Guest Post: Something New, Something Blue

Time for our weekly guest post with Alicia! I have to tattle a  little bit on her–she sent me a text asking if I still wanted her guest post (I did) and then said Okay, I’ll have to figure out how to take my photos by myself” and I wanted to squeal and welcome her to the world of true fashion bloggers who have to figure out their cameras’ self timers! Congrats, darling!

Newlywed here. I might still be a little preoccupied. But let’s get down to business.

This past weekend, I went down to visit my parents. We were shopping for Christmas presents for my grandmother and we happened upon this little jacket and blouse. My mom was going to get it for my grandmother, but I coveted it. I love the shade. And I convinced her to buy it by saying “Hey, if we find something better for Nan Nan, you can give me the blouse and jacket.” Score. We found something better for my grandma.

The jacket is 100% cotton. The blouse is lace. My favorite part of the blouse, though, is the lining on the collar that perfectly matches the beautiful blue jacket. The skirt has this cute little pleat thing on one side. It is soooooo old, but it fits! The tights are super smooth and comfy. And I’ve introduced the boots before.

I do think the jacket looks a little bit mature for me, but I love the pop of color. I look forward to experimenting with it to make it look more youthful in the future. Once I find it, I’m excited to incorporate it into my casual wear, my work wardrobe, and maybe even as something dressy. I have commented before that I want to get more color, go a little outside my comfort zone, and I think this color is a great first start.

Blouse and Jacket: Style&Co, Macy’s. Tights: Calvin Klein, Macy’s. Skirt: Wet Seal. Boots.

I welcome any ideas for youthfulness. For example, accessories? Different bottoms to wear with them? I have no idea.

Guest Post: Working in Winter

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I’m excited to share another guest post from the lovely Alicia. Remember, you can read her blog over at Break Out of the Bell Jar! Thanks for the post, Alicia, and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did!

This outfit is more or less what I wore to the interview for this job. Just replace the tights with nude pantyhose and the boots with modest nude-colored Kate Middleton-esque heels. I adore this dress. I ran into a teacher after school had ended while wearing this little number and he told me I looked “too professional and pretty” to work at my law firm. He was only kidding around. He’s a prosecutor and we’re a criminal defense firm. He and my bosses get along fabulously and he was by FAR my favorite teacher. His sense of humor is dry, a little morbid, and sarcastic. Just like me! 

Dress: Fred Meyer | Tights: Calvin Klein | Jacket: American Rag, both from Macy’s | Boots: Overstock.com

That was supposed to be my “angry fake model” expression. It looks more like I wasn’t ready for the picture, but I still like the photo.

Now, these boots. I made an extra effort to get these boots into the picture. Not really my favorite. When I purchased them online, I thought they’d be sturdier and more attractive. But they make great winter boots anyway. My favorite part about them is that when I walk, they make a soft padding sound instead of a click-clack. I love the click-clack too, but sometimes a girl wants to be stealthy!

As for this last photo. Well, I wanted to do a pose I hadn’t done before. Ever. But the point of the outfit is that it’s relatively warm in the winter. The tights are a little thin, but they protect against the wind. The jacket is also a little light, but helps seal in some heat. The dress is very, very thick and warm. Overall, the outfit is a little too black-and-grey for my taste. I feel comfortable and pretty in it, anyway. And I think it had the desired professional-looking effect I was looking for the first time I wore it. After all, I landed the job!

Guest Post: Date Night!

Alright, folks, I’m super excited to announce that Alicia is back and thrilled to be doing another guest post! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Saturday marked 3 months of marriage for Mr. S and I. We weren’t going to do anything special. We went to Red Robin for dinner, had a few drinks, and decided against going to see the kids’ movie we’d planned on. But, even though we were going to a burger joint, I went all out as to my wardrobe and hair.

Dress: Guess | Leggings: Calvin Klein| Boots: Gift from Mr. S, Fred Meyer | Necklace: Gift from my mom

I picked this dress of a rack at Macy’s, thinking “this will probably look awful, but it is so pretty, I have to try it on.” I put it on and was amazed at how sexy I felt. And it was ridiculously on sale. Then I knew I needed some tights or leggings, not black, to wear with the dress. When I picked them out, I thought they were red. Turns out, they’re the burgundy/purple pictured here. Loved it! (Imagine that in a high-pitched singy voice.) The lace-ish detail on them was a high selling point.

Yes, that’s an open-lace back to that dress. Marci is probably sitting there going “Oh, that’s why she picked it out. Lace.” Haha, yes I’m quite predictable. People can go shopping for me and grab just about any lace thing and I will wear it. But this dress and these leggings were so comfortable. And I’m pretty accustomed to boots with heels, so I felt no pain or awkwardness at all in this outfit.

It usually takes me 15 minutes to get ready. This took me 45 minutes. The last time my hair was curly was my wedding. The last time I curled my own hair was for Halloween of 2009. And I think the last time I wore makeup was Halloween. But I rather like the semi-fifties way my hair turned out. And the makeup was simply eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick. I don’t like to wear foundation and blush. Mainly because I can’t find the perfect match but also I feel that I’m young enough to get away with it. Mr. S took these pictures and he also let me walk around with him, despite the borderline inappropriateness of my appearance. I felt amazing and, despite the bland idea for a date, I had a lot of fun. I’m lucky in that I can have so much fun just hanging around the house or eating at a chain restaurant with my husband.

Enough with the gooey stuff. The moral of the story is that date night was a success. And the food was yummy. (Free advertising!)

Guest Post: Work Sucks

I mostly own work clothes. They take up 4 days out of every week for me. And then on casual Fridays, I wear jeans and a sweater. So Mondays are the days when I try out my newfound fashion daring. This outfit was one of those experiments.

This dress was something that I nearly put back on the rack and walked away from. But once again, Mr. S insisted I try it on. It wasn’t exactly my favorite dress in the world. But I really loved the way it fit on my arms. Then I needed some kind of legging or tight to keep from being too provocative. I chose white because there’s no white in the dress. (A weird reasoning, but I think it worked out this time.) And then the boots were similarly chosen. Plus, I just love those boots. They’re from Macy’s. You may have noticed an overwhelming amount of my clothing comes from there. I have a confession. Before I was a big hotshot small town legal assistant, I worked at Macy’s for 2 years. If you got a 20% discount on all your favorite stuff, you’d own a lot of that stuff too.

Dress & tights: Target | Boots: Style&Co. – Macy’s

So this was my Monday outfit last week. Once again, my bosses had no reaction.

Guest Post: Fashion Phobia

What better way to kick off a new month than another guest post from my favorite not-a-blogger-yet-blogger, Alicia? I hope you guys love reading her stuff as much as I do, because I get pretty excited about sharing her with you!

As many women do, I have a few fashion fears, faux pas, and even fashion phobias. I am 5″4′, between a size 8 and 12, and I have very easy-to-spot hips. One of my favorite styles is the cute little wasit belt around a top or sweater or as a detail on a dress. It accents the shape of those gifted with the perfect waist for it. Like Kels. Don’t get me wrong, I love my waist. But my body simply is not correctly proportioned for belts. UNTIL…

Dress: INC from Macy’s | Shoes: DSW | Sweater: Random department store in Napa.

I originally thought this dress was a cute top with a separate leather skirt on the mannequin. When I asked the sales associate at Macy’s where to find the top, she pointed me to the dress. Which brings me to another fashion phobia of mine: leather skirts. How do you pull it off without looking like a biker chick or just plain out of place? Why, you combine it with the adorable top to which it is attached! Normally I would walk away, wistfully wondering what if. What if, just maybe, that was the dress that conquered my fears of leather skirts and waist belts? Luckily, Mr. S was there with me. He thought I would look sexy in it. When I looked at the price tag and saw it had originally been $160 and was reduced to $60, I tried it on. And loved it. When I went to check out, it was actually even further on sale. Long story short, with 8.2% sales tax, I still got it for under $50.

You might take special notice of the shoes. I have no shoe phobias. I love these babies. I bought them online at DSW. I made the gutsy move to try to pair my two loves together as a work outfit. (Ok, maybe some wouldn’t find it gutsy, but dangit, I was wearing a leather skirt to a law office!)

In the picture above, you can see more of the little belt that somehow worked and that supermodel feeling I get when I wear heels. Or leather, apparently. However, because my teensy-weensy town is uber conservative as far as work clothing is concerned, I could not wear the bare shoulders to work. And thus, I regretfully donned a sweater. Really, I love the sweater, too. Mr. S and I picked it up at some random department store in downtown Napa on our honeymoon. But I feel it takes away from the dress itself. It came down to the choice of not wearing an outfit I absolutely adored and compromising on my own fashion sense.

The dress was just too good not to wear. And I don’t feel I compromised too much. My bosses didn’t say anything about it at all. And I recovered fully from two of my fashion phobias! Maybe next I’ll overcome my irrational fear of pastel skinny jeans… or not.