Oct 29, 2012

The Most Epic Post Ever

Madeline Beard DIY + Home, Fashion costumes, fashion, halloween, inspiration, weekend 4 Comments

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.”

Woo! The last couple of days have felt like an unbelievable whirlwind. I had every intention of keeping up with SLB, but as suggested in the quote above, sometimes even the best laid plans don’t always turn out the way we envision. Between school, the excitement over Halloween and all of my other various responsibilities, I am just now getting the chance to sit down and take a moment to reflect a bit. This brings me to the title of tonight’s post, “The Most Epic Post Ever”. Pretty big build up, huh? I am referring to this as the most epic post ever simply because I have so many things to share from the past few days — just look at this as a fusion of Weekend Recap/Fashion Friday/Halloween Inspirations: Part II. I just found out that thanks to Hurricane Sandy’s projected path of doom, I don’t have classes tomorrow which feels like the most perfect timing. Just when life was starting to feel slightly overwhelming, I can now reel everything back in and spend the day getting my life together.

So, without further delay, let me get the ball rolling with a recap of Halloweekend 2012. The short version: it. was. great. The long version: I got to spend back-to-back nights in costume with some of the very best people I know, and the combination of the two made for such a fun time. Here is a photo from Friday night, when I dressed as Miss. Muffet (bucket labeled “Curds and Whey” included):

The second night I was a 90’s pop star (see this post if you are forgetting what the sparkly tube top was for). Unfortunately, I didn’t snag a photo of the costume on my DSLR, so an Instagram upload will just have to suffice:

When I get to dress up for something, I feel totally in my element. The past two nights weren’t any different and I am so happy I got to share these moments of euphoria with so many great friends. And now, let the count down for Halloweekend 2013 commence!

Last week, I also got the chance to feature one of the coolest ladies I know in my fashion column for The Eagle. You can read the article here.

Meet Katty Hargrave-Kerns:

Katty went abroad to Kenya her entire junior year of school and when she came back to DC, she had completely reinvented her style. I admire Katty for her sheer badass-ness (I know, not a real word but it’s the only way I can describe her). For one, she is one of the few girls I have seen successfully pull off dreads and still look absolutely beautiful with them. For two, she is able to incorporate all of the pieces she picked up in Kenya pretty seamlessly into her wardrobe, creating this whole new, eclectic style.

And finally, just a few more potential costume ideas for anyone who is still celebrating Halloween and might need a burst of inspiration. I wanted to focus on group costumes this time around, here are some of my favorites that I might just have to pull from next year:

All Time Favorite: Fanta girls

Most Relevant to Pop Culture: The Fab 5

For When You’re Running Out the Door: The cast of Girls

Tried and True: The Spice Girls

Best Coed Group Costume: The cast of Jersey Shore

Do you guys have any other good costume ideas? What did you end up dressing up as for this year’s Halloweekend? Tweet me or leave a comment below. If the power doesn’t go out tomorrow, I will surely be doing some baking/camping out in my apartment when the storm hits, maybe I can share an apocalypse themed recipe or outfit? More adventures to come, rain or shine.

♥

Oct 25, 2012

Keep It Light

Madeline Beard Fashion fashion, girly, lace, riding boots 1 Comment

This morning I woke up with a spring in my step which was surprising considering this week has felt like an uphill battle between myself and academia. While I’m not out of the weeds just yet, something about this day just made me want to feel good. Maybe it was the weather — warm and sunny but with the best parts of fall, like big piles of leaves just waiting to be jumped in. Or maybe it was this song, that my dear friend Cristina played for me yesterday:

Whatever the reason for my sunny disposition, I wanted to put together an outfit that outwardly reflected that. I chose a more girly color palette than I normally opt for, but offset the ensemble with some chunky brown socks and my favorite riding boots.

I don’t normally wear a lot of jewelry, but when I do each piece usually holds some sort of meaning or good memories. Today I wore two of my favorite necklaces, a delicate gold wish bone and a gold coin with my sign (Aries) printed on it. I picked them up when I was visiting one of my closest friends in LA two summers ago, and I feel like they give me a little boost when I wear them together — I like what they represent, the wish bone for optimism and the Aries for being true to myself.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph another good friend for my Eagle article. On Friday, I’ll post the article and the photos, but I wanted to give you guys a sneak peek:

And get excited, tomorrow will be the second part to my two-part Halloween Inspirations post! If you haven’t read the first one (and still need some costume ideas for this weekend), check it out here. More ghoulish and ghostly adventures to come, so stay tuned!

♥

Oct 23, 2012

Weekend Recap + Life at the Moment

Madeline Beard Food, Other Adventures adobe creative suite, chicken pot pie, weekend recap 1 Comment

This weekend feels a little bit like a happy distant memory — it’s hard for me to think that yesterday (or should I say two days ago now?) was only Sunday, a sure sign that it’s going to be one of those weeks. I have a website due next Tuesday, so the next four days will be made up of final design edits, rapid fire coding and troubleshooting. My main motivation: Halloweekend 2012. In an effort to prepare myself for all of the crazy, I stayed in on Friday and cooked enough food to feed myself for a solid week (so if you’re reading this mom, rest assured I am not going hungry). I decided to take a few culinary risks this time around, baking a whole wheat chicken pot pie from scratch — this glorious fall weather had me craving something hearty and filling.

Things were pretty hectic in the kitchen (my roommate Lindsey was prepping for a dinner party) so I didn’t get a chance to document a step-by-step, but you can find the recipe I used for the crust here and the recipe I used for the filling here.

Tonight I have had some serious one-on-one time with my computer. Here is a look at the site I am creating, definitely in a similar style of things I’ve already done, but I am finally getting around to utilizing my tablet! A small step towards moving out of my “DIY design” comfort zone, but a step nonetheless.

Any feedback would be great, after hours of staring at it, a set of fresh eyes is always welcome. Stay tuned tomorrow for a sneak peek at a very fun Fashion Friday post, for now it’s time to kick my Adobe Creative Suite into overdrive.

♥