A Favorite

Dress, sandals/Kohls:: Necklace, belt/Target:: Earrings/Gift from Mom-in-law

This is hands down my favorite dress. I wear it all year long and have featured it several times on my blog. As the weather escalates to more and more uncomfortable degrees, this dress helps me keep my cool.

I have had this belt for a long time but have rarely worn it. Something about its massive size and semi-tribalness has made me shy away from it in the past. Not today. I figured that combined with the print of this dress, it may actually look tame. I couldn't have been happier with it.

In other news, I had the disturbing discovery that my charger for my MacBook officially bit the dust. Sad. Then I discovered how much it was to replace it. Anger. But then I found a floppy hat for our upcoming beach weekend with friends. Joy. That's a lot of emotions in one day.

My blog's catalogue of this dress:

 

Pedi's in the Rain

Dress, Belt/Thrifted:: Wedge Sandals/Target:: Necklace/Swapped

Wore this dress to meet up with a friend to get much needed pedicures. When I say needed, I don't mean needed in the sense that I get them weekly. I just mean with the beginning of summer and the more regular wearing of sandals, I like to get one pedicure and just hope it last for the remainder of the season. It never does, but I always hope it will. I even get the pedicure in a color I have at home, for easy touch ups. 

The minute the pedi's were done, the torrential downpour began. It was a soppy walk with J from the metro to the car. Good thing I took photos before I went out!

 The one drawback with the pedicure is the way it softens my feet. All that exfoliating leaves my feet silky smooth - and perfect targets for blisters. On Saturday night, J and I went to the Roundhouse Theatre to see Double Indemnity. The play was wonderful, the evening was perfect - except for the rather large blisters I acquired on my pinky toes from my heeled loafers. Should have stuck with sandals...

Sunday Best

Dress: (Challenge item # 2) and belt/Target:: Heeled Loafers/DSW

Wore this to church on Sunday. Actually, I wore this to church two Sundays ago. This Sunday was spent at the office with J. He had a project to finish and instead of staying home, I just hopped on the metro and went in with him. I love going in to work with J. I love being in his office and watching him work away on his two computer screens. I was definitely not as productive as he was. While he was typing up a report, I took a nap, wrote some blog posts and ate snacks. If you are now imagining "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" you would have an accurate image of the day. I was about three minutes away from doodling pictures and running around the halls playing hide and seek in the empty offices. 

I have fond memories of this "holiday". My dad took me to work several times when I was little. He worked at a bank in downtown Chicago. I loved riding the Metra with him and being in the Big City. One year, the bank put on an actual event for the kiddos. My memory is a bit fuzzy but I'm pretty sure they had the kids learn about occupations like interior design, you know, something really practical. (It is no wonder that kids who grew up in the 90's believe that they could do anything...Interior Design? Really?) After that visit, my dollhouse was never the same. It became my "work" because, of course, after hearing a lady talk about interior design for half an hour, I believed I was destined to be an interior designer. I had it in my head that if I could practice designing my dollhouse, I would soon be discovered and my career would take off at the ripe old age of 13. 

Obviously, this dream did not pan out. If you saw the last three places I've lived, you would know why. I actually have little to no ability to design spaces. And keeping those spaces clean and organized is a whole other matter. 

Summer of Arms

Dress (Challenge item #1), belt/Target:: Necklace/Swapped:: Sandals/DSW

I have declared this summer the “Summer of Arms”. No, I will not be taking up arms but, rather, embracing the exposure of my arms to the world. If there were one area of my body I would gladly cover with clothing all the time it would be my arms. 

From shoulder to wrist, I find my arms to bit of a problem. They flub, they blub and thanks to a lovely condition called Rosacea they are red and blotchy most of the time. My love for the colder months is very practical. Colder months = layers and that means covered arms. So it no surprise to those who are close to me that I dread the warmer months because of their forced removal of my protective sartorial layers.

Since J and I have moved to the east coast, an area known for some seriously oppressive summer weather, I decided that I have no choice but to embrace the inevitable and bear a little arm. And since no place in DC is without AC I can still bring that security-blanket/cardigan to cover up when out of the heat zone.

This dress is my declaration of the “Summer of Arms”. Right off the bat, I received a boost of confidence when J told me how nice I looked and how much he liked the dress. Boost of confidence from my love? I’ll take it!

This dress was purchased last fall (on super sale). After some minor fixes (taking out the unnecessary elastic waistband and taking in the area under the arms, I can say with confidence that I will be wearing this dress for many days to come. It is so comfortable, almost like wearing pajamas as a dress and is the perfect blanket pallet to remix accessories with. 

Birthdays, jobs, and visits

Oh man, I blew it. The month of March has come and gone. But it was not without some wonderfulness. My birthday was on the 15th and it was really nice. Very low key, but nice. J cooked me a wonderful dinner followed dancing in our kitchen to music from our wedding.

I wore this outfit on my birthday. This dress has great memories attached to it and I even though it is not a very fancy dress but it has become the dress I wear on special days. It was also 80 degrees in the middle of March, which was special in itself.

March has been a busy (and successful!) month on the job front. I interviewed for a few positions and was hired by a great school! To celebrate, J and I went out to dinner to a place that was definitely an experience. If any of you live in the DC area and have something to celebrate (or a lot of money saved!) I would highly recommend Restaurant Eve. Nine courses later, we were still marveling all the wonderful food we ate. We must have been the most entertaining guests because we couldn't stop verbalizing our utter shock of just how good everything was.

This is a picture of J and I before the meal. Can you tell we were excited?! I'm actually wearing a dress I have had since high school (eek!) with black wrap over it. Big mistake of the night was wearing shoes I have never walk more that 300 feet in. J, of course, looked so handsome in his blue suit. The man can wear a suit well.

We had the pleasure of hosting J's parents this weekend. Food, kites, walks around DC and sitting in the sun chatting made the weekend great. They kept saying what a nice life we have here. We couldn't agree more!

Nothing Corporate

Dress, tights/Old Navy::Scarf, belt/F21::Boots/Payless

I am finally feeling better thanks to the miracle of antibiotics (and good insurance). I was pretty much incapacitated for a week and some change. So much of doing nothing and wanting so badly to do something. No good. Soo glad to be back and moving around again. And not a moment too soon! I have been racing around trying to prep for a teaching hiring fair I will attend this Saturday. Wish me luck!!

Oh how I love this dress. The color is so rich and yummy and the fit is perfect. I can't tell you how many times I wore this dress in the fall and I am happy to introduce it to my blog. It can be dressed up or down so easily with just a quick change of accessories. That's a good piece of clothing if you ask me.

I also love these boots. I had to replace an exceptional pair of riding boots that I wore out with these. While these are not quite of the caliber of my last pair, the price was right and are maybe even more versatile than my previous pair.

Back to the hiring fair... I am going to wear a suit because, as far as I can tell, that is what you are supposed to do. But, if you can believe, I actually have nothing appropriate to wear with a suit. That's right. A closet full of great teachery clothing but nothing corporate. J and I scoured my wardrobe looking for something, anything remotely close to appropriate. Nothing. Nada. So it's off to find a professional top. I have to say, it's the least fun shopping excursion I have done in awhile.