Vegas!!!

And at the end of the night, in my fast flats:

 

I didn't wear any shapewear, and you can tell a bit by the end of the night.  :) 

(Dress: Herve Leger, Shoes: Christian Louboutin, Purse: super old and have no idea, Flats: Dr. Scholls' Fast Flats, Earrings: White House Black Market, Snake bracelet: Charming Charlie)

I went for the shape wear with this one.  :)

(Dress: Herve Leger, Shoes: Sergio Rossi, Purse: my DIY crystal-covered Jimmy Choo sunglass case - which sparkled perfectly in the Vegas lights, Necklace: I can't remember the designer/brand, but it's from Nordstroms, Earrings: Vince Camuto also from Nordstroms, bracelet: New York and Company)

During the days I wore mostly shorts or a cute dress and flats or my silver sandals. The one difference from my usual clothing is that I wore fun earrings that normally i'd be nervous about the baby pulling.

(Earrings and tank: New York and Company, cardigan (great for the plane): Old Navy)

Back to work

I will post Vegas outfit pics in the next couple of days.  For now - a new work dress.

(Dress: whbm)

Home clothes

A lot of the time when I work from home I wear one thing for day care drop off and running errands, and another for home.  Example:

Yesterday out and about:

Today:

And for home:

(I even have home flip flops)

Purple

I don't normally wear florals, but I love purple.  I'm always on the lookout for tops that will work well with my purple work shoes.  These shoes are pretty cheap, but somehow they've lasted just as well, and are just as comfy, as many of my more expensive pairs.  I even have them in 2 different colors, in 2 different sizes!

(Suit: Halogen, from Nordstroms - I bought 2 pairs of pants for the jacket, had 1 lengthened and 1 tapered.  This is the wide-leg lengthened pair, as I'm sure you can tell. Top: White house black market. Shoes: 2LipsToo, Macy's.)

Bumming around

Some weekends I look well put together.  Some weekends I look like this:

Dressing for day and night

Daytime: work at sister in law's house, get ice cream w/ neices, and shop.  Evening: "book club" dinner at a popular Venice beach restaurant.

Day:

Night:

And an unpictured black leather jacket for walking back to the car after dinner.

Running errands

Shirt: kohls via min in law gift (she gets me some cute stuff!), shorts (linen - yay): jcrew, metallic leather flower flip flops: earth brand from little local store 

Comfort clothes for work

I think I've had this top since high school...

Green

(Dress: White House black market, shoes: bandolino from dsw, tank: spanx from Nordstrom (and I'm still not sure if it helps or hurts my look - this is the first time I'm wearing it and so far I think it actually makes me look more lumpy instead of less...), and new/first-ever highlights!)

Running errands

(Top: old navy nursing tank, shorts: Calvin Klein, shoes: Ferraramo via filene's basement (I really need to find another source for super discounted ferragamos. I love these ones.))

Working Saturday

Not the best pic ever. The shirt has nice white pinstripes on it which don't show.  But you get the idea.

Also, my hot weather solution to suit wearing?  Carry the jacket with me, drape it over the back of my chair - make it clear that I'm wearing a suit, but don't actually ever wear the jacket .  :)

(Shirt: banana republic (size 8 even though the most recent pants I bought there are 0, so yeah, their sizing is a little wired on me.  Suit and belt: j-crew and jcrew factory, shoes: Sergio Rossi from dsw.)

Beach town breakfast 2

Yay for a friend who also has a flexible schedule!  :)  Dressed for day-care drop-off, errands, and a mid-week breakfast with a friend.

(Dress: Nuna lie, an Italian brand, purchased in Venice.)

What is a work-appropriate shoe?

It's really humid here these days, and especially hot and humid in my closet where I get dressed - hence the sleeveless top.  But I figure since the quarter hasn't started yet, I can get away with it.  (Lots of other people around here wear sleeveless tops.)

But I'm super excited about finally wearing my first pair of Christian Louboutins to work!  These are not really work shoes I think - given how much my toes show in front ("toe cleavage").  But that's becoming more common these days, and again - summer - so I figure now is the time to give it a try.  What do you think?  I've always considered open toe shoes (even a tiny peep toe) to be inappropriate for work, but I always see them featured in fashion magazine spreads of what to wear to work.  I've sometimes read that tall heels are inappropriate, but I've never followed that.  I think super tall heels with platforms are inappropriate, but a 4" heel is okay to me.  And now there's this new question of "toe cleavage."  I have no opinion yet.  During the summer, several people around here wear very open sandals, and one woman even wears flip-flops, so I don't think anyone will notice my shoes for being inappropriate.  I am curious if anyone will notice my shoes period.  I'll let you know.

(Top: Target, Pants: White house black market, Shoes: Christian Louboutin, vintage, via Lollipuff.com)

Maintenance

 

I don't have an outfit pic to share today.  I wore jeans, a purple-and-white hankerchief hem t-shirt and yellow ballet flats to drop the kids off, but forgot to take a pic.What I do have is a picture of how I spent a couple hours this afternoon - shoe and watch maintenance!  I went to the cobbler to have a few pairs fixed up, but polished one pair myself (with my newly purchased patent polish), and put sole-protectors, heel grips, and ball-of-foot pads onto another pair.  I also went to a watch shop to have the batteries on two of my watches fixed, but then polished one of them up myself back at home (with my all-purpose metal polish).  I really should do this type of maintenance more often, and I'm trying to now that I have higher-quality items.  But as it is, I'm lazy.  It usually takes me 6 months to go drop a suit off at the dry cleaners.

Decisions Decisions

Top: Jcrew factory (similar styling and fit as Jcrew, lower prices, slightly lower quality (but for some items I don't care), pants: Express (I *finally* hemmed them - this morning - and they look so much better now!  Yay.) Shoes: Bandolino from DSW)

So here is the decision part of today's outfit.  I've had these shoes for a couple of years at least and I get tons of use out of them, but they are pretty beaten up now.  I think it's time to replace them.  After all, I thought about it today and realized, I've walked over 100 miles in these already!  There's a pair of these:

on sale for the low low price of $325, final sale...  Do I buy those, try to get my current pair fixed up, or look for another pair similar to the ones I have (i.e., $100 price range, possibly less if I get them on sale)? Thoughts?

A 1st bday party

I bought a couple of the White House Black Market "bustier" tops last fall thinking that they would be good for date nights.  I never wore them in that way, but when summer rolled around I realized they were super cute with white shorts for day time.  I even ended up buying one more - this one - with that in mind.  I love how this top uses super-traditional, kind of old-lady-ish, tweed elements like the gold chain and the ribbon trim, but in a cute little top.

Also, the party today was so fun!  It was one of Nadia's day-care friends' 1st b-days.  She had *so* much fun.  I loved that it was really taking her to a party with her friends, and not just a grownup party or David-age-group party. 

(Top: White house black market, shorts: j-crew, sandals: my ol' reliables)

A simple, but very me, sweater

(The last picture captures the color of the sweater better than the first, but I think it's just a tad brighter than even the 3rd pic.)  I love this sweater, but the brand no longer exists so I can't buy more.  I often find really interesting unique and high-quality items when I shop at discount stores.  This was even more true in Boston because of the proximity of the New York fashion scene and local Boston designers. I don't shop at discount stores often because it takes a lot of time, but when I do, I love it.  The main disadvantage is that I often end up with items like this, that are there because they are no longer available, so if I like them I can't buy more!

(Sweater: Filene's basement in Boston - the real original Filene's basement that was in the basement of Filene's!, Pants: Macy's juniors department, Shoes: Macy's - from one of my many shopping trips for black chunky-heeled oxfords, ring: Russia, unpictured: super-cute tiny little ball stud earrings that exactly match the sweater, from when I was probably about 9)

An Amber Necklace

I like these pants, and I enjoy combining the green with brown and cream.  But I think the real star of this outfit is my necklace.  I made this myself and am pretty proud of it.  I do a very fine wire wrap, as attested to by one of my jewelry-making colleagues (yes, other professors make jewelry for fun too), and these are by far the most amazing beads I have ever purchased.  I bought them in post-Soviet Russia over 20 years ago.

(Pants: express, top: banana republic, shoes: bakers (one of those mall shoe stores), necklace: hand made from gold fill and vintage Russian Amber)

Back to real life

The first day back to work after a vacation is always so hard for me.  I want vacation to keep going!  New work shoes help a little.  :)

(Pants: express.  I'm still on the lookout for a nice slim pair of long black work pants.  These were the best I could find, but I'm not completely happy with them.  Top: I can't quite remember, but I think it was one of those stores at the mall that caters to tiny Asian women where I am always a large or extra large.  Shoes: nordstroms, and they are on sale now (I paid way more!  Oops.) here)