One for the Road...

Despite saying I wouldn't be posting again until after the weekend, I ended up with a few minutes to snap some shots and drop in a quick post before hitting the road -- lucky you, readers!



Sweater: NY&Co
Tshirt: Torrid
Jeans: Levis
Boots: Torrid
Earrings: Claire's
Scarf: Claire's?
Sandwich: dear fiance

I have decided that we desperately need a space heater in our computer room. It is almost the same temperature in here as it is outside -- the computer is near the front door, and despite the maintenance crew putting in some weather stripping, if you hold your hand by the door, you can actually feel the wind coming in from outside.
Thankfully the rest of the house is comfortably warm -- just walking upstairs, you can feel exactly where the temperature changes!

Anywho, I will be spending a few hours in the car today, so I dressed to be comfy. Jeans, tshirt, sweater. These boots are insanely comfortable, but I thought they would bump up my style quotient a bit more than sneakers. I threw on a scarf for warmth, and played with it until I came up with this knotting technique. Or, at least I *thought* I came up with this technique -- as it turns out, Audi showed us how to tie a scarf this way over in her scarf tying tutorial video. This technique is the second one in the video. I remember watching that video saying I would have to try out her tips, and subconsciously, I did! The scarf stays put, and the knot is attractive and a little more unique than the everyday knots we usually see.
Thanks Audi!

Ladylike...

This week, I realized that for some reason I had my camera's flash set to OFF. No wonder all of my photos have been coming out so dark!
I have been meaning to try some of the tips that Kasmira made note of over in this post, but frankly, I've barely had the time to snap photos, let alone play with my camera settings. Turning the flash back on was the best I could do with my limited allotment of time.

This first outfit was what I wore back on Wednesday:


Dress: Merona, I think. second-hand.
Tights: We Love Colors
Boots: Ros Hommerson
Cami: unknown
Earrings: black coral from Curacao. gift from brother.

I often have trouble with wrap dresses, despite hearing that they are supposed to be the one kind of dress everyone can wear. I have broader shoulders and little "ladies" which means that once I wrap them to fit the rest of me, they usually gape at the top, leaving me a little exposed.
However, this dress, which I bought from D'Rae via her closet, fits beautifully! I love that it has long sleeves (with a gorgeous cuff detail, no less!) and that the fabric is a little heavier than what I have seen in most wrap dresses. And it actually wraps all the way, so there is no chance of a naughty breeze coming along and... well, you know!

I received these black coral earrings as a gift from my brother for my 21st birthday. He was stationed in Curacao back then, and brought back gifts of black coral for my mother, his now-wife, and me. He was telling us that the black coral is either endangered or at least very delicate (the details escape me in my decade-old memory) and there was only one man on the whole island who was allowed to collect it, as he know how to harvest it without killing it.
They aren't flashy or amazing to look at, but they are very special to me, and I love them.

This next outfit was what I wore yesterday:


Top: Marshall's?
Pants: NY&Co
Shoes: American Eagle for Payless
Earrings: made by friend
Bracelet: gift from fiance

Hooray for the flash! Now you can see that I am actually wearing COLOR!
I'm not sure whats going on with the blurry photos -- I have my camera set up tripod-style on my gorilla-pod on the counter, and I use a timer to take my photos. I am pretty sure I am posed with plenty of time before the shutter goes off, yet I still get quite a few pics come back that are fuzzy... Any thoughts from those of you who actually know something about photography, unlike myself?
This top is what I think of as an "easy" top -- it has pretty details that make the outfit interesting, so I don't have to try so hard. Plus, it is as comfy as a tshirt, so I don't feel quite so stuffy. I usually don't pair much with it in terms of accessories, but today I wore this bracelet my fiance gave me. I love the different beads that make it up, and I love that each one is different and unique. The only thing I don't love about it is that it is elastic, so I have been considering taking my jewelry toolkit to it and refashioning it a bit.

Finally, we come to today's outfit:


White Button-up: Target
Cream Wrap Sweater: second-hand
Skirt: thrifted
Brown Tights: unknown
Shoes: either swapped or thrifted
Necklace: thrifted
Earrings: very old

Today's Inspiration calendar theme was "Be Pretty in Soft Neutrals." I tried to focus more on the notions of "pretty" and "soft" since these aren't words I would usually use to describe my style. I almost feel in costume today, but I do really like this look.
Looking at the photos, I'm thinking the skirt is a tad too long, and the wrap sweater looks a bit awkward. My legs, however, look about a mile long! I picked up this trick from several fashion bloggers: wearing tights and shoes in the same color family seriously lengthens your leg line. It's such a no-brainer, but I guess I had never been that conscious when selecting my hosiery/shoe combo. Another lesson learned from this wonderful world of fashion blogging!

So, I will be MIA this weekend, as I will be out of town.
Here's hoping I don't get stuck in the snow!
I will try to check blogs on my phone, but I will see all you kids bright and early Monday morning!

The First Post After the Prolonged Absence...

OK all, I have been a bad blogger since I moved, but in my own defense (1) we got hit by the snowiest winter in DC-area history (which doesn't seem to be quite finished yet!), (2) we moved -- and the room where the computer lives now is totally freezing, so it's tougher to motivate myself to go down there, (3) my commute is a little longer now (and I have been extremely busy these last few weeks outside of work too) so there's less free time when I get home...
I could go on, but I sense that you're not here for excuses, you're here for photos.
At least there, I can help you out! See, while I may not have posted during the hiatus, I did at least remember to snap photos during a few of those days.
So prepare for a seriously long post, full of lots of outfit piccies!!

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Top: NY&Co
Vest: H&M
Capris: Torrid
Boots: Ros Hommerson
Necklace and Bracelet: Claire's
Earrings: a stand in the mall

Remember how I told you that the outfit I ended up wearing on Go Red for Women day wasn't the one I planned on wearing? Well ladies and germs, *this* is the outfit I had planned on wearing -- only I didn't end up wearing it until last week on Tuesday. Better late than never, right?

(no detail shots for this one, I'm afraid, as I just completely forgot!)

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Black Cardi: NY&Co
Top: Forever 21, altered
Pants: Lane Bryant
Shoes: thrifted
Necklace and Earrings: gift from fiance
Bangles: thrifted

This outfit was worn on Wednesday of last week.
I was following Kimberly's Inspiration Calendar, which that day called for "Black and Tan." I apparently have a severe lack of tan in my closet, so I opted for cream instead. I love the pattern on this top, but the straps make it extremely work inappropriate. It sadly had never dawned on me before to wear it under a cardi, thus rendering the straps irrelevant. I was super-happy to be able to get more use out of this top, since I bought it against my better judgment and put extra money into it by having it altered (when I bought it, it was about a FOOT longer in the back than in the front -- WHY F21??)
In the end, I really loved this look.

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Tshirt: 2 Skinnee J's concert
Dance Pants: Champion
Dance Sneakers (not pictured): Capezio

As some of you may recall reading, I am a member of a dance team. I have been a dancer since I was 2 1/2 years old. I grew up doing mostly jazz, but throughout my life I have also done tap, ballet, poms, modern, hip-hop...you name it! I blame college (and thus quitting dance for 4+ years) for the huge change in my body.
A year ago, a friend asked me to audition for an adult hip-hop team run by another gal we knew. We expected it to be fairly basic -- after all, we are OLD now -- but no such luck! We are pushed pretty hard each week, and this team is serious! And just to make it that much tougher, our coach has us perform with the high school gals. But so far, we have competed twice, and won first place twice. Yay!
Anywho, this is the kind of getup I wear to practice -- baggy tshirt, dance pants, dance sneakers. Nothing exciting, but I figured it would be fun to show you something other than a work outfit!

(bonus points to anyone who has heard of and loves 2 Skinnee J's as much as i do!)

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Top: Nordstrom Rack
Skirt: thrifted
Olive Green Tights: We Love Colors
Shoes: thrifted
Necklace very old, JC Penney's?
Earrings: Claire's

As you know, we just moved about a month ago. My favorite part? Finding out the there is a Nordstrom Rack just minutes from our new house! I have already dragged dear fiance there twice, and this top was one of the items I scored there.
It's tough to tell in these pictures (I still need to find a place to take some outdoor photos at the new house!) but these tights are actually an olive green. I was unsure about pairing the green tights with the teal shoes, but since both colors are in the top and the rest of the outfit is grounded with black, I felt ok with it. and I love it! (This outfit was worn last week on Thursday.)

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Navy Dress: swapped
Floral Shirt: thrifted
Burgundy Tights: We Love Colors
Shoes: NickelsSoft, swapped
Earrings: Laila Rowe

I had a really great outfit that I wore last week on Friday, but alas, I got no pictures of it. Perhaps I shall recreate it, just for posting purposes.
The reason that I was unable to snap a photo for you was because I left straight from work to go to Atlantic City with my dance team (for the second competition, discussed above). We were there for the whole weekend, only to return Sunday night with another practice! So alas, no outfit shots for you until Monday (aka yesterday).

I was feeling really tired and lazy Sunday night, so I didn't feel like picking out my outfit. I charged dear fiance with this task -- surprisingly, I think he is actually the more "fashionable" one of the two of us, so I really like getting his opinion on my outfits!
The first thing he pulled out was this top, which I'm not sure I've ever actually worn. I got it on a thrifting trip and wasn't completely sure about it, but it was cheap so a grabbed it. I half expected him to pull it out only to crack a joke about it, but it turns out he really liked it and wanted to style the outfit around it.
I helped him out a little by pointing out items I thought might work with it, but he made the final choices. The only thing I added was a pair of tights, but I let him choose which ones I wore. Hand-down burgundy, he told me.

Personally, I would have liked to have added a belt, since I think the outfit needs some definition at the waist, but overall, I think he did a good job!

Have you ever let your significant other pick out your outfit for you?

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Turtleneck: H&M
Pants: thrifted
Shoes: thrifted
Necklace and Earrings: Laila Rowe

Finally, we come to today. I normally don't have time to take outfit photos in the morning but (1) I was running early this morning and (2) I knew I was going to whip up this post at work today, so I decided to sneak today's pictures in so I wouldn't end up a day behind.

This isn't the most exciting outfit, in fact color-wise, it is all neutrals. But there are some details in the outfit that I think make it not-so-boring.
(1) The pants have a windowpane pattern on them that isn't showing up in the photos.
(2) I mixed my brown-toned neutrals by mixing chocolate, khaki, and orange-brown all in the same outfit. I think this makes for a richer color palette.
(3) The necklace. I am absolutely in love with it. While the necklace itself really does just come off as silver, there are little hints for pale green, aqua blue, and milky white going on in there. Not enough IMHO to constitute actual color, but enough to lighten up the dark sweater and break up the great expanse of brown.

This idea of wearing a non-boring all-neutral outfit is something that Rose has been talking about over on her blog.

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*whew!*
well, there you have it -- all caught up!
On my honor, I will try never again to let so much time go by without regular updates!

Free Shipping at Payless...

This Just In!

From today through Wednesday (2/24) receive free shipping with any purchase of $50 or more at Payless.com

Enter code 3DAYFEB at checkout to receive the discount.

Giveaway...

Hilary of byhilary is hosting a giveaway of a seriously high-end flat iron from the wonderful people at Misikko.
If you are interested in entering, check out her post here.

Snow Style...

OK kids, sorry for the lack of posts, but thanks to the "Blizzard of 2010," I haven't been to work or much outside of my house for almost a week now, I haven't really been getting dressed or wearing anything blog-worthy.
Dear fiance and I took the one-block walk to the grocery store a few days ago when the first round of snow hit us, only to find that everything was closed -- everything in the shopping center except the beer store, that is! And to the delight of both of us, they actually sell both of our favorite beers, which are both a little tougher to find. *YAY!*



This is the amazing style I was sporting while trudging along through knee-deep snow (they hadn't even gotten around to clearing off the sidewalks yet, let along the streets before we decided to make a break for it!)

I love my polka-dot rain boots, which I bought last year from Laila Rowe -- if you have one of these stores near you, I *highly* recommend you check them out. They have accessories coming out the wazoo! I own probably half of everything in their stores.

But really, my favorite part of my snow fashion is this awesome knitted dragon hat:



I bought this hat from smittenwithyarn's etsy shop -- it was originally intended as part of my halloween costume, but I knew when I bought it that it would get more wearing than just as part of a costume. She also knitted me some matching, elbow-length fingerless gloves, but I didn't wear them in the snow, and don't have a photo of those onhand to share with you. But as a seller, I would definitely recommend her!

And since every snow day blog requires the obligatory silly shot, I share with you this one:



Yes, that's right -- I'm riding in a shopping cart. The grocery store was closed, and their parking lot was halfway plowed, so I hopped in and the fiance pushed me around bobsled-style. Thankfully I didn't topple over, as I really am a cry-baby and probably would have been sad and pathetic for the rest of the day. Our fun was quickly cut short, however, by the snow plows returning to clear off the rest of the parking lot.
I did get some great photos of dear fiance, but since he is a private guy, I will restrain myself from posting his images here. Rest assured, he's a cutie, and he's silly in the snow too!

Go Red Snow Day...

This is not the outfit I had planned on wearing today in honor of Go Red for Women Day. Due to all of the snow we were expecting today, I decided to work from home instead of heading into the office, and I opted for a more casual look instead of the schmancier ensemble I had planned on wearing -- don't worry, though, I will wear that outfit once we are back in the office, and I'll be sure to snap a photo!



Sweater: Moda International via Victoria's Secret
Tshirt: Kohl's
Pants: NY&Co
Socks, gift from future MIL

That's right, kids; no shoes with this outfit. With the exception of the black sneakers I wore to the grocery store and my fiance's office, I was shoeless all day. As such, I decided to sport the snowflake socks my fiance's mom gave me as a stocking stuffer I think last year?

I picked up a few of these tshirts at Kohl's a few years ago, and I had never thought to incorporate them into a look I could wear to work. But seeing it under this chunky cardi, I might have to rethink that!
What I really love about this cardi is that it buttons up off-center. I think that gives it a funky bit of flair, so I usually style it fairly simply. It works really well left open or fully buttoned up, but more of the time I wear it with a few buttons closed and the rest left open to show the under layer.

Fiance and I walked to the grocery store today -- our new place is just a block away! It was nice to take a walk in the snow before it got too heavy, to wet, and too dirty to want to be out in it. It was also nice to get some food in this house other than fast food! Our fridge now has actual ingredients in it, which we haven't had since we moved in last week. Taking a walk, carrying back groceries, a real meal...I feel healthier already!

Giveaway...

The kind people over at Shoes Got Sole have contacted Tina of T Minus, T Plus to arrange a giveaway of the bamboo clutch shown here. The best part? you get to choose which color you win! Personally, I'm totally feeling the green, but it might just be because green is my favorite color.

Anywho, head on over to Tina's blog for your chance to win!

Friday -- Go Red For Women...

Hello Ladies!
This Friday, February 5 is National Wear Red Day.
Heart Disease is the number 1 killer of women in America. In fact, more women die of cardiovascular disease than the next 5 causes of death combined. That’s including cancer!

This Friday, wear a little red -- or deck yourself out head to toe -- to show your support for the cause and bring attention to this disease.

Allie, over at My Wardrobe Today is going to post photos of anyone who sends her pictures of themselves wearing red for the cause. If you're interested, send your photo to her or leave a comment in her blog linking to your Go Red outfit post.