Fall Shoe Picks

On today's comeback of Fashion Friday I am going to talk about my shoe choices for this upcoming fall season.

Below you will see a set that I made on Polyvore, a website I have talked about a lot before where you are able to make collages of different clothing, accessories, and even home furnishings. The site allows you to browse other sites and add pictures of products onto a canvas where your imagination is set loose.

Fall Shoe Picks by caseyrosexo featuring black high heel boots

The outfit I have chosen is a classic fall outfit. Starting off with a chunky cable knit sweater paired with faux leather leggings with zipper pocket details. The accessories chosen with this outfit is a quilted Chanel bag and to top it all of a classic wine colored nails.

The shoe choices I have decided to pair with this outfit are as follows, starting at the top left:

First we have an open toed black leather bootie with zip up details on the side. This compliments the outfit as the zipper detailing ties in perfectly to the leather leggings. The open toed detail is the perfect flirty aspect to complete a date night look.

Secondly is the leopard print loafers. They bring something different to this look as it is the only print in the entire outfit which allows it to become a central piece in this outfit. The loafers are a classic fall staple that have been in style for a couple of seasons now. I love these because they are the only shoe without a heel, which is the most comfortable and practical option. These are perfect for a shopping day with your girlfriends, something more casual that can be paired with many other outfits in your closet.

Third we have the silver, gold and black strappy pumps. These are definitely the most 'fun' shoe in the collection. They aren't as practical for when it gets into the colder months, but these are perfect for these early fall months when you go out on the town with your girlfriends for a 'girls night out'.

Lastly, we have the suede heeled booties. These, again, are a staple for fall and have been for a while. These are perfect for when the months start to get a little colder, and can be paired beautifully when you switch out the leggings for tights and a bandage skirt.

There you have it! My overall picks for shoes this fall! Now we didn't even touch on the subject of riding boots, which are my personal favorite for fall and winter, but don't worry those will come at a later date!

Until next time,

Casey Rose

Take The Challenge

Today I came across this video and it really struck me...please take a moment to watch it and continue reading this post if you so please.

Think about how often we use our phones and computers every day. I mean, for me, I am currently writing this blog post on my laptop with my phone right next to me and Grey's Anatomy currently  playing on Netflix on my TV. We as a society are so consumed with our technological devices that we rarely take a moment to appreciate the world around us. We feel as though we won't be connected to our friends if we don't have our phone on us every second of every day. The other day my friend's phone broke and she had a panic attack because she felt so lost without that technology.

It's so sad to think that we have become that dependent on a device. Many young adults today probably can't even remember back to a time when we played outside instead of sat in front of our televisions or computers and played video games for recreation. It's no wonder obesity has become the problem that it is today. We don't set aside time to just focus on ourselves, without technology.

One of my most memorable times this year was during spring break when a friend and I decided we were going to go 'phone-less' for the entire duration of spring break. I spent the week with bunch of my close friends in a beach house together, and really anyone I wanted to talk to was there with me. Now, it wasn't everyone on the trip that decided to take the challenge, just myself and one other. Everyone else on the trip was 'impressed' and asked us 'how we got through the week', to be honest - it wasn't that bad. Now we did give ourselves one 'cheat' a day, where we could turn on our phones for 10(ish) minutes just to check and make sure our parents didn't need to talk to us or to make sure nothing major happened, but after that it was phones off.

Was it difficult? Maybe a little at first. But I was really able to enjoy my spring break trip with the people that I care about. At the end of the week, I almost didn't want to turn my phone back on.

Now I encourage all of you to take the challenge. It doesn't have to be a weeks worth of time, but maybe just for a day - or even just during your work day or classes, turn off your phone. Sure it will be hard at first, but I bet you will be amazed with how much more you are able to get done and the amount of information you are able to retain by just staying fully focused during a professor's lecture.

Because the best memories you have will not be from what you read on a computer screen, but from the experiences you have with the ones you love.

Until next time,

Casey Rose

It's A Wrap

Today's post is in honor of my newest Instagram account! 

I've decided I want to do more fashion and OOTD posts and I thought, what better platform to post on than Instagram! Aside from it being my favorite form of social media, I also love it because you can be creative in the form of pictures which is right up my alley.

Today's post is the outfit I wore this Sunday to church on Mother's Day.

The dress is a plain cotton black maxi dress and sunglasses are from Francesca's Collections, the cardigan is old from gap, scarf is old from Lands End, sandals are Gold Jack Rogers, and the watch is from Micheal Kors.

So what do you guys think? Like these kind of posts? I will keep them up if you all want to see them, I thought that this was a fun thing to start and I actually enjoyed shooting these photos (with the help of my lovely brother, of course)

Also, check out my new Instagram - @bowsandarrowsx3

Until next time,

Casey Rose

It Takes Two

Over Easter this past weekend I was home for a couple of days enjoying the break with my family. My Grandpa, who lives 3 hours away, had recently been released from the hospital after having a stroke. No worries, he's doing just fine, but with this hospital visit also came concerned family wanting to see their recovering family member.

Since most of my family lives up north it's quite a trek for them to make it down to North Carolina just to see someone for a day or two, so most of my family makes a trip out of it. With my immediate family living the closest out of all my relatives to my grandparents we often get to see the rest of the family when they are in town visiting them.

This past weekend my Uncle came down to visit along with his new fiancee. They visited my Grandpa for a day and then spent the night at our house and celebrated Easter with us in the morning. This was the first time I had ever met his fiancee and it felt a little weird at first. Don't get me wrong, she was a very nice lady (and she could keep up with our jokes, which is always a huge plus), but there was something about her that just didn't sit right with me.

I tend to think of myself as a very naive and optimistic person. I like to see the good in others and often am disappointed or shocked when they prove me otherwise; I guess I just want to believe, deep down, that people are innately good. This also affects my views on marriage. With the divorce rate now being over 50% in this country, the realist would just assume that marriage is doomed to fail. Well, Casey being the optimist, is shocked whenever I hear that a marriage is failing. I could write and entire post about how I reacted when I heard my ex-boyfriend's parents were splitting up, but that is a story for another day.

My whole life growing up I always referred to my Aunt's and Uncle's together. This was also a memory tactic since my mom and dad were both 1 of 7 children. We had Aunt Peggy and Uncle Sean, Uncle Paul and Aunt Rhonda, and Uncle Matt and Aunt Faith. Now, Matt being the uncle who stayed with us this past weekend, I had always associated him with Aunt Faith. It was my memory tactic and also probably my way of validating their relationship. But what happens when that couple gets divorced? Then what?

I am so fortunate to have two loving parents who have now been married for 27 years. They have shown me in so many ways how to make a marriage work and what it truly means to love another person. I think that is why my idea if marriage is so skewed. I thought process is, 'If my parents can do it, why can't everyone else?'. But I guess life doesn't work that way. Not all couples are meant to be like my parents are.

And I think that relates directly back to my earlier post about soul mates. I like to assume, again being naive, that you only marry a person you are meant to be with. But I think that's why most marriages fail. They don't marry the person they are 'meant' to be with. They settle for something that feels good in the moment, but don't think about the future. They go for a feeling, not an instinct. When did people stop using their heads and only follow their hearts? 

To make things work in this world there needs to be an even mix of both. You obviously have to love one another to start, but it takes more than that. You both have to be completely sure this is the person you want to clean up after when one of you can't hold your bladder any longer. You may laugh, but does this really cross your mind when you say "I do"?

I obviously have no experience on the matter, but my theory has always been this: You can marry just about anyone, as long as you are determined to make it work. And I mean, really determined. You obviously have to love the person, but when the times get tough those are the times you must stick by your spouse. They don't just pull 'for better or for worse' out of their asses, they mean it.

So sorry new lady for initially not liking you. I just have a hard time accepting that people actually get divorced. I also have a hard time coming to accept that this time will be different. Because if it were really 'different' this time, why couldn't you have made it work the first time?

Alright, I'm off my soap box. This was a darker post that really ended up going right into the deep end and practically drowned in it. Ha, sorry for the depressing post. I'm just a little jaded right now. No worries though, happy posts with be sure to come in the future!

Until next time,

Casey Rose

"Loving You Is Easy"

Man, has this Saturday post thing been a bust. I think I had what, like one post in total? #lame. Let's start it back up again, shall we?

So as you all know my music choice is very diverse. However, there is one genre I always like to go back to and that's 'Pop Rock'. This includes various artists such as Parachute and Mat Kearney. Normally I listen to Mat Kearney radio on Pandora and I find a lot of my new favorite Pop/Rock artists from that channel. One of the artists that I have fallen in love with is Ben Rector. Now I have always loved a few of his songs including 'White Dress' and 'When A Heart Breaks' but it wasn't until last week when I really fell head over heels in love with him.

Every spring NC State puts on a free concert for their students. My first semester at state it was Chiddy Bang. This semester was Mat Kearney (my love), but Ben Rector opened for him. Let me just say by the time he was done I was hoping he would just play for the entire time and Mat would never come on (which is saying a lot because I am obsessed with Mr. Kearney). He was so charismatic and funny that even if he were just to stand up on stage and speak for an hour, I still would have loved it just as much.

Since the concert I have been constantly playing his music on Spotify whenever I get the chance. I would absolutely recommend every single song he has ever written, but the song I will show you guys is going to be 'When I'm With You'. It's been the song I've pretty much been obsessed with lately and I play it over and over again.

Enjoy Mr. Rector. And no ladies, he is not single (unfortunate, right?)

Until next time,

Casey Rose

A Night to Remember

I know you all are tired of hearing my apologies, but I am sincerely sorry. Blogging has been put off to the side for a little while simply because as school is coming to an end that means finals! I have been very busy studying for those as well as completing final projects and whatnot in all of my classes. But I promise to blog more during the summer when I have more free time!

I haven't done a Fashion Friday post in a while, but since school is coming to an end I figured I would finally post about my sororities formal that we had a couple of weeks ago!

The Dress

Let me tell you, finding this formal dress was a job in itself. I searched for the longest time to find a dress that was just right. I had been eyeing this one dress on Lulu's for a while but it was almost $200, which I simply could not justify spending for one event. So the search continued. It wasn't until my friend and I were shopping at one of my favorite malls in the area when we came across this prom store. Obviously being in college we had no need for a prom dress, but just for old times sake we decided to go in and look at the extravagant dresses. It wasn't until I wandered over to the sale rack and saw a couple gorgeous bridesmaid dresses. I just couldn't believe how simple and pretty they all were and most for under $100! So, being that the price was definitely right, I had to try them on. I liked them all but there was one that stole my heart. It was a long grey strapless number with a fake sash around the waist that tied in the back. It was beautiful and I couldn't have been happier with my choice, especially since it was only $75 (more than 1/2 of what my 'dream' dress would have cost). Also the color being a beautiful grey really complimented my pale skin tone.

The Accessories

This was probably the toughest part of my entire search after finding the perfect dress. What shoes and jewelry to wear. Given that my date was only slightly taller than me, I didn't feel completely comfortable wearing heels and towering over him. So I opted for my gold jacks. They were comfortable and you couldn't even see them under my dress anyways.

I wasn't sure at first on which jewelry I wanted to go with, given that the neckline of my dress definitely would have worked with a necklace. I decided to just go ahead and stick with earrings so that my dress could be the main attraction and nothing would distract from it. The earrings were difficult to decide on, but I ended up finding the perfect pair. They were a double teardrop mint color with gold hardware. Overall, I think it complimented the grey color very nicely and were perfect for a spring time formal!

(they are the earrings on the left from Francesca's)

The Night

Overall, I had a fabulous time with my date and my friends. It was the perfect ending to a great semester. Enjoy the following pictures from the evening!

 Until next time,

Casey Rose

Frizz Be Gone!

Hey, remember that time 3 months ago that I decided to have a segment on how I get my perfect 'straight hair' look? Yeah, I'm sure you don't because it was 3 MONTHS AGO. Seriously, I am awful and I apologize. But we shall pick up where we left off :)

The third product I attribute my perfect straight hair to is the Living Proof - No Frizz Nourishing Styling Creme.

Now I originally found this product in one of those monthly sample boxes that got sent to my house. The sample size was in a very generous 2 oz size and by the time I finished the sample, I was dying for more. I seriously fell in love. I think mainly because it is the most heavenly hair product smell in the world, in my opinion. But, honestly I attribute this product as a key element in the success of the longevity of my straight hair.

I talked a lot in my first post about my hair texture and type, just a brief over view of that would be that my hair is thick. I have a TON of hair. I also had a very hard time keeping my hair straight throughout the day when I was younger. This product is one of the main reasons I believe I can keep my hair straight even on the most humid and rainy days.

The way I like to use this is I take about a dime sized amount and work it through my hair focusing on the ends, before I straighten my hair and after I use one pump of my Moroccan Oil.

It's a hard product to describe, but I would recommend you try out the 2 oz size for yourself. I can't guarantee it will yield the same results that it did for my hair, but I would absolutely recommend you try it if you identify with my hair type...or if you want your hair to smell just fab :)

You can find this at many different beauty stores, Sephora offers 2, 4, and 8 oz sizes ranging from $15 to $36.

So tell me, what is your favorite smelling beauty product?

Until next time,

Casey Rose