Big Banding and Swinging the Night Away

I just got back from yet another trip. This one was pure fun.  My favorite hotel, the Grove Park Inn, was having it's Annual Big Band Weekend.  We had never gone but we got a great rate and we love Asheville and it was a chance to dress up, so heck yeah.

Being January, it was great to snuggle in front of the Great Hall fireplace for a while.

This even was so much fun.  It's a formal event and the Saturday night dance has the Glenn Miller orchestra playing.  So amazing music in a beautiful setting. It is tied in with the USO which really added to the feeling of stepping back in time a bit.

And, there were some serious outfits and some seriously good dancers.  Of course, the age range skewed mostly older but these people know what they are doing on a dance floor.  (Fun Fact: I grew up traveling on cruise ships and have done a fair amount of dancing to Big Band over my life).

The fashion was formal but was interpreted all along the Big Band/Swing timeline.  I saw some great 40s fashion, beautiful ball gowns and some slinky backless numbers.  I went a bit more 1920s inspired in a beaded Vivinne Tam dress, while the husband wore his tux, red plaid bow tie and vintage owl cufflinks that I found for him.

I wore my Oh, Deer! Jamocha art deco-y t-straps along with black fishnets.

Here are some better shots of the shoes and dress details.

I definetly want to go back next year, but I think we need to take a few dance lessons first.  I did not get to dance nearly as much as I would have liked to.  I also think I want to go for more of a long swirly dress next time.  They played a number of waltzes and I think the music and a long 30s "Thin Man" era dress would be great.

And while our trip was brief, we did manage to eat at two of our favorite places in Asheville.  For lunch on Saturday we ate at Chai Pani, which is this casual India street food (or chaat) restaurant.  It is a savory paradise.  We got samosas, an uttapam with masala potatoes, okra fries and bhel puri (a snack mix with puffed rice, cilantro, onions, tamarind and more).

Then for dinner we went to Plant, our new favorite restaurant in the world.  I'm totally serious.  It's amazing and so good we were back there 15 hours later for brunch. Between the pumpkin seed crusted seitan, the amazing soup (always get the soup), the best cinnamon roll I've ever had and a cannoli, I'm stuffed. 

Oh.  In addition to getting a huge scramble and home fries (SL got the biscuits with homemade sausage and gravy) I got a big bowl of cheese grits. And did I mention that all of this is vegan.  Yeah.  It's amazing.

So now it's time to unpack and meals we have to make ourselves.

Yellow with Envy

There are a few colors that I just cannot wear. I wish that I could but they just make me look sallow and jaundiced and, well, horrendous.

Orange is one but another is a bright golden yellow, like the Pantone color of 2009 - Mimosa.

I had not thought about this for a while but I was watching Dangerous Liaisons today and I was reminded about how I would kill to be able to wear the classic combination of rich yellow and deep black, as Glenn does in this scene.

I also loved Gwyneth Paltrow's Parisan outfit in View from the Top.

But a movie that really kicked off the love for this color combo was a very bad made for TV movie, Tears on the Rain, featuring a very young Sharon Stone.

I love the dress, the embellished gloves and you have to love the matching hair ribbon.

Of course all three of these ladies are blonds and, since I would also look horrible as a blonde, it isn't going to happen.

But if you can rock this color, I will try and be happy for you and not jealous.

I love this coat which, surprisingly, is from Victoria's Secret and pretty inexpensive at $129

I could probably get away with wearing these Oh Deer! Toffee "taxi" shoes. They are sold out now but I think that you can find them around.

Or I can get a pair of yellow gloves like Ms WendyB and wear them with a black coat. and boots.

If you can wear this color, share how or what you wear.

Hopefully I have better luck with 2010's color!

Eeeewwww!!!!

I didn't like the moldy wedge look the first time around, even when it was done my YSL.



I certainly don't like it any better done in cheaper materials by BCBG.



But, oddly, I do kind of like the look of black on the toe cap over the cork. Is it because the shoe is a more elegant shape? Not sure.




Not that I'm getting any of them....Blah!

Week In Review Once More

This has been another crazy week at work. I feel like I've barely had time to breathe or sleep. So I'm just now getting to writing up the week's outfits! It hasn't been too cold this week but it has been blustery and rainy.

Monday I wore this black swing jacket (over a black cami) from Target with my denim skirt. I took this pendant from Etsy off of its chain and used it as a brooch on my collar. The military style of the pin, as well as it's colors of gold and enameled red and white, went well with the shoes.


11-10-08 by Princess Poochie

The focal point was all about the shoes. I know I had been debating whether I would keep these or not because the shoes from this brand tend to be a bit stiff. But in the end, I did. I just love the mix of colors and materials from the metallic edges, black sequins and red suede heel.



One this that did help is that I wore them with black opaque tights. I wore the tights to help keep warm and dress up the denim but they sort of toned down the shoes so the sparkle was more subtle. Wearing the shoes with the tights made me forget that I had found them less than comfortable.



On Tuesday, I was looking for an excuse to wear the JCrew acorn bracelet that had just arrived from eBay. I had really really wanted this when I first saw it in the catalog and the store but held out and then it sold out. Luckily I found it on eBay and for even cheaper than the store! Score!

The dress is the black v-neck Target dress I've worn a million times now and, since it's colder, instead of a cropped cardigan I added a long boyfriend cardigan (also from Target) and cinched it with a wide brown belt. I also have this necklace with a large chunk of agate as the pendant that I wore as well. I think I need to somehow alter this dress. It's a little loose now and the neckline is getting a bit low. I need to figure out if a few hidden stitches will take care of that.


11-11-08 by Princess Poochie

The focal point was the bracelet and I supported the brown of that with the belt and these shoes. I have these Manolos for a few years now and they are one of my favorite shoes. They are the perfect shape and height and such a neat pattern. I could walk all over town in these and be comfortable.




Okay, this is going to be such a let down, especially since I made such a big deal about teasing you with them... but I finally wore the Chanel two-tone tights and mary janes! Talk about burying the lead. I can't believe it has been since August that I've had these and haven't had an opportunity (or made an opportunity) to wear them. That's just crazy!

I was going to do a whole big reveal of unwrapping the tights and the shoes. I did put a whole set on Flickr, so they are there if you want to see more shots and bigger.

One of the things that held me back was what would be the inaugural outfit to pair them with. In the end I took inspiration from one of the runway outfits.


11-12-08 by Princess Poochie

I loved a number of the styles from the show but this one seemed very accessible, so I started there. I wore the tights and mary janes and then pulled out a denim skirt and my JCrew charcoal wool v-neck sweater. Very simple and straight forward.



Here are a few of the shots, but definitely check out the Flickr stream, there are just so many more there.



These tights are very cool in person. The illusion element of the two-tone is very strong. What's hard to tell from the runway pictures and even mine are that the front part of the tights is more of a flesh tone rather than a taupe. And they are not sheer at all. So the tights are very thick and soft. It wasn't quite what I was expecting but still neat. And when you move from the side or turn around the transition is quite unexpected.

I haven't seen a competitive pair in exactly the same way yet, although I'm sure they will come up sooner or later. Someone did share with me that there are a pair at Urban Outfitters that come close. The pair there are opaque black on the back and then a sheer black on the front. I don't think the effect would be as strong but could be good if you were looking for another option.

Oh yeah! And the shoes! They are very interesting. Graphic. Unique more than stunning. There is a lot of craftsmanship in these shoes. I did find a contender for the black pair (which I've worn a lot) that mimics the style but if you were to hold both pairs up together you do see the difference in the work. And that is not always something I find to be true, especially as luxury companies attempt to boost their profits by skimping on quality.



Thursday I figured I might as well keep the crazy legwear thing going and maybe even push it even more. So I decided to wear my knee-pad over-the-knee socks from Hansel from Basel which I just love. I mean, I love these some much I got them in 3 colors. I had skirts all planned out just to wear with them.


11-13-08 by Princess Poochie

Yes, the focal point was the socks, which I wore with a flippy black Old Navy skirt and my Facade patent mary janes, but I have to show you this top.

I bought this at least 4 or 5 years ago at Anthropologie and, because it is a knit, it may be reaching the end. But it's just so cute. Sort of, saucy librarian-esque.



The inset panel is a sheer polka-dot fabric with a ribbon tie of the same and the buttons are tiny porcelain with flowers. The top is actually more red than it appears here so it has that red/white/black graphic element to it.



Finally Friday arrived! Thank goodness! I did have a client meeting so I toned it down just a bit. I had bought the sweater and the skirt in the picture but the sweater was an angora mix and finally pilled up so horribly and was so fluffy it had to go. But I still love the skirt. It's a purple tweed pencil skirt with great button detail and kicky pleats in the front and the back.


11-14-08 by Princess Poochie

The skirt was from Victoria's Secret from its "not-totally-trashy" collection. I was going to wear a slim v-neck knit top but for some reason I couldn't find it and ended up wear the Target Behnaz Sarafpour lace front cardigan again. I'm trying to reserve this so it too doesn't die an early death from over-wearing.



The skirt and slim cardigan have a retro feel to them so I thought I would wear a wiggly peep-toe stiletto with them. I have the Louboutin Yo-Yo Zeppas in black suede which I felt was a good texture to go with the lace and tweed elements in the clothes.



Whew! What a week. I'm exhausted. I have a party to go to tonight so now I have to think of what I'm going to wear to that.

Some folks asked if I have links to where I have bought some of my clothes. If I have a product image in the outfit collage, you can click on that and Polyvore stores the link. But if I just have a photo or you can't find something, let me know and I'll give you the info. I do tend to keep things, especially shoes, for a long time so eBay may be your best bet. Either way, let me know. I'm happy to help!

Not-Much-Labor Day

This has been a kind of crummy stressful week in general. Inspite of taking off Thursday and Friday so I have a 5 day weekend, it just hasn't felt that festive.

The first part of the week was crummy because the hubby was out of town. Which means I'm taking care of the house, the dogs, the cats, the chicken and myself. Oh, yeah, plus work. The dogs go to doggie day care when the hubby is out of town because they just can't stay home for 8 - 10 hours by themselves and I can't come home in the middle of the day for them. So have to schlep them back and forth with me in the car. By day three, the dogs are a bit stinky so I do not dress up at all. And it poured all three days which really helped. I wore the same old jeans skirt all three days.
Yes, I was hawt!

I did at least try to distract with cute shoes. I can barely remember what I wore as a top but I do remember what shoes I wore.

These cute little slingback wedge espadrilles are actually from Payless. Cute and inexpensive... yes!







No, I wasn't cuffing my jeans again, this was just during the "photoshoot".

I wore my Olivia Rose Tal mules one day.





And lastly, these a-dor-able black and white polka-dot peep-toes. Love them!!!!



These were hunted down. Hunted I tell you! Far better sport than anything else!



They're a brand called "BP" which I think is a Nordstrom house brand for Juniors (and has some pretty cute coats, I'm just noticing. Hmmmm....). As always, I put tons more pics on Flickr, if you're interested.



While I was waiting to go pic the hubby up from the airport on Wednesday night I made a really really bad video TiLT (Things I Love Thursday) for Miss Gala Darling's site, iCiNG.



Yes, it's craptastic, I know, but I have a crummy little camera. What do you want from me?

The highlight of the week was getting my Zappos order. I got the Corso Como booties.




I also got these really cute Nine West oxfords which I intend to post more about at a later date. I do have to give Zappos another shout-out here. I ordered these both with a gift certificate and messed up the order somehow.

Right after I placed the order, I called them, they totally fixed it and prioritized my shipment to next day delivery. It was all my fault and they gave me the upgrade. That's customer service, baby!



If you watched the bad video, you would have heard that Thursday was the hubby's birthday. What did he get to do? Well he woke up with a huge neck problem from his trip and went to the doctor. We were scheduled to go out of town this weekend but didn't end up going because our dog boarding place was all booked up. Luckily we didn't because he is in no shape to travel still.

That morning we went to check out dog places then came back and did stuff around here.

Other highlights of the somewhat-lousey and totally-lazy weekend include:

Returning these -



Cute but far too inflexible, sadly. I debated this but in the end they had to go. The Jamocha t-straps are up for debate as well.

I did get my final rabies shot. Whoo Hoo! No more hospital visits. On the way home I made the mistake of going into Target and the Fall stuff in trickling in. I'm loving this whole plaid suit set in the Mizrahi line. There are 2 jackets, a skirt, and sheath dress and possibly pants. I got the swingy jacket and the pencil skirt with some cute knit tops to go with. I also plan on pairing this with the brown camisole from a previous Go International line, my new Alice blue bow from Lou Lou Loves You and probaly my Nine West teal pumps. And I'm sure my new teal and metal Bebaroque tights will get in the mix too.



The Payless shoes arrived at the store. I went to go try them on and, well, they didn't make the cut.

These were okay but the shape in person didn't thrill me.




These were amazingly clunky in person. I'm a size 5 and they looked mutant-large. They were both returned right there. Hey, I gave them a shot, right?



We went to our local farmer's market and, as always, they had the best stuff. If you have a farmer's market near you and you aren't shopping there, you're crazy. This is the only reason I look forward to summer. Everything looked so great I decided to take a bunch of pictures. Again, more pics on Flickr.











As we walked around we picked up the best breakfast - frozen goat milk yogurt from the renowned (and local) Goat Lady Dairy... topped with fresh blueberries.

They also make these amazing soft spreadable goat cheeses mixed with herbs, etc. We usually get Sunny Paris, which is goat cheese with basil and tarragon (and probably more) but they also have a horseradish blend which is great on burgers. This visit we tried a Fig and Honey blend which was out of this world. I almost got that but we had a container of the Sunny Paris at home and I wanted to buy their Sandy Creek, which is camembert-like with a layer of grape vine ash. Annnndddd, which I somehow seem to have eaten the entire thing of while I was sitting here typing!

That is some good frickin' cheese.



We also got a pumpkin and a chocolate whoopie pie when we bought our bread from the Amish bakers. They may or may not have made it out of the market parking lot. I'm just saying.



We did go out to dinner and a movie one night. We had dinner at our favorite local Indian restaurant. We liked them before and they are, obviously, still great due to all of the vegetarian options available within the cuisine.

It was nice to go out, putter around the bookstore for a while and mooch some free magazine browsing. Then we went to see Bottle Shock.



Have you heard of this movie?

I don't think they're doing much to promote it, if you ask me. The true story it is based on is great. And the trailer made it look really good as well. Sadly, the editing/pacing ruins it. It's too bad because the reality of the Judgement of Paris seems like it could be much more riveting. Supposedly there is another movie being made based on the same George Taber book. I'll be interested to see how that one compares.

I hope everyone had a good weekend.