Currently...

I feel like I haven't talked to you guys forever since Fashion Week took over this space last week. So I figured that now would be a good time to do a "Chelsea Lately" post. Here's what I've been up to recently.

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Listening: The Lungs album by Florence and the Machine, on vinyl. Santa brought me this gem and I have been blasting it every morning while getting ready. It is perfect primping/ready to take on the day music.

Eating: Every recipe I've ever pinned on Pinterest. Seriously, like a real cook.

Wanting to buy: A bathing suit. More specifically, a one piece that has an actual bra in it and doesn't look like it was designed for my grandmother, and doesn't have one of those frilly skirts that are supposed to "hide" my thighs. Sexy one piece, why is this hard to find?

Reading: Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement. I'm only two chapters in and already love and feel overly emotional about the characters.

Watching: High Fidelity. I can never decide if I like John Cusack in this movie or not.

Admiring: Sarah from Coming Unstitched for writing this honest post about motherhood.

Drinking: Water. So much water. I feel like I'll probably drown soon.

Wearing: This American Eagle zip-up. So comfy. So bright. So perfect. Also, a lot of flats, which means I'm not wearing socks, which means it might actually be spring around here! Holler.

Losing sleep over: Everything and nothing. I make a list of so many things I need to do the next day every night before going to sleep and think, how am I ever going to get all of this done, but then just let God take care of it. Plans will work out, or they won't and I know I only have so much control over them so why worry about it all? Proverbs 16:9 is my motto.

Loving: The recent growth-spurt my hair is having!

Excited about: This weekend in the 'burgh! Getting to see MJ Friday and then bridal shower and bachelorette party for my girl, Hannah, on Saturday. This is my first time being a bridesmaid so I'm excited!

Thankful for: My brother. Honestly. There is no cooler person.

 What's going on with you all recently?

Bloggers: Here's What I Really Think About You

Like I said yesterday, most of the posts this week were inspired by recent posts I've seen from other blogging ladies. This one, I saw on Elizabeth of Undeniably, Me. And it's about, obviously, how I really feel about certain bloggers. In this community of bloggers, you really start to favor some and get to know the ladies behind the blog more than you would think. So specific things tend to stick out about those women and I want to share this list of favorites today! Enjoy & go make some friends!

Made with Polyvore.

Comes Up With The Most Unique Ways to Have Fun: Jessica of Midwest Muse. Whether it's planning a city-wide clothing swap, attending local concerts, being a thrifting pro and showing off her looks on the runway, or hosting her own party, Jessica has got it going on. I'm always so impressed (and jealous) of her adventures! She makes Ohio actually seem cool ;)

Prettiest Smile: Sarah of Coming Unstitched. You've seen Sarah around here before and I'm sure you'd agree that this lady has got a pretty smile. I love that you can tell how genuine it is in her daily outfit posts too.

Never Fails to Leave Me Hungry: Setarra of Quaintrelle. First of all, I should mention that I feel like if Setarra and I ever met in real life, we'd be besties. We have too much in common, literally right down to when we tore our ACL's, that it's hard for me not to want to be her real-life friend. But her blog talks a lot of her travels and restaurant reviews. And she takes such gorgeous pictures of her meals and describes them in such detail that I cannot help but leave her blog drooling and heading to my refrigerator.

Most Gorgeous Home: Maddie of Maddie Richardson - A Lifestyle Blog. Every post that has a picture of her home makes me swoon. The space just looks so bright, airy, comfortable and not overly styled. Gorgeous space. Plus she shares it with a cute puppy...and hubby.

My Favorite Hair Color: Robyn of Cleverly, Yours. You have more than likely seen Robyn if you are a fan of Pinterest. I'm pretty sure that her outfits are pinned more than anything else on that site. But she also has the greatest hair ever. Super long and dark brown. All kinds of jealousy running through my veins when I visit her blog haha

Crazy Cat Lady: Elizabeth of Undeniably, Me. You know this is out of love! The girl who inspired this post and the girl who is the mommy to Khalifa's brother, Oliver. What a great name he has! My whole family approves haha Anyway, Elizabeth posts hilarious stories about Oliver and he's even guest-posted on her blog before, so there's that.

What do you really think of some bloggers? Tell me who you'd name for these!

Chels Wears: Dressed Up Band T-Shirt

Cardigan: Lane Bryant | Tee: Avett Brothers | Skirt: Saks | Tights & Leg Warmers: Walmart | Boots: URBANOG 

Hello everyone! If you missed me on Monday, I was over on Sarah's blog again! I did a guest post on 5 tips on staying friends with new moms. Since Sarah is a new mommy, I thought it was appropriate. Also, on a semi-related noted, I have to say that if you are looking for a blog to sponsor, look into the options Sarah has because she has really worked her butt off for us this month and letting me guest post twice was a really nice benefit, along with her constant social media shout-outs.

In other news, this is the newest band t-shirt I have to add to my collection. I got it at the The Avett Brothers concert this past weekend. Eric got me tickets as part of my Christmas gift. Such a nice brother! We had a great time listening to Old Crow Medicine Show and then The Avett Brothers playing songs from pretty much every album they've made, which is a lot. It was a great show and I'm really excited we finally were able to see them live.

I wanted to dress up this tee a little bit and actually really like how this outfit turned out. Even though I am just now realizing how high I was wearing the skirt all day, wah wah. The skirt is actually a wrap dress that I snagged for $5 at the Saks Fifth Avenue closing sale in downtown Pittsburgh. I'm always a little nervous about wrap dresses, but it was such a steal I couldn't pass it up. And I feel safer when I wear it as a skirt because I fold the top underneath for a little more coverage. How would you dress up a band tee?

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

Fashion Week: A Winner & Some Favorites

Thank you for all of the excitement over Fashion Week! 

I loved reading all of your comments and messages about how you all enjoyed this week of "meeting" some great Pittsburgh fashion bloggers! I hope you loved each one of them and were able to see a full range of styles and maybe they inspired some outfits of your own. 

Also, thank you SO MUCH to Sarah, Zoe, Liz, Stephanie, and Terra! 

Thanks for letting me feature each of you, sharing your posts, 

and being excited about Fashion Week since I asked you to be a part of it! 

You are all fabulous and I admire each of you for different reasons. 

Thanks for helping to make Pittsburgh fashionable! 

Now on to why you're all here! 

The winner of the ModCloth and Heinz History Center giveaway is... 

Rachel Mazur!  

Congratulations!

You are now the proud owner of two tickets to the

ModStylists' Fashion Show on Friday, April 12th 

and two tickets to the Vintage Pittsburgh event on Saturday, April 13th. 

You are in for one hell of a weekend! 

Email me at chelsandthecity[at]gmail[dot]com for details and to claim your prize!

And since Fashion Week was done to celebrate one year of Fashion Forward Fridays, 

here are your three most viewed fashionista/o's from the past year.

MJ - 5.11.12

Erin - 11.02.12

Richelle - 12.28.12

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fashion Week: Meet Sarah of Coming Unstitched!

As I mentioned yesterday, I am celebrating one year of Fashion Forward Fridays this week by hosting fellow Pittsburgh bloggers for Chels & the City Fashion Week. I started Fashion Forward Fridays because I wanted to prove to GQ that Pittsburgh is a fashionable city, despite their mention of our city being the third-worst-dressed in America. So for the past year, I've been randomly stopping people on the street to ask them their thoughts on fashion and Pittsburgh and feature them on this blog! Since this Friday marks the one year anniversary, what better way to celebrate than to host Fashion Week?

First up is a blogger who I've been following almost for as long as she has been blogging. (If you're coming here from her site, first, welcome! And second, I'm sure you agree that she's fabulous!) I have been inspired by Sarah, and went along with her on the 30x30x30 challenge. But she continuously amazes me with how she puts outfits together and shares her talents, love, and closet with the world through her blog, Coming Unstitched. To be honest, when I asked Sarah if she wanted to be involved in Fashion Week, I didn't know if I even wanted to have it if she didn't say yes. Luckily, she replied right away with a yes! (I think I might have felt the same way Brandon did when he proposed. lol)

All photos in this post provided by Sarah.

For this week, I sent all of my selected Pittsburgh fashion bloggers the same list of questions I typically ask the fashionista's I find out in the city, but this week I'm letting their responses speak for themselves. Here's what Sarah has to say...

Life Lately

Hey there. I've been in and out of blogger mode for a bit, so I figured I show you guys what's up. Mostly I've been prepping for the end of my last ever semester of education...well, until I decide to get my PhD, which may never happen but I'd like to think I'll eventually have time for it. Anyway, pretty much I've been filling all of my time with applying to jobs. So, cover letting writing and looking at my resume about a thousand times a day. Also looking at apartments around Pittsburgh that I'd like to move in to, but cannot commit to until I figure out where I'll be working, so also I've been (admittedly) wasting time on Pinterest looking at how to decorate said apartments that I cannot get yet and applying for more jobs so I can soon figure that out. (Notice, I am the queen of the run-on sentence.) Oh, and going to work and class. Oy vey! Life of a grad student, so glamorous.

ONE | My mama works at a daycare and was able to color me this picture. Clearly of me and baby Khalifa.
TWO | Point Park gave me this awesome shirt because I'm graduating next month!!
THREE | I got my cap, gown and hood for graduation. Masters robes have weird sleeves by the way.
FOUR | I bought a MacBook Pro! I'm so happy to finally have a Mac. I had my HP laptop for TEN years. Woof.


Hope you've all been having a great week!
Also: Check out Coming Unstitched for a great giveaway that you can enter to win ANY print from Sarah's Etsy shop!

Fashion Forward Fridays: 30x30x30 Finale!!

Oh my gosh. Why did I ever think this was a good idea!? If you didn't know, I was linked up with Sarah of Coming Unstitched to do the 30x30x30 wardrobe challenge and I cannot tell you how thankful I am to be done. Though it was nice to have a limited wardrobe just to guide me in the mornings and making picking things out easier, I am thankful that my closet space is back to normal and organized how it's supposed to be, rather than just these 30 pieces sticking out. I have to be honest, I hated and will never wear a good chunk of the outfits I put together during the past 30 days. But, that being said, I also came up with outfits that I loved and will certainly wear again, once I am no longer sick of these pieces of course. I have to say, the only thing that made this challenge really hard was that I did it during the middle of a Pittsburgh winter. Which, if you don't know, is the most unpredictable weather of all time. I like that my haircut came right in the middle of this challenge, but am sad that I didn't have a better way to photograph the journey. I'm also sad that I only got to wear my cheetah heels twice...total let down.

Some things I learned from this challenge though is that I really do rely on buying new things rather than remixing, which is a horrible habit. During the challenge, I also gave up shopping and that changed my perspective a good bit on other pieces that I have that weren't selected for 30x30x30. I have mentally come up with a nice mixture of outfits to wear in the future out of other pieces in my wardrobe. I also realized that I should start focusing on accessories, rather than actual clothes. I have plenty of clothes and while I thought I had plenty of accessories, I realized how little I actually like. So I will be donating some items and eventually getting some more quality pieces. Overall, not so bad. But I'll let you judge for yourself. Which outfit is your favorite? Which one do you think is worthy of a Fashion Forward Fridays mention?

I dream of...{my first link up}

For this post, I am linking up with one of my favorite blogs, Coming Unstitched, and sharing with you guys some of my dreams and aspirations for my future. So I hope you all enjoy a little inside look into the bigger picture of my life goals and be sure to look at the other blogs in this link-up too!

1...learning everything! (Okay, not everything, not even close, but a lot of things.) Education is so important to me and quite frankly, has up to this point defined me. While I am currently in the process of earning my master's degree at Point Park, I would also someday like to earn my PhD. I don't see doing that in the near future, but I do see finishing my master's very soon and knowing that eventually, the PhD will find it's way into the plans.

Glad this cutie is on board for all of these dreams too!

2...marrying my best friend. This person is MJ. And I do not imagine that will ever change, but he is already so much a part of me that I cannot wait to eventually call him husband. Though that seems too adult for us now, he is so much more than just my boyfriend. He's my support, my inspiration, just everything I could ever need or want in a man and more. He has his own list of dreams too and thankfully, they align with mine! I have prayed my whole life for a love like this and I truly believe God has provided it to me through MJ. And he's cute, so that's a plus!

3....building my career. I have so many ideas and lists of things I want to do for a "job." And thankfully, I am glad that I live in this time where women are free to take on all sorts of jobs, just like the guys AND in a time where jumping from place to place or job to job is not frowned upon, but shows growth in a career path. I want experience. I want to do all kinds of things. I want my resume to be as thick as the September issue of Vogue when I'm ready to retire. Jobs I would like to include in this are anything in non-profits, magazine editing, event/wedding planning, my own fashion line, being in PR and advertising, finish writing a novel (or two), working in higher education, becoming a professor, the list goes on...

4....traveling around the world! Whether it means living in different places or just visiting, I just want to see the world. Specifically, I want to be able to spend at least one night in every state, and go to Australia, London, Greece, France and Ireland. Really, I'd visit anywhere. I just want to soak up other cultures, it goes along with the education aspect because I want to be able to learn about people and the places they love.

5....doing something that matters. I believe that we are all on this Earth to do something that glorifies and brings someone to God. I want to be able to do that in some way, some how...I'll let Him take the lead on this one but I pray that I will be able to make this a part of my career path too so that I can be involved in it daily.

6....being a fabulous mommy to beautiful babes. Yep. Simply put.

7....enjoying life. So far I think I've been doing this one pretty well. But in the future I want it to include building a beautiful home with my husband, creating a career I love, helping my babes learn to love life and love God, loving my friends and family with every fiber of my being, not worrying about debt (but not over-spending) and just above all, creating memories and leading a life worthy of living.

8....making it to Heaven. I'm sure this life will be great and so much is ahead of me that I look forward to, but I know it's not promised to me either. I'm excited to soak up every worthy experience but I'm more excited to eventually be able to just stand in awe and personally thank Jesus for his sacrifice. I just cannot even imagine how awesome it will be.

I'm sure I am forgetting something, but I don't have a set "bucket list" because I do not think it's fair to yourself to live off of a  list, hoping the check everything off at some point. We have too many "to do" lists, putting the fate of our lives on a limiting list seems ridiculous to me. I would rather just live, just do, and just enjoy life and its experiences as they come to me and as I create them. That might be why this list of my dreams isn't really too specific either, but that's alright with me. So, what are some of your dreams?