All Business

 I had a job interview today so for a change you are seeing what I looked like when I was a businesswoman back in the day and possibly again in the future...

 I picked a somewhat classic suit to wear which is what I usually do for interviews. Once I am working and have built relationships I add a bit more interest to my suits but I am afraid they are all mostly very professional and conservative looking. In the Finance (investments) industry you really can't get away with anything else.

 I liked this dark brown pant suit cause of the cool cream stitching it had which adds interest...

I did go (a bit) crazy added lots of gold and pearl short necklaces. There are three here:
1. large gold chain link - Bloomingdale's
2. 3 layered vintage pearl necklace - gift from Mom
3. Multi layered gold and pearl necklace - gift from Mom

I own two business totes. One is a black and gray coach one which is room and fits my laptop and more. The other one is this which looks big but fits hardly anything. Fine for an interview but not practical for everyday workday.

I was going to wear my dark brown stilettos but these cream pointy toe mules looked much more interesting. I just knew they would come back in style. Have been saving them for years with another similar pair in a box top of my closet!

 It was a good hair day which I am sure you noticed is not all that frequent for me!

 When you know you won't be taking off your suit jacket such as in an interview you can get away with wearing a simple silk cami underneath. Normally though I would wear a silk blouse or a shell so I can take it off if it gets hot and still look professional. I own a vast collection of silk camisoles and blouses to go with my suit collection.

 A good tailored suit that fits you nicely gives you confidence which is key especially in an interview!

Suit - Some italian brand bought from a boutique during a business trip in Boston

Necklaces - see above

Heels - BCBG

Today's Activities: Didn't let a thing like job interview stop my plans of taking kids to the new Winnie the Pooh movie with our play group this morning. I tried on the suit and all the accessories on last night to make sure everything still fits and looks OK. Then I hung it all up and attached a bag with the shoes and a travel toothbrush, toothpaste deodorant and a lip gloss. I wore (forgot to take a photo) lemon yellow capri pants and a rust colored tee and suede ballet flats to the theater. But put on all the jewelry seen above and did my hair and make-up. After the movie fed the kids lunch in the food court. My mom and step-dad met us there to take over the kids and I drove to the interview. I stopped at Sears (right by the company) and changed in their restroom and got freshened up.
My interview went fine but sounds like their priorities have changed and they now do not have a timeline of filling this position which is a red flag. So we shall see.
After I got home changed, my husband and I took the kids to my parents again, then left to pick up my car from the shop up north. Before though we stopped for a nice dinner over some drinks and had a mini date night! It was great!

Where Do I Blog From? - Visiual FBFF

Suze of Miss Vinyl Ahoy is hosting this visual topic for  

Fashion Beauty Friend Friday.

She wants to see where we blog from. Be it your office, room, the local coffee shop, whatever... show us your natural blogging habitat. 

*FBFF group is created by Katy from Modly Chic!

Blogging spot #1 - Living Room

I mostly blog from here in my living room, sitting on this couch and watching a tivo'd show of some sort while blogging.

My pink laptop!

I use this lap tray which I brought from Turkey to hold the laptop on my lap. I also use a cordless mouse cause I can't stand the mouse pad of the laptops.

Blogging Spot #2 - Office

 I occasionally blog from our office upstairs. Especially if I also have bills to pay and balance the checkbook...
This is an antique 'partner' desk. As you can see it has two openings for two people to work at the same time. Works great for my husband and I. It is so wide though that the door frame had to come out to get it in the room!

 These are the frames on my desk:

While I was in the office with a camera, I decided to take more photos of the room.

This is the glass door. We got this idea in another house while we were house shopping. It is nice when we are on work conference calls and the kids can see us but not be able to come in.

 You probably already got the fact that the room is decorated in a nautical theme. Our previous house was an ocean view cottage and all these decorations were on our deck. Instead of getting rid of them decided to use them all in our office. Came out great...

 The multi photo frame is from our trip to Maine. It is my picture with the different lighthouses we visited. The wall decorations are from an antique store there.  I am somewhat fascinated with lighthouses!

 I came up with this idea all on my own. Kept the top shelf low enough and used a netting to decorate the inside and hang sea shells.

Below are some other decorations on the book shelves all collected from various trips (including Turkey).
Since the shelves are covered with glass doors I can afford to use little decorations and not worry about dust!

These are the only open shelves so they display large objects. The top is an antique from my Grandpa's old office. The typewriter is another antique I purchased. I was very into antiques.

Bougth this weathered trunk from a garage sale. It now holds our printer. I am curious now what is inside. I haven't looked in ages.

To See where others blog from, click HERE!

Monarch

 Today's outfit was inspired by another outfit from the J Crew catalog. I really like J Crew and their catalog. They put together great outfits.

 Finally getting to wear these blush colored lace shorts. The photo has yellow/orange undertones with the lace shorts and cardi, so I went blush/nude colors since those are the colors of my items.

 I do like how the black and white striped top pops. Added the black sandals to pull from that...

 I connected two of my pearl necklaces to make an extra long one. Also added these blush pink beads too...

 The animal print cross body bag with a tan colored coach scarf with a  rust trim....

 Without the Cardi... By the way the tee is worn backwards again since the front has a subtle writing on it...

 Tee - From Turkey

Cardigan & Shorts & colored bead necklace - Forever 21

Pearls - gifts

Bag - Juicy Couture

Sandals - Boutique 9 (zappos)

Today's Activities: Well it was a crazy morning. We were all doing good dressed and lunches packed in our car driving north to see some butterfly exhibition when the tiny image of a battery lights up in my car. I am thinking 'oh no what is wrong now?'. We get off the freeway on our exit and wait at the stop light to turn and the radio dies. Now I am thinking that is not a great sign. Sure enough the light turns green I start turning left and that is when my car completely dies in the middle of the intersection blocking a very busy road (Encinitas Blvd for those in San Diego)! 

I tried to remain calm. The good thing is no one hit us and luckily there was a huge commercial truck behind me and the driver pushed me to the bike lane across the street. So happy we had lunch packed cause I fed the kids lunch while we waited for AAA. My son enjoyed the experience of a police officer coming by then a tow truck and being towed like 'mater tows McQueen!'. My friend was meeting us and she was able to drop off her kids with her family members and came to pick us up. After visiting the butterflies (1 hour later) we then had the issue of getting back home. My other friend who also met us there came to the rescue. We picked up the car seats from my car in the shop installed them in her car and took very fussy 4 kids home. 

Here are some photos from the Monarch Butterfly Program (website):

 She is a little afraid when the butterfly gets close...

My son is trying to feed a butterfly watermelon!

Got 2!

Then there was one on his sandwich!

I had one on my hand!

This one stayed on my hand forever!

Kind of looks like a cool ring doesn't it?

After naps I got dinner ready and when my husband came to take over the kids met up with 3 other mommy friends for some fun dinner and drinks! Ended up at a 'Joe's Crab Shack' and had some yummy crab lakes.