a few of my most wanted things

On June 16th, which is in approximately two weeks, I'll be going away for ten days of much needed fun in the sun, relaxing, and parading around The Magic Kingdom with my best friend. I'm so excited I can't even put it into words. Since I'll be gone for so long I'm going to need to take practically everything I own with me. I'm incapable of just packing the necessities. I've got to have it all. Always. Here's a sneak peak at a few things I plan on bringing with me which also doubles an a mini Summer Wish List because I still need to acquire quite a few of these things. 

I probably should've numbered these to make them easier to go through but oh well. I'll try to to left to right and in rows. Before I get into let me just say that, for the most part, this really is all wishing. I'll be tracking down much less expensive versions of most of these things for my vacation.

1. ALC Belted Silk Dress in a light brown color that's perfectly airy for summer days walking along little shops and sipping on strawberry lemonade. I think something like this would also double as cover up quite nicely. 

2. Christian Louboutin wedges. These are to die for. They're from the S/S 2011 collection and are called the Arielitta d’Orsay cork wedge. I couldn't find a link for them but you can probably find them at your local Louboutin store, Neiman Marcus, Saks, or Nordstrom. I can totally picture myself in these bad boys for a trip to the mall or a movie. I'd wear them paired back to a light khaki pair of shorts with something chiffon and flowy on top and big sunglasses. In my head this would be the perfect go-to outfit for looking nicely put together but effortlessly casual at the same time.

3. Kate Moss for Longchamp tote That link will probably take to the whole collection where the bag is featured in black but click to buy and the option for tan will come up. What I really love about this bag is that at first glance it almost looks like it's straw but it's actually leather. It has a very woven beach bag feel to it and it's huge so everything your day's adventures call for could fit in there comfortably. So perfect for beach days that could possibly turn into much, much more. Being from Miami I learned early on that it's never just a trip to the beach so I like to keep a change of clothes, nicer shoes, and a little makeup bag with me even if I leave the house with just the intention of going for a swim.

4. Calypso St. Barth Flutter Tee This comes in a whole bunch of beautifully bright summer shades and would be perfect to toss on with some shorts and a nice pair of sandals or wedges but at $75 it's a bit much for my wallet to handle. I found something similar at work that will do just as well for me. I've already bought it in like five colors. Express's Scoop-Neck Dolman is only $29.90 and feels like nothing once you've got it on. It's so light and fresh and looks amazing either worn on its own or layered over a tank. I basically live in this tee. I'm actually wearing it in white right this second. I can't get over it's slouchy perfectness.

5. All saints Chalcis Bracelet  Arm candy is my favorite candy in the summertime. I love layering on tons of sweet delicate pieces to make them look chunky and bold while maintaining something soft and elegant about them. Of course my bracelets will center around my new Pandora charm bracelet that I'm obsessed with but I plan on adding on pieces like this and bangles and little rope bracelets as well. 

6. I'm not going to link this because you can find it anywhere and I'm running late for a study sesh but number six on my list is Marc Jacobs' Daisy perfume. I wear this year round because I think it smells like heaven in a bottle but I particularly love it for summer. It's so fresh and flower and soft. All of my favorite things. 

7. Chloe Gladiator Sandals Turquoise and coral are my favorite shades for accessories so how could I say no to coral sandals? I love that these are a muted coral and not super bright. Clothing wise I live in whites, blush pinks, and pale nudes so these would be the perfect pop to an other wise pretty monochromatic outfit. Also, I haven't bought any sandals at all this year. It's already upwards of 90 degrees outside and I'll still running around in flats. Not that flats arent appropriate but I'd love it if I had something a little more seasonal. 

8. Next is a top from H&M. I'm not linking it because you can't shop online for their clothes. It's super depressing because I don't actually have an H&M anywhere near me. My friend that I'll be staying with on vacation has one close by her she hopefully we can take a trip and I can find all the amazing things people always find there. If not, I'm sure I can find something similar to this top some place else. What I love about it is that it's so feminine and has such sweet details like the straps that tie in little bows at your shoulders. No matter how lazy you are putting an outfit together something like this keeps you from looking like you just rolled out of bed. 

9. DVF Maryelle Striped Bikini I'm ~curvy~ so I prefer a high waist bottom when going for a bikini. You know, something to hide what the hours I spend at the gym can't seem to eliminate. This reminds me of Victoria's Secret Bombshell bikini. I love the vintage feel and the stripes. I'm one of those people (the ones most of you probably shake your heads at) that loves to do it up for hanging around the pool. I can picture myself in this with red lipstick, some waterproof mascara, and killer wedges. Unfortunately It's been sold out in most of the places I've gone looking for it and I refuse to order swimwear without trying it on first. Hopefully I'll have some luck with it before I leave. 

10. Essie Nail Polishes All of these colors can be found at the linked website for about half of what they retail in places like Ulta. I'm a crazy nail polish junkie so if I don't want to go completely broke in a matter of minutes I've got to find the bargain prices. The colors I've chosen as my summer favorites are Borrowed and Blue (a pastel sky blue), Your Hut or Mine (A deep hot pink with silver shift), and Lion Around (A soft pink with silver shift). Borrowed and Blue was from this years wedding collection and the other two shades are from the 2011 resort collection. They're all such pretty colors I honestly couldn't narrow it down to just one favorite. I tend to stick to pinks most of the time so Borrowed and Blue is perfect when I'm looking for something different. Lion Around is a gorgeous everyday color and Your Hut or Mine is beautiful when you're looking for something a little bolder. 

11. Dior Tortoiseshell Sunglasses. One of the few things on this list that I actually already own. I got mine at Nordstrom but they can also found at Saks, Dior boutiques and other fine retailers. Call me superficial but I love having designer sunglasses. I'm not sure it's just because of the name on them or if it's the fact that most cheap sunglasses tend to look just that, cheap. I own tons of less expensive glasses, too, but nothing looks as polished and finished as a nice pair designer glasses. Of course the opposite could be said as well. There are some pretty heinous rhinestone encrusted tacky ones out there, too. I've also found that, for the most part, if you spend a little more on sunglasses they tend to be sturdier than like $10-$20 pairs you can get in Nordstrom's BP section or the really cheap ones you find at Forever 21. Sturdy is important to me because I throw my sunglasses around and drop them and generally treat them terribly and yet expect them to last forever. 

12. Khaki shorts. This pair happens to be from H&M so I can't really link it but my go-to pair for this summer I actually purchased at Forever 21 for $9. They're linen cargo shorts that fit totally loose and slouchy which is exactly how I like my short shorts to fit. Much like half of this list, I couldn't find them online to add a link. Light colored, lightweight shorts are the perfect bottom to pair back to any top at all in the summer. Everything looks nice against them. Brights pop and stand out while neutrals and pastels blend without looking too blah. 

happy memorisale day!

In honor of the Memorial Day trip up to Orlando that I ended up staying home from because of my grandfather's condition and my stupid job Mandy and I did a little shopping. Mainly because it's her aunt we were going to see so she had to go with or without me but also because who can say no to Memorial Day Weekend Sales? The following items were purchased Friday night in a surprisingly short amount of time.

                    

I got this necklace from Old Navy for five bucks and change. I loved the ribbon flower detail. I wore it to work yesterday and got loads of compliments on it. Definitely a good buy. My only complaint is that my hair is so long that the flower gets lost in it and even when I pull my hair back the flower likes to flips around a lot. 

This is also from Old Navy and I got it for like $4.50. It's a simple brass chain with the sweetest little cream, yellow, and coral floral ribbon woven through it. I wore it on Saturday and pulled it around so the bow would show as well instead of the the chain part. This will definitely be getting packed for my June vacation. It feels like the embodiment of summer. 

My last item from Old Navy. It's a little bracelet that's half oddly shaped pearls and half braided together denim, striped ribbon, and brass chain. I haven't worn it yet but for the $2 it cost me I couldn't say no. It feels very sailor inspired but sweet at the same time and makes me want to be at the beach or sailing away into the sunset. 

Now onto my Forever 21 finds. Sadly there will be no clothes as this was a strictly accessory trip for me. Compared to my Old Navy finds this necklace seemed pricey at $6.50 but once I realized that, for a necklace, that was still dirt cheap I wouldn't put it down. This is awkward picture that makes the stone look off-center but in person it's right in the middle and looks so bright and exciting against all of pastels (which is basically everything in my summer wardrobe). The big plus was that it was pretty much the only silver piece of jewelry they had that night. I'm not a fan of that really cheap and fake looking plasticky bright gold that you normally find at Forever 21. I don't even really care for real gold very much. 

This is my last one. It's a loosely woven scarf from Forever 21 that was only $5.50. The base color is a really plain off white but is has such beautiful bright colors woven throughout. It's perfect to use as a head wrap for those days by the pool reading magazines and sipping on delicious drinks. This will also being coming with me, no doubt about it, in June. 

Add me on Instagram: cherhorowitz

So I know I'm a little bit tardy to the party but I kept seeing people talking about this Instagram app on my tumblr dash and I knew I'd had it downloaded for a while but I'd never really used it before. I had originally downloaded it because it looked like a free alternative to the Hipstamatic app but it's really so much more. It's a social network that I can be described as twitter-esque where you can post pictures and give them vintage effects and share them with anyone you follow as well as liking other pictures and leaving comments. You can also upload straight to flickr from there. I started really using it yesterday and after I posted the first two or three pictures I was hooked! My username on there is cherhorowitz if you'd like to follow me. 

My instagram shots up there also my day in pictures for yesterday. I woke up at an obscenely early hour to go to the gym and then the beach but my plans were foiled by my friend sleeping in so I spent the first couple of hours of the day just playing with my new app. Then, once she finally woke up, we went to Starbucks with her mom for some breakfast which, for me, consisted of an iced tall soy caramel macchiato with extra caramel and a birthday cake-pop. Afterwards we dropped her mom off at home and headed out on a nail polish mission. Mandy found this place where you can buy Essie polishes for $3 and O.P.I for $4 so we went over there and I bought five Essie colors for about the same amount I'd have spent at Ulta on two. It was really exciting. I bought Topless & Barefoot, Fiji, Van D'Go, Angle Food, and Borrowed & Blue. Since last night I've used probably all of them and taken them all off. The colors are gorgeous but Essie polish and I have our differences. That's a topic for a whole other blog post, though. After our polish party we went to Victoria Secrets to check out bathing suits and I found this amazing Bombshell one-piece that has the sweetest little side ruffles and boning that totally makes me look knockout awesome. Unfortunately they didn't have my size though. I went a size down because I figured if I can close the size I was looking for all the way at the last tab and it's still a little loose maybe I could just use the first tab on this and it would fit okay. The answer was no, though, so I'll be spending the rest of today on an exchange mission. Then we had lunch at Chipotle, which is not pictured, and I had to go to work. I'm such a good employee, I cut my day in half to go in for three hours just to help my favorite manager close. Where is my gold star, Express? After that I talked my dad into buying me Pinkberry for Dinner and I came home and did my nails. Exciting, right?

So now it's a whole new day and I'm still sitting in bed painting my nails because, like I said, Essie and I don't see eye to eye. I ended up going with Steady As She Rose from O.P.I's Pirates of the Caribbean line which is a purple/cement color. From pictures I've seen  I thought it would be more of a white/pink but this is actually a really pretty color and not as similar to all of the other colors I own as I thought it'd be. As soon as my nails dry I'm heading out to Starbucks and then for some shopping and hopefully bathing suit exchanging. Buying a new camera is also on my to-do list today all though that highly depends on how much of it I can talk my mom into paying for. My old camera which had been in the process of dying a slow and painful death finally kicked the bucket last night with a never ending lens error message. When I got home tonight I'll hopefully have some pictures with my new camera to post which will be great because I'll probably also have some shopping to post about. 

Until next time, cuties.

xoxo