OOTD: Red Lips

Black lace-up sandals - Black opaque tights - Black and red lip print 3/4 sleeve button-up dress - Silver watch from INVICTA - Black rectangular sunglasses - Red lipstick from Sephora

Spring is here, and I've never been more excited to go outside. Just one thing: I still want to wear all black. I own more black clothing than any other color, and it's my second favorite color to wear. So, all signs indicate that I'm going to be wearing black quite a bit throughout spring and summer.

Luckily, not every spring/summer outfit has to be bright and colorful. There are a couple ways in which you can wear all black in the warm weather without appearing out of place. One way is by wearing traditionally warm-weather clothing pieces in black. These sandals are super summery, and just happen to be black, making them easy to wear in the spring and summer. This dress, with its 3/4 sleeves and button-up top, is also perfect for warm weather.

Another way is to pair your black clothing with accessories, hair, and makeup that are spring/summer-appropriate. Sunglasses scream summer, as do these bright red lips. A pair of space buns makes the look way more fun. What are spring and summer all about if not fun?

Finally, and this is more of a mindset than a piece of styling advice, just remember that you can wear whatever the hell you want whenever you want. There's no reason to use some silly made-up fashion rules to restrict yourself to wearing something you don't like. You can wear all black during the summer, white after Labor day, and socks with sandals if you feel so inclined.

Fall Ball 2016

Seattle University hosts one formal event a year: Fall Ball. We're a small campus without Greek life, so this is really it for us. I've only been one other time, but couldn't miss out on my last chance. The theme was "In Space," and I kind of went all-out. As a broke college student, one of my favorite (totally non-Kosher) things to do is use makeup products in a way other than their intended purpose. This lipstick is actually an eyeshadow stick, and my eyeshadow/eyebrow highlight is a liquid eyeliner.

I didn't see Luxe in this picture until writing this post, but Evelyn and I look too good to delete it.

As I'm sure those of you who have followed me for a while know, I'm usually pretty nervous to go out to social occasions that have more than five people at them. Luckily, I have a number of friends who share my social priorities and are down to do things a little differently. Evelyn and I got ready watching the Office, spent our time at the event walking through the exhibits at the EMP, and were home in bed by 11:30. I'm so lucky to have friends with whom I can share my college experience and who I truly enjoy.

Huge shoutout to Evelyn and Sophia's boyfriends for letting me steal them to be my dates for the evening. Don't we all look so cute?

OOTD: 3 Piece

This is my favorite work outfit. I've already outfit-repeated it twice in the last month– oops! The Nordstrom dress code is pretty basic: appropriate skirt length, no showing undergarments, nothing offensive, etc. They do, however, place emphasis on something called the "three piece outfit." The three pieces are a shirt (or dress), something worn over it, and something worn around your neck. I love the look of the three piece outfit, and do my best to wear three pieces at work every day. One of the best outcomes of this practice is that I've been wearing my favorite jacket, this H&M faux leather jacket that I got when I was 16, at least twice a week.

OOTD: Post Alley

There were a couple weeks in late June-early July when the temperature was in the 60's. As disappointing as it was to have to cancel all my warm outdoor plans, I was secretly a little jazzed to be able to wear this long-sleeve shirt I made at the beginning of summer. I have a hard time wearing this lip color because, even though it matches my hair and is rad as hell, it's pretty out-there. I figured a bright purple lip would go perfectly with this fringe shirt and these pattern pants. The whole outfit is a little out-there, which I love.

OOTD: Goddess Dress

When I bought this dress, Emily deemed it the "Goddess Dress." As much as I love it, it's gotten a little small, so I'm selling it right now on Poshmark. I especially feel like a goddess in this dress with my hair color, so I decided to play it up with a dark lip and this low-drop choker necklace.

The 4th of July

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays of the year. Growing up, my family always did something special for the 4th. July 2nd is my grandma's and my dad's best friend's birthday, and the 3rd is my parents' anniversary, so there's a lot to celebrate in the days surrounding the 4th. My family loves the 4th of July so much that my grandma started a parade celebrating Independence Day in Cannon Beach. My parents and their entire wedding party walked in it the day after their wedding, and I've walked in it several times over the course of my life. This year, Brendan and I ventured over to the coast to do something I've never done before: watch the parade.

Between all the driving, playing at the beach, and the festivities, Luxe was so exhausted that she fell asleep in her water bowl halfway through the day.

One of my favorite aspects of this parade is that anyone can sign up to be in the parade. There are only a couple groups of people that sign up every year, which means the parade is different every year!

I love these fancy dogs in their patriotic apparel! When we were in the parade a couple years ago, we dressed up Brandi. Poor Luxe gets overheated very easily, and I didn't want to make it worse with extra layers.