BANANA REPUBLIC

Weekend Fab

January 15, 2014

Hi everyone! Just popping in to share some of my outfits from this past weekend – after several weekends of holiday parties, etc. it was sort of nice to get back in to my casual weekend style. It was also fairly mild this past weekend so I was able to shed the heavy layers for some lighter ones!

For Friday’s outfit I pretty much wore my work outfit out to dinner…swapped out the black pants for jeans…but I will still share since I kept it pretty basic – the main goal of Friday was showing off my newest J.Crew bling, the Crystal and Metal Necklace (what a fab name right?) I grabbed this on popback with some holiday J.Crew cash I had burning in my pocket and after seeing it stacked over pearls on Instagram…I had to have it.

Sweater: J.Crew Cashmere Bateau Stripe Sweater (last year), Jacket: J.Crew Factory Bella (via eBay), Shirt: J.Crew Factory Classic Chambray

Pants: Banana Republic Sloan, Shoes: Gap (sold out). Jewelry: J.Crew Crystal and Metal Necklace

Closeup of my jewels

And arm party…bracelets are J.Crew and J.Crew Factory, bow bracelet is via Groopdealz:

And a shot of the outfit minus the jacket…

Saturday it was off to run some errands and check out J.Crew’s 50% off sale…I’m pretty sure the J.Crew Chandelier sweatshirt looks good any time. I love this sweatshirt so much. I have to brag because the SA at J.Crew told me she loves when I come in because I always have such great J.Crew outfits. I should probably not give up my secret of all of the lovely ladies I follow on the interwebs via blogs and Instagram. Our little secret!

But of course I had to switch it up for my niece’s birthday party later that night…wanted to stay casual for an evening with my inlaws…so opted for my new J.Crew Cheers tee (from the 50% off sale), J.Crew long merino cardigan (in black…the words on the tee are navy but…you can’t really tell) and J.Crew Matchstick jeans in classic rinse wash. And the crystal/pearl necklace stack again. I really loved this outfit – so easy and I will definitely be implementing again soon. I sort of got away from graphic tees after their height a few years ago…I think I got worn out…this shirt got me right back in to it! I just ordered the Kiss kiss tee this morning as well and plan on recreating this outfit with that t-shirt.

Closeup of shoes (Banana Republic)

AND HOW CUTE WERE MY NIECE’S CUPCAKES??

And finally, for Sunday dinner…I’ll be honest, my Sunday outfits usually consist of some combination of yoga pants, t-shirts and sweatshirts, but I hosted dinner on Sunday so, here was my other casual, going with the J.Crew Crinkle Boyshirt in Blackwatch Plaid, J.Crew long merino cardigan (again), J.Crew Matchstick jeans in classic rinse wash, J.Crew pear bracelet (which is currently $24.99 + 40% online!!!) and J.Crew leopard Nora flats (via ebay).

Closeup of bracelet

So there you have it…my weekend fab! Any favorites? Would love to hear what you think and thanks for visiting!

Put a Bow on It

December 30, 2013

I have to admit, I’ve always been a picky pattern person. I don’t do a ton of florals, I tend to stick to my stripes, polka dots and plaids – and love to mix them up (more about that in another post!) I owned my stack of graphic tees when they were the thing to own but I haven’t gotten much in to the “critter” sweaters or any other “cutesy” prints. So when I took a chance and ordered the J.Crew Factory bow blouse last month – this was a leap for me. I saw a lot of people raving online about the bows and while I have my share of bow shoes…I wasn’t sure how I was going to do with a bow print. Sure, I love how it looks on everyone else, but me…not so sure. And it had a big bow at the neck? Wow, talk about a case of peer pressure to order this blouse, because I still hit the ‘place order’ button even though I wasn’t totally sold.

I pulled it out a few times and was a little stumped on styling until on a Sunday evening session of choosing my outfits for the week, I decided to try this with the Maple Tweed skirt. And…well, here’s the result. I have to say, I was pretty pleased. I did cover the neckline bow with a necklace…and I haven’t worn the blouse since this outfit so I think I need the challenge of a second outfit.

And some details…

The outfit is all J.Crew….mostly from this past year except the cardigan is the J.Crew cashmere boyfriend sweater from a few years ago and the necklace I found via Groopdealz however it is a J.Crew “inspired” piece.

And finally, here’ s another outfit where I “put a bow on it” in the way of a Target glitter bow belt and Groopdealz Kate Spade inspired bow bracelet.

So, there you have it…a few bow inspired outfits…and as I sit here writing, I’ve just added this J.Crew beauty to my shopping cart:

So, any outfit faves? Do you love bows or are they too girly and cute for you? Would love to hear what you think and thanks for visiting!

In the Pink

December 9, 2013

When I plan my outfits for the week, I try and diversify color, pattern, skirts vs. pants, but sometimes, even with an outfit plan for the week, I inevitably steer back to my favorites – and this week that favorite was the color pink. I love pink, all shades of it, but my sweet spot is definitely the bright/fuschia tone of pink. Reviewing my photos for this week, I wore my fair share of pink.

Day 1 – Monday 12/2

My original plan was to wear a hot pink crewneck with the shirt layered underneath but I feel like that’s been my standby lately, so out came the blazer and somehow it all worked. I planned the outfit around the necklace, and was pleased with the outcome. I’m trying to style these pants with colors other than black or ivory!! Here’s a closeup of the necklace and shirt/blazer:

Pants: Banana Republic, Blazer (old) & Shirt: J.Crew Factory, Necklace: Brina Box

Day 2 – Wednesday 12/4 evening

This was a slight recycle of my outfit from the previous Sunday but it was a quick and easy toss together to head out to an evening party – I’ll be honest, I don’t do much in the way of social events during the week, so my outfits during the week are mostly work related, and if I end up going out I swap out jeans and that’s about as crazy as I get…but I was loving this outfit so I swapped in a few leopard accessories and my J.Crew Excursion vest from last year and off we went.

Sweater/Vest: J.Crew, Shirt: J.Crew Factory, Bracelets: J.Crew & J.Crew Factory

Day 3 – Friday 12/6

I had my holiday lunch for work this day and after a few tries of “holiday” type outfits, I ended up with pink and silver – shocker. I finally scored these Banana Republic pants on popback, and while they’re more silver than I expected, they are a solid addition to my holiday wardrobe. Now I just have to work on more red items, since that’s where I seem to be lacking. I’ve got a whole lot of bling going on here…while the Tilda blouse has become a regular favorite of mine, I am sort of wishing I had a non bejeweled version. I love that it’s sleeveless so it doesn’t create a lot of extra bulk underneath the Tippi sweater and while I can always appreciate bling, sometimes I’m ok with one necklace.

Sweater/Blouse/Necklace/Shoes: J.Crew, Pants: Banana Republic

Day 4: Saturday 12/7

Onward to the weekend…the usual errands and Christmas tree day! The temps are back down in the 20s, so once again, even though I thought flats were a nice thought, they weren’t practical. So the first photo is the “if it weren’t 20 degrees out, I’d rock this look” and the second look is pre-necklace and with more weather appropriate footwear 🙂 I am loving this button down – it’s the strawberry plaid boy shirt from J.Crew and I grabbed it on my Black Friday online shopping. It is much prettier than the website even depicted. And it will go well with my abundance of pink sweaters!

Sweater/Shirt/Flats: J.Crew, Jeans: Gap. Necklace: Brina Box

So there you have it, my week of pink outfits. What do you think? Too much pink in a week? Any favorites? Would love to hear what you think and thanks for visiting!

J.Crew Everly Cap Toe Pumps with Patent Bow

December 1, 2013

I’ve had my eye on these shoes since they rolled out earlier this fall and once they dropped in price + 40% off, I decided they had to be mine. I am a big fan of the Everly pump, and if my budget allowed, I would own many more pairs than I already do! I find them to be very comfortable for pumps and with the exception of the silver metallic ones, I can definitely go all day at work in these shoes. These shoes scream holiday to me, with the suede and gold combo, but I think I’ll get a lot of wear during the fall/winter out of these.

Per the website photo, I thought these were going to have a much brighter gold toe. Darn that washed out J.Crew website.

As you can see, the gold is a bit more muted, not a bright gold or what I would necessarily consider to be patent. I don’t know what gold patent leather looks like but I don’t think this is it. However, they are really pretty and I’m a sucker for some bows on shoes. And cap toes. I could wear them with jeans and I have already worn them several times to work with my Banana Republic Camden fit jacquard ankle pant – they coordinate perfectly.

But the bows, oh the bows. Let’s talk about the bows. I didn’t inspect them too closely when I received them, but I had a bad feeling that the bows were not tightly affixed to these shoes. One would think for a pair of shoes that retails for what these do, that a little more than a dab of glue would be used to put the bows on, but indeed there was not. I think on my second wearing of these shoes, I managed to catch the bow of one shoe with the heel of my other shoe and off came the bow. Awesome. However, I had already fallen in love with these and couldn’t quite bring myself to return them. So a little bit of gorilla glue and they were good as new. I checked the other shoe to see that the other bow would likely suffer the same fate if I didn’t seal it up so I dabbed some glue on those too. Gotta love it. Any more crafting than that required on my part and they would have been returned. Aside from that, they’re lovely shoes and I look forward to wearing them throughout the holiday season and as far in to the spring season as I can get away with!

Here’s a few ways I’ve styled these shoes (both with the Banana Republic pants). As you can see, I’m a bit better at staying current on Instagram these days:

Pants & Sweater: Banana Republic, Blouse: J.Crew, Bracelets: J.Crew, J.Crew Factory & Groopdealz (bow bracelet)

Necklace: Emerald Bling, Watch: Michael Kors

Sweater: J.Crew (last year), Blazer: J.Crew Schoolboy

So what do you think of the shoes (and the outfits?) Would you have kept the shoes or tried to fix them like I did? Would love to hear what you think and thanks for visiting!

Grey Area

November 10, 2013

We’ve reached that time of the year where I live where many days can only be described as grey. Maybe it’s spilling over in to my wardrobe, or maybe I’ve just been so busy with work that grey is one of those easy, pairs with almost anything but isn’t as stark as black colors that I find myself turning to it several days of the week. I’ll admit, I’m catching up a bit on a few weeks of photos in my phone, and I’ve been doing the quick post to Instagram thing, so in an attempt to catch up, here’ s a few of my grey-centered outfits from the past few weeks.

Jacket: J.Crew Schoolboy (this year’s version here), Sweater: J.Crew Tippi Sweater, Button-down: J.Crew Factory, Pants: Banana Republic Crepe Ankle Martin, Necklace: J.Crew inspired via eBay, Shoes: J.Crew Factory Emery Flats

I think I could wear this necklace every day and not get sick of it!! Here’s a few outfits featuring the J.Crew Jeweled-shoulder sweater :

On Left: Pants: Banana Republic Lightweight Ankle Jackson Pants, Shirt: J.Crew lightweight boyshirt in stripe, Shoes: J.Crew Viv metallic flats

On Right: Jacket: J.Crew Schoolboy Blazer, Pants: Banana Republic Camden Fit Red Print Ankle Pant, Shoes: J.Crew Factory Emery Flat

And one more outfit with the J.Crew Merino Tippi with Shoulder Embroidery:

Pants: J.Crew Cafe capri (2011 / bright dahlia), Shoes: J.Crew Viv metallic flats, Button-down: J.Crew Factory (old).

So, what do you think? I think I need to start working some skirts back in to my rotation…I’ve been all about the pants these days!! Any outfits you love? Not so much? Would love to hear what you think and thanks for visiting!!

Feeling Inspired

October 23, 2013

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.

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!

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!!