Aida ~

A week of outfits from the beginning of the month! It was a tough week, including my interview, finding out almost immediately that I didn't get the job, and then a funeral for the father of a very close friend.

1. Worn to work, watch hockey, and out for tacos. I've been mulling over how to style this skirt not-too-sweetly, but am lacking skirt tops. I think this turned out quite well (the shoulders are studded); I also liked the lower waistline with this.
2. Worn to work, prep for interview. New champagne pearls!
3. Interview outfit. Was comfy and felt good in this, though this photo was taken quite late at the end of the day. After the interview, my husband and I went out to dinner then shopping with our friend for funeral attire; they wanted to be dressed to the nines, and I already had something to wear.
4. Worn to work. Was glad to be wearing cheerful pants when told I didn't get the job. Hard to stay sad in red pants, right? ;)
5. Funeral outfit. The service was down at the Tahoma National Cemetery (a veteran's cemetery), short, sweet, and had a great rifle salute; after that we spent a couple hours at the wake. The guys looked very sharp in their new duds (right).
6. Worn to a friend's to catch up on some recorded TV.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

Patty's thread about being plagued as a "denim person" (see here), inspired me to try one of the trends I've been avoiding: denim on denim. Not different colored denim on denim (too easy! ;) ), but straight up denim on denim. It turned out much better than I expected, perhaps because I did a denim jacket instead of a denim shirt. At first I tried my light wash flares, but for some reason that looked more wall-of-denim than this did. I also flipped up my collar for the first time.

What do you all think? Did this work as well as I think it did (I like it!) or is it way off? I did wear this to work, and am fully expecting frowns of disapproval from my husband when I see him after I get home :)

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome. (Pardon the inconsistent lighting, the sun wasn't playing nice this morning ><)

My husband just sent this to me, thought you ladies would enjoy it :)

Extreme Ironing: "the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt."
https://secure.wikimedia.org/w.....me_ironing

A Google image search yields highly amusing photos:
http://www.google.com/search?q.....38;bih=733

A week of outfits from a couple weeks ago. Lots of experimentation in this week, and another boat trip :)

1. Worn to work. I got this scarf back in March but hadn't worn it yet; tied like a men's tie. Without having done the art challenge, I'd have paired brown or navy heels with this.
2. Worn to work, then later in the evening to watch the hockey game. I think this turned out OK with the jacket on, but worn without probably would look better with nude fishnets.
3. Worn to work. Red jeans! I thrifted these back in March, and finally fit into them. While the rise is too low (especially in the back), they'll certainly do while I hunt down the perfect pair. I'm excited to (finally) work bright pants into my outfits! Now I just need an an electric blue pair...
4. Worn to work then out to Safeco Field to watch a Mariner's game with my husband (which they won, woo!). Felt like adding a little boho flair, wore my new feather and chain earrings. The stacked bangles were fun, though noisy ;)
5. Worn on the boat for trip #2! Went out on the Sound for a couple hours, but found the water was still really choppy due to our unusually cold weather (gorgeous views, though!). This was a great boating outfit, but I definitely need to get some moleskin for the backs of these shoes. Later in the evening my sis came over and we watched the hockey game.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

Today I had planned on wearing a copycat outfit of Rae's, #6 as seen here. It ended up being too warm (!) but I still had Rae's amazingly cool summer style in my head, so I came up with this instead: short shorts, engineer boots, no hose (first time trying this, did it work?), and one of my husband's band tees (Rancid, one of my faves!) semi-tucked of course . If I was less eloquently spoken and quite a bit younger (*giggle*) I would say that this outfit makes me feel "super cool just like Rae!" but instead I will say, "thanks for the inspiration Rae, I love your cool summer style!" :D

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

Well, I'm a bit behind but still wanted to share :)

1. Worn to work. Trying to use some of what I learned in the art challenge; mixing teal shoes with a mustard necklace when I would normally sport only one color. Also gold bag with silver belt and a little black+brown.
2. Worn out shopping the Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale (also hit the Rack, LOFT, and Urban Outfitters). Loot in this thread. I was happy to receive several compliments from strangers :D
3. Worn to hang out with an out of town friend: out for breakfast, out for lunch, then in the evening had lots of friends over for dinner/chilling by the fire pit.
4. Took the boat out for the first time, out on Lake Washington. It was a lot of fun as you can tell by my laughing photo ;) Found this to be the perfect use for the moto-sweatshirt. Later, we went over to a friend's to watch some movies and hang some more with my out of town friend.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

I wanted to post and get feedback about my Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale finds (that's how long I've been away ><). I had resolved to find a whole bunch of great blouses because that's my absolute biggest wardrobe hole. I spent several hours and didn't find much at all that didn't look clearly like businesswear; I'm feeling extremely discouraged but still don't want to be wearing tees all the time :( I may need some blouse hand holding because I clearly don't know what to look for. Anyway, this is what I came away with:

1. Bobeau bow tank. I like this, but is it too large? I'm not sure if there's a smaller size available.
2. Bobeau stripe tank. This one I really like.
3. Halogen cream tank. I sized up in this for the breezier fit, but now I think it looks sloppy and am planning to return.
4. H.I.P. cropped top. Different colors for me, very different style. I really like this top but would be interested in styling thoughts?
5. H.I.P. cropped top, showing how it's really a semi-circle :)
6. Frenchi sharkbite boxy cropped top. I think the fabric may be too stiff, and you can see from the left side it's not evenly hemmed or something. Not sure about this one, nor how to style it. Likely going back, am I right in thinking a drapey fabric is important for this style?
7. Frenchi sharkbite boxy cropped top, to show the super boxiness and a more relaxed pose.
8. Bronx olive oxfords. By far my favorite purchase of the day; these are the perfect oxfords I've been looking for for a couple years now :D
9. Bronx olive oxfords, detail.
10. Accessories: leather fringe necklace, champagne pearls, brass 3-triangle pendant (from UO), feather earrings (from UO). Love all of these.

Would love to hear your honest thoughts on the items, and styling thoughts!

For those wondering where I ran off to, I've spent the last several weeks preparing to interview for a job over at Microsoft along with trying to do all of my normal work. So it's been a bit hectic and I haven't been able to drop by the forums much. But! It's clearing up now and I should be back more. Just wanted to let you guys know, and say I missed you all! I've got a bunch of outfits and some shopping to share, too :)

EDIT to add more info (taken from below): I had my first interview loop yesterday, and it went well but they told me they want me to interview for a different group that will better fit my skills. So it seems like it will be a bit of a mini saga while we track down the right job and do more interviews (and hopefully I end up hired for something great!).

Interview outfit: black skinny jeans, white button-up, gray cropped blazer, red pumps (!), knotted champagne pearls. I'm definitely going to need help with more interview outfits, I had a hard enough time with this one! Will post it soon I hope :)