I've been published!

Well, sort of.  Earlier this week, I received an email from our awesome wedding photographer friend Leeann from Leeann Marie Photography letting us know that our engagement pictures have been featured on the Delighfully Engaged blog!  Pretty excited about that.  You can see the post here. 

Since I'm talking about our engagement pictures, I figured I'd take a couple of minutes to finally show you all what I wore and explain my choices.  All of the following images are taken from either the Delighfully Simple blog or from Leeann's blog, and all were taken by Leeann of Leeann Marie Photography.

Outfit 1:

Dress:  Mompos Dress from Anthropologie, size 2

Shoes:  Red leather heels from some random store in Italy

Bracelet:  Target

Earrings:  A gift from a friend (part of our bridesmaid jewelry set from her wedding)

This was my first outfit choice, and it was slightly Alice-in-Wonderland/Dorothy-inspired.  I knew that no matter what else I wore, I would wear the Mompos dress.  The dress has a slight print, but it isn't too busy, so the focus remains on us instead of the print.  Plus, it comes with a built-in crinoline.  What says "I'm having a glamorous reading by the lake on a blanket" more than a crinoline? 

I paired the Mompos dress with red shoes because I love seeing a pop of unexpected color in photos, and I know that Leeann has a shoe fetish that rivals my own.  Plus, I wanted our pictures to be whimsical and storybook-ish, and you really can't get more fantastical than a pair of red patent-leather peep toes in the middle of a field.   For about half a second, I contemplated replacing the built-in belt with a red patent-leather belt, but I realized I wanted the shoes to stand out on their own, so I kept the belt as-is.

For this outfit, I kept the accessories classic and minimal.  Again, for engagement pictures, the focus should be on the couple, not on the clothes and accessories.  I kept the future Mr. AllDressedUp in a neutral complementing outfit.  He's wearing a Brooks Brothers shirt and tie combo that features understated light pink and sky blue.

Outfit #2:

Shirt:  Gathering Tank from Anthropologie, size small

Bracelet:  "I Read Banned Books" bracelet from Kards Unlimited

Jeans:  Joe's Jeans from Anthropologie, size 28

Shoes:  Cole Haan Air Nike Peep toe pumps, size 7.5

Again for this outfit, I wanted to keep the concept relatively simple.  The gathers of the gathering tank brings the eye right to the face, and I figured the green color would blend with the surroundings to bring out our faces even more. 

While I don't recommend trying to camoflauge yourself when dressing for photographs, but I do recommend wearing colors that complement your skin, hair, and eyes.  I felt like this shirt did all three relatively well.  Plus, green is one of our wedding colors, so I wanted to give a slight nod to that in the engagement pictures.  I wore the bracelet because it has several shades of green in it, but also because it matches the literary theme of our photos and of our wedding.  The shoes jeans and shoes acted as comfortable neutrals.  I put the fiance in a Banana Republic blue and green striped white button-down  and jeans so that we weren't exactly matching, but our outfits again complemented each other.

Outfit #3:

Dress:  Vintage 1950s polka dot dress

Shoes:  Same red heels as above

Necklace:  Pearl necklace (stolen/inherited from my mom)

Earrings:  Silver hoops (a gift)

Again, simplicity is key.  I brought this dress along, not sure of whether or not I'd need it.  Leeann spotted it and gave me the go-ahead to bring it.  That's why she's awesome.  She understands that sometimes you just need another dress.  :)  Anyway, I kept my accessories simple once more with a pearl necklace and small silver hoop earrings.  The fiance remained in his outfit from before.  He's not as high-maitenance as I am, apparently.  ;)

I noticed while writing this post that I only wore 1-2 accessories per outfit.  That's probably a good rule of thumb to stick to when you know you're going to be photographed.  Now, if only this post had been published before Nicki Minaj went to the 2011 VMAs at the end of August:

Source

Oh well.  Maybe she'll take note for next year.  ;)

The last year of my life condensed into one blog post

I promised a "life update" post (if anyone is even still reading my blog at this point), so here we go.  Yes, it's in bullet form.  I thought that might make it a little easier to read.

• Teaching became extremely time-consuming at the beginning of the school year last year.  Our English department became the target of a district-wide standardized test improvement plan.  This meant six observations instead of four, mandatory meetings every month, daily two-page lesson plans for every class we teach, and extreme restructuring of curriculum.  I also personally acquired two journalism classes and the school newspaper.  With a year of all of that extra responsibility under my belt, I should have more posting time this upcoming year.
• Health-wise, I ran into big-time knee problems when I started training for a half-marathon this past September.  I struggled until March, when my doctor finally decided I needed surgery.  The recovery was longer than it should have been, and I didn't get back to working out until May.  Because I was sort of out of commission physically from September to May, I gained back about 10 of the 30 pounds I had previously lost.  This was frustrating and infuriating, to say the least, especially when it came to clothes.  Since then, I have traded running for circuit training, dancing, and yoga, and I seem to be back on track.  I've even lost about five pounds!
• Fashion took somewhat of a back seat until this past spring.  I was sort of just going through the motions of getting dressed every day because of my knee situation, my weight-gain, and my added work load at school. 
• My love life flourished somehow, through everything going on in my professional and personal life.  My boyfriend went to doctors appointments, listened to me vent, and encouraged me to stay positive.  On December 3rd, 2010, my boyfriend became my fiancé.  :)  We had our engagement pictures taken last week, and our amazing photographer, Leeann from Leeann Marie Photography, posted a sneak peek of our session on her blog:

Yes, that's a Harry Potter book.  :)  We did a literary-themed engagement session to go with our literary-themed wedding that we're having next June.  We both teach high school (he's history, I'm English), and we're both avid readers, so it's only fitting.

Once I get the rest of our pictures, I plan on doing a post about what I wore for our session.  In this sneak peek, I'm wearing a costume pearl necklace that was my grandmother's at one point (I'm pretty sure I stole it out of my mom's jewelry box years ago and never gave it back...sorry Mama) and a vintage dress I bought in high school at a store that has since closed.  It's one of my favorite vintage pieces, and I was thrilled to get the chance to wear it.

So, that's my life over the past year in a nutshell.  What have you all been up to?  Any new, exciting news that I missed during my blogging hiatus?