Minty Fresh

Who is excited to see more mint for Spring???

I love these classic heels and cute flats from Coach.

I have a pair of mint loafers but maybe I need to add to my mint footwear collection. I think all this grey weather has me craving minty greens!

Ensemble du Jour: 7-6-11

Yeah!  An outfit post!

I really need to try to find time to take these in the morning because, as you can see, the lighting in my house is "dim" to put it kindly. Dismal and cave-like would be more appropriate.

But, I was so happy with my outfit today I decided to take some shots anyways.  I made the mistake of going into Target last night and ended up with a bunch of stuff. Some of it needed, none of it pricey ($8 tanks, tees and yoga capris, yes please! $19 comfy cute dresses, okay! Robe so I stop scaring the neighbors, yep!) and perfect for wearing to work and on weekends.

The first thing I wanted to wear was this really cute stripey jersey tank dress. And then I saw the bright apple green 3/4 sleeve cardi.  I have to admit here that I am hopeless at mixing patters.  I love it on others, aspire to it and then fall into the trap of matchy-matchy all the time.  So here's my happy little mixing outfit... I paired black and white stripes with a leopard belt and shoes.

WHOA!!!!

I know, I know, CRAZY TIME!!!!

This dress is so cute I got in solid red too.  Get ready for, wait for it... color-blocking!  Shut the font door!

It does have this nice little princess-seaming element.  Not a bad little detail for a less-than-$20 dress.

I'm loving the color/pattern combo. 

For jewelry, I'm also mixing but more like matching - my Wendy Brandes "Chicken on Nest" necklace and my new "vegan" hen necklace from Julep115 via Etsy.

For shoes I wore my Coach (circa 2003-2004???) Tully leopard/oscelot kitten heels.

I do love a good kitten heel.

Grosgrain bows and heel detail.

I took a bunch more shots tonight so I have a lot to share over the next few days.

Onward into year five!

 

Tickled Pink

I am not a purse or bag person. I like don't covet the latest "it" bags and I don't have a huge amount of purses. I'm also pretty picky about what I look for in a bag. I like a classic shape in an interesting color.

I don't want it to be too huge and I usually prefer to carry it on my arm rather than over my shoulder. I don't like soft-sided bags; I actually want them to have some structure to them.

I have a few small bags and clutches but they rarely get used and are usually vintage. Most of the purses I own I keep for years and years and tend to be very lazy about changing them out. I carried my Emerald Alto bag for 2 years straight. The color range for my day-to-day purses includes emerald green, dark orange, sky blue, white and a croc brown. In the Fall I was thinking about a black patent but didn't findy anything I really wanted so that's by the wayside for now.

But for some reason I'm really considering pink.

I started out looking at this pink Emily Satchel from Coach.



It has a great shape, just the right amount of detailing, is the right size and gives the options of carrying on your arm or over your shoulder.



But I wanted to see what non-leather options were out there too. I don't really go purse shopping that much so I thought this would be a great opportunity to see what's out there.

I started out at Matt and Nat, purveyors of some of the best, most stylish vegan bags around. After searching by color I found this cutie - the Tundra-Stellar. It's also a good size and very cute. A bit more of an edge than the Emily but you could carry this to work and out afterwards.



If you are a bit more casual, I think the AstroSatchel's Cherry Blossom messenger is the cutest. This line has a ton of fun graphic designs.

I branched out into more vibrant pinks with this larger Verena satchel. I love the buckles on the end. Plus it comes in five equally eye-catching colors.

The Morgan has a bit of the "doctor-bag" shape to it, which I really like. It was tempting to show it in the gorgeous dandelion versus the raspberry, plus there are two other colors!

If I still want a patent bag in the Fall, I'm coming right back for this Mariah design. It's hard to choose between the amazing colors. The maroon and olive ones here are my favorites but there is also a stunning sapphire and a dark grey. Plus it's under $50, if you can believe that.

As I was searching for vegan options, I found these amazing Vegan Queen pieces. These are expensive but they are amazing. I first spotted the Eco It Bag, as bowling bag shaped piece with vintage hardware...

But then I was stunned by the City Bag. This piece is decadent and simply gorgeous. As I said, I'm not an purse girl but this almost makes me reconsider.

Well, we ended on a high (priced) note but most of these are very resonable, plus vegan, plus CUTE! Have you seen any I should add to the list?

Make me into a purse girl too.

; )

The Weight of the World

Sometimes I wonder why I feel like I'm walking on a perpetual slope with a boulder strapped to my back. Maybe it's because of all of the stuff in my purse!

Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit but I really do carry all of this stuff around with me everyday. I was a Girl Scout and I just can't break out of the "Be Prepared" mentality. And I like options, so that makes it worse.

The good thing is that, while there is a lot of stuff, it is very well organized in my bag and I can find everything in a snap! And this purse is great. It isn't a big black hole and the straps are long enough to fit over my shoulder.

On the Flicker page for this image there are roll-overs, but what you see here includes:

• Dooney & Burke Alto Bag
• Phone 1 - Blackberry for work
• 60GB iPod - previous b-day gift
• Phone 2 - iPhone - last year's b-day gift, in white leather case
• Kindle - this year's b-day gift
• Estee Lauder pink heart compact
• Coach wallet - filled with cards but no cash
• Owl bag - business cards for work and blog, notebook, hair clip and hair band
• Moleskine journal - filled coupouns and to dos
• Flash Drive - what the heck is on that?
• Dooney Keychain - has house, work and car keys, plus my YMCA tag which I don't even belong to anymore. But it helps me sort my keys.
• Multiple Lip products - Burt's Bees Lip Balm L'Oreal lipgloss, Chanel lipstick
• Black bag - "lady" products, Stella travel perfume, Bvlgari White Tea towelettes, nail file, floss, blotting papers, travel flashlight and swiss army knife.
• Stickers and mini-business cards from MOO.com

The sad thing is that I also carry a laptop bag with my computer and files as well as another shopping bag filled with computer cords, my mouse, my lunch and, of course, my shoes for the day.

I should be a good 3 inches taller! Geez!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
It was pretty cold today so I should have dressed warmer but, eh, that's why I have a coat. I wore my new denim-y pencil skirt from Target, a grass green cashmere sweater (I think from Garnet Hill) and my Coach leopard kitten heel flats.



The Focal Point
I was pretty streamlined with this outfit. I only wore my rings. Not even a necklace. But I do like the mix of the navy, green and brown. It's kind of a classic color combination which I think has a preppy vibe.



Too bad my legs were freezing! it was 33 degrees when I left for the day. Luckily I only had to walk from my office to the car. Brrrr!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
It's finally cooled off! Yeah! I wanted to wear this really cute black jacket buuuut I had to take the dogs to doggie day care so I would have been full up with dog hair. Instead, I wore this fun Target Patrick Robinson jacket, a tan camisole and a flippy brown skirt.



I probably should have worn heels with this, but when you juggling two dogs, my computer bag, my ginormeous purse and my Blackberry, I would have killed myself before I reached the car door. So instead I wore one of my few pairs of flats. These are Coach kitten-heels with dark brown leather, leopard patterned calf-hair and brown grosgrain bows. They look pretty good for being a few years old, right?



The Focal Point
While it's typically the shoes, and it this case could totally be the shoes, my focal point today has to be the hook-and-eye detailing on the jacket.




This jacket was only about $40 from Target in their Go International collection. Kind of on the high end for Target but all the details from the hardware to the purposefully distressed edges added up to a much more expensive look. And it's great to wear with jeans, pants or skirts.