OOTD (Or the Spring-ization of the Lolli Pant!)

Hello, I hope that you had a great weekend and you survived Monday (I know that it is not the same thing when you don't work, I still remember the stomachache waking up on Monday mornings and realizing that I had to go to the office, but it is a change of routine for us SAHMs too, not having daddy around and all).
I actually feel like I have survived spring break (do they give out medals for that?) My daughter goes back to school today after two weeks of iatus, yahoo (you know that I love her but we were going a little bit crazy here, especially since the weather didn't cooperate at all)!!!

And, dare I say that it is getting warmer and spring-ier? It is not spring in full bloom yet but I feel like the worst is behind us.
Yesterday I woke up with an irrisistible envy of wearing my Lolli pant, that I have worn only once (and only around the house) since I bought them before the holidays (you can blame it on the snow). I must admit that I almost put them up for sale on the Weekly Exchange because for some reason I categorized them as "holiday wear that won't be worn until the next holiday season if I still like it", until I browsed the previews of the next JCrew Fall Collection and I saw that they made pair that looks exactly the same (in fact, it looks like they recycled them). This made me change my mind about selling them because I know that when I see them styled in one of the Fall catalogs I will probably be taken by the urge to buy a pair, when I already had a pair just waiting to be worn in my closet. And that would be silly, wouldn't it?

I sold them I would have missed on the spring outfit that I wore yesterday morning, which turned out to be one of my favorite outfits ever. Absolutely speaking, the best color to wear with the Lolli is charcoal grey IMO but I was looking for something lighter when I scanned my clothes in search of something to wear with them. Then I realized that I could wear them with a neutral top and my watercolor pastiche scarf from last year, which is to my closet what cherry blossom is to nature: an ode to spring. I hope you agree!

Here you go (the tee is the cashmere tee in natural from a few seasons ago):

The belt is an important part of this outfit, it just ties everything together. This is the patent skinny belt in orchid shadow from spring 2010, that I bought on a popback last month. I don't have many colored belts, I tend to gravitate towards neutrals, but it is the perfect color for the Lolli:

Then I added my Gap blazer:

Here is another spring-y outfit with the Lolli and the suckered gingham shirt from last summer. I love this shirt and I am kicking myself for not buying more colors on sale (this was called light berry, I think?) I almost ruined it when I put it accidentally in the dryer but three ironing sessions later it is almost like before (in case you have it, DON'T PUT IT IN THE DRYER), just a little bit more ...suckered:

I have the perfect sweater to wear with this shirt, that was sent to me by a friend of mine with whom I swap clothes (we are the same size and we love the same brands). It is a Calypso sweater in a color almost identical to JCrew orchid shadow. I love that it is a short V-neck cardigan, perfect to wear with the Lolli:

And more formal, with the Gap blazer:

I hope that I gave you some ideas on how to wear the Lolli pants this spring.
Do you have the Lolli and if yes, are you still wearing them? Please share!

In my next post I will share pics of the Tory Burch shoes that I bought during the Bloomies F&F promo last week. Stay tuned!

OOTD: The Carly Dress Goes to (Mid)town

So it wasn't that difficult to download pics on this computer after all. I have a review of a new item coming up but because I have very little time I'm going to show you my outfit of the day.

This morning I went with my daughter to the Rockfeller center to meet my parents neighbors (of all people) who know me since I was a little girl and are here on vacation. When we left, the air was still frisky but I knew that by lunch it would be very warm (HOT in fact). It was the occasion to break out my Carly dress! I have to say that I didn't like this dress the first time that I tried it on, probably because I tried it in the amethyst color instead of the grey (which is much more flattering on me); but after seeing and liking it on many JCAs (especially Dinagideon and DaniBP) I decided to give it another try. By then, the grey was almost sold out in stores but luckily I found one in my size after a few tentatives. Well, I am very glad that I changed my mind on this dress because I really like it and it's perfect for my lifestyle (I think that the grey is more casual than the amethyst, which for me it's always a plus).

As many have said, this dress needs a belt, which is fine to me. However, what I find a little bit challenging is wearing a cardigan with it, because of the fabric (a chino cotton) and of the ruffles that tend to bulk up under it. I tell you, I tried almost every cardigan that I have and wasn't satisfied with any of them. In the end the "less worst" was this Theory open cotton cardigan, which is a little bit chunky itself so less prone to let the countours of the dress show underneath:





I tried the belt over the cardigan, but it added weight and accentuated the "cupcake" shape of the dress.
Anyway, it's definitively prettier worn by itself (or the right jacket). And don't you think that my BR purse is perfect with this dress and this belt?



In case you are wondering, I didn't go out barefoot but I was wearing a pair of BR grey perlarized ballet flats from last year that I wore to (almost) death (very comfy). As usual I took my shoes off before/after taking the pics.

For those who own this dress, what do you wear your Carly with? Did you find a cardigan from the current JCrew offerings that goes with it (I would be interested to know)?

Our Easter weekend has already started (my husband came home earlier), so I don't think that I will be able to publish anything else before Monday.
I hope that you all have a Happy (and sunny) Easter!

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.