OOTDs: Some Regular Clothes. Not for Teaching.

Day: Wednesday, September 16, 2015.

Where:  School Meeting followed by Winesday.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) This Boden jersey dress is very comfortable, I dig that it is tighter without being constricting.  It also has shaping at the top part of the dress, which draws the eyes up from my hips/bottom, aka my "trouble" spots.

Outfit Details: Dress, Boden; Shoes, J. Crew; Sunglasses, Target; Necklace, tru.che.

Anecdote of the Day: This was the last Winesday before I left for my cruise (on the 20th).  When I got back to town, the next Winesday there were threats of no more Winesdays (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!) and a few of my most favorite employees had received the ax, even though they were all amazing and most deserving of promotions/more money and not firings.  Stupid Whole Foods.  The Winesdays are still on (phew!), but those employees aren't back.  Boo. 

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Tuesday, September 29, 2015.

Where:  Preschool, Swimming, Old Town Alexandria.

Ease of Wear: (4.75 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Well, gee, I am basically wearing an adult nightgown outside, but because it is shirred just right, and not of flannel, I can wear it and not draw any suspicions.  The scarf helped keep me warm, though I ended up taking it off partway through the day. 

Outfit Details: Dress, J. Crew Factory; Sandals, J. Crew Factory; Scarf, Do Everything in Love; Sunglasses, Target.

Anecdote of the Day: I never had a preschool run where there wasn't a kid attached to me (either CW as a baby, or Angus as a baby), and wow, it certainly is freeing not having any children attached to me at all.  I really enjoyed swimming and going to Old Town with only myself to worry about.   

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Sunday, October 4, 2015.

Where:  Church.

Ease of Wear: (4.25 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) I haven't worn a formal skirt in a while.  I felt compelled to wear this because it was so gross and grey out and felt like matching the skies.  It was fairly comfy, the skirt sits well on my hips and waist, and the tights, sweatshirt, and shoes fit with just the right amount of ease.

Outfit Details: Skirt, J. Crew; Top, Boden; Shoes, J. Crew Factory, Boden; Necklace, J. Crew; Tights, Lands' End.

Anecdote of the Day:  I liked the look, but I was surprised by how many Instagram friends liked it, too.  I never do these monochromatic/neutral looks, and I guess people were happy to see me in something other than eye-searing color and pattern, lol.

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Wednesday, October 7, 2015.

Where:  Funeral of a childhood friend and a school meeting.

Ease of Wear: (4.25 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Well I knew I would be walking to the funeral from my school since the parking is a bear around the church where the funeral was to be held.  I also knew I would have Angus in the stroller, so I had to wear comfy shoes for that, too.  Fortunately this older Boden Limited Edition dress is made of a jersey ponte, and the shoes are flat without being so flat that they are hard to walk in.  I don't wear this dress often, but I appreciate it for occasions like this, one where reverence and formality are key.

Outfit Details: Dress, Boden Limited Edition; Shoes, FS/NY; Earrings, Macy's.

Anecdote of the Day: My friend went to grade school and high school with me, and now I teach with her mom, who I have known forever.  I feel for her mom, so if you are a praying type, do send some prayers her way and for the rest of the family.

On another note, I have now seen five of my high school friends die before age 40.  I know death is part of life, but it seem so shocking to lose so many so young.  We didn't even have that large of a graduating class (~250).  

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Monday, October 5, 2015.

Where:  Very little done this day.  I may have done the school run.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Leggings, Sandals, and a Tunic.  Yeah, 'nuff said.

Outfit Details: Tunic, Boden; Leggings, Boden; Sandals, J. Crew Factory; Necklace, tru.che.

Anecdote of the Day: If I had something to give you, I would.  I know I was happy it had finally stopped raining, after nearly four full days of constant rain.

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Tuesday, October 6, 2015.

Where:  Preschool, Swimming, Huntley Meadows for a walk, and the other school run.

Ease of Wear: (4.25 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  I found the outfit most comfortable after wearing it for a bit.  The J. Crew Reese pants are great, but sit funny sometimes...it's like I have to find their sweet spot on my hips.  At least they come in a tall length so I can have proper full length pants.  It got really warm that afternoon.  Glad to have it, but wore the wrong top.  Oops.

Outfit Details: Sweatshirt, J. Crew Factory; Pants, J. Crew; Sandals, Birkenstock (can find them here at Amazon.com ); Sunglasses, Target.

Anecdote of the Day: I (heart) Huntley Meadows so much.  It is a local wetland/forest preserve that has a boardwalk over the wetland portion.  We always see something, whether it be a snake, a beaver, a heron, etc.  This time was huge numbers of box turtles out sunning themselves.  Every time Angus said (more like like loudly spoke), "ooh look at the turtles, Momma," they would dive off their sunning logs and go hide.  Can't blame them.  He would look terrifying to me if I was their size.

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Sunday, October 11, 2015.

Where:  Lazy day at home.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) I feel like I am on repeat here.  Loose fit pants, a sweatshirt, and some Birkenstocks.  'Nuff said.

Outfit Details: Sweatshirt, J. Crew; Pants, Walmart; Sandals, Birkenstock (can find them here at Amazon.com in gold and silver ); Sunglasses, A.R. Trapp.

Anecdote of the Day: My facebook feed was filled with Redskins chatter (SO BORING, GAW) or people exclaiming they had just run the Army Ten-Miler (not boring, but made me feel LAZY).  I need to go away from FB sometimes.  Better for my mental health. 

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Saturday, October 10, 2015.

Where:  Housewarming Party.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  I love how polished this looks without being polished "feeling."  The Turner pants will always be in heavy rotation in my closet (every color I have fits well no matter what I am feeling that day, weight wise).  Even with the elastic banding at the cuff, they still manage to suitable for my version of dressy.  The linen Lena top is a bit wrinkle-prone, but manages to cut a nice shape without being too form-fitting.  (It actually swings away from my hips, so its a-line shape is perfect for my pear shape.)

Outfit Details:  Top, Boden (here on clearance, I took a size 6); Pants, J. Crew (they are now available in wool--yes, I bought them in grey); Shoes, Target; Sunglasses, Anthropologie.

Anecdote of the Day: Our minivan's battery died.  We manage to get it restarted and went to the housewarming party.  It started again after the party, so we went to Joann's since I needed to pick up some patterns.  That's where trouble started again.  No battery power.  We found the nicest person in the world to take ten minutes of her time after work (she had just gotten off) and she let us jump the van with her engine.  I need to make sure to pay that forward big time.  :-)

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Review/OOTD/Made by Me File: Cashmere Nep and a Chunky Knit.

As promised in my last post (after the update), I have a few clearance Boden items that I would like to review for you all before the big "extra 20% off clearance" sale ends on Monday evening.  But because I am so flipping behind in my blog posting, I am putting my posts to hard work and turning them all into multi-taskers.  So today there will be an outfit of the day, a made by me file (knitting!), and a review.  :-)

Day: Thursday, January 1, 2015.

Where:  Dinner out with some friends.

Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  It was so cold that night and I wanted to be cozy and comfortable and warm.  This outfit is exactly what I needed.  The Cashmere Nep Button Back sweater (here at Boden on clearance) is very warm and lightweight, the super chunky knitted infinity scarf easily blocks the cold wind, the J. Crew Turner pants (here at J. Crew) are easy to wear and interesting to look at, and as per usual, my loafers are my go-to whenever I want casual but without being *too* casual.

Cool Factor: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)  The Turner pants are very unique.  They aren't for everyone, but even my most conservative friends really dug them.  They quite liked the silhouette of the pant and the unusual elastic hems.  I thought for sure that when buying them that I would be returning them, but the size 8 I chose (one size down from what I think I should wear at J. Crew) fits great, and the pockets with the exposed zip application meant they were keepers.

I know big chunky scarves are in (well, provided they aren't *that* big), and I was thrilled that after (not even kidding here, people) a YEAR of work on this one, I finally finished my first *people can look at this and not gasp at how shoddily it is made* project.

If you knit, you will no doubt notice that on my left side in this photo (your right side), there are a few stitches that are off.  I was distracted when knitting up a few rows and made that mistake.  Fortunately, it is easily hidden.  ;-)   For the rest of you, it may not even register that there are mistakes.  Regardless of the mistakes or not, I am so excited that my knitting worked and I have an actual wearable garment.

I have to say, if you want to give knitting a try, give the Knit Lab class over at Craftsy a go.  I had tried for years to use books to teach me how to knit and it never made any bleeping sense.  After spending an entire afternoon giving the process a go while watching this class, I finally got it.  Now, I was NOWHERE near good enough, but at least I could make the basic knit and purl stitches.  Problem with my knitting beforehand was that I was trying to learn continental style knitting and my hands like English style knitting more.  Thankfully the Knit Lab class covered the English style and that was when it all clicked.

It took a few months of working on my tension before I was able to get a good grasp on what properly knitted items look like while knitting, but confused me got there.

If you like to knit, I used this pattern for the above cowl.  She had a knit-a-long at her blog and it is full of very useful information.  I made mine a touch shorter than she did hers.  I used this Lion Brand Alpine Wool yarn for the scarf along with size 11 needles.

Cashmere Nep Button Back Sweater.  Size 6.  You have seen the front view above, but the back view is really what makes this sweater interesting.  I am a bit bummed that the placket at the top you see the facing bit on the underside, but at least it is in a great color to be showing through.  :-)

The buttons do stay very well secured, so there is no worry about that.  The color is very close to a baby pink, but the little bits of differently colored specks (the "nep") take it from being a juvenile color to something a bit more sophisticated.

That said, I like to wear this when I want to feel laid back and comfortable, it is a great weekend kind of top.  I mean, of course I will wear it at other times, but it just screams to me that kind of sweater you go to the farmer's market in.  Ha.

I couldn't have sized down in this, it would have been far too tight.  The size up would have been okay, since a little looser is more of the "look" Boden was probably going for.


Cashmere Nep Button Back Sweater.  The stocks are decent, but the blue sweater is all gone.  That one sold for something like $60 back around Christmas (when they had the extra 10% off) and it was a great deal if you liked that color.  I did like the blue, but have a lot of blue and green in my closet, so I knew I would be better served with this pink one.  The price for the pink version is decent, I think I paid a few dollars more back in December for it.

Okay, that's all for now.  Have a few other reviews coming your way over the next few days.

Made by Me Files: So Many Scarves!

Okay, so in honor of it being below freezing and snowing here in Northern Virginia, I thought I would round-up all of my recent scarf projects in one place.  Most of these below were Christmas presents, but a handful were for me.  (Of course, because you have to test on someone, right???)  ;-)

Enjoy the parade of neck warmers...

First up are the infinity scarves that I created with the help of this Simplicity pattern.  (It is free and very easy to follow.  I ended up having to change measurements, etc., in the process, but overall, the idea is the same for all of the infinity scarves I created.)

I made the above scarf out of a houndstooth cotton jersey ( similar here at fabric.com) for my good friend, B., who happens to have a great big crush on houndstooth.  I kind of knew she would dig it, and the next time I saw her, she was wearing it...and it looked fab on her.  Since I am not a fan of making people appear here who may prefer some privacy, I took a photo of me in it.  I kind of dig it, too.  :-)  I have about a yard of the fabric left, so I may make a top from the leftovers.

B's daughter, M, just turned three and I thought, "wouldn't that be so cute, a mini-me version of the infinity scarf I made for B?"  Well CW thought so, but she is 5 1/2, and a fashionista, so I knew that she would beg me for her own.  (And she did.)  I am not sure M. got it, but maybe she will when she is a bit older.

You have seen this scarf on me already, I wore it here at this post.  As a reminder, the fabric is a wool challis from Fabric Mart that is so soft and airy.  My next plan is to take a similar wool challis and make a square scarf, a la Hermes.

I wore the wool challis scarf again a few days later (you just haven't seen this outfit yet).

You have seen the above tribal print cotton jersey scarf already, here at this post, but I figured another reminder would be helpful, especially if you dug the look.

The second type is a scarf that I *sort of* created on my own.  Basically I took the infinity scarf pattern, but instead of sewing the final ends together, I let them hang free and added some beaded fringe to the ends.  The scarves can still be tied in an infinity-esque look, but is a touch dressier with the bling hanging off of it.  I have a tutorial planned using the first scarf (directly below this paragraph), so if you like the look of it, be on the lookout for that in the near future.

This scarf was for my bowling buddy, P.  She isn't super girly-girl, but I kind of thought she may appreciate having a pretty purple scarf with a touch of shine in her wardrobe.  She sews, so I know she knows what effort I put into it, so she seemed very appreciative.  It felt good to see her smile.  I used a quilting cotton for her scarf.

The beading was from Fabric Mart, but they no longer carry it (I received it for free, btw, in a trim bundle).

This scarf was for my bowling friend, S., who you saw here with me at an 80s cover band concert.  She LOVES purple, so I knew she would like this scarf.  It is made from a poly charmeuse fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics (I received a small remnant, just enough for a short scarf), and the beading.

This scarf was made for my mother (my mother-in-law is modelling it, though).  This is also made from a quilting cotton in the colors my mother JUST LOVES.  She loved it so much she literally flipped out on facebook after receiving it.  Then I told her I sewed it, and she subsequently freaked out even more.  LOL.  :-D

Okay, so that's it for tonight!!!  I hope if you are sewing, you are sewing something to keep you warm.  And if you aren't a sewer, just stay warm, okay???

OOTDs: Besotted with the Dotted.

Good Tuesday!

I am a fan of dots, but in no way besotted, however my continuing use of dots in my wardrobe has led me to conclude that maybe I am *obsessed* (JCAs, a little copy for you to snicker at).

No, not really.  I will admit that maybe I have been indulging a bit lately in the polka pattern, but I blame all the retailers out there who keep putting the pretty little circles all over EVERYTHING. 

First up is the Swishy Jersey Skirt in charcoal spot.  I love my maxi length dresses and skirts from Boden, so when I saw that they had this darling skirt in a midi-length, I thought I would give it a try.

I almost gave up on it initially because I thought it was both too big and too long (I bought the US 6 Long), but upon channeling my inner fashionista (and a HUGE helping hand from sites like Garance Dore--more on that in a mo), I decided I would see if I could make it work for me.

Finding that the length was no longer an issue so long as I paired it with higher heels, I went with these Frye boots with a four-inch heel.

That left the looseness.  I had no problem with that as it does indeed make for easy wearing, but since the waist is a bit big, I figured I would let you all know.  I won't return since I kind of dig the way this skirt looks on me, but if I was re-ordering, I would buy the 4 Long.

I think this sweater may have been one of the most maligned ones ever produced by J. Crew.  It is "itchy, hot, fluffy, prone to pilling, etc."  I have an idea of how it got that image--it's J. Crew knitwear after all, but personally I don't find it too itchy, and I only wear it on cold days, so it isn't too hot, I agree that it is fluffy, but I definitely like that "cotton ball" look, and as of last weekend have seen nary a pill.

Plus I really like how it looks with the red and charcoal.

I wore this sweater while pregnant last year.  I prefer it on me not pregnant.  ;)

No big red Andie bag in the way for the review shots.

I am 5'8" and have a 34 inch inseam.  The skirt hits three inches below my knees.

The jersey fabric is so comfortable.  I could sleep in this skirt.  It has a nice fullness, too, but not in a way that over-emphasizes the hips/thighs, so pear shaped ladies, think about this one as a possibility for your closet.

From the back.

We were headed out to see Santa at "Breakfast with Santa" at Rex's school.  Santa had a fake beard, but the kids were in love.  So cute. 

This Women's Cashmere Silk Vineyard Scarf, is from Lands' End Canvas.  Its silk/cashmere blend is very light, but nice and warm.  Since it is a rectangle shape, as opposed to a square shape, I find that I can tie it a bit differently, like this way, where I twisted the fabric, then looped it three times around my neck and loosely tied the ends.

It was forecasted to get warm later in the day, and since I knew I needed to go to church that night, I brought clothes to turn the outfit from cold weather appropriate to warm weather appropriate, yet still church appropriate.  The shoes are wedges from Target, and the tee is crewcuts.

Above is one of the many images I had used to help me decide on how to style the skirt.

Even though Léa Seydoux is not wearing a maxi skirt, the overall look was one I wanted to replicate, with a strong emphasis on the makeup and hair and accessories.  Plus the silhouette of full and skinny seemed obvious and worked nicely with the fullness of the skirt in my outfit.

While researching this lady in the photo, I discovered she is a French actress and model whose birthday is exactly the same one as mine (not year, but date).  Not necessarily fate, but a strong coincidence.  ;)


Of course Boden's stock catalog photo helped me a bit, too...except for the hat, which I just can't do, it is far too big of a brim for my head.

This is today's spotted skirt.  Same bag, btw, and the bag is what helped me decide on the rest of the color scheme.

The Women's Dot Skirt is from Lands' End Canvas and is shorter than I anticipated, but since I have a ridiculous number of tights from Wal-Mart, I knew I would have something that would work to make it seem like I am showing less leg than I actually am.

I would like to think that I will wear it next summer, bare legged, but don't hold your breath...as much as I am all "I am woman hear me roar," I am still wearing ten extra pounds of baby weight, so I can't promise you will see this with sandals and a tank top next summer.

The shoes so do not have the same color red as the Anthropologie sweater or the Andie bag, and it bothers me not one whit.

Close up of the "Hi There by Karen Walker" tied illusion pullover.  I started off the day feeling that I had made the right choice of this sweater, especially since I had bows in my ears, on my toes, and at my neck...BUT as soon as the temperature hit 70, I was sweltering in this wool-blend top.  I should have done what I did Saturday and carried a navy short-sleeved tee in that big-a@@ bag of mine to change into.

Okay, that's it for tonight.  Once I do a polyvore of the first outfit, I will add it to this post.

Have you been besotted with the dotted lately?