Celebrating Jill

On Saturday, nine of us headed to Nostos, a Greek restaurant in Tyson's Corner for dinner and drinks to celebrate our friend Jill's birthday!  It was the first time any of us had dined there and everything was delicious from start to finish!  I am considering taking my family there when they come to visit in July.  I drove Jill, as she lives near me, so we had a few drinks at the bar before the other girls arrived.  Once we were seated, we tried a variety of appetizers and entrees and had a lot of laughs over wine. Here are a few pictures:

With the birthday girl!

A birthday cheese!  A treat from the bartender

All the ladies

Dress: Banana Republic Petite, circa 2008
Shoes: Aldo

May Showers

Last Wednesday, my friend Tina had a surprise bridal shower.  Two of her friends from college organized a surprise for her at Lebanese Taverna.  She was shocked when she arrived and saw nearly 20 friends waiting for her!  The shower had a garden theme with fresh flowers and tiny flower pots of cake pops on the table.  Her friends are wonderful party planners.  Her wedding is this upcoming weekend, so I'll be sure to snap a picture of the bride then. Unfortunately, I took one picture!  I wore one of my Tracy Reese dresses to the shower. 

Cream of the Crop

I bought this dress in February from Banana Republic's Mad Men collection. I wore it in March to my friend Courtney's baby shower and decided it was high time to wear it again!  I had a presentation for work so I decided to dust it off and wear it around my colleagues.  I received a lot of compliments on the dress, so I guess it is a keeper!  In keeping with the cream theme, I wore a thin wool open cardi over top. 

Dress and Cardi: Banana Republic Petite
Shoes: Nine West

Back in Action

I am returning from yet another blog hiatus.  Sigh.  I need to get my blogging-act together. It's not that I haven't had as much time to blog per se, but more so that I haven't taken any pictures to use in blog posts!  Today's post is really from the first weekend in May.  My entire family traveled to Penn State for my youngest sister's graduation. It was a beautiful weekend (with a few little spots of rain) and Erin had 3 graduation ceremonies.  It was a great opportunity for me to wear a few Anthro dresses, too.  We had a lot of laughs, drinks, and Creamery ice cream while in Happy Valley!  Here are a few pictures of the family all together.

This photo is from Friday night, after Erin's Honors Medal Ceremony

My cutie pie niece, Grace, at the Paterno Fellows Graduation on Saturday.  She wore her best Penn State dress.

Erin, the graduate

My siblings and niece

With the graduate (who has her eyes closed in most of my pictures)

Grace learned to drink from a straw... somewhat unconventionally

PSU Bound

Tomorrow I am heading to Penn State for my youngest sister, Erin's, graduation. It is hard to believe she is graduating from college already!  She was only a tiny 4th grader when I moved out of the house and left for college.  I'm looking forward to the weekend not only to celebrate her, but also to spend time with the family.  I am planning to spend the afternoon catching up with some friends who still live in State College and then head over to Happy Valley to meet up with the family and celebrate Erin's accomplishments. I'll post some pictures next week.  In the meantime, here's a outfit of the day:

Dress and Cardi: Anthropologie
Shoes: J Crew
Necklace: Ann Taylor Loft

Outlet Finds

A few weeks ago, I was visiting my family and my sisters and I went shopping at the nearby outlets.  I am generally unsuccessful with outlet shopping because I tend to be sized out or the fit doesn't often work on my petite frame.  This time, however, I had a few victories!  At the J. Crew outlet, I snagged both this polka-dotty skirt as well as the not-quite-navy tee.  I paired this ensemble with an Anthro cardi to add both color and texture. The skirt is a bit loose, but certainly not unbearable. I think I will get a lot of wear out of it this spring and summer!

Beginnings and Endings

A lot of life changing news has come down the pike over the past few days!  My younger cousin, Ally, recently became engaged to her long time boyfriend, Derek.  Let the family wedding planning begin!  Too, my boss announced yesterday that he will be retiring in a few months.  While this is fabulous news for him, as he deserves more time with his darling family, it leaves a lot of unanswered questions at work about next steps and the future.

While pondering all of that, here is an Outfit of the Day:

Dress: Armani Exchange, 2012
Cardigan: J Crew Jackie Cardi, 2011
Shoes: Nine West, 2011
Necklace: Notice, 2011