Hello, MONDAY.

The flamingo and I are here to bid a fond farewell to another LOFT sweater. This sunny yellow was a find at the LOFT Outlet this spring; it's been a fun addition in many outfits, but it's falling apart like the teal one was last week. The fabric is pilling and I just found a small hole on the band. Plus, it's getting too stretched out and wrinkly. Farewell, little yellow sweater!




Old Navy dress, Natari necklace, cream cami, black DSW sandals, LOFT Outlet sweater.

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Daily Food Tracker: Monday
Breakfast: tomato and blue cheese frittata (it is really tasty, thank goodness)
Snack: vanilla yogurt and strawberries/raspberries
Lunch: turkey on flat sandwich with sprouts, laughing cow cheese and muffaletta, red pepper strips
Snack: Girl Scout trefoil shortbread cookies, the rest of the strawberries and raspberries
Dinner: grilled chicken breast cut up on a hotdog bun, grilled cauliflower and carrots
Snack: shortbread cookies, skim milk


Sorry I don't have more to say. It's Monday. Yay?

Copycat

The other day, Anne at The Cohabitating Closet wore the Target chambray dress that I have the twin of, and I knew I wanted to copy her. She wisely wore it without an under layer, which I hadn't done yet with my version, but then the temps cooled from "face-melting" to "reasonably summer hot" and I forgot about it. Yesterday morning, I spotted this Reese Witherspoon "wear this outfit" blog entry over on The Budget Babe, in a cute chambray dress with orange sandals, and I realized it was fate. I love Reese, I love my orange sandals, and two lovely versions of a chambray dress in less than a week? It had to be done.



It cooled off enough that going sleeveless wasn't an option, but I did get one shot of what it would have looked like. With my new summer bag!



Thank goodness it was cooler because I liked it better with the yellow sweater. (Is it too late to submit to Everybody Everywear? I think I missed the yellow announcement by a day!)



I wanted to finish off the outfit with cognac and gold like Reese had, but none of my accessories were cooperating so I went with a dark cognac Kohls belt, and silver necklace and bracelets. And my orange Clarks Long Pond sandals, of course! (Emily can't stop staring at the sandals, LOL.)


Daily Food Tracker: Wednesday

Breakfast: whole wheat waffle with peanut butter, watermelon
Lunch: Portillo's garbage salad, mini lemon poppyseed muffin
Snack: 1/4 Symphony candy bar (afternoon), watermelon and pineapple (afternoon), sugarfree popsicle (evening)
Dinner: out to Zapatista for a glass of sangria and their super-delicious mahi mahi tacos (battered fish, spicy coleslaw, tortillas). Thank goodness I ate so well during the day, I was able to enjoy every bite without guilt.

Well, I think I should take this as a sign: on the days where I eat fruit with my breakfast, even just some cut-up fruit on the plate with my waffle/toast/etc (a tip I picked up from my mom on my last trip), I make better choices the rest of the day, and I work harder at getting more fruits and veggies in. Duly noted.



I LOVE that you guys are posting your daily food intake with me! It's fascinating to see what other people eat in the course of a day, and I am stealing some of your ideas (more chicken like Fashion Addict, more yogurt as midday snacks like Sheila). Keep 'em coming, or Emily might yell at you.



Heehee. Her mouth is open because she is talking away at me.

30 DoC: Day 29

It was my first day back at work after a wonderfully long weekend, and I used my creative chit for the day on a couple of new accessories I picked up last week.

A couple of AWESOME new accessories.



The purse was for charity! Really! As my husband drily remarked, "It was for TFTBKNP...The Foundation To Buy Kristen A New Purse." No, it was for Girl Scouts. My friend invited me a fundraiser for Girl Scouts that was held at 1154 Lill Studio, a local purse shop where you can create custom fabric purses, selecting your size bag and then all the fabrics for the exterior, handle, interior, etc. To be honest, after a while I got completed overwhelmed with the options and ended up getting the very first pre-made one I had seen when I walked in. But it was the best one; tell me you could have walked away from this!



Exactly.

(I also bought a smaller wristlet in rich teal that can be attached to the front of the yellow bag, but that one had to be custom made and will arrive next month. FOR CHARITY!!)

The second accessory was not for charity. They are for awesomeness.





God bless Clarks and their amazing sandals. These just appeared in my local store and were on sale, plus I had a 20% off coupon. Between you and me, I would have paid full price for them. They're turquoise! Totally the color of the season. But I got them with a good deal, and you can too over at Online Shoes. (Unfortunate name, though: Cow Cove.)

Of course, when you have two standout pieces like that in an outfit, it is best to let them stand out.



Black Target dress, black Forth & Towne cami, silver pendant short necklace from LOFT, new flippy haircut which no one had seen yet at work.





I really loved this outfit. Hubby did too; he rarely comments on my outfits anymore but he kept calling it "adorable" when I got home last night.

Would it be bad form if I wore it again today? :)

I am willing Spring to start

Still in Spring Transition, alas. We had 70+ temps on Sunday, and then right back to 40-50s for the work week. I swear, I am going to make spring begin just with my mind.

But I will not lie: I am having a ball mixing up all my new pieces and finding now combos to put together. There is nothing better than a closet re-organization (and new clothes, LOL). Keeps me invigorated!

Monday:


These pants should be so much better than they are! It occurred to me finally after seeing these pictures that they need to go to the tailor/dry cleaner; the pockets need to come out and be closed up, and the hem should come down so they can be worn with my higher platform heels. Both fixes should resolve the bagginess and stumpifying issues I have with these.

I paired them with my sand-colored Clarks Laguna Reef sandals from last year; we're at that phase in the weather where if I wear a long-sleeved sweater on top I get too hot if I also wear closed-toe shoes on the bottom. Crazy, but true! On top I went with my Gap ombre-dots blouse, my bright yellow Martin + Osa sweater, and my Banana Republic lariat long necklace.



I am often torn between belting an outfit like this (I belted the top last time) and going for the "volume" look as Angie at YLF encourages us to try. The problem for me is that because I am heavy these days I feel like going for volume makes me look like I am trying to hide under a tent or that I look even bigger than I am. But I like the volume look once in a while, so I try to make it work when I can. I think adding in a long necklace like this to help break it vertically instead of horizontally helps.



Tuesday:


I had a busy day at grown-up meetings, and the cleaning ladies always come early now so I needed something I could put on quick and was nicely professional. Kickass Kohls dress to the rescue!

This is an Apt. 9 number, in turquoise and black. I added the short Lauren Conrad bowtie cardigan, my Oroblu nude fishnets, and black patent peeptoe DSW shoes from last year. Seriously, these are perfect pumps, and so comfy.



I also got a lot of compliments and questions about the Oroblu Tricot fishnet hose. I stocked up on them at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale last July, and truthfully I only opened one package since then. I am still able to use my other pair from last year -- that's how long they last! So a $18 price tag for hose is a lot, but they last 10 times as long as any other pair I've ever owned. To me, that's worth the cost.

Hmmmm, I just looked back at the Kickass Kohls dress link above, and now I am inspired to wear an outfit I haven't worn in a while! I should be dressed quickly this morning... :)

Outfit Spam

Hello! Despite what it may look like from my blog output, I do dress myself and go outside. Sometimes I even take pictures!



I called this one Ruffles On Ruffles. My gold Gap ruffled sleeveless top under my black ruffled long cardigan from White House Black Market, belted with a black ribbon over my grey Gap modern bootcuts and my grey Franco Sarto heeled patent oxfords. And a wet spot on the gold ruffles from washing my hands, apparently. At least I am sanitary!



This looked better in real life. Black bootcut pants and black buttoned cardigan over a dark purple cowlneck top, all Gap items from 2010. The necklace is a Christmas gift from my sister. Thanks, K!



While Jessie and I were out dress shopping a couple of weekends ago, I snapped this shot of my weekend outfit. Taupe Old Navy tee with Old Navy butterfly burnout scarf and black Gap sweater, over my new Gap Long and Lean jeans and Naturalizer Bates booties. So happy to have wider-leg jeans again, hurray!



Last weekend, I went to my girlfriend J's to play with her sweet baby girl. Comfy to the max in my Martin + Osa yellow sweater, grey Lauren Conrad embellished grey tee from Kohls, my Banana Republic long tassel necklace, and Gap Long & Leans.





Truthfully, I have not been loving a lot of my outfits lately so the fact that I don't have time to snap a quick pic of them hasn't bothered me. But I do miss blogging my outfits, and I miss interacting with all of you, so I'm going to give it a concerted effort to make time this week. Plus, I got a very sweet note from a lurker (wanes to Janet) so I have been properly guilted into action again. :)

On the work front, we are thisclose to hiring the final new person in my group, which will end the 5-month period in which I have been doing two people's jobs. I will still have my hands full training them on the details of the job, but it will be nice to have other people to share the burden of work with in the end.

The Last Outfits of 2010

Had a couple of days at work last week before sliding into this glorious three-day weekend.

Wednesday:


This is the new White House Black Market black ruffled long sweater and the cute pink ribbon belt. I paired it with a teal cami for contrast and my black Gap modern bootcuts. The thing that amazed me about the sweater is that even though it is long and ruffled like a cascading sweater, the clasps down the front and the tapered waist make it fit close to my body -- so it can be worn with pants other than skinnies without looking too voluminous everywhere. We had a lot of snow so I was in my Dania boots (not shown because of slush issues).

Thursday:


It felt like a day to wear my little-worn green velvet burnout scarf. I've had it for at least fifteen years (I wore it to my college roommate's wedding), but I've probably only found the right outfit for it a half-dozen times since. I loved wearing draped carelessly like this, but it really needed a scarf pin to hold it in place. I will swing by the local consignment store soon and see if they have a simple silver one.

The rest of the outfit was worn in service of the scarf: dark green Halogen cami, black Forth & Towne wrap sweater, gray Gap modern bootcuts, and my black Naturalizer booties. I also found the cutest bracelet from Target in multi-stones in the bottom of my bracelet basket that I had forgotten I had bought this summer, so I pulled that into service too for contrast.

Friday:


Had the day off HURRAY, and it was still a glorious 50-degree day. I didn't have much to do that day besides grocery shop and run a few errands before spending the evening with my husband, but my jeans are still dirty from Vegas. So the brown NYDJ skinny pontes came out with the brown suede BOC clogs. On top I wore a loose white half-tee/half-blouse from Nordstrom, my mustard LOFT boyfriend cardigan, and two gold necklaces.

I looked so cute as I proceeded to lock myself out of my house! LOL! Had to text Hubby and have him come open the door for me. Here is a snippet of our conversation:

Him: 45 minutes away. Where will you be?
me: I am in 4 inch heels. Not going anywhere!

++++++

I am fighting against my closet again these days. I have a lot of outfits in my head that I would like to wear, but the pieces I have that make up those outfits still don't fit yet. I am down 10 pounds from the MF plan -- and I am so happy that I was able to maintain that loss through Vegas and the busiest parts of the holiday season -- but that isn't quite enough to get me down to the next size. We are talking about pants and skirts primarily. So the battle between my wallet and my head begins: do I hunker down and wear what I have for the next month-plus and hope I keep going down the scale, or do I buy a couple of refresher pieces now in the size I am?

I think I've already decided: I'm heading up to the outlet mall today to check out the Ann Taylor Outlet. It is one of the few stores that carry my size IN the store; I don't want to order online, I would like some instant gratification. Hopefully there will be an interesting skirt or two to breathe some new life into my tired remixes.

Weekend Wear: Scarf Score

I mentioned the other day that I've been doing a lot of shopping, and returning, but the scarves I have been finding have all been keepers!

Saturday:


A nice day with friends, getting a pedicure, eating delicious food, and watching Anne of Avonlea. Still mooning after Gilbert all these years later! :)

The melon BR sweater got another wear, and I added my Kohls-Lauren Conrad embellished top, Kut from the Kloth jeans, Naturalizer booties, and a lovely new scarf from Old Navy. It's a great burn-out butterfly pattern, and the grey and black colors really work and make the butterflies less chintzy looking. Plus, it's really soft yet substantial feeling.

Look! They still have them on the Old Navy site! Black, blue, raspberry, green or purple. Thumbs up recommendation from the Scarf Addict!



Sunday:



The yellow kick continues. This is an older sweater from Martin + Osa; it's kind of an odd fit, cropped but slouchy with super-long sleeves and an almost neon yellow tone to it. I love it as part of a casual look, especially paired with athletic grey like I did here. I also added my other new-ish Old Navy scarf with yellow, taupe and grey animal print. (This one is long gone from the site, even though I got it just a month or so ago. Scarves go fast on ON.)

We went to see a girlfriend and her sweet little five-month-old baby, so the scarf came off while I was holding and playing with her, of course. Which I had planned on -- the t-shirt has a great subtle floral embellishment so I didn't look half-dressed without the scarf.



+++++

I have to admit, I am really looking forward to a whole week of casual outfits over my vacation. Packing on Tuesday/Wednesday is going to be fun!

Monday Tuesday Wednesday: Catch-up!

On Monday, after spending two days huddled on my couch battling this stupid cold, I wore something as close to a Slanket as I could:



I also refer to this style as my "And there's Maude" outfit. Seriously, it would make Bea Arthur proud!

Long grey cardigan: H&M
Dark berry/purple layering top: LOFT
Silky white-purple scarf: J Crew Outlet
Navy modern bootcuts: Gap
Silver loafers: Anne Klein via DSW
Pewter mesh bracelet: Banana Republic

On Tuesday, I went for another blanket-y look, this time in skinnies:



Told you I was struggling getting dressed this week! We had our department Christmas party after work that night, just a casual dinner at a local sports bar. So I went with a new glittery festive statement necklace and my rust red sweater as my nod to the holidays.



Rust/burgundy cascading cardigan: Kohls
Cream ruffled layered top: Kohls
Black ponte skinny pants: Not Your Daughter's Jeans via Nordstrom
Burgundy Deer oxford patent heeled booties: Franco Sarto, via Nordstrom or Zappos or somewhere, from 2008
Grey Gem Cluster bib statement necklace: LOFT (now 40% off on sale!)

After my whining post on Wednesday morning, I marched myself upstairs and for the first time since starting this whole fashion/blogging thing two years ago, started putting together outfit possibilities. I tucked the hanger for a top or dress inside the cardigan or jacket I was thinking of wearing it with, and held it up in front of me in the mirror. If I liked, I kept it together. When I put the next combo together, suddenly other things started clicking, and now I actually have combos to get me through this week and possibly into next! I've never planned ahead like this; let's hope they work out as well as Wednesday's did.




Mustard and gold together. YES. Why have I never thought of this before?! I am so glad I finally let go of my one-item-at-a-time yellow hang-up, where I would never let myself own more than one yellow item at once. It is absolutely my favorite color, in so many different hues, and it never fails to make me happy to put on. And now that I have more pieces in it in my closet, there are times where I can actually wear them together. Hurray!



The only tricky part to this outfit is that the cardigan is still a bit small for me so it kept hooking around the outside of the boobs instead of laying flat across them. This will be a better look in another ten pounds, but it still worked okay today too. And I can tell that there is still 10 pounds gone already because the pants are extra-long now; I had to wear a super-high heeled ankle boot to keep them from dragging on the floor!



Gold ruffled sleeveless top: Gap
Mustard boyfriend cardigan: LOFT
Gray long modern bootcuts: Gap
Black pebbled leather chunky heeled bootie: Nine West (your basic boring winter bootie, but super-tall. I don't wear them much because they're so boring looking, but sometimes they are exactly what I need.)
Gold locket necklace: J Crew Outlet

Now I want to buy more yellow things. LOTS AND LOTS MORE.

30 in 30 Challenge: Day 6

Ah, weekend. Distinguishable by my wearing jeans, and the blessed quiet in the office. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the software and I have to go back in tomorrow to finish my project, but them's the breaks!

So, what am I wearing here? Yellow tee from Old Navy, grey Old Navy knit vest, Kut from the Kloth jeans, cheetah embellished flats, and my pocketwatch necklace. In other words, all of my favorite clothes. :)

And look who came to see hello!




Same pose. Too bad he was out of frame.



George misses you guys. Can't you see how broken up he is? ;)

Tuesday: Yeah, Tuesday

Yellow always cheers me up, even when I am not feeling overly cheery. All kinds of stupid things are piling up: I can't find my work badge for swiping in, my back is killing me, and well, let's not make this a blog about politics. On the plus side, I managed to make an annual doctor's, an oil change, and a facial appointment all for this week, and I have dinner plans with at least two friends and am making a third today. Now I just have to get my nephew's birthday present in the mail before his big day, call my aunt to see about a possible trip to visit her, finalize Thanksgiving plans, and I just might get completed all the non-work duties that have been nipping at me.

Did I mention that I wake up every morning thinking about reports I have to write for work? And my lost badge is driving me crazy?!

ANYWAY. Yellow, cheery yellow!



Old Navy was having some kind of crazy sale on layering tees so I picked up this one and the mushroom one I wore last week for about $5 each. I've decided that I'm going to buy yellow tops whenever I see them because they're so great. I think I mentioned before that I tend to stop myself from buying any because I think "well I have that one yellow" and that's enough. It's never enough!!

I paired it with my red cabbage-rose scarf criss-crossed looped in my favorite knot, the military green oversized sweater from Old Navy, chocolate brown NYDJ ponte pants and a pair of suede chunky-heeled chocolate oxfords from BCBG Girls from a few seasons ago. (Hmmm, those may be the culprit of my sore back. I will wear flats to recover.) It's a little cold here now -- 30s at night and 50s during the day -- but since I am only outside as far as it takes to get to my car in my parking lot, a nice heavy sweater like this is sufficient instead of a coat. This is perfect weather for me; I like sitting under a blanket at home, and it not being quite cold enough to need a heavy coat yet.

Speaking of blankets at home, here is another bright spot in my life:



Emily seems right at home now, doesn't she? They allow each other to be in their space, and even bump noses before one or the other of them sits down. I figure it's just a matter of time before I find them spooning, don't you think?

Oh, cat cuteness cures a lot of ills. But if anyone sees my badge, let me know, 'kay?