Saturday Night Outfit (Taking out the Beaded Ribbon Top)

So we were invited to a 40th birthday party Saturday night in one of the best restaurant of the city (where my friend had rented a private room). The invitation said (very promisingly) "join us to drink, eat and dance" but there was no indication of a dress code(and I checked twice). After your ovewhelming response in favor of the Brynn poplin dress in this post (by the way, I apologize for never commenting back but your opinion did make a difference) I had decided to return the Zara dress and keep the Brynn and when the invitation to the party came in the mail I thought that it would be the perfect occasion to wear it.

However, I couldn't see myself dancing in the Brynn. I tried at home (you know, dancing in front of the mirror all dressed up at two in the afternoon for the plaisure of your neighborhoods) but I was too worried about the whereabouts of my boobs to really let myself go) and wearing a dance-prohibiting dress to a party where you know that you are supposed to dance (I mean, they told me on the invitation right?) is social suicide, isn't it?
So, I ended up wearing a more dance-friendly outfit. Which you have already seen, at least a part of it, because it was one of the candidate outfits to wear at the wedding I attended in early October. Do you remember this?



Sadly my beaded ribbon top had still the tags attached (my social life this fall has been close to zero due to my husband travelling all the time), so I was very happy to finally being able to take it out.
I completed the outfit with my Zara Chanel-esque jacket. The jacket has silver threads that go really well with the ribbon top, as you can see:



I really liked that with the jacket fully zipped (that I had planned to keep on for cocktails and maybe dinner), you couldn't guess the top underneath:


Shoe-wise, I traded my pewter Mary-Janes (that would have been more festive, I will give you that) for my Miu Miu patent pumps, so this the actual outfit as I wore it:


The only problem that I had was the (absence of) necklace. The neckline of the Zara jacket is cut very low and it would have looked better with a short necklace (like a choker). However, the beading of the ribbon top is a necklace in itself and adding another necklace would have been completely wrong. So without necklace I went. What do you think, have you any idea for the next time? I think that a chiffon scarf in the same shade than the skirt or silvery would have worked, but I don't have any.

Once again I was one of the very few in the room not to wear black (I think it's going to be my trademark). Anyway we had fun and I was very comfortable in my outfit when it came to dance:



Have a great week!

Thanksgiving Outfit

Hello everybody, I hope that you enjoyed your turkey yesterday and you are recovering fine today!

We spent Thanksgiving at our friend's parents in the Upper West Side, who organize a big family gathering that starts at noon and ends with the traditional (delicious) Thanksgiving dinner. This is the second year that they invite us and even if we get to see them just on Thanksgiving day they have become our "surrogate" family here in the US and we are very grateful that they have decided to adopt the three of us.

Last year I wore the Victoria long-sleeved white shirt and a pair of matchstick cords and I was WAY overdressed compared to the other guests. This year I wanted to play it down so I ended up wearing an outfit that I already wore a couple of weeks ago and thought it was cute without being overdone:





The tee under the Michelle cardigan is last spring rosette tee. I haven't worn this tee much for two reasons: first because I bought it too late in the season (May, I think) and it's not a summer tee in my opinion; second, because I didn't have any cardigan in a pink shade to wear with it. After wearing this outfit the first time, I realized that I didn't need the Slub cotton faded floral tee and I returned it. Even if I still do think that it's perfect with the dusty blossom perfect pencil skirt I don't wear skirts in general and that one in particular so much to justify the FP purchase of a tee just to wear with it and with other outfits I can get away with the original rosette tee with the same results.

I knew that nobody would wear jewelry but I couldn't resist wearing the F21 pearl necklace that I bought from Gigi in the spring. This necklace is one of the best that I have and you couldn't beat the price (something like $9).
I was still a little bit overdressed but I preferred it this way.

Our Black Friday is very Hi-Tech oriented this year. We had planned to checkout the doorbuster deals at BestBuy.com (as you probably remember we went flat-screen shopping last Saturday but we decided to wait for the Black Friday deals before buying). My daughter, who is always up by 6-6.30 decided to oversleep this morning, of all the mornings, so not only we missed all the "doorbuster deals" on the Internet but the TV screen that we had decided to buy sold-out at our local BestBuy and the other uptown stores and my husband had to go all the way downtown to get one (my husband is very handy so we didn't want to pay the shipping and installation, store pick-up and a taxi ride is just fine). Finally, we decided not to go with a LED screen because for the size that we needed (a 40') there isn't much difference in quality image between the LED and LCD technologies (but if you go up in size the difference is remarkable). The rest of the day was spent in installing the TV and now I'm off to Best Buy again to get a Playstation so we can watch the DVDs that we rented for the weekend (Pixar's "UP" is part of the lineup). Wish me luck, this is the worst time of the year (Black Friday at 4 in the afternoon) to be out there!

I almost forgot that I DO have a glamorous party tomorrow night (even if technically it isn't a holiday party but a 40th birthday party of a friend who rented a room in one of the best restaurant in the city), I will post pics on Monday.
Have a great rest of Thanksgiving weekend!

A Glamorous Morning (and OOTD)

My day started off very glamorously. After dropping off my daughter at school I stopped at my favorite coffee joint (well, I don't know if I can really call it a joint, it's a very polished Italian "cafe" on Madison) and I hold the door for a group of ladies who were getting out while I was getting in. One of them looked very familiar and after a few seconds I recognized her: it was Tory Burch. My first thought was that she is an incredibly pretty lady with an amazing skin (not a single wrinkle on her face); the second thought was that she is not as "petite" as she looks like in the magazines (maybe she was wearing high heels but she had wide-leg pants and I couldn't see her feet). Third thought: why I am not wearing something by Tory so she can see that I'm a big fan of hers? At least I was wearing my Revas but one out of two women in NYC wears Revas, it's not a big sign of reverence. You have to know that speaking of fashion, there are two things that I am proud of. The first is that I was one of the few to have ever heard of Marc Jacobs when nobody knew him, at least in Europe. I have a pair of sandals from his first collection that I can no longer wear but I keep like a museum piece. The second is that I was one of the first to discover and follow Tory Burch. I went to her first sample sale in NY and it was EMPTY because nobody knew her. Can you imagine that now?
So I was really excited to bump into her. She smiled at me, I don't know if it was because she recognized my Script coat (I know that this sounds crazy but apparently she buys her cashmeres at Jcrew as one of the Rockfeller Center SA told me once) or because my face was screaming "OMG, I know who you are!"

Anyway that put me in a good mood. Just after that, I went to the Jcrew collection store to "kill time" (I had only an hour this morning before going back to my daughter's school for the 2 years old Thanksgiving feast). They had the most adorable holiday skirt, a Collection piece that I had to try on just to show you:



And yes, those are bows:



I think that if I were at F21 and this costed something like $30 I would have bought it just for the pleasure of having it in my closet, but this pretty lady costs ... $298 and I have clearly nowhere to wear it (no holiday parties in sight). If I were Tory (I am assuming that she has a more glamorous life than mine) and I were bored with my own designs, I would totally go for it!

After these two encounters I went back to my daughter's school where I helped her to eat her Thanksgiving meal. Not the most glamorous party you can think of but can you imagine something cuter than 12 two years old seated in their little chairs around a big table eating their Turkey? Unfortunately I didn't take pictures, but at least I have a pic of my quite festive OOTD:




The sweater is a Jcrew cashmere cardigan in bright papaya from last year that I love to wear around the holidays, the tee is a Old Navy from this spring (I love the "coral" print but it's a superbad quality, it piled at first wash) and the silver belt is the Jcrew deco belt that is currently on sale for $9.99 (I think that the silver is a retail-only color, I have never seen it online)! If you see one, grab it while you can, it's a perfect complement to many outfits and holiday tees.

I don't know if I will post again before Thanksgiving. In case that I don't, I hope that you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Weekend Recap and Outfits

So I made it through the weekend without buying anything, good girl, good girl. The ATL Family and Friends was particularly challenging but thanks to the low inventory in my size and the long lines at the register I ended up not taking advantage of the promo. I was tempted by the jewelry and I put on hold a pair of earrings TWICE (once the first day of the promo but it was at a store far from home and I didn't have the printout with me and one Saturday at my local store but never went to pick them up) but I had just bought a pair of Infinity earrings on the JCA Exchange earlier last week (for a fraction of the FP) and didn't want to "overshadow" them buy buying another pair of earrings (very similar but smaller, more for the day than for the night). At some point they will on sale and I will see then if I really want them.

Saturday instead of going shopping by myself I went shopping with my husband and daughter, for a change. Actually we went flat-screen shopping (we just finished creating a small family room and now we need another TV) and even if it wasn't as exciting as shopping for apparel, I enjoyed looking at all the options and being involved in a big-ticket purchase for the family (it doesn't happen very often, not because my husband doesn't involve me in this kind of decisions but because we buy very little for the home). We ended up not buying for the time being (Thanksgiving is just a few days away and there could be a good deal around the corner) but now I know what's the difference between the plasma, LCD and LED technologies (by the way, the quality of the pictures on the new LED screens is AMAZING).

It was a beautiful day in NYC, warm and sunny and I wore my toothpick jeans, Marjorie ballet flats and a Chanel-like jacket from Zara that I had tried when I was in Milan in September and my parents finally bought for me (even if it was nice outside I wore a coat and a scarf over this outfit):



In the evening we were invited for dinner at friend's. I wore the Jcrew Olive top and the same jeans and flats:


The Olive top ranks among my favorite Jcrew pieces of all the time (BTW, sale alert: I saw it on sale for $59.99 in store last Thursday). The necklace is the Champagne fizz necklace (sold-out online) that I bought some time ago when it went on sale expressly to wear with it because I felt like I needed something around the neck with this top but I didn't have anything in a color that could go with it. I love them, what do you think?



Last week I stumbled across the matching earrings on the JCA Exchange for a very good price (actually I got a price for the Infinity once and these) and because I had already tried to buy them in store (but I could only find one earring, the other one was missing!) I jumped on the occasion. I decided not to wear them on Saturday night because they were too dressy for the occasion, but here is what they look like with the necklace:



Sunday we were meeting a friend for brunch at the Time Warner center and we planned to walk there and stop at the zoo on our way. It was a gorgeous day but much colder than Saturday and I was in the mood for a fun outfit. I wore a very old red cashmere sweater with jeans, red lipstick (that I never wear) and a "snow leopard" Zara coat that I bought in Milan as well (and my parents shipped to me because there was no way that I could fit this in my suitcase):



I was hoping for an encounter with the resident snow leopard at the zoo and we had practiced the snow leopard GRRRR with my daughter (she was all excited by the idea of the snow leopard mistaken her mommy for a leopard), but he was sleeping when we went there. Boo!
The necklace is one of the cheap jewelry finds that I had ordered on the F21 website. This one was a disappointment because it also had a strand of very cheap-looking "lace chiffon" (just a printed fabric) entangled with the pearls and crystals, that I have managed to get rid off not without damaging permanently the necklace. Anyway you couldn't see the damage near the clasp and I thought that my red sweater needed some bling and I was surprised that my husband liked it (I wanted to take it off but he convinced me to keep it on). By the end of our day the thing was falling apart, but at least I wore it once.

Have a wonderful week.

New Arrivals Pics

First of all thank you all for the sympathy that you have demonstrated towards my "condition" in the previous post. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it even if I haven't commented back yet. Misery loves company, right?
I have come up with some resolution for my addiction that I will share in a future post but I wanted to post very quickly the pictures of the new arrivals that I took when I was in the store last Thursday before my husband comes back, just in case you know, he thinks that I need to go back to rehab for a few days.
I have only tried tops and not bottoms because I was in a hurry (and there aren't many new bottoms anyway).

First a bunch of new tees that are not available online yet. The first one is very similar to the blazon tee of a few seasons ago, but the blazon is just printed and not textured. Looking at the pic I can see some sequins that I hadn't noticed when I tried it on. It runs small, the XS was very fitted:



Here is the syle number (this time I didn't forget to take pics of the tags in case you are interested in any of these items):


This one is a variation of the reindeer tee (I think) and I apologize but I forgot to take the style number. It was looser than the previous one:


And this one is a new "snowflake" tee. Very pretty IMO but I can't comment on the fit because they were (already) out of XS. The S was very large on me though, so I guess that it runs TTS:




They had the Fair Isle cardigan and I tried it on because I know that it an item that caused some debate over at the JCA. I don't know if it is because of the acrylic component in the fabric but it is supersoft and not itchy at all (I have tried it with a short-sleeved tee). The XS was VERY fitted, especially in the sleeves (you cannot wear it with a long sleeved tee or shirt):



However, the S in the other design (the Skye Isle cardigan) was boxy:



The following is the Gipsy rose Metallic cami. The color IRL is more more golden (like a chocolate wrap paper) than it appears on the website and I didn't recognize the rose until I saw the pics:



It has a side zip but I think that it was unflattering on me.
Especially compared to the Annalise Ruffle Cami in the gorgeous cinnamon spice color. The 0 was TTS but the neckline was lower on me than on me model:


And here I'm trying it with the (un)famous Bling-button cardigan in bright olive. I'm SO happy that I didn't order this cardigan. The fabric reminded me of the socks that some airline companies used to give the passenger on intercontinental flights. Really not up to the quality that one could expect from Jcrew IMO. In case you are still interested, the fit is TTS (I'm trying a XS):


The last item that I have tried is a new (longer) version of the constellation cardigan, in a pale pink (I haven't seen other colors but I bet that it comes in black too):



It was a nice blend (maybe dream?) but the price of this one is pretty steep ($168).
That's all for now. Do you like any of these new arrivals? If you have any questions I will replay on Monday (I hope that it can wait)!

Have a great weekend!

Back from Rehab (and a few Outfits)

It has been almost a week since my last post and in case you are wondering where I have been all this time, let's say that I was in rehab. My husband found out about my multiple Jcrew orders of the past month and he thought that I needed a little bit of a detox cure, so he HIDE my computer cable before leaving on another business trip. Yes, he hide it (don't people divorce for less than that? But I didn't fight it because I felt guilty), but instead of tear down the house to find it or go straight to the envelope where he had noted down the cable hide-out (in case of emergency) I decided to take on the challenge and see how many day I could resist without the computer. Have you ever tried? I don't have an iPhone or Blackberry, so that means no Internet at all, no emails, no iTunes, no Netflix queue, no pictures, nothing. Well, I hang on more or less two days and a half, then I found the cable by chance (hidden in my husband sockets drawer, which clearly means that he thinks that it's a fairy who puts away his sockets after the laundry) and I couldn't just IGNORE it.
It was quite hard, really but also quite instructive. It is incredible the things that one can do in a house when one is not blogging, or checking email or buying stuff on the Internet or stalking the Jcrew website, or just daydreaming in front of the computer. For example, I cleaned up my closet and found clothes that I used to love but I had completely forgot to have; I sew the buttons of my husband's shirts that needed some maintenance; I even cooked.
And even if in front of him I denied that it was as bad as he was depicting it, he was right about my Jcrew addiction and my needing some sort of electroshock.
I don't know how long it is going to last but these few days of fast from the Internet and Jcrew.com did some good. I feel more detached and less compelled to spend. If I look back, I have never spent this much (I mean on a DAILY basis) in my life and I'm not even working.
That doesn't mean that I'm going to stop shopping at all (I love shopping, I always had and I always will), only that I'm going to try to focus on what I really want/need as opposed to what looks like a deal that I can't pass on, or what I "have to have" only after seeing it on other fabulous blogger.

While I was in rehab, the boxes from last week kept coming (I must admit, it was less thrilling to receive them) and I have a couple of outfits for you.
The first is an outfit with the Donegal Shawl Cardigan, that I scored on sale. You know that I loved this at first try (if not first sight) but when a cardigan hits the $150, I normally wait for it to go on sale. Obviously this went on sale while I wasn't paying attention and my size in this color sold-out immediately (in fact it was already sold-out FP). But they always come back, don't they?




The reason why I'm showing you this outfit is because the jeans that I'm wearings are a pair of bootcuts (by the brand Paul & Joe) that used to be my favorite and I hadn't worn in ages just because they were at the bottom of my jeans pile. How could I forget those? I feel immediately sexy when I wear them (I know that the outfit itself is far from sexy), it has something to do with the placement of the pockets and the fact that they are a little bit stiff. Anyway, back on the spotlight they went, I wore them every day of the week.

Speaking of sexiness, do you remember the "sexiest chinos ever"? Yes, I'm talking about the Scout chinos, that hit the $19.99 price low last week. I had ordered them once already when they were $29.99 but decided that I wouldn't pay more than $20 for these, even if I like them. The reason is that they come "distressed" and actually I almost thought that my pair was a defective one when I received them the first time, but this second pair confirmed that it wasn't someone at the warehouse who accidentally spilled a bottle of Clorox of them. The fact is that the "distress" is placed in a weird spot on the leg:



Anyway, I like the fit and for $19.99 I can live with it. The following is not really an outfit for this time of the year (they are going on hibernation until next spring), but you can see the fit in case you want to order them now that they are really cheap (I ordered a 0 but they also come in 00. I have to say that the first pair was more fitted like the one that I had tried in store, this one is a little bit looser but I'm not going to order a third pair):




The shirt in this and the previous outfit under the Donegal cardi is the Cotton Contrast-stitch perfect shirt that I believe is still FP and has been restocked in some stores. I have a strange relationship with this shirt. I'm still not sure if I like it (I thought about returning it and I even put it on sale on the JCA Weekly Exchange once), but in the reality I wear it a lot. Has it ever happened to you, that you don't know if you like something that goes with a lot of things in your closet and thus keep wearing?

This week I have also started to wear my Script coat, the one that I bought at the sample sale in a bigger size than my usual 0. I had been on the fence about this one too as you know, but I resolved that I have made my decision when I bought it as I knew that it wasn't returnable and I'm not going to leave it hanging in my closet instead of wearing it. Guess what? I LOVE it, especially with jeans with is what I wear 99% of the time. I received a lot of compliments (not only from the JCrew SAs but also from people in the street and the teller at the bank). Actually because in this color is a day coat, I like it a little bit roomier. This has been my uniform this week:



I have checked out the new arrivals this morning (without buying anything. See? Rehab works), pics coming soon.

Are You Ready for the Bal?

The package with the goodies that I bought during the extra 20% promo last week arrived yesterday, JUST BEFORE MY HUSBAND. He knew about this one because one of the items was the heirloom flora necklace that we are offering a friend for her 40th birthday in two weeks and I convinced him that we NEEDED to order for $150 to get the 20% off on that one. So I didn't really need to hide it from him, but I don't like to open packages when he's around. It's my little plaisure, let's say that on certain days it's the highlight of my day (and I know how sad this sounds, don't worry, I don't need to spend money on a therapy) so I kind of put the package away and waited until this morning before opening it.

Inside, among other things, I found this:


Yes, it's the masquerade tee. I was surprised by the extra care that they put in the packaging, that's the advantage of ordering early and full price I guess.
My first reaction when I opened it was that it's not black. It's definitively a faded charcoal, which works for me because as you know I have a lot of charcoal in my closet. The second reaction was that the feathers of the mask are made of chiffon, while I thought that they would be, well, real feathers, like on a real mask. It's clearly for the best though because have you ever tried to wash feathers? It's very pretty, plus the description on the Internet said clearly "embellished with organza feathers and rhinestones".
Well, the description also said "slub cotton tee" (I mean it's in the NAME of the tee, right?) and that's why I ordered a XS. And guess what's the fabric? Positively ringspun cotton. That's a MAJOR mistake!
Now, because it's ringspun it's definitively snug but I think that I'm going to keep this size because all my ringspun tees have stretched out wash after wash, especially around the neck. However, if you are concerned by sheerness, it's a good idea to size up.



Detail of the pretty embellishment:


This tee immediately put me in a festive mood, so I thought it deserved a little bling, even if just for the blog. I also received the F21 package with my "cheap" jewelry finds yesterday, so I want to show you the rhinestone earrings with the tee:



I'm not sure if I would actually wear them together, but they are fun for sure and totally worth the $9.80 that I paid.
I will probably wear this outfit though:



The cardigan is a sequined open cardi from HO05 (the good thing about open cardigans is that they tend to ... open and in this case you don't want the embellishment to be completely hidden by the cardigan), the skirt is the shirred wool skirt (aka, Sylvia) and if you're wondering what are the tights that I'm wearing, these are another F21 find. They totally look like Chanel, but for $5:



This tee is a total winner for me, and I think that with the current promo it will sell out very quickly. My advise: if you like it get it NOW.