Look of the Day - Marilyn Hair

I feel like I looked like Lady Gaga in most of the photos
This is the only one that turned out okay.
I hate taking photos of myself

So I've been wanting a red lipstick for a while, Ulta had a 20% off coupon, so I went for it.

I had been thinking that I could bust out the old hot rollers and see if I could Marilyn it up.

It turned out better than expected.

I am loving my blonde hair even MORE now.

Here's a Photo Booth shot.

Look of the day - Black Lace Skirt

Tshirt - ModBod
Skirt - Minka Rose
Shoes - BCBGeneration

*Sigh*.

So I bought this skirt at Costco.

(I actually bought the shirt at Costco too)

I think I have a problem. (not really)

The shoes are my Mother's Day present to myself.

I wanted a black skirt with a batten burg lace overlay, and I happened to be in Costco picking up milk, and there they were. I went back the next day, and there were only a few left, so it's good I didn't wait around and think about it, or they would have been gone.

This skirt is so comfortable. I am in LOVE. It's the perfect lady-like length, and I think it looks great. The right side of the skirt looks weird in this photo, but I think it's just the way I'm standing.

I did a Polyvore set of this outfit over a year ago, that's how long I've been wanting a skirt like this.

I'm so glad I bought it.

Look how long my hair is getting!

Weight 166.

Look of the Day

Shirt Chadwicks
Tshirt ModBod
Pants Chadwicks
Shoes Via Spiga (a million years old)
Earrings Claire's
Necklace Puca shell gift from friend who
came back from Hawaii when I was in
High school

I absolutely hate everything I'm wearing today.

I had to wear closed toe shoes because my toes were naked.

I had to wear pants because my legs needed a shave and all my other pants were in the laundry so I chose these navy ones.

The shirt is too short and boxy and needs some reconstruction, so I just wore it like this.

Even though I hated this outfit, I strutted around like I owned it.

171 lbs

Look of the day

Necklace - gift from Peru
Shirt - Dickies
Sweater - Costco
Belt - Ross
Pinstripe pants - Chadwicks
Shoes - Pleaser

"Mom, you're supposed to wear your belt in your belt loops to keep your pants up."

I love living with boys.

Adding a pop of color with the red necklace.

169 lbs.

Look of the day

Cardigan Chadwicks
Shirt Dickies
Skirt Ellen tracy
Tights Chadwicks
Shoes Fluevog

It's the end of May, but it's been rainy and cold lately. I thought that I was done with wearing tights, but I got to haul them out this week!

Yay! I love tights!

I can't wear these Fluevogs without hose, so it was nice to haul these beauties out of the closet too.

In other news, look how long and shaggy my hair is getting. I'm at the point where I have to use product, a round brush, blow dryer, and flat iron in order to have it behave properly. My 'doin' my 'do' time hast gone from zero to twenty minutes.

I'm sad about this, but it was my choice to grow my hair out, so I guess I get to live with my choice.

Weight: 168.

Charcoal Grey Skirt

Shirt Amazon
Tshirt Old Navy
Sweater Ralph Lauren
Skirt Ellen Tracy
Sweater Tights too old to remember
Shoes Fluevog

So I just wanted to take a minute to talk about this skirt.

I had been needing/wanting a dark charcoal grey pencil skirt for some time and had no time to make one.

I just happened to be walking to the checkout at Costco and came across this EllenTracy skirt for twelve dollars. I know. Costco. But twelve dollars? You would have to be joking if you thought I didn't snap that baby up.

It's the perfect color, the perfect length, and it's knit so it's super comfortable. I wear it just about every week. If not once, sometimes twice.

I liked it so much that I even went back and bought another one in black.

It's a sickness, I know.

Navy Blazer

Blazer Chadwick's
Long Sleeve T Mod Bod
Skirt Chadwick's
Shoes Fluevog

So I've been hauling things out of the back of my closet as I'm trying very hard to not buy new things this year.

I have been thinking of trying out blazers again. I'm not much of a blazer person. I prefer turtlenecks and cardigans, but I pulled this out of the back of my closet to wear with jeans and boots and loved it so much I thought I'd try it again.

This time I also got to wear some of my very favourite Fluevogs; the Listen Up! Stacys. Just look at how cute these shoes are!

Out of this whole outfit, the earrings are the oldest and the shirt is the newest.

The earrings are from my hoops stage where I was starting to veer away from the classic circle shape and move into different shapes like these diamond shaped ones. I have hearts too. I have never obtained the highly coveted star shaped ones that I saw in a rap video, but I still have my eyes open.

I've had the blazer for about seven years and the skirt and shoes for about five.

I love love love these shoes. They are a great height, the heel is so interesting, and I could run away from an attacker in them.

Just look at how cute!!

Grey V-Neck, Denim Skirt

Shirt Chadwicks
Sweater Tommy Hilfiger
Skirt Ralph Lauren
Tights Smith's
Shoes Fluevog

I am mostly posting this to show off my tights. These are the cutest, coziest, warmest nicest tights in the world. Of course I bought them at the grocery store.

I super duper love how well they go with my Fluevogs!!

The only minus is that they are not long enough so the crotch sags between my legs. Being tall and skinny for most of my life, I'm used to it. When I danced ballet, my leotard was always pulled down so far because the crotch of my tights was hanging down so low.

See? So cute!

Ivory cable-knit V-neck sweater

V-Neck Target
Skirt Chadwicks
Tights Smiths
Shoes Steve Madden

I did it again. I was out looking for something else and found the perfect thing.

I was at Target wrapping up my Christmas shopping and looking for a pair of grey sweats to act as my jammies for Christmas eve. I found this sweater instead. It was on sale for fifteen dollars. I think that was a pretty even deal. I didn't find any bottoms, but I discovered a really easy way to get to Target, so I will be visiting more often.

Christmas look

Shirt - Stand Up 2 Cancer
Jeans - Old Navy
Socks - kb

I took some time for me and did some exfoliating and waxing and did my hair and makeup and dressed in my Christmas gifts.

Our family is a big supporter of the Stand Up 2 Cancer organization. We love their Star Wars shirts. This year they did Star Wars Angry Birds. I could not resist the Princess Leia shirt. Everyone in our family got a shirt with their jammies.

I bought the orange jeans for myself while I was buying everyone elses' jammies.

The socks were in my stocking. I got them from Costco. I love them. They are so comfortable and just the right amount of breathable so I will be able to wear them year round. Not quite as warm and cozy as my wool socks, but their funky colours make up for that.

You look Like Malfoy

That was what Dewey told me when I came home from Unity Salon today.

New Blonde!

I was sick of my natural colour. There was not nearly enough grey for it to look cool. It just looked bleagh with a smattering of silver. Yuck. All the boys hate it. I love it. LOVE it.

I also gave in to the coloured jeans trend:

Shirt - Dickies
Long sleeve - Mod Bod
Jeans - Old Navy
Shoes - Converse
Necklace - Vintage (found)
Ring - Nana

I always treat myself to Crown Burger after a trip to see Tristann, thus the milkshake cup behind me. I went all matchy match with my nails with Meet Me At Sunset. I think I'll go with a blue nail the next time I wear these jeans.

Not bad for being over 10 years old!

I love my Converse. These are extra special because the lining is plaid and the logo is embroidered on. I've had these shoes for ages and ages. I'm pretty sure I bought them before Dewey was born. I also love the look of orange and blue together. 

Look of the Day 12-3-12

Blue peplum sweater Nordstrom rack
White Jeans Banana Republic
Black boots Fluevog

To celebrate winter, I thought I would wear colors that make me think of cold and snow. I am also wearing the coziest, warmest wool socks. I will blog about them later.

Sporting my plumeria necklace too. It's not just for summer!

What did you do to your eyes?

Black cashmere vneck,
Black pencil skirt,
Awesome tights, penguin shoes

I work in an office within a building where I’m stuffed into a cubicle facing the corner with my back to everyone and everything. I like it because I can shut the world out and do my work and no one bothers me. The people I normally talk to are all over the country, so no one sees me except for the other two cubicle dwellers I share an office with and a few others in the building.

Dooce taught me that I should never blog about work, so that’s enough about that.

The reason I mention this at all is because I rarely wear makeup to work. No one ever sees me and it’s a hassle in the morning, and I hardly see my husband during the week, so I have taken to not wearing makeup during the week.

I love beauty products, I love wearing makeup, and playing with different looks. I just don’t like to do it for the day to day crap where no one ever looks at me or cares what I look like.

I always dress nicely for work: skirts, heels, pantyhose, blouses… blah blah. I find it interesting that no one asks me why I’m so dressed up unless I’m wearing makeup.

I wore makeup today: foundation, blush, eyeliner, mascara, lip gloss. Nothing fancy at all. My nails are even naked today!

I had the following conversation with a co-worker:

Him: “What did you do to your eyes?”

Me: “What?”

“Your eyes look different.”

“Different?”

“Yeah, something is different with your eyes.”

“Like how? (pauses) Oh. I’m wearing makeup. I don’t normally wear makeup.”

“Oh, I guess that’s what it is. Well, you always look beautiful”

End scene.

Someone else asked me why I was so dressed up. I’m not wearing anything different than I would wear on a normal day.

Huey has been showering at night because he has this long, shaggy hair and he gets cold when his hair is wet and he has to walk to the bus stop in the morning. This causes me to have extra time in the morning because I don’t have to hound him to get in the shower. I was really happy because I had new tights and put together a fun outfit today, so I took the time to put on minimal makeup.

I find it interesting that it made such a difference that people noticed enough to comment.

Also, wearing makeup equals “dressed up” to some people.

Look of the Day 11-15-12 Grey V Neck Sweater

Orso is a great accessory

I know that I’ve written in the past how I have a perfect thing and something happens to it (like it wears out) and I can never find a replacement.

WAIT - That's a lie. I’ve written in the past how I find the perfect thing and I don’t buy it and then have buyer’s remorse for years because I didn’t buy it and it haunts me because it was so perfect and would go with everything but the time has passed and I can’t find it anywhere!

So this is similar in that I can’t find the thing that I’m looking for anywhere.

A long, long time ago when I was nineteen I had a very fashion conscious boyfriend. He was, like, SO fabulous. He had a grey v-neck sweater that I adopted. I wore it with everything; jeans, my black and white houndstooth pants, a black skirt and tights, etc. It hung right and was warm enough and not itchy and held its shape and was well made and I could go on, but let’s just leave it there and say it was perfect.

I returned it along with some other things he gave/loaned to me after we broke up. (He let me keep the ring, though!)

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why o why did I return that sweater? I guess I was moving on to a new phase of my life and didn’t want it to remind me of my old phase. That, or it was because I was completely over him and I knew that he really liked the sweater too and I was just borrowing it and technically it belonged to him, so out of a sense of right and wrong or something I returned it. I didn’t need a souvenir from our relationship.

This was the longest relationship I had been in so far: a whopping 18 months. Even though he broke up with me I think the break-up bothered him more than it bothered me, and it was the first time that I had ever been dumped where I didn’t want the guy back. The minute he left, I was so glad we were over. I knew he was right that we should break up, and I was over him. He was the first ex-boyfriend that I was able to honestly be just friends with afterwards. No part of me yearned to get back together with him ever and that has remained true still to this day. There has never been any hard feelings between us. 

So I guess that’s why I returned the sweater.

Any way…..

I was getting some things in Costco the other day and I walked past this grey v-neck cable knit Tommy Hilfiger sweater for $19.99 and I had to buy it. Not because of all the memories of the ex, but because of all the memories of the outfits! It’s perfect and I hope that it never wears out!!

I should have bought two.

Look of the day 11-8-12

Grey, grey Grey

The Photographer and I are experimenting with light and poses. I really should have looked at the photos before wearing this outfit in public. In my defense, I checked the greys under the light in my closet and they seemed to go just fine!!

Guess Not.

I've had this grey boatneck sweater since before I had children. I love the look of it, but the fit is not the best. I toyed with the idea of getting rid of it recently, but after wearing it today, decided that I would keep it, but now that I've seen it in a photo....

Also, I'm growing out my hair. Not because I'm tired of my short hair - far from it - but I figure that I will eventually, and if I start growing it out now, then by the time I want to grow it out, I'll already be half way there!

The Photographer hard at work

I have some new ideas and things to do with this blog. I hope you will enjoy them!

In the meantime, please enjoy my shoes walking up the stairs:

Still my favourite shoes.

But I should really not drive while wearing them.

I love my legs. They are my best feature. I always look my best when I am walking away.

I have decided that all shirts should have snaps

Black Dickies shirt, White denim Ralph Lauren skirt

This is the third shirt with snaps that I have purchased in the last year or so, and I have decided that snaps are the way to go. Sure, they make a lot of noise in the dryer, but that's the only down side. They take seconds to snap, and even less time to undo. No more buttons for me!! It's snaps all the way.

I love Dickies. I know that most of their clothes are made for working stiffs, but that's what I am - a working stiff. The quality is top notch, and the style of some of their clothes is totally rockabilly retro and suits me just fine.

I liked this shirt so much that I turned around and bought it in white too. Can't wait until it comes in the mail!

Weight - under 160!

White jeans - Canadian tuxedo

Yesterday I weighed in at 159.6 and today was 159.4. I am completely wowed.

Here's what I've been doing:

• Last week I vowed to stay away from fast food. Since last Friday, I have had no fast food.
• I am on vacation, and therefore am not making my daily 7-11 run for 34 oz of soda.
• Dewey has had me jumping with him on the trampoline.
• I have not been sitting at a desk all day, but running up and down the stairs cleaning various areas, doing laundry and ironing.
• My period is ending.
• I have been eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner thus not bingeing on a burger in the middle of the day and then feeling so gross about myself that I don't eat anything for dinner. I have also been eating at home, so I'm sure that my sodium intake is at least half of what it normally is.
• It's summer, it's so hot. I normally lose weight in the summer because it's so hot all I want to do is drink water and eat fruit and vegetables, which is what I've been doing the last few days.

Here is my Canadian tuxedo. I've also heard it called a Texas tuxedo, but I'm Canadian, so I'm going with that. A Canadian tuxedo is denim with denim. Normally, I abhor such behaviour, but I thought I could get away with it by wearing different types of denim - like the above white jeans with a jean jacket. Not so, according to canadiantuxedo.com, but whatever. You will not catch me DEAD wearing blue jeans with a blue jean jacket or denim shirt.

Stone Necklace

This necklace was bought for me by my DH and my son Huey at the Pioneer Day weekend in Emery, UT. I very much like it, it's kind of rock star, yet I will wear it with a blouse in place of pearls. It's another one of my favourite accessories. 

Nana's ring

Nana's Ring

I'm not much of an accessory person. I don't have accessories for every outfit, I mostly have accessories that I wear every day. I have some favourites that I change around when the mood suits me.

This may seem weird for a girl from the eighties who had coordinating plastic earrings, rubber bracelets, slouchy socks and headbands for every occassion, but thankfully those days are gone. I dress by 'feel' more than anything else.

This is my Nana's ring. I wear it just about every day.

In the first year of my marriage, my dad brought my Nana for a visit here in Salt Lake City. When she first arrived, she was wearing this oval shaped tribal looking silver ring. I loved it. "Nana, I LOVE your ring!" I exclaimed. She told me how she and my baby sister were shopping in Steveston and she had convinced my Nana to buy it.

Later that week, we were at the Scottish festival. We were sitting up on a hill looking down where the Tatoo was being performed. The weather was beautiful. A storm was rolling in, but there was a soft breeze and the temperature was perfectly mild. As the pipes were playing and the men in kilts were bringing in the flags (the Canadian flag was one of them), she took her ring off her finger, pressed it into my hand, looked up into my eyes, and said, "I want you to have this."

I have always felt like that ring held a piece of my Nana. Every time I would put it on, I would think of the moment that she gave it to me. Now she is gone, I wear it every day not only as a reminder of her, but also to remind me the things she taught me about being a lady. I use the word 'taught' loosely - drilled into my brain is a more accurate description, but to this day I am grateful for the things she taught me about what is proper and how to be a lady with class.

Day to Night

I'm still playing with how to display my pictures, can you tell?

Disclaimer:

1)      I live in Salt Lake City UT, so no fabulous night clubs after work.

2)      I’m a mother, so no fabulous night clubs after work.

3)      Sometimes we go out for pizza in the middle of the week so I have a more casual approach to the night after day look.

4)      Also, I don’t go straight from work, I am able to go home and change.

A grey pencil skirt and t-shirt turn into black jeans, boots and short sleeved zip up hoodie sweater.

The plumeria (my favourite Hawaiian flower) necklace was purchased in Maui in 2007 for my 10^th wedding anniversary. It is one of my favourite necklaces. I think it cost $10.00.

The grey nailpolish is Essie "Chinchilla" and is one of my new favourite colours. It's a great spring neutral. 

I decided to add a pop of colour and wear my Yellow patent and steel stilettos and match it with a scarf from the Gap.

Favourite things

Our church has a women’s organization called Relief Society. Once a month we get together in the evening and do fun stuff.

This month, we were to bring one of our favourite things to share with someone. It had to be under $5.00. At first I was stumped as to what to bring to the point that I was just going to skip it and stay home.

My brain being the energizer bunny that it is would not let it rest. At first I couldn’t think of any of my favourite things that I would be willing to share with someone else. I am a first born child, I’m not so good with sharing.

Then I thought I would just bring some brownies or chocolate chip cookies, two of my favourite treats, but I thought that was kind of lame and unimaginative. One of my favourite things about myself is that I am imaginative and unique thinking.

I couldn’t think of anything that was my favourite that I would be willing to share that was $5.00 or less until –bing- I thought of nail polish. People-pleaser that I am, I worried about what colour to choose. Then I realized that one of my favourite things about having painted nails is the top coat. The top coat MAKES the manicure. It can make a .99 cent bottle of nail polish look like a twenty dollar manicure.

So I took a bottle of top coat.

I decided to follow the favourite things theme and wore some of my favourite things. These are my favourite jeans of the moment as I can’t fit into my favourite jeans. The shirt is my favourite spring/summer shirt. It’s cute, it goes with many things; I can wear it to work or with shorts or to church and it has red flowers. Red is my favourite colour. The hoops are my favourites from the past. The necklace is Turquoise, which is my birthstone. The ring is my Nana's that she gave to me.

Favourite Things outfit