Taxi Down the Street // Daily Outfit + Small Adventures

After working six days in a row, I finally had a day off, and what better way to spend a day off than browsing around Wicker Park in Chicago? It was a really lovely day - the weather was pretty good, albeit a little cold; and I even managed to park! (Parking in Chicago is one of my biggest fears.)

One of the biggest reasons I decided to drive all the way up to Wicker Park was so I could stop by the Buffalo Exchange, which is basically a really nice, upper-end resale shop. They sell gently used clothing along with vintage clothing. I've only been there a few times, but I usually find at least one nice piece. This time it was this adorable pair of shorts. They fit great (a rarity for me when it comes to shorts!) and are the prettiest color of brown leather. I was a little unsure of them at first, to be honest, because of the leather, but after texting Lauren, Amber, Sarah and Emily for advice, and getting back a bunch of "yes!" texts (Amber's wins best text: "Life without those shorts is an abomination." Lol!) I took the plunge. Twenty-seven dollars for a pair of Top Shops shorts!? Yes please!

Afterward I picked up a couple other small pieces + a soap cupcake from Mojo Spa for Maddie, I grabbed a thing of green tea froyo from iCream (not the best flavor out there, but it wasn't bad), took some outfit photos in front of this gorgeous flowering tree, and headed home. All in all it was a great, albeit tiring day!

Did any of you do anything interesting with your day off this past week?

♥ ♥ ♥       

dress: Francesca's Collections

jacket: Old Navy via Ebay
shoes: Xhilaration via thrift store

necklace: flea market

bag: Jo Totes

lipstick: Kat Von D Foiled Love in Valentine
title: Metropolis by Owl City

Aerie Review

Raise your hand if you're a girl who hates bra shopping! Ever since I started wearing bras I have hated it. It was impossible to find one with the support I wanted in my size, not to mention that the undergarments suppliers for Target, Kohl's and JC Penny's think that people in a C cup and above only want white, nude and black bras. Wrong! And there's always Victoria's Secret, but I'm a bit old fashioned and just can't stand that place! Plus they're so expensive. Boo.

And then, one glorious day I discovered Aerie. Aerie's slogan is "pretty goes with everything" and that's exactly what they have: pretty, lacy undergarments for women to enjoy and feel pretty in. I've been a fan of theirs for over a year now, and I thought it was time to share this great store with all of you!

They have sizes A-D (I really wish they carried DD and above), in all styles and colors imaginable, which is really nice! And their bras run about $50, with frequent 40% off sales. If you get one that's on clearance during the sale it's possible to pick one up for as low as $15! That's Target prices!

Their undies are also really cute - and super comfortable! They have girls briefs, boys briefs, boy shorts and thongs (I know this is a popular style but every time I see them all I can think is "how is that comfortable!?) They're usually around $10, but during the 40% off sales they're either 5 for $26 or 7 for $26 depending on which styles you get, so it's really not that bad of a price.

So there's the deets on Aerie. If you have one nearby I would highly reccomend taking a peek through the store. They've revolutionized the way I shop for bras + undies! ♥

Know Yourself // Honest to Blog

Sorry for my lack of posts this week! Life has been CRAY-ZEE! I promise to update more next week. In the mean time, here's an Honest to Blog post I wrote up a couple weeks ago:

Lately I've been thinking a lot about love. What I look for in a guy, what I want my next relationship to be like, etc. The thing I've found myself wondering most often, though is: where did I go wrong last time? The last time I had a crush on a guy he turned out to definitely be the Mr. Wrong for me. But why? I had my priorities straight, he just turned out to be not what I thought he was. I felt like I should have known, but at the same time how could I have? What was it about him that made him wrong for me? Then yesterday the answer hit me (and funnily enough, it's the same reason I found myself not liking a different friend of mine last year) he didn't really know himself.

Now I'm not one of those people that think it takes 20+ years to "find yourself" but I do think that a rudimentary knowlege of who you are is necessary to get through life. But the guy I liked had no idea who he was or what he wanted out of life - and because of that, I never really knew him. I liked an idea of him that I don't think ever really existed.

But I suppose it's no wonder that I liked him. I saw the pain that he was going through and I empathized with him maybe a little too much. Being hurt is something that none of us can control but we can control how we react to it. I don't want to let the pain I've lived through rule my life. I don't want to survive with open wounds, I want to thrive with scars. I think that's something that's really misunderstood about scars. There's always that emotional scene in books/movies when the MC is like "I have scars" as a reason why they're so distrustful/bitter, but that's a handicap - not a scar. I have scars on my body, and 99% of the time they don't hurt. Sometimes they do, if hit in exactly the right way, but most of the time they're just a part of me. An injury that I've healed and moved on from. Most of the time, they don't affect my day-to-day life. I want my emotional injurys to heal the same way.

And even though I'm a long way from it, I feel so much closer to that than I ever have before. I feel like a confident young woman - not a scared little girl. I've done so much over the past year that would have paralyzed me just a couple years ago (ok, not literally, but you get the idea!) and I am so proud of myself for that! I feel like, for the first time in my life, I know who I am, what I like and what I want. I love rockabilly clothing, classic cars and doowop music. I'm a nerd. I'm a country girl. I'm me and I don't need anyone to complete me. I don't want someone to be my missing puzzle piece I just want them go through this crazy thing called life alongside me so we can be awesome together.

Make sense? I hope so.

xo,

Katie Burry

In My Red Converse // Daily Outfit

This is one of my favorite photo locations ever. The city built a new baseball diamond in this park who knows when and just let this one to become overgrown and forgotten. It's such a beautifully eery place for photos. One of my favorite photo sets was taken here just last summer. ♥

Anyway, about this outfit: this is what I wore to work last Saturday. I've been wanting a pair of red Converse for a quite a while now as homage to the 10th Doctor (my favorite!) so of course I also wrote his catch phrase on them! Speaking of, did you all hear that David Tennant and Billie Piper will definately be in the 50th anniversary episode!? I squealed with excitement when I found out! *winks*

P.S. Is it weird that I don't like lacing my Converse up to the last eyelet, but instead stop at the second to last? The top eyelet just seems *so* high up on my ankle!

xo,

Katie Burry

♥ ♥ ♥       

dress: Trollied Dolly

cardigan: Maurice's
Converse: The Forest Bootery

belt: Francesca's Collections

necklace: gift from Emily

red hair bow: Hot Topic

lipstick: Kat Von D in Underage Red
title: Red High Heels by Kellie Pickler

Five Things for a Night of Pampering Yourself

Sometimes life sucks, and when it does there's no better way to hadle it than an evening in of spoiling yourself. Here are five of my favorite things for a night of pampering:

1. Cute pajamas, but I never have any, I found these adorable Lady and the Tramp pjs on Target's website, and now I'm thinking of getting them on payday! They're just too cute! ♥

2. Mud masks! They're not too harsh on my sensitive skin, but always get all the gunk out and leave my face feeling squeeky clean! I just used this Que Bella one last night and really liked it!

3. Two words: pretty. bras! I jut bought this pink lacy one from Aerie and I'm pretty obsessed! It's so pretty + comfortable! ♥

4. Chocolate!! Every girl's best friend, amirite? Lindt is my absolute favorite brand - so tasty and creamy!

5. What pampering night can be complete without painting your nails? This is my all time favorite nail polish: Russian Roulette by Essie. It not only goes on evenly, and smoothly, but also matches my favorite red lipstick! Score! ♥

Easter Brunch // Daily Outfit + Sponsored eShakti Review

Hello, all! I trust you had a good Easter. Mine was great! Since my mom's sister (who usually hosts Easter) was out of town my family went out to brunch at the hotel at a forest preserve on our way back from church. It was a lovely place, and the food was delicious! They even had a set up where you could get an omelet cooked to order with whatever put in it that you wanted, and a made-to-order waffle set up! It was great! Then afterwards we spent the day visiting family. It was really nice.

I've already done a general review of eShakti, so I won't get into the general awesomeness of eShakti in this post, but several weeks ago I was contacted by them again about doing a review of their spring line. I chose to snap up this beauty, and I'm really happy with it! I love the color + shape of it, and the quality of the material. It's lightweight so it won't be too hot in the summer, but not cheap feeling. I love that. ♥

I did have two problems with it, though. The first one was my fault. I love my other dress from eShakti, but for this one I wanted it about an inch shorter. I'm too scared to use the "higher than knee length" option when ordering from eShakti, since I can always shorten the dress, but I can't add length. So when I ordered this length I had a brilliant idea: put my height in as not quite what it really is, so the dress will be a bit shorter on me when I get it! It's a really good idea, I think, except that I said I was 5' 9" when I should have said I was 5' 7". Gaaah! So I had to take it to the tailor after I got it. Me and my blonde moments!

The second problem I had with it was the shoulder straps. They were really, really big on me. Like, the entire bust of the dress didn't fit right because I needed about an inch taken off each shoulder strap. I thought it might have just been because I'm short waist-ed, but then I remembered that Katherine had the same problem with her first dress from eShakti, which looks like exactly the same style... So I'm not sure what's up with that, but I love the dress, and I can't wait to wear it more this summer - especially after I get my crinoline petticoat! I think it will look super amazing with that! ♥

xo,

Katie Burry

♥ ♥ ♥       

dress: courtesy of eShakti
shoes: Target

cardigan: my mom's from Target

necklace: present from my parents
ring: 16th birthday gift from my parents

lipstick: MAC in Lickable

Disclosure: the dress featured in this post was provided to me from eShakti for review, and also includes some affiliate links.  All thoughts + opinions remain my own. 

Sexual Assault Awarness Month

I planned on posting this post a lot earlier on in the day, but when it's your baby sister's birthday stuff happens (like spending an hour playing Skylanders on the Wii with both of your youngest sisters).

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, or "SAAM." I think everyone has a favorite cause. Mine is sexual assault/abuse (due - in part - to a friend I had in high school), since today was the day of action for SAAM, I took the opportunity to wear the sexual assault awareness color, teal.

When I was 14 I found out that she had been/was being sexually abused, and thought we never talked about the abuse it's self, I saw the affect it had on her. I saw the terrors she suffered from (about stuff completely unrelated to the abuse), the low self esteem she had, and misconstrued idea of love. Sexual abuse ruined what should have been the most magical, innocent time of her life, and even now she'll have a lot of work ahead of her to regain what most of us take for granted.

She's not the only one. 1 in 4 girls will be sexually assaulted/abused before they turn 18. 1 in 3 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. This is not ok. This needs to end! And we can help. Sexual assault prevention is not discussed enough in our culture, and almost no one is willing to start up the subject of child sexual abuse. It's a disgusting war happening in our midst, and it hits so close to home and no one even wants to think about it, but that doesn't help. People have to know what's going to to know the symptoms of someone who might need help, and better yet - prevent it!

I've set up a donation widget on the right sidebar of my blog (below the sponsors). I couldn't figure out how to get a widget that would go directly to the organization, so for now the money will go into my personal PayPal account, and then on the first of May I'll donate everything that's been raised to either Darkness to Light or Rainn (thanks to Hannah for pointing out this great resource to me!)

Please take a day this month to wear teal and tell everyone why you are. I have a link up widget on the bottom of this blog post, and I'll keep it open all month so if you do be sure to add your link!

Before I close this post I'll leave you all with a few more statistics:

Common Symptoms:

- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Substance Abuse
- Self Harm/Self Injury

- Depression
- Flashbacks
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Sleep Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Dissociative Personality Disorders
- Suicide
- etc.

Source

General statistics:

- There is an average of 207,754 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year. 
- 44% of Sexual Assault Victims are under the age of 18.
- Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.
- 54% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police
- 97% of rapists will never spend a day in jai
- Approximately 2/3 of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim 

Source

xo,

Katie Burry