Category: faith based fashion

Hello Sunshine

There’s no getting around it: it’s cold. But the sun has been shining, so it was the perfect time to bust out my Hello Sunshine Kate Spade hat. So cheerful! I adore it. It pulls out the yellow in my favorite winter handbag just perfectly. 

{close-up of hat detail}
Had to include a dorky picture because that’s how I roll. 
Also, yes, that is my fake-fur coffee sleeve on Starbucks (and there IS hot tea in that cup, which I’m about to spill in all of these photos!).

In my popular posts about how to wear skirts & tights in winter (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2…that’s also a solid look back at how my style has evolved!), I note that simply waiting for the sun to come out makes wearing a dress feel much more do-able. I love a sunny winter day! So good for the spirit.

Hat: Kate Spade, consignment shop//Sunnies: local shop//Pink necklace: Forever21//Dress: Forever21//Fleece-Lined Tights: Big Lots//Scarf: thrifted//Blazer: H&M//Gloves: Dollar Tree (!)//Coat: J.Crew//Purse: Missoni, consignment shop//Boots: Timberland, consignment shop 
xo
Natalie

Birthday Dress

It was kinda-totally my birthday a few weeks ago!
#checkyes

We had lots of beautiful birthday snow, I made my trademark birthday coffee cake, wore a hot pink birthday crown, shared my birthday with a few other ladies from my church with the SAME birthday, had pink champagne and chocolate-hazelnut cake, received pink flowers, and all-around felt like the most-loved girl there is!

{birthday flowers!}

I love this swingy “Cream Puff” dress as I call it, with my “Cupcake Frosting” hair. Obviously I wanted to dress like desserts on my birthday! Ha! 
{birthday manicure}
I also love the high-low of this outfit…the jacket and shoes are crazy-expensive, but the tights are from Big Lots, the sweater is from a tag sale, and the dress is from a consignment shop and doesn’t have a label. 
It’s just like happiness, y’know? Find happiness in the small things and the big things. I was never a huge fan of my winter birthday so close to Christmas (someone was always sick, we weren’t in school yet so I missed the fun of a classroom birthday, I wanted an outdoor party, everyone was burnt out from Christmas and stretched thin and presents came in Christmas paper, etc. etc.). So I’ve created my own traditions. Little things.

{hazelnut-orange GF cake and pink champagne}

I choose a birthday song every year, pick up some pink champagne, and always bake a coffee cake on the morning of my birthday and put candles in it.
 (those links will take you to past birthday posts of mine for more pretty fun!)

Here’s this year’s birthday song: 

An outfit doesn’t have to be all high-end designers. And a birthday doesn’t have to be all bells and whistles. 
Find joy in the little things, the unique things, and I think you’ll find extra joy you didn’t know was there.

And Happy Birthday to all you other near-Christmas/winter babies!
🙂

******

Dress: No label // Sweater: Vintage//Earrings: Charlotte Russe//Coat: Rebecca Taylor//Fleece-Lined Tights: Big Lots//Sunnies: Local store//Heels: Diane von Furstenburg 
xo
Natalie

Zipper Edge Hat

Some days coffee and sunshine is all you need to put an extra spring in your step.

A fabulous hat? Icing on the cake.

Hope you have a sunshine-y day! 
Hat: local store//Sunnies: Local boutique//Necklace: Vintage//Lace/Chiffon Sweater: local boutique//Dress: LC by Lauren Conrad//Tights: local boutique//  Steve Madden
xo

Natalie

Sequins, Scallops, and Eyelet

This feels like such a true “Natalie” outfit–pulled together, sophisticated, but still very youthful and playful. 

Fun colors, textures switches, and ladylike silhouettes.
Fun sunnies, one of my favorite vintage bags…
Everyone dies over this bag. Some ladies were saying they wanted the pattern as wallpaper. Sign me up, too! 


Then of course I picked up this navy hat with a ZIPPER edge (which matches the zippers on the back of my boots) and resistance was futile. Love a good fall hat!

Jacket: Anthropologie// Sequin tank: LOFT// Eyelet Pencil Skirt: J.Crew// Bracelets: J.Crew and TJ Maxx// Earrings: Local boutique// Necklace: LC by Lauren Conrad // Sunnies: Local boutique// Bag: Vintage, thrifted // Boots: Steve Madden
Have a great week!
xo
Natalie

Sunny & Seventies

That title’s a play on words. Since it’s been in the 70s all week, gorgeous and lovely, I decided to go with a 70s-themed outfit.
Because everyone matches the theme of their outfit to the weather, right?
{no?}

Big hat, big sunnies, big hair, big sleeves. Higher-waisted jeans.
I really would have loved being a 20-something in the 70s, I have no doubt.
I’m sure I could rock gold lame and Disco Fever.

I wonder what this decade’s (the teens) defining characteristics will be. What do you think? 
Modern Luxe or Hipster Grunge?

Hat: American Eagle//Sunnies: Local store//Necklace: Von Maur//Merino Wool Sweater-Tee: Banana Republic (thrifted) //Jacket: F21, Thrifted // Jeans: Thrifted // Belt: Thrifted // Shoes: Thrifted
xo
Natalie

Resist It

Lately there’s a song that’s just been playing over and over in my head. Jason Reeve’s “Old-Fashioned Letters” (it’s sad so don’t say I didn’t warn you!) and there is one line…
“I want to run, but I resist it.”

Ugh, goodness gracious this line. I want to run, but I resist it. You know it takes a lot of effort to run, but it seems to take MORE effort to stay. 
Staying is hard. 
Waiting is hard. 
Being in a difficult transition, with no direction, and a whole lot of anxiety–yeah, staying there is hard.

When the big things are out of whack, I need to learn to be better at leaning into them. Leaning into HIM, leaning into the Word, and leaning into the waiting. 
Because waiting?

It’s actually refinement.

And I always wanted to a refined lady, polished and graceful in the waiting.

😉

xo
Natalie

Grace

{new dress that was on crazy-clearance at TJ Maxx. It was a size medium so I sewed it up to a small 🙂 The lace on the top has gold threads through it!)
I’ve been thinking about grace lately. 
I’ve been having some hard thoughts about grace lately. 
We talk a lot about seeking grace (an unmerited pardoning of our transgression or shortcoming).
But we seem to think that grace just IS and it’s always there and it’s free and we can take as much as we need for every little thing. 
{Who needs a wind machine when you’ve got the real thing?!}
Which is mostly true. Grace is free and available to us. But I don’t want us to forget that it was not free for God. God? Yeah, He PAID that price. He sent His only son to DIE on the cross for us. 
And to rise again. 
That is the reason we have grace. 
Grace is powerful. 
Grace should be transformative in our lives. 
So here’s what I propose: instead of shouting “grace” over ourselves, let’s not claim grace without going to the GIVER of GRACE and being on our knees before Him for a moment. 
Isn’t that the point of grace?

To point us back to God?

To be grace-filled by the giver of all good things, so that we, too, may go out into the world and give grace to others. 
{now I’ve got the doxology in my head. anyone else? #praiseGodfromwhomallblessingsflow}
Your thoughts on grace?
xo
Natalie

Monday Dress & Vlog

Loved this outfit! Perfect for church and Sunday errands. So cozy, comfy and cute. Latte-colored dress & shoes that look like pointe shoes! 

{walkin’ on a log cause it’s a fall thing to do}
{shoes + pointe shoes}
Vlog for a Monday like a BOSS: 
Don’t mind me…just being silly. 
Have a great week! 
xo
Natalie

Tunic Time

We’ve had a few nights lately with the hint of an autumn breeze in them, so today I took a look in my closet and thought, “What summery things haven’t I worn yet?” This tunic was the first to answer, “Me! Me!”

So I took it out for a day on the town {y’know, glamorous stuff like work, the grocery store, and the car repair place}

{ooo, oooo, don’t my curls looks slightly Duchess Kate-ish here?!}

{daisy ring}

{kate spade sandals}
sunnies: local store//tunic: thrifted bcbg//jeans: old navy//ring: kohls//sandals: thrifted kate spade