playing closet: Amanda

Many many weeks ago (back in March - yikes!) my friend, Amanda, and I decided to "play closet" at her house one evening. We had some wine, Mean Girls, and puppy love from her shiba inu, named Kirin (find him on Instagram: @kirintheshiba).

The plan was to evaluate her closet a bit, and transition her closet from winter wear to spring/summer wear. Amanda works in a local school district, with a business casual plus dress code. She occasionally attends conferences and teaches seminars, and has to break out the suit and heels. She also kicks my rear every time we run together, and teaches a mean Zumba class - girl loves fitness and being healthy and working out. 

Here is her closet before we started. And an almost empty glass of red...

We started by examining each piece of clothing and asking a few questions about it:

1) Does it fit? (getting at if it should be donated or kept)

2) Do you love it? (again, getting at the same as above)

3) How recently have you worn this? (again, keep or donate)

3) Is this wintery, or can you wear it during the warmer months?

Amanda's winter stuff got moved to the back of her closet, so it's out of sight, and out of mind until the fall. Personally, I find that helpful and useful - it's the worst to look at heavy sweaters in the middle of summer; it makes me feel like I have nothing to wear because I can't wear what's in front of me.

There were a few items we hung a little bit to the side - lighter sweaters, perfect for the snowy days in April and May (*cough* Mother's Day *cough*), or a cold office. And when we get to the heat of the summer, they can easily be added back into the winter clothes pile. 

When we rehung the clothes she can wear for warmer weather, we grouped them by sleeve type/length (some people do color, or style). We then moved to pants, jeans, dresses, and skirts, and worked our way through those.

Last were shoes and scarves.

Here is the after shot of Amanda's closet. Truth be told, we didn't really get rid of that many items - I think a handful. All we really did was sort, and condense, and discuss potential outfit options:

"This polka dot shirt is great. What do you normally wear it with? This would also be really great paired with these pants, or under a dress. Or what about this color skirt?"

Dresses and maxi skirts.

We also discussed a few pieces Amanda should consider adding to her closet as a young, hot, fun, stylish lady and professional: #1 being a chambray (she ended up coming to my house a few weeks later, and taking one off my hands. win-win.), and a skirt or two, plus a few dresses. 

So, even if my sweet friend doesn't end up adding anything to her closet, or changes around the organization of it, I think we came up with some great ideas for outfits, and multiple ways to wear some great pieces she has. And, we got watch listen to Gretchen Weiners and Regina George in action. I mean...

Happy Saturday - I'm off getting my toesies did with girlfriends, then to a Zeta event, then a graduation celebration, all in one day! Whew - this girl is going to be tiiiiiired.

monday does it again

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, or a tugboat tooting my own horn, or Kanye singing his own praises, this outfit is another one that just came another in the early morning (yesterday did, as well). This look has a few different elements that, when combined, form a cohesive (and dare I say, classy?) look.

First up is the colorblocking with the navy top half, and the wine-colored pencil skirt. Colorblocking works best when the 2 colors are of the same saturation, or level, of color. So, a deep wine color, and a rich navy blue work here. Or a deep emerald with another equally deep and rich jewel-tones (see some of my past not-so-great colorblocking looks over here...).

Next is the monochromatic layers up top - the navy blue button-up under the navy blue vest.

The third is tying together the boots with the necklace and scarf. Cognac meets brown paisley and brown + gold - not matchy-matchy, yet coordinating and pulled together. And lastly, I wore a necklace under the scarf so that if/when I took off the scarf and vest (which I did), my outfit would still look complete, and not like it was missing some element.

button-up shirt: thrifted (J. Crew)

vest: Old Navy

scarf: gift

necklace: Target

pencil skirt: J. Crew Factory

boots: The Frye Company via Nordstrom

wine colored

I picked up this wine colored pencil skirt on a whim, on sale, at J. Crew Factory on New Year's Day. And I can't believe how much it goes with. Really. It's filling the hole of a black pencil skirt in my closet just perfectly. Hard to believe, I know, but it's true. It's such a nice, rich, merlot/wine/plum color that it adds just a little something extra to anything I wear it with, more so than a black pencil skirt would do, which makes me thankful I picked it up instead of a different color.

And based on yesterday's outfit (here), I guess you could say that I like this color combination of wine/merlot/plum/berry with black. And, you wouldn't be incorrect with that statement.

shirt: Charlotte Russe

skirt: J. Crew Factory

polka dot tights: Target

booties: Old Navy

faux leather jacket: Target

90 miles to cuba, part 2

This was an outfit I wore one evening in Key West with my family. We biked to Duval Street to listen to a live band at a little wine and jazz bar. My sis-in-law and I ended our evening with champagne. And it made me think that I'd like to end every evening that way. Cheers.

shirt: J CREW Factory

bermuda shorts: Aéropostale

sandals: Target

purse: thrifted

bracelet: Target

eShakti

What feels like ages ago (but was really only the beginning of August), a company called eShakti reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested in ordering a dress through their site and featuring it on my blog.

Of course I said yes

I’d read a lot about this company through other bloggers and couldn’t wait to customize a dress for my short self. eShakti encourages you to customize any piece on their website – want pockets? Sure. No pockets? Ok. Need it a bit shorter? Or a bit longer? Easily done. Ordering by standard size IS an option, but if you’re interested in any of these beautiful garments, I’d go for something a bit more custom. Why not? Why not order something you know will fit you, instead of ordering it, and then having to get it tailored?

I submitted my measurements, took out the pockets, and went with a shorter length on this dress (I’m 5”4’ with short legs, a short torso, and short shoulders. However, my brother once told me I have long arms…what?).

And what do you know? This striped dress is a perfect fit.

I wore this on a date this past Saturday for wine and cheese (same place we went for our wedding anniversary, The Welsh Rabbit – highly recommend this place). Aside from the compliments from my Mr., our hostess/server gushed over my dress, as did another customer at the bar who made it a point to stop by our table and tell me she’d seen me walk in and I looked

“Fabulous. Really. Fabulous.”

Since the dress is black and white, I added some color with my shoes and jewelry, and added a thrifted gold clutch to complete my look.

I’ve wanted to order something from eShakti for a long time, ever since reading about the company through other bloggers, but I haven’t had an occasion that I NEEDED a new dress for (I’m guilty of buying dresses without an occasion, and then allowing them to sit in my closet for ages…whoops…). But when THEY contacted ME, I figured “Why not?!” I’m thinking if we get invited to holiday parties this winter, I can throw on festive tights and accessorize it differently to take this outfit from end-of-summer to colder weather (boo). Not that I want to wait that long to wear it again...

eShakti’s website has PLENTY of other options – more casual dresses, skirts, blouses, and everything in between. Something else that caught my eye was an emerald green tulle skirt…so fun. However, I think I’ll get more wear (and maybe more compliments) out of my black-and-white striped dress than an emerald green tulle skirt *sigh* There’s always the next occasion I need something fancy for…

dress: c/o of eShakti*

shoes: ALDO

clutch: thrifted

*dress provided courtesy of eShakti, however, all opinions are my own

late night

I mentioned a few weeks back that one of my best friends was moving closer to me. Well this is what I wore when we were able to catch up for the first time since this past April/May. She and her mom had spent the majority of the day unloading, unpacking, and cleaning. I showed up after work, and the 3 of us were enjoying some chilled white wine not long after. Her mom headed back home, so my friend and I went out for dinner. 

Cut to me not leaving her place til well after midnight. And having to work at 7 the next morning. That was rough…

maxi dress: Old Navy

vest: thrifted (Levi’s)

sandals: Target

Cheese & Wine

Waaay back at the end of May/beginning of June, we went on a fancy date night to celebrate our 2^nd wedding anniversary. We went to a local wine and cheese place (The Welsh Rabbit)  - I was in wino heaven. D isn’t much for wine (he prefers beer), but I think he even enjoyed himself a teeny bit. He ordered a glass of a sweet white before moving on to a cider, and I had a flight of Austrian wines (Vienna, here I come!). And we also tried a variety of cheeses. Really, I think we tried at least 6. If not closer to 8. And all sorts of meats and salamis and crackers and other good eats.

After we were full of cheese and wine and meat and bread, we wandered around downtown and I picked up another Pioneer Woman cookbook (her first one – the only one I was missing). We then went to a new-ish whiskey bar and met a friend there for a drink. This girl steered clear of the whiskey (shots of Fireball are the only whiskey I’ll partake in) and had a refreshing Moscow Mule instead ;)

the far left was D's sweet white - the remaining 3 my Austrian flight

cheese. bread. meat.

peplum top: Ann Taylor Factory

faux leather jacket: Miley Cyrus & Max Azria via Plato's Closet

skirt: Aéropostale

sandals: Shoe Carnival

30 for 30: Day 27 & Day 28

Day 27

I feel like I spent this day running around like a chicken with my head cut off – work was BuSy! And then, since I’d been slacking, I had to go to the store after work to get everything for our Thanksgiving Dinner. The grocery store was a MADHOUSE. [Note to self: don’t ever, ever, ever, EVER wait again until the day before Thanksgiving to go shopping] People were blocking the middle of the aisles (pet peeve of mine), cutting each other off, and generally not being very “thankful” the day before Thanksgiving. 

*harumph*

However, I did make it out alive, and with all the fixin’s we needed for the next day! Oh, and the liquor store was a happenin’ place – I gave them some business, too, in the form of wine (white for myself & my mom, and red for my Dad). The Mr. had plenty of beer in the fridge, and my mother-in-law likes to bring her fancy cocktails when she comes to visit. This time it was “Hot Apple Pie" (she threw a Halloween party this year and made a “Dumpster Sludge, which was a really gross-looking brown-ish gray color, but was really quite yummy). I didn’t have any (I just love a good Pinot Grigio, or Riesling), but imagine Apple Pie, but with vodka & caramel & other yummy flavorings instead. Sounds pretty delicious, right??

Day 28

Day 28 was Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law came to visit, along with her sister and her husband. They are the first company we had in our new house (my folks came up Saturday - Sunday, so they were a close second)! Everyone loved our new home (we do, too!) and our meal feast was AAAAAMAZingggggg.

My sweet Mr. wanted to be in charge of the turkey – he didn’t let anyone else do anything to it. 

He also made sweet potatoes and apple dumplings (from my new Pioneer Woman Cookbook!).

He followed the recipe and prep and carving instructions in the book for the turkey, and it. 

Was.

DELICIOUS. 

I’m not normally one to go gaga over turkey at Thanksgiving, but as soon as the delicious aroma of turkey began to fill up the whole house, I couldn’t wait to dig in.

We had a nice Thanksgiving Dinner, just the 5 of us. There wasn’t a lot of stress – we’d told our visitors we’d still have boxes everywhere, so they weren’t expecting our house to be put together. We didn’t end up having boxes EVERYWHERE (we grouped a lot of them in the basement or the garage…aaaah, the joys of having a basement AND a garage!), but we did have them placed in corners and a few in every room.

All in all, a nice & relatively quiet Thanksgiving, made even more special by the fact that we celebrated in our new home – just one more thing to be thankful for :)

linking up here today

My Wedding Date

waiting for the bride to walk down the aisle

in heels, and on tip toe, and he's still so tall and handsome

 A few weeks ago, one of my sorority sisters tied the knot to her longtime boyfriend. They're one of a few other couples I know who have been together almost as long as us (we're coming up on our 8 year dating anniversary next month). Several other sisters were part of the big day, and we all oohed&aahed&sighed over the pretty bride, and danced the night away. My sweetie was even so gracious as to drive us all home. Fun was had by all, and it seems that every wedding we go to brings back great memories of our own big day last June.

*sigh*

Can we do it again?

dress: Urban Outfitters

belt: Target

shoes (not shown): Steve Madden via Plato's Closet

on my Mr.

shirt: Land's End (his initials are stitched onto the cuff! a Christmas gift from my folks)

tie: my Dad

Pants: thrifted

shoes (not shown): Kohl's

I'm normally a white wine fan, but by the end of the night, only a cabernet was available, so of course I had to document me being a big kid & drinking red wine.

linking up over here today