a fancy outfit for a fancy party.

my middle sister, emily, turned 19 last week and celebrated with a "fancy dessert party" saturday night. and by "fancy dessert party" she meant that everyone was supposed to dress fancy and come over to my moms house for a dessert bar. obviously i was super excited about this because, first of all, dessert bar (and not just any desserts, made by my mom desserts), and second of all i havent exactly had much opportunity for dressing fancy lately with it being summer and us being broke and all. i probably spent the entire week brainstorming outfit ideas, and heres what i wore to the party:

dress: hand-me-down, tights: cotton on, shoes: aldo (purchased at wasteland melrose),  necklace: vintage, bracelet: tiffany, glasses: zenni optical

so this dress. it was in my sisters closet. with the tags still on it. when she gave it to me, i started giving her a hard time about buying clothes and not wearing them, and apparently this dress was given to her by someone else. this dress. this totally super cute and flattering and comfortable and all around awesome (ok, maybe the fabrics a little thin and it needs a slip, but every girl has a million slips, right? or is that just me?) dress was just sitting around in peoples closets not getting worn. how sad is that? needless to say, i was more than happy to take it off her hands and give it a loving and appreciative home. 

but seriously, i cant get over how much i love this dress, especially the teeny little pleats in the skirt:

and how the lace overlay on the bodice went perfectly with my vintage pearl necklace (which i scored at the torrance antique fair for $3):

i also wore heels. which is a pretty huge deal because ive only worn heels like two or three times since alice was born. but lately ive been reading a lot of blogs by other moms with toddlers and ive been seeing a lot of outfit posts with fancy dresses and heels. heck, emily at the freckled fox is a million weeks pregnant still wearing heels all the time so if she can do it so can i. 

and i did:

it actually wasnt bad at all. honestly im not even sure what i was trying to avoid by wearing flats all the time but i think now ill probably start wearing heels more often. these are actually the "real" shoes that i bought for my wedding. i was really sad that i didnt get to wear them then because they looked SO cute with my 20s style lace dress, but my "aisle" was a steep stone pathway and i was REALLY sick the week before my wedding so i could barely even stand up straight in the flats i ended up wearing. anyways, im glad that i still have them and get to wear them now, because i probably would never have bought shoes this nice under any other circumstances. 

now, since my mom is far too modest to show off her amazing parties herself, i also thought id share a few photos of all the wonderful decorations and desserts that she made for the party so that everyone out there can see how great she is.

like this super sweet paper bunting:

and wine bottle centerpieces:

heres the drink table (stocked with my favorite sparkling lemonade, too!):

 and the dessert table: 

which featured (from left to right) cookies, mini apple pies, cake pops, chocolate dipped strawberries, cupcakes, mini peach cobblers, chocolate dipped marshmallows, peanut butter bars, and (just outside the frame) mini strawberry shortcakes. AND all of it was homemade, except the cookies, which were from diddy riese, but thats better than homemade anyway. 

and because my mom is the greatest ever, she even accommodated the guests with dietary restrictions by making vegan cupcakes (also please notice the cake stands, which she made from candlesticks and plates):

 and gluten-free apple pies:

probably the best dessert of the night (even though i couldnt eat it) was the make-your-own ice cream sandwich and milkshake station: 

because diddy riese cookies (if youre not from the la area, diddy riese is a bakery near ucla that has THE BEST cookies EVER):

i actually didnt really take any pictures of people at the party, but thats because my sisters boss set up a super amazing photo booth. i mean SERIOUSLY: 

does my family know how to party or what?

happy birthday emily!