One Dress, Two Ways

One day, around a month go, I walked into a Banana Republic (where I don't go very often these days) and fell in love with this dress:



It's the BR silk lace-print dress and I felt immediately pretty as soon as I tried it on. And when you are forty going forty-one you don't feel pretty very often, at least not in the way as it used to be. You can feel elegant, chic, good but pretty? Very rare, I tell you.
I was very tempted to buy it but 1) it was a size 2 and even if not big I would have preferred to try a size 0 at least for comparaison and 2) it was an holiday silk dress from the Monogram line, which is the Banana equivalent of the Jcrew Collection line and even on sale plus 30% off it was still expensive (around $90) so I decided to wait a little bit.
A week before my vacation, the Gap run a promotion "the more you buy, the more you save" across all the brands where you could save up to 25%, and because I had to buy new clothes for my daughter I checked the price of the dress and with the promotion it came down to $59, that was more in the price range that I was willing to pay for it. The 0 was available, so I ordered it.

The dress doesn't seem to be popular as almost all the sizes are still available on the website but I have to say that if I hadn't seen it in store and tried it on, I wouldn't have given it a thought. Also, the only customer review on the BR website is a bad review (of someone who said that it wasn't as expected) and it's true that the description can be misleading because it doesn't mention that it has a sash tie and that it's meant to be worn with the bow tied (otherwise it's just shapeless).
But with the tie? Pretty:



The adjustable straps are removable (which I prefer) and print is prettier IRL than on the website (where you can't really make out the lace motif):



It's a cocktail party dress (read: not a lot of wear) but what really sold me on this dress is the fact that when I tried it I was wearing my toothpick cords in soft ochre and as much as I love them they are a pain to take off in the fitting room. So initially I tried the dress OVER the cords and surprisingly I liked it that way. Add boots and you have a bohemian tunic that you can wear during the day:



And my BR knit coat is perfect to top it:



I felt like this dress can be versatile and that's the reason why I caved (I'm laying, I caved because I felt pretty).

What do you think? Would you wear it as a tunic over pants? Which one of yopur recent purchases made you feel pretty?

Caribbean Vacation Pics

So you probably remember that when I was packing for our Caribbean vacation I tried to keep my stuff at a minimum and not overpack but I actually ended up underpacking. I am a last-minute person and an eternal undecided as an aggravating condition so I can't push myself to close a suitcase until the very last minute before I leave, when I generally throw in a lot of clothes from the pile of the "discards" that didn't initially make it to the suitcase but that under the pressure of the imminent departure I suddenly feel I would regret not taking with me. Well, that didn't happen this time because for the first time EVER we didn't hear the alarm clock. We found out later that the alarm went off but the volume was on mute (my husband always uses his Blackberry alarm clock and he is an experienced traveller) and at 3.30 am in the morning what are the chances that one wakes up by oneself (my daughter, who wakes up very often in the middle of the night, was sound asleep and didn't cooperate)? By some miracle my husband woke up an hour later and then we sort of went in panic mode. We managed to get out of the door in 10 minutes (that included waking up our daughter and get her dressed) but no need to say that I had no time for last-minute decisions on my vacation wardrobe. I have to thank my husband who forced me to put all the little extras in the suitcase before going to bed, so that I didn't forget anything that could have ruined my vacation (like sunglasses, sunscreen, camera etc). However, I could have used one or two more sweaters, especially because instead of packing my black pashmina for the evenings (nights tend to be fresh in the Caribbean because of the wind) I packed my black cashmere scarf (of course I found out only when I arrived at the hotel and unpacked) which is not the same thing (not only a cashmere scarf is surprisingly itchy worn on bare skin but it looks ridiculous in the Caribbean). And I wouldn't have minded taking with me that colorful Custo tee-shirt that I had bought at Lohemann's especially for this trip and I considered wearing during the flight until the last minute, when, maybe in wishful thinking, I picked up the "Bon Voyage" tee instead (that I also wore on our way back to NY, see pic above).

In the end we weren't that late for our flight and after this rough start (that gloriously ended with my daughter throwing up in the taxi to the airport just when the taxi was approaching the platform at the departures to let us out) and the fact that I lost my coat during the trip (not sure if I left it on the plane when we disembarked in Turks or on the minivan that took us to the resort or in the first room where we posed our baggage because I completely forgot about it until the captain on our flight back last Saturday let us know that the temperature in NY was 18 degrees. It was an old coat but I was quite fond of it) everything else went well. We had 80 degrees average and a sunny sky for all the week, which is quite a record in my Caribbean experience (there had always been a day or two when it gets cloudy or stormy).

The flight was smooth (a direct flight on AA) and the resort was a mere 15 minutes ride from the airport (the advantage of a flight at 6.50 in the morning is that by noon we were around the pool). We had booked a basic room (even if their basic rooms are already named "Deluxe") and we were upgraded to a suite because apparently they only had twin bed rooms available in that category (it wasn't easy but my husband is a good negotiator). The advantage of being in a suite (besides the obvious advantage of having a bigger room with some fun amenities) was that they were located much closer to the beach in a complex of smaller bungalow-style buildings surrounded by beautiful tropical plants.
The resort was bigger than the one where we stayed in Jamaica last year, and it was composed of three "villages" that had each a distinct flair (we stayed in the older part of the resort, which in my opinion was the more authentic). It had 16 restaurants (if we include two cafes) to choose from and we tried almost all of them, besides the two adults-only (we could have taken a sitter but we thought that it wasn't really worth it). I found that besides the main buffet-style restaurant the food was much better than in other all-inclusives, especially the meat that is generally not very well cooked in this kind of resort.
Each "village" had its own swimming pool, but again, I think that the one that was just a few steps from our room was the best (more natural, if not the biggest):



You can't really see it in the pic but the just behind the waterfall (where it's dark) there were a couple of tables of the tex-mex-themed restaurant (one of the best for atmosphere and food). We never had dinner in that particular spot because it was too close to the pool (and noisy from the falling water!) and I was afraid that my daughter would fall in the water (it takes a second), but I think that it was pretty cool.

The beach was beautiful but not "spectacular" in my opinion (I don't want to sound snotty but I have seen even better). I think that it suffered from the erosion caused by the last hurricane that hit the island as it wasn't as wide as it appears in many magazine and brochure pics (although this pic doesn't make it entirely justice):



However, the color of the water was a dream (that's me with one of the infamous Jcrew bikinis from last year. My new Tibi bikini didn't get much photographed unfortunately):



The Boden tunic was a hit. I wore it almost every day to breakfast. The color really blended beautifully in the landscape:


The highlights of the week in terms of evening entertainment were the Sesame Street Parade (where we got to follow the characters preceded by a local marching band all along the resort, quite funny) and the Friday night beach party. I ended up wearing mostly the two Lohemann's maxidresses, alternatively. Sadly I didn't have the occasion to wear the rope dress as the resort was more casual than I thought and we only had "family dinners". I would have probably worn it if my husband and I had a evening out without my daughter in one of the adults-only restaurant (the only ones with a more dressed-up dress code) but as I said that didn't happen.
For the Friday night beach party, I wore the other Calypso dress. I have tons of pics from that night but the one that I prefer is probably this one (the expression on my daughter's face just cracks me up):



Another pic that makes me smile is this one:


If you click on it you will see that my husband and I are reading the same book, precisely the latest Grisham, "The Associate". In the frenzy of the late wake-up the day of our departure, I did forget something of a vital importance for a vacation: my books!
The only book that I had packed was the Grisham that I had bought for my husband (he rarely reads fiction - in fact only when we are on vacation - and he reads almost exclusively Grisham books, long life to him!) but because I can't possibly conceive a vacation without reading and Grisham is better than nothing I asked him if I could start it. After a few pages I was hooked and he wouldn't probably had a chance to read it if I hadn't find another copy to borrow at the resort "entertainment center" (a cabana with a few books and board games). What makes me smile is not only the pic in itself but also the fact that when I asked a lady who was walking by to take a pic of us, she didn't get it at all and she waited for us to look at the camera and smile or something until I told her that we were reading the same book and we thought that it was funny (she still didn't get it I think but she took the pic anyway).

I will end this post with a few pics from the Sesame Street parade (if you are a fan or you have kids you will recognize the characters):




Cookie Monster had clearly forgotten about our little romance last year (that hairy monster!) but this year I had a weakness for Bart and I even tried to follow him home one night but he could get away (hehehe):



I hope that you enjoyed the post. Bon Voyage!

I'm Back!

Hello ladies, I'm back from my vacation in the Caribbean. We had a great time and I will fill you in as soon as I'm finished sorting the pictures. I have something like 358 pictures to go through (I ended up with that many not because of the variety of things that we have seen and photographed but because my husband is a keeper, he would shoot 30 takes of the same picture and didn't delete any, even those that you can immediately see that are not worth it because, say, you closed your eyes or you missed completely your subject by a head).

So, in the meanwhile, I'm going to post two OOTD that I have worn just before leaving. I know, pretty boring compared to the Caribbean but I didn't want to leave you without something to comment on ;-).

I wore the following outfit on the Thursday afternoon before leaving. I had another "interview" for a nursery school (actually it was my daughter'r turn to be "interviewed" this time and it didn't go very well, unless not saying a single word during a playgroup were you're supposed to show your best self is a quality highly appreciated by the evaluators. At least she didn't cry). Anyway, again I had to be dressed for the occasion and I didn't fill like wearing pants this time (you know that in the winter I'm wearing pants 99% of the times).
First, I tried an outfit with my dusty blossom pencil skirt but I decided against it because it was a little bit too much "Upper East Side" cliche, so I broke out my Ravine dress that was just imploring me from the deeps of my closet to be taken out. It can be very elegant (actually, this is the reason why I hadn't worn it yet, after missing the occasion of a Xmas party) and I wanted to play it down, so I wore it with a tissue turtleneck and my Glenbrae boots (my inspiration for this outfit was DaniBP over at DaniBP Mop Philosopher, who always rocks the look "ladylike with boots"):

I really liked how this outfit came together and I felt good in it.

I wore the second outfit the morning after, to the hair salon. Now, as you probably have noticed in the pics were you can see more of my face I have A LOT of hear and my appointments with the hairdresser always last forever and are a real bore. Moreover, this time I was with my daughter (I couldn't go the day before when she was at school because my stylist had taken a day off and I haven't a regular daytime babysitter that I can call whenever I need some time by myself) and I can tell you that even if she was very well behaved and played with what she could find (which wasn't much even if the ladies at the salon tried very hard to entertain her), spending almost two and a half hours sitting while mommy is having her hair done is NOT FUN for a toddler and I had to give up on the cut after the color because she couldn't take a minute more of it.
Anyway, I wore this outfit:




The silk floral top wasn't the wisest choice to wear to a color appointment but once put it on I couldn't manage to take it off. I had already worn it with the same cardigan and another pair of cords in the fall, but with the navy toothpick it's almost perfection. I was in a hurry and I forgot to wear the hazelnut leather skinny belt over the cardigan, but I liked it anyway.

That's it for tonight. My husband is travelling all this week, so I plan to have a daily post or two if I can. Stay tuned for the Caribbean vacation post!

My First Boden Order Has Arrived

First of all, thank you for the nice comments to my previous post. I appreciate you thinking of me and it looks like it worked because my personal issue got solved this morning for the best, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

Before leaving you for a week I wanted to do a quick post on my recent Boden order, as it could be useful sizing-wise if you are hesitating to place an order with them especially now that the UK sizes have been converted to US sizes.
I had never ordered from Boden for myself before. I place an order or two each season for my daughter, but while I enjoy to flip through the women's catalog pages, I'm not such a fan of the bright colors and bold prints for me, so I always passed.

What changed this time around? Well, when I received the catalog I was looking for a tunic for my upcoming trip and Jcrew had just let me down because by the time I had enough money on my gift card the beautiful (but probably not very suitcase-friendly) Soleil Paisley Tunic was already backordered until mid-march (boo Jcrew! In March I will be in snowy NY, not on a Caribbean island).
Boden offers several tunics in its latest catalog, but there was one that I had already seen and liked on several blogs when the Boden previews came out (sorry ladies, I don't remember who exactly posted about this besides Dinagedeon). It's the Printed tunic in the Fennel Flower print. Because of the 10% off offer that I found in the catalog I also ordered the Textured Breton tee in blue.
I ordered both items in a size 2 (the smallest US size available) and they shipped in less than 24 hours (I was impressed). Unfortunately now there are several weeks of wait for these items depending on the size/color but my past experience with "mini" Boden is that the weeks of wait end up being less than what they say on the website.

Anyway, the package arrived two days ago (in time for my vacation, and in less than 6 days from the date of my order even if the merchandise shipped from the UK). I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the sizing. I was expecting both the tunic and the tee to be on the big side but they are TTS to small.

The tunic first. Love it. It wasn't exactly what I expected because it looks more like a dress than a tunic to me (BTW, I was curious and I looked up the definition of tunic on the online Cambridge dictionary: "a piece of clothing which fits loosely over a person's body, reaches to the waist or knees, and often has no sleeves." Other dictionaries put forward as an essential quality of a tunic the fact of being a pull-on but all agree on the looseness of it). Well, it's not loose at all but gathered under the chest:





And it's certainly not a pull-over since it has a zip on the side (although I could almost pull it over without opening the zip).
I was worried that the fabric would be a little bit stiff as linen can sometimes be, but it's very soft and comfortable to wear (the website description says "washed for softness" and it appears to be a true statement). And it's not sheer, which means that I can wear it in the city in the summer.
To be honest, I kind of "hoped" that it wouldn't work because in the meanwhile I had already bought the rope Calypso dress and I didn't want to go overbudget but I simply can't return this tunic, ehm pardon me, dress. And even if it doesn't meet the requirement for my beach vacation suitcase (as it's very prone to wrinkle) I'm taking it with me on vacation as it is going to be perfect for breakfasts and even lunches.

The second item though is going back. Not that it isn't nice but is not "textured" as the description said. I had imagined a heavy cotton (a la Petit Bateau) but it's kind of a stretchy fabric (it's 95% cotton and 5% elasthanne) and form-fitting:




The thing that I really don't like is how the first stripe cuts across my breasts. However the three buttons on the shoulder are really cute:


Bottom line, it isn't what I was looking for. Turns out that the Loft has a new tee that is much more similar to what I had in mind (a looser fit). I was in yesterday because I had this 20$ off coupon valid on the new merchandise, they had just received the shipment and it was the last XS in the store (they had to take it from a mannequin) so I bought it (there was nothing else that I was interested in anyway). What's up with these retailers? A Loft striped tee that sells out as soon as it ships? Items waitlisted as soon as they appear on the website?
Anyway, here it is:




If you are interested in this tee (retail price is $39.50) you shouldn't wait too long.

My time is really up. I will read your comments even if I don't think that I will have time to respond before I'm back.

Have a nice week!

Five Easy Pieces

Today I'm packing for our winter vacation in the Caribbean. We have been going to Jamaica for the last three years but this time we are going to Turks and Caicos (very Jenna Lyons, I know, but the excuse is that it's the only place besides Jamaica where there is a resort with a Sesame Street kid's club and entertaiments. And I don't mean TV. I mean a real Elmo and Co.).
We leave on Saturday morning very early (or maybe I should say Friday night very late as our flight is at 6.50 in the morning and with the new security policies you're supposed to be at the airport three hours earlier), so everything must be ready by tomorrow late afternoon.

I have to say, this is one of the few times where I'm not stressed about packing (maybe also because I'm stressed about something else in my personal life). Because we have been going in the Caribbean for years now (being close to the Caribbean was one of the "selling points" of moving in the US for me, I am such a beach person) I master the art of packing for an all-inclusive beach vacation and over the years I have put together what is for me the perfect beach resort wardrobe. I love to buy something new each year (it's part of the pleasure and my husband is always willing to give me a budget for this) but anything that I buy especially for this type of vacation must follow a simple rule: it must be suitcase-friendly, meaning that I don't need to worry about wrinkles, and it must take as little space as possible in the suitcase.

This year I bought two new pieces. The first one is the bikini that I found at Lohemman's last week. Rule number one when buying a bikini: you must like it when you're trying it in the fitting room already. If you're buying it hoping that it WILL look good with a tan and after loosing a few pounds, you should probably leave it at the store. You must feel good and body-unconscious already in the fitting room. Tough rule, I know, but I find that it's the only one that works. Now, I know that there are people (including good friends of mine) who only buy a new swimsuit when they really need it because they can't justify the cost per wear (and also because the don't like to shop for swimsuits for the reason mentionned above). However, I think that the memories sealed in a family vacation pictures are priceless and well worth the purchase of a new swimsuit for the occasion. This to say that I didn't really NEED a new one because my old ones still fit but I'm extremely unhappy of my vacation pictures in my Jcrew bikinis last year (it was my first time purchasing Jcrew swimwear and, I think, the last one).

So here is my new bikini:



It's from the brand Tibi and normally it would have costed $200 but I got it for around $50, thanks to Lohemman's democratic prices. If you ever come across this brand online (I remember seeing a sale on ideeli last year), you should know that the fit is really small. The bottom is a size Small but I think that a Medium would have been better and the top is Medium (a little bit loose but the S was cutting across my breast). Honestly I have no idea of who can fit in their XS.

My other new acquisition (and first easy piece to put in the suitcase) is a "resort" black dress. I have always struggled to find the perfect black dress to take on vacation with me. You definitively don't want to wear something like a little black dress on a beach vacation, but sometimes you want to wear a black dress that is not too casual-looking. I finally found an evening dress with a beach feeling to it. It's from the brand Calypso, which is one of my favorite resort brands, and the "metallic rope" neck is the detail that makes it special and beach-appropriate:




It's in pleated silk taffeta and it's wrinkled by design (very suitcase-friendly).
I have another dress from the same brand that I bought last year and responds to the same criteria:



It's the perfect dress that you can wear from the beach to the pool to the restaurant in the evening (it also works worn as a tunic over jeans), and it's coming with me this year too.

The third piece is this maxi-dress, another Lohemman's find from last year (it was very cheap but it's a Pucci-worthy silk):




Nothing easier to pull on and it photographs very well. See it "in action" last year in Jamaica with ... Cookie Monster (this is one of my favorite vacation pictures ever but I have just noticed that it looks like Cookie Monster is touching my breasts. I promise I didn't feel anything):


This year I'm also taking his little sister, that I bought later in the year (same dress, different print) and you have already seen in a post back in the summer:



Last, an old favorite of mine, a DVF wrap "jungle dress". I bought this dress many years ago at a sample sale and a pregnancy later it still fits. However, I only wear it on vacation because as you can see the neckline is very low and I wouldn't dare to walk around like this in the city (but on a Caribbean beach is another story):




From the following pic you will understand what I was saying about taking as little space as possible in the suitcase:


That leaves plenty of space in the suitcase for the other beach essentials (a pair of shorts, a pair of white linen pants, a cover-up or tunic, a few solid tee-shirts, a beach sweater, a sweater and a pashmina for the evening, two good books and tons of sunscreen) and for my daughter's clothes and toys. Now that I got to share my suitcase with her, it's even more important that I limit myself and thanks to these 5 easy pieces I don't need to make a compromise between being beach-chic and overloading my suitcase (and husband is happy too).

Do you have any packing secret for a beach vacation that you want to share? Do you like to shop for resortwear?

Saturday Outfit (Orange and Black)

Hello, I hope that you're enjoying the weekend. Both my daughter and husband are sound asleep, so I sneaked out of bed to write a quick post.

Yesterday it was the first time in weeks that I didn't wear a turtleneck. We had "normal" winter temperatures with a clear and sunny sky as a bonus and to "celebrate" I pulled out my Celosia cardigan in cinnamon spice (that looks more "pumpkin" to me in this particular cardigan or just plain orange). I wore it with a black scoopneck tee with a chiffon trim that I bought on super-sale at the Loft a few weeks ago and my black toothpick jeans:




The tootpick jeans have orang-y stitches that match the color of the cardigan and the tortoise patent belt was just the perfect accessory to hold everything together:



In this pic you can better see the chiffon trim that runs across the tee. For $11 it was a great deal and it's very pretty IRL:


I wore this in the afternoon to do errands but I liked it so much that I didn't change myself for dinner (we had friends over and I managed to cook without splattering my outfit with oil).
If only I could find my Reva flats to wear with it it would have been perfect!

Have a nice Sunday evening (I can't wait to watch the Golden Globes. I told my husband that I must not be disturbed from 6 - red carpet arrivals - on)!

What Do You Think of ... This Marc Jacobs Sweater-Jacket?

I was at Lohemann's this morning looking for a swimsuit for my upcoming vacation (we are leaving in less than ten days, yay!)
I try to stay away from Lohemann's because there are too many temptations there but because the Jcrew swimsuits really don't fit me well and I like to buy a new one each year, and in my opinion Lohemann's is THE place to go because they have the greatest deals on otherwise much more expensive beachwear brands, I decided to go.
I found what I was looking for (post coming soon) but I also found something else that I WAS NOT LOOKING FOR but I just couldn't leave there.

It's a jacket from Marc by Marc Jabobs made in a sweatshirt fabric and lined with sherpa (I know that this description sounds weird but you will understand when you see the pics). I couldn't resist the colors and the beautiful buttons:







This is the sherpa lining (only the body is lined, not the sleeves):



It wasn't on sale but at $79.99 it was decently priced (as everything at Lohemann's) for a Marc Jabobs piece.
I should be happy because it is a great find and I really like it. However I feel a little bit of a buyer's regret because:

1) It was an impulsive purchase and I don't need it (hey, I was looking for beachwear)
2) It is a size S and I think the fit would have been better in a XS (it is a little bit boxy when fully buttoned, like here):



3) It looks like the buttons come off very easily (in fact the last one came off when I was trying it in the fitting room) and I'm not good at sewing!
4) I have other jackets that I still have to wear
5) I don't have any budget left for spring clothes (unless I return something)

But on the other side:

1) I think that the colors are stunning. It's a jacket that doesn't go unnoticed.
2) It fits very well in my lifestyle (because of the fabric it's very comfortable and I can wear it to the playground, take up my daughter without fearing for it etc.) which means lots of potential wear
3) The fact that it's sherpa-lined it's a plus for me because it means that I will be able to wear it without a coat in early spring when the air is still frisky (and anyway when it gets warmer I don't like to wear jackets)
4) Did I mention that I like the colors?

What do you think? Should I keep it? Is it worth it? Please share!