Luke, I'm not your father.

 shoes: steve madden. cutoffs: express. undershirt: downeast basics. shirt: american eagle. bracelet: forever21.

Jumping-off point for this ensemble was the fact that I'd shaved my legs. Plus it was hot. Got ourselves a two-fer in the Why I Will Wear Shorts Today department. The only protest, as far as I could tell, is the fact that my legs are a pale shade of white that hovers uncomfortably between "ghost" and "dead."

To which protestations I say: Bring on the death march then. And also fame, because I'm pretty sure my legs inspired the pasty makeup job of Darth Vadar's mask-removed face near the end of Return of the Jedi. Which, in my humble opinion, was and remains the best Star Wars movie of them all. Mostly because the ewoks are cute. And Jabba the Hut is can't-look-away revolting.

I sound like a Trekkie, don't I. Er, not a "trekkie," actually, but rather I sound like whatever the name would be for the Star Wars version of an obsessed fanatic. I'm really not, and the fact that I have no intergalactic name for myself, or accompanying powers, proves it.

And, although I may or may not use the quote, "Do or do not; there is no try" on a weekly basis in casual conversation, I can safely assure you that it's almost always in reference to my hearty consumption of entire bags of pnut m&ms...

Happy Monday.

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More Forever 21...

wide leg pants and yoga. c'mon, Opportunity. knock already.

 shoes & overshirt: american eagle outfitters. pants: gap. long-sleeved shirt, belt, long necklace, & flower clip: vintage. short necklace: forever21.

You know how, sometimes, something obscure and blurry and vague will nevertheless weigh on your mind? That was me, until today, and I realized what it was: should an immediate opening for a yoga poster child ever arise, I'd have no photographic evidence of my being the perfect woman for the job.

Until now (last photo in top sequence), natch. What a load off.

So. About this ensemble: is it just me, or does anyone else, on occasion, feel like busting out monochromaticity? Every month or two, I allsofasudden get the urge to wear one color, and one color only. And usually that color's blue. (Is there a Freudian interpretation in this? Please no.)

At first glance, everything in this outfit appears to be heavy solid-on-solid. But the pants have a subtle pinstripe, the long-sleeve layering tee has a sheer/opaque stripe going on, the belt divides the top half of me from bottom half, the crown braid and flower clip add a touch of whimsy and youth (do I sound, like, 80 saying that, or what?), and everything else just is.

Know what else just is? The eterna-crumbness of my dining room floor. I've come to accept it, to assign the floor-sweep chore to my dog, and to then ignore it. A trifecta of solution that screams win-win.

Happy Monday, friends.

Want this look? Sweet. Check out all the blue stuff you can get to have it...

More Gap...

how much sleep would a big sheep reap if a big sheep could reap sleep?

Going on about 5 hours of sleep over the last 72 hours, here, guys. So. Be kind.

 shoes: head over heels. skirt: banana republic. shirt: american eagle. necklaces: gift. bracelet: burntsiena design (more on this lovely thing later). belt: thrifted. cardigan: rue21. undershirt: downeast basics.

Rare outdoor shots. They're not great. I recognize this. But it's so blissfully springified that I don't care. Rather, I send you my heartfelt apologies...and a shoulder shrug.

Annnnd...I think it worked. Mental note to next year, I guess?

It's Friend Friday. So, without further ado (or any ado, for that matter...should I be adding some more ado?), here are the questions and my answers...feel free to check out others' responses here.

April 1: Rules of Engagement -- blogging etiquett, unwritten "rules" to help new bloggers, etc.

1. Guest posts are a good way to gain new exposure. What do you think is the appropriate way to go about securing a guest spot? Good question. I don't know; I've never solicited myself as a guest poster. I'm happy to do it (and have obliged others when they've asked me), but I just never really thought about trying to secure one. If this question is referring to asking someone to guest-post on my blog, well, I've never done that, either. I'm helpful, I know.

2. Leaving comments is essential to growing your blog. But how can you leave a comment without coming across as ‘Follow Me. Follow Me!’? Those types of comments don't get published on my blog because they're...how do I put it diplomatically...annoying. When visiting others' blogs, I will say something genuine in every comment I leave--a response to their text, their outfit, their photos. If I can say something funny, all the better. Then I'll leave my URL and sometimes a brief invite to stop by my blog. I don't even bring up the "following" bit in my comments, though. Seems a little tacky.

3. We’ve all gotten a mass email at one time or another asking for blog exposure, a link exchange, etc… But the mass emails don’t work. How do you make your email stand out from the crowd? Heh...I actually haven't gotten one of these... I'm popular like that.

4. In interacting with other bloggers where do you draw the line between seeking support and begging for exposure? Don't get me wrong, I love leaving comments and supporting other bloggers (and I love it when others do the same for me--it's a community, after all), but I simply ignore the fake stuff that comes my way. And I myself am not fake ('cept for two teeth), so I'm safe that way.

5. What’s one rule of engagement error you made and how have you remedied that? I wrote an entire post in response to an unkind Anonymous comment, which now I can't even remember what it was. That was an over-the-top reaction (even though the post was, in my opinion, funny), and I've learned to scale back my knee-jerk response of taking things personally. Don't know if that answers the question, but there you have it. A lesson.

Happy happy Friday!

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More New York & Co....

wet hair & red face, but I snapped the photos anyway. gold star.

boots: target. tights: gift. skirt: don't recall (self-modified). shirt: american eagle. belt: thrifted. jacket: gap. earrings: hawaii.

Hey.

It's Saturday, guys, and I've spent 5+ hours of this glorious weekend day in the car on the freeway. With three children. Hucking fruit snacks and capri suns back to them. Listening to KidzBop (or something) and questions about whether or not we're there yet. Both on repeat.

You'll forgive me, then, when I make this post record-short because I can't sit at my computer for another 2 seconds, as the lactic acid from my jog this morning continues to burn my legs. And my butt, but that's not ladylike to talk about. So, forgives? Pretty please? Thanks a mil.

Happy Saturday!

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More Gap...

the bold & the beautiful. or, at least, the bold & the could-be-grosser.

shoes: steve madden. skirt: gap. slouchy tee: american eagle outfitters. sweater: j. crew. watch: target. hairthings: smiths marketplace. tights, belt, & necklace: don't recall.

Remember how you learned how to ride a bike when you were 5 and then you got a flat tire or your chain rusted when you were 8 and your dad was going to fix/replace it but even though he meant to he never really did so you didn't ride a bike at all for a few years and then your friend had a sweet bike that you wanted to try out, and you hopped right on and you could totally ride a bike again even though you hadn't done it forever?

No? Just me? Oh. Well, anyway, I thought that doing this blog would be like that...two days off, then back in the saddle no prob. Nope. When I went to take my pics this morning, I couldn't think of a single pose. Except a cartwheel. Which, if you think about, would have been less than ideal in this particular ensemble. 

So I did what I always do when I'm stumped: I ate. A balanced and healthy breakfast, complete with a snickers bar or three and a bowl of cheerios. And a banana. And maybe some yogurt, I'm not sure. And juice and a bit of bagel. By the end, I was 5 pounds heavier and ready to rock'n'roll. Let this be a lesson to you kids out there. Somehow.

Today I wanted to wear these new shoes I got on my trip. And this bold striped sweater. I originally paired the sweater with a lavendar button-up shirt and a denim pencil skirt, but even though it looked okay (I think), I just wasn't feeling it. So I took away the collared shirt and went with this slouchy tee. Backwards. No, seriously, I wore it backwards because the front-side was a little too low on its own, and I didn't want to wear a cami because that would add aNOTHer stripe/color right at my neckline.

Thank you, inventors of tagless shirts.

You're going back to check out the pics now, aren't you, because now you know the shirt's backwards and you want to see if it looks weird. Yes, armed with that bit of knowledge, your brain might tell you it looks a little odd. But I'm okay with it. Because I jogged more than 15 miles yesterday (beautiful race! loved it! thanks for your sweet comments about it, you guys!) and drove about 6 hours home and slept next to my increasingly attractive husband, which has a way of putting things like backwards slouchy tees into perspective.

So. Add dark tights and a belt about the same hue, a supersized gold boyfriend watch, and a simple single beads-on-a-chain necklace. I was totally comfortable at church today. 'Cept when my 2-year-old stood on my lap (a.k.a. sore quads) to see who was speaking at the pulpit. But that had nothing to do with what I was wearing.

Happy Sunday!

Want this look? striped sweater   khaki pencil skirt   taupe booties   boyfriend watch

More The Limited...

Feelin' bloovy...

Before we commence, please pretty please tell me you're humming Simon & Garfunkel's great hit, based on the title of this post. Are you? Good. And also, did you get the pun intended with "bloo"? As in, the color. But I wanted to spell it kinda like groovy. I know. I'm asking so much of your mental synapses for a Monday morning. Forgive me.

And also forgive my sweet 4-year-old daughter, who was up all night last night [Editor's note: Sometimes people say "all night" when they really mean, say, a fairly inconvenient 2 hours. Like intermittently from 1-3 a.m. or something. This is not the case here. Please take me literally as you read my lips: Up. All. Night.] coughing and throwing up. Poor little lamb. And, let's be just brutally honest here, folks. Poor me.

Regardless, a girl's gotta get dressed for the day. Even if not until 10 a.m. because I was, and continue to be, just so very tiiiiiiiired [Editor's note: You can see it in my eyes in these photos, can't you. And I thought I was hiding it so well, too.]. I'm not sad or depressed or anything, but blue just fit my mood today.

So. When you wake up feeling like a color, and when you're so tired all you want to do is make sure you can take a nap in whatever it is you end up wearing, it's not that hard to choose an ensemble. Long sleeves under a big baggy tee for the staying-at-home nature of the day. A big soft striped O scarf, just to add a bit of visual interest to the outfit but still stay within the self-imposed color constraints. Comfy comfy jeans, hair up and out of the way, and a wide black belt at the hips. Not sure why the belt ended up on my hips as it did, but I kind of like it. Helps to prove the baggy-tee point, you know?

I'm extremely comfortable today. And I'm going to spend some time appreciating said comfort in a subconscious state. Right about.....now.

Happy Monday.