Lucky & Dior Pretty Party

This weekend was pretty awesome. Thanks to my partnership with Lucky, I was invited to host a Lucky & Dior Pretty Party for myself and 10 guests. While the final guest count ended up lower than that, I still had a blast. I got to meet some local bloggers for the first time, Faith and Lindsay, and spend a girls night with some of my close friends, Anne and Stephanie. It was a night of make-up, shopping, and delicious cupcakes.


Dior Counter, Tysons Corner Bloomingdales. 



Faith, Anne, Lindsay, and Stephanie

A small army of Dior experts were there to walk us through the importance of good skincare products and to help us perfect the smokey-eye look. I was the model and while it looks like I was not enjoying myself in the following picture, do not be fooled, I loved every minute of it.




Lindsay getting her eyes did

Right before lips, we enjoyed some delicious cupcakes from Cakelove in DC. (They were amazing... so so amazing.)


mmm.. cupcakes


full kabuki

Finally, at the end we headed down to the counter for a little subsidized* shopping courtesy of Lucky. While I easily could have walked away with everything if there was no budget or SSF to go home too, I limited myself to their serum and eye cream. A total change of direction from what I pictured myself buying before the night began. (I was thinking mascara and maybe foundation).

You: "But Grace, you're too young for eye cream"
Me: "You are never too young for eye cream! Prevention ladies, prevention."



Long story short, it was a freaking blast.
Thanks to all that attended and of course to Lucky and Dior for making it possible!

How was your weekend?

*full disclosure: Lucky provided myself and each guest with a gift card that could be used only at the Dior counter. This gift did not in anyway influence my decision or perception of this event. 

Baltimore Bloggers Unite

...Or just hung out, ate pizza, took pictures and shopped.

Over the weekend I met up with Megan from Tranmission Me and Alana from The Good Girl Gone Blog and Alana's sister Sophie the master photographer. I tend to be really shy when it comes to in person type stuff so it took a lot of internal convincing for me to actually show up but I am so glad I did. It was amazing to actually get a chance to meet these people face to face. It was also kind of weird to know so much about people that I met for the first time on Saturday. Although on the plus side it took away some of the typical awkward getting to know you stuff.

We had lunch in a part of Baltimore called Fell's Point and then naturally did some shopping. It was so hot out that we didn't venture very far but did hit some thrift stores and a dress boutique that were along the main drag of Broadway St. At the goodwill I fell in love with this dress.

It has the most amazing nautical print complete with small birds and flags! However, there is one problem, it's an XL. haha. For $7 I didn't care what size it was, I needed it. I am trying to decided what to do with it though. It hits me just below the knees which is not too flattering but I am hesitant to cut it because I like the idea of wearing it as a long skirt. As of right now it is also kind of baggy up top, like outrageously baggy. I am toying with the idea of trying to take it in myself but I am not exactly a seamstress. I'm worried about ruining it completely. Anyone have any suggestions, advice, moral support?

On a side note I think its funny how we all went for a similar look that veered in totally different directions, that just happen to match our personalities so well.

Anyway, check these ladies out. I promise you won' be dissappointed.

photo credits to Alana and Megan

Spending Diary: No Credit Card Week 2

Ok Ok , so I am a little behind on my posting. SSBF's impromptu post on Saturday night totally messed up my routine. Such is life. What did you guys think? I actually have a secret, I wore that outfit on Friday but by the time we got around to taking pictures the sun had set so I put it back on for him to photograph on Saturday. I am generally opposed to that sort of thing but sometimes you just have to go wear life takes you and catch up later.

Now lets get down to the nitty gritty.  SSBF made mention to me this week that he wasn' sure what my point in this experiment was, i.e. why I was limiting myself to a set budget each week. So to clarify for him and anyone else who wasn't sure, I noticed that when using my credit cards to pay for everything I was spending money that I didn't necessarily have to spend. If I wanted a dress I bought the dress, if I wanted lunch from the cafe I bought lunch. There was no prioritization. I never evaluated my purchases and prioritized. By using cash this month I am hoping to teach myself to really start adhering to a budget and be able to make better decisions with limited resources.

So with no further ado, here was my week.

Sunday

Sunday's are almost too easy for me. SSBF and I go to the grocery store in the AM, then play tennis, and finish with some cleaning around the house.

$0 spent.

Monday

I listed my textbook from my summer class on half.com over the weekend and it sold already! woo! SSBF stopped at the post office for me to ship it out. Thank god for media mail because if I had to ship it any other way it would cost a fortune. $4.76. I had my first near breakdown today when I came across this dress at Modcloth. Generally only a few things catch my eye there and this one did in a major way. It even got to the point where I created my own loophole by using my check card. I couldn't justify spending more than a fourth of my budget for the month on the dress though.

Tuesday

No spending today. I did go mosey on over to Modcloth to check on my dress and noticed they sold out of smalls, making it impossible for me to order it. Whew. I dodged a bullet. However, if anyone has that dress in a small and doesn't want it I will take it off your hands!

Wednesday

No spending two days in a row! Wooo!

Thursday

The weather here has been dreadfully hot lately but I still had my training session on the dock and noon. It was rough. I mean I had to sit down for like 5 minutes post workout just to make sure I didn't pass out in the shower. Even after my shower I continued to sweat for an hour (tmi?) so I walked over to the cafe for an iced tea $.53.

Friday

I was so excited for today because thanks to the beer fiasco last week at the game SSBF had offered to pay chick-fil-a tonight! Then midday I got a call from him, one of the guys he teaches with is also the manager of the Camden Club at Oriole Park, and he invited us to come down for a drink some dinner. We went of course, and yet again I had to pay $8.00 for parking. Despite getting our beer and food comped, and coveted window seat to boot, I was also responsible for tipping the server-$10.00. So my total ended up being $18.00.


The view from the Camden Club. Awesome.

Saturday

I have been looking forward to this day all week. I got the chance to meet up with the lovely ladies behind Transmission Me and The Good Girl Gone Blog aka Megan and Alana respectively. We had lunch down in an area of Baltimore called Fells Point and did some thrift shopping. I won't go into all the details here but lunch was $6.63, parking another $6, a dress with an amazing sailboat print for & $7.16 at goodwill.

total spent this week: $44.08

A mere 92 cents under my goal of $45. Hooray! I'm shocked that I was able to stay under the $45 for the week even while still waiting repayment for the beer money. I have a feeling I may just need to write that off as a loss but we'll see. I am still over for the month as a whole by $14.29.

*If you are interested in having your spending diary featured here it's easy! Track your spending for 1 week and e-mail me at grace.croshaw@gmail.com. Come'on show us what you've got.

helllllo grumpy pants

Military Jacket-J.Crew also seen here& here; T-Shirt-Gap; Jeggings(!)-Gap; Shoes-Sofft via DSW

Well if you couldn't tell by the expression on my face I was not exactly feeling these pictures. It had started to rain,I had to bribe SSBF with a frosty (yes from Wendy's) to even take the pictures,oh and it was Monday. However, I was determined to take them because I was wearing my new jeggings from Gap. Now to be honest I hate the word jeggings, but there is no other way to describe these things. They are like butta. I haven't loved a pair of jeans so much since my Juicy Couture ones I splurged on 4 years ago (which are now relegated to around the house use thanks to holes in the legs that are slowly and surely creeping northward.)

Random thought-You guys must get sick of seeing the top of my head. My extremely well-defined part can not be of much interest to anyone, unless they have a scalp fetish. No offense to anyone with a scalp fetish but, thats weird.

Oh, and I love the mini mid summer obsession thats happening with military inspired pieces. Apparantly  Grace from the Flip Side of Oz and Calivintage sported similair items this week. Actually my outfit was eerily close to Calivintage's. Ok it was basically the same. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw her blog after I had taken my pictures. I feel included now, like when everyone wears the same Jeffery Campbell shoes.

I hope you are all having a good week. I have to say all the nice comments I've received over the last couple days have been amazing. You guys are too awesome. Now if only that awesomeness equated to me passing my final that is tomorrow. :)

run around on me, die without

Do you know what I will never get sick of? Business casual. That is of course after the initial rush and fuss of deciding on an outfit in the morning. I have been extra indecisive lately, it's been taking me forever to get ready for work. Maybe I need to start laying my clothes out the night before. I don't know if I could do that though. I am one of those people that packs the morning of a trip, it drives SSBF crazy. It's always hilarious in the morning because he practically has to drag me out of the house so I stop grabbing things I need "just in case".

This outfit materialized out of one of those mornings. I love it though. These pants are my favorite alternative to jeans. I don't think I wear them enough. They are twill and oh so comfortable, even when its hot. I've noticed lately that I have been wearing a lot of loose fitting tops. I think they are actually quite flattering on me, which is a surprise and I'll tell you why. The pictures here make my chest (at least I think) look deceptively small. Truth is, I am well, endowed, quite generously I never thought I could get away with anything "baggy" or striped for that matter because it would accentuate. It seems to do just the opposite though. Hooray!

I was feeling silly tonight so when SSBF told me to see how high I could kick my leg I quickly obliged. Judging by that height I need to start hitting the gym again and get my flexibility back.

I hope you are all having a wonderful start to your week.

When you have the time head over to Beauty and the Budget. Valerie was kind enough to feature my outfit from Friday in a series she is doing about looking chic on a budget. Check out the post here.Valerie is adorable and a blogger after my own heart with her budget friendly outfits and beauty ideas! Thank you Valerie!


*Scarf, Old Navy $10
*Top, Old Navy, $8
*Pants, J.Crew $59
*Sandals, Steve Madden via piperlime
*Necklace, Martin & Osa
|post title: Alligator-Teegan & Sara|

Spending Diary: Ely from Ripped Nylon

Welcome to another edition of Money Smart Fashion's Spending Diary. Honestly, I did a horrible job keeping track of my spending this week. Luckily, Ely from Ripped Nylon was kind enough to pick up my slack and share her spending diary with us!

Hello my Frugal Fashionistas! I'm 23 years old, pursuing a Master's degree, living at home and working part time as an intern at a local firm.

 *disclaimer* This is a slightly warped projection of my spending, I did have a birthday and mother's day in the same week! Here goes...

Sunday: Gifts($71.96) for Mom, the BF and his Mom, Grandma, and Sister.

Monday: Had a lovely Thai dinner ($18.99) w/my BFF.

Tuesday: Sick, stayed home, miserable!

Wednesday: Still sick, I went to the mall an hour before closing time to avoid the crowd and find a gift ($35.29) for my cousin's birthday and recent graduation. Also picked up a summer dress ($19.99) I promised my youngest sister and gave in to the temptation of American Apparel's Le Sac dress and even got an alternate Le String, ($48.00).

Thursday:Still home and sicktastic, bought food for the middle child. ($10.54)

Friday: For $26.00, bought a domain name and host space to get my online portfolio rolling. (and yes, still home, can you believe it?!)

Saturday:($17.00) on rings for Mom & I; My cousin's grad/birthday party is Sunday (tomorrow) and we were lacking essential accessories... ok, I confess... we just couldn't resist! ($24.00) for Papa John's when my parents abandoned my sister and I in the house.

Total Spent: $271.77

Thoughts: Nearly $300 and almost nothing to show for it! I know for a fact that I habitually spend most of my money on other people, but this week was pretty out of control in that category. I obviously need to stop overextending myself when I have grad school to pay for! I also have to cut down on spoiling myself, which shouldn't be too hard because while I was still in school I wasn't even making weekly what I spent here. I like the idea of stepping up and taking control, my savings are next to nothing and I'd like to move out by the end of the year, so this was pretty eye-opening as to how loosely I handle my hard-earned money. I feel like this is both empowering and humbling, and will definitely keep this going!

Great Job Ely! I think that your biggest area of opportunity to maximize your savings would be your spending on others. Set a (realistic) budget, I would recommend maybe 5-7% of your monthly take home pay, for the amount of money you think is reasonable to spend on others. By keeping track throughout the month you will know when its time to say no. Also, its seems you may be a bit of an impulsive buyer. Take a minute to think before buying those impulse items. Maybe even do a lap around the store or mall before purchasing to make sure you truly want that item.

If you want to learn more about Ely and her amazing eye for fashion head on over to her blog Ripped Nylon. I always love her interesting architectural finds. Thank you so much for sharing your spending this week!

As always, I am always looking for lovely ladies to feature for this weekly post. If you are interested e-mail me at grace.croshaw@gmail.com.