OOTDs: Preppy Patriotism.

Before I start this brief (and dated, lol) outfit of the days post, I wanted to let you Boden fans know that I have put up one photo of the new Sophia Dress (seen here at this post) at my Facebook page.  It is not available to purchase online yet, but for some reason, mine was sent to me early.  I don't know when it will be available, but the moment I see it pop up, I will let you all know.  I will be doing a review of it soon, likely in the next Boden Weekly Review Roundup.

Okay, onto the outfits!

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Day: Friday, July 4, 2014.

Where: Celebrating America's birthday the usual way--BBQ and FIREWORKS!

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  I thought for sure I would never get into these shorts when I first received them, they just looked so tiny.  They worked, but I still thought I shouldn't at *my age.*  Meh.  I got over myself and just wore them already on July 4 since they worked so nicely with my (ancient old school J. Crew) striped tee.  I was fine wearing the whole outfit the whole day, no extra worries that I was showing too much skin.  ;-)

Cool Factor: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest--for both outfits.) I think this outfit makes me look younger and I dig that.  The shorts, btw, are the Hummingbird Short from the J. Crew Factory store last spring.  I bought them in a ten, and that size worked well for my frame.  AudreyBella has a great review of them here. 

Anecdote from the Day:  The afternoon BBQ was at a friend's house and one of my friend's dad was there, too.  He had recently lost his mom and we got to talking about her estate and in the process he shared some great stories about her life.  It is so nice to sit down and reflect on what others have done in their lives.  What a great way to remember that we all have some kind of impact on the world, however small.  I was so glad he shared her stories with me.  Very touching!

Day: Tuesday, June 24, 2014.

Where: Did something that day...probably involved picking up one of the kids from their summer camp classes.

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  Another preppy Old School J. Crew outfit.  :-)  This madras jumper is either from 2006 or 2007 and really fills the void of proper preppy that seems to only be found at Vineyard Vines or Brooks Brothers these days.  The cotton stretches out a bit through the day and the style is very easy, so the whole outfit was super easy to wear.  Bit short, but nothing scandalous.

Cool Factor: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest--for both outfits.) Looks polished and preppy, and classic American.  I would say this was a winner, especially if you live anywhere where preppy is a *thing.*

Anecdote from the Day:  At 14 I had my very first date ever to Ballston Mall with a boy I met from school.  He and I didn't last (that one date was it) and we lost touch until recently.  Of course FB is great for connecting all sorts of people, including former first dates.  Anyhow his birthday was on June 24, and even though it wasn't listed on FB, I remembered from all those years ago and wished him a Happy Birthday.  I hope my freaky birthday memory didn't weird him out too much, lol.

Day: Wednesday, July 23, 2014.

Where: As lame as this sounds, I pretty much spent the day cleaning and sewing.  But at least I had a cute outfit on...

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)  This was brilliantly easy to wear.  The shorts are a bit large on me through the waist, so fall a bit low, making them super comfortable.  The material (hey, yo, poly, lol) doesn't wrinkle and crazily enough is more breathable than you would think they would be.  The top is made from the linen knit that J. Crew likes to use so even though it is thinner, it is very nice for hot summer weather.

Cool Factor: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest--for both outfits.) I have always like turquoise and bright red together, so I like the look.  It is a lot of look, though.

I took a ten in the pleated crepe shorts, which is the opposite of what everyone else did with these shorts.  I had purchased them in a size 8 (in the navy) initially and while they fit, because of the way my thighs are, the pleats bagged open a bit.  So I repurchased them in a 10 in the red and navy, and these fit much better.  The price I paid was more than fine, btw.  (I think it was $18 a pair.)  Gigi's review of these is here.

The linen tee in anchors is like all my other J. Crew tees, it runs big, so the xs was the right size to pick, especially since this fabric stretches out.  

Anecdote from the Day:  I spent so much time going going going on our vacation to NC, SC, and GA that is was nice to have a day at home.  I feel like such an introvert purposely not going out and seeing people.

Okay, that's it for now.  Hope everyone is great!  If you have a review for the linen tee in anchors, I would love to add your link to my review.  Just let me know in the comments!

Caroline, Elsa, Meet Paisley.

Since today is Review day over at JCA, I thought it was time for me to (finally) introduce you all to Caroline, Elsa, and the insanely beautiful Paisley. ;)

You all had a sneak peek at Elsa and Paisley yesterday, as they were both prominent pieces of my dressy Independence day outfit, but as of yet, I have not shown off Caroline.

I have had Caroline the longest, but when I had my (self)-imposed ban on showing or wearing any new J. Crew pieces off, dear sweet Caroline got the ax until this last weekend. Elsa and Paisley are relatively new, but again, I was holding off until I was sure that the debacle with the floral swing skirt was resolved.

This weekend was fab...I had my birthday on Friday, then Saturday and Sunday were fun pool and church days, and of course yesterday, I was able to get my "Go America" groove on with the hues of red, white, and blue. These two outfits you see below are from Sunday church (Miss Caroline) and Monday lunch (Miss Elsa Paisley).

(The rest of the weekend's frivolity will be in future posts.)

And, yes, I will provide more than just pretty photos, I will obviously give info on style, color, sizing, and feel.

Caroline Dress, size 6, safari fatigue color.  I first tried the dress on at the Friendship Heights store in the grey color, and loved the overall fit and feel.  It looked and felt good on...the cotton is lightweight and the fit shows off my tinier upper body and allows the curves of my lower half to look smaller, so I knew I had a winner.  I wasn't going to buy it at the store, so I waited until I had a 20% off coupon and bought it on-line. 

The dress itself is prone to wrinkling, as you can see from the skirt portion in this photo, but like a fine linen, it didn't bother me as it wasn't a wrinkling that I felt made me look sloppy, just carefree.  (Or so say I.  LOL.)

The dress is very plain, and for me, that is unusual, but I LOVE that I can kill the outfit with accessories, which I don't often have the chance to do.

Here is my choice for accessories: the Factory straw trilby hat, the elastic blossoms belt, the flora earrings, and from a few years ago, the Pietra jeweled sandals.

Oh, and lots and lots of trees. Natch.

Just call me Miss Wood Nymph.  My Caroline is the perfect camo for the environment I live in...great for hide and seek..."Mr. Dina, can you find me?"  LOL.

Definitely can't play hide and seek with this outfit on. 

The outfit was meant to be a patriotic nod to our Revolutionary past, but we discovered that while I 100% hit the "blue and white" portion of our colors, the "red" was definitely interpretive, almost like performance art.  Turns out that modern red *can* appear red in some lighting (like the dark...or nearly dark) and *does* appear almost orange the rest of the time.

I just ran with it and declared that I, in fact, was being SO patriotic that I was showing off my state pride by celebrating with the Commonwealth of Virginia's most revered university's colors of orange and blue (wahoowa!).

For those polyvore peeps out there, here is a link to the polyvore set I created to show of the outfit.

The Elsa jacket runs true to size, as my true size of 4 fit nicely.  The fabric is luscious with a faint tonal stripe that is most evident in photos.  The stripes run perpendicular in the pockets, giving the tailoring a bit of a fun.  The belt is lovely, and however belted, looks perfect.  The hook and eye closures are unusual, but in no way take this jacket away from being very lady-like and polished. 

Only beef I have is that the seaming at the back came loose after one wear.  I have a sewing machine and can spend the 30 seconds it will take to repair it, but I am bugged that the thread they chose to use there was so darn cheap.  Clearly they are willing to spend money on the fabric, the style, and the tailoring, but the thread?  Not so much.  Grr.

Paisley Pencil skirt.  There is a reason this is completely sold out.  The pattern is rich, the texture of the fabric is thick, the lining is excellent, the price is great, and the length, exactly right for so many women.  I even lucked out and received a skirt whose pattern is centered perfectly and placed just so to make my hips look smaller than they are (God bless you, lovely people of the warehouse, for sending me this exact one!).

I purchased the size 8, which is the size for my hips.  The 6 would have been a better fit at my waist, but I did not want to have this skirt strain in any way at my largest part.  Plus...I will be able to wear this for many years, regardless of weight gain in the middle.  ;)

I have beautiful company in reviews of these items.  Just this morning, AppGal reviewed the Caroline dress.  Shopwithm has reviewed the Elsa (and it is her who I blame for my purchase--lol).  And of course, Ms. Handbag Aficionado reviewed the Paisley Pencil Skirt.  Let them enable you, not me.  ;)

You all have a great day...

P.S. I have thoughts and feelings about the Casey Anthony verdict, but since I am in polite company, I will not express them here.  Suffice it to say that as the mother of a delightful two-year old girl, I am a bit sick to my stomach over it all.  Ugh.

P.P.S. Boden lovelies, I am doing another roundup tomorrow, so if you have reviews from any of your sale purchases, I would love to publish them.  You all can e-mail me at dinagideon@aim.com.

Happy 4th of July! Ooops, I Mean Happy 6th of August!

FIRST! You all were too cute in your responses to the pic of CW with her little, teeny-tiny cousin Lily Clare. She DOES look like a baby doll. I laughed and laughed when I read that. But there is truth to what you all said. I think Rex and CW were that size when I was 7 months pregnant...heehee. :)

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Now onto today's post:

As ever, I am so current, it is just darn near RIDICULOUS! ;) Nope...it took me over a month to post my outfits from Independence Day (now what kind of American are you, Dina?)...

Yeah, yeah, I know you all want to copy them, right now, today! Well, here you go!

Independence Day 2009! by dinagideon featuring J Crew

This is the polyvore, in all of its red, white, and blue patriotic glory.


I absolutely love this skirt. I am not surprised in the least that this skirt was sold-out. I happily paid near the $65 it cost (minus 15% educator discount) and envision this skirt working all summer long (and possibly into the fall and spring). In addition to it being comfy, and the right amount of relaxed, and linen, it also fit beautifully in a size 6. Yes, me, Miss 8, maybe Miss 10. Now I know this is a 6 that is the victim of vanity sizing...I have NEVER been a 6 in J. Crew except in my most "exercise-a-holic" days, but still, FEELS darn good to me.

The Podna tee is also sold-out (this is the bad thing about posting a whole month late). I wore it with pride on Independence Day because of Mr. Dina being from that neck of the woods (raised in Mississippi, schooled in New Orleans). Go, 50 American states! (I also wore the tee because we were going to get Cajun food from our fave restaurant in Bethesda, Louisiana Kitchen...)

The shoes are my lovely Miss Trish of Capri sandals first worn in this post. Can you say "perfection" for the day?

So in summation, Stars (shoes) and stripes (skirt)...red (shoes), white (skirt and top), and blue (skirt and top). YEAH!


Here is my little American, Rex, in all his red, white, and blue glory, too. Sorry to say the Bumblebee shoes are yellow, but he is two, and I am not crazy enough to tell him he can't wear them because they don't "go" with his outfit...


Oh, but wait, I am not done! Let's not forget fireworks...what better than the "fireworks" tee from J. Crew? (Okay, I know it is some weird abstract floral, but all I see when I look at the tee is "bombs bursting in the air.")

Yes, the shorts are technically bistro orange, but they come close enough, and plus it's dark out when the fireworks go on...

You all have a great "dog day of August." Maybe I will actually start posting some pics of outfits on the day I actually wear them...we'll see. ;)