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...

NC and an MC...Plus a Bling Blossom!

Hey, all. Long time. My fault! Is it normal for a cold to last over a week...and...to completely wear you out? Or should I just blame the children? LOL.

I kid. In reality, I was already run down LAST week when I finished up the Fall into Fashion class and then ran off to North Carolina. Probably not the best idea we have ever had, but come on now...could I ever say no to seeing the amazing DJ Lance Rock and his crew from Yo Gabba Gabba? Yeah, I thought you all would agree. :) (Get it now? The title? NC--where we went, and MC--DJ Lance Rock? The Bling Blossom will be explained later...)

Also, before picture time...I got two more followers today! (Whee!) I have gotten probably five or six total in the past month, but here's the crazy thing...I would get a follower, go up to 228 total, then one follower would drop the VERY. NEXT. DAY, so I would be back to 227 (great show, btw). This happened twice! The new follower wouldn't be the one to drop, it would be someone else. So bizarre. I feel like I am Jerry Seinfeld, if I throw a dollar out a window, I find four quarters in a vending machine.

First full day in NC, same day we go to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live, I wear an homage to the great DJ himself by finding my BRIGHTEST orange tee. I chose not to be derivative this year. (Seriously people, click on the link. Trust me...find the second picture.)

Tee is vintage (using the term loooooooosely here) Pink Victoria's Secret. I never buy VS anymore, but loved this tee when I saw it four or five years ago. The jeans are the Amore Wash Ankle Toothpick Jeans from J. Crew, and the shoes are Cole Haan Janine Penny Mocs (as best I can tell). I scored all three for very little. I think the total outfit may be under $100. (Not saying much, I realize, but Cole Haans? Usually a pretty dear penny.)

Pics of actual concert time are at the bottom. ;)

Tie-Dyed Wednesday Skirt! by dinagideon featuring j crew skirts

Above is the polyvore of the second full day we were in NC. That day I wanted to feel pretty, yet comfy. I love the tie-dyed Wednesday skirt more than I expected to...really does work with many items in my wardrobe, including the four above in the polyvore. (And yes, that is the Bling Blossom necklace. And yes, I am probably the only person who bought it. Not full price. You don't have to stress about that, people.)

Sizes:
Top: Sparkle Waves Henley, in store only color of ivory, extra small.
Cardigan: Michelle Merino Cardigan, Light Pink (Blush), medium. I have had this forever. Such a lovely cardigan, like the forever and infinity cardigans, but a little looser and less long.
Skirt: Tie-Dyed Wednesday Skirt, size 6. Person who bought it before me was bigger than a 6, wore it, stretched out the side seams (they are ruined), returned it, I bought on pop-back, saw issue, and got over it. I think I will sew up ruined seams (yay, sewing machine!), but had this been any other skirt, I would have read J. Crew the riot act. Too bad I really really wanted this skirt.
Necklace: Bling Blossom Necklace. I loved it in the lookbook (was on very last two pages) but when I heard it was $175, I said, "for that?" "ooh, that's too much for me right now." So I waited, and watched, and waited, and watched. When it went on sale I pounced...with the help of the 25% off card that Mickey gave us. Thank goodness for great red phone service. So question is...do I love it? Yes, yes, I do. Since you all know me as a huge fan of statement necklaces, this one fills the same qualities...big, fun, not serious or conservative, and really, really bling-y. It isn't too heavy, and the rosettes are quite beautiful in real life. And considering my husband's tolerance for all things "weird" (read: he has no tolerance), the fact that he said NOTHING regarding this necklace means it's okay in his book.

Oh, there's my head. ;) Look at Rex back there, all ready to go.

Rex in his Brobee hat. He lasted about twenty minutes before he flung it off. He was angry for about an hour of the hour and a half concert because he thought it looked too much like a movie. REX HATES MOVIE THEATERS. Loud Audible Sigh. Fortunately it was really loud in the coliseum that day (huh, toddlers, bright lights, loud music, balloons, etc., what a shock) so his wails were drowned right out. Thank goodness he calmed down for part of the time so he could enjoy part of the show. Those tickets are expensive! Regardless, this is a really cute pic, almost rexdorable.

"Yes, they are mine, officer." (Replaced with "who are these darn rugrats?" when confronted with all manners of bad behavior. Unfortunately, Rex is my doppelganger so that statement only works in complete darkness.)

Foofa #1 (CW) finds Foofa #2.

Agh!  My original paragraph was here and now it is GONE!  Sob.  Said some nice things about how much CW LOVED the concert.  Included bits about her seizing up in happiness at start of concert; concert being like her version of catnip; how balloons made her glee-ful; how she helped spread love of balloons by getting balloons to kids who were so very sad and blue that they didn't get any; and how this photo is one of the only shots of her where she wasn't LITERALLY dancing in the aisles.  Sigh.  I guess my tired little synopsis will have to do.  I hate/love you Blogger.

And finally, one of my favorites from the show, the ever-awesome Leslie Hall (Super Fly, she is). Who is Leslie Hall? Well, you can read more here. And I highly recommend you watch this video clip of her from the show, and this clip of her slightly crazily avant-garde video.  I recognize that I have fallen into full-on Hipster Parent Paradise by showing you this photo.  Maybe I will be getting more followers from the hipster community (if they can bear my politics and my penchant for all things Taco Bell/Popeye's). 

Look forward to chatting with you all soon. :) Plan to get to comments eventually. Before November. Promise (and no my fingers aren't crossed. LOL.)

A Babergh Here, a Zoya There...

Hi, all! Happy Monday from a (slightly) overextended momma. As you know I have been teaching a fashion class to upper elementary kids the past two weeks, but what you may not have known is that I clearly sipped some crazy juice and decided that Friday was the ideal day to leave directly from school and travel to North Carolina with my family so we could visit friends AND see Yo Gabba Gabba LIVE in concert. We got back after midnight last night. I think, based on the past two weeks, I may need to take about 50 hours of sleep to recover. (In fact, it will definitely be "nap-nap" time after I write this blog post. Snooz.)

I will be showcasing my North Carolina outfits at some point soon (including IRL pics of the babies in all their Yo Gabba Gabba glory), but not today. Today is clearly a day meant for some Anthro. So here goes...

The Perfection Known as the Babergh Dress... by dinagideon featuring nine west shoes

I have made ONE polyvore since last Monday. One. That is sad...but at least it is a pretty set. Above is the outfit I wore to my Fall Into Fashion class last Thursday. We had dubbed Thursday our dress-up party day, and since we were invited to the "Planning Perfect Parties" class down the hall, I knew that this amazing cream-colored party dress would be exactly the right outfit!

Aah, the Babergh dress.

Sizes:
Dress: Size 6, Floreat (Anthropologie brand). I realize this is now sold out (in fact, I willingly paid full price--gulp--two days before this beauty sold out on-line), but just in case you all see it somewhere, it is helpful to know what size I took. I almost went with an 8, but couldn't as that size sold out super-fast. I was nervous the 6 wouldn't fit, but in the end every. measurement. was. EXACTLY. right. In fact, this is the dress that will keep me honest about maintaining my weight as it is right now. I forever want to be able to wear this incredibly feminine and romantic frock.

This dress has felt the LOVE from multiple bloggers...there are far too many to name, but I will link to Anjali, as she IS the blogger who put me over the edge in deciding to purchase it for myself. LOVE it on her...

Note: This is not a full-length shot as I was wearing quite possibly the worst pair of shoes to wear with the dress.  My hubby was the reason I even thought to take them off.  He saw me in them, gagged (how delicate, Mr. Dina), and said, "off now."  I looked at the photographic evidence...muttered quietly that he was right and moved on to find more appropriate footwear.  I hate it when he is right.  I thought I was the fashion blogger.  LOL.  :)

To make matters worse, I moved onto a better pair of shoes only to make the stupidest face ever. Agh. But...indulge me...take the bottom half and add it to the top half and I think you get the drift. I felt heavenly that day. The dress is pretty darn magical.

Sizes:
Dress: Size 8, Tabitha (not the amazing British blogger with legs that go on for miles but another Anthro brand). I had tried the Zoya dress on in a size 10 in the store, but in the end went with an 8 to better fit my top. The 8 fits okay through the hips, and I found that by the end of the day, the skirt had stretched out, so the 10 would have been a bit loosey-goosey.
Shoes: Size 9.5, Aerosoles. Yes, I said Aerosoles. These shoes were insanely popular amongst my Fashion proteges. :)
Necklace: Special Cuckoo Clock necklace that my dad and step-mom bought for me a few years ago from a fab jewelry designer known as Pade Vavra.  Yum.  Check it out close-up here.

I hope you all enjoyed my sojourn into Anthro this fine afternoon. God bless you all for continuing to read my (sadly) neglected blog. I think my return to regular blogging is in the works, so expect a bit more from me in the next few weeks! SWAK!

P.S. I loved all your comments on my homemade Liberty of London sundress. I do plan on continuing with my sewing and hope that you all will too, if that is your thing!!! Yay for being enterprising!

Five Outfits Take a Vacation in North Carolina...

Compared to my last post on outfits in the Bahamas, I feel like these outfits, while I like them, don't really represent me as well as summer or beach outfits do.

But my winter clothing serves me well, so I decided to take some of them on a little vacation to the hills of North Carolina. (Well, I really didn't...Mr. Dina had a conference there...but still, it counts.)

This was the same vacation that I was able to go to the AWESOME J. Crew Clearance Center in Arden, NC. (BTW, there are some great tips in the comments section...check them out before you make a trek to this store.)

North Carolina in the Fall! by dinagideon featuring J Crew

Here is the polyvore of this vacation wardrobe. I have no in real life photos from this trip of the berry trim Astrid jacket (which is really the outlet version), but I wore it last night to go shopping, so it will be on this blog soon enough! The herringbone ecole in pumpkin is another outlet find. (But it looks EXACTLY like the one from J. Crew last fall.)


Day One--Drive from NOVA to NC in five hours in awful weather. Kinda wet, kinda warm, kinda blah. The yellow in my v-neck brightened the world for hours. I think you can read in the dark from the illumination.

Anyhow, we are at my FAVORITE fast food joint ever, Steak and Shake. This place has the best fast food...hands down. It even beats my other fave (and local business gone good) Five Guys. Why? Because Steak and Shake has more variety. If Five Guys had Steak and Shake's variety, it would be no contest, my neighborhood burger joint would win, of course. But since Five Guys business model is to stick to the basics (which they do REALLY well), I think Steak and Shake will always reign supreme. BTW, I always get the Frisco Melt with a side of cheese fries and either cottage cheese or chili. I eat clean the rest of the time...Steak and Shake is for me to INDULGE.

Here is the sadness...there are NO Steak and Shakes anywhere in the Virginia, DC, or Maryland area. I have to drive 5 hours to where Elon College is located to get to our nearest one.


Still Day One--Halloween night. My kids were both their favorite characters from the hit children's tv program, Yo Gabba Gabba, for Halloween, so I decided to be their DJ Lance. Rex was Brobee, and CW was Foofa. I know...a bit ridiculous, but all in fun. Plus, and this is just perfection, when can you ever pull out J. Crew and wear it for Halloween??? I love that this Candace sweater jacket just fit the bill.


Day Two--Drive from Winston-Salem (we stayed at the same hotel as we did when I had the INCIDENT but on the other side AWAY from hilarity and festivity) to Asheville. This top is not represented in the polyvore. It is from Boden probably three years ago? This was when Boden was still making their tops fairly short, which doesn't really bother me, Miss Short Torso, but I remember seeing people complaining about how Boden doesn't really give enough length in their tops on their website. Anyhow, I love the floral detail with the stripes. Plus the colors are pretty and all autumnal.


Day Two--Evening at dinner with the kids at some fancy restaurant at the resort. THE KIDS WERE PERFECT. :) YAY! Anyhow, IGNORE my makeup. I have no idea if the flash did that or if I really am that ghostly, but I definitely didn't look like that in real, actual light.

I love this top...it is very comfortable, but when the bow is tied and you wear it with a pencil skirt, tights, and heels, it gets notched up to "dressy casual." (Which is my favorite type of outfit...) Also, look at it! Not an ounce of actual color. This may be a dinagideon first!


Last Day (Day Four)--Skipped right over Day Three because that was the day I went to the clearance center and none of the outfit pics turned out. Sigh.

This top is the abstract rose victoria cami from the outlet and the jacket is the herringbone ecole (with a button instead of a clasp) from the outlet. The pants are the charcoal minnies, and the shoes are my lovely Alessias in grey. This was the ONLY shot that turned out okay. I think the room had bad lighting. This outfit was actually VERY comfortable. This was the outfit I wore when we ate at Tupelo Honey (which has FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC southern food). If this outfit was still comfortable after that meal (which it was), then those Minnies are God-sends.

I still have more posts upcoming. Later on today, I will be doing my next Mid-Century Mom post (I did some cooking, you all). The next couple from My Superfluities will include one on the ruffles and rosette top in black, a recreation of a catalog look from November, some Boden pieces from this fall, and a whole long post with me wearing a bunch of dresses.

Have a nice Sunday!