Fair Isle Sparkle

 

I am so ready to finally get into fun, holiday outfits! There are so many great fabrics for the holiday season, such as plaid, sequins, and velvet. This outfit combines two of those fabrics: sequins and velvet. I also love that you can mix these traditionally dressy fabrics with more casual pieces for an unexpected, quirky twist on holiday style. That is exactly what I did with this J. Crew Fair Isle sweater, pairing it with a rose gold colored sequin skirt and these rose colored velvet Mary Janes. I think this outfit definitely starts off the holiday season with a bang! Below are some other sparkly skirts to get your holiday dressing off to a sparkly start!

 

 

The other thing that I love about this time of the year is that it finally looks like fall here in Los Angeles, which I realize puts us behind the rest of the country.  During the week of Thanksgiving, all of the leaves went from green to brilliant shades of orange and yellow in just a few days. I'm trying to get out and enjoy as much of the fall foliage as possible while it lasts!

 

Sweater: J. Crew here

Skirt: J. Crew similar here, here and here

Shoes: Kate Spade similar here, here and here

Bag: Chanel

 

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Falling for Black Friday Sales

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! In addition to Thanksgiving looking different for many people this year, I'm sure that Black Friday will also be different. For example, many retailers started their sales on Monday of this week, both in store and online. While I have already done a little online shopping for Black Friday this year, I'm not planning on going out to shop in person, which is something I traditionally enjoy.  My husband and I got a taste of Black Friday shopping earlier in the week when we visited an outlet mall in Palm Springs. While the mall was not particularly crowded, many stores had long lines due to Covid restrictions. I can only imagine what it will be like with crowds today! Luckily, I will not have to find out, as I will be shopping from the safety and comfort of my living room!

 

One Black Friday Sale that I always enjoy is at Anthropologie. This year for Black Friday, Anthropologie is offering 30% off of everything, including this fun, fallish floral skirt that I'm wearing in today's post. It's currently on sale plus the extra discount, which makes it a great buy! Below, you will find some of my other Black Friday picks from Anthropologie that have definitely made it into my shopping cart! As you can see, there's plenty of shimmer, shine and color!

 

Skirt: Anthropologie here and similar here 

Sweater: Target here

Shoes: J. Crew similar pink suede shoes here

Bag: Clare V. here

 

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G.O.A.T.

 

This dress from J. Crew is the G.O.A.T., not only because it's a great dress but also because it features cute whimsical goats on it! It's no secret that I love animals, especially goats (I would get a pet goat if we were zoned for it in my neighborhood!), so this dress is right up my alley! In addition to the goats, I also love the pretty color palette of this dress. Between the colors and the goats, this is one of my all time favorite prints from J. Crew, thus making it G.O.A.T., or the greatest of all time! It should come as no surprise that I also purchased the blouse in this same print, which I am hoping to feature at a later date on my blog!

 

 

I am very thankful that I have this entire week off from work for Thanksgiving! While I'm going to enjoy hanging out in my PJs and getting some rest this week, I still enjoy getting a little dressed up when I go out. This would definitely be the type of dress I would wear for work (if I wasn't doing distance learning this year!) because the modest length and silhouette create a very professional look. I added a pink blazer to the dress to create a more polished look, which, again , would be perfect for work.  It also would make for a wonderful outfit to wear for a more formal Thanksgiving feast with family!

 

Dress: J. Crew here

Blazer: similar pink blazer here and velvet version here

Shoes: similar mint pumps here

Bag: Louis Vuitton similar yellow bag here

 

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Embroidered Butterflies

 

 

I purchased this embroidered butterfly dress last month. With the sale promo and all of my rewards from J. Crew, it ended up being cheaper than a what I would pay for an order of fries at McDonald's! I definitely love getting things on sale, which is why I am anxiously anticipating what the sales will be like this year for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It looks like many retailers are featuring their sales early this year, which hopefully means more of a selection to choose from and a longer period of time to take advantage of the deals before they fly away like the butterflies on my dress!

 

 

I wore this outfit for a weekend excursion to my favorite local bookstore. One of the things that I miss lately, especially with the holidays approaching, is being able to shop in brick and mortar stores. While most stores have been open here for a while, getting into a store that can only operate at 50% or 25% of its maximum capacity often translates into long lines. Given this, I have been doing a lot of online shopping. The other thing I miss lately is getting dressed up to go to work. This outfit with the shift style dress and a little cardigan is the type of outfit I would normally wear to teach but since we are currently doing distance learning, I am all about cute tops as opposed to dresses or skirts. When schools and other places eventually reopen here, I am definitely going to be ready with some great new outfits, much like a butterfly ready to emerge from its cocoon!

Dress: J. Crew here

Sweater: J. Crew similar yellow cardigan here

Shoes: J. Crew similar purple suede shoes here

Bag: Louis Vuitton

 

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Happy (Early) Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is just a day or so away and I've been busy getting ready for the big feast by going grocery shopping and watching cooking tips on the Food Network! Since Thanksgiving can be such a hectic time of the year, with people traveling, shopping and cooking, I thought I would get in a Thanksgiving post a day or two ahead of time! This outfit, which I wore earlier this week, is the type of outfit I might consider wearing for Thanksgiving but, due to the fact that these jungle print pants are made of silk, actually wearing them on Thanksgiving is off the table! First, it's going to rain here on Thanksgiving and silk and water definitely don't mix! Second, after having several incidents involving near misses with relatives and turkey grease on Thanksgiving, I now have a hard and fast rule about only wearing things that can be washed!

I guess you could say that this outfit makes for a good Pre-Thanksgiving look! I think it could also work as a great Christmas outfit too. In fact, I was originally thinking about pairing these pants with a green cashmere sweater to bring out some of the other colors in the jungle cat print but that pairing will have to wait until after Thanksgiving. Speaking of after Thanksgiving, just a quick reminder for all my J. Crew loving readers: remember that for Black Friday, J. Crew will be offering a discount of 50% off just about everything, including these pants! In fact, the sale has already started for rewards members, so you can start your shopping early! I know I have! On that note, happy Thanksgiving and Happy Black Friday!

Pants: J. Crew here
Sweater: J. Crew similar here
Shoes: J. Crew here
Bag: Gucci similar purple crossbody here
Necklace: J. Crew similar gold necklace here

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Goodies at my Doorstep

I saw someone on Instagram with a door mat that pretty much summed up my week! It simply states: "Please Hide Packages From Husband". Yes, I definitely need one of those at home, especially around this time of year! You see, all of the things that I ordered the week of Black Friday came flooding in at the same time! Despite that fact that most items in each package were scored for around $30, that didn't quite assuage the fears of my husband as he witnessed the heaping mountain of packages (I am exaggerating for dramatic effect...a little, anyway) that the UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS men left over the course of the last few days!

A few of items that were left at my doorstep as of late include these goodies from J. Crew, namely my elephant print skirt, pom pom necklace, and velvet slingbacks. Not only was everything I ordered only around that $30 price range that I just mentioned, but all of the individual pieces seemed to match just perfectly! I hadn't planned on that! So I decided to throw my Thanksgiving sale finds together into this one look. I think this just goes to show that good things can come not only in small packages, but also many packages, much to the chagrin of husbands everywhere!

Skirt: J.Crew Ratti elephant skirt here and here
Sweater: Forever 21 similar here
Bag: Vince Camuto
Shoes: J. Crew velvet slingbacks here
Necklace: J.Crew Pom Pom necklace here
Sunglasses: Prada here

Snapping Up Holiday Deals?

'Tis the season for holiday deals! This time of year is a great time to buy gifts for others (or yourself!) at great prices. Between Black Friday, Cyber Monday and everything leading up to Christmas, there are a lot of great sales going on! Unfortunately, the thing that frustrates me is that the sales change so frequently that it's hard to know when is a good time to buy something and when you should hold off and wait for a better discount to be offered by the retailer. It's sort of like the stock market in terms of knowing when to buy and striking while the iron is hot!

I actually didn't go out shopping on Black Friday, unless you count going to the grocery store for produce. Again, most of the sales that I saw offered on Black Friday didn't really seem any better than the ones offered recently and previously throughout the year. Instead of Black Friday shopping, I did some shopping the week before to avoid the crowds, which included getting this turtleneck dress from J. Crew in store for under $20! I bought it at the private sale they J. Crew held last Sunday, which, I think, was by invite only. Regardless, no one asked to look at my invitation, probably because, like most days, I looked like a walking ad for J. Crew! At the private sale, J. Crew was offering 40% off the entire store, plus free doughnuts and mimosas! A dress for less than $20 plus a doughnut and a mimosa (or two!) is a good deal in my book!

So overall, my conclusion is that shopping on Black Friday or Cyber Monday doesn't necessarily result in deals that are much better than those at other points during the year. Sure, tomorrow my inbox will be flooded by retailers begging me to check out their Cyber Monday deals and, possessing little will power, I'll probably cave, but I don't know how much I will actually buy. The good news is that I have everything I could possibly need (and more!), plus I've done almost all of my holiday shopping for others already. Maybe it's just best to turn a blind eye to all of the hype with the holiday sales.

Dress: J. Crew here
Jacket: Target similar denim jacket here
Boots: Christian Louboutin "Cate" budget version here
Earrings: Kendra Scott c/o Rocksbox (use code hellokatiegirlblogxoxo to get the first month free!)
Bag: Fendi  here
Sunglasses: Prada on sale here