Sequins and Sea Breezes: black and gold

Cupcakes & Champagne

11/18/2014

I honestly cannot believe it's been a full year since I started my blog! I remember when I first started planning my blog I was excited, scared, and nervous and now I can't imagine not having it. I've met so many amazing people through my blog, friends who I would have never met if I hadn't started this journey and blog friends who have become in real life friends that I cherish every day. There are so many days that I wish all of us lived in the same city so we could all meet up for drinks or brunch but I'll take getting to talk to you all through e-mail happily!

bar cart

Bar Cart Dreaming

9/24/2014

Well, I planned on doing a fashion post today but the lovely Florida rain changed my plans for me! However, since I've been Pinning bar cart inspiration left and right lately with the hopes when I move into a bigger place I'll be able to get a cute little bar cart of my own and after seeing Zelle's adorable bar cart yesterday (and informing me that the Target bar cart I've been lusting after for FOREVER is finally back in stock) I decided to take it one step further and create my own "dream bar cart" to share with you guys because... well why not?

black and gold

Game Day Attire

9/09/2014

{via}

I'm not going to lie, I was born to wear black and gold. Ok, maybe that's a slight exaggeration but I do LOVE sporting my alma maters colors any chance I can get. I definitely have a massive amount of school pride and love sporting anything UCF or black and gold. I know not everyone has an entire section of their closet devoted to their team's apparel like I do so I decided to put together a few fun game day looks that can be worn every day too!

alex & ani

From Day to Night: The Black Maxi

4/08/2014

I found this maxi dress on H&M's website under the sale section for only $20! At first I was hesitant about getting it because I wasn't sure how it would look on me and being a jersey maxi I was worried about the quality but I went ahead and bought it any way. I was super impressed when I got it because not only was the quality a lot better than I imagined it was also incredibly versatile. I decided to do a day to night look with it to have a little fun and show the versatility of a simple black maxi! The great thing about this dress is there are endless possibilities to how you can style it!

For the day look I kept it super simple. I threw on minimal jewelry, kept my hair down and straight and added a pair of simple nude sandals. It was perfect for running errands, going out to lunch or, depending on your work dress code, even wearing to work (I'd probably throw on a jean jacket with it for work).

For my night look I went for a more dramatic look. Since we all know my obsession with black and gold by now it's probably no surprise that I went with hints of gold to dress up this look. I added my gold mirrored belt, a gold clutch, added some jade drop earrings for a hint of color, and did my favorite go to hairstyle, the sock bun.

Which way do you like it styled better?

dress: h&m / sandals: tory burch / sunglasses: urban outfitters / clutch: tory burch / earrings: stella & dot / watch: michael kors / bracelets: stella & dot, alex & ani {initial and starfish} / belt: asos / day lips: mary kay true dimensions in wild about pink / night lips: smashbox heat wave in fuchsia flash

alex & ani

Seeing Spots

3/06/2014

It's definitely no secret I LOVE anything black and gold. I found this shirt a few months ago at Express and since it's part of their Portofino collection they just keep getting it in but in different colors (right now they have it in the beige with black spots). These shirts seriously fit so amazing and are so versatile! I love that some are sheer so you can make it sexy by wearing it with just a bandeau (or even just a bra) or you can wear it with a tank top and it's work appropriate. I love that the material is flowy so it can be dressed up or down and that the sleeves can be worn either long or short. Express really hit the nail on the head with these shirts!

Remember when I was talking about my BRF (bitchy resting face)? Yeah, this last example is a PERFECT example. Not even trying to look mad or annoyed but it totally just happened. I seriously don't even know I'm doing it and when I went through these pictures I was like "wow, like 80% of these pictures I have BRF! Awesome!" I had to throw one in this post just to show you an example. Trust me people, it's a real problem!

top: express / shorts: express / sandals: dolce vita / watch: michael kors / necklace: dogeared state of mind / bracelets: alex & ani initial charm, sophie & trey {in store only, similar here}

#chargeon

It's great to be a UCF Knight!

1/02/2014

Alright, so usually the saying is "It's great to be a Florida Gator" but I just couldn't hold back my pride in being a UCF Knight! After our amazing win against Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl I knew I had to do a blog post recapping some of my favorite UCF moments. We've had our ups and downs, sometimes it's been hard to watch and I'm pretty sure this season has given me a few extra gray hairs but in the end the roller coaster was totally worth it for our "dream season".

{Tailgating for our first Conference Championship, 2005}
When I started at UCF we were 0-11 so going to football games was tough, you knew our chances of winning weren't great so it was hard to get excited but we still went and supported the team. Then came one fateful night in September 2005 (after 2 more losses to start the season) with our new head coach, George O'Leary leading our team, we got our first win in 17 games against Marshall. We managed to win 7 more games that season allowing us to finish the season 8-5 and play in the Conference USA Championship. Since then we've had good and bad seasons, we've seen some of our best players head off to the NFL and do well and we've been to multiple bowl games.

{Our first home game in the new stadium, 2007}

{At Raymond James Stadium for UCF vs USF, 2007}

{ UCF Conference Champions, 2007}
Even with all the ups and downs throughout the years nothing could top this season. Our first year in a new conference, the AAC, we were facing tougher opponents and were only projected to finish 4th in the conference. We had our first big win against Penn State in Happy Valley followed by another big win against Louisville a few weeks later. We finished the season 11-1 (with our only loss being against South Carolina), ranked number 15 nationally, and the conference champions headed to our first BCS bowl game ever. We headed into the Fiesta Bowl the 17 point underdog against Baylor but in the end we came out on top, winning 52-42. It was great to prove all the critics wrong and show the nation UCF is here to play. I couldn't be more proud to be a Knight and I look forward to what's in store for us in the future. I'll be seeing you next season UCF!