Tulle in December

This was a great outfit for seeing a play. Of course there is yet another inspiration photo:

If you are thinking I will run out of these you are wrong. I have a giant stack of cut out magazine/catalog photos (including the entire Jcrew fall catalog) plus a thick folder on my computer of digial inspiration photos. I almost thought of taking photos of some of the store windows the other day when I was at the mall cause they had great combo ideas. My sister stopped me. I just love getting inspired visually like this. Some outfits I put together all on my own, that usually happens when I buy something new. But for the old stuff in my closet I need a push to wear them again.

So, I used to have a long thin black sweater that would have been perfect but had given that away as it was too old and had holes. So had to comprimse to create this look. I layered a black tee (bought during maternity era) over a schiffon LS top. You can't really tell can you?

And the skirt is not really a skirt but it is a halter top dress!

If silk scarves ever come back in style I have a very nice collection in my closet. I used to love pairing colorful silk scarves over solid colored business suits. This is one of them.

I got these rhinestone bobby pins from F21. I saw very similar ones at Banana Republic for $15. At F21 they were $2.50. Why would people not visit this store is beyond me.

The earings are hand made and gifted by jeweler aunt in Turkey. I thought the blue picks up the blue butterfly in the scarf.

I need to color my hair this week before the weekend trip. I can see the grey hair so had to part it really deep to hide them!

White Dress (worn as a skirt) - Forever 21

Black Tee - Closet

Black Silk Schiffon LS top - Newport News Catalog

Booties - Steve Madden

Silk red scarf - Echo

Earings - handmade by Aunt

Today's Activities: Dropped off my daughter at my mom's and took my son to see the 'Grinch who stole Christmas' play. It was amazing. It has been running every year for quite sometime now and I never saw it. My friends who had kids before me would go and I was always jealous. Finally my son is old enough to appreciate and most importantly stay quiet in theater so we went. We had already bought and read the book so he new the story. He wore his grinch tee (bought at Old Navy), grinch converses (bought at Sears) and had his grinch doll with him. I am so mad I forgot to take his photo!!!

After the play we had lunch at the nice restaurant in the park with my best friend and her two kids. Came home and my son did nap even though it was late. Afterwards my husband took him to Grandma's and stayed there so I can make some headway on my xmas photo projects. I am not sure how many more nights of going to bed at 1 AM I can handle.

Here are some cute photos of Juliet playing with her doll while I was doing my photo shoot....

See how she is wearing her 'my grandma rocks' shirt as she is going to Grandma's! :)

December Nights

First I want to thank all those that commented on my outfit and the story post from yesterday. I wasn't sure if people would be interested and it was great to see such nice comments.

This was the only full body shot we took and it is blurry. By the time I downloaded the photos I was already wearing outfit#2 so too late. Oh well... Of course there is an inspiration photo behind this one too...

You can see today's is not a total 'copycat' look but more the idea of wearing a boucle blazer over a dress. And I love the oppportunity to use my summer dresses in fall/winter.

I love this jacket. It is boucle material which is so channel like. And the tone on tone fur trim is so lux. Got this years and years ago from TJ Maxx. It picks up the cream in the silk dress. This dress also looks great in summer with white platform sandals and I accessorieze with gold and orange jewelry and a bright orange clutch.

The cream ruffle boots continues to make it a fall/winter outfit. Added the gold and rhinestone cuffs for interest. The large bead necklace with mini gold beads in between is chunky but feminine at the same time.

Zipped up the jacket above so you can see the details. I really need to create a few more combo's with this jacket. Forgot how much I liked it.

Cream Boucle Jacket - TJ Maxx

Silk Dress - Arden B

Cream ruffle boots - Newport News Catalog

Cuffs - Forever 21

Bead Necklace - Off Fifth

Two very different activities today so wore two different outfits!

Here is outfit #2:

This was also an inspiration from the following:

This was a perfect get-up for our activity which was all outdoors and it was quite chilly...It is a pretty simple get-up, the highlight being the fur jacket.

I love these long leather gloves I got way back. They go so perfectly with a 3/4 sleeve tops.

Grey t-neck - H&M

Fur Jacket - Vintage (family heirloom)

Skinny dark Jeans & Cuffs - Forever 21

Stillettho Boots - Escada

Watch - Michael Kors

Leather Gloves - Ann Taylor

Scarf and Hat - Gifts

Today's Activities: In the morning we took the kids to an event called 'Breakfast with Santa'. Met our mommy group friends there so it was fun. Long lines to see Santa and to get the food but we managed. They had a kid concert and couple art stations. Then let the kids play outside a bit.

Had lunch at home and after naps took them to another event called 'December Nights'. This event takes place every year at our city's big major park, Balboa Park. It lasts two nights. It is hectic and crowded but I like going.  We got to listen to a few different concerts and watched a great dance show. Kids got to see all the lights and the xmas decorations. They even do a huge nativity story but decorating each room with part of the story. We had dinner there and returned home in plenty of time for baths and bedtime. Full but great day. Now if I can only finish my projects for the night. Just finished my online shopping but still have to work on creating our xmas cards.

Here are some photos from our day....

Kids at the Breakfast:

With Santa (the photo they took will be better obviously) 

Our attempts at a group shot. These are the kids of that parent group we went clubbing couple weeks ago.

See 4 boys (3+) and 4 girls (1.5 to almost 2)... 

Here is part of Balboa Park (supposed to be over 300,000 people):

Santa and its reindeers: 

This was one part of the dance show where these 60+ yr old ladies did an amazing number: 

All American

I love how this came out today. What a great idea to tie the scarf like this don't you think? I got the idea from the photo below:

This was an ad for some brand (may be American Eagle) I am not sure. I actually have a very similar looking velvet navy blazer my mom loaned me but I do not have a red plaid scarf. What I did have is this plaid scarf and since it has a touch of red in it figured it would look great over a red blazer.

Have to tell you the story behind this red blazer. Skip this section if you are not interested. :)

This was part of a suit. My first expansive suit I bought when I was 22 yrs old in NYC. You see I moved to NYC right after college graduation and faced the ugly truth about entry level jobs. Envisioning myself as a wall st analyst with an office, only to end up as an assistant to 3 EVPs of a broker firm. Fancy title for pretty much secretarial work. Just starting to pay off my hefty student loans wondering what it was for if I was to only make photocopies and answer phone calls, I was pretty depressed. NYC also was a city that everyone judged you by your title and the brand of the clothes you had on. I had neither so no one talked to me. So, after my first paycheck I went out and bought this amazing blazing red suit from Ann Taylor for like $500. It took me months to pay it off but it was worth it. I loved this suit. It was my statement that I was going to make it to the top somehow. And I sure did. After moving back to SD a year later and starting my true career job I started moving up fast and would buy extremely conservative suits to make myself look older to be taken seriously. So my suits range in the lovely tones of Black, Navy, Brown and Grey. Except this one. I could never part from it because it will always remind me of how I felt during those times and how determined I was. So, now years later, already have achieved all my career goals and now living the time of my life with my two amazing kids it is wonderful to be able to wear it again!
Sorry for the long story...

A lot of layers so it looks a bit bulky but cynching it with a belt makes it work I think. These were my first skinny jeans when skinny jeans starting becoming in fashion. You can see they are no where being skinny but more like a 'slim cut' but works for this look.

And yes to all of you who have been making comments, I do have a pretty sick closet. It is really the product of years and years of shopping and I think smart shopping, buying staple items that keep coming back style again and again. Also investing in a lot of base layer items too which are very diverse. One of these days I will take you inside by closet to show. I also have been wanting to do a segment on organization as I am crazy organized and have lots of tips. All in good time.

Red Blazer - part of an Ann Taylor suit

Jeans - Rock Republic

White tank - Eddie Bauer

White eyelet blouse - Lucky

Scarf - Forever 21

Belt - Express

Boots - Via Spiga

Today's Activities: Started a bit of Christmas shopping today. My sister joined us as she was off from work. We hit bed bath and beyond then the mall. Disney store just opened here and it is my son's favorite place to visit. He can stay there for hours. Bought my friend's kids gifts there and my son finally decided on his gift from Santa which is the 'Aladding gift set'. Love it as it is only $12. I already ordered it on Cyber Monday and got a great discount too. I am now searching for some sort of a case/bag so he can carry the set. Of course love that my son picks these Disney Movie that are years and years old and merchandise is no longer carried. His favorite is Lion King of course. He also loves Oliver and Company and now into Aladdin. Why can't he like Cars or Toy Story is beside me. Well, actually I know why they do not have any songs. He is only interested in musicals. After a tiring shopping spree we had lunch at the mall and returned home for a very late nap time. After naps packed everyone up with lots of clothes and went to Sea World's Member night and met my Mom and Stepdad there. Every year Sea World holds a member night to open their xmas celebration events. It is usually crazy but I like going. They give a very pretty hand blown glass ornament to each person as well and we have been collecting since my son's first xmas. But did not get this year's as the line was waaaaay too long. Still had fun...

Here are some photos from Sea World:

Pretty Fish Tree: 

My mom and step dad with the kids: 

Me and My Mom: