Easy Ways to Look More Polished

Today I have a great guest post by Elisabeth of Headbands and Bagels! She's bringing us workplace fashion tips. It's perfect for me since I started a job this week, and the attire is business casual, which I'm haven't had to dress for in years.

1. Pick your outfit the night before. This can help prevent you from mismatching from grabbing clothes too fast.

2. A cami is an office gals best friend. Especially if you have a larger chest like me, you are always better off throwing on a thin cami underneath to protect you from flashing just a bit too much cleavage. Also opt for higher cut necklines that leave it up to the imagination.

3. Not tailoring your clothes, especially pants. You don't want to be that person hiking their pants up throughout the day. Invest a few dollars in a tailor to take your pieces from nice to exceptional. I have a tailor I go to all the time. I know that I have big boobs and a butt with a smaller waist. So I often need dress and skirt hems modified to cover more in the back and pants to be brought in at the waist.

4. Put on all your accessories and then take one off. Especially at work go for one statement piece of jewelry and let the rest be more subtle or ditch the statement all together and go for a printed top or dress instead.

5. Carry the smallest bag you can. You know us. As women we keep adding to our bags until they are bulging. Take only the size you need for that day's tasks and pare down to the essentials for that day.

6. When in doubt go with a midsize heel. I am a huge flats fan, but they don't go with every look. I also know that I feel most powerful in a great pair of mid height heels. They give instant polish while remaining comfortable enough to navigate the streets.

7. Always have a power outfit for any occasion. Have your go to look for work, casual weekends and nights out, so that if you find yourself in an outfit rut, you have an immediate backup choice that you know makes you feel good and look good.

Go say hi to Elisabeth over at Headbands and Bagels. I've had the pleasure of hanging out with her a few times and she's awesome. You'll love her!

Top 6 Halloween Movies

I love scary movies! I'm not down with guts and gore, but definitely enjoy a thriller. Those teen Halloween flicks from late 90s/early 2000s are my favorite. Gimme the Freddie Prinze, Jr., Jared Leto, and Josh Hartnett hunky hero types and I'm happy. Throw a few realistic and based-on-a-true-story films into the mix and my life is complete.

In honor of Halloween this Friday, here are my top six scary movies (in no particular order) that you should Netflix and watch this year:

I Know What You Did Last Summer - Freddie Prinze, Jr. PLUS Ryan Phillipe? Pretty sure this was the big break for both actors. In between trying to figure out the mystery and avoiding screaming like a little girl, the first time I watched I found myself trying to decide who was hotter. This film is winning on every level and if you haven't seen it we can't be friends. 

Urban Legend - Jared Leto pre-30 Seconds to Mars. The twists and turns will have you guessing 'til the end. And again there's two hotties - Leto and Joshua Jackson. Because of this flick I still check the backseat of my car every time I get into it and when I hear the song Total Eclipse of the Heart, you know, the one with the creepy lyrics: turn around bright eyessssss!

Scream - "Do you like scary movies? " I mean, this is the OG of teen horror flicks for anyone in their mid-20s to mid-30s. Young Skeet Ulrich and Neve Campbell, that now-famous distorted face mask, the loveable Deputy Dewey, and the start of the four-film franchise. I love this movie so much that I own it but still watch when it's on TV (and may or may not still get anxious while watching).

Vacancy - This film is short but seems long because it's extremely nerve-wracking. Most people didn't see this one, it wasn't a huge hit but it's so, so great. Part psychological, part scary as hell, the plot is realistic and you'll find yourself thinking about the movie the next time you stay at a hotel. Rent it immediately! Unless you scare easily, then don't rent it at all.

H20 - Starting point for Y2K heartthrob, Josh Hartnett, who stars alongside Halloween queen, Jamie Lee Curtis. H20: Halloween 20 Years Later, provides the creepiness of Michael Myers two decades after the original. It takes place on October 31, so it's fun to watch the day of Halloween. Bonus: did you realize Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in it? Forget the PSL, I want a drink of JGL!

The Strangers - Based on a true story, this movie is messed up! You won't sleep after seeing it. I was only brave enough to watch once because it's that terrifying. Years later I still get chills thinking about it. It's more of a slasher than I'd like, but if you can cover your eyes/mute the bloody parts you should watch it right.this.second. BUT NOT ALONE! I warned you.

Are any of these movies on your faves list? What did I miss? I'm always up for recommendations! 

EEK! At The Greek!

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending EEK! At The Greek, a fun Halloween-themed event at a local LA concert venue benefiting Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. The family-friendly night kicked off with face painting, trick-or-treating, and cute events for children before everyone took their seats for the show that consisted of lots of holiday entertainment. The night included a 60-piece symphony, a reading of Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart", a viewing of the 1929 Disney cartoon Skeleton Dance, and more. I had just as much fun as all of the kids in attendance!

If you live in the LA area I highly recommend checking the event out next year. A great night benefiting a wonderful cause!

And because I was having a good lipstick day, I am totally posting my shameless selfie from the night ;)

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Also, if you didn't see my post Friday, I wanted to make the announcement again because I'm super excited - I got a job! A great job! Today is my first day and I'm off to Boston for a week of training. So please bear with me for a few weeks as I adjust to working, and until I move, the horrible commute that is LA traffic.

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Your turn! Join the Monday Morning Gossip fun with my co-host Kimberlee of I Have a Degree in This and me. Here's how it works:

1. Blog about your gossip - all topics accepted so why not link up?!

2. Include the badge (below) in your post and/or link back to our blogs.

3. Add your link to the list below.
4. Only add ONE post.

Linkups are meant to be fun and promote everyone's blogs! We understand if you're new and don't know the rules, so we're happy to explain the process. But we don't link playing blog hop police. Repeat offenders will be deleted.

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This week's featured blog is Ice Cream and French Fries:

Tiara is a fellow California native always up to something fun and active. Go say hi!

An InLinkz Link-up

Fall in Boston

First thing's first I'm the realest I GOT A JOB! I don't want to jinx anything but I'm super excited. Big company, I'll be a manager, nice people - it's about time! I start Monday AND they're also flying me to Boston same day for three days of training. So not only am I employed, I'll also get to see fall in New England. That's a big deal for this Southern California native who's current fall is 80 degrees and foliage doesn't exist.

I may have over-glorified autumn in New England, just because I expect every single trees to be perfectly orange and perfect - but here's what I'm hoping to see next week:

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I apologize in advance because my blogging may suffer over the next month or so until I move closer to work and things settle down. Please bear with me :)

Linking up for Little Friday and Fab Friday Favorites

No White Flags

I chose to forgo the Ice Bucket Challenge over the past few months for a few reasons. One being that the drought in California is so bad that we can't afford to waste any water, like at all. Another is I felt a lot of people participating were only doing it because it was the cool thing to do and celebrities were in on it. Having worked to produce non-profit charitable events for five years I appreciate the campaign so much! It was genius and spread a lot of awareness which is a really wonderful thing. But while I applaud what the Challenge accomplished, it was also frustrating that a lot of people were all about the popularity and didn't donate.

Before I get attacked - because I know a lot of bloggers participated - I want to iterate that I am not putting anyone down who accepted the Challenge. I am only expressing my disappointment that some didn't take the time to think about ALS and what the buzz was actually about. I am pro anything for a good cause!

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Although I didn't participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge, I did support through a cause that's important to me - Team Gleason. It's a campaign that I've been following for years. A former New Orleans Saints player, Steve Gleason is a symbol of the city's rebirth after Hurricane Katrina. The first game back in the Superdome, Gleason blocked a kick proving New Orleans could bounce back. In 2011, a few years after that monumental play, he was diagnosed with ALS. Since then, Gleason and has been an inspiration to many. You don't have to be a Saints fan, or even into football, to necessarily know about him. Gleason has been featured on A Football Life (a very good look into his life with ALS), and was in a Microsoft commercial (also cool if you can spare a minute to watch) played during last year's Super Bowl, showing how those living with this terrible disease can do so much thanks to technology.

Team Gleason's motto of never giving up can be applied to anything in life - no white flags!

Thanks to the Ice Bucket Challenge, the light shed on this terrible disease has been amazing! But don't forget it's more than a fad, you should support causes YOU are passionate about. Donate where you feel is best. There are so many worthy causes.

If you do want to support this specific cause, consider ordering some Team Gleason merch. Proceeds go toward helping those with ALS and spreading awareness. I have the tank pictured above, displaying Gleason's famous punt block. Be aware that sizes run small.

To learn more about Steve Gleason, Team Gleason, and ALS, visit www.teamgleason.org.

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid

Looking for a book to read? I highly recommend YA novel Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid.

I'm admittedly a lazy reader. If I am not sucked into the story right off the bat I lose interest pretty quickly. I have so many books I've never finished. It took me three months to get through Gone Girl. My Kindle contains stories that are still bookmarked on Chapter 1. It's a real problem. So the fact that I was hooked on Let's Get Lost as soon as I started speaks volumes.

Here's a little overview, provided by publisher, Harlequin Teen:

Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named Leila. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most. 

There's Hudson, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And Bree, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. Elliot believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And Sonia worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love...

The mystery of the main character, Leila, intrigued me. I couldn't tell what she was up to, or if she was good or bad. It's was all a mystery, except for the fact she was hiding something. The book is split up into four sections, one for each of the other characters Leila encounters, and as the story progresses we get a few more hints along the way. With each clue her character unfolds until we get to see who Leila is.

By the end of the book (which I can totally see being adapted to film) it all felt together so perfectly in a way I never saw coming.

Let's Get Lost just came out in August and already has a Goodreads rating of 3.8 out of 5 and Barnes & Noble puts it at a 4.5 out of 5. And this is Adi Alsaid's first book - really impressive. He's got a great career ahead!

Be sure to pick up your copy, available pretty much anywhere you'd buy books!