Fringe and tassels, we see this everywhere, sometimes without even realizing it. Whether it's the design of a necklace, the tassel on a bag, or even hanging from the hemline of a kimono, fringe seems to be sneaking its' way into stores and eventually people's closets. Some may prefer to play it safe and just carry a bag with fringe, while others may go for it and make fringe their statement piece, for example a fringe skirt. I don't personally own a fringe skirt, but man would I like to get my hands on one.

Fringe makes an appearance on everything - from tops to bags

Two different ways to wear fringe - The "Going For It" and the "Statement Bag"

I am obsessed with this look, so refined, yet so fun

Subtle Fringe - On the clutch and the kimono

Fringe can also make a incognito appearance as garnish on a top

This kimono with fringe is a big thing among students at UGA

That sneaky fringe, just showing up everywhere, even on our feet!

A way to wear fringe that I am really intrigued by is on jackets, in fact this is what I have decided to focus on. This can be either subtle or extreme; the fringe can just be on the hem of the jacket or you could where a jacket that is nothing but fringe, like the one in my 'Turn My Shag On' post, which coincidentally also features a necklace with fringe.

From bloggers to celebrities, the fringe jacket is becoming the statement piece of choice. 

You can go for a western inspired look with this suede jacket

Or perhaps you would rather go for the edgy biker look

Or, as my mom would put it, you can look like a bathroom rug. Despite her derogatory terminology, this is my favorite. 

As I said earlier, fringe has been appearing in our wardrobes quite a bit, especially in bags and kimonos. These styles are more subtle than the jacket. I believe that these styles have been preparing us for welcoming more fringe into our closets. Now that people have gotten adjusted to the idea of fringe adorning their clothing in subtle ways, I think this coming fall we will be ready to up our fringe game and welcome the fringed jacket with open arms. 

After getting back in the groove of going to classes it was refreshing to have a break this weekend. My family and I went to Atlanta for the weekend, for a day of shopping and stuffing our faces with food from Yeah! Burger and Sprinkles Cupcakes. The rest of the weekend was spent catching up on Downton Abbey with my mom, time very well spent if I do say so myself. 

I am thankful for growing up in Athens; It has that small town feel, without being too small, along with the convenience of being an hour or two away from Atlanta, a place with great shopping and even better food. If you live in Atlanta and have not ventured to White Provisions please correct this mistake immediately. This little shopping district is so great! It has plenty of shops to entertain your wallet, ranging from Anthropologie, Free People, Jack Spade, and even a Factory Girls store. And then it has restaurants that will delight your taste buds; Yeah! Burger and Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams to name a few. 

When we go to Atlanta, I like to dress up a little bit. I wore my Portobello Road dress with black tights to provide some "warmth," you know cause tights apparently do that. To accessorize I added this suede fringe collar, and my key piece for the day, this shaggy jacket. My dad told me I looked like a rocker from the seventies and then proceeded to call me Mr. Baker the whole day, in reference to the coat Ginger Baker wears on the poster for the documentary about him. Thanks dad... But you know when you own something like this jacket, you've just got to embrace it or you will never wear it. I had to do just that. So call me Mr. Baker all you want, but I'm never taking it off.

Here I am posing in front of the Anthro store front

What is it about seeing the word SALE that makes one feel that they must buy something. Don''t lie, we're all guilty of doing this, I am especially guilty. When I see that word or the warning that it is the only one left in stock I suddenly get this nervous feeling in my gut and my palms start sweating and I think I MUST BUY THIS. I had this panicked feeling the other day and made a purchase that now has me like, "What was I thinking?" I bought a velvet high neck bra; at the time I was like this will be great, but now I have no idea how I'm going to wear it. One of my favorite things about the Free People website is that people can post photos of how they style different pieces. This always helps when I'm not sure how to wear something or if I need new ideas, but of course there are no style pics for this bra.

So far the only idea I have come up with is styling it with different tops and sweaters that have low necks or come off the shoulders, even still this has to be executed the right way for it to work... You could always just wear it and nothing else, if you're into that kind of stuff.

          

   WTF Circle in the Sand Tee                                             Chunky oversized pullover

Seriously let me know if y'all have any good ideas of how wear this, I'm going to try to wear it soon and I'll let y'all know how it goes.

I have a lot of people ask me about my piercings. I have quite a few, none are too exciting, but I know that when I'm thinking about getting a piercing I like to be able to read about other people's experiences so I thought I'd put mine out there.

Let me start by saying that I hate needles, like a lot. One time my mom and the nurse held me down so my doctor could give me a flu shot, don't worry that was not last week, I was 7. When I got my ears pierced I was stunned after the first and did not want the Claire's employee to pierce my left ear. My mom told me I had to get the other one done because I could not be a pirate.

Despite this hatred for needles, I wanted more piercings. My freshman year of high school I got a second piercing on my right lobe. I opted out of getting one on the left, not because of pain, but because I thought it was cool to just have one double piercing, and honestly I still think it is. Considering the fact that this was eleven years after I got my ears pierced I could handle the pain a lot more and was surprised to find that it really didn't hurt at all.

In my junior year I declared that I wanted a cartilage piercing. I was too scared to go to an actual tattoo place, because I didn't like the idea of them pushing a needle through my ear, so I headed back to Claire's. This is my biggest regret. The pain of the piercing was around a 4, but the healing process was terrible. My ear hurt for a whole year until I decided to change it to a hoop and it stopped hurting. Now it never bothers me, but I only wear a hoop or a flat back stud in it. If I could do it over I would have gone to a tattoo place.

My senior year I had seen a girl with a conch piercing in a television show and became mildly obsessed, but I didn't get it. Partly because I was too scared and partly because my mom did not want me to get it. Then a good friend of mine had it and I realized that I really wanted it. Finally during my freshman year of college I went with a friend who was getting a tattoo and sporadically decided to get it. It hurt just as bad as my cartilage piercing, but no more than that. It's surprising because I thought it would be really painful because it it such a thick part of my ear, but it wasn't. The healing process was kind of long, but nowhere near my cartilage piercing. 

My most recent piercing is my tragus piercing. For some stupid reason I decided to get this not even a whole week after I got my conch piercing. I guess I was on a piercing high or something. This piercing hurt so much, but I love the piercing. When I got it the guy had to hold the tragus with forceps and I honestly thought that was him piercing it because he had it so tight. He didn't walk me through the piercing at all and soon I realized that he hadn't pierced it yet when all of sudden the I felt a sharp pain and my cartilage popped. This is the only piercing I've had make a popping noise and while it was not horrible, it wasn't pleasant either. I'd say it was like a 7 out of 10, but I really don't have a 10 to compare it too, so I'm not sure. The healing process on the other hand was a breeze. It didn't hurt at all, in fact I slept on the piercing the day I got it and it was completely fine.

So that about sums it up. I don't regret any of my piercings and would recommend any of them. Also, if you live in Athens, Georgia go to Pain and Wonder for piercings. They're the best. They come off kind of rude and scary, but once you get to know them they're great, especially the guy who does piercings. Both the regular earrings I'm wearing in these pictures are Kendra Scott and my conch piercing stud is neometal.

Let's be honest, I've been sucking at this blogging thing, but as of right now I decided that one of my New Year resolutions is to start blogging consistently. To start I'm just going to show y'all some of the outfits I've worn recently.

What would be more appropriate than to show y'all what I wore on New Years first! Here I'm wearing a Free People top I got for Christmas, that unfortunately I can't find on the website. I decided to wear a black tank underneath for a little edge and I wore a black lace bra that unfortunately you can't see in this picture. I borrowed my sister's necklace and wore HUE black leggings, the fancy thick ones, and some black Frye boots that clearly blend into the background in this picture.

On the first day of the New Year I decided to dress a little more for comfort, after partying the night before, lol I just went to a concert. I wore the Dylan Tweedy pullover in ice blue and the patchwork sweater leggings, along with the same Frye boots from the night before. Here's a cute pic of me and Sadie chilling in the car from that day. Oh, also I'm just going to be honest with y'all, these leggings are so cute, but probably the worst quality item I have ever purchased from Free People. Holes keep appearing up and down the seams, and at first I though it was just cause I am bit a curvier than others (careful word choice there...), but once I read reviews I realized that wasn't the case because even people with twigs for legs were having the same problems. 

As I leave you with the last outfit, I'll also leave you with a funny story. So this past Tuesday my family went out to dinner in downtown Athens before we headed to a concert. What concert you ask? Well we thought it was going to be the Acapella group Straight No Chaser. Turns out it was another band called Straight, No Chaser. Notice the comma... They were there playing for a fraternity benefit and apparently tons of people kept asking "isn't there supposed to be an acapella group?" and proceeded to leave once they found out the truth. Despite this disappointment it was a great opportunity to wear my new Shaggy Jacket and this great tunic. Aaaaand once again the Frye boots and Hue leggings. Clearly I only have one pair of black boots. 

I guess this is a decent start to my New Years Resolution, even though it took me 9 days to post... Fortunately I'm finally taking classes for my major in Fashion Merchandising so hopefully I'll have some interesting stuff to post about soon.