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!

frizzy beast no more

Jacket: Gap; Shirt: F21;
Pants: NY&Co; Shoes: Me Too

Hello there! I hope those of you in the states had a fine Thanksgiving holiday, and everyone else had a good week :) work got a little crazy for me, and then we went to NY for the week to see my family, so that should put to rest any concerns that maybe I wasn't posting due to falling down some giant well somewhere.

While in NY with my family we celebrated an early Hanukkah, and I received the #1 thing on my list from my parents- a heart rate monitor watch! Yes, I am kind of a dork. But a well documented dork :P Here it is in all it's glory:

Expect to see it a bit more this week! Also expect looser shirts as it requires a chest strap and I want to avoid an unsightly bulges.

If my hair were not in the way, you could easily see how I paired my ultra fun sparkly purple flower pin with my purple pirate shirt.

But mostly you just see my hair- luckily it is in much better shape! I got a haircut while home and it is making a big difference!

A fun shirt calls for fun earrings.

I'm starting to imitate myself.... poorly.

Cardigan, Pants; Old Navy;
Shirt: Banana Republic; Shoes: BCBG Girls

This morning I was running late and hadn't really planned anything to wear. When I walked into my closet to find something I saw this shirt and thought it was about time I took it off the hanger again! Grey pants were sort of an easy guess, and I tried a few other toppers, but then just settled on this loose and comfy cardigan. I think the colors of the cardigan and pants look a bit better in person, but the shirt really looks best on its own. Its some sort of shiny clingy fabric... This combination of colors is one I keep turning to, or at least it feels that way.

I finally dyed my hair this weekend! Of course, I had no time to style it for real this morning, so you get a half hearted blow-out. I will plan better tomorrow morning :)

I wore a watch! Yay watch! This was a gift from my husband many years ago- his first gift to me actually! I love it, but I think a link comes out- it moves around on my wrist too much which is driving me nuts! I have fixed the date on the watch :)

Watch: Bullova

Glorious cotton

Cardigan: Loft; Shirt; Target;
Cords: Gap; Shoes: Miss Me

Ahh cotton. Wonderful, glorious, delightfully warm and not itchy cotton. I am swathed in your awesomeness and am quite pleased about it.

See the happy face? And for the record, I'm well aware I'm in desperate need of a dye job. Its just fitting it in is a bit tricky.

I thought today was a gnome day. I shortened up the cording so he sits appropriately- what a great feature for a necklace to have!

The hardest thing about getting dressed this morning was deciding what shoes to wear. I kind of wanted to wear red shoes, and even though I'm inside all day and could have gotten away with wearing my red wedges, I decided against cheating. It's just not right when it's 43 degrees outside to wear summer shoes inside! I *definitely* need more shoes. Definitely.

Also decided to change up the earrings a bit. I often overlook these, but they're really cute and should get more action.

Outfit + bonus pic!

Jacket: Context; t-shirt: ON;
Jeans: ON; Shoes: Aldo

Brrrr! It's cold here people! A velvet jacket is just the thing to combat that :) I feel a little bit like I'm getting overly repetitive with what I wear, but at least I'm repeating something good! These are old jeans- I'm unsure how I feel about them, but I think I like them.

Pros: They are comfy and I feel like they show off my legs, which I love.
Cons: They have some weird lightening along the thighs- who needs that??? Also, they are, uh, tight. While that means they show off the pleasing shape of my legs, it doesn't necessarily create the most balanced silhouette.
They are under review.

While I was in DC, I of course went shopping. It's not that stores don't exist in Cincinnati/KY, it's just that my shopping buddy Rachel lives there! These lovely shoes were picked up at Also. They also came in some bright berry pink color (kind of like a brighter version of the color of my jacket) and both my friend and the sales associate tried to talk me into getting the pink version, but I really liked this neutral color- it's a unique color and will actually stand out in my shoe collection!


Are they not adorable???
I also bought some make-up while I was gone. I'm wearing eyeshadow, but it's pretty subtle. I also purchased a foundation primer which I think works really well, even if only in my yes. I like how it all turned out today!

And here is a bonus pic! My mom recently sent me a bunch of old pictures she had hanging around (she's a photographer, so she has *lots* of pictures hanging around. This picture was taken round about senior year of high school, so I'm 16 or 17 here. I love this picture for several reasons:

1. Hello, look at my hair! Those are some serious braids.
2. You probably can't tell, but I'm wearing an X-Files t-shirt- it remains to this day my most favorite television series ever. The bestest. I still want to marry Fox Mulder.
3. I coveted those sneakers for quite awhile, I thought they were soooo cool. The sneaks and pants are representative of me starting to achieve my fashion ideals finally. For a long time I wore clothes but really didn't come into my own fashion wise until I got older. So even though I would not make the same choices today, it gives me a good feeling to look back at that and see the positive side of it. Pants are green corduroy- also wicked cool in that not actually cool, but dude I listen to Nirvana so I'm cool for being different kind of way. Totally.
   

Back from the city!

Jacket: Gap; Sweater; Banana Republic;
Jeans: Old Navy; Shoes; Nine West

Here I am! Back from my week in DC, a.k.a. the place where much sushi is eaten. Going out for sushi is always near the top of my agenda when I head back- there are some excellent Sushi restaurants close to the office and some co-workers and I would head out for some lunch time sushi every once in awhile. husband has yet to hop on board with the raw fish, so I have to get my fix in whenever opportunities present themselves. I enjoyed looking snazzy int he office, though I hurt my feet my first Sunday there while wandering the (national) mall in my beloved bronze flats. I knew my work day was sedentary,but was not prepared for ill affects of suddenly increasing the amount of *walking* I did. My poor footsies. :(

So I wasn't the greatest at getting daily pics taken, but I'll post what I have later on. For today I wanted warmth and um, clean clothes. I have to do laundry from my week away, and I'm not quite used to the cooler weather and my new-found desire to be snazzily dressed.

Up top I wore this cute dark purple short sleeve sweater with fun puffy sleeves that will not see the light of day today other than for picture taking purposes- the heat may stay on this afternoon! this is one of several items of clothing my friend Rachel and I both own. We're completely different body types and dress a bit differently, so even though we shop at similar stores and own several items in common, I feel like we still end up looking pretty different. She wore this sweater last week :)

I broke out my 'fancy' earrings today- no real reasons other than they are pretty. I'm not one to shy away from wearing good jewelry on a day to day basis, but these are just a rather formal design to me. But they're pretty and I felt they fit.

Not sure if I've owned up tot his or not, but these shoes look kind of funky on my feet, so I prefer to wear them with pants that cover everything but the toe box. I think they're too narrow, but they are certainly comfy so I can't say for sure. What up Nine West- why do your shoes look so funky on me?

Oh, my hair was down originally, but was just irritating me, so up it went! I did enjoy having styled hair at the office several days last week though.

Hey, they're comfy.

Cardigan: H&M; T-shirt: Eddie Bauer;
Cords: Gap; Shoes: BCBG Girls

Yes, I just wore these pants. They're soooooo comfy! Again, hair is frizzy but pleasantly curly! I admit, I have not been thinking about fashion *too* much this week, just trying to look halfway decent. There are two reasons. One is that I've been working out a lot more and that's not only making me kind of sore and tired, but mostly it's just taking up a lot of my mental energy. It's good though, because look at my guns!

The other reason is that I'm headed back to DC for work next week! Needless to say I won't e posting, but I will bring my camera and force office mates to get action shots of me earning my paycheck! I haven't started packing really, but have been thinking a little bit about what to wear- I'm excited to head to the office with my improved fashion skills!

Today I wore my lovely blue BCBG heels:
I love these shoes- pretty comfy for their height!

So I'm out! But don't worry, I'll miss all of you, and maybe I'll even get a chance to catch up on all the blogs I've been neglecting this past week!

*ETA: Also, if anyone has any suggestions on what I should or should not wear, feel free to post them! I'm indecisive and live for feedback! Dress code during work is business casual- no jeans, and I will be leaving what are apparently the current world's comfiest pants at home. I will gladly rock open toed shoes though- I can't suppress my love for them for very long!

Hello curls! I missed you!

Cardigan: Target; Shirt: NY&Co;
Pants: Gap; Shoes: Rocket Dog

Outfit from Thursday 9/17. I've been quite pleased with how my hair has been looking lately- the curl has defintely come back. It's still kind of frizzy (see below), but I think a Jess without frizz is asking too much of the Universe.

If it's good enough for J Crew...

Shirt: Eddie Bauer; Pants: Old Navy;
Shoes: Bandolino

I think I may have found the solution tot hose days when I don't have time or interest in styling my hair for real, but want it to look like I did. Adding the little poof to Kasmira's lazy girl's updo really made it a look I love on me, and it was pretty darn easy. I expect to employ this style a lot in the coming weeks as I work to get my hair used to less washing.

If I look like I'm wearing too much eyeliner, it's because I kind of am. I purchased my first liquid eyeliner recently so I anticipate it taking oh, at least a few dozen attempts to get it totally right. Lucky for me I happen to like the trashy-too-much-black-eyeliner look, just neater than what I have today.

Back view:

Shoes for Fall, a touch early. These are suede so I feel like they are best left to the cooler months, but I've been wanting to wear them so September is close enough!

Sadly these are a bit big on me- I'll have to try adding a little bit of something to the inside heel part to stop them from slipping when I walk. These were purchase before I had the dawning realization that when it comes to high heels, I really do need to go down half a size. This realization has made for much happier shoe fittings.

What's that you ask? Are my nails a bit bright? Why yes, they are. What started out as the world's ugliest nail polish has been (in my opinion) saved and transformed to the most obnoxiously cute preppy nail art. Ta-dah!

Shoes are for suckers

Jacket, pants: Gap; Shirt; NY&Co;
Necklace: Macy's; Earrings: ?

I fully intended to wear shoes this morning- I even picked out a pair and they are sitting on desk. They're quite nice shoes, but I was running late and ran to get to work before I put them on, and they just never made it on my feet. Seemed silly to put them on at this point!

Another fun older pair of earrings. I strained my hair with a flat iron this morning, but stick straight hair just looks off on me- I think it's all the layers. So back in a ponytail it went! Worked out well with my earring choice.


I bought this necklace at Macy's a few years ago when I got on a 'I need more interesting jewelry' kick. It doesn't get much wear- I think it's too, uh, translucent or something. I'm not sure it adds much to the outfit. Maybe I should have worn shoes- I picked out green ones. :)

Victory!

Top: Nine West; Cardigan: Old Navy;
Pants; Gap; Shoes: Nickle;
Pearls: gift

Victory!!! As in victory rolls! I wound up watching some YouTube tutorials on this 40's hair style, and felt pretty inspired to give it a go myself this morning. Overall I am very happy with how it came out. It was fairly easy and quick, and I will only get better with time! The hardest part is dealing with the bobby pin placement- one showed up when I took the picture below, but I seriously cannot see it int he mirror! I think I moved it- kind of hard when one is going by feel alone.
Some more angles...
Obviously I still need to work on my hair straightening/curling, but the basic style rocks and gives some much needed oomph to my appearance. A pencil skirt and these heels would have really been great for this hairstyle and top, but I don't own a pencil skirt and these pants call for flats, so too bad. :P

I chose these gold and pearl earrings- I feel they fit style wise quite well!

Slanty pics

Cardigan: Target; Top: Kohl's;
Pants; Gap; Shoes: Sears;
Necklace; Target; Earrings: ?

When I take my pics, I stand my camera up on it's side in an empty tape dispenser, and I don't always remember to make sure it's aimed strait. So that's why you sometimes end up with slanty pictures. Now my secret is out: I'm too lame to have a tripod. Further confession: these pants always make me think of grandpas (it's the window pane pattern), despite my own grandpa never actually wearing pants like this.

My hair, it is irritating me. I'm trying to retrain it to not expect so many washings. You see, I go to the gym after work so it gets washed at night. When I take a shower the next morning, really there's no need to wash it again, but my hair does not seem to understand this and is rebelling against me- it apparently *wants* 11 washings a week. Well hair, I say no to you and your self destructive wants! It's not good for you! That's why you're so damn frizzy to begin with! So settle down and accept plain water. Ok, maybe some extra conditioner too. Oh why can't you work with me here?!?!?!?!

Simple gold hoops today. I think I got these in Israel when I was 9, but I could just be making it up. Pretty sure though.

$9 sandals from Sears! Thankfully, Madison did not find these to be a threat and my toes did not get bitten this morning.