Mermaid

I realized this morning that I'd worn a pencil skirt to work every day so far this week, so I decided to wear another this morning and make it a whole pencil skirt week.

I never would have thought to combine these colors, especially with the teal blouse being so deeply colored, and the green skirt being so pale. Then I saw Kasmira at What I Wore Today pair a teal jacket with a green skirt, and I loved the look. I only wish I had lime green heels like hers!

Blouse: H&M
Skirt: Wrapper
Cami: Target
Silver Hoop Earrings: Aldo
Necklace-worn-as-bracelet: vintage (used to be my mother's)
Shoes: Lifestride

Race Judicata

Me in my race wear!

Thank you to my boyfriend for taking these pictures. He and I ran in Race Judicata on Thursday evening, to benefit Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. And when I say we ran, I really mean he ran. I walked, taking almost twice as long as he did to finish the course.

My Cup of Tea

What I wore to work on Thursday.

Sheer Top: Wet Seal

Nude Cami: Wet Seal

Skirt: H&M

Navy Tights: don't remember

Navy Heels: Newport News

Necklace: Target

Nacy Hoop Earrings: no clue where I got these, I've had them for almost 20 years

In the Alley

First time taking pictures outside. I felt a little silly about the idea of going out in public and taking pictures of myself. A woman came out to empty her trash as I was taking my last few shots, and she walked directly in front of my camera, deposited her trash in the can, and headed straight back to her door. She didn't blink an eye at my solo photo session, and I didn't react to her cutting right in front of my camera. I love city life.

New haircut. Back in December, I got my hair cut really short. It's growing out now, but its shape too closely resembled a mullet. So I got a bob. I've always like bobs, but never felt compelled to try one out. Now, I had a reason. I'm pretty happy with the cut.

Since I've started posting photos on my blog, I have been obsessively following other blogs, looking for tips on camara usage, backgrounds, angles, lighting, poses, and on and on. Not surprisingly, I've found my outfits in the past week to be much more directly influenced by other blogs than usual. Angie was talking about wearing vests over sleeveless tops over at You Look Fab. Over on what would krissie wear, I saw a photo of the exact same Express top that I own. Add the Express top and the vest-over-sleeveless-top ideas together, and you get today's outfit.

Vest: H&M
Top: Express
Skirt: Old Navy
Shoes: Lifestride
Bracelet: gift from my boyfriend
Diamond Stud Earrings: gift from my parents
New Haircut: courtesy of Aveda Institute Chicago

Orange and Blue

I love bright color combos, but I've realized lately that I tend to stick with the same few combos - orange and purple, purple and pink, pink and green, green and purple. Last week, I saw a great blue and orange color combo on what would krissie wear and I loved it. I knew I had lots of orange, but I was wishing I had a blue cardigan like hers. Then I remembered this blouse.

I'm not sure about the combo of the orange cami with the orange lace tights, but I didn't try on the outfit ahead of time - sometimes I do, sometimes I don't - so I was looking in the mirror before I left for work this morning debating whether to switch out either the cami or the tights, and I couldn't decide which to give up, so I just kept both on and headed out.

Tights are not something I would normally purchase thrifted (seems to me kind of like buying used underwear - eww!), but they were still in the sealed package, so I figured "Why not?"

Blouse: Express
Cami: Panini (from Presence)
Skirt: Forever XXI
Lace Tights: H&M (thrifted)
Belt: Forever XXI (came with skirt)
Shoes: Lifestride
Hoop Earrings: gift

Casual Monday

No work today. Ran some errands downtown.

It looked for a minute as though I was going to have to go into the office on my day off to take care of a last-minute filing due tomorrow, but fortunately that wasn't necessary.

Sweater: from Pink Frog
Twiggy t-shirt: Doe (thrifted)
Shorts: Squeeze Jeans
Peace Sign Earrings: World Market
Shoes: Etienne Aigner

Barbeque

I wore this to a BBQ yesterday at my boyfriend's sister's house in the suburbs.

The dress is from H&M. Back in May, I stopped in H&M one afternoon and saw this dress. I liked it right away, but since I wasn't really looking to buy anything that day, I didn't get it.

The following Thursday, about a week after not buying the dress, I went to yoga in the morning before work. I wore my yoga clothes to the studio and carried my work clothes (a blue dress, black tights and black long-sleeved tee) in a bag. After class, I got dressed and realized there was a huge spot in the center of my dress. Not wanting to go to work with a stain on my dress, I made a quick stop into H&M (which conveniently opens at 9:00 a.m.) to pick up this dress. I already had the black tights and long-sleeved tee on, so I just slipped this right over it. What a great excuse to buy a new dress!

Yesterday morning, I was looking at The Clothes Horse and saw her wearing same red H&M dress. She has worn the dress many times this summer and I love her different looks with it. I realized I hadn't worn my red dress in a while, so I was inspired to pull it out and wear it to the Saturday night barbeque.

Dress: H&M
Sweater: Moda International
Belt: can't remember
Earrings: H&M
Celtic Cross necklace: purchased at St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London
Key necklace: used to be my grandmother's back door key, I put it on a chain
Shoes: Lifestride

Pink Friday

I wore this to work on Friday. In the evening, I went to the Art Institute to check out the new modern wing.

Jacket: Ann Taylor LOFT
T-shirt: Express
Pants: Express
Shoes: Lifestride
Earrings: gift from my parents

Tie Blouse

I wasn't feeling very summer-y today, hence the darker neutral color scheme.









Tie Blouse: Lapis

Dress: Jonathan Martin

Back-seam Tights: H&M

Shoes: Ann Taylor LOFT (thrifted)

Earrings: vintage, used to belong to my mom or grandmother or a great aunt

Welcome!

Edited on Sunday, July 19, 2009, to add:

Welcome to my blog! I set this page up last week to start tinkering around with colors and layout. I recently acquired a tripod and I'm experimenting with my camera, trying to find the best lighting and background(s) in my small apartment to take daily photos of my outfits. My goal is to start posting the outfit pictures here by the end of this month.