Velvet Blazer Review.....

If you follow me on twitter you know I've been hunting for some pretty *simple* to find pieces, a red button down & a gray velvet blazer.

Gray velvet blazers just don't exist. Not normal ones, and not in a size 8.

Here's the one I wanted..... from Ann Taylor.

But it's only online in sizes 0 & 16, so I called, it's apparently sold out in every store across the country. Sad face.

So, I found these 2 other options.....

From Anthropology: Price: $59.96  Verdict: The brown one is nice, a pretty color, but I don't like the way it hangs, it's a little frumpy. The gray fabric looks a little too much like a Juicy track suit, not pretty.

I ordered the brown in an 8, and the gray in a 10 to test the fit, the 8 fit the best, so I'm glad I like the brown one better.

I've decided to keep the brown one, and have a button or snap put on it, so that the jacket wraps in the front & the pockets don't hang funny. (as opposed to it meeting in front & hooking together)

Outcome: Brown: Keepin' it! Gray: Returning it!

From: J Crew . Price: $55.99  Verdict: BEAUTIFULLY made! But too boxy & masculine.

Outcome: Returning it.... kinda wish I had no hips so it looked better on me.....

Whoop Whoop!

I got my Lilly dress today!!! (well, bought it online) it will be here before Christmas!

Thank you Lord & Taylor for having 30% off all orders over $99 and free 2 day shipping!

...... now to find some navy tights and a hot pink cardigan..... and shoes.... hmmm what shoes to wear???

Christmasy Goodness...... and more on colored tights.....

I like this. Period.

Don't remember where it's from....  :-(

I'm still debating colored tights.... but not with the black sequin dress(es)..... I found this today... and I think it has my name all over it.... with some navy tights (maybe pink, yellow or teal... but they might be a bit much).... and for a Lilly dress, the price tag isn't awful (and I'd surely wear it year round!)

Lilly Pulitzer Dress

Colored tights? Awful or Awesome?

In January Jeremy and I are having new photos taken (specifically for our website). I want to do a dressy look & a casual look. Yesterday I went out shopping on a whim... came home with some pricey goodies, that I just couldn't pass up..... an Ellie Tahari sequin, tunic dress, a black patent leather Kate Spade purse, and a Hugo Boss Jacket for Jeremy. I tried the dress on in the store- loved it, thought it would be great with a belt. I got it home, was so excited about it (albeit, having a bit of buyers remorse).... I tried it on with my skinny black belt.... and hot pink leggings. NO GO. Looked awful. The dress is a touch too long (longer than I remembered in the store).

It's similar to this one- but it's black with pewter sequins-

from the awesome Jasmine Star

I thought colorful tights with it would be awesome..... well the hot pink leggings I bought on a whim last year (that have never been worn) looked AWFUL! I'm thinking teal ones might have been better-

from Kate Spade

I do own another sequin dress, but it's got spaghetti straps.... and I'd have to find a jacket..... and it's knee length- not mini.....

so the search for cute outfits is back on :-/

Jeremy's not sure how he feels about a white jacket. It fits him & looks great, but he's fearful he'll spill something on it.

Get Crafty!

I've had several projects on the back burner for Christmas.... I finally had a chance to sit down and complete one of them on Sunday! Yay for me time!

I saw these little trees, and knew I wanted to make some for us.....

Here's my version:

I made them to match our new decor/paint scheme (as well as our business!)

Great Find!

on Wednesday night I headed over to a local shopping center to get a little Christmas shopping done. I made a stop at Target to finish shopping for Jeremy, and niece Olivia. Then I headed over to the Marshalls to look around....

Side note: I've been hunting and hunting and hunting for a bright red, button down shirt.... you'd think this time of the year it would be easy to find. Nope. Target had one- but it's too dark & has a funny neckline. I'm willing to pay a pretty penny- so if you find one let me know.

Anyways... I went in Marshalls (looking for said red shirt) and came out with a Talbots, plaid shirtdress! It was hanging in the shirts, I guess someone picked it up and then decided against it, and was too lazy to walk 3 racks over to put it back in the correct spot. Whatever, it worked out for me! It fits perfect, but might be a smidge long- so I may have it hemmed. I'm guessing it was probably around $100 in Talbots- I got it for $19.99!

Here's a photo I found online of it from someone else's 2009 blog post- so I guess it was in stores last winter.

I know what I'm wearing on Christmas day!

Willing.

Just wanted to throw this out there. We're willing to move. Like, anywhere.

It took me a long time to be ok with this idea, but now, I'm really open to it. Living in a giant city just once in our lives would be awesome. Some kind of high-rise loft with a great view.

So.... if you're a reader.... and you live in a big city & know someone who knows someone who knows someone looking for an EIT Civil Engineer.... I've got your man, and we're ready & willing to move :-)

Chicago, DC, NYC, LA, Houston, Miami, Seattle, Boston..... even Europe is on the table.

Warren Residential Group

Happy Birthday to ME! & Announcement!!

Hello, big 27. Nice to meet you. Please treat me kind :-)

On another note:

We've decided to try and rent out back bedroom. Here's the quick skinny;

1. It's fully furnished with a double bed, dresser, nightstand & desk.
2. You'll have your own bathroom with tub
3. Includes wireless internet, satellite tv & all utilities.
4. Access to huge pool, walking trails, dog park & playground.

Must be:

1. Non-smoker
2. Clean
3. Employed
4. Pet Friendly (we have 2 dogs & a cat)

Feel free to view our little home tour here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DhEkaDXEhA&feature=player_embedded

Price: $325 Per Month. Lease terms are flexible.

Help us spread the word & email me at pinkladiej@gmail.com for further info!

More Beachy Goodness....

As the weather turns colder, I revisit the dreaming of our future beach home.

open shelving. yum.

I've fallen off the train.....

Back to back weddings.
10 days on vacation
Traveling for work
Halloween
Thanksgiving......

It's been a slippery slope of eating crappy food, lots of candy.

And I haven't been to the gym consistently for weeks and weeks. I did go one day last week, but for the most part, I just walked on the treadmill..... better than nothing, I guess.


SO.... here's to getting back on the train :-)

Back to {regular} life....

Within the last 2 months, life's been a little nutty.

We spent 9 days on vacation...... and I spent 7 days living 15 minuetes from my house.... crazy, I know. Our National Grange Convention was held in Charlotte this year, so I spent the entire last week camped out at the Hilton. I'm home now, no serious traveling or departures from daily life in sight.

With all the craziness, I haven't had much time to give any thought to our annual Thanksgiving dinner we host each year for our friends. Panic set in a little this morning. I've been debating on buying or renting one of those patio heaters and hosting the whole thing on our parking pad. Our house is almost 1300 square feet, but over half of it is upstairs in all our bedrooms.... so it makes hosting events inside our home a little tight. We debated renting our clubhouse, but didn't want to have to A.) spend the money and B.) we'd have to be out and all cleaned up in just a few hours.....

So cramped indoors? Or spacious, potentially chilly outdoors?

lowes.com

jordanferney.blogspot.com

A Bone to pick with Old Navy....

After deciding the orange coat I posted yesterday was a "must have" item for my wardrobe.... I went on an Old Navy adventure. Store #1 in Mooresville had lots of coats, in fact they had EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. EXCEPT the orange ruffle one. I mean they had that coat in every other color too, just not the orange.

*** side note: I did find 2 cute cordaroy mini skirts for $4 each.... score! (wearing one today!)

When I checked out I asked the clerk if they were just out of it, she said she guessed. They didn't have anything else in the back. OK, fine. Off to store #2 at Northlake.

No luck. Again, every other coat in every other color. I almost caved and bought the gray one since they had it in the store. I asked the clerk and she said that sometimes they offer different stuff online. Yes, I know- but not normally ONE COLOR!

So I went home, with no orange coat. I decided to call the Old Navy hotline to see if anyone had it. Nope. It's not in any store anywhere in the USA including LA & NYC. Bull Shit.

Why the hell would you carry every other color of this coat in store, but not the orange one? Hello, Old Navy, it's fall. Orange is hot. Put that shit in the store. Your ex-BFF, Jessica.

...... and not to mention- in store the coat is $50 and online it's $70....... UGH!


...... I'm ordering it

Which One?

We all know I have an affinity to all things orange and gray..... what do you do when you need to pick between the 2 colors???

Melanie sent me a 50% off coupon good on Old Navy outerwear.... now which one????

Gray is so versatile.... but orange is a statement maker.....

Obsession?

Possibly.

Some might say that since becoming a Horton, I've grown fond of elephants. This is true. When we have a child they will be lost in a sea (a stylish sea!) of elephants. Remember that fabric I bought? Yeah, it's in a safe spot till we have a reason to use it.

Several months ago I came across Habitually Chic, a blog I found through Honey & Fritz, another blog I follow.

I found Habitually Chic because of a link Honey & Fritz had posted to this post....

HELLO Jonathan Adler elephant lamp, I must own you.

Too bad you aren't available online, and the store I attempted to visit in Miami 3 weeks ago was closed down.

Sad face.

Well, until that lamp magically appears somewhere.... this will suffice.


The Jonathan Adler elephant ornament! OMG. The price tag isn't too shabby either! Yay!

I think Jonathan Adler has officially put me in the Christmas mood. :-)

Sleepy......

Life is just insane.

I work 9 hours a day, here at my day job.

Go home, and edit for at least 4 hours, but usually more. Till 10 or 11PM each night.

As much as I love our photography business, and getting new clients- I've got to keep our shoots to a minimum. I don't think people realize how much time goes into editing. A standard 2 hour shoot, will yield at least 3 hours of editing (at least!). A wedding- I try and do 100 images a night- so 6 nights to get 600 images (or more!).... that's about 5 hours a night.... that's 30 HOURS of editing!!!! Not to mention, the hours it takes to complete an album design, and to blog. Blogging is SO time consuming. I learned a while ago that IF I try and pick out the images to blog BEFORE I edit everything, I don't always pick the best ones. So, I've changed my blogging strategy to edit them ALL.... then blog. This is why I am splitting my wedding posts up- once I've edited through the ceremony, then I blog all the getting ready shots & ceremony shots. I know this means it takes longer for clients to see their blog posts, but I prefer it this way. I want to put my best foot forward with this business, and if that means blogging a little slower, so be it.

................ this is just a vent. Not directed at anyone! I just needed to explain my lack of posts here on Newlywed Peephole.

I hope you all are enjoying the Fall! It's my favorite season, and I'm a little sad we haven't been able to enjoy much of it. However- we've been looking to a couple to shoot at the Carolina Balloon Festival this weekend, and we didn't find anyone- so Jeremy and I are still going!! I am SO excited! (although I wish we were taking a ride... but Jeremy is terrified). I LOVE hot air balloons, there's something just magical about them. I've seen 2 flying over Davidson the last 2 weeks, and they always make me smile :-)

How are you taking in the season? (and do you want your photo taken at the Balloon Fest this weekend? Or at the State Fair on Saturday morning?? Let us know- we're offering special rates for both of them, and would make awesome Christmas cards!)



PS- have you seen the latest weddings we've shot? Check them out here!

We're Back!!!

We survived Miami, South Beach, Key West, Cozumel, and Emerald Isle! I'm back in the office today, and I hope to have the pictures from our trip up sooner rather than later :-)

For now.... check out our Fuji Instax photos here!

Chugging Along.....

As we prepare to depart on vacation in 2 days.... LOTS must get accomplised. While not too much is going on with the day job, things are hot and heavy with the photo work.

Have you checked out the photo blog this week? The sneak peek of our first 2 weddings are up :-)

I'm desperately trying to get as much editing done as possible so I don't have to 1. think about it while on vacation and 2. so I don't have so much to do when we get home! We've got 3 shoots the weekend following our return home, and I don't want to still be editing weddings if at all possible. Don't know if that's reality, but let's hope so!

CAN'T WAIT!

EEEEKKKK!!!! only a few more days and we'll be here!

We've been SO busy the last month or so, we can't wait to get away for a little while. Unfortunately life doesn't slow down when we return, but that's ok! Hopefully, this relaxation will help us make it to the holidays!

Want.....

With all the interior design bloggers chatter about the taping of the Nate Berkus show this week..... I hoped over to HSN to see what all the fuss over him is about.... (don't get me wrong, I've seen his work- great, but never his line on HSN)


OMG.... I SO WANT THIS!!!!!!!!

It's exactly what I want up under our dining table at the beach house.... settee on one side, chairs on the other, and at each end! The price is great too :-)

It comes in so many wonderful colors, but I love this gray velvet :-)

Taking It Easy....

While I've been crossing lots off my to-do list in the office today, I have found a few free moments to regain some sanity and blog hop :-)

This photo.... is exactly how I am picturing our master bedroom at the beach house. The size, the french doors, the vaulted ceiling...... everything :-)

Via Inspiration for Decoration

I'm Surviving!

Life is in full speed....

This past weekend was our annual meeting at work, and this was my first year being in charge. Whew.... talk about stressful..... I only ended up in tears once, thankfully... and all the "issues" that arose got solved quickly. The hotel staff was wonderful, and helped me so much.

Now.... I am back in my office (taking it easy today)..... and trying to knock out some small things on my to-do list.

Unfortunatly, life isn't slowing down anytime soon..... this Thursday we're leaving for Wilmington to shoot a wedding on Friday, we'll pack up and leave on Friday night after the wedding and drive to New Bern to stay the night... then get up on Saturday morning and head to Manteo for wedding #2.... stay in Kitty Hawk on Saturday night (ocean front, yay!) then head home on  Sunday.

Then I have 4 days to get a serious amount of editing done, before we board a plane on Friday for MIAMI! We'll be on our anniversary trip for a week. We fly back in the next Friday, drive straight to Emerald Isle for our friend's wedding on Saturday. Then we'll be back home finally that Sunday night.

We're SO ready for vacation.... but the month of October doesn't slow down when we return.... 4 more shoots are scheduled for the rest of the month- including another wedding!

Say a prayer for us.... we're gonna need it!

Almost Done!

Jeremy & his dad got the flooring down in our bedroom yesterday! We put the new rug down, and our bed back together last night (although, we couldn't push the bed to the wall yet). They have to put down the quarter round this morning, then the room will be finished!

The doggies LOVED the new rug I bought 2 weeks ago :-)


Who needs an SUV to haul things? Not this girl! ..... from when I bought the 8x10 rug from the TJMaxx over at Concord Mills a few weeks ago.

Here are the doggies loving the new rug last night :-)   sorry for the poor photo :-(

Haven't had much to talk about lately......

Jeremy was out of town all last week helping his brother.... so I was a lazy bum. Nothing fun to report. We did have an awesome date night on Saturday at Qdoba :-) We sat, laughed and walked around Birkdale for a bit. I got some new magazines at Barns & Noble.... Coastal Living was one. I really need to just subscribe to this magazine.... with what I've spent on 2 I could have subscribed for the whole year..... I also picked up Charlotte Weddings.... which I forgot I already had a (free) copy of.... bleh..... and then Real Simple Weddings. This magazine came with a free subscription for a year with purchase... so $13 for a year isn't too shabby.... however, the magazine was great, nice, high quality.... but the content was more like a how-to guide for brides... not like a traditional wedding magazine. Hopefully their future issues will be a little more traditional.

I spent Saturday night reading my magazines while Jeremy watched football..... I feel like we lucked out because the Coastal Living had a really nice article on spending a weekend in Miami, and what to see, do, and where to eat.... and a month from now, we will be spending a weekend ini Miami, before heading off on our cruise! It was a great article, and gave us lots of ideas!

House Update.... Rugs!

I took a little video of our house now that it's somewhat back in order....



The plan is to work on the stairs on Saturday and/or Sunday. Then work on the master bedroom on Monday and/or Tuesday!!

Jeremy told me he didn't want to do the flooring in our bedroom till we had a rug... well, CHECK! I stopped in TJMaxx/Homegoods at Concord Mills on Saturday to return that lamp I had on my desk. I thought I'd peek at their rug selection... there it was an 8x10 for $149! I had $32 in store credit, and $41 on a gift card, so it only cost me $88 with tax!

I also found a 6'6" x 6'6" gray rug for our dining room on ebay- from a local dealer here in Charlotte. I am still waiting to hear if I can just go get it, instead of waiting for it to be shipped.

Am I Crazy?

We won't call it crazy, we'll call it planning ahead.

I spotted this fabric yesterday. Feel in love (only I wanted it in yellow, navy or gray). I emailed them. They emailed me back. It comes in yellow.

I am buying 5 yards of it.

Why? Because my last name is Horton (Dr. Seuss anyone?)and when we have a baby, the poor thing will be surrounded by elephants.

So yes- I am buying fabric for a nursery I don't have, for a child I don't have.

No, I'm not pregnant.

I couldn't resist.

And if you're wondering- our nursery will be yellow, navy, gray and white. Gender neutral.

Necklace Storage....

So, I mentioned in my last post I would be getting some hooks for my necklaces.... Check! Stopped by CVS on the way home :-)

I have a VERY nice jewelry box that Jeremy gave me for my birthday? or Christmas? last year.... not sure which.... (it's Lenox!) but it's not quite big enough for all my dangly necklaces... I also have an old jewelry box that I got when I was about 10ish, that's also nice, but tiny!

Solution.....

Bedroom Updates!

So if you saw this video.... you noticed our "dresser" in our bedroom has changed. We switched out this dresser:

for my computer cabinet. The finish matches all our furniture in our room, whereas our other one didn't.

We'd just folded all of Jeremy's clothes neatly- until yesterday, when all our nice new storage boxes came from Crate & Barrel!

Old cabinet:


New cabinet:


I am going to get some 3M hooks to stick on the inside of the doors to hold all my chunky necklaces!

You also see all our DVDs in the first photo.... we bought this from Crate & Barrel too, to store them in under our guest bed!



Here are all the boxes I bought:

1. Black Plastic (for undies, socks, and random things)- from the Target $1 section at the front of the store for $2.50 each. (I bought several more to put in our bathroom cabinet)
2. White square boxes.
3. Set of 4 storage boxes

If you follow me on twitter, you know I had an adventure with trying to make a pillow with piping on Tuesday night. Here's the finished product:



Closeup:



This chair I bought a while back from Ikea, in their clearance section for $99 I think.It's been in our junk room/old office with a blue and white stripe cover. I went by Ikea this weekend, and picked up the solid white cover for $29.

On a Roll!

I've been entirely too productive this week at work.... it's a deadline week.... so I've taken a few extra blogging moments today to even out my stress level :-)

More beachy inspiration!

We will have outdoor spaces like these.... remember all that furniture we've already bought.... riiiiiight :-)

 This furniture is too fussy for me... but the layout is what I am thinking!!!






















In all seriousness- this is exactly how I picture the beach house kitchen. Open shelves, the colors, the simplicity. Everything.

Via MFAMB

Today's Lunch....

I've been trying to be better about bringing my lunch to work.... today is a success in that department!

Here's what's in my lunchbox:

1. Whole grain sandwich rounds with Stans Pimento Cheese
2. Mott's Natural Apple Sauce
3. Yoplait Greek Yogurt (had a coupon, and thought I'd try it) I'll let you know how it taste... I've had chobani and didn't like it.
3. Strawberries cut up for the yogurt
4. Back to Nature cranberry pecan granola for the yogurt (found this in the 50% off bin at Lowe's Food... and it's yummy!)
5. Coke.... it's my weakness... I love it!

Jeremy & I aren't the only Newlyweds on the block!

If you follow me on twitter.... you probably already know the news....

My Dad got married yesterday!!!!

They took a trip to Asheville, and are staying at the Grove Park Inn. They got married somewhere at or near the Grove Park Inn....

"found out for $20 we could get married, so we found 2 winos for witnesses"

Gah, I love my dad, he cracks me up!

Here they are at our wedding last October! She caught the bouquet :-)

(sorry for the crappy pics- they're screen shots)

Target Deals!

Yesterday I stopped off at Target on my way home to return a couple of throw pillows I'd bought for our bedroom. I remembered that I'd printed some clothing coupons ($2 off a men's Merona shirt, $3 off any women's denim & $2 off any Merona pants/skirt/shorts)

Jeans were both 75% off- marked down to $6.24 each, and the shirt was $9.98. 

I got 2 pair of jeans & a dress shirt for Jeremy for $15!!!!

EXTRA EXTRA!!!

Don't you just love the State Fair???

I do.... here & here.....

We've decided to offer a special "fair photo shoot" price :-)

Head over to our photo blog for details!!!

Boring Thursday....

Not much to report today. I did get a mini haircut yesterday.... since getting bangs cut in January I've had a funky do- that really only looks decent when I "fix" it. Let's face it.... lately, I've been a wash, dry and run out of the house girl. I have decided to start letting my hair grow out a bit.... I've been keeping it super short, till these last 6 months when I've neglected my hair.... so the growing out of the hair wasn't a conscious decision- but instead something that just happened.

Well, Tuesday I had a meeting across the state- making it easy to hit up my wonderful hairdresser, Anna at Lux Salon. (Yes, I drive 2.5 hours to get a haircut... I worked at a salon in Durham before moving, and was driving back there.... then I decided to try out a "nice" place here... sucked ass... got the worst haircut ever... so Jeremy booked me with a girl where he was going... been there ever since!)

I asked her just to make my "bangs" not so random.... so she left the length like I wanted, and added a few layers in to blend the bangs in with... It's SO much better!

Of course I got up as late as posssible today, and didn't fix it, so I won't be showing you a photo... but just know it looks a lot better :-)

In other news- We have a super fun baby photo shoot tonight, and I can't wait! Happy Thursday!

More Flooring!

They got our "old office" floored last night! Yay! I think they are planning to do our bedroom on Thursday- then all that will be left are the steps!




You can see the disaster that is our bedroom here.... They also emptied out the computer cabinet and moved it into our bedroom. We are using it as Jeremy's dresser now :-)

The old short dresser with mirror(detached and put in the attic) will go in the old office.... and either wait to be moved-(more on that later) or will become our dresser/changing table when we have a baby and that room becomes the nursery.

I also plan to paint the 2 matching dressers, night stand, and my old desk all white and put new hardware on them.... I hope Jeremy's parents don't have a cow (it's their old stuff!)

Beach Lot Photos!

..... now on to the photos :-)

The mosquitoes were eating us alive, so we didn't stay long......

random goodness around our lot.

Random bricks that are getting cleaned up today!

What happens when the self timer is 5 secs, not 10.

That's better :-)

Us.

Walking through the lot.

Beach Lot Survey....

I'm posting the survey so you get a better idea of the video where we're walking through the lot.... of where ours is......

OUR LOT!!!

So we are officially beach lot owners!!! It really seems so surreal to be 26 years old and own property to build our own vacation home! After we signed the paperwork it seemed like this is one of those things that we would have always regretted not doing if we'd decided not to buy the lot.


I took videos and photos!







I'll be back later to talk more about the weekend!

My First Vlog!

So I thought with all the chaos going around my house, I should video it! I happen to have my day job DSLR at home and it takes video- so I grabbed it and got to filming.

Don't judge the messy house. I plan to clean it up very well, and giving you all a video tour soon :-)


Untitled from Jessica Horton on Vimeo.

Fall Finds!

With lasts weekends cool weather, it had me longing for sweaters & boots :-)

Here's a few of my favorite new fall items!

J Crew $165 .... I'll likely be stalking this to go on sale!

Anthropologie $298 .... will likely be stalking these too!

J Crew $258

Anthropologie $98 If I hadn't just bought 2 gray sweaters at the J Crew sale, I'd be all over this!

Target.com $87.99 They actually have one in store I like better- but it's not online.