Weekend Update ::: Shop til we drop!

Some life changes happened with our family this week resulting in some last minute Thanksgiving week changes from the norm, in that we usually spend this week with my in-laws and instead, they came home to St. Louis. While we are absolutely glad that we were with them home with us, we are sad about the circumstances that prompted the rearrangement of the holiday plans. The holidays have been sort of somber for this clan in recent years.  I am glad to report that they did arrive safely back down south after their visit home and I am eternally grateful to my parents for hosting a joint family Thanksgiving on Wednesday so they could have a nice meal and togetherness.

Thanksgiving ::: I am Grateful

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It's been a fabulous year, and a fabulous life thus far. I am grateful for everything that this life has given me, and that I have earned through tons of hard work and a little good luck.

I am extremely grateful to you, dear reader, for coming and reading my words, and sharing in my work. Many of us, my family included, have lost loved ones young and old this year, and they will be missed tremendously over this holiday weekend. 

Have the happiest of Thanksgivings, and please stay safe!

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Loving Right Now :::

Photos: BrownieBrittle.com, Sweetriot.com, Nordstrom.com, JCrew.com, ItCosmetics.com

Tech Time ::: Turboscan

Every now and then, you're faced with a situation where you need to scan a document and have no scanner. Or you need a clean digital copy of a black and white letter or contract for you records...and you have no scanner.  Or you want to get a letter and a receipt and a mileage or travel log all together and into a PDF to email...and you have no scanner.

Must Try ::: Green Bean Casserole

Recipe and all photos by {accordingtoame}. Please do not reproduce without written approval.

I figured since we're getting close to the holiday season, it's a good time to share a dish that is kind of mandatory at a Midwest gathering.

Ok, I know that many of you out there who are not from the Midwest are looking at the headline and thinking "what in the...," but where I come from, a family gathering without a green bean casserole is sacrilege!

Fashion Fix ::: Denim Trends and Thoughts

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Denim is definitely a staple in my wardrobe, and really just about everyone else's. There are so many cuts and washes, and so many changing trends...it's hard sometimes to know what's best for your style and your body in the change sea of style.  

Test Driven ::: Dior Diorific Vernis in Minuit

Photos by and for {accordingtoame} unless otherwise noted

A few weeks back I mentioned something about a dark oxblood nail that Elin Kling rocks, and how chic that was. I am not a nail person, though I wish I was because I'd look infinitely more together than I do on an average day, but this color, like Chanel Malice of last year's collections, really caught my eye and after seeing Sabrina's swatching on The Beauty Lookbook (if you don't read that blog, seriously, why not?!)

I was in the deepest throes of lust.

Wonderful Workspace ::: Southern Weddings Magazine Office Tour

Photo by {accordingtoame}

One of my absolute favorite wedding magazines and websites (KILLER blog) is Southern Weddings. It's a down-home and totally home-grown publication by a ridiculously ambitious and amazingly brilliant redhead named Lara Casey, and I have been pretty obsessed with it almost since she started it!  

Tech Time ::: Fantastical2

Photo: Flexibits.com

A while back I recall stating that I didn't terribly mind the way Apple changed the Calendar app on iOS7. It did annoy me a little that I had to click the search function to see my list view, however, and I felt that was a strange functionality choice.  Now that a little time has passed, and I am trying to become more organized, those little quirks are really starting to make me look outside of the stock app and into something more, um, fantastic. 

Must Have ::: Beauty Blender

All photos by {accordingtoame}

I cannot even believe I haven't waxed poetic about these things yet. They are a staple I cannot spackle without. These little pink egg-shaped wonders are an absolute necessity for me to apply concealer and foundation, and without them blending is just not the same. 

Weekend Update ::: I Love Makeup!

Video: ILoveMakeup Channel

Surely by now, dear reader, you have picked up that I am a vain woman. I simply love beauty products. And love all the accoutrements. It's kind of a sickness. But it's also damn fun.

Top Secret ::: Under the Arch

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It amazes me how many gorgeous women I see walking around with full faces of well applied makeup, but almost non-existent brows. Not necessarily always over-tweezed, but just...not finished and therefore "disappearing" from their faces.  Just a little filling in, and bam! they'd be perfection.

Loving Right Now :::

Photos: Nordstrom.com, Linear Calendar Kickstarter, Olloclip.com, Sugarpaper.com, Keysocks.com

Tech Time ::: Gadget Wipes

All photos by {accordingtoame}

A clean phone is a happy phone.  And a while back I wrote about my love for Zagg's wipes, which is what I would regularly use to keep my phone and my husband's iPad clean and disinfected. I still do use them.  However, a newer brand called Well-Kept came to my attention not long ago, and I decided to give them a try, and do a little comparison to see if, besides their super cute packaging, they were a better choice for me and my needs.

Major Hair Moment ::: Jennifer Aniston's New 'Do

Photo:  Chris McMillan's Instagram

Rumblings that Jennifer Aniston cut her hair off started about a week ago...and sure enough...it's actually happened.  Oh my hell!  I mean, it's cute and pretty damn flattering.  And from what she says, pretty easy to handle. How could it not be? 

Fashion Fix ::: Finding the Perfect Pair

Photo: Nordstrom.com

Finding the "perfect pair" of jeans can be an exercise in patience and humility, and even sometimes just exercise.  Sometimes it takes a day, sometimes years.  

I was formerly a "super-cheap jeans" buyer. Back in that era, Target sold some sort of Levi's variant and they were great for my wallet, and I bought a few Old Navy here and there. I just didn't bring myself to spend a ton on them in the past because I didn't "care."  But I had an awakening when I decided one day to actually try some more premium denim on, when I was having a "good butt day."  And that made me "see the light."

Totally Obsessed ::: Whitney English Day Designer

Photos: {accordingtoame} of my Day Designer

I mentioned on Friday's Weekend Update that I received my Whitney English 2014 Day Designer the other day. I have been like...anxiously awaiting this bad boy since I pre-ordered it I think in September.  I learned of it earlier this year, and told myself "yea you suck at using these things...try to stick to the GCal/iCal and your phone, you spendthrift". Well...I did that, and wrote things on my hand like always, and still managed to forget things more often than I wish to admit. 

Wednesday Wow ::: Kim and Kanye's Engagement Ring

Photo: Via NYDailyNews/JASON LAVERIS, FILMMAGIC

Love them or hate them...or the amount publicity they receive, that ring is AH-MAZING.  

Tech Time ::: Apple Keynote, October 22

My my my, did Apple unveil quite a lot on October 22! I am quite a bit behind on my reporting!

Videos via Apple's YouTube Channel

Must Try ::: My Hearty Beef Stew

Recipe and all photos by and for use exclusively by {accordingtoame}

If you wish to reproduce these images or this recipe, please contact me.

Now that Fall has finally arrived in the Midwest, and it's November(!!), my husband has requested that stew be made for dinner again.  I am one of those people who believes that chili and stew and most soups just are not year-round foods, so I reserve them for fall and winter and early spring.  With the temperatures going down, and a few mornings being quite frosty already, it's finally time to break out the crock pot and brew up some stew.  

See what I did there....yea I know, I rolled my eyes too.

Weekend Update ::: What's in a Number?

I hope you are all recovering from the sugar-fueled festivities of last night! I know I am still recovering from my Girls Weekend, and a brewing cold of some kind, so that sugar coma kind of just piled on! 

That video kinda sums me up right now...but it was WORTH IT.