fancy

My summer kicked off by seeing my soulmate, best friend, and third sister; Brenna Rose Cashen. We became friends in 6th grade and best friends summer going into 8th grade when I used to live in the same small town of Leesburg, Virginia; a surburb outside Washington D.C. We try to visit each other at least once a year and we've managed to stay best friends ever since.

When Brenna and I were reunited it was like time and distance didn't even matter we were already acting like we hang out everyday, talking about updates in each others' lives, pop culture, news, and how much we basically hate the rest of the people of the world. 

On our first full day we went to the biggest mall in the area, Tyson's, and met Brenna's boyfriend and his friend up for lunch so I could finally meet the guy who was dating my best friend {he's basically Brenna in boy form without the loud mouth so he got my seal of approval}. We ate lunch and went to some of our favorite stores like Free People, Urban Outfitters, and H&M and then naturally got lost in rush hour traffic in the pouring rain. To end a day of shopping we drank margaritas and watched our favorite "best friend" movie, Bride Wars. No, we couldn't be more stereotypical girls.

           

                                                                    

We went to a Nationals Baseball game in downtown D.C. the next day, so since I'm a sports junkie I was excited to go to another baseball game, even if it wasn't my team the Rangers. The game was so much fun and the Nationals pulled out a win, and we got to sit fairly close left field. We went with two of Brenna's best friends from high school and we all had a great time eating Ballpark food and cheering on the Nationals. As we were leaving we got a glimpse of downtown D.C.
         

Since Texas and Oklahoma are completely flat states, there aren't many hiking opportunities so we went hiking on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to Great Falls. I forgot how green and hilly Virginia was and at Great Falls there was huge rocks to hike on, great trails, and the river was high and to my eyes looked like raging rapids. It was a perfect sunny and 75 degree day to see the beauty of the East Coast.                                      



In my last full day in Virginia, we went to the country's capital of D.C. I love downtown D.C. with all the historic buildings, amazing museums, memorials, and just the history of the country. We had tickets to go to Madame Trussauds Wax Museum, which is on my bucket list so I got to check an item off. In D.C. they had a whole section of the presidents looking almost real. We then walked around the city as we like to do because we love cities. Then we stopped at a bakery and got our favorite dessert, macaroons and made sure to get some pictures of tourist sites.


Over my week trip, I ate a lot of great food as well and since I'm a food lover I had to document all the great food I ate. At the baseball game I found one of my favorite places to eat from NYC, Shake Shack. I was so excited to have found it in D.C. at a baseball game. We also went to a new local Leesburg burger restaurant, Melt. I got the most delicious burger called the Paris burger. Meat, Brie cheese, spinach, balsamic carmelized onions, with a side of fries with the restaurant's special sauce. And of course always end on a dessert, huge macaroons {favorite dessert} from Paul's bakery in downtown D.C.



My trip back to Virginia to spend time with the best friend of a lifetime was exactly what I needed to start this summer. As I boarded the plane back home to Texas I started the book that swept the teenage nation, The Fault in Our Stars {bad mistake, I cried on the plane}. And the whole plane ride back I had Iggy Azalea's song "Fancy" stuck in my head. Probably because Brenna and I listened to it everyday, multiple times a day. Bon Voyage Virginia, until next time!

My top 5 things to see in D.C.

1. The White House

2. National Archives Building

3. Washington Memorial

4. Museum of Natural History

5. Japanese Cherry Blossum Festival

Met Gala 2014

While I waited for my personal last minute invitation to the Met Gala, fashion's biggest night, I concluded I would be invited next year for sure. The Met Gala is an annual fundraising night to benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, including the fashion exhibit. Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, has been chair for this event since 1995 and oversees pretty much everything, claiming her title as "Queen of fashion". This year's theme was honoring Charles James, "America's First Couturier", with the title Beyond Fashion. 

Since I was unable to attend, I had to sit in my sweats and refresh my phone every 5 seconds to see every celebrity, model, and designer's costumes of the night. And every time I refreshed the phone screams of "Oh my god" and "Wow" and "AMAZING" would come out. Every dress and ensemble that came out this year received attention and stuck out, but I am going to share my personal favorite dresses, beauty moments, and couples of the night. {all pictures courtesy of E! News Online}

First thing's first is to just give a round of applause to the Queen of the night, Anna Wintour. The editor looked timeless in Chanel. The dress was full of springtime and Wintour looked radiant.                

Next is fashion, icon, Sarah Jessica Parker, who is one of my fashion idols. SJP was the crowd "wow" in an Oscar de la Renta, that channeled Charles James' work. The dress was a black and white stunner that was even more drama in the back. SJP made history and actually blew my mind out of the park.

                                                     

Pink was a popular trend seen throughout the night and my favorites in the color were Reese Witherspoon wearing Stella McCartney, Emma Stone in a Thakoon ensemble {seen later for best beauty}, Blake Lively in Gucci {seen later in best couples}, Kendall Jenner in TopShop, Claire Danes in Oscar de la Renta {seen later in best couples}, and finally the best pink dress of them all, Suki Waterhouse, in Burberry. Turned heads left and right with angel like frills.
                          
Up next is a true piece of artwork. Karolina Kurkova in a one of a kind Marchesa dress sculpted with angular cuts like no other. The model proved her fashion sense with this single dress of modern perfection.

Final best dresses of the night {besides some seen in best beauty moments and best couples} is the 2 best black gowns. Black is always classic and the 2 ladies who wore black surely fit the title of class. Gisele Bundchen wore a lace Balenciaga that lengthened her even more if possible. And E!'s own Giuliana Rancic perfected class in a Zac Posen dress with gorgeous fur vest. 

                                                

Next up is the best beauty moments! For me it was Emma Stone in Thakoon with a Frozen inspired braid {fan girling!}, Nicole Richie in Donna Karan with her lavender hair and golden eyes, Taylor Swift in Oscar de la Renta with her old Hollywood lips and eyes, and Jessica Alba in Diane Von Furstenberg with glowing skin and sultry eyes. 

         

And now the best looking couples of the night! We all know celebrities are all so good looking it's sickening but when you get 2 unbelievably good looking people together, it either makes you insanely jealous and pisses you off or your heart melts with happiness. First up Victoria Beckham and David Beckham; Victoria wearing her own brand and David in Ralph Lauren. Next is Queen Beyonce and Jay-Z, Beyonce in Givenchy. Sweetest moment when Jay performed mock proposal when Bey dropped her ring. Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy looked like prince and princess; Danes in Oscar de la Renta and Dancy in Prada. The always adorable Chrissy Teigen and John Legend matched with same designer, Ralph Lauren. Finally my favorite couple of the night {and my absolute favorite dress} goes to Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds! If you haven't already known how obsessed I am with Blake Lively you will now. She looked like an old Hollywood glam vision from her perfect curls to toe. The usual private couple made news looking gorgeous together {both in Gucci} and affectionate.

                                                                                                                                                                            

Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds stole the whole show by the Hollywood glam attire and adorable, attractive affection. Other dresses not pictured that were gorgeous as well included Lily Aldridge in a silver Michael Kors, Hailee Steinfeld in Prada, Dita Von Teese showing off her curves in Zac Posen, Selena Gomez with dark romantic makeup in Diane Von Furstenberg, and Cara Delevingne in a Stella McCartney ensemble.

However, my favorite picture of the whole night {even better than Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds} goes to the reunion that made me squeal with happiness. Yes, Upper East Siders, B&S reunited on the red carpet! Blake Lively and Leighton Meester posed for pictures together looking like besties once again. The Gossip Girl fan in me couldn't take the excitement or the beauty. We already know how jaw dropping Lively looked in Gucci, but Meester looked beautiful as ever in a gold dress with a plunging neckline by Emilio Pucci. She went sans her husband, Adam Brody. Seeing the duo back in action exceeded expectations. This picture is EVERYTHING. 

Top 5 designers I would want to make my Met Gala dress:

1. Zuhair Murad

2. Oscar de la Renta

3. Zac Posen

4. Diane Von Furstenberg

5. Gucci

modern version of love?

It's 2014. It's obvious things are rapidly changing, evolving, and vastly different than 20 years ago. Whether it's technology, transportation, fashion, behavior, or conversation; our world has evolved to futuristic. But what about love? Falling in love, acting in love, being in love, and loving. Has that changed too? I believe it has. If you asked a person 50 years ago what their actions were and how they felt while in love and then asked someone today the answers would be different. Yes it is extremely different times, but love is a feeling and a feeling shouldn't change that drastically in my opinion.

Back then people didn't have so many distractions, complications, or temptations. The divorce rate in this day in age is over 50% in America...that's half of the couples who get married end in divorce. People who got married 50+ years ago, almost never divorce. In my opinion, it's because they loved more and didn't have all the distractions and just had each other. They talked more {face to face}, they did more activities together, they grew more together, they shared more, and there wasn't as many temptations. No Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram, no texting, Skype, or even stupid Snapchat. None of that except one phone that connected to one answering machine. Now people get bored, lazy, cheat, don't communicate, get jealous more because of stupid things seen on stupid social media so much more over every little thing. The little things become the big things, in a bad way now because they're all built up, and then it becomes something and then there's really no relationship anymore.

The kind of love our grandparents have is actual, true love that we need to revert back to. The selflessness, the teamwork, the admiration, and making the good little things the big things. Those marriages are lasting 50+ years because of the way they were raised, the age they grew up in, without all the distractions and social media, and without all the hype. They put all the effort, poured hearts out, and gave everything to one person because they wanted to not because they felt the need to. Why isn't it the same anymore? I wish I grew up in their and age where trust meant more, where a person meant more than a phone or job, and when love meant something more.

I guarantee our grandparents did way more romantic, caring, and loving actions or words than most people these day ever will. You can call me old fashioned or nonrealistic all you want, but love used to mean more than words and now it hardly means that due to the amount of laziness or divorce. I don't live in a fantasy, I'm not asking for Prince Charming, or stuff you see in the movies. That's not real and I'm aware of that but I'm asking for honest to God love that meant something more than just saying the empty words of "i love you".

Even though I don't live in a fantasy; movies and TV shows have created this alternate world bullshit that guys {or girls} always have to do these elaborate gestures, tell incredible speeches all the time, or take on the role of someone they're not. If these people did exist we'd all have our own Chuck Bass, McDreamy, Noah Calhoun, Landon, Mr. Big, Patrick Verona, Jim Halpert, Lloyd Dobler, Jake Perry, and many more. These charactes have driven girls crazy trying to find that perfect guy to even come close to their imaginary fictional boyfriend. These people don't exist. Their actions or words don't exist. No one is like that, but can love mean as much as they mean it?

Love is shown through so many ways but we have to stop thinking about the movies and TV shows because they don't help the cause of getting back to "old love", instead we need to look to our grandparents or even parents. Because that IS real and it's seen everyday. Might not be up to the Hollywood version of standards but I think it exceeds those standards because it's real and it happened or still continues {hopefully} to happen today. We need to take away the distractions and put the love and friendship back in. Take out the temptations, the social media, the behind a phone or computer screen, and love like our grandparents did 50 years back. In reality.

the only movies that actually show the reality of love in my eyes:
1. 500 Days of Summer
2. He's Just Not That Into You
3. Stuck In Love
4. Bride Wars
5. Up

nyfw 2014 {a little postponed}

Carrie Bradshaw said it best when she said. "Every year the women of New York leave the past behind and look forward to the future, this is known as Fashion Week." Spring Fashion Week has been over a month now, but the clothes are still in my mind. We might not see most of the clothes til fall of next year but already the gowns have been seen on the red carpet.

Visionary artists like Monique L'Huillier, Zac Posen, Tadishi Shoji, Diane Von Furstenberg, J Mendel, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Badgley Mischka, Vera Wang, Victoria Beckham, Kate Spade, BCBG, Jenny Packham, and many more showed off their artwork in the most creative ways. Whether it was in unique locations, rotating platforms, or a backup band; 2014 opened up with a bang.
     

Trends that were commonly seen throughout the week were red, red, and more red. Red as well metallic colors like silver and gold were seen in almost every show. Fur is still seen as prominent trend for fall in winter, but dramatic ball gowns made an impression especially from Zac Posen and Monique L’Huillier. Soft colors like pink and winter white stood out. One trend that stood out and was a little unusual was tall socks with heels. Lucky magazine editor, Eva Chen noticed this trend and was all for this trend uploading many pictures on her Instagram account. Heavy textures within dresses and coats were seen on designers like Badgley Mischka, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Tory Burch. Sportswear was also seen as a popular idea prominently shown by Tommy Hilfiger. 
    

Personally, I could not get enough of the brilliant red. I love wearing red so I was in awe of the beautiful red gowns by Tadishi Shoji, Zac Posen, and Caroline Herrera. Taylor Swift would be proud. Also gowns that stood out to me in particular were Victoria Beckham's winter white pleated dress that was the finale. The Parisian grey gown with the fur top by Cristiano Siriano had me picturing myself in Paris at Christmastime. Monique L'Huillier's black fitted long sleeve gown that sparkled was visionary as well as the effortless purple full gown with pink floral pattern. (Later seen at the 2014 Oscars worn by Chrissy Teigen!). David Tlale's nude flowly dress killed it. Every Tadashi Shoji dress, end of story. All of Zac Posen's were red carpet ready, it was impossible to pick just one. White gown with embellished gold beads on the top by Badgley Mischka made a bold statement. Jenny Packham's light blue feathered and sequined ensamble had my name written all over it. J Mendel's bright purple pleated gown screamed glamour. Dolce & Gabbanna shined bright like a diamond with all of their navy and black clothes decked out in silver and gold embellishments. I could go on and on but only pictures for now can do these clothes justice.

   

Celebrities were seen every show during the week, wide-eyed at potential trends and dresses for occasions. Fashion mogul, Anna Wintour, was seen at almost every show she could possibly attend. Note: she barely cracked a smile. Anna Kendrick was seen at Monique L’Huillier, gushing over one of her favorite designers. My girl crush, Blake Lively was spotted at the Michael Kors show along with Frieda Pinto and Rose Byrn. Marchesa was graced with the presence of famous blogger, Olivia Palermo. Joe Jonas was surprisingly seen at many shows throughout the week, with eyes glued to all the clothes. And with probably the most adorable sighting of all, the entire Beckham family sat front row, taking selfies, at their mom/wife's, Victoria Beckham’s show.

   

Even though fashion week is over and fall is months and months away, we will try and wait for fashion week next fall and to see the clothes come out, the trends seen more often, and the gorgeous gowns seen our favorite celebrities at the red carpet. I may even save up years and years for that Tadashi Shoji red dress {the obsession is real my friends}. 

my top 5 favorite celebrity style icons

1. Blake Lively without a doubt

2. Audrey Hepburn

3. Olivia Palermo

4. Lupita Nyong'o

5. Sarah Jessica Parker

newbie

i've attempted to start blogs before but this is actually my first blog post. pathetic is the word of choice. i've made every excuse in the past not to put forth the effort and start one. but this time i'm putting all the excuses behind and showing what i love to do and what i'm passionate about, writing. i don't care who reads it or doesn't, who likes it or doesn't. i'm writing for me and to get out of my comfort zone.

when everyone is asked to describe themselves or list their strengths and weaknesses, people get awkward and uncomfortable because most people don't like talking about themselves. unless you're a conceited ass who thinks everyone is actually interested. but since this IS a personal blog i'm going to do my best. {this is the part when i'm starting to get out of my comfort zone}

i'm extremely complex. i don't look like i'm complex. i look like the pretty, dumb blonde that was the cheerleader in high school who's had the personality of a rock. but as soon as i open my mouth that stereotype is shot to hell. i'm so sarcastic that most people think i come off as a bitch. which is true, i kind of am a bitch but i like to look at it as im blunt and say it like it is. honest. even though i can come off as a blunt bitch, i'm also caring. childish. mature. a H U G E drama queen. i blow everything out of proportion. i'm a nerd. control freak. loud & obnoxious. loser. social. fun. stubborn. cautious. passive aggressive. confrontational. closed and open book. impatient. my dog is my pride and joy. stressed 90% of the time. compassionate. intelligent. funny. listener. not exactly punctual. procrastinator but manages to get things done {thanks to stress}. complex.

i have an obsession with sports especially football and baseball. chipotle addict. music is what keeps me sane. working out helps my stress so i do it as much as possible. netflix is my best friend. nyc is a little piece of heaven. daisies. elephants. irish pride. sophomore at the university of oklahoma {boomer sooner}. family over everything. i get really into movies. shopping and fashion are right under the sports obsession. i really love to laugh. full believer in angels.

if you're not bored with learning about me a person you either know or have no idea who i am i will be fully impressed.

little pieces of what i listen to while writing:
1. the draw - bastille
2. silhouettes - of monsters and men
3. street lights - kanye west
4. breakfast in nyc - oppenheimer
5. carolina - eric church