Ascending

2012 is almost over and for a fond send off we've selected something a little out of the ordinary...

My father, sister, aunt, uncle, 11 year old cousin, and I are heading up. 

And I mean really, UP. 

We climbed a mountain. 

It's something I'd always wanted to do. Phoenix is littered with mountains, and we've never even attempted one. With the youngest of our climbing parts at 11 the year was finally right. Not to mention that I'm in the best shape of my life. 

 With our rugby coaches out of town, and me in Phoenix, I'm not really able to get the workout that I should be doing.  I'm so excited to get in a good workout that's not from the gym. Climbing a mountain is exactly the challenge that I've been hoping for.

 I really had a ball. Even though I didn't make it to the top, my crippling fear of heights prevented that, I made, what I call, a valiant attempt at the summit. I challenged myself and I'm really happy with how it ended up. Going down was really much harder than going up.
(Really, my hip is still aching.) But there's always next year, right? I can't wait to finally get to the top. The top will be all the sweeter after having it in my grasp.



















Face challenges and  do your best with them.

Keep it classy,
~E

Finding Faults

In following in tradition, my grandparents on my father's side gave me a book for Christmas.

In the past I've gotten books like Wicked, Waiting For Normal, and Memoirs Of A Teenage Amnesiac. All those books have been wonderful reads and true page turners. 

This year I received a  wonderful, terrible book called The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. 

I said, wonderful, however, I also said terrible. I really enjoyed the book. I flew through all 313 pages. Together with the main characters, Hazel Grace, Augustus, and Isaac I laughed, celebrated triumphs, was crushed by disappointments, and cried over tragedy.

The book is about Hazel Grace, a 16 year old battling and eventually loosing to cancer. In a survivors' support group Hazel meets Isaac and through him, Augustus. They bond and hilarity and tragedy ensue. As with any cancer book, someone is bound to die. 

The raw pain cancer and of being a living ticking time bomb are truly artfully illustrated in the novel. 

While I will not read it again unless I need a good, long cry, and I wouldn't have picked it up in the first place it was a good book. 

I have to say, my favorite aspect of the novel was the intelligence and whit of Hazel. She uses her extensive literary knowledge to interweave the words of the author, John Green, with the words of others like Thoreau and Elliot. It created a rich dialogue and an entertaining plot.

Pick up a book and read something for fun this winter.

Keep it classy,

~E

Most Excellent

Christmas is a time for giving and so today I'm going to be sharing a selection of the coolest things I've gotten this season...

From my wonderful mother, I got OPI's The Man With The Golden Gun, a super great topcoat with 18k gold leaf in it. (I realize the link is to Amazon where it's MUCHO expensive, but your local Ulta should have it for around $30. ) Basically it's one of the coolest things ever. I'm in love. I've currently got it on over OPI's Manicurist of Seville. It's perfect for a little Holiday sparkle and pizazz. 

From daddy I received some new friends that I've been drooling over for some time now, Sperry Loafers in Sahara Leather. I'm over the moon and can't wait to throw them into the mix with my normal everyday wardrobe. I even wore them to the airport the same day that I opened them. And they're not seasonal, from spring to winter I'm sure that I'll wear them into oblivion. 

Wonderful sister grabbed me a book I was looking at on Black Friday while saving her place in line at Urban Outfitters called 100 Years Of Fashion. It's a beautiful collection of the past with emphasis on the statement pieces that shaped fashion of then and now. Complete with photographs and illustrations of all the pieces it's a work of art on its own. 

From my grandparents on my mother's side came a KJP Lanyard Hitch in Constellation Rodgers. It's a perfect navy accented with an adorable brassy-gold anchor. Any lover of the nautical and preppy would love almost anything off the KJP line. Wonderful job Kiel and Sarah. Thank you! 

From my father's mother I received possibly one of the coolest things any girl could get, a trench. But not just any trench. A vintage Burberry trench. When I opened it I think that my jaw dropped and my eyes were the size of the saucers I use for my hot coco. But that's purely speculation because I was numb for the minutes immediately following. I'm still shocked that I could own something so amazingly beautiful. I've always wanted one, and now I have it. My happy bubble is impenetrable. 

My father's father and step mother went classic and classy too, opting for the traditional 16th Christmas watch. I was really thrilled when I opened the small but deceptively heavy box and the tortoise and gold Michael Kors watch I had been lusting after was revealed. (Side note: that is one of the draw-backs of working in a high end retail area, the Michael Kors store calls siren like) I have disproportionately small wrists for a person who is 5'8" so it's going to have to be sized, sigh, and I can't wear it yet. As soon as we get home I'm matching into the Kors store and getting it sized. 

I also got a wonderful book that I'll be talking about tomorrow. It's called The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. 

I also got a gift card to J. Crew which is burning a hole in my pocket from my mother's sister's family. Let's just say it's about to got down. 

Also, my father's sister and her family gifted the entire family with Sevenly t-shirts. For those of you unfamiliar with Sevenly, it's an etailer that sells t-shirts and other merchandise for a cause of the week. For every purchase seven dollars are donated to the cause. My aunt works for the local Autism Speaks office and so when Autism Speaks was the cause of the week she loaded up on Christmas gifts. Mine is turquoise and emblazoned with the campaign's slogan, Live Loud which promotes speech therapy for nonverbal autistic children to communicate with. 

That's all I know for now. 

Keep it classy, 

~E

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from The Classy Tuesdays! I hope that your Tuesday is filled with joy and family. 

I'm headed to Phoenix to visit my dad's family with father and Claire and were headed back to Texas before the New Year. 

What am I wearing right now to be comfy and classy you ask? What an excellent question!

I have on...

J. Crew cheetah print scarf

L. L. Bean berry colored fleece pull-over

J. Crew pink cotton v-neck t-shirt

Jose's Jeans dark wash skinny jeans (practically leggings in the stretch factor) 

Sperry Top Sider penny loafers, a Christmas gift, thanks dad!

And a J. Crew cheetah print head band to top it all off

I'm feeling plenty comfortable, yet still classy for my Tuesday. 

Merry Christmas

Keep it classy,

~E

Traditions

We now have only two days before Christmas. For a little fun I thought that you would like to hear what we do for Christmas in my family, with my mother and sister...

For Christmas dinner we almost always have my favorite food, steamed lobster with green beans and mashed potatoes. We even eat at the dining room table, a rare occurrence. After we eat, we proceed to the next item on the schedule.

 Make hot coco. Then we all hop into the car and drive around and look at the lights all around the town. There is this one neighborhood by my old Junior High that is always lit up. It's amazing. There are icicle lights hung across the streets and green rope lighting lining the streets and all the garden beds. Last year the most amazing house had a flashing sign in font of the house that instructed viewers to tune to a radio frequency. Then the lights flashed and twinkled perfectly in time whatever Christmas tune came onto the radio. It was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

After we get home from our venture we turn on the first Harry Potter movie, The Sorcerer's Stone. We like it because of the Christmas scene where Harry is so shocked by the fact that he has presents and of course those classic lines, "Happy Christmas Harry." "Happy Christmas Ron."

Pretty much after that somehow we are all exhausted so we all head off to bed and sleep until about 7:30 when we all wake up and do presents.

However before presents Claire and I have a game of find the pickle. The premise of the game is that we have a pickle ornament and when Santa drops off presents he hides the pickle ornament on the tree. Before opening presents you try to find the pickle hidden on the tree first. Whoever wins and finds it first wins "The Pickle Prize" which is just a small extra present, usually a DVD or CD. 

Presents are next, followed by a phone call to my grandparents. Then breakfast, some form of pancakes. After that, Claire and I load up the car and drive over to our dad's house, less than 15 minutes away. We then quickly open presents at his house and then go to the airport. 

After a 3 hour flight into Phoenix we head dash to my other Grandparents' house and open presents with cousins and family. 

That's my family, what do you do?

How many times do you have to do something for it to be a tradition?

Keep it classy,

~E

Best Stuff EVER!!!

It's the holiday season and that means that in class we had all sorts of gift exchanges!

In French III we had a class food Secret Santa. Everyone put down their names and their favorite flavors of sweet things. You had to get your Secret Santa something in their favorite flavor. 

My Secret Santa requested chocolate so I got her a chocolate cupcake from the local cupcakery, Gigi's Cupcakes! (I absolutely adore them! Best Cookie Dough Cupcake EVER!)

On my slip I wrote down Salted Caramel because it's my absolute FAVORITE flavor of anything! If given the opportunity, I'll always go for the Salted Caramel Frappuccino and Salted Caramel Cake Pop from Starbucks, it's a great sugar/caffeine rush for studying!

But for my Secret Santa I got a little something I call THE BEST STUFF EVER!!! 

It's Williams-Sonoma Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate and I am 100% in love.

After a hard week of studying for midterms it was so nice to take a bath with some candles and a mug of coco. 

Unfortunately it's on the pricier side at $20 a can, so I don't think I'll make it a frequent purchase, however, it's a wonderful gift. For the salted caramel lover it's a must have. So for anyone looking for a last minute host's gift or something for that special food lover it's perfect! 

So an extra special thank you to my Secret Santa to Maddie, I love my coco! 

Keep it classy,

~E

Amazing

I live in one of the whitest parts of Texas, the Houston suburbs. 

I go to a school with over 4000 students and only about 1% of them are not white or Hispanic. 

Yet somehow we've managed to produce some really incredible rappers and freestyles. 

Clifford (Ian) Simpson just released his newest song Silent Water the other day and it's really good! Ian raps under the name Kevin Abstract, and the track even had some vocals by one of the kids who sits with me in math class, Ameer Van (Money Dolla$$). And they're really good. Like awesome! Go check them and the rest of the ASF (Alive Since Forever) crew out on twitter @kevinabstract @asf_ameer and @theasfcrew 

And listen to their new song Silent Water on the ASF web page, alivesinceforever.com

Or go check out the lyric video on youtube, Silent Water

Also another kid in one of my classes is Matt Champion. He does a few you tube videos and my favorites are the "Freestyle Saturdays" videos. I'm really disappointed that he hasn't done one in a while. So check him out too and tweet him @MattChampion2 Tell him that you want to see more Freestyle Saturday videos!

Tell me what you think and tell them too!

Keep it classy,
~E

Quite Happy!

As any self respecting history of fashion fan, I idolize Jackie O. 

Everything about her was so perfect.

From her style to the way that she carried herself, it all worked.

Even under the scrutiny of the American public Jackie continuously performed flawlessly.

As a lover of all things Jackie O., I also adore her iconic sandals, furnished by still popular Jack Rogers. All the scandals are classy and effortlessly polished. 

So when I found out that the rubber version of the classic shoe would be going on sale naturally I was over the moon. Within hours of the sale I snapped up a pair in mint and white and eagerly awaited my new sandals from the mail. Much to my disbelief and joy, only four days later my new shoes were sitting happily in my mail box, ready for the warm spring. 

I have never been more surprised at the expedience of an online purchase. And the continual email updates that I received were most helpful. So, congratulations to Jack Rogers, you seem to have nailed down a customer for life! 

World AIDS Day

One of my favorite musicals is Rent. I first saw the movie in 7th grade and as soon as it was over I watched it a second time. I was attracted to the story of pure, raw. human emotion.
The death of Angel and Mimi's near death was so touching. 

In our sheltered world we sometimes forget that danger and disease can lurk just around the corner. 
Use protection.
Don't share needles.
Get yourself tested.
It's as simple as that. 

I know that I wore red today and I hope that you did too!

Keep it classy,
~E