Troy and I are officially that couple. We get Christmas cards made with our dogs.  .  . Yep. To be fair, I had to beg Troy to do this so I’m completely to blame for the cheesiness. I just couldn’t help myself. When I heard that Smilebooth was going to set up shop at the Decatur Wag-a-lot for a day I put on my Skip ‘n Whistle Tacky Christmas Sweater Tee, grabbed the dogs (and Troy) and headed on over.

I’d like to lie and say that the process was easy, but Toby (he’s the black and white one) was so freaked out that Troy had to use all of his strength just to keep him on the table. The good news is that the Smilebooth and Wag-a-lot folks were so helpful that we finally got a winner:

This was one of our first attempts (below). I was trying to hold Toby up, but I have weak arms he was too scared to look at the camera. So Troy ended up holding Toby during the 10 minute shoot while Wheatie, our laid-back Golden Doodle, was perfectly content to sit there as long as he was given a constant supply of treats.

Are you guys familiar with Smilebooth? I swear that this is not a sponsored post. I just love their photos, creative backgrounds and super easy setups.

At Wag-a-lot the Smilebooth camera was set up in the wash room:

Please, feel free to go ahead and judge me. Five years ago I would have totally judged the current me for being so dog obsessed.

What can I say? I love my dogs and will shamelessly show people photos of my dogs on my phone like parents do with their kids. I think a dog Christmas card is just one more piece of evidence that I’m not nearly as cool as I think I am. Who knows where I’ll be in five years. . . crazy cat lady, perhaps?

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Dearest Lar,

Less than two more days and we’ll be together – woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s pretty amazing to think that you haven’t been home for a year and a half! I can’t wait for you to see Toby – you won’t even recognize him. Apart from when he’s getting photos taken, he really has calmed down since he adopted you guys over two years ago. I just got him washed today and Wag-a-lot put a cute red bandanna with a green bow on him. I’m hoping he won’t chew it off before you get home.

I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight or tomorrow night. I’m too excited. I hope you’re able to get some sleep on the plane!

xoxo, Cath

Reason #326 why I love having this blog: I get to hang out with other bloggers (My Style Vita, The Fashion Lush and Yoga in Heels) and get dressed up for events like Whiskey Park’s Vintage Hollywood Glamour evening this past Saturday.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that I was going to wear this dress. At the last minute, I completely changed my mind. I totally forgot I had this beautiful Betsey Johnson dress that my cousin gave me and Lar over ten years ago. It has the perfect vintage Hollywood Glamour look:

Betsey Johnson dress • Club Monaco necklace • Kenneth Jay Lane cuff • gloves from a local beauty supply store • BCBG heels • faux fur H&M stole

Apologies for the iPhone camera photos. After I save up for a new computer, I’ll get myself a decent point and shoot. On the other hand, if I used a better camera, my face would look much more shiny in these photos. So the grainy-ness is really a benefit!

Word of advice: don’t wear a fur stole and gloves when attending an indoor event – especially polyester gloves – you’ll start sweating the minute you walk through the door.

My wonderful friend, Lena, and her dashing bf, Sre, made the night even more fun by joining me at Whiskey Park. They pulled their outfits together in a few hours at a couple of local thrift stores. I’m so impressed!

We rounded out the evening by pigging out at Chinese Buddha at 1 a.m. It was wonderful.

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Dearest Lar,

I wish you were in town for this event. I bet you would have come up with an amazing outfit – especially if you were able to pull together a prohibition party outfit for less than $30.

Do you remember the Betsey Johnson dress? Isn’t it gorgeous? I’ve kept it all these years because it looks so pretty hanging in my closet.

Also, I get to see you in less than 3 days!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Best. Christmas. Present. Ever!

xoxo,

Cath

Lar might have stayed in a British manor house last week, but I got to hang out with the Bloomsbury group at their Charleston house in Sussex. Ha! Jealous, Lar?

Ah, who am I kidding? I haven’t left this country in months (I hear a little violin playing somewhere.).

Well, I might not be having adventures in the isles of Scotland, but I’ve had the pleasure of exploring Club Monaco’s fall line of clothing for the past few months. Remember this post where I played dress up? Well, I got another chance to check some of the newer items earlier this week.

I immediately fell in love with all the patterns, which is unusual for me because I tend stay away from patterns – and color, for that matter. The designs in the Fine Print line seem so British-vintage to me. So I decided to cut and paste photos of myself from my most recent Club Monaco dress up session into photos of the Charleston Farmhouse – a wonderfully British house that was once home to Virginia Woolf and other members of the Bloomsbury set.

Lar pointed out that the Micaila Dress I’m wearing below is actually much more in the style of William Morris than Bloomsbury, but I think it goes nicely with the hand painted mantel (and wallpaper, furniture and rug) in the farmhouse’s garden room.

It’s the perfect dress for strolling in the garden. I brought my Ally Hat along with me just in case of rain.

Here I am checking out the books in one of the dressing rooms. . .

This gorgeous red skirt is on sale! Even the painted guys on the screen are impressed.

I’m wearing these Schutz pumps in all of the photos. I love the two tone snake skin design. Did I mentioned that they’re also on sale? They even look good with the all-time-favorite Elisa Pant and Hilda Silk Shirt. Also, look, I’m floating!

So there you have it! I miss my twin so much I’m having delusions of visiting the UK just by taking a trip to the mall! Fortunately Lar is coming home in less than 20 days, which hopefully means you won’t get a post from me pretending to have tea with the queen.

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Dearest Lar,

Someday we’ll make it to Sussex and take a tour of Charleston together. Until then, I’ll keep cutting and pasting photos of myself into photos of the rooms. Next time I come to Scotland we’ll have to rent the Saddell House together.maybe in the summer 🙂

xoxo, Cath

My daily makeup routine is incredibly boring. It takes me less than 10 minutes to do my makeup every morning because I’ve done the same thing for the past 3 years.

All of my makeup techniques and products have come from Lar. She has a lot more patience for finding out what colors look best on us. Just one of the many benefits to being a twin! Although, come to think of it, she might be significantly more pale than me since she hasn’t seen the sun in over three months.

Anywhoodle, to shake things up a bit, I stopped by the traveling Make Up Forever truck at Atlantic Station when it came to Atlanta a few weekends ago and got some great makeup tips and a full makeover. Look at the transformation!

Syretta, my Make Up Forever makeup pro, was great at showing me how to keep things simple. I had made it pretty clear to her from the beginning that I was incredibly lazy with makeup and only bought colors that I had read about “looking good on every skin tone” in magazines.

I only use tinted moisturizer as a base, so I freaked out a little when I saw all of the layers of primer, concealer and foundation. Who needs all that stuff?! I do! At least that’s how I felt after the makeover. None of the stuff made my face feel cake-y or like my skin couldn’t breathe and it looked like I had a perfect complexion (something I haven’t had since my pre-puberty years).

Syretta wrote down all of the products that she used on my face so I could hop on over to Sephora and buy brand new makeup. Since I still have yet to win the lottery, I only purchased a few items: the HD finishing powder (it’s magical!), the Aqua lip liner in 14C and Aqua Rouge in 15.

The lip color is so much pinker than I would have ever thought to use. When I showed Syretta the lip color that I use everyday she said, “Yeah, that’s, uh, very safe.” What do you mean? It matches perfectly with my lip color?!! You can’t even tell I’m wearing it!!

See how much I needed a makeover? Now I embrace the pink lippies and gray eyeliner (I’ve been using black to rim my eyes for a decade). Makeup break-through! Sort of. I still just use tinted moisturizer 🙂

Believe it or not, this is not a sponsored post. I just realized how many times I’ve written “Make Up Forever” in the past 20 sentences. What can I say? It’s a good makeup brand and the products made me look pulled together and glowing in a sheep-printed sweater. Now if that’s not a measure of a successful makeover, I don’t know what is!

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Dearest Lar,

I’m so glad you encouraged me to sign up for the makeover. Do they have Make Up Forever in the UK? They must if they have Sephoras. Apart from the HD powder (which I learned about through JennySue Makeup), I had never really heard of the brand before.

Are you having fun in the manor house in west Scotland? Please keep texting me pics! I’m equal parts jealous and excited for you. And I would really hate the fact that you’re not going to be home for Thanksgiving this year, but I know you’ll be here in less than a month!!!!

Do you know how excited I am about that?! I tell complete strangers that you’re coming home. The dialogue goes something like this:

Stranger: Hi. How are you?

Me: My twin is coming home in December for two weeks!!!!!

Stranger walks away.

Skype me as soon as you get some place with the wifis.

xoxo, Cath

A few weeks ago the folks over at Club Monaco invited me to stop by the newly renovated store at Lenox Mall and check out the fall collection. A chance to play dress-up? Uh, yes please – I would enjoy that very much!

Everyone on the Club Monaco staff was so sweet: letting me in the backroom for a sneak preview of October line, bringing me larger different sizes when I needed it, and allowing me to play around with the store props (see trunk, croquet mallet and manikins in the photos below).

Ready for some epic goofiness?!

Here I am laughing it up with my new best friend:

I’m wearing the Carla Sweater Jacket (one of my favorites from the October line) with the Ella Silk Printed Shirt underneath (not shown), Justine Skirt and the gorgeous Schutz Eunice T-Strap Heels.

Next up, my House of Elliot inspired outfit. This cream-colored silk blouse was so elegant and 1920s-inspired that I almost slapped down my credit card right then and there. Instead I stuck my tongue out and grabbed a display trunk at the front of the store.

Kyle Silk Shirt with a white cami underneath and Charlotte Lace Pencil Skirt.

Here’s a better view of the bottom of the blouse and and skirt with the Natalie Two-Tone Cross Body bag.

Troy, who so graciously came along with me to take the photos, said “Pretend like you’re flirting with the manikin!” Why not? I’ll tell you why not. The store was still open and there were customers trying to shop in the men’s department, but Troy was determined. You can’t see my cheeks in the photo below, but let me assure you they were bright red! Right before Troy snapped this photo, a gentleman was trying to get around me to check out the jackets in the back. Didn’t he know an all important blogging photoshoot was going on? Nope. Probably thought I was just crazy.

Cassie Silk & Lace Top and Patricia Silk Pull-On Pant.

The best thing about these pants is the elastic waistband – hence the “Pull-On” part of the name. I love a good elastic waist band – perfect for the upcoming holidays when there’s lots of eating to be had.

Lauren Merkin Glitter Clutch, Erickson Beamon Ring and the Crystal Thread Bracelet (the black ring is my college ring – Go Scotties!).

Nothing like a little game of croquet in the middle of the store. . . with out a ball:

Isadore Fedora, Janice Tweed Scarf, Sarah Cardigan, and Tasha Leggings (and my own shoes). What’s with the serious face? I’m trying to look casual, folks. That’s my hey-I’m-just-hanging-out-with-a-croquet-mallet-in-Club-Monaco look.

And last, but definitely not least, the Sybil Dress – in a kind of creepy animated gif. I love the leather sleeves and exposed zipper. It’s perfect for work. In the winter I’d wear it with black tights, my new Target booties and fitted black blazer with leather sleeves (something I don’t own. . . yet).

The icing on the cake of the whole evening was being able to keep two pieces from the store. It was a tough decision, but I ultimately ended up deciding on the Ella blouse and Charlotte lace skirt. Keep an eye out for them in upcoming posts.

But wait! There’s a cherry on the icing of the cake! I know that makes no sense, but hear me out. The first five readers (not including Lar) who leave a comment on this post will get a 20% off Club Monaco coupon! Just leave a quick comment with your email address and I’ll pop one of the coupons in the mail to you asap.

Happy Club Monaco Shopping!

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Dearest Lar,

I wish I could send you one of the coupons, but there aren’t any Club Monacos in Scotland. Boo hiss!

It was so wonderful getting to “see” you on Skype today! I’m so glad you have good internet connection at your new apartment and even if that fails, there’s always the pub downstairs. Hurrah for pubs with wifi!

Love, Cath