A Night Out.

Lets go to dinner together.

I thought it would be fun to create a little series on here called “A Night Out.” Where I style out an outfit, talk you through it, take you along to dinner and show you what I ordered.

I don’t know how often I will do these but be on the lookout for them from time to time.

I think the first order of business is deciding where I want to eat! I don’t know about you but this can be such a hard decision for me. Sometimes it takes hours…

Today though, I am feeling decisive. I will take you somewhere that I haven’t been in a while. A place called Gigi’s, here in Atlanta. It’s a cute little Italian restaurant with delicious food. However, I don’t recommend showing up starving as the portions are on the smaller side.

Anyways, now that I’ve decided where I want to eat. Lets discuss getting dressed. I am very quickly leaning in to the festive, wintery times that are upon us.

Lately, my process entails going on Pinterest to find inspiration. Sometimes, I will be inspired by an article of clothing I already have. Mostly though, I will see a color combo, silhouette, textural combo, layering, etc. on Pinterest or Instagram that inspires me to see my closet in a different way.

These were the images that caught my attention and embodied the vibe I was thinking for the night. They are a bit vague in terms of a whole outfit but sometimes all I need is a little glimpse to help me style an outfit of my own.

*images found on Pinterest*

Turns out, today, picking dinner was the easy choice. Picking out an outfit however, turned out to be much more difficult. Some days it’s just that way.

So, clearly I knew I wanted to have tights on, perhaps a kitten heel or some shoe that shows more of my foot. I often think that when wearing tights, the shoe choice can go wrong easily. If the shoe is flat or cuts off at the ankle, this is where I find things can get a bit weird.

If you do a flat, there needs to be an element that breaks things up a bit, kind of like that top left image with the red tights and leg warmers. I find the way the ankle and top of foot are shown is crucial in making them work, unless you are wearing a tall boot of some sort. Go for a little height if you run into this issue!

For some reason, I kept grabbing for an all black outfit. I was honestly trying to make it a bit more light and fun but today just had different plans for me. Perhaps it was the gloomy and cold weather.

So, I started with a black cashmere sweater from Everlane paired with a little pleated skirt from Los Angeles Apparel and a belt from B-Low The Belt.

I played around with pretty much all my shoes…and these shoes from Social Work NYC worked pretty perfectly…they really are my go to.

Once I had my base layer down, I knew I needed to add in some color for some wintery, festive fun.

I threw this gorgeous coat over it from Short Sentence. I added my very favorite bag from Chora Store and some of my favorite silver rings to bring it all together. (hi rudy)

It’s not a ground breaking outfit but I think its a testament to the power of a good coat and bag. In the winter you can go quite simple with the base layers and really have fun with the coat and accessories.

Now…for some dinner….

My drink order tonight was a Negroni. Next came the Caviar & Polenta which is one of my favorite things on their menu. It’s polenta cake topped with creme fraiche, dill, chives, trout roe and sturgeon caviar. It’s just the perfect combo of salty, creamy, and herby. It’s light and fresh but still hearty.

Next, we got grouper rillettes, which in this case was essentially a creamy grouper spread that was topped with some sort of pickled root vegetable (seemed like a radish of some sort), cayenne and watermelon radish served with pizzelle salate, which are a savory waffle cracker.

Then was my very favorite little gem salad. It may seem simple but it is so delicious. It is dressed with a miso caesar dressing, pecorino and crispy garlic. I could eat a few bowls of this salad.

Last of the sides were roasted sweet potatoes with a sauce called “100 flavor sauce,” macadamia nuts, citrus and cilantro. It was good but slightly too oily for me.

Our main dish was a campanelle pasta made of whole rye flour, cabbage, turnip, culatello and black pepper. It was also very lemony and buttery, which will always be a winner in my book.

The last and fairly important dish was dessert. It was of course tiramisu…if tiramisu is on the menu, then I will be ordering it. That or a chocolate mousse of some sort. This tiramisu is so creamy and delicious. Also, they give quite a hefty portion and I ain’t mad about it.

Then I went home and watched Madmen. It was a perfect little cozy night.

Lets go get dinner again sometime soon. <3