Me, From the Mirror

I haven't posted WIWs in a few days as it's been crazy. I assure you I've worn other things besides this BF formula that I've been repeating =)

This weekend I went to get my hair trimmed. Somehow over the past few weeks I had convinced myself that the $60 I pay to get my hair cut once every 3-4 months was too extravagant and that since I just needed a trim and wasn't making a major change, I should be just fine going to the walk in $20 haircut place.

This was a mistake.

Here is the difference. The $20 haircut place spent about 10 minutes on my super thick curly hair. The shape was right and really it looked ok when she was done with it. 10 minutes is not enough time to properly layer curly hair though. For a good cut, you really have to get in there and see which direction the curls are going, or at minimum you need to straighten it and later it that way. Otherwise, the curls are going to be choppy and won't fall right. My normal stylist spends 45 min to an hour every time.

Where this really comes to light is in the styling of the hair. I can usually just wet my hair, run a wide tooth comb through and walk out the door. When it dries I can add a tiny bit of product to tame the frizz and I've spent one or two minutes on my hair.

With this cut, it doesn't fall right and it takes a lot of fiddling with it to get it to look ok.

I don't know why I haven't learned my lesson for good until now but this has been soooo consistent throughout my life. If you have curly hair and you consistently struggle with styling it, before trying any new products etc... I suggest to revisit the cut. Maybe get some recommendations for stylists that are known to work well with curly hair in your area. It might take a few tries, but it's sooo worth it. And then don't be like me and have to re-learn this lesson every couple of years =)

I'm going to begrudgingly let this grow 2-3 weeks and then I'm going back to my regular stylist to have her fix it.

Today I am wearing
Top - American Rag from Macys
BF Jeans - KUT
Shoes - Keen Sneakers
Necklace - Premiere Designs

Today my office has rented out a move theater that serves food/drinks while you watch the movie. We are going at lunch. I wanted to wear something that wouldn't be too hot but that would also be cozy in the theater which tends to be cold.

I went for the thin unstructured bf cardi because the dress is cotton and has structure to it. I would usually wear a shrug with something like this but the ability to make the sleeves long was important.

Is this good, too sloppy, too dated?

Dress - Janebonbon
Cardigan - Gap
Shoes - Dansko

I've been at home the past two days with my daughter who had stomach flu. It was the first time I have experienced that and lets just say it was not one of the most pleasant motherhood experiences. Poor Kiddo. She is ok now, and back to work I go.

Of course being out of routine for a couple of days always leaves openings for errors. Today's error was that somehow my makeup bag fell out of my work tote. I always take 5 minutes when I get to the office to do my hair and makeup and snap pics. It's much quicker if I do it that way because I can do it uninterrupted. No makeup bag today. I did have an assortment of lippies in my purse so I added gloss. I thought it was the best choice considering I wasn't wearing anything else.

I decided to wear my BF jeans again today with another one of the tops I got at Macys for a casual look.

My hair is getting too heavy, I need to do something with it. I think I will get it trimmed this weekend. I am liking the length ok. I was thinking to leave the front length as is, but re-do the inverting so it's a couple inches shorter in back. Then I was going to have them trim up the layers a bit to lighten it up, and get my side bangs trimmed back a little. Does that sound like a good plan?

Necklace - Gift
Top - American Rag from macys
Belt - Talbots
BF Jeans - KUT from Nordstrom

Good Morning!

This is a very different silhouette for me. I've done the waist surrender with skinny bottoms before but this is more baggy + baggy.

The top is American rag from Macy's that I picked up on Friday. I wanted some summer tops that were lightweight, and easy to wear. I liked that these are super thin, but have some sleeve to them. Added a lace cami since the neckline is pretty open. I can wear it without but exposes a little more cleavage than I want for work. After I took these pictures I adjusted the cami some so it sits a little lower.

The Jeans are my new KUT Boyfriend jeans. These are in my size and not too saggy, but I think they are relaxed enough that the look is there. I tried the larger size too but felt they looked horrendous in the bum.

Red leather belt from talbots.

Jambu sandals

I think I like this look, It feels relaxed and easy to me but not sloppy or frumpy. I was suspicious of whether something like this would work well on a plus size curvy girl, but I think I pulled it off.

Feedback welcome!

Today I'm mostly wearing an outfit I've worn many times before. Slight remix in that I decided to go for chunky sandals today instead of strappy. Nothing new but I always feel fab and comfortable in this outfit, so it's really been a workhorse this summer.

Top - Kiyonna

Bottoms (I'm never quite sure if these are clams or tapered burmudas) These are a Jr brand from ross that I got for $8 and have held up surprisingly well this summer despite being laundered to death.

Sandals - Dansko

I have to tell you that I am so excited about tomorrow I can barely contain myself. I have taken a half day off work. At about 11am I will leave to go to the mall and I plan to stay there ALLLLLL afternoon by myself.

My daughter will be two in Nov. About half way through my pregnancy I literally just made a big order from Motherhood maternity and pretty much bought my entire maternity wardrobe. Since she has been here, Ive done some shopping, but I've always had her with me. She is impatient about shopping (as she should be) so I always just have time to quickly grab what catches my eye and on a good day I might get to try something on. Sometimes my husband has taken her to another store for a few minutes while I look in a store but under those conditions, I'm also hurried. I would say 90% of my shopping has been buying online and trying things on at home. I generally don't mind, but now I'm just craving the experience of doing some real world shopping. I want to see some things I don't already know about, touch things before I take them to try etc..

I picked tomorrow because of NAS, but I don't really have a list for that or expect to purchase much. I want to try the Foxcroft chambray shirt if they have it. I also want to just look around and try on some things to get more familiar with sizing and fit for some of the brands I haven't tried before, in both clothes and shoes. I'm taking a notebook and will take notes. I might pick up other things but I don't have a big list or anything.

My main objective for tomorrows trip is to look for some inexpensive tshirts and tops that will carry me through the rest of the summer and also have layering potential for fall. Hoping there will be a decent selection of summer tops on sale at various places. Plan to try some stores I haven't gone into, or gone into in a while and again try things on and make sizing and fit notes as I shop.

I'm going to wear my new KUT BF Jeans. I haven't worn low waisted jeans in forever and I want to look for couple of tops that could work with them well. Otherwise I will grab some skirts and regular jeans off the rack to use to try tops on.

My notes and inevitable skads of pictures will be used for any online sale shopping I might do in the next few months.

Most importantly, I plan to have fun!! If I don't find a single thing, that will be OK. I want to have fun seeing whats out there, playing in the mirror, and being picky picky picky.

Nothing new and exciting here...

My daughter is 20 months old. Teething ended and she pretty much started sleeping through the night most nights a couple of months ago. She is stubborn and thrives on routine. The sleep part is good but on the rare occasion she does wake up now, there is no convincing her that it's not morning time. She just doesn't comprehend middle of the night wake ups anymore. This morning shortly after 3am she wakes up because she has soaked her diaper. I change her and try to get her back to sleep and she is having none of it. We normally get up around 5:30. At about 4:30 I give up. This morning is happening. We go and watch cartoons until dad wakes.

I had planned to wear the Charcoal version of the Ellen Tracy pencil skirt I got for $12.99 at costco. I had thought about some top and shoe options and had it narrowed down to a couple that I knew should work well with a pencil skirt. I just needed about 5 minutes to choose, pull it together, and pick some accessories.

I could not muster that this morning. Instead I walk in like a zombie, grab this dress, and slide on the sandals that were already out.

I also have crazy hair today. There was just no taming it. Instead of fighting with it I decided to put on red lipstick. In my brain crazy hair + red lipstick says intentional instead of I got no sleep and can't be bothered with my hair =)

Dress - Jones NY
Sandals - Dansko

Since the list is so short I'll also note that I'm wearing my Jockey Skimmies underneath and still loving them. http://www.jockey.com/en-US/Ca.....8;List=172

This is the only maxi dress I own. When I wore this previously it was met with strong opinions here and elsewhere from both the shorten camp, and the keep long camp. I was very torn. This led me to closet this dress, which I really love.

This morning I decided I was going to wear it again. I think what I feel is that I'm not ready to shorten it now. I still might do so later. Today I paired it with some black chunky sandals.

Dress - Igigi
Shoes - Dansko

I had my dishwasher door open unloading dishes. Somehow I grazed the corner of the door with my leg and cut it open. It wasn't very deep but I couldn't get it to stop bleeding. First band-aid I've needed in quite a while. I go to get one and all I have is Hello Kitty (I have a 20 month old daughter)

This morning when it was time to get dressed, I realized I was going to be wearing the band-aid and it would be quite visible, so I used it to inspire my outfit and ended up with this pink and purple number.

Top - y new Kiyonna top I got from the recent 40% sale. It's a copy of my black one but in purple.

Skirt - Ellen Tracy pencil skirt from Costco. I really love this skirt. Super comfortable, thick knit, no lining needed. At $16 i could not be more pleased. They have them now. Go Go Go if you want one.

Necklace - Premiere Designs

Shoes - Naturilizer.

Today I am wearing a dress that I thrifted for 5 bucks. When I found it there were no size or brand tags, but it looked like it could work. I tried it on and not only did it fit, it fit really nice. I like the colors and pattern on this too. I found out later that it is actually from Avenue last year and that the dress ran huge for size so if I were to find another resale (There are several colors/patterns of this dress) I would likely need to size down. Good to know.

It's wet again today but not pouring, so I paired with my Jambu strappy sandals which have a 2 inch heel and 3/4 inch platform. Hopefully these will suffice today for staying dry.

Added a simple necklace. Decided to throw on a cardi since it's wet and might be cool under the AC.

Overall I like this a lot. I would have preferred to pair with different shoes but decided to make a safe choice for a wet day.

Dress - Avenue Thrifted
Shoes - Jambu
Cardigan - Old Navy
Necklace - ? Gift

As I mentioned last night, it stormed all night last night and is expected to continue today. It was already raining when I came in this morning. I remembered after the post that I did have one pair of crocs that I thought would be suitable.

I think i'm going to try a pair of the crocs closed toe wedges as my ideal rain shoe would be closed toe, but not completely flat so that I can be above the puddles.

My workplace is very casual. I'm usually considered pretty dressed up for here. These crocs aren't exactly dressy, so I just built a casual outfit around it.

Probably not my most fab, but I think it works for today.

Top - Kiyonna
Clams - Ross (I keep forgetting to check the tag for the brand. I think it's an inexpensive Jr plus brand but they are holding up well. I will be looking for some nice replacements while the summer sales are going on as I only expect 1-2 seasons out of these)
Shoes- Crocs
Necklace - Premiere Designs