See, This Is What Happens When You Don't Sleep!

My darling daughter kept me up really, really late last night...late enough that I actually witnessed the J. Crew site updating their fall arrivals. Huh...less sleep? Well, okay...it just means that I spent a full hour clipping items for polyvore. Yeah, I know. This "grown-up paper dolls" obsession is a bit ridiculous.

But before I went to bed...at 1:20 am...I created this polyvore. I think I may have dreamed about Barney last night because of this...

Untitled by dinagideon on Polyvore.com

Then, this morning, my brother assured me he would be here at 7 am for a workout. Which he wasn't. Ugh. We have been spending a lot of time at the gym lately (X-Sport Fitness--the location nearest us ROCKS--OMG, wow, there is always something there to keep you moving), so I fully anticipated him coming on time. You know the punch-line, right? Yeah, he isn't coming till later. ERGH and DOUBLE ERGH.

I can't waste time (well, in the sense that I always want to be DOING something while awake), so I created this polyvore just fifteen minutes ago. The colors are spectacular. You pick the shoes. :)

Untitled by dinagideon on Polyvore.com

Oh, and my favorite piece from the roll-out? (Besides the tiered cami shown in both of my sets and the gorgeous necklaces from my sets?)

Well, the Liberty Ruffle Front Shirt that I pre-ordered way back in early July, of course. The question is...when will they send it?


Have a great morning, you all. Don't worry, I will take a nap today at some point...

Two Outfits for Teaching School...I Wish this Post Was More Exciting...

I won't spend much time introducing these outfits, but I did wear them to teach, and they did the job...they were comfy, practical, and appropriate. Yawn.

One is a Boden dress from this spring (love the print) and the other is the lovely Jennifer Shirtdress from Fall 2007 (and in this shot from the Paris catalog).

Boden Dress for a Foggy Day!!! by dinagideon on Polyvore.com

Here is the polyvore for the Boden Dress outfit.


Here is the Boden dress on me. Although I am tall, I ordered this in a 12 regular as opposed to a 12 tall. I only buy talls in Boden when I am buying a skirt or pants. The dresses are too tall in the torso for me to wear them. The shoes are from Nine West last year. Love them, very comfy, but alas with this outfit...looking a bit crunchy-granola. Heehee. :) The necklace is the Target one I first wore with this outfit.


I love this print. My hubby must have, too, because he grabbed this shot of it. I normally don't use his "silly" pics (of which there is one a day), but I liked this one. Kind of cool...

Catalog to Real Life... by dinagideon on Polyvore.com

Here is the polyvore with the Jennifer shirtdress.


Here is the Jennifer shirtdress on me. I look very RESPONSIBLE. Maybe too much...I think this outfit needs a better belt. That is a whole lot of brown. I love the necklace. I bit the bullet and bought the insanely pricey J. Crew one, but I did it with 20% off at least. And unlike some of you, I really LOVE the mix of clear and opaque pearls. The shoes are the awesome dusty rose Juliet pumps. The color is just delicious with the brown. :)


Here is my little superman. I think the only pjs he is missing from the superhero collection may be Spiderman. Hmm...maybe we need to go and get those.

Have an AWESOME Sunday. Ours is going pretty well so far!

Poppy Floral Jacket Review--Plus I Wore it Today, June 9, 2009!!!

Ooh, you all, I have been DYING to get this jacket. And it came, yesterday! FINALLY!

So here is the story...girl spies beautiful soft-Liberty print cotton jacket in J. Crew catalog back in early May...girl FALLS IN LOVE with the jacket...girl goes on-line and decides to wait it out because it is so pretty but SO expensive (J. Crew Collection item)...then revisits site a little while later (and happens to have a little bit of money)...discovers said item is on BACKORDER until August...determined, girl orders it in a size 8 and is prepared to wait until August 10, 2009 for it to ship...then, surprise, surprise, girl gets e-mail saying "your order has shipped." SQUEE!

You can find the jacket at jcrew.com if you are interested after reading my review.

Poppy Floral Jacket Worn on June 9, 2009!!! by dinagideon featuring FOSSIL watches

Here is the Polyvore of my outfit that I made with this jacket. I had a tough time deciding what to wear with it...I want to style it like it is on-line and in the catalog, but I have to teach and short-shorts are not really professional (that would be the on-line styling). Also, it is about a bagagillion degrees outside so I knew the cargo pants and cardi and tee styling (in the catalog) would be WAY TOO HOT for me today. So I think I came up with a nice look...tailored to me and to my life. :) And after all, I have only my life to live...


Here is the outfit full-length. The only difference from the polyvore is a slightly different necklace (I have no IDEA where I got it--is that weird?), similar shoes (mine are slingback and grey) and a different denim skirt (mine is from Style & Co.--Macy's brand).

The jacket is J. Crew Collection and costs 168 dollars. It is made from the Liberty print fabric that J. Crew adores. In all the years I have been shopping at J. Crew they have had Liberty print fabric items (I own shoes, shirts, etc. in this fabric). By the way, if any of you own a size 8 or 10 in this blouse (thank you for the pose, Ema), I will happily buy it from you. HAPPILY!

The jacket is "classic" fit, which means it is neither too slim or too loose. I would agree with that sentiment. I truly believe that J. Crew makes their Collection items more true-to-size than their non-Collection items, so I will rarely order anything Collection smaller than an 8. This jacket is an 8 (regular, not petite or tall) and it has long enough arms, and the jacket hits at a nice place on my hips. The waist is a bit big for me, and the shoulders might be a titch too wide as well.

The fabric is SO PRETTY. It has poppies in a dusty rose color, daisies and other flowers in a deep citron color, and other florals in a pretty medium pacific blue color. The background is an off-white. The buttons are real shell buttons and are secured with another button in the back so that the button won't fall off (hate that)! The whole jacket is lined...through the body in a soft cotton and in the arms in some sort of poly-blend.

The whole jacket has a crumpled feel, and the fabric is so light, that I could see wearing this in the summer as a sun-cover! (Normally I would wear a linen blouse...this is just a lot dressier!)

I have good news for you wrinkle-phobes...it has that rumpled look, but besides that...this jacket has not wrinkled at all today and I have been wearing it for nearly 6 hours. YAY!


Here is a side-view. It does fit very nicely...just skimming the body.


Funny 80s-looking pic to make you all laugh...but in all seriousness...I love the collar up...I think it looks fresh and unique this way. I chose to wear the collar down today but I could see wearing this to dinner with the collar up.

This pic also allows you to see the jacket print a bit closer.

I would say that if you would wear this, get it. If you don't think you would get around to wearing it, and it would sit limply in your closet, don't. 168 dollars is a lot to spend if you won't actually wear this item. I personally think it is worth it...but I bet I will wear this in the winter, too, so cost per wear will be low.

And I think J. Crew, because they are limiting how many Collection items they are putting out, are actually putting the effort needed into creating pieces that should QUALIFY as Collection (for instance, shell buttons secured properly, lining of the highest quality, etc.) So good job, J. Crew...you have a very satisfied customer!

Two Outfits for the Price of One...or My Time is SO Limited that I Can Only Post Every Once in Awhile...

Okay...quick info...a couple of you may have seen this published before I added notes. Note to self...do not try to eat and blog at the same time...no matter how well Ms. HeidiG of Head to Toe with Heidi can do it!


Also, for those of you who have been waiting desperately (yeah, right) for me to comment back, I have!!! I still need to comment back on the FFM birthday and I (Heart) Milly posts, but I will get to it!

Today are two outfits from when I first got back from California. That was the insane week where I nearly disappeared and you all wondered if I had gotten the swine flu or something. No, nothing like that...but there was a field trip both weeks that sucked EVERY available bit of energy from me. :)


This is what I wore on the field trip on April 23, 2009. This was the Thursday after I got back from California. This is also the only outfit that you will see of me from this week because it was the only day I could really get the energy up to try and "work it!" Drewablank, if it looks familiar, it is because this is the outfit that you saw me in that afternoon at Pentagon City.

The top is from Macy's, a Charter Club lace frou-frou concoction that is AWESOME. It is stretchy and tailored and really, really pretty. Under it I wore a light purple camisole from Costco (Lady Hathaway). Does anyone else LOVE Lady Hathaway camisoles as much as me? They have a shelf bra, are super-long (but not too long), and come in the greatest colors. Plus, they are as soft as silk (even though they are not). The pants are the stone-colored version of your favorite pants of mine, the Bistro stretch pants. I actually own these in an 8. And they fit. WOO! The shoes are the Juliet patent pumps in Dusty Rose. Do you all have a problem with the insole lining coming out? I know I can get them glued back in, but I was wondering if you were experiencing the same thing...

All in all, I love the way this outfit looked. Pretty, professional, and just the right thing for carting 60 6th-graders on a field trip to DC. Yeah, I know, I am just a little bit crazy. ;)


I wore this on Monday, April 27, 2009, and yes, I am very aware that the skirt kind of makes me look like a nun. The issue? I didn't realize how much this skirt does not fit me until I looked at the pics and then it was too late to change. Whatever. The idea of the outfit is good, but the execution, not so much. A tighter, shorter (to the knees) pencil skirt would have made this outfit sing!

The top is a J. Crew v-neck tee from Fall 2007. I think I bought it in Summer, though. Love the top. It is in citron and has the definition for "spontaneous" right there on the front. Too cute. The skirt abomination is from this Fall and purchased four weeks after CW was born to wear to a Gala. It fit well then. Of course I have lost like 25 pounds since then...I guess I just wasn't thinking. It was comfortable, though, I will give it that. I bought it at Macy's, on sale, for like 12 dollars. The shoes are from Kohl's and I love breaking out the sandals, 'cause that means summer is here! Woo! ;)


Here is a close-up of the tee. I actually have started doing this more, taking pics of my shirts close-up, so that I can use them in polyvore. Is anyone else doing this, too?

Have a nice day. I have more outfits to share, but it will probably have to wait until tomorrow. I have a whole slew from this weekend, today's outfit, and one from Disneyland left to show you. Maybe I can get them all posted tomorrow. We'll see.

Fun Time on a Saturday!!! (From April 11th, 2009...)

I'm BACK!!! I have FINALLY organized my trip photos and actually managed to get four seconds of free time to think of what posts I need to do...right now I have 8 posts scheduled (including this one) and those don't even include the Paris catalog OR pics of kids OR review of the many theme parks we went to over the past month. Whew...I have a lot of catching up to do!

Here is the outfit I wore from the day before Easter...yes, that's right...over two weeks ago. Man...

I am not going to write a whole lot about it...(I have a lot of post to do)...but here is a basic description...

Cardigan: Citron Merino V-Neck Cardigan from J. Crew Holiday 2007.

Tee: DINO-MITE bejeweled tee from T. Rex restaurant (bought while in Florida).

Jeans: I forget, but probably my Levis or Eddie Bauer. Love my jeans but they sort of all look the same even if they don't feel the same (I know a lot of men don't understand this but every woman I know gets what I just said).

Shoes: Dusty Rose Juliet Patent Heels from J. Crew Spring 2009.

Look forward to more from me later today! :)

A Long Review of the Merino Crewneck Cardigan!

Yet another review by me pretending it is summer...when (as all of you here on the east coast know) we are in the midst of quite some snow storm. (I really should be grading quizzes, but you know, priorities.) ;)

Here is the merino crewneck cardigan as it appears on the jcrew.com website. I really loved the image in the February 2009 catalog of the model wearing this with the silk tunic (see the review from earlier today), but in real life...these two really shouldn't go anywhere near each other (even if they were different colors--which they really aren't). The shapes of the two are all wrong for each other. So rather than fight it, I just let them be their own lovely selves.

You can get this cardigan in many different colors, including a pretty key lime color, and a nice, rich brown. I chose dusty rose because I have very little pink/peach in this hue and figured I should enrich my closet a bit more with these hues.

You can find this cardigan here (and on somewhat of a sale): http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Shop_By_Category/sweaters/merino/PRDOVR~12436/12436.jsp


Here it is on my bed all laid out. The color is very similar to what the website presents...a deep, saturated, medium pink color. YAY! Not too light or pale, thank goodness...


It is a LONG cardigan. I am glad I am 5'8" or else this would swamp me. I don't know that I can recommend it for ladies that are petite (and I don't believe this comes in a petite version). The sleeves were long enough, too. I didn't have to pretend the cardigan was made that way (look at my pretty bracelet sleeves...right, Lexieloo?).


I did a close-up of the buttons because they are AWESOME. They are this enamel material and very unusual. I have never seen buttons like this. The color also is a perfect match to the very soft, supple, and medium-weight merino wool.

Here it is on me...ready for summer nights next to the campfire. I am wearing a sequin-crested tee from Winter 2007 as well. You can find more info on the shorts and flip-flops in the review of the silk tunic I did earlier today.

This is a perfect, slouchy, "let's wear this around the house" kind of cardigan. But it can be refined...wait for it!

I thought buttoning it up would make it more refined. Oh, no. OH, NO! Oh, *expletive*, no. I will never, I mean it, wear this buttoned-up. It looks stupid this way. So let's just move on...(PLEASE!)

Ah, much better. I will most likely wear this open more often than not. However, with a pencil skirt, I love the idea of doing this cardigan buttoned-up and with a belt. It breaks up that LOOOOOONG line and makes it a refined (almost sophisticated) sweater. I can see wearing this with a black or grey pencil skirt and some fierce black heels. Definitely the definition of "sexy secretary." Maybe I won't be doing this look, on second thought. I teach middle-school, for crying out loud! ;)

Pants, Pants, and More Pants!

Okay, you ladies of the 8...10...12 bottoms, CELEBRATE. Mrs. Dina is here to save your day! I have recently purchased FOUR pairs of fantastic J. Crew pants that I swear you all can make work with your...cough, cough...assets. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! ;)


#1--MY CURRENT FAVE--The gorgeous chambray colored cocktail pants. I bought them in rose. So pretty, so soft, so good at fitting my lower-half. Thank you, J. Crew for having the right mindset to have pants fit at the waist and hip, and then graze the body, and not make me feel like I am placing my legs into sausage casings! Find here at J. Crew: http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Special_Sizes/size16/pants/PRDOVR~12305/12305.jsp


People, I am NOT going to style the pants like this...so I don't want to even hear it. I put on one shirt and then put the pairs of pants with it. I had like 30 minutes before CW needed to be fed. Sue me if you don't like it! :)

Here is the proof that they fit...and they don't look bad. They look...decent! I do NOT and would never expect to look like the model wearing this. We have way different body shapes, so I can't worry my head off if my hips seem wider in these pants than the model. Golly, I have to have a life, right? I can tell this is a good fit because there is no pulling at the front (those funny horizontal lines that come when the fit is too small).


I think these form well to my lower-half. Not giving the milk away (I am not going to explain this if you don't get it), but not hiding in sweatpants, either. So you know, these are a 10. I have mentioned that I plan on purchasing an 8 in grey for next year when I should (knock on wood) have lost all the baby weight!

#2--ALL WOMEN OF OUR SIZE SHOULD BUY THESE PANTS. The Saturday Pants from J. Crew are beautiful specimens...they fit nicely at the hip and rear, but then gently skim the leg. Awesome. Find them here: http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Special_Sizes/size16/pants/PRDOVR~10697/10697.jsp

Here they are front view. They actually look really nice with the shirt. Perfect look for a...wait for it...Saturday. Heehee. :)

Again, nice and smooth and just the right mix of tight and loose. I bought these in a 10, as well. No plans right now to buy them in an 8. I think even a little loose these could work on me.

#3--For the braver ones, you may want to consider the mahali dot capri. It is made of a super-stretchy material, so it sucks you right in. However, these leave a lot less to the imagination. You can find them here: http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Feature_Assortment/NewArrivals/pants/PRDOVR~11970/11970.jsp

Here they are on me. They fit because there is very little horizontal striping across the hip. Plus, the little there is may be a product of the pants themselves. Supposedly there was even this striping on the model in the pants e-mail that went out on Friday. Big discussion over at J. Crew Aficionada about the way the pants are made and the fact that even the thinnest women are suffering from this pants ailment. (Like some kind of horrible, freak fashion disease...)

I don't mind how much rump is on display. I am proud of my lower-half because I know it is a product of lots of exercise like walking, swimming, yoga, and pilates. However, all that exercise has meant that I will never have a flat posterior. And I will have to continue to try all of my pants on before I purchase them. I also love the way they sort of flare out at the bottom. I think that looks cute with the shoes.

I will not be styling these pants this way, so please no heart attacks over it! I purchased these in a 10 and will not be buying an 8. No need. Even a little loose they should look fine.

#4--This will take confident ladies to pull this off, but bright red (excuse me, cerise) can work with a larger lower half. Trust me! These are the premium stretch bistro pants. They are here at J. Crew (no longer on-line in this color, but your local store should still have some): http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Special_Sizes/size16/pants/PRDOVR~99809/99101640234/99809.jsp

I think they look fantastic from the side. I am wearing heels here (maybe 2 inches) and they hit perfectly across the shoe. I won't style it exactly this way, but it looks okay for a semi-casual day. These are BRIGHT pants. Since I have already told you I am proud of my bottom, I don't worry that they will highlight that area, but if it concerns you, you may want to choose a more muted color!

Here they are from the front. I purchased them in a 10. There is a small possibility I will get them in an 8 in a different color. I am not sure yet.

Here is the top in all four outfits. It is a slub-cotton puff-sleeve tee. I like the fact that the sleeves are silk and the rest is cotton. It is fun and soft. I purchased this in a small (it runs large). You can buy them here: http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Shop_By_Category/knitstees/texturedknits/PRDOVR~12668/12668.jsp

So you worry-warts can stop worrying, I purchased all of these at a discount and on-sale. So run to your nearest store or computer and purchase away! They won't break the bank and may make your lower-half be thankful in return!