*This post was made in partnership with Responsival.  Thank you for supporting brands I feature*

 

Name a better gift for Mom than beautiful gold personalized necklaces! They can be made special in so many ways with initials, birthstones and zodiac signs. You can personalize them for your Mother's birthday or even with your/all her children's birthdays. AU-Rate has plenty of options to choose from! If you're not a birthstone or initial fan you can just choose any of their pieces and select your Mom's preferred color - gold, white or rose! It's impossible to not be able to find the perfect piece of jewelry.

 

Aurate also released a new collaboration with Kerry Washington last week called The Birth of Mother  featuring beautiful organic pearls and seashell motifs. Order by May 5th for regular shipping and May 7th for overnight to get your gift in time (in stock items only, not made to order.)

If your Mom isn't a jewelry lover there are plenty of other options to make her smile! Mine will never say no to a beautiful candle, my favorite brand to splurge on the past number of years has been Voluspa, but I also discovered L’or de Seraphine last year! Both are a bit on the pricier side, but when it comes to gifting - go for the high end!

 

For the Mom with a sweet tooth you could bake her something yourself (check out my baking posts to see what I've made lately) or order her a fancy dessert she wouldn't buy for herself! Maybe some Ladurée macarons or Dō cookie dough! You could even find a local donut shop that makes over the top donuts! Around here we have Donut Crazy!

Side-note: How beautiful is this london blue topaz and diamond ring from Aurate? I had to buy it when I saw it matched one of my favorite necklaces that my Grandmother handed down to me.

 

Double V-Neck Cashmere Sweater: Calypso St. Barth 'Gylden' (Gilt)

Floral Jeans Target Flipside Denim 

Sandals:  Zigi Soho Velvet Floral Embroidered Open Toe Mules (TJ Maxx)

Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs 'Natural Selection Mini Messenger Bag' (Saks Fifth Avenue)

Sunglasses: Gucci Aviators (bought in Italy)

Blue Topaz & Diamond Necklace: hand-me-down from Grandma

Ring: Vintage Emerald Cut Ring with London Blue Topaz c/o Aurate

These photos are obviously from before Halloween as I'm at the pumpkin patch, but I feel like pumpkins and gourds are still great decor all the way up through Thanksgiving. I still have all 12 (they were 12 for $20, haha) gourds we bought on this trip and my pumpkin since we didn't have time to carve it.

While I'm all for decorating for Christmas as early as you want I still like to keep it more Fall themed until closer to Thanksgiving (I usually start decorating Thanksgiving night, haha.) This year I'm decorating before - probably this week - since we only have three and a half weeks after Thanksgiving to get all our Christmas cheer out!

On to the outfit, I was originally going to go sans vest, but in the end I knew it would be a bit cold at the pumpkin patch so I threw on one of my faux fur vests to keep the chill off.

Vest: Simply Vera Vera Wang faux fur shawl vest c/o Kohl's, Double V-Neck Cashmere Sweater: Calypso St. Barth 'Gylden' (shop more v neck sweaters), Jeans: J Brand 'Mid Rise Photo Ready Super Skinny Jean' (shop more J Brand jeans), Boots: Eighteen 68 'Megan' (Gilt Groupe), Leather Bag: Bought in Italy

I finally crossed two places off my bucket list this past weekend when I went to visit my youngest brother. He lives close to Mystic, in Connecticut, so we went to Mystic Pizza! I'm not a huge fan of the movie (I know, I know) but I do enjoy good pizza and this was AMAZING. Christian and I shared the Texas Chicken Pizza and it was so good! We also had some of their fries, which he said were some of the best fries he's ever had.

Next on the agenda was Sift Bake Shop! Christian and I love watching all of the seasonal baking competitions on Food Network - Holiday Baking Championship, Spring, Kids, etc. One season a man from Mystic, Adam Young, was on Spring Baking! He made it to the final three that season and also went on to win Best Baker in America on Food Network. He was known for his beautifully made desserts and the ones in his bakery look like they could be on TV. I wish I could have tried everything but settled on the chocolate hazelnut praline and chocolate raspberry torte. Both were delicious!

Jacket: thrifted, Double V-Neck Cashmere Sweater: Calypso St. Barth 'Gylden' (Gilt), High Waisted Jeans: J Brand 'Maria' High Rise in Supreme (Gilt Groupe),  Boots: Audrey Brooke 'Mirie' (DSW), Bag: Dark Purple Chloé Faye (eBay)

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Been wanting to go to @sift_bake_shop since I saw Adam on Spring Baking Championship and Best Baker in America on @foodnetwork and finally made it there! Sooo delicious, I wanted to buy everything #siftbakeshopmystic #siftbakery #ctfoodie #cteats #ctblogger #mysticct

A post shared by Megan (@closet_fashion) on Dec 16, 2018 at 10:49am PST

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Can finally check #mysticpizza off my list!! Yummmmmmm 😋🍕 #cteats #ctfoodie #mysticct #pizza #ctblogger

A post shared by Megan (@closet_fashion) on Dec 15, 2018 at 10:46am PST

I wore this over the weekend to do some shopping with my mom. She had a DSW coupon so I went along "just to look." But of course I found something to buy. I got these Franco Sarto mules for $20 thanks to 50% off clearance and a $5 coupon! Speaking of clearance deals and DSW, I got these boots there for $12 last Spring.

Double V-Neck Cashmere Sweater: Calypso St. Barth 'Gylden' (Gilt), Cardigan: Forever 21, Jeans: J Brand 'Maria' High Rise in Supreme (Gilt Groupe),  Boots: Impo 'Omega' or 'Onnie' (DSW), Necklace: Acanthus 'Gemma', Bag: Dark Purple Chloé Faye (eBay)

For Thanksgiving this year I decided to wear two monochromatic outfits. The past few years I had worn my fun burgundy leather pants (2014 b, 2014 a, 2015, and 2016) Unfortunately, they ripped last year after getting caught on something, so they had to be retired.

For my first monochromatic look I went with my favorite color - purple! The look is completed with gold accents from my belt, ring (that belonged to my Grandmother,) earrings, necklace, Chloé Faye and a fun gold stripe on my pumps!

Cashmere Double V-Neck Sweater: Calypso St. Barth (Gilt Groupe), Pants c/o Banana Republic 'Sloan' (in purple), Heels: Coach 'Nacie' (Marshalls), Bag: Dark Purple Chloé Faye (eBay), Earrings: Mejuri 'Loop' by Jamie-Lee, Necklace: Acanthus Jewelry 'Gemma'

This past Sunday Lydia and I attended a Fall Fashion Preview at Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets. This event was a bit different from the past, we did a scavenger hunt for the latest trends, which Clinton Crossing has laid out in their Fall Trend Cheat Sheet which will be available at the outlet for free! Read on after my outfit to see what trends we found!

When you shop at Simon Premium Outlets, be sure to sign up for the Simon Savings Passport. You'll get access to coupons through the web, your phone OR their app! I didn't buy anything since we were mostly browsing for the trends BUT I will definitely be back to spend the $50 gift card Simon Premium Outlets graciously gifted us! (And I have $10 left on another gift card.)

Here's what I wore while we shopped til we dropped! (Confession: I changed into sandals after a while) I decided to bring my Proenza Schouler shorts into Fall by wearing them with a sweater. Next time I'll try them with black tights so I can wear them when it's even cooler!

Cashmere Double V-Neck Sweater: Calypso St. Barth (Gilt Groupe), Tweed Colorblock Shorts: Proenza Schouler (Roundabout), Suede Mules: BCBGeneration 'Beverly' (Saks Off Fifth at Clinton Crossing), Bag: Chloé Faye (eBay)

And on to the scavenger hunt! We were looking for trends for men and women as we shopped through the outlets and were pretty successful with everything on our list! The stores are only beginning to get in Fall items so I'm sure in the coming weeks there will be TONS of options for your Fall wardrobe update.

(Photo by Clinton Crossing)

Timberland was having a try on event for their new Tiltson boot. I tried the burgundy and Lydia went for the black suede! Left photo by Clinton Crossing right by Lydia

Each of the boots also had a matching hobo bag!

A major Fall trend is velvet booties, this pair from American Eagle was super cute (Photo by Clinton Crossing)

Another shot of the American Eagle velvet booties

Banana Republic has working girls covered with cute printed pencil skirts and fitted blazers.

We can't forget the guys. I'm pondering these sporty suits (Photo by Clinton Crossing)

Leave it to me to find the one non-printed piece at Vera Bradley. Fell in love with this bright pink backpack!

Vera Bradley also had some really cute animal print/textured bags

If I had a Fall wedding to attend I would go full on sequin with this mini dress by Parker, found at Saks Off 5th! I wanted this Sandro dress, but it was a little too expensive to justify since I don't go to many evening events.

We ended our day with brunch at Chow Food & Beverage Co.  Lydia and I shared their AMAZINGGGG BBQ Meatballs. They’re smoked pork and beef meatballs wrapped in bacon with a pineapple chipotle glaze topped with picked red onions. I had the Chicken & Waffles and Lydia chose pulled pork tacos.