Last Christmas I selfishly spent a big chunk of my gift shopping time looking for the perfect statement necklace for. . . myself. I ended up never finding a necklace in my price range and drowned my sorrows in eggnog. Just kidding about the drowning my sorrows – it was whisky, not eggnog. I’m kidding, again!

Bottom line, I never did get my hands on a great statement necklace – at least not until the Southern Blog Society Brunch a few weeks ago. This turquoise Brighthouse Baubles necklace was perched on the top of my gift bag.

The color is perfect. It goes with almost everything I own, which means you’ll probably being seeing it a lot of this blog.

 Brighthouse Baubles Bib Statement necklace • Primark top • Gap jeans • C Wonder bracelet • Zara heels • Liebeskind bag • AsianCajuns Double Mint nail polish

The necklace also matches my cell phone case. Lar bought it for me over a year ago and it’s the only one I’ve ever used with my iPhone. It’s a little chipped on the front, but I love the color so much I refuse to get another one.

I’ve had these Zara heels for a couple of years now. Every time I wear them I get so many compliments on them – from men and women. I used to think it was cheesy when I’d hear women talking about how a good shoe could make their day. After buying these shoes, I totally get it.

Remember last week how a bunch of us Souther Blog Society bloggers styled the same denim jacket? We’ll we did the same with statement necklaces. Check them out:

Katie of Pearls and Twirls | Julie of Julie Leah | Jessica of My Style Vita | Jessica of Here and Now

Also, pop over to Ashlyn’s blog, Let It Be Beautiful, and check out my guest post on travel tips.

Happy pre-Friday!

__________

Dear Lar,

The only statement necklaces I owned before this one were the ones you left behind. Remember that hot pink/metal Madewell necklace of yours? I still wear it all the time! And those great DIY-ish necklaces from Florence years ago? Still wear those too. I wonder if that store is still around. We’ll have to go find it when we’re there together in August – eek! I get so excited just thinking about it! I’ll try to pack as much fun jewelry so we can both wear statement necklaces in Italy. Just make you you don’t pack those hiking boots 😉

Love, Cath

. . . in my closet, that is. I suppose the jean jacket never really went out of style. I just went without one for a while.

Paige Denim Jacket | Bib necklace from a shop in Las Vegas | Club Monaco skirt | Anne Klein pumps from TJ Maxx | Michele watch | American Apparel shirt

In college I would borrow Lar’s J.Crew denim jacket all the time and during sophomore year my uniform consisted of a Marc by Marc Jacobs knock-off denim jacket and knee-length skirts. In the passing years I’ve, um, “out-grown” Lar’s jacket and the knock-off was only trendy for about three seasons.

I’ve been looking for the perfect denim jacket ever since. Then, as luck would have it, this lovely Paige Denim number was one of the items in Southern Blog Society brunch gift bag. It fits perfectly and has a bit of stretch of to it.

Apart from my new jacket, the rest of the outfit is old. I’m trying to shop the back of my closet more because I’ll be seeing Lar in Italy in two months – which means I have to save like there’s no tomorrow.

Want to see some other outfits with the same denim jacket? Check out how some of the other stylish bloggers from the brunch are wearing the same jacket:

Baby Shopaholic • Glitter & Gingham • Here & Now • Julie Leah • Let It Be Beautiful • Lou What Wear • Pearls & Twirls • The Fashion Lush • My Style Vita

Over the next few weeks, all of us SBS brunch bloggers will be blogging about the same items so stay tuned for next week’s installment!

__________

Dearest Lar,

Do you remember your J.Crew denim jacket and my Marc by Marc knock-off? I loved that jacket so much that I still have it even though I don’t wear it anymore.

I suppose a denim jacket wouldn’t be much good in Scotland – not even layered under a water-proof parka. Has it been rainy all week in Edinburgh? I hope the sun comes out over the weekend so you and Matt can go hill walking again.

Love, Cath

Last weekend was a magical one. Jessica and Cathy, the founders of Southern Blog Society, hosted a wonderful brunch for 15 members at Cooks Hall in Atlanta. Well planned doesn’t even begin to describe it. These ladies thought of everything: a fashion blogger photographer (the talented Beka), personalized menus, and the most amazing gift bag known to (wo)man.

I wore an Opening Ceremony dress from Rent the Runway. It was perfect for brunch because I could loosen the tied waistband – not that I needed to, ahem.

 Opening Ceremony dress • Kenneth Jay Lane cuff • Payless shoes (a designer collab from years ago – originally Lar’s shoes)

The absolutely best part about the whole weekend was getting to see old friends and meet so many new blogging friends. It’s always a bit surreal when you finally get to meet someone in person that you feel like you already know because you’ve been reading her blog for months. I’ve included a complete list of the attendees and links to their blogs so you can check them all out.

Those flower crowns in the photo below? They’re from the super creative and talented Allison Rhee of Flower Crown Society. I loved my flower crown so much that I attended Allison’s event at Free People this past weekend where I got to make my own fresh flower crown – see?

A big thank you to Rebekah Carson Photographer for most of these photos!

Southern Blog Society Brunch Bloggers: My Style Vita • Poor Little It Girl • The Serena Saga • Julie Leah • Lou What Wear • Glitter & Gingham • The Fashion Lush • Let It Be Beautiful • Here & Now • Pearls & Twirls • Secretive Style • Waiting On Martha • Baby Shopaholic

______________

Dearest Lar,

I’m not going to go on about how much I wish you could have been at the brunch – but I really wish you could have been there! You would have loved meeting everyone.

I can’t believe that these past two weekends have been so busy. I feel like I haven’t Skyped you in forever! Do you have time to Skype during the week? I desperately need some quality sister time.

Hope you’re having a good week.

Love, Cath

I was super excited about renting this Tibi dress from Rent the Runway for a wedding this past weekend. I’ve always wanted to try out Rent the Runway and figured a wedding was a perfect time to do so. Unfortunately the wedding was cancelled, but Troy was sweet enough to take some photos this weekend before I had to return the dress.

Tibi Coral Paradise Dress • Club Monaco necklace • Juliet & Company Wilma bracelet • vintage clutch • Forever 21 heels

See the photo below? That’s my I’m-running-for-office-and-I-only-have-a-dog-as-a-family-member photo opp. At least that’s what it looks like to me. I’ve been watching back to back episodes of VEEP so I was channeling my best Selina Meyer impersonation. If you have HBO, but haven’t watched Veep yet, make it the next thing you watch when you turn on your TV.

Adding gold accessories plays up the warmth of the coral-ish color – it’s more orange in person and more pink than the photos on Rent the Runway. If you follow me on Vine you might have seen my video unwrapping the Juliet & Company bracelet. I love it because it makes a jangly sound whenever I move my wrist.

I loved the material of the Tibi dress. According to the website the material is crepe de chine – whatever that is. It looked like a kind of shimmery silk and it didn’t wrinkle. Also it has a kind of formal crop top feel (is that oxymoronic?) without showing the midriff – so two thumbs up in the trend department.

For those of you who have never used Rent the Runway, here’s how it works:

1.) There are a wide range of dresses on the site. I sorted them from low to high. The cheapest dress rentals start at $40, which isn’t bad considering that you don’t have to pay for return shipping or dry clean anything. Once you pick your item, you schedule when you want it delivered and then you have it for four days (or eight if you want to pay double). You can choose to add the same dress in a different size to your order for no additional charge, which I did since I always seem to fall in between two sizes.

2.) The dress(es) arrived in a branded garment bag that you get to keep.

3.) The shipment also comes with instructions just in case you’re like me and forget how everything works. You can see below that I received the same dress in two different sizes. I was really hoping the smaller size would fit, but no such luck! It made me really grateful that you can order more than one size.

4.) On the fourth day, you just pop your items back into the prepaid envelop and drop it off at a UPS box – and that’s it!

Rent the Runway also sends you a cute little Neutrogena  goodie bag with your order. I love a good goodie bag!

So all in all my first experience with RTR was a success. I’ve already scheduled another rental for the upcoming Southern Blog Society brunch. I can’t wait to show you guys the dress! It’s very not me so we’ll see how it turns out. Either way, I’ll let you know all about it in a few weeks. I realize this post kind of sounds like a sponsored post, but it’s not. I just figured if I was curious about RTR others would be too.

For those of you who haven’t been following the blog for a while, the dog in all these photos is my parents’ dog, Boo Radley. He’s best buds with my two dogs, likes drinking water from the garden hose, and his favorite dish is chicken with rice and gravy.

P.S.: It’s actually Lar’s week to do a post, but she’s been busy showing two of our Atlanta friends around town so you’re stuck with me and my dress rental story. Our friends are in the UK for two weeks and I couldn’t be more jealous. It bogles my mind that I haven’t seen Lar since December. That’s five months!! We’ll be meeting up in August in Italy and that can’t come soon enough!

_________________________

Dearest Lar,

You should check out and see if there’s a Rent the Runway type company in the UK – surely there is! Since you have such a tiny wardrobe, renting a dress for a fancy event would be perfect for you!

Did you have fun at the Whisky Society today? I just realized that you can keep out of towners busy for weeks in Edinburgh. There’s so much history and culture to experience. If someone comes to visit me in Atlanta, I can only keep them busy for a few days with shopping, dining and the Coca-Cola museum. No historic castles here – although we do have the Cyclorama, which is pretty amazing!

I can’t wait to hear about everything else you’ve been up to with Alison and Greg. Have any of the pre-festival activities begun yet in town? I get giddy just thinking about the Edinburgh Festival!

xoxo, Cath

Apart from a purple iMac in high school, this bag is by far the nicest thing I’ve ever won – ever! If you follow AsianCajuns on Twitter, Vine or Instagram – or if you’ve seen me this past week at all – you probably already know about this. Seriously, ever since this beautiful bag was shipped to my house, it hasn’t left my sight and if anyone comments on it, I blurt out, “It’saPhillipLimbag! Iwonit!!!!!” It’s buttery soft and super versatile.

New York & Co cardi • Michael Stars shirt • J Brand pants • Mia clogs • 3.1 Phillip Lim bag

Marc by Marc Jacobs sunnies • Target blazer • H&M V-neck • necklace from Sq/Ft • The Limited skirt • TOMs wedges

Fab’rik cardi • American Apparel V-neck • necklace from Mingei World Arts • The Limited skirt • heels from Kohl’s

H&M jacket • Forever21 top • Club Monaco skirt • Mettle necklace • BCBG heels

So how did I get so lucky? I took part in a Keep.com contest a few weeks ago where I created a spring inspiration board around the Phillip Lim bag. I entitled it Spring is Bright! and posted everything that I would purchase for the spring if I had all the money in the world. The board is all about neutrals with pops of color. See the whole board here. Are you on Keep? If so, follow me and I’ll follow you back! If not, get on it already!

If you do happen to have all the money in the world, or at least $750 to spend on a bag, you can purchase it here on Shopbop.com.

I feel like now that I have a Phillip Lim bag, the designer and I are basically on a first name basis 🙂 And yes, I have a cellphone charm!

On an unrelated note, I spent Friday evening on a Google hangout hosted by Snapshop Fashion and Seven Autumn Leaves – it was so much fun! You can watch the hangout here.

Also, check out Pocket of Presh’s coverage on last week’s Rent the Runway event at the W in Buckhead that I attended. It was so great to see so many Atlanta style bloggers!

Have you ever used Rent the Runway? I’m thinking about renting a dress for an upcoming wedding. I’ll keep you all posted!

_____________________

Dearest Lar,

I wish you could see my new bag in person! My only complaint? It’s so large that now I have an excuse to put everything but the kitchen sink in my purse. The other day it got so heavy that it left a giant indentation on my arm! I know, I know, first world problems.

I’m so glad we got to Skype twice this weekend. It always makes my day so much better when I get to “see” you!

xoxo, Cath

I headed over to my nearby Kohl’s after work last Friday to check out the newly released Derek Lam collab. I’d been looking forward to this collaboration for a while since I’ve always loved the clean lines and Americanness of Lam’s designs (you can see his Fall Ready to Wear collection here). While I still think the ongoing Simply Vera line is still Kohl’s strongest designer collab, I loved the colors and easy fits of the Derek Lam DesigNation collection.

I first tried on the striped drop-waist dress because I’m always on the hunt for machine washable, jersey dresses that look pulled together enough to wear to work. The fit was a little tight on the bottom half, but that’s probably more due to my shape than the cut – at least it looks more relaxed on the model online. If I had had more time, I would have tried a larger size. I might go back and try it out when the prices have even been cut down more.

I tried on two of the pants that were at the store, the pleated crepe crop pants and the crop pants in Nightshade. I loved the fit of the pleated crop pants and almost brought them home with me, but I only had enough money for one item. The colorful crop pants didn’t fit nearly as well and actually hit below my ankle (I’m 5’3″ on a good day) so they looked more like high-water pants than cropped pants.

What did I end up buying? This bubble-hem dress in St. Teresa Atlantic:

I love how comfortable this dress is. I’ll be able to wear it to work if I belt it and pair it with a blazer and pumps and I can dress it down in the summer with flat, strappy sandals. The main reason I decided on the dress instead of the crepe pants was because I’ll be able to wear it to the two weddings that I have to go to this spring (expect a future blog post on that).

A lot of the pieces that I wanted to try on, like this chambray jacket and this tank, weren’t at the store. If the prices drop even more, I might save up some money and purchase those items online even if I can’t try them on.

Have you checked out the line yet? What are your thoughts? I’ll be keeping an eye on the collection online since Kohl’s usually has great sales.

______________________________

Dearest Lar,

Too bad the Rhianna’s collaboration with River Island isn’t as cheap as the Kohl’s and Target collections! I know you said you weren’t crazy about the Rhianna line, but I bet you’d like the Derek Lam collaboration. There’s a mesh top and skirt in the collection online that I could totally see you wearing. Let me know if you want anything and I’ll ship it to you – something tells me Kohl’s doesn’t ship internationally.

I hope your week ends up being less stressful than you anticipate. Can’t wait to Skype you again next weekend!

xoxo, Cath