03.25.2012 [sun]
Worn to: Brad/Cristin/Ian/Joe over after their ride, grocery
Sweater: LOFT
Jacket, jeans: Target
Oxfords: Bronx “Heat of Nite” (via Nordstrom)
Hoop earrings: GNW (via Fred Meyer)
Necklace, shades: Forever 21
Watch: Timex (via Target)
Scarf: Old Navy
Purse: Coach (gift)
Thoughts:
Somehow my sweater shrunk when I washed it a couple days ago! I have washed it several times before, always the same way, with cold water and air dried. I’m hoping I can gently stretch the slouch back into it but I don’t have high hopes for that working. I’ll have to experiment with the sweater to see how to make it work for me if I can’t get it to stretch back to its normal shape. Not sure how much I like this tighter fit, it really emphasizes the dolman sleeve which isn’t the best sleeve shape for my strong shoulder line (the looser body helped to mitigate that). Sad.
I wasn’t really planning on going anywhere or seeing anyone today, so I was in my PJs when our friends stopped by for a short visit after going out for a ride. I therefore threw this together quite quickly, and am pretty pleased with how it turned out! This is actually a take on my spring color palette formula, with the ivory and color (green) only in the scarf. That little formula has really been a great tool when I need a little outfit inspiration!
Backlogged outfits update: Feb 28th | Building An Outfit - 4 Stages | Mar 1st | Mar 3rd
03.24.2012 [sat]
Worn to: ride to lunch (Z’s Burger)
Dress, earrings: Target
Heels: Apostrophe (via Sears)
Watch: Timex (via Target)
Purse: Coach (gift)
Riding gear - jeans: Shift, jacket: River Road, helmet: Scorpion, gloves: Fieldsheer
Thoughts:
We had a nice warm day today, though not as warm as I was hoping for. The weather man said it’d be 60F, but it only got to around 53F in my area. The dress with bare legs was a bit ambitious for the weather but it still felt good to wear, if a little chilly. I usually don’t start joining my husband on the motorcycle until it’s above 60F because my gear is all summery and perforated (lets lots of wind through), but David and I were just itching to be outside so we took the bike out to get burgers. I promise I nearly always wear riding boots, but the burger place is just a few miles from us so I decided to risk it and just wear my heels (pattern mixing!).
So. Motorcycle outfits are my biggest wardrobe challenge. For the first couple years, I was wearing tees and braiding my hair, and just felt super frumpy when we got to where we were going because the only change was that the gloves and helmet (sometimes jacket) came off. Last year I started wearing woven button-up shirts, tossing my hair up in my high pony, and swapping to cute shoes when off the bike, all of which helped dramatically. This year I am planning to replace my boots (not seen here, but they’re black mid-calf with a WIDE wide ankle and square toes; not cute) with something more stylish, and I’ve got my eye on a cognac wedged pair that I hope to buy soon. Next year I hope to replace my jacket with something smaller and more nipped in at the waist; this jacket is a bit large for me and I always feel like I’m swimming in it, but the quality is very good so I’ve been reluctant to replace it.
In addition to wearing woven tops, I’ve been wanting to try wearing dresses and was happy to get a chance to try today; once we get where we’re going, I can (theoretically) pop off the riding jeans and swap shoes and voila! No longer wearing gear. I took the earrings off during the ride (never wear them while riding after losing a diamond stud taking my helmet off to start the San Francisco trip last year *sniff*), then put them and my hair together once we got there. I think with a little practice I’ll be able to get those riding jeans on and off without needing to duck into a bathroom like I did today, but I have to say I’m really happy with how great this dress worked out for our short ride today!
Backlogged outfits update: Feb 24th | Feb 25th | Feb 27th | Feb 29th | March 4th (dirt biking)
Also, I added a formula for the transitional outfit from February 22nd.
And lastly, I added a cute video of my kitty to yesterday’s outfit post that I took after getting my outfit photos. I’ve been letting him outside with me while taking them this week, and he’s been loving it!
Off topic and for fun:
Did a bit of brewing in the evening (well, my husband did anyway!), an English Pale Ale. Should be nice and light for our (hopefully) upcoming warm spring weather.




03.22.2012 [thu]
Worn to: Walgreens, work, gym
Tee: Old Navy
Denim jacket: GAP (thrifted)
Trousers: Express “Editor” (via YLF swap)
Booties: Matisse “Nugent” (via Zappos)
Earrings: Target
Necklaces: Calypso St. Barth for Target (coral), thrifted (gold & pearl)
Watch: Anne Klein (gift)
Purse: Coach (gift)
Shades: Forever 21
Thoughts:
On Monday when I was looking over my spring/summer stuff, I completely forgot about my knits! I have them in a different closet, and remembered about them this morning. It’s not a huge jackpot or anything, but there are a few cute things in there that I was happy to find. This tee is one of them. I love the color and the stripes, but unfortunately it’s just too sloppy looking to wear on its own; I would LOVE to find a similar soft, silky blouse to replace it!
I’m also totally happy it’s finally dry enough to bring out the wide legs! I love wearing them on milder days in spring and summer, they manage to be both breezy and warm. This pair is quite light (both color and fabrication) so I don’t wear them into the fall, but my denim pair I can wear all the way through to the start of winter if it’s dry enough.
Not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I am 5’3”. I know that most petites operate under the thought that they cannot wear wide legged pants because they’ll be swamped in the fabric. I feel this is untrue, but we do have to work a bit to find the right pair, and in general we have to pay extra attention to lengthening the leg line when wearing them. Some tips on finding and working your pair:
In addition, all the usual “make yourself look taller” tricks will work well with wide legs (adding vertical lines, keeping things low contrast, etc.). I used all of these tips today!
Behind the outfit:
This is yet another take on my current favorite spring color palette formula, with the addition of denim (that makes it three times this week, gotta chill on that eh?). I started with the trousers and tee; the trousers because I’ve been craving a new silhouette, and the tee because I wanted a light outfit base that followed my spring color palette without wearing my taupe tee two days in a row ^^
As I said above, this tee requires a jacket; blue denim isn’t in the color palette, but I liked how it helped make the trousers look more casual. I chose these cheetah wedges to provide the orange (next week I’m going to try this color palette with an accent color that’s not orange!) plus it’s a great subtle pattern mix with the striped top and lightly plaid pants. I tried a couple pendants, but wasn’t feeling it so I decided to go for a layered, maximal look to play up the breezy vibe of the trousers. This coral necklace was an easy first choice (more orange!), and I tried this gold and pearl tassel necklace on a whim to happy results. The final outfit has a great somewhat unexpected boho vibe (my hair helps with this too), which I really dig!
03.19.2012 [mon]
Worn to: work, Kindah over to make earrings then out for tacos
Sweater: GAP
Blazer, necklace: Forever 21
Belt: thrifted
Jeans, boots, scarf: Target
Watch: Anne Klein (gift)
Purse: Coach (gift)
Thoughts:
Happy first day of spring! Unfortunately, here in the Pacific Northwest it had been feeling like anything but spring buuuuut happily this week the weather is showing signs of warming up! I wanted to officially move all my spring items back into my wardrobe (I already put away my heaviest winter stuff), but when I looked the items over I was a bit disappointed to find that everything was actually summer clothing (though most of them will work with light layers once it warms up further).
So I looked over what’s in my closet right now, and found that I’d apparently left my spring/fall transitional items in my wardrobe all through winter; there’s several light colored and light weight pieces in there that I haven’t been wearing, but would certainly wear during 60+ temps (short sleeve button-up shirts, drapey tees, soft blouses, short-sleeve/sleeveless dresses…). I’m sure this is part of why I’ve been feeling a bit of unhappiness with my wardrobe over winter; it’s hard to see through the seasonal clutter! I’m planning to sort everything out properly this weekend, and also make a list of the remaining spring items I hope to get over the season. Should be fun!
Behind the outfit:
In the spirit of spring, I’m debuting my new bright orange blazer! I bought this about 1.5 months ago from Forever 21, and it’s been impatiently waiting for warmer weather; it’s knit which makes it super duper comfortable, and I must say the quality is surprisingly good for the price ($27). Today I wanted to wear my current favorite spring color combo formula, brown/taupe/gray/cream/bright trendy color, with the orange blazer as the color accent; there’s no taupe here, but all the rest is there (side note, I think I’m going to come up with a couple other color combo formulas for this season, this one has been really handy!).
I initially thought about wearing my gray tissue turtleneck with these gray skinnies for the whole column of color thing and then wear my cream booties, but I felt like wearing something less muted for this, the first day of spring (though I’ll probably wear that other outfit soon!). So I swapped the gray top with this ivory sweater, because with the stripes it felt even springier. And then because it’s not really that warm yet (I was pretty optimistic in not wearing a coat outside), I chose browns for the boots, belt, and pendant to add some dark-but-not-too-dark to the outfit. The browns were much snappier in person (for example, the belt is a bright cognac), but unfortunately they look pretty dull in these photos.
03.17.2012 [sat]
Worn to: errands (Michaels Everett/Lynwood, PetSmart, Hobby Town USA)
Tee, jacket, earrings: Target
Jeans: Empyre (via Zumiez)
Boots: Miz Mooz “Flynn” (gift)
Necklace: YLF Secret Santa gift
Watch: Fossil (gift)
Scarf: thrifted
Purse: Coach (gift)
Thoughts:
Hope you’re all having a great weekend! Since I’ve been busy crafting for my Etsy shop, I am just starting to look over my spring wardrobe. For some reason it’s been hard to get inspired with our unseasonably cold weather, when usually this is when I go overboard with my dreams of sunny days. Part of the issue is that I actually like my spring/summer wardrobe MORE than my fall/winter wardrobe which isn’t good since fall is the dominant season where I live; on the plus side, I feel like I don’t have to do as much to get my spring/summer wardrobe ready to go. Deciding to lighten up for spring early has helped get me started thinking about what I do want to do, though, and I have made a few purchases already (some of which you’ve seen): loafers, watercolor printed blouse, bright orange blazer, teal blazer, a couple transitional dresses, and several bright, colorful printed scarves. In addition I also recently picked up a couple new lip colors which I plan to review soon!
Also, things are moving along nicely for my Etsy shop reopening, though there has been a bit of a setback regarding my handcrafted nail polishes which I hope to get sorted soon. In the meantime, I’ve got a few more pretty soon-to-be-earrings cab previews to share with you guys which I created last night:

That left one is one of my favorites, it’s got so much depth and color. For more, click here!
Behind the outfit:
Today I wanted something simple to run errands with. I started with the boots and jeans (love these two together!), then decided to sandwich the black with more taupe. After adding the tee, I knew I’d need a jacket since I don’t really like to wear plain tees on their own. I tried a couple of my jackets, and had almost decided to wear my ink blue tweed moto when I gave this brown jacket a try. And was totally digging the different shades of browns in the outfit, up to three with the jacket. I chose the brass pendant and earrings to add to the brown tones, and then in honor of St. Patrick’s day added a blue and green scarf for the outerwear (and of course my green nails) ^^
03.16.2012 [fri]
Worn to: work, date night dinner @ The Majestic
Dress: Old Navy
Belt: thrifted
Tights: Forever 21
Booties: Nine West (outlet)
Earrings, scarf: Target
Watch: Timex (via Target)
Trench: Banana Republic (via YLF swap)
Purse: Michael Kors
Behind the outfit:
Today I wanted to find a way to transitionalize/winterize this dress (can’t wait to wear it bare legged if it ever warms up). The cut is easy to winterize, but since it’s a light jersey if I make the rest of the outfit too heavy it’s going to feel a little seasonally confused. So first I chose my finest gauge winter tights which, as an added bonus in this case, are gray; black would be much heavier looking, and I rather like the softer effect of the gray.
Instead of wearing tall boots, I decided to wear these ankle booties for several reasons primarily relating to the fact that the dress is midi length: the gray keeps them low contrast against the tights which lengthens the leg line as does the heel (especially useful with the midi length), the sleeker cut and peep toe makes them more springy looking, and I love how booties look with dresses ^^ Low contrast flats or pumps would also work here.
I don’t have a problem with the low neckline of this dress, but after winterizing the bottom half I decided to add the black camisole to help balance it. Since this dress has an elasticized waist which I generally like to cover with belts, I took the opportunity to add another dark element. After trying most of my belts I settled on this one, partially because it was one of the few that’s small enough to wear at my waist, and partially because I liked the toughness it added. I chose my black watch to keep with the dark accessories theme, and these gold dangly earrings to pick up on the brass from the belt.