Pastel Pink

Another one of those inspired combo's this afternoon. This was a tiny photo in a big 'index' page of a style magazine:

The minute I saw it again I thought to myself I have a silk pink shirt and black shorts. Also great reason to wear my favorite Kate Spade sandals.

I love these sandals. They were bought during the 'sex and the city' era where owning designer cute shoes was something I had to follow.
I could have gone black jewelry but decided to go all pink which I think looked very elegant. The necklace is a gift my mom. She got the stones from Turkey I think and made the necklace herself. Knowing I like big stones but simple style she didn't add anything and I love it. Gave it to me during my baby shower for my daughter. Mom always beleives in getting something for the mom on baby showers. The ring is also a gift from her given a year later on my xmas or b-day can't remember to go with this necklace. The earings are my own purchase.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Pink silk blouse - Ann Taylor

Black Belt - Ralph Lauren

Black Shorts - Express

Pink/grey shiny sandals - Kate Spade - Off Fifth (saks outlet)

Necklace, ring - gift from Mom

Earings - Juicy Couture - Nordstrom's

 

So, I need to admit I wore this outfit in the afternoon only. Knowing I was going to wear this I wore nothing special in the morning. But, thought I should show it anyway:

 

  

Couple notes of this casual outfit. I have now discovered my old babydoll style tops I acquired during pregnancy and breastfeeding days look great when tucked in and blousened over. Second, the jacket on the left is a pricey item from Disneyland. Since most of your kids are too young, you probably have not done many trips to disney yet, so let me give you a heads up. There is a whole dress code in Disneyland. Everyone dresses in their best disney character clothes. Given that we live 1.5 hours from Disneyland and most likely will be going at least twice a year, I decided to buy this 'mickey' jacket during my second visit along with a princess hat. Of course I was pregnant at the time so bought a little large size but it is still OK. And my son's reaction when I wear it is priceless.

 

Today's Activities: Family visit to the zoo followed by lunch there. After another day of successfull naps at home went to my little sister's housewarming party. Came home to host couple relative/friends for dinner (my secret: I always cook dinner while the kids are napping and am a big fan of crockpot dinners. This way I can stay as late as dinner time in the afternoons knowing dinner is waiting at home).

Lacey Rocker

My outfit choices have become increasingly difficult during the past week because I am trying very hard to only wear items I will NOT be packing to Turkey. I am concerned since I am gone for 4 months and can only take so much clothes for myself as how I am going to sustain a different combo each day. My spreadsheet list has been very helpful as I was able to select combinations that uses the same bottom or shoes etc... But without relying on my vast selection of clothes in my closet it is going to be tough. Of course it is shopping heaven there but I only have limited funds and can't go crazy. Plus as you know my favorite thing is pairing one new item with things I own and without access to everything it is going to be challanging.
Anyway, this is a very old outfit. I love this lacy top with the ruffle hem. The back is made out of cotton t-shirt material so it is very comfy to move in. These jeans were my first purchase of 'skinny' jeans. Later I realized I could get much skinnier models but I still like to wear this pair as well. I like it is cute front square pockets. For the evening I paired them with my zipper heels. I love how cute these heels are. They also great with my dark grey skinny jeans too.

For day time I wore my converses.

Lace white top - Victoria's Secret Catalog

Rock Republic 'skinny' jeans - Victoria's Secret Catalog

Zipper Heels - BCBGirls - TJ Maxx - $30

Converse - $55

Today's Activities: Sea World in the morning with playgroup. After successfull naps we ventured out to run last minute errands before our big trip. Had dinner and play date at my best friend's house with the whole family.

Daisy day, daisy night

So, this outfit was created to wear these cutest betsey yellow sandals I have for my night activity with the girls. However, when I tried it on with those shoes it just didn't have the look I was going for. Too late to figure something else out I kept the outfit with the black boot looking sandals for the day. I ordered these sandals and another pair from zappos. At a first galance I was sure I would be sending these back as they other pair was cuter. However, I realized I already had two cute looking sandals and liked the roughness of these ones. They give the feeling of boots. My mom would say they look like you took black eletrical tape and wrapped it around your ankles and feet but something about the look draw me. So kept these and sent the other ones back. The yellow tank is actually babydoll style. I like how when you tuck in babydoll cut tops they look great. The cardigan is a new find from Guess on sale. Got one in black as well as they are the type of cardigan you will have forever. Very cozy and comfy with no zippers or buttons. The shawl color can look very dressy when worn up as well.

Yellow Babydoll tank (worn tucked in) - Victoria's Secret

Khaki colored cotton cardigan - Guess - $35

Boyfriend Jeans - Newport News - $39

Belt - F21

Boot Flat Sandals - Boutique 9 - Zappos - $120

Earings - Buffolo Exchange

Today's Activities: Outdoor toddler class with the kids. Music Class in the afternoon.

Here we are at the outdoor toddler class. My son on the right, daughter in the middle and my friend's son on the left. Never seen a 3 way slide before! I had to hold the boys so they would pose before sliding down.

NIGHT OUTFIT

So, the idea was to keep the day outfit with some minor changes for the night but I was so fed up with the jeans falling off me that I changed all together.

Purple Cardigan (which always looks blue for some reason) - Gap

Scarf - from Mom who bought it in Turkey

Skinny Jeans - F21

Brown leather boots - Newport News

Dior Purse

Night Activities: Went out for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and then drinks and bowling with 3 other mommy group friends: Mommy's night out. :)

Sunshine Award

Thanks to Kimberellie for the blog award! Her blog is reads like a fresh breath of air. So sincere and funny and original.

The rules are:

1) Post the logo within your blog or post
2) Pass the award onto 12 fellow bloggers

Thats a lot of bloggers - so I am going to only award 4 bloggers.

Kimberellie already awarded all the chic fashionista mommy bloggers that I also like and follow, so I wanted to recognize some of my non mommy fashion inspiration bloggers...
1. Lida Mankovski of Fashionistatalk.com
    I absolutely love her style and outfits. She manages to get a 100% chic outfit *every*day!

2. E! of Districtofchic.com
    She has such class and great taste. I am always excited when I see a new post to see what  she came up with now.

3. Diya of In Her Stillettos
    This petite beauty reminds me of my little sister. I absolutely love her vintage lace skirts and blazer jacket combos and the layers and layers of jewelry. Such a busy and smart girl as well.

4. Nil Erturk of Nil Erturk blog
    She is Turkish like me, but she actually lives in Turkey (Istanbul). Other than her amazing funky style I admire the effort she makes by posting every single thing she writes in both languages without a flaw. I wish I had the same patience.

Cool in a Fedora

This is another inspired outfit from a fashion magazine. What was inspiring was the fact that again I owned all the similar items (minus the purse) in the photo, so it was great and easy to duplicate.
I have to be honest though I chickened out and did NOT wear the fedora hat after the photo shoot. Lets face it I live in San Diego, the city whose uniform is flip flops and shorts, and I just felt it would be too much. May be if I was going out to lunch with girlfriends or shopping at a nice mall I could have pulled it off. But too much for the indoor toddler class. And one more confession, the purse was not used either since I had my diaper bag. Although last summer I did use this purse as a diaper bag but didn't have the energy to transfer everything just for today.
So, this purse goes against my 'fashion rule' of not buying faux leather shoes and bags. It is faux but I absolutely love it. The color, the texture and the style can always be counted to make a 'pop out' statement with any outfit.

Here is the inspiration photo on the left... Her boots are knee length but I think my ankle high same color boots give a similar feeling. I actually think my puse looks cooler. :)

Fedora Hat - Loaner from mom who bought it in Paris

Yellow Cardigan - Victoria's Secret Catalog - $40

White tee - Target

Blue Skinny Jeans - F21

Grey Patent Leather boots - From Turkey - $100

Blue/Black lizard tote - F21 - $30

Cascading gold plated bird necklace - from a website I can't remember - $40

Today's Activities: Indoor mommy and me toddler class with the kids (it was wear yellow day). Kid Ventures in the afternoon, followed by meeting and having dinner with my sister at home.

My little man who wanted to 'do a picture with mommy'

TIP OF THE DAY: I am going to cheat and refer you to a fellow mommy blogger's website:

http://megannielsen.com/2010/04/megs-maternity-wear-survival-guide.html

She had a great post on maternity wear tips.

Birds in Feathers

Posting real late tonight because we (my best friend and I) are trying to watch the movie 'Coco before Chanel' and it is subtitled meanning I can't 'listen' and blog at the same time. So right now my friend is kind enough to read the subtitles outloud so I can blog. :)

So, I cheated a bit and took these photos yesterday. I was going to wear the outfit both days in a row since my blog yesterday was on the Thread show but it was too cold so after taking the photos I changed. But I did wear this all day today. It was a bit chilly so the jacket was perfect. The boyfriend jeans and boyfriend blazer with converses are sooo comfy.. .

I got inspired when I saw this combo in a magazine. (see below). And since I already owned the jeans and the jacket (and the military style boots) I thought I could re-create it with just finding a similar tee and feather earings. 

The magazines actually do a great job telling you exactly where you can buy the displayed items and for how much but I always look for cheaper options. Plus I wasn't too crazy about the peace sign tee. 

I got this tee at TJ Maxx the other day. I love tissue thin, don't you? And I love the design on it. And the poppping shade of blue is exactly what I was looking for.

The earings were easy to find at my trusted Forever 21.

I decided last minute to wear converses under the outfit instead of the boots.  I am going to wear the version on the left (black pants, tee, crop blazer and boots) some other day, probably in fall. But for spring converses were more appropriate.

My converses finally arrived. Man it sucks to order from the actual brand. I tried to get these from Zappos but they didn't have my size so I ordered them directly from converse. It took much longer. So, I really like the look of classic converse with ties. But, being a mommy I just can't stand shoes with ties (or buckles) for me or for the kids. I am all for slip ons, zipper or velcro closure. So I was just going to get the slip on converses than I saw this model in a magazine. The ties are 'painted on' but they are slip ons.

Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Trompe L'oeil Slip-On

Black Boyfirend Blazer Jacket - Newport News Catalog - $49

Blue Tee - TJ Maxx - $10

Boyfriend Jeans - Newport News Catalog - $39

Black Belt - Ralph Lauren (old)

Converses - Converse.com (or zappos.com see link above) - $55

Earings - Forever 21 - $6

Today's Activities: We hired our old nanny to babysit the kids while I spent the day in LA with my Dad for his Dr appointments and scans etc...Since we had some long waiting periods took advantage and got a menicure and pedicure at a local nail salon near the dr's office. In the evening went out with my girlfriend for dinner and than came home to watch the movie.

Thread Show Purchases

As I told you yesterday every year My mother, sister and I (sometimes joined by friends) go to the 'Thread Show' that comes to San Diego. The locale and the vendors change every year. But the idea of finding some very unique items from up and coming designers who are trying to make it in the fashion industry always gives us the biggest thrill. The cool thing is you talk and buy the items directly from the person that designed/made them. It is like participating in wine tasting from the wine maker himself. Since they sell these items directly, they sell them practically at cost. While the same items sell for 50-100% mark up at retail/boutiques. Other than getting a great deal what I love most is they are so unique. Some designs are too crazy for me to wear but I still enjoy browsing. They also have great music, food, drinks and fashion shows.

When we went this Sunday, I purchased some great items. I have been in search of a cool summer purse. Since I will probably have some help with the kids in Turkey I won't always have to carry a diaper bag and therefore can use a purse. Of course I have ton of purses but wanted one purse that will go with everything that I can pack.  This was supposed to my anniversary gift from my husband. After browsing places like TJ Maxx and Nordstrom rack and not finding anything that said 'buy me' I started considering a full price Michael Kors (a model around the $400 range). So my husband was thrilled when I found 2 purses for less than half that price at the show.

First Purse:

This is a crochet purse with real leather trim from Solas. I love that it is rectangular envelope shaped. The straps are perfect for throwing it over my shoulder or carrying it in my elbow. Love the tassle touch and the coin purse closure. Yes, white crochet is going to be risky as it could get dirty but I figured I would deal with it. And the guy didn't even tell me but when I got home and was putting them away in the dark I opened it up to find the whole mouth of the purse is lined up with this 'solas lighting'. That is the coolest feature I have ever seen. You can see what I am talking about in the website photos. As you can see on the website they are selling it for $189. I bought it for $50... He also had the pistachio green color there as well, which I was tempted with but white was safer since I can only pack 1 or 2 purses.
I was also considering this real cute black number. He was asking for $80 and check it out it sells for $319. Wish I had bought it....

Second Purse:

So, I was actually going to stop with the white purse but then I saw this one and fell in love with it. It is made by Lindsay (who I bought it from) from Malaika Designs. I just love the bead and the bird accessory. And the fact that it is bucket style which is totally in made me want it more. The genuine leather is butter soft. And the color although looks black even in person is actually this real dark olive color. Ok, here is the kicker... the purse was priced at Fred Segal boutiques for $610 and was even featured at US weekly as an up and coming designer bags... Here is the photo from that issue:

So, guess how much I paid for it?





$80!

I mean I would have bought it anyway cause I loved the purse, but can't beleive she sells it that cheap when it retails for $610.

Third Purchase:

This is from Noon Designs. They sell for pretty much the same price on their website. I couldn't find my exact one so no hot link to this but you can check out many other colors. I just love the dainty look and this blue will just pop when worn with non blue outfits. I got this pair for $22.

I wish we had remembered to taken a group shot photo at the show. Cause I took our 88 year old Nana with me. I told her where I was going and that it would be loud and the items would be for very young people and somewhat crazy, thought may be she would want to nap while we were gone. She said 'no I will go' and she had a great time. She loved how different everything was and somehow, I am still shocked, managed the find something to buy! This great silk scarf in mint green, brown and white design with black fringe. I loved that she had such a good time and still enjoys the shop so much. Made me realize that is probably how I will be if I live that long.

ON TODAY....

So, today started as a drab day. My baby girl was not feeling good so woke up many times on top of my son usual 3-4 potty wake-up calls we hardly got any sleep. Plus since we had visitors for a few days now have been going to bed super late so that didn't help. I had to cancel my 'music concert followed by playdate/lunch at a friend's house' plans so I can take it easy. The only thing we got done in the morning was grocery shopping for the week. After some medication both kids took a nice 2 hour nap and I layed down for a bit as well and we got ourselves together for some afternoon activities. I decided since I wanted to do a post on my purchases from last Sunday I would just wear the same outfit this afternoon and tomorrow, so I got dressed and even took my photos but when I opened the door to load up the car it was pouring and stormy out. So, I totally changed clothes into long jeans and uggs etc... But then of course when we were leaving 30 minutes later the sun came out but I wasn't dressing again. Oh well... No outfit photo today but had plenty of photos and stuff to talk about above.

We had a great time by the way feeding ducks at a resort's pond with a few friends from mommy group. The gift shop lady asked 'where we were from?' and laughed when she found out we were locals.

Here is my son feeding the ducks at the pond in Paradise Point Resort

(10 minutes from my house and I had no idea...)