The Ballad of the Blonde

Meet my prized jewel from my adventures abroad. This necklace was handmade in Thailand, I got it shopping at the floating markets, a place where you barter on boats, how fun that was, this thing wasn't necessarily the cheapest thing and I may have not got the best deal for it, but boy did I drive the seller crazy! How fun it is and has definitely become my new favorite statement necklace. After my travels I felt rejuvenated stylistically speaking.  I missed my blow dryer, I missed my excessive amount of beauty products for my hair and for makeup, I missed a closet full of clothes, and I missed high-maintenance nails, so in this outfit I decided I wanted all of them. And boy how much more confidence that gave me! The little thing make worlds of a different. I'm not afraid to be daring again in my wardrobe. Ironically I went pretty classic here but I've been paranoid of wearing pencil skirts lately so I overcame that irrational fear and felt great! ...

Well, confession, I thought looking good abroad wouldn't be a challenge, but it ended up with no laundry mats, no curling irons, and not having your whole weaponry of clothes, accessories, and makeup made it not so. So the outfit below is a representation of what I wore almost the whole trip, particularly when I got this fabulous dress in London. Please ignore the dorky bag wrapped over my shoulders, I was constantly paranoid of having my camera getting robbed in Paris, and justly so, a guy at this park kept hovering over me looking at my bag. But here's to unstyled hair, dirty clothes, and practical walking shoes! I thought I did a good job at not looking like a full-fledged tourist.