Showers and Flowers

On Saturday I went to a bridal shower of a good friend of mine. I didn't know any other attendees, other than the bride of course. It's always a bit apprehensive when you are planning what to wear to an event like this. I think the big challenge is that there aren't as many rules any more.

In the past you would know what to wear to events depending on what they were. But nowadays, it could be anything along the range of very casual to somewhat dressy. And given that I didn't know the group very well, I didn't have a gague on the types of folks the would be.

So I erred on the slightly dressier side. Given that it was a bit warmer and Spring, I decided to wear one of my new dresses. It was also a good comfort test run with the dress before I wore it to work for a full day. I have to say, I liked it a lot. I brought along a cardigan just in case it was chilly, but ended up not needing it.



I had been planning on pairing this dress with the new Franco Sarto gladiator-esque heeled sandals I had bought, but when I tried them on together, I just wasn't feeling it. So I ended up contrasting it with green because I was already using my green Dooney bag and I didn't have time (or interest, frankly) to change it.



So I ended up wearing my dark green Jimmy Choo Thunder slingbacks. The color went really well with the dress - both have muted shades.



I have a feeling that this will be a great dress for summer.



One thing I do want to do is get a good brown belt to go with it. I'm not usually a belt person so I don't have a lot of options. I think this dress calls for a good bold belt to break up the pattern and tie it back to the shoes. The fabric tie that came with it is in the same fabric and gets lost, plus it's a bit wimpy for the dress.

The bride-to-be was wearing a great dress. She got the sleeveless beach dress from JCrew but in a cute brown and white pattern they don't have on their site. It looked great on her and she also had some cute heeled thong sandals with some bit-looking hardware on it. She looked just smashing.

I had to return a shirt to Ann Taylor yesterday so I also popped into JCrew myself. I have been looking for a simple khaki pencil skirt and haven't really found one I liked. JCrew didn't have any but the did have a big sale going on with marked down items getting an additional 25% off. I ended up getting 3 dresses, including this swiss dot wrap dress in white, and a pair of patterned shorts. I'll have to take pictures because I can't find the rest online. But all of that came to well under $200.

I'm trying to get over my "fear" of dresses. I think they can be so pretty, I just feel like I need to be very selective about fit but still give them a chance.

The Family Resemblance

I just happened to stop into Old Navy yesterday and was utterly surprised at the amazing range of new items that are in for Spring and Summer. The store just exploded with color and cute prints. From the shoes and bags to printed shorts and dresses everything just vibrated with color and fun. But it was also tempered with some lovely peaceful, gauzy white dresses, tops and jackets.

Some of my favorites from what I saw were the following. Almost all of these come in other colors and patterns so check them out online or in the store.

I love this color green. I think when I pull out the new stuff I've bought and all of my existing clothes, I'm going to find this color all over the place. It's such a great color green for the warmer months.


I would pair that shrug with this top and then the cute printed shorts below.



How cute is this pattern?


They had a TON of cute clutch purses, some with wooden handles like this one or that had a handle but folded over into a smaller clutch. So fun and summery. I got a pink and orange patterned one that matches a pair of the satin ballet flats.


I also got this wrap dress which comes in an aqua toned version of the pattern. I think this will be great to dress up or down with the flat black sandals I show below, which I also got.






I got this basic safari skirt in the classic khaki here and then a dark more olivey color. I'm sure they will get tons of wear during the summer with my solid tops.




You can really see the Banana Republic/Gap/Old Navy family resemblance in these printed flats. You can't beat the fact that these are less than $20 but have a good satin-y fabric and great colors schemes. I could have bought every version of these but limited myself to only two. That's not too bad, right?






Typically I'm not a huge fan of this style of sandal but it just looked so cool and effortless, I thought I would give them a try. For $15 why not, right? I was torn between the colors they had and almost bought the white as well but I had to restrain myself.




More cute color combos!






I was really surprised by the jewelry they had out. Now I know this isn't fine stuff here, but to knock about in I think it's awfully cute.

I got 3 of these white and "gold" enameled bamboo bangles and then 1 pink one I can mix in.



I came sooo close to buying this ring. Maybe I'll go back and get it.



Wouldn't this bangle be a perfect "safari chic" addition?



And I think this bracelet is just like something you would find a JCrew nowadays. So why pay $50+ when you can pay less than $10?



There are so many other colors and pieces in the store. You really have to go and check them all out.