A Casual Workday with Maxwell Scott

Coat: J.Crew (last seen here) | Sweater: J.Crew | Denim: J Brand '620' | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Bag: thanks to Maxwell Scott | Sunglasses: Karen Walker | Necklace: Ann Taylor | Earrings: Kendra Scott

As a lawyer, I am always on the lookout for a bag that will both a) look stylish and b) easily tote the piles of papers, technology, and other essentials I have to schlep around every day. While some days this means I have to resort to my (not stylish) rolling brief box, on other days, a large work bag will suffice. Enter Maxwell Scott, a British leather goods company that specializes in gorgeous, classic bags that are both fashionable and functional. I've teamed up with them today to show you one of their pieces that fits seamlessly into my busy day.

I chose the chestnut-colored Rivara because its description, "large leather work bag," sounded like exactly what I needed. My bag is 16" x 11.8" x 4", perfect for fitting legal-sized files, a laptop, a large planner, and all my daily essentials, including an extra pair of flats for commuting. The leather on this bag is divine, and I loved that I could add a monogram to personalize it.

While I ultimately decided on a work bag, Maxwell Scott also has a lovely selection of travel bags as well, including some leather duffles that look perfect for a weekend getaway.

Hope you have a great week!

x, Tam

A Little Sparkle

Dress: ASOS | Coat: H&M | Sunglasses: Karen Walker | Tights: Forever 21 | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Clutch: Jimmy Choo | Necklace and Earrings: J.Crew | Watch: kate spade

Sharing some New Year's Eve outfit inspiration today! I've worn this dress a couple times already this holiday season already, and I may reach for it again this Wednesday.

Hope this look brings a little sparkle to your Monday!

x, Tam

Our Parisian Wedding -- Part III: Eiffel Tower & Luxembourg Gardens

Today is my last post about our wedding in Paris (read Part I and Part II if you missed them).

After our morning coffee and wandering near the Seine, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower to snap some photos there. We had originally planned to go over to the Trocadero on the Right Bank and take some photos from there, but the Paris Marathon was going that way, so we approached the tower from the other side and walked down the Champ de Mars with our lovely American-in-Paris photographer, Juliane.


We felt so lucky to have bright blue skies and a clear view of the Tour Eiffel, although the wind did pick up a little, so I put on a little furry jacket over my dress.





At this point in the day, we had been up and on our feet for a few hours, and although my wedding shoes were comfortable, I was ready for a break and a snack. In the photo below, I'm pretty sure Sean is laughing because I told him I needed a snack and that we should find a crepe stand ASAP.



We did end up stopping for a crepe right under the Eiffel Tower, and then our driver picked us up and we stopped at one more place, Luxembourg Gardens, for a few more pictures. We spent a few minutes admiring--and stealing a kiss or two near--the Medici Fountain.



I wanted to make sure Juliane got a photo of the wrapping on my bouquet. I had tried my best to describe to the florist in French how I wanted to wrap the bouquet and what my colors were, but when I picked up my bouquet, the florist I had talked to was gone, and they didn't seem to have a ribbon in the right color for my dress, which was definitely champagne and not white. Sean came to the rescue and wrapped the bouquet the morning of the wedding with the excess fabric that had been trimmed from my dress when I had it hemmed (I had brought it along to try and match colors with the flowers, but of course had forgotten to bring the swatch with me to the florist!). The improvised wrapping matched my dress perfectly and lasted all day.



We spent our last bit of time with Juliane relaxing in the sunshine on the iconic green Senat chairs that are all over Paris' parks.

Photo Credit: Juliane Berry
On Tam: Dress: Sue Wong (carried at BHLDN) | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Earrings: J. Crew (similar here)
On Sean: Suit: Calvin Klein (similar) | Shirt: Brooks Brothers | Tie: Yves St. Laurent | Shoes: Ecco
Flowers: L'île aux fleurs, 20 Rue Monge, 75005

The rest of our wedding day consisted of a late brunch at Angelina on the Rue de Rivoli, where they have the most delicious hot chocolate and pain perdu in Paris, and then celebrating with some champagne at our apartment while conferencing our families in on Facetime. It was truly the sweetest and loveliest day, and we were so happy with how it all turned out.

Thank you so much for your sweet comments and well-wishes on the last few posts. I read every one of them out loud to Sean, and we both very much appreciate the kind words. Thanks for following along!

x, Tam

P.S. If you're interested in reading my past travel posts about Paris, they can be found here: one | two | three | four

Our Parisian Wedding -- Part II: Louvre, Seine, and a Café

I'm back today to share more photos from our wedding in Paris (Part I is here if you missed it).

After our ceremony on the Pont des Arts, we spent some time walking around near the Louvre, taking in the gorgeous architecture and morning light without a tourist in sight. It felt like we were on a movie set and the city was there just for us. Our photographer, Juliane, knew exactly where all the prettiest spots were and got some lovely shots of us and our beautiful surroundings.

Photo Credit: Juliane Berry
On Tam: Dress: Sue Wong (carried at BHLDN) | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Earrings: J. Crew (similar here)
On Sean: Suit: Calvin Klein (similar) | Shirt: Brooks Brothers | Tie: Yves St. Laurent | Shoes: Ecco
Flowers: L'île aux fleurs, 20 Rue Monge, 75005

Our Parisian Wedding -- Part I: le Pont des Arts

It has been nearly two months since our wonderful wedding in Paris, and I am finally ready to share some of the photos we recently received from our fantastic photographer, Juliane Berry. She was a dream to work with and took such beautiful photos that perfectly captured our day.

We had decided to do our ceremony in the morning as we noticed the Paris streets were nice and quiet in the early morning hours, and that would give us a lot of freedom and privacy to have our ceremony and take photos wherever we liked. Our only snafu was that the Paris Marathon (think 50,000 runners--eek!) was happening that day, much to our surprise, but between Juliane and our driver Didier, we didn't even see a single runner while we drove around Paris, and there was almost no traffic.

Didier picked us up in his 1953 Citroen in front of our apartment (more on our gorgeous apartment here if you're interested) at about 7:10 am, as sunrise was at 7:20. I had initially wanted "getting ready" photos, but I'm glad we jettisoned those and went right to our ceremony spot, the Pont des Arts across the Seine.



I did do a little bit of getting ready while waiting on the bridge, just to make sure my lipstick looked right. I decided to do my own hair and makeup as I wasn't sure if I could find someone to do it the way I wanted without meeting them well in advance. I love makeup and I know what looks best on me, so I preferred to mess with it myself. It turned out looking very "me," which Sean and I both agreed was the way to go.

Paris in the Springtime

Dress: Byron Lars via Anthropologie | Sunglasses: Karen Walker | Bag: Jimmy Choo | Shoes: Manolo Blahnik | Bracelets: David Yurman | Watch: Michele

If you've been following my Instagram feed, you already know that I spent the last couple weeks in France. My sweet fiancé and I decided to run off to Paris and elope! Well, sort of elope, in that it was just the two of us there, but our family and friends very much knew we were getting married and gave us their blessing. Plus, I had been doing some covert planning for a while (I'm sneaky like that).

We decided we wanted to rent an apartment in Paris to give us a little more space for wedding preparations and meals and such. We found the loveliest place through Airbnb, and for the same price as a much smaller hotel room, we had a one bedroom pied-à-terre on the Left Bank, just across the Seine from Notre Dame. It had a kitchen, a big living room, and a wraparound balcony with a perfectly Parisian view that made me swoon every time I glanced out the window.

{Our little neighborhood}

We had an abundance of sunny weather and warm temperatures throughout our trip--very atypical for Paris in the spring (it rained pretty much the whole time I was there in April two years ago), and a very pleasant surprise. We tried to walk as much as possible and to sit outside at cafés or on our balcony whenever we could. Mimosas and pastries from the renowned Maison Eric Kayser down the street were de rigeur for the mornings.

We were a stone's throw away from Notre Dame, so we wandered around Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis quite a bit. Upon walking over to the islands our first day out and about, I realized that the cherry trees were blooming by the cathedral and all over the city. I had never seen the cherry blossoms in Paris before, and I was hoping that they might be in bloom for our wedding. The pink petals everywhere made the whole trip seem that much more magical.

On one of our strolls, we went back to the spot pictured below--the love lock bridge right near Notre Dame, where two years ago we thought it might be sweet to get married on a bridge over the Seine (more on how that little idea turned out in future posts).

The outfit I'm wearing in this post is definitely not a sightseeing-friendly look, but it was perfect for a romantic "engagement" photoshoot we did with our Paris-based photographer the day before our wedding. Anthropologie has carried several iterations of this Byron Lars dress over the last year or so, and upon its arrival shortly before we left for Paris, I realized right away why it has been so popular. I truly can't say enough about the quality and level of detail on this piece. A 00P fit me well right out of the box. Currently available in three colors plus another version in a more eclectic mix of materials, a glance at the reviews on Anthro's page shows how well it works on a variety of different shapes and heights.

Stay tuned for more Paris posts later this week!

x, Tam

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Dot-Dot-Dot

Dress: Anthropologie (no longer available, similar here) | Turtleneck: H&M (similar here | Tights: H&M c/o | Sunglasses: Valentino | Shoes: L.K. Bennett | Clutch: Jimmy Choo | Necklace: Ann Taylor | Bracelets: David Yurman, Swarovski, J.Crew | Watch: Michele

It was nice to take a break from work this weekend and catch up with the blog a little. January has been pretty brutal at work after the holiday lull, so there hasn't been much time to wear anything but suits all day and flannel pajamas when I finally get home at night. I'm excited to have a few posts to share with you this week, though!

One of my favorite purchases this winter has been my plain black turtleneck. It's comfy, cozy, flattering, and perfect for layering to make more summery dresses winter-friendly. The Anthropologie dress I'm wearing here is pretty lightweight, but adding tights and a sweater underneath makes it a three- or four-season piece. I could also see wearing it to work like this if I worked in a more casual environment.

Hope you had a great weekend, too!

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Frill

Sweater: J.Crew (on sale!) | Skirt: ASOS (also in regular sizing) | Sunglasses: Chloe | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Bag: Reed Krakoff | Necklace: Ann Taylor | Bracelets: J.Crew, Ann Taylor (similar here), David Yurman | Rings: Vintage

I was initially intending to save this flouncy skirt for a special occasion, but I couldn't wait to wear it and decided to style it a little more casually for brunch. Although it seemed hard to wear at first, I made up my mind that it looks pretty cute with a sweater or longer shirt, and I'm thinking a peplum top could work with it, too.

A word of caution: I'm wearing a Petite 1 here (my usual ASOS size), but I think if I were ordering it again, I'd size up or consider the regular version as this one sits pretty high on my waist, and a strong breeze can make it look, ahem, not-so-ladylike. The texture and thickness of the fabric are nice touches, though, and the skirt definitely feels more expensive than it is.

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Peachy

Dress: Anthropologie | Sunglasses: Valentino | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Clutch: Reed Krakoff | Necklace: Theresa Mink | Bracelet: David Yurman | Ring: Gift

I got to play dress-up a little the weekend with this gorgeous dress from Anthropolgie (can you tell I love their petites section?). It was a lovely, cool weekend in Denver, which was a nice break from the recent heat wave.

How was your weekend?

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