Monday, August 15, 2011

Continued: My Long-Lasting Liberty Love.

Hi!  Before I begin a very photo-heavy post of my love affair with Liberty of London's fabrics, I wanted to let you all know that running around for two weeks after 7-9 years olds took its toll and I pretty much slept the entire weekend.  I *almost* fell asleep at church, which lol, I am sure many of you do without being really tired, but for me is almost unheard of.  :)  So I just didn't have the energy to update my blog.

Regarding Boden, I have taken a look at the winter preview site and I think I will pre-order maybe two pieces.  It's not that I am not inspired, no, much of it is very pretty, but honestly, only a couple of things will fill a need in my life, especially considering that I have a major closet overhaul to do before I can truly justify much more in the dress department, at least.  I do have "picks," though, and definitely will publish those fairly soon.  Also, the maternity coupon expired, which bums me out, but maybe that means a really good offer is coming soon?  (We can hope?  I will let you know if a good one comes along.)  For now, there is a 10% off with free ship/returns running in my sidebar, if you need a coupon.

Onto Liberty!

Ah, the Liberty Bouquet Shirtdress.  I have now worn this multiple times this spring and summer, including twice on my trip to GA/NC/VA.  This time was when we were heading to the Chattanooga Childrens Museum, and I knew I couldn't get super dressed up, but wanted to look decent.  :)

I did a review of it back at this post if you ever see it popback on J. Crew or you find one on ebay that you want. 

The shoes are the Antiqued Stone Flip Flops, and are currently on clearance at jcrew.com.  I took a size 9 (I usually wear a size 9.5).  I quite like them, again, kind of dressy casual, you know?

CW's outfit is all girly a la the way the deep south likes 'em, big ole bow in her hair, gingham, and lots of ric-rac and ruffling.  ;)  Her shoes are the Surf and Sand Salt-water sandals that J. Crew sells.  Since we get to our neighborhood pool by crossing a stream, we actually have a need for good water shoes for all members of our family.  Rex even has toddler sized Tevas.  ;)

Outside the museum, after the visit.  HIGHLY recommended.  I love childrens museums, I wish DC had a better one that was closer to us.  I often will just go to the Richmond one instead because it is big, clean, easy to park at, and fairly inexpensive.

The bag is the Frankie bag (Borge Gavari).  I was lucky to be the only bidder on this on ebay a year ago.  I think I ended up paying just around $100.  It was in perfect condition, btw.  Great bag, nice size, the pink isn't too pink, and if you use it every day, it ages nicely, and looks loved, not used.

The sunglasses are my only real splurge (the Long Floral Swing Skirt would have been one, but the eventual super-discount I was able to get from my amazing Personal shopper brought that down out of the stratosphere) in the past six months.  They are Thierry Lasry and upon spying them at the stand alone Anthropologie accessories store in Friendship Heights, I knew that if the Anthro powers that be sent me a 15% birthday coupon, I would use it for these.  They have the incredibly ridiculous name "Sexxxy," but I do love them so.  :)

Close up of glasses in car ride.  I love how you can see CW smiling away back there in her car seat.  That is one plush car seat...no wonder she falls asleep so easily.

I wore the dress again when we were heading home...here we are at Natural Bridge, VA, and if you can, I highly suggest a stop here.  It is an arched stone natural formation that is really really tall, (can't see it in our photo) surrounded by the beauty of the Eastern woodland, and has a perfect little gurgling stream right next to it.  We try to stop here whenever we head to GA, or on the way home from GA....

And guess what is on the other side of the mountain from Natural Bridge (due east)?  Yee-ha!  Lynchburg, you all. :)  This time I stopped at the Millrace location which is were the actual shipping center is located.  I prefer the Wyndhurst location, which is pretty close to this one, but I still found a couple of goodies for some great prices.  (Quinn hobo from 2008--great price; Lula Snakeskin Ballet Flats--great price; Sevigne Capri Sandals--great price; and for Mr. Dina?  Converse Distressed Jack Purcell Sneakers for the especially great price of $10!) 

BTW, those of you wanting Mona heels or a Edie purse?  There were a lot of those, and it was barely into the fall season when I went.  I think you can either go and get them for yourself, OR know that some ebay reseller will have them up for sale, I promise. 

So you all know, the clearance centers sell really nice things.  Only the purse had a slight stain on it, but one that I knew I could get out with leather cleaner.  The other items were in wonderful shape.

This is a Liberty print in Tana Lawn fabric by Theory that I got from Saks on deep clearance a few years back.  Still love this dress, and try and find a reason to wear this at least once a summer.  The reason this time is that I was using the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" in my teaching last week, and wanted dresses and outfits with a floral theme.  (You will see the rest of those, plus the "fish" themed ones from the "Swimmy" week later on this week.)

Yes, I am wearing the frog clasp double strand necklace with this dress.  It has held up well all these years I have owned it.  Only thing, and this is important to note, this is the ONLY jewelry item from J. Crew that I own that does not have the "J. Crew" circle indicating it was made for J. Crew.  So if you get one from ebay, know that it will not have that circle, and that's okay.  Mine was bought from J. Crew, so it is an actual piece from them.

The sandals are the Reese Studded Snakeskin sandals.  Yet another ebay find.  I know these were from the clearance center because they have the tell-tale black mark, but other than that, nothing wrong from my vantage point.  And for $40 versus (I think) $400 (YIKES!), I will take a black mark, fine. with. me.

Finally, Liberty a la Target.  Still love and wear this top, even though it is poly.  We were just going to IKEA that night for dinner (yum, Swedish MEATBALLS!  with LINGONBERRY SAUCE!  and ROSE HIP DRINK!), but any chance to match CW?  Um, yeah!

The shorts are from the J. Crew outlet and the sandals are old school J. Crew circa Spring 2005. 

Alrighty, thanks for indulging my "have seen already" outfit choices.  I guess, if nothing else, it does prove that I do wear items again and again.  LOL. 

Have a great night.  Stay healthy!  And long live Liberty!