TGIF

Wow am I glad it's Friday!  I've had a long week with work, so I could definitely use a break.  And next week I'm only working 3 days before heading home to Ohio for a long weekend, so there's kind of an end in sight.  This weekend is pretty much wide open, so I'm hoping to get in a bike ride or two, maybe some baking, and a little R&R.



I popped into Target to check out these cute red flats, but walked out with these purple loafers instead.  The flats, though just as lovely in the store as online, weren't as comfortable.  I've had my eye on these loafers for a while, but I'm glad I was able to satisfy the craving with a much cheaper, yet still comfortable and stylish option.  What's funny is that before I started blogging, and certainly before I started taking a good look at the amount of money I was spending on things like clothes, shoes and jewelry, I would've just bought the red shoes and dealt with the fact that they pinched my toes and would almost surely give me blisters.  I still bought something, but I went home with a pair of shoes that I'll actually enjoy wearing, rather than a pair that will just be painful.  So even if I can't stop shopping, I can exercise a little bit of restraint.  So there's hope for even the worst shopping problems.

Tank, Cardigan & Shoes: Target (okay, I might have a problem after all)
Pants: Loft
Necklace: Randolph Street Market

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

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

Wheels of Fire

Remember this skirt?  Yeah, it was so awesome, I couldn't help but get another one.  And look!  I can finally wear yellow!  But that's not the coolest thing I've gotten lately.  This is:


I got a bike!  It's a Schwinn Cream 3 speed.  I didn't totally splurge here.  A couple weeks ago, our old landlord called and reminded me about the security deposit from our old apartment.  I had totally forgotten about that.  So once we got it back, I decided to finally buy myself a bike.  I've wanted one for riding around town pretty much as long as I've lived in Chicago, but just never got around to it.  Fella is currently getting ready for a race with biking, running and an obstacle course, so he just brought his bike out from his parents' house.  So now I can ride with him.


I just got back from my first ride with Cream.  I was a little shaky at first, since it's been years since I've actually been on a bike (the last bike I owned was a pink 10 speed with spokey dokes). Here she is in the neighborhood square (Rad may recognize this fountain as being near the gelato place and pastry cafe we were at last week).


And here she is at the park.  One thing I didn't consider while getting dressed today was the logistics of biking in a skirt.  I don't know how gals like Gracey do it.  I think the entire neighborhood saw my off-brand Spanx this afternoon.  But it's cool, I had fun anyway.

Tank: Target (remixed)
Skirt: Old Navy
Necklace: Gift
Sandals: Chaco
Sunnies: Loft
Bike: Schwinn

Staycationing

I took the morning off today to head downtown with Fella's mom, aunt and a family friend to watch a live taping of Chicago's new local morning show, Windy City Live. Watching a live TV show was pretty cool!  Fella's mom, a regular TCC reader, offered to snap some outfit photos of me on the set, which I couldn't pass up.


After the show, we went out for a quick lunch and did some browsing at the big Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's) downtown on State Street. Thanks to a surprise express train home, which passed my stop by a few, I enjoyed a long walk home, complete with a stroll through the neighborhood Farmer's Market and a stop for ice cream, on a beautiful summer day.

I love taking actual vacations, but I have to say, when summer rolls around here, I love me a staycation.  Chicago's such a cool city anyway, but we have so many things going on in the summer.  And taking some time to enjoy my city was just what I needed after a pretty busy couple of months.  Moving, packing, unpacking, entertaining (welcome and totally wanted) out-of-town guests, friend's weddings and various parties have kept me busy since the beginning of May.  But finally getting some time to window shop and walk around on a sunny day was awesome.  Do you Staycation?

Cardigan: Target
Dress: Loft Outlet
Sandals: Unisa, via PiperLime
Earrings: Gift
Bag: Coach, gift

In the Garden

It's Friday!  Yay!  We had a pretty big rain storm here on Tuesday night, and ever since, it's been a bit chilly again.  I don't know about having to wear a sweater in June, but more layers do seem to add a bit more interest to my outfits.  Otherwise, I'm just relying on cute shoes and/or jewelry.  But speaking of basic outfits, I disguised one of those on Wednesday with cute pictures of Jude.  I mentioned that he spent most of our photo shoot eating grass.  A-Dubs asked to see Jude's cow impression, and who am I to deny Stylenation that?



In addition to a Rad visit, dizzy spells and crazy weather, I also had a chance to meet the lovely Kristen of Low Fat Dressing this week!  We met up at the Chicago Botanic Garden Wednesday night after work.  If you're in the Chicago area and want to fit in as much of the gardens as you can in 2 hours, Kristen is your gal. She was an awesome tour guide!  And though it was dark and gloomy and kind of chilly, this was a cool time to visit the garden because no one was there.  Of course we didn't get a picture (blogger fail), but I did get a lot of cool garden pictures.











Cardigan: Target
Tank: Loft
Skirt: Old Navy
Sandals: Clarks
Unseen Earrings: Bohm

Shoe Malfunctions and Father Figures

Yesterday after I had been in the office for about 2 hours, I noticed that the strap on my sandals had come loose and started fraying.  I don't really care, since they were only $10, but I didn't want to walk around with a broken shoe all day.  Being silver sandals, duct tape seemed like the obvious solution.  I went to ask the head of my department if he had any, since he always has stuff like that on hand.  He didn't, but he grabbed my shoe and stapled it back together for me.  This goes way above and beyond his normal responsibilities.  I remember having a similar shoe issue when I first started at my job, and he happened to have electrical tape in his desk to repair them with.  These are small gestures, and obviously I could have stapled my shoe back together myself, but it reminds me how fortunate I am to work on such a small, close-knit team (there's only 5 of us). When not acting as my cobbler, my co-worker has given me tons of advice about gardening, car repair, and home maintenance.  He reminds me of my dad in this way.  And living a 4 hour drive from my dad, it's nice to have a stand-in sometimes.



All of this to say, this Father's Day, remember to tell the fathers in your life thanks for all the cool things they do.  My dad was seriously my favorite person while I was growing up.  We spent summers going on bike rides and listening to Ernie Harwell call Tigers games on the radio (while, of course, watching it on TV with the sound muted). I was my dad's helper when he was fixing things around the house, and it was my dad who taught me everything I know about rock & roll.  Seriously, how many 8 year old kids know lyrics to Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Springsteen?

My first ballet recital, 1986

No one appreciates a good (bad) pun quite like my dad, and he's always in a good mood and laughing about something.  He loves hearing about my job, and is one of the only people who even kind of understands what I do for a living. I can thank my dad for my sense of humor, slightly awkward social skills, sweet tooth, nerdiness, freckles, love of music and baseball and general fixing skills.

"C'mon Dad!" Crossing Lakeshore Drive during my first ever trip to Chicago, 1986

Millennium Park, Chicago, 2005 or so

Tank: Old Navy

Pants: Loft Outlet

Sandals: Aerosoles

Watch: Fossil

Earrings: Macy's

Sunglasses: Loft

More of the Same

Well, when you find a formula that works, why not stick to it?  We finally got our internet up and running last night (YAY!) so I'm working from home today.  Yesterday I rocked navy and white stripes with a green necklace accent, jeans and sandals.  And look, I'm doing the same today!  But it's comfy, and it works.

Cardigan: Target (remixed)
Tank: Loft Outlet (remixed)
Capris: Loft Outlet (remixed)
Necklace: Hazel (remixed)
Sandals: Privo (remixed)

To make up for the boringness of this, I'm including a few pictures of the new condo.  I'll get the rest of it up once we get all unpacked (or once I can get enough boxes out of pictures!).


This is the dining room.  It's fancy chandelier pretty much sold me on the place.  It's probably Jude's favorite room. He loves lying under the dining room table, and it's especially nice on hot days since there's a huge and powerful air conditioner in the window in here. Fella's not a fan of the curtains (they came with the place, and I don't mind them), and we plan on painting this room eventually, but you get the idea.


Obviously, this is the bathroom. Oddly enough, it was the room I was most excited about decorating. I guess because it's small and easy to fill up, but also because I've had a blue bathroom for the last 7 years, so I was excited for a change. The bathroom is the first room I painted last week, and the color is called Scotland Isle, though I'd describe more as pea soup. In a good way.


And here's the kitchen, which I'm pretty excited about. The color is called Lemon Pound Cake, and it's a bit brighter than it looks in photos. Fella and I picked this color in the course of 2 minutes before heading to Home Depot to buy paint. I think I was just in the mood for lemon cake. But it works.


This nifty pan rack came with the place, and it's a huge help since there's not a ton of cabinet space. But our worn old pans look kind of silly here, so shoot, we'll have to get a new set sometime soon.

Rainy Day Woman

What is hiding in this flower pot that Jude seems to like so much?  Hmmm.

I'm going to apologize now for the quality of these pictures. It's been storming pretty much non-stop since last night, so the lighting is a bit off. I couldn't find an appropriate camera setting for a dark porch with a motion-light that won't turn off, so I'll have to work on that. Or hope for less rainy days this summer. The good news is that it finally cooled off a bit, so cleaning the old apartment tonight (the keys need to be handed in on Saturday) won't be nearly as awful as it's been in 95+ degree weather.

Today is my fourth office day in a row! If I could work from home today, I totally would have to avoid going out in the rain. If nothing else, but to avoid my hair totally falling flat, frizzing up and flipping out. Seriously, it lasted for about 5 seconds once I started walking. I don't know why I bother with the blow dryer on days like this. But I got to see some pretty sweet lightning while waiting for my train, so that's not all bad.

Cardigan: Target (remixed)

Tank: Loft

Jeans: Gap (Long & Lean)

Sandals: Unisa (remixed)

Necklace: Randolph Street Market (remixed)

Watch: Fossil (worn a LOT)

So Long, Farewell

Tonight was our very last night of apartment living.  After 7 years and just as many apartments, it's pretty awesome to stop paying rent.  But it's a little weird to say goodbye to my home of the past 3 years.  Fella and I had only been dating a year when we moved in, and we had only lived in our apartment - described on craigslist at the time as a sunny, charming vintage apartment on a quiet, tree-lined street - for a month when we adopted Jude.  We've had a lot of good times here, had Rad and other fun visitors, hosted several parties and gone through all kinds of interesting life experiences.  But as they say, onward and upward.


Don't let the pretty dress and fresh face fool you - I spent the day cleaning up the condo, after spending the better part of 12 hours on Thursday painting.  I couldn't have gotten it all done without the tireless efforts of Fella's parents.  We had dinner with them and Fella's godparents tonight, and it was nice to get out of my painting clothes and just relax for a while.  But still, I'm exhausted from all the hard work!  And yet so excited about the move tomorrow that I can't sleep.  Am I rambling?  I think I'm rambling.  What are you up to this weekend?

Dress: eShakti
Sandals: Birkenstocks
Jade necklace: Randolph Street Market (purchased during this blogger outing)
Watch: Fossil
Bag: Coach, gift from Fella's parents

Closed!

Today was our long-awaited closing. Fella and I are now homeowners! We're busy buying paint and getting the place ready to move in on Saturday.  Here we are in front of our new front door, and that envelope I'm holding is full of the massive amount of paperwork we had to sign.



In addition to a lovely yard, there's all kinds of self-photo potential in the new place.  Here's our attempt at a family portrait.  If you couldn't tell, Jude's pretty stoked about the new place.  Obviously we're re-painting these walls, since they totally wash me out.  Blogging is an important consideration for decor, isn't it?

Tee: Gap
Skirt: target
Sandals: Birkenstock

To Market, To Market

Happy Saturday, all!  This is what I've been wearing today, on what has become a pretty busy Saturday.  Technically Fella and I were supposed to spend the weekend packing, but I made plans to go to the Randolph Street Market this morning with fellow Chicago-area bloggers Randi from Not Just MOM and Julia from Polka Dot Biker Shorts.  They are both lovely ladies, and we had a great time perusing the market today.  Randi got a picture of the 3 of us, so that may appear on her blog sometime soon.  Meanwhile, my brother was passing through town on his way to visit our parents in Ohio, so Fella and I went downtown for brunch with him this morning.  The rare location shot above was taken (courtesy of Fella) while we waited for the train.  And before I could salvage any hopes of getting some packing done today, our friend C. texted to see if we would be up for dinner and a movie tonight.  Duh, of course.  So thank goodness there's 2 more days left this weekend!  What are you up to?

Jacket: Old Navy (remixed)
Dress: New York & Company
Sandals: Unisa (remixed)
Scarf: Target
Earrings: New York & Company (remixed)

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

No Rest for the Weary

Happy Friday!  Is it me, or has this week kind of flown by?  This weekend, instead of relaxing and finally catching up on my sleep, or starting to pack for our move (which is just over a month away - yikes!), I'm headed to Ohio for a dear friend's baby shower, and to see my family.  It's been since January, so it'll be nice to see everyone, but not waking up at 6am on Saturday would be nice too.  Just saying.

What are you up to this weekend?


Cardigan: Loft
Tank: Ann Taylor Factory Store
Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Privo
Necklace: New York & Company

The Danger of Too Many Zipper Pockets

This is me trying not to sneeze.  Thanks, allergies.

This feels like a pretty dark outfit since it's spring and all, but eh, sometimes dark outfits happen.  It was cold, damp and foggy yesterday, and rainy today, so I'm not feeling brights (although maybe I should be wearing brights to persuade the sun to return). Fella and I are going on vacation next Wednesday, so I feel like I'm just phoning it in for work right now anyway, and that seems to be extending to getting dressed today too.  The exciting thing about this outfit is the flats because they've been missing for about a year.  I swear I've turned the apartment upside down a few times looking for them, and all the time they were hiding in one of the many zipper pockets on my work bag.

What are you up to this weekend?  My best friend from Ohio is coming to town to run the Shamrock Shuffle, so I'm excited to see her.  Equally exciting, I'm finally getting my hair cut and colored again.  It's been since New Year's, which, with short hair, means I'm about 6 weeks overdue on the cut.  I'm happy with the length so I don't think I'm going to get it cut too drastically, just cleaned up.  I think.



This is Jude concentrating really hard on the treat in my hand.



And this is him looking at the camera immediately after sitting.  I'm not even looking at the camera, so clearly he's better at this blogging thing than I am.

Cardigan & Flats: Target
Tee: Gap Outlet
Jeans: Gap
Scarf: Old Navy
Watch: Fossil

This Post Needs a Title

Do you guys ever get something new and shiny and you just can't wait to wear it?  Over and over again?  That's how I feel about this necklace.  While Rad was off at her conference this weekend, our friend C. and I did a little local shopping.  We went to Hazel, a wonderful stationary and jewelry shop in the neighborhood, just so I could get a birthday card for a friend and a note card to send my pen pal Grandma.  I ended up buying Fella a new watch to replace the one he lost last weekend, and decided I'd treat myself to this necklace too.  I know, wasn't I just saying I'd cut down on the shopping?  It only cost $17, and look, I've already worn it twice!



I wore this outfit last night on a date with Fella.  Like good Chicagoans, we went out for some Italian beef and then saw The Mountain Goats and Megafaun in concert.  Fella really loves the Moutain Goats, but a lot of people don't seem to have heard of them before.  I told C's fiancée over the weekend that we were going to see them, and his response was "Is that a band?"  It'd be cool if we were seeing actual mountain goats too, but a band is good.  I really like them because their music is full of great piano, which was even more awesome live.

Cardigan: Loft
Tank & Jeans: Gap
Necklace: Hazel
Shoes: Puma



And here's what I wore to work today.  Don't mind the odd, windy photo.  I had to scurry out of the alley pretty quick, since some landscapers were coming through.  Not embarrassing at all.  Anyway, I ended up switching to my black heels because I felt like these shoes made my legs look stumpy.  Or maybe I'm just not ready to see my legs just yet.  Don't get me wrong, I'm wearing nylons to ease into bare legs, but it's weird seeing my legs in anything but dark tights.  I'm sure I'll get used to it.



Cardigan: Ann Taylor
Dress: Target
Necklace: As above
Shoes: Clarks Indigo