Pretty in Pink

Today's (well, Monday's) neglected closet piece is this Target cardigan.  Longtime readers may recall when I bought this sweater last fall, I claimed that it was so versatile, I could put together at least 12 outfits with it.  I won't bother linking you, but yeah, I've probably gotten at least that many on the blog.  Not to mention all the unblogged ones.  I don't know why I haven't worn it in 3 months, since my office is usually chilly enough that I always need a cardigan, regardless of the weather outside.

And speaking of pink things, Mel from A Working Mom's Closet is once again organizing Blogging for Breast Cancer Awearness.  The goal is to raise breast cancer awareness by wearing a pink item every day during the month of October (or for one week, or whatever you have time for).  Check it out if you're interested.  I participated last year for the entire month (or I tried at least).  This year, I'll be devoting a week in October to pink, and you can bet you'll be seeing this cardigan again.

Cardigan: Target (last worn June 24th)
Tank, Skirt & Necklace: Target (remixed)
Flats: Charming Charlie (remixed)
Flower Pin: eShakti (remixed)

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

Tights In May? Of Course!

Last week when it got really warm, I was a little annoyed at how hot my apartment was getting since we aren't putting our air conditioners in before the move.  I spoke too soon - we've had nothing but cloudy, rainy 40 degree weather here the past few days.  It feels a bit more like mid-March than mid-May.  But I'm not letting this make me retreat back into winter dressing.  Mainly because all of my winter things are packed away in boxes.  Today's outfit is pretty simple, but dressed up with a bright scarf.


Cardigan, Skirt & Tights: Target
Tank: Ann Taylor Outlet
Scarf: New York & Company
Shoes: Born

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

Dressing Around a Sunburn

Here's what I wore to work yesterday.  I had a really hard time figuring out what to wear that would cover all of my sunburn, because I got burnt while wearing a v-neck, and a majority of my tops and dresses have some sort of v-neck to them.  I decided a scarf would be the way to go, but of course I had to find a scarf that wouldn't be too itchy.  I should probably just wear sunscreen at all times to prevent this.  If you look, you can see the burn peeking out.  I've been blasting it with Solarcaine to make it a little less red and obnoxious, which actually seems to be working.



I've never  been a fan of leggings and flats underneath a dress on me before, but I couldn't stand to wear tights again after our 80 degree day on Sunday.  It cooled down to 60 and windy, so I wasn't feeling bare legs either.  Transitional weather is so tricky sometimes.



I mentioned the other day that I usually try to take my outfit pictures ahead of time.  Mornings are just too busy and crowded around here.  Fella didn't realize I was taking pictures and hopped into the shot to write a note to our dog walker.



And this is right as I'm telling Fella he's in the shot.  Oh well.  Have a nice Tuesday, everyone!

Cardigan, dress and leggings: Target
Scarf: Embellish
Flats: Born

Pinstripes

Happy Monday!  How was your weekend?  Mine was loads of fun, but I could use another day to relax and catch up on sleep.  In addition to hanging out with Rad, Fella and I went to a Super Bowl party with my friends last night.  Since the Bears weren't in it, I didn't really care about the game, though I did win $25 in our pool, and had all kinds of tasty eats.


There's 2 things I don't own very much of: button-down shirts, and pinstripes.  Yet this dress combines the two.  I'm actually not sure why I don't have more pinstripes.  They're a little more interesting than basic black, and vertical stripes must be slimming, right?  Button-down shirts, on the other hand, don't always fit me right, and when they do, I don't like the way they look.  For me, they feel too stuffy and professional-looking, though I'm envious of so many of you for being able to make a button-down look fun and relaxed.  Thankfully I don't have either of those issues with this button-down in dress form.


I'm sure you're all getting sick of snow pictures - trust me, I'm getting sick of the snow!  Fella and I were having a snowball fight last night when we got home.  We started out playing with Jude and the other dogs in our building, but they got bored with us.  Check out the mountain of snow behind me.  It goes almost all the way up to the roof of the one-story coach house (put another way, it's almost as tall as me, and I'm 5'9)!

Dress & Necklace: New York & Company
Cardigan & Tights: Target
Shoes: Tsubo

Coat: New York & Company
Scarf & Jeans: Gap
Boots: Sporto, via Piperlime

And.... done!

No Repeats, Day 10

Well, today is my last day in the office until January 3rd!  I have one project that needs to be wrapped up before the end of the year, and a few meetings scheduled, but I'm planning to take it easy otherwise.  For example, I'm meeting a friend for a nice, long holiday lunch today.  And I let myself sleep in about an hour and a half this morning.  My work really picks up after the holidays, so I won't get to slack off like this again until the end of March or so.  But who wants to think that far ahead?

Today's outfit features my apparent favorite color combination: pink and grey!  I've been wearing less of my favorite fall-back combo lately, but not intentionally so.  Really, just because I've been avoiding my 30 for 30 items, which seemed to form that combination a lot.  There's some cool beading at the waistline of this dress which I should provide a close-up of (but don't have time to right now), so I left jewelry pretty minimal.

How's everyone's holiday week going?  If you celebrate Christmas, are you ready for it?

Dress: New York & Company

Sweater & Leggings: Target

Boots: Eddie Bauer

Earrings: New York & Company

Repeat

I was running a little late this morning, so excuse the crappy photo quality here.  Something must've been in front of my camera to cause the blur at the bottom, but I didn't notice that until I got to the office to upload my pictures (I know, what a productive use of company time and resources!).  Jude is looking especially eager, but it's because he knows it's time for his morning walk and breakfast.  

I had a hard time getting dressed this morning since I wore jeans yesterday, and wanted to wear them again today being casual Friday and all.  For as good as blogs are at making us really think about what to wear each day, sometimes they also seem to add pressure.  Are jeans and a sweater too boring?  Should I pair that with more exciting accessories?  

Speaking of accessories, I did add a navy scarf to this once I got to work.  It was really cold this morning (35!) so I was already wearing a scarf, gloves and ear warmers for my walk to the train, and I just kept the scarf.  Here's a shot of it, looking just lovely under the fluorescent lights of my office.

Does the blogosphere ever make you over-think your outfits?

I'm off to our office blood drive to earn some free cookies, and looking forward to the weekend.  I hope you all have a nice weekend!

Sweater: Target

Tank: Gap

Cami: New York & Company

Jeans: Gap

Shoes: Loft

Earrings: The Limited

Scarf: Hazel  Chicago

Glasses: Vera Wang

Do-Over, or What a Difference a Belt Makes

This is what I wore to work today...

...but this is how I wish I would've worn it.  This dress has always looked a little off on me - the extremely high-waist always seems to suggest maternity wear to me (I know this style is popular and it looks very non-maternal on lots of figures, but on my shape, I think it just adds unnecessary volume).  But since it's comfortable and a basic like a LBD, I've held on to it.  Halfway to the train this morning it hit me that I should've belted the dress.  I definitely like it better with the belt.  What do you think, Stylenation?

Can you believe it's Monday night already?  Where did the weekend - let alone today - go?  I'm enjoying the quiet of my apartment while Jude and my fella are out running, and cooking dinner (grilled BBQ chicken salads, bread with honey chipotle butter and homemade pumpkin soup), so I thought I'd sit down and share a drink with you all (here's looking at you, SU).  Sure, a classier girl may have chosen wine, but what goes better with sparkly brooches than the Champagne of Beer?  I'm sure they go hand-in-hand, just like sequins and pink champagne (right Cynthia?).

Have a nice evening everyone!

Dress: Loft

Versatile Pink Cardigan: Target

Tank: New York & Company

Belt: New York & Company

Brooch: Etsy

Shoes: Tsubo

Beer: High Life

Glass: New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, CO

Playing Tourist

I had a nice day not working and hanging out downtown with my brother yesterday.  I don't usually post my non-work outfits, but I am this time because it includes my super versatile cardigan.  I've actually worn it a few times since my original post, so it is proving to be just as versatile as I thought.  I said I could make at least 12 outfits with the sweater, so here is outfit #2.  

Cardigan: Target

Tee: Loft

Jeans: Gap

Shoes: Privo

Scarf: New York & Company

Watch: Kohl's (c. 2004)

Since it's a pretty simple outfit, I don't have a lot to say about it.  Instead, enjoy this shot of downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan, as seen from the Shedd Aquarium.

Have a nice day, everyone!

Brightly Colored Versatility

A couple of weeks ago, I wore this blue dress to cheer myself up out of a funk.  I'm happy to report that I'm in a much better mood today, so I've remixed that dress and shoe combination with a bright pop of color.  I found this cardigan on clearance at Target over the weekend (I guess it's not a fall color, yet it seems absolutely perfect for fall if you ask me), and I do have a hard time passing up a good deal on something cute.  The cool thing about this cardigan is that the purpleish/pinkish color seems to go with everything in my closet.  I came up with 12 outfits that include the cardigan without really even trying.

After popping in to Target on Saturday, my fella and I had lunch with friends at our neighborhood Kyrgyzstani restaurant, and on the walk back to our apartment ended up buying all new furniture.  It's pretty exciting, given that we'd both been using mostly hand-me-down furniture and cheap post-college purchases.  But this means that my clothes-shopping habit will be on a mandatory and much-needed break.  This comes at a good time, given how tempted I always seem to get by new fall clothes.  Plus, this will give me a chance to wear and remix everything that's been hiding in my closet, with the help of versatile pieces such as a bright-colored cardigan or neutral dress.

What piece(s) do you own that seem to go with everything?

Dress & Cardigan: Target
Belt: Target
Shoes: Tsubo
Necklace: Ann Taylor
Watch: Anne Klein, gift

Edited to add: Jude Monday photo-crash