Lazy

Today is actually not a "lazy" day at all... but I think I was kind of lazy putting this outfit together. It seems so... predictable. Although I am wearing my beloved octopus necklace - and though you can't see them, I have grey and pink flowers in my hair. So hopefully that helps me look not so... boring.

Striped t-shirt: Costco
White cardigan: Target (looking like it needs replacing soon!)
Cargo pants: Old Navy
Gold/ivory ballet flats: Aerosoles
Octopus necklace: gift from my sister

Where: Errands, furniture delivery, work at home, who knows what else? The day is young.

Easter at home

Easter isn't a super formal holiday in our family, and this year I was hosting a casual family brunch at our place. Still, I wanted to look a little bit Eastery - and I've been wanting to try wearing purple and yellow together for a while (how have I never done this before?).
The brunch went great, although this outfit took a beating before I got a chance to take my photo. I may or may not have had to Photoshop out some food stains on my cardigan.
Oh - and this is my second pair of ballet flats for the day. The first pair got a wee bit muddy when I had to chase down my son, who went out to try playing in the mud in his "good" pants.

Lilac cardigan: Target
Yellow "petal" tank: Old Navy
Navy jeans: Lauren Conrad
Gold/ivory ballet flats: Aerosoles
Bunny pendant: gift from Frumptastic (I love that at certain angles, this looks like an alien head)

Where: hosting Easter brunch.

Calling Sarah Connor

So here are the things you need to know about this outfit.
1. Yesterday was Judgment Day.
2. I forgot to plan today's outfit last night, and only remembered as I was lying in bed, at which point I wasn't about to get up again.
3. Sarah Connor is pretty much covered in awesome sauce. Either the Linda Hamilton version, or the Lena Headey version, take your pick.
4. Since yesterday was Judgement Day, it seems logical that today would need to be a day of much butt-kicking.
5. Why not try to dress like Sarah Connor?

Except, it turns out that it's kind of hard to put together a butt-kickingly awesome Sarah Connor outfit from your own closet. For example, what kind of shoes does Sarah Connor wear? Unknown. Probably something totally rugged and with steel toes. Also, she definitely has ripped abs and killer biceps and I... don't.

So this outfit is pretty much a fail. There was a vaguely military-ish belt involved at one point but it didn't fit quite right. But I do think the olive-grey-black color palette is somewhat apocalyptic... and I do love this necklace.

Grey cardigan: Old Navy
Olive tank: Old Navy
Grey skinnies: Old Navy
Boots: Target
Winged necklace: Kohl's
Belt: Can't remember

Where: Gymnastics, lunch playdate, work at home, gardening.

Free Love Friday

There are a few good things about today: 1. It's Friday. 2. I can wear jeans! 3. I am going to Target after work. Ohhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! What a trifecta of wonderfulness. And what am I getting at Target, you might be asking. Well, fun stuff! Like diapers! And stain remover! And wait! There's more! Paper towellllllllllllllssssss!!!! Yes folks, I'm living the good life in suburbia!

By the way, when did five foot four become petite? I don't mean like petite little people petite. Little people? I mean like fine boned small people. Okay now I'm not making sense. But where was I? When did my height fall into the petite category. It seems like every pair of pants I purchase looks like they are eating my feet. Sometimes I do some half ass rolling up thing or I let them drag like a moody thirteen year old kid. And yeah, that's not a professional look.

But at the same time if I purchase ankle length or petite, after one wash, the pants look like floods. I know a good tailor who does a great job of shortening pants but making the effort to go, get measured and then wait is too much. I think I need to learn to do it myself.

The outfit:

Jeans: ht diva fit (I think diva is code word for girls with some badunkadunk)
Floral Blouse: J. Crew
Camisole: Elle for Kohls
Suede Grey Sneaks: Converse All-Stars

Where: Work, Target, Home

P.S. My right leg is not horribly disfigured. I think it is just the way my jeans are hanging over my knee. It really isn't bent backwards although wouldn't it be awesome if it could!!!

Outfit #2: April 21, 2011

I love this asymmetric ruffled silk top, but for some reason I bought it (online) a size too big. I don't know why I keep doing that; I must have some sort of body-image dysfunction. I regularly have to remind myself what size I actually wear! Either I've shrunk in the past few years, or clothing sizes have grown. Anyhow, the shirt was such a good deal that it didn't seem worth it to pay the return shipping. I'll just have to figure out a way to cinch in it a bit, or get it altered.
Also, these pants may be the most expensive "regular" item of clothing in my wardrobe, I think, other than my wedding dress and a cocktail dress or two. And not counting shoes. But I love them — they fit like a dream and I feel taller in them... I wish I could wear them every day. Therefore I deem them worth the money.

Ruffled lavender silk top: JCrew
Black cardigan: Old Navy
Wide-leg tweedy trousers: CAbi
Pointy black boots: Rockport
Necklace: Misaki, a gift

Where: Date night!

Oufit #1: April 21, 2011

So here it is, April 21 - please note that is a full month into spring - and it's snowing here. Seriously. What's up with this, nature?
Still, I can't help myself from breaking into spring and summer colors, even if I have to wear boots and leggings under my skirts. Which makes me feel a little bit like a frontier woman. Well, I guess it is sort of a frontier, up where I live.
This skirt is a wonderful marigold color in person. My husband picked it out for me on our honeymoon. It's one of those beach-town purchases that's meant to be tied as a dress or a skirt or a sarong - or, you know, a tourniquet, whatever. I'm sure you can find them in lots of places. But he picked this one out, and I picked out a purple one. He was definitely right. I wore this all through the early part of my pregnancy, too, it's so forgiving.

Brown v-neck top: Ann Taylor (It has those little snaps in the shoulder to attach it to your bra straps so they don't show. I am totally enamored of those little snaps. I want to add them to every shirt I own.)
Marigold wrap skirt: Kariza, from a boutique on my honeymoon
Leggings: Vera Wang at Kohl's (good thing you can't see them, because they don't match at all, they're strictly for warmth)
Harness boots: White Mountain (Frumptastic and I have the same exact pair, just half a size different!)
Multitone bracelet: a gift
Orange pendant: Baked Beads

Where: Costco, garden store, lunch with my grandmother, getting hit in the jaw with a basketball (not by my grandmother), work at home.

Date night tonight! Hopefully I'll come up with a post-worthy outfit.

And thus ends the post with the most parentheses I've ever used. (I think.)

Outfit: April 21, 2011

This might become my favorite comfort yet work appropriate outfit. Because I work for a non-profit, I can be a little more casual and funky than if I worked for a law firm. I probably would not wear this if I had a meeting but it works in a pinch for drafting letters and documents in my office.

Comfort is especially important to me lately. I know I have discussed

preparing our house at length but seriously, it is exhausting. For example, my Tuesday looked like this: drop sister off at car rental, work, lunch and say goodbye to sister, meeting with client, home, prepare dinner, start laundry, dinner with husband and son, husband heads to basement for more paint scraping, video with son, bath, bedtime routine, do dishes, make lunches, and then change into painting clothes and paint walls in basement. So if I want to be comfortable and not in anything that constricts, you can understand!

Today will hopefully be a little more relaxing. I get to pick up the little man which is always fun. I love how excited he gets when he sees me and the loud good byes he gives everyone in his room.

Alas, the outfit

Black quilted jacket (remixed): axcess

Green jacket (remixed): Ann Taylor

Grey skirt (remixed): T.J. Maxx

Black leggings (remixed): Lapis

Metallic shoes (remixed): mossimo

Where: work, picking up the little man

Outfit: April 20, 2011

This is an end of the day post so not much time for chat.

The outfit:
Jacket (remixed): J. Crew
Dress: Target
Patterned tights: Gap
Shoes: Mossimo

Where: Work, lunch meeting, meeting outside of the office, home.

Outfit: April 20, 2011

Hello and welcome to my Action Wednesday... today we are featuring torrential thunderstorms to add to the mix.
Nothing earthshattering to tell you about my outfit today... I love the color combination of blue and brown; it's one of my favorites. And I love this around-the-world bracelet, which looks like vintage travel illustrations... I got it many years ago at a little boutique and it makes me smile every time I wear it.

Faux wrap sweater: Ann Taylor
Light brown tank: Old Navy
Brown cargos: Kohl's
Sequined flats: Keds
Multicolor "pearl" necklace: Zinnia
Around-the-world bracelet: boutique in Providence

Where: Gymnastics (cancelled!! cue the crying), craft store, garden store, work at home, oodles of laundry.

Outfit: April 19, 2011

I've had this wrap dress for oh, maybe five years, and I've worn it perhaps twice. It's one of those clothing items that I want so badly to like, but just can not figure out how to wear it in real life. It's a little too casual to be dressy and a little too dressy to be casual... plus the fact that it's a true "wrap" - without much overlap - provides some modesty issues in my daily life. And the waist is a little higher than my natural waist. So... I keep encountering this dress in my closet, exchanging pleasantries with it, and passing on by.
But - I've resolved to let no item of clothing languish unworn in my closet any longer. So I thought I'd try this dress with leggings, to at least eliminate the modesty concerns. It's working well so far - except I'm actually feeling a bit too warm with all the layering. That must mean warm weather is approaching... right?

Patterned wrap dress: Ann Taylor
Long-sleeve v-neck shirt: Kohl's
Brown leggings: Old Navy
Harness boots: White Mountain
Belt: came with some cargo pants
Pearls: Tiffany, a gift

Where: Wreath-making, massage (woohoo!), errands, helicopter extraction mission, bouncy-ball extraction from central vac mission, work from home, farmshare pickup, playing outside. Probably gonna swap in some jeans and rubber boots for that last part.

Outfit: April 19, 2011

I apologize for being absent a few days or so. My fabulous sister came from the other side of the country to help us prepare our house to sell. And when I say prepare, I mean work like a madwoman painting, scraping, and staging our house. She painted ceilings, baseboard, and trim. She touched up walls and cabinets. She found curtains and made suggestions for making our house perfect for the market. In other words, she did it all. I could not be more appreciate for having such an amazing big sister. I am truly a lucky little sister.

On top of the business within my home, I fell ill early Saturday morning with a nasty stomach virus or flu that essentially kicked my rear. The timing was truly unfortunate because it made me unable to be a productive member of our little own HGTV team. Fortunately I did take Friday off so I had at least one productive day.

I almost took a picture of my outfit yesterday but it was not a pretty sight. Still feeling ill, I wore a tunic with a long sleeved tissue tee underneath and my too big cords with no belt. I spent most of the day holding my pants up and at one point fashioned a makeshift belt with one of those black paper clips. That backfired painfully.

Today I went with my favorite dress these days because I thought it might make me feel better and cheer me up a bit as my dear sister heads back to her home.

The Outfit:
Dress (remixed): thrifted
Black cardigan (not shown): Motherhood Maternity (And gosh I hope not)
Tights: JC Penney
Harness Boots: White mountain

Where: Car rental, work, lunch, home

Outfit: April 18, 2011

I'm looking at this photo of my outfit today and realizing that really, I'm wearing grown-up pajamas today. Huh. I can explain it away by my total lack of sleep over the weekend, I guess.
Anyhow, I built this outfit around the pearls, a late birthday gift from my husband. I adore the colors (they're cream, lavender and mauve)... they're going to go with just about everything I own, I think!

Flyaway cardigan: Max Studio
Pink metallic sweater shell: Macy's (a bajillion years ago)
Jeans: Calvin Klein lean bootcut
Ivory/gold ballet flats: Aerosoles
Necklace: Misaki, a gift

Where: Dentist (again!), errands, work from home, family movie night.

Outfit: April 15, 2011

It's been rainy most of this week, so when I saw that today was forecast to be bright and sunny, my mind (and outfit planning) leaped ahead to spring. Notice that I didn't check the actual temperature forecast... turns out that yes, it was bright and sunny - but I could see my breath this morning. Still, I plowed ahead. If anything, I even made my outfit more springy by swapping out my intended brown cardigan for this cropped white one. (First time wearing it; it's a little sheer but I think it will be perfect over my sundresses this summer.)
I got this maxi dress last summer and then waited until fall to get it altered... which means this is only its first or second outing. Way to plan ahead, self.

Butterfly-print maxi dress: Old Navy
Cropped white cardigan: Old Navy
Harness boots: White Mountain
Aqua bubble ring: Baked Beads
Turquoise necklace: from a roadside jewelry vendor in Navajo country

Where: baking a test run of our Easter cake, bank, mall errands, impromptu lunch out with my son, mini golf on the front lawn, work at home, evening TBD.

Outfit: April 14, 2011

I'm a little overdressed for my actual agenda today. But I wanted to give this sweater-cape one more outing, and I've always wanted to pair it with these shoes... so voila.
Speaking of these shoes... do you ever have an item in your wardrobe that you love so much, you want to buy two of them, just for the future in case the first one wears out? That's these shoes. Today I found myself analyzing them for signs of wear on the toes and plotting an elaborate Sharpie disguise scheme.
I've been trying to stay away from wearing all black, even though once upon a time that was a major fashion staple for me. Mostly because it's my lazy option; put on all black and you're sure to match! But I rationalized that wearing both plaid and animal print with the black is enough of a departure to make it okay.

Plaid sweater-cape: Bonton
Tank: Kohl's
Black jeans: Calvin Klein bootcut
Animal-print flats: Bandolino
Big black ring: Overstock.com

Where: Vet's office, work at home, rug delivery, more work at home, baking & pajama night with my son. We're overdue for some laziness around here.

Outfit: April 13, 2011

Now that spring is truly here but it hasn't quite warmed up yet, I'm continuing on my quest of giving some of my winter items one more outing before they get shuffled to the back of the closet. I really do like this sweater dress (even though it makes me kind of hippy) but I didn't wear it all that much this winter. It's a little too short to wear as an actual dress but for some reason the idea of wearing it over leggings or jeans didn't occur to me until recently.

If I'm being honest, this is how I really wore my outfit today: with my favorite grey military jacket layered over it, indoors and out. I'm cold today. And I'm also, apparently, a symphony in grey.

Striped sweater dress: Old Navy
Grey military jacket: Target
Grey skinny jeans: Old Navy
Grey buckle boots: White Mountain
Circle loop necklace: Kohl's

Where: Cleaning, pediatric dentist, surprise visit to my aunt at work, junk food lunch and playground as a treat for my son, work at home, making a cake, and then dinner playdate at a friend's.

Outfit #2: April 12, 2011

I had a really hard time getting a good photo of this outfit. It looked great in the mirror, but for some reason it looked all rumply in every photo. I swear it didn't look like this in person! I guess that's what I get for taking a photo at the end of an evening and not the beginning...
I got this skirt on a trip to the thrift store with a girlfriend last week. It's not a length I normally would wear, but I like the way it swirls at this length so I'm hesitant to hem it... The shoes were a birthday present to myself. It's the first time I've worn them and I'm smitten.

Tan sweater: Old Navy
Wool circle skirt: thrifted
Silver belt: TJ Maxx
Silver and brown platform wedges: Mossimo/Target
Pastel shell ring: TJ Maxx

Where: Meeting.

Outfit #1: April 12, 2011

Another day, another alarming level of frump. I'm just really not having a good week. I'm attributing most of that to exhaustion; it's been a singularly bad week for sleeping and it's hard to look good when you're so tired. But I'm going out (briefly) tonight so I have a chance to redeem myself with a second outfit later!
I bought these bootcut jeans (two pairs, actually) in a moment of "they're good enough" desperation. When I look at the photos I am realizing that they're not particularly flattering. They're actually adding thickness to my thighs. Ugh. I've really been struggling with jeans lately. My beloved Calvin Klein bootcuts are nowhere to be found, otherwise I'd just buy ten pairs of those.

T-shirt: Kohl's
Gingham shirt: Old Navy (and quite a bit more sheer than I'd realized, huh, I don't like how my t-shirt looks underneath! I'd better stick to tank tops)
Jeans: Levi's Curve ID bootcut
Checkered sequin flats: Keds (I'll have to post a close-up of these one day soon!)
Ribbon-and-"pearl" necklace: Baked Beads
Multi-tone bracelet: gift
Curious onlooker: rescue

Where: Park and picnic, mechanic, work at home.

Outfit: April 12, 2011

Allow me to let you in on a little secret. Come in. Closer. If you have the choice of searching around to find your regular padded bra with lifting powers and wearing your nursing bra because you are too tired to search for a good bra, search for your real bra. Although this bra is comfy cozy, it is too big and doesn't do anything for me. Oh well. Lesson learned.

I love layers. It might be due to the fact that I grew up in the icy tundras of Vermont but I find layers to be pleasing and you can do a lot to make them more interesting. Here I matched my camisole with my sweater and allowed the lacy bottom to peak out from under tee. It makes me happy. How about you?

The Outfit
Cardigan (remixed): Merona
Tissue tee: J. Crew
Camisole: Elle from Kohls
Trousers: Banana Republic
Shoes: xhiliration

Where: work, Lowes, home.

Outfit: April 11, 2011

Oh, look! I'm dressed for spring!! Except I think the temperature is dropping and AS SOON AS I GOT OUT OF MY CAR, it started to rain. No. Make that torrential downpour. But that's okay as I have been inside all day in my office. I'm in a cranky mood today for no apparent reason other than I convinced myself I should have slept until ten this morning. It's pretty damn disappointing when you have to tell yourself that sleeping until ten will not be happening.

The Oufit:
Cropped jean jacket: Banana Republic
Shirt: Target
Skirt: TJ Maxx (remixed - oh look how I used a fashion blogging term!)
Shoes: mossimo

Where: work, Lowes (maybe?)

Outfit: April 11, 2011

So, I broke my cardinal rule last night. Ever since starting this blog, I've made it a point to pick out my outfit for the next day each evening before I go to sleep. Last night, I skipped it. I had an outfit in my head, and I was lulled into complacency by the promise of 80-degree weather today. I think we can all see where this is going.
I woke to torrential thunderstorms and sub-50-degree temperatures. I tried to put on half of the outfit I had in my head, and it was a disaster. I was freezing and grumpy. So I reached for things close at hand. I call this look Suburban Lumberjack. I'm still grumpy, but at least I'm warm.

Plaid tunic: Kohl's
Vest: Old Navy
Jeans: Levi's Curve ID bootcut
Harness boots: Target
Purple leather bracelet: can't remember

Where: mechanic, work at home, tons of laundry, epic toddler meltdowns, naptime, then dinner playdate.