What I Forgot

Today's combo was inspired by this Chictopia post:

 I love this slouchy pants with relaxed top, leather jacket and an animal print cardi that peeks out.  And of course the hat…

I had to dig through kids closets to find these old slacks to get the vibe...

Hat, Top, Vest, necklace - Forever 21

Cardi - mom's

Pants - Express

Boots - Steve Madden

TODAY:
OMG today was insane. We went to my daughter's pre-school but before hand stopped at Target to get her a new car seat. She had outgrown her existing one for months now and we have been dragging getting a new booster seat. So just did it this morning.
After class rushed to my son's school since he gets out early all this week for parent teacher conference meetings. Then went to costco for grocery shopping, came back home to unload it all. Rushed to my Dr's but after waiting for an hour and realizing we will still have to wait had to re-schedule and leave so we can make it to my son's swim team practice. Now I have to go back to the Dr's again tomorrow. What a waste of time.
When we came home I had an hour to cook dinner and get ready and hosted 8 friends for our book club meeting.

It was a great meeting. We just finished 'What Alice Forgot' by Liane Moriarty:

It was an absolutely amazing book. The best I feel we have read so far. Totally self reflecting and brilliant writing as the story is told from 1st person but different woman's point of view. Thick book with small font but a super fast read. It is not a suspense book but you can't seem to put it down. I would highly recommend it.

And the new book we picked for next month is, 'The light Between Oceans' by M.L. Stedman:

I love our book club. The ladies and the discussion is always so enlightening and entertaining.

Book Club

 Today's inspiration was from the J Crew Catalog (Sept 2012):

 I liked this mustard and yellow combination. 

Top, Pants, Necklace - Forever 21

Cardigan - Victoria's Secret

Boots - Steve Madden

Bracelet - Stella & Dot

With my little prince who I took him to school and volunteered in his class while my mom babysat the princess....

And then at night hosted my first book club meeting. We formed this group with the pre-school mommies knowing slowly as our kids start different elementary school's we will stop seeing each other everyday and this will be a way for us to keep in touch and we all love to read!
Our book last month was 'White Tiger'. Depressing but an extremely educational book.
Our discussion varied from an in-depth perception of our Indian friend who has been living in U.S for the last 10 years to other cultures like mine where the low class and upper class are so extremely set apart to how that truly differs from the way African Americans were treated in this country.

And we also voted on the book for next month which is going to be 'The Red Tent'.

And to think this all started with a group to discuss '50 Shades of Grey'! :)

 Yummy Indian Dishes...

And look at this totally adorable and totally 'me' bookmark my friend made for me for hosting! :)

Fifty Shades

 This fun colorful outfit was what I wore to a 'Mommy's Night Out' event with the pre-school mommies last night!

I just love the fact that I could wear platform wedges, bold colors and a fedora and my friend's don't even blink at the fact that I dress so differently because they know that is just who I am. It is great to be known for who you are and be accepted exactly the way you are and supported.

The 'cardigan' is the very versatile 'Josie' top from the Kika Paprika line. I decided to wear it in its most basic form but long and slugged down so it has a maxi effect...

Finally the debut of this beautiful coral colored and shaped necklace I bought from 'Thread Show' a few months back. I love finding very unique statement pieces when I go to that show and this was definitely one of them. I have more outfit plans for this great necklace!

My mom surprised us by proposing to take the kids for the afternoon/night/next morning so I had a chance to go get my nails done. Chose candy colors to be fun!

Loving my orange platform wedges from Victoria's Secret. The gold wedge tip is also very unique!

Cardigan - 'Josie' in aqua from Kika Paprika

Top - TJ Maxx

Jeans - H&M

Shoes - Victoria's Secret

Purse - Target

Hat - Mom's from France

Necklace - Thread Show

Sunglasses - House of Harlow

LAST NIGHT:
Had a super fun night last night hanging out with the pre-school mommies. Then we played 'bunko' my first time and it was so much fun. Loved it.

Ok, the reason I have been somewhat MIA and not into blogging and outfits is because I am super addicted to Fifty Shades of Grey books! Have you read them? They are absolutely freaking addicting which annoys me cause I actually love move complex and slow reads and classics. But these are just like the twilight series and you just get sucked up and hard to get out.  A lot of similarities actually: A young beautiful smart and unique girl who does not truly embrace her beauty. She falls hard for the super 'God' like creature who is strong, powerful, smart and talented. In these series he is also a mega billionaire. The ultimate fantasy. The chemistry is portrayed beautifully and without a doubt. Which is why it is such a delicate challenge to make movies out of these books. If you don't get the chemistry right you loose the main concept of the story. And then of course as I am sure you heard I would call Twilight a PG-13 while Fifty Shades are definitely NC-17.
I would and would not recommend the books because like I said they suck you in. So if you like page turners you would love these. If you liked twilight series, you HAVE to read these.

Books, books, books, oh how I love books

When I woke up today as I was washing my face, my son ran up to me (he gets up an hour earlier with my hubby) and said 'it is no joke mommy, it is raining so you can't do photos outside!' I told him he was right. But after I got dressed and was ready to take photos I thought it would be cool to place the tripod under the covered area and stand in the rain with my umberella which happens to match my pants perfectly!

The outfit was inspired by the lovely Bee from the insanely popular (and well deserves the popularity) of Atlantic Pacific Blog.

 Since I bought these magenta colored denim pants I always look for inspirational outfits I can wear with them... And this was perfect since I owned very similar items.

 These are my very old shoes. I haven't worn them in ages. Didn't really wear them today either with all the rain and plus they are not your practical pre-school carry two kids and diaper bag kind of shoes. Wore my same colored (cognac) uggs instead!

Umbrella - Coach

Jacket, Pants, heart necklace - Forever 21

Denim Shirt - LC Waikiki from Turkey

Belt - H&M

Chain necklace - Off Fifth 

Heels - Charles David

And I have to share the kids excitement today at the sight of the rain and finally an opportunity to use their umberellas and wear rain boots:

The fact that all of our clothes match to our umbrella's I swear was not planned!

 Her outfit came out so cute this morning! This jacket which so resembles mine came in a set with skinny khaki pants which are also adorable. The Calvin Kline outfit retails at a stupid $50+ but of course I got it for under $20 at Marshall's. The tutu is from Costco, the skinny jeans are rocca again from Marshalls. The adorable hat is from Children's place. She is wearing a hello kitty tee under from H&M and the boots are target!

For Friend Friday 

hosted by 

Katy at Modly Chic 

We are talking about our favorite BOOKS and/or most recent reads. I am definitely no writer but am an avid reader of fiction. I absolutely love books. Always have and always will.

• I love books written in first person and take me to a different land, time and/or era. 
• I love books that are slow reads where you can read a chapter and be satisfied and put it down. I have read the popular page turners but find them addictive and not as pleasurable as the slow reads. 
• Since I didn't grow up or go to school in this country (except for college) I was not required to read any of the classics in English Literature. So for years since moving here I have made a rule to read a classic every 5 books or so. I am always moved by those classics where the authors somehow managed to write in a way that a person can still relate to hundreds of years later!
• I also enjoy beutfiul writing. Not complex writing where the sentences are a paragraph long but writing that gets the emotions and feelings across in such a concise and beautiful way. 
• I have nothing against Kindle but it is not for me. I am one of those old fashioned people that loves to hold an actual book, smell the paper, turn the pages and hug it when I close it if it made me feel something. 
• Plus I love to build a library. To remember some of my favorite books and authors for this post I went up and looked through my shelves. I love owning the books I read and going back to them. Since I am obsessively organized all my books are displayed in alphabetical order by author's last name like a bookstore!

With that being said here are my all time favorite books:
1. Jane Eyre by by Charlotte Brontë

My absolute all time favorite!
If you have never read this I would highly recommend it. It has this 'suspense' element that I would have never anticipated. The characters are so complex and well thought out. The writing is ageless and beautiful.







2. Ahab's Wife by by Sena Jeter Naslund

This book is about the wife of Captain Ahab of the famous novel Moby Dick. Which I have bought but have not read the actual Moby Dick yet. This is also the book that got me to fall in love with Light Houses. I would highly recommend it.




3. Away by Jane Urquhart

 
4. These are a group of books all covering a similar theme: A Woman who is stuck in a marriage or a relationship in a time where having affaris is absolutely taboo but falls in love with someone else anyway and their struggle with this. And from the era and the name of the authors that have covered this theme you can see the issue applies to any century.

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (don't let the size or the author's fame scare you. It is a pleasant and very interesting read)
• Madame Bovary by Gustave Falubert -A bit harder read but the story is captivating and once again ageless!
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin -Super short but amazingly powerful.
• Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller - One of two books that have made me cry and I rarely ever cry!

5. Just when you think you get my tastes I will surprise you with this one and am not ashamed to admit it but I am an absolute die hard fan of the Twilight books by by Stephenie Meyer !

I have read all 4 cover to cover 3 times. The first book probably 5 times. These books are totally addictive and page turners but there is just something about the chemistry and love between the main characters that I am strangely drawn to and whenever I want to loose myself in that I open any of the books in any section and start reading. The movies are just 'OK'. They don't even come close to the books but I have to say Kristen Stewart is exactly how I envisioned Bella so I think that was a perfect casting. 



I have so many more books that I loved. Then there are authors that I love and have bought and read every book they have written. And those are:
1. Margaret Atwood (you might know her by her award winning 'The Handmaid's Tale')
2. Charles Dickens ('Great Expectations' is another big favorite of mine)
3. Jane Austin (absolute love 'Sense and Sensibility')
4. Emile Zola
5. Toni Morrison
6. Amy Tan
7. Erich Segal (the author of the famous 'Love Story')
8. Rebecca Wells (ya ya sisterhood author)
9. Naguib Mahfouz (Fascinating look into the Arabic culture)

Here is a weird observation. I spend a huge amount of time when selecting books to read. I love to go to the bookstore (alone) and spend hours browsing through the books. I read reviews in the back (look for NY times book review the most) and read the summary of the story and also read the first sentences of the first page to get a feel for the books. I have a neck for selecting books that become super famous and get movies made of. I am not kidding. Books I have read years later become a big hit over and over. To proof of this theory that you can see I own these books in the original cover and in the year they were published.
Some examples are:
1. Memoirs of a Geisha

2. The Joy Luck Club
3. Invisible Circus
4. Water for Elephants
5. White Oliander
6. The girl with a pearl earring
7. The Reader
8. The Help!


And here are the last 5 books I have read/reading:
1. Currently reading: One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by by Ken Kesey and Robert Faggen

2. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

3. Help by Kathryn Stockett

4 & 5. 'Dead as a Doornail' (book 5) and 'Definitely Dead' (book 6) by Charlaine Harris from the Sookie Stackhouse series which is the HBO True Blood series is based upon.

 To see others favorite reads click HERE! 

And let me know do you recognize some of these book have you read them? What is your favorite?