Missing My Man

My wonderful fiance is in NY for the next few days to meet with some potential summer internship contacts. I hate when he is away and I have to be home alone, but I should probably try to get used to it since he is trying to work across the country for a few months without me. I am excited to be able to go visit him on weekends and explore the city though!

I am so proud of Jake right now. He is pursuing his dream of going to business school and is excelling! He has put his heart and soul into everything he does so far and its just so great to see. He truly loves learning and what he is learning about. The extra hours and effort he is putting into his education are going to pay off, I just know it.

When Jake was looking at going to Emory, I attended a Partner's Session during their Welcome Weekend. They had a panel of a bunch of Southern wives and they all talked about how your partner would change for the better throughout their program. They were so absolutely right, its kind of scary. Jake comes home talking a mile a minute about what he learned, who he met, what club he wants to join or some party his class is planning. Its almost as if I'm going through this program with him because I feel like I know EVERYTHING about it. I'm glad I do though. It makes me feel involved. I'm just so happy that he is so happy and loving what he is doing.

Now come home Jakes! I miss you too much!

What did YOU do tonight?

I went shopping!

But not in the conventional sense. I shopped here:

What? You don't recognize this storefront from your local crack house mall? Duh! That's because its my closet! haha

I figured since Jake was in the middle of his going on 7-hour study session and completely ignoring me, I would find my own thing to do. I've been trying to save as much money as possible, so shopping the normal way was out of the question. I started out my just trying to think about what I was going to wear to work tomorrow. This typically takes a significant amount of time out of my morning routine. I especially have a problem forming a complete thought, let alone an entire outfit when I first wake up. So I started with this:

(VS Wrap and H&M collared shirt)

And then added another combo and another and another.

(Banana Republic Sweater, H&M Shirt, Cookie Lee necklace)

It was getting fun finding some things I hadn't worn in awhile and figuring out new ways to "style" them like my bestie for life Rachel Zoe. Then I got the accessories out, and there was no holding back. I mean, look at this. I went nuts. I purposefully didn't put pants or skirts with these outfits because I have every basic color I need, and I could wear any number of the top/sweater combinations paired with jeans outside of work.



Needless to say, this little experience turned into an enlightening moment. I felt like I just came back from the mall with bags of clothes for work, but I had already owned every single article I used in these outfits. It was great! I will be able to get ready quicker for many mornings to come and I know exactly what to wear. (Captions are underneath corresponding picture)

(H&M Sweater & F21 belt)

(Anthropologie Sweater and Nordstrom top)

I was happy to find a combo that worked well for this top because I had stained it with bleach shortly after I bought it.

(H&M Shirt and Target Sweater)

I was also clever in pairing this shirt with the right piece because it's missing a 3rd button. The tie wrap hides it!

(JCrew Sweater and Banana Republic tank)

Love the pop of color!

(C&C top with F21 Jacket)

(JCrew sweater with Nordstrom top)

I've had this top since high school and always feel like a present when I wear it.

(Paired with VS scarf)

(F21 T Shirt with Nordstrom vest)

I never know how to wear this vest, but I love the back. I think the bright color makes a big difference with it.

(Paired with Pashmina. Bought at SFO airport)

(H&M Shirt and cant remember where I got the sweater)

(Anthropologie sweater, F21 top, Cookie Lee necklace)

I never know how to wear this sweater because it has different color polka dots all over it. I searched for a good 10 minutes, trying endless combinations and found this turquoise top worked best!

(Joie dress and Banana Republic sweater)

I think this outfit would look great with black tights and some tall black boots.

(Both from Anthropologie)

(Sweater and blouse Banana Republic, necklace Anthropologie)

(F21 Tank, Banana Republic sweater, Anthropologie belt)

I just love this beautiful belt but have a hard time pairing it with the appropriate outfit.

(Anthropologie tank, Banana Republic sweater, F21 necklace)

(Urban Outfitters tank and Limited crop jacket)

I thought this was a good combo because you can see the detail of the bottom of the tank because the jacket is cropped.

(F21 sweater and H&M top)

(paired with Target necklace)

(paired with Anthropologie necklace)

(paired with Anthropologie belt)

(paired with Target headband)

I also came up with a wish list of sorts that will help guide my future shopping trips. As you can see, I always tend to buy lots of cardigans for work. So I know I definitely don't need more of those any time soon. I do need to purchase a pair of charcoal/dark grey pumps, skinny black pants, tall boots (appropriate for work), and some collared shirts.

Thanks for visiting Closet de Berrey! Now get to "shopping" in your own!

Weekend So Far

After the long, drawn-out work week I was excited to get home to hang with my fiance. I am seeing him less and less these days due to my busy work schedule and his school schedule. We had planned to go see "The Social Network" at LA Live and then go get our favorite Mai Tai's at Trader Vic's. The movie was pretty good and really fun to watch because we all know we love our Facebook. Jake and I were "early adopters" of Facebook all the way back in 2004 when it was only open to college students. Those were some fun times!

Saturday morning we had our friends Graham and Christi in LA to go to the USC football game at the coliseum. We treat these games as all day events of course, so we headed to campus around 11:30 to show Twiz the newly remodeled Traddies. We had some apps and beers and a couple of mimosas for the girls before we met up with Chris and Brienne and headed to the Marshall tailgate. I don't know why they do this to me everytime, but they seriously give you enough drink tickets to get you going pretty good. Needless to say a drunken fight with your fiance at the coliseum is never fun, but hey, it happens to the best of us! After the tailgate we met up with Brienne and Chris' parents at their usual spot right in front of the coliseum. (Perfect for that one last pre-game drink and sighting of Charlie O'Connell :)

After the game we had big plans to go out to Hollywood to Voyeur, but in true post-game fashion, we were beat. Jake has to study all day today as well, so he didn't want to be out all night either.

Today is Jake's mom's birthday and both of his parents are coming out for sushi at Yamashiro in the Hollywood Hills. Its supposed to be a pretty cool place so I'm excited to check it out. I have to go get Jake's car washed (so the 'rents dont have to ride in a dirty car) and go get his mom a birthday present so Jake doesn't have to stop studying!

I'm not looking forward to this week at work at all. I have a business dinner to attend that interferes with my Bootcamp night :( and I have audit projects galore to complete by Thursday on top of my normal month-end close work. It's going to be hell and I will sure be glad for the weekend to come so I can spend it with my mom and go to an old friend's baby shower!

Have a great rest of the weekend and great week ahead!