Tongue Tied

I want to write something, something about my vacation, something about the clothing I thrifted or something about my recent body image issues.

 Seriously though in reality I cannot find the words to even start a post, but I don't want to leave my readers hanging.  Ive got so much to write about and my brain is about to spill and the words are on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't get them out. 

So for now I am hoping all is well with you and yours, I don't know if I have any readers from Alabama but my heart goes out to the people there. As well as to the people in the Stonybrook trailer park in Raleigh, NC. I don't know what is up with Mother Nature something serious is stirring in nature. 

Until the words finally come to me, I will be blog surfing and reading my books to maybe get some word inspiration. 

Easter Bunny

Happy Easter everyone!

I down in North Carolina this weekend to spend sometime with my mom for easter. I have been busy raiding my Mom's closet, shopping some thrift stores and just spending some nice time with my mom in general. The weather has been nice although it has been a little to hot for me.

I also had to figure out how to affix my camera to a tripod that didn't have the piece that connects the camera to it, but I figured something out and I managed to take a few pics.

I am also currently making the Easter dinner today for my family as I type this post so this is going to be a short . I promise to go into more detail when I get back.

Petticoat Alley polka-dot dress/ Bandolino gold sandals borrowed from my Mom/ Topman straw hat

Jump!

Shopping My Moms Closet

Not even here a day yet and already I have a few pieces picked out of my Mom's closet.







Christian Dior top/ August Silk African print silk skirt/ hand made necklace
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Do I Really Sound Like This?

Two weekends ago you all know that I went on a Thrift and the City tour with my NYC Fashion Bloggers Meetup Group. 

Well I was interviewed. I cannot believe I said @ 0:22s, my mom is gonna kill me. 

Thrift and The City Testimonial from Monroe Steele on Vimeo.

Definitely I learned a lot on the tour, and I hope to go on another real soon.

(I have not heard my voice since I used to sing awhile back so I kinda scared myself and I really hope that I don't sound like this.)

Water for Elephants Premiere NYC

This Sunday I made the God awful mistake of going down to the Zigfield Theater to watch the red carpet arrivals for the stars of the new movie Water for Elephants. 

Now while I am a big fan of Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon, ( I just love her style), and I have read the book, I do not go to red carpet premiers at all and now I will never do it again. 

To give you an example on how crazy it was, over 200 people stayed all night Saturday from 7 pm to 9 am in the worst weather possible, ( it was pouring all night with lightning and high winds) just so they could be on the front line to get signatures and photos.  My friend did it and God bless her she got all the signatures and pictures to set her for life.( I am crazy but not stupid my health isn't perfect I just wasn't going to chance getting pneumonia) 

When I got to the area there were probably over 500 people waiting for 3 hours already. I stayed as long as Robert passed by and grabbed a pix and left, people were pushing, pulling and just being god awful with their attitudes. I just could not take it. 

But as I was leaving I did manage to see Reece Witherspoon (she is tiny in person) and she looked amazing, freshly from her wedding wearing a solid rock on her finger almost in a wedding like white dress,  I didn't know it at the time but she was wearing a white Jason Wu dress from his Fall 2011 collection. (I do remember seeing it and loving it) and a pair of gold strappy Christian Loboutins ( I would have worn the dress with a pair of solid heels in a pink or purple)  Her hair was worn in a loose up do and her make up was light and breezy. 

c/o web

I really love this dress, I wonder how it would look in a longer cut (as in wedding dress length?)

I have to say after seeing a couple of Jason Wu's dresses  I am in love. He has designed some of the well known dresses seen at award shows and red carpets, most famously he designed Michelle Obama's white dress for the inauguration ball. 

Robert by the way looked dashing as usual, I still don't know who made his suit but he wore it well.

Rob and Reece c/o web

My advice for anyone, do not go to a premier!  

Being Grateful

I know I haven't done a FBFF questionare in a very long time, but life has been pulling me in 5 directions, if not more. But when I saw the questions at the beginning of the month I knew I had to do this one.

1.  When it comes to me personally – I owe a lot of who I am to:

Damn, now I'm going to cry.....

My mom, I love her and she will always be a big influence in my life. My mother worked hard to get where she is and have the things she has. She is also very humble and giving, never putting herself before others. I hope that I could be at least 10% of what she is. 

my mom back in the 1970's 

2. When it comes to be professionally – I owe a lot of who I am to: 

My boss, Bob, he has given me opportunities to grow and develop skills that boost my confidence. 

3. When it comes to the art of blogging, I’m grateful to these people

for helping me through some rough spots: 

My two best friends David and Karen. They both support me through my silly times.

4. One blogging challenge I’m grateful happened because it made me

stronger was…

Taking the pictures for my blog, I always was self conscious with taking pictures but now after a few thousand its almost becoming second nature. Plus now with taking so many I know my angles and what works for me and for the people I take pictures of. 

5. To my readers, I’d like to say… 

It takes work to do anything new sometimes and while you may not get it the first time keep trying.   Never give up on anything and also set attainable goals. 

Be yourself, don't try to be perfect. Show your faults, your hidden talents, your thing uniqueness, the things that make you human and that bring you down to your readers levels.
Readers want to know the real you. 

Having a bazillion followers isn't important because you cannot appease them all. When you have followers it should be because they like you and what you do. 

Love it, Live it, Breath it

Truck Touch-up

I was sitting in my boss' office and while I was waiting for my boss to get off the phone I was comparing my nail polish ( don't ask me why I had the nail polish bottle in my hand) to the color of our trucks ( well a mini one that is) and I noticed that it was the same color. 

Oh and by the way the nail polish is mango scented. Can you imagine mango scented concrete trucks all over the city. 

Revlon's Mad about Mango or Ferrara Orange?

So I told my boss, when he got off the phone, if the trucks need a touch up we should stock up on this color. He laughed! 

When I was younger I used to paint my brother's Matchbox cars with my mom's nail polish. I actually did a great job. 

what the color looks like on. 

Did I ever tell you I work at a concrete plant? 

No?

Well I do, I have a title but I really do a lot here, to many to list and sometimes I wear this fine ensemble. 

I decorated the helmet myself. 

its not the cleanest place to work, construction boots required.  

My office is in this garage. Definitely not a place for heels.

My company is one of the top companies in the city, we have 3 plants that produce concrete 2 in Queens and 1 in Brooklyn, we deliver to 4 boro's in the city Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx. We have provided concrete to Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and we are currently providing for the water tunnels, the 2nd Ave subway line and the World Trade Center site among many others. 

I love my job, I have learned so much, met many great people and has given me many opportunities to do so many things. I am not tied to my chair everyday and because I do so many things, it breaks up the monotony of a day, week, month, making them pass so quickly.  It doesn't hurt that I get great benefits and get paid well. 

The only thing I miss are wearing dressy clothes and having the ability to wear heels. I mostly wear jeans, boots, and a tee. (not very appealing,  really) I do try to mix up the tops, wearing ruffles, florals, sheers, satins and feminine blouses. People at my work can tell you I am almost always wearing my "equestrian" boots. ( I have about 4 different styles)

I wake up at the crack of dawn to start work at 7 am and sometimes I see this when I arrive at work. Who said heavy industry has to be ugly. 

R&Em Spring Party and Keiko Lynn's Spring 2011 Lookbook Premiere

This week I got to attend the R&Em Spring party for the premiere of Keiko Lynn's lookbook. I cant even put into words of my excitement for this event. So while it was literally thundering and lightning outside we drank champagne, snacked on some fruit and cakes and made some Spring bouquets to take home.

R&Em has become my favorite handbag line hands down! I have one of their bags, its my go to Spring bag, since they first debuted at Macy's back in February and I love it to death. Their animal friendly designs are classic and are at a great price point ($15-$108). The are exclusive with Macy's so check out their other pieces here.

Click here to see the lookbook 

a bouquet that I put together, the colors based on the florals of my skirt. 

I finally got to wear my Manhattan Skyline necklace that I blogged about here. I got a lot of great compliments on it and I directed people to the site where I got it.

R&Em Jett Convertible Perforated Hobo Bag/ Target orange satin tank/ Tracy Reese floral skirt/  black knee high studded boots/ Plastique Manhattan Skyline necklace 

I love my original bag, but I really was torn between it and another bag at the time of purchase, but when I got news that I can choose a bag to take home and the choices included the bag that I gave up I quickly snapped it up. 

my new bag complements of R&Em

More pics after the break

Thrift and the City

This past Sunday was another New York Fashion Bloggers Meetup with a nice tour of a few Thrift Stores all over the city. We went up town, cross town, and down town, it was the Thrift and the City Shopping Tour. 

We met in Union Square in the morning and jetted out from there. Although before we left we had a minor detour in to Nordstrom Rack were I put aside some shoes that I bought when we came back. 

But we had a driver named Edward ( he was Russian and very nice) pick us up in an Escalade and drove us all over the city. 

Coffee first at Au Bon Pain

To the rack we go

Cynthia, Janique, Jerrica, Monroe, me, and Pamela

wearing my thrifting outfit: a base of leggings and a tank, easy off shoes, snap button shirt and light bag. 

I didn't leave the rack empty handed. I got a nude nail polish by Opi called Sand in my Suit and I got these bad boys.  Grey wedges- Mia 

Our driver Edward was soo nice. 

First stop Housing Works. 

I got this unnamed dress for $25

Stop #2 Angel Street

I bought a Tracy Reese skirt and a few scarfs here. There was a peach suit by  Escada  I was tempted to buy for my mom, wasn't so sure of the size. 

Stop #3 small little shop in the back of Angel Street that had a lot of vintage jewelery and cute pieces. 

Hey Martha!

cute but mean puppy out side of a small parking lot thrift market.

I didn't buy anything here but it was worth taking a look. 

Stop #4.5 I bought a nice light blue Express clutch here for $7

For stops #5 and #6 we went to another Housing Works and Vintage Thrift where I found a nice midi length floral skirt for $30 

All in all it was a great day of thrifting. I do want to go back to a few of the stores and spend at least an hour in them to shop. I am actually probably going to do some thrift shopping when I head to NC next week to visit my mother. But I may not have to because I may shop my moms closet since she has a lot of great pieces.

Add caption

Illegal Leopard

H&M leopard tank/ unknown lace back cardi/ Zara white pants/ Nine West Chicness boots

I haven't had white pants in a million years since my amazingly fitting Diesel's and I felt like it was time to get a new pair. My boots were a great find, I originally saw them on a  post by The Budget Babe in this post here. That post led me to get the boots on Amazon for more than half off the original price so I couldn't pass them up.  

OK, so almost everything here I am wearing is new, I have kinda been on a shopping spree as of late.

Hi, my name is Nicole and I am a shopaholic.

 I just feel my wardrobe has been inadequate for my mood lately. I have been all over the place with my mood, and my wardrobe hasn't been able to keep up.

I have always been all over the map as far as my wardrobe is concerned. I never had just one style, my outfit choices really, are what suits my mood for the day, week, month or year. I can go from grunge to classy chic to preppy etc. I am actually kinda limited to what I have in my closet, hence the shopping.

Sometimes I think I feel the feeling of the wardrobe being inadequate is the lack of something. I just haven't figured what I am lacking. Its frustrating not knowing what it is though.

Until then my bank account will be on the low side.

My title came from this

Mango & Marie Claire Night of Style

Last night I attended Mango & Marie Claire's Night of Style at the SoHo Mango store here in NYC. Since I love Mango and I try to attend the NYC Fashion Bloggers Meetups I went. 

the store had a red carpet rolled out. 

MNG cardigan/H&M skirt and shirt/ Madden Girl Oxford wedges/ Target tights and belt/thrifted bag

I hope Monroe wont kill me for this shot. 

Zanna Roberts Rassi who is the Senior Fashion Editor of Marie Claire US was there looking all sassy in her long pleated grey skirt. 

Me and Zanna Roberts Rassi

There was a contest that I entered with the following outfit to be randomly chosen to win a $500 gift card to the store. I didn't win but I enjoyed putting the outfit together, I even mixed it with my own MNG cardigan and thrifted handbag. 

My Mango outfit , the girl behind me won the $500 certificate. 

Those of us who bought something got a gift bag from Marie Claire. I bought a pair of high waisted shorts that I plan to rock very soon. 

in the Zara store (L.L. Bean trench)

Afterwards the girls and I went into Zara and Urban Outfitters and then walked up to St. Marks Place to the   Wafels & Dinges cart for some yummy waffles.

Sorry no photos of the waffles, they are too yummy to wait to take a picture of them. 

Me and Yanil having way to much fun with the app pockebooth