Thursday, October 29, 2009

What now?

So September ended nearly a month ago and I just finished posting all of my outfits for the month on October 22. Now what? Do I do another month of 30? I could easily do shoes or sweaters or almost any type of accessory. Do I merely keep blogging my outfits, but this time only when I think they're really cute? Should I post outfits that aren't dresses? Most importantly do I blog dresses that I haven't worn in any of my previous Septembers and if I do are they then out of the running for next September?

I mean I still have unseen dresses that I've been wearing and photographing, but are they held against me for next year? So many questions people. I need answers.

I will say that I I've enjoyed blogging more than I expected and I'm sure to keep on blogging in some capacity, but what I'm not quite sure of yet. I will appreciate not having to blog on days like this and this when I'm not wearing anything particularly fatshionable or my hair is a mess or, or, or. But at the same time I think there is some intrinsic value in showing what we look like every day, because it is nearly impossible to always be well dressed or put together or looking cute. Even for me. And let's be honest, that's saying a lot.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Day 30, Take me out to the ballgame


So finally I'm posting the last of the 30 dresses. And you probably expected me to go out with some really great bang and instead you're looking at today outfit and thinking "what in the world was she thinking?" I know it's one of my most liberal interpretations of a dress and it's not stylish, but there's a story to it, I promise.

This past January Todd Drew, a beloved member of our ACLU family passed away fairly suddenly. Todd was one of the best people I've had the honor of knowing and working with. He lived his beliefs in every one of his actions, from how he treated the women who worked in the coffee shop to never owning a photo id because he believed that it infringed on his rights.

Todd was also the most passionate baseball fan I've ever known and he had his own blog Yankees for Justice. His tagline was "I believe in baseball and an equally free, open, just society for everyone" and it was the truth. He wrote all about the regular baseball things, but he also wrote about what the vendors at the stadium got paid and the impact of a new stadium on the neighborhood. He was the best type of person there was.

On the day he passed away we gathered in our office to remember him and our ED announced that we were going to go to a baseball game in his honor. And so we did and so I give you todays outfit. An oversized top in Yankees pinstripes that I had originally intended to wear in a much cuter way, but it was too cold for that.

The top I picked up for $8 at Re/Dress and is a 1x from some brand I haven't heard of and it's layered over a hand me down white t-shirt from JLR. The leggings are Danskin in an xl, belt is from Peacocks (I think), fake Uggs are from Target, the long necklace is from Primark, the short silver spoon one is from Urban Outfitters, baseball hat is from Danielle the ACLU swag fairy.

Now we apparently didn't follow all of Todd's rules at a baseball game (I didn't keep score nor did I refrain from eating or drinking) but I did sit during the singing of God Bless America (or whatever patriotic song they sing during the 7th inning stretch) and stand for Take Me Out to the Ballgame which was fun.

Read Todd's last blog about baseball and cancer here. We all miss you.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Day 29, Cowgirl Chic

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The end is fast approaching...ok well the end actually came like 3 weeks ago, but the end of the month of dress blogging is approaching. Perhaps I've been dragging my feet because I haven't wanted it to end. I mean the blog won't end completely, but it will change and have less of a focus which is perhaps why I've been dragging my feet with posting the last few days of the month.

So here we are, second to last day and it's actually the last nice outfit of the month (you'll see why when I blog about the 30th). This dress is a petite xxl from Old Navy that I ordered when I went a bit tights mad and ordered from them last month. It turns out that they've changed their tights sizing this year and I don't like them nearly as much and am going to return all my unopened pairs. Tomorrow I will make my virgin purchase from welovecolors.com which I'm super excited about and I'll be sure to let you know they turn out. I was planning on returning this dress, but after much hemming and hawing and advice from 'cole and mo who loved it, I decided to keep the dress. I think it was a wise move, even if it is a bit short.

The dress came with a thin belt in the same plaid as the dress but I wasn't such a fan so I accessorized with another one of the belts from my closet, this one is once again from Primark. The purple cowboy boots you've seen many times before (I sometimes think I don't wear them that much, but this blog has proved otherwise to me), the purple cardigan is the same one from the previous day and is a recent H&M purchase and the tights are most likely Old Navy.

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Nicole took this picture on our way out of the office, headed to the subway. Doesn't NY look lovely in the background?

Friday, October 16, 2009

Day 28, what I was supposed to wear to my picnic

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Sorry for the backlog. I know it's October 16th and I'm blogging a dress from September 28th. This is a problem, but I was on vacation and I didn't bring my computer and instead frolicked in the gorgeous cities of Savannah and Charleston and ate and walked and shopped and had a wonderful time. More details in following posts, but I did purchase 5 new dresses all for less than $40 total (yeah for thrift stores in the South!) and will debut those in short time.

So today is the dress that I was planning on wearing to my birthday picnic but which didn't look all that good layered the way it would need to be in order to have kept me warm that day. So instead I wore it on Yom Kippur because you're supposed to wear white. You're also supposed to wear rubber shoes which I wasn't originally wearing that day, but the heavens decided to open up and descend upon Long Island so I took off my cute purple flats so I could cross the street and not have water up to my calves.

This dress is once again from ebay, from the same seller I've written about many other times and is a 2x. The cardigan is a new purchase from H&M and is a size L and everything else I'm fairly certain you've all seen before. Rain boots are from Laila Rowe, feather is from Fascinators NYC and the necklace I picked up at the Bust craftacular. Adorable redhead almost, but not yet quite 4-year old nephew is the best accessory in the world and you cannot have him. This was my last chance to see him for faaar too long so I snatched up any opportunity I could to be with him.

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Photo I believe was taken by Shari at break fast at her parents house (not that I was fasting, I'm kind of a super bad Jew) and it was a great night filled with lovely people that I consider my family more than most of my flesh and blood.

Friday, October 9, 2009

I'm off on vacation

Hi lovely readers,

Today I head off for the week on a roadtrip to Savannah and Charleston. I'm sorry I didn't finish publishing all of the September dresses before I left for vacation, but now you'll have something to look forward to. Plus I'm sure I'll pick up a few cute dresses while I'm out of town.

I'll be posting next Thursday when I get back.

xx

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Day 27, What I imagine I'd look like if I had kids

Sometimes I wish this blog didn't force me to post every outfit that I wear everyday because truth be told some days I wear outfits that are not worth blogging about and some days I look a wreck. Day 27 is one of those days.

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I was exhausted from my picnic and my house guests and it was raining and I was babysitting my nephew and did I mention I was exhausted? After having a screaming match on the phone with my mother over movie times (why is that our family can drive us crazier than anyone else even over the smallest matters) off Liam and I went to go see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I had not even heard of the movie as I never have any interest in seeing animated films, but LeLe said that's what he wanted to do and it was raining so off we went. Then we got there and he was scared by the dark and the previews (I'll give him that, Where the Wild Things Are looks scary if you're 4) and the meatball, but apparently popcorn cured him of all those fears, isn't that just amazing?

Remember how I told that story a few weeks ago about buying a dress from the juniors department at Loehmann's? Well this is its twin dress bought at the same time, same company, same size, merely a different pattern. I am wearing it with some black danskin leggings in an xl and my Melissa shoes because of the rain.

Lack of makeup, hair do and accessories are due to it being a gross, icky Sunday where your blogger would not have gotten out of bed if not for the worlds cutest 4 year coming to wake me.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Day 26, I throw a picnic and meet Fabio in the park


Every year for my birthday I throw a potluck picnic. Sitting in the park, surrounded by the people I love, listening to music, eating and drinking the day away - I honestly don't think it gets much better than that. My sister joined me for this years picnic for the first time ever and she kept asking me "what if it rains?" and I told her I wasn't worried. This was going to be my tenth annual picnic and I've never had bad weather.

And as the date approached I kept checking the weather...and checking...and checking. After the most glorious Friday I kept my fingers crossed that we'd have a repeat on Saturday. Suffice it to say we didn't. It was overcast and in the mid 60's which is cooler than it had been in months, but I sent out warning emails to everyone to come in layers and off we went to brave the park.

I give all this as background because it made me have to switch my birthday picnic outfit at the very last minute. I put on the white sundress I had been planning to wear and added a cardi and some leggings and ran out to get my sisters opinion. She took one look at me and told me I'd have to try again. When an Israeli says your outfit isn't so good, you know it's time to change. So off I went to rummage up a last minute, 30th birthday party worthy outfit that a) hadn't been worn before in the month of September and b) would be long enough for a picnic - I couldn't be flashing everyone all day long. The importance of thinking through an outfit people.

Luckily I had gone shopping two days before and whipped out some new, shiny pieces. The dress is from H & M and is a size 10. The denim leggings with a side zipper at the ankles (believe me that is something I never thought I'd ever wear) are from the brand new Forever 21 plus size line and are a 2x. I would like to point out that I on the same day I bought something in a 2x and a 10. The accessories are all British - earrings and sunglasses are from Primark, the belt is from New Look and the shoes are Office. In the photo with my sister you can see the navy sweatercoat I wore to keep me warm and it's a large from Banana Republic. There is not much I love so much as a good sweatercoat for the fall months.

I had a wonderful day filled with my adorable nephew (photo below to prove his adorableness), my far away sister, lots of friends, 3 dogs and a life size cutout of Fabio. No, I didn't bring Fabio to the park, but the folks having a birthday picnic across the field from us did bring him along. I like to keep my Fabio in my bedroom all for myself, I have a bit of jealous streak. We were surrounded by interesting groups. Aside from Fabio there was also a group of people with hula hoops attached to their heads and another group playing 3-legged soccer.

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Every time I throw a party I have a mild (sometimes not so mild) panic attack that no one is going to show up. Do you suffer from this as well? I know I have friends and folks are going to show up and I am being totally ridiculous, but I always freak out none the less. Giving your friends a 6 hour time frame with which to show up also contributes to this as everyone shows up later in the day. Seriously, I have never been a girl to dream about her wedding, but the idea of folks rsvp-ing and 99% of the time showing up does sound heavenly to me. To prove I do have friends, here are a few of them enjoying themselves at the picnic.

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Credit for the photo of me and Fabio goes to my lovely co-worker and friend Ateqah.

Friday, October 2, 2009

I interrupt this regulary scheduled broadcast

To announce that I am wearing pants right now. Not as in I woke up at 10:45 and had to roll out of bed to pick up my CSA by 11 so I grabbed whatever was close by, but as in I woke up this morning, showered, tried on many incarnations of an outfit and headed to work wearing jeans. See people I do own pants.

I also realized this morning that I kind of forgot
a) how to dress myself when I'm not wearing a dress
b) how to dress for the cold weather
c) what I own for the fall season

I think I need to reacquaint myself with my wardrobe this weekend.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Day 25, off to the zoo!


I took a bit of a staycation so I could spend some time with my sister and nephew who were in from Israel. I've been dreaming of taking a NY cooking staycation for quite some time where every day I'd travel to a different NY neighborhood and then cook these huge meals with all these specialty ingredients. Suffice it to say, that was not what my staycation with my sister and 4 year old nephew was.

On Friday when I was off from work we had a little Brooklyn adventure in the park and headed to the zoo for the very first time. The Prospect Park Zoo was way better than I expected it to be and I highly recommend it. I almost went there on a date and I have to say it'd be a pretty good date spot. We had a great day - the weather was perfect and there was more to see and the animals were in better housing conditions than we expected for a small zoo. The carousel is right next door to it so we ended our afternoon jaunt there, which was an added bonus. All in in all, 2 thumbs up from bloomie.

So for trekking around the park I wanted something casual that I could get dirty and pet animals in and not give a second thought to, so I grabbed this cotton Old Navy dress from my closet. It's a size xl and I wish I had thought to take a picture of the back because it ties in the "back." I use quotes because I've technically been wearing this dress backwards since the very first time I wore it. Originally the dress was supposed to be worn with the cowl neck collar in the back, but that seemed like a waste to me, so I've always worn it "backwards."

As for the rest of the outfit I'm wearing a pair of xl Danskin leggings, pink sunglasses that I got on the boardwalk in Brighton, flip-flops are Havianna's, earrings I got at a Brooklyn street fair and the headband I got...um I'm not quite sure.

I arrived home at 5:45 and had folks showing up for a dinner party at 6:30 so it was a bit manic (not quite how I imagined my staycation dinner parties in my mind). I wouldn't even have mentioned it except for the fact that I made this cake in honor of my sister and it was amazing and I want to show you a picture of its deliciousness. My father would say it's gilding the lily and it may have been, but it was also undeniably delicious. Yeah for special guests who allow you to bake things you wouldn't normally allow yourself to make.