Style Icon: Michelle Obama

Over the last few weeks, I've seen Michelle Obama appear on talk shows and at various campaign events, and I'm loving her style. She always looks so professional, but she adds a touch of her own flair and lets it shine through. Here are a few outfits I've seen her in and have been loving lately:

Today on The Ellen Show

I love the flower pins she's wearing above and below. They add an extra little something to her basic sheath dresses.

Last week on The Colbert Report

She perfected the color blocking trend for Easter at the White House this year (Sasha and Malia look cute too):

At the White House Easter Egg Roll

At the Kid's Choice Awards, the First Lady got glitzy with some sparkly jeans and a fun top... I think she looks so fun and fresh for a casual event:

Kid's Choice Awards

A bright pop of color for spring:

Wearing L'Wren Scott

She always looks great for formal events... I'm loving the piles of necklaces she's wearing too:

Wearing Marchesa

*All photos via www.huffingtonpost.com

Happy Monday everyone!

Travel Tuesday: My 4th Grade Dream... Frankfort, KY

You guys, I have a confession to make: I have lived in Kentucky for my whole life and have never visited our capital in Frankfort... UNTIL NOW! :)

In Kentucky schools, fourth and/or fifth graders take a course in Kentucky history which usually culminates in a field trip to the state capital. Well, I can't remember why, but my class's field trip got cancelled and was never re-scheduled so I missed out! I finally had the opportunity last week to visit, and we had such a great day.

I was the first one to arrive in the morning, so I snapped this shot.

I told you yesterday that I met my mom, aunts and uncle, and our Irish friends on Thursday morning in Frankfort. Our first stop on the agenda was a tour of the Governor's Mansion. It is a beautiful home, built in 1914 and transforming through the years with its inhabitants. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and he had lots of fun facts to tell us about each room that we saw. There is a lot of French influence in the decor and there are even a few pieces there that once belonged to Louis XIV and Louis XVI. We only toured the rooms on the first floor, as the upper floors are where the Governor and his family actually live. Here are a few shots:

First stop: the Ballroom

Dining Room: The lights lining the ceiling were so pretty.
Also, the current First Lady has placed several modern pieces from
various KY artists around the mansion (like the one on the table).

Originally an office, this room is now more of a sitting room. 

A rare French breakfront (from either Louis XIV or Louis XVI... I can't remember!)

After that we took a break for lunch at Sage Garden Cafe, and walked around their greenhouse and garden shop after our meal. Next, we had an appointment at the Capitol Building for a tour. We lucked out too because we were supposed to be on a tour with a group of fourth graders but they were running late, so our tour guide took us on a special tour for just our small group. Our tour guide there was also very friendly and knowledgeable. Brendan, one of our visiting friends, is a member of Irish Parliament, so we had fun talking with our tour guide about the differences between the Irish system and our own.

"The Aunts" and my Momma striking the
"sorority girl pose" with Abe :)

The Capitol Dome... you can't see it here, but it has LED lights that change color!

Mural of Daniel Boone standing above the Kentucky River

French-inspired reception room

Outside on the steps after our tour

After our tour, we headed to the Frankfort Cemetery which is a beautiful place overlooking the Kentucky River and downtown Frankfort.

There's the Capitol Building in the distance.

Daniel Boone's grave in the Frankfort Cemetery

Downtown Frankfort

Finally, we headed over to Buffalo Trace for a quick bourbon tasting (we were too late to take a tour). We had a delightful day in our state capital, and I would love to return again sometime with Sean for a little day trip!

I hope you enjoyed this special Travel Tuesday! Have any of you ever been to Frankfort? What are some of your favorite Kentucky landmarks?

A Wonderful Weekend

Sean and I had a very busy weekend with my family and some very special guests this weekend. My mom and her siblings have a very dear friend from Ireland, Michael, whom they have known since they were in high school and have kept in touch with ever since. He was visiting all last week and brought his youngest son Brendan and Brendan's wife Roisin along for the visit.

My Aunt Mitzie's beautiful Easter table!

I started my weekend early by taking a quick trip to Frankfort on Thursday to meet my family and our guests for the day. (Tomorrow will be a special Travel Tuesday with more details on that trip!) On Friday night we had a family dinner and then Molly, Sean, my cousin Jeremy and I took Brendan and Roisin out for a night on the town. We went to Moerlein Lager House and had a few beers...

Top: Sean, Me and Roisin; Middle: Jeremy zombie-fying us on his phone;
Bottom: Molly and Brendan

We finished off the night at Molly Malone's in Covington. I know, I know we didn't really plan to take Irish people to an "Irish bar" but we just ended up there. It was great because the band was playing some songs that Brendan and Roisin knew, and we introduced them to Irish Car Bombs (the drink!) They didn't like them very much (Brendan said they "ruined perfectly good Guinness"), but we still had a great time!

On Sunday, the Easter Bunny brought a basket of chocolate and marshmallow eggs from Schneiders Candy Shop... my favorite!

Yum! Easter candy!

We had a beautiful Easter dinner at Aunt Mitzie's and Uncle John's house to celebrate both the holiday and the last day that our Irish friends would be in town. There was an adult Easter Egg Hunt (Eggs full of money instead of candy!) and a rowdy game of Left Right Center, which Jeremy won.

We had so much fun with our guests and with the family this weekend. We all hope to visit our friends sometime soon in Ireland, and are so thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family! Hope your Easter weekend was as lovely as ours!

Spring Fling!

Spring is here, and I thought I'd do a little post about some clothing that I'm currently coveting for the season. I keep a list in my planner that has two columns: needs and wants. I just updated my list a couple of weeks ago. I keep it to stay organized and so I don't spend money on things that I don't really need. So it's there to remind me of the important things... and so once I've gotten all of the stuff on the need list (or most of it anyway) I can start looking for some of the things on the want list.

So here are few inspirations I've gathered for both lists for this upcoming warm weather season.
Swimsuits:
I really need a new bathing suit. For the past few summers, I've been relying on one suit that I really loved, but is now broken, and another one that I ordered online and really doesn't fit me (it stretches out when I get in the water... bad news!) So the criteria I'm looking for in a swimsuit are these:

1) No strings! (except for maybe a tie around the neck if it's a halter, but the bottom must be a hook.)

2) Bottoms with coverage

3) A color that flatters my highlighter bright skin (hey, neon is a trend this season... so I've got that going for me:)

J.Crew suits

So I found this, this, and this from J.Crew, but they are not the perfect one yet. (Also, I'd like to buy them from somewhere I can try it on first.) But here's what I like about them: the lilac tulle suit (tulle doesn't sound very practical... but it's so pretty!) has good coverage on the bottom and I like the shape of the top (it's got a little retro flair), and it comes in a green color that I think would look nice; the striped one is very classic, and again, I like the coverage on the bottom; and the blue one on the end is a very nice color, and I really like the detail on the top. (I would definitely choose different bottoms though!)

I like the design, but not the color

Then, I found this interesting suit on ASOS, which I think would be good for me. I like the criss cross at the bottom because I have what I call "the freak torso"... my mid-section is really long and probably belongs on someone who is closer to 5'9" than little ole 5'6" me. I like that those straps would kind of break things up a bit, but I don't know about wearing black with my pale skin (yikes!).

Also, I could always just go with something like this...

Haha... totally kidding!

Ok, well that was a lot to write about bathing suits, so I'll try to keep things short and sweet for the rest of the list.

Colored Jeans:

Forever 21 Twill Pants for $15.80!

I would really like to try this trend, but I don't want to spend a lot of money on it. I would like to hunt around at Forever 21 a little bit and find some other colors that I like... maybe red, maybe blue, or maybe green?

I am also really looking for some slim-leg dress pants. Both of these pairs of pants seem to fit the bill.

Fun Flats and Sandals

Left: ASOS; Right: Target

Here are a few things I've pinned lately that are inspiring me for spring too:
Pointy-toed flats

Maxi skirts

Simple white blouse

Fun bright blouse