Monday, January 31, 2011

Monday Malady



DAMSELLE NEW YORK faux fur/knit vest


BASS boots
DRESS BARN dress


KATE PRESTON wedge sandals

Straw Hat



Sunday, January 30, 2011

Gone Hunting!

I have had some kind of winter “yuck” forever now and I finally broke down and went to the doctors on Saturday morning. It has been determined that I have severe allergies. This has made me do a thorough cleaning of our bedroom. I have gotten rid of any and all items that are not necessary and in the process I have reorganized my closet and drawers.



Amazing how little stuff I need to get dress for the week. And, don’t hold me to this because come next week I will be swearing I need new clothes stat.

Once that was done… We went hunting for protective covering for our pillows and mattress. Hence the hunting ensemble!

DAMSELLE NEW YORK faux fur/knit vest

CHAMPION fleece zipper front top & CALVIN KLEIN cargo pants

When I Grow Up I'm Going to Be an Old Woman

I loved Michelle Shocked song "When I Grow Up" the very first time I heard it. I have never been able to embrace getting old… Not even as a teenager. I have fought it and lied about my age for years. Ask me how old I am and I will respond with my well used response of, “My real age or what I tell people?” Now ask me my weight and I will tell you the truth and also toss in my measurement if you want them. No biggie there. But age… I will be fighting that battle with my wallet wide open.

Just recently I have stumbled onto a blog called Advance Style. It is a blog by a young man named Ari Seth Cohen that highlights the wonders and beauty of the mature woman and men on occasion. I love how he has captures the style and beauty of a life being lived to the fullest.

Advance Style 01/28/11 entry
Advanced Style entry on 12/15/09
Advanced Style 06/27/10
I do hope that one day I too can embrace the beauty of maturity but in the interim I am going to continue fighting with every fiber of my being.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Wind It Up

Winter Yuck has caused me to feel like I need to be “Wound Up”.  Imagine Gwen Stefani’s song “Wind It Up” playing in the background of this photo shoot.

 






Hopefully this weekend I will get rid of my winter yuck and come up with a couple of outfits worth showing.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Wish List or Just Wishing


I haven’t dressed up this week at all. Between the cold weather and this cold I haven’t had any urge to wear anything other than jeans and a sweater. So instead I am going to blog about additional items that I might want to add to my wish list.

I have notice that most of the fashion blogs that I read have, at one time or another featured skinny red pants. Do I WANT a pair of these???
Diesel Red Jeans - photo
Diesel Jeans





I LOVE this belt and am positive I WANT it. It would look lovely with my new thrifted skirt this spring. However, I have a short waist and it would only accentuate the fact.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Ann Taylor is sooooo getting my style!

I'm loving their "Lookbook" this month. I rarely view any Lookbooks and think "I could so wear these!" But this time Ann Taylor has done that. There are just a handful of the outfits that I'm not impressed with.

According to their PR, "Ann Taylor, is a chain of clothing stores for women, offering "the essence of modern classic style, with fashion that is versatile, polished, refined; from work to weekend, day to evening."  I do believe that does sum up my style more times than not.

 You can click the link for the whole Ann Taylor Lookbook. However, these are my favorite picks.









   


Thrift Store/Consignment Shopping

Today I’m home with some kind of winter yuck and not looking pretty at all. So there will not be an outfit positing. I thought I would however, talk about my Consignment/Thrift Store adventure on Saturday instead.

A friend reintroduced me to thrift store clothes shopping. I’ve never really ever had any luck when I had attempted this before. It always seemed like everyone else found all these fantastic finds. Me… Not so much! However, while in Anchorage I did find a wonderful fur vest for a steal and thus… I was hooked and ready to go on the hunt here at home.

I Googled “Consignment Shops” in the Richmond area and with list in hand, off we went. The first shop on our list was very disappointing – many household items to be found there. Well with the exception of an “OK” Coach bag for $88.00. But, it did have some stains and wasn’t really a stellar find. The next shop was 90% household; however, I did find an excellent box of treasures. The box had all kinds of scarves and they were only $0.25/each. I found four that I thought would work perfectly in someone’s (Carole) wardrobe.



We moved onto the next half-dozen shops. There were way too many H&M, Gap, Old Navy, etc… items for sale at prices that I could have gotten in season when they had originally gone on sale at H&M, Gap, Old Navy, etc…  I refuse to spend that much money on something used.

We then moved onto Carytown and I must admit I was finding higher end items but in general nothing stellar. I was finding thousand dollar items on sell for eight hundred dollar on names that I have never heard of. There was one particular shop that I fell in love with the items but nothing really fit me properly… too small or way too large. The place was called Ciao and had some wonder buys. A leather maxi skirt for $100, the leather alone was well worth that. And, a wonderful sweater vest that was about four times to large once I was finally brave enough to strip down. The shop didn’t have any heat other than a tiny space heater. It was 22 degrees outside and about 55 in the building. But, I digress… I so thought the owner of this shop had some of the best fashion sense. I found a leather poncho that she had wrapped a black scarf around… A look I would never have thought of.



After lunch we moved onto “Seconds Debut by Goodwill”. This shop had plenty to offer. It looked more upscale than the average Goodwill but the prices were inline with the average Goodwill. All skirts were $8.99 and I found one that is going to be perfect this spring. I can dress it up or down as you can see by the pictures.












My guy was getting tired and it was time to start heading home. To sum up this adventure… Success! There are plenty more consignment shops to explore. I have not exhausted the list of consignment shops by any means. It seems that Richmond has a plethora of shops to be explored and a couple worth returning to.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Hiking in the Woods

We hung out at “The Property” this weekend. I have been cooking various soups & a rack of ribs all day and I thought a great way to enjoy this sunny cold winter Sunday afternoon was to take a walk through our woods. We have a beautiful pine forest behind our house and it offered the best photo ops for my winter gear.

Faux fur hat from MACY's and OLD NAVY 3/4 lenght sleeved coat.


BASS leather boots and TOMMY HILFIGER skinny jeans










Getting warmed up. I'm wearing an OLD NAVY sweater (old).

Hat Day!

On Saturday we went on a daytrip to look at consignment/thrift shops… I will tell more about that adventure in another post. We took the camera in hopes of getting pics of some fantastic finds or at the very least something intriguing. Apparently, the only thing I found really intriguing were some hats… I am now declaring our Saturday exploration “Hat Day”.





Friday, January 21, 2011

The Boots Make Me Look Kick@$$

This morning I was told that my boots make me look kick@$$. I can work with that!

DOT Boots

EDDIE BAUER sweater (old) and  CALVIN KLEIN skirt

OLD NAVY t-shirt

Happy Girl... It's Friday!



It is about 25 degrees and my trusty OLD NAVY 3/4 length sleeve coat is keeping me warm.

I love my fingerless MERONA rag gloves from Target.