Whimsical Warehouse Wedding

                                              A Whimsical Wedding from Bethany Mollenkof on Vimeo.

The beaut is finally here! So fortunate to have been apart of this process.
A million thank you's to the thirty some vendors involved in making this guy possible.
We couldn't have done it without you.


X's and O's and all the letters in between.

C

Get Your Gourd On

I have never been much of a seasonal decorator.
 I have a hard time finding my niche amidst all the mass produced goodies
 clogging up the aisles at Walmart.
Carving pumpkins has also found itself frequently at the bottom of a list of "fall to-do's" the past several years, mostly because it takes a lot for me to pull out the squirmy insides of a pumpkin.
More of a Jank is...DISGUSTING kind of moment. That was UNTIL.... I wound up with a couple of pumpkins on my stoop and a bright blue skied day.
Sometimes the season beckons you hard and you have no choice but to respond.
This inevitable date with a pumpkin led to some quick googling and an amazing Refinery29,
fashion geared, pumpkin carving article.
 It's amazing how much you can accomplish if you apply the things you love to a task at hand.

Cue me being really crafty:

I've never been a DIY babetron, but we all have our Tim Gunn moments and I made it work.

I managed to muster up all my artistic ability, a steak knife, a weird soup ladle (which proved super UNhelpful), and a couple bottles of dispensable nail polish produuuuucing

 MIU MIU glitter booties suckers! 

My only regret is not making these pals wearable. Althoooough there's still time to channel my inner Lady Gaga, slough off the steaks and spring for a pumpkin get up, complete with Gourd Cords... get it, GET. IT? See how that rhymed? Makes it funnier.

Cue fashion blogger photographed with a small dog:

Miu Miu pumpkin glitter booties plus viva glam pumpkin equals fall decor WINNING. 

Get to carving you little pumpkins! My porch is powning yours. 

Welcome To The Wolf Pack

oooor the closet.... same thing.

Today marks the first official day of Fall Break! With it comes some new arrivals to the closet to share! I scored this nOir bracelet for a steal at Rag-O-Rama and am IN LOVE WITH it. Add it to the arm party mash up for a pop o' color. Total neon accessory babe! 

Speaking of babes… these Sam Edelman Louie boots have been on my must have radar for a while now. I gave in finally! SO worth it.

And lastly, this all silk vintage Kimono style jacket. The details are something to hollar about. Perfect with a simple white tee and some blue jeans for a strolly Saturday. 

Happy Monday!

Calling All Mivas

I am the way I dress.

I am intentional. And if I feel boss, I’m gonna be boss. Simple.

I believe I am the me I choose to be, and dress is one of the ways I choose to be me.

Doesn’t mean shit about tie clips and top buttons, whether your shoes are tied the right way. Son, I don’t give a rooster’s left nut whether you look like Don Draper or Alice Cooper. Just look like something, for God’s sake.

Tending to your own person and being intentional about what you wear identifies you as a person with preference. Preference is identity. It’s what you support, what you light up for, what you die for and cum for.

Dress is a way of showing people you got finesse. You got intuition. It shows that before you go out, you can preternaturally sense the vibes of the night. See, situations vibrate before they happen. Parties stretch backward the way they stretch forward. Every event sends shock waves in every direction. If you’re easy enough, if you’ve got the heart, you will feel what’s appropriate simply by those shockwaves.

Is it more comfortable to look like a slob sometimes? You’re damn right it is. But what kind of criteria is that? Comfort is a bitch. I don’t trust it. Not when I dress. Hell, no.

It’s like there’s this hip I’m always trying to feel when deciding how to dress. It’s that feeling you feel when you step up to dance with the coolest broad in the place. You present yourself, you engage and realize you’re sturdy. You realize the guppy’s got dad’s guts after all. I want people to sense that from me.

I want to own myself. I wanna breathe even and heavy and get where I’m going. I want to take the things about myself that scare me or disgust me or make me wanna kill myself and lash them into submission. Somehow, that relates to the way I dress.

When people see me, I want them to know that I’ve got bite. I’m a razor, babe. Looking sharp is just natural.

Yeah, that’s what I want.

-Jonathan Cate
(the male JISer y'all!)

Armor Baby

       There's a piercing truth to Bill Cunningham's wise words. The original street style photographer has dedicated years to documenting the day to day armor of the people who drift through the streets of New York City and his observations strike a cord in me.

       People often find fashion frivolous. They want to write it off. Box it up. Mark it mere vanity. I admittedly pause in step at times, to ponder if fashion is a worthy "cause". What's the driving force behind it?

      There are the different arguments: it's art, it's a political statement, it's self expression, it's fun, it's just...who.i.am. While all of those things can be applied to fashion let me ask you this, what did you carefully pick out to wear on that first date with the love of your life? What did you lay out the night before you went into labor? What did you slide into the day you filed for divorce? What did you buy for your first big job interview?

      Yes, yes so it's sentiment bla bla bla what's the point? Are you on your period? Lets just say white pants aren't in my armor lineup for a week or so but sentiment isn't all that I chock fashion up to- it's preparing yourself to face the arising sentiments attached to every day.  Life, death, drinking coffee, getting canned, grocery shopping, having a baby, having TWO babies, dealing with your mother-in-law.  HUGE crux moments or just taking the trash to the road- there's something to the consistancy of clothing. To knowing when you go to bed at night, that you have that perfect black James Perse bodycon dress, and even though you're only going to log four hours of sleep before you get up and do it all again, atleast you'll have that swag. Atleast you'll be wearing the armor that bolsters you through the day and into the fashion future. Clothing has a drive to it. It stokes my fire for life. It fuels me into an alternate universe. A universe that encases me from the intolerable elements of a world in sweats and the "i just give up" mentality. It permits me to exist each day unharmed merely because I decide to DRESS. Whether I find myself pushing a stroller, a proposition, a friendship, a sale- i've got the armor baby to go to war with the world.

      So, put on yours and save your crying for your pj's.

      xo
      C

Beached Whales, Mailmen, and Professionalism

Back from the beach and hitting the ground running on an up and coming project for JIS alongside of Our Ampersand Photography. Let's just say it includes twenty-seven of the top vendors of Chattanooga forging together to throw an epic party. If a normal project was comparable to a hamburger this would be considered a pretty exquisite steak. Our motto, after careful consideration, has become "beef it's what's for dinner." As you can probably imagine that has a lot of people really interested. 

Chattanooga likes meat. 

It's had us running around a lot hailing cabs we don't need (we have cars...duh). I usually take pictures like these so that one, I can show off my beached whale costume (see bottom left) and to draw the attention of New York bloggers who actually do hail cabs. Leveling the blogger playing field is turning out to be PUH-RIT-TY key (#famous#rich#happenin). 

                     Ran into "Norm" at one of our project meetings.
He's the local mailman for the downtown area.
If you don't already know him you probably should get to know him. 

He. Is. Quality.
Also, the first 10,000 people to get a picture with him and "hashtag" it "lovingnorm"
 will receive free mail delivery for life- get to gramming and tweetin.
THIS IS NOT A SCAM.

Other than Norm we've also takin' a real liking to professionalism during this project. 

Greeting each client with a smile and a disposition that really owns.....

                          

We'll let you know how the project turns out...

Till then just remember how cute I am when

 I'm not birthing bags in parking lots.

xo

Chels

Blue Ballin'

Before you get your granny panties in a wad, allow me to call your attention to the blue clad threesome (sexually of course) below. What a crew. We had an out of office "work day" aka feeding, drinking, laughing, intermittently working frenzy and someone (as in all of us) got the bluuuuues baby.

Who sent the memo?

Gossip Girl.

Just kidding.

Spring did. And we answered.

Sexy Mags and Jewelry.

Na- Nana-Na.

Mid breakfast order we noticed a sweetly nestled little gem of a pop-up-shop

owned by Michelle Newton and located inside of The Camp House

(our office-day-away-location that we must think we rent?).

It's called Mission Exchange and all the little treasures hail from Greenwich Village.

I won some sweetly packaged scooooores.

I'll dish on the goods next time.

Til then keep it sassy you lil' kittens.