Feeling Blue

Some mornings, my closet full of clothes might as well be empty. There is such a vast amount of clothes stuffed in there that I don't even look twice at anymore. I have been trying to do the "one in - one out" rule whenever I purchase new things (new shoes don't count, right? RIGHT?) as well as pick out some random, less-worn items to work in with my daily outfits, but I can tell that at the end of this season, I need to do a deeper purge. Some of the items just aren't going to make the cut.

Ultimately, I've really noticed that I wear a lot of black, and a lot of the clothes in there are from my lighter, brighter days (when were those again?). I work in PR, so it all works out well, because bright, fun colors are not something you see a lot of in this industry. Everyone seems to be about the subdued edginess, wearing brights only as accessories to play up black tanks, pants and dresses.

Sometimes, though, my mind and body screams out for some COLOR. And right now, that color is ROYAL BLUE.

Rockin' the royal blue and some bright green to complement it at a black tie wedding!

LOVED this dress. May bust it out for my 10-year reunion this weekend :)

I am loving me some royal blue. Something about wearing it makes my inner mind happy. Maybe it's because it brings out the blue in my own eyes? I love it, also though, because this particular shade of royal blue works not just for girls, but also for guys AND for home decor. Witness ...

Source: anthropologie.eu via Katherine on Pinterest

I love this royal blue bedding. It makes such a statement while still giving off the vibe of relaxation, perfect for sleeping.

Source: google.com via Katherine on Pinterest

How about this royal blue tie? The blue against a white shirt would make for some serious color-pop. Just stray from orange shirts. That is total U of F colors. Unless you went to U of F. In which case, sorry. (ha! J/K)

Source: etsy.com via Katherine on Pinterest

     Source: onekingslane.com via Katherine on Pinterest

These royal blue pillows would jazz up any neutral color couch.

Source: hgtv.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Short on storage space? This gorgeous armoire would store your things while making your bedroom or another room stand out from all the rest. I love the mirrors!

Source: austinreed.co.uk via Katherine on Pinterest

This jacket screams DERBY to me. Imagine it with a bow tie! While the major horse racing season is over for this year, this dark royal blue piece for the guys would still be a great accent to light-colored chino pants for a casual yet trendy look.

Source: google.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Look, even the Queen knows her stuff!

Source: megbsmiles.tumblr.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Two last ones for the gals -- I want this bikini now! Those frills are to die.

Source: ginger-snapped.tumblr.com via Katherine on Pinterest

And a statement blue bag? Never goes out of style, even if this trend goes to the wayside.

What color are you loving right now? 

Vlog: Accessories 101

Back again with a vlog to end the day! Ladies, get ready, I am going to talk ACCESSORIES for ya :) Enjoy!! XOXOX

Next Day Hair

Ladies have it tough sometimes. Every day it's the same. Shower, make-up, blow out the hair, straighten the hair, style the hair ... goodness gracious. I can do my makeup in about 10 minutes flat, but the hair, while still quick, usually takes another 15 minutes on top of that. Plus the 10 minute shower to kick it off and then 10 (ok, 15) minutes spent getting dressed and accessorized, and I really can't get out the door in less than 45 minutes. Some days I really wish I could speed things up. But mostly, I like to just shake things up and add some variety to my morning routine. I can't skimp on the makeup or clothes (God forbid I mis-accessorize!), but my hair IS something that I can switch up here and there.

Enter next-day hair. We all have read that our hair is actually healthier when we don't strip it of natural oils by washing it every single day, and instead we should go two-plus days in between washings. For most of us, this is a really, really, really hard thing to do. Our hair is used to those frequent baths, and so it gets oily in a hot minute on that second day.

Never fear, gals. It's all about training your hair to do what you want. There will be some iffy time while your strands get used to your new action plan, but they will come around and be less and less oily.

I think that the easiest way to think about next-day hair is doing something other than your straight, blown-out style. Next day hair is never going to feel or fall the same way as it does when it is freshly-washed. Think instead of hairstyles that are up off your face, curled, pulled back or worn under a headband. You don't have to hide all of the hair - just put it into a style where you won't be touching it so much (and just adding to the grease!) and remember, it doesn't have to be perfect.

First, there are some products you will need. Dry shampoo and hair sprays are a MUST. My hair has worked fine with the Tresseme dry shampoo, but I dislike how it feels to the touch. My mom swears by the Big Sexy Hair brand, so I am picking this one up next time I need some. No need to spend big bucks on this - under $10 works just as well as the expensive brands in a pinch!

And remember when I did the updo tutorial earlier last year? I told you about Aussie Instant Freeze - my FAV hairspray for a great hold. Think of it as liquid cement. When your hair is first getting used to next-day hair, this stuff will help suck up any extra grease while keeping a style in place.

Here are some of my fav ways to wear next-day hair. Witness a brief history of photos, some of which I have shared with you here before. You just may not have known it was next-day hair ;) 

Wavy with the curling iron...

 bangs pinned to the side ...

Bangs pinned straight back (a la Snookie, according to my brother!) ...

Totally up and in a bun ...

Half up ...

Under a headband (make a statement!) ...

Totally pulled up and back, bangs included ...

And you know what? When in doubt, throw on a trendy hat and call it a day :)

Are you a next-day hair person? What is your favorite way to wear it? 

Surprise: Big Cuts

Yesterday's post was one big tease - there were NO LIES in that post! Which means ....

And yes, I actually laughed as the hair hit the floor :)

This is the new short 'do in a wavy style (hooray bed head + a curling iron!), but otherwise I can still wear it straight and sleek. This plus my chunky Tiffany eyeglasses = office chic, I think!

What do you think??

Chair Lust

Someone should really stop me from entering a Pier 1 Store. Their sales are good enough to drive a gal crazy. I can see their signs from the wrong side of the road and will literally drive out of my way to go check things out inside. Thankfully, I don't always leave with something in hand, but I very often feel drawn to some of their items, whether $2 in price or $300.

Behold, for example, this chair, priced at around $200, which I feel is pretty reasonable for such a statement piece:

Just look at it's lines! But wait. It gets even better. Check out this baby from the BACK.

Love! How fantastic would this be as an uppity office desk chair? Why oh why didn't I choose color themes for this condo that would better accompany this eggplant chair?

And then I could buy this miniature eggplant chair to keep it company. Plus the adorable ruffle satin pillow for contrast. But maybe in a different color. Blue and purple remind me of a bruise.

I guess eggplant and the bright yellow of my living room, or the bright red of my dining room, don't quite go together. Fine. I hear you. But this sofa with the orange and brown theme might be complimentary somewhere... 

Right??

Poofy and Pretty

First, I saw this skirt and wondered where on earth I could find one quite so feminine, poofy and frilly?

Then I realized my gal Blair at A-P (fine, she's not "my gal" per se, but I feel like if I met her in real life, she very well might be...) listed where the skirt came from! Oo-la-la! Or should I say, Oo-LU-LU!

LuLu's reminds me a lot of Rent the Runway but without the whole renting part. You like the dress? You buy it. More commitment, but similarly priced to RTR, so you still aren't killing your budget with a cocktail dress you might wear twice in your life.

I immediately found the poofy pink skirt highlighted in the "As Seen..." section. Wow, my faux friend Blair must be pretty famous. I also found a few other items I liked, too ....

This one is a stunner from the back and oh so retro with the peplum waist and fitted skirt.

 
 I like this one's subtle sophistication with updated yellow and tan color scheme.

This coral catch is business in the front and a little party in the back. Imagine this with nude heels for a summer wedding!

And lastly, I loved this one's color and shape from the front and back ... but what is up with those open sides?! Sorry, LuLu, that one won't work for this girl. I will leave it at that :)

Have any of you shopped on LuLu before? Which items look good to you on their site? 

Sperrys for the French Girl

You all know I love me some Sperrys. But while perusing some new blogs this week, I stumbled across A Cup of Jo's shot of these suckers:

I was immediately intrigued. They look so comfy and CUTE!

I know a lot of people are TOMS fans:

PS. They apparently have an entire wedding line of TOMS shoes perfect for the dance floor!

But these Bensimon sneakers look way more chic, and as Joanna says, they are very Parisian. That sounds nice to me - why not at least pretend to be a Parisian chick while we die in this Atlanta humidity? Plus, at $55 a pair, they are comparable in price to our fav Sperrys.

Image Source

Would you wear any of these? They have lace-up versions too, but I am partial to the slides, perfect for a casual summery day.

A Tutorial for the Ladies: Top Of the Head Bun

Slowly but surely, I started to grow my hair out this spring. The bangs, as fun as they were, felt like they were going from "perfect" to "too long" in a matter of one day every two weeks. While I am an excellent bang trimmer (my stylist always knows though, ha), that was just too much. Bangs combined with the summer heat was going to be a big no-no anyways.

One of the best parts of growing out my hair has been that it's once again long enough to pile up into high ponytails and buns. For you girls out there, you know how great it can be to put your hair up on a bad hair day, a rainy day or a "I just don't care about my appearance today" day.

But since man of us are working professionals out there, all of those excuses, especially that last "I don't care about my appearance" one, aren't too legit if you want to be taken seriously at your job. No matter if you slept in too late or it's 100% humid out, you have to figure out a way to make your hair work.

For long-haired gals, here's my how-to of a top-bun with some easy style. The best part is that this style works best when your hair is dirty. So sleep in that extra 30 minutes, grab some pins and hair product, and spend all of four minutes on this chic chignon.

PS. This is my first time making a video. Please don't laugh (too much) at me :)



What do you think? A do-able style? What's your go-to easy hair style for these hot and humid days?

Old School, New School

You know those items in your closet that you just can't bear to throw away, despite not having worn them for seasons at a time?

Truth: I am a clotheshorse. I keep crucial items for years at a time in the hopes that they, one day, will come back into style. Don't get me wrong - I do follow the rule of donating less-expensive items every season if they haven't gotten worn in at least a year. This keeps my drawers and closets ready for that next big color or popular style trend, plus it gets me a swank write-off each year on my taxes! The Buckhead Goodwill guys almost knew me by name last year, I was there so often with perfectly-wearable, if not too large or too small, donations.

Despite the room they might take up, there are other special items on which I keep a close hold, though. A prime example is a dark denim jean jacket that I bought on deep discount (because they were phasing them out, can you imagine!) from Express back in 2005. A year or two then went by where jean jackets weren't that common. And then, BAM! There they were, back in vogue, and I was all set to go. While black pencil skirts, dark bootcut jeans and turtleneck sweaters all fall into the category of seasonally fabulous, an item like that jacket needs your trust to not discard too quickly.

Today I am wearing the mother of all wardrobe saves. 

 
This croched-top, I kid you not, is an item from The Limited circa 1995. True to the times, I originally wore it with a long broomstick-style black and white skirt and bright red clogs (Clogs and Converse sneakers were all the rage - I had one in red, and the other in bright pink!).

Then years (and years) went by, and this summery top was put at the bottom of my wardrobe bins, rarely taken out each season as I swapped out clothes. But, deep inside, I knew that it would again be cute and trendy, and it was high-enough quality that I knew it could stand the test of time. So I made sure to keep it around.

Sure enough, here we are again, and the top has new life. I love pairing it with a longer white tank underneath (since I have grown a few inches taller since the 5th grade!) and plain colored bottoms. Today, I added pops of color with bright pink flats, a pink flower-print watch and a hot pink purse from Mexico. Beachy and summery, yet still professional in black and white.

What do you think? Has this top been worth the save? What's the oldest wardrobe piece in your closet?

Sperry Sperry Fabulous Shoes

Imagine my immediate shoe-lust when I opened up my Reader today to The Love List and saw her post on these:

I die. Probably even more so because today is a gross, rainy Friday and these little suckers would be oh-so-adorably bright and cheery. Too bad they are retailing for nearly $100. I know what will be on my sale-watch list for the late spring :)

Stay warm and dry today, friends! This weekend I have a great post coming up just for the men, so be on the lookout. TGIF!

Get Your Bearings

Men, today is YOUR day on Buckhead Betty. Because what arrived in my mailbox this morning but a helpful little tutorial on how men can tie your winter scarf!

Note to the ladies: This guide is totally gender-neutral, so tie and hitch away!

This lovely picture guide comes straight from Bearings, A Southern Lifestyle Guide for Men. Kudos to my friend Ben for the heads up on this goodie for my inbox!

Bearings is both a website and an email newsletter, and has three different editions depending on where you live:

I subscribe to the website feed for Atlanta, but so far am really enjoying the bi-monthly newsletters, because they always touch on things I have never heard of or places that are brand-new to the area. They are all about off the beaten path meets society life.

In today's edition, for example, I learned about a new (to me, at least) BBQ joint on the Westside called Heirloom Market, a magazine dedicated to bourbon and a Southern musical duo called The Civil Wars that sounds akin to Nickel Creek. Earlier this month, I got the download on new-ish restaurant Local Three before devouring comprehensive lists on Southern ski slopes and moonshine distilleries, of all things. Love it!

If you are looking for some good-ol' Southern lifestyle tips, Bearings might be for you. And don't worry; since they only deliver twice per month, they won't overwhelm your inbox with their swankiness :)