Colorful Striped Pencil Skirt

 

I've been waiting for a while to wear this colorful striped pencil skirt from Milly. I purchased it a couple months ago, but I just never got around to wearing it. I also purchased the matching cardigan that looks very cute when paired with the pencil skirt. However, it's very hot here (it is the middle of summer, after all!) and I just couldn't bear to put on a sweater and take photos in this heat! Maybe when the fall rolls around and the weather cools off, which isn't usually until November here in Southern California, I can photograph the two pieces together. Anyway, both the skirt and the sweater are now on sale at Milly, so now is a great time to snag them and hold on to them for the upcoming fall months!

 

One item that I am getting a lot of use out of this summer is my light blue Teddy Blake bag! The light blue color is really perfect in the summer months and it ties into one of the many colors of this skirt. Obviously, many colors would go with this skirt, but I wanted to go with a hue that was on the lighter side for summer. When you see me style this skirt again in the cooler months, I might go with a red bag, but cooler weather seems like such a long time away!

 

Skirt: Milly here, matching cardigan here

Top: Zara similar ruffle sleeve top

Shoes: Loefer Randall here

Bag: c/o Teddy Blake here

Sunglasses: YSL similar heart sunglasses here

 

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Barrels of Fun

 

Last weekend, we finally had what I would categorize as "sweater weather" here in Los Angeles. I tried to take advantage of the cloudy weather and cooler temps, while they lasted, by wearing this new purple cashmere sweater. While I have many purple sweaters, purple is my favorite color so I am not opposed to collecting as many shades of purple as possible! I paired my new sweater with a giraffe print pencil skirt, which is currently on sale, and some colorful accessories like these green pumps.  While I love a good leopard print, I always like to add a little bit of color to really make the outfit pop!

 

This is the type of outfit that I would definitely wear to work but, because I am teaching online this semester, I am all about casual comfort in my wardrobe and I would not consider wearing a pencil skirt while sitting all day at the computer. While I didn't get to wear this outfit to work, I did get to wear it over the weekend. Strange as it might seem, I am definitely taking the opportunity to dress up more on weekends when I am able to go out. This colorful barrel installation can be found at the Lab Anti-Mall in Orange County and it's one of my favorite places to go for art, shopping, and, of course, great photo locations! In other words, it's a barrel of fun!

 

Skirt: here

Sweater: here

Shoes: here
Bag: similar yellow bag here

Earrings: here

Lobster Love!

I love lobsters but not to eat, only to wear! You see, I've always been a picky eater, although, since meeting my husband, I've broaden my culinary horizons. Even though I am now more adventurous with what I eat, the one thing I still don't usually touch is seafood. I don't know what it is about seafood but I can't stand it, especially shellfish like lobster! Sometimes I will eat lobster if you sneak it into some mac and cheese but you won't find me cracking into the shell of a lobster anytime soon! So, while I don't usually eat lobsters, I do love a good lobster print, which is why I am crazy about this lobster print pencil skirt from J. Crew! In a previous post, I mentioned that I haven't been wearing pencil skirts very often (or any article of clothing that's too restrictive during the quarantine, to be perfectly honest!) but some of the prints featured on pencil skirts from J. Crew are just too cute to pass up!

I wore this outfit for our anniversary last week and, luckily, we didn't go out to eat lobster! We did get a nice takeout meal at one of our favorite restaurants for lunch and then in the evening we went to a drive-in movie theater. (Don't worry, I wore something much less dressy and more more comfy to the drive-in!) Hopefully next year we can resume dining indoors at restaurants, which is what we usually do to celebrate our anniversary. To be honest, however, I love that the pandemic is forcing people to get creative with how they spend special occasions! This was definitely a pandemic anniversary to remember!

Skirt: J. Crew here
Top: H&M similar color tee here
Shoes: Old Navy similar green sandals here
Bag: Zara similar bag here
Sunglasses: Celine

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Poofy Sleeves and a Pencil Skirt

It's been a while since I've donned a pencil skirt but it sure feels great to be back in this type of silhouette! Looking back at my wardrobe over the last decade, I realized that I use to wear pencil skirts all the time. In fact, I think J. Crew can largely be credited with bringing back this polished style a little less than a decade ago, which was when I first got into wearing them. Currently, I am more of a fan of pleated skirts and fuller silhouettes but I still love a good pencil skirt every now and again, especially if it features a fun print like this palm print skirt. I love the 70's vibe of the print and the golden parrots that blend into the pink palm fronds. So, while I haven't purchased nearly as many pencil skirts as I have in the past, it's easy to see why this one needed to be added to my collection!

Speaking of different silhouettes, do you think the sleeves on my balloon tee are poofy enough? That was a question that I posed last week on Instagram and it was met with an almost universal consensus that my sleeves were not poofy enough! (This top could definitely be used to make a voluminous statement on your next Zoom conference call!)  Basic tees, like pencil skirts, are another item I have in spades, so I thought it would be fun to get a tee like this one that adds a little something extra to an outfit. Also, this tee turned out to be the perfect complement to my tropical pencil skirt but it would look equally stunning with just a simple pair of jeans.

Skirt: J. Crew here
Tee: H&M here
Shoes: J. Crew here
Bag: H&M similar woven gold clutch here
Sunglasses: Prada here

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Summer Friday Feels

One of the things that was nice about summer vacation was not knowing what day it was! I think that's a luxury that only teachers, retirees, and those who are independently wealthy and don't work have! Well, now that I am back to work, I'm only too conscious of what day it is and it's no surprise that there is much anticipation with the arrival of Fridays! I guess that's why I love this tee so much and also why I now own it in two colors! Luckily, the rust color was a perfect complement for this new striped skirt that I recently purchased from Madewell. It was as if the tee and skirt were made for each other, much like how I think I was made for Fridays!

My husband was concerned when I decided to wear this tee on a Saturday and not a Friday. He commented, "You're wearing it on the wrong day!" My rationale for doing so was that I wanted to feature this outfit for one of my blogs and I haven't quite mustered up the energy to do any photos after school when I am dead tired, so I'm trying to get all my blog photos done on the weekends now, so Saturday it was! These photos were taken on the weekend after my first week back to school and also after getting my first good night's sleep in a few days. Just looking at them now makes me dream about the weekend!

So, while I wish I could echo the attitude of the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey and confusdedly ask, "what is a 'week end'?", I, sadly, no longer have that luxury anymore! On the positive side, it does make one appreciate certain things in life more and certainly it makes the weekends and Fridays, which symbolize the start of the weekend, all the more special!

Tee: J. Crew similar here
Skirt: Madewell here
Shoes: Old Navy similar here
Bag: J. Crew similar here

A Skirt to Make You Feel Up Beat!

Sometimes J. Crew has special items that are available only though Nordstrom, like this tropical print pencil skirt. I honestly don't know how I stumbled across it but I know that it's not something that is offered on J. Crew's regular site (and I have a fairly extensive knowledge of it!) and only seems to be available through Nordstrom. Well, it was love at first sight, plus I had a gift card and I also had $20 in rewards cash from Nordstrom (I actually didn't even know I was enrolled in this program, so it was a pleasant surprise!), so it was a very good deal. All in all, I was definitely pretty up beat over my new skirt purchase!

I wore this outfit last week to a wine dinner and I added a cardigan over this statement tee to make the look a bit more dressy for the occasion; plus, on that particular day, it was actually somewhat cool, both outside and in the restaurant, so my decision to wear the sweater was also driven by practicality. I accessorized the look with these polka dot platform sandals. I must say that even though these aren't high, the platform style does take some getting use to, as I kind of felt like I was rocking back and forth while walking in them! Nevertheless, these sandals are super cute and also got me a lot of compliments as I was walking down the street, which definitely put a spring in my step, even though it's summer!

Skirt: J. Crew here
Tee: J. Crew similar statement tee here
Shoes: Old Navy here
Bag: Red Dress Boutique here
Sunglasses: Celine

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Polka Dot Sweatshirt at the Broad Museum

When I saw this polka dot sweatshirt online at Target, it instantly made me think of the artist Yayoi Kusama, who recently had a show at the Broad Museum, which is where these photos were taken. Kusama does a lot of installation art with dots, hence the connection between my sweatshirt and her art. Last week, we were in Downtown Los Angeles, which is where the Broad Museum is located, so I thought it would be the perfect occasion to wear the sweatshirt. I guess you could say the sweatshirt could be conceived of as a work of art, albeit a very affordable work of art!

I wanted to pair my fun polka dot sweatshirt with another pop of color, such as this wool pencil skirt from J. Crew. The pencil skirt is actually sort of a dark pink color but it looks a little more red than pink in photos. I also opted for a cute pair of navy velvet boots to pick up the navy dots in the sweatshirt. Last of all, there's my colorful tassel bag, which, to be quite honest, I haven't worn that much since summer! When I wore this outfit last week, it was a very cold and rainy day, so, I guess, breaking out the bag was my way of wishing for warmer weather and sunnier days in the near future!

Sweatshirt: Target here
Skirt: J. Crew similar here
Bag: Rebeca Minkoff similar here
Boots: Nine West similar blue velvet boots here

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