Happy Halloween!

Just a quick post to say hello and wish everyone a happy Halloween.! DH and I celebrated Halloween (and our 6th wedding anniversary!) this past Sunday with my inlaws and six nieces and nephews. We went to find pumpkins, took a hayride through the woods and just enjoyed a nice fall afternoon together. I have to admit, I can’t take complete credit for this outfit – I was inspired on Instagram when I saw Meghan from Everyday Fashion and Finance pair the Factory pom pom dot Tippi with the J.Crew beaded rose necklace and houndstooth pants. I modified it slightly – but the idea is still the same. I wore my J.Crew elbow-patch Houndstooth schoolboy blazer from last year, layered the Factory polka-dot chambray shirt under the Tippi and finished with black J.Crew Matchstick jeans and Corso Como boots (via Gilt Groupe).

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This outfit is how I like to do fall – a few layers under a sweater and I also added a black puffer vest. I have some pumpkin patch pictures but not sure DH wants his pic out on the interwebs so my outfit it is 🙂 Here’s a closeup of the sweater and necklace:

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My necklace is the Groopdealz version of the popular beaded rose necklace – I was excited to find inspiration to pull this in to Fall. This is also only the second time I’ve worn this blazer and I think I definitely need to be working it in to more outfits this fall/winter. And here’s a little peek at our weekend fall fun – the pumpkins were dwindling for sure! This is about the extent of our Halloween fun this year – the kiddos had fun carving pumpkins and we had fun watching them enjoy themselves so much! Halloween itself is quiet – we live in an upper apartment and no kiddos of our own so I cooked a nice dinner and we tucked in while the nasty weather brewed outdoors.

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How about you? Did you have a fun Halloween inspired outfit? Are you all over black and orange for Halloween or do you put a different spin on it? Would love to hear what you think and thanks for visiting!

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J.Crew Factory – Optical Lace Top and Scalloped Lace Top

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Scalloped Lace Top

I purchased this during the 50% off sale when the latest round of new arrivals were released on Factory’s website. After seeing that the sleeves were not white underneath like the photo shows, I knew I had to have it. I have the Retail and Factory versions of the short sleeve Raindrop lace tee that this blouse is modeled after and I wear them all the time. I went with a 12 in this, to be conservative, I might have been able to get away with a 10, but I didn’t want to deal with any pulling in the chest area.

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Excuse the bathroom shot. The only time I can take photos during the week is early before I leave for work and by the time I get home it’s almost dark. Photographing the black top was a little tougher – but you get the idea. I love this top. It’s a little looser but I think going down a size might have been a smidge tight. My eternal struggle of being between two sizes. And I wasn’t planning on wearing all black to work…but I had my new Iced Lariat necklace from Baublebar I was dying to wear. I swapped out my patent pumps for my Banana Republic Bailey studded flats and overall was pleased with the combination. This top will look great with jeans, pencil skirts and was easily layerable under a blazer. This is a keeper.

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Optical Lace Top

I was on the fence about this top but had admired the retail version and figured for the 50% plus my extra 20% off, I’d give it a shot. It looks like a blouse you could dress up or down and who doesn’t love black and white? The question was if the lace print would look cheap, and it’s of course polyester compared to the retail version that was silk. I went with a large, again, erring on the conservative side.

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Meh. I tried it untucked and tucked and tucked was worse than untucked. I didn’t even attempt a blazer, because if I can’t wear the blouse solo then what’s the point? I’m glad the fit was off because I was conflicted about the pattern

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The center lace pattern is very intricate and in my opinion, you can’t really see from a distance that it’s a print. Those darn strips down the side bugged me though, they definitely look printed and the seams also annoyed me. Even if this had fit better, I’m not sure I could have looked past these items. But I’m glad it didn’t look good on me because it made it easier to dislike this part of the blouse. So, off to the outlet this weekend. My email tells me that the Factory Stores are doing 40% off this weekend so maybe I will find some other fall goodies.  Another item I ordered was the factory version of the Tilda – it is the EXACT same shirt. Or at least the stones are spot on. The shirt fabric is more textured and I actually like it a bit better than the retail version.

So – what do you think? Do you have or are you planning on purchasing either of these items? What else are you loving from Factory these days? It seems like every other day I’m placing an order – their prices are reasonable, the sales are good and on items like the merino Charley sweater, I’m finding them to be almost identical to retail at a fraction of the price.  Thanks for visiting!

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Feeling Inspired

I have to admit, I’ve been lacking in the inspiration department lately.  Or at least I feel like I’ve been.  I’ve had a bout of writer’s block and I think it also is spilling over in to my wardrobe (perhaps a random association but it makes sense to me…). I’m not going to whine about it any more than that, but it is definitely frustrating. I’ve been waiting for that spark of inspiration – the moment when all of the items in my closet jump out at me and say “wear me! together!” or when whatever I’m writing starts writing itself –  that moment when the inspiration kicks in is incredibly fulfilling.  I know I’m just talking about clothes.  And short stories that I write just for fun…but I think this can have meaning in many other areas of life. These are just two primary examples right now and since my blog is well, primarily about clothes, there’s my example.

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I love it when an outfit comes together – when all of the items of clothing just click and it works. Today, my new J.Crew inspired necklace was the item screaming “wear me!” and after enough iterations of finding the right shape of pants (my Banana Republic crepe ankle Martins and my J.Crew Everly mirror pumps…again) and combing through my clothes, I came up with this.  Finally, some inspiration.  I felt completely on my game today, and even though work is crazy and there are other random things going on that I wouldn’t bore everyone with here, I had a pretty fierce outfit on and that pushed me through the day.  Ok, maybe a little cheesy but, I feel like the inspiration spark is finally back, so I’m trying to run with it while I have it!

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Here’s a closeup of this lovely necklace – an “inspired” version of the gorgeous J.Crew flower lattice necklace as well as the J.Crew Navy tweed jacket. I have the matching pants but have yet to wear them – I’m still working on ways to style this blazer. The blouse is the J.Crew Factory version of the Blythe blouse from last winter.

So, how about you? Do you have times when you’ve lost your inspiration? Any tips on how to get it back? Would love to hear what you think of the outfit too and thanks for visiting!!

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Neutral Territory

For as much as I love color, I also love those days when I pair basics and instantly feel pulled together. Black, white, navy, grey, khaki…they are the perfect compliment to all of those bright colors and also wonderful on their own.  Looking at my outfits over the last few weeks, I’ve found myself reaching for the neutrals in the summer/fall transition (which seems to be taking forever around here). And neutrals don’t have to be boring – sure, you can pair all solids like I did here and it works. And yes, I consider leopard a neutral. I have a bracelet, shoes and belt going on here which for me, is the perfect combo, but just one would be fab too! I’m wearing my new favorite dress pants in this first photo – the Banana Republic Martin Fit Crepe Ankle Pant which I’ve paired with my trusty J.Crew blue oxford Tilda, Factory merino cardigan and J.Crew Calf-hair Valentina pumps.

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Neutrals can also work in polka-dots and stripes. And while you’re at it – mix a few patterns – stripes and dots, or dots on dots with leopard! My favorite neutral jewelry accessory are a set of pearls. These are the J.Crew factory twisted hammock pearls from several years ago and I wear them all the time. I like the different sized pearls and the multiple strands make them more interesting than just a single strand.

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I’m wearing the Banana Republic Sloan ankle pants in both of these photos. On the left: Charley Sweater in pom-pom dot and Polka-dot chambray button-down – J.Crew Factory, shoes – Gap. Right: Charley sweater in color block stripe and Printed silk two-pocket button-down – J.Crew Factory, Bijou bow flats – J.Crew.

As I was reorganizing my closet this weekend – I realized just how many neutrals I own! So while bright colors are fab,  basics can be just as fab! How about you? Do you prefer color or neutrals or both? Would love to hear what you think and thanks for visiting!

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Cobalt Chic

I am a big fan of purple. Not so much blue, but I think this dress technically qualifies as blue. Cobalt seems to be my happy place between purple and blue. Or Byzantine Blue as J.Crew would call it. I think this dress is a good alternative to a black dress without being too bright. You can be more neutral with it and do simple jewelry and black shoes but why be neutral when you can add a fun necklace and silver shoes? I love dresses for their simplicity but I always love dressing them up with fun jewelry and shoes.

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This is the J.Crew Teddy dress from 2012, which I recently had lengthened. You can see that it added a little bit more flare to the skirt, but I was able to add another two inches of length from letting out the skirt. And it’s still above the knee. But not nearly as much as before. I have this dress in black too and with black tights it’s ok, but I will probably also have that one let out as well. My silver mirror Everly pumps are still in constant rotation – the silver finish still looks great on these shoes. I recently just picked up the metallic Viv flats in silver and I can’t wait to try them out!

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The J.Crew bright stone necklace is the perfect addition to this dress! It is definitely inspiring me to try more shades of blue.  As usual, would love to hear what you think and thanks for visiting!

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