Friday 5 (with extra bonus)

1. It's true what they say about March -- it roars in like a lion.





Fashion shoots have to set up fancy wind machines; I just went outside!

This is a Martin + Osa scarf worn long against a gold cascading cardigan, almost like part of the cardigan. I tucked it together with a belt and wore an ivory tee under it. The pants are my brown NYDJ skinny ponte pants, and the boots are my green Clark suede booties. Since I went with all earth colors, I swapped out my glasses for my plain brown ones.

2. We are celebrating my birthday weekend in Joliet IL and St. Louis. It's official: I am livin' the dream.

Actually, the hotel/casino we are staying at in St. Louis is just stunning. We're looking forward to a quick getaway there.


The lobby of the Lumiere from 3 years ago when we were there last.

3. We had one of our new team members start this week. He knows absolutely nothing about the company, the business or the software, so we've been training him on all of it. It wasn't until Thursday that I saw him finally pick up a pen and take a note on anything we had been saying. He either has a fantastic memory or doesn't give a sh**. At this point I am not sure which it is. This could be a problem.

4. I am so, so glad everyone liked my new series, They Walk Among Us. Isn't Kate amazing? I forgot to mention she's been a friend of mine for a few years now, and on top of keeping herself looking so great and being a runner and a skilled baker, she has two adorable pitbulls (even I can't resist them, and I am not really a dog person) and a killer shoe collection. I think I would really hate her if I didn't like her so much. :)

5. Do not adjust your screens; the camera was crooked when I took these yesterday. LOL!





Target drapeneck top, beloved purple Bobeau cardigan, black Gap bootcut pants, green suede booties. A typical Dress Like A Normal Person outfit.


Bonus: Sadly, the Vince Camuto colorblock dress is being returned; it was completely unflattering on me. It didn't quite fit right and it was a bit short, but more than that, the stripes at the bottom did not work. It wasn't until I had it on that I remembered that a pattern or wide stripe at the bottom of a dress is not a good look for my pear shape; it draws all the attention to the widest part of my legs and drags the whole look down. Even when I was skinnier, it didn't work. See?



Oh, well, lesson learned (again)!

What are you doing this weekend?

The difference between my mirror and real life

Fall has arrived, people. We're suddenly in 50-60s for temperatures, and the layers have come flying out.


Wednesday was a return of my NYDJ ponte pants. I almost accidentally wore the brown instead of the black, but I noticed my mistake as I was walking out to my car, and hustled back inside to change. I also got busted by my neighbor taking photos outside, so I did one round of shots where I felt really anxious and embarrassed, then I had to resort to inside shots in my kitchen.




I liked the colors in this; the pink LOFT sweater with the draped neck gets very little wear because it's a little too baggy overall on me. Adding the draped sweater from Marshalls with its asymmetrical hem and the strands of bright, warm pearls from Nordstrom focused back up to the sweater's best feature, the draped neck. I also like the contrast of the red cutout Target flats with the pink. (Heh, Economy of Style, looks like we were on the same style page again a couple of days apart!) 




I should have done a close up, but the bracelets were a delicate combination of some pretty silver wired bangles with tiny flowers that Laura gave me, and a multi-colored stone one from Target that I picked up a year ago and promptly forgot about because it was tucked into a closed jewelry box that I never look in. I finally found a good container for my bracelets on my chest of drawers, so now I can see everything better and forgotten pieces are coming into circulation.


Thursday was...Thursday. It was well and truly cold, and I am still struggling to figure out the shoe situation with my dresses; it's not quite cold enough for tights yet, but bare legs are not going to work either. Leggings and flats are kind of it, for the moment.






I don't think the sweater color worked as well in real life as it did in the mirror; the contrast between the dark pieces (Kohls peacock dress and black jersey scarf) under and the lightness of the cream wool was too much. Even going with the light rose-gold metallic Tahari flats from DSW wasn't enough to pull it all together. It's a new sweater from Gap, and long-time readers know how much I love boyfriend style cardigans; I have a short torso and long legs, so it's a style that generally works well for me. I have a few other ideas for this that I think will work better next time.




I need to remember that when I tuck my hair back and go for a smoother look, although it has more movement and looks neater in real life, tends to look flat and lifeless in photos. Hmm.

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The other thing I need to remember is that I am a stress eater. Lunches and dinners have been all takeout and junk; the only saving grace is that my "office" space all week has been a break room table in the IT building where none of my regular snacks are available. So at least I have not been shoveling candy in my piehole too.

We're going away this weekend so I do not anticipate my options getting much better, but I'm going to look for the healthier options when I can, and I'm going to think about how to handle the coming weeks. A major, major deadline is in seven weeks and the pressure at work is only going to get worse before then. I am not going to trash everything I've been working toward, so I need to come up with a plan.

Hope you all have lovely weekends!

P.S. I had a good hair day too!

This month's InStyle had a spread on trendy ways to layer this fall. Some of it I had a good chortle at -- a vest over a jacket, really? To the office? -- but there were also some good ideas, like a long sleeve under a short sleeve. This is a common layering technique for me in the fall and winter; it extends the life of my dresses without making me dependent all season long on cardigans.

Best of all, layering under the dress allows a great pattern like this red peacock feather print to stay front and center. I added my plum-with-brown trim Coach slouch bag, purple LOFT long-sleeved tee (no one beats their long-sleeved tees, not even Caslon), Oriblu fishnet tights, Aquatalia Jack perforated boots. For jewelry I wanted to lighten up the darker colors, so I went with my pretty shiny Nasri circle necklace and the white/ivory enamel bangle from Kohls.






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Thanks for all your enthusiasm over my food prep. Unfortunately the carmelized onions remained much much too soggy, but that was the only failed dish out of everything. Hubby liked to carmelize them in the pan as part of dinner prep anyway, so he wasn't too unhappy they didn't work out. But I like that idea about slicing them and putting them in the oven, Annalise!

So last night, after a very long and tedious day, I was mulling over what to make for dinner. I started thinking about doing the skillet of veggies and new potatoes, and I was instantly dismayed at the idea of cooking and started plotting how I could convince Hubby to order something. Then it struck me like a gong, and I texted Hubby with this:

OMG I just remembered: MEATLOAF!!!
MEATLOAF MEATLOAF MEATLOAF
I am on my way to store to pick up bread and strawberries right now. 

Mental note, kids: try to remember to EAT the foods you prep during the weekend. That's the whole point of it!

Daily Food Tracker: Tuesday
Breakfast: whole wheat waffle with peanut butter
Lunch: tuna sandwich, Sunchips (trapped in meetings all day and had to eat in the awful hospital cafeteria)
Dinner: meatloaf sandwich on whole wheat bread, leftover broccoli slaw
Snack: toffee crunch ice cream bar


Today I am packing up my Bento for the first time in a long while. No worries, Kate, I will take pictures! :)

Another new thing

Welcome to my bedroom:



That's all the peek you get for now; the cleaning ladies showed up early so I couldn't do my morning photo outdoors. But the room was a mess so I kept the shot tight. No need to see my unmade bed, LOL! (Yes, those are all my necklaces hanging on the wall; keeping them out like that makes finding the right one to wear with the outfit so easy. Still looking for a good solution for the bracelets...)

Anyway, this is the new denim jacket in its inaugural wearing. Hard to believe it's Old Navy, isn't it? The cut is more sophisticated than what they usually do; the collarless neck is going to look GREAT with scarves. I had one on, but it's not that cool yet to wear a jacket and a scarf.




My hair was flatter by the end of the day, but I wanted to go out anyways and get some shots in natural light. It took me a while to figure out how to style this; I had the dress, the jacket and the shoes, but once I bailed on the (dove grey) scarf, it was a struggle to find the right balance for the colors. Eventually I swapped out the white cami for a brown one, and that brought out more of the earthier brown tones of the dress instead of the lighter grey and lilac ones. After that, this gold beaded necklace was a given. I got it on sale at Nordstrom right before NAS and it's so versatile! The beads are on some kind of stretchy fabric, so it can be knotted, twisted, double-looped, etc. This time I knotted it low so it matched the placement of the knot on the dress.





I am starting to comb through my dresses and figure out which ones are going to transition nicely into layering dresses in the fall. This one will, for sure -- and will probably look much better with leggings or tights. I still wish this dress was a smidge shorter, and that issue won't be as apparent when my legs aren't bare.

That said, I really liked this outfit. I've noticed I am wearing a lot more edgy pieces lately; maybe my time with Laura65 is starting to rub off on me! :)





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I had to look back: it has been a week since the last time I tracked my food. Wow, that went fast. A whole week?!

I won't go backwards and recount everything, but I will say that I spent several days trying to be bad, and ending up eating corn on the cob or light popcorn or spaghetti squash. Yesterday I finally managed to do it "right", and had a frozen pepperoni pizza. And veggie soup.

What I am finding interesting is that it took a bit to adjust to the idea that I haven't been "cheating", per se; I have good days and bad days, and days when I am hungrier than others. I can eat more on those days, or have more carb-based veggies on those days (thus the entire spaghetti squash the same day I had waffles and a sandwich), and it's okay. The next day I'll have berries and yogurt, and corn and grilled chicken. And a glass or wine (or two).

The long-range view is what matters. Learning how to pick my head up to see that far out is the challenge. I'm working on it. And the scale is too; slowly but surely I am going down. Not big enough numbers to notice yet, but the upward trajectory is over, and the downward slide has begun.

Daily Food Tracker: Tuesday
Breakfast: frozen pancakes with syrup
Lunch: caesar salad with parmesan-crusted chicken
Snack: choc chip cookie
Dinner: homemade steak fajitas with green peppers, onions and mushrooms, whole wheat tortillas and fat-free refried beans, skim milk
Snack: popsicle

My New Things

I used to have a boyfriend cardigan from Banana in a stunning salmon tone. Every time I wore it, I got compliments on my glowing skin. But it was cheap cashmere (is there such a thing? I guess so), and it pilled terribly under the arms. I ended up throwing it out last year.

This sweater may be its replacement. The color is little more coral than salmon, but it does great things to my skin and the neckline plays nicely with my dresses. Funny, this sweater is "just" an Old Navy cotton cardigan, but I like the fabric thickness they use for this season's batch; it's not flimsy like LOFT ones but not too thick and stiff like Target. They had a teal one that I might go back for...or maybe the grey? I don't have a gray sweater that fits. Hmm. We'll see; gray can come later, when it's truly fall.





The dress is a Kohls, the cami is Kohls, the bracelets are Kohls, and the shoes are an older pair of wedge peeptoe in black fabric with ankle straps from LOFT that have served me well for the last 3-4 years now. A perfect example of the inconsistent quality of LOFT products: I've tossed 3 sweaters and a top from them this year, but the shoes are still going strong!

A word about the bracelets: I've been growing my collection this summer, but everything I have found has been stretch style. I've wanted some good bangles, but my knuckles are very large and I can never get a solid bangle over them. I stumbled across these enamel colored ones on Saturday during their Power-Hours sale, and I picked up an assortment for $12 each. They snap open in half, so are very easy to take off and on. Bangles problem solved!





I got all the colors so I could mix and match. So far I've worn two together: this outfit combined the the white/ivory and the turquoise, and on Saturday night I paired the coral and white to go with this outfit:







The top is also new, from Old Navy. I tried the black polka-dot and the blue, but the grey had a little bit more...dressiness to it. Even paired with white shorts and worn unbelted, it looked like I was going out on a date with my husband. Which I was. :) It's also going to do well as a work tunic, maybe paired with (new, Gap) black skinnies and a long sweater for office days (as opposed to meeting days).

Or maybe paired with this also-new denim jacket instead of a long sweater. Yeah, I'll try that soon!

So let's recap. I bought:
-salmon/coral cardigan
-black skinny pants (unshown, but I owned a similar pair all last winter)
-grey-and-white striped boatneck pullover sweater (unshown, but more cropped than in this link)
-enamel bracelets
-grey tunic top
-collarless denim jacket

When I put it all away into my newly re-organized closet, everything fit in so well I actually forgot the striped sweater was new. Each of the pieces expands the life of so many other items; the denim jacket is going to go very well with several dresses, the striped sweater will be perfect with my white shorts and jeans, the black skinnies will bring back out other tunics and sweaters that had been unused, and the bracelets will extend the summery feel of many dress/cardigan/neutral shoe combos.

I think I am in good shape for early fall.

(Food post later today!)

New Haircut: before and after

I got a new haircut!

Before:



You've seen before before. :) While I loved the rest of my haircut, the bangs were not really a part of it and with the heat and laziness I have been pulling them back all summer. Not a great look, but it got the job done.

But I did really like this outfit; I am enjoying grey with gold jewelry lately. The gold nicely warms up all sorts of greys, and on Wednesday I wore three different ones together. There was the smoky grey-brown quartz of my LOFT statement necklace, the cement gray of the ON dress, and the olive-grey "mushroom" of the Clarks wedge sandals. A red-coral cami was my only pop of color, but it sure didn't seem like a neutral outfit to me. Maybe I am finally getting the hang of neutrals in my own way...




That night I went in for my haircut and eyebrow wax. My brows are now set a little too far apart, alas, but I sure do love the cut! This time she incorporated the bangs nicely.

After:




This was Thursday morning; I had to leave so early for a meeting, the sun wasn't even up so I had to use a flash. LOL! Check out the new dress from Kohls online; I love the peacock feather print, especially in red. They had blue-green, but the unexpected color worked for me more.

Since it was a formal meeting (at 7:30 a.m. downtown! Ugh!) I dug out my black Talbots suit blazer and wore that over it. My black patent DSW peeptoe heels also gave it a more professional air.




Most of the day I kept the jacket off since it was warm enough, and i just love my new dress so much! We've steadily been cooling down in temps this week, and the nights are officially pretty darned cold.




After work we went back downtown for an architecture boat tour of Chicago for a group gathering. The sun was out, we weren't in the office, and it was very fun. I finally saw the giant Marilyn statue too!






Of course I had to get a shoe shot!!! LOL!



My most favorite building on the river. The ivy and the brick are so unexpected among all the gleaming glass and stylish skyscrapers.




Sears Tower from the southern view.




Sears Tower and other buildings mirrored in the glass of the building across the river.


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Hey, I ate stuff too. But I am late for work so I will recap that this weekend. :)

To all my East Coast pals: stay safe and dry! And listen to the weathermen if they tell you to evacuate!

3-item outfit

Dress, shoes, necklace. Done.

Okay, more detail: kickass Kohls dress, tan Me Too platform heels from DSW, gold hoop necklace from NAS (which really is proving that it goes with everything).



These shoes always knock me out; they're really, really heavy, so every step I take is a workout in itself. By the end of the day, my feet aren't sore, my thighs are tired, like I was doing leg lifts all day. It's kind of cool, to tell you the truth.




You've seen all of these items several times, but never together before. I suppose I could have pretended I am doing some type of blogger-y challenge, like a 30-item 30-day thing, or a remix, but the reality is this is what all of us do every day; we wear our clothes in different combinations. I try not to repeat the same combination from head to toe, and i don't think I did here. In fact I probably won't wear these shoes with this dress again; the dress is a little short for heels this high. I like flashing a little leg, but this felt excessive.


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Daily Food Tracker: Thursday

You have no idea how badly I do not want to write down my food intake. It was really, really, really, really bad. I am actually embarrassed. I didn't think about the cumulative damage until I had polished off the pizza at dinner. (Yeah, that's how bad it was. PIZZA. Sigh.)
Okay, here goes. No judging! I know it was terrible.

Breakfast: Einstein breakfast bacon and cheese thin bagel sandwich
Snack: watermelon
Lunch: Chipotle burrito bowl with fajita peppers, carnitas, rice, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese (that rice is the freakin' devil. I have no willpower against it.)
Snack: shortbread cookies
Dinner: spinach and onion pizza, beers

Good Lord. No wonder I gained all the weight back. This was a pretty common type of day back when I wasn't "dieting". Except I probably wouldn't have even had the watermelon.

I'm going away this weekend, and I probably won't be eating that great while we are gone, but I feel pretty sure it won't be as bad as this. Maybe. :)

My Weekend in Photos, Links and Food

Friday



Yep, I like this new Kohls dress! (The black ribbon belt is my own addition.) I've been scooping up some jersey knits for the hotter days; I keep thinking August is the end of summer, but we usually have a lot of hot days through September. I am ready for them now. I was going to be on my feet all day on Friday so I had the "brilliant" idea to wear ballet flats (mistake, should have stuck with my wedges). But the ballet flats inspired me to go with all different metallic accessories.




rose-gold Tahari flats from DSW


mix of gold and silver Hive and Honey stretch bracelets from Piperlime (On sale still!)


gold hammered-pave necklace (better shot of my new one from the Nordstrom sale)


Daily Food Tracker: Friday
Breakfast: whole wheat waffle with peanut butter, watermelon
Snack: ...
Lunch: ... um, I inhaled a red velvet cake flavored yogurt when I had a free minute
Snack: ...
Dinner: when I got home, I was STARVED. I quickly had a couple of pieces of bread with some peanut butter. Then I had the Portillos chopped salad that had been waiting for me since lunch. Then I had a slice of pizza (my husband ordered or had pizza 3 times this week! It's like he was trying to kill me.) Then I stopped eating because I finally didn't have a headache or a grumbling stomach. Thank God.

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Saturday

No outfit pictures. I was out running errands and shopping all day. Couple of items of note:

1. The plum Calvin Klein pumps at NAS were awful. Terrible. The vamp was way too high, the shoes were too narrow (even in a wide, which I never am but tried anyway), and the space for toes was too short; my toes looked like sausages being stuffed into a meat grinder. Pass!

2.  While at Nordstrom I stopped by to visit and pet my future new fall purse, this Cole Haan quilted satchel in stunning peacock blue. It's not part of NAS so it's full price. I can wait a bit for it!

3. I did pick up a couple more knit dresses at Old Navy; I really don't want to go back to pants in the fall so I am stocking up. (Anne, I really liked the fit of those on me. Even the stripes!)

Daily Food Tracker: Saturday
Breakfast: whole wheat waffle with peanut butter, skim milk
Lunch: frittata piece, watermelon
Dinner: went out with hubby to the casino, so we went to the burger place inside. Black-blue burger with grilled onions and blue cheese, and onion rings. And a couple of beers.

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Sunday

My friends had a yard sale. I went to try to sell some of my books (the rest are getting donated; I will be moving onto a Kindle for Christmas) and to hang out. I stayed in the shade for most of the time, but there was some sun. I forgot to put on sunscreen. Oops.



It's not too bad, actually. And now it really feel like summer! (I know, I know, but if I don't get one mild burn on my shoulders it just doesn't feel like summer has come. I will sunscreen like a crazy person next weekend, I promise!)

I left early in the afternoon and went down to 1154 Lill Studio to pick up the second part of my Girl Scout purse, a wristlet wallet. Cute, right? I special-ordered the polka-dot strap.



It can be clipped to my yellow one with the zebra strap and worn together too, if needed.



I also saw this sign. Thank God I live nowhere near this bakery.




Daily Food Tracker: Sunday
Breakfast: slice of seeduction bread with peanut butter, strawberries
Snack: watermelon and a donut hole at the yard sale
Lunch, late in the day: I liked the sliced bread idea so much I had a couple more with some Laughing Cow cheeses, a blue cheese (no different than the regular) and the sun-dried tomato one (very slight flavor), figs
Dinner: Mmmm, hubby sauteed peppers, onions, and sweet Italian chicken sausage. I added strawberries, and managed to restrict myself to one sausage. But it wasn't easy!
Snack: popsicle







Now we are watching Little Miss Sunshine on cable, and lazing about before the whole grind starts again tomorrow.

What did you do this weekend?

The Ice Cream Cliff

Yesterday started so well; I went for a subdued look to highlight my pretty new necklace (and Emily).



The necklace didn't photograph well, alas. But I love it.



Then I went to work, and the insanity began. You know when you look at your to-do list and you start to hyperventilate? That is where I am right now. One giant project after another, each one higher-priority than the last, so many I don't even know where to start. Then all kinds of crazy support calls, and continued training of my still-new team members, oh and then at 5:30 I remembered I am running a training class today and I hadn't confirmed the agenda or checked if the computers worked in the training room. They didn't.

So I put in a request to have that fixed by morning, then packed up for the day with my stomach in knots. My husband was out with coworkers so I had to get home and feed the cats. I hadn't been very good with my food during the day, and all I wanted to do was eat my worries away. I stopped at the grocery store for more watermelon, and the lure of a pint of ice cream was strong. Very strong. Instead, I picked up the makings for tuna sandwiches like I had mentioned earlier in the morning, a fresh watermelon, some beer, and just all the better things in my cart convinced me not to veer off the ice cream cliff. I got sushi instead.

This was my dinner:


I had a couple of beers too; I am not made of stone. But this was still a victory for me, and after a day like that, I will take them where I can get them.

Daily Food Tracker: Thursday
Breakfast: fritatta
Lunch: McD's filet o' fish sandwich, Oreo McFlurry
Snack: couple of Twizzlers
Dinner: the last of the strawberries and blackberries, spicy salmon and tuna sushi, beer

A Kohls order came in last night too; most of the items are getting returned, but this dress is definitely a keeper. I only wish it came in other colors too; I would buy them all!