Tea for 2...

Scarf: Zara, T-Shirt: Forever21, Pants: H&M, Pin: Chico's, Watch: Ted Baker, Shoes: Aldo

If I ever received an invitation to tea, I'm pretty sure I would wear something to this effect. Sitting outside at a chic Parisian cafe thinking about the many wonders of life. I never really stop to just be in the moment...correction, I never stopped to be in the moment until today.

So in my last post, I talked about how I had an important review at work today and had to look my best - I didn't wear this outfit today, cute, but not my most "I take myself and my job serious" ensemble if you get what I mean. Anyway, today (in all black, purple loafers for a pop of color and punctuation) after my review, which went FABULOUS by the way (I hate that word, but for some reason, every now and again it just fits), my boss proceeds to tell me that I'm being promoted...

Pause for reaction...in the moment...taking time to enjoy and just be in the moment...after swallowing hard and calming my breathing and excitement, she tells me that I've been promoted and will also be receiving a raise!!!! Now, in no way did I expect any of this to happen - don't get me wrong, I work hard, damn hard, but I judge myself very critically and sometimes feel that I can do so much more with my time on a day to day basis.

It's always rewarding and amazing when people can look at your progression through life, a career, whatever, and see and acknowledge the change you made for the better. Today was the first day in a long time that I was proud of myself...truly proud of the strides I made to get me where I am today. I am truly blessed and grateful that everyday I wake up, I am able to rejoice and celebrate those blessings. And here's where if I had that imaginary tea date, my companion would turn to me and say, "I'll toast to that".

Cheers!

In Transition...

As I transition into the new me, I decided to bare the hustle and bustle of, dare I say it, THE MALL, and venture out with friends from college the day after Christmas. Figured I'd catch a few deals on some seasonal staples; boy was that a BIG MISTAKE!

1. I hate the mall - yes, there is a plethora of stores in one location but everyone is essentially looking for the same thing, and the mom's and their baby carriages take up too much of the isles when I shopping for white button ups (not hating on babies, but I'm just saying).

2. Waited in a line of traffic for an hour just to go into the mall - shoulda known there was going to be trouble.

3. Every store had a line that you wouldn't believe. The racks were bare (hello, where is the recession??!!), no sales associates in sight, and definitely no enticing deals.


The most delicious part about my trip was California Pizza Kitchen. This was by far one of the best pizzas I've had (the fat man that resides inside of me will you tell you that we've enjoyed plenty of pizza in our day). Barbeque Chicken Pizza, so decadent my mouth waters just thinking about it (Fat Man rears his ugly head again).




I'm in DC with family for the holidays so I had to layer up - think I did a pretty nice job. What do you think? Wearing an Old Navy Vest that I had since I was in middle school. Was very much relieved when my mom told me she kept it because she didn't know if I still wanted - Good job, Mama. Good job! The blazer is from White House Black Market's Fall collection. I practically live in this blazer. It's extremely soft and has a tailored shape you wouldn't believe. And, being that I wear the same jeans everyday, my Levi 510 Super Skinnies, make their first of many debuts on the blog. The shoes are from Aldo, and pretty much are in heavy rotation.


I did manage to score a white button up from Banana Republic ($30, but I just realized (7 days later) the lovely sales associate left the sensor on the sleeve of the shirt. Thinking happy thoughts, thinking happy thoughts...), and I was able to score another pair (the exact same pair I'm wearing here) of Levi 510 Super Skinnies from Nordstrom. On sale for $35!