fashion (turn to the left)

Somehow I forgot that Paris Fashion Week was going on...I must have forgot to buy my plane ticket...alas...(oh I also forgot all about NY Fashion Week). I must admit that I generally don't like spring collections. I am just more of a fall gal. I like the texture and dark jewel tones that designers use...but Paris you have stolen my heart....

Givenchy

Christian Lacroix

Dior

Chanel

All Photos Style.com

Next week...NY Fashion Week...I promise

Poor little ole' Nickel

I finally made my way to the Shedd Aquarium. It is actually a bit embarrassing that it took me three years to make it there...what kind of Chicago resident am I? I went on a date, that went well I think. Well it went well enough that we are meeting again this Thursday. Yes I am sacrificing watching The Office and 30 Rock for a boy...Silly Mary? Maybe....The best part of the Shedd is Nickel the Turtle...


Not going to lie...I am actually a bit nervous about the date this Thursday...which after the number of dates I have been on is silly (I have been on hundreds of them)...wish me luck? I think that I am just thinking about it too much...I mean really it is a second date. It shouldn't be that bad. But I already feel like I might have messed up...I mean when he called I answered my phone "Hello this is Mary"...stupid work-mode! GRRRR...I am beginning to think I like the idea of arranged marriages!

now it's time to say goodbye...

With everything that is going on in my life, I simply don't have time to blog at Ainslie Pretty anymore.  It's sad, I know.  Don't worry, Mary and I are still friends!  And she will continue to blog about all things pretty.  I will, however, be a slave to my book learnin' and wedding planning.  You can see what I'm up to at my wedding blog.  Hopefully I will have time to update it more often than I have here.  Thanks again for reading what I have to write!!  

Hugs and Kisses,

Martha

Gary Indiana....Gary Indiana...I mean Indianapolis

My MLK weekend was spent with these lovely ladies...

Doing these following things...
This is Good Earth Health Food Store...It was basically like Whole Foods, but without all the stuff that you don't want. It was so delightful and is located in a very "cool" neighborhood called Broad Ripple, which is much like Downtown Lawrence.

At the grocery store I tried Stonewall Jerquee...way too salty but it was good to try to get to eat "Beef Jerky" again, because it is possibly one of the only things I miss being vegetarian.


Luna Music....where I picked up Kings of Leon and Wig In a Box. Such a lovely little INDY (pun intended) record store.


The Steer-In was introduced to me by Laura as "the kind of place we always wished had existed in Lawrence". At $1.75 for a fried egg sandwich, it did not disappoint.


Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Park. This is the site that RFK gave a speech on the day that MLK died. Cities throughout the US erupted in riots, and Indianapolis was quite that night and there was no violence. They had a copy of his speech at the momument and it was one of the most moving things I have ever read...

Indianapolis was a lovely city...and I already miss my people there....

---MaryRose

Good Ole Four-Eyes

Oh in other news....(man I have been slacking on here)...I GOT NEW GLASSES. Everytime I go in for an eye exam I walk out feeling well really dumb. I mean they make you take your current glasses off and try to read, which you know that you can't. Oh it is just embarrassing and well I couldn't afford new glasses before. I have something like -4.50 in one eye and -4.0 in the other. So you could say I am kind of blind, which means that I have to get high index lenses. This really doesn't mean much to me, but means lots of money to the eye doctors. At this last appointment the doctor told me that my vision had gotten better, but that I needed reading glasses. READING GLASSES!!!! I AM ONLY 27!!!! HOW CAN THIS BE????? The nice doctor told me it was just a suggestion and that it was so mild, that it wouldn't be necessary...yet. After a month of looking for glasses that looked like this...

I have settled on these....

Sure they are a bit dorky...but aren't glasses in general a bit dorky? I am just going to have to learn to embrace that inner dork...

---MaryRose

Totally Made For Walking

I have always coveted other peoples boots. Sure I have some good ones, but everyone elses boots are always cuter, cooler, more perfect, the right shade of brown to go with that dress of mine, blah blah blah....what can I say. However this winter I have come into my own as a boot owner. And it all started with these little beauties...


Oh Miz Mooz you have treated me so well through the fall and winter. Truth be told this is the exact boot that I was looking for last year and couldn't find. I swear last year there was not a single brown riding boot to be had in Chicago....Next up in the boot collection...
Now I am the first to admit that I really didn't NEED a pair of black, patent leather boots. I mean who really NEEDS those (well besides women that spend a lot of time on street corners)? But they were only $60 at Marshalls...and I am not one to pass up a good sale.

And now for the best of the bunch...

I have always, always, always wanted a pair of Frye boots, but knew that I could never afford them. Sure I could save up the money for the perfect pair, but then I would be too worried about getting the dirty or walking in them that I would never wear them and who needs that kind of stress? Well on Tuesday I had the day off so Audrie (the new roommate) and I decided that we probably needed to go downtown and stop into Urban Outfitters. Say what you will about that store, but they have the best sales! So much to my surprise I saw a box of Frye boots tucked away on a shelf down below, grabbed for it and saw that they were only...wait for it....$40! Sure they are a size 8 and I wear a 6.5, but come on...so now my feet and ankles are happy with me and I have moved on to coveting peoples bags.

---MaryRose

Oh Ziggy...

Happy Birthday You Gorgeous Man!

New Love...

I read a lot of blogs...I would say that much of my day (especially Sunday mornings) is spent looking at what other people have to say. I like to look into their lives and imagine what it would be like to be that creative, eat that food, wear that dress, marry that man, take that picture. I also feel like with this new phenomenon you get a chance to "meet" people that you never would have before. Now this is not to say that I have become friends with people whose blogs I read, but it is something that could happen. For example, the lovely Molly of Orangette met her husband through her blog and Ms. Jenny Gordy of Wiksten Made met her best friend Elly through Flickr. I am just amazed at what blogs can do and how they can change someones life.

Which brings me to A Cup Of Jo...now I am not saying that Joanna Goddards blog has changed my life, but it has definitely made it more enjoyable. I think that I am going to be spending a lot of time reading what this amazing woman has to say...thank you blog gods for leading me to her world...

Photo from A Cup of Jo

---MaryRose

It's ALIVE

It would appear as if Martha and I fell off the face of the earth...I am here to assure you that this is not the case. We are alive and well...I PROMISE...look here is a picture to prove it!

I promise that we will back to this blog as soon as life calms down and the holiday season is officially behind us!

Toodles,
Mary Rose