L-o-v-e

 

I saw this sweater on another blog and would have sworn it would be expensive.  Nope, it was from Forever 21 and it was on sale for $10. Yippee!!!  It's also very warm and I've been burning up all day.  

 

We had a casual day to raise money for a charity at work today, so I decided to try this look out.  I don't normally shop at Forever 21 because it isn't really for my age bracket, but they sometimes do have cute, age appropriate things.  The only problem is, their website is overwhelming and I get exhausted looking for stuff. 

 



Smiles!
Lori

The Perfect Color

I love my cobalt blazer from J Crew.  The only problem is, it's pure wool and in a couple of months, it will be too warm to wear it. Sadness.  So, I went on the hunt for a cotton twill cobalt blue blazer.  I do have a cobalt colored blazer in my possession, but it's three quarter length sleeved and belted, and it trends more towards the dressy side.  I wanted something like this blazer that can be dressed up, or down.  I looked on eBay, I looked at all my online shopping haunts, and nothing.  Then, low and behold, over the weekend, Loft came through for me.  The delightful cotton twill cobalt blue blazer arrived last night and it is amazingly close in color and shape to this one.  Happiness! 

I tacked on this blazer to my outfit last night at the last minute because the weather was supposed to be wet and crummy and I thought I'd get cold at work.  Its addition was honestly an afterthought and I was super pleased with how it turned out.  The blazer matched the stripes in my shirt perfectly.  I know, matchy matchy is bad, but I feel more comfortable when I'm coordinated and I think that no matter how you put an outfit together, if you feel good about what you're wearing, you project positivitey to those around you.

Smiles!
Lori

Hollandaise

 

My shirt reminds me of Holland. I think it's the flower pattern and color scheme.  When I saw it online at Talbots AND it was 25% off, I knew it was going to be delivered to me.  When it arrived, it did not disappoint! 

 

I know matchy matchy is supposed to be a no no, but I do enjoy matching colors in my clothes, so I'm going to do it anyway!  I was pleased that my blue capris from J Crew matched this shirt perfectly.  Happiness all around!





 

Smiles!

Lori





The Sale

I bought these pants twice. The first time, I paid full price for them because I'm a sucker for plaid, I used to own a pair like these back in the day and I saw several people wearing them in different ways that made them not look overtly Christmasy.  The first time they arrived, after trying them on, I thought "Can I really wear these, or will they get worn once and then never see the light of day again?"  After a couple of weeks of debating, I finally sent them back.  They were too expensive to be on the fence about.  Then, they popped into the stuff on sale at J Crew.  Next came the 30% off markdown.  And finally, the repurchase.  The second time around, I paid about $110 less than I did the first time around, so I was pleased with the purchase.  They are also super comfortable!

Smiles!
Lori

Epic

 I am planning an epic slumber party for Kira's ninth birthday in a couple of weeks.  It is sooo very out of control right now.  I'm allergic to latex, so we can't decorate with balloons, so I've been ramping up the paper decorations like you wouldn't believe.  Yesterday, I literally made around 12 large paper flowers to hang on the wall, four large paper flowers are going to be attached to dowel rods, placed into styrofoam and then put into flower pots to decorate the foyer and I've got streamers, banners, hanging lanterns, I had a sign made, and more.  Then, we're having a candy bar.  Soooo, I purchased a bunch of clear containers and a ton of candy to put in them.  I made a dum dum sucker flower with about 160 dum dum suckers.  The girls are going to decorate pillowcases, decorate aprons, and then they are having a cupcake decorating party.  We're also having a scavenger hunt/challenge and several other games that I've got planned.  It's been exhausting and I'm nowhere close to being done with all the preparations.  Thankfully, the invitations went in the mail today.  I added a picture of them at the end of this post.   I hand made them because I am insane.

This is all my fault.  I offered up the idea without thinking and Kira jumped on it.  Bad mom. Bad bad mom.

Smiles!
Lori

The Jacket Purge

 

I bought three, yes three, new jackets from the Gap recently.  One is kelly green, one is lilac and one is bright yellow.  I was in my closet yesterday getting ready to put two of the jackets away and finally realized something(s) had to go.  I spent a chunk of last night pulling out all the jackets and getting a pile together to donate of things that I haven't worn in a couple of years.  I tend to hang onto things a little longer than I should because you never know when you're going to need a particular shade of something, but I don't wind up wearing a lot of nice things because everything is crammed in there.  I guess I had my own intervention last night.

 



Smiles!
Lori

Wrapped Up in Dots

I decided after looking like an accountant yesterday that I wanted to not look like an accountant today.  I was pleased with the result.  The skirt is annoying, though.  It isn't lined and it crept up all day.  I literally threw the shoes away when I got home.  I'm done with these things because they hurt my feet.

Bows and Smiles!
Lori

Accountant Attire

For some strange reason,  I felt like dressing for my profession today.  There was no special meeting, I didn't have any presentations, and I didn't have to meet with the auditors.  I think I was just in a more subdued mood today.  Don't worry, it won't last.  Polka dots are lined up for tomorrow!

Smiles!
Lori

Thumbing My Nose At Winter

 

I am done with winter.... done done done.  Even though my outfit was wool today, I decided to go for springy colors.  I was told I looked like an Easter egg today and I had people comment that they were going to hang out in my office today just to get a touch of Spring.  It's snowing right now and I think we're all done with this stuff.

 

I'm also beat tonight.  The dog woke up screaming/crying at 3 this morning and I jolted out of bed to see what the problem was.  She was howling in pain and holding her paw up.  I checked it out and couldn't see anything wrong and she started to walk gingerly on it and it seemed ok.  She then went to the corner and looked at me like "Leave my stinkin' paw alone".  I tried to go back to bed, but wound up cat napping until it was time to get up. Then, after I gave the dog her morning milkbone, I walked out of the kitchen to fetch something and when I came back, she was laying down in front of the stove and refused to get up.  She's been having traction problems on the tile and I think she was just done.  I can't lift her, so I got a towel, laid it out on the floor and gently lifted up limb by limb onto the towel until I had most of her on the towel, then I slid her to the carpet, gave her a boost and off she went.  She's a fifteen year old border collie and honestly, it's just old age.  I moved the milkbones into the family room so she can stay off the tile and if she has a repeat episode with her paw tonight, she's off to the vet tomorrow. She seems fine now, so we'll see how it goes.

 

Smiles!
Lori

Elizabethan

I love big ruffly collars.  The rufflier the better.  When I saw this blouse from Topshop on Ebay, I knew I had to have it because of its dramatic collar.  The collar is actually trimmed in a zipper.  A ZIPPER!  It is so subtle, yet so totally unexpected and completely different than anything I'd normally do.  

Smiles!
Lori

I'm a Gummy Bear

My husband has a Sonos radio.  If you are unfamiliar with those things, they let you connect to music from the internet and get to radio stations all over the world.  My daughter knows how to work the thing. Really really well.  We've been listening to the "I'm a Gummy Bear" song  for about 15 minutes straight.  The song is insipid and gets into your head.  She's just warned us "It's gonna go again peeps!"

Great, just great.  And there it goes.  Again.  Yes, we could stop it, but it's not hurting anything and she's really amused.

Regarding today's outfit, I'm not sure I'd repeat the shoe/sock combo with these pants again, but I've somehow injured my big toe and I need cushioning in my footwear at the moment. 

Smiles!
Lori