Dressed by My Husband Again

My husband and I were watching the movie Sahara earlier this year for some reason, and he asked me why I don't ever wear anything like Penelope Cruz was wearing.

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I said that I didn't even own cargo pants, but I decided that if I ever found them for cheap, I'd pick up a pair for his sake. Cargo capris from Walmart - close enough. He still approved of this outfit.

Tank Top: Old Navy; Capris: Walmart; Belt: Michael Kors; Shoes: Crocs; Sunglasses: Express

It didn't occur to me that my pants would be the same color as the house in these pictures. Whoops.

Bridgey wanted to join in for the photo shoot. She's a natural, eh?

Dressed by Mary Again

Fellow Milwaukee blogger Mary from Babble & Bloom picked out my outfit again today.

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I'm a big fan of tone-on-tone looks, but I didn't have anything close to the lovely peach color of that skirt. Instead, I tried to get the same effect by going with a green pencil skirt and a mint tank top, and then I added matching shoes instead of matching shades.

It was really, really windy out, as you can probably tell.

Skirt: New York & Company; Tank Top: J.Crew Factory; Shoes: L.L.Bean; Blazer and Sunglasses: Target;
Watch: Fossil; Bracelet: Target?

I really liked this outfit! Usually I feel oddly formal wearing a blazer with a pencil skirt, like I'm trying to sell someone a new home or something, but this was fun enough to counteract that. (No offense to realtors - they're sharp-dressed people, and my team at work is more on the casual side.) I even got a compliment on my shoes by a man sitting outside of Starbucks.

I'm also linking up with IFB Project #96: Share Your Shades.

Dressed by Noelle

Noelle from Tilly's Notions (another Wisconsin blogger!) sent me an idea from Atlantic Pacific based on the chartreuse skirt she knew I had.

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Yup, practically everyone's a poser compared to Blair.

Skirt: Uniqlo; Top: Lela Rose for Target+Neiman Marcus; Shoes: Kohl's; Sunglasses and Headband: Target;
Watch: Michael Kors; Bracelets: Kate Spade, Pandora, Marc by Marc Jacobs, and Charming Charlie

I've really liked every outfit I've worn this skirt with, so I was glad Noelle gave me another reason and another way to wear it!

I believe I only have one outfit idea left to recreate after this one. If you'd like to participate in my Dressed by series, I now have an Outfit Suggestion page with a form you can fill out!

Dressed by My Mom

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Here's a special Mother's Day edition of Dressed by, featuring a dress my mom picked out for me and a top I picked out for her.

My mom did a little research before our shopping trip and went into it with a couple different ideas. The two trends she was interested in were peplum or colorblocking. Both were pretty abundant in stores, but we seemed to have better luck with the former. While she was picking out something peplum for me, we even found a peplum top for her, too. My mom also helped picked out the cardigan, necklace, and shoes from stuff I already had to complete my outfit. I ended up wearing this out to dinner with my husband. He approved.

Dress: Anne Klein via Boston Store; Cardigan: H&M; Shoes: C-Label; Necklace: Maurices

And here's how my mom wore her new peplum top:

Top: Calvin Klien via Boston Store; Skirt: Rafaella via Boston Store;
Cardigan: Sweater Project brand

Fashion blogger in the making, am I right? And yes, I know, we look exactly the same.

Although I didn't pick out the rest of the mom's outfit, doesn't it look like something I would've put together?? I love it! And I want to steal it! By the way, I should've had her take a picture of her walk-in closet. She has the most enviable closet. It's freakin' huge.

Dressed by Erin Again

My friend Erin's second look she picked out for me was also inspired by the ladies of Pretty Little Liars.

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Top: BCBG via E-Collectique Runway Boutique; Blazer: Kohl's; Jeans: Kut; Booties: Steve Madden;
Bracelets: Target and c/o Wantable; Necklace: Target

I know these are cheesy blogger poses - look into the distance and look down - but I was battling the wind on this one; and in all the other shots, either my jacket was flying open or all my hair was flying back or both. See?

I almost wore this outfit to the Needtobreathe concert we went to last Thursday, but at the last minute I changed into my Michael from Miggs T-shirt that had just arrived. I think it was appropriate concert-going attire, even though it was for a different band. People do that.

Although I wasn't very familiar with the music and it was kind of hard to see from where we were standing, it was a good show. And the ride back home, listening to boyband music and reminiscing, was even more fun!

Stolen from Facebook

Happy birthday, T!

Dressed by Gracey

Today we have an outfit picked out by Gracey from Fashion for Giants! Gracey made it super easy on me, combed through my archives a few weeks back, and paired things I already have but in a completely new way. This girl knows how to play with color. The only thing I changed about her suggestion was to nix the tights. At this point in the year, I'm pretty anti-tights if I can avoid them!

Blazer: Gap; Top: Christian Siriano; Skirt: New York & Company; Shoes: Payless

And oh hey, I finally got to debut my Christian Siriano top I bought back in February in New York! It's still a little too small, but let's just pretend that's not the case.

Dressed by Mary

Fellow Milwaukee blogger Mary from Babble & Bloom picked out my outfit today. She sent me two really cute ideas, both of which came from Lauren Conrad's blog. Here's the casual look she picked out:

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Dress: Prabal Gurung for Target; Jacket: Kohl's; Vest: Old Navy;
Boots: Mr. Shoe; Bag: Tyler Rodan via Boston Store

The great thing about wearing over-the-knee boots with this dress is that it didn't feel as short, but I still wore shorts underneath just in case. Obviously, I didn't wear this to work. I actually wore this to take Bridget to the doctor last Friday.

Dressed by Theresa

Here's why my friend Theresa excitedly texted me about this outfit that she saw on The Mindy Project for me to recreate:

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1. Obviously, it's yellow.
2. It has lemons on it.

Reason Number 2 is only significant to a handful of people, thankfully. The story behind it is when I was in jazz/gymnastics at the age of 13, the three girls in the class danced to the song "Lemon Tree" for the recital in ridiculous citrus getups. My coordinating scrunchy was yellow for the lemon, one of the girls wore a green one, and the third wore orange. Yes, I have a picture. No, you can't see it. My other friend who was in the class would kill me, and I'm even too embarrassed to reveal it to too many people. Anyway, lemony-patterned things always put a smile on my face.

Having said that, I would've loved to drop $400 on this Alice and Oliva number Mindy Kaling wore (also the same one that Solange Knowles wore to Coachella), but that's just not realistic for me - plus, it's basically sold out everywhere. Then, I saw someone online recommend a reasonably priced Dorothy Perkins version, and the only thing stopping me from hitting Add to Bag immediately was this pesky shopping ban/cutback I'm only halfway sticking to. And the length. And the impracticality of it in my life. My 13-year-old bad influence self is telling me to do it anyway. (Psst, they have a lime version, too! Teehee.)

This yellow dress I made will have to do for now. By the way, I also broke my flimsy shopping ban to thrift this purple cardigan for $8. It's a little small, but I love it anyway, and the color is perfect.

Dress: Self-made; Cardigan: Calvin Klein via Retique (Goodwill);
Shoes and Sunglasses: Target; Necklace: gift

Outtake: This dress does not do well in the wind. I had quite a few shots of me holding my dress down so that the situation pictured below didn't happen.

Dressed by Lindsey Again

Here's the second outfit from my friend Lindsey, and the second of three looks inspired by Mindy Kaling. I guess we have the same style, which made me want to watch her show and read her book right away. So now I'm almost caught up with The Mindy Project.

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Top: Fred Boutique; Tie: Was a headband; Cardigan: Rodarte for Target;
Skirt and Belt: New York & Company; Shoes: Target

Although I don't have any printed, high-neck tops, I still wanted to try to work the tie in since I thought it was a key part of the outfit. It looked a little awkward this way, but it worked alright as long as I kept my hair in front of my shoulders. And of course my friends know how much I like yellow! The other Mindy Kaling look I have coming up is also yellow, which, for anyone who watches the show, may give you a hint of what's to come.

Dressed by Erin

I've been looking for an excuse to wear over-the-knee socks, and my friend Erin unknowingly gave me that opportunity with this inspiration picture.

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I like the look of tall socks, and I think I can pull it off OK, but I have a feeling that it catches people off guard here. It's not a style you often see in these parts, plus it's not something a 30-year-old mom usually wears. While I'm not sure what other people were thinking, if anything, I liked it. My mom, whom I was shopping with at the time, kind of liked it, too; however, my husband was not a fan. I ended up changing into what my mom and I bought (you'll see that in another post) to have dinner with my husband later, but this outfit worked for shopping. It was comfortable and easy enough to get in and out of to try stuff on. Maybe it was a little fancy for the mall, but that's fine.

Top and Skirt: Kohl's; Tie: From an old top; Cardigan: Old Navy;
OTK Socks: American Apparel; Boots: Target; Bracelet: Michael Kors

Sorry about the lighting. The half direct sunlight and half shade was a bad idea, in retrospect.

I'm also linking up with Balancing a Hectic World for Inspired My Style.

Dressed by Corleen

Corleen of Barely Practical presented me with the challenge of recreating the 60s mod look in a fashionable way without making it too costumey. She provided me with this Fashion Tag post for inspiration. I don't have many graphic geometric prints or shift dresses, but I thought this dress fit the bill pretty well.

Dress: Kohl's; Turtleneck: Target; Shoes: Chelsea Crew

My "walking to and from the car" version is below. Those yellow shoes, as cute as they are, are still not broken in, not that TOMS ballet flats are that much more comfortable. I'd be interested to try their updated version.

Jacket: L.L.Bean; Flats: TOMS

As many times as I've worn this dress, and as much as I like layering shirts under dresses, I never thought to do it with this one. I ended up really liking this combination. So thanks for the inspiration, Corleen!

Dressed by My Husband

From our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta. This must've been before I felt seasick.

This is the Dressed by: Special Anniversary Edition since today is my husband's and my fourth wedding anniversary! When I mentioned it to him the other day, his reaction was, "It's only been four years?" Haha, I then reminded him that we've been together for seven, and he felt better about that. I guess neither of us can say, "It feels like just yesterday," but that's fine. I don't think that's a bad thing.

Even though our wedding feels like forever ago, I know we both remember it as one of the most fun days of our life together. We did things exactly how we wanted to do them - a little bit traditional and a little bit nerdy and quirky - and it was pretty darn near perfect.

Traditional vs.

Nerdy

To the outfit! I figured asking my husband to dress me would go one of two ways - he would get excited, pick out a white T-shirt and jeans, and insist I wear no makeup; or, he would be impossible and refuse to do it, and I would end up having to take my best guess while trying to get any input or positive reaction from him. It ended up being a mixture of both. I had to do some negotiating and give him options instead of letting him loose on my whole closet; but after he was done, he was like, "How hard was that? I picked out an outfit in two minutes." Well, it's a lot easier with only having to choose among 25 pieces strewn on the bed in plain sight. Still, we were both pleased with the end result, and I even got a casual outfit idea out of him that I can use later!

Top: Target; Skirt: New York & Company; Boots: Kohl's