One Saturday...Two "Hot" Outfits...(5/23/09)!!!

Yes, folks, it is two-fer time again...I wore BOTH of these outfits on that sweltering hot Saturday we had here in the Mid-Atlantic on May 23, 2009. The first outfit I wore during the day when we went to my dad's house to go visit my Aunt and Uncle in from California. The second outfit is from when we went to my cousin-in-law's (Mr. Dina's first cousin on his dad's side) house to visit his Aunt and Uncle in from Florida. Two sunny states' residents visiting two separate neices/nephews in Northern Virginia on the same day. :) Good times. No, seriously...it really was good times. Love hanging with the fam. My family and his family are the best!!!

Fresco Cardigan with Summer Casual!!! by dinagideon featuring J Crew

Here is the Polyvore.


Here is the polyvore in full-length. Hair is wet. Yep. Feels good to let it AIR-DRY on a HOT day!

So why did I wear the cardi if it was SO hot? Because I am super-pale and SPF only does so much. So out came the lovely cotton cardi that I have been the proud owner of since February! It did actually get to be too warm to wear it (we had BBQ outside) but when that happened, I subtly encouraged everyone to hightail it into the house. It worked...

The top is different in the polyvore. The top you see here is a MATERNITY top from Pea in the Pod by Splendid. Yeah, whatever. Fits perfect on my non-pregnant body. I think the person they made it for is not really pregnant or pregnant in a way that I have NEVER seen. Wow.

The flip-flops are actually from J. Crew (last summer 2008) and I LOVE that color. You might need sunglasses to look at them (see two pics from now for more on that).


Here is more of that top. Please excuse my bit of cami showing through. oops...

To make the fireball necklace that short, I had to clip the clasp on the necklace itself (and I ended up with a fair bit of the necklace chain down my back...).


Oh, dear reader who wanted to see the Boden sunglasses in green and for the other reader who wanted to see the Boden sunglasses case, here you go!!! I (heart) them both. The green sunglasses are meant for sunnier days more than the light brown because of the darker tint...this is why these beauties came out to play instead of the light brown ones...I love having this option! The case is REALLY big but since I have to carry a mom-bag everywhere it doesn't matter to me! I now own two of these cases (they come with every sunglasses purchase). They also have a cloth inside to wipe the lenses. I also think the print is so much fun!


There is no polyvore for outfit #2, but 'tis okay. I get tired sometimes writing my blog and the less work--the better!!!

I wore this in the evening to visit Florida family and I LOVE this outfit SO much. I will definitely do this again. SO CUTE!

Can I tell you that Rugged Wearhouse (kind of like TJ Maxx or Ross) is awesome? The tank is old J. Crew and 10 dollars. The skirt is Ann Taylor Loft and was 9 dollars. Yes, I bought two. This skirt is a 12 and fits nicely now (I can wear it lower so it isn't too mini) and a 10 for when I get to the fighting weight (8 pounds as of today...probably 10 pounds away in this pic). The shoes are the same from outfit #1. The short-sleeve cardigan is J. Crew, cotton, in lime green (Spring 2009).


Here is the outfit with no cardi. YAY! I love this color. This was a great outfit for seeing the fam on a very warm and muggy night!

Oh, you know, this is for Polyvore. And yes, I see the cami. Whatever. I can just smush that right out when I create sets in the future. It's cool...

You all have a nice afternoon. :)

Now in Color...My Outfit from the Tea Party! (Woo--Only One Week Late--I Feel So Timely!!!)

So from the annals of all things late...I am finally posting pics of the outfit I wore to the Tea Party LAST Saturday at 3-Penny Princess and her Mom-in-law's House. Seriously...you all have already seen this in something like twelve posts. :) Oh, well, I am sure some of you may want to see the Polyvore...

Tea Party in Olive and Pink! by dinagideon featuring J Crew Clothing

Here is the outfit full-length. I won't bother even mentioning the pieces because they are all on my polyvore (for once I could get every piece of the outfit onto the polyvore without substitutions).

I love this outfit. The colors are my favorites. There is something very "Southern Preppy" about these colors. I have been doing a lot of "SP" this week. On Thursday night I wore head-to-toe seersucker. I tend to do this in summer. It gets so dang hot and humid here (the air just sits on your head) that you have to pull out the fabrics that breathe. And because you still are expected to live your life and get dressed up, I have a closet full of clothes made from the "SP" aesthetic.

I was wilting last Saturday, but the outfit kept me relatively cool. But you can bet your bottom that I took this off upon arriving back home and threw on some shorts and a tank top.

Have a great day. I think I might get up my Mother's Day outfit today. If I do, I will actually only be six days late. (Ha.)

Friday, May 1, 2009...Dina Does Drinks with No Daughter or Son...

First thing I want to say is "thank you" to the wonderful anonymous commenter over at J. Crew Aficionada who mentioned my blog as one her (maybe his) blogs that she (or he) regularly visits because she (or he) like our positive attitudes. AWESOME!!! I was honored along with FFM, Slastena, Gigi, Heidi, and many others...I read that today (Tuesday, May 5, 2009) and I have been kind of sad these past few days (has something to do with Rex and his Bug Walks class that he is no longer a part of) and seeing this comment totally brightened my day.

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And now back to the show...

So my friend Barbara said we HAD to go and get margaritas on Friday night. I COMPLETELY agreed. Ask any teacher you know and they will all say Friday night IS the night to drink. Every teacher I know is just done by 3 pm on Friday.

I went home and changed into something fancy (or for me, fancy). You wouldn't have appreciated the Friday (day) look. Let's all say it together...LAME! ;)


However, my night look...AWESOME. I felt so good wearing this. I, along with many other bloggers (like Gigiofca and My Closet, My Baby, and I) fell in love with this tunic top. Of course, you know that I love this print. The Fresco print may be one of my favorites ever. Pink, Green, and Olive...perfect! The addition of embroidery makes this top even more special. And special it was...it originally sold for 150 dollars...eek! But I took my Mickey card out one night and purchased it (on sale for 89 dollars) for only 50 dollars (they also let me use my teacher discount...so sweet). I bought it in a size 8 because I wanted it to fit a bit loose...and I think it looks very nice this way. The pants are Ann Taylor Loft from a few years ago and the sandals are Aerosoles, also from a few years ago. No need for anything else...these three pieces are perfect together and require no accessories!


Here is a close-up of the gorgeous detailing. I think this blouse was a good price at 89 dollars, but you definitely can't beat 50!

By the way, I will polyvore this top tonight...if any of you purchase it...I should have it in my items soon!

Have a great afternoon!

Cocoa Beach...Here We Come!!!

So we chose Monday (4/6/09) to be our "beach" day. Hmm...looking back, not very wise...but that is hindsight for ya. :)

IT WAS WINDY that day. WINDY!!! Hot, but my goodness, the sand was 'a flying at us.

We chose Cocoa Beach because it is fairly close to Orlando. That seemed wise at the time. When we got there not only did we face incredible monsoon strength winds, there was a riptide warning, and many, many people. Sigh.

I am a Polly Anna, though, and will not let the odds stack against me. Turns out for all the mess that we faced, it was an enjoyable day in the end. :) Yay for optimism!!!


Here is the outfit I wore to the beach. It includes the beautiful green flower tissue tee from J. Crew this spring (and still for sale), a pair of 9-inch inseam shorts in citron from J. Crew in 2006, and my lovely critter flip-flops you most recently saw here.

I love this tee. And washing it has seemed to take a bit of the length away, making it the perfect length on my hips. SMILE. :) I love it when washing it makes it better for me to wear and not worse.

I officially have a love affair with J. Crew shorts. They fit me like a comfortable glove. Their shorts fit model must be shaped like me (yeah, right, I think I have just lucked out). I think I own twenty pairs of J. Crew shorts. (Yes, in all colors including--SHOCK--neutrals!)


Once we got to the beach we got into our swimwear and hit the sand. What you see here is my cover-up. This is from J. Crew February 2008. Love it! Just what you need to keep your heiney from being exposed walking from the changing room to your towel.

Oh, and yes, my GORGEOUS fresco bandeau bikini is underneath...and NO...no one but my family and friends get to see it in real life. Gotta keep something a secret from you all! ;)

No one ran away screaming and yelling, so I will assume that I looked okay in it!


Because I am a fan of changing multiple times in one day, especially on vacation, I brought the cottage dress to the beach to wear afterwards. Originally I was supposed to wear it on Sunday as represented in the polyvore found in this post, but because I moved the Lisa dress to Saturday, I decided to move Miss Cottage to Monday.

As you can see, the dress held up pretty well. By the time this pic had been taken, I had worn it in the car for an hour which is why the skirt is so wrinkled. But this is not meant to be a fancy dress, just something fun and pretty for summer.

The dress made its original appearance in this post, if you will recall.

By the way, the shoes are my Earth sandals in bronze. These are great because the force you to stand properly because the heel sits lower than your toes. I love wearing them because I feel nice and tall (yep, just what I need at 5'8")!

I hope you have enjoyed viewing this almost as much as we enjoyed (eventually) our day at the beach! Have a great night, everyone!

Fresco Cardigan...review coming!

Yay! It came. Considering how little sleep I got last night, this was definitely a nice pick-me-up. I had to run home to feed CW before conferences began so I got to pick the package up. It is very pretty (from the rushed look I got inside the bag). The colors are exactly like you see in this pic. I will probably take pics of it as soon as I can, but may not be able to wear it until the weekend at the earliest. (I am walking home tomorrow and would hate to sweat this up...)