twice Lieb-ed

Just a few days ago, Natasha, of Polished Avenue (Colorado blogger, hey girl heyyyyyy) nominated me for the Liebster Award. I was last nominated back in January of 2014 (read it here - that feels so long ago).

The purpose of the Liebster award is to recognize the hard work of new(ish) upcoming bloggers and to introduce you, the reader, to new blogs you might be interested in adding to your reading rotation. After someone is nominated, they are asked to answer eleven questions that reveal information about them that you may not find out in their daily posts. They are then asked to nominate 11 new bloggers, and you know, carry the whole thing forward ;)

1. How did you get into blogging?

I stumbled upon (literally. via StumbleUpon) A Pretty Penny in the fall of 2011 and was immediately intrigued. After discovering more and more fashion and style blogs, I kept thinking to myself "I could do that," and so, I published my first post just over two years ago (more about that here).

2. If you could have anyone’s closet, who’s would you have?

Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. So classy.

3. Who is your celebrity crush?

Just one? Ryan Gosling. Channing Tatum. and Ryan Reynolds. 

4. First thing you would do if you won the lottery?

Try to figure out how much tax would come out of my earnings...

5. One song on your playlist you’re embarrassed by, but would never delete?

The version of "Beauty and the Beast" from the Disneymania album.

6. You’re going to a dinner party tonight. What are you cooking?

Wine.

7. All time favorite tv show?

Friends.

8. What is one beauty product you can’t live without?

For my hair, my hot rollers. For my face, mascara. Bare lashes are not my best look.

9. You’re at Starbucks. What do you order?

A soy latte, or an Americano - depends on if I'm feeling the need to indulge my sweet tooth or not.

10. What is your cure for a bad day?

Snuggling with my pups, Netflix, and ice cream

11. What’s a fashion trend from your childhood that you want to bring back?

White Keds. I got a new pair every year for school and I would try SO hard to keep them white and unscuffed as long as possible.

And now, here are some bloggers you might enjoy - some have been doing this for a while, so they're not quite new anymore, but I think you'll enjoy them just the same ;)

A Pretty Penny

The Caffeinated Closet

Classically Carissa

The Middle Closet

Galvanized Glamour

Jamie's Rabbits

Style Assisted

My Boring Closet

The Adored Life

The Denver Darling

Country Girl in Stilettos

lime green sweater: Old Navy // black leather skirt: thrifted

fleece-lined tights: Target // booties: Kohl's

scarf: Pendleton // red coat: Old Navy

rockin' the Rocksbox

Have you heard of Rocksbox yet? It's the newest way to try out jewelry before you buy it. For a small monthly fee ($19. just a few Starbucks trips, really), you can rent several pieces of designer jewelry, and then, once you discover how much you love your pieces (which will be a lot), you can purchase them - at a discount!

Designer jewelry you can test-drive and then get on sale?

Things I'm into.

Below are the first three items I got in my first month. I filled out a short style profile on their website, and a stylist put together my first package. They arrived a few days later in a little box, each in their own little jewelry pouch, with a card that listed the name of each item for reference.

You get 3 items at a time - in my first delivery: a beautiful & delicate cuff bracelet, statement necklace & matching earrings.

Gorjana Twist Cuff

Perry Street Charlotte earrings

Perry Street Whitney necklace


I recently wore the necklace for an outing with friends (see it on Instagram) and couldn't believe how many compliments I received (A LOT. I told everyone about Rocksbox).

And now, for the big news...

*drumroll please*
with this code sweetbananiexoxo, you (yes, YOU!) can get a free month of Rocksbox!
Designer jewelry hand-picked for you, delivered straight to your door.
This code is good for the next 30 days, so don't waste any time and be sure to get your fancy on.
Perhaps in time for Easter?
Or sorority brunches and luncheons you might be helping to plan?
Or upcoming spring garden parties? Maybe some crocquet?
And if you're not on top of your game, and enter the code AFTER the 30 days are up, you'll still get your first month for half off. Still pretty cool, amiright??

So, go, sign up, use my code, and let me know how much you love Rocksbox and your fancy new "pretties."

what not to wear when shopping

So many layers. It's so weird to think of snow and cold when we've had beautiful weather the past few days. But, it won't last. Spring in the Rockies is a fickle little beast - 70 degrees one day, gross snow the next. And everything else in between the few days after. 

I wore this heavily-layered ensemble to do some shopping with my Mama, and it took me so long to try anything on - layers on, layers off, static-y hair, boots, snow, slush. You know how it is - shopping in the winter. It's quite the ordeal. Where do I put my coat? Is it worth trying on? It's going to take 20 minutes to de-robe before I can even try on this top...

Good news is, my Mama and I did make a few small purchases.

So we didn't totally let the retail gods down ;)

tank dress: American Apparel

buffalo plaid button up: Kohl's

fleece-lined tights: Target

sleeveless sweater: Eddie Bauer

boots: c/o Aéropostale

2 years later

Today marks two years that I’ve been doing this blogging bit (here's 21 March 2013 and 21 March 2014). And with that, comes reflection. What this little blog should look like moving forward. What you’d like to see. Why I keep doing it. Why it’s easy to be discouraged. Laugh at old outfits. Laugh at how my photo editing hasn’t changed much.

So, what would you like to see more of (or less of) here on Sweet Bananie?

Yes, I do this blog for me as a fun hobby and creative outlet, but it does feel nice when I know people read it and hopefully are inspired by it.

So, tell me - what would you like to see?

Style challenges?

More ways to style an item?

More jokes?

More pictures of my bulldogs?

I would love to hear any suggestions you may have. Please let me know in the comments or email me at sweetbananie@gmail.com

And looking back a bit, here are my most viewed posts of all time,

this month, and this week.

Thanks for reading!!

can't win 'em all

This outfit looked so much better in person. Like, 100 times better in person. Trust me. It (and I) photographed terribly. Is it all the black? All the dark colors? The stripes? The fleece-lined tights? The cold? Maybe it makes my face puffy?

I just don't know. But I do know this is clearly not a great outfit. I look a bit shapeless and that's not doing me any favors. But, in the interest of real style and transparency, here's what I wore! And as great as some looks were earlier this week (here and here, oh, and here), this one just isn't competing. 

But, I'm a real person, with real style, and a real life, and a real job, and real wrinkley dogs, and sometimes, my real outfits aren't so great. *sigh*

linking up with:

Style Elixir

dress: Target

cardigan: Ann Taylor

fleece-lined tights: Target

boots: c/o Aéropostale

taupe & gray

All of the taupes and grays.

All of the knits.

And all of the scarves.

This day was frigid cold, which called for a warm sweater and not one, but TWO scarves. I had a surprise coffee date with my best friend, and she kept gushing over my taupe and gray ensemble. And to be honest, it's something I didn't put much thought into, but I knew I liked both colors, and thought "They look decent in home decor, so why not on a person?"

And, ya know what? I like how it turned out.

However, I'm hoping I don't have to wear this heavy of a sweater (or two scarves) until next winter. Fingers crossed!

oh oh, and linking up all over the place:

Jersey Girl, Texan Heart

Cappuccino and Fashion

A Touch of Tartan

Stylin in St. Louis, Living in Color Style, and Coffee Beans and Bobby Pins

I do deClaire and Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After

sweater: thrifted (GAP)

gray skinnies: c/o Aéropostale

striped scarf: thrifted

oatmeal scarf: handmade

ankle booties: Old Navy

monday does it again

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, or a tugboat tooting my own horn, or Kanye singing his own praises, this outfit is another one that just came another in the early morning (yesterday did, as well). This look has a few different elements that, when combined, form a cohesive (and dare I say, classy?) look.

First up is the colorblocking with the navy top half, and the wine-colored pencil skirt. Colorblocking works best when the 2 colors are of the same saturation, or level, of color. So, a deep wine color, and a rich navy blue work here. Or a deep emerald with another equally deep and rich jewel-tones (see some of my past not-so-great colorblocking looks over here...).

Next is the monochromatic layers up top - the navy blue button-up under the navy blue vest.

The third is tying together the boots with the necklace and scarf. Cognac meets brown paisley and brown + gold - not matchy-matchy, yet coordinating and pulled together. And lastly, I wore a necklace under the scarf so that if/when I took off the scarf and vest (which I did), my outfit would still look complete, and not like it was missing some element.

button-up shirt: thrifted (J. Crew)

vest: Old Navy

scarf: gift

necklace: Target

pencil skirt: J. Crew Factory

boots: The Frye Company via Nordstrom