My Fall "Must Haves"

It's August second, and already Michaels has their fall displays of artificial mums and styrofoam pumpkins and Halloween decorations out on the floor. Also some cute paper mâché fall shapes. I just picked up a skull mask to paint all Día de los Muertos style. It's the most wonderful time of the year! Granted, I'm looking at 90+ degree weather for at least another month or two in Nashville, but a girl can't help but get giddy over the arrival of her most favorite season.

These photos of Tavi Gevinson from the most recent issue of Bust magazine gave me that perfect fall feeling. When the sun is still kind of bright in the sky, but you can feel the change in the gradually dropping temperature and a cool breeze grazes your skin and everything just seems to look and smell richer and better. You just want to be outside all the time in a sweater, with a coffee, for no real reason except to just enjoy the beauty that is autumn. God, I love it. I'm so passionate about my love for it. Permanently inked falling maple leaves take up half my height! I can't wait. I can never wait.

(Side note: I think Tavi is the coolest girl in the history of teenagers and I'm really glad that little ladies these days have such an intelligent, driven and original role model.)

Every time I go in to work at Free People lately, there is always brand new fall shipment steamed and hung on our pretty floral hangers just waiting for me to try on, and walk around the store, and pretend it's mine for a half hour. Some things I know I'm going to need to own are:

Plaid Pullover - FP employees get a whopping 60% off of this item this month ;)

Kombucha Cuff Thermal - I'm always stocking up on new thermals, but this one is special. Look at those sleeves!

Poetic Verse Sweater Blazer - What they're describing as dark chocolate heather on the website looks more like a dark olive green to me in person. I am obsessed with this thing and I think it's going to become my go-to jacket for most of fall/winter.

Floral Mesh Lace Dress - I want every color. I especially love that the hem comes to a point in the front and the back. The black one feels very witchy. Very Lydia Deetz, who I've been known to channel the essence of from time to time. Though I may take the pink route because it's fun to dress super feminine with a boy's haircut.

While most of Nashville rocks their boots this fall (they're rocking them now in the summer! Nashville is like boot capital of the world), I think I'm going to make a pair of these Dr. Martens mary janes a standard. I can't decide which pair though!

The top pair has basically my name, subtract two letters. They're simple but cute and extremely comfy. It felt like fate, but the bottom pair has that 90's Dr. Marten mary jane feel and I think they'd look especially cute with socks. Help!

And finally, I've decided that I really need this ring:

It's the Dena fingertip ring from Lush Jewelry. I think it is so pretty and unique. Most of my rings are silver so the brass would be a nice change.

Can you tell I'm SUPER excited?! If you love fall as much as I do, tell me. Let's talk about it. And share your fall wishlist here with me :)

Free People Post v.1

As I've mentioned (a few times!), I've recently become a stylist (which is a rad way of putting "sales associate") at Free People! It's a part time job that I work on nights and weekends, but it's really become my favorite thing to do. Already I've met such interesting and genuine girls, and that's a total perk since I'm still new to Nashville and work a 9-5 as an office manager with middle aged men. I met Melanie, who I've also mentioned, who is my most favorite new friend ever. And on top of the social aspect, Free People is so colorful and fun. If you've ever been in a store, you know it's an airy and almost whimsical experience (that will be the first and last time I ever use the adjective "whimsical", don't worry). Not to mention the discount! I've already started making over my wardrobe with some Free People pieces (which I've justified with frequent trips to Plato's Closet to sell clothing I've held onto but never wear). Today, while taking a break from monotonous data entry at my "real job", I got onto the website and instead of heading straight to the BLDG 25 blog, I browsed the Pre-Fall collection. Six items really stuck out, and in typical "me" fashion I've decided to share!

Molly Dot Swing Dress: Really, everything about the way they styled this dress is perfect to me. It's totally "back to school", which is something I still hold dear - even as an elementary education major college dropout. Pretty sure this dress is a definite "to buy" given how layer-friendly it is.

Cleary Tall Boat Shoe: I have a pair of faux-leather riding boots that desperately need replacing. These boots are such a fun mix of riding boot/moccasin/boat shoe. I think I love them.

Vegan Leather Hoodie: From what I'm hearing, it's basically hoodie weather all winter long here in Nashville. This hoodie is the perfect combination of bad-ass and comfy, and I think I could rock it. There's a pair of vegan leather shorts currently on clearance in our store, and they're so smooth and buttery (that's how you describe soft leather, right? "buttery"?). Could become a staple!

Colored Skinny Jean in khaki green: A standard. I've been searching for good khaki skinny jeans for over a year now, and if these fit like the Printed Ankle Skinny, then they're perfect. They come in a few more colors too!

Collegiate Cardigan in buttercream & Shaggy Knit Pullover in driftwood: Fall and sweaters are pretty much synonymous in my mind, so these pieces just make sense. I've been into the letterman jacket thing for a while but can't seem to find one that doesn't make me look like I'm auditioning for Grease. And that pullover, ugh. I think I speak for all of Free People Nashville when I say we need these. It looks like a pretty, wearable cloud, or with my color selection, smog, but whatever.