Here and There in Cardigans

Dress - Rodarte for Target Vintage Belt - Borrowed from my mother  Cardigan - The Gap Shoes - Leifdottir via Anthro

This week has been flying by and I have been wearing my trusty cardigans through and through.  Both of these cardigans are from The Gap and are two of my absolute favorites.  The blue one is a lightweight wool and the oatmeal one is cashmere.  They keep me warm during the long hours I spend sitting at my desk at work in front of my computer.  Naturally they also allow me to show off the shape and pattern of whatever I choose to put under them - a big bonus for me!  

The Super classy dressing room picture was taken in the J. Crew dressing room where I actually ducked in to take this picture!

Cardigan and Shirt - The Gap Skirt - J. Crew (although not this store) Shoes - Sam Edelman via Jeremy's

Work Skirts

Skirt: Anthropologie hand me down Shirt: The Gap Cardigan: J. Crew via Maribel Shoes: Seychelles via DSW

Over the past two days I broke out some of my favorite work skirts.  I love both of them because they are not boring basic office wear, but they are always office appropriate.  I actually got both of them in the summer of 2009 (which feels like a million years ago now) and still wear them.  Both days I felt pulled together but still funky in the office, my perpetual goal for my 9 to 5 look!

Shirt: J. Crew Skirt: BR Shoes: Leifsdottir via Anthro Necklace: Vintage borrowed from my marm Sunnies: Gifted Mosely Tribes

Difficulties

I broke out my blue and purple shift today to celebrate the warm weather.  But I realized its actually harder to wear then I realized.  Although the shape of the dress is very simple, it has a lot going on with the pattern and the solar.  So I paired it with my trusty oatmeal cardigan and added a belt.  I also went with my gold flats today since this dress is a little short for heels.  I love this dress and don't regret buying it for a minute, but its not that easy to wear!

Dress - The Webster for Target Cardigan - The Gap Belt - Borrowed from my marm Shoes - BR hand me downs

Adventures in a Friends Closet

 I arrived home Saturday night from a day in SF with friends looking like this.  This is not how I left earlier that afternoon.  I had gone out to meet friends at a street fair and foolishly thought I could wear shorts since I wasn't going to stay out very late.  Naturally I arrived home at 11:30pm in my friends skirt worn as a dress, her tights, and her belt!  Luckily she has great taste and is generous with the lending of her clothes.

 The outfit was a total hodge podge, but I think it looked really good in the end!  The skirt as dress was really flattering and paired with a leopard belt and black tights I was both warm and ready for dinner at a new restaurant in the mission.  My friends feet are MUCH bigger then mine so I had to stick to my converse!  I also stuck with my purple hoodie which went nicely with the converse.

 Its probably not an outfit I would have put together under normal circumstances, but I loved it in the end!  It was funky and fun, as well as most importantly warm!  I am lucky to have such good and fashionable friends!

 The skirt really did look great as a dress.  It had really flattering pleating.  And I do love some leopard print!  Luckily I wore a black bra that day so the straps didn't look too out of place in my "dress."

Days of Blue Shoes

 Totally without planning it I wore two of my blue shoes on back to back work days.  I am actually housesitting for a few weeks, so I grabbed a bunch of my clothes and headed out.  Then when I laid out all of my things I realized I had grabbed three pairs of blue shoes, two heels and my teal flats.

 This outfit was planned so I could go to work and then head out and meet friends.  Although I love my heels, I hate having my feet hurt when I am out having fun with friends.

 Shoes - L.L. Bean Jeans and Cardigan - The Gap Shirt - BR Belt - borrowed from my mother

 I was excited to pair my blue booties with this dress.  I like how the pop of color in the shoes plays nicely off the pattern in the dress.  Both are pretty bold pieces, but I liked how they played off each other.

 Dress - Hand Me Down H&M  Shoes - Boden Splurges!

Days of This and That

 On Monday I had no inspiration for what to wear to work, so I threw on a few of my favorites and called it a day.  The funny thing is people noticed that I was a pretty toned down version of myself.  One person at work called my outfit elegant!  And I simply thought it was basic.  But I'll take elegant.

 Dress - Target Sweater - Eileen Fisher Shoes - Deena and Ozzy via Jeremys

 Monday and Tuesday were pretty cold, so on Tuesday I wised up and covered up my legs.  I threw on my mothers vintage necklace to spruce up my dark outfit.  It was another day of funny work outfit comments: one of my friends asked me why I didn't look like I had stepped out of an Anthropologie store!  I was both flattered and amused.

 Shirt - J. Crew Pants - The Gap Belt - Borrowed Shoes - Charlotte Ronson via Jeremys  Necklace - Vintage, borrowed from my mother

 Finally on Wednesday I feel like I finally had the energy to think about what I was wearing.  I haven't worn my ikat top in a while so I broke it out and paired it with two of my favorite pieces: my oatmeal cardigan and my BR pencil skirt.  I was sore from working out on Tuesday so I opted for my gold flats to complete the outfit.

Top - Anthro Skirt - BR Cardigan - The Gap Shoes - BR hand me downs

Geometric

 Today I paired my geometric silk print top with my structured linen jacket.  I figured the two of them went together since both of them have strong geometric patterns.  I also really liked how the jacket contained the volume of the shirt.  Because it's still chilly willy I wore my skinny cords again and my mark's paisley scarf.  Hand me down Franco Sarto flats completed my outfit.

Jacket - Eileen Fisher Shirt - BR via  Maribel Pants - J. Crew Shoes - Franco Sarto hand me downs Sunnies - Gifted Mosely Tribes Lyndels

Warm Weather Days

 Its been a hectic couple of days for me!  Lots of fun plans with friends and not so fun but totally necessary long hours in the office.  So when Monday rolled around I borrowed this blue dress from my mother to wear at the office.  Comfortable but still fun for a hectic day at the office.

 Dress - borrowed from my Mother Shoes - Charlotte Ronson via Jeremy's

 Its been really warm in the Bay Area recently which has been a nice excuse to break out my fun warm weather dresses.  Although I must admit I was freezing in the office today and I hadn't even brought a scarf because its so warm.  I sometimes willfully block out that I will be in the office a llllll day!

 Dress - J. Crew via Maribel Shoes - Marc Jacobs via Maribel Cardigan - Gifted Halogen Sunnies - Mosely Tribes Lyndels

A Find

 After reading this article in the NYT about skirts I came across this one at Maribel and knew it had to be mine.  I really like the patterns and colors in it.  It seems like a perfect work skirt without being boring.  Its actually an Ellie Taheri, but since it was Maribel, it was actually under $40.  I am a lucky girl!

Shirt - The Gap Skirt - Ellie Taheri via Maribel Shoes - Borrowed from my Marm Sunnies - Mosely Tribes

Starting to Look like Spring

 It finally started to feel like spring this weekend.  And I took full advantage of it by breaking out my tank tops and wedges.  I actually left the house on Saturday morning in a cardigan but returned home after running some errands to put on a lighter top.  I really like how my two orange tanks layers over each other.  The warm weather was such a treat!

 Crochet Tank - BR via Maribel  Polka Dot Tank - The Gap Belt - J. Crew  Jeans - Page Wedges - Crocs

 Today I cast off my tights and embraced spring by going bare legged.  It felt so nice not to  have to worry about tights today.  I decided to embellish my basic blue Boden dress with a borrowed scarf from my mother.  I didn't want to go overboard as I love the shape of this dress and how flattering it is.  I finished off my outfit with my basic brown BR pumps.  It was so nice not to have to worry about layering for warmth today!

 Dress - Boden Scarf - Borrowed Shoes - BR

Opaque

 Another day, and some more thoughts about tights.  I think I say this every time I post about this dress, but I love this dress.  It's simple, it's easy, it has polka dots!  But it is also incredibly short.  To be anywhere near office appropriate, it has to be worn with opaque tights.  If I did not wear dark colored or opaque tights with this dress it would be way to much thigh for the office.  Yes, even paired with flats. This is one of the things I begrudgingly like about tights - they can make skirts and dresses that would otherwise be too short to wear to the office suddenly office appropriate. So today I went for my wine colored tights.  I also added one of my mother's vintage necklaces (that my father made way back in the 70s) to have fun with the neckline and play around with my different accessory options with this dress.

Dress - Express Tights - The Gap Shoes - Manolo's via Maribel  Necklace - Hand Made vintage aand borrowed

About Tights and Me

In my office I am known for my bright tight collection.  The funny thing is for most of my life I refused to wear tights.  Luckily I was born and raised in Northern California so this was not such a problem.  To this day I hate how tights ride down, bunch up, or get twisted.  Honestly I would much rather not wear them than wear them.  Having said this, I luckily joined the work force when funky brightly colored tights came into fashion.  So even though I have come to accept the fact of tights in my life and most days I don't mind wearing them anymore.  I do like the extra component that give many of my outfits for the most part, but I stand by my earlier statement that I wish I didn't have to wear them.  The awesome red pair that I wore today were a birthday gift from one of my besties.  Although they are a bold red, I still dare to wear them to the office from time to time.  Today I paired them with some of my favorite neutrals and a scarf that I borrowed from my mother!

Tights - Gifted Dress - Target  Sweater - The Gap Shoes - Manolo Blahnik via Maribel Scarf - Borrowed from my Marm

Blue and Batik

 On Monday I wanted to play with the volume of one of my favorite cashmere sweaters so I paired it with a high waisted full skirt of my mothers.  I really liked how pronounced my waist was in this outfit and how the volume of the skirt and sweater played off of each other.  

 Sweater - J. Crew via Maribel Skirt - BR borrowed from my mother Tights - The Gap  Shoes - Manolo Blaohniks via Maribel

 This morning nothing went right.  I didn't like any of my clothes, I ran late, I couldn't find my keys, I spilled my coffee . . . Luckily, even though this outfit wasn't what I was planning, I did really like it.  I find this batik shirt kind of hard to wear because of its shape and volume but I love its color and pattern.  I should definitely wear it more often.

Shirt - The Gap  Sweater - Gifted August Silk via Nordstrom's Rack Pants - J. Crew Shoes - Nine West