Winter Wardrobe Day 5: Sosie Sparkle!

Winter Wardrobe Day 1 is here and Winter Wardrobe Days 2-4 are here.

On the very last day of Winter Wardrobe, we had our "runway shows," which is where the young ladies dress in the style of their inspiration boards (you know, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga!, even Andy Warhol) and to the tune of David Bowie's "Let's Dance," they catwalk like real models and get to show off for a few seconds of fame (sadly no 15 minutes of fame in our runway shows).

I am their MC, and as such, I kind of need to be all shiny, bling-y, and brilliant.  I wore this the last time (for Fall into Fashion), and this last spring (for Spring into Style).  This time I called on Sosie to help me.

I have a girl crush on Sosie.  To read her story, and how I acquired her, please read this post over at True Crew Love.

Sosie Sequin Tank: Size 4.
Long Boyfriend Blazer: Size 4 (Yay for popbacks at 2 am...no I am not kidding.  I know I should have been sleeping but look at how good Sosie looks with her boyfriend.)
Toothpick Ankle Jeans in Twilight Wash: Size 30 Tall.  This was back when J. Crew offered their ankle length denim in talls.  They need to bring that back.  The 31 inch inseam is great and the talls also seem to offer a longer rise, which I need.  These jeans also have a wicked high % of stretch material, so they fit like a glove.  Easily my favorite pair of jeans ever.  My bday pal, Gigiofca, also LOVES hers.
Alecia Suede Peep-Toes: Size 9.5.  Great until about 2:15.  Then my feet gave up.  LOL.

The necklace is the sea urchin necklace from last spring.  I shortened the length significantly.  It is meant to hang much lower.

From the side.  My feet look really big from the side.  :)

Hand on hip.  :)

So that's it for this week of fashion.  I think Day 5 was my favorite.

P.S. Little secret: I LOVE the band Rush.  Just thought I would tell you that.  We female Rush fans need to come out of the closet already.  After viewing their documentary last night, I was all, "Mr. Dina, the world needs to know that there are at least a few XXs out there that think that Geddy, Neil, and Alex can really rock it out."  (Even in their synthethizer heavy 80s period.)

P.P.S. Here is photographic proof...I am at a concert with Mr. Dina:

I was one of the only females there that day.  There was a lot of more of these kind of fellas:

2010--Let's Start with an Award and a Look Back...

One of my resolutions is to get on top of any awards that are given to me from other bloggers. It is a really nice thing, and while I take every single award seriously, I find if I don't get to it RIGHT AWAY, it falls through the cracks. NO MORE!!! :) Thank you to the wonderful Eleanor, et. al, over at the very cool Shopping the Closet blog for their interest in me and my blog. So sweet, and your words about my blog and my kids were just perfect as a pick-me-up this week. :)

So here goes:

1. For all my goings on about being a native of Northern Virginia (as much as any of us can claim it), I was born elsewhere, in a small town in California. Yes, teeny-tiny. The big time there every year is a carnival and parade they have in June. It is an absolutely stunning place, really close to the ocean, and the people are super-friendly, but it is not typical CA. It is more typical Missouri than anything else. Definitely nothing like Northern Virginia. My relatives are all still there, so I do get to go back, but it isn't my home and hasn't been for a really long time.

2. I also lived in Germany as a small child. I learned German and English at the same time, which bizarrely makes me "bilingual." Supposedly if you learn two languages that early in life you never lose either language, you just fall out of practice. What's even weirder is I will sometimes think of a German word for a word, instead of the English word. I also dream in German, too. And when I was in the Netherlands, Dutch sounded very interesting to me, because it is a combo of English and German...or at least that is what I think it sounds like.

3. I HATE driving. Like DETEST it. I will only drive if I really have to, or if I have someone in the car for me to focus my attention on (while keeping my eyes on the road). I used TO LOVE driving, but slowly, and surely, the aggression of this area's drivers (not necessarily natives of this area, there are a lot of transplants who came here after college) chipped away at my patience, and now I try to either have others drive me or I walk. Isn't that terrible?

4. You all have already heard about my BIG OLE Don Henley crush, but I didn't tell you that I found Phil Collins cute, have I? Yeah, I know. There are others. I will wait till the next "spill your guts" award to tell you more of these oddball crushes I have had.

5. I am attracted to shiny things, just like a magpie.

6. I love my kids, clearly, but I don't really have a saint's patience, so sometimes when I get exasperated with them, I put them in their cribs, walk away, and take 5 whole minutes to collect myself. It has made a world of difference. At first I got really upset at myself, but then I started reading that other mom's do this too, and I felt better. So here I am to tell you all that if you are mom, it is okay to do similar. (I don't leave the house, I literally just go into the next room and wash my face or something...)

7. I am keeping the ruffled Carly dress. I said I was going to return it to keep the money, but my husband says my legs look nice in the dress and says that if the dress makes me feel good, then I need to keep it!!! YAY! Love it!!! :) Plus, he loves LEGOS. Teehee.

Now it's your turn...I am tagging:

1. HeidiG. at Head to Toe with Heidi, my girl numero uno!

2. Drewablank at This, That, and What Not...I miss seeing her and this blog allows me to connect with her at least a bit!!!

3. Slastena at About All and Nothing At All...SWAK to a new mom, I obviously was there when I started my blog, and she was there for me back then...

4. Ema at My Closet, My Baby, and I...such a cutie with a great sense of style!

and in honor of her 1 year blogoversary:

5. Chanel Fashionista at Chanel Fashionista...this isn't because I won a gift today, but to say thank you for a great year!!! :) But thank you for the gift, so very cool!!!

There are so many others, and I love to spread the wealth, so the next time I win an award, I will nominate a whole new crowd of blogs.

Now, let's move onto the Year Behind Us, aka 2009:

I started this blog on January 15, 2009, when I was four months postpartum. It is January 1, 2010, today, and I am now 16 months postpartum. Heehee.

In that time, my style, my body, and my life have changed for the better, completely due to this blog.

I am going to give you an overview of my "style transformation" as I like to call it in a bit, but I want you all to know that as of today I am THREE pounds away from my goal weight. YAY! So over the last nearly twelve months I have lost nearly 25 pounds of baby weight (that doesn't include what I lost before I started this blog).

My life, well, clearly I enjoy spending time writing on blogs. I have two substantive blogs, and two other more utilitarian blogs (one for polyvore and one for selling clothing). I have learned in this year that not everyone is going to like me, not everyone is going to like my clothing choices, and not everyone is nice (that was really hard for me to understand). But I did also learn that there is a great amount of amazing folks out there...and I am fortunate enough to have most of my blog audience be these really awesome folks. You all humble me daily when you turn out to cheer me on, talk with me about really random stuff, appreciate our shared obsessions with J. Crew or Boden, and be my best bloggie friends ever. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.
My style? I started this seriously only thinking three or maybe four people would want to talk with me about my style. My early blog followers (Maggy, swak for being one of the very earliest) really really kept me going. Fashion on this postpartum body was very hard to find...some days I was SQUEEZING into something and feeling terrible about it. But then by spending time over at other blogs and seeing what others had to offer, I found some pretty darn awesome looks. There were some clunkers along the way (HeidiG., lame outfit???) but the vast majority were just somewhere in between, perfect mom on the go wear...not mom jeans territory, but you know, this mom is giving it some effort today.

But who does a let's start the New Year post with just "okay?" Nope, not me.

Here are my FAVORITE looks from this year. (I don't have the photos, many are stored in my external hard drive, so you will have to click over to see my choices...plus that keeps it mysterious.) :)

1. 1/15/09--First outfit ever, and even though I was 25 pounds heavier, I think I did a nice job of finding an outfit that looked good with my momma curves. (Featuring the Merino Wave Cardigan.) Oh, and, my goodness, CW IS SO TINY!!!

2. 2/1/09--The day I really played with color. Bright, saturated yellow with a tomato red turned out to be a nice combo. Plus my hair is the winter red, and I now think I like my winter red. (Which is taking longer to appear this year.) (Featuring the amazing Sybil Double Cloth Coat.)

3. 2/12/09--Shimmery in February. I wore this to dinner with my husband and babies. I had lost some weight and I was thrilled by how well the outfit turned out. Still am... (Featuring the Maggie Peacock Jacket.)

4. 3/8/09--Teals and Browns make a nice combo, who knew? (Featuring the merino snow leopard Tartine cardigan.)

5. 3/27/09--Florals and Citron are good colors for my skin tone. I am not sure this was my most popular outfit, but I like the way I looked in it. (Featuring and Ann Taylor Loft Floral Print Top.) Rex's fashion? Hmm... :P

6. 4/30/09--The Cerise Pants (the bright red ones) come out to play. They are bright, but they work with the mix of grey and white. (Featuring the Cerise pants, heehee.)

7. 5/5/09--Tonal Olive...worn to a movie. Wasn't sure but I liked it. Got back from the movies and something like 20 of you had commented you loved it. SCORE!!! :) (Featuring the Olive Victoria Cami.)

8. 6/4/09--Very controversial but this is the ruffled cotton sateen dress in dark mushroom. I liked it and so did many of you...but this may be one of the first time I realized not everyone likes what I feel comfortable with...one of many to come. Smile. I do want to point out that I feel confident that this is a good look for me, and I feel like that is HUGE. (Featuring the Ruffled Cotton Sateen Dress...natch.)

9. 6/11/09--The day I wore some Boden. Love the tunic, love the citron and brown combo. Still love them and will wear the same pieces next year, regardless if they may be a bit loose. :) There are always tailors. (Featuring the silk tunic from Boden.)

10. 9/7/09--I liked the looks from the summer, but I didn't LOVE LOVE them enough to make this list. So onto September I go. This was the day I showed the outfit that I wore to go to the White House in...with my fabulous bloggie friends. Very ladies who lunch, this get-up. (Featuring the Twist Sash Dress.)

11. 10/2/09--Ooh, purple and yellow. Yes, the perfect pencil skirt in plum...nuff said. :) (Featuring the perfect pencil skirt in plum.)

12. 10/7/09--This was the post on the amazing on-line personal shopper I have. She found this dress for me, and when I got it, it felt like I had met my clothing soul-mate. (Featuring the shimmer paisley lawn dress.)

13. 12/3/09--I felt like a Parisian lady in this get-up. (Featuring the vintage tiered fleur top.)

14. 12/12/09--Oh, these pastels plus a punch of yellow? Lovely. (Featuring the Winnie Coat.)

That is all for now. And here is to a whole new Year. Thank you, all. ;)

Kreativ? Moi? How very nice...

I want to thank AppGal (check out her very fun and incredibly sweet blog, Musings on the Mountain) for the Kreativ Blogger award! Thank you so much, my North Carolina friend! I am still, to this day, shocked that anybody outside of our nanny and my family reads my blog!

Here are the instructions:
1) Thanking the person who gave this to me!

2) Copy the Logo and place it your blog.

3) Link the person who nominated you.

4) Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know. (Hmm, this could be a lot of fun...)

5) Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6) Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7) Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

So here are my 7 things...(and I am going really obscure...you all already know how much I love my kids, my family and friends, other bloggers, etc.):

*I have to have one bottle of green tea a day, and it has to be from the Japanese Green Tea company ITOEN. I actually have to make a quest to one of the three or four stores in this area that carry it...I feel like if I don't get my green tea, then I am not really ready for my day. It is weird, I know. (Oh, and watch out if it is on sale, I will buy out the entire store.)

*I get a tingle of excitement when someone recognizes the fact that being raised in Northern Virginia is pretty darn rare (seriously, there are not that many of us that stick around). Recently one of Rex's teachers, Coach B. said, "You were raised here? You and the four others? I heard that you all existed but I don't believe I have ever met one..." :) SMILE! I will forever be appreciative to Coach B. You rock!

*I enjoy reading all types of maps. I could stare at a map (be it big, small, old, new, political, or topographic) for HOURS. REALLY. HOURS. Just ask Mr. Dina. I think he believes I have a form of Asperger's because of it. I just say I like being focused. Plus, who do you want to be with on a walk in the woods? Me, or my husband? Yeah, that's what I thought.

*I received my Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with a concentration in Historical Archaeology. It sounds cool, and it really is, but man, it takes a lot of years of extra college, and a ridiculous amount of kissing butts of professors to actually "DO" the job. I have little desire to continue on with it because of these reasons. I am too old and stubborn to kiss the butts of people who are just as human as the rest of us. If I don't expect people to kiss my butt, why would I kiss your butt? Just saying...

*I am really glad crayons are non-toxic (CW, if she had a list, would talk about how much she LOVES to eat crayons).

*I once thought it would be cool to work in a steel mill. I have absolutely no factory workers in my family, and the whole idea of being a factory worker intrigued me. And yes, I would bring my bottle of green tea with me.

*I really really REALLY want to go to Bora Bora and stay in one of those over-the-water huts that cost something like a million dollars for one night (well, more like a thousand, but still)...

I nominate... (So you all know--I could have easily nominated twenty more bloggers--there are so many good reads out there...):
Lemonade Makin' Mama

HeidiG.

Cate

Drewablank

Mslay

Beth

Stylestance

Have a fun, KREATIV weekend. ;)

Deco Aurora/Mslay did this today, and invited others to, as well...so here goes!

Directly from her blog this morning, but with my answers. BTW, Joyce, I promise, promise to get the pics from "where I blog" up soon!

Here is the link to mslay's answers: http://decoaurora.blogspot.com/2009/02/getting-to-know-you.html

Just another one of those things you have to do...so here is one of those questionnaires about myself. I invite/Tag all of you to do one on your blog so I can get to know you better as well.
1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:30--I got to sleep in (yep, sleeping in for me is that early)!
2. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Confessions of a Shopaholic with the lovely DC JCAs.
4. What is your favorite TV show? A lot of them...Flight of the Conchords, Desperate Housewives, Big Love, Ugly Betty, What Not to Wear, Biggest Loser...
5. What did you eat for breakfast? Yummy Kashi Cereal
6. What foods do you dislike? none...well, poorly cooked chicken, but who doesn't agree with me there?
7. Your favorite potato chip? Kettle-cooked
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Always, always Ben Folds "Rocking the Suburbs"
9. What kind of car do you drive? VW Passat Wagon--2007 model
10. Favorite sandwich? Mozzarella, Pesto, and Tomatoes
11. What characteristics do you despise? Ignorance and Mean-spiritedness
12. What are your favorite clothes? Yummy sundresses that give just enough coverage but are uber-comfy!
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Antarctica--because I wouldn't be paying, right? If I am paying, my favorite, Scotland.
14. What color is your bathroom? Teal, Grey, and Light Brown.
15. Favorite brand of clothing? J. Crew, Boden, Anthropologie, some Talbots, INC.
16. Favorite time of day? Morning!
17. Where would you want to retire to? In Virginia, somewhere in the country.
18. Favorite sports to watch? College Basketball...go GMU!
19. Coke or Pepsi? Coke
20. Are you a morning person or night owl? Morning...
21. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? My sister-in-law will be having a ? (find out on Wednesday)!
22. What did you want to be when you were little? Actress, Archaeologist (got a degree in this one).
23. What is your best childhood memory? Walks in the Forest in Germany.
24. Nicknames? Dina and Dean
25. Piercings? Ears
26. Eye Color? Green-Blue with a hint of yellow (no joke).
27. Favorite day of the week? On maternity leave, everyday...now, well, Sundays.
28. Favorite restaurant? Mmmm...too many to choose from...sushi and soul food, I love!
29. Favorite ice cream? Rocky Road
30. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? I don't really have a credit card...Jim has control of ours and there is no way I want to face his wrath!
31. Bedtime? 10:30 pm.
32. What are you listening to right now? Classes around me while I keep a student who needs a "timeout."
33. How many tattoos do you have? none
34. Next film you'll see? Coraline with Jim.