Doubly Laced (and less than stellar pictures)

my photographer was working on a night project this evening

lace on top

aaaand

lace on bottom

a new "pretty" from Trends, which has temporarily closed its doors while they move to a new location

and sorry for these super grainy pictures - it started to rain while we were taking these...

I'm linking up over here today, where the theme is lace. Soooooo, being the super blogger that I am (jklolzlolz), I have not one, but TWO (TWO!!) outfits with lace to share with you. The first is obviously a lace top with a hi-low maxi, and the second features a lacey-sort-of skirt that I just love. My mom picked out both skirts for me last summer, and I have to say, I think she did good, don't you? 

However, she did have a critique about my second outfit from today's post. She (and my husband) said the shirt was too casual for the rest of my outfit. I'm not sure that I agree - it's all about stretching your wardrobe and crossing/breaking style boundaries and rules, right? Right?? #wearwhiteafterlaborday Help me out here, guys! 

What's a bit funny about this combination is that my husband first critiqued me, then said "I want to know what your mom thinks about your outfit. I think she'll say the same thing I did." So, I asked my mom and she said the. exact. same. thing (that the shirt was too casual for the rest of the outfit). So, of course I burst out laughing then had to explain to her what my husband had said and how he guessed her response. Do they think along the same lines or what?? Maybe they both just like to give me a hard time...

1st outfit

top: gift from a friend

skirt: Nordstrom

sandals: WalMart

necklace: WalMart

2nd outfit

chambray: Kohl's

skirt: Nordstrom

heels: Target

necklace: Trends

Mr Picks Mondays: Summer's Last Hurrah

Since yesterday was Labor Day, and I had the day off, Mr. Picks Mondays was VERY casual. He chose the shorts AND the top (typically he chooses the top and lets me pick the bottoms, or vice versa) for a very summer-y combination. I know Labor Day marks "the end of summer," but since the first day of autumn isn't for a few weeks yet, I'll be sporting my summer clothes as long as I can (that, and I LOVE summer). Have I mentioned that I don't love fall, because it leads to winter? #truestory 

Also, I don't like Pumpkin Spice Lattes. 

There. 

I said it.

I find them underwhelming. Whip me up a cup of coffee and I'm a very happy girl. No artificial pumpkin flavoring for me! Blegh!

Anyways, enough of my rant about fall & winter (#summerforever). As I mentioned yesterday, we were in a wedding this holiday weekend, and then spent Sunday & Monday laying low and getting caught up on little things around the house, er, apartment.

My Labor Day started off with this read by Jessica Quirk of What I Wore. A really interesting and beautiful book, and I even took it to the pool with me and jotted down some notes. I think she did the illustrations for the book herself - umm, amazing! I can only draw stick figures, so I'm always really impressed by the artistic ability of others. I've been reading a lot of fashion books lately, and can't seem to get enough! I think I've checked out all the ones at our local library...I've already ready "Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible" and Stacy London's "The Truth About Style," among others. Any recommendations for me??

Wellllll, here's to a (short) week, my friends!

enjoying not laboring on Labor Day ;)

parrot tank: Target
shorts: Kohl's
mint tank: Marshall's
sandals: a recent find at Target for $6!

linking up over here today, because I loved spending Labor Day with my sweetie ;)

Blue for Days

Blue, and blue, and a pop of pink & polka dots for your viewing pleasure. I wore this dress so I could participate in this link up over here :) fancy, huh? These weekly link ups are helping me to dress a bit outside my comfort zone and try new things, which, let's be real, are only good things, right? RIGHT??

Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend - we were in a wedding (pictures to come!) and then laid low for the remainder of our weekend, and it was great. Truly great. Love me some long weekends!

making weird faces & pulling my hair

        

dress: Gap
cardigan: Trends
shoes: Nordstrom

Pretty Blue Paisley

The last time I wore this dress was to my friend's bridal shower in June (so far my cost-per-wear is something like $6), and I dressed it up with heels and a top-knot. I recently wore this to work and dressed it down with flat sandals and straight hair. This dress covers my shoulders, and arms, which is tough to find. I love sundresses, but for work I like more coverage. And wearing a sweater or jacket over every dress is unbearably hot. Enter a dress with sleeves! However, because of the fabric and cut of the dress, I don't quite have a full range of motion with my arms. If I stretch too far, I run the risk of splitting the seams. Good thing I avoided heavy lifting that day :D

*sigh*

The things we do for fashion, right? ;)

dress: Old Navy

sandals: Born via DSW

necklace: WalMart

Mr. Picks Mondays: Purpley Purple

*twirl*twirl*twirl*

Funny story: my sweetie picked out a different dress for me to wear yesterday, but I negotiated with him to wear something else, since I had very recently worn that dress to work (I wore it but didn't take pictures - so did it really happen?). By the time I chose this one instead, he had already left for work for the morning (does it take anyone else FOREVER to decide what to wear? No? Just me?). When we were both home yesterday evening, I saw that he had worn his purple dress shirt with purple striped tie. So, we were twinsies without even knowing. 

And, I'm not kidding when I say this, he looked so nice all dressed up and spiffed up in his purple. I don't mean to say that he doesn't always look nice every day for work, but some of his ensembles really stand out and make my heart go *pitter-pat* when I see him. Add in a dash of my favorite cologne, and 

*swoon*

I'm sure glad I snagged him in high school, and that he comes home to me every day (every day that he doesn't have night projects for work, which is a lot lately, hence my fancy mirror pics. boo)

Too mushy? Sorry, back to the topic at hand - my clothes! I found this dress at a thrift store last summer, and after wearing it once or twice, decided it was a smudge too long and a wee bit too matronly. So, I took some scissors to it and cut off several inches, bringing it from calf-length, to above the knee. Now it feels much more age-appropriate. What do you think?

dress: thrifted

sandals: Born via DSW

Colorblocking x2

shirt: thrifted (J. Crew)

capris: Kohl's

sandals: Sears

necklace: Trends

shirt: WalMart

sweater: Macy's

pants: thrifted (Lauren Conrad)

sandals: Trends

necklace: my Grandma ;)

I did some color-blocking TWO whole days in a row. The first with navy & lilac, the second with magenta & mauve. I think they turned out ok. There's definitely some room for improvement, but overall I didn't do TOO bad. What do you think? I need these critiques to improve my style! My sweet mom & husband usually have some constructive criticisms for me that I always appreciate - as long as they're delivered nicely, which they always are ;)

I made sure to incorporate color-blocking because of this link-up with Walking in Memphis in High Heels and The Fashion Canvas - check them out! Impressive, huh??

 

    

Orange-ish

 

It's tough to see in these pictures, but the shirt is a nice coral-ey orange. Trust me!

And, ya know, just getting my pose on with my cute pup-ska-roos. A pretty casual outfit, but sometimes casual is the way to go. Can we all agree on that?

Hope your week is off to a great start!

shirt: Kohl's

jeans: Trends

sandals: Trends