True Love

No. I didn't find it ... I wore it, and on Valentine's Day no less. I kid you not. My cardigan was a case of True Love.

I'll say it again. True Love. On Valentine's Day. Snort.

shirt —Gap (thrifted)

cardigan — True Love (thrifted)

pants — London Jean (Victoria's Secrets)

boots — Hayley by Faded Glory (thrifted)

necklace — thrifted

I was trying for a monochromatic color look, and I wanted to do the red family because ... well, because it was Valentine's Day, of course! I pulled this cardigan out to wear, when I saw that the label read "True Love," I just had to wear it.

It wasn't a true monochrome look ... I should have switched out the black shirt for a bright pink one or a deep red.

Unfortunately, I don't work in the kind of place where I can play around with what I wear all that much. My goal, dress wise, is to look "conservative" so I tone down what I wear accordingly. It's kind of strange. I can wear jeans day in and day out, but a lot of chothing choices are simply out of the question.

I'm totally exhausted these days ... I've had parental health issues, I've been job interviewing, and I went through the most traumatic house appraisal ever, and then there has been work. Still no vacation or sick time, so if I take any time off, I have to make up by working 10- to 12-hour days. I seriously don't know if I am coming or going these days. Just trying to hold it together these days.

Linking up with Patti at Not Dead Yet Style for Visible Monday. 

Sparkle Someone Else's Eyes

A sparkly shirt and sparkly shoes ...

Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, get away
American woman, listen what I say

This song was first released by The Guess Who in 1970, six years before I graduated from high school! And now that I have dated myself, I'll say it again — I am really old. But how on Earth did that happen?

shirt — Western Connection (thrifted)

pants — London Jean (Victoria's Secret)

belt — thrifted

necklace — Anne Dick (thrifted)

shoes — Dansko (Dansko Company Store)

earrings — DIY (and why exactly does do it yourself sound so much better than home made?!)

Believe it or not, this was a hard shirt to wear. I thought the spandex-like material would be super comfy, but the sparkles (which don't show up all that well) made the shirt feel really stiff. It fit nice, but it wasn't all that soft. (and on top of that I kept feeling like I was leaving sparkles on the ground behind me ... sort of like a Hansel and Gretel trail.)  And then the color was really odd ... it wasn't quite brown, but it wasn't quite green either, so I had a tough time trying to figure out what to wear it with.

Once I decided to wear it with my old faithful pants, I played off of the gold sparkles on the shirt and used the opportunity to wear some other gold-tone stuff (my belt and necklace) that I have but don't wear all that often (I kind of have this phobia about wearing gold these days). I got the belt at a thrift store the last time I visited my parents, and it was too cool for even my phobic self to pass up. I had to wear it home instead of stuffing it in my luggage (talk about setting off the metal detectors) because it was so heavy (a couple of pounds?!). I was pretty sure that it would have tripped the scales!

This isn't the best picture of it — you don't get the feeling of how heavy it is ... it's like a dead weight (but it is oh so very cool ...). You can see the sparkles in the shirt a bit better too ...

Pardon this interjection while I say that I love this next picture of me because I look skinny. How weird is that? Same day, same clothes, same everything ... so why do I look skinny in this picture and not in the others?!

Anyway, I have to say that the really REALLY cool thing about this outfit is the necklace. Yes. My necklace. I got it in a thrift store; it was in a big ziplock bag that was stuffed full of jewelry for some insanely low price. I didn't give it a second thought until I started writing this post, and then I did some research on it (yeah, I'm still a nerd ...). I noticed that it had a name on it ... Anne Dick, and that seemed worthy of a Google search.

Wouldn't you know ... this necklace was made by the third wife of Philip Dick, the science fiction writer? I read his book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for one of my book groups  — the 5Bs ... the Bodacious Beer Boozing Book Bitches (and, yeah, I have the T-shirt — erm ... denim shirt — and I wear it proudly).

This next pictures isn't bad either ... LOL. Oh man. I guess I can be kind of vain sometimes, can't I?

Linking up to Bloggers Do Sequins Better, because I was a sparkly blogger today.

And since my shirt, my necklace, and my belt is thrifted I'm doing a double whammy and linking up to Meagan at Spunky Chateau, and her Thursdays is for Thrifters.

Under Control

It's  been too rainy and humid to wear anything but my standard  tank and shorts. So instead of dazzling you with that outfit again (look here if you want to be dazzled), I thought that I would use an outfit picture that reflects the type of clothes that should be worn this time of the year. 

sweater — Linda Matthews (thrifted)

pants — London Jean: Kate Fit (Victoria's Secret)

boots — American Eagle (Payless)

belt — Nautica (thrifted)

Even though I wore this in the spring (on April 26, to be exact) and liked it, I actually think the colors are more suited for the fall. I also tried it with my Dansko clogs — which footwear do you think works better? the clogs or the boots? I think I'm partial to the clogs.

I start my new job on Monday (yay!), so the past two weeks have been really hectic and crazy. My commute will be between three and four hours a day (most will be on the train), so once I start working I won't have a whole lot of time to get things done at home or to run errands. I've been trying to get the things done that need to get done and to run the errands that need to get run (getting an oil change, for example).

You'd think that since I've been unemployed for the past three months that everything would be under control. After all, I had tons of time to do anything and everything. But it didn't work that way for me. Not having a job and not being sure of what the next day is going to bring made it really hard to use my time productively and wisely, or in other words, I spent a lot of time worrying and freaking out. I also worked out in the yard, went through things in the house (I knew that I wanted to move — job or no job), and hid in my bedroom. I didn't, however, do anything that entailed spending money, which meant postponing a lot of things that really needed to get done. Yes oil change, I'm talking about you.

Tomorrow, I'm going out to lunch with a couple of guys from my old office, and I'm getting my hair cut — yay! another thing that I put off until I had money.

I'm really looking forward to my new job — just about everything about it, in fact. I know there's going to be some down sides (my eyes aren't that blue!), but still ... The work is going to be exciting in and of itself, and then I'm going to be working in DC! I'll have a set schedule again, be around people, and even get a PAYCHECK! Woo hoo! And maybe I'll even fall into bed at the end of the day, too exhausted to snack my way through the night.

Another good thing is that I'll be getting dressed up again (good bye tank and shorts, hello heels and long sleeves). I'm really curious to see how I end up dressing for this job. I had to dress "professional" in my old office, but all that really meant was no jeans. This outfit, for example, may not be acceptable for an office located in the heart of DC. Since these khakis (I also have a wine-colored pair) were pretty much a "go to" item (see here, here, and here for other ways that I wore them), that's going to mean drastic changes in my outfits.

 

I don't think that I'll have the time or the inclination to pop out of a box be silly either ... 

Thank you all for all your good wishes!

Linking over to Thrifty Thursday at Spunky Chateau — my bracelet, necklace, belt, and sweater were all thrifted goodies.  

My Own Drum

Day 6 of the 21-Day Challenge was to be unconventional. I should have this one down pat — I definitely march to the beat of my own drum. Seriously though, the object of this prompt was to be creative and wear an item in an unconventional way. And so I did.

shirt — (thrifted)

pants — London Jean (Victoria's Secret)

shoes — Crocs (Dick's Sporting Goods) 
belt — (thrifted)

necklace (thrifted)   /  bracelet (thrifted)

The print on my top could actually qualify as pattern mixing. Isn't this a sweet pattern?

I really liked how the milky white of the bangle and the necklace picked up the flower petals in the print.

So what am I wearing that's so unconventional?  

My shirt is actually a dress. In fact, it's one of those cute, flirty dresses that should NOT be worn by a woman of my age. I think I saved it by wearing it tucked in as a shirt.

Don't laugh! I know that I look really dorky! 

Egads, this is bad. (Notice how I didn't make this picture as big as my other ones.) Is it the proportions that are all wrong on this? Or is it just too big? Funny thing is is that I really, really liked how this dress looked in the mirror -- I didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Why is it that we can't see a flaw when we look in the mirror, but they are magnified tenfold when we see ourselves in a picture?

Is the dress too young or does it just not fit? 
I think it's both.