Happy New Years!

(Sonia Kashuk 'Starry Night' nail polish. Target $4.99)

I was so busy frantically getting ready for last nights festivities that I of course didn't budget my time very well so I wasn't able to pop in and wish you all a happy and safe last eve of 2011! So I am now hoping your evenings were spent with your closest friends and family, that you ate incredible food and had that special someone to kiss at midnight! My night was spent at a friends apartment with Ben, where we just drank lots of alcohol and enjoyed some live music in our friends basement. It was a nice way to leave 2011 and enter 2012, I'm glad I ended up deciding to go out rather than staying in and planted on the couch in front of my computer screen all night, the party was a very good time.

This black & silver speckled polish is a new brand I decided to purchase and try out. When I was debating on whether or not I would try to spend new years on my couch or all dolled up somewhere, I chose to paint my nails this color because I hadn't figured out my outfit for the evening if I ended up going out, so since this color works with everything, I figured it was my best choice! It's very simple but incase you hadn't figured it out by now I am all about simple, so it's a-okay in my book, for sure! ;) The only thing I disliked about this particular product is the brush was pretty terrible, and when I first bought this I thought the sparkles would be much more noticeable. To me, it looks that way when you're looking at the bottle in your hand, but painted on my nails I realized that wasn't the case. Not a bad thing per se, but I already own a polish similar to how this one paints on and I wouldn't have bought this color if I had known that. But oh well! I still enjoy this color and brand regardless. A worthy purchase I'd have to say.

Let the celebration begin!

Outfit Details:

cardigan h&m

striped top h&m

black pants h&m

blue oxfords h&m

Finally I have some peace and quiet while Ben's up showering and preparing for our day today. He finds it funny to yap my ear off specifically when I am trying to write and edit my blog, he knows my ADD prevents me from juggling both listening and writing at the same time, my mind just wanders from both tasks and it's just impossible for me, which he finds to be hilarious. What. A. Jerk.

Anyways, I mentioned last night that Ben and I had plans for today which were pretty spur of the moment. We were invited by one of our friends a couple weeks ago to her second annual Hanukkah party. Last year we were also invited but since Ben is in a pretty busy full time band, we weren't able to attend because typically our weekends are all booked up with shows spread out across the north east. This year we received the invitation but we assumed again we most likely had a show booked for the date. Two days ago however, we realized our weekend was completely free so we're definitely making the hour trip to Ben's college tonight to enjoy some good traditional Hanukkah food with some friends we haven't seen in ages. I am incredibly excited for tonight because one, since Ben graduated early last december we have only been to his college one other time which was to see him walk with his graduating class and I just miss the campus so much! And secondly, I will admit I am completely uneducated with this jewish holiday considering both Ben and I celebrate Christmas, so I am excited to try some delicious food that I've never quite had before and to finally be able to have a better understanding of Hanukkah other than just associating it with what I can remember from that Rugrats holiday episode from the 90's..

The outfit I will be wearing is essentially what's been photographed and posted above. Those photos were taken maybe a week ago by now, but I am basically planning on recycling the same thing over again for tonight. The striped shirt and black pants (not quite jeans) were purchased on Black Friday and I am seriously loving these pants to death. They've easily become a staple piece in my wardrobe already, I wear them just about every day now so hopefully I can break away every now and again so my looks don't start looking to identical.

They were actually sort of an impulse buy for me and to be truthful I was not entirely crazy about them when I initially bought them. For me H&M's bottoms were just never my cup of tea. I always thought they were designed and made for girls who didn't have hips, a butt, or just curves in general. Because when all of my jeans were sizes 1 - 4, I couldn't even pull a size 4 from H&M past my bottom, and if I did manage to, I felt I needed to immediately get them off before the side seams burst. I also found that if I went up a single size from that, that they were just entirely too loose and baggy and just completely disgusting looking on me. So I am not really sure after every time I try and fail, what I was thinking exactly when I grabbed a size 4 from the rack on black friday and brought it into my dressing room to try on. I managed to get them on and zipped (although zipping them was a bit of a task), but I felt they were just a hair too tight around my waist, and that if they even touched a drop of water they would shrink to a size that was unwearable for me. BUT for what ever reason they ended up paid for and in my shopping back and heading home with me.. My opinion on them however has most certainly changed, I am a bit weary of washing them since they are 100% cotton (although it must be done.. eventually though..) but they've stretched out just a tad and are the perfect fit. I especially love the higher waist on them because every single pair of jeans I own is low rise and I've been searching for a good pair of high waisted jeans. They remind me of what Audrey wore in her film Funny Face (love her) which is probably why I've been wearing them so much. Either way, I am in love with these pants, and I hope you all enjoyed reading my shpeal on how a pair of pants changed my life ;)

(Originally Ben and I had planned to shoot at this location near his house, which is directly on the side of the road in his quiet neighborhood. The problem however was that for what ever reason, every single one (okay, exaggerated a bit there) of his neighbors just happened to be outside at this time, so when we started shooting this, there were probably 7 people in view of us as well as several cars just cruising the neighborhood. As you can tell from my body language, I was incredibly uncomfortable having a photoshoot with an audience. soo awkward.)