What to Wear on a Skype Date

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I've been seeing a gentleman I met on match.com. Since I live in New Hampshire and he lives in North Carolina, there has been quite a bit of flying and Skype-ing over the last few months. Skype is pretty awesome because I can be on a date in my pajamas or some beat-up, old sweatpants. I'm not gonna lie, there are times when I'll put on a more dressy top with my most comfortable sweat pants.

Since Skype dating is less about the outfit and more about the face, I've actually found myself spending more time on my hair and make-up. Here's the view from my webcam:

Sexy, right? Haha- just kidding! But seriously, this is the view when my laptop is on my lap. The lighting is usually better than in this photo, but you get the general idea. As you can tell from the photo, it's all about looking great from the neck up. I will sometimes add a cute pair of earrings, or a nice necklace if I want to be a little more dressy. For our first Skype date, I was super careful about lighting and camera angle. I'm much more comfortable these days, but I still try to look decent. 

For Christmas, I got the most fabulous gift- an amazing eye make-up palette by Stila called "In the Light." It was definitely one of my favorite Christmas presents this year and I've used it nearly every day since then. I was considering purchasing the Urban Decay "Naked" palette for months, but the price was a bit high and I didn't think I would wear a lot of the darker colors. It's not often that I do a dark, smokey eye, but I wear shimmer- nudes nearly every day of the week. When I saw Stila's "In the Light" palette, I knew it would be a better choice for me. 

 This palette includes 10 beautiful neutral shades, mostly in nude and brown tones. My favorites are Kitten (second from left on top row) and Sunset (second from right on top row). The palette includes matte and shimmer shadows, all of which are perfectly blend-able and look amazing layered over each other. My daily look always starts with kitten. I dab it over my entire lid, making sure I hit the inner corner of my eye and directly under my eyebrow. Next, I layer on a slightly darker shade, just over the lid. Sunset is perfect for this. Finally, I add a bit of contouring in the crease and on the outside corner of my eye. Luster (center bottom) is perfect for contouring and adding dimension to the overall look. I finish with mascara most days. If I want a dressier look, I use the eye liner as a finishing touch. In the end, I have a beautiful, nude, shimmery eye: 

If that's not a great, casual date look, I don't know what is! This palette is definitely my new favorite and I will continue to use it every day until it's all gone! What is your favorite eye make-up product? Do you use a palette or do you mix and match different shadows from different companies? Leave a comment and tell me your beauty secrets! 

And Outfit for a Night at the Museum

Juhree and I spent a night out in Boston last week. We went on a Wednesday night to the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. On Wednesday nights from 4:00 till closing time, admission is free! We loved spending the evening looking at amazing artwork. The room full of Renoir was one of our favorites, so we snapped a quick photo. It was a chilly December evening, so I layered a warm cardigan over my long sleeve cowl-neck top from Fair Indigo. My suede cap kept my head warm when we were walking from the museum to a nearby Italian Restaurant. Juhree looked sleek in all black, but her feet froze. You can't see from the photo, but she wore dainty ballet flats with her skinny jeans. Silly girl- it's boot season! 

It was a fun night out and we looked pretty fabulous in Beantown. What fun things have you done with your girlfriends lately? Where have you been for a night on the town? What did you wear? Leave a comment and tell me all about it! 

Some Other Blogging...

As you know, I've been blogging more at work, maintaining the Madeleine's Daughter blog. I have really enjoyed writing posts for work, since I usually get to write about beautiful gowns and sparkly bridal accessories. However, I recently wrote a series of posts that introduce our readers to the amazing bridal consultants. Over the next few weeks, we'll be publishing them on the MD blog. I am really excited about this series because I know first hand how incredible my co-workers are and I'm excited to put their personalities and pictures on the internet for everyone to see. I used a simple formula and had each consultant answer the same set of questions. It was really fun to see their unique answers to the questions. The first post published yesterday and introduced McKenzie, one of the most seasoned bridal consultants we have on staff.

Click here to view the first post in my "Meet the Staff" series and feel free to follow the Madeleine's Daughter blog, too!

Rate My Look- Floral Skirt

A few weeks ago, I found an amazing outfit at a store in downtown Portsmouth called Serendipity. I was with my bosses, after we'd been out for a fun dinner together. When we were walking back to the car, I spotted this skirt in the window and had to go in to try it on. I also found a fabulous top to go with it, and I wore the outfit to my friend Sadie's annual Yule Ball Christmas Party in December. Part of what convinced me to get the outfit was that I knew I would be able to wear both pieces to work in countless different outfits. Yesterday I used the skirt to put this look together. I'm really happy with it:

If you follow me on Twitter or you are my friend on Facebook, you've seen the saga of my travel debacles over the holiday weekend. I flew down to North Carolina for New Year's Eve, but my flight home the next evening was rough. After being delayed over a hour, then eventually switched to another flight that left 2 hours after that, I finally boarded and took off at nearly 11:00 PM (My original flight had been booked for 7:45). I arrived in New Hampshire at nearly 1:00 AM, and shortly thereafter discovered that my suitcase had not arrived with me. Two days later, it finally made it back to me, but the whole ordeal was stressful and irritating. In this photo, I was about half-way through my day and had already spent the morning dealing with the frustrating process of filing a "delayed baggage" claim. Since the morning was spent with that project, I didn't put any effort into my hair. Looking at this photo now, I deeply regret that choice. 

But enough about the baggage issues, let's talk about the skirt! Isn't it super fun? It's by Free People and at $128, it was quite a splurge for me. I am completely in love with it and walking around in it all day definitely lifted my spirits whenever I thought about my flight and luggage issues. It's flouncy, flirty, flower-y and fun and I can't wait to wear it again and again! 

How did you spend New Year's Eve? Were you at a fancy party? Or did you have a quiet night at home? Leave a comment and tell me all about your holiday and what you wore! 

Some recent creations...

Over the last few weeks, I've been getting back into knitting. I did quite a bit of sewing in my free time this year, but winter is defeinitely a good time to get back into sewing. My good friend Brance just loves the stocking that I knit for him a couple of years ago. He loves it so much, he actually wanted a coordinating one to give to his girlfriend this Christmas. The only way to get a truly coordinating stocking made with the same pattern and yarn is to go right back to the source. 

You can see the original stocking I knit for Brance on this older post, and of course the coordinating one for his girlfriend here: 

I'm pretty excited about how it came out. This stocking is such a great one- it knits in just a couple of hours. the yarn is thick and chunky and the needles are size 13, so it really does go very quickly once you get started. It knits on double-pointed needles. The loop and pom-poms are my own addition to the pattern and  like how they came out! 

In addition to the stocking, I also managed to make a super snuggle-y infinity scarf for Juhree using a cream colored thick yarn. The pattern is simple- just popcorn stitch the whole way, then sew the ends together: 

So warm and cuddly! It took a little less than four skeins of yarn and about 6 hours to knit this scarf. The popcorn stitch looks great, but it uses a LOT of yarn. If you want to make one for yourself, just use size 10 1/2 needles and 4 balls of Wool-ease Thick & Quick Yarn in the color of your choice. Cast on 32 stitches and knit in popcorn stitch (K1,P1 across odd rows, P1, K1 across even rows) until the scarf measures 60 inches or so. Sew the ends together to create a loop. You'll be warm all winter in this gorgeous scarf.

Now that I'm done my projects, I really want to find a new one to work on. Rather than head to the store for more yarn, I'm going to see what left-over yarn I have kicking around and I'm going to see what I can do with what I have.

Do you knit or crochet? I'd love to see the projects you are working on! Email me or leave a comment to tell me all about it! Thanks for reading!

Rate My Look: An Oldie...

My friend Melanie snapped this photo of me over a month ago when we got together for lunch and a matinee viewing of the most recent Twlight movie. Yes, I like Twlight-the books, the movies- it's all so fun. Sparkly vampires and a love story? What's not to like? Anyway, we caused a stir in the restaurant where we had lunch- several of the waitstaff approached our table to tell us how fabulously stylish we both looked.

You can check out Mel's outfit from the day here. We posed outside of the Mexican restaurant where we had just eaten a delicious lunch consisting of garlic cheese nachos and taco salads. So tasty! It was unseasonably warm for mid-November, so I went without tights and in light-weight, almost summer-y fabrics. my denim jacket kept the slight chill out and my boots were pretty toasty warm. You may even have noticed my bag in the corner of the photo- a bridesmaid gift from Beth from the week prior. I don't think I've featured it on the blog yet, and now I'm kicking myself for putting it down when we took the photo. Amateur mistake. I guess it shows that I'm a little out of practice when it comes to blogging. I have been very busy lately and I've really struggled to find the time to blog. When it comes down to it, I've been choosing to spend time with friends and family rather than focus on blogging. It used to be something I thought about constantly, but lately I've needed a break. Given how many posts I've managed over the last three years, it's not surprising that I would finally need a bit of a breather, so I hope you all understand and still continue to read even if I post less frequently. I appreciate your continued support! 

Anyway, why not let me know how you feel about my outfit (and my blogging hiatus) in the comments! Thanks for reading!  

Holiday Party Photos

November and December are the major party months of the year and this year was no exception. Between the official company holiday party and the various other parties thrown by my coworkers, I feel like I haven't had a weekend free in a while. We were all very fashionable for our company party, so I'd like to share some of the photos with you:

Brandie, Kristin and I at our company holiday party

I was in love with my outfit for this particular event. I found the dress and the sequin cardigan at Forever 21 of all places! Combined, they cost less than my shoes (which I found at DSW). I felt festive and sexy and up for a night on the town with my girls! I hope I get to wear this outfit again sometime. It would make a great date outfit as well. 

Juhree and I at our company holiday party

You can't really tell in either photo, but I also sported one of my fascinators. You can check it out in this post. I thought it was a fun, funky finishing accessory for my outfit. As for Juhree's outfit- I love that she didn't wear just a standard LBD (like most of us!), but rocked a bold, cobalt blue satin dress. I don't have a photo of the whole dress, but trust me when I say she looked hot! 

McKenzie and Jeff

McKenzie's dress made me drool all night long- a simple LBD in a fitted bodice with a full skirt and the fabric was sparkly and lush. She's so gorgeous, I can hardly handle it! I also love that her boyfriend Jeff wore a newsboy cap- so cute!  

What did you wear to your company holiday party? Was it a dressy event? Send me a picture or leave a comment below to tell me all about it!