#TheMessyProject ------>>> Coco Chanel

ah!

can you believe it?!

who knew a year ago when I started this little project by mentioning it on twitter a few times that in a year it would have grown to be so big & popular.

I cannot thank you guys enough for all the support with the project! It wouldn't be anything if I didn't have you guys, so THANK YOU...& a HUGE thank you to everyone who was apart of a past project. 

It has been such a year of different outfits..some we loved, some we did not....SO I thought I'd take you down memory lane, starting with the very FIRST project that launched back in July 2012. 

I can't thank these girls enough for being my test babies with the project. They really helped me bring it to life....& who can forget the adorable coral polka dotted first piece!?

Jenna @ Yours Truly

Janna @ Perception is Everything

Kelly @ Modern Camelot

Lauran @ The Real Young Housewife of Northern VA

& now a year of outfits

august, september, october, november....ooh the sequin shorts that was a risky one

december, january, february, march.....ah the MC hammer pants...not a fav of mine

april, may, & then 2 rounds in june 

my favorite month?

November......the sequin shorts, hands down. 

what was your favorite month? 

& now onto the 1 Year Celebration Outfit

SO since it's the 1 Year Anniversary of #TheMessyProject I had to do something special. Since the past year has been a mix of crazy & fun pieces I thought I would bring it back to the beginning. the basics of fashion. 

the classics. 

Black & White

& since the only way I know how to celebrate is to dress up...I did just that.

Front & Back

I loved how the back of this dress was low cut and the lace was sheer. It added such a fun twist on such a pretty & girly dress.....& if you can tell since the back is low wearing a bra with this dress was a little hard...& considering its white I had to wear something right?! Thank God for my mom & her old school ways...i just put some bandaids over the nips & that was it....

{too much information?...sorry guys}

I am lucky enough to be surrounded by 5 star hotels so this photo shoot was done at The St. Regis Monarch Beach Hotel  & couldn't have been more perfect for the look I was going for ----

so as you can see I added a black belt with some diamond accents to the dress. But you will be surprised to know that the belt you see is actually a headband that I put around my waist. This dress felt so Coco Chanel to me so I went with it and added just a few classic black pieces & some diamond jewelry to go with the diamonds on the 'belt'. 

My black Mary Jane's were the perfect shoe to wear with this girly ensemble...& as you can see I didn't add a necklace because the belt was enough....& i am not much of a dangling earrings person anymore so I stick to my simple diamond studs. Remember less is more. 

dress: h&m
purse: chanel
shoes: charlotte russe
belt/headband: jolie usa
hat: kmart
bracelet & round diamond ring: forever21
black diamond ring: nordstrom 
nail polish: opi 'black satin'

i'm not gonna lie, i LOVED this dress and I loved this look. it couldn't be more me. 

So what do you think of using a headband as a belt? How would you have worn the dress? 

Now go & check out how the other fabulous girls have styled the dress.....& incase you haven't noticed yet, each one of the girls in this round are from a past project! 

Melis of MRD Girl Musings

Janna of Perception is Everything

Jessica of Jessica Who? 

Jenna of Fitness in the City 

oh wait! one more thing.....

you didn't think I would leave you hanging without some type of giveaway did you!? Whats a celebration without presents....am I right?! 

SO today I am giving away a spot on #TheMessyProject for NEXT Month!!!!!

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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max out

if there is one thing I have been living in this summer besides a bikini its a maxi dress. i seriously cannot get enough. i think i love them so much because they can be so multi-functional....you can dress them up or down, they're perfect for those days when you feel 'fat' & they're just SO comfy. 

Now don't think maxi dresses are only for tall girls because that is SO not true. I am only 5'3 and I don't feel maxi's make me look any shorter. I always thought they were only for tall girls, but I was proven wrong when I took the leap...& now I can't stop wearing them! 

SO i was recently browsing online and came across such a cute site that has some fabulous pieces! I have been looking for the perfect jean vest forever & I finally found it at Chicnova & of course I had to pick up some 'John Lennon' inspired sunnies as well. I really love the way the jean vest looked with one of my new maxi's. 

maxi: swirl
jean vest: chicnova
sunnies: chicnova
rings: forever 21
bracelet: lincoln street boutique
flipflops: havaianas

I really loved the 2 'faux' front pockets on the vest, but my favorite was the extra fringe around the arms. Its such a small detail, but can add the perfect amount of flare to outfit....& of course I am obsessed with the sunnies...they're so 60s. Plus they are SO comfortable and light weight. My favorite thing about this maxi though.....def the slits on both sides....i die. 

Have you tried the maxi trend? What do you think of the vest with the maxi? What is your go to outfit this summer? 

1 Week Until  #TheMessyProject 1 Year Anniversary Edition!!!!!!!!! 

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low key

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monday.

 we meet again. 

my weekend was pretty low key. it consisted of this --

 & thats it....it was perfect. 

so today I am so excited to introduce to you a bloggy friend of mine. i have gotten to know this girl a lot over the past months & she is just so fun! We bonded over our love for hippy headbands and messy hair. You most likely already know her because she isn't a newbie in the 'blogland' & is always one to lend a helping hand, but today you get to know her even better plus she has some exciting news for you all too! SO without further ado meet July's Messy Girl of the Month

Hi dolls! I'm Samantha and I blog over at Hooah and Hiccups! I'm the wife of a handsome soldier in the US Army, mommy to a handsome little blonde baby who I call "Bubba", and lover of all things pink :) We're currently expecting our second child and cannot wait to expand our loving family! 

I mostly blog about anything family, fashion, and fun related, but am not exactly sure what blogger "category" I fall into! I'm all about staying true to myself as a person and not loosing site of myself just because I'm married with a kid(s). You'll find anything from tips on staying stylish on a budget, real life problems, and parenting advice and experience.



5 random things about me are:

1. I met all of 'Nsync when I was in 5th grade; JC called me cutie and changed my life forever.


2. I'm OCD about radio and tv channels; they can only be on a number that end in 0, 2, 5, or 8.


3. My husband and I went to the same college but didn't meet until the year after he graduated (I'm a year older, craddle robber).


4. I've known one of my best friends since 5th grade and we bonded over a Britney Spears concert.


5. I can have a complete conversation in movie quotes aka I'm obsessed with movies and quoting them whenever possible. 

Please come say hello; I love meeting new people and finding new blogs to follow :) 

Xoxo!

Blog/Bloglovin'/Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest

 & today Samantha is giving you messy readers the chance to win a $25 Gift Card to Victoria Secret....lucky you! To say im obsessed with Victoria Secrets PINK collection would be a complete understatement

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tory Burch Giveaway HERECustom 'Embrace the Mess' tee Giveaway HERE

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#TheMessyProject ---->>> Tory Burch

SO today starts the celebration of The 1 Year Anniversary of #TheMessyProject!! 

Not sure what #TheMessyProject is? You can check out all the info HERE 

SO unlike past messy projects today's special edition has a little twist too it. 

For the first time, I didn't pick out the item....

Ting, from A Cup of Ting a blogger who loves #TheMessyProject had an idea about doing a special TORY BURCH edition of the project since we both are tory obsessed....& of course I said YES lets do it! But since it was her idea I wanted her to surprise me with something.

I was super excited when I received my package because I knew I was going to love it....who are we kidding, I love anything Tory Burch & Ting has great style. SO Ting decided to send me these fabulous floral pants

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& since it's only the 2 of us we decided we would show you a day time look and a night time look featuring these fabulous pants. A lot of people don't think an item can go from day to night with just a few changes so we're here to show you how easy it can be! 

Check out my day time look ----

pants: tory burch
beatles tee: cichic
sandals: walmart
necklace: ko jewelry
watch: target
headband & sunglasses: lincoln street boutique 

so I decided to have a little fun and paired my Beatles 'Abbey Road' tee with the pants. I really liked the way the colors in the tee mixed with the pants. I tucked it in to get a more sleeker look. Since there is already so much going on with the pants I kept it simple with my accessories. I added some simple gold gladiators and some gold jewelry....because remember less is more.

So what do you think of a graphic tee with the floral pants? How would YOU have styled the pants? NOW go & check out how Ting made these pants into a night time look!

Ting @ Cup of Ting

oh yeah...one more thing....because Ting is aaamazing she is giving away a pair of these Tory Burch 'Walton Pant' { in your size, valued at $250 } to one lucky reader in celebration of #TheMessyProject 1 Year Anniversary!!! 

so what are you waiting for?! go check out Ting & enter to win these pants! 

The 1 Year Anniversary Celebration continues Wednesday July 24 with a special 'Starry-Eyed' edition of the project featuring girls from different rounds of the project over the past year. 

The 'Starry-Eyed' edition of the project will be featuring

Melis of MRD Girl Musings

Janna of Perception is Everything

Jessica of Jessica Who? 

Jenna of Fitness in the City 

GET EXCITED! 

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imperfection

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Society tries to tell us we need to be stick thin, with perfect hair & perfect makeup. Well who the hell died & made society king?! I am so sick & tired of the constant pressures there are to be a girl in today’s world. As if it weren’t already hard enough to be a girl we have society passive aggressively whispering in our ears that we need to be skinner, prettier & better.  Well that needs to stop & that’s why MessyDirtyHair was born. 

I use to be that girl. I would wake up every morning 2 hours before I had to be at school & would shower, dry & straighten my hair stick straight, & then glob on unnecessary makeup. I don’t really know what I was trying to cover up. I did this consistently for years. In college I wasn’t as crazy about it for classes but I’d be damned if I went out to a party or bar that night without being dressed to the nines.

I could not stand the thought of a boy I was dating or even a boyfriend to see me without my makeup on. It was something I never thought I'd ever get over.

And then one day I just stopped.

It started with my hair. I was sick of taking all this extra time to do my hair & for what? It didn’t change me as a person. I was still the same Kelly with or without the straight hair.  So why was I doing it? It just started to seem dumb to me. Who was I trying to impress? If you don't like me for who I am in the inside, the way I look on the outside isn't going to change that.

So I stopped doing it. I started embracing my curly, wavy beast of a hair. At first I didn’t like it. I thought my face looked fatter with my wavy hair. It was a struggle, until one day I didn’t care anymore. I stopped doing my hair. I started washing it a lot less & let it air dry. That was the first step.

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 From there I stopped wearing makeup every day. I just didn’t see the point in wasting all this time in front of the mirror trying to look perfect & for what?  Now don’t get me wrong, there are times I do like to get dressed up & put on makeup, but it isn’t something I feel I am required to do every morning.

Yes, that’s the word required. It was almost like I use to feel required to do all that stuff because if I didn’t someone would think I looked weird or say “Are you tired?” I'm sure you’ve heard that before. It’s the nice way to say you look like shit.

Well I don’t really care what society says. I am sick of conforming to the pressures of being perfect. Because you know what I realized, no matter how hard I try & no matter how much I spend I will never ever be perfect. No one will.

So today, at age 28 I can finally say & say it with pride that I have no problem going out in public without my hair done or any makeup on. It’s become a way of life for me now - embracing the mess. It’s very rewarding to not care about what I look like and still feel 100% comfortable & secure with myself to go out in public.



Which brings me to 'embrace the mess'.


you have heard me say it, write it, hash tag it everywhere. It truly wraps up everything I just wrote above in 3 simple words. So you can imagine how excited I was when I was contacted by WhoopTee to design my own custom T-shirt for MessyDirtyHair. 



I was really excited to try the design tool that WhoopTee to design my custom t-shirt. To my surprise it was so easy to use. You pick the color, font, style, picture, clip art...anything! You can design it anyway you like to make your t-shirt the perfect tee.



SO of course I wanted to make one with my moto - what do you guys think?

ah i love it! It turned out exactly how I designed it. Of course I wanted a black tee...i live in black. Let's just say this tee has already gotten a lot of wear. 


SO I know a lot of you love embracing the mess as much as me....& i lala LOVE you guys for it. Nothing makes me happier than getting a message or tweet from someone embracing the mess --- you girls know who you are....i even have a challenge every so often because I feel that strongly about it. 



SO because WhoopTee is aaamazing they are giving you messy readers the chance to win one of my custom t-shirts....& even better there will be 3 winners!! 

Check out WhoopTee & design your own custom t-shirt ---->>>


FACEBOOK // YOUTUBE // TWITTER // WEBSITE




a Rafflecopter giveaway




With all that said & done, I have hopes of inspiring you & the generations to come that we don’t need to strive to be perfect. That it’s ok if your hair isn't sitting perfectly on your head today or if there's a small stain on your jeans, or a button is out of place. Or you left the house with a bare face. It’s okay. 

Be the REAL version of you. 

Stay true to yourself. 

Join the movement

& 

Embrace the Mess.





PS. This Thursday starts the 1 Year Celebrations for #TheMessyProject so be sure to check back for a special TORY BURCH edition....& coming up in a few weeks is the 1 Year Celebration for #TheMessyProject featuring past messy participants...its going to be fabulous! 

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independence

What my 4th of July will consist of.

Enjoy the holiday BUT remember buzzed driving is drunk driving. Be safe my loves! See you next week! 

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