Party like it's 2009

With the year's biggest party night just around the corner, it is time to start thinking about the most important question of the evening...what to wear. New Year's Eve is an excuse to get super dressed up and drink annoying amounts of champagne with friends. What could be better right?!

So here are a few of my Polyvore attempts at a NYE ensemble. I am IN LOVE with the gold Arden B dress and I decided to go nuts with some accessory options. Obviously I won't actually be buying most of the things below (Check out the price of the red shoes) but I love the inspiration. Thoughts?!

First up: Girlie Gold - pretty and sweet.

NYE 2009 Girlie Gold by carrie_on featuring Arden B

Items in this set:
Bow Front Sequin Tube Dress - Women's Clothing and Apparel - Chic..., $88
Ivory 'Camilla' faux fur shrug, 56 GBP
Calton Heel - Nude, Badgley Mischka, $179.99 FREE 2nd Day Shipping!, $180
Nordstrom Satin Ruffle Clutch, $88
Park avenue pearls ring, $95

Next up: Hardcore Gold - A little edgy with a dose of funk.

NYE Hardcore Gold by carrie_on featuring Pretty Polly tights

Items in this set:
Bow Front Sequin Tube Dress - Women's Clothing and Apparel - Chic..., $88
Urban Studded Bootie, $27
Landver 18ct Gold Plated Onyx Stone 'Spike' Ring, $127
ABS Allen Schwartz - 80's Rock Studded Resin Wide Bangle (Black/Gold)..., $73
Breanna's 2 Inch Textured Multi Strand Gold Hoop Earrings, $39

Here we have: Total Bling - I heart glitter.

NYE 2009 Total Bling by carrie_on featuring J Crew bags

Items in this set:
Bow Front Sequin Tube Dress - Women's Clothing and Apparel - Chic..., $88
Oasis Crochet Sequin Jacket, Grey, XS, 70 GBP
TEEZE-10G Pleaser Bordello Gold Glitter Platform Shoes, $70
for her - $50 & under - Crushed glitter minaudière - J.Crew, $50
David Yurman Pave Quatrefoil Drop Earrings

And finally: Kiss Kiss - who ya smoochin at midnight?!?!

NYE 2009 Kiss Kiss by carrie_on featuring Arden B

Items in this set:
Bow Front Sequin Tube Dress - Women's Clothing and Apparel - Chic..., $88
Red Open Pleat Mac, 60 GBP
RED SWAROVSKI PEEP TOE PUMP, $1,995
HEART LOVERS NECKLACE, 266 GBP
Bijoux Heart Gold-tone pansy ring, $117

Playing Ketchup

I know my posts have been somewhat random lately, so I figured I would catch you up on my ACTUAL LIFE.

-- I attempted to de-grease my hair by rinsing it with vinegar. It actually seemed to work, although not as nicely as I would have hoped. I'll be trying the beer remedy next. Sorry if this grosses anyone out.

-- Our bedroom makeover is SLOWLY but surely coming along. Thanks to the evil boiler we had to dump that extra moolah into keeping ourselves warm instead of swank-i-fying the bedroom. Lame, I know. I snagged a few things from the mood board, but still have a few key pieces to go!

-- I have done ALMOST all of my Christmas shopping. Score.

-- I ordered a pickle ornament to put in our tree. I wanted it to be a surprise for Brian but the delicious champagne I consumed on Saturday night forced me to spill the beans. Oh well, I suck at surprises.

-- Still NYE plan-less. This can only mean one thing - spontaneous awesomeness is in my near future.

-- Speaking of the holidays - I am off from work from next Tuesday until after New Years. It is like having a real "Christmas Break" all over again!!

-- Brian and I (ok fine, mostly Brian) cooked so many delicious meals this week. Anyone else use YouveGotSupper.com? Based out of Richmond and I LOVE IT. Anything that prints out a grocery list for me is worth a shout out. We had: Skillet Caesar Chicken, Biscuit Chicken Pot-Pies, and Peppered Crock Pot Beef. Easy, yummy, and totally do-able even if you suck at functioning in the kitchen like me.

-- We caved a bought a Wii. Super Mario Brothers has already been beaten and we are working our way to collecting all of the "big" coins to unlock World 9. Whoa I sound like a total geek. Anyways, Wii is BANGIN. Although it really scares me that we are flinging those little controllers around like crazy people.

-- I attended a tacky Christmas sweater party this past weekend (I'm sure you did too - who doesn't?!) and DIY-ed the sh*t out of a sweater (that * is to keep this place as PG as possible - I've got a reputation to protect people!!). Talk about awesome.Sha-BAM!! In total, I think this amazingly tacky piece cost me about $28. Not too bad considering that I plan on wearing it every year for the rest of my life. Or I might just have to pass it down to my future children when they are old enough to appreciate such a masterpiece. And how did I make it you ask? Easy. Everything was from Ben Franklin Crafts - $10 red sweater, glitter glue, green felt (for that extra tackiness), weird mini ornaments, the word "Christmas" spelled out block by block (I think it was for scrapbooking?), jingly-bell fringe, and fake wrapped mini Christmas presents (the KEY to the whole ensemble).

Zoom on in. Sarah's DIY masterpiece on the left.

Here are some other great pics from the night, we had a blast:

I think this will be our Christmas card pic. It is kind of perfect.

DIY EXTRAVAGANZA!!! Next up, Valentine's Day??

DIY - The Wreath Edition

While the DIY C-Section probably takes the cake in terms of creative (and completely horrifying) DIY ideas, I must share my fantastico-work-in-progress Christmas wreath. Since my house is ridiculously cold and I must walk around wearing a woolen hat, Uggs, and a ThermalCare pain relief heating wrap (it's like my own personal heater!!), it is most definitely NOT too early to start decorating for Christmas. 

Brian and I hit up HomeGoods on Sunday to parooze the holiday schwag. I really wanted to get a wreath, but for some reason spending $25-30 for plastic-y and somewhat dorky (fake plastic Christmas birds?!) decor was too much for me to handle. And sparkly holiday snow squirted all over that plastic dorkiness?? Hmmm not so much. 

We left HG empty handed in terms of a wreath, but we did manage to snatch up some other goodies (You'll have to wait for my obligatory X-mas decor post for more on that). We headed over to Target (love!) to pick up a few other things and to check out their wreath selection. More crap there. I usually love all things Target, but the wreath selection was definitely lacking. But THEN I had a complete lightbulb moment. I could just buy one of those crappy plastic-y wreaths and cover it with Christmas bulbs and other fun non-dorky plastic-y things!! So we snatched up a large $14 piece of plastic-y goodness and lots of cute little bulbs. The thing is already looking better than its cheap-o cousins. Observe:

It's still a little sparse, but definitely much better than something like this, in my opinion:

Christmas threw up on this poor little wreath

In other news, I have decided NOT to post about T-Giving. I am totally T-Giving-ed out. I read lots-o-blogs and I'm totally done reading about turkeys and pies and gourds and Black Friday. And besides, it is December now and the OCD in me can't possibly post a T-Giving post in December. Anyways, I had a FABULOUS time with the fam in OBX, but I just can't bring myself to look at another picture of T-Giving food. For the record, I planned the entire menu and basically served as kitchen dictator for the meal. My kitchen better watch out; I swear I'm turning into a cooking machine.