Brain dump

OOOPS this has been sitting in my draft folder for two weeks. I am the Queen of Procrastination!

As disussed at that meeting, these are my two goals for summer by August 31:

Weight: Hit 10% goal 

Exercise: dog park when sunny, pool twice a week

Copy and print so visible every day -- Putting this down so I do it!!!

(*cough* Results so far: hit my 5% goal last week, have taken dog to park every day for at least a month. Twice a day on the weekends. It hasn't rained so I haven't been to the pool. My hand might be forced on that one tonight...)

Other stuff:

I never liked hummus, but these days I have been pretty much making a batch a week. I got the recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen and did a little modification. I have a mini-chopper so I cut the recipe in half so it all fits in the bowl.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (Blackeyed Peas or Chickpea)

1 can (15 oz. can) black eyed peas or chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 tsp. garlic puree or minced garlic

3 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice (or slightly less if you're not that into lemon)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 T olive oil

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

3 T tahini (sesame seed paste), to taste

1 roasted red pepper, water-packed, chopped and drained from jar

Dump the canned black-eyed peas into a colander placed in the sink, then rinse with cold water until no more foam appears.  Let black-eyed peas drain for a minute or two, then put them into the food processor with everything else. Chop it up!

If the hummus seems too thick, add a few tablespoons of water and process. If you do not use a roasted red pepper, you will probably need more liquid so add water as needed.)

It lasts a week. (Or it would, if my husband did not inhale it one sitting.)

I actually prefer the black-eyed pea version because it tastes smoother and lighter. 

Also, I made the easiest and tastiest macaroni salad ever.

Whole wheat pasta, chopped shredded carrots, chopped onions, chopped celery, liberal dosage of dijon mustard, a little fat-free mayo, salt, pepper, seasonings, and a handful of shredded cheese. 

Mix and let sit overnight so flavors can meld. Serve with grilled items when husband only knows how to cook meat when he "makes dinner". 

Got a new haircut for summer, which I am enjoying. This is the straight version, but the miracle is, I have finally learned to master a curling iron. I love my hair everyday now. 

Also, my pets are awesome. Follow me on Instagram if you would like to see a million pictures of Abby. 

She made a friend at the park yesterday. They were adorable.

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?

Hot Flash

Been wearing my hair up lately. Most days I try to wear it down, but at a certain point in the day the clip comes out and up it goes. Yesterday that point was before I even left the house.



The reason I have been wearing it up is that at the ripe old age of 44, I have started to have hot flashes. I'll be talking to my doctor about them at my annual physical this month, but in the meantime they are just a nuisance. My skull and nape are always the parts that get hot and sweaty when I overheat, so that's where the hot flash impacts too. Having thick hair doesn't help as it gets immediately soaked. Ugh.

Anyway. I have been purchasing a lot of clips and nice elastics. :)

Onto the outfit!



The post about Forth & Towne made me nostalgic so I opted for one of my few remaining sweaters from there, a sweet coral short-sleeved wrap. It's getting a little faded but I am not quite ready to edit it out. The coral still stands out, and I love the way it looks against my grey pintstriped Gap bootcuts. It's one of the few colors I have that blends nicely with them.





The necklace is another little-worn goodie, from a local jewelry store as they were going out of business. Three strands of grey pearls on brown knotted string -- it's an interesting mix of dressy and casual, you know?



Funny, Angie just had a post this morning about the benefits of outfit repetition, and this is definitely one I have repeated in the past. The colors work together nicely, and as I just noticed, on their own, I don't any of these individual pieces enough. It's only as this outfit that I am most satisfied with all of them. Hmm, that's something to ponder.

I also did a little more closet rearranging, moving some of my summer shirts that I had left in the closet down to a drawer, and bringing the winter layering tops from the drawer up to the hangers. In doing so, I realized I have a lot of layering tops of certain colors, like white, and they aren't getting enough wear.



I think the problem is I tend to select my outfit from the statement piece first, then build from there. So I pick my blue blazer then find the top and pants. Or I choose my red polka-dot blouse and select the right pants and blazer. That often means that some layering tops rarely get chosen at all.

So for the next week or so I am going to go by color; all of the white tops will get worn, and we shall see what combinations come from that. I suspect I may end up pulling out jackets and bottoms that also don't get as much rotation, like I did here with the coral sweater and grey pants.

Oooh, it's casual Friday. This should be fun!

Fashion Flasher

I still haven't gotten back into the rhythm of daily outfit photos, but I have been trying to do a quick partial shot here or there to at least capture the flavor of what I am wearing.  So here are a few flashes of the last week.



One of the prettiest Gwynnie Bee tops, with a tie-dyed pattern draped cowl that I just adored. I wore this a few times before shipping it back, my favorite being when I wore it on Halloween with this cobalt blazer at work and then with a simple black sweater in the evening to highlight the "spookiness" of the pattern when we took Babyfriend out trick-or-treating. This version was with a short-sleeved royal blue sweater, which worked well with our in-between weather.



Not an outfit, I just thought that was a clever carving. :)



I was undecided about this pattern-mixing so I emailed the photo to my girlfriends and my mom. Mom thought it was chic, but my girlfriends were on the fence, not really being fans of pattern-mixing. But I got their replies too late, and I had decided for myself that I liked it so I wore it anyway. And got a surprising number of compliments!



What made it work for me is that they were all in the same color tone, and because that tone was grey, black and white it allowed for a little more creativity. Plus I just love love love that Target blouse with the buttefly pattern and pussybow. It is the one cheap-fashion shirt I do not regret buying whatsoever.

That said, I tried a more subtle outfit with that jacket later in the week.



Keeping the necklace grey kept it nicely subtle; there's a lot going on with the jacket trim and zippers, so it doesn't look as good if I contrast with a colored top.

So all that ruckus over trying to find the perfect bag for fall? (None of the booties worked so they were returned too.) I walked into the new Michael Kors store at my mall last Friday and fell in love with The One.



Medium sized tote, simple and clean, but with just the right details: a lovely chestnut/luggage color in a just-soft-enough leather, contrasting lighter handles, and best of all two side outside pockets where I can slip my phones in and be able to reach them without having to dig under my arm when the bag is on my shoulder.

So far, it is my one purchase for November. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It was already in rotation the next day, and I was ready for the weekend.



The boots and jacket are October purchases. First is a much-needed casual anorak jacket from Old Navy, with a removable lining and is surprisingly well made. Second are a pair of faux-suede nude booties from Target; I had seen them months ago online but since most Target shoes are crazy uncomfortable I resisted. Saw them on clearance in the store last week and gave them a try. They've been worn all day for several days now and are more comfortable than the $200 Munro ones were.

Sometimes cheap fashion is confusing, you guys. Obviously they won't last 4 winters like my Franco Sarto Deers have, but they're a nice addition for this year.

This is what was under my jacket.



Usually with a patterned top like this one (Target, of course), I wear a sweater over it to break it up visually. But since it was Saturday I spent most of the day in my jacket anyway running errands, which served the same purpose.

One of those errands? Getting my hair cut and colored. I went a little dark on the color so it matches better with the silvery-greys that are exponentially sprouting up. (That seems counter-intuitive, but it's true.)

This was how it looked on Sunday.




I went with a Sheila look, a tissue-weight short-sleeved tee over a long-sleeved tee, and added that weird blue-grey jacket I often have trouble working into an outfit. (Told you I was cycling through more unworn items, thanks to the Great Closet Purge.) Comfy and a little tough, I liked it!





Lastly, we get to Monday. The flash was in use outside because it was dark out so my hair already looks blonder again. So weird!






This other Gwynnie Bee top -- a rich pink cowl neck from Tablots -- breathed new life into this striped cascading cardigan from White House Black Market (remember when we bought this in Vegas, Mom?), black Gap straight legs, and my trusty Naturalizer folded cuff booties.

And that's all I got today! Have a lovely Wednesday, my friends. Off to back-to-back meetings, UGH.

Layering to good effect

I did some layering of two of my favorite pieces, a sheer Target patterned bowtie top and an older Halogen sparkly-purple cardigan. Then black everything else: layering tee, skinny belt, bootcut pants, pointy shoes. I wasn't sure about the two tops pieces together, but I think in the end it worked well.



That poor sweater has a number of snags. This might be its last season.

Day/Night #2 of the Night Shower Experiment also turned out well.







The only problem is that it turns out my hair has 22 hours exactly before the roots get oily, dark and flat. So if I shower at 7 the night before, by 4 or 5pm, it does not look good at all. This is a problem on days when I am going out after work! Since I am doing so on Friday -- Phillip's last day, you guys! Noooooo!!! -- I had to scrap the Night Shower experiment for today.

But it looked good yesterday, at least!



Happy Friday! Any interesting weekend plans?

My hair is bouncin' and behavin'

I dub Day/Night 1 of the Night-Shower Experiment a success.



All I had to do was brush it in the morning. !! Apparently bed head is a good look for me. I did make one mistake in letting it air dry the first night; it was a little flat on the top of my head, which a good volumizer and a quick blow would have fixed. I will work on that.

I also liked the outfit; the pants are a grey pinstripe, so it's not as all-black as the photo would indicate. You guys know me, I'm not a all-black person so it feels like when I do wear it, it packs a punch. The turquoise Blogger Necklace helps soften it up around my face, too, which I need.

The shoes are Circa Joan & David kitten heels from several years back. Shopping Friend will remember them; they're the first "heels" she convinced me to buy! When the pointy-toe look faded the last few years, I tucked them into the back of my closet, but now that it is making a comeback -- and frankly I needed the kitten heel height for the pants, and these were all I had -- I pulled them back out. They've held up well; guess spending a few extra dollars on quality shoes instead of Target/Payless cheapies pays off.

Speaking of spending, this is now following me around the internet.



The two-tone brown booties are the ones I was talking about the other day, and the wedge casual booties on the left are a fabulous find from Angie at YLF. Now that I can wear jeans a few other days besides the weekend, and I do have a good number of said jeans with long hems for heels, I think I can justify a fun bootie like that.

I may scrap the fall/winter purse idea for another year -- since none are jumping out at me as The One -- and go for some solid bootie additions instead.  And maybe a smart daytime clutch -- it's very on-trend, and the only clutches I have are summer woven ones.

Dammit, the ads win again.

Shattered plans

I had all these grandiose plans for today. On Tuesdays, I am what we secretly call "WFH". (Working from home. Shhh, we're not supposed to let anyone know or it will be taken away.) So I thought I would put together this amazing casual outfit, do some fun photos since my neighbors would be at work, and even roast chicken for dinner.

The reality is I worked the entire day on my computer, emailing my coworkers, handling support issues, and putting together a big presentation for executive leadership. In my pajamas, with my dirty hair in a ponytail. Didn't even have lunch until after 1pm. Finally picked up my head out of the clouds when my husband walked in at 5:30.

Not a whole lot of photo ops there.

That said, I am trying a new tactic with my hair. It's so thick and long that it is impossible to style well in the mornings; I can barely get it dry before I start perspiring into my neck hairline. The end result is that I have been forced to stick it up in a hair clip on too many days -- not the look I want to cultivate in the office!

So instead I showered and washed my hair tonight, and let it dry on its own. We'll see how it looks in the morning; if this works out I am going to have to change my schedule to showers at night. Weird.

How was your Tuesday?

Summertime Outfits

It's funny, I'm still wearing the same dang black and/or dark pants that I wear during the rest of the year, but I am doing my best to make them summer-ified.

For example, going with an all-white look on top.



Black Gap straight leg pants, brown peeptoe Clark shooties, white Loft tee and white Loft Outlet cascading cardigan.



What really made this work for me was the chunky smoky necklace. Can't believe it has lasted this long; I bought it at Loft a few years ago, and removed almost all of the extra crap on it so it is just the stones and gold.



I also have been scooping up as many summer blouses as I can find. My friend J and I bought this same pink-and-orange sheer blouse from Loft Outlet last month. I debated keeping it, but I just love the colors too much to give it up!



That is my Rebecca Minkoff bag that has been getting a tremendous workout since I got it in April. I've switched out to clutches or a casual crossbody on weekends, but the Minkoff is definitely my everyday bag this year. Love it.



(Mental note: watch that it doesn't buckle funny around my waist and make me look larger than I am.)

I am also in love with my Donald J Pliner bronze sandals (as seen in above shot). I got them last year at Nordstrom Rack; Hubby and I had gone downtown to celebrate our anniversary, and it was so abnormally hot (it was October, for cryin' out loud) I frantically picked them up on Michigan Avenue off-season. Now that the braid has softened and broken in, they are crazy comfortable, and I just adore their chunky chunkiness.





Another summer look I have been embracing is the striped blazer. I love the one I got from Lands End (on sale now in stores!) and have been wearing it at least once a week. It's great in a business casual office; we're supposed to be in business attire when we go to meetings but no one else in our new company does the same. So I often throw this on over a dressy top and pants and look more professionally dressed than anyone else in the room.

This outfit is more business casual.



(Yes, that is me taking a photo in my mirror. Horrors! But I really like this outfit and wasn't sure if I could get outside in time to get a shot.) I like that this is also kind of monochromatic: grey Gap straight pants, pale blue Loft tee, and navy striped blazer. The silver-gold pendant necklace added to the casual vibe, and the orange Clarks sandals gave it a contrasting pop of color.

Oh, hahahaha, right I did get outside but it was kind of a disaster. Very windy!





I perservered and got one good shot.



This outfit is remarkable only because I got busted by the neighbor just as the timer started going off. As evidenced by my panicked expression and fast approach to the camera. LOL!





Target top and aqua cardigan. I think I will try this one again with my new WHITE PANTS.



Gap finally made my beloved modern bootcuts in white. I snapped those babies up the moment I saw them. Wooohoooo! I haven't owned white pants in years; it's so hard to find the right ones, that aren't too sheer or too tight or too cheap. I definitely like these!



The top is also Loft from last year (boy, I did not realize how many of those I have!!) and I've never quite been able to find the right bottom to bring out the lovely snakeskin print of it. Now I realize it just needed some white pants. :)



You may have noticed in several of the above shots that I have a lot of bracelets on. I tend to wear them more in the summer, which is kind of counter-intuitive. They get warm on the arm in hot weather -- but in cold weather, I'm more bundled up and the metal gets too cold!

This was just this Friday. A hot pink Old Navy top, new navy Gap modern bootcuts, olive wedge Clark sandals, an arm of bracelets, and a new long silver pendant necklace I picked up at Loft Outlet on my shopping trip with J. (See what I mean about needing the pendant to be longer than the boob shelf, J? This way it doesn't bounce when I walk.)

I also tried Angie's suggestion of half-tucking the top, and I think I liked it. 



Heh, and here is a perfect example of the striped blazer raising the level of the outfit. It was too hot to put on outside, but I sure wore it for my meeting that day!




So that is what I have been wearing so far this summer. Does it spark any ideas for you? Any suggestions you have for me?

Heh, now that I am looking at this, I also realize it is time to look at my calendar. Methinks I am due for a haircut!