Aida ~

Hello ladies, here are some outfits from early last week! We had some warmer, non-rainy weather last week so I felt like it was okay to start wearing some neutrals again, although the END of the week was the actual warm weather (those outfits coming soon).

1. Monday, worn to work then out for tacos with friends. I got this tunic at the YLF swap last year but haven't worn it as much as I'd hoped because its seasonality confused me (open weave? short sleeves? turtleneck?). This morning it occurred to me that it is, like, the perfect "transitional weather" tunic, which seems to be the only weather we'll have, so I hope to get more out of it now! Paired with gray, cream, and white to keep things light.
2. Tuesday, worn to work and out for dinner with hubby. This midi pencil is from this year's YLF swap and sits at my hips rather than my waist which I quite like (and it's more fall-weight than summer weight but hey, it's cold). I originally was going to wear my gray pumps but then decided to experiment and try loafers (thought they'd go better with the slouchy vibe). Not sure I like the proportions this way; I think if the skirt were even an inch shorter it would work better, so this will probably only get paired with heels from now on.
3. Wednesday, worn for errands, work, then a baseball game (Aquasox home opener). It started warming up this day, but I knew I would need a jacket for the game so I decided it'd be fun to pair my new faded coral utility jacket with faded denim. What I didn't anticipate was that the game would go 13 innings (but we won!) and that it would get WAY cold because we were there until nearly midnight! If hubby didn't really dislike these baggy jeans I would wear them sooo much on weekends, they're just perfect for casual outfits.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

What I wore out for some tasty food and wine with fabulous forum members Kari and Christy! Kari posted some real-time photos while we were out, and I also took a few which I'm including here. We started with coffee at Tully's, then lunch at JJ Mahoney's (one of my favorite Irish pubs), then wine tastings at two wineries (Alexandria Nicole and Mark Ryan). Loads of fun, and fabulous company!

#1 is what I wore. We had some wonky weather this week, a couple warm days followed by some SERIOUS rain so I was expecting the weather to be cool and wet. Sunday morning the forecast jumped up 10 degrees to 70F with only a slight chance of rain, so I had to change my planned outfit at the last minute and wear something a bit cooler. I didn't think it would _actually_ get that warm, but it did (yay!) and I ended up spending most of the day without the blazer on.

#2 and 3 were taken at lunch. We sat outside where it was gloriously sunny and warm. The noonday sun was so bright that sunglasses were a must for Christy and I!

#4 and 5 were taken at Alexandria Nicole Winery (Christy got us in with her member's card, which also got us an extra tasting!). We mostly stood around the bar (you can see it in #4) and gabbed while tasting, but they had a lovely outdoor patio where we had someone take our photo (and I insisted that he include our shoes!).

#6 was taken at Mark Ryan Winery. They had some standing room and some outdoor seating, so of course we sat outside to further enjoy the sun while sipping our tasty wines, and chatting and chatting some more!

(P.S. You can see Christy's outfit post here, and Kari's outfit post here. Don't they both look amazing? :D )

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

The beige Report Marks booties arrived earlier in the week, and I was finally able to snap some photos of them. Please pardon the messy bed-head, my free morning time has been few and far between this week.

Compared to the red, I would say I like these a bajillion times more (technically speaking, of course). Honestly it's NO contest for me. These boots didn't seem to work with any of my skinnies, and are too wide for my straight legs which means they would be shorts/skirts/dresses only (my wide leg pants are hemmed for higher heels) as expected. And since I wanted a summer boot specifically, these are definitely more suited to my style than the red (I had originally been hoping for cream). I know everyone really liked the red but I think colorful booties may just not be for me.

The color is somewhere in between what you see in photo #2. Not quite tan, not quite beige. I WISH they were the color they look in the outdoor photo, that would be exactly perfectly what I wanted. So I am not sure if these are too greige for me? But I do like the shape and they are very comfortable. These are also less suede than the red (weird?) and I like this material a LOT more. EDIT: Have to also say that my skin is not nearly as pink as it appears in these indoor photos, it definitely has a bit more gold to it.

So what do you ladies think of these? What do you think of these versus the red? Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this!

Some casual weekend outfits from this past weekend and the one before. I have been enjoying wearing my jeans less during the week for creative-casual work outfits, but for my weekend life jeans just can't be beat. In particular the straight leg jeans in #1, which normally get passed over, have found new life in my weekend outfits. My loafers are also becoming a serious go-to weekend shoe with all the wet weather we've had.

1. Saturday 06.09, worn to run errands and out to a pub for dinner with hubby and sister. My gingham tops have definitely found their way out of my work wardrobe and into purely casual weekend outfits. Normally I like to wear a contrasting or fun colored belt in outfits like this, but was in the mood to match so I went with yellow. Rugged boots to finish the look off. Love the emerald with the yellow and white!
2. Saturday 06.16, worn to run errands. New lightweight coral jacket purchased earlier in the week; for this outfit I tied the belt in the back but I do plan to also wear it buttoned and belted. I am very happy to have a non-blazer casual jacket (I have SO few) in a cheerful color. Speaking of, the color is interesting: it's like a coral-salmon hybrid that's very saturated but is absolutely "soft" looking without being muted. I haven't seen anything like it this season!
3. Sunday 06.17, worn to breakfast then Father's day dinner at my folks'. I wanted a menswear inspired look for the occasion, but didn't want to wear a plain button-up because my husband was doing that :) So instead I layered a semi-cropped sweater over my chambray shirt and donned loafers. The rest of the outfit is pretty feminine (skinnes, purse, necklace) so the menswear effect ended up being rather subtle.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Feeling chatty, feel free to skip ahead to the photos :)

The weather continues to be dreary with only a brief reprise on Friday, so again I wanted to wear color every day and again skirts are my silhouette change of choice. I wanted to branch out from all the blues/greens I've been wearing, which is hard because unfortunately other colors aren't well represented in my spring/summer wardrobe! That said, I was able to sneak in some red, violet, and yellow this week, yay!

1. Monday, worn out shopping with my sister and mom, then hubby and I met friends for tacos. Based on one of my outfits from the last art challenge (#3). I wanted a shopping outfit that wasn't too simple to help keep me focused on only the best stuff. I bought 2 necklaces, a black/white printed blouse, a coral casual jacket, the cardigan in #4, and the pretty blush purse in #2/3 as replacement of the returned birthday-gift-from-hubby KS purse. Very successful!
2. Tuesday, worn to run errands then to my brother-in-law's high school graduation ceremony. Interesting mix of dressiness at the ceremony, from fleece+jeans to a handful in cocktail attire (overall women were quite a bit dressier than men). I wanted something dressy-but-not-too-dressy, and this fit the bill nicely. Hubby had wanted to wear his custom made dress slacks but doesn't have any shirts nice enough to pair, so he ended up wearing a nice button-up shirt with jeans. We got SERIOUSLY RAIN POURED on, and I actually had to use an umbrella (!!); Seattlites will understand the exclamation ;)
3. Wednesday, worn to work and grocery store. Still raining, but rather warm and muggy this day. Opted for a jersey dress with some subtle pattern mixing, and of course plenty of bright cheerful colors. I quite like how the cognac heels look with these oceany colors.
4. Thursday, worn to work. Not really dry enough for wide hems, but I felt like wearing them anyway. I'd been wanting the JCrew shorts made of this lovely violet Ikat print for a while now, but was happy to find the cardigan instead on Monday. Sized up for slouchiness, but I'm wondering if maybe I should've stuck with my normal size since I'll be wearing this primarily as a top (buttoned up). White footwear in honor of Angie's post that day!
5. Friday, worn to work then out for date night dinner and dessert. An actual warm, sunny day! I enjoyed wearing this breezy skirt last week and couldn't wait to wear it again. Went with a ribbed tank and a cropped denim jacket (still LOVING this faded beauty, so another thanks to whomever brought it to the swap back in May!) to keep things casual but summery, and add some subtle print mix with the snakeskin heels. I just love how breezy this skirt is! And I felt SUPER in this outfit. The perfect mix of urban and boho <3
6. Bonus photo of the updo from the outfit in #2 (it was much less frizzy before the rain got to it). I did my usual fanned bun, but split the hair in front in half then twisted it around itself before pinning in the back (bottom photo). Also added several bobby pins in the back for a messy "pintucking" effect (top photo). [UPDATE: Pseudo instructions on this bun in my reply to Rae below.]

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Well this week was incredibly grizzly, gray, and WET. One of those weeks where color alone just isn't enough, so I made sure to wear lots of prints as well! If I had worn my red floral pencil skirt today as I'd originally planned, I'd have managed a bit of print every single day, but clearly I wasn't in the mood to wear something pencily today ;) And after noticing that I've been wearing blue and green almost exclusively, I wanted to get some of my other colors back into rotation. Unfortunately two of my most favorites, orange and red, are missing in my wardrobe right now.

1. Monday, worn to work. Wanted to try a different layering with this fluttery cropped top, but I'm not sure I like how it looks with this length; I think a longer length so there's more length contrast would work better.
2. Tuesday, worn to run errands then work. With all the rain this week I knew the only way to change silhouette would be skirts/dresses, so this day I opted for a dress (*waves to dress twins Shannon and Sona!*) with nude microfishnets. Black accents to mirror the weather, light outerwear to keep from being TOO gloomy. I really like how the obi belt looks with the dress!
3. Wednesday, worn to work. Even though I keep reaching for phantom other colored button-up silk shirts, somehow this is still my only one. I've been wearing it untucked over skinnies quite a bit, so today I wore it tucked in. I know Angie and many of you like to see the full belt loop filled, but I rather like how colorful super skinny belts look in outfits like this :)
4. Thursday, worn to work and out for dinner. It was especially grim and stormy this day, so I just couldn't bear to wear a single dark thing. I bought this high-low skirt in both the yellow and turquoise, and have been waiting for some warm weather to wear them but hey today I needed to make my own sun! Hubby really likes the skirt (!!), but felt the sweater with the summery skirt was too seasonally confused. The sweater is spring-weight, though. What do you gals think?
5. Friday, worn to work and then whatever's in store for date night. No rain today! As I said above, I was originally planning to wear my red floral pencil skirt but at the last minute wasn't in the mood. I enjoyed wearing this sweater with my gray wide leg trousers last week, so I paired with my wide jeans this go around (which are the single most difficult item to photograph in my entire wardrobe). To keep the turquoise looking as springy as possible, I added healthy doses of white and red.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

So I bought both the DV booties in orange and the Reports in Red during Norstrom's half yearly sale, and I am unfortunately not feeling either of them. I'm pretty set on returning both (and exchanging the red for tan) right now. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that while I love colorful pumps and flats, colorful boots just don't seem to work for my style (and I have a lot of boots!).

The orange are pretty cool, fun color and all. Photos #1 and #2 are ways I would wear them (pardon the wet hair there). These boots seem like they'd be "me" but I just can't get myself on board with them. I'm definitely not on Team Chunky Shoe, and these feel that way to me. They're not quite sleek, not slouchy, not oversized. The neither here-nor-there coupled with the heavy foot visual feel just doesn't do it for me.

So then the red I actually quite like... minus the color. Again, red boots seem like they'd be "me" right? Photo #3 is sorta how I'd wear them, but pretend I'm wearing the tee in #2 and that I didn't just wake up ;) This pair has a much shorter shaft which I like, but of course are QUITE gapped around my ankle. But it looks purposeful, and I do have an oversized/slouchy element to my style so I actually really like that. But I just can't see myself reaching for these; in almost all the outfits I am imagining where I would wear them, I would just much rather grab a neutral boot OR a colorful flat/pump. I have often found myself reaching for essentially these boots in tan or nude, though, so maybe I should exchange them for the tan color option.

So, what do you ladies think? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Casual weekend outfits from this past weekend! My husband and I spent the weekend painting and eating :)

I don't know how I mange to fall for this every time, but whenever my husband says "let's go look at paint swatches for the xxx room" this is not-so-secret code for "we're redoing xxx room this weekend"; it's how our powder room, entry, kitchen, upstairs hallways, and living room all changed colors! Our living room had been painted in cream, with white trim, and a sage green accent wall for almost a year now. My entry is also done in the same cream with white trim, and the white tile grout is navy. I LOVE the cream, hubby hates it.

So when he said "let's go look at paint swatches for the living room" I thought, maybe this time, he just means swatches. Nope. Needless to say, after a weekend of work the room is now in hubby-selected-Aida-approved-with-not-so-minor-skepticism colors of greenish-gray, white trim, and much-rosier-than-expected-purple accent wall. AND he added a pretty white trim and did one wall half purple as well. Fancy!

It's a bit girlier than what we were hoping for, so we'll probably change the purple soon (good bedroom colors, though) but the vibe and colors do fit perfectly with our French country home style. We left the wall leading to the entry cream, the fire place brick/couches are also cream, all the wood is black, and the artwork in the room is a moody turquoise. I was very amused to realize once we'd finished that the color scheme is really quite complicated (gray, purple, white, cream, black, turquoise, and touches of brown). Even though I didn't pick the colors, I am in charge of making sure everything "goes" and that color complexity seems appropriate for me doesn't it? ;)

Oh yes, the clothes! Super casual was the order of the weekend. These were all worn to home improvement stores and food places, and definitely NOT worn to paint in. #1 is Saturday, #2 is Sunday, and #3 is a bonus of the newly painted living room (this room is a white balance NIGHTMARE).

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Outfits from last week! After glancing over the last couple weeks of outfits working on soft dressing I've noticed two interesting things: 1) most of my "soft" pieces are in the green-to-blue color spectrum, and 2) when combined several of my softer pieces give off an artier? vibe and while I like it enough, I much prefer my usual boho edge for myself.

1. Tuesday, worn to work. I've been meaning to get an emerald tank to layer with these jeans, but in the meantime I have been enjoying using teal. Not sure how well it shows, but I wore some bright pink lip color which is present in the feather print (I think it's a fun, subtle way to pick up on pattern colors!).
2. Wednesday, worn to work. Dry enough for wide, floor sweeping hems! Went for a soft tonal gradient (vertically: turquoise, light blue, gray, light gray), and the look felt a little too Classic so I poofed up my bangs to add a touch of rockabilly :) Though a bright red lip would've played more into the rockabilly, I went with bright pink to keep things softer.
3. Thursday, worn to work and out to dinner. Quite a lot cooler, so I thought I'd break out some equestrian-seamed leggings I'd actually purchased for fall. What I _really_ wanted to wear was an a-line colorful printed tunic, but in light of not having any nor feeling any of my dresses that morning, I instead opted for a slouchy skirt and a graphic black/white/cream look. Little peeks of green in both indoor and outdoor versions.
4. Friday, worn to work then out for date night (dinner @ movie). Spent the morning sorting through online returns and didn't have time to think up something new and clever, so I went with one of my fall back formulas: loose button-up shirt, slim pants, pumps. These cute little retro peep-toes are one of the few things I bought during Nordstrom's Half Yearly Sale, and they are super comfortable (thanks for the rec, Angie!).

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!