Rocker Ballerina at the St. Louis Fashion Blog Awards (Wish That I Could Be Like The Cool Kids)

Friday night was the Kickoff Party for St. Louis Fashion Week, which also included the second annual St. Louis Fashion Blog Awards!

In addition to the Blog Awards and the cocktail reception that followed, this wonderful event included an art/fashion presentation by Grace Kubilius, a fiber artist-in-residence at Craft Alliance in St. Louis.  

We were running behind in getting to the party, so I didn't think about snapping pics - I promise to either delight or bore you with pics of all the coming events.  You can learn more about Ms. Kubilius from Alive Magazine - one of the major sponsors and partners of St. Louis Fashion Week.

Skirt:  eShakti Custom (Available in red here)

I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who showed your support to me by voting.  Unfortunately, I didn't take home any awards this year, but it was amazing just to be nominated, especially for Blog of the Year!!  

I certainly never started blogging with the intent of winning awards.  Blogging is first, foremost, and always will be, about my love of fashion and my desire to make fashion seem more accessible to people who feel like outsiders to the fashion world. 

As I have discussed briefly in my "About Me" section, I grew up loving fashion but without the funds to have the "cool" clothes.  I have spent my life, from early childhood on, poring over fashion catalogs and magazines, learning to create higher end looks on the cheap and developing an evolving personal aesthetic.

Top:  Ann Taylor Petites
Shoes:  Prabal Gurung for Target

I spent every waking hour as a kid drawing fashion sketches, making clothes for my Barbies, and pretending I owned my own fashion boutique.

As my passion for fashion took a backseat to academic pursuits, I put a lot of this part of my life behind me, but my love of fashion remained.  Blogging has given me an outlet to share this passion with others.

It's shown me that there's a place for me in the fashion world, and I have some serious goals for the future that I can't wait to share with you at a later time!

Jacket:  Forever 21+ (old)
Belt:  LOFT

Now, on to my look!  :-)

I'm a working mom - I don't have a ton of opportunities to get all fancy, so I decided last night was a time to glam it up.

Necklace:  The Limited

I've talked before on the blog about how impractical but awesome tulle skirts are.  As a fashion gal, I can forget sometimes that tulle skirts really don't have a place in my life, but I can't resist!

Being that last night was a fashion event - one of the few places where a tulle skirt is really acceptable, I decided to rock my girly tutu with a bustier style top, cropped tuxedo jacket and lace up heels.  I actually wore this top last year to the Blog Awards.  Fashion faux pas?  Nah!

I love the mix of something super feminine with edgier elements, so I added in an ear cuff, large ring, and other fun silver jewelry.

Ring:  Torrid
Bracelets:  New York & Company and Torrid

My awesome sister gave me this amazing pompadour updo inspired by Juliana Hough's look from the 2013 Golden Globes.  Doesn't she have mad skills?

Ear cuff:  Torrid (Available here)
Silver Earring:  The Limited (old)
Pearl studs:  Target (Available here)
CZ stud:  New York & Company?

Source:  MSN Living

A pink and black moon mani (given to me by the most adorable manicurist ever) completed the look.

While the Blog Awards were fun, and I got to meet up with a few new people (and a couple familiar faces), we didn't stay very long. 

I admit I'm not the most social person, and events like these (where I feel both the desire to network and meet other like-minded people and the sometimes debilitating awkwardness of doing so) tend to make me feel anxious and stressed. 

In addition, my man had come straight from work and hadn't had a chance to eat dinner, so he was starving.  The light bites offered, as great as they were, were just not doing enough to stave off his hunger.

So, we headed out shortly after the awards were announced. 

We ended up at The Cheesecake Factory.  We did not run into Penny, Leonard, or Sheldon, but we had a fun time pigging out on delicious food. 

Of course, you can't go to The Cheesecake Factory without getting some cheesecake, so even though I was pleasantly full, I got a slice of vanilla bean cheesecake to take home for later.   Somehow the man and one of the kids conned me out of most out of it, but what I had was delicious!  :-)

I had initially felt really silly going out to dinner in a tulle skirt, but then, I just felt kind of fabulous!

At the end of the day, whatever you're wearing, fashion is about having fun and owning your look.  Who cares if I was out of place? 

Thanks again to everyone who voted for me and for all of you who follow my blog...your support makes my day...year...life!!

For the silly, impractical, but totally fun tulle skirt in other looks, see here, here, and here.

For the top in other looks, see here, here, and here.

For my very favorite jacket in other looks, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.