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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Fashion Rules

Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone is enjoying the three day weekend! I know I am thrilled to have a little bit of time off to relax. Speaking of Labor Day, I am sure everyone knows the fashion rule that states that one should never wear white after Labor Day. Unfortunately, I am just getting around to wearing white shorts, as depicted in this post, and now I am not liking the idea of having to put them away until Memorial Day! (I thought they would be the perfect complement to my floral blouse, which, I must admit, is also very summery!) Luckily, I think most of us have moved on past the no white after Labor Day rule. I remember hearing the rule quite often growing up but today it's not really something I abide by for several reasons.

One reason I am okay with wearing white all year has to do with location. After living in Southern California for more than a decade, I have realized that it's summer about 3/4 of the year out here. For example, this weekend, which is supposed to be the end of summer, we had a record temperature of over 120 degrees in some parts of Los Angles! I can't transition into fall when it's sunny and that hot! Don't get me wrong, I love fall but it just doesn't feel or look like fall here at all. My second reason for continuing to wear white is that there are plenty of seasonally appropriate ways to incorporate it into your wardrobe during the fall and winter months. Personally, I am a big fan of wearing white jeans in the cooler months or you could also go with a winter white sweater when it's cool. Unfortunately, I feel like all of this talk about cooler months is just wishful thinking because, let's face it, it's going to be a long time before it's actually cool here in Los Angeles!

Shirt: J. Crew here
Shorts: Target similar white eyelet shorts
Sandals: H&M similar bow sandals here
Bag: Zara
Sunglasses: Prada

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Pattern Mixing with a Colorful Striped Sweater

I love the cool, rainy weather we've had here in Southern California lately! For starters, it finally feels and looks like fall, even though we are almost into winter. Second, the weather has provided me with the opportunity to wear a lot of my fall and winter sweaters and coats. One new acquisition to my sweater collection is this colorful chunky sweater from Gap. I picked it up a few weeks ago during Gap's Cyber Monday Sale but Gap continues to have some great deals throughout the holiday season, so you can probably also pick it up for a steal. While I don't shop that often at Gap, I always seem to buy one or two sweaters from them every winter because they always have some really fun and colorful sweaters around the holidays!

As you may know, I'm a big fan of pattern mixing, so in this outfit I am mixing it up with a striped sweater and wide leg plaid pants. Normally, I might wear this sweater with some jeans and boots, especially rain boots, given the rainy weather we've had lately, but I thought this time around I would make the sweater a little bit more dressy! As you can see, this is a versatile sweater that I am sure I will be enjoying for rainy falls and winters for years to come!

Sweater: Gap here
Pants: Banana Republic here
Shoes: J. Crew here
Bag: J. Crew

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Polka Dot Tulle Skirt

While the flowers might be dead everywhere else, here in Los Angeles they are in full bloom, even though the ones that I'm standing in front of here are fake! (I guess you could insert the obvious joke that there are a lot of "fake" things here in L.A.!) Well, this store front with its pretty, albeit fake, flowers made for the perfect backdrop for my new polka dot tulle skirt. I spied the skirt when I was doing some shopping before Thanksgiving and it was love at first sight! As you know, I love anything that's tulle and this particular skirt is so cute with the embroidered polka dots!

As you will see in an upcoming post, I'm also crazy about cashmere for winter! I mean, who doesn't love how soft and luxurious it is? I actually stood in line at the pre-Black Friday sale at J. Crew for an hour to get the cashmere sweater I'm wearing in today's post! I purchased it along with another cashmere sweater and each turned out to be under $25 a piece, so I want to say it was worth the wait to get such a good deal, at least in retrospect. Also, they were serving mimosas at the store, so that helped to assuage the boredom of standing in line! Like cashmere, mimosas are one thing I don't think you can ever have enough of!
 

Skirt: H&M here
Sweater: J. Crew here
Shoes: J. Crew here
Bag: Milly similar rainbow clutch here

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Cyber Monday and a Rainbow Skirt

If it's possible, I think I just might be "shopped out" after spending the last week or so searching through the numerous Black Friday, Pre-Black Friday, and other holiday sales for the best deals. That being said, it is Cyber Monday tomorrow, so I just might shop online for some gifts, but I think I've pretty much purchased everything I want, and then some, for me! Speaking of which, one of the items I picked up for myself last week was this sequin rainbow pencil skirt. I did debate if I should wait and get the skirt this weekend, thinking that perhaps the price would be lower, but I honestly loved the skirt so much that I just couldn't wait!

If you love colorful clothing as much as I do, I highly recommend checking out the current new arrivals at New York and Company, which is where this skirt is from, because they have so many colorful things for winter! (Plus, they have a really great sale is going on for Cyber Monday!) I don't shop at New York and Company often but every year I find a few really good pieces, like this skirt, that I just love! I actually came across this skirt because a friend on Instagram sent me a picture of the dress in this sequin rainbow print. While I loved the dress, I thought that the skirt would be more versatile and indeed it is! For winter, I'm wearing it with a fuzzy cream sweater but I can easily see this piece transitioning into spring. So, while the sales might come and go, I think it's safe to say that this skirt is here to stay!

Skirt: NY and Company here
Sweater: H&M similar here
Shoes: J. Crew similar suede pumps
Bag: Mansur Gavriel here
Sunglasses: Gucci here

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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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A Fierce New Top

I wore this Ratti leopard print top a couple weeks ago on what was probably the last day of our "June Gloom". As the name suggests, "June Gloom" is a weather phenomenon in Southern California where the skies stay cloudy and overcast in the early months of summer. Now that we are in July and the temperatures are higher and the cloud cover is scarce, I'm really missing "June Gloom" with the slightly cooler weather and the clouds! It's also amazing that we are already well into the first week of July, which means my first month of summer vacation has come and gone! Time is absolutely flying by!

On this particular day, I had an eye appointment and my leopard top was definitely a hit with the doctor. Clearly, there is something appealing about this fun take on a leopard print! In my opinion,  the color scheme of the print is what makes it a winner; I love the pink, purple and yellow tones it utilizes, which gives it a strong 80s vibe. When I went to my appointment, I tried on a purple pair of eyeglasses that will soon replace my old ones and they were a perfect complement, both in style (cat-eye) and in color, to this top! The eyeglasses and the top would definitely make for a fierce combination!

Shirt:  here
Pants: here
Shoes:  here
Bag: J. Crew similar yellow clutch here

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