Giveaway: Celebrate. Good Times. Come On!

I recognize that a photo of Johnnie Boden in a bathrobe would probably be more fitting for my blog's fourth "blog-o-versary," but I figured most of you would prefer this gif of DJ Lance Rock doing his thang on Yo Gabba Gabba instead.

Okay.  So this is year number four.  Wow.  This blog baby of mine is as old as my daughter.

I have lots that I want to write about, everything from gratitude and appreciation for those of you who read this little corner of the internet daily to my near daily amazement that this is what I ended up doing (even partially) with my life.  If you had asked me at twenty (the height of my "I don't care how I look, only how smart I am" period of my life) if I would have ever had anything at all to do with fashion, I would have snarkily laughed in your face.  I am glad I found my way out of my know-it-all self and stopped taking it. all. so. seriously.

(I was that stick in the mud girl in college that sneered at people when they dared to be louder than a titmouse in the library.  Yeah, I was not especially pleasant.)

It has been interesting to see where these years have taken me, my blog, and my family.

I feel so happy and chill right now.  I think in the beginning, I didn't allow myself to just enjoy the process of this blog and let the overwhelming, nagging voice in my head that kept saying, "what in the world are *you* doing writing a personal style blog," take over far too often.  Now that I have four years gone, I don't even hear that voice anymore, I just think, "I have a personal style blog."  It's just a bit of fun and fluff that I do nearly every day and for the foreseeable future, anticipate continuing!

(But even with the fluff, thanks to this blog and all you great readers and your suggestions, I found out that my debilitating migraines were in fact mini-strokes caused by a hole in my heart.  So in some truly awesome bit of serendipity, I needed this blog to help me fix me.)

Anyhow, as per usual, I just had to go on and on...

ONTO THE GIVEAWAY!

Since it is four years, I have FOUR gift cards to give away to four followers of this blog (one per follower, lol, let's be clear).

1. Each gift card will be for $25.

2. The gift card can be from these stores: Boden, J. Crew, Madewell, and Anthropologie. 

3. Although I mainly have American readers, I have a definite set of followers from Canada, the UK, and throughout Europe.  You all are welcome to enter, but clearly you will be unable to receive the Madewell gift card.  I can work out the arrangement of getting you a gift card (same value, just in your currency) from the other three somehow.  But please do enter!  I have a strong feeling a lot of my high view numbers on the Boden posts are from non-US people.  :)

4. The giveaway will be closing on January 22, 2013 at 11:59 Eastern Time.  I will announce the winner on January 23, 2013.

5. To enter, make sure you follow this blog either at Facebook, at Bloglovin', or through Blogger.

6. Comment directly below this post with a link to your favorite item at one of these four stores.  (If you can't make the link work, you could also just say the name of the store and the name of the item.)  Also make sure to tell me how you follow this blog.

You all are the best, and I cannot wait to give out these four gift cards to the lucky winners!

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR A GREAT FOUR YEARS!  Here's to a {few} more...

OOTDs: Teal, Grey, and Pink.

Good evening, all!

My poor poor lil Angus has come down with some sort of congestion and that combined with some real nasty teething means my lil guy is almost incapable of nursing.  He kept bucking and struggling and arching his back, which led to a visit to the local Urgent Care here in Mississippi.  Sigh.  I am so tired and down after this day of not being able to meet my baby's needs.  Fortunately the doctor ruled out any sort of awful infection and has given us a script for antihistamine to clear Angus's nasal passages, but blegh, poor kid.

*He has nursed since this morning, but it is a struggle, at least he is trying...*

Since this is a personal style blog and not a baby blog, I will move on, but I am going to keep it brief since my ability to type, think, and write are almost non-existent right now. 

Two Fridays ago, on the 16th, my brother and I hung out all day, he had the day off and I needed to get about a billion errands run, so we did them together.

It was a lovely, pleasant day, with bright blue skies, sunshine, and mid-50s.  Truly the best sort of fall day...

I had received these Cafe Capri in Herringbone pants in the mail a few weeks ago, but it has been just a touch too warm to wear them.  I did know, though, that I wanted to combine the pink with teal and grey, seemed liked it would be a pleasing color combo to the eye, even if the colors read more mid-winter or early spring.

With the utterly perfect temperatures for wool dressing on that Friday, I figured a grey herringbone (the Ryder jacket from 2006--worn here last) and the pink herringbone would keep me warm enough, and be texturally interesting, as well.

The capris, btw, are a tall 8.  I could have bought the regular 8 and had them hit higher on the calf, but I have discovered that if a capri is too short on the leg, it looks kind of ridiculous on me, so I always buy the tall when given the option.  Though these read as regular pants instead of cropped, I am okay with that, as I think this looks a bit less casual.

Without the jacket, the look becomes more casual, but still very collegiate preppy.  :)


I had to go to the neurologist for my annual check of my head.  Although my hubby would like to argue with her, I am not completely crazy, and it looks like my head is in perfect health.  Besides regular run of the mill migraines, I have no other issues.  (She confirmed that all the business with the PFO had been taken care of with my closure back in December of 2010.)

That bag is the Quincy hobo that I was able to pick up from the outlet down in Lynchburg for a ridiculously low price (I think it may have been $40).

There's my partner in crime, looking all hip to my square.  I seriously need a pocket protector and I would be set.  Peter *is* the reason fathers lock their daughter's windows at night.

Close up of the details of the jacket, vest, shirt, and necklace.  I kept missing the Crystal circle necklace on jcrew.com and figured I would never get it, but with a bit of money in my paypal account from selling some of my own items, I decided to see if it was available on ebay, and it was...for a great price (much better than the price on jcrew.com, too). 

The blythe blouse in polka dot was a random add on (sale, of course) purchase I made one day, and it turned out well, quite like it, and having seen it styled on so many bloggers, I get the appeal.  In fact, the lovely Audrey Bella has it on in her blog post from earlier today.

There's the patient.  He was in far better spirits that day, of course.

Since I have you here, I figured I would throw in this one off outfit, too.  The only thing that ties them together is the fact that this one has a sort of teal sweater as well.  (Although it looks like a deep dark blue here, I can confirm there is a bit of a green hue to it.)

The oversize merino pocket sweater is amazing, but I really can't see a way to dress it up.  I wore this to take Angus to a Little Gym class, hence the stretchy leggings, lack of accessories, and ballet flats.  If you have an idea of how to make this sweater more fancified, I would love to read it (or see polyvores). 

Here is a close-up of the sweater.  The pockets are there right below my hand, and I did find myself placing my hands in them throughout the day.  I wouldn't say you can put anything really substantial in there, but my phone went in there just fine and didn't fall out.

AJC did a great review of it a while back.  :)

Okay, that's all for today.  I definitely will be back tomorrow, so I will talk with you then.

I hope everyone is having a great couple of days, especially if you are in the United States and have had the last few days off from work.  ;)

J. Crew Factory: Inspiring Me Now.

I recently, because I have decided to enter the year 2000, have discovered the "prt sc" button on my computer's keyboard.

And because polyvore won't "clip" images for me to use in my polyvore sets when J. Crew and all the others use Adobe Flash Player for their cool outfit looks they often publish on the front pages of their websites, I decided I needed to figure this junk out already.

And here's the thing...you all, the most savvy or at least semi-computer literate out there, have been doing this "print screen" thing for years...and the pin didn't drop for me until. three. weeks. ago. when I accidentally touched the "prt sc" button instead of the backspace button, and a little photo appeared at the bottom of my screen that said "screen shot saved."*  BING!  Aha!  So that's how all those bloggers got the awesome images of outfits and models and catalog shots that I couldn't save or clip to polyvore, etc.

*It saved an e-mail I was writing to Mr. Dina one day...the day I was REALLY mad at him.  Heehee...I now have physical, photographic proof that I am capable of sticking up for myself.  ;)

Those of you who have been doing this for years, my hat is off to you.

And yes...I was the girl who worked at both Babbages and Software, Etc. back in 1993 and 1994.  I fear my "hot computer girl" cred will go down the tubes by admitting I just discovered the "prt sc" button, but to be fair, back in 1993 and 1994 most computers were big hulking machines with a mouse running on its mouse wheel to keep the processor, you know, processing.  LOL.  ;)

Okay, so what is this HUGE aside about me being a computer not so nerd leading towards?

I really really love many of the clean, classic, and fun, colorful looks that my favorite retailers are coming out with, and since I love to have the images for my polyvore account so I can create outfit sets (inspiration, you all!), I figured I would just say "stuff it" to Adobe Flash Player and screen shot the heck out of my faves and publish them here on my blog.

So tonight is J. Crew Factory, but I have images from regular J. Crew, Boden, and Madewell that I will be publishing soon enough...

And as long as the companies keep coming up with adorable outfit ideas and pretty catalog images, I will continue to keep publishing posts like this!

#6--This was from April's rollout of Factory items.  I have this retail skirt (Paisley Pencil Skirt from Summer 2012) and (like many JCAs) a plethora of striped tees, so this will be a no brainer.  Now if I could do my hair and makeup like that, I will be one happy lady.

#7--Same rollout as #6 above.  Lots of folks have the Victoria cami from 2008, and it was nice to see them re-issue it in the factory nearly four years later (even if it was in poly).  I liked the idea of wearing it on its own with shorts and heels, very pretty and unexpected for the summer.

#11--April rollout, again.  The casbah print was wonderful from last year, and I love that they did this in a pencil skirt.  I own the silk top so I didn't get the pencil skirt, but I like the thought of a slight pink pattern with the casbah.  Lots of bloggers have this skirt, I would love to see one of them try this.

#8--April, again.  Simple, clean lines, and chic.  Looks like blonde Audrey Hepburn 2012.

#4--Last one from April.  This look can be easily replicated with my silk casbah top, would likely have done it anyhow, but I like the reminder.  :)

#8--This is a look from the current rollout (May).  I think Angela looks beautiful here in this simple pairing of perfect accessories and colors for the bold paisley printed pants.

(Angela, like Edda, is one of my most favorite J. Crew/Boden models, so I love seeing her modeling again.  J. Crew is smart to pick up on the love many of us have for the old school J. Crew models.  Now if only they would bring back Vanessa.)

#11--This is also May 2012.  Now I would normally have never put this look together myself, but I love the idea of a tunic with a shorter skirt, if it comes out looking like this.  We'll see if I can try and do this with any of the pieces in my wardrobe.  I love those wedges, too (the Maryanne Leather Wedges).

This is what the outfits look like all together on the main page of the factory site (after you click "women" from the front page).  The one above is all the April 2012 outfits.

What have you been inspired by from J. Crew factory lately?

Boden Weekly Review Roundup: Cords and Yummy Mini-Boden.

Hi, everyone...

I am late, late, late with this post, but I am SO glad I waited to publish, because--
1)  I actually wore the outfit today, in our heat and humidity, and I did not melt (so yay for versatility)
and
2) there are the cutest little mini-Boden reviews today, one of which wasn't even published by my bloggie friend until this morning!

I know there is a lot of hub-bub in J. Crew land, what with the gorgeous new arrivals and all, but I am slightly annoyed at them (not my on-line PS, she is awesome) for dropping the ball on a pre-order that I have been--
1) saving up for all summer long
and
2) ordered as a pre-order over a month and a half ago, so imagine my irritation when...

there is no confirmation e-mail for this item this morning AND I am on a waitlist that, from what I understand, does NOT mean that I will get said coveted item.  Blegh and double blegh.  If my PS comes through and fixes this and gets me the item in my size and with the 20% off coupon applied (was a condition to me pre-ordering), then I will scream and exalt her powers all over this here blog.

So, it is with some pleasure that I get to shout and exalt the awesomeness of the Boden land on the day that J. Crew is all over the blog-o-sphere.  Take that Mickey and your stupid inventory issues!  LOL.

Before the reviews begin, a reminder...if you would like to see an item on me or Rex close-up, click on the photo...if you would like to see it on a bloggie friend's mini-me, click on the link provided back to the blog...and if you would like to check on measurements, sizing, colors, and prices, click on the Boden stock photo.

For savings, all I have right now is 10% off and free shipping and returns.  The coupon is on the sidebar, or if you are mobile user of this site, I have placed an extra code at the bottom of this post.  I suggest clicking on it to ensure that you get the 10% off before you hunt around, I don't believe the stock photos are coded with percentage savings (at least they weren't last I checked).  If you have a code that you got in a catalog, you can still use that code, but you would have to manually enter it in the shopping bag/cart page of your browsing session.

Up first, one lonely dress review by yours truly:

Stitch Detail Dress. This pic was taken at the end of the day, when the kids from next door were no longer playing outside.  Even though they can't see this part of the driveway from where they play, I hear them, and all I can think is "those kids are totally going to get the wrong idea if they catch me posing in front of my camera by myself."  Usually I have the world to myself as the street is very quiet, very very retired, and very tucked away.  I guess I should just get over myself, but I just can't own this bit of my vanity outside of my blog.  LOL.

Anyhow, the pic shows the true color of the antique gold, which is more of an olive-tinged green/yellow.  I happen to love this color, but it is very different than the item image at Boden.

I also wanted to show that the cord wrinkles, especially in the lap area if you sit to do anything.  It's okay, and it is cord fabric, after all, but if wrinkling bugs you, stay the heck away (although it isn't nearly as bad as cotton sateen or linen).

Back-lit shot, hands in pockets.  At least the kids couldn't see me posing, I guess.  Love the pockets, very nice positioning (I am wearing the regular length, the long would have placed the pockets too far south for me).  

From the side.  I am wearing the size 8 regular.  It fits nicely through the hips, even a bit roomy.  The bust was pretty large, but nothing terrible, and obviously if I typically wear a size 4 top, I have come to expect that tops will always be roomy on me.  I could have gotten into a 6 regular, but I don't really have a desire to do that in a dress that I am looking more to be for my dressy pre-school runs.

From the back.  I actually like the rear view, I hadn't realized that there was seaming to add shape until I saw this image.  :)

This is a close-up of the collar and pocket detail.  You can also see the color here too. 

I love this J. Crew necklace, I think it was called the knotty pearl necklace.  I find that silver, while unexpected as a pairing for olive, looks nice, and I do believe I will try this necklace with more of my olive hued items in the future.

FWIW, it was near 90 here today.  I did not melt in the cord fabric, and the poly lining did not cling to my body.  I was surprised, and slightly excited!  This dress is truly all-season...bare in the summer, long-sleeved tee under with ballet flats in the fall and spring, and with tights and boots in the winter.

Ooh, deceptive color there in this image.  Very very muted compared to what I own.

Obviously the catalog image has the hue more spot on.  Just so you know, this is a fast seller.  Almost all sizes and colors are on waitlist right now.


Stitch Detail Dress. This also comes in raisin, purple, and navy.

Mini-Boden cuteness everywhere:

Embroidered Skirt. Seriously...I think Polly and I would just share clothing if we were the same size. It was her fault (in a good way, wink) that I got the stitch detail dress. Now it seems that our daughters should share clothing (but the sadness, CW is younger than her sweet Sassy). Look at how ADORABLE Polly's daughter Sassy looks in the purple owl version of this skirt!  (Oh, and Polly, I will be buying that size from you when your daughter outgrows hers.  PROMISE.  Hand on heart.)


Pointelle T-Shirt. This image does NOT show how lovely this shirt is in real life. I get that it looks cute all layered, but Sassy shows it off in all its glory here. :)

In the Band T-Shirt. Rex has an affinity for Neil Peart. Which makes sense when you consider how much time our family listens to Rush. I do not even kid when I say that. Canadians everywhere, rejoice. My son's favorite Rush song is "Natural Science." Yes. "Natural Science." My daughter? "Free Will." I admit to loving "Red Barchetta." And we could go on, and on, and on. So when presented with an owl playing drums, Rex knew this tee was for him. And one day it will be CW's.

When we are in the car, btw...I am Geddy Lee, because I am the only one who can sing that high, CW plays the sythesizer, Daddy plays the bass (or slaps da bass if you are an "I Love You, Man" aficionado), and Rex drums. Poor Alex Lifeson has no support from our little rockers. Maybe if we have another kid, that kid can take on that job. Yes. That is our nerdy family.

Rex is wearing the 4-5 size, which is a bit big, but after one wash and dry will fit perfectly.


In the Band T-Shirt. You can also get your son a Raccoon singer or a Fox guitarist.

Mobile users, here is a code for you all so you don't have to go to my sidebar:



Okay, have a great night everyone. :)

Summer Sun-Dressing: Boden Edition

Hi! First thing before I get started. I had a MAJOR closet purge over the past month (and I am nowhere near done) and I found a lot of items that fit me but don't work for me...SO...I offer them to you all now. :) There are some nice items there and I tried to keep the prices as low as possible.

Second...it seems I was in a major Boden mood this weekend and last night...and because it has been crazy hot and humid here, I let my Boden mood take me to these delightful sundresses.

Untitled by dinagideon featuring J Crew jewelry

Above is the polyvore of the two outfits I am showing you today. The one on the left I wore on Saturday and the one on the right I wore last night.


Sizes:
Dress: UK 12, US 8. Could have sized down in the Amalfi Dress in the green colorway, as this is a bit big in the bust and waist, but I think it looks fine the size I ended up getting. (Plus, since it is washable, there may be some shrinkage, so it will probably fit well soon enough.) Isn't this a delightful dress? I felt so lady-like going out with my hubby for my (very belated) birthday dinner.
Shoes: Size 9. Available from the Loft last year. They have the cutest bee critters on the straps.


Sizes:
Dress: UK 12, US 8. Yet again, could have sized down in this funloving Floral dress as the shoulders are kind of large, but again this is washable, so it will most likely shrink. Don't you just love how happy the flowers look on this dress? So yellow and sunny!
Shoes: Size 9.5. Yes, Aerosoles, you had me at "hello" with these fab studded gladiator wedge sandals.

Guess I was in a "bee" mood, as well, because the necklace is the yellow beaded "bee" critter necklace that J. Crew made two summers ago.


Yes, that is a mini-Boden dress, and yes, she is wearing my bee critter necklace. I know, I know...PRECIOUS. :)

You all are NEVER gonna guess where CW and I went looking like this...






WAIT FOR IT...







Couple more spaces...






Okay...


I have no idea what we are posing in front of. Rex probably does, and CW could probably sing the song that goes along with the scene of the movie this belongs in. To the people at the concert, I *was* the lame-o. Yep.
Dah, dah, dah...(PAUSE) DAH, DAH, DAH, DAH, DAH, DAH, DAH...STAR WARS...NOTHING BUT STAR WARS!

Yep, we "nerded-out" and went to STAR WARS IN CONCERT on Saturday night. Actually, I was sort of dragged along (with the promise of box seats--friend gifted them to us--I was a little more amenable after I heard that) by my dear son and hubby. Even CW was humming bars of the Imperial March *note, that link goes to a HILARIOUS youtube video of lego starwars people in an orchestra--at least I think it is funny*. I had to bring a bit of color to the procession of black and white (impersonators of Darth Vader and the Clone Troopers, respectively).

It actually was a lot of fun. Surprisingly. I do like the music...but at one point, after being jostled by the fiftieth person looking to get as CLOSE AS POSSIBLE to the memorabilia, I announced loudly to Mr. Dina, "agh, they are just MOVIE PROPS, people." To which Mr. Dina just shook his head sadly at my disrespect. (Sorry, George Lucas.)


Doesn't Mr. Dina look so happy to be here? I am just happy he is wearing a colorful shirt instead of dressing up as Yoda.

Have a great day, all. :)