*This post was made in partnership with Responsival.  Thank you for supporting brands I feature*

 

Name a better gift for Mom than beautiful gold personalized necklaces! They can be made special in so many ways with initials, birthstones and zodiac signs. You can personalize them for your Mother's birthday or even with your/all her children's birthdays. AU-Rate has plenty of options to choose from! If you're not a birthstone or initial fan you can just choose any of their pieces and select your Mom's preferred color - gold, white or rose! It's impossible to not be able to find the perfect piece of jewelry.

 

Aurate also released a new collaboration with Kerry Washington last week called The Birth of Mother  featuring beautiful organic pearls and seashell motifs. Order by May 5th for regular shipping and May 7th for overnight to get your gift in time (in stock items only, not made to order.)

If your Mom isn't a jewelry lover there are plenty of other options to make her smile! Mine will never say no to a beautiful candle, my favorite brand to splurge on the past number of years has been Voluspa, but I also discovered L’or de Seraphine last year! Both are a bit on the pricier side, but when it comes to gifting - go for the high end!

 

For the Mom with a sweet tooth you could bake her something yourself (check out my baking posts to see what I've made lately) or order her a fancy dessert she wouldn't buy for herself! Maybe some Ladurée macarons or Dō cookie dough! You could even find a local donut shop that makes over the top donuts! Around here we have Donut Crazy!

Side-note: How beautiful is this london blue topaz and diamond ring from Aurate? I had to buy it when I saw it matched one of my favorite necklaces that my Grandmother handed down to me.

 

Double V-Neck Cashmere Sweater: Calypso St. Barth 'Gylden' (Gilt)

Floral Jeans Target Flipside Denim 

Sandals:  Zigi Soho Velvet Floral Embroidered Open Toe Mules (TJ Maxx)

Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs 'Natural Selection Mini Messenger Bag' (Saks Fifth Avenue)

Sunglasses: Gucci Aviators (bought in Italy)

Blue Topaz & Diamond Necklace: hand-me-down from Grandma

Ring: Vintage Emerald Cut Ring with London Blue Topaz c/o Aurate

This Autumn Cashmere sweater is still a closet favorite. I wore it three times within two weeks and had to stop myself from wearing it to the pumpkin patch so I could get outfit pictures of something different. People think printed sweaters are hard to wear but I find them much easier because you can wear them with almost anything. This sweater has so many colors that it goes with many pieces in my closet depending on what color I want to coordinate with. I will probably try wearing this landscape printed sweater with a skirt next time!

When it comes to printed pieces I find that if I pick out one (or more) colors from the print to match that I can find a great outfit. In this case I matched the bit of burgundy with my purse and finished off with some grays.  I've also paired this sweater with a dusty blue and will probably try a pair of green-ish pants soon as well. You also can't go wrong with plain denim or black.

Sweater: Autumn Cashmere Landscape Sweater (shop sweaters), Velvet Jeans: J.Crew Mid-Rise Skinny Jean (shop  straight leg pants), Velvet Floral Embroidered Mules: Zigi Soho 'Emalie' (shop more mules), Italian Leather Bag: shop mini bags

This is what I wore a couple Saturdays ago to attend a blogger event at Brizo Fish in Rocky Hill, CT. Lydia and I met up before the event to take our photos before we were stuffed with food! I loved this historical blue house, such a gorgeous color! Made me want to change the color of our house, ha ha.

The house also matched my mostly blue outfit! It was supposed to be a little windy on this day so I broke out my favorite (and only) leather jacket. It has such a great shape to it and adds a cool factor to any outfit. You can shop the whole look, including the leather jacket below the photos!

Leather Jacket: Theyskens' Theory 'Juno' (Nordstrom Rack), Cashmere Sweater: Ellen Tracy (Marshalls),  Jeans: Everlane high-rise skinny jean in mid-blue, Studded Suede Velvet Floral Embroidered Mules: Zigi Soho 'Emalie' (T.J. Maxx), Bag: Emm Kuo 'Calle Bahia' (Roundabout), Necklace: Indulgems Labradorite & Gemstone oval pendant necklace (Gilt), Sunglasses: Gucci




The food at Brizo was really good! We got to try a few of their dishes in tasting sizes. I'm mostly a shrimp and white fish girl, but they have so many great options! I even tried a mussel for the first time. There are also options for the non-fish eaters in your life. And if you love a good cocktail don't miss out on one of their themed drinks! I don't really like the taste or feeling of alcohol but I really enjoyed the Shipwrecked drink I tried. And if I like a drink, that's saying something! And make sure to get the chocolate raspberry dome, YUM!

View this post on Instagram

Spent my afternoon tasting the delicious offerings at @brizofish in Rocky Hill, CT! Their menu is full of tasty options from Roasted Cauliflower and Steamed Pei Mussels to Tuna Poke and an amazing Chocolate Raspberry Dome! Non-seafood eaters can enjoy a burger, steak or chicken. The interior of the restaurant is beautiful thanks to some really unique accents like a blue textured wall and a mermaid painted on the floor. They also have a wide selection of signature cocktails, the most instagrammable being the Sea Foam Dream. I opted for Shipwrecked. 🍴 Tuna Poke 🍴 Roasted Oysters 🍴 Roasted Cauliflower 🍴 Steamed Pei Mussels 🍴 Tavern Burger 🍴 Pescatore Calabrese 🍴 Chocolate Raspberry Dome #brizo #CT #rockyhill #food #foodphotography #restaurant #seafood #sundayfunday #foodie #connecticut #explorect #mediterraneanfood #foodinstagram #goodeats #ctfoodblogger #ctblogger ——— a @birdsocialmedia event

A post shared by Megan (@closet_fashion) on Mar 24, 2019 at 5:06pm PDT

In case you didn't notice...I got my hair cut! Both the fiancé and I went to get our hair cleaned up last Wednesday to prepare for our big day. We were originally supposed to get it cut the Thursday before that but there was a bit of a problem.

Our appointments were for 3pm, we showed up at the salon and the doors were locked. We went back to the car and tried to call, no answer. A few minutes later an old lady walked to the salon and got in so we quickly ran in and followed her. Turns out the place SHUT DOWN and they didn't bother to call people that had appointments. So we tracked down the girl that does our hair and found her new salon and made new appointments. What a production!

I get my haircut about once a year, I think my last cut was in June or July of 2017. I just hate paying for haircuts since I don't do much with my hair so I just let it grow out and then chop it off and start the process again, haha!

Cardigan: Banana Republic Italian Cashmere-Blend Boyfriend Cardigan, Floral Camisole: eight sixty, Corduroy Pants: Abercrombie & Fitch, Studded Suede Velvet Floral Embroidered Mules: Zigi Soho (T.J. Maxx), Sunglasses: Chanel

I wore this last Thursday to head up to LuLu Chinese in Greenwich with my fiancé. I was invited to a preview event ahead of their official opening the following day. The event was slightly disappointing because we could barely move around due to the amount of people. But the food made up for it, we loved everything we tried! More on the food below the outfit photos!

I decided to wear my beloved Carven Paris map print dress because it's been neglected this Summer! It even got a compliment from one of the women at the event. Don't you love when that happens?  Before the event started we decided to walk around the block to take outfit photos with no people around.

Paris Map Dress: Carven (YOOX), Velvet Floral Embroidered Mules: Zigi Soho (T.J. Maxx), Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs 'Natural Selection Mini Messenger Bag' (Saks Fifth Avenue), Necklace: Acanthus Jewelry 'Gemma' (giveaway win), Sunglasses: Gucci, Eyeglasses chain: Tinksky (Amazon)



On to the food! The event was basically everyone standing around long tables (which will have stools during normal business hours) and sitting at the bar with food being brought out in sample sizes.  Our favorites were the chicken spring rolls, salt & pepper shrimp and pork dumplings! The veggie fried rice was also really good. I liked the flavor of the chilled peanut noodles but it's a little odd (for me) to eat cold noodles so I wasn't a huge fan overall.  They also had crab rangoons, pork belly bao buns and a few cocktails floating around the room.

Looks unassuming outside, but the food is amazing

Cool bar area

Chicken Spring Rolls & Chilled Peanut Noodles

Berkshire Pork Dumplings & Salt + Pepper Shrimp

Chilled Peanut Noodles, Chicken Spring Roll and Organic Vegetable Fried Rice

Making some rolls with Peking Duck