Look Book: Mint Lace

Sit right back and hear a tale...of this mint lace dress.

Years ago, I was picking through the clearance rack at Kohl's and fell in love with this gorgeous mint lace dress. I loved the color and the little details, but most importantly I loved the $10 price tag. It was a no-brainer and I took it home.

I planned on wearing it to my first visit to the Cherry Blossom festival in DC, but it ended up being a little too big on top (when you are short, clothes tend to be too long and not fit right), and it sat lower on me than I wanted. I tried to wear it a number of times, but I couldn't get over it.

Fast forward to a few months ago, I decided to finally take the plunge, and get it taken in in the shoulders. What happens? Well with the whole dress sitting higher, the tightest part of the dress was now around the biggest part of my stomach, and it became too tight!

Makeup Looks: Black and Gold

Remember how I told you things have been crazy busy for me? Well things got so busy I completely forgot to post on Saturday! I am doing my best to keep up with blogging, but with everything going on right now, it's been tough. Plus, I have been loosing some motivation. I still love creating the looks, but siting down to write the posts has been a struggle.

This look that I loved creating was inspired by this look by Polished Polyglot.

Confetti and Streamers

I feel like I sound like a broken record because all I ever talk about around here is how busy I am. Busy with work, or with family, now add fostering cats to the mix, I never seem to catch a break!

So enough about that, and on to the nails! I saw this look on Pinterest and I wanted to recreate it!

Cat Claws: Jack, My First Foster

I have had cats literally my entire life. I have always been a cat lover, and had a passion for helping them. When I was 9, my very special kitty, Muffin, came into my life. We grew up together and she was my best friend. As she got older, I struggled with the decision on whether or not I'd want another cat after she passed. For a while, I felt that I couldn't ever bring myself to get a cat to "replace" her.

After years of thinking, and talking to Muffin (yes, I am a crazy cat lady and I embrace it), I decided that she would want me to help other cats, and take them in, just as I did for her when she was left on my vet's doorstep.

Geode

I woke up on a Sunday morning, and scrolled through Instagram to find nail art inspiration as I usually do. One look that caught my eye was geode nail art. As I dug deeper, I found so many gorgeous manicures! I knew that I had to create a geode nail art look of my own.

Look Book: Bright, Colorful, and Geometric

Last fall, my friend took me to my first clothing exchange, where a bunch of girls bring clothes they don't want, and then anyone can take the clothes they like from the pile. I have mentioned it on the blog a few times already because I took home so many awesome finds that I love to share! When I saw this fun summer dress, I tried it on right away. It fit like a glove and I knew it had to be mine.

July 2014 Roundup

I has been a hot second since I've done a roundup post and I'm not too sure why. While July has been a busy month, things are finally returning back to normal after the wedding. We started off the month celebrating the 4th of July, and finished with a friend's beautiful wedding, with some excitement in between.

Nails

Unicorn//Summertime//Flowers and Pearls

Saguaro and Peyote//Evil Eye Half Moons

Unicorn

You'd have to be living under a rock not to realize that unicorns have been on-trend lately. At first, I wasn't really into the trend (I have never been a huge unicorn lover, I am more into mermaids personally). But I do love rainbows and glitter, so I can't hate on all the unicorn love. Plus, who doesn't love to feel magical and unique, like a unicorn? With unicorns all over the place lately, I wanted to get on board with some unicorn nail art.

Drink Beer. Save Wildlife. #BrewAtTheZoo 2017

One thing that Ben and I look forward to in the summer is Brew at the Zoo. We went last year and had such a fun time that we bought tickets for this year the day they were available. This event is held every year at the National Zoo in Washington DC. The proceeds from the tickets go to helping wildlife.

Saguaro and Peyote

If you've been around Claws Up for a little while, you'd know that by far fall is my favorite season. I love everything about it from the weather, to the foods (hello pumpkin everything!), and the holidays. But for some reason, I have been really feeling summer this year.

I already did a classic summer nail art look, but I wanted to do another. My brother visited from Texas a few months ago for the wedding, so I also wanted to do something Texas related when he was here. Summer? Texas? Cactus nail art!

Flowers and Pearls

Let me tell you a couple things about my nail art. First, the time between when I do my nails and when I publish post varies. That means that you may see very different nail lengths from two posts in a row. Second, sometimes I am craving really flashy or intricate nail art, and sometimes I just want to keep it simple.

I created this look back in March, so as you can see my nails were much shorter then. Ben got me a bouquet of orange roses which inspired me to do simple orange flower nail art.

Rooney Ultrasonic Summer Tour aka The Greatest Night of my Life

Last Saturday, Ben and I went to see Rooney in concert. They are not a super popular band, but they were my favorite band for all of junior high and most of high school. One song in particular, That Girl Has Love, really resonated with me and got me through some of my hardest times. I would come home after school and play it on repeat. I even did a presentation on it for my high school psychology class. And when I was on college, I got the name tattooed on me.

Makeup Looks: Woodlands

Lately I have been really into makeup looks with natural browns on the top lid, and fun colors on the bottom. It's the perfect way to express yourself with fun colored makeup, but still keeping it subtle enough to wear out. I have already done purple, orange, and blue versions of this look, and I wanted to try a green version too!

Evil Eye Half Moons

I am extremely proud of my Greek heritage. I'm actually a mix of Greek, Polish, and Russian, but for some reason I most closely identify with being Greek. I think it might be because my mom's mom was Greek, and she was the grandparent I spent the most time with. She also made the best food from spanikopita to Greek yogurt.

Greek people have a lot of superstitions. I should know, my Greek family used to spit on me for good luck every time I saw them. A more well-known symbol of Greek superstition is the evil eye. Basically, the evil eye is a curse and you can ward off the curse by wearing an evil eye charm. I have done evil eye nail art in the past (I wont link back to that embarrassment), but I wanted to create a new look.

Summertime

I always get excited for summertime. Part of the reason is because that means my least favorite season, spring, is over. I also love all of the fun summertime activities from beach days to BBQs at night. With the summer officially here, I wanted to wear the summer fun on my nails.

May 27, 2017 Best Day Ever!

Just a few days ago, Ben and I officially reached one month of marriage. Since I have been sharing my wedding planning journey on the blog, it was only fitting to use this milestone as an opportunity to share my wedding day.

Look Book: Summer Breeze

I thought that after I got married, life would calm down for me, but that's not true at all! I feel just as busy as I was while planning a wedding. From concerts to family visits, plus all the married-life stuff like dealing with bank accounts and insurance, this summer is going to be busy!

For a busy summer, I need the perfect summer dress. Something that's cute and will keep me cool, plus something that's effortless when I am too hot to think about clothes (you know what I mean, right ladies?). I picked up this dress while at a clothing exchange and it perfectly fit the bill. Plus, pockets.

Lady Gaga's Cup Of Tea

Back in 2011, Lady Gaga took over Barney's department store in NYC to set up her workshop. It was a magical slice of little monster heaven. Gaga released a lot of limited time merchandise to sell in the workshop, including the most awesome teacup ever. I loved the fun pattern and that there was a fake diamond inside (here's why).

For the past 6 years I have wanted to do nail art to match the cup, and I have no idea why it has taken me until now!

I'm Back! - Honeymooning in California

Hello world, I'm back! As you may know, I decided to take off some time from blogging for my wedding and honeymoon. While the time away was much needed to fully enjoy the experience, it's good to finally get back at it.

The wedding was an almost perfect day with only some minor mishaps. I am excited to share more about my day, and the photos, as soon as we get them back. In the meantime, I am really excited to share a few of the nearly 500 photos we took during the honeymoon, and tell you all about it!

I'm Getting Hitched!

Can you believe that my wedding is just around the corner? I have been dreaming of this day since I was 5-years-old and it's almost surreal that it's finally here. Even when I got engaged, the wedding felt like light years away. I have spent so much of my life planning for this day, it's going to be a weird feeling not having to think about it anymore.