Smart casual for a casual shower

What do you wear to a casual wedding shower at an Irish pub on a Sunday afternoon? Let me tell you, it was a dilemma!



The gold firefly top started as a Gwynnie Bee rental, and I loved it. I saw it on Eloquii as a final sale for $14, and I had to scoop it up. Pink and gold, pretty and fun.

I added this gold necklace to give it a bit of an edgier look.



Then of course I had to finish it off with a classic black jacket. This is why we own them!



I went with a semi-tuck look, which actually cut down on the muffin-top. No picture, but I got a cute black faux-alligator Kenneth Cole Reaction clutch as a freebie casino giveaway, and it went perfectly with it. (I will get a picture next time; I am surprised how much I love that clutch!)

After that, the shower itself was a breeze! Next weekend: the wedding. Hurray!

Staycation kickoff weekend

My long-awaited staycation is this week, along with my birthday on Wednesday. I have kicked it off in style!



It all began on Friday, where I had to find the right outfit not just for casual Friday in the office, but dinner and drinks afterward with my work crew. I think I did well here -- that day clutch was a great way to cross over from work to evening.
Purple Nordstrom open sweater, white LOFT long-sleeved tee, Gap trouser jeans, black Clark moto booties, tan clutch from Lane Bryant (Kate, I finally used it!).



I got 2 celebrations that day!



My co-workers had lunch for me in the office, and gave me a lovely, glittery, fashion card. And Portillo's chocolate cake, known far and wide as the Best Chocolate Cake On This Planet We Call Earth.



That night was another group of work friends, all of whom used to work in my department but have since moved on (we have a lot of turnover, haha). We did dinner at Little Goat Diner (get the hot crab dip) and drinks down the street. I had sangria, Phillip had some kind of pink martini.

Saturday was a trip babysitting and shopping with Babyfriend and the 2 J's. Babyfriend had her first chocolate chip pancakes, which were a BIG hit, as you can imagine. She is getting so big!



I dragged everyone to go see the Sejour anorak. We liked the olive okay, but the blue was the winner by a mile.





Around naptime, we broke up the party. I then went out for some adult games. :)



Between two big wins, I cashed out about $500 on that machine. Yay!

Sunday was much less exciting. Didn't even really have time to take a good shot, but I needed to memorialize my Color Project: Red usage of this pink/red-and-grey striped top, worn over a grey long-sleeved tee with ON Dreamer jeans.



Hee! I am tugging on my shoes because I had to head downstairs and start bailing. Our basement flooded, AGAIN. But we were expecting it, and even hoping for it a bit; we need to find the source of the leak so we needed another rainfall. Which we got, in spades. But we were smarter this time, at least; we bought a wet-dry vac to sop up the water as it seeped and pooled, and we just cut away the trashed carpet and padding. Hubby wants to get rid of it anyway and re-do the linoleum down there.

It was exhausting, but we kept the spread of the water from going too far, and when the condo maintenance guy came on Monday morning, we found the source of the leak. So the waterproofing companies will be here on Wednesday to give us some estimates. Not the best part of my staycation, but a necessary one.

How was your weekend?

Nothing Much to Say

It's weird when you run out of things to say. But that's my excuse for not posting so far this week, sorry! Work is stressful, all the links I have been reading are about soap operas, and the most complicated dish I have made in two weeks has been spaghetti and meatballs.

But! I did manage to get some pictures of my burgundy Gap cords! I got them last month during December's shopping spree but I hadn't gotten any shots of them for the blog until now.



First I wore them for Friday casual in the office. I am still working my way through my white shirts, so I started with this Lauren Conrad embellished tee from Kohls. This one has lasted nearly 3 years now, and is still going strong. For a scrappy little shirt, it's kind of amazing to see it still in my closet.

The top has a bit of a rocker vibe, so I added one of my metallic long pendants and my Sam Edelman embellished animal-print flats. The brown long cardigan softened all of that up and worked well with the colors. Wish I had gotten close-ups because it definitely worked better than it appears in the full picture; my co-worker kept complimenting on the details coming together so nicely.

I re-wore the cords on Saturday for an entirely different look.



I had to cover a full day of brunch with my girlfriends and Babyfriend, hanging out, possible shopping (didn't happen), and then a night out at the casino. I think this look covered the events nicely.



I had a good hair day that day, at least in the morning.



The infamous blogger bubble necklace, and an Old Navy tie-neck cotton blouse. The blouse is loose and flyway, so I usually wear a black ribbed tank underneath to provide coverage around my middle and butt. Since the cords are low-rise, this prevents any "I See London, I See France" incidents.



Love the color and feel of these so much! I wish they had come in other bright colors, but there was only the burgundy/purple left when I found them on Gap's site. I am considering a black pair, though...



We have had only one minor snowstorm this winter so far, and the snow quickly disappeared. So I can still wear my suede and faux-suede shoes. These are a pair of Target boots I got a few months ago that I love.



I was really pleased with how my hair turned out. Last good hair day I've had since -- when the temps drop and the heat goes on everywhere, my whole head becomes a giant static ball, so it's been up for days now.





It was Jessie's birthday celebration, so I treated her to dinner at the delicious buffet at the casino. Save room for dessert; the bread pudding is fantastic, especially with one of their gelatos. This flavor was apple -- worked great with the caramel of the pudding!



What have you guys been up to this week?

Random December outfits

A few random outfits I have been wearing lately:



Grey on grey on grey on black. I am crazy about all the draped necklines around these days; this one is a heathered grey sleeveless one from Target that has worked well under many of my blazers. The drape at the waist is a problem, though. I put this grey mix together because I wanted to wear my grey pinstriped pants but there is something about the hue that makes it hard to fit with my more brightly-colored tops. So I went with neutrals instead. The jacket is a knit Alice + Olivia that I got during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale; for a while there I had my doubts it would get much wear but I've been putting an effort into finding the right use for it, and it's worked well. 



More neutrals of the navy and brown school.  The grandpa cardigan is a little too grandpa-y here, but I decided to give it some structure by tucking in my Gap navy-and-brown striped top and adding a brown belt. Now that I look at it, a stronger gold necklace would have worked better instead the delicate long one I wore.



Casual Friday with a mustard v-neck shirt from Nordstrom, my beloved striped Lands End blazer, the Gap trouser jeans, and rose gold Tahari flats from DSW.

We went to Detroit this weekend (photos coming tomorrow!) and I somehow only managed to get one outfit photo. Which is a bummer, because I did finally break down and bought some new clothes from Lane Bryant, all of which I wore -- and that went together perfectly -- all weekend. I was so excited about my weekend packing, and I have no visual evidence to show it off. Doh!



This was Friday night; we stayed at the MGM Grand casino, so we spent the night "in" and downstairs gambling and hanging out. The long cardigan and black top are new from Lane Bryant, the jeans are those Jag jeans that I am still on the fence about (they did not fare well by the end of the weekend, waaaaaay too stretched out) and my sparkly Vince Camute suede flats. I am in love with the weight, fabric and stripe size on that cardigan; it is going into heavy rotation this winter, I can tell you now. Probably going to wear it today!



The purse is from a consignment store from a couple of years ago; it's a faux Chanel that I paid about $15 for. I love the idea of it, but I have only used 2-3 times. This is the last one; the "leather" in the strap is completely shredding and left little red pieces everywhere. It's in the bag for donation now!



This is yesterday's back-to-work outfit: the top is from Gwynnie Bee, and I knew as soon as I saw it on their website I had to wear it with my cobalt blue blazer. On its own, I didn't really love the top; the knit was too static-y and too short for my preferences, but under the jacket? Perfect.



I am so enjoying my Gwynnie Bee experience, I am considering upping my subscription to 3-pieces out a a time. Hmm, maybe for the new year when the shopping itch starts up anew. Right now I think I am doing okay finding things to wear. :)

Windy Weekend

It was a windy, rainy, cool weekend. I'm not gonna lie, I loved it. Bad weather keeps people indoors, so I was able to zip through my errands and weekly shopping with few hassles. Even the post office was a breeze!

It also gave us the excuse to be lazy, to stay in and watch "Up" for the first time (God bless AppleTV and their many closed-captioned options, way more than Netflix). I did stock up on squash at the last farmer's market of the season, but the laziness extended itself into skipping weekly cooking too. It's squash, it will keep! (More to come on that later this week. Gotta save my blog topics up now that I am trying to do them daily again. Heh.)



With the closet re-organization, I am making a concerted effort to wear items that used to be buried in drawers or in the back of the closet. This knit bubble-hem top, with a purple and grey speckled pattern, is an Old Navy impulse purchase that has only gotten a couple of wears and lived underneath my other long-sleeved layering tops in a drawer. Since it is really a centerpiece top and not a layering one (meaning it works as the main part of an outfit, not just underneath a sweater to fill out the arms or neck) I hung it up in the New Closet where it catches my eye as an outfit option. I really liked pairing it with a grey super-soft Target cardigan of the same light hue; it muted the pattern and colors so they looked more sweet instead of zany.

The shoes are a new purchase from Clarks; I have needed a new pair of casual walking shoes for a while, and I really just love the look of those elastic-lace ones from Privo. They're still *sneakers* but they're nicer and more stylish than white running shoes, that's for sure. (Assuming you find ones that aren't frumpy or impractical, which isn't as easy as it should be!) I have a pair in purple from several years ago, but they are kind of wide and often look like duck boots under jeans. These were much better!

Privo "Pursuit Happiness" style. They felt like mine the second I put them on. I didn't take them off all weekend!

Sunday was super-casual; I solved the wind problem by pulling my hair back. And I wasn't kidding about wearing the Privos all weekend!



I wore a color-blocked short-sleeved sweatshirt I picked up at Old Navy and have been enjoying this summer, but with the cool weather I added a cobalt blue long-sleeved layering top under it. Messy and casual, which is what I was going for. :) They're not all fashionista outfits!

See what I meant about the wind?




What did you guys do this weekend?

Dress me, internet!

I swear, I get all my outfit ideas from the internet lately.

Last week, Angie over at YouLookFab posted about how to wear the Sassy Sweatshirt. Obviously, wearing one at work is a no-no for me at the Nun Factory, but it did spawn an idea for Saturday casual.



I picked up the sweatshirt at Old Navy this spring, but have mostly been wearing it as loungewear. We've finally reached a cool point in the summer, though, so I suspect this will be getting a workout, especially on vacation next week. I am ready!



Next it was Ally at Wardrobe Oxygen who provided the inspiration. She wore a fantastic striped blazer from Karen Kane with a hot pink cami, and I was head over heels. Look at how amazing she looks!

I will definitely be duplicating it during the week too, with my own striped blazer, but I also did a version over the weekend with my trusty White House Black Market striped cardigan.



This was the first rendition, when I took Hubby out to breakfast for his birthday on Sunday. But it was a little too warm for long pants and a long sweater, so I went back to my boyfriend jeans. Loved them with the chunky wedge sandals.






Thanks, ladies, for the continued inspiration!

Sunday Cooking: A random assortment of photos

The corn is coming into season. Repeat: the corn is coming into season. Let the joy spread across the land!

I did not buy from this vendor at my farmer's market; there is something about the abundance of varieties they have of everything that makes them seem sketchy. I never see a sign proclaiming which farm they are from, they sell too many vegetables that are out of season in the Midwest, and their signs are always perfect and printed. I much prefer to buy from the people across the aisle with the price of their cherries hand-written on a cardboard flap who only have the 3 main seasonal items available. Thank goodness, one of those items was their first crop of corn. I didn't want to have to buy from the generic/supermarket vendor, and I really, really wanted some corn.



The farmer's market also had some lovely hanging plants, which I did not buy but I should have; we already killed the plant Hubby bought on Memorial Day. Didn't even make it 6 weeks!





It was so dead the leaves crunched into powder when I touched it. Sorry, little plant! I think I might try that big white one next.

While we were there, we stopped at the local cigar store for Hubby. He loves going there because the inside is lush and full of leather chairs and big TVs, and on Sunday they don't charge sales tax on cigars or tobacco. As taxes are now 38% for tobacco, that's quite a sale. (I know, it's not good for him. I'm working on it.) But the cigar store has an actual cigar store Indian. You don't see those around much!





I was dressed for the casual, hot weather. Even wore my new coral New Balance walking shoes!


Target bird top from 2011, Lands End white knit shorts 2011, brown crossbody bag 2011, my beloved Ralph Lauren aviator sunglasses. Those have paid for themselves over the last 3 years; the first expensive sunglasses I ever bought, and the only ones I wear.

When we got home, it was time for some quick cooking. Like Helen said she was doing a couple of weeks ago, now that it is grilling season I am really trying to limit the Sunday Cooking so I am just prepping veggies, salads and marinades, and the rest we are grilling or eating cold. But I am also finding that lunch is a struggle without prepping something else, so this week I made a "breakfast casserole", also known as a frittata, egg dish, or crustless quiche. This particular version was inspired by this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen, but you guys know I love my quiche and I love mixing up different flavors.



Even here I didn't stick completely with the recipe. I cooked off the bacon in the microwave, then put the mostly-cooked pieces in the skillet so they would crisp up and render a little bit of fat. Then I removed the bacon and tossed a large onion sliced into rings into the skillet to cook down until it was soft and browning. THEN I removed the onion, added the chopped kale and wilted that. Chopped the bacon, mixed all of those ingredients together and placed in the bottom of the Corningware dish. (Best kitchen purchase I ever made. So perfect for casseroles in the oven, for serving at the table, and because I also bought the glass and the rubber lids they store and stack in the fridge too. Hunh, except for the ramekins, I think I have this whole set.)

ANYWAY, then I mixed in the eggs and cheese (I did add all 10 eggs which is 4 more than I usually put in my quiche), and seasoned it with some Worchestershire and Northwoods seasoning from Penzeys.



When it came out of the oven, I was so enamored by the high puff. It looked like a loaf of bread! It did flatten a little but it stayed pretty puffy. I definitely had to cook it longer than 20-25 minutes recommended in the recipe. In my experience and my oven, breakfast casseroles always take 40 minutes. Otherwise they don't finish in the middle.




I also made another batch of blue-cheese coleslaw. With fatfree sour cream, a bag of shredded coleslaw, and a container of blue cheese, it is super-easy and pretty healthy to make. Way better than anything you would buy at the deli counter! I season it with a couple of shakes of apple cider vinegar, kosher salt and pepper, celery seed and some Wall of Flavor, but the blue cheese really does all the work to give it such a deep, cool taste. Make it the day before you serve so the cabbage has time to soften and soak up the dressing.



And that was all I needed to feed myself lunch for a few days!



Bonus: a couple of outfit photos from Monday and Tuesday!

Phillip took Monday's photo in my office.



The new Gap white pants (which are completely gone from the website, alas. They stretch out a lot, I should have gotten a size smaller), my turquoise Clarks sandals from last year, a new hot-pink cami from Lane Bryant and a cute pink-and-turquoise print Target top. Which you may never see again since I ripped a hole in the front, DAMMIT.

On Tuesday, Hubby was home so he took the photo while I was rushing out the door.



Purple Old Navy blouse worn open, new white Target sleeveless tee, silver circle pendant necklace from Loft Outlet, black Gap pants and olive Clark sandals.

Lesson learned from both of these photos: never ask a man to take your outfit photos. Both lowered the camera to unflattering angles, Hubby chopped off the top of my head, and neither told me to unwrinkle myself so I and my clothes looked their best. Men!!

Next up: grilling on the 4th of July!