where do you shop?

This is cross-posted from my tumblr, but I'm curious about what comments I'd receive, so it's worth a post here too.

I just came home from a massively uninspiring shopping trip. I haven’t really shopped in person (vs. online) in a LONG time, and I was kind of disappointed by what I saw. I know there are seasons of fashion that I absolutely love, and other seasons where I can’t find anything I like, but it was still a bummer. And the place I went only had the basic mall-y line up of stores: gap, banana, ann taylor… I probably should have driven the extra 20 minutes to Oak Brook for Nordstrom, J.Crew and Anthro. But I wasn’t looking to spend tons of dough either, so those three aren’t really where I wanted to head today.

I thought I’d see what others have to say though. Where do you shop? How are the prices? Does the clothes fit well? What do you like about it?

Also, mini pet peeve: when salesclerks offer outfit suggestions. “That would look great with black pants.” Really? What an exciting choice.

Booted

Since you're in such suspense about this topic, and it's obviously one of the biggest issues in my life right now, I'm going to kick off my blogging with. . . . boots!

(Katie, this one's for you. :) So glad you get how huge this is. )

I had been visiting the Frye For-the-Ages boots on the anthro site for over a month, kind of waiting to see if I ever didn't really like them. But no, the love just kept growing. So a few weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

AND. They were sold out in my size. Oh, and also my alternate size up. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? (all caps definitely called for on this occasion.) I seriously almost cried. Then I felt kind of stupid, because they're just boots, but whatever. I was sad.

After a few days of mulling it over, emailing an anthropologie sales rep (helpful but not with the answer I wanted) and googling every possible combination of Frye, for the ages, boot, and size 7 (and coming up with nothing) I found a more than suitable replacement from Zappos. Oh zappos, with your saved credit card information and free shipping, you make it so easy to spend a ton of dough.

I ended up with these, the Frye Jane 14 stitch in "Vintage Brown." The picture really doesn't do them justice, because they look kind of black here, and they're really a nice distressed chocolate brown. And the more I look at the photos, they're almost exactly the same as the others, it's only the color that's different. I am so happy with them. For one, they smell amazing! Really leather-y and rich. They're so well made, too, which they should be for the price I paid. I definitely look forward to wearing them for years and years to come.

The second big heartbreak about my boot saga is, I swear the day I got these in the mail was the beginning of our streak of 80+ degree days again. So, the boots have not really made an appearance in real life. Can't wait though.

Seriously, HOORAY. This is one of the biggest purchases I've made in a while, and it feels so nice to treat myself.

wishlist 09

yay, fashion post!

Last year I missed new fall clothes because I was a big preggo. So it's been two years since I've been allowed to get into fall fashion. This year I'm pretty excited about reinvigorating the wardrobe. 

I realize this sounds cliche to say, but somehow it's gotten through my head after years of watching What Not to Wear and reading fashion blogs, but. . .  I really need to focus on buying just a few really high quality things that I can wear for a looong time. That means resisting all the cheap, cute, but looks like junk after three washings blouses (h&m and old navy, I'm looking in your direction. . . ) And I'm realizing now how important it is to buy nice clothes, because I have so little time in the morning to decide what to wear.  If I only have nice things to choose from, I won't have to spend my precious time freaking out about something looking old or worn or unprofessional. 

So here's my basic list for this year. Frankly, it's more of a pipe dream list than anything else, but maybe it will keep me on track when I'm spending a little money in the next few months.

1. The boots! Of everything here, I think these have the highest chance of actually being bought. I've wanted a pair of Frye boots for forever, and when I saw these on the Anthro website I knew they were It. A great leather knee high boot, with a mid heel, kinda western but not overtly cowboy-ish. Perfect. 

2. A nice jersey dress, for work and church. I like this BCBG dress from Nordstrom but basically, I'm just looking for anything similar. I like this color, the draping, and the long sleeves. I just need something easy and flattering. 

3. New blazer. This one is from J.Crew but I'm on the lookout for other options. 

4. Gold Cuff bracelet. I first saw this one here. This item wins "most likely to be bought at Target" since I never buy nice jewelry. I tend to lose it, or lose interest in it, so it's better to buy the $12 version. 

5. Plaid shirt from Boden. This one has the perfect color combination, and it looks like it'd be appropriate for work and bumming around.  It also reminds me of something I would have worn with Converse  circa 1994. But that's okay, right? Fashion, so cyclical. 

6. Citizens of Humanity Ingrid Jeans. Ever since I was pregnant, I promised myself I'd buy a new pair of nice jeans when I finally lost all the baby weight. I'm not quite there yet, but I want to keep my promise to myself; it's a nice motivator. A lot of people freak out about the price of designer jeans, but I've found that it's totally worth it. I had a pair of Sevens I wore just about every other day for years, they held up so well and were super flattering, so i figure a hundred plus bucks well spent. 

So that's it! This was super fun for me, and I do feel like it's helpful to reinforce to myself that quality is so much better than quantity. I can see myself wearing any of these things a few years from now. I should probably print this out and bring it with me when i shop to make sure I listen to my own advice though. :)

the end of May

update! i returned the skirt. I figured $70 for something I'll wear once or twice a month in the summer isn't worth it. Instead I bought this one

which I assume I will wear at least 8,000 times. Seriously, I love a good denim skirt. 

Everything else in life is just flowing along. For some reason I've been having a harder time dropping David off at daycare. . . He is just so amazingly cute these days that I hate to not be around him much during the day, especially when work is challenging, as it has been this week. But I am thankful that the time we do have together is so much fun. 

May is always my favorite month and I'm sad to see it coming to an end. Springtime is the best and it always seems so short. 

oh, decisions

So I bought this skirt from Anthropologie. I got a gift card for Christmas and it's been burning a hole in my wallet ever since I lost (um. . . most of) my baby weight. Even though I love about a million things on their website, I just decided to order something and satisfy my fancy new clothes craving.

I really like it, but it's not exactly what I thought it would be, and it doesn't quite match anything else I own. At this point there are two options: 1. Buy a new blouse and shoes to go with it. or 2. Return it. I do love having an excuse to buy more clothes, but really, is it a valid excuse?

Any suggestions?

There are many other more important things to blog about, but its nice to throw in some fluff every once in a while, you know? 

in between

couldn't resist this shot. :)

This afternoon my mother in law came over to take David off my hands for a few hours so I could run errands and get out in the world. It was only my second time away from him in the two weeks since he was born, and man . . . it's weird. How can you miss someone you've only been away from for twenty minutes? I didn't even make it an hour and a half before I came home again. 

I would have been gone longer, maybe, if I had any cash on me. Can you believe I forgot my ATM pin number? It's been so long since I've used it it's completely slipped my mind. 

I had intended on doing some thrift shopping this afternoon but I have a cash-only thrifting policy (I like to limit myself so I don't buy things I don't need just because they're cheap.) My wardrobe right now is pretty sad.  If I'm not wearing pajamas and my husbands t-shirts, I'm wearing maternity clothes. The problem is, most of my maternity clothes are work clothes, which isn't great for hanging around the house. And my regular clothes definitely do not fit yet. Maybe this weekend I'll find the time to get out again and go buy some $2 t shirts. 

miscellany

i have real content brewing but for right now, just this.

i often save things onto my desktop at home, or my pictures folder at work. I really need to start writing down where these things are from, because most of the time, i rediscover them months later and am curious about their origins. aren't these old jungly animal photos great? you know I love old photos, but old exotic photos are even better.

and. it's interesting that I found these photos saved from just around seven months ago. Lately I have been thinking about buying myself a baby gift. . . you know, not for the baby, but for me. I have a habit of buying a pair of shoes anytime something important happens in my life: new job, promotion, whatever. So it's not surprising that I'm thinking about really splurging for this really important event. I've been wishing for a pair of Frye boots or shoes for a super long time. . . here are some favorites:

bows and flowers

new shoes from anthropologie! I treated myself to something fancy since my maternity wardrobe is fairly small and kinda plain. and frankly, I'd rather not buy anything else I won't be able to wear in four months. so shoes it is! can you believe it had been almost a year since I purchased any new shoes? that is a looooong time for me. maybe I have learned some restraint in my late twenties.

hey, thanks for all your comments about my puppy. she has been doing perfectly fine since the episode and seems all back to normal. now I'm thinking about this. . . if my dog getting sick worries me that much, how much more will I worry about a child? I guess that's what every mother deals with.

here we go

It's been my belief for a long time that I don't want to buy a lot of things for our children. I mean, what kid doesn't love the box something comes in better than the actual gift itself? Also, most kids stuff isn't very aesthetically interesting to me. Who wants their house all full of colorful plastic junk? And I certainly don't want my child in either the all-princess or all-truck wardrobe that most stores seem to stock for little girls and boys.

But anyway. I think I found my weakness:



threadless baby onesies. First of all, they're all adorable and funny. Also, they're limited editions, so I think, ooooh, if I like it I better get it now. The dumbest part is that they're kind of expensive for something the kid will only wear for three-four months, tops. I still can't resist though.





So far I've kept it under control, for the most part. I just ordered the Cookie loves Milk, and the Giraffe and Elephant fire brigade. I should also confess that I bought a Giraffe and Elephant fire brigade shirt for myself too. Maybe I'll email a link to the Noah's art shirt to my parents, I'm sure they would approve and be happy to oblige.

clothes, and cheese

well, as if I needed any more reasons to be head over heels for j.crew. . . their newest catalog is shot in Rome. It's kind of sick how perfect that is. You HAVE to go watch the intro video. The images online aren't as great as the catalog, but I'll share a few.

now I want to travel back in time so I can wear that yellow dress on our trip to rome last year.

Anyway, on to other things. . . This weekend I went to indiana to visit my friend Valerie. It's so bizarre to be back in a college environment. I really appreciated it, since I so rarely run into the grad schoolie academic type in my daily life anymore, and I desperately miss that kind of character. On the other hand, it's so strange being in the weird middle-ish time of life. 27: friends with kids, friends just married, friends in school. I feel so in the middle of all of that and pulled in all directions, the Stretch Armstrong of friendship. I guess I'm kind of used to it, it's been this way for a few years now. But this weekend was just a giant flashing reminder of it.

And finally, cheese. On the way down to Bloomington I kept passing signs for some dairy farm. Intruiging. So I checked it out, and it was a little cheese utopia right off the freeway in indiana. I highly recommend stopping into Fair Oaks Farm if your travels ever take you on 1-65. Samples to your heart's content! I enjoyed it so much I stopped there on the way back too. And now there is yummy Hickory Smoked Gouda in my fridg.

Sweet Sweet P

finally project runway is starting to get good! I was a little worried about this season.

my favorites so far are jillian and sweet p. can't stand christian. everyone else i'm kinda "eh" about. but at least it's getting better and the last few challenges have been really fun.

I think this is one of my favorite outfits of the season thus far:

sweet p's dress for the levi's challenge.

okay, also. the couture shows in paris are happening right now. surprisingly there were a lot of things I saw on style.com fashion shows that weren't crazy and over the top, but really inspiring and exciting. like these flats from the chanel show:

I would buy all these. adorable!

if $130 fell from the sky right this moment

these would be mine:

michael kors shoes from zappos.

the dumbest part is, i barely wear anything other than my cowboy boots these days so they'd probably collect dust until the snow melts. but aren't they pretty?

boo!

sad news! blueprint is done.

when i read this today I felt like I was punched in the gut. Over the past few months this has really become my absolute favorite magazine, and that's saying a lot since i LOVE the mags. A lot of others have kind of taken nosedives in my opinion (lucky isn't nearly as good as it used to be, i haven't read vogue in years). . . . Martha Stewart Living is still great, but a little stuffy. Blueprint was perfect though, the best mix of fashion & home with youthfulness. Guh.

I'll have to go through my tearsheets to find some Blueprint pages to scan and share. then we can all cry together. :(

$1000 shopping spree. . . .

. . . . I wish.

BUT I did just finish a small freelance project and have some "fun" money." this is what I've been looking at blowing it on:

j. crew sweaters and skirts

these adorable shoes from zappos

also this sweater from anthropologie that I can't seem to save a photo of. you should look at it though. the magic is all on the back.

j.crew has a great lookbook up right now, too. i think the purpose of really great fashion photography and wardrobe styling is to make you want to overhaul your whole life on the basis of one photo. such as this:


well, i'm off. . . . it's time for me to move to scotland, get a bike with a basket, and start wearing argyle.

fashion week: hats

it's spring/summer 08 fashion week and you know what that means! i've wasted at least an hour a day online looking at clothes I'll never be able to afford.

there's a lot of stuff I'm liking, and for some reason, one of the things is: seriously nuts headgear. next spring you can either look really chic, or like a half insane vagrant, depending on how you style yourself. check these out:

"spare some change?"

detail shots from style.com. proenza schouler, marc by marc jacobs, and 3.1 phillip lim.

seriously though, i kind of love it. i mean honestly. you have to be pretty daring to wear hats like these in a non-marching band / community theatre public situation. i give props to anyone who actually pulls it off.

boots!

it's almost 100 degrees out these days but of course my obsessive zappos searches are for winter boots. stupid august!

i'm looking for some mythical combination of dressy/work appropriate and cowboy-ish. these are the front runners so far:





the last pair are the least fun, but i'm kind of leaning toward them. maybe my look for the fall will be "classy cowgirl."

spring wish list

royal/navy and white. so fresh and so clean. clothes from boden, anthro, old navy, delias, and zappos.

there's a lot of other things to say, but honestly, this is where my mind is right now

shoes, new office

zappos, of course.

there's something about working in a legitimate office that makes me want to buy better shoes. not to say I don't love my shoes, I do, but all of the sudden I feel like there's a hole in the shoe closet. . . . a hole that needs to be filled by a pair of bone and tan spectator d'orsays. I can't really say why; I'm not really that kind of girl.

By the way, none of the above really do it for me. I can't find what I have in mind, I am on a quest though. I'd go into more detail but I'm fairly certain that's not necessary.

So yeah: my new, legitimate office. It's GOOD. great actually. People talk to each other. The women wear pumps! I know it's not a big deal, but it is to my girly self. It really is kind of showing me what a completely bizarre environment my last job was. One day last week I went to lunch with some co-workers; we had Thai food and afterwards stopped into a thrift store. yeah, NOT joking. good stuff.

I feel so excellent about the whole thing, feel like I've found a good fit for my personality and my talents. I just feel happier. It's pretty amazing what this change of scenery is doing to my psyche.

clothes I won't be wearing in Florida

burberry prorsum, chloe, fendi, & louis vuitton resort. images from vogue.com

I have to admit I've never understood the purpose of the resort collections. until I was invited to go to Florida in December. if I had tons o' cash to spend, I'd totally want to buy new warm weather clothes right now. but i'm pretty sure that burberry trench costs more than a mortgage payment. . . so I think I'll be okay without it.

So yeah, Florida next week. Usually I'm the kind of person who checks out a hundred travel books from the library before going on vacation, this time it's different. I have almost no expectations for this trip, which I think is good for a winter holiday. I only have three things on my list of must-dos:
1. read a lot.
2. not think about work a single time.
and
3. pet a manatee!

I really really really hope I get to pet a manatee. my heart will probably burst from the pure joy.