OOTDs: Dusk Pink, Bright Blue, and Some Sequins.

Hi, all.  Happy Monday night!

I am so appreciative of all the words of support with regards to my current state of affairs (redonkulous pain thanks to mastitis).  It really helps to know what works, what doesn't, who has gone through it, who knows someone who has, etc.  I am floored that after three babies (who each nursed many many months) the dreaded mastitis happens now.

Anyhow, I am feeling better, but I need to stay on top of the ibuprofen and the antibiotics in order to feel good.  :)  I also read that resting up is helpful, so Mr. Dina has insisted that I only do as much as we need this week, so no extra runs to the grocery store, Target, school runs, bowling (sob!), etc., until I feel better. Aw!  (I think Dr. Ma letting us know that I would have been hospitalized had I waited too long to be seen scared the you know what out of my husband, hence Mr. Dina's strict instructions to lay low.)

Okay, I can and will do blog posts in between naps and warm compress applications.  LOL.  That isn't terribly taxing, right?

Worn last Wednesday to Winesday with my bro.  I had thought I wanted something a bit dressy since my brother had just come from work and figured I didn't need to be the schlub standing next to "Mr. Hot Stuff Working Man."

The tee is the Fabric Mix Long Sleeved T-Shirt (Pure Collection--currently in the sale section).  I sized down in this tee to a size 4 since I personally believe that all of Pure Collection runs large.  I took a 4 in this top, but if I had ordered a 2 (the smallest size they carry), I would have fit into that, no problem.  Do not order this tee if you are tiny...it won't fit you.

The skirt is the Tall No. 2 pencil skirt in the mauve blush color.  I chose a size 8, and because of my hips this was the right call.  I am glad they are carrying talls, this one fits exactly right, with only the littlest bit of extra room at the waist.  I love how long it is, especially, hitting right below my knees!  Only Boden skirts hit there on me, so I am happy that J. Crew is doing this.  I also got this one on super sale, so ladies, the price it is right now is pretty darn good for what you get.  Also, I think this pink can act as a neutral, and looks very nice with the teals, greys, browns, and warm yellows.

The other pieces are just really old.  I wear them a lot.  Especially those tights.  I LUURRRVVEE my Wal-Mart Tights (George brand if you need to know).

Added the Boucle Peplum Jacket and the Tulu bag in grey to keep the outfit extra coordinated.  ;)

This outfit is from the night I went to the urgent care with the dreaded mastitis.  Imagine the feeling of pain in your "lady bits" in this top.  Yeah.  It hurt. *Bad.*  Thankfully the pain came on at the very end of hanging out with our friends, but this tee, though a nice knit cotton, is not the best choice when experiencing the pains of motherhood.

I love my bright blue pencil skirt, but I seem to always wear it with black and white (or I did last year--before that I paired it with guava).

The polka dot sequin top is fun, I preferred the cream version to the black version because too much black near my face is a bad idea.

I took an extra-small and it fits fine.  The small would have been better *that* night, but I am not planning on those events ever happening again.

I added the Bella Coat in black with my Belgian beret (all my friends tease me about my ubiquitous beret that comes out every winter--since 2000!) and the big red Andie bag.

We went to DC to see the White House Christmas tree.  We parked near the American History museum and the Washington Monument.  I have lived here long enough (almost 30 years--woo!) that I have a stupid number of Washington Monument photos.  How many can one girl have?

I do like this one a lot, but last year's had the babies and me.  :)

There the tree is, along with the Menorah behind my friend A.'s shoulder.  His girlfriend, J., has never been to DC, so he was excited to show her around (and off!).  A. looks like he could be my brother, but he's not.  My soul brother, maybe, but not my real brother.

Rex graced us with a photo.  Barely.

Today I took it really easy.  I decided that I needed to get out of my PJs (had been wearing them since late Saturday night), so I threw on the Cashmere Herringbone Sweater (dusk pink color).  I love these two colors together, and I had lucked out into buying it one real late night over the Thanksgiving weekend when all those crazy sales were running (so I ended up getting it for near half off--yay for delaying shutting one sale down before starting another, J. Crew).  I took this in a size small, which is one size up from my normal cashmere size.  It has a nice long length this way and since the knit on this a bit tighter of a weave, the fit is less close.  Definitely do not size down in this one.  The cashmere is not exceptionally soft, but oh, it is SO warm!  Exactly what I needed to feel good today.

Here is a detail shot of the knit, so you can see just how nicely woven this particular piece is.  Didn't pill at all today, btw.

Okay, that's all.  Thanks again for being so sweet to me!  :)

OOTDs: Pencil Skirts in Summer. T'Pau!

(You should be pronouncing T'Pau like this: Tuh-Pow!)  LOL.  I was driving back from the grocery store today and was trying to think of a good title for my pencil skirt in summer post and since I already have used some version of "pencil it in" or "skirting the issue," I kind of figured I was at a dead end.  But then "Heart and Soul" came on Sirius's 80s on 8, and I had my title.  'Cause that is what I feel like when I wear a pencil skirt, like saying "Tuh Pow!"

Okay it's a stretch, but whatever, I know some of you are probably stoked that I brought up T'Pau.  ;)

Alrighty.  Let's get on with it.  I am going with the most recent first heading to the least recent last.

I make this face.  For you.

Info on the pieces in the next photo, but I wanted to remind you that I have done a review of this top before in this post.

I also wanted to make a special note on this skirt, the No. 2 Pencil Skirt in Circle Eyelet.  I usually wear a size 6 or 8 in J. Crew pencil skirts, but I had read at AJC's blog that this particular skirt ran really narrow through the hips, so I decided to size up to a 10.  It does fit well in the 10, bit big through the waist, but I am very happy that there is no excess shadowing between the liner and the eyelet outer fabric, which I think would have happened in the 8.

The shoes are still available from Boden, these are the Uptown Heels, and I did a review of them here.  If you are interested in a clearance item, remember you can use my sidebar coupon for free shipping and returns (even if you can't get an extra % off clearance stuff).

I wore this outfit to go with my hubby and Angus to dinner on Sunday night.  :)  I felt good, and it was nice to just have the three of us (even though I obviously love the older two, they are tiring).

Citron...Eyelet and Stripes. by dinagideon featuring j crew handbags

Above is the polyvore of this outfit.  The polyvore actually happened first, not the outfit.

Okay, technically this isn't a pencil skirt, but I wanted this outfit to see the light of day, and I kind of know that if I don't throw it into this post, I won't publish it at all.

I was heading to somewhere, most likely a class for the kids, but honestly, this is from a long time ago, so I am not 100% sure where I was going.  All I know is Mr. Dina wasn't home because where I am posing is where he parks his car, so it was likely during the day.

I had found these yummy pieces in Sears the day before, when I spied a bunch of Lands End Canvas on sale.  I knew I couldn't get much, but the sweatshirt and the skirt were definitely affordable, so I brought them home and wore them the very next day (that I do remember).

The pops of red are great against the grey.  Technically the Marci wedges are orange but read red in these photos.

I even decided to make my lips a darker red than I normally would.

Continuing with the grey theme, this is an outfit I wore to my son's graduation from preschool.

Top: Anthropologie.
Skirt: J. Crew Factory.
Shoes: Anthropologie.
Earrings: Eiffel Tower earrings from Paris.

I will likely do this outfit in a polyvore, but probably not until tomorrow.

Here the outfit is in action.  The kids all have matching bits in the seersucker.  Angus is in a romper/onesie, CW has seersucker in the bib portion of her dress, and Rex is wearing seersucker shorts.

Mr. Dina is not wearing white tennis shoes.  ;)

I may have worn this outfit, comprised of lots of oldies but goodies, to a preschool run, but again, this was taken in May, so I can't remember.  But hey!  No Mr. Dina car, so I could take photos where his car usually is...

The only new thing is the shoes, which are by The Webster for Target.  These are well made and run true to size, and are still not on sale, even though most of the clothing is.

If you open the photo, you can see the information on the pieces.

Okay, that's all.  Now go rock out to some Heart and Soul, you all.  :)

P.S. I just did a sneak peek of some fall Boden items over at my FB page.  Click here to go right to the images.  :)

Boden Weekly Review Roundup: Lots and Lots of Everything!

Hi, all!

I had so hoped to have this up earlier than right now, but today definitely got away from me...let's see...ballet, then lunch, then playdate, then no nap (ugh), and finally four seconds with Mr. Dina before he went to a movie with a friend (guess who gets to put the kids to bed?).

Anyhow, I promise the wait is worth it. We have a few new arrival IRL photos and reviews AND quite a few sale item reviews. :)

So let's get started.

But before I do that, let me just let you know that I still have not heard from my Boden affiliate program regarding the snafu of my 15% coupon in my sidebar leading folks to the British site instead of the US site. Eep. So until then, I am giving all of you the same advice I gave on Sunday (it seems to work perfectly this way, so yay for that)...

1. Instead of using the sidebar link, use an item stock photo (like the ones littered throughout this roundup) to get to the Boden USA site.

2. Click on that photo which will take you to the US item page. There will be NO discount applied, but no worries.

3. Once on the site, click on the shopping bag icon which will take you to the shopping bag page itself.

4. On that page, locate the code box (it is on the lower left hand side), and put in this code AF29 (which is what the affiliate link had as the code when I tried it last week). This code is for 15% off and free ship/returns. If you have another code, you can use it there as well.

(If this doesn't work for you, DEFINITELY let us know!) Thanks!

Okay, so let's get this roundup started...

SPRING 2012 WOMEN:

Plait Trim Top.  I had alluded to this in the last post how much I adore this top, but I really heart it now.  From what I can tell from the Boden USA reviews on this top, I am definitely not alone.  There is something wonderful about the soft slubby cotton combined with the length and the unique design and braided neckline.

One caveat, though...this is an awful lot of look.  As you can tell, I wore very muted pants (Duo Maternity) and shoes (Uggs Rain shoes--it was coming down that morning) with the top so I didn't look like I escaped from Margaritaville in the middle of January.

Close-up of the braiding and print.  The seams are perfect everywhere and the braiding is held on very securely.  In this climate of cutting corners on what is slowly becoming a disposable climate, Boden is holding true to its quality edict.  I truly appreciate it...I have so many items from other retailers where I have to eggshell walk around them in order to keep them from being destroyed after one wearing.  Good on you, Johnnie B.

The bonus with this top?  It stretches just enough to go from "longer top" while not pregnant to "utterly perfect" maternity normal top.  LOVE.  And the baby bump looks kind of cute all gussied (pun not intended, but awesome that my tired bleeping brain managed to make it) up!

From the back.  So you know, I purchased a size US 6, which is plenty big enough everywhere.  I think at my thinnest "non-pregnant" weight, I might consider a US 4, but eh, it's all good.  If you are smaller on top, I would say if you want to size down, you probably can.

BTW, Mr. Dina really liked this top, so I guess that's a guy's thumbs up.  ;)


Plait Trim Top. I adore all the colors, but don't plan on buying anymore...the one I have is plenty, but I would love to see the other hues on others!!!

Textured Cotton Skirt.  Oh, the pretty taunting little vixen you are.  Sigh.  She is exactly what I love, bright colored pattern on a classic shape like a pencil skirt.  Unfortunately the love affair ended when I realized that she has no fit similarity to last year's big winner of the same named skirt.  I loved last year's so much that I bought two colors, both navy and fudge.  Measurement wise, only the length and waist were the same.  The hips on this one (SIZE 8 LONG) were teeny, measuring at most 39 inches.  Yikes.  I have no problem wearing a size 10 or 12, if that is what I need, but to name the skirt the same as last year's and then vary the sizing that much is just cruel.  Ugh.

So I have re-ordered the 10 Long, and with luck, I hope to measure the hips and find a measurement more closely resembling last year's version...about 40.5 would be plenty (that is what my J. Crew pencil skirts all have, fwiw).

I did manage to get this pulled up over my hips, but it was very tight.  My hip measurement has not changed much since getting pregnant as Gus has been sitting so high (see the plait trim top review), so I can confidently assert this skirt is running small.  (And so the other reviews state...phew, not alone.  And they aren't with child either, if that makes a difference, lol.)

So SIZE UP if you have larger hips.  Trust me.


Textured Cotton Skirt. I received a comment from a blog friend who said nearly the same thing as me: Just received the textured cotton skirt in gray and the sizing is AWFUL. I've never worn a 6 skirt, but that's what I'll need. And I likely won't get it until May. So aggravating. I was a 2 in dresses last year and one in cotton (not stretchy) fit a bit snugly so I decided to play it safe and size up to 4 in the skirt and tailor down if needed. I definitely need a 6, though the waist will be huge. So disappointing because the skirt is gorgeous. The gray and black color would make it wearable in March in NC and I can see it with white, peach or aqua on top for warm weather. (THANK YOU, MARY G--GREAT REVIEW!)


Border Print Tunic.  I have received mine, and find that the size 6 I bought is lovely, but have not yet had a chance to wear it, so I will hold off my review till next week...that said, the very cool Ema of My Closet, My Baby, and I did a in-depth review of this tunic last week.  :)  This looks like it may be a popular choice, just like last year's Terazzo Tunic.

SALE ITEMS:

Animal Bow Flats.  The wonderful Molly (of the blog My Closet Travels) e-mailed me a few IRL photos of items that I currently have and love.  :)  I see the love is mutual for Boden's use of leopard print this year.

Anyhow, she says of these flats: The Leopard flat, Size 37, these ran a wee bit big so I bought insoles for them. They fit great now and are so comfortable. I am amazed at the level of comfort with these particular shoes. Once the snow is done flying I'll be wearing these shoes a lot.

I ordered a size 41, which is supposedly my "tts" Boden size, but for me, it varies.  A lot.  :)  The clincher on these working so well for me is because they are long and narrow.  (I need narrow A LOT more than long...I have freaky skinny feet.)

Leopard Tote and Fab Wallet.  Molly did what I did and purchased the wallet to match the bag.  I think they really do work so nicely together, and the plus being that the wallet can work well on its own, as well.  I love the grey here, and had the tan completely sold out and I couldn't have gotten the combo I did, I would have been more than happy with the grey versions.  Very pretty!

Molly says of these: The bag and wallet. LOVE!! I first saw your pics in Paris with the other color way and loved it immediately. I waited patiently for a discount and bought it at 20% back in December. It took over 4 wks to arrive but it was worth the wait. I have rec'd tons of compliments all wanting to know where I bought it and then people asked me about Boden. It's roomy and holds my wallet, calendar, make up bag and all the other essentials a girl needs in there bag. I love that it snaps at top so I don't worry about it being open or things falling out.

Fab Wallet (close-up).  Molly added this detail shot and also included a bit more on this item specifically: What I like about the wallet it that it has lots of room for credit cards, license, money, coins and other stuff I stick in there. It's chic and a real conversation piece just like the tote.


Animal Bow Pumps (heehee, definitely a British thing, flats are pumps).


Leopard Tote.


Fab Wallet.

Molly wanted to add one more bit of info, on Boden in general: Why Boden now? I guess because I read your reviews faithfully and because I wanted a change. I still love J Crew but I was ready for something different. The patterns, the colors, the fabric, WOW! Beautiful. I wish they could ship quicker than 3 wks but like you I'd say it's worth waiting for and these are items that not everyone owns.

THANK YOU, Molly! Great reviews and I 100% agree regarding Boden's niche impact on a market that desperately needs something a bit more unique. ;)  (And let's hear it for more items being shipped from Pittston, PA, please!)



Embellished Cashmere Cardigan and Ruffle Front Dress.  I wore these two together out on the town for lunch with the family.  :)  I felt good, which is saying a lot for a mom of two (almost three) who is definitely nearing saturation level on this pregnancy.  (So tired, so so tired.  God bless Gus sitting right there on my diaphragm, preventing the luscious embrace of deep sleep.)

You all have a great night.  Enjoy the new arrivals as they come in...and yay for anything that makes us feel wonderful, no matter what the day might bring.  ;)

Review: J. Crew No. 2 Pencil Skirt in Royal Paisley OOTD.

Okay, yay! I am at part three of my three part review series. :) Yesterday I published reviews of the Hacking Jacket in Herringbone and the Winsome Dress in Blurry Rose.

Today I am focused on two items that are definitely available, so if you like them, they are available right now for an additional 25% off. (Again, this is how I got these pieces last time, during the 25% off all inclusive promo they were offering last month.)

Skirt: No. 2 Pencil Skirt in Royal Paisley.  I have the one in orange and blue from this summer, and decided I loved that one enough to give this one a shot...but with one caveat, if the skirts were too similar in fabric and look, I would return this one.  Turns out they are different enough, obviously in coloring (this one reminds me of Mardi Gras), and in fabric.  This fabric is like a very heavy and soft cotton sateen, whereas the one from this summer was almost a textured cotton.  It is sort of funny that they issued the cotton sateen one in fall and the textured cotton in summer, especially in these colorways.  I think they should have issued this one during the summer and the summer one now, but since it wasn't my decision, there you go.

I am wearing the size 8.  Technically I could have gone with the 6, especially since the 8's waist is pretty loose, but honestly either way I am happy, it isn't exactly falling off of me in the 8.  But...if you have a smaller hip line compared to your waist, definitely size down. 

Top: Vintage Cotton Ballet Tee in fiesta purple.  I have items that can match the skirt, but this tee was so pretty and interesting looking, I took a chance on it.  WAY back in the 90s I owned a sweater from J. Crew in this color and I have very fond memories of wearing it, so I also was being a bit sentimental.  :)  This is the extra small, which is more than fine, loose enough to give the "relaxed" look, but not too loose.  It is really short, but since I am short torsoed, it hits at my high hip perfectly.  If you have a long torso, you may be out of luck, as I don't know that sizing up will help.

The jacket is from Anthropologie (Herringbone Sweater Jacket), the shoes are old school J. Crew (Alessia patent peep toe heels in spearmint--matches the spearmint in the skirt exactly), and the necklace is J. Crew (Knotted Mesh Necklace).

This shot gives you a better view of the top and jacket.

We went to our favorite gorge-o-fest place, aka Texas de Brazil.  I wore the skirt on purpose as a way to remind me to not go overboard.  I didn't, btw, stuck with the filet mignons and limited myself to one fried banana.  :)

Royal Paisley OOTD. by dinagideon featuring a studded clutch

Above is the polyvore.

So many people have done reviews of this skirt.  (As was the case with the winsome dress and the hacking jacket...great reviews!)  If you have a review of any of the three items, would you mind dropping your review link in the comments of the appropriate review?  Much thanks!!!