Still Useful Old Dress

Here's this week's Style Imitating Art inspiration piece:

Dress: Kohl's; Cardigan and Tank Top: Old Navy; Tights: Target;
Shoes: ModCloth; Hat: H&M; Necklace: gift

I can't remember when I bought this dress or why (probably in college for an event of some sort); and it bugs me that the silky tie in the back never stays tied and that the sleeves tend to slip off my shoulders (and don't get me started on the hanging ribbon things that always stick out), but it's still a pretty cute dress to have around and get a wear out of every so often. I especially liked it styled this way although the hat only made the cut for the photos.

Giveaway: Win a $50 Gift Card to Kohl's!

When Kohl's contacted me and asked if I wanted a $50 gift card to give away to my readers, my first reaction was to be disappointed I couldn't spend it myself. Haha. But I'm excited that one of you can!

Might I recommend that you check out the Narciso Rodriguez collection, available this Wednesday, November 7. I know I will probably be hitting up multiple Kohl's stores to see what's available. I especially like colorblock skirt on the top right and the pink and black dress on the bottom right.

Photo Source

Or you could get a jump on your holiday shopping by trying out Kohl's new shop-by-age feature in the toy section on their website. Having an almost two-year-old, I kind of have an idea of what she will like, but I've often had more trouble shopping for friends' children that are older or even younger. I can definitely see myself using this feature for upcoming birthdays for friends' children.

You can enter to win the gift card by filling out the Rafflecopter form below. The giveaway runs from Monday, November 5 through Sunday, November 11. I will announce on the blog and contact the winner on Monday, November 12. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
(Rafflecopter form embedded. Please open this post in a browser to enter the giveaway.)

Terms and Conditions: This gift card was supplied to me by Kohl's for the purpose of a reader giveaway. Because Kohl's ships to the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii, including all military addresses, this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. One entry per person. The winner will be announced on the blog, emailed, and have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Comfy Weekend Wear

Inspiration Monday picture (a day early):

My interpretation:

Sweatshirt and Leggings: Old Navy; Boots: Kohl's; Scarf: New York & Company;
Sunglasses: Express

I'm over 6,000 words written for NaNoWriMo, which means I'm out of words for this blog post. Just pictures today!

Jeans Week - Friday

Top: Fred Boutique; Necklace: H&M; Long-sleeved Tee and Belt: Walmart;
Jeans: 7 For All Mankind; Shoes: Irregular Choice via E-Collectique

Sorry about the butt shot, but let this be an example of unflattering pockets on jeans.

These jeans have to be from 1996. The big pockets remind me of the JNCOs a couple of my friends started wearing in eighth grade. Except these are 7 For All Mankind, which was founded in 2000, so they must just be 90s-reminiscent. They're not really that flattering on me, but I was still pretty psyched to find them at a consignment store nearby in my size for only 40-some bucks. For that reason alone, I'll hang onto them a little while longer and hope wide-leg jeans come back into style.

Be sure to stop back Monday for a great giveaway! And no pictures of my butt that time!

NaNoWriMo - Day One

Well, I'm doing it. I didn't want to say anything until I started, but I'm doing it. I'm officially participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.

Up until yesterday morning when it began, I still hadn't decided A. if I was going to participate at all, or B. if I did, what story was I going to write. I had two ideas in my head - two stories that I had already started awhile ago. You're not supposed to work on works-in-progress for the challenge, but I planned to start afresh anyway, so I figured it was fine. Planning and outlining a story ahead of time is a-OK and encouraged. Anyway, lately I've been having dreams that finally made me decide to go one way instead of the other for my first stab at NaNoWriMo.

Here's the beginning of what I wrote yesterday. Keep in mind, this is a first draft. It's bound to suck in places. I may change the names when I'm finished, too. Those are just what I have for now.

***

This was the most important outfit of my entire life. No, I’m not getting married. I’m halfway through college and newly single. I’m definitely not getting married anytime soon. Besides, this is more important than a wedding dress. This is the outfit that could maybe, possibly, someday lead to a wedding dress. You know, in a perfect world and all. Am I delusional? Maybe a little. OK, maybe a lot. This is the outfit I’m going to wear to meet my favorite band.

I’ve been waiting for this moment for years. And finally, tomorrow it’s going to happen. I just wish I had planned ahead better, but with school and work and sleep, I just didn’t have time to come up with something to wear until now. Now, as I’m looking in my closet and the pile of laundry, some clean, some dirty, on my floor, I realize that I really do have nothing to wear. At least nothing worthy of this day. The day.

I could always borrow something from my roommates, but I really wanted something new. This kind of occasion calls for something special. I pushed another small pile of clothes and some school books off of my desk chair and sat in it backwards, with my knees on the seat and the back of the chair facing the computer. With a vague sense of optimism, I logged on to check how much money I had in my checking account. $16.81. I put my hand up to my forehead. I can work with that. In the back of my mind, I seemed to remember I needed to pay for something, and I knew I needed to go grocery shopping, but that all can happen later. I get paid in a few days anyway.

I grabbed my purse from on top of the desk and reached in to retrieve my keys. I felt nothing metal—mostly gum wrappers and receipts and my cloth-covered wallet. I stood up and began flinging clothes into new piles until I found my backpack. No keys there either. Opening the door, I walked into the kitchen, which was a stark contrast from my messy bedroom. As opposed to my messiness, my roommates were both very tidy. Unfortunately, they were both at class, so I couldn’t ask them if they had seen a stray set of keys lying around. I scanned the kitchen counters and stuck my hands in the living room couch cushions but still found nothing except a nickel and a Starburst wrapper.

Minutes of searching later, roommates Liz and Kim came in to find me crouched down, trying to see things at floor level.

“What are you doing?” asked Liz.

“Looking for my keys. They’re not anywhere. Have you guys seen them?”

“Yeah, I hung them up,” Kim responded casually, gesturing to the key hook beside the door.

I groaned and snatched my keys from the hook. Flustered and sweaty from my frantic searching, I tried to keep calm and invited the roommates to join me for a trip to Walmart to look for an outfit.

***

Don't worry. For those of you who don't care, I'm not going to update you on my progress every day. For those of you who are interested in following along, you can do so here.

Jeans Week - Thursday

Whenever I see a tour bus, I'm always curious whose it is...and whether I should hang out by it for a little while and try to meet the musicians. I actually can't tell the difference between tour buses and RVs a lot of times, so I'm always on the lookout, probably for the wrong thing.

Occasionally when I walk to lunch, I'll pass a tour bus, like I did today. After some research, I figured out that it was probably Passion Pit's buses since they're playing at the Riverside tonight with Youngblood Hawke and Hollerado. As I was walking by, I also passed a guy with shoulder-length blond hair, a mustache, and a guitar on his back. Unfortunately, having no idea what any of the members of these bands look like, I just kept walking. I looked up their pictures later, and I think it might have been someone from Youngblood Hawke, but I can't be sure. Maybe I should've asked him.

Tunic: Old Navy; Sweater: Banana Republic (gift); Scarf: Target?;
Boots: Vince Camuto (giveaway); Sunglasses: Express;
Bracelets: Target, Marc by Marc Jacobs, and Kate Spade

Sorry if that was rambly. Bridget's watching Sesame Street, and the husband is behind me putting dishes away. Yeah, that's my cue to wrap it up and help him clean the kitchen.

Halloween 2012 Recap

This year's Halloween festivities included trick-or-treating with Bridget and Dela, going out with friends, and dressing up for our respective work and daycare parties.

Bridget's first trick-or-treating outing went very well. She picked up on the concept quickly, and after each house, she said, "More candy!" We got through all the houses on our street plus a few more on intersecting streets until it started to get dark, and Bridget's little hands started to match her Elmo costume.

Sorry for the quality of these pictures or lack thereof. My husband quickly took the group one before we rushed out the door since trick-or-treating had already started and he needed to hand out candy.

If anyone asked, I was going to say I was Emma from Once Upon a Time, just a brunette version with bangs. No one asked, though, since most of the parents don't dress up.

So yeah, we don't have any good pictures of Bridget in her Elmo costume, but here's her afterwards with her haul:

After trick-or-treating, I headed to my friends' place to get ready and then go out to a bar in Sussex where Left on Sunset was playing. I used to work with one of the guys in the band but had never seen them live, so I figured it was overdue. They're mostly a cover band, and they were really good. And really into Rum Chata, which I appreciated. Yum. We ended up enjoying a round of shots ourselves.

T and E as Robin Sparkles and Jessica Glitter, Canadian pop stars
from How I Met Your Mother

Pre-party, in the elevator

The clear winner of the costume contest - an AT-AT walker from Star Wars

QR code, Robin, Jessica, and Star Trek commander

Wearing Jessica Glitter's glasses and singing along to something while being a dork

Although Halloween isn't a big thing at work besides a costume contest that a handful of people participate in, I still wanted to dress up but do something simple. I'm usually the only one on my team that wears a costume, as I was again this year, but I just can't not do something for Halloween. This time, I put on a few things I had in my closet and came up with a lobster fisher-woman costume.

Bridget was a little perturbed that I was using her lobster as my costume.

Finally, for Bridget's Halloween party at school, she had quite a few costume options. She could go as Elmo again; she could go as a lion, but she didn't want to put on the lion costume; or she could go as a fairy, but she didn't want to wear the wings. Although I'm sure Elmo would've been a hit at school, I wanted to do something different. I had bought this gingham top at Old Navy thinking I would wear it myself and be Dorothy. Turns out, the XL must've been a girls' size instead of women's because it was tiny. Instead of using it myself, which would've been impossible, I found some red sparkly shoes at Walmart and handed it down to Bridget with some on-the-fly alterations to the top/dress. With her basket and my old stuffed dog Bingo acting as Toto, she was ready to go as mini Dorothy.