A Big Thank You and Something About Me

A big thank you to Marisa of According to Moi for nominating me for to the Over the Top award! I don't know if I deserve the title but I certainly appreciate receiving it from her, her blog is one of my fave.
I also want to apologize to those who nominated me for an award before that I ended up never acknowledging. I have to say that so far the part of the game where you have to reveal something about yourself always scared me off. Not because I don't want to share a little bit more of myself but because I always feel like I don't have such interesting experiences compared to my fellow bloggers (well besides the fact of living in three different countries, but you all know that).
But this time is different, maybe because the questions here remind me more of the Proust Questionnaire and are more easy to answer.
I hope that I will be able to arrive at the end before my daughter wakes up!
1. Where is your cell phone: in my stroller bag
2. Your hair: was very blond when I was a teen (Lively Blake blond), then it darkened (naturally) but I always felt like a blondie (my husband used to make fun of me because of that). Now I have highlights.
3. Your mother: was a tailor before getting married but she never teach ed me how to sew. That's one of my biggest regrets.
4. Your father: best man ever
5. Your favorite food: bread (especially baguette)
6. Your dream from last night: swimming with dolphins (sort of). I am a big dreamer (I can remember dreams from years ago and sometimes and I have dreams that continue on). I have always been interested in the psychology of dreams and I even started to write a book about a guy who gets lost in his dreams (you know, can't make the difference between dreams and reality kind of book), but then Jonathan Coe (the English writer) came up with the best book on sleep and dreams ever ("The House of Dreams", published in the US by Vintage International) and I gave up.
7. Your favorite drink: cappuccino
8. Your dream/goal: to be a movie reviewer for Les Cahiers du Cinema(OK, this is the dream part). My goal is to become a better person than I am now
9. What room are you in: my bedroom (where the computer is)
10. What are your hobbies: well, you know, blogging
11. What is your fear: that I fail as a mother
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years: where I am now but working
13. Where were you last night: in my bed re-watching the Season 1 on Mad Men (where I learned that "Mad" stands for "Madison Avenue". I had totally missed that)
14. Something you are not: mean
15. Muffins: not a big fan, but I eat them from time to time
16. Wish list items: iPhone, a KitchenAid mixer and a pair of Uggs. These make my Christmas wish list every year and my husband never gives them to me.
16. Where did you grow up: in Milan, Italy
17. Last thing you did: spoke on the phone with my dad
18. What are you wearing: my orange gateau skirt and a Marni striped top
19. Your TV: a Samsung in the bedroom. I watch way less TV since we put the TV in the bedroom
20. Your pets: never had one
21. Your friends: few but good
22. Your life: is going too fast
23. Your mood: changing with the weather
24. Missing someone: my family in Italy
25. Vehicle: I don't have one here
26. Something you’re not wearing: my engagement ring
27. Your favorite store: because you all know what my favorite store is, I will tell you that my second favorite store is Zara
28. Your favorite color: navy (this has been my favorite color since I read that navy has the power to relax. I always wore a navy sweater during the exams at the university)
29. When’s the last time you laughed: can't count with my daughter
30. When’s the last time you cried: I honestly don't remember but I used to cry a lot when I was younger
31. Your best friend: lives in Italy and I have known her for more than 30 years. She is an architect an she's brilliant
32. One place you go over and over: the Caribbean in general and Jamaica in particular (and of course Italy and Paris)
33. One person who emails me regularly: Jcrew
34. Favorite place to eat: home

WOW, that was a long list, I hope you enjoyed the ride. Now I should nominate a few other bloggers but instead I just want to nominate my "soul mate" DaniBP at Dani Mop Philosopher (soul mate because you have read Spinoza and you talk about clothes like me. Well, I never read Spinoza, but Hegel and Kant and Sir Thomas Hume).
I just wanted to add that all of you who read me and/or fill my day with your posts would deserve a "Blog Friendship" award. I really feel that the best part of blogging is in this new kind of friendship that we share over the Internet. Maybe I could just create that...

OOTD (Orange is for Halloween)

So today was Halloween Parade day at my daughter's school. The parents got to stay for the first hour during the celebrations and the kids had to wear orange and black (not a costume because they would wear paper crown and necklaces that they had made during the last week). I wasn't sure if the parents were supposed to wear black and orange too, but I thought it would be fun anyway so I asked my daughter to look in my closet and find something orange. That was too easy, she immediately found the gateau orange skirt from this summer ("That's orange!"). Yeah, that's definitively orange.
So this is my OOTD:



An below it's IRL, at school (I had to cut my had off because of the mom in the background, it was impossible to keep my face and not hers). I like how the colors of the skirt and my daughter's tee really matched (in the end I was the only parent to wear orange and black but the teacher thanked me for the effort that I had put into it. That helps because normally I'm always late in returning book orders, papers to sign etc.).



This is really a fun skirt to wear at parties, especially kids parties. I had already worn it at a birthday party of one of my daughter's friends back in the summer and took a pic of the outfit that I never got to post, so it's now or never:



I think that I'm going to update this outfit with the Funnelneck cardigan that I have in champagne and of course tights and wear it around the holidays, I just love the tee and the skirt together.

Back to Halloween, yesterday I hosted a Halloween party for my daughter and her best friends (there were seven kids aged 18 months to 2 and half and at some point it got a little bit out of control, but I survived). I didn't wear a costume, but my daughter was just adorable in her bumble bee costume so I wanted to share a pic (I like this one because it looks like she's flying away):



I have to say that being European I never "felt" Halloween like an American but now that I have my daughter is different, I like the tricks or treats and the Halloween parties with her. I'm not going to wear a costume this year as my husband is still travelling and I'm not going to a grown-up party so I'm happy that I have at least pulled off the orange skirt this morning.

Happy Halloween everyone!


PS

Stay tuned for a "I need your help" post later this evening (or maybe two)!

Ready for Aspen (with Jcrew)

Not that I'm going anytime soon. When we lived in Paris we used to go skiing once a year, typically in January (when it's the coldest and the snow is the hardest, an idea of my husband), but since we have moved to the US my husband has been on a few skiing "business" trips alone and I never felt like trading our annual winter vacation in the Caribbean for a week in the mountains. The reason is that I'm a very bad skier, terrible actually (even if I have been skiing since I was 8 years old) and with the age I have become more and more scared on the slopes, so I don't really enjoy skiing any longer. The last time that I have skied, in Val d'Isere (France), I have been "rescued" by the ski patrollers after dark because I was too scared to move and I have been subject to the humiliation of going down the slope securely attached WITH A ROPE to my rescuers. That's how bad I'm.

However, I miss the alpine atmosphere a little bit and from time to time I dream about a snow vacation, specifically a vacation in Aspen (there is no way that we're going skiing in Europe as we never go back in the winter months because of my husband job). In my case dreaming about vacations always involves an outfit component (like, seeing myself in Aspen in a particular dream-induced outfit) and it gets dangerous when the dream comes true (in terms of the outfit).

So basically, me in Aspen is what I pictured when I saw this beauty a few weeks ago at my local B&M:



It's the Belted clouds puffer jacket and I wanted to write about it during the SECRET SALE promo (I had already bought it) but it disappeared from the website for a couple of weeks. I thought that maybe, like me, you hadn't noticed it, even if it's featured in one of the Jcrew newspaper ads.
Let me tell you the reason why I didn't notice it. Well, in the first place, I wasn't looking for a puffer. If you are a long-time follower you know that I'm a "summer clothes" girl, I love summer and summer clothes MUCH MORE than fall/winter clothes. However, I have a weakness for puffer coats. I own 3 (2 of which are Moncler) and I have been on the fence of buying another one many times but the price of well-made puffers generally turns me off (I'm an impulsive buyer sometimes, but not of high-priced items. If something goes above $150, I generally have the strenght to resist and Moncler jackets, the ones that I prefer, go well above $500) so the old I DON'T NEED ANOTHER ONE refrain worked so far.
The second reason is that I don't really care for a puffer in this color. I have seen it in real life and it's a really odd yellowish pink.
BUT OMG! Have you see the other color it comes in? It comes in glazed pecan ladies, maybe my favorite Jcrew color after the dark charcoal. And shiny glazed pecan is even better than glazed pecan. It's to die for.
So when I saw it in my local B&M, I HAD to try it on. And of course I LOVED it. Plus the price wasn't bad at all for a goosedown (90%) puffer. AND (bonus) I had a $25 off coupon.
Here it is:




The fit is really great on me (I sized up to a S as the XS was really tight across the chest), but it could be a tad short on taller ladies and the belt detail really adds something. It isn't bulky as other puffers can be and it's kind of lightweight, but the fact that it's made $90 down makes me hope that is going to be warm.
So need it or not, it is now in my closet and I can still dream about Aspen but I can also wear it every other day this winter (and give my gold-beige Moncler a break). Now, if only it could be REALLY cold, like very soon!
The funny thing is that last year around Thanksgiving I made what I can easily classify as one of my most impulsive purchases ever and what I purchased is something that belongs into the same mountain dream. I feel pretty ashamed telling you this but I really purchased this ultra-expensive Moncler bag knowing that I would never wear it in my "real life" (it's huge! And there is no way that I can wear this while I'm with my daughter. Which is 90% of my awake life) but that it would be perfect for well, a vacation in Aspen (OK, to be honest, there was also a super-deal factor because I paid around $350 for it, down from $1100). And I'm not a bag addict at all, I rarely buy a new bag and when I do, I really ponder over it.
Well, the good thing is that now I have a puffer to go with it (it's almost the same color) and maybe I can start to wear it, at least during the weekends (now that I think about it, can you imagine how many Jcrew goodies can I stuff in this bag, unseen by my husband? Maybe even shoes!)

Do you own a puffer by Jcrew? How do you like Jcrew puffers compared to other brands? Have you ever been in Aspen?

Friday Night Outfit

I hope that you are enjoying all this OOTD and OOTE posts, I find that they are easy and fun to write (if my camera and my memory card reader collaborate, which is not at all a certainty in this world as they are both falling apart. Some days I spend HOURS trying to download pics) and it just crossed my mind that they are the equivalent of the "transition" episodes of your favorite TV series when nothing really happens but the producers need to give you something or you'll be soon watching another show.
(Speaking of which, have you watched Madmen last night? Boy, it was really somber, I'm not sure if I liked it (especially because Roger looked like a great man compared to Don/Dick) but the last sequence was poignant (as they often are)).

Today I want to share the outfit that I wore on Friday evening to dinner at friend's. Actually I was just "trying on" the outfit and it ended up being the outfit that I wore because my daughter was having a babysitter panic attack and was doing everything she could to delay the moment when she would be alone with her (like asking for milk, that she NEVER drinks before going to bed) and my husband was unusually inattentive to my daughter's cries (normally he runs when my daughter asks for something, especially milk. He is the "milkman" of the house, has always been), so basically I had to take care of her and didn't have the time to change. Don't get me wrong, I love this outfit but I think it was a little bit too much for the occasion, I would have preferred to wear pants instead of the deco skirt but I couldn't figure out quickly which pair (and then it was too late).




Looking at the pictures afterwards I understood what I find refreshing in this outfit: the absence of ruffles (and tiers). This blouse is the Harlow silk blouse from Fall 08 and it looks like it comes from a different era, the pre-ruffles Jcrew era (although they had just launched the Victoria and a couple of other ruffled shirts but I thought that they would be the exception). It's so classic and well-made, a staple in a woman's closet. Not to mention that the darts at the waist (that you can't see very well in the pics because it was tucked in the skirt) make it incredibly flattering. I'm kicking myself for not buying another one on sale in the fresh guava (or was it papaya? I can never make the difference between the two shades) or honey glaze during the TURKEY and HOORAY promotions last year (by the way, do you think that this year we'll have a little something besides FREE SHIPPING for the holidays?), especially because I paid this one around $35.

I wanted to show off the blouse (and the buttons in the back that go all the way down. Not that anyone has noticed), so I didn't wear a cardigan. I tried it with the Eden velvet blazer in black that I have recently purchased for less than $100 but I ended up wearing a coat directly over the shirt because I'm not sure that that I'm going to keep the blazer. I really need an evening black jacket but to be honest I think that I can find something more flattering, especially around this time of the year. Sometimes I buy Jcrew because I'm too lazy to look around. Anyway, I took a pic:



Last week when my daughter was at school I was strolling down Madison Avenue and I saw a street vendor around 60th st. that was selling a $10 pashmina that reminded me of the deco skirt, so I bought it (it wasn't a big investment and it felt very luxurious at the touch for a $10 scarf). The print is quite similar, but the background is whiter, while in the deco skirt there is the same amount of black and white:





I did wear it with the deco skirt and my black puffer coat even if it was a little bit too much print together, but I plan on wearing it a lot with my white Zara coat this winter. Now I have to go back and get the ocelot one!

Have a nice evening!

OOTD (featuring the Savon au Fleur de Lys Tee)

After a stormy Saturday we woke up to a gorgeous sunny Sunday here in NY. My husband left yesterday evening for a 10-day business trip in Brazil and ... Las Vegas (I know, I know, but he swears that it's for work) and I just hate being alone on Sundays. Well, now that my daughter can talk (and she talks A LOT!) I feel less alone but I still find Sundays particularly difficult to go through without DH around.

Anyway, we went outside this morning and I wore my new Savon au Fleur de Lys tee again. So this time I took pics in case any of you is still wondering which tee I was talking about in my previous post, as this one didn't make the blog rounds and was carried by few stores or sold out quickly (plus I like the outfit).
Here is the tee:



And the outfit with Gap jeans and JCrew varsity cardigan:


I could go outside without wearing a jacket or a coat. I just added my new Jcrew ruffled merino scarf (not sure about the name). I love it because when wrapped completely around the neck it looks like a beautiful collar, kind of the scarf version of the statement necklace:



Here it is with the ends untied:


The fact that my husband is travelling means that I have a lot more time to blog (you keep me company), so I plan to write a post a day, stay tuned!
And thanks God tonight it's Mad Men night, the perfect antidote to Sunday blues.

Another OOTD (Olive and Mia)

Actually it's a OOTE (Outfit of the Evening), that I wore yesterday night to a parents get together organized by my daughter's nursery school (it took place at one of the parent's place).
I have paired the Mia perfect skirt in dusty blossom with my new Olive top (you know that I had liked it a lot when I tried it on and I couldn't resist to pick it up with the 20% off last Sunday). It was a little bit warm yesterday night to wear a wool skirt but I loved the outfit so much that I gave up on the tights instead (which caused my feet to almost bleed as we were walking back home. I hope that the Juliet don't hurt as much if worn with tights because I own three pairs). I actually steamed the Olive top just after taking this pic, sorry for the wrinkles, it looked much better when I got dressed for real:



Have a nice Friday!

PS
Am I the only one to have a crush on this guy? I think that Glee is totally cheesy but I love the songs and I can't stop watching it because of Will. If you have missed the last episode, watch his best (and sexiest) performance so far here

Tees on Sale and OOTD

Just a quick post (no, it's not the giveaway yet) to let you know that a bunch of in-store only tees went on sale earlier this week, including the "Headache" tee (I saw one at the Madison Avenue-Midtown store), the "doggies" tee (I saw 2 Large at the same store) and the "Savon au Fleur de Lys" tee. They are all on sale for $19.99 I believe, but there were only two or three of each in the store. I picked up the Savon au Fleur de Lys (I love it, if you are interested in this one the Madison Collection store has two S) and the sparkling rose tee in the pewter color that went down to $29.99 and is also available on the website.

I'm wearing the Savon au Fleur de Lys tee (I had to wear it immediately) but earlier this morning I was wearing the new gingham shirt that I bought during the shopping event at the Columbus Cirle store last Sunday. I wasn't really convinced about the shirt but because we had a 20% off on all the purchases (it came down to $51 and it was one of the few things that they had in my size) I took it home.
I like this shirt but I don't wear shirts that much now that I don't work (I prefer blouses or tees and cardis) and I was afraid that it would hang in my closet unworn with many others that I've bought in the past. In other terms: I don't "need" this shirt. But I tried a few outfits with it and think that it looks adorable under the Gap schoolboy blazer (so it's a keeper):



It also look nice over a tissue turtleneck for added warmth. Today I was wearing it without boots because it's very warm and at same point I had to take off the blazer.
If you want to call a store, the item style is 23950. I'm wearing a 0 an it's perfect on me but if you're tall you might consider sizing up because the sleeves are quite short.

Have a nice day!

A Cardi for the Beaded Ribbon Top

I apologize for not being a good blogger these days, but the hours go by without me having the chance to get anything done and at the end of the day there I'm just too tired to blog (I still read my favorite blogs though, even if you don't see me commenting much). Where did that blogging time go? I guess that the problem is that 1) my daughter hasn't been a very good napper recently (my daughter's nap time = my blogging time) and I don't even attempt any longer to sneak out of her bedroom and blog when she's up and around because she knows which button has the magic power of turning off the computer and I can't even get mad at her for trying to get my attention (bad, bad blogger mommy) 2) my husband kindly reminded me that I have some family duties that involve fun stuff like ironing his shirts (or at least laundry them) and that blogging cannot be considered as a family duty 3) the battery of my camera had been out of charge for over a week and I couldn't find the charger ANYWHERE. Then yesterday it popped up in one of my daughter's toy bins and all of a sudden I could take pics again (I'm just too bad at writing posts without IRL pictures).

So my blogging will probably be sporadic until at least the next week, when my husband will be traveling again (for ten days) and I will be all bored and with a lot of time in my hands during those long evenings.
But I absolutely wanted to post this while I can and before it's too late (my daughter sleep pattern seems to be better today) in case you have the Beaded Ribbon-Front Top in antique stone and you are looking for something not too dressy to wear with it. Well, I found a good match for this top so I will finally be able to wear it at the next occasion (and maybe you can too).

Before finding what I think is a perfect cardigan for this top at another retailer, I tried a few Jcrew options.
The first one is the Mohair souffle cardigan in heather grey. Even before ordering I knew that it probably wouldn't work. However, because I scored a 20% off on it with CS, I thought that I would give it a try.
The thing with this top is that you need a long cardigan, because there is no way that it can be tucked in and the advantage of the mohair cardigan is that, well, it's long (at least on me).
In fact the style wasn't bad, but I think that the light grey color kind of dulls out the ribbon's beads and the color of the top in general:


Plus, and this is totally subjective, I felt like cuddling on the couch with a hot cup of tea in my hands (and I don't even drink tea), instead of going out and sparkling around in my ribbon top. That's the effect on the mohair cardigan on my mood. I never thought that a piece of clothing could be an energizer (or the total opposite), but I really had this "cocooning" feeling while I was wearing the mohair cardigan. And I forgot to mention that the itching factor is really an issue when wearing this cardigan with a sleeveless top. So back it went.

The second Jcrew option that I tried was a supersale spring item: the glimmer cardigan in natural (it disappeared from the website, so I cannot create the link but you probably know which cardigan is). I remember trying this cardigan in the dusty rose color when it came out and I remember thinking that the XS was really tight in the sleeves, so I ordered it in a S. Which was probably a mistake because the shape was a little bit lost. Anyway, the biggest problem with this cardigan paired with the ribbon top was the lenght (too short):




I liked the beige color better than the grey with the top but let's face it, this is a very thin summer cardigan that is not going to do much to keep me warm in the cold NYC winter. So back it went too.

At this point I decided that I would wait to see what the next rollouts had to offer, but I kept my eyes open while shopping at other retailers (which, I have to say, happens less and less often. I'm becoming a lazy shopper, which is all good for Jcrew).
So I was at Zara looking for a coat (Zara has the jackets and coats that fit me best), when I saw a cardigan in a hue that I thought would look great with the antique stone of the beaded top. And it was a long cardigan. And 100% cashmere (warm!) and for only $89!
The color is very similar to the warm wisteria, that is one of my favorite colors offered by Jcrew this season (now, if only they could make a cardigan in this color! But it doesn't matter any longer because Zara made it). Here it is (the color IRL is more similar to the color in the first two pics than in the third one):







I think that the color of this cardigan has the effect of enhancing the color of the top (quite the opposite of the grey mohair), and I also like that it makes it more understated and wearable. I like this casual version of the outfit with boots but I also plan to wear it with last year's crackled silver Mary-Janes or this year's Pippa flat that I have ordered recently and are on their way.
I was already won over it, but I happen to have another top that can benefit from this cardigan. It's the Silk Tiered Cami in deep aubergine. I know that I didn't like this cami when I tried it on for the blog but the deep aubergine is a more flattering color and I got it for $39 instead of $88, which changes everything, right? On the downside, it's a size 2 but I don't think that it really makes a big difference compared to the 0, especially under a cardi and belted (I'm on a belt kick, I'm belting everything, please indulge me):




I really recommend this cardigan, even if I understand that Zara is not accessible to everyone because it isn't available online yet (but the good news is, they are getting there and the WSJ reported that the first online store will open next year in Europe). However, I thought that this find could inspire you to look for something similar in this color.
If any of you is interested in this particular cardigan, the style number is 5145/811/659 and it comes in S, M and L.

My next post will be the long-time due first giveaway, but I don't know when it's going to happen, so stay tuned!

Some of the New Arrival (and Some Not So New)

I apologize for disappearing for three days but it wasn't my intention. In fact this post was ready on Tuesday afternoon (really, I was spell-checking it) when my daughter, who is becoming more and more jealous of the computer, DELETED all the text in the post leaving just the first paragraph (I still can't understand how she managed to do that in two clicks, I tried to do a paste hoping that the text had been copied in the notepad but it didn't work), and the Blogger autosave function kicked in just when I was about to close the window without saving HER work, so that was the end of it. You should have seen my face. Or maybe not.
Anyway, that left me a little bit dumb for the rest of the day and then yesterday was one of the busiest days ever (I had barely the time to check my emails and I couldn't even checkout what I had patiently put in my cart in the three days of the 20% promo, meaning that I didn't take advantage of it after all that work).
Only today I could face the task of writing it again (it's going to be less detailed than the first time but better than nothing, or so I hope).

So I checked out the new arrivals on Saturday at both the Rockfeller Center and Madison Avenue stores and I was really underwhelmed. More ruffles, more deja-crew embellished tees, more unseasonal sleeveless tops (I get the layering thing but all these really low necklines for winter?) and expensive items that look nice only in the catalog. But as someone mentioned on the JCA blog today, this rollout was much bigger on the website than in the stores, at least as per last Saturday, so there is hope that some gem wasn't out on the selling floor yet.
And WHERE ARE THEY HIDING THE COATS? It's getting REALLY cold here and I'm still waiting to see many of the coats IRL.
I warn you Jcrew: some other retailer (probably Zara) is going to get my coat budget if you don't pull out the coats ASAP.

Sorry for the ranting but I still had the $25 off $125 card (I was one of the lucky few to get it in the last catalog) to spend ((it was the last day before expiration date) and I didn't know what to spend it on. Crazy! I got a pair of ankle toothpick jeans in black wash (on sale for $69.99) and I really had a hard time to find something to reach the $125. I ended up buying the calf-hair belt that I had been eyeing for a while but didn't want to spend $68 on.
Anyway, I took some pics of what I tried on (but not everything because the battery of my camera was almost dead) to show you.

Let's start with the winner of the "it looks good only in the catalog" prize: the Pleated Paulette top, that retails for $168. This is how it looks unbottoned (the button holes are hidden under the placket, which makes it very difficult to actually button it):



By the way, this top, DOESN'T LOOK GOOD worn alone (it's very boxy and I think that it's supposed to be worn more like a vest than a top, or at least it was styled like that in the store). After 10 minutes I gave up on finding a way to place the fabric belt without cutting through the pleats, as you can see (the SAs have probably been given an instruction manual, but I didn't feel like calling someone for this).


The next one is the Classic-stripe tissue tee, that many JCAs including HeidiG, Dinagedeon and Summerilla have loved. Personally I didn't like it, I think that is one of those item that looks much better on taller gals. Plus it's super-thin and I think that season for this is already over here in NYC (unless you want to wear it under a sweater, but again being that long is not the ideal layering tee IMO):



Next, a in-store only new arrival, the woman's version of the Men's secret wash lightweight point-collar shirt that made an appereance under the Downtown field jacket and the Minnie pants in the September catalog (page 64). This one is cute (for $64), and has a holiday feeling to it (although I only saw the navy, no red for the time being). Is not as fitted as the perfect shirts IMO (I'm trying a 0) and the actual color is a little bit lighter than in the pic:



The only tee that I hadn't seen before was this one:

And you thought that neon was a summer thing! I don't remember at all the price of this tee but I remember it being very thin. The color of the sequined flower is much more like a punch in the eye than the pic shows. What were they thinking?

Anyway, it would look good with the Ruffled Celosia (?) cardigan in bright coral.
I wanted to show you this pic because the S was enormous on me, so size down in case you want to order this cardigan:



I have to say that the description "extrafine merino wool in a 14-gauge knit, so soft it feels like cashmere" is perfectly true (is thick merino and soft as cashmere at the touch). It's truly a beautiful cardigan and it's almost sold-out in the stores, so I'm happy that is now being offered on the website. I wouldn't wait too much on this one if you want to get it.

Because it's getting chilly here, I tried a cashmere turtleneck to get an idea of the fit for a future purchase (I never buy cashmere FP because sooner or later there will be a promo and even if I miss the sales is not like they are going to stop producing cashmere turtlenecks anyway). I had read some JCAs report that this year's version was big in the body and snug elsewhere, but I didn't get the same impression, unless you want your turtlenecks really fitted. Here is in the Jalapeno color that is part of the colors offered in the new rollout (beautiful if you love green):



I also tried the Cashmere boatneck popover. This one is pure perfection: perfect fit, perfect lenght, perfect color (the beautiful CSP - Cinnamon Spice - that I don't see on the website).



It's going to be hard to resist this one, especially if the temperatures continue to drop. In the last three years I didn't get much wear out of my cashmeres because the winters have been pretty mild here but it looks like this year we are going to have one of those winters with freezing temperatures, so it might be a better investment than yet another sleveless top.

And now the item that I liked over everything else. This isn't new but it was the first time that I saw it IRL. You maybe remember that in my last "new arrivals" post I had tried on the Olive dress and I wasn't carried away; this time around I tried the Olive flannel top and I LOVED it. This is the 0 in heather carbon (currently waitlisted on the website):



It's perfectly fitted and the cowl neck is not as low as in the dress. It can look very sophisticated but it can also be "dressed down" with jeans and a belt:



I almost pulled the trigger during the 20% off promo but the fact that it was waitlisted until basically Thanksgiving turned me off. I will probably wait for it to go on sale now but if your lifestyle allows you to get a lot of wear out of this kind of pieces (it's perfect for the workplace), I have only one advice: GET IT NOW!

That's it until next Sunday, when I will visit the Time Warner store for the first JCA event in the city ever, thank you so much Summerilla for organizing it! I'm so excited to meet some other JCAs who live in the city!

As usual, any question let me know!

Columbus Weekend Outfits

Good morning! I hope that you all had a great weekend (and for those of you who don't work today, enjoy the day off courtesy of Columbus and my Italian compatriots!)

I thought that I would do a quick post of my weekend outfits to start off the week.

Saturday I went to two of the bigger Jcrew stores in the city to check out the new arrivals and the sales section, so I dressed comfortably and I tried to avoid the total Jcrew look. In fact I didn't wear any Jcrew item, which is pretty rare these days for me. Because we had a typical fall weather in the morning, I wore a plum Gap blouse from many years ago, jeans and a Free People knit coat:




I have added the gold and crystal-cluster necklace (that I bought on sale last week and appears to be currently sold-out on the website), and the wide leather gold belt (currently on sale for $29.99, down from $55) for the evening:



Sorry for the blurred pic, but it was almost dark outside and I know that I wouldn't "replicate the outfit" the day after. I ended up wearing my pijamas instead of this because we decided to order in instead of going out, but I loved the easy transformation of the outfit from day to night. By the way, I highly reccomend this belt, the leather is incredibly soft and its bronzed-tone goes with just about everything. I'm a sucker for Jcrew belts (more on that in another post), they are totally worth the money IMO.

Yesterday, I went very casual but the outfit is worth showing because I wore one of my favorite sweaters. It's a crewneck merino sweater by Tory Burch and I couldn't wear it in the last two-three years because of body changes due to the pregnancy (it was fitted to start with but it became even more fitted after I put it in the washing machine. Now I dry clean it only, which aso explains why I don't wear it as often as I would like) but I can finally pull it off again.
The Tory logo is, I think, my all-time favorite logo and I love the chic simplicity of the brown patent leather and navy in this sweater:



Because it was pretty cold in the morning, I wore my Jcrew sherpa hoodie from last year over the sweater (an advantage of the sweater being so fitted), half-zipped up (to show off the logo, of course). The cords are last year's matchstick in sea salt:



Happy Columbus Day and stay tuned for a post on Jcrew new arrivals and my first giveaway!

October Wedding: What I Wore (and What I've Learned)

So you're finally going to see what I wore at the wedding last Saturday. I hope that you won't feel "betrayed", because as you will see, I changed my mind at the very last minute (that's typical me, I'm a INFP personality type if this tells you anything at all) and I ended up wearing something that I had in my closet and I hadn't considered when I wrote the post with my different outfit options. But it's not like I had always known what to wear and I was just kidding around. I had litterally forgotten about it until a few hours before the wedding.
Also, a warning: it's going to be a long post with few pics (I didn't take the camera with me to the wedding). But if you read through the end I promise that you will have some fun.

But let's start from the beginning. As I said in my previous post, I hadn't the time (or the energy) to go shopping for an evening cardigan/shoes/wrap the week before the wedding, and that actually put outfits number 3 (the dress) and 5 (the skirt) out of the contest because those really needed some kind of investement. That basically left me with only one choice (by your overwhelming response I excluded the first two outfits with pants), ie outfit number 4, the one with the deco skirt, that also had the advantage to be my husband favorite after the pants.

So, I had everything planned out and at 10 in the morning I went to my appointment with the hairdresser where I had my color done and I chopped my hair a little bit (you have to know that besides the occasional blowdry, I go to the hairdresser for a cut and color very rarely, like once every 4 or 5 months. Thanks God for weddings and other festivities, otherwise I would never go. I have too much hair and the only though of spending at least 4 hours sitting in a chair while I could be elsewhere, like Jcrew or a movie, makes me to postpone undefinitively the call to take the appointment and with my kind of hair is just not possible to show up on a Saturday and be taken, especially when your stylist is the one who does Ramona from the Real Housewife of NYC! Yes, I have a celebrity hairdresser. Sorry for the digression but I thought it was worth mentioning).
As soon as my hair was done, it started to rain (literally a few steps after I had walked out from the salon), so instead of going for a mani as planned, I went straight home because I didn't have an umbrella with me even if I had checked the weather.com site before leaving in the morning and they said that it would rain (typical me again).

While I was waiting for the rain to stop a little bit (it was pouring), I pull out my outfit (I choose the tights and added a silk wrap) and steamed what had to be steamed, then I tried it on one last time and I didn't feel it completely. I still liked the outfit in itself but I felt a little bit "exposed" for a wedding, maybe because the skirt is very short and with black sheer tights is more noticeable. I started to regret the decision of not going with the dress. And that's when I remembered for the first time another old dress that I have worn in many "special occasions" and I had totally forgotten about this time around for I don't know which reason (probably because I was focused on wearing something new that I hadn't worn before). But at that point, it was just a thought, like "Oh, it's true, I DO have another dress".

Then I went for the mani and I saw that the people outside were wearing "fall" clothes involving some sort of jacket (despite the mild temperature) and all of a sudden my entire outfit felt inappropriate.
So when I came home (it was 4.30 already and we had to leave at 5.30) I reached for the dress and changed myself. When my husband saw me, he asked "Why are you changing yourself?". "Because I don't have a jacket to wear with the skirt". To which my husband replied "Does it mean that you have a jacket to wear with that dress?"
He had a point. I felt more dressed-up but I still hadn't an outfit and because of the color, a beautiful aqua, and the fabric, I couldn't wear my black wrap with it.
Then I realized that it was almost the same color than the Havona and that I had planned to wear the Havona with the spice olive satin soiree jacket, so I took the jacket out and really, really hoped that it would work. And it did!

So ladies, let me finally show you my outfit. I bought the dress at the Juniors department of Lohemann's a few years ago and even if it's a "cheap" dress (think F21), the color is stunning and it fits me like a glow (and my husband loves it):




And this is with the soiree blazer. I was actually very happy to wear a jacket because the temperature in the room where the ceremony was held was freezer-like.




I took the pics just before putting on a pair of sheer tights, but other than that, this is how I headed out (without a clutch, but I'm not a clutch person and I had pockets to carry my cellphone in case the babysitter would call, so it was fine). Granted, had I known that I was going to wear this outfit, I would have put more thought in the jewelry instead of throwing on the glass and pearl necklace, and I would have probably had a buff pedi, but I felt really great anyway.

Until we arrived at the wedding venue (which was a restaurant in Long Island City directly on the East River, that boosted a breathtaking view of the Manhattan skyline) and we were let in a "waiting room" were all the guests were gathered while the bride and groom were getting ready upstairs. And where ALL THE LADIES WERE IN BLACK. And I mean total black. The first ten seconds were kind of ackward, like I had missed a "Black dress suggested" on the invitation. I was prepared to see an evening gowns extravaganza and ladies much more elegant than me (as a rule I prefer to underdress at weddings because I always thought that the best dressed in the room should be the bride and one should dress up to show respect, not to steal the show) but I wasn't quite prepared to be crowned THE LADY WHO DIDN'T WEAR BLACK. A few ladies who, like me, didn't get the memo arrived after us (there was me, a lady with a long green chiffon dress, a lady with a full skirt in a flower print and a few purple dresses that could be mistaken for black) but more important the mother of the bride was wearing a long strapless chiffon dress in a delicate animal print (think DVF) which was pretty weird given that even the bridesmaids were in black.

Anyway, after the first shock I was pretty amused by the situation and it turned out to be a good conversation starter ("You know, this is my first wedding in the USA, why all the ladies are wearing black? We don't usually wear black ar weddings in Italy").
And I never felt ashamed, because I was feeling great in that outfit.
Moreover my husband was in the mood for dancing. If you haven't lived in France, nor have French people in your entourage you have to know that the Frenchies knows how to dance. And I'm talking Dirty Dancing meets classic Rock&Roll, where you have to swirl and catch your partner's hand at the last minute so he would pull you back before on the dance floor. My husband claims that they don't learn it at school but how is it that every Frenchman my age (even the ones that you would never tell) knows how to dance this way? I always feel inadequated when I dance with my husband because I know that I'm out of his league and he doesn't really enjoy it (I am a very good "solo" dancer though) but Saturday night something happened and all of a sudden I was doing all the good moves and catching his hand at the good moment and even taking the initiative. And you know what? I think that part of it was because the outfit gave me confidence in myself. At the end of the first dance my husband looked at me as if he was seeing me for the first time and he said "You got it! You were good up there!" and he wanted to dance with me again and again (the long necklace added some fun because it would move along with us).

So in the end, I had a lot of fun and that's the most important thing right? After 10 minutes it doesn't really matter what you're wearing if you feel good about yourself. In fact I think that the more easily you can forget about what you're wearing the more you can relax and have fun.

(However I also learned that I really need a backup dress and at least an evening bolero/jacket to complete my other outfits, so I will be stalking the sample sale sites like Gilt, RueLaLa or Ideeli look for it at Lohemans the next time)

Have a nice weekend!

A Beauty Find (plus a New Jcrew Necklace)

I have never blogged about beauty products before because I don't think that I have any beauty secret worth a post (in fact, I would say that I don't even have a real beauty routine or a favorite product) but I was wandering at Duane Reade this morning (I had just dropped my daughter at school and I had an hour and a half to kill - the full morning schedule isn't in place yet and the school is too far for me to go back and forth - but at 9 in the morning there isn't much to do) and I feel like sharing a "great find" with you.

I needed a pedicure and I was browsing the nail polishes, that is maybe the beauty product that I tend to buy more often because I prefer to bring my own polish to the nail saloon (am I the only one who feels stressed when it comes to choosing a polish at the saloon?). Actually I was trying to find the polish that HeidiG is wearing in this post (by the way check out her blog for fabulous beauty posts), that I've also seen, I think, on a mommy at the playground the other day and found being an amazing color IRL) and I stumbled upon this black polish that had its own display:



I have been tempted by black polish before but I never dared (I know that when you look at the Chanel ads it looks Oh so chic! but I'm wary of the potential Morticia Addams effect in real life).
Anyway, I never wanted to spend money on a black polish but this was only ... $0.99. Yes, 99 cents! I didn't even know that you could buy a polish for 99 cents! In NYC! So I decided to give it a try, especially given that Halloween is coming soon and worst-case scenario I can always use it as a complement of a scary last-minute costume.
I tried it at home (over my old polish, because I had no time for a serious pedi) and I can tell you that it has a nice, Chanel-chic shine finish, as you can see by yourself (I'm wearing a pair of BR peep-toe patent flats that I had completely forgotten about and I found when I was looking for my riding boots the other day. They were IN THE SAME BOX):



So now you will probably think that I suffer from a bipolar disorder because I just told you yesterday that I don't like wearing total-black and today I'm trying to convince you to paint your toenails in black (and as everybody knows, black nails call for a total black outfit). But I didn't say that I don't like wearing black in the evening, right (I am just checking that you were paying attention)? And even if you can't change your polish (especially a black one) as you change your outfit, we should agree that black polish should be reserved for the night if you want to avoid the "teen experimenting with her mama polish" look or the above mentionned "Gothic queen" one.

As if the polish was a sign, later I went to Jcrew to check if they had a pair of the (black) suede Juliet that went on sale this week (no chance here) and I ended up buying a new (black) necklace that they received with the new arrivals (more on that maybe tomorrow).

It's called the "Round Fireball Necklace" and it looks a lot like last year's fireball necklace but 1) it's black and 2) it's way cheaper ($35). The pics don't do it justice, but anyway here it is:



Now, it is cheaper than the "original" fireball for a reason. The hardware isn't the same quality (for starters it's a pullover, there is no clasp) and the chain is smaller and feels cheaper. Plus, there are only 6 "fireballs" instead of 7, which also makes it more difficult to wear because there isn't a center of gravity (the 7th fireball) and with the movement of the body I'm pretty sure that it isn't going to stay in place like this:



I also happen to own the original fireball (bought on ebay, but it's the original), so I took a pic of the two together for you to compare:




Anyway I really liked it at first sight and when I saw the price I liked it even better. Plus I have been looking for an easy necklace to wear with black and/or silver (ie not gold) and this one is perfect. I think that is going to be one of my fave, not to mention that it's perfect with the deco skirt that is maybe my favorite item of this season (so far).
I don't know if this is one of those retail-only items that is being offered in stores only. Anyway, if you want more details about it, I will be happy to share.

Do you wear black polish? Do you like this new necklace or you prefer last year version?

PS
We are a follower away from my first giveaway! I had decided that I would celebrate my 100th follower with a giveaway, so call a friend and let her know about my blog ;-).

PS2
Check back tomorrow for my wedding outfit post. I promise some fun.