3.14.2012

Make a Statement

via Reasons to Breathe 

Today's Trend Watch Wednesday is all about making a statement, but with only one piece; the necklace.

Never before have we seen such 'in your face' necklaces. Stones, gems, heavy metal, pearls, layers of chains...the necklaces are doin' their thang this spring, fo' sho'!

Left photo via Olivia Palermo Socialite Blog, Right photo via A Blonde Ambition blog Pinterest

A few of my current fav neck decor:



(1) I love this Janna Connor Semi Gabor piece from Max & Chloe. So pretty and unique!

(2) This House of Harlow 1960 by  Leather Station Necklace is positively covet-worthy.

(3) Um, Kate Spade. Baublebox Bib Necklace. Yeah...I'll take one, STAT!

(4) Aptly named, this Statement of the Art Necklace from ModCloth is the epitome of spring.

(5) The Tassel Cascade beauty from BaubleBar is so boho it's not even funny.

(6) Finally, this limited edition Mischa Necklace from Stella & Dot is an edgy, yet chic must-have piece.

So this season, make a statement. With a necklace.

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With the poetic concluding sentence above, fair readers, I leave you for the day.

Go forth and 'statement-ize'.

Be blessed, lovelies-

3.11.2012

The Weekend I Almost Became a Supermodel


Via my Pinterest by The Fashion Doctor

...but instead ended up in the E.R. of Arkansas Children's Hospital with throbbing pain at the incision site of my recent surgery.

And just like that, my would-be career as Northwest Arkansas' Next Top Model was done.

This weekend, the hubs and I had plans to walk the runway at NWA Fashion Week for Mason's, but all that changed around noon on yesterday. I started having some weird shooting pains and lots of aching around the incision and, after consulting with a doctor at ACH via phone, decided to head on down to Little Rock and get it checked out.

I'm not going to lie. I bawled my eyes out about missing Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week. As Stephen drove with the stealth and speed of an Indy 500 racer, I sat shotgun, sputtering and sobbing about how I must have done something terrible in another life to have had this surgery and recovery coincide with Fashion Week. Karma had finally caught up with me. And with a vengeance.

So there it was, Fashion Week; come and then gone, faster than one can say 'suture'.

And I missed the whole fabulous, friggin' thing.

I looked at a few pics from the grand finale on Facebook this morning (the portion we were slated to be a part of), but I had to quit. It looked amazing. And if there's one thing I live for, it's 'amazing'.

And I hate missing out on fun, especially fun that involves stilettos and champagne and gobs of eyeliner.

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I'll be honest. I've been a little down lately.

I feel like I've been stuck in this house for two weeks now and it's starting to get to me. I mean, you know you've got a massive case of cabin fever when you actually look forward to going to follow-up appointments at the doctor's office (!!)

My emotions have been crazy; up and down and sideways and backwards.  I'll cry at the drop of a hat then moments later, I'm fine again. I've heard this is extremely common after you've had general anesthesia, because it takes quite a while to get out of your system. I've had lots of surgeries in my life, but I've never experienced mood swings quite like with this one. According to the resident in the E.R. last night, the older the patient, the harder it is to get out of the after-surgery 'funk' that is so common.

No wonder kiddos bounce back so quickly.

Thank GOD for Twitter and this blog or....oh Lordy...who knows what state of mind I'd be in.

I miss being able to put on cute clothes that don't have to button-up the front. I miss being able to wash and style my own hair. I miss driving.

Driving. That is a small luxury that we take for granted until we rely on others to get us from place to place.

I'm incredibly blessed to have friends and family that have gotten me through the past couple of weeks, but I'm dying for things to return to normal. Or at least our 'normal'. After all, everyone has a different definition of that.

Okay, that's my melancholy monologue of the day. (Can you hear the tiny violins playing in the background?)

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If you're a new reader and this is your first time stopping by, my most sincere apologies. I promise it's usually oodles more upbeat around here.

But I needed to vent and get that off my chest. My sore and throbbing and steri-stripped chest.

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Here's hoping for participation in next year's NWAFW...may the gods of fashion make it so.

After all, I'm 27 years old and have few good modeling years left in me ; )

Be blessed, lovelies-

3.09.2012

Confessional Friday: {Link-Up}



Hey girls, it's Friday! And you know what that means, right? Time to confess! I'll be honest - I'm tired. So I'm going to let you all take it from here this week, m'kay?







Be blessed, lovelies-

3.08.2012

Shop With Me


via Belle Boutique, Rogers, AR

I love to shop - it's no secret. And approximately half of the emails I get on a weekly basis pertain to shopping and my recommendations for stores, both locally and online. So I thought a great way to keep you guys in the loop on my retail stomping grounds would to be to create a page called, (unorginally, I might add) Shop With Me.

I've always had a unique, 'works for me' approach to shopping, or as I like to call it, "closet feeding".

Hey, my closet is a hungry girl. And a girl's gotta eat, right? : )

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1. When it comes to shopping and styling, I prefer to buy and mix "investment pieces" with inexpensive items for a personal style philosophy I like to call "High/Low".

Shirt - Old Navy, Earrings- BaubleBar, Jeans-Hudson, Shoes- Nine West


2. I also shop on a budge. As cutie-patootie stylist Brad Goreski would say, "A low budge". I've never been one to turn up my nose at a clearance rack or a sample sale and I'm also a consignment store enthusiast. I also like to buy items at the end of a season. Retailers have crazy-awesome markdowns as seasons draw to a close because they're trying to move merchandise out of the store to make room for the next season's inventory.



3. Finally, I always encourage my friends to shop locally. Local stores are a gold mine of great pieces that are not only unique, but often times more affordable than those offered at a chain vendor. Plus, local boutiques tend to carry very limited numbers of each piece, guaranteeing that you won't see twenty other women walking down the street in the same top you're wearing, (how awkward is that moment, right?)

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Check out my fancy-dancy new Shop With Me page to check out the complete list of my favorite vendors! These are people and stores that I really, truly have purchased items from and really, truly adore.

Finally, if you visit one of the boutiques on the Shop With Me page or buy from them via Facebook,  please let them know I sent you! Any business owner likes to know where their traffic comes from, so just let 'em know that Leslie @ A Blonde Ambition blog sent ya : )


Thank ya kindly, little ladies : )

Be blessed, lovelies-

P.S. - There will be Confessional Friday Link-Up tomorrow. Still hard to blog right now because my energy is tapped from the surgery, but I can't resist this fun segment!)

P.P.S.- NWA Fashion Week is going on up here this week and it's killing me that I'm not able to go! If any of you guys go to the shows this week, please email me pics and I'll put them up here on the blog next week! Get your schedule for the rest of the week's shows, here.

3.05.2012

The Blonde is Back


Holy heck, y'all.

Well, it seems as though I survived my surgery and you are stuck with me for a while longer yet, friends. I'm really sore and bruised and am on enough meds to supply a small clinic, but I'm alive. And alive, my dears, is a pretty great way to be.

A Few Fun Facts:

1. My medicine has made my stomach swell to the size of a watermelon. Not the rest of me, just my mid-section. I'm told the swelling is fluid retention and "will go down". I sure hope so. Otherwise, I really hope Mason's has some sweet maternity clothes I can sport at the NWA Fashion Week show that S and I are walking in on Saturday.

2. Yes, I am a crazy woman for agreeing to be in a fashion show 12 days after major surgery. This may be my 5'4" self's only chance to grace a catwalk and come hell or high water - I'm walkin'.

3. My incision looks gnarly. I will spare you the pics. It's very Frankenstein-esque. Only on my chest instead of my head.

Obvi.

4. Scars are the new black this season. You heard it here first.


The surgery went well and the folks at Arkansas Children's Hospital took excellent care of me : ) I seriously fell in love with my nurses and am pretty sure they are some of the most under-appreciated folks in healthcare. Those women and men are angels in human form. On days when you can't even comprehend daunting tasks like sitting up or walking to the bathroom, they swoop in and save the day.

And give you another shot of Demerol.

Oh my, y'all. Stephen is amazing. He slept on that glorified folding chair that they call a bed without a single complaint. He was by my side for the entire ordeal, getting me apple juice and fluffing my pillows and taking copious notes each time the doctors made their rounds.

Writing down every aftercare instruction, noting each medication and it's appropriate dosage.

He held my IV tubes out of the way while I went to the potty. He made numerous trips to Walgreen's for random things one needs during a hospital stay, like Marie Claire and "granny panties", (trust me, WAY more comfortable when you're laying in a hospital bed than the sexier variety.)


He saw me at my worst.

And didn't take off running like an Olympic sprinter.

I also want to acknowledge my mama and daddy, (suddenly, this has become an Academy Award speech), ...they deserve major fist bumps, too. I have the best parents in the world and they've been such blessings these past couple of weeks. Really they're just awesome all the time.

My in-laws are utterly fabulous, too. Calls and texts and prayers 24/7 from those folks. I won the in-law lottery, I swear. My sis-in-law Sarah put together an adorable basket of candy, magazines and The Hunger Games book, which I've been dying to read. My husband came from great stock...and I'm proud to have come into such a helpful and loving second family.

And lastly, thank you to all of yous. That's right, yous. (Apparently, I'm Joe Pesci today. "Nice to meet 'yous"). Thank you for all of your prayers, emails, texts, Tweets and snail mail. There are some pretty dark days post-surgery and you all helped bring some much needed light into those days.

Blogging is a blessing - this has only been reaffirmed during the past week.

I'm not sure how much I'll be around this week. I'm still really sore and tired and it has taken me approximately 27 and a half hours to type this post. But I'm back...and still blonde...and still obsessed with Starbucks lattes (even though I've only had one since being released.)

And I'm wearing heels as I type this, even though I'm wearing sweatpants.

A bump in the road is no excuse to lose your swagger, after all.


Be blessed, lovelies-