you say it's your birthday...

So last Tuesday was my birthday! Twenty six. It feels so weird to type that. I am twenty six. 26. Past 25. Which feels old. And yet I feel like I should be OLDER than I am, somehow. Like at 26 my life should be more advanced. I know that's not true, but when you're a little kid you think "Twenty six! I'll have a husband and a house and KIDS by then!" And some people totally do. I do not. And I'm pretty happy that I don't just yet, haha.

ANYWAY, this is what I wore for my birthday, both day and night!

This was what I wore to work yesterday. I wanted to be bright and cheerful, since it was my birthday and all. Bright blue pants? Check. Neon necklace? Check. Sparkle flats? Obviously.

A few quick changes later and I was ready for dinner in Harvard Square with Boyfriend! Swapped out the white for purple added some big earrings and heels and I was done. Boyfriend called me an Easter egg and then I gave him a lesson in brights vs. pastels. Boys.

We had a yummy dinner at Russell House Tavern. I had steak and french fries, which come with garlic mayonnaise for dipping. Sounds gross, but SO GOOD. And SO BAD FOR YOU. Such is life. But hey! It was my birthday.

I had to sneak a picture of Boyfriend while he was paying the bill because he hates having his picture taken. He just looked so damn handsome last night! The boy cleans up.

After dinner we walked around the corner to Pinkberry. I had salted caramel with strawberries and toasted almonds and a waffle cookie. Hello. Sooo good! Then we headed home to watch Sunday's Walking Dead episode. (Walking Dead viewers, without giving spoilers, did you say "FINALLY!" or "Oh noes!" to the end of the episode? Because I am in the "FINALLY!" camp.)

It was a pretty fabulous birthday. The weather was phenomenal yesterday so that was a definite plus. Sadly now my birthday is over and I am running out of excuses for eating so much cake and not working out, so back to real life it is!

Jeans: American Eagle (similar)
Day shirt: Old Navy (similar)
Necklace: Spike the Punch
Flats: Steve Madden
Shades: Ray Ban
Night shirt: J.Crew
Heels: Calvin Klein
Clutch: unknown (Target?)
Earrings: vintage, were great grandmother's I think

weekend warrior

This past weekend was all kinds of amazing. On Saturday I went snowboarding for the second time ever, and I didn't hate it! I'll do a separate post all about it once I get the pictures of me (snowboarding!) from Boyfriend.

On Sunday I purged almost my entire closet. I pulled out all my clothes and weeded through them, trying everything on and getting rid of things that didn't fit right or that I didn't love. There were so many things that were too big for me! Best feeling ever. Bags and bags of stuff are going to Goodwill and I still have to go through all my pants and sweaters. I'm trying to really simplify things and not use this as an excuse to fill my closet to bursting again!

I know I'll be moving in a few months, and I really don't want to shlep all this clutter with me, so I'm trying to go through all my stuff and be really strict about what stays and what goes. It isn't easy, that's for sure!

And right on cue my mom just came into my room and handed me some brand new hot pink hanging file folders! I'm off to file things!

Jacket: Forever 21
Sweatshirt: Madewell
Jeans: Gap
Boots: Marshall's (similar)
Necklace: Spike the Punch
Sunnies: Ray Ban

neon knit

In retrospect, maybe standing in front of a gray fence while wearing a gray sweater wasn't the best idea. It does really make the neon pop, though, don't you think? I am just in love with this sweater. The bright colors are perfect for adding something cheerful to these gray days of winter. I can't wait to pair it with more interesting items in my closet. Maybe with some bright blue jeans? You'd really be able to see me coming, that's for sure. I like how it pairs nicely with my neon Spike the Punch necklace, too.

Sweater: American Eagle 
Similar Sweater
Jeans: Gap
Booties: Old Navy
Necklace: Spike the Punch

neon + neutral

I've been stalking Kristina's Blogger's Do It Better feature since she started it, but kept missing the deadlines. I finally managed this one - Neon + Neutral. This is actually a trend I think is really cool, because I kind of love neon things. Though when the time came to put together an outfit, it turned out I don't own a whole lot of neon. I don't know how this happened.

[Shirt - Madewell/Shorts - Old Navy/Belt - Target/Clutch - DIY'd American Apparel/Shoes - Sam Edelman/Necklace (worn as bracelet) - vintage/Bead bracelet - Express?]

This challenge just so happened to perfectly coincide with my newest DIY project. I decided my leather American Apparel clutch needed a neon stripe across the bottom. I used this tutorial and got crackin'. 

Clearly I haven't done crafts in awhile, because this project was more confusing to me than I anticipated. First I went to the craft store and wandered into the paint section. There were no neons. Everything was expensive. I was confused. "Where are those little squeeze bottles of paint we used to always use on crafts when I was a kid? They came in eighty bajillion colors! Do they not make them anymore?" I wondered, as I selected a lame looking yellow and hoped it would have the effect I wanted. Then I looked for paint brushes. "What the hell, where are those cheap foam brushes? Why are these so fancy? I'm not painting a portrait here, just this little clutch." I definitely was not buying some fancy-ass paintbrush, so I wandered a bit more, and LO AND BEHOLD I found the aisle with the little squeezy bottles of paint and my beloved foam brushes. Peace was restored at A.C. Moore.

A few notes about the process if you want to try it:

• Electrical tape is not a great substitute for painter's tape. As you can see above, we had some seepage.
• You will need to do approximately 68,767,854 coats of paint if you pick a pale color like I did. I can only assume this is normal. It didn't seem to effect the bag.
• I'm not sure you need to water down the white primer paint, as she suggests. I've only done one side but on the other side I'm not going to water down that first layer. The bag color still showed through, so I am thinking a solid white might help with this. 

I got about 50 mosquito bites taking these pictures, so I'm going to go scratch them and whine. Enjoy your night, everyone!