Something old, something new

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Diana

I went to the wedding of two good friends a few weeks ago, and decided to wear both something old and something new. The old came in vintage accessories: a vintage purse (80′s, I believe), vintage pearls from a garage sale, and my grandmother’s ring. The new came in a brand new (discontinued) Boden dress that I bought on eBay. I had to get it tailored, so this was its first official outing.

I didn’t get to take any photos at the wedding, but the location was gorgeous. It was at Cross Creek Ranch, a little rustic spot just outside of Tampa. The ceremony was under a huge oak tree, while the reception was in a quaint renovated barn. It was really beautiful all around, and one of the nicer, more personal weddings that I’ve been to.

Dress: Boden (via eBay)
Sandals: Dansko Novalee (via eBay)
Purse: Vintage
Pearls: Vintage
Ring: Belonged to my grandmother
Bangles: Jill Popowich

Anglophile

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Diana

There’s lots of different elements that influence my style. Lately one of my favorite inspirations has been 60′s English and French styles. I feel like the above outfit has a little bit of both, but it felt more British to me. The dress actually is British, so that should count for something.

I’ve never actually been to England, but it’s one of those places that I’d really love to visit one day. My grandfather was stationed there during WWII (in Bassingbourn, near London) so I’d especially love to visit the base he was at and the museum that’s there.

This beret always makes me happy when I wear it. I finished knitting it while waiting for a cab at LaGuardia during my trip to NYC several years ago. It always reminds me of how great that trip was. Not to mention the fact that it’s cute and warm.

Dress: Boden (via eBay)
Cardigan: J. Crew (via eBay)
Tights: HUE
Boots: Keen Bern Baby Bern
Watch: Fossil
Necklace: Wendy Brandes Little Woolf

Last outfit of 2011

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Diana

Last week, it finally started getting cold again. Bear in mind that “cold” in Florida means below 60 degrees. Thus I was finally able to wear my boots again! I wore this for a day of running errands and enjoying my time off before going back to work on the 2nd. Looking at it now, I’m not so crazy about the proportions. I’m thinking maybe it’s just that longer hems don’t work as well with tall boots. Or maybe I needed a shoulder bag instead of a cross-body. Either way, I still enjoyed wearing the outfit.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Years. My boyfriend and I decided to stay home for this one, so he had some beer while I had some Jam Jar, and we watched old episodes of 30 Rock and classic 60′s Batman. It was the perfect, low key end to the year and a great way to welcome 2012.

Happy New Year!

Dress: Soprano (via Li da la )
Cardigan: J. Crew (via eBay)
Tights: HUE
Knee Socks: HUE
Boots: Keen Bern Baby Bern
Scarf: Boden
Bag: Angry, Young and Poor Bread Bag
Watch: Fossil Outlet
Earrings: JuneDesigns

Monochromatic (sort of)

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Diana

I’ve never been a big fan of full-on monochromatic looks, so this is about as close as I get. This beautiful blue dress is one of my newest Boden pieces, snagged on eBay for a mere $50! (Boden dresses usually retail for over $100). I had get several alterations done to get it perfect, but now it’s set to become one of my favorite pieces. For this outfit, I buttoned up a cashmere cardigan over the dress, then took the sash and tied it obi-style over the cardi. Boots and tights stayed neutral, and I added my bright orange watch for a pop of contrast.

Dress before alterations

As you can see in the picture above, the dress originally had a much longer hem (this seems to happen a lot with Boden dresses). I got about 4″ hemmed off. Also, the sleeves had a blousy elastic thing on the hems, which I can’t stand, so I had that taken out and replace with a regular hem, and I had them take-in the sleeves a bit too to make them slimmer. Finally, the neckline was super low (another common occurrence with Boden). My tailor took up the shoulders a bit, which naturally raises the neckline.

This dress is another example of why I truly believe that you need to customize everything. It does require a slight investment to get things altered, but once you have an item that fits exactly the way that you want it to, you will love it more and thus wear it more and get more use out of it than if you left it without alterations.

Dress: Boden (via eBay)
Cardigan: Boden
Tights: HUE
Boots: Keen Bern Baby Bern (via Piperlime)
Watch: J. Crew & Timex

Smiles go with… black accents

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Diana

Originally, this outfit got started as a way to mix black and cream. It soon turned into a colorful outfit with black accents instead. To me, black accents always make outfits look classier. This dress has seen better days; the color has faded and its started to pill a bit since I wear it constantly. But with a bright blue cashmere cardigan and lots of opaque black, it looks fantastic again.

This little blue cashmere cardigan was a Boden summer sale purchase. I can never afford full price cashmere, so I always wait until I can find it on sale or secondhand and then snatch it up. I have a feeling I’ll be wearing this little one a lot.

These gorgeous boots were my one Black Friday purchase this year. I’d saved up some money from selling some old shoes on eBay, and I’d had my eye on Keen’s Bern Baby Bern boots for months. When Piperlime had them on sale Black Friday, I decided to go for them and I’m so glad I did. I normally wear an 8 in Keens, but I size up to 8.5, and these fit perfectly. They’re super comfy, flattering, and my toes don’t feel cramped. They’re also dressier than most of my other boots, so they’re okay for work. My only complaint is that the soles don’t have much traction, but I never have to deal with ice, so it hasn’t been an issue for me.

Dress: Boden (via eBay)
Cardigan: Boden
Tights: HUE
Boots: Keen Bern Baby Bern
Purse: Morelle
Belt: Anthropologie
Watch: Fossil Outlet
Pearls: Vintage

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night”

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Diana

Well folks, this week is Bookfair week at work, which basically means that I’m going to be pulling my hair out, working long hours, and having very little computer “free” time. I love it, because it really is a great fund raiser for my library, but it’s exhausting. If I’m pretty much absent from the blogosphere this week, you’ll understand why.

But I did at least manage to snap a few quick outfit photos yesterday. This outfit was based on trying to find something that could be secretly warm and not make me look like a marshmallow. Because lately that’s how all my sweaters make me feel. There’s a tank and a slip layered underneath the dress, and I layered a coat and hat over this for most of the day. Florida’s weather is so ridiculously erratic. The day started off in the 40′s, but then climbed up to the high 60′s. Lately, I feel like I never know what temperature to dress for, even though I check the weather online every morning. Oh well.

Dress: Boden (via eBay)
Leggings: Target
Cardigan: J Crew (via eBay)
Scarf: Target
Boots: Frye 8Rs (via eBay)

Quote: Steve Martin

“Each with a star dissolved in the blue”

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Diana

I really didn’t intend to be more or less MIA for the past few weeks, but as we all know, life has a way of being overwhelming sometimes. I’ve been extremely busy at work: tech conference out of town, preparing for a bookfair, working on my teaching certification (more on that later this week). Needless to say, it’s been busy and stressful. The stress caused some of my skin problems to flare up, so I didn’t want to take many outfit pictures. Things are started to calm down now. Just don’t get worried if my posting is occasionally sporadic in the next few months – I should always be posting at least once or twice a week, but right now, I can’t handle much more than that.

I love this beautiful Boden cardigan, but for awhile I was a bit frustrated with it, since I always ended up wearing it with the same combination of jeans and a solid tank over and over. I wanted to find a new way to wear it, and my answer came last week as I was trying to find a new way to remix my favorite navy dress. Turns out, this cardigan makes a really cute wrap bolero too. (And by the way, it was in the 70s that day. No snow for Florida :/ )

Cardigan: Boden
Dress: Soprano
Shoes: Dansko Sally
Necklace: Express
Headband: Target

Quote: George MacDonald

“It’s all make believe, isn’t it?

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Diana

This outfit is a sort of make believe outfit, because I actually never left the house the whole day. I just put on the shoes for the pictures; the rest of the time I was wearing cozy socks and slippers. But I loved how the outfit came together, how comfy and chic it made me feel, so I decided to take pictures anyway.

I mentioned that part of my 11 in 2011 project is to make sure that I don’t put off doctor’s appointments. Last week I finally went to my primary care physician and got an antibiotic prescription for my acne. My doctor warned me that it would make my skin flare up before it got better. I didn’t take any other outfit photos last week because it was peeling horribly. This was the first day that it wasn’t painfully red and blotchy, so I decided to get pictures in. I’m still so glad I finally went to the doctor – it feels good to know that I’m actually doing something about my skin problems now instead of constantly complaining about them.

I came to a realization this weekend: I am a Maker. I love to make things; I love the process of creating something from a lot of little pieces and making something amazing out of them. Whether it’s a skein of yarn, random articles of clothing, some flour, sugar and butter. I just love to create stuff.

There’s something so soothing about the process to me. I was experiencing some anxiety this weekend – no real reason, I just sometimes get that way. I started playing around with my jewelry and ended up creating the necklace above out of a couple pieces I had that I didn’t wear often. Then I baked a batch of cookies. And all that anxiety disappeared. Creating is a beautiful thing.

Cardigan: Boden
Tank: Nordstrom Rack
Jeans: Gap Curvy
Shoes: Dansko Sally
Scarf: Beach Sarong (garage sale)
Necklace: DIY (originally from Etsy)

Quote: Marilyn Monroe

Shopping Plan: December

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Diana

*December edition of My Great Shopping Plan of 2010, where I attempt to stay on a budget and fill out my wardrobe*

At the end of November, I had $63.50 to add on to my $125 for December. Here’s what I bought:

Green Cashmere J Crew Sweater, $20 on eBay

Awesome deal? Oh heck yeah. The sweater’s slightly shorter than what I prefer, but for $20, I’m willing to layer.

Printed Boden Dress, $60 (with shipping)

Striped Boden Cardigan, $38 (with shipping)

When Boden had it’s awesome 50% off winter sale, I finally caved and bought some stuff directly from them. I’d been drooling over that cardigan since I first saw it in the catalog months ago, and I absolutely love the print on the dress. I’m planning on getting the dress tailored, since it’s a bit loose in the chest and waist.

Bateau Turquoise Cardigan, Nordstom Rack

White August Silk Cardigan, Nordstrom Rack

Not Pictured: Grey Tank Top, Hue Knee Socks, Nordstrom Rack

$35.86 total for Nordstrom Rack purchases

This purchase was due to the awesomeness of Groupon. They had a deal going on where you could purchase a Groupon that would allow you to get $50 worth of clothes from Nordstrom Rack for only $25. I ended up going over the $50 mark, which was why my total came out to $35.86. Still a pretty insane deal.

That makes $153.86 spent. So even with some awesome Boden sale purchases, I still didn’t go over budget.

I’m not going to reflect on my Great Shopping Plan of 2010 at this time. Honestly, the past few months, I just wasn’t feeling it. I feel like I’ve gotten the hang of keeping to a budget with my clothes shopping, and documenting it just feels boring to me now. But I have a new project lined up for 2011, which I’ll talk about on Friday. I’m super excited about this one: it will be called 11 in 2011. Stay tuned

“Whoa, that’s so…. girly.”

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Diana

Last year I did nothing for New Year’s Eve. This year, my boyfriend and I went out to a local restaurant and watched Dex Romweber Duo while ringing in the New Year. It was a bit pricey, but it was tons of fun. The weather here was really cold last week, but thankfully it warmed up for NYE. I did end up switching to tights before we left, but that was the only difference.

In the background you can see our “Chirstmas pole”. We didn’t have room for a tree in the house this year, so I wrapped lights around our pole in the living room to create some holiday spirit.