Fashion

Pictured above is me and my sister at my mom’s house Monday night for her birthday.  We went out to eat and then had cupcakes at her house.  The weather just turned cooler this week so I was glad to finally slip on my beloved jeans.  Apparently my sister was too.  Although we’re known for wearing matching outfits on accident.  That’s a whole other post!  But there’s a secret about the tops we’re wearing.

We’re both wearing maternity shirts.

Yep.  My sister started wearing a maternity shirt after my pregnancies a few years ago.  Then recently, she bought this blue striped tee.  She said it’s comfy and she thinks the cut is flattering.  I agree.

I thought I never wanted to see another maternity shirt again after my pregnancies.  But.  My girls are obsessed with anything to do with pregnancies and babies right now.  We have a local maternity shop call The Bump in town and they just beg me to even go look inside.  Last week we went in and I was bemoaning how cute maternity clothes had become compared to 8-10 years ago when I was pregnant. 

I was pushing through the Clearance rack and saw this green and white striped top.  The girls know I love stripes and just begged me to put it on.  To appease them, I did.  I got it on and was shocked.  I loved the length.  I loved the folds in the front. They weren’t slouching too much as you might expect of maternity and the cut was actually flattering.  The stretchy fabric was extremely soft and well, stretchy.

The salesperson said many maternity pieces are being made now to perform double-duty and this one in particular was meant to have a tighter fit.  I remembered Heather wearing maternity before, and well, I was sold.  Well, it was sold. 

My girls were beyond thrilled. We’re still working on not telling everyone we see that I’m wearing a maternity shirt when I have it on.

Now, I’m not saying I’m buying strictly maternity but I’m just sayin’ you might want to give that clearance rack a little whirl.  For those of you that have been recently pregnant and aren’t entirely sick of your maternity wardrobe, dig up those bags of Goodwill clothes and see what you can reuse.  Worked for me!

This post is linked to What I Wore Wednesday and Works for me Wednesday

I’m super excited to take this space today to first, introduce you to Mercy House Kenya if you don’t know about it and second, tell you about their store that is reopening today.

Mercy House Kenya exists to provide alternative options for pregnant girls living in the streets of Kenya.  The Mercy House aids them in nutrition, housing, prenatal care, Bible study, counseling and job skills for sustainable living, they even teach them about the cleaning company like MIB to help them out in their house cleaning. 

Here’s a video you can watch to hear the history and heart behind Mercy House. The short of it is Kristen Welch went on a Compassion blogger trip and then felt led to do something. 

And here enters The Mercy House Shop. 

The shop helps fund the house and has been shut down the past few months so they could restock and now it is REOPEN. 

I own two items from their shop and I’ve been more than pleased with both of them.  If we are friends on Facebook, you may have spied their T-shirt in the girls’ back to school picture. So comfy and love the fit!

They have lots more items available, all made in Kenya.

I love, love, love the idea of getting to shop and having it benefit someone for good.  I wish ALL shopping was like this! 

The best part is I have a 20% coupon code to share with you: REGRAND.

Now go, shop and ENJOY {and have fun with the blog’s new sharing features and SHARE the news!}

I’m pretty sure this is the first What I Wore Wednesday.  If you’re not familiar, folks take pictures of their outfits through the week and post them on Wednesdays.  I’m usually not inspiring, too forgetful or self-conscious to participate but I recently got these royal blue suede shoes (Elvis!) at the behest of the Mother of Fashion herself.  I mentioned them briefly in this post. 

But royal blue is a great Spring 2012 color and she insisted the blue shoes were “basically a neutral”.  Ha!  Well, as it turns out she was right and I’ve been able to wear them with many different outfits.  In fact, I’m having to convince myself not to wear them every single day since they’re so comfortable.  I thought I’d share a few outfits I’ve worn in the past week as well as a few bonus ones just in case you want a few tips.  Here are eight ways to wear royal blue shoes:

Apologies for the busy background and cell phone snapshots.  Another good reason I don’t do WIWW often.  In any case:

1. Yellow striped shirt, black blazer and royal/navy blue necklace.  This is my favorite out of all of them.
2. Kelly green long sleeve tee and a navy and white scarf.  I could live in long-sleeved tees but this is a fun way to make them interesting!
3. Orange tank, royal blue cardigan and royal/navy blue necklace.  Cardigans don’t have to be matronly!
4. Royal blue stripes and orange tank.  And in other words, what I’m wearing today.
5. Navy striped shirt.  Mother of Fashion tells me navy and royal blue are popular together this year. I think I wish I had a little yellow jacket for this outfit. 
6. Orange tank and grey crop sweater.  This is my ultimate work from home cozy outfit.
7. Black and royal blue dress.  Wears like a shirt and skirt.  I usually wear black shoes with this but the blue is fun!
8. Yellow striped shirt.  Again, you could do a third color in a jacket or scarf here or even a cute belt if you can pull it off.

You’ll notice in only a few of them am I actually wearing royal blue in the outfit and when I am, it’s with another color.  I actually prefer the shoes not to match exactly.  In fact, I think Mother of Fashion would probably suggest that’s the only way to wear them. 

I hope this inspired you a little.  If so, don’t forget to pin it! If not, let’s just forget this post exist, k? Hope you’re having a great Wednesday either way!

Pin It

Or, Mad Woman.  Well, not a Mad Woman.  Oh golly, Buy a Dress Like the Ones They Wear on Mad Men.  Hmph!  Have I mentioned my love of the show Mad Men?  At least the first 3 seasons.  I was not fond of Season 4’s storylines one bit.  But the first three are dramatic gold.  Sure it’s dark and twisty and there’s not a redeemable character to be found but the writing!  the acting!  the sets!  the clothes!  If nothing else, Season 1 is worth the look (all 4 seasons are on Netflix).

I bumped into this store on etsy where you can have CUSTOM dresses made that will make you look like Joan Harris.  Well, in my case, without the perfect curves.  But custom made!  A pencil dress that actually fits like a glove!  Just look at these:

*swoon*

If the pictures and price didn’t sell me, the feedback did:

I never had such a great fit ! Excellent workmanship,beautifull fabric and great communication made this a very positive experience.

The dress is absolutely amazing and rich in color! I got it in purple with gray trim and in swing skirt. The fabric is high quality. It fits me beautifully. I can’t wait to wear it.

…thank you so much for the fast work, the dress arrived today, it’s very beautiful and fits perfect (as always ;-)).

i could not be happier with this purchase. the dress fits amazingly well and the design works really nicely with plus-size measurements.

I love that they’re modest and most are modern enough that people won’t realize your nod to the 50s and 60s.  She’s got many, many more styles, most of which I could not pull off but I would gladly walk around in one every day if I could!

The best part is I contacted the store owner Cynthia and she graciously gave me a 10% discount for YOU: HEART10.  If you like it, how about pinning it?

OK, so go visit the store and tell me which you would (or will) order!  I’m having a hard time deciding!

This post was linked up to Musings of a Housewife for Fashion Friday.

I got a (FREE-thank you, Groupon) manicure and pedicure today so I have nail polish on my mind. And here’s a confession: I do not own one full bottle of OPI nail color.  *gasp*  Maybe because of Pinterest and all its pretty posts, I decided to splurge on a sample-sized variety pack a few weeks ago.  I got 4 colors from their Touring America Fall 2011 collection.

Here are the four colors I got:

French Quarter For Your Thoughts aka “the gray”

The gray was fabulous.  It was a great neutral and I felt fashiony, as Lexi would say.

Honk if You Love OPI “the dark purple”

The purple was lovely.  I love purple.  To be honest though it didn’t feel new.  I suppose it’s because I bought nearly the exact color from Revlon last year.  I know, I know. OPI is 800% better but I just couldn’t get excited about buying a full bottle when I felt like I already had the color.

A-Taupe The Space Needle aka “the green but looks brown”

I love green. I really do. Any of my friends can tell you that’s my go-to color.  But this?  Looks like a baby pooped on your fingers.  Maybe it’s just me and my pink-undertone skin but this was NOT a go.

My Address is Hollywood aka “the pink”

When I started to put on the pink, I was pleasantly surprised to see some shimmer in the polish.  But unfortunately once it dried it basically went away and I honestly ended up with a mousy sort of pink.  I even asked Scott what he thought and it took him a long time to answer, “Yeah, I guess it’s ok.”  Which really translates to “I would never pick that out but it’s not bad enough to hurt your feelings.”

In summary, the bottle that would be worth forking out the $9 or so for a full bottle is the

French Quarter for Your Thoughts or the Honk if You Love OPI if you don’t have a dark purple already. 

Have you tried any of the fall colors?  Favorites out of these?

As you read this, I’ll be having my “first day”.  Not really first day but in some ways it will feel like it.

I’m commuting to the office.

All my network access will be wiped.

I’ll get a new badge.

I’ll fill out a bunch of paperwork.

I’ll sit at my new assigned desk.

I’ll work 8 hours.

Some of that I’m not too excited about.  However, I AM pretty pumped about the new suit I bought at The Limited last weekend.  Nothing like a little retail therapy.  I figured since I’m a legit banker now, I ought to have a proper suit.  Here’s my “first day” outfit:

Those pants are so scrumptious, I can not wait to wear them!  I might have to sit in a cube for 8 hours, but I’m going to feel good doing it!