Pink power!

I used to row on the crew team in prep school, and our coxswain had this bright pink raincoat that she wore at practice. It became a talisman for us; eventually she cut up the raincoat and gave us ibexes to wrap around our wrists for special races. She would shout "pink power" to motivate us through a tough row, and to this day it is the phrase we say to each other on Facebook.

The last two days I was all about the pink power in my outfits. This was Monday.

Details
Jacket: eloquii from Gwynnie Bee
Top: the perfect white tee from Lane Bryant
Pants: grey pinstriped modern bootcuts fr Gap.
Shoes: black peeptoe pumps from DsW.

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!

Casual Friday

Another color question I posed to Jessie this fine morning: what went best with this navy striped Lands End cardigan (Gwynnie Bee, of course)? I had the choice of emerald green, a pretty coral, and white. All new t shirts I picked up from Old Navy for the summer that I am itching to wear. :)

Part of my dilemma on the color was that I wanted to highlight the gorgeous infinity necklace that Shopping Friend gave me last night as my bridesmaid gift. It's just so so pretty, and the sweet story of us being friends through infinity now got me a little teary-eyed. Thank you, my friend. Now lets go get you hitched! :)

Outfit details
Cardigan: lands end from gwynnie bee
T: old navy
Jeans: old navy dreamers in long
Shoes: Clark's artisans
Necklace: Tiffany's, from Shopping Friend

The answer to the color I wore is revealed in the second to last photo. :)

The last photo is the fun clutch I am using tonight when I meet my husband at the casino. I had it handmade along with a larger cross body a couple of years ago at a local studio but I do not give it nearly enough wear.

Have a lovely weekend everyone! Any fun plans? I am going to Great America amusement park tomorrow!

Testing from my phone

Gonna try something new today and try to post my outfit from my phone instead of emailing pics to Jessie. :)

Outfit details:
Top: igigi from Gwynnie Bee
Pants: Gap trouser jeans
Shoes: rose gold Tahari flats, DSW
Necklace: Nordstrom
Hair: wet LOL

Two weeks notice

Emily, George and I have been missing you guys. It has been a busy couple of weeks!



They like to pretend to be shy sometimes.



Oh hey, do you like my new knit pants? Eddie Bauer straight legs. They work for casual office days and weekends. They're a little freaky because they're so comfortable they feel like pajamas.



Ha, see I knew George would ham it up. Emily, of course, wants no part of these shenanigans.

Let's see, what else happened?

I tried on my bridesmaid dress...





(which will get better fitted once I find a frikkin' low-back bra, which I think I have finally procured, after multiple online purchases.)

I got a haircut...





(Pretty, right? I wish I could blow it out as well as they do at the salon.)

I wore an adorable hand-me-down Kohls arygyle sweater from Jessie...





(I also did a lot of mirror shots to send to Jessie in the mornings as we compared outfits. So fun!)

I did some shopping and wore my new stuff as much as I could...





Black striped (hmm, maybe it is navy) drape neck short sleeved top from Lands End, worn dressy and casual. (Got a couple of pairs of knit shorts too, to be ready for summer.)





(Teal open cardigan from Eloquii, first worn with new Eloquii white ankle pants in a trial outfit for summer, then again to work for real with my Target bow-tie patterned top, black straight legs and animal-print flats.)

I wore the bejesus out of a couple of Gwynnie Bee tops...











(The obi is new from Eloquii too. They were having a great sale. My April purchase list is pretty big, but I think I am set for this summer. I'm excited to incorporate all the items into my regular rotations!)

I met my girlfriend A for lunch at Cheesecake Factory after we both got our hair colored...



(That was really, really delicious.)



(We could not stop laughing at the giant pile of noodles on her Chinese chicken salad.)



(Yeah, before anyone is impressed with us for ordering salads at Cheesecake, we also had vodka lemonads, fried mac&cheese balls for appetizers, and of course, cheesecake.)

I laughed pretty hard at my husband's "dress camo pants"...



(Yes, that is glen plaid and camo mixed together. In a cargo pant. I can't believe he even found these!)

Let's see what else?

Oh, right, I got a new job.

SO HAPPY.

That's been the main secret stressful thing I haven't been able to talk about here, and the reason why I have been so scarce the last few months. I was finally offered and accepted a new job -- a transfer within my company, to a totally new job and department -- earlier this week, and my new and old bosses are figuring out my end date. But it is probably going to be May 3, which is also the weekend of Shopping Friend's wedding. So I may be scarce for a few more weeks, but then I am really, really looking forward to a little stability and back to some regular routines.

Oh yeah, also looking forward to my new job.

HURRAY!!!!!

No foolin'

We are outside again! Finally warming up enough to shoot in natural light, hurray. So, you know, enjoy the shots of our electric meter. :)



The jacket was a Gwynnie Bee surprise; I have over 40 items in my virtual closet so I never know what they are going to send me. This python print faux-suede number was a great transition piece for spring, light and fun and fitted. I added a dark green LOFT tee, a multi-metallic circle necklace, and my usual Gap modern bootcuts.

The snow was nearly melted on the patio, which made my husband's latest folly that much more visible. He had purchased a new kind of birdseed for the feeder (flamingos aren't the only birds who hang out on our patio) and discovered, to his dismay, that the birds did not like it. Specifically, they did not like the black seeds that comprised 70% of the mix.

The birds hated the black seed so much they actually spit it out and separated it from the rest of the seed that they did eat. They left PILES of it underneath the feeder.

I am not exaggerating.





So now he has to figure out how to clean it all up when the last of the snow is gone. In the meantime, even the flamingos are staying away from the feeder. Hee!



ANYWAY.

This was my favorite outfit of last week. So much so, I wore it twice. :)



First off, it has my new Longchamp nylon purse, which I am LOVING. The size, weight, durability, and style are exactly what I was looking for in a spring purse, and best of all the sensible look of it is fitting well in my revamped-and-returned "Yalie" look, as Jessie called it.

The real appeal of this outfit, to me, is the simplicity. I was meeting Shopping Friend for wedding-shoe shopping, and I could not find an outfit that was working; I kept trying all these color combinations, and either the shirt showed off too much muffin top, or the sweater was too heavy, or I just looked awful. Then I looked at the combinations I was struggling with, and it occurred to me that I was making  it too hard; my perfect tee, in black, would work just fine. As soon as I put it on and saw how it made the striped sweater pop all on its own, it occurred to me that I had never worn this sweater with a neutral top before. Never. I have no idea what I was waiting for!

The black top gave all the other other elements of the outfit a chance to really shine, in every way.

My hair looked blonder against it.



The cozy ribbed texture of the sweater stood out more.



My beloved embellished animal print Sam Edelman flats got a chance to roar.



My pretty circle pendant from LOFT Outlet shone the most against the neutral background.



Sadly, this was the last wearing of this necklace; it wasn't well-made (no surprise since it was an outlet piece), and the clasp linking the circles to the chain finally gave up the ghost the next day. So it's been "edited" (i.e. thrown away), but it will be fondly remembered!

No jokes or pranks here, but I hope you guys have a good April Fools Day. I always dread this day because it turns out I am super-gullible. Maybe this year I should keep count how many pranks I fall for...