A small dose of color

On Saturday I went on a cleaning spree in our bedroom, reorganizing things and getting rid of clothes I no longer wear. I arranged my tights in a vintage suitcase so I can see them all at once. I completely forgot about most of them. This winter I've been wearing mostly black and brown tights, so it was nice to rediscover these green tights. I've only worn them one other time (here), because I can only handle colored tights in small doses. I think the pop of green between the skirt and the boots was just right.

Sweater: Target

Skirt: Anthropologie

Jacket: MICHAEL Michael Kors from Nordstrom Rack
Tights: American Apparel
Boots: Urban Outfitters
Necklace: free from my aunt

Claudia and Stacey

I don't have anything to say about this outfit other than it was cute, functional, and super comfy. (Hello, stretchy waistband...)

Now moving on to much more interesting things...I found this awesome website yesterday called What Claudia Wore, based on the style of Claudia Kishi from The Babysitters Club books. I don't know about you guys, but I was obsessed with those books as a kid. (Especially since one of the characters was named Stacey. I even tried writing hearts over all my "i"s just like her, until I realized that it took way to long to write anything that way.) Some of my favorite parts of those books were the descriptions of Claudia's wacky outfits. (I also loved hearing about her secret stashes of junk food.) Were any of you into those books?

Black sweater: Target

Green skirt: Anthropologie

Black suede boots: Urban Outfitters

Blue necklace: made by my aunt

Green bracelet: thrifted from Village Merchants

Winter and spring

This floral skirt was my attempt at bringing a bit of spring to this winter-ish outfit. When I bought it last year at a thrift store it was mid-calf length and looked frumpy, so I cut it to what I thought was a more flattering length. When I put the skirt on before sewing the hem I realized it was uncomfortably short, so I added the black fabric at the bottom to make it less scandalous.

Beige sweater: Target

Blue shirt (under sweater): Sears

Floral skirt: thrifted and hemmed

Black boots: Urban Outfitters

Black belt: thrifted

White bracelet: H&M

Gold watch: free from a family member

Yellow tights: H&M

Double stripes

I wore this on Saturday when Josh and I took a trip to the Body Worlds exhibit at OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). At $25 each it was a pricey trip, but honestly well worth it. I wrote a huge paragraph about it, but decided in the end to leave it out of this post because it may have gone into too much detail for those of you who are squeamish :) But I will say this: I left the exhibit feeling like I had gained a wonderful understanding of how the human body works. The exhibit is only open through March 4th at OMSI, but if you happen to run across it somewhere else I highly recommend a visit!

This outfit is nearly identical to one I wore back in September, except I swapped bare legs and wedges for tights and boots. It was a fun outfit to wear to a museum that was packed full of kids - it felt very appropriately enthusiastic and whimsical.

Striped shirt: H&M

Black faux leather jacket: Forever 21, from Jen Loves Kev's closet sale

Color blocked skirt: Forever 21, from Crossroads Trading Co.

Black suede boots: Urban Outfitters

Blue hat: H&M

Giraffe pin: had since I was a kid

Gold watch: free from someone in my family

Gold bracelets: In Pink

Black tights: Forever 21

Gray day

Sometimes when it's a dreary, gray, blah day outside, wearing bright colors is just the thing I need to cheer myself up. Although honestly, what usually cheers me up on those kinds of days is a gigantic bowl of popcorn and a full season of Arrested Development, but I couldn't have that on Sunday, so I settled for bright colors instead. How do you guys cope with gray skies? (Books? Chocolate? Magazines? Those are other coping mechanisms of mine!)

This skirt is the only thing I've ever purchased from Zara, last summer when I was in California. We don't have one in Oregon, and none of the clothes on their website have appealed to me yet (even though they always look fantastic when I see bloggers wearing them). I feel like I wear it all the time, but when I went back and checked I only found it styled for winter a handful of times on my blog (here, here, here, and here).

Neon yellow sweater: Gap

Jean jacket: Gap (like ten years old)

Hot pink skirt: Zara

Black tights: Fred Meyer

Black suede boots: Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Silver earrings: free from aunt

Spider necklace: Bauble Bar

Ring: In Pink

Miss Bumblebee

This is the neon yellow sweater I mentioned in yesterday's post. (It actually looks even brighter in real life.) On Saturday Josh said he hated it, but after a few hours of me wearing it on Sunday he changed his mind and said it was kind of nice. It's not the most flattering color on me, but it doesn't look bad. It was just so happy-looking and shocking that I had to have it. (And the fact that it was a post-Christmas price of $14 didn't hurt!)

Sweater: Gap

Jacket: Guess from Macy's (about seven years ago)

Skirt: H&M

Tights: American Apparel

Boots: Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses: TJ Maxx

Earrings: gift from my aunt

Necklace: Bauble Bar

Ring: ScanFair

Basic neutrals

This outfit was inspired by one of my favorite style bloggers, Charlie. Her outfits are always full of simple basics, usually in solid colors instead of prints, and she always looks stunning. Sometimes I think dressing simply is more of a statement than wearing clothes with crazy patterns or designs.

I got this blazer at Forever 21 last week, and I'm very impressed by the quality. It's incredibly soft, has a decent lining, and was only $30! It isn't a color that I would have normally gone for, but again I was inspired by Charlie and her constant use of camel-colored overcoats and cardigans, and brought it home to discover that it goes with pretty much everything in my closet.

Turtleneck: Old Navy

Blazer: Forever 21

Skirt: Gap

Belt: thrifted

Tights: American Apparel

Boots: Urban Outfitters

Hat: Fred Meyer

Earrings: B. Lee Designs

Scarf: self made

Necklace: Bauble Bar

Bracelet: In Pink

Underdressed

On Saturday I went to a Portland blogger meetup. It was fun to finally meet a bunch of girls whose blogs I've been following, and to chat with other Portland bloggers that I didn't know about. I really wish I had stepped up my game in the outfit department, though. While the outfit I wore was cute and functional (I walked down to the meetup, so I needed flat shoes), pretty much every girl there was way better dressed than I was. I felt kind of embarrassed for a while, because I was one of a handful of people there with a style blog and I showed up in...well, jeans and a t-shirt. I've had my moments of being overdressed (this outfit comes to mind), but I'm rarely underdressed, and it felt weird. I got over my embarrassment eventually, though, and really enjoyed a few hours of socializing with some lovely ladies.

Top: thrifted from an antique show
Jeans and hat: H&M
Jacket: Forever 21 brand, from Jen Loves Kev's closet sale
Boots: Urban Outfitters
Scarf: thrifted
Necklace: Bauble Bar
Watch: thrifted from Village Merchants

Transitioning a summer dress to fall

If you guys are anything like me, you hate to put away your summer clothes when the weather gets cooler. (Which it just started to do the last week or so! Goodbye bare legs, hello tights.) While I can't bring back the hot weather (I call dibs on that superpower if it's ever available!), I can give you a roundup of different ways you can transition a lightweight summer dress into fall. (If you haven't already put your summer dresses away for the year. If you have, dig them out! There's still life left in them!) The dress above is one I got at Target over the summer (and I think quite a few of you have it, too!), and it's such a pretty, happy dress that I couldn't bear to put it away once summer ended.

 

 1. Wear it as a top.

If you put a cardigan over your dress and tuck it into a skirt, it just looks like a top. I got the idea from this outfit.(Maybe wear some tights, though - I was freezing when I took these pictures!)

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2. Add layers with a cardigan, tights, and boots.

This is the most basic way to wear it, but I stayed really warm in this outfit, and with a scarf (and maybe a thicker cardigan) I think I could wear this look in winter.

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3. Layer a lace skirt, slip or tulle petticoat underneath.

I love the romantic feeling that this gave to the dress (though I think I would have liked it better if it was a blue lace skirt), but I especially love that it made this dress super warm.

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4. Wear it as a skirt.

Put a shirt or sweater over the dress, and tuck the bottom of the top inside itself and belt it - it'll look like you're wearing a top tucked into a skirt. This will definitely add some extra bulk to your midsection, so I'd suggest wearing this look only if you have a jacket over it.

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Of course, there are seemingly endless possibilities here - you can used different colored skirts to layer on top or underneath, different sweaters and cardigans, pattern mixing, etc. Do any of you have suggestions on how to make a summer dress work for fall?

Neon autumn

Sunday morning was just one of "those" days. Everything I did took longer than I thought it would, and before I knew it, we were supposed to be out the door on our way to a birthday lunch. And of course I wasn't dressed yet, so I spent a good fifteen minutes pulling clothes out of the closet, trying them on, hating them, and flinging them to the floor. Eventually I remembered (and yes, this is majorly dorky) that I had a notebook where I wrote down good outfit ideas for just such an occasion. I pulled out the notebook, chose the most appealing outfit from the list, and was finally out the door.

Sweater: Target
Skirt: Zara
Boots: Urban Outfitters
Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx
Scarf and tights: Fred Meyer
Necklace: vintage, from my mom
Belt: Ann Taylor Loft, thrifted

The Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday morning Josh and I went out to The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island north of Portland, and tramped out to the muddy field of pumpkins to get some for decorations. In retrospect I wish I had worn rainboots instead of my suede boots, but all the mud came off them eventually! This was a pretty simple outfit, so to add some interest I threw on my spider pendant that I wore last Thursday, and this cute new hat from Asos. When Josh saw this hat he started laughing and said it looked like someone's craft project. Personally I think it's adorable, but you of course are free to agree with him! I guess he just doesn't realize that scalloped edges are where it's at.

Sweater: free from aunt

Jeans: H&M

Boots: Urban Outfitters

Hat: Asos

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Necklace: Bauble Bar

Bracelets: gifts, and In Pink

Belt: thrifted from Goodwill

And here are a few more pictures from The Pumpkin Patch!

(Yes, this is Josh! I think this may be the first picture of him I've ever posted on this blog. And no, we did not buy the giant zucchini.)

City girl

I am very much a city girl. I like being surrounded by people when I walk outside. I like hearing the comforting hum of the nearby freeway in the middle of the night. I like being able to walk to the bank, post office, library and grocery store. (And maybe Anthropologie and H&M.) I just like knowing that everything around me is buzzing with life. When Josh and I go visit his family in the countryside, it always freaks me out a little. Everything is so quiet, and the nearest thing you can walk to is the neighbor's house half a mile away.

That being said, there are times when I seriously reconsider my desire to live in the city for the rest of my life. Like on Saturday - my family and I went down to The Oregon Garden in Silverton (which I highly recommend to anyone who lives in or is visiting Oregon - it's well worth the drive and the admission fee), and the hour-long drive down there through the rolling hills of the farmlands, and the dozens of beautiful acres of the garden itself, made me kind of wish that I lived a little bit closer to nature and a little further from traffic congestion and noise.

* Many thanks to my mom for taking these outfit photos at the garden! She was a saint putting up with me making her take more outfit shots in every new section of the garden we went to. *

Dress: Target

Cardigan: thrifted from Rerun

Tights: Fred Meyer

Boots: Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Watch: thrifted from Village Merchants

Bracelet: InPink

Because I didn't want to force any of you to look at tons of photos from The Oregon Garden if you didn't want to, they're here at the bottom of the post!

(The garden even had a hobbit hole that kids could climb through!)