oxblood leather.

So I think I am fully recovered from this past amazing and exhausting weekend!  I'm getting back into things with this fake look, a look I had planned on wearing on Saturday night, but had too much fun so I never got the opportunity to go home and change into it!  Oh well, I am excited to wear it out some night in the future.  This weekend I went up to my alma mater for some tailgating and football with some old friends.  We had a blast, so much so that 2 of my good friends got engaged right in front of us all!  How exciting!  I've never known an engagement was going to happen and been there for it so that was pretty awesome.

Anyways, I got these pants on sale (for what's that? $15!) early in the summer and couldn't wait until the fall rolled around so I could officially rock them.  I am pretty much obsessed them and all things leather, pleather, oxblood leather, you name it.  I've worn them to work with a long black blouse over them too.

[pants:H&M top:Victoria's Secret wedges:Gabriel Brothers headband:Forever 21 sunglasses:Forever 21]

P.S. Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of adopting this little nugget of love.  It feels like I've known Champ forever, but its only been 2 amazing years!  I can't believe it, on to many more <3

reddish orange.

Hey there!  These are my new orange-red pants that I don't think look very orange in the photos, but I swear they have an orange tone to them.  It seems like this color is popular this fall and I'm totally buying into this trend.  I will admit that I was a little hesitant to buy fire hydrant red pants at first, but when I got them home I found so many ways to style them.

I wore this outfit to work today.  I'm lucky to work in an office that allows such casual attire and is a creative environment.  After work, Zach and I took Champ for a walk down on the riverfront trail in our neighborhood.  These heels are completely staged for the photo because--let's get real here--I don't walk my dog in heels!  And shout out to the runner who made an up close and personal appearance in the one photo!

[top:Gap pants:H&M shoes:Target sunglasses:Forever 21]

brogue boots.

I know I've been wearing these shorts a lot lately, but they go with everything and I'm going to wear them as long as the weather allows me to!  

I wore this outfit to go shopping at the crack of dawn on Sunday.  Target released one of their fabulous designer collabs Sunday, Kirna Zabete for Target.  In the past these collections at Target have sold out so I wanted to get to Target at 8 am for opening.  Well, there was no one there at 8, instead there were pretty little clothes in every size on display and I was in my own little shopping heaven :)  Beforehand I was eyeing up this faux leather skirt but my Target didn't have it so I got this great sweater instead.  

And if this wasn't enough, Nicole Richie's line for Macy's comes out on tomorrow!  This collection is to die for.  I am obsessed with the entire collection.  

[top:American Apparel shorts:Forever 21 boots:H&M bracelet:Ebay]

denim.

For our last day in Chicago I decided to try the denim on denim look.  I think the denim look is most successful when you mix dark and light denim so since I own mostly dark denim (these shorts are the only light-wash I have) there wasn't much to chose from to mix.  I really want to invest in some light denim for fall though, especially some distressed boyfriend jeans!

On this day we ran around like crazy with a 1-day Go Chicago pass that we purchased online.  We went to the Sears (now Willis) Tower first thing, but there was no visibility so we could've been on the second floor for all we know, oh well!  Then we went to Navy Pier and hopped aboard an architectural river cruise.  The cruise was great and really informative, I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Chicago.  After a quick lunch at Navy Pier we walked around Millenium Park again and saw both Crown Fountain (faces fountain above) and Buckingham Fountain.  Our final adventure of the day was Shedd Aquarium (crazy long line and our Go Chicago pass let us skip it!) and the Field Museum.  Needless to say we were exhausted after all this so we went out to a a nice, relaxing dinner at The Gage, very delicious! 

[top:Gap shorts:Forever 21 sandals:Marshall's sunglasses: H&M purse:H&M]

wrigley field.

On our first full day in Chicago we had a major sports conflict--Penn State was playing their first football game of the season and the Cubs were home at Wrigley!  What is a girl (and guy) to do?  Well first the games were staggered by an hour, so we managed to split our time.  And second, I wanted to make my outfit flexible for both events so I wore a Penn State t-shirt and red floral shorts so I had some Cubs' red, white and blue! 

For the Penn State game we went to an alumni bar in Wrigleyville called Newport Bar & Grill.  It was amazing to see the huge alumni turnout for the game!  Everyone was so welcoming!  Then we walked over to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs play the Giants.  Wrigley Field has such character and unique features like the bleacher seats on rooftops and the bullpen is (dangerously) on the field.  Both PSU and the Cubbies lost, but it was a fabulous, memorable day :)

[t-shirt:gift from my mom shorts:Urban Outfitters sandals:Marshall's purse:Old Navy]

cloud gate.

Well we're back from Chicago and vacation is over :(  It was a whirlwind of a trip!  These photos are from our first night in the city.  We walked immediately to Millenium Park to see Cloud Gate and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.  Cloud Gate sure lives up to the hype!  I could've taken pictures in it for hours, it really is THAT cool.

We also scored some deep dish pizza for dinner our first night at a place called Exchequer in the Loop and how could I forget the free happy hour at our hotel!  Best. idea. ever.  I would stay at a Kimpton Hotel again in a heartbeat for the happy hour.  That's our first night in a nutshell, looking forward to writing more Chi-town posts this week.  Happy Labor Day and Happy 4 day week!

[top:ASOS shorts:Forever 21 sandals:Marshall's purse:H&M]