Sparkling Soirée

Skirt & Top: J Crew final sale / Jacket: Gap final sale / Shoes: Ross / Belt & Express Purse: Gabes / Earrings: AE / Necklace: Grandmother's / Bracelets: F21, Gabes, J Crew Factory

I just love it when J. Crew has one of their "take an extra 40% off final sale items" sales. Christmas came early for me with this top and skirt. I got them a few weeks back, but right now they're having an extra 20% off final sale.

Thank heavens for Everybody, Everywear, which provided me at least one opportunity to get festive for the holidays. Festive, in my mind, clearly involves sparkle. Classy sparkle, that is. I've a grand total of 3 ugly sweater parties to attend this year.  I briefly considered protesting by throwing my own sparkling soirée { have you seen Ruche's holiday lookbook? It's to die for...} But then I remembered that I don't have time because I'm too busy attending ugly sweater parties.

I was invited to one last year and just didn't participate. I have a difficult time purchasing something I don't anticipate wearing again, even if it is inexpensive, and I didn't realize this was a trend.  So this year I searched high and low till I found a vintage dog sweater and plaid skirt, which I intend to wear to every ugly sweater party from now to the end of eternity.

I planned to have a photo for you here, but an Episode of the Missing Hound ensued this evening and all havoc broke loose. { Thank you, Mr. North Wind, for breaking down our door...} After scouring the hills behind the house, we found her deep beneath the neighbor's brush, happily sniffing out rabbits. Completely ruined my plans, she did, so now I'm grading rather than decorating for Christmas and dressing up the Husband in his ugly sweater. He was a big hit at our first party. But no worries. Our next party is Thursday.

Puissent vos vacances de Noël scintillent de la joie!*

 

P.S. Sorry for the ridiculously inordinate number of photos. Husband should become a photographer, should he not? He makes it difficult to choose.

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*Puissent vos vacances de Noël scintillent de la joie! = May your Christmas holidays sparkle with joy!

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Edelweiss on the Coast

 Dress: Edelweiss by Sarah Give-Away Win / Shoes: Asos / Earrings: 1928 / Bracelet & Necklace: J Crew / Purse: Nine West

Above, I present my real-live window shopping style board, brought to fruition courtesy of my Edelweiss by Sarah win. That's right- I said win. Though I'm pretty sure this was the climax of my streak, after winning a necklace and Bunco 7 times in the past year { yes, I won again last month... I'm not sure how this is happening nor why they still invite me. Probably because I woo them with  fancy foods.}

And below, mesdames et messieurs, you have my extravagant take.  Minus the $22,000 earrings from Barney's, of course. I'm not that lucky.

  Dress: Edelweiss by Sarah win / Shoes: Chinese Laundry / Necklace & Bracelet: J Crew / Earrings: Vintage / Clutch: Gabes (Michael Kors)

True to my word, and using my superior coupon-code / sale monitoring / free-shipping mongering skills, I purchased the shoes, earrings, and purse that I used for my window shopping board. { I didn't have to buy a dress now, after all...or so I rationalized.}

Then I found these darn coral shoes. Nothing close to the  Louboutins, that's for sure --ha! like I would know-- but I still couldn't resist. In the end, I went for extravagance at my class reunion.

Can I tell you how supremely elegant I feel every time I wear this dress? No, I cannot. Call it lethologica, but I think there are no words. Not even French ones.

P.S. Thank you Sarah for the absolutely BRILLIANT silk Luther! I still can't believe you picked my style board, but I'm oh so glad that you did!

Thankful

Dress: Consigned at Periwinkle (Trinity) / Top: Gap / Pants: Macys (Union Bay) / Belt: J Crew Outlet / Booties: Blowfish / Jewelry: F21

This was our very first Thanksgiving all by ourselves. The Husband was on call, so we couldn't go anywhere. I very briefly considered taking it easy since I spent the first part of the week out East for my cousin's wedding. I'm oh so glad I didn't. We've been relishing leftovers for days. This meal will keep on giving for almost a week :)

My little feast surprised me. Many thanks to Jennie-O for an easy peasy turkey with a pop-up timer, All-Recipes for a delicious seasoning blend and whole-wheat rolls, Safeway for whole wheat stuffing mix on clearance, Meta Given for a silky smooth pumpkin pie recipe, and my grandma for teaching me how to make crust {though mine is never as pretty as hers was.} Thanks to my favorite little consignment shop for my perfectly modern Pilgrim of an outfit for $13, to my Slurpee Hound for her warm snuggles on cold nights {and for putting up with my sweater-gifts}, and to my Scott for cutting wood, keeping our stove toasty warm, and consenting to a weekend of chick-flicks with me.  But most of all, thank-you to my kind and gracious Father in Heaven, for providing me with so many lovelies for which to be thankful.

P.S. The Husband wore his fuzzies all day. In honor of the feast, of course. So no family picture. But we did get a good one of the Hound, all festive in her new holiday sweater whilst watching for scraps. She's a hawk when poultry's afoot.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Magenta Leopards

  Dress: Target ($10!) / Tights: Kohl's / Cardi: Maurices / Shoes: Ross / Belt: Nordstrom Rack / Jewelry: Gabes (Monet) / Scarf: DownEast (LOFT)

Confession:  I went through a phase where I thought I was obsessed with leopard print. Because MTV was still cool {barely}, and so was decking yourself out with matching velvety leopard pajamas, robe, and slippers while roaming the dormitory at night. My little Ford Tempo was also bedazzled with cherries, at the time, mind you. It was the early 2000s. I'm calling it 90s after-shock.

It lasted a bit, then I realized I was walking around in head to toe leopard and driving a car that screamed 70s wild-child wannabe.  A few days later I relinquished yet another attempt to define my personal style, and all things leopard and cherry were cleansed from my life.

These days I've upgraded to a Dodge Caliber, decorated with dog covers, and flannel pjs. Sometimes I sleep in tonal striped satin. Because I'm classy now. I also keep my cherries for food and my leopard a bit more subtle. In case you were wondering, the leopard on this dress is subtle in that it's black and white. Black and white leopards don't exist, people. Right?

You may be led to believe I'm wearing this to honor the current animal prints trend for EBEW, but this month we're honoring colored tights instead. I've always loved colored tights.  I had a hard time choosing between red, gold, and magenta. La vie, c'est difficile, eh*? But then again, anything goes with faux leopard, no?

 

P.S. In case you missed all that snow up there, it got cold here. No worries. Husband and Hound are nice and toasty.

They melt my heart. 

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*La vie, c'est difficile, eh? = Life is difficult, eh?
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Pièce de Résistance

Scottish Skirt  & Silk Blouse: Consigned at Periwinkle / Shoes: Gabes / Socks: Ross / Belt & Pearls: J Crew Final Sale

  

I've finally found it. My teacher's pièce de résistance*. It only took 2.5 years of teaching, and voilà, there it was. Like magic, a tartan skirt and the perfect silk blouse both appeared simultaneously in my favorite local consignment shop. For a very reasonable price. $10 for a new, hand-made skirt from Scotland? Yes, please!

Finally, gone are the days when I'm asked for my hall pass during prep or upon entering the office.  Gone are the days when students ignore me because they think I'm one of them. With this baby, I'm a real teacher now. And I managed to achieve this all whilst avoiding the proverbial calf-length denim jumper with pompons and bright buttons sewn into my cardigan. 

I'm celebrating with my current it-snack of blueberries with shavings of Dubliner cheese. Grown up me is a party animal.

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*pièce de résistance: masterpiece, highlight

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