I’m sharing #DSW in my life as part of a Designer Shoe Warehouse sponsored series for Socialstars™. As always, all opinions are my own – thanks for supporting the brands that make Charmingly Styled possible. Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Hopefully pretty freaking epic 😉

I spent the weekend with my sweet friend Madalyn who came to visit Chicago from Milwaukee – and we spent most of Saturday adventuring around the city playing tourist, which is always fun when friends are in town. On Sunday, Tom and I went on the perfect fall hike to get out of the city {and to attempt to break in my new hiking boots – more to come on why I made the splurge this week!}. It was so nice to unplug, relax and spend some much needed quality time with friends – and get out of the busy city for a few hours!

And even though I spent a few hours out of the city, there’s no place I’d rather be than Chicago during the fall. With the leaves changing, there’s something totally transfixing about the city in the fall – everything is beautiful, people are still excited for the crisp weather, and I get the chance to bring out a few of my favorite fall pieces {while adding a few new favorites to my wardrobe too!}. One of the pieces I always wanted were the perfect black over the knee boots, which I had a hard time finding for a steal last season. Since I’m kinda a baby when it comes to heels, I was looking for a pair that were flat, and of course had that classic tie at the top of them. I finally found the perfect pair from DSW and immediately fell in love with this Charles by Charles David pair. They’re exactly the boots I’d been dreaming of, and they’re perfect to pair with my favorite pair of skinny jeans, this scalloped skirt of a midi dress with tights for fall. DSW has long been my favorite place to shop for shoes, and it’s become kind of a tradition when I come back to Madison to visit my family that my mom and I make the pilgrimage to DSW together. I love that DSW offers a wide selection of brand name and designer footwear and accessories for everyone – and I love that I always find an incredible deal {with my most recent purchase being these amazing over the knee boots!}. I’ll definitely be wearing these bad boys all season long – so if you see a girl who can’t stop wearing striped shirts and over the knee boots around Chicago this season, there’s a 95% chance that it’s me 😉  In other news – can we just talk about how beautiful Chicago is this time of year? I can’t get over the changing leaves and the crisper air {and the fact that everyone these days is in a good mood since the CUBS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!}.

Whenever I have a few moments downtown, I love exploring the river walk {no matter the season really}, and seeing this gorgeous view of Chicago. I’ve been posting a rather obnoxious amount of photos of downtown Chicago on Instagram, but I seriously can’t help myself these days – and I feel pretty grateful that I have the chance to live in this city. And even if it might not be forever, it’s pretty darn amazing right now – and I’m planning on soaking up every nice day in the city while it lasts this year.  I hope everyone has a fabulous week to look forward to! I’m spending on enjoying the next few days with Tom and friends before jet-setting to LA for work this weekend and next week. While I’m pretty bummed to be missing all the Halloween celebrations back in Chicago, it will be nice to spend a few days somewhere warm and beautiful. I suppose if I spend Halloween by the pool, I really don’t have too much to complain about 😉 xx

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