KISS on Veterans Day

With it being Veterans Day, I thought it would be good to go with patriotic colors.

Red turtleneck - Express, Kiss shirt - Present from Husband, Black vest - Gap, Blue pants - J Brand, Boots - Uggs

My problem was, though, that I didn't already have an outfit planned out in patriotic colors, and I'm a bit low on red, white, and blue anyhow.

I think I usually don't buy primary colors?

I decided to go with the pants and turtleneck pretty quickly then stared into the mirror. Color blocking with primary colors? Eeeeek, not as fabulous outside of my head. I threw on the vest and boot to calm down the look.

And told myself this was fine. KISS--Keep it simple, stupid. Oh wait...

I put on the Kiss T-shirt to tie together all of the colors, and while I felt fine all day, I also thought, Ugh, red and blue are so harsh on me. Lesson learned--never color blocking with them again. It's not surprising, really. I didn't put too much thought into the color wheel. For choosing colors while color blocking, it's really helpful to think about the color wheel.

Brown and boring

It always surprises me what Husband likes.

Headband - Target, Shirt - Really old, from Sears or JC Penney?, Brown cardigan - Ann Taylor Loft, Skirt - Anthropologie, Beige and cream socks - Target, Boots - Naughty Monkey

For example, I felt plain and boring yesterday, but Husband loved this look.

I think he liked the colors and the soft,  feminine shirt and skirt.

This outfit started out a lot more exciting in my head, mixing the patterns of the skirt and shirt, but they were off in their cut and fit. I tried to camouflage this and tone down the pattern-mixing with a brown belt, but that didn't work either.

So I went with the partially-buttoned cardigan, which can work like a belt to cinch your waist and unify your look.

The cardigan, though, still didn't feel quite right. I bought it originally to build my work wardrobe years ago, and I think I've slowly come to hate it. It's just booooring.

Hair bump so big Husband couldn't even capture it all.

I tried to make my hair exciting to make up for my brown and boring outfit, and while that was my favorite part, it wasn't enough to save how I felt about this one. Oh well, they can't all be winners.

Wendy's Lookbook scarves

I recently discovered Wendy's Lookbook, and I adore her videos. 25 ways to wear a scarf in 4.5 minutes is especially fun, and should be watched if you have even one scarf and 4.5 minutes! Today I decided to play off the Boa look with my beloved pashmina shawl.

Pashmina - Nordstrom, Blazer - Nordstrom (from the kids' section!), Striped cami - Gap, via Sister's closet, Dress - J.Crew, Belt - Lacoste, Bracelets - One, Present from Husband, Two, from stand in Honolulu, Booties - Nine West

I kept it loose and left the ends out. It was not only a fun and warm way to wear my shawl, but it also took a whole lot of fabric and condensed it well. So often I do the European loop or basic loop, which can overtake the outfit sometimes.

And we can't have that happening when I love so much the rest of the parts of my outfit.

Today I went back to last week's two day theme of LBDs worn at work because I realized that I had a black dress hidden in my closet from the J.Crew warehouse sale.

I know, when will the madness end, right? Probably never. After this round, another sale will happen.

Also, I successfully did the fun bun (again). Why was I ever having problems with it?

Oh, apparently I still need to work on piling it higher on my head.

Every time I see pictures from the beauty department when I'm linking to that darn tutorial (this is probably the 10,000th time), I think, Ah, man, it's still a little off. Okay, fine, but I'm nearly there.

Extra petite belts

The other day I discovered Extra Petite, a fabulous blog, which included a video on belts. It was perfect because I've been thinking that I really needed to punch some holes in a couple of belts, including my recently purchased leopard belt. Apparently when the label said XS-S, they meant for a giant.

Hole punching success after a trip to Michael's!

I immediately had to incorporate the belt into an outfit, and decided to go with another find from the J.Crew warehouse sale.

Silk blouse - J.Crew, Cardigan - Pac Sun, Leopard belt (with new holes!) - dEliA*s, Jeans - Express, Wedges - Target

I know what you're thinking--Michelle, shut up about the J.Crew warehouse sale. But I'm not even done debuting my stuff from that day.

I swear, even I'm sick of saying, "J.Crew warehouse sale". Kind of. I'm slightly triumphant still.

Every time I think I'm done with everything, I see something else peeking out from a string of hangers of planned outfits. I should just find everything that's left and put it all together in a Frankenstein of an outfit.

Not related to anything I've said here, but I think I look like my mom in this pic.

Happy Monday!

So way back in August, I figured out several different ways to remix this dress.

Denim jacket - Gap, Scarf - Anthropologie, Dress - Jovovich-Hawk for Target, Boots - Jeffrey Campbell

Then I proceeded to wear 10,000 other things before actually getting around to this dress again. For a while there I thought it would be too cold to bring this out until spring rolled around.

But it was a lovely day today!

I was happy to go with bare legs, a light jacket, and a fun-colored scarf to balance out the chilly morning and warmer afternoon.

Especially when the scarf plays so well off the dress's colors.

Something else I tried today was a suggestion from The Beauty Department to wear double the eyeliner--a thick line of white then black on top to make it pop.

So it's really hard to see it here....

I really liked the look, and Husband noticed right away! I think I could have gone with a thicker white line, so I'll try that next time around. I hope everybody had a great Monday! Mine started out with some morning exercise, which was fantastic, but I think was just a product of the time change. Once I get into my usual routine of lots of snooze button-hitting, I'll be back to only having half an hour to wake up and get out the door.

Half the Sky

Sunday was a fairly busy day. Sister was on a mission to get casual cool boots--a mission that we accomplished at Nordstrom. (High-five, Sister.) Because I knew we were going to Nordstrom, I wore one of my most recent purchases from there.

Cardigan - Banana Republic (Present), Black cami - Express, Tunic - Arden B., Skirt - H&M, Boots - Vince Camuto

I'm also just trying to wear these boots more because I love them.

The wedge heels! The laces! The color!

I got a round of compliments on the entire outfit later that night at my book club meeting. We were discussing Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

Though I think there were some looks: Is that a dress? How short is that skirt? Is it see-through?

The book of course inspired me to wear this blue sweater on my top half (sky-colored on my top half), but most definitely and more importantly, is making me think more about human rights. 

Lazy Saturday

All I wanted to do Saturday was to read, nap, and generally be lazy. That could have meant staying in PJs, but I decided to take it up a notch...

...with a poncho - J.Crew, Necklace - Present from Husband, Long-sleeve white shirt - Target, Bracelets - Uniquities and Nordstrom, Red pants - Citizens of Humanity, Boots - Shoe store in Oxford somewhere

I haven't figured out how to wear this poncho outside of my house, but it was basically the most ridiculous thing I found at the J.Crew warehouse sale, which meant that I had to buy it.

I like a challenge.

I did succeed in reading most of my latest book club choice, and took a very satisfying nap.

Very happy about that.

But back to the poncho--anybody else have luck in wearing one? Any suggestions?