Category Archives: Personal

It’s in her Jeans


My first job and first love was fashion. I modeled as a kid, sketched dresses as a pre-teen, and worked retail throughout high school. Shortly after graduating college I joined an online retail company and contemporary boutique (National Jean Company/ NationalJeanCompany.com) in the DC Metro area to provide the creative direction for their first of many websites.

This was a great opportunity for me to see the inner workings of a start-up, a fashion company and a tech company all in one day – not too many jobs give you that opportunity!

One highlight of my time was to run and style the photo shoots for our various websites, and when we were a model short I eventually stepped in as the denim/pants model. Handling and wearing the denim and many of the other items really gave me the best kind of knowledge (*first hand) to write descriptions for all of these items and also an in depth fit guide.

On him: Diesel Viker, on Me: J Brand Love Story in Dark Vintage Image by Ashley Colhouer Photography


It is a conservative guess to say I have tried on hundreds of pairs of jeans. I know jeans and I know them well. How does a J Brand differ from a Joe’s? What’s the difference in the denim weave on a pair of 7 for all Mankind vs. Citizen’s of Humanity? What if I am looking for a pair of jeans that knocks ’em dead? I know what pair that is, and by extension I know the answers to those questions.

One of the biggest hurdles for an online shopper is being able to take that leap of faith on an item without trying it on, the fit guide does a really fantastic job of alleviating that denim anxiety. That’s why I am especially proud that the site I worked the hardest on, was recently recognized by People Style Watch as a website to bookmark because of their exceptional denim selection (great job, buying team!) and the amazing fit guide, (if People Magazine [and I] say so, it must be true)! Congratulations to the entire NationalJeanCompany.com team!

I’ll be dispensing more denim buying tips in the future, because really, truly, I swear, there is a perfect pair of jeans for everyone – no matter your genes.

Leaving Virginia


As I have mentioned in previous posts, this previous weekend we moved from Virginia to DC. I think no matter the reason or the location, moving is always a triple punch: emotional, exhausting and exciting.

I am so excited to be back in DC, but will definitely miss Virginia – more on that in a very soon to be released post. I came to the DC metro area for the allure of big city DC and for college at American University. I met some of my closest friends. I found a major. I grew up. I found my husband and best friend in DC. We fell in love in Virginia.

As I was packing up and getting wistful Meet Virginia by Train kept looping through my brain. I loved this song when it came out. I think the line about “she wears high heels when she exercises,” really resonated with me. It certainly wasn’t the coffee or cigarettes.

Anyway, if you haven’t yet, you really ought to meet Virginia.

Weddings, Inspired


Today is five months since Mark and I got married. Time flies in five months. It’s also about 1.5 years since I was really in the thick of wedding planning. The wedding industry and the wedding blogging industry provide an endless supply of weddings to model after, weddings to aspire to, and weddings just to drool over. Early on I fell in love with this wedding by Ariel Yve, as featured on the very inspiring Style Me Pretty. source: Style Me Pretty, Photography by Raya Photography

After doing a lot of Internet searching, and finding inspiration at Snippet and Ink and many other fantastic sites, I thought it would be helpful to create my own inspiration board. I was planning our Boca Raton wedding from Washington, DC, and had limited opportunities to meet with vendors so my vision needed to be clear. I wanted a Mid-Summer Night’s Dream (in January), vintage, chic, Anthropologie, Classic wedding. Do you think that was confusing? This is what it looked like in my head…

From L-R: Tuxedo:Hugo Boss, Dress: Maggie Sottero, Martha Stewart, Ariel Yve, Confetti Cakes, Flowers from theknot.com, Bari Jay Bridesmaid Dress, Ariel Yve, theknot.com, kissthegroom.com

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer, as to where we ended up (and yes we did have a cookie bar!). In the posts to come I’ll share more recaps, tips, vendor strategies and lessons learned.

wedding photos from the very talented Ashley Colhouer Photography

And we live happily ever after. Happy Month-iversary!