Stripes, Shoes and Blogging Space

I'm sporting just another casual Friday outfit today.  I feel like I'm in a bit of a style rut lately, but it's just so easy to get dressed in cotton knits and simple outfits in the summer.


I absolutely love these earrings.  I picked them up at my favorite neighborhood boutique while popping in to buy a few birthday cards the other day.  And while we're talking about accessories, you know those comfy black wedge sandals that I feel like I've worn all summer?  See here, here and here. They're on sale for $25 today on the Aerosoles site!  Just passing it on, since they're super comfortable and versatile, and they come in other colors.  I'm considering ordering a pair in red because they're so great.  You can see this link for details.

Tee: Loft
Skirt: Old Navy
Shoes: Puma
Earrings: Hazel


I'm not a regular participant in Friend Friday, but after seeing this week's over on MinnChic, it was hard to pass up.  This is where I do my blogging.  And my working from home, since I don't really have an office set up.  I had wanted to get a desk to put out on our sun porch but eh, for now the couch works.

Been There, Done That

Good morning, Stylenation!  If this outfit looks familiar, it's because I wore most of the components together recently, here.  No?  Well, it's also a pretty close copy of this outfit.  I was about to title this post "Same old, same old," but it turns out I've already written a post with that title.  Wow, talk about creativity running dry!  But really, once you find something that works, why not stick with it?  I went out for an 8.5 mile bike ride this morning, so by the time I got back home and started getting ready for work, I guess I just didn't feel like thinking too hard about what to wear.  Thank goodness for easy to put together outfits!

Tank: Target
Cardigan: Loft
Skirt: Old Navy
Necklace: Ann Taylor
Sandals: Privo

Fútbol Chic, Concert Fun and a Monday Outfit

Happy Monday, all!  It was another busy weekend here.  What were you up to?  On Saturday, Fella and I went with a couple of friends to watch the Chicago Fire play Manchester United.  I got this jersey for free (so hard to pass up free!), but opted to let Fella wear it to the game because it's just not my style.



That, and Jude wore it so much better than me.  I couldn't compete.



Last night, Fella and I went to see Bon Iver perform at the Chicago Theater.  We've seen Bon Iver before, but only at outdoor music festivals, so it was really cool to see them at such a nice, historic venue as the Chicago Theater.  And they were awesome!  Here's what I wore:


Dress: Target (remixed)
Sandals: Born (remixed)
Bag: Coach, gifted (remixed)
Earrings: Bohm via Hazel (worn previously, but I can't find them...)

And here's what I saw while walking over the Chicago River.  Isn't it gorgeous?



Unfortunately, the weekend had to come to an end, so here's what I'm wearing for work today.  It's finally cooled off enough for sleeves again, which is a nice change.  80 is sooo much better than 95.




Tee: Loft
Skirt: Target (remixed)
Necklace: New York & Company (remixed)
Sandals: Aerosoles (remixed)

Last and not least, as if that wasn't enough, at the end of last week we formally adopted Kameko!  She loves Jude, and Jude's getting used to having a sister, so we're all pretty happy (as you can see).

Unpacking Surprise

This is not what I'm wearing today.  Today, I'm sitting at home working from my couch, dealing with some annoying summer allergies.  Could this year be any worse for allergies?  Really?  In any event, I wore this last night to go out to dinner with Fella, his mom and his cousin, who is visiting from Colorado.  We went to one of my favorite restaurants here, a tasty Mediterranean place up in Andersonville.  I love a weeknight dinner out, complete with pomegranate sangria, tasty food and a free box of homemade baklava.


This outfit is pretty plain, which is the norm for me in this weather, but I have to point out the shoes.  I took a break from my work yesterday and finally got back to unpacking.  We had a pretty big pile of boxes in our dining room, and there's about 6 or 7 boxes left in the guest bedroom, so I'm finally making a dent in those.  I unpacked a box marked "Anne's old clothes and shoes" and stumbled upon these sandals.  I completely forgot about them, even though it's only been a couple months since I boxed them up.  Before that, it had been at least a year since I'd worn them.  They're not the most comfortable shoes, so I remember why I haven't worn them, but aren't they cute?


And for your enjoyment, this is Jude photo-crashing and deciding he wants to go back inside.

Tee: Loft
Skirt: Target
Sandals: Naturalizer
Earrings: Alixandria Collections, gifted

Misty Morning

It's mornings like this that I'm glad that I typically plan my outfits for work ahead of time. We had a big, loud thunderstorm in the middle of the night last night that knocked our power out. It came back on within a couple of hours, but I had a really hard time getting back to sleep. I'm used to being lulled to sleep by the sounds of our window a/c unit and the TV, and without those, there was nothing but silence. Like, deafening silence. That's hard to come by here in the city, which I've apparently gotten used to.


Anyway, I had some big post planned out last night about how I may need to do another No Repeats type challenge.  I was going through my closet last night, and despite all of the clothes I gave away before we moved, I still have kind of an overload of them.  It's overwhelming.  I feel like I should start wearing more of them, and maybe weed out what I really don't wear.  I'm still thinking about that, but honestly, all I can think about today is how awful the weather is supposed to be.  It's supposed to be 98 today, and our humidity is at about 200%.  That explains the fog in the picture above.

Dress: Loft Outlet (remixed)
Cardigan: Loft (remixed)
Sandals: Aerosoles (worn a gazillion times)
Necklace: Randolph Street Market (remixed)
Earrings: New York & Company (remixed)
Watch: Anne Klein (also worn way too many times to count)

Pitchfork 2011 Wrap-Up

Happy Monday! As I mentioned in my post last week, this weekend Fella and I attended the Pitchfork Music Festival here in Chicago.  What did I wear?  All of this:


Friday

Tank: Loft
Skirt: Old Navy
Sandals: Birkenstock
Hat: Pitchfork 2010
Sunnies: Loft

Saturday

Tank: Target
Skirt: Old Navy
Sandals: Chaco
Sunnies: Loft

Sunday

Dress: Old Navy
Cami: New York & Company
Belt: Target
Sandals: Privo
Hat: San Diego Hat Co.
Earrings: New York & Company

Pitchfork is definitely a scene, style-wise.  There's a broad age range there, from kids in their teens to middle-aged folks still keeping up with the latest music.  And accordingly, lots of different styles were present.  Although most people - like me - were dressing to stay cool in the heat (Sunday it got into the mid-90's), there were definitely some trends.  Most notably, styles from the 80's are back in a big way.  Bright bold prints, neon colors, bandanas, oxfords and pleated skirts abounded.  Personally I wasn't a huge fan of 80's style the first time around (to be fair, when I wasn't in my school uniforms, my mom was dressing me in horrible matchy-matchy outfits during the 80's), but it's fun seeing how kids who weren't even alive during that decade interpret the style.

And the music?  The music was awesome.  We saw Tune-Yards, Thurston Moore, Das Racist, Guided by Voices, Neko Case, Animal Collective, No Age, Destroyer, The Dismemberment Plan, Fleet Foxes, Superchunk, Deerhunter, Cut Copy and TV on the Radio.  Whew!

How was your weekend?


Neko Case, performing on Friday


Fleet Foxes from afar, performing on Saturday


Animal Collective, performing Friday

Why Is It So Hard to Think Up a Post Title?

After a pretty good lull at work, I'm finally busy again.  Actually being challenged by work seems to have sapped me of my usual creative, witty posting.  I know, it's a bummer.  The good news is that today is my Friday!  Fella and I are both off tomorrow, and this weekend we'll be attending the Pitchfork Music Festival.  This will be my 4th year going to Pitchfork, and although I'm not nearly as up on indie music as others (like Fella), I always have a great time.  I'm especially looking forward to seeing Neko Case, the Fleet Foxes and Animal Collective, all groups I've seen at prior summer festivals.


In other news, the dogs seem to be getting along really well thus far.  They were both eager to join in my photo shoot this morning, so it's good that Kameko is down with blogging.

Skirt: Target
Top: New York & Company
Sandals: Birkenstock
Jewelry: Alixandria Collections, gifted

Yellow, on the Side

I'm sure I've mentioned before how envious I am of people who can wear yellow and wear it well.  It just doesn't work with my coloring, and I've accepted that.  But I'm still jumping on board with this round of Everybody, Everywhere and sporting the only yellow thing I own - my bag!

It's still pretty warm here, but we had a pretty nasty rain storm yesterday that took away a lot of the humidity. It's at about 50% now, which is a serious improvement over yesterday.  Like, I'm not drenched just by walking outside.  Said storm yesterday resulted in all kinds of power outages and trees/branches all over the streets in the Chicagoland area.  It's weird how many of our storms this summer have been severe.  The storm hit right as I was on the train on my way to work, so we stopped and sat on the tracks for about an hour.  Ugh.  A lot of the traffic lights were still out when I left work yesterday afternoon, which caused problems for the bus that I take to the train station.  So all in all, I spent about 5 hours commuting to and from my office, which is 25 miles away.  It totally sucked.  Like, to the point that I was nearly in tears while sitting in traffic on the bus last night.  The day would've been a total loss if it hadn't been for this new addition to our household last night:


This is Jude's new foster sister, Kameko!  3 years ago we adopted Jude from a wonderful 100% volunteer rescue group, New Leash on Life.  I keep up with them on their Facebook page, and am always perusing their available dogs.  I've wanted a second dog for a little while, and since we've moved, we actually have the space for 2 dogs.  I spotted Kameko on their website and read her story and thought she and Jude would be a pretty good match.  She's 6 years old and, like Jude, a rottweiler mix.  She had a good home, but the guy who adopted her had to move overseas and couldn't take her with.  She's been in day care for 3 weeks since he left, and Fella and I felt bad that she didn't have a home to stay in.  We took Jude to meet her on Saturday, and they got along pretty well, so we offered to provide a foster home for her.  We're seeing how things work out, but it's possible that we'll adopt her.  I'd love to, but it depends on how Jude adjusts to all of this.  They seem to like each other (here they are together), but it's a big change for Jude.  Does anyone with multiple pets have any tips on integrating a new pet to the house?

Skirt & Tank: Old Navy
Cardigan: Loft
Sandals: Born
Yellow bag: Coach

Melting

Happy Monday, Stylenation. How was your weekend? For the first time since early May, mine was not very busy, which was a pretty nice change of pace. We're having some hot and humid weather that seems pretty characteristic of a MIdwestern summer to me. And when I say humid, I mean steamy. I don't have numbers to back this up, but I'm pretty sure the humidity is at least 100% this morning. I'm writing this on the train, after a 15 minute walk seems to have totally cancelled out my shower, my hair is a giant frizzy poof, and my make-up feels like it's melted. I know, eiww. But I'll still take this over snow and cold. To combat the heat, I went with a light chambray dress. It's very breathable and airy, which helps in this heat.

Dress & Belt: Target
Necklace: Randolph Street Market
Earrings: New York & Company
Sandals: Clarks

No More Office Casual?

Happy Friday all! I'm sure I've mentioned before that my office has had a "casual" dress code for the past 4 or 5 years. This has irked me at times, since people really push the limits on what is considered casual. In an office. But rumor has it that, as a result of our buy-out last year, our new company is going to restore the old business casual dress code. I know, business casual? Everyday? How can people possibly live like that? Really, all it means is that I can't wear jeans to work everyday (which I rarely did anyway), and that I won't have to see people walking around in track suits and tube tops anymore (none of this is actually permitted by the current dress code either - like I said, pushing the limits). But now that we may lose the casual dress code, I feel like I should get all of my office casual outfits out of my system. I kept the accessorizing at a minimum today, since the shirt has some embellishment.


How great is this photo crash? Jude and I had just returned from our morning walk, and he was confused as to why I wasn't rushing upstairs to feed him his breakfast immediately upon our return. And then decided to check out the delicious grass.


Speaking of walks with Jude, the other morning we took a long walk along the lake before work. There were all of 3 dogs at the usually crowded dog beach, so Jude had the lake mostly to himself.

Skirt: Old Navy
Tee: Gap
Sandals: Privo

Easy Summer Style

After a week away, I'm finally back in the office. I don't want to jinx the weather, but it appears that summer is finally here to stay. Warm, humid weather makes me fall back on the easy summer combo of dress/skirt and sandals, so pardon the plain and simple nature of upcoming outfits.  To distract you, check out how huge my plants have gotten!  But back to the outfit - this dress at least has some cool detailing on the back:








Dress: Target
Necklace: New York & Company (remixed)
Sandals: Born (remixed)
Nail polish: Do You Lilac It? by OPI
Sunnies: Loft

How was everyone's weekend?  If you're here in the US, did you have a fun time celebrating the 4th?  We took a super long bike ride on Sunday along the Chicago River on the North Shore Channel Trail.  I was so excited to have a bike again, I logged 30 miles over the weekend!  I had to take a couple days off because my legs were basically dead, but we're due for another ride tonight after work.

Fella admiring a sculpture along the bike trail

Fella and I threw a BBQ - our first party at our new home - for some of our friends on Monday.

Jude getting ready for the BBQ

We walked up to a nearby park on Monday night to watch some official unofficial fireworks (or something like that).  The show lasted well over an hour, but Jude was ready to go after about 45 minutes.  Honestly, I'm impressed he made it that long.

Fireworks!