!

I’m not the biggest fan of tights. Because, well…they’re tight. I’m not a big fan of anything restricting my legs (dirty!).

No seriously, I change into pajamas the instant I get home and according to the masses on Facebook, I’m not alone.

As for tights or pantyhose…I have always found them incredibly uncomfortable. So much so that when I try them on to decide if it goes with an outfit, I’ll put only one leg on and another pair of tights on the other leg to minimize the amount of time I must wear them.

So while I find tights very versatile, cute and fun, let’s be honest: I wear them because then I don’t have to shave.

Saturday, before my birthday dinner, I went through my one-leg ritual and finally decided to just give up and shave.

Clearly I’m not a fan of shaving either. And while growing up, I was unlucky enough to have chicken legs for which I was mocked…it just meant I always wore jeans. Until college when I kicboxed and unearthed my calves.

But now, the fiance is regretting the day he told me he didn’t mind if I didn’t always shave. Muahaha…man captured…shaving ceased.

Long story short…here’s what I ended up wearing Saturday night (with my lovely new purse that I forgot to hold in these shots):

Dress – Random Store in Sydney, Australia, $14

Shoes – Bakers bought from Savers, $10

Jacket – H&M, $15

Belt – Thrifted or Garage Sale or Estate Sale, $?

I have the greatest friends. I received so many great presents that night (who knew 27 was such a special age?) including some very thoughtful clothes and books from Andrea and an adorable mug from Cathy, tons of candy and cute wallets/clutches.

And in unrelated news, I wore my new beaded tunic on a date night and was way overdressed. It happens a lot to me. I do not mind whatsoever.

Tunic – Thrifted, $8

Purse – Thrifted, $?

Jeans – AG, $100 or so?

Shoes – Aldo Outlet, $14

In even more unrelated news, how cute are these pillowcases my friend brought me from Japan? Seriously, the greatest friends!:

Hope you have a stress-free week!

Oops. Looks like in all the craziness, I have missed the one-year anniversary of my blog. Just like me…I’m terrible at remembering birthdays and anniversaries.

Just as well because I don’t have anything special to commemorate the day (which was way back at the beginning of January) but I am glad to have been around for that long. I”m grateful for the creative outlet and all the things this last year has brought me through my blog.

The Style Co-Op and so many like-minded ladies to thrift and love fashion alongside especially Elia, Andrea and Amy. All my great connections - I now know about a million photographers, stylists and make-up artists. All the sweet friends I’ve met from afar (Natira!) and being able to keep up with my friends (even if you don’t leave comments).

Thanks for letting me share my life with you all!

P.S. A new addition to my shoe collection (where else would this be appreciated), that I got at a thrift store yesterday for $7.50!:

Have a wonderful weekend! Hopefully next week will be less crazy and I can get some regular updates and pictures from the trip/of my ring up!

Last night Bear led me on a scavenger hunt through our apartment, with wine refreshments to help me (please excuse the pajamas, I was in the midst of a Gilmore Girls marathon when this happened):

We’re going to New Zealand + Australia!! It’s my dream trip that I’ve never been able to take. I couldn’t be more thrilled!

We celebrated with drinks and Plucker’s. This is Bear’s “This Beer Belongs to the Coolest Boyfriend In the World” mug. Very appropriate.

I think it goes without saying that I have the most thoughtful and sweetest man. Kangaroos and kiwis, here we come!

Here are few things I’ve starred recently in my Google Reader:

An amazing makeover on Design Sponge (I could seriously stare at these all day!)

Who doesn’t need a nest?

I have a million paint chips (I secretly steal another million everytime I’m around them). Dainty Squid had a great post on projects with paint chips.

How cute is this bridal party? Love the umbrellas!

Colored pencil shelf. Need I say more?

We are really trying to get some of our makeover/remodeling projects done – we’ve got everything, just finding the time has been absurd. Will try to get up pictures soon!

Howdy y’all!

Been busy trying to get my dog training certification completed as well as my own business off the ground….among other things. But here are some pictures from the past couple weeks.

Out shooting pictures for my street style blog, The Style Co-Op:

Drapey shirt from Gap, $8

*Fun story about necklace - I bought this way back in HS at a garage sale because I wanted to be thrifty and trendy and be different and I hadn’t really worn it till this day. Rose saw it when she came over and pointed it out as awesome to me (which it is). Guess I just had to grow into my awesomeness.

Playing hide-and-seek with my Godfurbaby, Ember:

Thrifting with my girl Elia:

Old Navy tank; Skirt from Urban Outfitters, $10

Lounging with my beautiful Shere Khan:

Dressing up Trigger to hand out candy last night (Bear and I went as Hawaiian Punch on Saturday – I was a hula girl and he was a boxer):

And generally being fat:

Happy Monday!