photo by elissa

This past weekend has been a whirlwind. Some of it was fabulous, some of it was tragic. On Friday I drove to Austin, Texas, home of my undergraduate education (The University of Texas) looking forward to a fun-filled weekend at the Texas Style Council, where I was scheduled to speak on Sunday.

Saturday morning I received the tragic news of a death in my future family--a loss that is at once both heartbreaking (as the loss of only the most truly wonderful people in this world can be) and, strangely, joyful (as only a long-suffering illness that has ended can inspire). And that same evening my 3 year old niece was in the emergency room back home for swallowing a bracelet (she's fine)--a future fashionista in the making.

HB insisted that I remain in Austin, however, because he knew I would be of no functional help (I wasn't) and I'm a stickler about following through on my commitments. I'm glad I stayed, because I had such a wonderful time at the conference on Sunday, meeting new faces and catching up with old friends. Click for more photos!

1. driving to austin in torrential rain2. hello Alexander Wang iPad case! // 3. exploring round rock, texas4. gorging on sour punch straws, regretting it later // 5. what i would have worn to the posh party6. sunday morning brunch with ann & pamela // 7. ann's first queso, at the home of the best queso in texas8. indiana introduces the conference // 9. admiring ann's "arm-or" (hey i thought i was clever)10. taking in the panelists' wisdom // 11. driving home, tired, exhausted.

Thank you to Indiana, Elissa, and the rest of the Texas Style Council team for an amazing event, and for inviting me to speak on a panel!

A HUGE thank you to LuLu*s for sponsoring my travel and conference outfit (more on that later!)!

Live Life In Style captured my panel on video:

And, because I've been so bad about outfit posts lately, I thought I'd share with you what I'm wearing today:

Coming up, my conference outfit post!