Dance the Night Away

A few weeks ago we had my sorority's semi formal. It depends on where you go, but for my chapter girls normally wear short, fancy dresses. That really can be up to your interpretation. It can be a cute $20 dress you found from Forever21 or a couple hundred dollar dress from Nordstroms (my little wore her Jimmy Choo's that night if that tells you anything...). Either way girls love dressing up.

Since I ended up going with my ex-boyfriend I decided to buy a dress instead of borrowing one from one of my sisters closet. You've always got to look your best whenever you see an ex right? ;) So I decided to go out and search for something to wear.

My first stop was Francesca's. This is always where I go to first because of two reasons. One, I used to work there and the staff still knows me and my style and can pick out things that I would like without having to sift through all of the racks. Secondly, the shopping center where the store is located has a bunch of other boutiques in it that sell the exact same items. I'm not kidding. I remember one time I was on shift and we had this dress for sale that a customer came in and said she saw at another boutique in the center for double the price. So it is safe to say that Francesca's is one of the more wallet-friendly boutiques in the area.

I walked through the door and my old boss was working that day. I explained to her the event I was looking to find a dress for and she picked this number:

To say I instantly fell in love would be an understatement. It was just the right amount of sexy. It was a body-con dress, but it had a sheer overlay that hid the tight bottom of the dress. The overlay also had a slit that went all the way up to the waist of the dress to show the tight dress underneath. It also accentuated my favorite part of my body - my shoulders and arms. I was sold!

You can find the Benevento Maxi Dress at Francesca's for only $39.99

I decided to pair the dress with these heels. I got these for Christmas two years ago, my mom thought I was crazy to ask for them and that I would never wear them. I won't deny that they do not leave my closet that often, but they are beautiful and they do see daylight from time to time. For example, this night! It was the perfect pump. I love the thick heel because it makes the shoe easier to walk in and I always love to add something that 'pops' to my outfit. Since the dress was simple black and red, I figured I could spice it up with the heel.

  

The only place I found these Sarina Pumps from Steve Madden was on this site called Rakuten. The only size they have available is a 7. However, they appear from time to time on eBay; so if you are really in love, like I was, I would be patient and keep looking.

This picture is before the night when I got home and decided to try on the entire outfit together. You can't really tell from any of these pictures, but I decided to get some black teardrop earrings from Francesca's. I contemplated doing a necklace but decided I wanted to keep my neck clear and just accent the outfit with statement earrings.

I ended up strutting up and down the hall of my house showing everyone who was there exactly what I was going to be wearing that night. The overwhelming amount of approving declarations I received assured me that I had picked the right dress.

Here is my little and I at the venue!

And here we have my friends and I at the house before we left for the venue!

I ended up having a great night and got so many compliments on my dress! It really was worth going out and buying a new dress just for this occasion. And the great thing about this dress is that since it is State colors, I can wear it to just about anything formal I have to go to for my school.

So tell me, what is your perfect outfit for a 'night to remember'?

Until next time,

Casey Rose

One Secret I'll Never Tell, XOXO

If you know me at all you know that I am not the kind of person to be found glued to the television, always watching a new show or movie. A lot of my friends actually make fun of me for how many movies I haven't seen. However, since the invention of Netflix this has took a turn for the worst. Now Netflix has a lot of different, and I might even go as far as to say weird, things on their site. But the one thing they are great about is having quality TV shows. 

It all started when I got hooked on Desperate Housewives last year. My suite-mate and I would spend most of our nights glued to her television, watching hours upon hours of episodes. I recently finished all of the seasons last spring and then came to discover Revenge. After I finished Revenge over the summer I was stuck. I wasn't sure what to watch and so I would try a bunch of different shows, never really getting into them as much as I had with the other two series.

That was until this semester. Living in a sorority house, although at first sounds a little overwhelming when you learn that it is 40 girls living under one roof, has its perks. Aside from having 40 closets to choose from and always having someone there willing to pick you up or drive you somewhere at 2 in the morning, girls seem have great suggestions for what should be next in your Netflix cue.

I walked into the house one day after class to find a couple of my sisters on the couch watching an episode of Gossip Girl. I had nothing else to do that day so I sat down to see what this was about. After engaging with everyone and trying to figure out what exactly was happening in this episode, the girls appeared to be confused by all of my questions. It wasn't until one girl asked "Wait, have you never seen this before?" The amount of gasps I received when I gave my answer was a sign that clearly I have been missing out on something. And so my expedition began.

The last episode of Gossip Girl aired almost a year ago to this date and I just moments ago finished the last episode. To say that I am in love with the series would be a serious understatement. The way they portrayed the characters and were able to make you fall in love with them, begin to hate them, and fall in love with them all over again is an experience I really never had before. They were able to take me into their world, be completely jealous of them, yet at the same time completely relate with them. 

I have learned so many life lessons from Gossip Girl that I have decided today I would share with you exactly what each of the main characters has taught me throughout my time watching this series. So sit back, relax, and reflect with me the end of an era (even if it might be a year late).

Nate - I learned from Nate that in order to be happy with yourself, you need to make things happen on your own accord. Taking advantage of the things you are entitled to may be the easy way to live life but it is also the most unsatisfying. In order to be happy with yourself, you need to make your own way in this world.

Blair - I learned from Blair to stick up for myself and work hard for what I want. Blair always got everything she wanted but it wasn't always because of where she came from. She worked hard for everything; whether it was in her work, her friendships, or even her relationship with Chuck, she was constantly working for them to succeed.

Serena - I learned from Serena to not worry about what other people think of you. The only persons opinion that matters is your own. If you live your life living up to the expectations that other people have of you, you will constantly be disappointed. Be who you want to be without any fear or objections and never look back.

Chuck - I learned from Chuck how to treat the person you love. Chuck was constantly giving everything he had to help Blair, even when she wasn't his. I also learned from him that it is okay to give yourself to that person. Love is a scary thing but once you fall you learn that it is the most amazing thing in the entire world.

Dan - What I learned from Dan is that it is okay to be yourself. The only way you can truly love yourself while having the people around you love you as well, is to be completely honest with who you are. If you are trying to be someone else at the end of the day you will fail. The people who love you will love you no matter what, so open up and show everyone the real you.

There you have it, my reflection of the lessons taught by the greatest show ever to be aired on television. Is that a stretch? Maybe, but I love it. After all...'you know you love me'

xoxo,

Casey Rose

God is Great, Beer is Good, and People are Crazy

Most days are good days. I am naturally a positive person, I like to see the good in people and I rarely have a bad day. But when I do have a bad day, it's really bad. I think it comes from the fact that I am so naive about certain things that when the real world comes crashing into me, it hits me like a ton of bricks. This is the cause of my bad day today.

There are moments in life where I absolutely hate being a girl. Yes it has its perks, men pay for you on dates (if he's a gentleman), you can get get out of a ticket just by lowering the neckline of your shirt just at tad, and "I'm on my period" works as an excuse for pretty much anything. However, there are other moments that absolutely suck. But the funny part is, most of these problems occur when dealing with other women.

On the outside we may seem like sweet, innocent creatures but on the inside we are manipulative, cruel little bitches. When we know what we want and we will do almost anything to make it happen. For men, you are helpless. Because, for the most part, when it comes to dealing with a woman - she will almost always get her way. But this is where conflict resides. When women stand in the way of what another woman wants. That's when the claws come out, again, ever so slyly.

This is basically my situation with having to deal with manipulative girls. But for confidentiality purposes, lets just put this into clothing terms. Say there is this girl, lets name her Susie. Susie is getting a gorgeous new dress as a present. She already knows she is getting it and is more than thrilled about it, so she proceeds to tell everyone about how much she is excited about this dress! Well then we have Brittany. Brittany has been eyeing that dress ever since she saw it online the first day the collection came out but she knows that she could never afford that dress. So prior to this day there was no hope for her to ever get her hands on it. However, she catches wind about how Susie is getting this gorgeous dress as a gift. Now there's some back story that you must know about. Susie and Brittany haven't had the best history. Brittany had borrowed Susie's favorite skirt and had carelessly gotten dirt and mud on the skirt that just would not come off. Needless to say, it was ruined. Susie told Brittany she wasn't allowed to borrow anything else of hers because she carelessly mistreated her favorite skirt. Well Brittany was furious. She began telling everyone that Susie was being absolutely ridiculous and the only reason she said that was because she thought Brittany was too fat and would stretch her clothes.

Left field right? Like where did that even come from, no where. Classic example of girls and how they react to innocent situations where they don't get what they want. Anyway's back to the story...

So now that everyone has heard from Brittany how 'mean' Susie is, they jump to Brittany's side and completely stop talking to Susie. After this happens, Susie is confused as to what is happening. All of her supposed 'friend' aren't talking to her for what seems like no reason! That is until Susie hears from a mutual friend of them both that Brittany is saying all of these untrue things about Susie. Needless to say, Susie is furious but is the bigger person. If these people want to believe Brittany's lies then they can do so, they clearly weren't good enough friends to begin with to hear both sides. So Susie lets it slide making sure that Brittany has no idea of the knowledge she just gained

But enough with the back story, continuing onto the original story...

So Brittany catches wind of how Susie is getting this great dress! Well until this point Brittany had been rude and completely ignoring Susie. But now that she hears about this dress, she slowly starts to become friendly to Susie - hanging out with her, having lunch with her, etc. Susie acted normal, but in the back of her mind knew that this was because all Brittany wanted was to borrow that dress. She knew from the start how much Brittany loved it. So what is Susie to do? Call Brittany out on being a fake ass bitch or play along and let her think she has a chance to borrow that dress, but in reality there's no way in hell after she mistreated her skirt and she said all those nasty things about her.

If you're a boy reading this, welcome to Girl World. I bet I just blew your mind. Girls, I bet you read this and thought of at least 100 situations where this happened to you or a friend in your own life. It's so sad to think that you cannot trust your own gender. Guys, I wish we were like you. You have a problem with another guy, you say "Hey man (explain your concerns)", talk it out and boom! You're good to go! I'm not sure if its our desire to have drama in our lives at all times but we just love to fester on stupid, little things that in 5 years will not matter in the slightest. But I guess there is just nothing we can do about it. Boys will be Boys and Girls will be Crazy.

Until next time,

Casey Rose