Currently...

WORKING ON: New job! I got promoted to Senior Development Associate recently and am settling into being a team lead and hiring a new Dev Associate. It's been really fun and I am excited for the coming year and helping to make our awesome team, even more awesome.

THINKING ABOUT: This blog and what I want it to become. I think I'm going to move away from strictly fashion, but I'm still formulating the full plan in my head. I am hopeful brunch with my favorite fellow Austin bloggers next weekend will help me to sort some things out.

ANTICIPATING: Birthdays! Starting next Tuesday we have 6 family birthdays in 7 weeks. Its going to be busy and full of celebration and I'm excited. We're also going to do a big beer party at our house in honor of all the birthday folks, we have 3 new brews ready to go and it should be delicious.

LISTENING TO: Loose Change EP from Ed Sheeran. I love a good English singer song writer and this little EP, released long before he showed up on American radio is awesome. I highly recommend Little Bird and One Night. You've likely heard this somewhere, and its also quite good, now he just needs to come to Austin, and not just a SXSW show.

EATING: Tomatoes! I have been having a mad love affair with tomatoes this summer and there are 3 ready to be picked on our plant out back (and about 15 still waiting to get ripe). I thinking tomatoes, avocados, and crackers for dinner tonight.

THANKFUL FOR: So many things, I can't pick just one, so I'll list a few at the top of the list.

• Peter's new car, I am so glad we saved and we're able to make a great down payment and that he now has an awesome new car and a low monthly car payment. 
• Petunia Jean. I would be so lonely on the weekends without this little pup. We went to the vet yesterday and she weighed in at 7lbs, which seems just perfect, as she gets older, she gets less crazy and more awesome, I am so thankful we found each other. 
• My Granny. Seriously, she is the coolest lady I know, while I don't get to see her near enough, our phone chats always make me smile. Nothing like having a sassy Granny to give it to you straight and remind you of the important things in life. 
• The Olympics! Not much more needs to be said, they are awesome, its the only time you'll catch me with the TV on all day long.

PLANNING FOR: San Francisco. Peter and I will be taking a week and a half in October and running away to San Francisco for our Honeymoon/One Year Anniversary. We're renting this house in Noe Valley and can't wait for daily adventures, a short trip to Napa, biking (maybe) across the Golden Gate, and in general living it up. If you have any San Fran favorites, we'd love to hear about them.

*Thanks to Jen Loves Kev for inspiring this post!

Minty Leopard

This outfit combines 3 things I love my accordion pleat skirt, leopard, and mint. It makes me smile and it happens to be the only outfit I've managed to photograph in the last 2 weeks. Life has just been busy, and its been hard to fit the photos in, but I promise I have been getting dressed.

I think May might be the busiest month in Austin. Its light out later, its warm but not terribly hot yet and it seems everyone plans events because its nice and we want to enjoy it before the oppressive heat of summer settles in and no one wants to go outside. I am going to work on figuring out how to fit outfit photos in, I've missed my little blog and I'm sure you've missed the photos of Petunia.

 

Cardi: Gap Outlet 

Top: Old Navy 

Skirt: Jason Wu for Target

Flats: Target 

Hairwrap: Forever XXI

My life in Instagram

It has been a crazy past week for me, outfit photos just weren't in the cards, so please enjoy a few snap shots of my week via my favorite social media addiction, Instagram.

My outfit on Friday April 20, it felt like the perfect day for polkadots and leopard.  

Friday night treat to myself! I have recently embraced my love of mimosas, at all times. I highly recommend barefoot bubbly and blood orange Italian soda. Together they are amazing! 

Perfect Saturday morning on the patio. Maire Claire is good stuff, add a little coffee, sunshine, and puppy frolicking and its a perfect moment. 

Life World Library Books circa 1964. I wanted them all. 

The ones that made it home. Mostly inaccurate and totally awesome.

Petunia Jean and I went to Home Depot, she has a really great eye for paint brushes.

Bruce and Clark ate dinner. 

I had brunch with the lovely Julie & Sara, but I didn't get a photo of us. Instead here is the only picture I took, the W Hotel's tribute to Willie Nelson. 

Tired pup at the end of the busy weekend.

Administrative Assistant's Day is a whole week at my office, and it started off with these lovely flowers.

We started last week helping my Mother in law pick out a condo. She went with the one pictured and I am super stoked. Its a beautiful space in a great location, plus its patio is ginormous and perfect for family dinners! 

Then we went to Hopdoddy for dinner. I LOVE this place and the fact that they've put one in walking distance from our house is very dangerous. 

Sunday, the 22nd, was our 6 month wedding anniversary, but since Peter worked, we celebrated on Tuesday. We had agreed on no gifts, but that sweet husband of mine sent 2 dozen cookies to my office. OMG. Delicious. 

To celebrate we went to Uchiko for dinner. Sadly, Chef Paul Qui wasn't working that night, but it was still an AMAZING meal! 

Uchiko dessert, Sweet Corn Sorbet and The Strawberry dessert special. Both AMAZING. 

A gift from my mama, a little too big for coffee, but he is the perfect desk mate for my pens. 

Sometimes at my job we get to tour construction sites, in really amazing neon vests. 

I found these little dear highly amusing and a little offensive. 

So one of my wonderful gift officers took me to Perla's for Admin Assistant's week. Not only did I get to eat this divine lobster roll and chocolate tort, but we also ate with celebrities, well celebrity chefs that is! Top Chef Contestant Sarah Grueneberg, and Top Chef Masters Michelle Bernstein and Tony Mantuano were all eating lunch as well. Woo hoo for Austin Food and Wine Festival Weekend!

This graffiti was in the parking garage for Perla's. I found it rather uplifting. 

black and yellow

Hi Internets! Its been a crazy past 10 days at the Compton house, but I'm back and so happy to see you! My mom was in town this weekend, so I took yesterday off and we had awesome girly adventures at the outlet mall, and went on an epic hunt for birthday cake oreos, alas, we found none. Since my mom was in town and this morning was the last few moments I had with her, simple was the plan for the day. Nothing says easy like a black pencil skirt and flats, add a fun pop of color blouse (which is actually a too short dress) and a cardi and I'm good to go.



Having my mama in town this weekend was a BLAST!! Not only is she smart, funny, sassy, and a thrift store good luck charm (hello Rebeca Minkoff bag!), she is also one of my most favorite people. This weekend was one of the most fun and rejuvenating weekends I've had in months. You ladies who live close to your mama's are very lucky. I'm pretty sure I'd give almost anything for Austin and Denver to be closer.


Cardi: Target
Top: H&M
Belt: Ruche
Skirt: Target
Flats: Target

Twins!

You know whats fun? Accidentally dressing like your dog. I did that today, but didn't really notice it until I was editing photos. I am however, totally okay with it, I mean who better to dress like than an adorable little lady? I found this shirt on super clearance at Old Navy over the weekend, I don't remember seeing it when it was full price, but I'm glad I found it, its a fun pattern and a different color for me, so I'm excited to branch out a bit with it next time.



You may have noticed the new photo location. This would be just a small section of this seasons patio garden. What you see here are some of the flowers I planted, our basil plants, jalapenos, and our big 3 year old rosemary. I'm really excited to see how things do this year with a full patio and direct sun, I'm hoping for many delicious home grown veggies in a few months.

My fashion inspiration, Petunia Jean.

Shirt: Old Navy
Skirt: Target
Flats: Steve Madden (best bridesmaids shoes ever, thanks Lauren Ann!)

Swap Skirt

This skirt was my big score from the Texas Style Council Clothing Swap. It came from the lovely Elizabeth at Delightfully Tacky. Its a great length, weight, and color. Plus the awesome buttons make me feel a little bit like I'm in a marching band. There is nothing better than feeling like your one of 76 trombones all day! I paired it with my favorite little birdy blouse and people loved it, apparently I am known around my office for wearing things with cute prints on them. I am totally okay with this!



The weather has been crazy around these parts. We had a super scary thunder storm last night, I can normally sleep though a storm, but last night that was not the case. Thankfully Peter chilled me out and I did manage to get back to sleep. Petunia on the other hand is totally unfazed by big storms. She didn't make a peep and wasn't even annoyed that her yard was wet this morning. She might be tiny but Miss Petunia Jean is very brave, kinda like that toaster, but much cuter!


Top: Old Navy
Skirt: Vintage via Swap
Tights: Spanx
Flats: Target

TxSC - Saturday

Saturday
Speed Mentor Breakfast, Thrift Adventure, Hunt.Gather.Style, Posh Party

Hook 'Em with my fellow Longhorn, Sara
Photo credit Peter Tung, edited using Instagram by me


Saturday was packed, in the best way possible. The morning started off with the event I was least excited about, the Speed Mentor Breakfast. I'm not a fan of forced conversation, I'd rather let things develop organically, so I had thought about not even signing up, but I'm glad I did. The format was changed last minute and instead of making everyone move from blogger to blogger at the sound of a bell, folks were allowed to talk as long as they liked with whoever. Which is great, but made it hard to interject in conversations. Because of this, the breakfast was the event I got the least out of, which in part is my own fault for not being pushy enough. While I didn't talk with any of the bloggers there, I did talk to John from Snoball and learned some fascinating things about activism and fund raising through social media. I also got to chat with Julie and Sara again, which was super fun.

Julie looking lovely at breakfast

Next up was the Thrift Adventure, sadly because of the rain the South Congress portion of this day was canceled, which ended up being just fine. As we were loading up for the day it was discovered that the bus drivers did not know how to get to the Savers on North Burnet. Luckily this is my home thrift store, like I go there at least twice a month, so I ended up at the front of the bus giving directions. Thankfully, I remembered my left from my right and got us there safely.

Front of the bus

I think everyone was worried, that because there were 70 of us going on this adventure, there might not be enough awesome stuff to go around, but we were all proved wrong. I found 2 great belts, 2 skirts, and a pink blazer. Jentine, Jessie, and Elissa were great guides, and even though I consider myself a thrifter, I certainly got a lot out of the experience. Sometimes its good to get fresh eyes on an old love.

After thrifting, Julie and I ran down to Etcetera, Etc. for the Hunt.Gather.Style. pop up shop. Once again the ladies knocked it out of the park and there were many wonderful pieces to pick from. I walked away with a dress, and two great tops and Julie got this awesome skirt along with some other great items. As soon as we finished at HGS it began to pour, we're talking monsoon type rain. Julie and I thought about trying to give shopping on 2nd Street a go, but once we'd been outside for about 3 minutes, we gave up and went home.

Posh Party outfit:
Dress, Ruche; Tights, Target; Boots, Steve Madden; Necklace, In Pink.

Despite wanting to stay home in my pjs and cuddle the dog, I got myself dressed up and headed out for the Posh Party. I could complain that I got there too early and had to park too far away. But, both of those things lead me to walking past the LOVELY Jesse Williams (you know, Dr. Avery from Grey's Anatomy) I can confirm he is even better looking in person.

In love with this chandelier at the headquarters, trying to find a way to make it work in our living room.

In the end I was really glad I went to the party, not only did I get some great swag, I also go to hang out with some awesome people. Sara and I wondered around and took many photos. I chatted with Haley and Julie. Got to meet he lovely Megan Nielsen, I'm even more certain I want a few of her pieces in my wardrobe, she could not have been sweeter. I even got to talk comics with Kyla, her husband owns a comic book shop and I instantly felt a bond with her. Fan boy wives, unite! I also met the awesome Whitney, she's a Stella & Dot consultant, so watch out Austin friends, I'm hosting a trunk show in the next month or so and cannot wait.

Photoboth fun with Sara

Awesome clutch from Francesca's Collections!

I ended up not staying out crazy late (no one is surprised, I know) but I had a blast and am so glad I made myself go and not loaf around in jammies all night.

Petunia was happy to get her dinner when I got home.

You can see more awesome Posh Party photos here and here, including a few with me!