Outfit Post: Something Missing

There are some pieces that are difficult to style. You want them to work in a certain way and they just don't quite come through. This gray, sheer Vince top with keyhole back is one of those pieces. There was a time in my life when a sheer top paired with a black tank were all I needed in the world (Express was also my favorite store, don't judge) and every so often I go back to those roots. Unfortunately, when I go to wear these items I have trouble reinterpreting them; the 16 year-old inside of me instinctively reaches for black

ass-pants or flared jeans and black belt with a huge buckle. (Hey, at least I'm not busting out the platform Steve Maddens and, on an exciting note, flares are rumored to be making a comeback this fall.)

In an attempt to make this top appropriate for dinner with the girls at a casual restaurant on the South Shore of Long Island (The Boathouse in Merrick for you fish lovers out there – get the Chilean Sea Bass over fresh spinach, it's delicious) I wore it with simple J. Crew crops and flat sandals. I like the look, I just don't love it. It's hard to tell here, but the neckline is beaded, so I feel like a necklace or earrings would be too much and I don't really love the idea of tucking it in because then you miss out on the back detail. Suggestions on how I might style it would be greatly appreciated. Help a sister out and leave some love in the comments.

 

Top: Vince Tank: Excellent question, I've had it so long that the printed tag has worn off. Pants: J. Crew Sandal: Nine West Bag: See by Chloe Bluebell Small Bag (it's new and I got it on sale and I love it!)

#IRunForBoston

I have not always been a runner. Running became a part of my life when things were out of control and I desperately needed a healthy outlet for my thoughts, fears and frustrations. It may sound like a bit of an exaggeration, but running came to my rescue.

It's been about 5 years since I started running. Up until now I've only ever run a 5K (officially), but I recently signed up for my first half marathon which I will run in September. Like so many others out there I have created a fitness/motivation board on Pinterest for those days when I am struggling to get out the door.

There are countless images and sayings all over Pinterest, like "someone who is busier than you is running right now" or "the hardest step for a runner is the first step out the door," but in the wake of yesterday's tragedy one very specific pin came to mind:

"I run because I can. When I get tired, I remember those who can't run, what they would give to have this simple gift I take for granted, and I run harder for them. I know they would do the same for me."

So for those who lost their lives, for those who were injured yesterday, I run for you. What happened to you is unspeakable and nothing can take it back, but I hope that I can do my small part by running for you whenever I can. Whether it is a quick run on a Saturday morning or those 13.1 miles I plan to tackle in September I will think of you. I run for you and I run for Boston.

Words and prayers hardly seem like enough right now. We want answers, we want to know who is responsible and we want to help. An event like this can leave us feeling powerless, especially for those of us not geographically close enough to lend immediate assistance. I found this link with ways to help via Joseph Gordon Levitt's Twitter feed: http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/04/15/boston-marathon-explosion-how-you-can-help And in the meantime, let us all make an honest attempt to be kinder to one another.

Out, Damn Spot(s)!

Several years ago my sisters gave me a fierce Marc Jacobs clutch. Just barely 21, I did not have many nice designer bags (come to think of it, my only other designer bag was a small black Coach shoulder bag, also from my sisters) and I cherished this stylish gift.

The fall after I graduated college I attended my first function as an alumni. As anyone who has ever attended an alumni event (or seen a movie about people going to one) knows, it is imperative that you look your best. After a great deal of deliberation I decided on a black, off-the-shoulder Nicole Miller dress, black boots and my awesome MJ clutch for a pop of color (see right, but do not judge the hair, seriously, I only mastered the blowout a few months ago).

Besides judging, the other major thing that goes on at these functions is the consumption of food and (alcoholic) beverages. The next morning I awoke to find stains on the front and left side of the bag (inside, outside, and on the back, not really sure how I managed this). I can only assume that these had something to do with what I ate/drank (Captain Morgan strikes again?). Upon returning home I stuck the clutch in it's dust bag and planned to take it to the dry cleaners to see what they could do.

That never happened. But a few months ago I was couch shopping (I swear, there's a connection here) and the saleswoman was telling me how I could get the small dark spot out of the back of a cream linen couch I was interested in (will I never learn with these light fabrics?) with a baby wipe. Honestly, I only brought up the mark on the couch to see if I could get an additional discount, but her remark got me thinking of the Marc Jacobs clutch. Tonight (over 8 years after the spill) I figured I'd give the baby wipe stain remover test a shot and guess what - IT WORKED!

So here's a Pic Stitch collage of the bag throughout the process. The top left is while I was wiping the back of the bag with the baby wipe (I only though to do a before and after once I'd already started, I blame the excitement), the top right is the inside left while it was drying and the bottom pic is the front after it had totally dried.

All I did was wipe at the stains with the baby wipe. I wiped with the grain of the fabric and against it (the woman at the furniture store didn't mention anything about technique) and really saturated the area and then just watched in amazement as the stains disappeared. Full disclosure: I have NO idea why this worked and I do not care, but I felt that I had to share this incredible stain remover with whoever stumbles upon my blog.

Also, Wahoo!!! I cannot wait to wear this bag again (and drink clear beverages)!

Inspiration Board? More Like Inspiration Book

Ever since I was a little girl, collecting leftover Sassy and Seventeen magazines from around the house, I have been tearing out "looks" that I love. Over the years I've collected these images and when I came across a leftover art journal I knew that those fashion tears had found their home.

While I've been really good about continuing to tear images that inspire me, I've been a bit lax about organizing them. But recently I've been struggling with my closet and, in an effort to edit down my wardrobe and reveal my style, I have revisited these images.

Watching design shows you see design boards and that's great for one look, but when it comes to a wardrobe I need more room to work -- and so the rebirth of the inspiration book. Out came the images, out went the ones I'm already over and on went the rubber cement to secure the keepers. It's my hope that my style progresses along with the book and, when I'm having a fashion meltdown, it will serve as a place to go for answers.

Originally I wanted this to be a style blog, but I'm so sick of the standard style blogs; put-together women in their 30's being photographed by their significant others in whimsical poses and whatever setting mimics a soft filter on their SLR camera (which they probably received as an out-of-the-box wedding gift from their equally hip friends/family).

Like so many women my age, I don't quite have it all together. I'm getting there, but I'm not going to post phony photos that make others envious of my Brooklyn loft and my impeccably groomed puppy. I'm 29, I live on Long Island, I work in a small office and see the same handful of people every day; so my day-to-day attire simply does not call for high fashion. The problem is I'm also tired of the jeans/tee/hoodie combo, not to mention that I'm terrified of Stacy London and Clinton Kelly ambushing me for the new season of "What Not to Wear," and I think it's high time that I figure out how to adapt my dreams of everyday dressing to fit my reality. Yes, I escape to the city and the Hamptons as frequently as possible and when I do I use that as an excuse to wear the clothes I dream of, but it's still not my reality.

So this isn't an established style blog in the traditional sense, it's a finding-my-style blog. Let the editing down begin.

MOH - OMG!!!

I was recently awarded the illustrious role of Maid of Honor in my cousin's wedding.

In addition to the fact that my cousin is one of my favorite people in the world, as a wedding enthusiast and a person who loves planning in general, it is not a role that I take lightly. I look forward to any which way I am able to aid in the planning process.

While my natural proclivity is towards the bachelorette (party) arts, I look forward to honing the rest of my bridal skill set if need be; Dresses, bridals showers, flowers, even seating arrangements, I'm ready, willing, and able to assist.

To put it a bit more informally: I'm going to be the best MOH there ever was ;)

Pro-active... To a Fault?

We have 2 computers in my office; the one in the inner office, which has Quickbooks installed on it that we don't download anything onto for fear that we'll get a virus and lose everything, and the one in the outer office that we use for the Internet, Microsoft office, and other general purposes.

Since the outer office computer is like an electronic junk drawer, it's been running slower than normal lately. In an effort to remedy this, I though I'd remove some of the superfluous files and programs from the C: drive.

As I highlighted and deleted old pictures and Word documents, accidental downloads and unnecessary shortcuts to programs whose icons were already on the desktop, I felt good. With each deletion it felt as though the computer was responding that much more quickly.

Finally I hit up the Add/Remove section and got rid of a few music players and other such programs we "never" use, according to the Add/Remove task manager, and I felt like a true techie. I restarted the computer with the confidence that once it had rebooted it would fly through the Internet with the greatest of ease... and then I tried to open Firefox.

"Internet connection not detected."

Surely this was incorrect. After several attempts at quick fixes (including an additional reboot, hey, you never know), I admitted that I needed help and called tech support.

Apparently I had uninstalled a program called "D-Link" which supported my wireless router. Awesome. Over the next half hour I located the antennae and determined that the Internet card was internal, removed the side panel to find a solid centimeter or dust, cleaned the machine, had several sneezing fits, determined the type of card I had an downloaded the proper driver on my netbook (thankfully I didn't take out the Internet for the whole office, just the main pass-the-time-machine).

Unfortunately I don't have a CD burner on my netbook, nor do I have any burnable CD's at work, so I'll have to bring in a flash drive to transfer the driver from my netbook to the computer tomorrow. Thankfully I had said netbook and so I'm not totally disconnected for the rest of the day (heaven forbid I read my New York Magazines which are quickly piling up).

So the lesson learned?

When trying to free up space by removing programs from your computer, don't uninstall something just because a program says that it is used "rarely" and hasn't been run since 2006 because you may need that.

Perhaps I'll stick to clearing the browsing history and cookies on my Internet browser from now on when I'm feeling the need to cleanse.

Spent - A Review

On one of the morning shows a few months back I saw a segment about a memoir called Spent: Memoirs of a Shopping Addict by a woman named Avis Cardella. (Please note that her first name is an anagram for "Visa," which actually caused me to question her credibility, but I suppose natural coincidences do occur.)

Naturally anything about shopping intrigues me, and I've often wondered about my own reliance on retail therapy, so I bought it. Honestly I wasn't expecting anything more than a "real life" version of Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Cardella's tale was definitely more serious and read as extremely sincere.

She spoke of shopping as a distraction and as an action to be completed as a release. Her addiction got so bad that after her shopping trips she didn't even enjoy her purchases, she just hid them due to the shame. It may sound silly, but that is a nightmare to me, for something you enjoy and love so much to become a cold transaction, something you feel compelled to do and then immediately regret.

Regardless of my own interest in shopping and fears of retail dependency, I think I would have enjoyed the book anyway. Cardella opens with a few anecdotes of famous shoppers and brings the reader in with her concise prose. She appeals to our emotions with stories of shopping with her family and, while she doesn't dwell on it, how shopping changed for her as she came of age and then developed as an adult.

Throughout the book, no matter how dire her circumstances, she never seems to succumb to self pity and her tale never comes across as one of woe, but of precaution.

All in all it is an extremely well-researched, well-thought-out memoir and I would definitely recommend picking it up on your next shopping trip.

Three Cheers for Polyvore!

After realizing that reading lists of outfits I've put put together in bullet format is about as exciting as waiting for your fresh coat of OPI to dry at the nail salon, I joined Polyvore, a virtual styling website.

The site is so great, you can put together items as you've styled them or ask other users to style an item you can't quite figure out on your own.

It's oodles and oodles of fun and it's free and I'm still just figuring it out, but I can't wait to play around with the site.

Here's my first set, which is how I styled my black AllSaints Temptress dress for Vegas:

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Back into the Blog-o-sphere

So it's been awhile, but I'm back. Fresh off a 1-month, self-implemented shopping ban and trying hard to fight those retail demons.

You may be wondering, as most of my family and friends were when I ceremoniously announced it, what was the reason for this shopping ban?

Contrary to popular assumption, I'm actually not in debt. My emotional side runs the shopping trips, but my anal retentive side rules the checkbook. So in this day and age of I want it all, I want it now, and I'll win some sort of contest or the lottery to pay for it, I am happily old fashioned in my spending.

Don't let this high and mighty "I'm in the black" talk fool you though. If I have it I'll spend it and therefor I am terrible at saving and can relate all to Rebecca Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shopaholic when she said, "When I shop, the world gets better, and the world is better, but then it's not, and I need to do it again."

So I made up the following 3 criteria for the ban and I had to meet 2 of the 3 (I'm a realist, what can I say?) before it could be over:
1. February 1st - 1 full Month must pass with NO personal shopping.
2. Everything in my room must be put away and have a place (an exploding closet like Ms. Bloomwood's is simply not acceptable).
3. Pay off any and all credit cards (mostly residual Holiday purchases)

So now it's mid-February and I succeeded and it feels better than I even expected. Not buying new items meant I had to work with what I had and I came up with some new outfits that I really love.

It also reminded me that some of my favorite items are from H&M and Old Navy and that not everything needs to be (discounted) designer, but I'll get into that at another time. For now I'll just enjoy my clean room and streamlined closet and my return to the blog-o-sphere.

New Music Please

Last night, despite my plan to get to bed immediately after watching my CW11 shows, I stayed up until after 11:00 trying to put together a new mix CD. Being as anal retentive as I am the amount of thought and effort that goes into burning a mix CD on my part is completely ridiculous, but nothing drives me nuts when listening to a perfectly good CD than a song that's out of order or one that I get sick of too quickly because the CD is then ruined for me. Irrational? Yes. Ridiculous? Sure. Bordering on insane? One of the many things about me.

My problem with last night's CD was a lack of selection. I was looking for happy tunes, but nothing holiday (one week after Thanksgiving is still a little early if you ask me). The songs can be mellow (I'm all about the singer/song writer and piano-rock tunes) or upbeat (the last few songs include Britney Spears and Lady Gaga), but mostly they have to be positive. The working title of the mix is "Can't Get me Down." And yes I have a "working title" for it.

So this is a call out to you, whoever you are reading this, to share your favorite tunes with me. Ones that always put a smile on your face and force you to sing along. Remind me of an oldie-but-goodie or hit me up with something you think no one else has probably heard before, I'm open to anything.

Thanks in advance.