Category: Fashion

ELOQUII X Draper James Collection Review!

Post author By dreamyrealist
Post date March 20, 2018
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I feel like my personal style through my lifetime has been from sporty in my childhood, to an attempt at dressing like Avril Lavigne in high school (major fail and I have pictures to prove it), and that awkward hippie phase I went through and my attempt to wear natural deodorant (also a major fail and I am sorry to my friends who were alongside me through that phase…you know who you are).

Since breaking into my thirties I feel like I have am more comfortable in my skin and can define my personal style better. There are those times though that I have the urges to dress in a way that is a bit outside of my usual go-to’s. For example, I have met so many amazing women here in DC that are from the south and I have to admit I have a major obsession with the gingham print, lace textures, bold prints they sport and I am full blown obsessed!

What perfect timing then for Eloquii to do a collaboration with Reese Witherspoon and her collection, Draper James! Through this collection I feel like I can give that southern chic flare for a test drive while still mixing in my personal style. What I love about this collection is that it is super versatile and I live for the small details. From the scalloped waistlines, a stripe in the seam of the collar, and the signature gold zipper on the back.

So the jumpsuit I am sporting from this collection is seriously a dream fit. Usually I am not a fan of jumpsuits on me because either it does not fit properly on my lower half or the hemline is too short or long. If you have the second issue I mentioned in fit then a midi length can totally solve that for you. So I kept this look pretty casual with a jean jacket, but you can wear it so many ways! I have linked below jackets, shoes, and accessories of course all from Eloquii. Follow this link to shop the jumpsuit and here for my earrings!

Stay tuned for next week because I have an amazing gingham wrap top I will be sharing with you guys too. Now get your hiney over to Eloquii online or in store and get on this collection ya’ll! Sidenote…I’m going to start saying ya’ll more often…

Catherine

Photo Credit LSP Art Studios

Tags Eloquii

Fashion Lifestyle Uncategorized

You have a new match! Or do you…?

Post author By dreamyrealist
Post date March 3, 2018
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Online dating can be compared to my love/hate relationship with this brand of cookies at my local grocery store. I stand in the cookie aisle debating if I should get them or not. So then I do and at first I just have a couple and I feel great. Then I have a couple more and a couple more and then before you know it the whole bag is empty! There I am feeling crabby and in a sugar coma. Then wouldn’t you know the next time I am at the store the cycle continues and I buy them again!

With online dating for me it has been a series of reading in depth through profiles and being very selective…to going on a couple dates here and there…to aggressively swiping because I am just annoyed at how time consuming this is…to going on a bunch of dates with guys and there is truly just no connection…on any level (phew that was a long sentence).

I have been on and off online dating for the past 7 years or so. In the beginning stages of online dating it was almost like you kept it secret and people would respond with, “Oh you are on online dating? Wow! Isn’t it scary?” Now, it is more like “Wait, you are not on online dating? Why not? How do you meeting anyone!” I have met some very interesting (emphasis on interesting/creepy for some) people from the apps and although things may not have panned out I still look at it as a way to meet a new person and get to know their life a bit just human to human.

So this post is more of a confession rather than a rant about my views of online dating or the guys I have met. As a body positive blogger I try to keep it well…all positive! Sometimes I have days where it is really hard to feel 100% all the time. Almost a year ago my boyfriend of 4 years and I parted ways. During our relationship that is the most secure I have truly ever felt in my life. More in terms of my self esteem and body image. Yes, when I type that out and reread it makes me cringe a bit, but it is just the honest truth.

Now that I am on a solo journey I am trying to find confidence not through someone else, but through myself which I think is a whole other blog post. Here is an example of what I mean. A couple of months ago I was at a blogger meet up dinner and one of the gals and I were chatting about online dating. She asked to see my profile so I showed her and asked her to make edits to it and such to make me sound “cool.” She asked me, “Why don’t you use any of the photos from your Instagram and blog on your profile?” My response was basically, “Well they are full body shots of myself and I feel like I get more matches if it is just my face.” Her response was basically, “Girl do you hear yourself! You want to be with someone that likes you exactly the way you are!”

OMG YOU GUYS! I could not believe those words and thoughts had actually come out of my mouth. For real, I do not know who the girl in my head was that said that and I want to tell her to get it together! After this comment I made I kind of tossed it aside and didn’t think about it for the past 6 months. After my 30th birthday a couple of weeks ago I feel like I had a bit of a revelation about how I need to just be me! So I deleted all the awkward cropped photos in my profile and chose my top 5 favorites from past blog shoots. I based it totally on oh how I loved that top or wow my photographer really had me laughing in this shot we must of been having fun! Remembering that online dating is all about quality over quantity has really helped me. I would now rather have few matches and have them be truly gentleman rather than a bunch of matches of guys that most likely did not even read my profile.

Does anyone else ever have these same feelings? If you do we probably need to meet up and have a drink and exchange all of the awkward dating stories!

Catherine

Photo Credit- Maxey Greene

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Fashion

My Valentine’s Day Plans…or lack there of…

Post author By dreamyrealist
Post date January 31, 2018
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My dream plans for Valentine’s Day would mainly consist of me laying in a pool, eating sushi, on a warm and sunny day. The reality is I most likely will be eating chipotle, in bed, binge watching Grace and Frankie on Netflix. I mean to be honest that still sounds pretty amazing. Speaking to that my first thought was to do a collection of comfy pajamas that compliment my solo plans, but decided you guys would benefit more from a round up of date night with your love or a girls night out looks instead!

Now I know the usual little black dress comes to mind to bust out of the closet to throw on last minute, but oh no nooooo we are getting you out of your routine! So the past year has been filled with so many amazing collaborations. I decided to select head to toe looks from a couple of the amazing brands I have partnered with this year. I love how each brand is different in many ways so you can find what you feel fits your life and style. To shop the look you can just click the image and it will take you directly to their site.

No matter if you are hanging out with burritos or hitting up a fancy night on the town make sure you call a person you love in your life…mine will be my best friends…which they will probably ignore my 10 Facetime calls since they will most likely be the ones on a fancy date. So this mention is just a heads up…you know who you are haha!

-XO

Catherine

Ellos

Eloquii

Catherine’s

Fashion

What to wear, what to wear…

Post author By dreamyrealist
Post date January 23, 2018
No Comments on What to wear, what to wear…

Usually when I know I have events during the week/weekend I try to outfit plan in my head in prep for what is coming up. I feel like this casual thought process I have saves me from A. aggressively sweating trying to find something to wear B. trying everything on that I own and not having enough time to clean up so the clothing heads to what I like to call the “chairdrobe.” C. being extra extra late and showing up wearing leggings and a sweater since just nothing felt right on!

Well, this weekend I for sure felt all of the above. I went on a blind date, to an art gallery, and a girls night dinner and I didn’t do my usual mental outfit prep and I felt like my look was pretty, meh. Now I feel like this prep is important because I was thinking about “ugh these pants are tight, my shirt is wrinkled, do I even match?” rather than focusing on the company of the amazing people I was with! Sounds ridiculous I know, but it happens!

So if you guys remember I did a review of the clothing subscription box Stitch Fix and I absolutely loved it! Now I can solve these outfit planning woes next time by just using this subscription box and having their stylists do all of the work for me. So I did a round up from the Stitch Fix website of some of my favorite looks that they paired together.

You can try Stitchfix totally risk free to just give it a test run and see how you like it by using my link here!

Would love to hear how you guys like it!

-XO

Catherine