Go Vote!

Seriously, go vote.  If you can't go on Tuesday, call your county registrar's office and ask about early voting.  I voted today, and I'm very proud that I took the time to make the long drive to Norwalk, CA.  Today I wore a new pair of tights that I picked up while at Forever 21 last night.  It is impossible for me to go into that store and only buy one thing.  I needed a black pencil skirt for recruiting next week for my company at the We10, the Society of Women Engineers annual conference.  Of course, I walked out of F21 with a skirt, 2 pairs of tights, and a belt.  At least it all only cost me $35!

Dress, belt, & boots: Target

Cardigan: Victoria's Secret

Tank: Jockey

Tights: Forever 21

Black Isn't Boring

My shark costume won scariest costume at the Halloween lunch at work!  I was very excited about winning because I didn't plan on competing.  I just put on the shark hoodie and fin over my jeans and t-shirt.

This evening I changed from work clothes to this outfit to go to the mall.  I was feeing frazzled by the end of the afternoon, so I needed a cute outfit pick-me-up.  For some reason, I felt like this outfit had a touch of the 90's.

Dress: Forever 21

Cardigan & boots: Target

Necklace: Cost Plus World Market

Under the boots: Halloween socks!!!

Neighborhood Halloween Party

Tonight my apartment complex hosted a Halloween party with snacks and fun Halloween type music.  We munched on spooky treats, tapped our feet to Time Warp, and admired the super cute little kids in costume.  Plus I brought my own drink; Jack and Coke is so much classier in a fancy glass.  I put together a quick gypsy costume out of items I already owned and some cheap fabric from Jo-Ann's ($0.99!).

Dress & tights: Target

Headwrap, necklace, & ring: Forever 21

Shoes: Naturalizer

Wrap: Jo-Ann's remnant bin

Halloween Costumes!

I wanted to share with you my two Halloween costumes so far.  The first I wore to a party last Saturday.  Before the party I got a few pictures at Paramount Ranch, an old western movie set.  I wanted to dress up as a square dancer, but I couldn't find a good dress.  Instead I called this "saloon girl" and drank whiskey from a mason jar at the party!

  

Dress & flower pin: Forever 21

Belt & boots: Target

Necklace: Fredrick's of Hollywood

Hat & petticoat: Amazon

Tonight, with my friend Jen's help, I put together a fun shark costume.  I was inspired by the American Apparel costume contest online.  After seeing someone else make a hoodie into a shark, I had to try it too!  Unfortunately I was reminded tonight that I cannot sew, so I actually only bought and cut out the felt pieces.  Jen did all the sewing.  I did make a fin, but it had a design flaw and laid flat on my back mostly.  I'll fix that before I wear this to the work costume party on Friday with jeans.  This outfit was perfect for running around the corn maze at the local community college tonight!

  

Sweatshirt & leggings: American Apparel

Boots: Wal-mart

Fin: cardboard covered in foil

Teeth, gums, & eyes: felt

Up with the white & gold!

So GT didn't win this week, but I have some school spirited outfits to share with you.  Earlier this month, I went to visit my parents and actually go to the homecoming football game.  I picked up two possible game-day dresses from American Apparel outlet beforehand.  I choose to wear the strappy one to the game because it ended up being a hot day.

 

Dress & bandeau: American Apparel

Cardigan & earrings: LOFT outlet

Belt: Forever 21

Shoes: Naturalizer

At the alumni tent before the game, they had a corsage station.  Instead of pinning it to my dress, I put mine in my hair.

This Saturday I put on the other American Apparel dress just to run to the bagel shop before watching the game at home.  It's funny how we (as women) look at ourselves in the mirror and see one image, while the guys in line at the bagel shop see something entirely different.  This dress is fairly tight and I see my stomach, but the looks from guys reminded me that they only see the curves, not the flaws I see.

Dress & slip: American Apparel

Sweater: American Eagle

Shoes: Birkenstock

I will wear what I want!

I realized that sometime around my two year anniversary at my job I broke out of my work-wear rut.  I work in a fairly casual office, however... In order to work in the lab or walk thru the shop, I have to obey safety rules.  Those rules entail: closed toe, closed back, flat shoes and long pants.  I also work with a lot of older men.  This means modesty is extremely important.  For work I own baggy pants, cotton shirts, and high necked camisoles.  At some point I finally wore a dress to work.  Since that day, I've embraced finally dressing the way I want to for work.  It still makes me a little nervous for the looks I'll get from co-workers, but I still love to wear clothes that make me happy!  Today was one of those days.  I've owned this dress for quite a while, but today was the first day I've worn it to work.  I felt it was a little too short, so I wore it with leggings instead of tights.  And yes, I definitely got some odd looks from co-workers today.

Dress: Target

Leggings: American Apparel

Belt and earrings: Forever 21

Boots: Franco Fortini

Socks: unknown (but they're super fuzzy and soft!)

Thunder awakens my soul.

It stormed this week!  Yes, in Los Angeles.  While I drove home in the thunderstorm, I realized I really felt alive.  It was amazing!  When I left work there was low distant thunder, bright flashes of lightening, low dark grey clouds overhead, fat drops of rain, a cool breeze, and sunshine on the mountains on the horizon.  As I stood on my balcony taking pictures of the rainy street, the blue sky began peeking through.

Flowers and Lace

Today I wore my new Target lace cardigan again.  I love it!  Also I am so glad socks with boots is a trend. My cozy feet were thankful today.  I took this photo without the flash, trying to use what little daylight I could get on my balcony.  Unfortunately it was grey and gloomy today.

Dress: American Eagle

Cardigan: Target

Boots: Franco Fortini

Wool socks: unknown

Belt: Forever 21

Earrings: Savannah Art Market

Fall Boots

Last night I went to LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, for live jazz music with SWE.  It was a fantastic evening!  I highly recommend going.  The museum hosts live jazz music for free every Friday night.  Museum entry is also free for LA county residents after 5 pm.  I wore a new lace cardigan that I picked up on clearance at Target.  I really love it!  I wish I could get one in every color.

Cardigan & tank: Target

Jeans: Paige

Boots: Franco Fortini

Ring: Forever 21

Earrings: Savannah Art Market

I wore the same boots today.  I put together this outfit actually in the Target dressing room.  I went in for olive green leggings, and this tunic sweater was hanging near the leggings and on sale.  It felt like the perfect fall outfit!  Plus it feels like pajamas.

 

Tunic & leggings: Target

Tank: Jockey

Boots: Franco Fortini

Ring: Forever 21

My On-Camera Debut

Today I found out I am going to be filmed tomorrow by NASA TV!  I'm so excited!  I have no clue if it'll just be for internal use or the actual NASA TV channel.  What I need from you, my few readers, please... What should I wear???  I'll check this blog for comments tomorrow morning while I'm staring into my closet debating what to wear.  Also, today's work outfit.  I promise that tomorrow I'll at least wear make-up and do my hair, unlike today.

Top: Banana Republic Outlet

Camisole: Target

Pants: LOFT Outlet

Shoes: Naturalizer

Necklace: Cost Plus World Market

Earrings: Calabasas farmers market

I love my cat.

$250 is...
A new pair of glasses.
Two new Michael Kors purses from the outlet.
Three dresses on sale at Anthropologie.
Or one vet visit for a sick cat.

It wasn't a choice for me.  I love my cat.  She means the world to me, and when I saw she was in pain and had matted fur, I took the first vet appointment available.  The vet found a lump.  We don't know what's causing it, but it's exactly where she had hip surgery as a kitten.  It's probably related to that.  For now, she's on anti-inflammatory pain medicine.  I'm probably going to have to take her back to the vet next week for x-rays if it doesn't go away.  I took a few pictures of her last night after her appointment.  She was so happy on the new drugs!  She was very unhappy about her neck being covered in alcohol from getting blood drawn.  It was kind of hilarious to watch her try to wash her neck while drugged up.  In the first picture you can see where the vet shaved her to get a better look at the lump.

  

Fall Weather!

I jumped at the opportunity to wear tights this week.  Unfortunately this week is 50 degrees cooler than last week.  LA has some weird weather.  I don't mind this week's cool rainy weather, but last week's 113F was WAY too hot!
Monday's outfit:

 

Dress: Target

Camisole: Forever 21

Tights: American Apparel

Cardigan: Victoria's Secret

Shoes: Clarks

Necklace: Cost Plus World Market

Today's outfit:

Dress: Anthropologie

Cardigan: American Eagle

Tights & socks: Target

Belt: Forever 21

Shoes: Franco Fortini

Weekend Chores

So my intention today was to show you how an outfit meant for bumming around and cleaning the apartment could be transformed into an outfit suitable for going out to dinner at Duke's for restaurant week.  Unfortunately, the dinner didn't pan out, and I ordered Dominos for dinner.  Not so exciting...so I didn't actually change clothes for this feature.  Also, this tunic only cost me $4 on clearance at AE!

 

Tunic: American Eagle

Leggings: Wal-mart

Shoes: Birkenstocks

Update: I decided to try this challenge even though I wasn't going to wear it out.  Here's the outfit I put together tonight that I think would work for going out to dinner using the same tunic.

 

Vest: American Eagle

Jeans: Paige

Shoes, belt, & necklace: Target