Calm Before the Storm

The nonprofit I work for told all nonessential employees to stay home until noon Tuesday,  so I am enjoying a lovely, lazy hurrication. As I sit in my apartment on Monday night listening to the winds of Sandy/ Frankenstorm howl outside, I can't help but feel thankful that I am warm, dry and still have power. I know many others on the eastern seaboard are not as lucky this evening. Stay safe y'all!

I keep thinking about how beautiful and calm the weather was on the days leading up to this storm. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. I spent the day having some Halloween fun in Salem with my friend Kelly and two of her friends. Although the whole town is pretty cute, the Derby Wharf is my favorite part of Salem. I love this little walk on the waterfront.

Kelly and I took a ton of pictures by this cute little light house.

It was my third trip to Salem. I had a decent time people watching and walking around, but I learned that I enjoy the city better without the Halloween weekend crowds. I think if I decide to visit in the fall next year, I'll visit earlier in October.

Outfit: Shirt and Jeans- Old Navy; Cardigan- Target; Boots- Rampage via Marshalls; Bag- H&M

For this Marylander no trip to Salem is complete without a trip to the only Ritas in Massachusetts. 

Foliage and Shopping

The foliage is absolutely beautiful in New England right now! In my walk to the train or bus in the morning, I just want to stop, sip my coffee outside, and take it all in. This past weekend was mostly sunny, so I made sure to enjoy the many parks in my neighborhood and take in the foliage. 

What better for a walk in the park than a comfy pair of jeans, a tshirt, an over-sized cardigan, and some loafers I've had since high-school?

I took these pictures during my weekly scramble to find shopping something to do to get me out of the house while Mike watches every football game ever on Sunday.

Outfit: Jeans- F21+; TShirt- Old Navy; Cardigan- Vintage Men's, thrifted; Loafers- Naturalizer circa 2004

This Sunday? I went to not one, but two Marshalls. After trying on every pair of booties in my size between the two stores, I bought some nail polish, a pepper grinder and some gummy dinosaurs. Success?

Date Night- A Little bit Country

Mike and I have fallen into a routine of going out for dinner at least once a week. I think it's important to spend time together outside of our apartment, and it's nice to let someone else do the cooking. Friday we stayed in and enjoyed a game night of sorts (I agreed to play Wii with Mike in exchange for him playing cards with me). We also had yummy pork roast and beer.

Saturday Mike had a ton of homework to do, but we went out for dinner anyways. Since I had plenty of time to get ready, I decided to do something I almost never do- curl my hair.

We headed to Brookline Village with the intention of getting some Japanese or Latin food. Due to long lines and restaurants that didn't look like what expected from the Yelp reviews, we ended up at Village Smokehouse, a Texas style barbecue restaurant.

Outfit: Dress- Dorothy Perkins; Jacket- JCrew (thrifted); Boots- Madden Girl

I loved it. The food was delicious, and it felt like Texas. The whole date just felt a little bit country, in a good way! I don't know if it was the curls, or the combination of boots, an A-line dress and a denim jacket. Maybe it was the fact that I had watched the first episode of Nashville earlier that day, or maybe it was just the country music and barbecue.

Breaking all the Rules

I have always been a fan of makeovers. Clueless was one of my favorite movies growing up, and I loved TV shows like "What not to Wear". As much as I believe that how you look on the outside can affect your mood. I have become quite disenchanted with makeover shows. They always pose a stupid list of rules, especially for curvy women! No horizontal stripes, wear dark straight, but not skinny legged pants or an A-line skirt and heels to slim and elongate the leg, etc, etc, etc. 

I acknowledge that here are cuts, styles, colors and prints of clothing that are more "flattering" to my figure, but I think abiding by a list of rules when you get dressed in the morning is a ridiculous notion. If you aren't having fun with your wardrobe and taking some risks then what's the point? So here I am, wearing flat shoes, horizontal stripes and bold skinny leg pants. 

Look at me breaking all those rules. Where are Stacy and Clinton? 

Outfit: Corduroy skinnies-  F21+ last year; Sweater- Old Navy; Flats- Target

Allie over at Wardrobe Oxygen wrote a great post earlier this week on the subject of taking clothes a little too seriously. The post really resonated with me. In getting caught up in the rules, we jeopardize our personal style. We lose the things that make us unique! We should all take Allie's advice and lighten up a little! 

What  fashion faux pas did you commit this week? 

Cozy Chic

I love leggings. However, I typically don't leave the house wearing them as anything other than hosiery. It is a rarity for me to find a tunic type garment that is actually long (and wide) enough to go over my hips and provide enough booty coverage for me to wear leggings as pants. So, when I found this flowy gray tunic on super clearance at H&M, I knew I had to have it. I also knew I would layer it under my over-sized, vintage grandma sweater. I love outfits that are as comfortable as pajamas, but still look put together.

I wore this outfit to get out of the house on Sunday while Mike watched foot ball. I ended up going a little crazy at H&M, but since my cold weather professional wardrobe is lacking, I feel I can adequately justify my purchases. 

Outfit: Cardigan- vintage/ thrifted; Leggings and flats- Target; Blouse and Belt- H&M; Jewelry- various 

Maybe I should think about investing in some thicker/ higher quality leggings, so that I can wear leggings as pants more often. 

Power Dressing

Do you ever have one of those days where you need to project an air of confidence, but you're just not feeling it? I've found that on days like that it really helps to put on an outfit that makes me feel confident and authoritative. For me that "power outfit" is a dress or pencil skirt, a low heel or wedge and a blazer or cardigan.

Outfit: Blazer- Target; Dress- NY&Co (old); Heels- Crown Vintage via DSW; Tights- Hue via Marshall's; Earrings?

I love this blazer. I'm strongly resisting the urge to order another color from the Target website. I imagine it will be appearing on the blog a lot as it is a very versatile piece. It looks great as a suiting piece for work, but also with more casual pieces.

By the way- the thing I needed to feel confident for went really well. I'll be less vague when I know the final result. I don't want to jinx anything! What do you wear on days that you need to feel and project an air of confidence? Do you have a "power outfit"?

Autumn in the City

Saturday was a beautiful autumn day. The air was crisp, the sun was shining, and the foliage was beautiful. It was also one of those days that reminds me why I love city living, specifically Boston city living.

Outfit: Jeans and Shirt- Old Navy; Jacket- thrifted JCrew; Boots- MeToo via DSW; Scarf- Target; Bag- H&M. 

I met up with my friend Kelly and we walked around the Rose Kennedy Greenway and Fanueil Hall a bit. Then went to the Boston vs New York Food truck throw down.

Unfortunately the lines were super long, so we only got to try two of the food trucks. We stuck to the New York trucks since we can eat at the Boston trucks almost any time. First we had tacos from Big D's Grub Truck. They were delicious and well worth the long wait.

For dessert we had apple, cranberry and nutella empanadas from the Nuchas truck. Yum!

Earlier in the day, while waiting for my friend Kelly outside of the Park Street T station, I had the kind of experience that could only happen in Boston. I was watching an antiwar/ pro- Green Party demonstration, near by there was a guy dressed in revolutionary war era clothing leading a freedom trail tour, a guy with a thick South Boston accent peddling fried dough, and the air smelled like burnt leaves. Then all of a sudden a parade of anti-rape culture demonstrators walked by. I love this city!

A Farewell to Summer Clothes...

Hello friends! Long time, no blog! I've been super busy, very tired, and a little sick, but for the most part I've been getting dressed every day... (if you count wearing the leggings I slept in and throwing on a hoodie as getting dressed.) I even left the house a few times over the long weekend! Here's what I wore for a brunch date, grocery shopping, and a walk around the park with Mike on Saturday. 

We had an unseasonably warm Saturday, so I declared the day a farewell to summer clothes. I ate my brunch al fresco, walked in the sunshine and relished in what will probably be my last opportunity to wear both sandals and a sundress for quite a few months.

Outfit: Dress, belt and cardigan- Target (old); Sandals- Payless (old)

Last week I finally got a new computer. I've been trying to teach myself photo shop, so my pictures might be all over the place over the next few weeks. That being said. I really like the way these turned out with the edits. It was definitely easier to edit the bottom photo. That's probably a good thing, since most of my pictures are going to be in front of concrete walls this fall/ winter. Y'all don't actually expect me to walk away from my apartment building for photos, right? 

From Dusk til Dawn

I am making real strides towards becoming a morning person. One of my biggest motivators has been joining a gym that is two blocks from my new apartment. I have gone to that gym more in the past two weeks than I went to my old gym in the previous two months. It's so much harder to make excuses when I don't have to haul a change of clothes to work with me. I just roll out of bed and run out the door with my keys, water and ipod then come back home post workout to shower and get ready for work. Monday morning I didn't get up early, I didn't make it to the gym, and I didn't take outfit pictures. I did put together a really cute outfit with my new mustard yellow corduroy pencil skirt and jewel toned leopard print blouse!

The other big motivator for getting up earlier? My day light hours are fading. Since coastal Massachusetts is about as far east as you can get on the eastern seaboard, it gets dark here REALLY early in the winter. We're talking 4:30pm early. I have no choice. I'm going to have to either get up early and take my pictures in the morning, or start bringing my tripod to my office.

Outfit: Skirt- Old Navy; Blouse- Target; Flats- Old Navy (old); Cardigan- Old Navy (old)

These pictures were taken around 6:20 in the evening. I this is the earliest I can get home to take pictures after work and the light was definitely low. I better become a morning person really fast!

Weekend Recap: Fluff and Stuff

It rained this weekend. A lot. Thankfully it cleared up long enough on Saturday for me to go to the Fluff Festival in Somerville. Yep, that's right... an entire festival dedicated to marshmallow fluff. Unfortunately, the day light hours got away from me before I could get my friend to take an outfit picture. I did, however, get a picture of the fluff waffle that I ate.

Waffle with baked apples and fluff. YUM!

Minus grocery shopping and a workout, Sunday was a lazy day. I watched some episodes of Weeds, painted my nails and watched the season premiere of Once Upon a Time.

Hard to tell from the picture, but it's a glittery coral color called Shrimp on the Barbie

Oh! And I made a delicious slow-cooker Pot Roast for dinner.

How was your weekend?