SPONSORED: 6 Events You'll Have to Dress Up For In Your Lifetime

Many little girls grow up watching Disney movies and dreaming of one day becoming a princess. This dream stays with you as you grow older and transforms the dream of getting dressed up to feel like a princess. Luckily there are a few events throughout life that allow us to make this dream come true.

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Coming of Age Ceremonies

Different cultures have different celebrations for their daughters once they hit a certain age such as Bat Mitzvahs, Quinceaneras, Debutante Balls, and Sweet Sixteen Parties just to name a few. Each of these celebrations not only celebrate a girl becoming a woman, but also presents her with her first opportunity  to feel like a princess for a day.

Not only is it the chance to be princess for a day, but it also happens to be your birthday making your day even more special!

High School Prom

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High School Prom: An event you look forward to as soon as you learn what one is and an event you'll look back on for the rest of your life. Many girls spend months preparing for this last big event of high school (besides graduation of course), and spend a countless number of hours searching for the perfect dress. The day of prom is then spent being pampered as only a royal heiress does. 

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College Formals

Whether you're a part of a Sorority, being recognized in an academic dinner, or going as someone's date, you will probably attend at least one formal while you're in college. 

The first rule for finding a dress for a college formal is that it is NOT prom. A general rule to avoid over-doing it at a college formal is to think of it as your high school homecoming (without the ridiculous dress code restrictions of course). 

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Your Wedding 

Your wedding is the one day of your life where it really is all about Y-O-U! It's time to do what you want! Go all out in a princess style ball gown or be an individual in a short, vintage style dress.

The possibilities are endless and it can be hard to choose but in the end you only have one job: to find the dress that makes you feel beautiful and have your greatest princess moment. 

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Holiday Parties

During the winter holiday season you may get invited to many parties by friends, family, or your place of employment. While many will be casual or semi-formal, you may have a few chances to get fully dressed up in formal attire. 

Rule Number 1 for casual and smaller, more intimate get togethers: You can never go wrong with an LBD! Also, try not to upstage your host. It's okay to be fabulous, but let your host have a night to be fabulous too!

For formal events don't be afraid to be a little glamorous. It is the most magical time of year after all!

Balls/Galas

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Not everyone will have the opportunity to go to a ball or gala in their lifetime. These types of events are usually held by places of work, museums and galleries, or apart of charity. This is your chance for a red carpet moment. Make sure your attire is appropriate for the organization hosting it. For example a low-cut gown may be appropriate at one event but may not be at a ball hosted by a more conservative organization. 

Be sure to check out JJ's House for all your formal event needs!

Any Questions or Comments? Leave them below!

How to FInd Your Perfect Prom Dress

If you are a high school senior or even junior, prom season is coming up fast and dress shopping is in full swing by now. While some have known exactly the dress they want since freshman year, others may have a more difficult time finding a dress. So what's a girl to do when prom is right around the corner?
Here a few tips to finding your perfect prom dress.

1. Get An Idea

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Your first step in finding the perfect prom dress is to figure out what kind of dress you want. Do you want a short dress? A long dress? Sleeves? Strapless? Do you want a trendy prom dress or something more classic? These are all good questions to consider when deciding what prom dress to wear.
It is also a good idea to learn what type of dresses work best for your body type and which dresses will bring attention to the most flattering parts of your body while hiding the parts you don't want to call attention to.
When it was time for me to look for prom dresses, I had no idea what formal dresses worked well with my body. Luckily, I found a helpful tool on Rent the Runway. When shopping for a dress on the website, there is a tool that allows you to narrow down the dresses by occasion, age, length, and the most helpful tool: body type. The tool picks out all of the dresses that will work on your body type. Even if you choose not to get your dress from this site, it is extremely helpful in helping you learn what cuts look well on you.

2. Find Inspiration

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Once you have an idea of what you want, you need to get inspired! Finding something to base your dress on will give you ideas, narrow down the possibilities, and help you find your dress faster.
Start with the theme of your school's prom. Whether the theme is Hollywood Glamour, Ancient Greece, or even Under the Sea, there is bound to be a coordinating dress.
To take it a step further, get ideas from dresses seen in your favorite movies and TV shows. For example I found inspiration for my prom from the old animated movie Anastasia. Start paying attention to any movie with formal events in them and take notes (you don't really have to write anything). It's a great excuse to have a movie night with friends!

3. Red Carpet Watching

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Red Carpet season is the best time of year for prom-goers. Not only do you get inspiration from the glamorous dames of Hollywood, but you get knockoffs of the dresses! Prom dress retailers jump at the chance to have dresses inspired by the best dresses on the red carpet.


Go through pictures from the red carpet to get inspiration for your dress, or better yet, one that looks close to it. Also pay attention to stars with a similar body type, height, or skin tone to you to get ideas on cuts and colors that work for you.
It's even the perfect opportunity to look for hair, makeup, accessories, and even nails for your big night!

Now that you have gotten some tips on how to find your perfect prom dress, it's time to get out there! Getting started is the hardest part and once you find a place to start, things will all start to fall in place. And these tips just aren't for prom. Use this method to find the perfect dress for any formal event!
Have fun!





Any Questions or Comments? Leave them below!

Happy Father's Day!

One phrase that definitely describes me is "Daddy's Girl". I've been that way since birth and always will be.
When going through old boxes I often saw many of my dad displaying the fashions of the decades. Although most of the time I laugh at my dad's clothing choices, I still find pictures where he shows style in other ways.

This Bow Tie

Bow ties are awesome. There's nothing more to say

This White Prom Tux

Note: Another Bow Tie

I wish I would have scanned this picture so the image would be better because this deserves to be looked at! My dad completed the look with white gloves and he rocked it!

Bell-bottomed Sailor Uniform?

Maybe it's just me, but these pants seemed extra flared out at the bottom. Oh well, a good pair of sunglasses is always a good thing to have. 

A Man's Love for His First Car

And he kept this car until I was about seven years old. Two thumbs up for the sweater.

This Picture

Now I don't know who put this speech bubble on the picture, but I like it. 

He Loves His Wife 

Another Bow tie :)

They have been together for forever (okay so twenty years isn't forever but it is older than me) and their love only grows stronger each day. 

He Loves His Kids

My dad always made sure he spent time with us before and after his deployments and now we get to spend even more time with him and it's the best!

I Love My Dad

No matter how old I get and no matter where I go I will always be Daddy's Little Girl :)

Prom Shopping Tip #2: Use Those Codes!

Prom is getting closer! If you plan on buying your dress, shoes, accessories, or anything else online, make sure you take advantage of coupon codes!

Yay for throwback magazine covers!

Make sure to use your social skills and sign up for emails, follow on twitter, or like on facebook the stores you are planning on shopping at. You'll be the first to know whenever they have sales, or coupon codes to save you money.
Also take advantage of your birthday. If you have a birthday in April or May, sign up for all the stores you can. Most stores send out special coupon codes just for your birthday.

Around this time of year, jewelry and beauty stores are flooded with prom shoppers and to bring in even more coupons and coupon codes are sent out all over the internet. Prom magazines are full of them. Special issues like Seventeen Prom and Teen Magazine Prom are full of coupin codes and contests on many of the pages. And make sure you pay attention to the ads. Some ads can be traded in for a makeover if you bring them to department store makeup counters or nationwide hair salons.

Last but not least don't make the mistake of buying something online for full price because you didn't get emailed a coupon code. Many people are kind enough to post coupon codes they received online for everyone to see. All you have to do is search on google (ex: "promgirl coupon codes" or "rent the runway coupon codes" etc.).

I hope these tips will help you and happy prom shopping!

Any questions or comments? Leave them below!

Prom Shopping Tip #1: Can't Own It? Rent It!

It's prom season! If you haven't already started looking for your dress now is the time!
Many girls dream of the prom night as soon as they learn what it is (I was six and I saw it on the Rugrats) and all you want is for the night to be perfect right? Perfect dress, date, limo, the works. But many of us have one thing keeping us from that perfect night: Money. So what can you do to save money on your big night?
For those that have haute coture dreams and a retail budget, there is a miracle website called Rent the Runway.
Rent the Runway is an online store where you can rent designer clothes for 90% off retail price. Imagine wearing a $1,000 Herve Leger bandage dress for $100 or an $800 necklace for only $95. Sounds amazing right? It gets better. Once you find your dream dress, you simply reserve it up to six months in advance for the day of your event. They ship it to you two days before your event, and they pay for you to ship it back two days after. No dry cleaning needed! At first it may sound risky. There are so many things that could go wrong. What happens if what you order doesn't fit? What happened if you spill something on it or tear it? Well the ladies at Rent the Runway have all of that taken care of!
Before ordering your dress, check the sizing and fit tab. It uses as much detail as possible to let you know how the dress will fit. Whether you're worried about, height, hip size, bust size, body shape, they've got it all there for you. Once you do order your dress, you can automatically select a backup size at no cost to you. If the second dress still doesn't fit, you can send them back and your money will be refunded.
If you are worried about spilling something or tearing your rented item you can buy insurance for $12.
Rent the Runway also has a huge variety of jewelry, handbags, and wraps for the night.
Rent the Runway is an amazing website. And I should know; I wore an Herve Leger bandage dress for prom my junior year:

Searching for the perfect dress can't be any easier. You can narrow down your search by event, age, body type, length, size rental fee, date, color, neckline, embellishment, sleeve, style, and designer! And if you need any help you can chat with one of their stylits to find the perfect look for you!
So try Rent the Runway today!

Any questions or comments? Leave them below!

Back for Spring 2012!!

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since my last post but now I'm back!
It's time for Spring shopping and it's also my last semester of high school (yay!) and I'm equally excited for both!

As a preview for spring, here are a few titles of upcoming posts!

"Spring Trend: Statement Earrings!"- My favorite accessory of all: statement earrings! The bigger the better!

"Five of Items of Clothing Not from My Own Closet"- I will share with you some of my favorite clothing gotten from family members, the men's/children's section, and old costumes!

Series- "Prom Hunting 2012"- It's prom season! I will share with you ways to find your perfect dress, have an awesome night and save money all at once! Tips will come from previous prom-goers experiences, magazines, and my own experiences from dances and proms of the past!

Presenting: My Journey to Naturalism. In November I made the decision to no longer chemically straighten my hair with relaxers and go natural! I will include posts documenting my transition and  hairstyles I use to get through this period!

All that hair!!!

And as always Contests, Contests, Contests!!!

I hope you're as excited as I am for the upcoming season!

Any questions, comments, or posts you'd like to see? Leave them below!