pretty ladies

While in Austin I took a lot of outfit photos for other gals, and they helped me with a few of my own as well.  It's so much easier to do one another's outfit photos, especially since we all know each other and how we like our photos to look.  Plus, no one feels bad for asking for a detail shot, or a few of the shoes, or maybe a couple more just a little further away, or let's try a different background.  I always love being solely behind the camera, so it was fun to shoot other girls' outfit photos instead of just my own.  I grabbed shots of Julie, Moorea, Chelsea, and Tieka over the course of the weekend and here are a few of my favorites from the outfits photos I shot for them!


 


 

 

bottom photo taken by Tieka

here + there: austin edition

Austin is one heck of a photogenic city.  Also, a delicious city.  So many amazing restaurants and bars, I think I would need at least a month to fit everything in!  Next time I go to Austin I really would like to stay at the Hotel San José.  We stopped in there for a few drinks and appetizers on Saturday afternoon and it was just so beautiful and peaceful.  I think for next year's TxSC I might try to bring Dan and it'd be a blast to stay at the Hotel San José for at least a couple nights.

Every drink I had in Austin was amazing.  The drink in the top image is a Watermelon Jalapeño Margarita from Garritos  So refreshing and interesting.  I'm typically not a huge fan of tequila drinks, but I do enjoy them when they are complex and well crafted, and this one certainly hit the spot.  Plus, when in Rome!  I also got the Mexican Martini at Garritos and rather enjoyed that as well!

Anyway, if you ever have the chance to visit Austin, I highly recommend it.  I've been three times now and I've enjoyed it every single time, even in August when the temps are consistently over 100º.  It's definitely one of my favorite cities. 

 


 

 



 

meet dusty!

We have a tiny new furry family member!!  While I was sad to leave all my friends at TxSC, I knew we were taking home our little pup on Tuesday, which made coming home all the more exciting.  We couldn't be more thrilled with our little gal.  She is so well behaved, doesn't whine at night, and so far there have been no potty accidents!  I'm kind of blown away. We went to the vet yesterday afternoon to make sure she was healthy, and she passed with flying colors.  We named her Dusty, after Dusty Springfield who sings Son of a Preacher Man, our first dance song.  We could not for the life of us pick a name, but we just ended up calling her Dusty and it seems to fit her just fine.
One of the many reasons I wanted to get a puppy was to start the process of understanding what it means to be a parent.  While having a human child is different in many ways, I already feel my heart shifting to a place where it "gets" being a parent.  Kind of a weird feeling.  This little fuzzball already has such a large part of my heart.  She is our little bebe corgs.  All she wants to do is snuggle and, uh, I'm pretty okay with that.  Like, forever. 


 

 

We celebrated with a gift of a little wine on the occasion of bringing our canine daughter home.  We thought about doing a champagne, since champagne is typically a celebratory beverage, but we thought the popping of the cork might scare Dusty.  A nice white Chardonnay seemed like a better choice.  Plus if she knocked it over it wouldn't stain, haha!  I'd never had Sofia Chardonnay, and it's actually a pretty new wine just released in May, but it was really light, refreshing, and quite enjoyable. I seriously cannot with that face and the little feets.  She's a fluffy corgi, which is a little different from the normal coat.  Apparently it's a recessive gene, so they aren't super common, but I've also heard that they shed a bit less than normal coat Corgis, so that's cool if it's true!  And maybe she'll stay a little warmer in the winters.  Since she's a fluffy, she can't show due to the coat not being the proper length for the breed, but we weren't planning on showing anyway.  Though it would be super fun to do agility with her!  My mom and I watched a dog show with agility courses a few years ago and it was so much fun.  It reminded us of a mini version of horse showing!  Plus, Corgis jumping over tiny fences is slightly hilarious and adorable.
I'll try not to bombard you guys with too many bebe corg pictures.  This post is a little overkill but there were just too many cute ones and my editing skills disappeared.  I can't say the same for my instagram.  I've seen tons of people who create a whole new instagram account for their Corgi!  I just feel like it would be annoying to sign in and out all the time, but that could be a fun solution to overrunning my personal instagram with Dusty photos.  We shall see.




*Wine provided by Francis Ford Coppola winery. Thanks for supporting those companies which help keep Delightfully Tacky alive and kicking!

last friday night

Friday was a fun day in Austin because there were very few events planned and it was all fun stuff, no learning yet.  For dinner, I was invited to a little event with Minnetonka, and it was the first event of the weekend, so it was great to finally meet up with friends and meet a few new people.  I got to finally meet Savannah and Jenny from Maiedae!  I feel like Savannah and I could be sisters, it's kind of weird.  The Minnetonka dinner was definitely the most my-style type event the whole weekend.  Small, intimate, friends with whom I could have deeper conversations, yummy food, champagne... it was a good way to ease into the crazier swap event later that night.  And by ease into, I mean get buzzed.  No, I kid (sort of), it really was a nice kick off to the whole weekend.  I got to have great conversations, some with old friends, some with new, and it was fun to be able to walk over to the swap all together, with our bellies full of great food and drink.  

 


dress/courtesy of lulu's :: necklace(similar)/francesca's collection ::  clutch/courtesy of hearts :: shoes/courtesy of modcloth :: shades/vintage  photos of me by Tieka :: photos of the minnetonka dinner by Jenni photobooth photos by Peter Tung

The swap was pretty crazy, especially when we first arrived.  It was packed! Situations where people are elbow to elbow trying to grab clothes are some of my least favorite (see: black friday), so I hung back, chatted, grabbed one of the amazing cocktails they were serving and waited till things were a bit more chilled out.  Despite it seeming to be pretty picked over by the time I started searching for things, I got some great items, and I ended up wearing them during TxSC, so they'll be on the blog pretty soon!

After the swap a little group of us went out to a restaurant to grab a few apps and another drink before heading home for the night.  I'm pretty sure I fell asleep immediately, which was good because I had to teach my workshop the next morning!  Thankfully late morning.

more after the jump!



Even though the Swap was overwhelming when the doors first opened at 7, it really was an amazing event.  In addition to the 2 items that the swap-goers each brought, Lulu's seeded the swap with over 200 brand new pieces!  They put on an amazing event and it seemed like everyone left with some amazing items!  This year there were even a couple dressing rooms so you could make sure your items fit right before picking them out for good.  Last year we just grabbed and hoped for the best.  One of my favorite things about the swap is that each item that a swap-goer brings gets labeled with their name, blog, and twitter handle, so you get to find out who brought the item you snatched up!  It's a great way to get to know the history of the item, plus it's a fun way to network.




 



*Huge thanks to Lulu's for sponsoring my travel and lodging for Texas Style Council!!

peeks from texas!

I've been having a blast here in Texas!  Reconnecting with old friends, meeting online friends for the first time, meeting new people.  My feet are totally destroyed from dancing for hours at the prom party.  Here are a few instagram snaps from the weekend so far.  I'm exhausted so I'm gonna hit the hay, but soon I'll get some more photos up from this weekend!








top photo from Brickyard Buffalo and b+w photo from Maiedae