Chelsea Lately: November Blogathon Update

Hello, everyone! I missed yesterday's November Blogathon prompt because I just, honestly, didn't have much to say about it. It was to talk about your hometown and there's really not a lot I have to say about Ellwood City. There are a couple new little restaurants that I like but besides that, not a whole lot is going on that I felt the need to comment on here. Now that I haven't lived there for a while, I appreciate the town way more than I did while growing up there, but I was not created for small town life. So moving on today's prompt...a currently post.

I really love doing these because sometimes bloggers focus a lot on what they want to write about and forget to mention what's going on in their lives. These kind of posts are my favorite to catch up with bloggers and so you all can see what I've really been up to outside of this little space.

Brunch for Eric's birthday | Flowers from MJ for our anniversary | Lots of snow in Erie | My cat, as a record

Remembering: College. MJ and I recently celebrated our five year dating anniversary and it has really made me stop and remember who I was five years ago. I was in my junior year of college, had just been crowned Homecoming Queen and was at the top of my game academically and falling head over heels in love. Seton Hill has such a huge part of my heart and I miss it more than I ever could have imagined.

Giggling About: My crazy cat. My brother, Eric, and I have recently started our own meme-like text messages to each other about her. Pretty much whenever we find her in weird places around the house, we send a picture to each other with the phrase, "don't mind me, I'm just a (fill in the blank)." Recent things she's been: shoes, guitar amp, record, burrito.

Planning: A Thanksgiving dinner! Eek! Family Video and one of my brother's churches have decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner for some local people who don't have a place to go for the holiday and it's tonight! Family Video (like every single one in the nation) always donates turkeys to local families in need but since our store is so small, we decided to just host a dinner instead and Eric was more than willing to allow us to use the church basement for the space. But since I'm the "middle-person" between Family Video and the church, a lot of the planning has been on me. Which is fine, but I hope everything turns out alright!

Anxiously Awaiting: Upcoming craft shows for Marion Claire Stationery. I'm heading to Edinboro for one on Saturday and then doing two more in Shady Side on November 29th and December 13th. I'm hoping that these ones will do really well with Christmas coming up and my holiday cards being ready to go. Also, because the Shady Side shows will be the first two that are really in my "market" I'm hoping they will become a more regular kind of event and open me up to more "hipster-friendly" shows. Because to be honest, I'm a little hit-or-miss at smaller craft shows since they tend to draw an older crowd that doesn't always approve of my cheeky sayings.

Baking: Everything! (See: Planning) haha

Keeping a Secret: Eric's Christmas present! It came in the mail last week and I had to hide it with some other people's presents that I already bought (I'm ahead of schedule this year). But I'm reallllllly excited for what I got him. I saw it online thinking he'd like it but didn't buy it because I wasn't totally sure, then he sent me his Birthday/Christmas list and it was on there...so I swiftly purchased it.

DIYing: Some Christmas crafts for the house! Eric is allowing me to take over for decorating the house for Christmas and I've been Pinteresting a little too much lately. I've found some cute and easy crafts that I cannot wait to show off soon! I have a strict rule about not decorating until after Thanksgiving, but I'm allowed to prepare! This house was seriously designed just to decorate for Christmas, so I've got to do it justice.

What have you been up to recently?

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?

Chelsea Lately: A Much Needed Update

Hi everyone! Wow. It has been quite the long break from blogging. So sorry to leave you guys hanging, but sometimes you just have to put your "real life" first, and since my last post, that was much needed. Since my last post, I was a bridesmaid in my two best friends' wedding, ran a sports camp at Jumonville for a week with my brother, I turned 25 (!!!) and went to my first craft show for Marion Claire Stationery and opened shop online! So a lot of great stuff has happened, but a lot of great stuff is making it's way onto the blog too. So here's a little catch-up!

Listening: Sylvan Esso. My brother introduced me to them a while ago and now I cannot get enough.

Eating: Nothing inspiring. I need to get back on my cooking game.

Wanting to buy: A new bike! This cruiser to be exact.

Reading: Catching Fire. I promised myself (and others who peer pressured me) to finish the Hunger Games series this summer and it's been taking me a while to actually dig into this second book but I'm truckin' through.

Watching: Every movie on the Family Video new release list. Last night it was Under the Skin...which still has me thinking about it.

Admiring: Samantha, the owner of Broke Little Rich Girl. I'm so excited to hear about her success with the fashion truck and now she's opening a boutique in Lawrenceville and I'm so so happy for her for making her dreams come true and wish her all the best!

Drinking: Coffee and water. I'm trying to let go of pop and mom got me a Keurig for my birthday so more coffee than normal is in my diet.

Wearing: Shorts!! I am usually not a fan, but somehow my legs got tan this summer and I found some really cute ones at Walmart that aren't totally annoying with my chubby thighs. 

Losing sleep over: Nothing. 

Loving: Seeing my kitten chase a fly around the house right now. I hope she catches it though...and kills it.

Excited about: MJ to move north for good! He recently got a job at Edinboro and will be moving to Erie soon and I really cannot wait to live so close to him again! 

Thankful for: Summer living.

What have you all been up to!?

Chels Wears: Double DIY

Chambray & Leggings: JCPenney's | Shirt: Mumford & Sons | Boots: Voltage | Scarf: DIY | Headband: Rue 21

Leg Warmers: DIY | Purse: Target | Bracelets & Owl Ring: Charlotte Russe

First things first, yes, I am wearing leggings for pants...again. I cannot help it you guys, they are just so comfy and they fit under boots so well. Next, you might be wondering why I often have my hair up in my Chels Wears posts. Well, if you'd guess, a) I'm lazy, b) I didn't wash my hair this day, or c) I currently hate the length of my hair, as any of your reasons why this must be, then you're correct, but mostly C. After drastically cutting my hair, I'm in between the lengths I actually like which are shoulder length and mid-back length. So in about two to three more inches, it'll be perfect and will be worn down more, just you wait.

Now onto the double DIY...the leg warmers and the scarf were made about ten minutes before I left the house for my night job at Family Video. I got the idea for the leg warmers from Pinterest (surprise) and made them (and a few other pairs) by cutting off the sleeves of some old sweaters my mom had in her closet that neither of us wanted to actually wear. And the scarf is made from a cowl neck shirt dress that I was going to donate to Goodwill. Originally I planned to just cut off the cowl neck and use that as an infinity  scarf, but it wasn't big enough for my taste, so I cut off the sleeves and used the actual dress half of it. Simply sewed up the frayed edge so there would be a smooth edge the whole way around and voila! I'm planning on making this a fringe scarf eventually since I'm in love with all things fringe and it'll make it a more unique element, but for now and for the limited time I had to do this, I like it. What do you guys think?

If you recall, this is not the first time that I've cut something up and sewed it really fast before walking out the door in it. Honestly, I've been doing this since about the 7th grade. I just know that if I'm not going to wear an item of clothing the way it was intended, I might as well try it a different way. So far I think it's worked out pretty well. And this totally makes me a fashion designer, right!? haha

Two link-ups this week - be sure to check out H&K Style Journey and Because Shanna Said So.