The Year of Firsts

Has it really been a month already? Yes. Yes, it has. Kyle and I got married exactly one month from yesterday, but it feels like it was just last week! It's flown by, that's for sure. But the good news is that we've already done so much as newlyweds, and there's plenty more to look forward to. Starting with our very first Thanksgiving at home. This year it's just us and a couple of friends, and it will be the first time either of us have attempted such a feat without the help of our families.

Are we excited? Yes.

A bit nervous? Yes. On Sunday I practically burned an entire practice batch of homemade sweet potato chips. Oops. But they all say practice makes perfect, so I'm going to give it another whirl on Thursday.

I'm also in charge of the mac and cheese and the spiked apple cider. I think I smell our first Thanksgiving tradition.

In other Thanksgiving-related news, I'm very excited to bust out the new, newlywed place settings and dinnerware, and put a darling little centerpiece together. I can think of a few cute ways to reuse a few of those bottles I collected for the wedding. I'm thinking a bottle or two, a few flowers, and feathers.

Just a few things I've started pinning for some holiday-inspired entertaining inspiration. How are you decorating for the holiday?

Guest Post: Trophy Boutique

Hello, hello. I'm super excited to feature one of my sweet Austin girlfriends and personal stylist Laurel Kinney of Trophy Boutique on the blog today. Laurel is quite the dear for contributing while I'm off in Aussie-land. I often look to Laurel's blog for some serious and practical style inspiration. She also happens to be a pretty hilarious writer. Please enjoy (and don't forget to check out her blog!) 

Hello, If I Must Say So readers! I’m Laurel and I’m a personal stylist who blogs at Trophy Boutique. I am super excited to pop over here while Jennifer and Kyle are on their honeymoon. Lucky ones, they are.

Jennifer and I met pretty recently, over the summer, but I knew instantly that we were fashion soul sisters. She was wearing these lace-up sandals with heels and I wanted to tear them off her feet right away. Because I didn’t know her well enough at that point to forcibly remove her footwear, I went out and bought a duplicate pair. Since then, we’ve had a few chuckles over all of the items we share, my favorite being red jeans! I love how she styled her pair over on my blog today, all layery and silky and blazery, but I wanted to try something a little different for you guys, so I wore basically every single one of my favorite pieces of clothing at once.

Red jeans might be a little much for some ladies, so one way you can tone it down is by wearing a longer layer on top, like a long cardigan or, in my case, a shirt dress worn as a top. You might even take this a little further by wearing knee-high boots, and just showing a little pop of the color, but I’m wearing some trusty clogs because it’s still too hot for boots. Luckily, there are plenty of other less shockingly bright colors of denim in the stores right now. I particularly love the looks of a dark eggplant or hunter green pair of jeans. Pair them with your neutrals and you’ve given your outfit a whole new modern twist!

 [Jeans: Rag&Bone, Dress (worn as top): Helmet Lang, Clogs: BC]

Thanks for reading and I can’t wait for Jennifer to get back so we can see what she wore on her vacation!

My Best Friend Is Back!

This is so exciting! My bridesmaid and best gal pal is flying into Austin today! She's been in South Korea for the last 3 months or so, and now she's back for a couple of weeks for all the wedding festivities! I can't wait to catch up and hear all about her adventures over there. While the next week is going to be slammed with wedding stuff, it's going to be super nice having her around to play and gossip like besties again.

Speaking of friends, looks like friendship bracelets are totally back in a sort of high-low, mix-it-up kind of way. I spotted this one over on Refinery29:

I love the knots, the clasp, and the metal pieces. I'll take two for me and my bestie, please.

P.S. What are you favorite ways to catch up with friends? Brunch? Drinks? Board games?