Petite Panoply

Happy Monday everyone! These pictures were taken a couple weeks ago in Chicago. Matt and I took a train into the city and wandered around after he had an interview (which explains his fancy suit.) We had to take the obligatory pictures with The Bean which is this giant mirror object you see here. I'm sure a lot of you have seen The Bean before. It sure provides an interesting backdrop for pictures! I'm lucky to have a boyfriend who humors me by letting me take way too many pictures from many different angles. Anyway, I planned this outfit around these comfy burgundy ankle boots from Boohoo. I knew we'd be doing a lot of walking. As it turns out, if I walk around 10 miles in a day my feet will hurt no matter what shoes I'm wearing. Surprise! I really love how these boots match my faux leather jacket though. That burgundy shade runs through my chevron print dress too. This outfit was pretty matchy-matchy but I hope it matched in a good way.  dress: modcloth | jacke...

Oops. I forgot to post last Friday. I had the idea that I'd have a ton of time to post and tons of things to post about over the summer. However, I've either been too busy or so boring I have no content. Oh well! I'm sure I'll be getting dressed much more often once I start grad school. These pictures are from last Thursday in Chicago. We went to see a free jazz band concert at Millennium Park with some extended family. I always enjoy seeing free concerts there. We saw The Decemberists backed by a full orchestra there a few years back and it was amazing. This concert was wonderfully not super crowded and the music was great. It made me want to pick up my trumpet! Unfortunately I didn't bring one to Illinois with me! And I also never really played jazz music. So there's that. top: charlotte russe shorts: forever 21 cardigan: kohls shoes: ross dress for less belt: modcloth.com This picture is one of my new favorites.  Another one of t...

I love going into the city when we're up near Chicago.  My cousin shot these pictures while we were having dinner at another cousin's apartment. [You may soon realize there are a lot of cousins. These are cousins of my mom... and therefore cousins of me too?] So thank you to her for letting me use these pictures! dress: forever 21 cardigan: delia*s shoes: crate & barrel hair flower: forever 21 I'm particularly fond of the first picture of us peering over the ledge. I don't have enough candid-like pictures in my life! Those are sometimes the best sort of pictures, I think. The dress I was wearing has really cool back cutout detailing. I'll be sure to showcase it next time I wear it as it'll be too hot here to wear that dress with a cardigan for a good long while. Seriously, it's like an inferno outside. <3 

As promised, here's the second installment of our Shed Aquarium trip! It was quite an ominous-looking day outside. My shorts weren't quite warm enough for the weather. My favorite exhibit was "Jellies". It's a temporary exhibit so I'm glad I got to see it. You went down some stairs into a darkened hall where all kinds of jellyfish floated around in colorful tanks. They even had some serene mood music playing. I wouldn't want to touch a jellyfish, but I sure enjoyed looking at them. More after the jump!:

On Wednesday my Aunt took us on a trip downtown to go to the Shed Aquarium with our cousins. Since I have many pictures to show you, I'm going to break this into two posts! This guy was sitting so still. Just creeping on all of us. I had to get a picture of this because it includes Jeanie and my aquarium rap names. I'm "Red Irish Lord" and Jeanie is "C-O Sole". More pictures after the jump:

If you didn't know, I have a large collection of sunglasses. The other day I came across this store that sells things for $5 and under. They had an awesome array of sunglasses and these are the three I picked up: Some pink leopard print ones, heart shaped ones, and navy blue with yellow bow details. These bows sold me on the navy pair. I'm pretty happy about my new additions! In other news, we were in downtown Chicago for dinner last night and took a picture on an apartment balcony with a cool night scene behind us. Too bad the picture is quite crappy because my camera is quite crappy. We're going to the Shed Aquarium with our aunt and cousins tomorrow. Something to do is always nice! I'm in quite a rage at this moment as a couple of my cousins have been being selfish bitches for a couple years and it's all coming to a head right now. It's frustrating when people always convince themselves that they're right when they'r...