Giants Thursday!

Today is the opening day of baseball season! I'm sure from the title of my post you can tell I'm excited. This year all of San Francisco is lucky enough to be home to reigning World Series Champions.

This matters in terms of my outfit today because the top I wore today is the top I wore every time the Giants played during the world series last fall. I bought it at the Anthropologie in the Forum Shop's in Las Vegas right before the start of the World Series last year. I wore it to work that Wednesday, and because
the Giants won game 1, I wore it whenever
they played afterwards.

Its a good thing that I love the pattern and cut
of the top, or else I would have grown quite
sick of it. I really like the colors and therefore
how many things I can wear it with.


Today I did something I usually try not to do: I wore the skirt I wore on Monday with the shoes I wore yesterday. I wore the skirt again because it was almost 80 degrees in San Francisco today and this skirt is such a good warm weather skirt. And, I forgot to mention on Monday, but as you can see in the pictures today, it has pockets!



I wore my red Marc Jacobs flats again because
wearing them yesterday reminded me that I do
not wear them enough, and since they are suede
they cannot be worn when it rainy. Plus I liked
how they picked up the red in my top.

In order to cover up while in the office as well as support the Giants, I wore my Orange cardigan. This cardigan is actually a long cardigan with no buttons in the front, but it didn't look right with the volume of the skirt, so I tied in front so it would look right. I love this cardigan because it is wool and therefore warm, but not too bulky or too hot.

Shirt: Anthropologie, $20
Skirt: Banana Republic, My Marmee's closet
Cardigan: Eileen Fisher, $40
Shoes: Marc Jacobs via Maribel, $100

Special thanks to Miss NUT for being my photographer today!

Baseball is the summer sport, so hopefully summer is coming soon my PEP!
Happy Giants Thursday!

Still Cold? Adapting to a Never-Ending Winter

Looks like the formatting has improved for the blog so I can do a consistent (although less artistic) posts. The weather in New York is just dreary. Not a day to wear open-toe shoes, high-heels etc. With the threat of rain/snow I had to think fast. Luckily I can wear jeans to my office, student job so I threw on a blazer and tada! Classy here I come.

Today I am wearing some of my favorite go-to clothes. I am wearing a very old H&M blazer purchased three years ago when I was looking for jobs. The T-Shirt is actually a Hillary Duff Design for Steve&Berry many years ago. That was back in the day when Sarah Jessica Parker was designing inexpensive clothes for Steve & Berry. The jeans were given to me by a friend, at first a borrow then a gift (thank you Kristine!) Finally the flats in the photo are Liz Clairborne from DSW. I will write about the glories of DSW's sale section in another post but to sum it is one of the BEST places for inexpensive, diverse, and interesting shoes. You spend enough time you will get inexpensive, great shoes.

The sad thing was I had to, at the last minute, switch to sneakers. SO I am actually wearing Puma sneakers from high school. Accessories are from various areas. The pins are gifts from different friends. Necklace (white) is a flea market find from the Brooklyn Flea -a great place to browse but not the best in terms of cheap prices. The other necklaces was a semi splurge from my dad when we went on New Hampshire Vacation together.

Outfit:
Blazer: H&M $20
Pants: Gift (Free, Kristine THANKS!)
Shirt: Steve & Berry $5
Flats: DSW $15
Sneakers: Puma $59
Accessories (Pins) Gifts (Free)
Accessories (Necklaces): White (flea market $20, Peace Sign $20)

Warming Up Wednesday!

After two weeks of rain, it is finally sunny in San Francisco. And not only sunny, but in the 70s! Here in the Bay Area, we call that perfect. Even more perfect, I got to spend my lunch hour drinking coffee and hanging out with my bestie Stormy Normy. This picture was taken in front of City Hall in San Francisco.

I love this dress! I found it on the sale rack at Banana Republic on a shopping expedition with my friend NUT for only $20. It is a silk dress and I like that it can be dressed up or down. I also really like the subtle lace print and the fact that it is black and brown so it can be worn with a cardigan that is black or brown (when it is being worn as day wear).


Usually I think of it as more of a cocktail evening dress, but today I gave it a work twist. (I have to give credit where credit is due, somebody else on my floor at work wore it one day and I thought I should try that!)

I tried to tone down its cocktail dress vibe with a brown (cashmere) cardigan from J. Crew and flats. I think this dress is definitely too short to be worn with heels in a work setting. Because of the conservative colors of the dress and cardigan I decided to rock some of my favorite flats: my red Marc Jacobs flats that I got at Maribel 4 years ago. Also, I could resist wearing my green belt though. A black one just wasn't the same.





Dress: Banana Republic, $20
Cardigan: J. Crew via Maribel, $40 (its Cashmere)
Belt: Jeremy's, $20
Flats: Marc Jacobs via Maribel, $100


Special thanks to Stormy Normy for taking pictures so you can see both my head and my shoes!

Marathon Wednesdays

Today is yet again another marathon day. SO I needed to dress for work, class doing visitor surveys, and for an event at the Tenement Museum. SO that means walking back and forth along the Hall of Human Origins, lifting chairs, audio equipment, and putting away files. My outfit answer to this is legging black pants and a button down top, with flats. So far so good!

Today I am wearing a sweater from H&M that is warm and has every color of the rainbow in it! A ombre (cross fade of color from light to dark) button down from Wet Seal, a belt that was given to me in my friend Emily's give-away spree, black Gap Legging Pants, and Target Shoes! Accessories are clips in my hair from Claires Accessories and necklaces from Cultural Survival Bazaar and the Green Flea Market in the Upper West Side.

Outfit:
Sweater: H&M ($20)
Pants: The Gap ($17)
Shirt: Wet Seal ($5)
Accessories, Bracelets: Given as gift by Claire
Accessories Necklace: Cultural Survival Bazaar ($15)
Accessories Necklace: Green Market ($5)
Shoes: Target ($5)
Belt: Free from Emily

T-Strap Tuesday!

Some days I build my outfits around a specific thing that I want to wear. Today, that item are my t-straps from Boden. I loved these shoes when I first saw them on the Boden site, but they came with the hefty price tag of almost $200. So when they were on sale for $95 , I splurged. I love that they are three colored, but still have a black toe and heel so they are essentially embelished black heels. I also really like the way the dark gray strap looks with my favorite black tights!


Today I wore my t-straps with one of my favorite tops. Its a silk top from Banana Republic that I got on sale for only $13. Although its pretty abstract, I see a floral pattern when I look at it. I also really like the blend of green, gray, purple, and cream. I finished off my look with the purple cardigan and another one of black work skirts. This one is from Anne Taylor and it also has pockets (like the Boden one I wore in an earlier post)! The cardigan my brother and his girlfriend gave me for Christmas. I love the bright purple color!


Shoes: Boden, $95
Shirt: Banana Republic, $13
Cardigan: Halogen, gift Skirt: Anne Taylor: $30
Tights: Banana Republic, $5 (usually $15, but still worth it!)



Special thanks to the former Miss A, now the lovely Mrs. V for taking the pictures for this post that show my entire outfit including my shoes! Happy Tights Clad Tuesday!

Busy Days Need Good Clothes

This post will be really wonky today because for some reason my formatting is a mess. Anyway I will call this my artistic post and hope for the best. On busy days dressing well can be a challenge. What will the weather be like? Will I need to literally run somewhere? Do I mind if I spill, cry, etc on my clothes? These are questions I ask myself on a daily basis, but the one thing I always know is that looking decent is important to me and being myself in my clothes is very important. That is why work-wear can be a struggle. If you can envision yourself in your work clothes you are doing well! So add accessories, blazers, shoes, etc. Accents can help ensure that your personal style shines.

Today was a long day (well I am still at the computer lab so it is still a busy day) but I wanted to look nice but appropriate. I always wear a blazer, which I believe adds the professional side to any crazy outfit I may wear. Today I am wearing an army green blazer, given to me as a gift for the last holiday season. I belted it with a cloth belt from another top. The shirt underneath was kind of an experiment, a funky patterned top from Wet Seal on sale. The pants are on sale H&M cargo pants with zip sides. I love the cargo pockets, which I actually put things into and the side zippers, because, well zippers are fun! Finally the necklace was made by my friend Claire (she is a wonder!) and the shoes are Poetic License from Georges in Jamaica Plain. Sorry again for the formatting, although I kinda like it.

Outfit: Blazer: A gift from my cousin (free)

Top: Wet Seal ($5)

Pants: H&M ($10)

Shoes: Poetic License at Georges ($10)

Necklace: Free via Claire

HB Find: Maribel

Let me tell you about the wonderful world of Maribel. Its a consignment store in Oakland named after the owners grandmother. You never know what youcan find at Maribel. Somedays you go in and find absolutely nothing. But other days you find fantastic patterned converse. Red Marc Jacobs flats. L.A.M.B. heels or Kate Spade peep toes big enough for my Amazon roomies size 10 to 10.5 feet! A striped cashmere sweater perfect for work on cold days. The floral dress pictured below. I could go on and on.

What I really love about Maribel is that it has a neighborhood feeling on top of the fantastic clothes. The owner asks me about my mother when I come in without her and remembers the clothes we have bought in the past. Not only is there a great blend of designed clothes and brands like the Gap, but you also never know what you are going to find.

Maribel is one of my favorite stores because its always an adventure, but a fashionable one for sure.

Maribel is located at:

3251 Lakeshore Avenue
Oakland, CA 94610

My Mother's Closet Monday

As the title of my post suggest, these are in fact not my clothes. I ended up spending last night at my parents house in the East Bay instead of coming home to my apartment like I had planned, so I had to borrow clothes from my marmee. Luckily I can fit into my mother's clothes. However, even though I think this is perfectly fine outfit, its more conservative then I would normally chose. I do like the pieces together, but it is the ultra-traditional black on black workwear that I usually try to stay away from. However, overall I still liked this outfit, even though it isn't as funky as I would normally put together.

What I do like about this outfit is the vintage feel of the fuller skirt and the tucked in collared shirt. I don't like the way collared shirts come untucked from skirts or the way they usually wrinkle throughout the day. But I actually really like this one, it has enough stretch that it doesn't wrinkle and its long enough that it didn't come untucked. Perhaps I should give collared shirts another shot.

Below is a close up of my outfit so you can see the detail on the shirt and the skirt. Even though both the pieces are really basic, I think the detailing on them makes them sing. The skirt has really fun pleats. The top also has cool white stitching which I think makes it a really interesting pattern without being too overwhelming.

Because I was at my parents house and not my apartment, my shoe choice

was also limited. That being said, I love these flats. I bought them in Australia and one of my favorite things about them is the fact that they are nude and can be worn with anything. Clothing in Australia was REALLY expensive, but I splurged on these flats because I felt like I would get a lot of mileage out of them. Again, I liked the vintage feel of the ballet flats with the volume of the skirt.

Shirt: Anne Taylor, my mother's

Skirt: Banana Republic, my mother's

Shoes: Country Road, $55 AUS

Happy Sunny Monday!

Rebelling Against Mother Nature - Fashion Style

The weather in the northeast has been less then appealing. Despite our entrance into Spring a week ago it is still chilly beyond chilly! Will that stop me from wearing flats without socks - NEVER!

Today's outfit was a crazy blend of stuff...


Today I wore long camel colored wool shorts with a paper-bag cinched waist. The belt is actually necessary because the shorts are many sizes too big. I purchased them at good will and they were a "great" buy (sorry bad pun there). The shirt is actually the FIRST shirt I ever bought at the Gap for $10 in California years ago when I visited HB! The sweater over it is from Urban Outfitters and is neither a cover-up or warm. The shoes are from Payless and are from the Isabel Toledo line, which I LOVE at Payless! Oh and the tights are from Urban Outfitters as well!

The accessories are simple. A bracelet, given to me by my friend Caity and a necklace given to me when I was in high school/early college years from my friend Susannah (thanks to both of you!)

Outfit:
Shorts Good Will: $10
Shirt The Gap: $10
Tights Urban Outfitters: $5
Sweater Urban Outfitters: $10
Shoes Payless: $20
Accessories: Given to me so FREE!

Can I Wear That, Really?

Welcome to a new segment of the blog. As said in a previous blog many fashion magazines and blogs have spreads or posts related to difficult items that can be work in many different ways. Instead of hiding behind what is commonly worn a person can pull something crazy out of their closet and wear it on their day to day travels, to work, or to a night out.

This is my first try to bear with me!

Today's item is .... a pleather short-sleeve top from H&M (found on sale for $10) Now when I think of pleather I think of these disgusting brown pleather bell-bottom pants with be-dazzles on the side that I had in junior high. Yes that is right my friend I was in fashion purgatory then (but it was junior high, who wasn't?). But despite pleather's its inability to breath as a fabric it can also be worn in many different ways such as below....

DAY:


So I will say this, not everyone own red bell-bottom jeans BUT the point of this outfit is that if you belt a volume top and wear something slimming at the bottom the top begins to look pulled together and a lot more wearable. Any type of skinny or wideleg jean will work for this. You can also leave the top un-cinched and the volume can look interesting that way too.

If you are short like me you will need some sort of heel. In the winter I wear feels like the one's above with funky socks or tights.

Outfit:
Top H&M: $10
Pants H&M: $20
Necklace: given to me by my friend Martha
Shoes: $20 Payless ShoeSource

OFFICE/WORK:

Ah work wear the bane of my existence but wholly necessary. So I kept the top cinched and threw a blazer over it. Not rocket science because almost ANY top can be made professional if you throw a blazer over it (with some exceptions). The pants are a beautiful soft fabric and are wide-legged. Now despite my height I typically wear these pants with flats and I think it gives a casual tone to the outfit. The pink and funky flats are accessories that bring color and detail to the outfit but in a not so flashy way. The purpose of this outfit is to wear the top but not let it be the absolute focal point.

Outfit: Blazer H&M: $15
Pants Urban Outfitters: $10, hemmed for another $10
Pin: given to me by my friend Claire
Shoes: Payless: 29.99

PLAY:


Party clothing, I love this stuff. When the weather gets warmer this outfit could actually be worn day or night BUT the high waist shorts and pleather top go well together. Add some other and sparkly jewelry with a pair of heels and you are set for a night out!

Outfit: Shorts H&M: $29.99
Shoes H&M: $20
Necklace Aldo Accessories: $5

I hope this segment has been helpful! So go out there and try something crazy, it may just be wearable for work, day, or night. SO can you wear it, really? The answer is YES!

Why I am happy I kept my high school jeans

Today is a library day and full of to-dos, which I wrote down in detail and by the hour. Today I am wearing jeans that I have owned since I was in high school and they are so soft, flexible, and comfortable that I can do almost anything - and feel good. Also they are reminiscent of boyfriend jeans because they sag slightly. Despite their age they are still on trend!

Today I am wearing a vest that I purchased from Cultural Survival for pretty inexpensively because, well, it was tiny and no one had the guts to either try it on or purchase it so they gracefully offered it to me with a volunteer discount and I have been wearing since I was a Junior in college. The long sleeve floral shirt is from Forever 21 and was a gift from my friend Emily Shornick (thanks!) I love this shirt and wear it out as well as at home because it is soft and the colors are present but less strong so it goes well with a lot of outfits. The jeans, as I said, are very old but they are from American Eagle for $10. I remember this because I got them in the ever elusive but very well stocked sale rack.



The accessories today are minimal. I am wearing necklaces given to me by my friend Claire and my aunt Priscialla (thanks to you both!). There is one highlight, a gift from my father a Aldo Accessories glasses necklaces that I love to death and wear as much as seems feasible. The shoes are the prize of the outfit because they are Christian Siriano flats for Payless and were $19.99.

So that is the Sunday Style for the day and tonight after a marathon session at the library I will post the I CAN WEAR THAT, REALLY. If not tomorrow morning!

<3PEP

Saturday, a day of semi leisure

Because you all know I never really sit back and relax I tend to take "days off" as just "days that I do life things." But today I did enjoy myself at the farmers market, Target, a brunch, and out with my boy. Here is my first weekend outfit sans work!



So today I wore casual wear, meaning more movement oriented shoes, jeans (something I rarely wear) and t-shirts.

Now I own quite a few pairs of jeans but I was the casual friday girl who NEVER wore jeans even though I have skinny, dress jeans, and even red and green jeans! Anyhoo so I wore this very soft blazer with kimono style tie. I am giving a shout out to my lady HB and it is amazing how soft and comfortable it is. I used a different belt than the one it came with and it is one of my favorite sashes. The t-shirt is from Urban Outfitters a few years ago and it can be tricky to wear because of the low v-neck. The pants are also urban from god knows when they are older than I can remember but they are teal skinny jeans, worn in until super buttery soft. Skinny pants have been in style for awhile so SAVE them because they will become soft and easier to wear as well as in style.

The necklace is very dear to my heart. It comes from an organization called Falling Whistle http://www.fallingwhistles.com/ that helps provide support for those in Africa who traditionally were on the front lines of violence and only had a whistle to warn the others before being killed. With a donation you can receive a necklace like that engraved, or not, and show support for the organization as well as wear something that bears larger political and social importance.

Blazer: $20 H&M
Pants: $20 Urban Outfitters
T-Shirt: $25 Urban Outfitters
Belt: from a shirt H&M
Necklace: provided through donation $25

Shoes were too hard to photograph today, but I am sure you will see them again.

I have to say I also had a night outfit for a dinner with my boyfriend but I got too lazy to take more photos, again I am sure you will see those outfits.

BUT I did get a sweet purchase today. I will say it is a men's sweater vest on sale at Forever 21. You may shake your head but it looks great with a belt :)

Happy fashioning PEP