Category: Lifestyle

Self-Love Part 2: Love Yourself Portrait and Beauty Celebration

4/18/2017

Just after completing a 30-day self-love journey where I made a deliberate effort to love and prioritize myself a bit each day, I received the most perfectly timed invitation to attend a “Love Yourself Portrait and Beauty Celebration” from photographer, artist, and owner of Lusicovi Creative, Elise Rorick. Mr. O&O and I have a stunning collage in our dining room from a Charles Dickens themed Christmas photo shoot she did for us a few years ago, so already knowing how talented she is, I was thrilled to have the chance to pose for this #loveyourself themed shoot.

Charles Dickens Christmas photo shoot from 2014

The event included several local vendors offering a variety of self-care themed items, my favorites being the complimentary hand massages from Hillside Avenue Spa & Salon, a fun just-because flower arrangement I took home from Southern Sky Design, and some heavenly-smelling tea I picked up for a friend from Lesley Saligone Wellness.

The Hatch served as the venue for all these fun self-love vendors

Buy myself flowers - check!

But the highlight of the day was a festive photo booth where you could color a heart and write one thing you love about yourself to hold in your photos in exchange for amazing, complimentary, edited pictures from the lovely Lusicovi Creative. What a perfect way to show yourself some love! I even got to fulfill a secret goal of mine to wear a flower crown. Elise was tons of fun to work with and she is incredibly talented. If you are looking for a photographer, give Elise a call and mention this post for 15% off your booking fee.

We were tasked to write one thing we love about ourselves

This event was such a blessing! I loved spending an hour just enjoying some me-time surrounded by gorgeous flowers while quietly coloring. As an extrovert, I of course also enjoyed chatting with the local small businesses about their passions and mission to promote self-care, but it was a great reminder to take time for myself. Even Jesus withdrew from the crowded world to pray and recharge in solitude, so I’m thinking that this self-care stuff is totally legit! Thanks Elise for putting on this awesome event at the most perfect time. Can’t wait for next year!

xoxo,
Victoria

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Holiday Mart: Get Your Shop On and Free Giveaway

11/12/2014

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Back in August, at the first Junior League meeting of the new league the year, Kid President asked me, “What do you want to teach the world?” In response, I started this blog to create a platform with which I could teach the world something. I am still experimenting with exactly what to teach, but I’m especially thankful to the JLI for inspiring me to start writing again, and I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to give back to them! If you aren’t familiar with this fantastic organization of women, the Junior League is a national non-profit committed to 3 simple things:

Promoting volunteerism
Developing the potential of women
Improving the community through trained volunteers

It is now the time of year when the Junior League of Indianapolis puts on their largest fundraiser of the year: Holiday Mart.

Holiday Mart is gigantic group of vendors set up in the Marsh Blue Ribbon Pavilion at the Indiana State Fair Grounds. They sell a wide variety of gifts and goodies perfect for kicking off your holiday shopping. My absolute favorite vendor is SaraBoo Creek, a darling shop offering thousands of different wooden letters and shapes you can combine to form your own personalized signs or ornaments. I have one hanging in my bedroom now!

Another one of my favorites is Indianapolis local shop Delaney’s, specializing in fashion, gifts, and home goods. I found a fabulous cape there last year.

A new vendor this year is VOM FASS, a gourmet olive oil and vinegar shop. My favorite flavor is the fig balsamic. Hint: If you’ve shopped here before and still have the original bottle your oil or vinegar came in, bring it back and receive several dollars off your purchase!

Holiday Mart opens Wednesday, Nov 12 for a special preview event called Shopper’s Eve, which includes valet parking, wine, hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction. This is loads of fun, but don’t worry if you miss it; Girls Night Out is on Friday, Nov 14 at 6 pm, which is a similar deal with complimentary desserts, cocktails, swag bags, and special discounts. But you don’t need a special event to get your shop on! General admission shopping hours are listed below:

Thursday, November 13 10 am - 8 pm
Friday, November 14 10 am - 5 pm
Saturday, November 15 10 am - 8 pm
Sunday, November 16 11 am - 5 pm

Tickets for Girl’s Night Out are $25 and tickets for general admission are $10, both available at Marsh supermarkets or at the door. However, if you are local and ready to shop this weekend, you’re in luck: I have 2 free general admission tickets to giveaway! Just follow these 2 steps and I’ll draw a random winner by 4pm, Thursday, November 13.

Share a link to your favorite Overdressed & Overeducated blog post on any social media platform you want.
Either tag me in your share or comment below with the link to your share on social media and include your email.

I’ll contact you ASAP to coordinate the best way to get you your tickets! And thanks in advance for supporting the Junior League!

Happy shopping,
Victoria

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Clean Eating Leads to Clean Cleaning

10/29/2014

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Is anyone else trying to get healthy before the holidays? I know I’ll be baking up a storm come late November, so I’m definitely trying to kick up the fit factor now. Whenever I get determined to make healthy choices, my first go-to is clean eating. I am a huge fan of fresh, natural ingredients, and I can tell a significant difference after only a few days of cutting processed sugar. One of my favorite ways to eat clean in the a.m. is either juicing or making smoothies. I recently discovered a delicious clean banana coconut smoothie that has become a new staple breakfast during my week.

Once I start eating clean, I try to avoid putting anything unnatural into my body, even at the brink of flu season. I’ve been swapping out some over the counter medicines for Young Living essential oils lately and am really happy with the results! For small cluster headaches I rub peppermint oil on my forehead and feel relief instantly. I also use peppermint on my stomach to help with digestion and even put a drop in a glass of water to drink after eating. As for cold- and flu-like symptoms, I’ve had success rubbing Purification in my ears and behind my ear lobes to fight off ear aches and also rubbing Thieves inside my mouth and drinking some in tea with honey to ward off colds. My friend also has a great flu bomb recipe. If you want to order any oils of your own, email me and I’ll send you a discount code for $20 off your first order.

After I started getting back into the clean living groove, I soon realized that I was sitting in my kitchen eating agave nectar muffins, diffusing Peace and Calming, and cleaning the counter with n-Alkyl dimethyl ethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides. Something is definitely wrong with that picture! Now, I’ve seen the homemade detergents and cleaners on Pinterest and I know there are several essential oil recipes for cleaning, but they are so much work to put together, and I just don’t have the time for all of that DIY. Like any good daughter would, I went to Mama O&O about my dilemma and she told me about these fantastic cloths by Norwex that clean and sanitize using only water! Apparently, the cloths contain silver in the microfiber, which removes bacteria from the surface you are cleaning. Upon further research, I discovered this pretty impressive video comparing Norwex’s performance against regular microfiber cloths (without silver) and paper towels using generic household cleaner. *Spoiler alert: Norwex wins!

Mama O&O then pointed out that if I’m really aiming for a clean lifestyle, I need to look not only at the products I’m cleaning my house with, but also my face! She promptly gave me a Norwex makeup cloth that uses the same silver/microfiber technology to remove make-up with only water. I am allergic to parabens, so I already have a hard time finding cleansers that don’t make me break out. Now that I can clean my face with just water, I am totally hooked!

Norwex body cloth that removes makeup with only water

If you’re interested in getting your hands on some of your own miracle cleaning cloths, you can order them here. Just add my name, Victoria Swider, as your host at checkout. If you want to learn more before taking the clean cleaning plunge, Facebook message me and I’ll invite you to a live online info session this Thursday night (October 30) from 6-8pm (EST).

Do you have any other clean living advice? Comment below, tweet, or Instagram it using the #overdressedovereducated hashtag.

Naturally,
Victoria

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Women Make Less Because They Don’t Ask (and Other Birthday Conundrums)

9/24/2014

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The gender pay gap is a long-debated affliction of women’s rights. While some discredit any discrepancy altogether, many studies cite women not asking for more money as a contributing culprit to this inequality. Glamour magazine conducted a 2014 Salary Survey in their September issue and noted, "The biggest mistake I see women making is simply not asking.” Reasons for this hesitancy in negotiating starting salaries and asking for raises vary from not wanting to appear too aggressive to not having high enough expectations. Many lists dispense advice on combating this trend, but the simplest solution is just to ask for what you want. Important as this lesson is in the workplace, one can apply the same logic to much more than salaries. For instance, while celebrating my birthday this weekend, I had 3 perfect opportunities to successfully employ this practice.

To start things off, Mr. O&O and I had the pleasure of attending our ballroom dance studio’s pirate-themed graduation celebration on Friday night. Wow! That was a mouthful; let’s stop and break that sentence down.

Since the beginning of the year, Mr. O&O and I have been taking ballroom dance lessons at a studio in Fishers called Five Star. (If you are interested in lessons, let me know! I can get you 3 for $25.)
There are various levels of ballroom dancing, and our studio gives exams to allow students to graduate from one level to the next.
Due to the fact that graduation fell on National Talk Like a Pirate Day, we all celebrated and dressed accordingly (and placed in the top 6 during the costume contest, I might add). Back on track? Aye!

Leading up to this celebration, we were starting to feel the financial strains from our weekly lessons and hadn’t been progressing as quickly as we had hoped. We had heard mentions of these dance exams, but no one had directly addressed them with us. In the spirit of the pay-gap advice, we took the initiative to schedule a meeting with the studio manager and simply asked what we could do to speed up our progression. The next week our teacher started teaching to the test and the following week we tested out (aced it!). We now know to just ask when we feel ready to test out, and we are already prepping for our next test!

For birthday weekend day #2, I participated in an event with a theme that was an absolutely perfect fit for celebrating my birth in particular – a charitable literary pub crawl! The sponsoring organization, Indy Reads, offers free literacy tutoring around the community. It is dear to my heart not only for its general mission, but also because I volunteer with the family literacy program to teach parents how to inculcate positive reading habits in their kids. The crawl took place in Fountain Square, and each bar offered literary-themed drink specials, including an “Are you there God? It’s me, Margarita.” As if literacy charity and book cocktails weren’t enough, the night also featured a literary-themed costume contest. This was, of course, right up my alley, and I took the opportunity to showcase the quintessential Overdressed & Overeducated costume: Holly Golightly. Clad as one of the classiest ladies in all of literature (yes, Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a book first!), Mr. O&O and I met up with some book club gals and hit the town!

Madeline, Holly Golightly, and Katniss costumes

Madeline, Holly Golightly, & Katniss

The night started off with a chat from local author, Mike Mullin, showcasing his new book Ashfall and ended with the world’s longest raffle. There must have been at least 75 separate items they raffled off to a room of 200+ people with only 50 chairs in what felt like 90 degree heat. It was a perfect storm. Mr. O&O was ready to skip out about halfway through, and he did end up leaving early to retrieve the car. But a thread of luck and desire kept me hanging on until the last trio of prizes, which were 3 separate reading-themed signs, my personal favorite being a light blue “Keep Calm and Read a Book” sign featuring a reading girl at the top. I wiped my brow and perked my ears for these last three items, but to no avail. She never called my numbers. Sad and dejected, I packed up my Holly accessories and headed to the door. On the way out, I happened to spot the guy who did win the wooden sign for which I had been hoping, and I started thinking, “What the heck is he going to do with this girly sign?” So I put on my best negotiating face, walked up to this winner, and asked, “Do you really want that sign?” Without hesitation he replies, “Nah. Do you want it?” YES!! Cheers, streamers, bells, and whistles are going off in my head. I thanked the guy profusely and gave him a hug for good measure, then off I skipped to the car to proudly show my husband our newest family heirloom! And I didn’t even have to make the case that it was my birthday. All I had to do was ask! Lesson learned!

As a side note and shout-out to one of my awesome book club gals who pub-crawled along with me, she presented me with the best homemade bookmark ever for my birthday present that night. Thanks, Katniss!

For the final day of my celebratory weekend and my actual birthday, sweet Mr. O&O whipped up some mostly-from-scratch pumpkin pancakes and brought them to me for my traditional birthday breakfast in bed. We spent the day relaxing at home and then headed off to our last celebration, a special dance event at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. This event is something that dance studios all over the state participate in once every few months as a dressy night out for all of their students. A live band greeted us in our formal attire and gave us the perfect chance to put all of our dance skills to good use.

Once we arrived, our dance instructors handed each dancer a dance card (like from the 19th century!) and tasked us with filling in a partner for each of the 20 dances. This is where my third “just ask” lesson came into play, albeit forcefully. Up to this point, I had always waited for the men to ask me to dance. However, I still had several blanks on my dance card after everyone who usually asks me had asked, so I left my comfort zone and asked some men to dance with me! I did successfully fill out my dance card, and by the end of the night, I was so glad I danced with so many new people! I learned a lot of different moves and made several new friends. So concluded my 27th birthday: overdressed, overeducated, and on my way to overpaid.

Ta-ta!
Victoria

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How to Win a Pretty Woman Contest and Other Polo Tips

8/22/2014

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I have a confession to make: In all 23 of my southern-living years, I only attended one polo match. Yet, in only year 4 of my Midwest residency, I have over half a dozen under my belt! How’s that for ironic, Alanis? Since living Indy, I am now fully versed in chukkers and mallets, have perfected my divot-stomping technique, and am the proud owner of one well-polished Pretty Woman award. Therefore, while I was, admittedly, a late starter to this fabulously preppy sport, I would venture to say I am now sufficiently qualified to impart both wisdom and style to any interested neophyte reader.

The Basics
Polo is a team sport with the object of hitting a small, white ball down a grassy field through the opposing team’s goal posts using a long wooden mallet. A polo team consists of 4 players, each riding their own pony. The game is broken down into 7-minute time periods called chukkers, and each match has between 4 and 8 chukkers. Aside from this brief foundation, the main rule to remember is that each time one team scores a goal, the play switches directions, and the scoring team aims for the opposite goal from which they just scored.

The Venue
A polo field is roughly 9 times the size of a football field. Virginia has options all over for public polo-watching, but the one I’m most familiar with is in Crozet at King Family Vineyards. They have matches every Sunday during the summer at 1 p.m. As for Indiana, the place to go is Hickory Hall Polo Club in Whitestown. Hickory Hall has matches all summer and well into fall. At Friday night matches, referred to as Polo at Sunset, spectators pull their cars right up to the sidelines and picnic on blankets and lawn chairs brought from home. For the more formal Saturday matches, known as Polo on the Prairie, you park your cars at the front gate and sit on the sidelines to enjoy the match. Many local organizations have private tents and bring a catered spread; these are typically invite-only and located on the right sideline (facing the barn). The left sideline is more for individuals and families, and there is usually a kids’ area available for any little ones to play. Chairs are provided.

The Dress
When you think of polo attire, the first thing that typically comes to mind is Julia Roberts in her brown and white polka-dot dress and matching hat. Well, Pretty Woman was spot on, and Polo on the Prairie is the real-life version of this. A light sundress and large sunhat are staples for most women in attendance, and sometimes I like to take it up a notch with crisp white gloves or a lacy parasol. As for the men, you will definitely see a few seersucker suits, but it is equally appropriate for the guys to come in colored or critter pants; a nice, preppy button-down; and a skinny or bow tie. On especially hot days, a nice polo T-shirt can replace the button-down, and a classy pair of madras shorts can replace the pants.

Polo at Sunset is much more casual, and really, anything goes. Most people wear jeans to these matches, however; the cover photo on my About Me page was from a Polo at Sunset match my family and I attended, so dressing up is also appropriate. Quick story about this photo: Not only did this appear in the Indy Star last summer, but a few weeks ago, when Mama O&O was visiting, we took her to her first Polo on the Prairie match. A few girls were passing out magnets to advertise Hickory Hall’s upcoming annual fundraising event, Polo and Pearls. We each took one and dropped them in our purses, but Mr. O&O actually looked at his magnet and noticed the photo on it was this very photo, featuring us! Magnet celebrities! HA! This made for a great laugh, and we quickly called the girls back over to take home a few more of the mementos.

The Attractions
Polo at Sunset doesn't offer much more than the match itself, but there are several additional draws at Polo on the Prairie. One of my favorites is the silent auction, which is located under a tent on the right sideline as you walk in. Additionally, the famous half-time divot stomping is a must. Hickory Hall plays music, and the crowd dances and stomps around the field for a great time. Just be sure to avoid any steaming “divots” – you won’t want to stomp on those!

The most enticing attraction, though, is the fact that a different local charity hosts each match and benefits from all the proceeds. This includes the $20-per-car entry fee, all silent auction earnings, and any private tent sales. It is truly a great way to give back while enjoying a match. Based on the charity hosting, some will provide extra attractions that vary match to match, including the following:

A raffle: Many times this is a 50/50, and most recipients end up donating their 50% back to the charity at hand.

Wine tasting: At almost every match I’ve attended, at least one vineyard had a box on the right sideline near the silent auction that offered free wine tastings to anyone who walked by.

A Pretty Woman contest: This is just as it sounds: The woman with the prettiest outfit wins. There are judges, prizes, and a plaque. It is quite exhilarating. My second summer attending, Bally Foundation bestowed this fabulous honor upon me, and my life was complete. For any competitors out there, here are a couple pointers:

Bring at least one stand-out item. For me, it was a parasol. No one else had one. Other ideas might be a horse-critter dress, an extra-large/extra-fancy hat and gloves combo, or a lace fan.
Spend a LOT of time walking around on the right sideline, in front of the deck, and at the silent auction. This is where the judges sit, and if they don’t see you, they won’t pick you.

A Best Tent contest: For those with a private tent, there is usually a contest for the best-decorated tent. Some tents even have games and treats for passersby (these tend to win). Note: If you have a large group and want to purchase a private tent, you can contact the hosting charity. Tents cost $200 - $600.
A candy drop: This is a really cool activity for the kids. During halftime, after divot stomping, sometimes a small plane flies overhead and drop dozens of little bags of candy attached to parachutes on the field. The kids all gather, wait for the drop, and scramble to catch or pick-up as many as possible.

A charity-specific human-interest story: I've only seen this once, but it was pretty special. The charity hosting was Helping Her Heal, and they brought in a female cancer patient who had lost her hair. The charity performed a make-over on her during the match and showed everyone the transformation. The woman walked out of the make-over trailer with tears in her eyes and a grin on her face.

The Events
Aside from the typical Polo at Sunset and Polo on the Prairie matches, there are two special events each year.

Costume Match: While it appears this event isn't happening this year, in the past, Hickory Hall has held a special family-oriented match in October where the polo players all dress up and play in Halloween costumes. This event always has the candy drop and a special family fun zone on the left sideline. There is no extra charge for this event.
Polo and Pearls: This is Hickory Hall’s annual fundraiser for their own grounds, upkeep, uniforms, etc., so they can continue hosting charity matches each year. This event is especially fancy and is not one to sub the polo shirt or shorts at. (I actually ended up wearing the new vintage outfit I posted about a few weeks ago, and it was a big hit!) This event offers several additional attractions, including a full buffet dinner, champagne barn tours, cash bar, silent auction, wine pull raffle for a strand of pearls, psychic readings, a special half-time St. Germain cocktail, an after-dinner concert, and a Chinese lantern release. This year, they also added a horse-drawn carriage ride and a fireworks display. The cost is $100 per person, with the option to purchase a 6-person table for slightly less. We have been 2 years in a row and love it.

My Polo and Pearls outfit here is totally vintage and cost less than $35!

That is about all you need to know about polo! For any of you out-of-staters, I am quite confident Google can help you find a local polo match, but if not, a road trip to Whitestown, Indiana, may be in order. It is truly a great way to spend a casual Friday night, or make an all-day special event of it on Saturdays, all while giving to charity. The next scheduled match is Friday, August 29, at 5 p.m., benefiting the political leadership development program Lugar Series. Let me know if you go!

Best,
Victoria

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What Do You Want to Teach the World?

8/1/2014

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This week at the Junior League of Indianapolis 2014-2015 kickoff meeting, “Kid President” asked a room full of women chowing down on delicious MCL catering, “What do you want to teach the world?”

Swallowing my bacon-topped mac ‘n’ cheese, I really pondered this. What do I want to teach the world? First, I supposed, I had to determine what I was even qualified to teach. Of course, editing came to mind, but that is my day job, and the world already has Grammar Girl. I mean, who can compete with her anyway? Then there are the altruistic things, like faith, leadership, morality, literacy, teamwork, and world peace, but I feel like those things are hard to teach and are more ingrained in a person’s character (although ideally some of those virtues would still shine through).

“So,” I ask myself, “let’s get real. What am I actually good at that people want to learn about?”

Begin brainstorm: Writing. Planning parties. Decorating. Being classy. Crafting. Reading. Matching. Hosting. Picking out the perfect outfit. Carrying out a theme. Making things look pretty. Traditions. Learning. Loving others. Analyzing literature. Gift-giving. Eating! Cooking (sometimes). Pinning. Organizing. Shopping. Okay, wow, this is a pretty long list! I pat myself on the back – oh jeez, being humble isn’t on there, is it? (Sheepish grin.) Now the question is, “How do I combine all of these fabulous qualities into one cohesive teaching and sharing medium?”

Enter blog idea: Overdressed & Overeducated. For the stylishly smart. A literary lifestyle blog, complete with a hodgepodge of event-appropriate ensembles, perfectly planned parties, and a book review here and there. So, it’s not world peace, but can’t people benefit from a little social-appropriateness-turned-social-amazingness?! Plus, I already have a backlog of parties and events to post about, so here’s to fabulous ideas and brilliant outfits!

Cheers!
Victoria

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Self-Love Part 2: Love Yourself Portrait and Beauty Celebration

xoxo,
Victoria

Holiday Mart: Get Your Shop On and Free Giveaway

Happy shopping,
Victoria

Clean Eating Leads to Clean Cleaning

Naturally,
Victoria

Women Make Less Because They Don’t Ask (and Other Birthday Conundrums)

Ta-ta!
Victoria

How to Win a Pretty Woman Contest and Other Polo Tips

Best,
Victoria

What Do You Want to Teach the World?

Cheers!
Victoria

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Self-Love Part 2: Love Yourself Portrait and Beauty Celebration

xoxo, ​ Victoria

Holiday Mart: Get Your Shop On and Free Giveaway

Happy shopping, Victoria

Clean Eating Leads to Clean Cleaning

Naturally, Victoria

Women Make Less Because They Don’t Ask (and Other Birthday Conundrums)

Ta-ta! Victoria

How to Win a Pretty Woman Contest and Other Polo Tips

Best, Victoria

What Do You Want to Teach the World?

Cheers! Victoria

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xoxo,
Victoria

Happy shopping,
Victoria

Naturally,
Victoria

Ta-ta!
Victoria

Best,
Victoria

Cheers!
Victoria

Instagram #overdressedovereducated