Feeling the Love

Jacket: Target, Shirt: Banana Republic, Skirt: Banana Republic, Shoes: Shoe Ocean, Necklace: Target, Bracelets: Ivy & Leo, Stella & Dot, HandPicked, Rings: Target, Express, LeVian, Watch: Michael Kors, Bag: Unknown (photos: Carrie Hawkins Foust)

I chose this entire outfit this morning based on these shoes. I just got them in the mail last week and have been dying to wear them. The open toe makes them a little impractical for the tail end of November, but pairing them with tights makes them wearable. I used the think that you couldn't wear tights with an open toe but I was wrong and I am over it. I had an overwhelming feeling of "love" when I put all of these pieces together this morning. I know that sounds pretty hokey, but I realized that the vast majority of what I am wearing evokes great memories of time spent with girlfriends. Guys watch sports together, play video games, shoot at targets (or animals if they are into that sort of thing). Women talk, break bread, give and take each others advice, celebrate, and SHOP together. Bonding and shopping with the people I love, that is what this outfit makes me think of. I found these shoes because one of my dearest, oldest friends from high school, Stacey, sent me the Shoe Ocean website. I then e-mailed her pictures of the ones I ordered and we obsessed over them in about 8 back to back e-mails. I bought this shirt a couple of years ago on an impromptu after work shopping trip with my sweet friend, Graylynn (who also bought the same one). This creme colored bracelet that I wear all of the time came from Graylynn's sister, who is now my friend (and go to for all things Stella & Dot), Jackie. The leather bracelet was purchased at a random vendor table where everything was $6.00. My best friend, Carrie, and I spent our lunch hour pursuing those tables and catching up on the previous weekend's events. This wonderful purse was a gift from my amazing friend from college, Sara. Sara flew to Charlotte unannounced to surprise me for my 26th birthday and brought me this bag as a gift. I literally treasure this bag for that reason. This rose gold watch was a Christmas present from my boyfriend last year and the LeVian ring was a gift I bought myself for my 30th birthday. It was the first "real" piece of jewelry I ever purchased. I hemmed and hawed over whether or not to buy it as Brie, my little brother's girlfriend (who is now like a sister to me) encouraged me to "just do it". My hope is that my friends have similar memories with me, and that down the road I become a cool old lady with a closet full of clothes that my (future) daughters and grandaughters covet. I see myself telling stories about all of the pieces that I saved and stored over the years. Classic and trendy pieces, cheap and designer, practical and over the top. If clothes are memory keepers then I want my closet to be the biggest, most colorful scrapbook there ever was!