Fashion Forward Fridays: Wearing Winter Hats

As I mentioned on Wednesday, I love wearing hats and I think winter is the perfect time to do so. For today's Fashion Forward Fridays, I'm sharing with you three of my favorite ways to style different hats during the cold months. 

Hope you have a fabulous weekend! Which is your favorite look?

Favorite Winter Trends

Happy Monday, everyone! Hoping you all had a great weekend and are excited for the short work week. For today's November Blogathon prompt, we're asked to share our favorite winter trends. Right up my alley! I am currently obsessed with wearing all neutrals together or beautiful deep jewel tones. I love color so the jewel tones come as no surprise, but wearing neutrals isn't usually my thing, so it's been fun to try out recently. So here are two looks I created in Polyvore based on these two trends.

Which trend do you like best?

Fashion Forward Fridays: Blanket Scarf Goodness

Happy Friday! I am already over the wintery cold and snow, but I cannot get enough of blanket scarves. I mean, who wouldn't want to wrap up in one before heading out in the cold? So for today's Fashion Forward Fridays, here are three looks I created in Polyvore for this trend! Enjoy and bundle up!

Which look do you like best? How do you wear a blanket scarf?

ALSO: Check out the Marion Claire Stationery review & giveaway on Sarah Hartley's blog! Click here to read and enter!

Fashion Forward Fridays: Wearing Colored Tights

I cannot even talk about how much I love wearing tights in the winter. I don't understand why, but tights with socks and boots is just my favorite trend. And I say winter, because it has arrived in Erie. I just realized yesterday that I guess I didn't really let the general public know that I moved. After posting about the snow yesterday on Instagram and Twitter, a lot of people asked where I was that there was so much snow. So, hey everyone, I live in Erie, in case you missed that memo, I move here in January. And we have plenty of snow already.

Moving on, I love wearing tights in the winter and I currently am obsessing over colored tights. So for Fashion Forward Fridays today, I put together three looks together on Polyvore inspired by colored tights that can be worn for winter.

The casual look is my favorite and is basically what I wore to work at Family Video on Wednesday night. I love the dressy look as well because it seems so sweet and romantic with pink tights, but the work outfit would be the hardest to pull off. I think that if you hair was up and you looked polished enough, it could happen and it'd be work appropriate.

Which look is your favorite? How do you style colored tights?

My 2015 Blogging Goals

Firstly, I just want to give a shout out to all the veterans. This day is too often overlooked and I am not about that. I could never imagine being a solider and I greatly appreciate those who have and are serving our country and hope that they feel appreciated today and throughout the year. Regardless of where you stand in politics, you should be supportive of those who willingly suit up and fight for us, while we don't even realize what they are doing. So to those of you who are veterans, who are currently in the military or who are a family member or friend of a military member, thank you for your willingness to serve.

Moving right along with the November Blogathon, today's prompt is to talk about three blogging goals. And while I never really "set in stone" how I want my blog to grow, I think this prompt gave me just enough of a push to think about what I really want with this space, especially within the next year.

Gain engaged followers.
This is probably on a lot of blogger's goals list but it makes sense. I really like the community I've been building through this blog, through reaching out to other bloggers on my own, link-ups and becoming a more active member of the Northeast Bloggers Network. Now I just feel like I need to maximize on that community so I can add followers to my social media sites. This past year I have noticed a pretty big leap in followers and I don't feel like I tried really hard for that to happen, so let's see what trying brings to this blog, shall we?

Figure out if I need to rebrand and do it, if so.
Since moving out of Pittsburgh and then creating Marion Claire Stationery, I have felt the need to rebrand this blog to be more cohesive to everything I'm dipped into and that really just means, my name alone. I'd ideally like to (personally) find some roots in the next year, so that will determine whether or not I'd like to keep "the City" but I'm sure that in the next few years, my name will also change. So I have to figure out whether to wait until the name change or to go for it now. But I feel like the upcoming changes in my personal and professional life will tell me whether or not that rebrand is needed, it's just a process that I'd like to narrow down in the next year.

Write more here and there.
I'd really like to up my game in the next year. I started this year off with a bang and was posting really consistently, but when I started Marion Claire Stationery, I really let myself focus on other things. At the time, that was great, obviously I started a business and have made it into something worth noting during that time. However, now that Marion Claire is up and running and has her shit together, it's time to promote that girl. I want to write more on my blog and do a lot of guest posting for other blogs either for Marion Claire or just guest posts in general. I love writing and connecting with new readers, so if you want a guest post, hit me up!

What are your blogging goals for 2015?

Chels & the City Favorites

Happy Monday, friends! For the November Blogathon, today's prompt is to share your 3 favorite posts from your archives. (You'll notice that three is the theme of the week.) So here are three posts that I think are some of my best, and oddly enough, there is one from each year that my blog has been around, which was unplanned but a nice little surprise for myself.

2014 - Bad Things Happen When You Wear Sweatpants In Public
The story of an unfortunate event that I, of course, blamed on the fact that I was wearing sweatpants in public while it happened. My one and only fashion rule is to never wear sweats/pajama pants in public and I feel like the universe was getting back at me for shaming people who do. Lesson learned.

2013 - Hazard Yet Forward
A note to the Seton Hill University community after a serious tragedy. I graduated from SHU in 2011 and it will always have my heart, so this post was important for me to write and is one of my most-viewed of all time. It was one of those posts that you promote once by posting the link on Facebook and it was shared and passed on a countless number of times. I hope that means that the women involved and their families were among those views and that it helped them heal a little bit.

2012 - Cupid: as portrayed by Chelsea
I love this post. It was one of my first posts on this blog and I think I nailed it haha It's actually a really long post but I wanted it to be worth the read. I came up with date night ideas for people in the Pittsburgh area for Valentine's Day and based each idea on the Five Love Languages. Good, right? Like, you wish you were following my blog back then good. At the time, my readers were pretty much just my friends and family and I cannot tell you how many texts/calls I've received since then about people asking me to help them plan a night out or date night in the city, and they reference this post. Thanks, friends, I'm here for you!

Do you have favorite posts from your own blog?

Or a favorite from mine that's not mentioned?

Chelsea Lately: Fall Edition

I have really been awful at blogging lately and I hate to claim "busy" as an excuse, but that's all I got. I miss this community though, so I'm doing my best to prioritize and squeeze back in here. But, of course, it would help if you all knew what I've been up to since my last post. That's fair! If you're not following along with me on Instagram, get on it. It's my favorite app since becoming a smart phone user and best describes my day to day. Lots of greeting cards, lots of coffee, lots of my cat. Pretty much sums it all up. But here are some more fun things in between.

A lot of custom projects have come across my desk lately and I couldn't be more thrilled. The cards above have to be my most recent favorite though. They were made for a sweet couple and their little guy who is soon to turn one! I love this family and was honored to make these invitations for them for little Joshua's first birthday and baptism party. I like when clients have ideas and plans but also really enjoy when they give me free reign and that's what these guys did. For custom work, I always provide three different design drafts and then they pick a favorite and we make any necessary changes. So the final invitation really was a collaboration and I love how they turned out.

Besides custom work, I've been working a lot on my expanding greeting card line for Marion Claire Stationery. I recently realized eight new designs, four of which were these ones for the fall holidays. I'm almost ready to release my winter line, but want to hold off until November 1st if possible. I know that puts me behind in a typical retail sense but I really hate skipping over the fall holidays. Even though Christmas is really important, I wish we could give them all their proper amount of time.

I also recently started teaching a blogging class up here near Erie. It's really exciting to see blogging through the eyes of a newbie again. I have such a long history with blogging that I sometimes forget how exciting and interesting the whole concept is and it's fun to be able to teach a new skill to people who are all older than me. We've only had two classes so far but I've really enjoyed it so far and am thrilled to have been asked to lead this class!

And honestly besides that, I've been serving a lot of beer to people and renting out movies. I've been working so much lately and while it's good for the money, it really is tiring while trying to get my own business off the ground. There has been some good times with thrift shopping, and going to weddings too this fall so I can't say that it's been all busyness that's kept me away from blogging, but now that I'm teaching it to other people I feel like I should get back in the game!

What have you guys been up to?

Back To School Backpacks That Are Cool

I am so jealous of all the back to school posts I keep seeing around social media. I love, love, love school and have really been missing college recently. I'm also a really big fan of backpacks in general, so I thought this would be a fun post to do. If I was heading back to school around this time, I'd be sporting one of these pretty packs. How about you? Target is usually my go-to place for backpacks and bags in general, but I've been seeing a lot of great designs and styles for them this year all over the place. Here are some of my favorites.

1. Target | 2. Modcloth | 3. Target

4. Modcloth | 5. H&M | 6. Target | 7. Walmart

To make up for not having a reason to buy one of these beautiful backpacks, I'll be ordering office supplies and stuff for Marion Claire Stationery today. School and office supplies are almost the same thing, right? Are you headed back to school? If not, what do you miss most about it? Wishing all of you kiddos heading back a great year! Especially those of you who are new to the Griffin family! 

Chels Wears: Railroad Maxi

Maxi: DIY | Belt & Scarf: Unkown (super old) | Chambray Vest & Bracelet: WalMart

You guys. You should know by now how much I love maxis, especially this one...because I made it. This summer has been a bit on the chilly side up here in Erie but that is fine with me, since fall is my favorite season. This outfit actually felt like too much in the morning when I got dressed because it was hotter than usual, but when we set out to get these photos taken there was a random and serious downpour. After that we went home and tried to do indoor photos but nothing worked out, so later that night, just before the sun started to go down, Eric and I set out to this location again and by then the weather had cooled down and the outfit was perfect. And I have to admit that I actually really love how these photos turned out. Good things come to those who wait, I guess!

Announcement & Giveaway Winner!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delayed notice but MARTINA WILKINSON is the winner for the Accessory Fanatic giveaway! Congratulations! Please email me at chelsandthecity(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize within the next 48 hours. In other news, as some of you have already caught on to, I finally got instagram! So please take a minute to head over to my profile there and follow me. It has easily become my favorite app since I got an iPhone. I'm obsessed! Hope you enjoy seeing a more, visual look at my life on the daily and have a great day!

Instagram: @chelsandthecity

2nd Annual Chels & the City Fashion Week!

Calling all fashion lovers! This week you are in for a treat! Welcome to the start of the 2nd Annual Chels & the City Fashion Week! In honor of two lovely years of Fashion Forward Fridays, I am celebrating by hosting some lovely ladies and of course putting the cherry on top with a giveaway of a $50 gift card to Target. Because who doesn't love Target?

Two years ago, I started Fashion Forward Fridays after reading a GQ article that named Pittsburgh the third-worst-dressed city in America. In the pursuit of showing that Pittsburgh is a fashionable city, I went out on Fridays in search of fashionistas to host on my blog. I literally, stopped random people walking around downtown, asked them some questions about their style and took pictures of them to post on my blog. To be honest, this idea was part genius, part insanity. Genius because Fashion Forward Fridays has consistently brought the most page views to my blog since it's introduction and I'm always told that it is the favorite part of my blog by a lot of readers. But it was insane because I was nervous every Friday morning that, that would be the Friday I wouldn't be able to find someone to post on my blog.  

For last year's Fashion Week, I hosted all Pittsburgh bloggers and ModCloth sponsored a giveaway - but this year, we're making it bigger. Since I am so thankful about the growth spurt my blog has had in the past year, I decided to reach out to bloggers from all over, who I admire, to feature this week. And together we are bringing you the opportunity to win a Target gift card so you can get a jump start on your spring wardrobe! I am so excited to be able to continue Fashion Week this year and by the success of Fashion Forward Fridays in general, and am humbled by the growth this series has brought to my blog.

Thank you for supporting this series and my blog and I hope you enjoy meeting some other fabulous fashion bloggers and take advantage of winning the giveaway! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If My Blog Were An Outfit

This week, except for Friday, I'm going to be "copying" posts that I've seen from other bloggers. Right now, I've hit a bit of writer's block. And while I've been concentrating on some other things and really going hard with them, my mojo seems a little off for the first time ever in the writing department. So to give a little nod to bloggers who I think are cool and posts they've done, and to still keep my blog going while I'm in this little funk, I hope you enjoy these posts and visit the ladies who inspired them!

First up is an idea that has been floating around between a few bloggers, but that I first saw on The Anna Belle Blog. I really like the idea of, "If your blog was a person, what would she wear?" I think this is exactly what my blog would be wearing, and I approve because I have basically all these things in my closet as well. So I guess that means my blog is a good reflection of the real me? I always try to make it that way at least!

Made with Polyvore.

Dark wash skinny jeans are my best friend, as they should be with all curvy girls! I have about 500 pairs of them. A pretty, yet flowy top in a bold color...I probably have 500 of them as well because they look dressy while you can actually be feeling comfortable in them. Pink heels, come on guys, you know me. White blazer, I think I have a blazer in every color thanks to working for Dress for Success. A blazer just pulls a look together for me and I think completes it without going too far overboard. Then a grey cross body bag, I actually have been lusting over this one from Kate Spade so I had to add it in. An ampersand necklace because I'm obsessed with the ampersand, in case you haven't noticed. It is an underused and interestingly beautiful part of the keyboard haha. And I added glasses because I've actually been wearing mine a lot more now that I pretty much stare at a computer screen all day. And then my essentials of grey nail polish (note the accent of grey throughout my blog design) and eos strawberry sorbet lip balm because it's my favorite and the pink matches my blog.

Do you think this is a good representation of my blog? What would your blog wear?

I'm Not Here & Welcome New Friends!

Screenshot of my post on Sarah's blog.

Hello everyone! I am guest posting over on Sarah's blog, Coming Unstitched, today, while she enjoys her first few days of mommy-hood. You might already know Sarah, or remember her from when she guest posted here during my Fashion Week. Anyway, check out my post over there. I created three style boards on Polyvore for Valentine's Day, inspired by three classic romance movies, each one from a different decade. I'm pretty proud of it, so please head over there and let me know your thoughts!

As for those of you who are over here visiting from Sarah's blog, welcome!

I hope you stay a while and get to know me and begin following along with Chels & the City.
 I suggest checking out some of my latest posts and heading over to my About page to learn more about me and this little space of the Internet. Hopefully you like what you see and we can be friends!

About | Why I Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Bloglovin

two years.

Photo by my friend, Hannah | Editing by me

Sunday was Chels & the City's two year anniversary. I just want to thank those of you who have followed along from the beginning and those of you who have just started to follow too. All of you make this space worth coming back to and worth all the extra time and effort that a blog takes. I am very proud of this little space and am very happy that two years ago I decided to get back into blog world. I know that this isn't the same blog that it started out to be, but I like the content covered as a whole and I like where this blog is headed. 

I hope you guys will continue you follow along.