Tea for Two and Two for Tea

Outfit details:

J. Crew Factory 4 strand pearl necklace (full price real pearl option here--I'm pretty sure mine are fake as it only cost me $35.)

Anthropologie Sugar and Cream dress (similar vibe here and here.)

Rebecca Minkoff Morning After Clutch

Aldo tricolor maryjanes (similar here and here)

Flag of Joy (courtesy of bride and groom!)

I don't know how over a week slipped by without me posting! I guess midterms and the overwhelming desire to sleep forever to recuperate took over, and blogging fell by the wayside. Luckily, I've still been getting dressed each day. Here's some proof if you don't believe me.

This is what I wore to a wonderful wedding in Indianapolis earlier this month. I'm glad I was able to pull this together for the occasion--my original 40's vintage inspired look had to be ruled out. Instead of the chilly 50-60 degree temperatures that I expected from my last trip to Indiana last fall, it was a warm and sunny 85 degrees. I was happy not to have to wear stockings or figure out how to pack a coat and boots for the climate difference between airports, but I can't say I wasn't disappointed to miss out on "real fall" weather.

 

For those of you wondering, the little flag in my hand is a "Flag of Joy" from the wedding ceremony. The bride and groom encouraged us to wave these from the audience to express our joy during the celebration. What could be happier than seeing a sea of happy faces and brightly colored flags cheering you on?

The ceremony and reception were held in the beautifully renovated Fountain Square Theater in downtown Indy. All of the original charm of the original building was intact--the lights, glitz, and glamour was a perfect backdrop to the festivities. And who doesn't love to see their name in lights?

 

I loved every detail of the ceremony, and am happy I got to share in this special moment.

Tick Tock on the Clock

 

Outfit details:

Old Navy sailor striped tee (similar styles here and here)

Monocle necklace (similar here, and on Etsy here. The Marc Jacobs accessories stores also carry a really great monocle necklace!)

Anthro Lost Time skirt (similar feel here and here)

J. Crew trouser slouch socks (sometimes 25% off in stores if you buy 3 or more pairs!)

Nine West Fairfax maryjanes (similar here and here)

Rebecca Minkoff Morning After Mini

After patiently waiting for months, the weather finally turned around and I got to pull out my clocks skirt. This poor little lady has been patiently waiting since June to be properly pressed and styled. Not only has the weather been unforgiving, the style of the skirt itself has been difficult to tackle.

Many of the skirts I find trouble matching things with seem to work best with white or cream tops, and this one is no exception. Since I am very partial to color, this outfit composed of neutrals was actually a bit of a stretch for me. But it can't be so bad that "adventurous" for me means wearing normal and office appropriate color palettes. I'm glad--it took me this long to accept that scaling back on the color scale does not mean compromising my taste.

I feel so grown up finally making this realization! I'm more than ready to fall into a more coherent sense of wardrobe, and feel like I'm suddenly on the right track.

Whiskey Woman

 

Outfit details:

Vintage liquor print dress (similar vibe here, here, or here)

Anthro Looping Lanes belt

Seychelles Her Majesty pumps

As soon as I decide I can do separates again, of course all I want to wear are my one-off dresses. This one feels extra special because of the unique print--if you look closely, you can see the bottles of whiskey and spirits. I found it buried amongst many other goodies in the Frock of Ages booth at Kudzu Antique Market a few weeks back.


I've been trying to channel my fast fashion habit into thrift and vintage shopping, and so far the results have been excellent. Now both my business wear and weekend wear sections of my closet are filling out, much more thoughtfully; and I plan to send the "I have nothing to wear" days back where they came from.

Soup Eating Weather

Outfit details: 

Handmade fascinator by Shoe
Vintage whistle necklace (from Pangaea boutique in Nashville)
Anthro Stratus Clouds top (similar styles: here and  here)
Anthro Maiden's Braid cardigan (similar here and here)
J. Crew denim Minnie pant (now on sale, and I've seen them at the outlet too!)
Gap leather ballet flats (similar here and here)
Orla Kiely handbag (this season's style: here)

I feel like I always have a new and different story for why I don't wear specific items of clothing. On the heels of the recent garage sale purge, and the still ongoing struggle to consolidate my wardrobe into a smaller space, it's more important to me than ever to figure out what really is and isn't useful for me to hold onto.

This little cardigan fell into the "maybe I need it" black hole for the past year while I decided where it really belonged. Much of my dress and top collection is comprised of prints, and for some reason I felt that this topper really called for a solid, and a white one at that. So really, it was just another thing that highlighted the lack of separates in my closet.

Separates are hard for me. Dresses, on the other hand, are a complete outfit. No extra thought or matching top and bottoms required.

But after taking inventory of what I already have, I've decided I can't necessarily wear one-off quirky print dresses everyday forever. And especially not to job interviews or huge presentations. So in line with this new plan, the cardigan stays and a new strategy for building a proper separates wardrobe is now in place.

For my first outfit embracing this new sartorial goal, I took it easy. White top (which really is what the cardi needed), dark jeans, and kicky red flats.


And because it was so special, let's talk about where I wore this. My extremely generous domestic goddess friend Tracy held a cool weather kickoff party featuring her homemade cheesy potato soup. The soup was loved by all, and the mood was captured by Erich's awesome photobooth installation:

Mmmm warm gooey goodness.

 

I'm tickled by the temperature drop and all of the hot chocolate, chili, and stews I will be able to consume. Do you have any traditions to kick off the fall season? This soup dinner party has been my favorite to date.

An Anthro Birthday Treat

After working in retail for the past handful of years, I've developed mixed feelings about store cards. On one hand, I know what pressure my favorite salespeople are under to sell the darned things, but on the other, I sure as heck don't need any more credit cards. Luckily, your and my favorite store took a different approach and designed their loyalty/membership card to be more like a secret club pass. And the best part is that it's really not a credit card.

Nevermind that the company is probably using the data from items I purchase to tighten up their supply chain and allocation (who cares, this actually helps us all get what we want), I'm extremely pleased with all of my Anthro card benefits. In addition to perks such as free shipping every now and again, I've received lots of little goodies in the mail.

The best of which are these annual birthday surprises. For the past three years, I've gotten a little birthday note and a 15% off coupon from Anthropologie. Since October seems to be the starting point for a change in what the birthday benefit looks like (from what I've garnered over the past three years), I thought I'd share.

SO CUTE.



The envelope also had this adorable starry sky theme.



Sorry about the blur, I almost retook this when I realized that UO Inc. would probably
not want me to post a crystal clear image of their latest circulating coupon.

The little pouch reads, "What's in the stars for you, Libra?" which is way more personalized than I can ever remember. ALSO--get this, I just got an accompanying email this morning with a personal code to use the birthday benefit online. Anthroholics rejoice, this year's gonna be extra good!

Now I only have to figure out what to purchase this time around...