OOTE: Jade, Gold, and a Sprinkle of Coral.

Gotta love a wonky picture on a wall.

Day: Saturday, June 22, 2013.

Where:  75th Anniversary Gala Dinner and Mass.

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Yummy and easy fitting, I would be hard-pressed to find an evening wear piece more comfortable than this lovely silk dress from Anthropologie (Flickering Slip Dress).  I had purchased this while pregnant in 2011 and never did find an occasion to wear it until I realized I needed something summer appropriate and dressy.

Because I had to go to mass before the gala, I knew that I needed a cover of some sort, and this gold jacket from J. Crew was exactly the right shade and structure to complement the dress.  I had found this dress on ebay years ago for a song, if I am remembering correctly this jacket was fairly expensive when it was first rolled out by the Crew back in Holiday 2007.  I couldn't find the info on it in my *very quick* internet search, but I did find this photo.  If I have a moment later, I will look at the catalog and update this post.

Cool Factor: (3.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  The outfit is pretty cool, even if it was worn for a Catholic Church's anniversary, which in some circles of cool would be the uncoolest event ever.  Don't care since I think the fact that the church is that old is pretty darn awesome.  ;-)

Didn't think about it while dressing, but the colors of the church are represented in my outfit.  For the 50th anniversary (which occurred while I was in school there--same one my kids go to, btw), they repainted and redecorated the interior of the church in jade, gold, and burgundy.  You can see photos of the interior here at this post.  I think I must have subconsciously worn the color combo to honor the church.

Anecdote from the day:  The table we sat at for the dinner had other fans of the drink at it, and one of the men had even snuck in a bottle of Scotch whisky.  OMG, that's a good man there.  He had little wee drams with him, one for each of us, and proceeded to pour shots from the bottle for all of us.  I usually don't love whisky, in fact I only drink it to join in toasts, etc., but this time the whisky was delicious, tasted a bit of the peat bog the distillery is located near, and since the smell of peat burning in the Scottish countryside is one of my favorite scents ever (no, I am not kidding), I was immediately in love with the drink.  This man was my best friend for the evening.

Yes, the photo of my brother and me above shows that we may have enjoyed ourselves a bit.  Some of the other guests enjoyed themselves even more.  Hee.  ;-)

Okay, that's it for now...Boden should have their new line up and ready to go sometime later today, I think.  My affiliate site has no coupons, etc., available right now, which makes me think that there will be something on offer soon enough.  Will definitely keep you all updated. 

OOTO: Pleated Blouson Dress Does Double Duty.

First things first...I finally joined the 21st century and made a Facebook page for My Superfluities.  I would adore it if some of you decided that you wanted to "like" that page.  :)  My plan is to do preview outfits that will eventually appear on the blog (I get so behind, this would be a great way to show off each outfit as I wear it) and to tell folks when Boden has sales and I have received news and/or coupons that I can share with you here.  There will likely be more, but since it is in its infancy, that is the plan for now.

So you all have seen the Pleated Blouson Dress in action already when I wrote about my experience wearing it on my birthday weekend (also known as the weekend when derecho Dina hit the east coast).  I only gave the dress a passing review, with one photo, as I was beyond tired from all the festivity and craziness of the unplanned sojourn from electricity...

I have worn the dress twice now (ooto--outfits of the "occasions"), the first time being when I wore it for the birthday/Baptism (which was mentioned in that post I linked to in the paragraph above), and the second time for a wedding of some close family friends (the groom was a boy I used to nanny for--agh--I AM SO OLD).

This is the way I wore it for the wedding.  I felt like I could loosen it up a bit since I wasn't going to be at a church (the groom is a Unitarian and decided to have it outside, my wedding had to be at a Catholic Church)...it felt good to totally change up the look from conservative to a bit more flashy.

Dress: J. Crew Pleated Blouson, Size 6 (fit for my waist, hips/bust free-ish).
Shoes: Via Spiga Mystique, Size 9.5.  These are seriously sexy shoes.  I don't own a lot of sexy shoes.  I bought them on a whim when I saw them at DSW for a ridiculously good price (one of the clearance items plus 40% off).
Bag: J. Crew Candy Stripe Jute Clutch.
Earrings: J. Crew.

I went with no belt this time as I felt like the dress could do well on its own.  I was right.  I far prefer this styling to my original styling.

I kind of like this photo, plus it gives you good look at those amazing shoes.  I kind of feel like these shoes belong in the Eagles song, Those Shoes (that link has the song and some silly dragon avatar--huh?).

This was from the first outing.  Mr. Dina caught this angle, and I ended up liking the image.  You can see the belt here.  I really don't mind the belt, but prefer the styling as worn to the wedding.

Original styling.  It is fun, it is colorful, and it is "current," but I definitely won't be replicating it.  I am having issues with those yellow Lena wedges, too.  I have now worn them three times and while I love them on their own, I have not liked them with the skirts and dresses I have paired with them.  (I think I may need to wear them with shorts and capri pants instead.)


Onto photos from the occasions that the dress was worn to:

It was Angus's baptism, the one day where he will ever wear a bonnet.  We loved this photo.  Every time he smiles now he sticks out his tongue.  :P

He was only awake for a few brief moments during the actual Baptism, when the water hit his head.  He didn't even scream or cry.  He kind of just looked up, looked about a bit, and went back to sleep.  That's my boy. 

Taken right after the actual baptizing.

Mr. Dina is not Catholic, but the Father still blessed him.  :)

After the ceremony, all the family photo taking commenced.  Man, so many photos.  And only two or three managed to turn out.  My favorite was the twenty or so taken of all of us with Mr. Dina's family...they all looked silly.  Especially CW, who did a different funny face in all of the images.  (Maybe one day I will just publish those...)

The wedding (the next Saturday) took place at an historic home in Maryland.  It was so pretty there...but get this...it was also the hottest day yet in the DC area in some unimaginable years.  We didn't break the record of 106 (seriously, ONE OH FREAKING SIX), instead petering out at 105.  Viva la difference.

Pleated Blouson Dress Does Double Duty. by dinagideon featuring j. crew dresses

The polyvore of my preferred styling for this dress is above.

Alrighty, then, we'll talk soon.  Hope you all have a great night, and maybe I'll see you over at Facebook.  :)