Packing for LA (and feeling like Jennifer Aniston)

I have been procrastinating the packing until this morning, when I decided to try some outfits on and take pics for the blog to motivate myself. I'm travelling alone with my daughter (my husband is already in LA and will pick us up at the airport) so I am trying to not overpack. I have imposed myself the rule that for each item that I bring I must be able to create two outfits, except for the dresses for the party.

The first item that I'm going to bring is the striped sequin henley, that I'm going to pair with a purchase from the new arrivals that many of you got right (special mention to casual-crew who picked this one out of all of them in my new arrivals post): I couldn't leave the cropped matchstick jeans in the store (see shopping rule number 5) and as a matter of fact a pair of cropped jeans where on my wishlist this year as I didn't have any. These aren't THAT cropped on me but I really like the supersoft and the summery "dream" wash.
Mrs. anketell, if you are reading, this outfit is for you:




I love the henley paired with the ruffled knit vest, but if it turns out that I don't have enough room in the suitcase this one is going to stay home (as it's kind of voluminous and I don't "need it").
The second outfit with the henley is very casual and I'm planning to wear it to hang out in Santa Monica, Abbott Kinley Bd. or have breakfast on Melrose (although it may be a little bit too far from the villa):



The second item is the tulle fountain top. I really love this top. I'm going to pair it with my white jeans to go out in the evening:



Ok, maybe I am not going to wear the ON neon pink flip-flops to go out but I wanted to show them to you as they are identical to the Jcrew ones (they are more "neon" than in this pic and they only they cost $9.50):



I know that this will sound weird but because I own the hatch print bikini I also plan on wearing it over the bikini to hang out around the pool.
Speaking of pool, we are going to have a pool barbecue on Sunday and I am going to wear one of these:



Yes, that's the Target Teagan tunic. Thanks to Sweet Tea in Seattle who posted the link to purchase it on the Target website in this post, so I could get one (as I never go to Target and I thought that it was in-store only). For $26 it is a stunning print and perfect to wear around the pool (less the jeans).
The other option is my loyal DVF wrap dress from a few years ago, that I am going to take anyway to hang around the house:



That's more or less it. I will throw in a few basic tees and maybe another top if I have enough room (wishful thinking). The question is how much time we are going to spend at the house and how much out in LA. Because our daughter is coming with us and the house is kind of remote, I bet that we are not going to take the car much but our best friends are staying in Santa Monica and they are coming with their son, so I think that at least we are up for a stroll in Santa Monica.

I almost forgot: you must wonder what all this has to do with Jennifer Aniston. Well, besides the fact that she is the image of California to me, a tanned and blonde version of the French Marianne, I had an appointment with my hairdresser this morning and my hair really, really remind me of Jennifer's (pardon my modesty, it must be the excitement of the trip):



Have a great Memorial Day weekend, I will take plenty of pics of the house and the party to share with you (BTW someone asked if we have hired a parsonal photographer for the party. We didn't, but I hope that this little gadget that I bought along with my new camera will take the pictures for us while we sip cocktails).

OOTD (Yes, I'm wearing Yellow, Not Green)

OK, I know that I should be wearing green today in honor of St. Patrick but I'm not Irish after all (and not much of a "green" person).

Instead I'm wearing my yellow merino boyfriend sweatshirt again. It is a gorgeous sunny day here and when I woke up I just felt like wearing yellow (plus I must admit I didn't realize that it was St. Patrick's Day until I saw strange people wearing green in the street). I am in love with this "honey" shade but I have to say that it looks richier on this sweater than on the ethereal merino cardigan, that also comes in honey (not that I own it, but I saw it IRL and I was a little bit disappointed).

Anyway, I thought that I would give the Liberty of London for Target Tiered Ruffle Keyhole Tank a try under this sweater:




I know, cute, you can go ahead and copy the outfit if you have both (it works better if you have long hair because it gets a little bit messy in the back, with the keyhole and everything);-). However I didn't wear it because I'm not 100% sure that I'm going to keep the tank. I find the ruffled neckline a little bit overwhelming (even worn backwards) and I have the dress in the same print coming my way. I think that if the dress fits well I will get more use out of it than the top in the summer. BTW, both the dress and the top are made in poly, not silk as I had previously thought (and wrote). However, it's a poly that does look more like silk than other styles in this collection.

But I did wear my BR purse (and it wasn't the first time). It's really the right purse for my needs (not to mention that I love it) and if my husband wants to offer me a Vuitton, he's more than welcome but I won't cry if he doesn't.

My husband is travelling this week, so you can expect another post this evening!

Visit to the Liberty of London for Target Temporary Store in Manhattan

As many of you I was really curious about the Liberty of London for Target Collection that hits the stores this Sunday (even if apparently some stores have already received some merchandise). I was hoping that they would sell some pieces of the collection online because I wasn't sure that I could make the trek to Brooklyn (our closest store) on a Sunday. I could have tried to convince my husband that toilet paper is cheaper at Target and that it was worth the trip (and then I could have maybe pretended that I had got lost into the store and disappear for half an hour?), but you see that the plan was complicated and there were chances of failure.

Well what is that they say, if Mohammad doesn't go to the mountain, the mountain goes to Mohammad (liberally translated from Italian). Last Sunday while I was reading the New York Times, I saw big had that announced a "sneak peek" of the collection in Manhattan (in Midtown) from March 10 to March 13 and because today was my free day (longest day of school for my daughter) I went to have a look after drop-off.

I wasn't prepared for this. They have put up a temporary Target store entirely dedicated to showcase (and sell) the Liberty of London Collection. The decor was just gorgeous, it was like entering in the world of Alice in Wonderland. Luckily I had my camera with me and I could take pics so you can enjoy a little bit of the show.

This is the entrance of the store, on the corner of 42nd St. and 6th Avenue (normally, there is no Target there, and I hope that they were also trying out the location for a future store in Manhattan):



The interior was a feast for the senses, with real flowers everywhere as a counterpart to the flowers on the pretty Liberty fabrics:



Those are umbrellas hanging from the ceiling (the umbrellas on sale were all gone by the time I got there):



They had a couple of these giant tea cups through the store:


This was the main display of the collection pieces:



The rack with the long dresses (againt a wall of hedges):


These bicycles were on sale for $199:



And the registers!



Some of the "hottest" items where gone when I got there (someone told me that yesterday, opening day, there was a line all along the block) and many of the tops were poly (looking like poly) and in some cases the combination of the poly fabric and the print reminded me of H&M. The line for the fitting rooms was extremely long because they only had five fitting rooms and customers were allowed as many items as they could possibly carry. In the end I only bought one thing for me, but the girls little dresses and tops were to die for (and generally better quality than the women's ones), so I brought home three for my daughter.

Ths is going to make a perfect party dress (for only $14.99):


And how adorable is this little romper ($11.99):


The only piece that I bought for me is a top in the same gorgeous print of the dress that is featured on the Target ad. By the time I arrived the dress was gone in my size (only L and XL were left), but I like the top as well. This one is in a heavy silk (not poly) and the price is $19.99. It it supposed to be worn with the keyhole on the front, like this:




But I think that I prefer to wear it with the opening in the back, like this:



The store wraps up on Saturday at the end of the day and then the merchandise will be shipped to the Target stores in the city. They told me that they are not restoking so at this point you might want to wait and checkout the regular stores on Sunday. Still, if you are in Manhattan, it is worth it to stop by at least for the "total Liberty experience" if not for the clothes themselves. It's quite impossible to walk out without buying anything, especially if you have a little girl.

Happy shopping!

OOTD: Leopard, Cheeta and Toothpick

This is a mix of pics of my real OOTD and an outfit that I had tried on last week when it was warmer and I could have got away with a short-sleeve tissue turtleneck and a jacket (but I wore my Halloween outfit for three days in a row instead and now it's too cold).
The first item that I bought in this outfit are the shoes. Back in the summer I had a brief love affair with the leopard print Tory Burch Revas in calf-hair and I bidded a couple of times on them on Ebay but for some reasons it didn't work out. Then I saw these Target pointy-toe flats that aren't a cheap print but real calf-hair (another of Gigi's finds, I never go to Target as the closest is in Brooklyn, no less, and I'm like Miranda of SATC, pre-baby) selling for almost a tenth of the price of the Revas and I was sold (plus I love pointy-toe shoes, I think that we don't see them around enough). Then I bought the toothpick (not "to wear with the leopard flats", but it can't be denied that this style goes greatly with pointy flats) and then the Jcrew Cheeta calf-hair belt. I'm sure that this one will go on sale because it's a quite expensive belt but I LOOOOOVED it and took advantage of a $25 off $125 card to buy it (actually I bought it along with the jeans).
So the bottom part of my outfit was easy because I bought these pieces with the intention of wearing them together.
But strangely enough I had a hard time finding a top to wear with the black jeans and the animal print accessories. Initially, I didn't want to go "total black with animal print accents" and I tried different sweaters in the beige color palette but in the end I think that a black top works better than a lighter top.
Anyway, this is the version that I wore today, minus the hat (I was just taking my daughter to a playdate):


And the final touch is this Plexiglas leopard bracelet that I bought for $5 on the street, the same day that I bought the Deco pashmina (can you tell that I'm momentarily tired of expensive jewelry)?



Have a great week (DH is coming home tomorrow so you know where I am if I don't reply. Oh no, this came across like a bad sex joke, did it?)

PS
Not that I want to sell you anything on this blog, but if you like the shoes (and I can vouch on their cuteness and quality), I have a second pair in a size 6H (my size was sold-out and I ordered one size up and one size down and I'm keeping the 7H) that I can still return to Target but can offer you for $25 shipped (the price was $29.99 and they are completely sold-out). Please don't make me go to Brooklyn to return these (just kidding).
If interested, please email me at crazyaboutjcrew@gmail.com.