Dress Your Best: Butt...

Day 5 outfit for the Dress Your Best Challenge:



Tshirt: Pixies concert Tee
Jeans: Calvin Klein
Shoes: Etienne Aigner
Cuff: The Icing by Claire's
Earrings: Black Coral from Curacao

Closeup:


Remember when all of my jeans died and I scored not one, but three pairs of awesome jeans? These Calvin Klein's were one of the pairs I brought home from my haul. These are definitely not sitting or eating jeans, but these are most definitely booty jeans!
I have always loved having a larger-than-average booty. A little junk in the trunk, if you will. Growing up as a dancer, I could totally shake it. Being on the hip hop team I was a part of this past year, my badonkadonk helped me show everyone that I've still got it! My fiance loves to climb the stairs behind me, just for the view -- and rarely does he do so without copping a feel. ;)

While I did wear a rear-end flattering outfit to work (something involving a pencil skirt -- I don't recall what exactly, since I was too exhausted to snap photos) I thought it would be more appropriate to celebrate my arse in these jeans, in a more casual ensemble. What does it say about me that I had no qualms about showing off the girls at work, but calling attention to my rear assets made me a bit nervous? Hrm...
Either way, thanks be to the bootay!

Dress Your Best: Neck...

Day 4 outfit for the Dress Your Best Challenge:



Top: Burlington Coat Factory
Jacket: Nordstrom Rack
Pants: Lane Bryant
Shoes: Etienne Aigner via Rack Room Shoes
Earrings: Claire's
Bangle: Claire's?
Necklace: bought from a friend
Cami (unseen): Old Navy

Closeup:


For many people, wearing a turtleneck or other top with a high neckline means that none of their actual neck is shown. Oftentimes, it creates the illusion that the person's chin rests directly on their clavicle.
I love that I am able to wear high-necked tops and still have some of my actual neck able to be seen. There is something a bout a long neck that makes me feel a little more graceful. Dare I say swanlike.

Ironically, the day I decided to celebrate my neck was the day it decided to fail me. I have suffered on and off for a few years from muscle spasms in my back that make it extremely painful to turn or tilt my head to the left. Thankfully at this point I know fairly well how to treat it myself, but of course, on the day I decided to dress for my neck, it decided to pay me back by being stiff and painful.

No worries, neck.
I still love you, and I will nurse you back to health.

Dress Your Best: The Girls...

Day 3 outfit for the Dress Your Best Challenge:



Dress: H&M
Shoes: Vera Wang for Kohl's
Belt: TJ Maxx
Earrings: Claire's
Necklace: made by me

Closeup:



Sal always says that cleavage is never, ever, ever appropriate for the workplace. And 99.9% of the time, I agree.
However, on a day when I am celebrating the girls, I decided to go for it.
Normally I would wear a cami beneath the dress, but I knew I had no meetings today and wouldn't be interacting with clients. For just sitting at my desk, I figured I could deal with a little cleavage.
Of course, when I went to my hair appointment later, my hair dresser told me I was dressed like a St. Pauli girl, and the poor college kid sitting in her chair before me couldn't look me in the eye on his way out.
Oopsie!
But I guess that attests to just how awesome my ta-tas are!

I don't have amazingly huge breasts. I wear a B-cup, and sometimes I don't even fill that out. When I was younger, I absolutely despised my flat chest, and was mortified to have to go to a bra fitting. I remember being 11 years old, and my dance teacher told my mother it was about that time, as the studio was cold, and well, you know... I just never saw the point of needing a bra when I had nothing for it to hold up.
Then I discovered padded bras. Something that would GIVE me a little something up there. For several years, padded bras were my savior!
Fast forward to recent years, when I have put on some weight, and wow! The first place it went was to my chest! As I said before, I still don't have the kind of knockers that are gonna rival Dolly Parton. But in being smaller boobies, they have stayed seriously perky over the years, and mine are still right up there where they started while several friends' larger gals are already heading south.
Mine are like goldilocks and the three bears -- not too big, not too small... but just right.

Dress Your Best: Small Waist...

Day 2 outfit for the Dress Your Best Challenge:



Top: Marshall's?
Cami: Old Navy
Pants: Marshall's?
Shoes: Madden Girl
Necklace: Bought from a friend's jewelry party
Earrings: black coral from Curacao, gift

Closeup:


OK, kids, let's not kid ourselves -- I'm not a tiny gal. I used to be, but these days, I am smack-dab in plus-sized territory. But yknow what? That's ok. I still have a curvy figure and a tiny waist. And it's that tiny waist that I'm celebrating today.
Even when I was super-skinny, I have always had curves. I didn't necessarily have much up on top, but I always had hips and a little waist -- and I always loved that about myself. It makes me feel extremely feminine. I have an hourglass shape, which makes me think of the glamor of years gone by. Had I been around back in the 30s and 40s, I could have been a hollywood star on the soundstage of an MGM musical. I have just *that* kind of waistline.

This may not be the most exciting outfit I have worn on this blog, and I know I just wore this top about a week ago -- but I received several comments about how tiny it makes my waist look, so I figured it would be the perfect top to wear for this day, showcasing and celebrating just that.

Dress Your Best: Eyes...

Day 1 outfit for the Dress Your Best Challenge:



Top: H&M
Sweater: H&M
Pants: NY&Co
Shoes: Sam and Libby via Marshall's?
Earrings: Claire's

Closeup:


One of the body parts/areas I really love about myself are my eyes. My eyes are mostly blue, with a gray tone and little touches of green. I love that my eyes turn more gray when that color is predominant in my outfit or green, likewise. I love that whenever I have been crying, my eyes turn a bright aqua blue. (I may be an ugly crier, but at least there's still something beautiful there!)

When I was little, just a toddler, I used to love making faces with crossed eyes. As everyone's parents have said at some time or another, my mom used to say "don't make that face or it will stay that way!" Who EVER believes that? Well, I do -- it happened to me!
Once I was making a face with crossed eyes, and I had some sort of muscle spasm or something -- and one of my eyes was STUCK. I actually had to have surgery to fix it! I am very lucky to have nor only normal, but truly lovely eyes today. I always had perfect vision growing up, but these days I do wear contacts. It's a small price to pay for the wonders my eyes have let me see throughout the years.

Totally unrelated side note:
Are there any bloggers in the OBX area?

I'm Dressing My Best...

"So often, our focus when getting dressed in the morning is how to minimize or downplay aspects of our bodies that we’re just not crazy about. Does this skirt smooth my hips? Does this top hide my tummy? Do these pants make my thighs look slimmer?
But what would happen if you inverted that thought process? What if, instead of dressing to mitigate your so-so, you dressed to highlight the parts of your body that you love most? What if, for a whole week, you committed to self-consciously dressing your best bits?"
-the lovely ladies of academichic



This week, May 10-14, is Dress Your Best Week -- and yours truly will be participating!

Here are the 5 body parts I have chosen to highlight:
1. my “girls”
2. my curvy waist
3. my long neck
4. my boo-tay
5. my eyes

Now, because my posts are often a day or two behind when my outfit was actually worn, there is still a backlogged post or two in store before the Dress Your Best posts will display. To clear any confusion, I will post which day of the week I wore an outfit and which body part is was intended to highlight.

If you haven't already signed up to participate, I urge you to!
Too often we ladies dress ourselves to hide flaws instead of celebrate beauty. Let's embrace our fabulocity!