Closing up shop

I've thoroughly enjoyed having a fashion blog and being a member of the strong community surrounding daily fashion blogs, however I have decided to stop blogging. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and comment- it added so much to the process for me! I feel like I have gained much from this experience and I look forward to continuing to see what everyone is wearing and what they're up to, but I'll simply be a spectator going forward.
Thanks!
Jess

Super scarf

Scarf: Gift, handmade, Elsie Flannigan;
Jacket, cardigan: H&M; Jeans, polo: Old Navy;
Boots: Madden Girl

Like my scarf? It was a gift from my brother :) I love it! It's quite narrow but is insanely long- over two Jess' in length in fact! I should ahve fun trying to find new ways to wear it- I'm tryign to figure out some way to make it look braided or woven :D

Madison often confuses 'picture time' with 'play time'. At least it gets me smiling :)

Close up of earrings that are lost in my hair:

Matchy McMatchersons

I'm picture challenged. I think I got it all figured out. These are from Tuesday.

Sweater: Loft; Shirt, Jeans: Gap;
Shoes: Target

Look! It's grey and a sweater that isn't purple! I really had to resist the urge to pair purple with this. Blue is a nice color too.

After I had gotten dressed, I realized that I managed to match my nails and my shoes. It happens. Polish is black matte and silver from Hot Topic. Buying them, I couldn't help but giggle immensely. I recommend the silver, but not the black.

Lastly, I was in NY visitng my family recently to celebrate my step father's retirement, and since my 30th birthday is coming up, my parents gave me my present. It's a lovely necklace, but more than that it's a fairly sentimental piece. The center stone is from a ring my grandmother (on m mom's side) had. For many years, my mom then had it, and she gave it to me. The ring was a lovely old setting but didn't fit and the band was no longer in great shape, and she always said she wanted to re-set it for me. So for my birthday they had it set in this lovely necklace! The best part? My mom took another ring also from her mom and had it set in a similar setting for herself. So now we're necklace buddies :)

blog issues

hey guys- i'm having some picture upload related issues, so until i get things figured out i guess no posts.
sad :(

Deceptively Warm

Dress: Context? via consignment;
Jacket: Banana Republic; boots: Volatile

After seeing Tina's Target dress, I have had the urge to wear this one, which from a distance looks similar (at least to me). I had been yearning for orange tights to pair it with, but own no such tights. Why it didn't occur to me until I was staring at my jacket/sweater section of my closet this morning that I could wear my *orange jacket* instead, is beyond me! I was not only pleased with the way this all looks together, but was also happy with all the warmth! I have an undershirt under the dress and of course tall socks under the boots, so I was nice and toasty all day long!

I had been eying these boots online for ages, but in the picture they appear much lighter so I never thought they would be practical enough for me to buy. I decided to just give them a try because they looked so fun, and I'm glad I did! I really love this darker color and some cushiony inserts make the tall heel fairly manageable.

Really old and really new

Blazer: Eddie Bauer; Shirt; NY&Co;
Cami: Old Navy; Pants: J Crew;
Shoes: BCBG Girls

The pants are old. Really, really old. They were purchased during a big shopping trip with my mom shortly after I started my first post-college job, looking for big girl clothes. They've been shortened and subsequently let out a few years later. They're still in excellent condition, and are probably the warmest pants I own. Despite their all around awesomeness of pattern and a pretty forgiving cut, I don't think I've ever known how to wear them until right now. In the past, all I remember pairing them with is a fitted black turtleneck and black clunky shoes, which looked nowhere near as good as a purple velvet blazer does! But I didn't own a purple blazer until...

Saturday! Yes, this gorgeous blazer, which was originally $80, down to $50, was now finally down to $19.99! It is also offered in black (with a purple lining!) and is highly recommended. Detail shot is below- you can see just how pretty it is! You can also see my necklace, which was a gift and my green (!) cami. I usually try to stay away from pairing purple and bright green together, as they remind of Halloween. Not that I don't love Halloween, because actually it is my favorite time of year, but I don't like looking like a holiday- you will also see very little red and green together on me. But I thought little bit of extra color was a nice addition. While this outfit has much offer in terms of texture, I was wary of pins or scarves because of the toasty pants and my general fear of stabbing my clothing.

Proof that I was in fact wearing shoes- I think the pants give me gumby feet.

And yes, that is a framed picture of my dog hanging in our entryway. :)

Prima perhaps?

Jacket; Liz Claiborne, pants: Gap;
Sweater; Loft; Flats: Nine West

A pretty simple outfit for today in terms of pieces, but I don't think it's boring. It's hard for hot pink suede to be boring :) I bought this jacket at my local consignment shop many moons ago, but it took just shy of forever for me to get a can of spray protectant for it, but it is finally sprayed and I feel comfortable exposing it to the dangers of my untidy life! At first I wished I could add a pin to this outfit, but I wouldn't dare stab wither the sweater or jacket with a pin, but the simplicity of it all has grown on me this morning. I finished it off with some fun black pearls.

This shot does a better job showing of the fantabulous pink color! i have to say though, something about this color combination makes me think of scrapbooking. Must have been the color scheme of a header I've seen on some blog or website! funny what memories clothing can dig up...

There is some excitement in my outfit today- I have super-disco-sparkly-nails! The base color is actually a dark green shimmer. I yearn for warm weather so that my hands can actually be exposed outside- my nail polish will look so much better in direct sunlight!

Bellet night

A few weeks ago my husband and I bought last minute tickets to see the Cincinnati Ballet perform the Nutcracker- a favorite of mine. We were so excited to get 4th row tickets and even more excited when we got to the theater and our 4th row seats turned out to be 1st row seats! I'm no Ballet aficionado, but I certainly appreciated things on a whole new level being that close and highly recommend it!

I was also excited for a chance to wear my awesome purple party dress that I had purchased over the summer. Even though I had not been a fan of dresses until very recently, i had long ago found that I loved getting pretty cocktail dresses for special occasions- too bad the realization that getting a good fit and fun style would work for casual dresses took so darn long! Anyway, I usually would not buy a dress just because I like it, but when my husband and I were in the Calvin Klein outlet over the summer I tried this dress on for fun and when I showed it to him he declared I had to buy it!

Dress: Calvin Klein; Tights: Target;
Shoes: Franco Sarto; Clutch; Nine west

Here is a detail shot:

Awesome tights:

Dangly earrings:
I actually intended to wear my hair up, but the husband is a big fan of it down, so I decided to go with that this time. Next time I think I will try it up! That way you get the full effect of the neckline.

I usually wear a shorter, more casual winter jacket but broke out my old pea coat for the more formal occasion. I got this coat in college, and unfortunately it was during a time when I was several sizes larger, plus I got the coat to fit over a suit! Needless to say, it was a drafty walk downtown.

I did wear a very special pin on my jacket though. This pin was on my wedding dress! I still have intentions of donating the dress, but will be keeping the pin. It's just to pretty to part with!

Hooray for the ballet! We both enjoyed it very much and hope to go again sometime soon.

Super Professional Jess

Sweater, shirt, necklace: NY & Co;
Pants: Gap; Shoes: Me Too

I almost put on my grey pants which are also from NY & Co, but felt that would be excessive :P Sweater & fancy necklace are from recent sales, and it's possible the necklace was an impulse buy when wandering over to thee cash registers. Clever store layout, NY&Co, clever.

This is the first a-symmetrical necklace I've actually purchased, though I've tried on many. Expect to see it with purple!

These photos were taken in the entryway of the house- the blue is the dining room, the tan is over most of the common areas of the house. I was able to wrap the gorillapod on the staircase railing!

Mobile photography

One of my gifts this year was a Gorillapod (thanks husband!), so this week I have been trying to take photos in different places around the house looking for the ideal location. Yesterday I shot one quick pic in my master bathroom hoping to take advantage of all the decent natural light. Unfortunately the day ran away from me so I got no other shots. Days are sneaky like that.

Cardigan: NY &Co' Jeans: Lucky;
Boots: Madden Girl

This is the second time I've purchased a top in a lime-ish green with a weird flower applique near the shoulder- and the husband continues to think such a thing is a fashion abomination. Hush I say! I quite like these silly flowers :)

Funny story: I was stoked to nab several new plain camis at Old Navy during my post-x-mas shopping, and wore one this day. I made it until about dinner time until I realized my awesome new brown cami was in fact and awesome new black cami. Worn with my most certainly not-black-boots.

Back at it!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a good holiday season :) After an unplanned hiatus I am back to blogging, and hopefully will get back into a regular routine of posting at least a few times a week. I did manage to snap a few pics during my absence, so I plan to post those as well.

Let's start with today! I decided to go back to my new favorite combination: grey & purple. I picked up several things at all the glorious post-Christmas sales, including this cute tee from Gap.

Sweater: Old Navy; T & Jeans: Gap;
Shoes: Steve Madden; Necklace & Bracelet: gifts

It's a big flattened bow- you kind of lose the detail with the sweater, but I like how the loose ends looks draped out over the sweater.

I am mocking winter and wearing shoes without socks inside today. Take that winter!

I've been wearing my watch a lot lately, and enjoying it, so I went wild today and threw on a bracelet as well! It has not been bothering me at all I am pleased to report. It is my Noah's Ark of Many Giraffes bracelet, and here is a rather blurry photo of it:

Purple and grey just make me happy!
See you all again soon! (no really, I swear)

The twee-est of skirts

Skirt & Tank: Gap; Sweater, leggings: Old Navy;
Shoes; Me Too

A while back I mentioned how in cleaning out my closet I had some skirts that I was thinking about getting rid of- this is one of them. It's a bit, uh, youthful seeming. It also had a few other problems related to length and weird seems causing it to stick out a bit at the sides, but those seem to have dissipated mostly as it now sits lower on my body. Plus, this skirt over leggings is a lot different than over bare legs- so much so that I am quite pleased I kept it and totally love it! Yes, it's still very twee and isn't exactly a winter outfit, but it's fun and got me wearing something new and different. The leggings? Um, they may or may not actually be gym leggings.

See how pretty it is though?

Apparently it is going to be a very long work week, but I've got some fun social plans coming up so I'm in a great mood!
Obligatory twirly shot:

construction, next 100 miles

Sweater: Filene's Basement; Shirt: H&M;
Slacks: Gap; Shoes: Target;

I've had this sweater for a few years, and I'm not sure if it was always this short but it's just way too short. However, layering it over a button-down seems to be the perfect solution! I love the preppy look anyway, and this of course protects more of my skin from the terror of non-cotton sweaters. This one isn't so bad actually- it's Merino and is light enough in weight that I wasn't melting by the end of the day.

Monday was another class ring day! This one is from College. Unfortunately one of the side stones is missing- I think that's actually the reason I stopped wearing it.

The best part of my ring is that my major is listed on it! See how it says 'Math' in that delicate little script? Awesome! Oh, and don't you like my nail polish? so subtle and refined :D It's completely ludicrous and I absolutely love it!

I think it makes my sparkly zebra stripe shoes seem subtle!

Kitty pin day! Still using a safety pin. It's alarming how often safety pins make their way into my wardrobe....

false sense

Jacket: Banana Republic; Shirt: NY&Co;
Jeans: Gap; Shoes: Madden Girl

Friday outfit. Extra fun for Girl's Night Out that evening! I had been planning on changing into flats after work because I knew these shoes would not bee the wisest choice for tromping through downtown Cincinnati, but the oh-so-nice repair man who came to fix my fireplace was so enamored with my shoes, it feel into false sense of security. I think his comments that he missed that women no longer wore heels (wait- what?) inspired me a little too much and I never did change into sensible flats.

My poor, poor feet! I was standing all night and am waaaaaay out of practice! But hey, I at least looked good. I loved the bright shiny teal in contrast to the rich soft orange of the jacket. I'm a sucker for cute shoes I guess.

I wore my watch all day long- I think it's just the right wrist I need to leave naked for work.

I loved having my shirt collar flared out over my jacket- that style always make me think of the 70's and hipsters like Charlie's Angels.

My new haircut responds quite well to the big curling iron- go Noelle!

invisible jess

So I've been falling a bit behind in blogging, though I have been managing to take some pictures! Here I actually didn't have time to take my usual shots, but realized if I was at least neat about it I could easily take a pic of my outfit on the bed!
I love this pin and think it looks great on a blazer. This pin, much like my purple sparkly flower pin, is pretty heavy so I feel pretty limited in how I can wear it. I'll have to keep weight in mind whenever I look to buy more pins!

Socks away!

Sweater, skirt: Old Navy; Shirt: Express;
Socks: Target; Necklace: Laila Rowe;
Flats: Chinese Laundry; Boots: Kamik

I've seen a few people sporting super long wooly socks and they always look great, so when I saw a pair in Target a few weeks back I couldn't resist! I think the proportions are better with boots vs. flats, but the only boots I own which would work are my rain boots- so I guess I looked my best during my lunchtime walk with Madison!

I left this picture uncropped because I'm a sucker for my pup- I think it's hysterical when you see that little peek of her looking sullen. She got all excited when I grabbed the boots, because boots = outside time!

For some reason I got the urge to wear my high school class ring. Isn't it gloriously class-ringy? I have one from college too :P The sides show the two sports I played in HS: tennis and softball. I was terrible at both! They were a ton of fun though, and no one seemed to mind my lack of abilities. Softball away games were the best- what high schooler doesn't love a trip to McDonald's?

I acquired some new nail polish recently- this is from OPI's suede collection. I love it! It dries really fast and you don't use a top cost with it, and it is very easy to apply and generally user friendly. I would like to grab a few more of the shades from this collection- I wonder if I can find them in a store....

I thought the yellow beads would be a nice complement to my ridic green socks!