Summerfest and Fourth of July Weekend

This is going to be a long recap, so I'll start you off with an outfit picture of what I wore to work today.

Top: New York & Company; Skirt: Uniqlo; Shoes: Poetic License via shoo; Bracelet: Kate Spade

Well, my Summerfest adventures have ended for the year. The highlight had to be the day before the Package Tour show when my friends found and met all of 98 degrees, most of NKOTB, and Shawn from Boyz II Men. I was at home with Bridget, but I was able to pass on a tip I saw my ex-boyfriend post on Facebook, saying that the guys were bowling at Landmark. The girls hurried over there and got to meet and hang out with half of the Package Tour! They said all the 98 degrees guys were super nice, and that Joey from NKOTB was really funny.

The next night at the show, one of my friends saw a member of Boyz II Men's crew, whom she had befriended the night before. He ended up giving us upgraded tickets! From the lawn to section 2 we went. On top of that, we had purchased one 5th row seat to share among three of us, so we each got to experience part of the show close up, too. I even got some action - I touched Danny and Jon's hands as they ran by during "Tonight." Haha, it's the little things.

Saturday night, we saw John Mayer with Phillip Phillips as an opener. Earlier in the day, we did a lap around town to see if we could spot any buses. We noticed some at the Intercontinental; and as I parked, a small entourage of people hurried from the hotel onto the bus. One of them was a tall man in a white T-shirt and sunglasses - it was freakin' John Mayer! Although there were only a few fans around, and we had hopped out of the car just in time, he did not stop to take any pictures. And then we realized hours later that Katy Perry was probably walking right next to him, but we didn't even notice. D'OH!

The concert itself was just OK for me. I did think it was cute how Phillip Phillips was so nervous. And John Mayer left a couple of his huge hits off of the set list, so none of us were very familiar with most of the music. He did play two of my favorite songs from the one album of his I own, Continuum, so I was happy about that. His dedication to Katy Perry (not my video) during the show was very sweet, too.

As for the food, I definitely lived it up on Saturday with mini donuts (soooooooooooo good - a must have from now on), the Barrie burger from AJ Bombers (bacon cheeseburger with peanut butter - also really good), and cheese curds from Saz's (a classic).

Besides Summerfest and hanging out with friends on the 4th of July, my weekend also consisted of going to the water park in town with my mom and Bridget and working on the house more. The water park was great, and Bridget was loving life; but the house stuff...not so much. Sunday seemed to be crisis after crisis. First, our toilet kept running, which was the least of our problems; hubs fixed that with one quick trip to Home Depot. Then, our freezer stopped working, so I had to empty everything out, clean behind and underneath the fridge, and put just the popsicles back in, hoping they'd freeze. Hours later, they were still slushy, and we came to the conclusion that we'd either have to buy a new appliance or have someone come in and try to repair it. The basement project of the weekend was staining and polyurethane-ing doors, but the polyurethane that we had done earlier in the week had pooled up under the doors and dried weird, so hubs had to sand and redo them. Sigh. Then, I took over and stained some of the trim, so hopefully nothing happens to those pieces. Also, I was keeping laundry going, and I knocked a light bulb off the shelf in the process and broke that. The good news is, that forced me to clean the kitchen and laundry room. Poor Bridget was starved for attention with us dealing with this stuff, and was super hyper all day. With all that going on, yesterday felt like the longest day, and we were all glad when it came to an end. We did get our Maine trip booked finally, so there's that.

Some other related unfortunate news for me is that I won't be able to make Comic Con this year. Besides the fact that I would be dropping hundreds of dollars to meet a bunch of celebs, which we can't really afford right now, our Maine trip also conflicts with it. I'm a little bummed about missing out on the Weasley twins, but at least I got to meet Tom Felton last year. I would've been much more heartbroken had I missed that.

After all that, I'm pretty much exhausted, and coffee only helped a little today. Bridget's been waking us up at 6:00 or earlier (4:45 today), so that's been fun. Maybe it's time for a later bedtime for that one. Thankfully, our freezer seems to be working again, so hopefully that's the end of that.

This should be a pretty low-key week, and then next weekend, I have my last two Package Tour shows!

SAG Awards Red Carpet Superlatives

I didn't have as many reactions to the fashion at tonight's 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards red carpet as I did during the Golden Globes, but there were a handful of standouts. Let's start off with a few positives:

Most Improved

Jessica Chastain in Alexander McQueen (source)

After her oddly fitting Golden Globes gown, this was perfection.

Best Surprisingly Edgy Dress

Jane Lynch in David Meister Signature (source)
Um, I kind of love it, and I kind of want it.

Best Dressed Kid

Kiernan Shipka in Oscar de la Renta (source)
I've only watched a handful of episodes of Mad Men, so I'm not terribly familiar with her, but I think she looked adorable and age appropriate.

And now for the not so positives...

Most in Need of a Good Bra

Michelle Dockery in vintage Chado Ralph Rucci (source)

Side boob. That is all.

Julianne Moore in Chanel Haute Couture (source)

Her choices are always hit or miss for me. With a different neckline, this may have worked.

Weirdest Length Dress

Kaley Cuoco in Romona Keveza (source)
Seriously, how short does this dress make her look?

Worst Hairdo

January Jones in Prabal Gurung (source)
David Bowie? Er...Ziggy Stardust?

Worst Makeup

Claire Danes in Givenchy (source)

I'm not anti dark lip, but the dark lip on her with that weird eye makeup was not a good look.

Worst Accessorizing

Amanda Seyfried in Zac Posen (source)

Beautiful dress. It looked plain from far away, but the details are really great. The necklace? Not so much.

Honorable Mention...just because I've included her in all my other red carpet recaps.

Mayim Bialik (source)

She and Kaley both went with lace, but the shape and proportions are just better on Mayim's dress. I like the red color of Kaley's dress slightly better, but as a whole - Mayim.

What do you think? What were some of your favorites or least favorites?

Golden Globes Red Carpet Style - Likes and Dislikes

Yikes, I had trouble cutting down my list, so here are a lot of gowns to look at. And one tuxedo.

Likes

Claire Danes in Versace (source)

She just had a baby. She looks amazing!

Amy Adams in Marchesa (source)

It's Marchesa! And blush! And lace! 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Vera Wang (source)

If I remember correctly, she usually picks really nice award show gowns, and this was no exception.

Lucy Liu in Carolina Herrera (source)

I have a feeling this is one people are going to either love or hate. I loved it.

Julianne Moore in Tom Ford (source)

It was sharp looking, and it had the black and white trend going on. Plus, she was probably comfortably warm while all the other ladies were freezing.

Kristen Bell in Jenny Packham (source)

And that's how maternity style is done. Adorable.

Dislikes

Jessica Chastain in Calvin Klein (source)

This was my least favorite look of the night. The top was weird; her hair was weird. The color's nice.

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior Haute Couture (source)

She's gorgeous, and I love her in general, but what was with those boobs? Her hair and makeup looks nice, and most of the dress is fine, but it was very weird in the chest area.

Rachel Weisz in Louis Vuitton (source)

Here's another gorgeous woman whose dress I didn't care for.

Alyssa Milano (source)

She can do better, right? I'm just always disappointed when I see a yellow dress I don't like.

Emily Mortimer (source)

OK no. Even if I liked the dress, which I don't, the hair is just so messy.

Undecided

Kerry Washington in Miu Miu (source)

I know most people probably loved this one, but the length was weird for me. Otherwise, she looks great.

Lena Dunham in Zac Posen (source)

OK it's not great, but it's better than some of the other things she's been wearing at events lately. I think the style thing will click one for her of these days, and she'll wear something spectacular. At least I hope.

Zosia Mamet (source)

Here's another Girls star. I feel like I should hate this, but...I don't? I like the trendy leather accents. Maybe it's not right for this event. I think had she smiled and sold it a little more, I might be on board.

Michelle Dockery in Alexander Vauthier (source)

I love, love, love the top of this look. Everything about it. I don't know how I feel about the all-white bottom, though.

Rosario Dawson (source)

The dress is OK, but the color is divine. It makes me want a whole wardrobe in that color.

Honorable Mentions

Mayim Bialik (source)

She's going to show up an all of my red carpet lists just 'cause I love her.

Jennifer Garner in Vivienne Westwood Couture (source)
I've been watching Alias lately, and I always see her in super casual mom-on-the-go paparazzi photos, but she cleans up NICE. She looks stunning.

Dev Patel (Getty Images)
Whoops, I accidentally deleted my explanation when I published the post. I adore him, and if my novel is ever made into a movie, I'm going to cast him in it.

Phew, that was a long list. What'd you guys think of the fashion tonight?

One Night in Chicago

Three events in one night - that's my kind of night! That's what I love about Chicago — there's always something cool and exciting going on. We started off Thursday night at Point A, the eDrop-Off headquarters, then went to Point B, Park West theater, and finally over to Point C, Joe's Bar. Conveniently enough, they were all within a two-mile drive of each other. Unfortunately, that meant we had to find parking three different times, which was a frustrating task.

First, we checked out Christian Siriano's trunk show at eDrop-Off. My friend K and I were a little apprehensive upon entering the building with so many chic people in attendance. For some reason, I was a lot more nervous about meeting Christian than I was when I met Rami back in March. A very attractive male waiter put us somewhat at ease as he came by to offer us drinks. We then dubbed him Prince Charming. He was just that good looking. Unfortunately, I neglected to get a picture of him. Here's what I did manage to get photos of:

Affordable accessories table with Payless shoes

I spotted some impressive footwear throughout the night, but this is the only pair I got a picture of.

The crowd

I was trying to get a picture of Christian, but actually these girls look familiar for some reason.
Bloggers maybe? You can also kind of see Christian's boyfriend, musician and artist
 Brad Walsh, in the background.

Not a good photograph, but this is one of Christian's amazing pieces from his collection.

Me with the designer himself! He was a really nice guy.

I didn't purchase anything this time, but I definitely intend to visit his shop when I'm in New York in February. I would also like to get a pair of his shoes at Payless sometime. Maybe I'll buy a pair for the trip because where else am I going to wear 4+-inch heels? Actually, these bow flats are really cute, too, but Payless shoes never seem to fit me. The 10s are too small, and the 11s are too big. Oh well, sorry, moving on!

With a little time to spare, we begrudgingly left our hottie waiter behind and headed for Destination #2. That six-way intersection that you can see on the map on the way to Park West became the bane of my existence. I don't know how many times I drove through there trying to find parking, but it ended up taking us about 20 minutes to find a spot. Even then, it was a reserved spot that required a special sticker on your car; but at that point, I was over it, and we were already 15 minutes late for the Miggs set.

It was the second time that night that I was able to say "I'm on the list" — first since we RSVPed for the trunk show, and second since Don from Miggs graciously got us in to the Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers show to watch the Miggs set before we left for the Ingram Hill show at Joe's Bar. I felt pretty VIP all night.

We ended up catching the last half of their half-hour set, and then I introduced K to Don and John and chatted with them for a few minutes before we had to get going.

Our last stop of the night was to Joe's Bar for the Whiskey Jam. I'm not into country music in the least, but each artist's set was only about five songs long, so it was tolerable. On the flip side, that also meant that Ingram Hill only got to play five songs, but we enjoyed it while it lasted.

After that, we stopped by the merch table for K to buy the CD of theirs she was missing, waved bye to Justin (lead singer), and headed home.

By the way, Chicago friends and readers, can you tell me what this neighborhood(s) was called? We really liked this area of Chicago, but we couldn't pinpoint exactly what area we were in. Like I was telling my friend, if it's not the House of Blues, I have no idea where I am, which is pretty sad considering how many times I've been to the city in my life. The particular area had tons of good shopping, though. We may have to make a trip back sometime.

Best and Worst Emmy 2012 Red Carpet Looks

Last night, I had the pleasure of watching the red carpet coverage and the first hour of the Emmys with my husband. Although the only TV shows he watches are paranormal crime dramas + old-school sci-fi + The Big Bang Theory, he still stuck around to hear me yammer on about every single celeb that showed up on the screen while he interjected and asked why I didn't wear revealing red carpet gowns more often. Like, just around the house apparently...OK... It was fun educating him on who's on what TV show and who he might recognize from certain movies. Plus, there were enough Big Bang Theory cast member sightings to keep him entertained for awhile.

While schooling my husband on pop culture, I also compiled a list of my favorite and least favorite red carpet looks from the night.

Best

Kelly Osbourne in Zac Posen (source)

Her dress matches her hair! And she looks gorgeous and skinny! And she's wearing a trendy dark lipstick! This dress may have been a tad boring on someone else, but the styling is what really made this one of my favorite looks of the night.

Sarah Hyland in Marchesa (source)

I do love Marchesa. That is all.

Emily VanCamp in  J. Mendel (source)

I don't have much to say about this one either except I liked it right away. Her bow bracelet is pretty cute, too.

Julie Bowen in Monique Lhuillier (source)

She wasn't on my original list, but the more I saw pictures of her entire look, the more I liked it. The dress fits her perfectly, the bright color looks nice against her skin, and I like how she kept everything else simple.

Worst

Portia de Rossi (source)

I've gotten on board with jumpsuits on some people, and Portia could definitely pull off the jumpsuit look, but not this one. I hated it.

Ashley Judd in Carolina Herrera (source)

There was nothing good about this look - the hair, the style of the dress, the fabric and color of the dress, all bad. I take that back. Her clutch is cute.

Lena Dunham in Prada (source) 

I love lace, but not here. Her dress just looked too dark and too heavy. I still do want to see "Girls" on HBO someday, though.

Christina Hendricks in Christian Siriano (source)

OK, putting this on a "worst dressed" list is a little harsh, so maybe this would belong on a "could be better" list for me. From what I've read so far, this one's getting mixed reviews. Christina Hendricks is gorgeous and sexy, but there was something about this dress that didn't work for me even though I love Christian Siriano. Maybe it was the belt, or the color.

Yellow dresses that I should've liked but didn't

Julianne Moore in Dior Haute Couture (source)

I'm seeing on blogs that most people loved this look. As much as I love yellow and full skirts, I think there was just too much fabric here. If it were sleeveless, or if the skirt was slimmer, I would've liked it better. I may be alone in my principles on this one.

Claire Danes in Lanvin (source)

Having been pregnant once, I don't like to criticize what pregnant ladies choose to wear. Being pregnant is hard enough. But I think the gorgeous Claire Danes could've dressed her bump better in this case. Maybe if the fold were a little higher it could've worked. I don't know; I wasn't a fan.

Honorable Mention - people I was excited to see

Anna Chlumsky in Christian Siriano (source)

I don't know why, but I thought it was fun to see Anna Chlumsky aka Vada Sultenfuss from My Girl all grown up and in the public eye again.

Mayim Bialik in Pamella Rolland (source)

Oh hey, Mayim! Come to Milwaukee again anytime! It did not escape me how she was strategically holding her one arm behind her body in most of the photos. She broke her hand in a car accident and was wearing a black brace on it.

Kaley Cuoco in Angel Sanchez (source)

Oh hey, I saw you in real life, too! And you're wearing a yellow dress I like! 

Melissa Rauch in Oliver Tolentino (source)

Not done with the Big Bang stars quite yet! Now for some men...

Jim Parsons (source)

OK now I'm done with Big Bang people. I also got to see a couple of my favorite male actors:

Tom Hanks (source)

I don't care if he has a mustache. He's Tom Hanks. He can do no wrong.

Steve Buscemi (source)

I can't explain it. I love Steve Buscemi as an actor. I'm still begging hubs to let me get HBO so that I can watch Boardwalk Empire.

Michael J. Fox (source)

For hubs, his favorite dude to see was the iconic Michael J. Fox.

And finally, a random one...

Jon Cryer (source)

I'm not really a Two and a Half Men fan, but I did like how genuinely surprised and in disbelief Jon Cryer was when he won the award for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Even if he was up against Jim Parsons.

What did you think of Emmys this year?