The Dress Stands Alone

I've worn this dress a few times before (though I've only blogged it once), but I'm excited to finally be able to just wear it on its own.  No tights, leggings, sweaters or scarves needed.  We're having more warm weather today, though it's supposed to cool off again later this week.  But I'm enjoying the chance to dress like it's summer while I can.  I don't have anything interesting to say today.  Everyone have a nice Wednesday!


Dress: Target
Belt: New York & Company
Necklace: Express
Headband: The Limited
Sandals: Aerosoles

Rebel in White

We're having absolutely gorgeous weather here today, so it's a perfect time to break out some floral.  Even better, because today is the day for florals over at Everybody, Everywhere. I have a ton of different floral things, but with a forecast of 80 and sunny today, I went with a knit sun dress.  And - gasp! - white shoes before Memorial Day!  I know, I do like to live life on the edge.  I have some really great silver flat sandals that would've looked good with this dress (Rad may recall I wore these to a friend's wedding last summer), but sadly I packed them up last week, thinking there wouldn't be a lot of sandal weather between now and June.  Oh well.


Cardigan: Target
Dress: Loft Outlet
Sandals: Unisa
Earrings: New York & Company

Emotional Attachments

Happy Monday! Where do the weekends go? Mine sure flew by. Saturday was spent running errands, cooking for Mother's Day and continuing to pack. I started packing up our bookcases because I needed a break from sorting through old clothes. It's funny how many books of mine don't "fit" anymore, yet I'd never consider parting with them because they're part of my past. Will I ever read my third edition Classical Sociological Theory textbook again? Probably not, but it's a reminder of who I wanted to be in college. My old clothes serve similar reminders, but I just don't need them. That size 10 suit that I interviewed for my job in back in 2004? In addition to not fitting, it really serves no purpose, just a reminder of when I was a bit slimmer and more motivated to find a new job. So one of our errands on Saturday was to drop some of my old clothes off at a neighborhood resale shop whose proceeds go toward Howard Brown, a health center that serves local LGBT youths and adults.



Today's weather is a little odd, which made me completely change what I had planned to wear (hence the early morning sunshine photos). The forecast for the next week is rain, and when I was getting ready this morning, the hourly forecast called for rain as early as 6am. Here it is, 9am, and it's still bright and sunny. Maybe it'll rain later, but I didn't want to mess around with a dress or skirt, since rain also tends to mean cold here. Is it too much to just have a nice sunny day that will stay a nice sunny day?

Tank: Ann Taylor Outlet
Cardigan: Target
Pants: Loft Outlet
Sandals: Aerosoles
Necklace: New York & Company

Mom

This is me with my lovely mom.  It boggles my mind that in this picture, she's just one year older than I am now.  Where would any of us be without our moms?  My mom was always there to encourage me in school and my interests, and always had a shoulder for me to cry on.  Although often playing the role of disciplinarian while my dad traveled for work, she always tried to make sure we had a good time.  She planned fun family vacations for us, whether visiting the beach or following our favorite baseball teams around the country.  There's not a lot of pictures of her while we were growing up since she was the family photographer, but she's always smiling and often laughing in the few pictures we do have.  She put up with a lot from me when I was a teen and in college, but I hope that I've grown up into a young woman that she can be proud of.  I've learned so much from her over the years.

Always say "please" and "thank you," respect your elders, how to tie my shoes, the lyrics to "My Favorite Things" (we would sing this a lot whenever I was having a bad day), how to make a house a home, the importance of family, the benefits of an occasional mental health day, how to bake cookies and cook dinner for our family, responsibility and accountability, never lie, don't take anyone's guff, how to plant flowers (which is, incidentally, what she was doing while waiting for my dad to come home and take her to the hospital so she could have me), be independent, always make time for friends, and live my own life before settling down and starting a family.

To all of you mothers who are constantly teaching, nurturing and encouraging, thank you for all you do.  Happy Mother's Day!

Leg Baring

I don't want to jinx this, but I think we might finally be getting a nice day here!  It was almost 50 when I woke up this morning (compared to the upper 30's for the rest of the week), and the sun is shining.  I just couldn't resist busting out a summer dress.  And *gasp* bare legs!  Is Chicago ready for these?

I don't generally talk prices here, but I do love a good deal.  Since my birthday is in a couple of weeks, I've been getting a ton of coupons in the mail (similar to the Simpsons episode where Bart has 40-some birthday coupons to spend).  I picked up this dress at Loft Outlet (did you even know there was a Loft Outlet store?  I had no idea!) with 2 different coupons, so in the end it only cost $10!

It's been another busy week, so I'm really looking forward to a weekend free of travel and lots of plans.  I'm hoping to make a bigger dent in the packing effort, and Sunday we'll be spending the day with Fella's family to celebrate Mother's Day and his mom's birthday.  What are you up to this weekend?

Cardigan: Loft
Dress: Loft Outlet
Belt: Target
Shoes: Tsubo
Necklace: New York & Company

Springtime, are you out there?

Can you believe it's May already?  4 days into May no less!  I can't, mainly because of our crap weather here this week.  It was 40 degrees yesterday, which is hardly what I remember May and spring to be like.  Today our newspaper reports that we've only hit 70 degrees 3 days this spring, which is an all-time low in nearly 30 years.

Even if warm weather isn't coming soon enough, Fella and I are realizing that our big move is.  We close on June 1st, and we're moving into the condo a month from today!  Knowing how busy the coming month is for us, I've felt really overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done before June, but now that I'm getting started on it all I think we'll be okay.  I packed up 5 boxes of clothes yesterday (including all of our winter stuff - hopefully it doesn't snow again!), and already have 3 big bags of things that I'll be donating to charity.  I've talked about decluttering before, and how hard it's been for me to let go of a lot of things that I've been moving around from apartment to apartment with me over the years.  But something about this new condo makes me finally feel ready to just let go and give my things a new life.  I'm not using them, so someone should.

Cardigan: Target
Tank: Gap Outlet
Pants: Loft Outlet
Shoes: Eddie Bauer
Earrings: New York & Company
Sunglasses: Loft

Mayday Rant

I'll be back with an outfit post later this week but I just wasn't feeling it today (Monday). Of course you all know the big news that came last night.  I was in college in Ohio when 09/11 happened and I didn't know anyone who was involved, so I can't even begin to imagine how those who were there that day or those who lost someone that day felt upon learning that Osama bin Laden had been killed.  Like most Americans, my heart broke for everyone suffering as a result of 09/11, and I know that our country and our feeling of security hasn't been the same since.  I generally don't support war, but have accepted that the US has entered into 3 since 09/11 happened.  I don't support capital punishment, but I can understand the feeling of justice being served.  I'm glad that he was captured and that he no longer poses a threat to the US.  But bin Laden being killed doesn't put us back to where we were prior to 2001, it doesn't remove us from war, and it doesn't bring any of the victims back.  Air travel still frightens me as much now as it has over the past decade, and that probably won't change either.  I love my country and feel so lucky to live here and have as many opportunities as I do.  But all of that said, I don't understand the celebrations of bin Laden's death.  As a friend noted in her blog today, it felt like people were celebrating their team winning the Super Bowl.  And I hope I don't come off as ignorant about this.  I just can't recall any other time in my life where the collective opinion has been to rejoice and celebrate someone's demise (perhaps Saddam Hussein comes close).

A lot of you may have seen the viral Martin Luther King, Jr. quote on Twitter and Facebook.  Below is the full quotation from his speech:

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


I remember hearing this quote from the nuns who taught at my high school (which is, incidentally, where I developed all of my feelings against violence).  I try not to get too political on social networking sites (and even on this blog - woops), but I didn't see much harm in quoting Dr. King.  Unfortunately, I'm almost always wrong about this, and there's always some jackass from my hometown who is taking a break from commenting on Yahoo news stories to point out what a bleeding heart liberal I am.  Sure, I get that we don't agree on things like health care, guns, abortion or our President's citizenship.  But it's frustrating that someone can find fault in such a profound, insightful quote from a champion for peace.

This morning while getting ready for work, I was exhausted from the weekend and being up late to watch the news last night, and have been feeling a huge array of emotions about the events of the past couple of days.  So you'll forgive me if I didn't really care what I was wearing.