Morning IHOP run

Often on Saturday or Sunday morning my husband and I will just get up, throw on whatever clothes are lying nearest and head out to IHOP for some breakfast and then to grocery shopping. This is me on one such morning! Since starting this blog I am pleased to report that these weekend pancake runs are rarely made in the same old ratty sweatshirt or yore.

Here also is a rare example of me in outerwear. This big pashmina kept my neck nice and toasty and brightened things up.

Here is my go-to purse. I rarely change my purse anymore and am usually using this bag. It's big and can take a beating, so I love it. I got it on sale at a Coach outlet a few years ago, so it certainly isn't current in the world of handbags, but I think it's a simple enough design to always look good. And who doesn't like burgundy suede?

brown, brown, brown... pink!

Top, Cardigan, Necklace: Target;
Pants: Gap; Shoes: Chinese Laundry;
Bangles: Old Navy; Earrings: Girl Scouts of America

So from the ankles up, this is outfit is pretty good- a little bland on the color front, but nice and pretty put together (I think). The top has shades of green, but it all sort of falls into the brownish-neutral camp. But the shoes, oh the shoes! They add such excitement! Pizazz! They're so pink! And pointy! Pointy and Pink!! Whenever I used to wear these to the office, that's the general reaction I got.

I picked up the top, cardi and necklace all at Target the other day and I love all of them! I tried very hard to make sure I only purchased things with natural fibers- although the cardigan is 6% nylon, 2% spandex. Whatever- it's so soft! I was stoked to find a long, multi strand gold tone necklace with some personality, even if it came from a mass retailer.

I threw on the bracelets because I thought I needed at least a little color above my ankles. Somehow these rang up for $0.98- I wasn't going to argue with that!

I don't own many small gold tone earrings, so these get a fair amount of use. They make me smile :)

It took me about half about hour to produce what most women with straight hair would probably consider a very basic hairstyle. I like it a lot, hopefully I can get this down to a more respectable time frame- getting the clipped in part to look right took a surprising amount of time.

Now on to the really important question- which bag??? The gray one in my right hand is the one I usually use, because I love it, but the green one is a touch more fun. Is the green too matchy? Is the gray too bland? Do tell! Also featured is the bane of all light colored pants, to my far left.

Gray bag: Kenneth Cole
Green bag: Gap

Well don't you look familiar!

This is what I wore out Saturday night to grab dinner and see the new X-Men movie. I did manage to straighten my necklace out before leaving the house :) The shirt fits much better than it looks- I'm doing my model lean here. Yes, that is the same gray cardigan I wore on Friday- I told you I love it!

cardigan: H&M; shirt: NY&Co;
cami: Banana Republic;
cords: Gap; shoes: Me Too;
bag: Nine West

I am very happy with the way this turned out- all new combinations! I also tried out Kasmira's Lazy Girl's Updo. This is after playing catch outside for a few minutes- it held up great all night! I did reposition some bobby pins after taking the pic to make them less visible. Considering this was my first attempt and I have no current method for inspecting the back of my hair, I think it came out great!

I grabbed this Nine West clutch recently at Macy's- thank you sale gods for smiling upon me during my random visit!

These shoes were quite comfy- and shiny! Sorry the pic stinks. My husband was a good sport about taking pics for me, but when I asked him to take a pictures of my shoes, he gave me a sideways look so I didn't want to get too picky about his choice of angles.

Stove buying clothes

This was my outfit on Saturday. It was a very fun day- we saw some homes from the Cincinnati Cavalcade of Homes, had dinner with friends, and bought ourselves a new range!

Sweater: Eddie Bauer; Skirt: ???
Shoes: Chinese Laundry;
Purse: Anne Taylor Loft

Please pardon my wet hair and squinty expression! I was really happy with this outfit- I felt fun and pretty all day wearing it! Usually, I would just wear a white shirt with this skirt, maybe with a tan sweater or jean jacket thrown on top. I definitely like wearing it with a bolder color instead and will turn to this combo again!

I was stoked to get these shoes on sale at Macy's- originally $70 marked down the $30. Not the greatest deal of the decade by any means, but it brought the cost down enough that I didn't feel bad buying another pair of shoes I would only wear int he warm weather. This is my second pair of cork wedges and I find them both extremely comfortable and excellent choices for dressing up a daytime outfit. Comfortable, except for the the rubbing one finds in brand new shoes. I wore them for a few hours of being on my feet and today am sporting flip flops while my one blister heals up.

My husband hates this bag- he says it's too 80s. I say he's a boy and doesn't know what he's talking about!

Goin' to the Yacht Club

Happy Friday! Tonight is Girl's Night Out at the fabulous Ludlow-Bromley Yacht Club, the classiest joint on the Ohio River. And by 'the classiest joint' I really mean it is a total dive bar with nothing on tap and no walls. I love it! This is my first time wearing this cute jacket from the Gap. I purchased this a few weeks ago when I was back in DC for work, and it is actually looser now than when I purchased it. Score one for Jess!

Jacket: Gap; Graphic T: Old Navy
Shoes: Me Too; Clutch: Steve Madden (very dark green, not black)
Bracelet: Claire's???

I have a few of these graphic tees from Old Navy- they were purchased during my first bout of "I really need to stop looking like I accidentally wandered off campus ". Honestly though, other than wearing them solo with shorts, I never knew what to do with them. After wandering the annals of youlookfab.com I said 'hey, why *not* wear them under a little jacket???'. So there you go.

This is actually doubly impressive (to me) because when I purchased the jacket I was wearing my perfect white button down, and it of course looked great together, because everything looks great with my perfect white button down, but I was worried I wouldn't know how the wear the jacket with anything else! My not-so-secret problem is that I am not very good at wearing items with a wide array of other items. I'll make an initial paring, but then get stuck how to branch out. I'm working hard on changing that and it's a lot of fun. Who knew. :)

Everyone needs bronze flats. Seriously.


Telecommuter note: I took the bracelet off to work. Wrist jewelry and lap tops don't work together very nicely in my world. Also, if these shoes weren't as mind blowingly comfortable as they are, I would also ditch those for work in favor of slippers.