fun, not stuffy

my friend, Cat, in her new Lilly Pulitzer for Target dress from our shopping expedition

Chelsea, our distinguished alumni scholarship recipient (she's working on her Master's - woot woot)

with her scholarship award
not pictured: me standing up to cheer and make her smile for a picture as she received her award.
she called me her Stage Mom...#stagemom #stagemomforeva





Remember a minute ago when I mentioned styling a fun, young professional outfit?

Here it is. A classy dress, classic jacket, and solid pumps – yet together, they create something a little offbeat and unexpected. 

This is what I wore for a scholarship brunch (my friend was the alumni recipient!! #stagemom #smilesweetie). I wanted to be classy, age appropriate, scholarly (even though I, myself, was not a scholarship candidate), yet stay far away from stuffy.

So I decided on lace, suede, and tweed. All of those elements by themselves are classic, and even paired together they would create a very timeless look. What makes this look hit all the points I wanted to cover is the color pairings (navv blue with varying shades of pink), and the different textures (plus the fun printed clutch). Regarding color, these shoes go with everything, turns out. And you know I luuurvvvvve navy blue. This jacket was just begging to be worn after a long hiatus of sitting in a box in a spare bedroom.

And then the textures – lace, tweed, and suede. By now I’m sure you know I’m a huge fan of different textures – whether it’s actual texture, or the appearance of different textures by using different prints. I think I really hit the nail on the head with this look – it was perfect for a Saturday morning brunch at a country club to celebrate Panhellenic scholarships, and, the icing on the cake - it was pretty comfortable, too. No pulling at Spanx, or complaining when I overate, which of course, I did…I mean, we were served breakfast burritos, and those are my love language.

dress: GG Boutique

wedges: ALDO

jacket: consignment (Express)

clutch: Lilly Pulitzer for Target

Sadly, this is the last picture you’ll see of both dogs – our handsome Turbo passed away a few days after these were taken. He went very peacefully, in his sleep, but completely unexpected. We are missing his sweet & grumpy old self quite a bit. However, Olaf is reveling in the attention of being an only dog.

linking up with:

The Closet by Christie // I do deClaire

Sydney Fashion Hunter // For the Love of Leopard

Cassidy Lou // Dressing Dallas // Cappuccino and Fashion

Zeta Day

me & Cat. love love love.

Chelsea. you know her!

I'm a bit behind on a few outfit posts, especially this one. My Zeta Tau Alpha alumni group recently hosted Zeta Day/State Day/ Colorado & Wyoming Zeta State Day (whatever you want to call it - I call it Zeta Day). All of the Zetas in the great state of Colorado + Wyoming get together for brunch/lunch and celebrate being zisters.

This year's theme was "Zeta Carnival." Unfortunately, I was a bit too busy manning corn hole to take pictures of the rest of the decor, but trust me when I say that my fellow alum did a bang-up job with the decor. We had a photo booth, carnival games, raffle tickets, popcorn buckets, oversized lollipops, and lots of Zeta, everywhere (no clowns, though).

This year's event was held where I live, so my commute was about 10 minutes, which is a nice change from driving to Denver and beyond. I know a few current collegiate members, so got to catch up with them, and reminisce about living in the house (triple room. 2 years in a row).

The attire for these types of events is always "pin attire" - business casual to professional to brunch to what you'd wear to see your classy grandmother. I chose a Lilly (after much discussion and trying on of outfits) and some shoes that don't get out much. They're a fun t-strap with tweed & faux-croc on the toes (I never know what to wear them with!).

My bestie helped me come up with the idea to wear my pretty white Lilly (that can lean a little Stepford, depending on the accessories and styling) with some darker shoes and a distressed fish tail braid. I'm often guilty of taking a look a little too far (tweed + pearls + kitten heels + nylons + Stepford wife/Martha Stewart extraordinarie/Suzy Homemaker). Not that that look is bad, but I tend to take it a little bit too far, so I am really trying to tone it down and go with more "mixed" looks: classy Lilly meet dark shoes and casual hair + accessories (or another look you'll see in a few weeks for another Zeta brunch - scholarly meets a young, fun, maybe a little funky, professional).  Or sometimes it's preppy meets studs, or casual meets business professional. Follow?

All of that to say, I think I hit the nail on the head with this look - appropriate, age-appropiate (I'm not 21 anymore *sigh*), comfortable, pretty, and the receiver of lots of compliments :) 

What's your best trick to styling, or juxtaposing looks in one outfit?

And, I'm still alive after yesterday's race. Look for an update in a hot minute...

white dress: Lilly Pulitzer

shoes: Mudd via DSW

linking up with A Touch of Tartan

Dots, Tweed, and...Python?

closeup of my print mixing madness

I wore this outfit several weeks ago when one of my best friends was in town. I took her for drinks with some work friends (after work, of course!), and really enjoyed getting to show her where I work and live and play.

I came up with this outfit several weeks before I wore it. I was trying to decide what to wear for something else (surprise), and somehow these 2 items ended up next to each other on my bed, due to my haphazard tossing and grabbing. When I looked closer, I realized they didn't look half bad together.  In fact, they were pretty interesting. And so, an outfit was born. However, this "ah-ha!" moment happened when there was still snow on the ground, so this wonderful combination had to wait for a warmer day. And I added the python print flats for kicks, since dots and tweed have the potential to be too cutesy ;)

shirt: Old Navy

jacket: Express

jeans: GAP Outlet

flats: WalMart

30 for 30: Day 17

I know what you're thinking.

"WHAT WAS SHE thinking with this outfit? Tweed blazer, black, black, scarf? WHAT???"

However, I can explain. I typed

"pink tweed blazer"

into Pinterest (my Pinterest boards leave a lot to be desired, I know - I try to limit my time on there, as it's SO. ADDICTING.) And saw several images, specifically this pin that led me to theglamandglitter.com. Instead of dressing up the tweed blazer (like I had thought about), she dressed it down with distressed denim. I always saw other images that paired blacks & grays with the blazer, allowing the pink tweed to take center stage. So, that was my inspiration.

My execution might have been a little off, but the thought was there! I did need a scarf though, because 1) it was cold outside

2) I was wearing just a plain white tank under the blazer, so I needed to cover up a bit (did I mention that I'm wearing basic tanks under items that are need a little extra during this challenge? cause I am) 

So, fashion forward? Or fashion fail?

And for reference, here is the last time I wore this blazer on the blog...in May...when it snowed...grrr

A Tweed Jacket

see the snow behind me? Snow. On May Day. Belize it.

This jacket is the other item I "bought" on my shopping fast. A whopping 93 cents, AND I used store credit. Big spender here!

In other news, it snowed. On the first of May. I was worried I wouldn't be able to wear my new jacket until next fall, but never fear, Colorado weather fritzed and snowed just so I could wear my new purchase! Not really. 

I just hope with all this late snow that there are no fires this summer. The ones last summer were pretty terrible, and seemed to burn forever. I drove past the fire crews staging area on my way to work every day for 6 long weeks.

Enough about fire - it's still snowing here!

Have a great rest of the week - I'm having the hardest time squeezing in some last minute running before Sunday...oy.

Shirt: Maurice's

Jacket: Express via Trends

Pants: Joe Fresh via ARC

Boots: Rackroom Shoes

Scarf: gift

Watch: gift from my brother & sis-in-law