Zebras and Bullies

Just sharing a simple outfit I wore for a child psychiatry clinic. Most often I see kids on the autism spectrum during clinic, but this time we saw a young woman who was the victim of terrible bullying. Just horrible - both in school and on-line (cyber-bullying) - so bad that she stopped going to school and needed psychiatric help. She was an awesome unique kid, and it was great hearing her story and how well she was doing now.

Listening to her story brought back memories of my own middle school/early high school days- definitely not my best. I was initially bullied a lot, by both girls and boys (who just loved making fun of how skinny I was), but I took a little different route. I fought back (literally), getting into multiple fights and eventually joining a gang. No way was I gonna let anyone bully me.

Crazy right!!?? Silly, really. I turned my ways around and realized I was actually smart (thanks to Mr. Voltz, my biology teacher, who was the first teacher to actually tell me that), and fast-forward a few years and I'm on my way to becoming a doctor from Harvard Medical School. Life is crazy, and full of so many different roads to take. Thankful I was (eventually) steered the right way.

Life lessons in this post: don't bully people, and give kids credit for their accomplishments. We all need a little pat on the back sometimes, or someone to just say we did good.

Top, thrifted (Michael Kors- read about it here!)

Pants, American Apparel

Pumps, Max Studio

Bag, H&M

Belt, thrifted

Relaxed Plaid

Over the weekend we visited the crumbling Old Newgate Prison in Connecticut. I never intended to take pictures of this laid-back Saturday outfit, but once we got there we just had to snap a few shots. The first copper mine in America (1705), it was turned into the first state prison in the late 1700s. Sorry if you fell asleep at the keyboard with the mini-history lesson, but (nerd-alert) I love history!

Top, thrifted

Jeans, Vigoss

Mocassins, Minnetonka 

Thanksgiving Break

Just a few snapshots from the Thanksgiving Break (for what I wore on Thanksgiving, click here).

Although I cheated and began to celebrate the holidays a little early (see my Pre-Thanksgiving Cheer post) post-Thanksgiving is really when we get into the holiday spirit. We enjoyed the last of the pumpkin cream martinis and began enjoying eggnog drinks - like my eggnog coffee or my fave - eggnog and rum (post coming soon)!

One evening we had dinner at the greatest little pub, where we sampled the house brews and enjoyed the best spinach and artichoke dip ever. Ever. For any of you in the Western Mass/Northern CT area it's the Cambridge House Brew Pub. Definitely a spot to visit again!

Before dinner we visited the Old Newgate Prison, and sat in awe taking in the most gorgeous New England in November sunset. More photos from this spot coming soon!

I hope you all had great breaks and are ready to do big things this week! And thank you so much for all of your entries in my Marc by Marc Jacobs bracelet giveaway!

Red Lips and Faux Fur

We took these pictures right before going to bed on Thanksgiving. With tired eyes and full bellies we realized we hadn't taken one picture all day! Too busy enjoying the family, food, and drinks (mmm, pumpkin cream martinis). And passing my faux fur thing around. I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings and got to spend it with what's most important - those you love! 

Faux Fur thing, Gap

Dress, Macy's (literally a decade ago)

Tights, Express

Boots, Chinese Laundry

P.S. I also hope you've had your chance to enter my Marc by Marc Jacobs bracelet giveaway! It's my thanks to you for being amazing readers and supporting my blog! Thank you so much.

Giving Thanks: Giveaway! - Closed

As promised in my Thanksgiving post yesterday, I'm announcing a giveaway for all of my fabulous readers! Up for grabs is the fabulous Marc by Marc Jacobs Katie Turnlock bracelet, a gorgeous gold chain bracelet featuring a turn lock clasp. Bold and classic, this bracelet is a must for the season! Selling for $98, you guys have your chance to win it for free! Here's how:

Mandatory: You must be a follower of A Little Bit of Lacquer on Google Friend Connect. Just click the blue "Join this site" button to the right! Make sure to leave a comment saying that you follow.

That's all you have to do to be entered, don't forget to leave your comment! If you want extra entries you can do any of the following, and make sure to leave a comment for each one you do.

• Follow the blog with Bloglovin (link to the right)
• Like the blog on Facebook (link on the right)
• Follow me on Twitter (link on the right)
• Retweet the link to this giveaway (on twitter)

So that's up to five entries to win this gorgeous bracelet! Again, make sure to leave a comment for each entry you make (up to five comments); I will be randomly selecting a winner from the comments you leave.

This giveaway ends at 12am on Monday December 5th, and I will announce the winner Monday morning! Good luck, and thank you so much for reading! This giveaway is my thanks to you!

Update: Thanks again everyone, this giveaway is now closed. 

Gold Polka Dots

I'm sure you guys realize by now that most of the time I dress by the "less is more" principle; I really think simple is better. Some days though, I get an email telling me exactly what to wear. This was one of those days, and the email read "wear pants and an over-shirt or sweater that you can simply lift, making it easier to reveal only your abdomen." What was this girls gone wild? No, just med school, and we were learning the abdominal exam by practicing on each other. Sounds super creepy (at least to me) but my classmates are cool and all of our bellies are ok :)

Sweater, Lauren Conrad for Kohl's

Pants, Charlotte Russe

Pumps, Guess

P.S. It's the day before Thanksgiving! So excited to see my friends and family back home and give thanks (which I try to do a lot more often than once a year). I hope you all have wonderful Thanksgivings and check back on the blog tomorrow for a Thanksgiving post and an announcement!

Green Jeans and Leather

A comfy Sunday outfit that turned out a little more rocker than I had anticipated. The comfy booties and their thick, low heels were perfect for roaming around Beacon Hill after brunch on a gorgeous November day.

Top and Jeans, PacSun

Jacket, H&M

Scarf, Send the Trend

Booties, Charlotte Russe

Bag, Target

Room Crush

As the holidays approach, I begin to grow fonder and fonder of sequins. Don't get me wrong, sequins are fine by me any time of year, but it's something about the holidays that actually makes them feel warm. It should be no surprise then that as I browsed the virtual pages of this month's issue of Lonny Magazine, this room caught my eye. And it's all started with that gold sequin pillow. Add grey walls, gold accessories, and gorgeous white furniture, and I've got a room crush.

Lumberjack Laura

Happy Friday! Here's a fun fall outfit that made me feel like a lumberjack. All I needed was an axe (or whatever tool lumberjacks use) and my look would have been complete; I doubt I would've been able to walk around with an axe all day at the med school though. This Mr. T necklace is quickly becoming one of my favorites. The shoes on the other hand, I'm not in love with yet. I love the look of them, but on me they do a great job of making my legs look stumpy; I'll have to try them with a different outfit, suggestions?

Top and Bag, H&M

Vest, Old Navy

Jeans, thrifted (Madewell)

Shoes, Charlotte Russe

P.S. I am enjoying getting your comments so so much! I promise I am reading all of them, and I will get back to them this weekend! We're finishing our respiratory block today :)

Military Top

This is one of my favorite tops in my closet. Unfortunately I rarely wear it for fear of staining it (which I do every time I put it on). Last time I made the unwise decision of wearing it to a festival and eating (delicious) greasy food (check out the summer version of this outfit here). This time I just wore it to school, but with my luck I still stained it, with soap of all things! Curse you, gorgeous stain-loving shirt (almost called you stainophilic, but that would be way too nerdy)!

Top, Gap

Pants, Charlotte Russe

Pumps, Charles David

Bag, Target

Kristina over at Pretty Shiny Sparkly had perfect timing and decided to host a military chic inspired Bloggers Do it Better! Check out the other military inspired looks here! 

Grey and Gold Nails

 

A fun hospital-friendly manicure I did this weekend. I'm obsessed with gold and grey this season, what are your favorite nail polish colors for the season?  

Grey polish is Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Steel Grey; Gold polish is O.P.I. Dazzled by Gold. 

P.S. Thanks so much for all of your kind comments on my twitter and facebook pages regarding being named Glamour's Best Dressed Reader! You guys really are the best :)

Sequins and Stilettos

I wanted to look dressy but still casual, so for a recent dinner date I paired a gold sequin top (what can I say I was inspired by my Friday's Fancies) with a pair of distressed jeans. I finished the outfit with my sky-high stilettos (which I save for occasions that require sitting 90% of the time) and my favorite thrifted purse. What do you wear when you want to look dressy but maintain a more casual feel?

Top, Jennifer Lopez for Kohl's

Jeans, Vigoss

Pumps, Zigi Soho

Bag, thrifted

Coat, borrowed from my mom (Old Navy)

Rust Corduroys

Trying to soak up all the sunshine we could at the park this weekend. Hope you all are having wonderful weekends!

 

 Sweater, thrifted

Corduroys, Lauren Conrad for Kohl's

Boots, Charlotte Russe

Enjoying Now...

A hot morning coffee with a touch of eggnogg! Probably my favorite easy swap to get into the holiday cheer is trading my regular creamer for delicious eggnogg; it makes a perfect cup of coffee! To make it easy I use eggnogg from the carton, but here's an awesome recipe from scratch, of course I'd leave out the alcohol for the morning cup ;)  I'm off to make my second cup!

{top left via, all rest via}

Friday's Fancies: Casual Holiday Party

Happy Veterans Day everyone! And 11/11/11, if that's anything to celebrate (just a cool number I guess). Today's Friday's Fancies theme was gold, because if you can believe it {AV} is celebrating her 50th Friday's Fancies anniversary! Amazing, huh? I know that's super exciting for her, but I'm super excited because I get to see her again, as well a whole bunch of fabulous New England bloggers, next month for a Holiday Party! So what would one wear for a casual holiday party if one had extra large pockets full of dough? This of course!

I'd start with this surprisingly budget-friendly top ($35) from H&M {1} paired with these $300 black Citizens of Humanity jeans {2}. My favorite piece of all are these Christian Louboutin gold and black pumps {4} I first spotted in ShopStyle's Holiday Guide for $675. I'd carry all my little necessities like this gorgeous red lipstick {3} in this chic little bag {5}, also by Louboutin ($2,795). I'd finish the look with a bold Yves Saint Laurent bracelet {6} whose price I don't even want to convert from euros to dollars, and of course a beautifully wrapped gift!

Make sure to check out Long Distance Loving for all of the other gold-themed outfits!
Have wonderful weekends, and as always thanks so much for reading!

Keep It Simple

A simple outfit for running errands and catching up on life (and enjoying a mint hot chocolate, my newest obsession!). I'd love to know what your "running errands" outfits look like! Do any of you wear heels to run errands? I know I couldn't!

Top, F21

Jeans, Rainbow

Flats, Nine West

P.S. Thanks so much for all of your encouraging comments on my first beauty post! There will definitely be more to come! xoxo

Berry Lips

I wanted to try something new with you all today - I'd love to get your feedback! I'm not a huge makeup junkie, but one trend I love this season is berry lips! At 99 cents on sale (under $3 normally), I couldn't pass on buying this Wet N' Wild Mega Last Lipstick in Cherry Bomb (918D). And once I put it on, I thought it was too good to be true! This lipstick is super pigmented with a creamy matte finish, and I only re-applied once all night (out of habit more than necessity). It went on smooth and didn't dry out my lips (although I make sure to exfoliate my lips with a washcloth and apply a tiny bit of vaseline before application). Would you ladies go out with these berry lips? 

P.S. Like I said this is a new post style for me, so I'd love to know what you think! Would you like to see more beauty posts? And as always, thanks so so much for reading and supporting my blog!

Gold Studded

I have a small little confession to make, and please, don't judge me for it. Ok here we go: deep inside, I'm an old lady. A really really old lady who enjoys crafting and watching Antiques Roadshow. And sometimes I like to try and act my age, so I buy club dresses for when I go out dancing at clubs (which did actually happen this weekend). Usually, though, these club dresses never get worn. They sit in my closet until I find a more mature look to wear them with, like I did today. So now that you know my secret are we still friends? I hope so ;)

Dress, Great Glam

Cardigan, Urban Outfitters

Leggings, American Apparel

Booties, Charlotte Russe

Bag, thrifted

Romantic Fall

Now that November has arrived the gorgeous posts on Thanksgiving decor and table displays begin rolling in. I'm sure I'll add a post to that group soon, but I really wanted to share a romantic fall dinner fantasy with you. Imagine a cozy dinner for two, rich fall food (maybe apple walnut crisp for dessert), and romantic lighting. Keeping warm is a priority, so lots of cozy accessories (or even better - a fireplace) are key. What would you include in a romantic fall dinner for two?

{via, via}

{plaid blanket, lit branches, moccasins, apple candles, twig candles}

Blue Dress

As I promised yesterday, here's me not wearing comfy knits, and instead wearing a dress! Ignore the comfy knit tights. This was a cute little dress I bought this summer and have never worn, probably because the hem hit a little higher up than I expected, and I didn't think it was work appropriate. But now that the weather is cooler, the dress is perfect with opaque tights and boots!

Dress, Old Navy

Tights, Target

Boots, Jessica Simpson