Fall Trend: Black & White with Ross Dress for Less

When Ross Dress for Less contacted me about participating in a blogger contest for Fall Trends, I was like, "Heck yeah," and then I was like, "Duh."  I'm just kidding (but I did say yes, obviously.) 

Today kicks off a three week long contest, between me and four other bloggers, to see who represents this week's fall trend the best.  Our job?  Find an entire outfit, including accessories, for under $100.  Your job?  Vote* for your favorite outfit (pick me, pick me! lol) - you can vote once per day - by "liking" the photo.  Don't forget to like Pretty, Polished, Perfect on Facebook for your daily reminder ;)  You will be asked to enter your email address (this is where they will contact you if you win!) before you can vote.......

Photograph by the lovely Carla of CW Schildt Photography

I won't pretend that this is my most favorite outfit ever.  In fact, next week's is my favorite and while it also features a bit of black and white, it's main focus is leather details (come back next week to see it!)  However, it was under $100.  The dress was $19.99, the shoes were $39.99, and the necklaces were $12.99 and $19.99 (bracelets were included.)  Sadly, the red bench was not from Ross (though they had some fabulous chairs!)

Lastly, I want to give a shout-out to Carla of CW Schildt Photography.  I roped her into this project and she jumped right in without hesitation.  We had some laughs, some frustrations, some compliments, some strange looks.........

I will be completely upfront here: The Mr is the one who usually takes my pictures.  He isn't a professional, but I am comfortable as heck with him (shocking, I know - eye roll.)  I get so worried about working with people I don't know well, asking myself what will I do if we disagree on "artistic views" or what if they only want to shoot my bad side, or what if they hate me because I think I have a bad side (I do, trust me.)  Carla was great.  She realized what worked best for me, complimented me, made me laugh and was humble enough to take some of my suggestions.  She was also very patient.  She's new to the biz and says she learned from this experience (probably that she doesn't ever want to work with me again, lol!)  She also gave me a lot of great tips on posing (a model I am not)  Needless to say, I highly recommend her (so go support her and like her page!)

* The rules for the voting are as follows:

• Must be a fan of the Ross Facebook page to vote. If not already a fan just go ahead and ‘like’ the page to vote for your favorite blogger outfit
• Each person can vote once per day on their favorite outfit
• Only persons residing in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming who are at least 18 years of age can enter.
• Prior to voting, each person will be asked to submit an entry form with their email address. Once a winner has been selected, we will use the email address provided to notify them of their prize and to get further contact information to provide them with the Ross gift card.