Outfit for Holiday Party

I have several outfits ready to go for different holiday functions over the course of the next month, but first up is our annual holiday party this coming Saturday. I have two options that I am trying to decide between and I really like them both. It might be a game time decision, but would love to hear your thoughts.

First up is this cute dress, it has mesh netting little cap sleeves, great little silver rhinestone detail along the neck, and it even has pockets!

I also have a cute little black sweater to wear over it just in case it gets chilly. But of course it is super cold right now, but it is supposed to get up to 50 by Saturday. 50 people in the house, I don't think I am going to need a sweater!

So that was option 1. My second option I really like as well. Same colors, but completely different. I love the long skirt, it is what I would call a hostess skirt as it is rather long. I am kind of leaning towards option 2 as I don't know where else I can really pull off wearing a long skirt like this. The skirt is Perry Ellis, and I just love it, the top is a velvet wrap top that I just picked up. 

Of course a girl needs the right shoes to wear, right? Two options of course. . .

The first option has, of course, a 4 1/2" heel with a 1" platform, so my rationale is that they only have a 3 1/2" heel. . but they are high, but SO cute! (from NineWest and they are called Fortonight, and they are on sale for a lot less than I paid, right now!)

Second option is a lot more practical, and shoes that I wear all the time, although this is a new pair because I have already worn out one pair. These are also from NineWest and called Sharina.

Luckily I don't need a pocketbook or clutch since I am not going anywhere, but I am getting a mani/pedi that day, so of course I had to get a polish to match. 

Now I just need to decide between the two and pick out some jewelry. I am sure I have something, but it might be fun to have something new too! I love these,

Love having special outfits for the holidays!

eBay finds!

From time to time I will check out eBay for J Crew or Lilly finds that I have been looking for or wanting. A few weeks back I bid on and won this skirt from the J Crew 2007 Summer collection. I think it is going to be a great easy piece for summer.

The seller was so absolutely sweet, that she added this in as a special surprise!

I cannot tell you how surprised and excited I was. I love bangles and not only with this look adorable with the skirt, but I have the Favorite Fit capri's with the red embroidered lobsters. I also have this dress,

You would think that I am a huge lobster lover. But, I can't even go near the stuff. Deathly allergic. But they do remind me of summer and fun. I am always on the look out for this sweater from J Crew as well, but I don't see it come up very often under $100. 

If you are looking for a great eBay seller, check her out!

Spring is right around the corner. . .I am ready!

Last week Target.com had shoes and bags, buy one get one 50% off and free shipping. I could not resist when I saw these, which are on their way to me, I LOVE the plaid, and cannot wait to wear them,

I picked up this dress about a month ago, with the anticipation of spring, and I think I can pull it off with the plaid shoes, what do you think? You can't really tell in the picture but it has a mattress ticking blue stripe.

I have a Lands End Inlet close to home now too, and one of my stops with my mom was here this past weekend, and I picked up this great dress (in Navy) and scarf too.

I LOVE patent shoes, and these are such a great basic, classic style and I think wedges are so comfortable. Black and a dusty pink? Perfect!

This bag is not really "me" but I thought it would be something fun that I could use for quite a few seasons. I am hoping it is comfortable to carry.

It got over 50 here this week, I know I have spring fever, I am SO ready to not have to wear a heavy coat or boots! The snow is dirty and gross, I am ready for green grass and flowers. It snowed here heavily in early November and really hasn't stopped. We have had snow on the ground ever since, I am ready to be done with that!

Things I am Digging! DownEast Basics!

I am not sure if I have ever mentioned DownEast Basics, but I came across them this past spring via another bloggers blog, sorry, can't remember whose, but I fell in love with their stuff! I have placed 4 orders since then, and I have been more than pleased with every item. I love color and I get bored wearing just basics, however, DownEast Basics, gives me so many more options when it comes to color! Their skirts and dresses have awesome patterns and colors, and it is great that I can just add a simple top or jacked with a skirt and during the summer a pair of sandals, and now that the fall is here, a pair of ballet flats or a pair of knee boots are paired perfectly with both their skirts and dresses.

I am wearing this dress today, with a long sleeved green tee and a pair of patent gray ballet flats. It is dreary, cold and rainy here, but throwing on a little color like this always makes me feel better! I also love that they name their items, this is the Wonderful World Dress, isn't that great? Their skirts and dresses are also lined for the most part, and their prices are phenomenal!
Here are some of the other items I have picked up for the fall, I don't have a store near me, but if you do and have been to one, I would love to know more about it! If I ever get out West at all, I will definitely be stopping by!

Detail Oriented Skirt in a basic black (for someone with OCD, details are important), super cute with just a white long sleeve tee, jean jacket and black ballet flats.
Night Owl Skirt, since I am a morning person, I guess I am living vicariously through my skirt?
The One and Only skirt, LOVE the pink in this
Summary Skirt, I LOVE this one, I have actually worn this TWICE already! Love the colors in this, I wore it with a brown ribbed turtleneck and brown knee boots once and with an orange cable crew and brown ballet flats another day. I love the brown little pettiskirt under this!
Feelin Fall '09, I guess I am feelin a little fall, I also got an indigo top to wear with this, but I just love how I can change this up wearing all kinds of different colors!
Mod & Marvelous. I am not sure how Mod I am, but I think I can do it up a little Mod with this skirt. I have a great green RL sweater that I thought would look great with this!
Serendipity Dress. I just love the word Serendipity. But I also love these two colors together, I would love to do my bedroom in these colors, but I just have not taken the leap. I wonder if I can get the boy to go there. . . .
Fall Floral Fixation Skirt. Again with the pettiskirt, LOVE that. I have a cashmere sweater in that melon color and I just thought it would be something fun to pair with it.
Fancy Schmancy Dress. Oh, I think I will feel a little fancy schmancy in this dress, LOVE these colors. I have a pink scarf that would be perfect with this, with a gray long sleeve tee under it?
WOW, Look at all that color! And for fall and winter? Someone asked me a while back, what does your fall and winter wardrobe look like, do you wear as much color then as you do during the spring and summer? I love to wear color, and while Lilly does give me quite a bit of that, this provides another great option! Check them out though, they have a blog too!

Things I am Diggin'

I have had a busy week, or how about a busier week than I had anticipated. I got the flu, that was fun, lasted about 48 hours. I wasn't sure what it was at first, due to the fact that I did not get a fever at all, but then when of my girlfriends, her two boys came down with it as well as her husband. By Tuesday late afternoon I felt better, and yesterday I felt back to myself.

Last night we went to Olive Garden for a quick bite. I am not generally a big fan of the OG, I never order anything there except for soup and salad, but that worked for last night. The we headed to check out the sneak preview of "Law Abiding Citizen". Good movie, not exactly what I expected, but I do enjoy Gerard Butler. There was a lot of gore and violence. We have not seen nearly the number of movies recently as we usually do, just too busy I guess. . .

Here are some things that have been on my ta-da list, radar and mind this week!

I know that I have a bike at the boys house, a vintage Schwinn in my garage, but I think this needs to go on my "wish" list. How can you not love it with a name like Schwinn 2010 Debutante?

I am not a huge "bag" girl. I have my favorites, my go to's and then I carry a lot of evening bags when I go out. But I guess I am a Kate Spade girl. I have always loved her bags from my very first black go-to bag that I bought in a boutique in Larchmont, NY when I lived there back in the summer of '97. These two are just adorable!

If I had to choose one go to look for this Fall it would be this look from Lands End. I have actually worn this outfit already this fall! This picture even prompted me to get the boy to look at Wagoneers with me.

The Fall always reminds me of anything RL, and the looks that he is known for. I just love some of the new looks!
I love the gray and the orange together,
I am a big shawl\poncho person. Not sure about those leggings, but cute with cords!
Clean, simple, classic, gotta love it
Last but not least, I saw these in an ad and I thought they were SO cool, would make great gifts and would make fun keepsakes out of those special bottles. Neat item to add to your decor though!

Book Review - Choosing Happiness - Keys to a Joyful Life - Alexandra Stoddard

I am a big fan of Alexandra Stoddard, I have been for a number of years. I picked this up over the weekend, and didn't put it down.

I love some of the advice and quotes, here are some of my favorites.

Clothes: day and night
"Clothes have a profound effect on our mood and spirit. When we select our clothes with care and an eye to enriching our personal sense of style, what we choose to wear is an enhancement of every day."

I think this is so true. I love to wear color, hence my fondness for anything Lilly. I can actually feel a difference in my mood and the way I carry myself when I wear something that has a lot of color and style. I heard a teacher talking about back to school and how all of the kids on the first day of school come in dressed in all of their new clothes and shoes. Why is that? And why have we been doing that since we were very young? My thought is that we wear our best outfit on the first day to assert our sense of pride and accomplishment.

I work with very very few women, which can prove to be challenging, especially when it comes to attire. I often get comments from the men that I work with, like, "I don't know how you can walk in those shoes" "do you ever wear the same thing twice?" and others. The few (total of 12 out of 328, in my office 7 out of 209) women in my office, don't seem to take a great deal of pride in their appearance and not only do they not wear make-up or do their hair, but they typically will wear tee shirts, khakis and what I call chunky or thick shoes, never a pointy toed heel. Fridays are always jeans for them. And while we do work in a business casual environment, I do not believe that a Friday is any different than any other day of the week when it comes to work, so I do not get the whole jeans on Fridays drill. I also have always been taught, "dress for the job you want, not the one you have". I take my time to plan out my outfits every day, right down to my accessories and pocketbooks.

Here is today's outfit -

There are some great quotes and lessons in this book, if you have a chance, pick it up, I highly recommend it!

Embarrassing?

So do you think that it would be too much if you are on a flight, at an airport and you see a dress that is just SO cute on someone that you just have to know where she bought it from, so you ask her? Would you do that? Or would you just be a dope (like me) and just keep staring. . . .in my defense, I was debating about asking her because it was a light grayish pewter in color and I wasn't sure if it would work for me. . . although I did recently buy this

but I was kinda gearing up for fall.

Dresses!

Last night the boy, friend T and I headed into St. Paul to the History Theater for Sample Night Live. This was something new for me and something I had never heard of, but just stumbled upon. They have two acts with 6 performances in each act. The first act is family friendly with the second act being a little more R rated. It was fabulous and we had a really good time. There were some excellent performances and only one that we all agreed was a little eh. . . they have giveaways throughout the show and at the end you get to vote for your favorite performer. T and I both voted for the same one, but it was close between a few of them. This is a show that they put on the first Wednesday of every month, and the tickets are only $20, you can bet that we will be back again.
After the show, we headed over to the patio at the Happy Gnome for a nightcap and a small bite.

We all shared a bowl of mussels, one of my favorites, that was just delicious. I love sitting out on the patios during the summer. In Minnie, this is what we suffer through the long winters for and you have to enjoy it while you can!
I have been on a total dress kick lately. I love wearing dresses in the summer anyway, but I have just been finding the cutest dresses, and whenever I see a LBD that I just know will be perfect for something I pick it up because it is always great to have one on hand. To me dresses are so simple, it is just one piece, so you throw on a pair of shoes, some accessories and you can walk out the door. I LOVE some of the maxi dresses, but being vertically challenged I do have a tough time finding the right ones, but I did find a simple black one that I will be packing for the holiday weekend and last weekend I wore a cute BCBG floral one. Here are a few recent finds.

LOVE Downeast Basics. I also picked up a couple of skirts from them that I just love.

Maggy London is also a favorite. She has so many styles to choose from.

Kayce Hughes. This is a new one for me, but I thought the blue with the red piping would be perfect for the JLM Presidents Summer Social with the patriotic theme, what do you think? The dresses I bought were REALLY on sale, but I thought it would be a good way to try them out.

Last but not least is my Lilly, which I do love the most.

Here is my 4th of July outfit. I always try to tie the red white and blue in, so I may throw a sweater over my shoulders as well, depends on the weather for the parade.

I am still on the hunt for a yellow dress. Being blond, it is kind of hard to pull off "yellow" but I love it with a tan, which I am hoping to come back from the lake with and I also think that it will go well with my new Little Barrel headband.

I know that last week I was supposed to have drawn for the JLM cookbook, but I will tonight and post the winner tomorrow. I hope you all have a wonderful July 4th weekend! I have some posts ready to go, so I will be posting!