British Mustard

I initially picked to wear my red dress under this tee with my black sandals for today but the weather felt so cold in the morning no way I was going bare legged. So went with this combo instead...

 Got to add my spiky bracelet set and the bronzish gold chain which went nicely with the boot detail!

 Added the burgundy shrug as I felt cold ...

Crop Tee, Skinny Cords, Bracelets - Forever 21
Shrug - Alloy's

Necklace - Charlotte Russe

Hat - Mom's from France

TODAY:
So nice to see the kids again as I didn't get to last night since I arrived at 11 PM.  I kept on hugging and kissing them all day long. And they were more than happy to reciprocate as the longing for each other was mutual. First on our morning agenda was kids' gymnastic classes. My daughter was so happy to be wearing her new leotard we got last week. It is a one piece short-all thing with purple velvet bottom and silvery glitter top. She says she feels like Ariel. She is getting so good and loves it. And amazingly so does my son. He looks forward to it and seems to enjoy it. After the classes we went to a b-day party of their friend from pre-school. It was great seeing all my friends and being a mommy. Stayed home in the afternoon and my dad came for a visit and we all played with the kids while my hubby grocery shopped. After unpacking, putting things away and sorting out toys and dinner and etc...I finally sat down by 10PM. And once again concluded that life of a stay home mom is hell a lot more tiring than a 13 hour work day. But so much more rewarding just not monetarily.

Home is Calling & FBFF

 So remember, I told you I packed 1 extra outfit for this work trip? Therefore today I had a choice of 2 outfits. I chose this one cause this is something I might not wear during my  normal life that much and would be nice to wear to work. (the other outfit was with jeans).
The Inspiration photo below was cut soooo many months ago. It sat there because I did not own flared leg pants for a long time:

 I mostly walked around work today like this as the jacket was too warm. But for the plane ride home I will be wearing the jacket for sure.

 Since the inspiration photo shows a long blue trench with a tucked in top, I switched the proportions by wearing a long top with a crop jacket. :)

 Got these schiffon flared pants at ASOS a few months back on clearence. I wish I had waited though cause nicer ones are at F21 now. I don't like that it is schiffon cause you don't see the flare as much and it looks more like a skirt.

 I switched to navy peep toe flats as these would have been too high for airport travel.

Jacket, Top - Forever 21

Pants - ASOS

Heels - Steven by Steve Madden

Today's
Fashion Beauty Friend Friday (FBFF)
topic is about 'Jumping on the fad bandwagon'




Hosted by Katy at ModlyChic:
The wild popularity of the Missoni Target line got her thinking about fads, trends, and our desire to be part of the 'in' crowd. This weeks questions are based on that.

1. Do you ever see a fad hit the stores and immediately dislike it? Has that fad ever began to grow on you?
Yes. 'Harem Pants' and 'High Waist' jeans are good examples. At first I didn't like them at all but then they grew on me.

2. Has the popularity of a certain piece of clothing or line ever convinced you to try on something (or purchase something) you dislike?
I would never purchase something I didn't like or that didn't look good on me just cause it is popular. However, yes I have tried on for example 'oxford' style shoes when they became very popular. Normally I wouldn't have been draw to them. But realized they look very cool.

3. Have you ever changed your mind about a trend after seeing it around for a while?
Yes and it goes back to my answer to #1. After I see many variations on magazines and blogs and try it on me I could start liking something that I didn't before.

4. Do you feel a certain pressure to have specific items in your closet because 'everyone' else does?
No. I mean who is pressuring me? The only pressure comes from myself and not because everyone else has it but because I really want it cause I really liked it. Tulle skirts are always in this category! :)

5. Be honest, what do you think of the Missoni line? Did you grab any items? Is it worth the eBay prices?
Definitely not worth the eBay prices. I really did like the line and would have purchased a few but was out of town visiting family and never got to a store in time to do that than everything was gone. If I realized how crazy it was going to be I would have insisted we hit a target with the family that day. Such regret.

To See how others answered these fun questions please click HERE!

Gucci Number 2

 

Today's outfit is another gucci inspired piece similar to the one I wore here!

This color combo inspiration came from Spiegel's gucci inspiration photo on-line:

 I was so happy when I found this belt at H&M a few months ago as it was so similar to the ones in the gucci ad that was in every fashion magazine. I just saw Forever 21 brought a very similar one if you want to check it out. I love that both gucci inspired combo's I created were using stuff I had in the closet from years ago.

It is hard to take pictures this week. I asked for a room close to exit but should have asked for an inside facing one. Mine faces out and there are too many cars nearby and people driving by that makes it impossible for me to take photos with my giant tripod and SLR at 7 AM in the morning. As it is people think I was crazy carrying these items in my suitcase and taking these photos at crack of dawn. But to us bloggers it feels normal but you can imagine to the outside world it is pretty odd. It is also hard to be creative with poses and look all model like at this early in the morning. I try. :)

Cardigan - Gap

Schiffon top - Forever 21

Skirt - Mango

Belt - H&M

Wedges - Dolce Vita for Target

Necklace - can't remember

TODAY:
Day 3 of my diet and the last day since it was only a 3 day diet.
Today's Meals:
Breakfast: blk coffee or tea, 5 saltine crackers, 1 slice of cheese and 1 apple
Lunch: 1 boiled egg, 1 toast, tea or coffee
Dinner: 1 cup tuna, 1 cup carrots, 1 cup cauliflower, 1 cup melon and 1/2 cup of vanilla ice cream.
I had bought the saltine crackers yesterday for this morning and can you belevie it someone took them off my desk!? Which I didn't notice until I had already come back from buying breakfast. So had to walk back down and buy 3 packs of crackers. The lady must have thought I was crazy. At least they had them out. I would have been pissed. You don't mess with a lady on a diet!

Yellow Leopard

 Wore this animal print dress outfit today so I can participate in the 

Bloggers Do It Better 

event hosted by 

Pretty Shiny Sparkly Blog!

The inspiration had come from this on-line ad of lulu's website:

 

This reminded me to wear my animal print dress mom brought from their cruise vacation paired with this mustard jacket I had acquired from TJ Maxx early summer. 

 I realized last night in the shower that I packed too many outfits for this week. You see, the past two weeks I have been traveling on Sunday and packing 5 work day outfits. So when I make my list I pick 6 outfits total. But this week I traveled on a Monday so did not need a 6th outfit. I would have actually loved to eliminate today's combo as it was my least favorite among everything I packed but since I wanted to do the BDIB I couldn't. Oh well... 

I have been trying to find cool black feather earrings but have not come across a pair I really like. These brown ones I love but wish had black ones for this outfit. 

Dress - gift from Mom

Jacket - TJ Maxx

Earrings - Thread Show

Sandals - Boutique 9

To see everyone else strutting their animal prints click HERE!

TODAY:

Day 2 of my diet today. 

Breakfast: Tea, 1 egg, 1/2 banana and 1 toast

Lunch: 1 cup cottage cheese or tuna (I went half and half) and 8 saltine crackers!

Dinner: 2 beef franks, 1 cup broccoli, 1/2 cup carrots, 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream!

I love the cafeterias at this company I am consulting at. They are so versatile and have everything. I get the tuna and the cottage cheese from the salad bar. 

I bought today's dinner during lunch. Had the grill place grill me two hot dogs with no buns. Used the lunch bar again for the broccoli (which they serve a bit steamed - perfection). They were out of the carrot stick cup, so I got some cucumbers and green peppers from the salad bar instead. And the banana. Bought extra saltine crackers for tomorrow's breakfast since they might not have them out during the morning time.

And again what a money saver. Today's total expense for *ALL* meals was under $15!!!

Surprisingly I did not feel hungry. But you have to realize I literally do not move all day other than to go use the bathroom or walk to the cafeteria. I am kind of missing the meetings from my first week that kept me walking all over this huge compound now. Plus my counterpart consultant left today so a bit lonely and getting so tired of my current task which is mind numbingly complex fee calculation testing. My eyes hurt from staring at spreadsheet figuring out why my numbers do not match!

Dressing up a Polo

Today's casual & dressy combo was inspired by the following photo:

 I switched up the colors of the pants and the under shirt and added brown instead of white. The idea was wearing a polo top over a button down and pairing them with dressy shoes.

 This polo top is very old and so is the button down I wore under. Wish the blouse was a bit longer so it would peek out but they were both pretty cropped.

 I added a hot pink belt that occasionally showed itself for fun!

 Added the big pink ring my mom has given me as a gift and some of my tiffany charm necklaces for some chunky shine.

 

These are my old work shoes. The mid height heel is perfect and the leather pumps are very comfy. The extreme pointy toe looks trendy.

Polo top - Ralph Lauren

Pastel pink blouse - Mango

Pants - J Crew

Heels - Steve Madden

Belt - Forever 21

TODAY:
Started a funky 3 day Diet today. I chose a diet where the food is fresh (no powders or packaged food orders) and fruits are vegetables are part of it and so is caffaine (cause I will die without). Also chose one where I can buy the items during my trip.
Day 1 Meals were as follows:
Breakfast: Black coffee or tea with sweetner, 1/2 grapefruit or juice (I ate the fruit) and 1 toast with 1 tbs of peanut butter.
Lunch: 1/2 cup of tuna, 1 toast and black coffee or tea again.
Dinner: 3 oz lean meat or chicken, 1 cup green beans, 1 cup carrots, 1 apple and 1 cup regular vanilla ice cream.

This diet works fine for the environment I am in. Cause this low of a calorie count would cause me to faint probably if I did this at home with kids. Here we are so inactive and so busy you barely think of food or get really hungry.
And the best part my breakfast and lunch cost was $2.83 each and my dinner cost under $15 !!!!
I don't feel hungary at all yet but I think the food is less tomorrow. I will write about that too.