Leap Year | Plaid Midi Skirt and Gold Accents

Happy Leap Year everyone!

Just a quick post today - I've been recovering from the intense roller coaster ride that was last week! As much as I enjoyed my work conference, it went on for far too long! Glad to be back on schedule!
I am weirdly excited about leap year! Maybe it's because it happens so infrequently but I like marking the times I've lived through it. I have a friend who was actually born on a leap year and we made sure to celebrate big last night!

Chilly | Studded Heels and Plaid Scarf

Hello lovelies, 

Sorry for the lack of posts this week - I have a work conference I'm helping run and I've been busy busy busy! I even worked on Saturday and Sunday! Posts will be sporadic this week (obviously) but here's an OOTD to hold you guys over. The weather in DC this week was really nice but a bit breezy. I went to some of our event planning meetings over the weekend in this getup - a loose sweater, black jeans, kicking heels, and an oversized scarf!

How to Maintain Long-Distance Friendships

I am in a very healthy and committed 12-year, long-distance friendship with Jen and loving it!

I never realized how lucky I was to have such a great friend in my life for so long until recently while speaking to a few co-workers. Many of them had moved far from their hometowns and lost touch with their childhood friends and it made me want to treasure the friendship I've cultured with my bestie!

Jen currently lives on the West coast and I live on the East coast (we literally live on opposite ends of the country!) and that makes it difficult to see each other. Luckily we are pretty experienced LDF-ers (that's long-distance-friendship) so we've done okay so far. I will say, it's not always easy. Sometimes, I wish I could just hang out with her at a bar after a long day at work but we can't do that. But through mutual understanding and patience, we've been able to keep up a very awesome friendship - we're trying to give Tina Fey and Amy Poehler a run for their money!

Here are some tips for those who are currently or about to have an LDF yourselves:

Slush | Chelsea Rainboots and Polka Dots

Hello lovelies!

So I only have one picture for this outfit but I have a good excuse: It was cold. I'm talking below freezing with windchill that brought temperatures to a low that the white walkers in Game of Thrones would have felt right at home. I snapped this one picture on my way back home from a day of running errands. It had snowed a bit and I wore my rainboots to keep my feet dry through the slush. 

All this did get me thinking though - how do other bloggers manage to wear short skirts and dresses with minimal layers in such temperatures? I'm actually genuinely curious. Are they like me an just take off their coats for a second to take one or two photos and hurriedly throw them back on or do gorgeous people just not feel cold? 

Product Review: TonyMoly Panda's Dream White Hand Cream

It's no secret I love TonyMoly products: They're affordable, they're quality, and they come in the cutest packaging ever! I am really happy that Korean beauty products are becoming more accessible worldwide because they've been quite good to me and my skin. I picked out this hand lotion at Urban Outfitters when I ran out of my last tube of L'Occitane hand lotion. Read on to hear my thoughts on TonyMoly's Panda's Dream White Hand Cream:

Cozy | Sweater Dress and Over-The-Knee Boots

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's day!

To be honest, I had a completely different outfit in mind for today's post but this was the outfit I actually wore on Valentine's Day so here I am! It was a cold Valentine's day here in the District with temperatures below freezing so I was bundled up with these warm boots and a thick coat (seen here). I was dateless but warm! Haha

Galentines Day Care Package

Every year, my best friend Jen and I send each other care packages. This year, we exchanged Valentine's day (or Galentine's Day, as stated by the wise Leslie Knope) packages. It's always so much fun to put these together! Jen and I have known each other for over ten years so I have a pretty good idea of what kinds of things she likes. Below are the list of things I put in her package:

Romance | Cut Out Maxi and Strappy Heels

Valentine's Day is just around the corner! I'm actually going to be attending a brunch that morning, as it is my friend's birthday, but otherwise plan on being home with my Netflix account (#foreveralone). 

I bought this dress after seeing it on Jean from Extrapetite. February is a busy month at work and we're in the middle of a huge conference with formal dinners on the schedule. This dress seemed perfect for an Awards ceremony that I am required to attend. It's going to be a cold night and the long sleeves will help keep me warm while the cutouts and the slit are demure qualities that keeps the outfit from being boring. I did, however, think this would also be a great outfit to post for the Valentine's day season, especially for anyone going to a fancy dinner! A note for anyone who does plan on getting this dress - the slit actually goes all the way up and I was a bit scared a wrong move or a gust of wind would cause me to accidentally flash people. I pinned the slit down do where my upper thigh is to prevent embarrassing accidents.

How I Stay on Top of My Blogging Schedule

One of my goals this year was to have less gaps in my blogging schedule. When I first started out I had a lot more time to blog because I didn't have a time-intensive job. My circumstances have changed and so have my standards. My current job requires a lot of my time and taking outfit posts on the go just aren't good enough for me. I need to plan my posts ahead of time in order to do my job well and also put out quality posts. These two things sometimes butt heads but I've been coming up with better methods to stay on track and make sure you guys who do take the time to read my blog have something to read. For those of you in the same boat, here are some tips that have worked for me:

Year of the Monkey | Striped Sweater and Studded Heels

Happy Lunar New Year!

In case you didn't know, today marks the first day of the year of the Monkey! A quick google search tells me that those born this year are "adventurous, quick-witted, and ambitious." 

DC's Chinatown will be having a celebration tonight so I plan on going to see the festivities. I've lived in DC since my college days but I've yet to attend this event! I'm told the parade and the festival is usually quite fun so I'm really pumped!

Blog-iversary!

Today is special: Coffee, Prose, and Pretty Clothes turns 3 years old!

Thank you all for supporting on my style journey and reading my blog! When I first started blogging, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to accomplish, I just wanted a space on the internet to post interesting outfits and connect with other bloggers. I had no idea how much fun this would be and how devoted I would be. In the past, I would start blogs and stop writing in them after a few days when I would lose interest. You guys who read my blog and leave comments keep things interesting and I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for the words of encouragement! I hope that I can continue to post good content worthy of your time!

My Updated Skincare Routine

About two years ago,  I posted a post called "My Winter Skincare Routine." Well, it's safe to say that this routine has changed for me. Getting older, new schedule, and having different budget constraints have allowed me to experiment with different products and get to know my skin a bit better since this January 2014 post (I've been blogging a while now!) 

When I visited my family in Korea last March, my cousins got me into Korean skincare. For those of you who may not have heard, South Korea is very famous for their skincare and makeup products. Women in Korea use an average of 10 products for skincare alone (that's not including makeup). When I visited Seoul, I did notice women had incredibly good skin and I happen to believe that an ounce of wrinkle prevention is worth a pound of cure, so I jumped on the Korean skincare routine bandwagon.

Aftermath | Puffer Coat and Plaid Scarf

Hello lovelies!

As you can see, I've finally run out of photos of outfits I took pre-Jonas. I am now back to wearing my puffy down coats and all-weather boots to get through aftermath. Luckily, it's been quite warm lately (well, warmer than it was, if you can call 42F warm) and this coat hasn't been taken out as often but, I'm glad I have it. 

Movie Night: The Martian

I finally saw the movie The Martian over Skype (it's how we hang out now. Don't judge!) I was interested in watching this film when Jen recommended the book to me (she even reviewed it here) and I found out Matt Damon would be starring in it (I adore Matt Damon).

This movie has been out for a while now and there are many reviews out there that you guys have probably already read up on so I won't go into too much detail there. I do however, want to talk about some of the things I enjoyed about the film as someone who has now both read the book and seen the movie.

I honestly LOVED the way the book was translated on screen. I'm a bit of a book purist so often times when I see a movie based off a book I've read, I walk out of the movie disappointed. This book did incredibly well onscreen and even some of the parts that were taken out of the film didn't irritate me as much as it did in a lot of other movies I've seen (I'm looking at you, Harry Potter - where was Peeves?!) Much of the dialogues and the internal monologues I loved about the book were preserved in the film. The technological aspect of the movie was incredibly well-executed and there wasn't a moment in the movie I wasn't at the edge of my seat.

For the Love of Plaid | Plaid Skirt and Moto Jacket

Hello lovelies!

Here's another set of photos I took before Jonas hit. I've been incredibly partial to this skirt for the warmer days... again, until Jonas. I took to Pinterest to get some styling ideas for this skirt and I saw quite of few people paired plaid skirts with leather jackets so I decided to get on board too. I added my cobalt bag to play up some of the navy blue shades in my skirt and shoes but looking back, I'm not sure if that was perhaps the best bag to pair with this look. Oh well, sometimes you make mistakes and you learn new styling lessons along the way.