3 Years -- and a Giveaway!

Wow, it's hard to believe it's the blog's 3-year anniversary today! As I've done in years gone by, I've compiled some of my favorite outfits from the past 12 months:

One thing that struck me when I did this recap is how many of my true favorites come from the most recent months; the set above represents an outfit from each of the last 12 months, but if I had to actually select my top 12 favorites from the entire years' worth they would mostly be very recent. That means there might be entire months' worth of outfits, none of which would make the cut, while others that might have been in the top 12 aren't shown here. That indicates to me that my style continues to evolve; what I loved 12 months ago isn't necessarily what I'm drawn to right now. I think that's a good thing too; constantly evolving your style means never looking stale or dated.

Here are some outfits from "special occasions" over the course of the year:

In order top to bottom, left to right: Burning Man, Giants World Series, Yard Dogs Road Show, holiday party, Mark and I getting married, Film Noir Festival, Edwardian Ball, Lisa's wedding, wearing my new Valentino dress, my first pair of Miu Miu pumps 
(do you like how I cheated and stuck two more recent outfits in under the 'special occasion' heading? I'm sneaky like that.)

Other notable events over the year: Mark and I moved in together, bought a house, got married, took a trip to Minneapolis and Chicago (which included visiting Sal and Mike), and I went on a cross-country adventure that took me to New York to meet up with other bloggers and visit the Eileen Fischer studio, as well as to Seattle and Oregon for two different weddings. Mark and I attended Burning Man, and I did a whole series of posts about the experience (click for Parts 1, 2, and 3). I also did my first-ever post on Fashion Week, and was inspired to create a few different looks from what I rounded up. As of today I've posted 715 entries. All in all it's been a great year, and blogging continues to be a fun and rewarding pursuit for me, in large part because of awesome readers like you.

But wait, there's more! A giveaway!

To kick off my fourth year of blogging and also to give a big THANK YOU to readers old and new, I've got a giveaway for you. Madeline from the Red Dress Shoppe, who was kind enough to provide me with her beautiful Amelie Dress to review, has given me the very last one of her black elastic belts to give to one lucky reader. As you probably know, this belt is a staple in my wardrobe, and I've worn it dozens and dozens of different ways. Just take a peek at a few of them:

This belt is super comfy because of its nice stretchy elastic, and it has a shiny faux leather panel at the front for a cute retro look. For one lucky winner, it'll make a great accessory for all sorts of outfits.

To enter, simply peruse the Red Dress Shoppe site and then leave a comment on this post stating which item is your favorite. Include your email address in your comment; comments without a valid email address will be disqualified. For an extra chance to win, "like" the Red Dress Shoppe Facebook page, and then come back and leave another comment telling me that you did so. The contest closes to entries at 8 pm PDT on Friday, May 6. I'll announce the winner shortly thereafter.

Good luck, and thank you for reading!!