4th of July/A Pirate's Life for Me!

Fourth of July just so happens to be my favorite holiday of all time (well, maybe tied with Halloween since I obviously love to dress up!). I love fireworks and being outside, and I could not have asked for a more perfect day to spend with my beautiful friends! 

Unsurprisingly, I don't have a very patriotic outfit to share with you all. About the only thing in my wardrobe that isn't black was this red and white striped pirate bandana I got for a Halloween costume a few years back. It's kinda patriotic, right? But since I love pirates even more than fireworks, I thought it worked perfectly! It was also another excuse to wear my favorite lace-up little black dress, which also has a pirate vibe.

The highlight of my evening was running into a fellow pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow! Every year, he can be found wandering the Excelsior, MN commons area on the fourth, and I always look forward to running into him for a picture. :) He even stuck around to watch fireworks with me and my friends . Obviously we're a couple lucky wenches. A pirate's life for me!

Lace-up dress and ripped-up tights

I'm once again loving the spring weather so that I can wear more of my little black dresses I love so much. I picked this one up at a thrift shop, and loved the witch-y feel the collar and the lace-up detail in the front...almost like edgy Hogwarts robes or something. At least that's what I like to tell myself. 

This dress is perfect for the cool spring weather because it's a rather thick and not breathable material. Also, tights are a necessity since it's a tad shorter than I would like. But it was too cute to pass up and the stretchy material meant it fit well everywhere besides the length. I shredded the tights myself to wear with this, as plain black, opaque tights made the outfit too boring and one-dimensional. Oh, and I love any excuse to toss on a denim jacket. Why can't we get more than a couple weeks of cool spring weather in the Midwest??

The boots are a cheap Target pair that I studded myself and blogged about a few weeks ago. You can read that post here.

Here's a close-up of the cool collar and lace-up detail at the neck of the dress. And of course, I'm not without my Slytherin necklace!

What do you think? How do you break up a black on black on black outfit to make it fun and interesting? What are your favorite spring articles of clothing?