Lived In

 Today I tried to formalize my polka dot tank top by pairing it with a pencil skirt and cardigan.  Honestly, I live in my oatmeal colored cardigan.  Its cashmere and super soft, but its also a really nice neutral color.  Sometimes I even sleep in this sweater.  So even though I started this outfit by trying to figure out what to wear with the tank, it was an easy choice.  I really liked how my outfit balanced out between the traditional work pieces and the more casual tank.

tank and sweater - The Gap  Skirt - Banana Republic Shoes - Country Road  Headband - Anthro

Camera Issues

 Apologies for the absence.  I took pictures of my outfits on Friday and Tuesday but then my camera decided to act up and not let me upload them!  Very annoying.  Luckily it decided to play nice today.  Its been raining on and off here so I went for my black skinny jeans.  To dress them up I borrowed this awesome vintage jacket that my mark snagged at Maribel.  I also paired it with a vintage necklace that my father made in the 70s.  I really love how the jacket looks with the dark teal sweater underneath.    Because I had a lot going on up top, I went for my nude flats!  Sometimes you have to say enough is enough.

 Pants and Sweater - The Gap Jacket - Vintage via Maribel  Shoes - Country Road   Necklace - borrowed from my mother, made by my father

Shades of Blue

 Just about every year my mother and I get a matching long sleeved crew neck shirts from J. Crew.  This year the color is blue.  And it conveniently matched my geometric silk print shirt.  I had a lot of fun with my shade of blue today.  It wasn't intentional but I really liked the look overall in the end.

In this shot you can see both of my belts.

Over Shirt: Banana Republic via Maribel, $22  Under Shirt: J. Crew, $10  Blue Belt: Anne Taylor, $18  Brown Belt: Jeremey's, $9  Pants: The Gap, $45  Shoes: Country Road in Australia, Au$60

Balance

It has been a warm couple of days in the Bay Area (Hello Indian summer and WELCOME) so I decided to break out a new skirt that I have had for a few weeks but I have yet to wear.  I got this skit on sale at Boden and while I really like the shape and color, its only borderline work appropriate.  I actually often feel this way about things I wear to work, so I am constantly trying to balance my colorful, playful, and whimsical pieces with more traditional pieces to hit the right tone.  Today to balance out the skirts vibrant color and patter I paired it with a simple black bow tee (sadly you can't see the bow) and nude flats.  The skirt is on the shorter side, so the flats were a must.  Also I like how then I didn't have to try to match or coordinate with the skirt.  Overall I liked my outfit today and look forward to playing around with this skirt more in the future!

Skirt: Boden, $23  Shirt: The Gap, gifted     Shoes: Country Road, $60 AU   Earrings: Urban Indigo, gifted

I Never Really Got Dressed Today . . .

These are the clothes I threw on to walk down to breakfast with my marm. About a mile from my parents place there are a bunch of breakfast places, my local Gap and the amazing Maribel. Often I walk down there to get breakfast with a side of exercise. These are the clothes I threw on to go down to breakfast with my marm this morning. The weather was totally nuts today, sometimes raining sometimes sunny, so I wore a long sleeved shirt with a sweater over it.




But by the time my marm and I got back from breakfast (and an awesome trip to the Gap - they were having another kick but 40% off sale), it was already after 1pm. I immediately turned around and headed out to meet the lovely Stormy Normy to go grocery shopping for the barbeque at her place tomorrow.




By the time I was done shopping and running the rest of my errands today it was too late to bother showering and getting an outfit together. Although these are all clothes I wear on a pretty normal basis, together they don't create as put together a look as I usually go for. Still, some days are down days, and that's okay.




Sweater: Country Road in Australia, $25 AU
Cat in Sweater: Miss Wendy, the psycho kitty.
Shirt: The Gap, $10
Undershirt: The Gap, $7
Jeans: The Gap, $35
Shoes: Boden, $60


Happy Long Weekend All! Send me sunny vibes for tomorrow's bbq.

My Day Off Friday!

Today I took a day off from work. I unplugged completely, turned off my work blackberry and my cell phone and did not turn on my computer. I had a great day. I got up late, walked, bought a dress at Maribel and then lounged in the backyard reading in the sun. Even the weather decided to cooperate.





The centerpiece of this outfit was definitely the printed skirt. Because of its length and crazy mash up of patterns, I do not consider it work appropriate. So in honor of my day off and the nice weather I decided to break out this skirt.


I love all of the details of this skirt. It is a silk skirt so it has great movement. It has this cool split detail which reveals one of the other patterns in the skirt.





Of course the thing that first drew me to this skirt was the mash up of patterns. I really like how the many colors and patterns play off of each other. The skirt is definitely a statement, but its the kind of statement that I like.






This skirt is from Anthro, and of course this means it has great detailing. I generally think that Anthro clothes are too expensive, although beautiful. I am always amazed by the detailing on the skirts I do buy from Anthro. This one has a white underskirt with a fun trim on it. Its not like most people see it, but I still like knowing its there.

I paired my funky skirt with a basic navy t-shirt, a warm gray cardigan and my red moccasins. Although the tops are still pretty neutral, I really like how they matched up with skirt but didn't compete with it.

The red shoes were irresistible. I love them and was excited for a chance for them to shine.







Skirt: Anthropologie, $30
Shirt: The Gap via my Marm
Cardigan: Country Road in Australia, $25 au
Shoes: Boden, $60
Sunnies: Mosely Tribes, gift from my brother.

Throw it on and Go Monday

Sadly today, I am not rocking one of my usual suspects challenge tops today because I yesterday I got a text from a friend inviting me to hang out by her pool.

This led me to gather stuff for swimming and work today and throw it in a bag as fast as possible to head across the bay to the pool. So what I ended up with today was this dress with the blue cardigan over it for most of the day. When I initially grabbed this outfit, I grabbed my green belt to wear with it, but when I put it on this morning it was not working for me so I didn't wear it. Because I was going to wear a bright green belt with the royal blue sweater, I decided my nude flats would be the best so as not to be too wacky with my clothes at work today.

All that being said, I liked my outfit today. The dress is from the gap, even though its not one of my usual suspects. I really like the shape of the dress and how it is put together. I think the detailing on the dress is really flattering (although I'm going to work on what belt to wear with it).



The blue cardigan that I wore over it is one of my favorite cardigans by far. It is also from the Gap. I love it for the color as well as the fact that it is light weight wool. This means it is really warm, but also not too heavy.

The shoes are my nude flats from Country Road in Australia. I these pictures you can see how they pretty much disappear. This is really nice when you are wearing a complicated outfit and don't want the shoes to be a distraction! Its not so much a problem with this outfit, but they are a great option to have!





Dress: The Gap, $25
Cardigan: The Gap, $30
Shoes: Country Road, $50 AUS

Happy Cardigan Monday!

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!