So, Yes, This Was Unexpected, But I'll Take 'Em...aka Heirloom Flora Earrings for a Tired Momma...

BTW, as you are reading this (provided you read it tonight 10/5/09), I am attempting (or so I hope--Baby CW is being VERY NEEDY) to finish commenting back...I feel terrible for not commenting sooner, but I truly promise it isn't because I don't want to...it is because my family makes it kind of hard to find the time I need...I actually can publish posts faster than I can comment (probably because posts are just me talking to myself, which I find really easy...go ahead, make fun, I know, I know...).

ONTO THE UNEXPECTED:

I call my bro this afternoon to check on the babies, and after confirming that they were in fact, alive and napping (lucky Peter), I asked him if I got any mail, and he confirms that yes, I did get a white, small package. Yes, it appears that, I, dinagideon, was a recipient of the much discussed earrings over at J. Crew Aficionada. Hmmm...and dinagideon begins the speculation.

#1--I received it under my maiden name, not my married name (which you all will never ever know...gotta have one thing I keep quiet). Now I have not made many purchases under my maiden name in a long time, but a lot of my correspondence happens with my maiden name, including a lot of the stuff I do with this blog. Hmm...

#2--My personal shopper knows my married name...it is on my credit card info...but the e-mail I use to discuss stuff with her is under my maiden name.

#3--I used to receive two catalogs in the mail, one for my married name and one for my maiden name (I know, get the act together, J. Crew), but now I only receive one for my MARRIED name, so I thought that J. Crew only knew me as my married name (and HAD indeed gotten their act together).

#4--I don't know. I just don't know. Hmmm...

#5--No free shipping code...hmmm...

#6--The earrings are BEAUTIFUL, so regardless, I am enamored. In fact, I love them so much that I wore them this afternoon to Border's Bookstore and received a compliment on them from one of the sales people. (And my bro, he REALLY likes them...) So, however I received them, thank you, J. Crew. Very cool.

#7--That said, what is the impetus? I really want all cardholders to receive this. I think, like has been said over at JCA, the "perks" of being a cardholder should be unconditional, like at Banana Republic. (I am assuming I received this because of my card...I know it is under my maiden name...but you know, I seriously haven't bought anything with that name in a LONG time.)


Peter took this pic of me wearing the earrings. They are in fact, very comfortable to wear, and of the right shade that they could be worn with many different outfits.

P.S. I made the photo "glow" because I was very tired when this was taken, and honestly, a "glow" (thank you, Picasa) makes it all a little bit better. ;)


A photo of the earring close-up. So shiny.


Gotta love a grosgrain-tied silver package. So pretty.

Have a great day. Maybe we can unwrap the mystery of the earrings sooner or later...yes, I just said "unwrap." And yes, I know, bad pun.

A Few Outfits for a Vacation (aka Let's Go to the OBX)!!!

I realized I had not gotten my outfits up from my trip to the Outer Banks (which I took all the way back in early September). Since we are going away fairly soon to another beach-y location, I knew that I just had to publish. the. pictures. already.

:)

Untitled by dinagideon featuring J Crew

Here is the polyvore of the outfits I wore (except outfit #1, which is directly below).


I wore this on the way to the beach. It was actually kind of cold (mid-60s), so I wore a light jacket (see next photo), but this is what I wore under the coat. The top is a tee from J. Crew from maybe two or three summers ago? I love this tee, it is so soft and pretty. The V-neck is a nice neckline, and I adore the anchor detail. The shorts are the ubiquitous summerweight stretch bermudas that you all know now that I own in almost every color. (These are the navy pair.) The sunglasses are from Boden, and from this summer. I ADORE these glasses!


The light jacket I wore is the Ruffle-neck short trench coat that J. Crew made this last spring (2009). I remember Slastena loving it, so I bought it, and I loved it, but it is definitely too heavy for me to wear in the summer...but 60s? Yes, I will definitely pull it out again...plus, look at the tea rose contrast color in the sleeves!!! Too freaking adorable. Love it!


This is from Target (and is in my polyvore). This giraffe-print is so sweet. It is a Merona Collection item, but lucky me...I found it on sale. YAY! (And in my size...even better!) This may be my favorite dress from the weekend. It fit perfectly and the giraffe print was not especially overwhelming (the way animal prints can often be)...I saw this dress on sweet tea in seattle and fell in LOVE, so thank you! :)

I wore it belted with the skinny leather belt in hot pink, which is from J. Crew this last spring. The shoes are some knock-off gold capri sandals from Target from a year or so ago (I think they were ten dollars--definitely a steal).

Oh, the giraffe print obsession continues. This time, for the next day, (the day I visited the crewlet), I wore the giraffe-print belted top by Merona Collection (also on sale) and a pair of aqua shorts (also on super-sale...something like 5 dollars). I wore the fake capri flip-flops again, natch.

I wore this delightful dress to dinner the last night we were there. Dinner itself was a nightmare (thanks, Rex), but I still felt good and eventually even Rex was well-behaved enough for us to enjoy ourselves at least a tiny bit.

This is the linen constellation strapless dress from J. Crew this last spring 2009. I tried it on in a ten initially, and decided it was too big, so I went back to J. Crew later (and armed with the Mickey card) and bought it in an 8 and for 25% off. That works for me. But here is the kind of sad thing...I just got around to wearing it (some five months later) and I find the 8 fit, but a 6 would have been better. Here is my advice to all you post-partum moms out there...if you buy it while you are still losing baby weight, be prepared to do some tailoring or else you will have wasted your money. I got by with it being a bit too big by doing the old tug, tug, tug. Sigh. (And I must say, I didn't have to tug this one nearly as much as the Sanur dress...that dress is really hard to keep up...)


And here is the dress with the linen seafront cardigan (I think that is its name). I love this cardigan. I am obviously a huge fan of the linen (what with it being all southern preppy summer friendly) but I especially love linen sweaters...they are so unique and the texture so special, that I usually buy one or two linen sweaters a summer. I believe gigiofca also wore this one for you all at some point.

That is all for now, lovelies. :)

I will be publishing my pretty pics from this trip (which will include some of the kids that are super-cute) later tonight. You all have a great day, I am off to comment on the other posts (hopefully) and to go sub...

A Tale of a Perfect Purple Pencil Skirt...

This post is dedicated to AppGal, who really is interested in the purple perfect pencil skirt. There has been a lot of buzz with all of us J. Crew Aficionadas about this season's perfect pencil skirt...and I admit to falling hard into this crewlade. J. Crew is REALLY gifted at making a pencil skirt. I think I own ten separate pencil skirts, and even though some were bought when I was a bit bigger, I love them so much that I have altered them so I can still wear them. (BTW, that alteration is really easy and pretty cheap to do at your local tailor.)

There are so many women who have reviewed this skirt, that I don't have the time right now to list them all (but if you would be so kind to let me know you reviewed it in the comments so I can later update this post, I would be most appreciative). I have to substitute teach in about an hour, so I have to make this quick!

Perfect Pencil Skirt in Purple One Style Option... by dinagideon featuring J Crew

Here is the polyvore for this outfit.


This is how I wore this outfit. I had originally styled it with a patent belt in dusty rose (to match the heels), but Mr. Dina did not like it very much, and I really didn't think it added all that much, so I took it off. (But if you would like to see it, look at the next photo.)

This cardigan is NOT the one pictured in the polyvore. I bought this cardigan from TJ Maxx about a month ago, and I LOVE it. It is a merino cardigan by Willi Smith. This is a beautiful pattern and really goes very nicely with the amber cami underneath, and is a nice contrast color to the plum in the skirt. The dusty rose pumps are a great neutral (or at least act like it in this outfit). I was going to church, so I knew I had to be fairly conservative, but let me tell you all, if you buy this skirt in the absolute right size (not too big and not too small), you can ABSOLUTELY make this skirt into the perfect party skirt. I bought this skirt in a six. I normally prefer skirts to be a little loose, but I feel like if you go too big in a pencil skirt the effect of its nature, the body hugging it is meant to do, gets terribly lost. I sometimes will buy one size too big with the intention of nipping in the waist but leaving a little room in the hips, but I did NOT do this with this skirt. When I tried on this skirt in a size six, it just felt perfect...and I truly think it still is! (And, this may shock you all, but it was very very comfortable to wear, even when at church and holding one or both children at the same time!)

So, I HIGHLY recommend this skirt, and I would say either get your normal size or even go to your limits and get a size smaller...trust me!

By the way, buy the perfect pencil skirt here. (Eventually I will buy the blue and cinnamon colors, but I am waiting a bit...need more money...)


Here it is styled with the dusty rose belt. Eh...

Have a nice weekend. I plan on commenting back on all my past posts this weekend. There will be a post of two but they will probably be pics of kids or clouds or some such...

Cocodrillo Cardi Party Alert!!! (Plus, Mini-Review of an Outlet Tee!)

So very tired today, must make post quick!!! (I subbed in the library of my former school today and will be for the next 6 school days, so I may have limited energy, but I will try to keep up with at least one post a day...)

BTW, I always announce the Cocodrillo Print REALLY BRIGHTLY when I do a post on it, ever since one of the commenters said how much she (or he) detested the print...hopefully that individual stayed REALLY FAR AWAY from this post.

HeidiG. and Gingersnap have been having cardi parties lately and since I have been wearing cardigans more often lately (more as outerwear, but today, definitely as inside wear, too--it is BRISK outside), I thought I would do a post on one of my "cardi-party" outfits. There is a lot more to come, including a post with the plum perfect pencil skirt (AppGal, this is a saturated, vibrant true medium purple) and a post which includes photos on how I styled the ocelot cardigan.

No polyvore for today's set because more than half the outfit would require me to post pics and then clip to polyvore and I just can't find the energy!!! :)


Lopped off my head because I looked incredibly bad. REALLY REALLY BAD. If I cut my head off, there is a great reason. :)

The cardigan is the cocodrillo cardigan (in a silk/linen blend, I believe) from Summer 2009, J. Crew. The adorable tee is from the J. Crew Outlet, recently purchased, and it says Fall 2009 on the tag. The jeans are one of my all-time favorite pair of jeans from IT! jeans and I purchased them a long long time ago and never ever thought I could get into them again. AND I CAN!!! Woot woot! BTW, the reason I love these jeans? They have an embellished butt pocket and they just fit over my bottom perfectly. I am not really a bling-y sort of girl, but these jeans had me at "hello." The flip-flops are from J. Crew this last spring 2009.


MUCH better face in this photo.

The reason I posted this is so you all could see the adorable rose on the tee. It is the outlet version of last fall's famed rose tee. The tee from last fall had a rose that was way too big for me, but this outlet version, perfection. The outlet version also comes in white (which I also bought).

The tee is a bit sheer, but whatever...as long as I have a cami on, I am not worried about it!

Have a great night. Hope I don't fall asleep before Mr. Dina gets home. The kids would never forgive me for making them forage...

Boden Love...In the Form of Their Fun Skirt...

So yesterday when I said that I was going to upload photos and polyvores of ALL the Boden outfits I have worn recently, I forgot to look in my OTHER camera's photo folder on my computer. (This is what happens when half of your photos are on your fancy DSLR and the others are on your sub-compact "it's okay if the kids drop it because it is indestructable" camera.)

This outfit is my last Boden outfit for a little while, the rest in the queue to be posted are all J. Crew or Target...

Boden Fun Skirt and a J. Crew Tank! by dinagideon featuring Forever21

Here is the polyvore for this outfit.

Here it is, in real life, on me.

First, info on sizing...the skirt is a 14 LONG in UK sizing. I can wear a 12 LONG but these sit right at the waist and I have discovered that British woman must not mind things being a bit tight when it comes to skirts. I get that sentiment for pencil skirts, but a beautiful, breezy A-Line summer skirt? Nah...would rather it be one size too large and know that even if I eat McDonald's I will still feel comfortable in it. I know for a fact this skirt is sold-out on-line. I think the fun skirts may be among the first things to go on the Boden website. I actually own the Brown fun skirt from this fall (the ones with the hotchpotch bird print) and am planning on adding the teal fun skirt (with the honey glaze paisley looking print) when I get a Boden coupon.

The tank is a J. Crew tank I bought at Rugged Wearhouse for a song, in a medium (for the length), and the flip-flops are J. Crew from the Summer of 2007.

Second, doesn't my brother look nice? He was interviewing at MicroCenter for a job. Right now, things are looking tenuous at best for him in regards to that job possibility, but at least he looked the part!!! Wish him luck!

Also, isn't the double stroller awesome? It is ridiculously heavy and cumbersome, but it does allow me to go places with them both and not have to worry about Rex or CW getting loose or lost or running out into traffic (is it just me or does every mother have this insane worry)...

A Little More Boden Love...

I WAS planning on doing my outfits in sequential order, which would have made these two outfits have a debut date of sometime next week (and that is only if I plan on being uber-productive)...but then I noticed something...I have been writing A LOT about Boden these past few days, so I figured, "Oh, just go and publish all the outfits that have Boden in them." So that is what you are getting...two outfits that I actually wore fairly recently (and I have some outfits that I still need to publish from back in late August/early September. Whatever, it doesn't even really matter anymore...all my days kind of run together lately. :)

BTW, I have a HUGE sub job coming up starting this Thursday and going into all of next week. I plan on posting (and even hope that I can do more--breaks and all), but I have no idea if that will actually occur. I won't go completely off the radar, I can promise that at least.

Boden Silk Cotton Scoopneck on Display! by dinagideon featuring J Crew

So this is the polyvore for outfit #1. (By the way, I wore this when I met the awesome HeidiG. for shopping and fun at Tyson's last Wednesday.)


And here is the outfit in real life. First thing, though, isn't Rex just insanely cute here? My little mimic. I just love this photo...

The top is from the Fall 2009 Boden collection. It is called Silk Cotton Scoopneck and it is really nice in real life. Very lightweight and special looking. The band is constricting, though, as it is grosgrain ribbon, and it has a side zip. I bought this in a UK 12 to make up for the lack of give. I normally can get away with a UK 10. The shoulders are also a bit tight, less so on me (my skinny shoulders are so bony), but I could see that even for me the shoulders are not all "loose and easy." So definitely size up in this if you want to buy it. (Purchase info can be found in my polyvore...just in case you didn't realize that.)

The shorts are J. Crew from this spring, and are the lovely bermudas that I bought in nearly every color. This color is grey. ;) The shoes are the ANCIENT sandals I own and just will not give up the ghost (yay for small miracles).

Boden Knitted Summer Dress and Snow Leopard Tartine!!! by dinagideon featuring J Crew

This is the polyvore for outfit #2.


Okay, here is the outfit on me, without the cardi. The brown dress looks very drab and boring in this pic, but in reality this dress looks very nice. In fact, at the sushi place we went for lunch on Saturday, the waitress complimented me on the dress and said she loved the fabric. (She's right, the fabric is very soft and forgiving...a linen jersey...sounds weird but that is what it is.) This is from Boden's summer 2009 collection and is called the knitted summer dress and is in Boden's sale section right now. I bought this in a ten, and if it weren't for the Henley placket, I could have bought an 8. (8 is the smallest Boden size.) Definitely size down, ladies. :)

To give this dress a bit more oomph, I added the ladybug necklace in yellow from J. Crew last fall (2008) (and currently making multiple appearances on the new ABC show Glee...the neurotic counselor wears it and the bracelet ALL the time). The sandals I bought on super sale from Banana Republic and are from their summer 2009 collection.


I cut my head off because the face I was making was that stupid. Really. But the outfit looked okay, so I wanted to salvage the photo. This is the outfit with the merino snow leopard tartine cardigan from J. Crew last fall (2008). I have worn this cardigan before...it may be one of my favorites. :) Roawr. (Or some sound like that--what sound does a snow leopard make anyhow?)

Good night, all. Wish me luck. Rex will be going to preschool tomorrow, and although we have tried everything to instill a sense of urgency over his inability to play nice, who knows what my sweet little guy really has up his sleeve?

Boden's Winter Collection is On-Line Today!!!

Okay, I know this coat was already on-line, but it is a new picture, which means there is a new catalog coming, and that means we can all waste our time salivating over the loveliness that is Boden. :)

Yay, we can all waste our time over at Boden today (already done by me, in fact I just spent the last half an hour clipping items for polyvore) looking at all the new goodies. There are many very nice items. I won't waste your time talking about which ones I like, but if you are curious, here are my top three from the new collection:

1. Glam Evening Cardigan in black. Yummy...although very impractical for my life!!! :)

2. Cashmere Tunic in azure. You know this would be so lovely on a cold winter's morning...very snuggly looking.

3. Vintage Inspired Necklace in pewter. Boden does the statement necklace, and really well. This is my favorite of the bunch.

I can't resist asking, what are your favorites? (I feel a bit like Alexis over at JCA, except for Boden...how did that happen?)