This is My Life

Did any of you ever see the early 90's movie This is My Life? It wasn't all that popular so it's quite likely you never saw it, but the main character is a stand-up comedian and her schtick is that she wears polka dots all the time. I kinda felt like her character today and I embraced the polka dots and incorporated them throughout the outfit.

Save for the shoes, this is a particularly budget outfit. The dress I purchased at Ross a few years ago and amazingly it's still in good shape. The tights and cropped jacket are both from Target, however the jacket is from the Luella Bartley Go line. Sigh, one day I will have a pretty Luella bag. I don't know if you can see, but the buttons on the jacket are pale pink. I love this jacket and have another one in green. Because of my shape, cropped jackets look so much better on me than jackets that go to my waist or {gulp} mid-hip.

The shoes are from my beloved Office, aren't they cute? Polka dots may not be my schtick but I sure do love em.

Learning to Embrace Baggy

I like defined shapes. I wear a lot of belts, cropped cardigans and jackets and form fitting clothes in general. Big, baggy clothes haven't really been my cup of tea since college. Although back in college putting on actual clothes and not just pajamas was a big step for me, so using that as a touchstone doesn't really mean much. One day I will scan some photos and you will all have a very big laugh at my expense.


This outfit represents me out of my comfort zone. I was planning on belting it till I caught a glimpse in the mirror (as I was crossing my room to grab a belt) and thought, "oh, this doesn't look half bad just as it is." And since I'm trying to try new things and go out of my comfort zone a bit I left the house sans belt. I will say it was a very comfortable outfit.



The top is via Re/Dress NYC and you first saw it in September (where I wore it with a belt) and the jeans you've also seen before, they're Z. Cavarichi via Ross. Since the outfit felt slightly masculine to me, I felt the need to overcompensate by having it unbuttoned pretty low and flashing some cleavage, and some bling via my H&M "pearls" and bejeweled flats from Nine West.


Photo credit and chartreuse shoe belong to the darling Ateqah.

Grecian Goddess

Wow that title makes me sound really self centered, doesn't it? I'm referencing my outfit inspiration, not saying I'm a Grecian goddess, although I did think I looked awfully cute.

With the pop-ups of warm weather we've been having I've been going a bit mad with spring shopping and today I bring you one of my new purchases. I got it from ebay seller Red Dot Boutique and I couldn't recommend them any higher. Their products are well priced, good quality and the service is outstanding. My only issue is that so many of their dresses are hand-wash only and I hate hand washing. I have more than a dozen dresses (possibly even 20 or so) sitting on the floor of my closet just waiting for me to get up the energy to hand-wash them. They have been waiting a very long time.

I love wearing white in the warmer months and this top/tunic/dress (what would you call it?) is one of my new favorites. It is easy and comfortable to wear and the embellishment on the sleeves kicks it up a notch.


I've paired my top/tunic/dress with a pair of American Apparel leggings (great color, crap quality), my evil stepmother "mirror, mirror on the wall" necklace from Forever 21 and sandals from Primark that I had to bin later that evening as they literally fell apart on me. I was grateful that they stayed in one piece long enough for me to make it home. They were awfully cute and I'm sad I had to get rid of them, but they were 6 pounds and sometimes you get what you pay for.

Also don't judge my toes, I haven't gotten a new pedi since February. The unexpected sandal weather took me by surprise.



Photo credit and banh mi sandwich belongs my lovely friend and colleague Amy. Although it looked so good that I went and got one myself 5 minutes later. Sandwich that is, not photo credit.


Finally I just wanted to share this photo I took on Saturday - little kids selling limeade on the sidewalk. I have a strict policy to never pass by a kids lemonade or (in this case limeade) stand without purchasing a glass. Not to mention fifty cents in Brooklyn ain't half bad.

Things I did in India

I know, I've been promising photos from India for ages. Well now I'm finally sharing some of them. These photos are just a brief snippet of what I did and saw. I was in India for 15 days and traveled to 5 cities via 4 trains and 5 planes. It was exhausting, but fascinating as well.

I visited Old Delhi. The traffic, sights, sounds and smells were overwhelming.

I rode in a bike rickshaw. It was SO. MUCH. FUN. I wish I could travel to work via bike rickshaw everyday.

I went to the Taj Mahal. That's the money shot.

Then I played on a see-saw and rode down a slide with the Taj Mahal in the background. How many people can say they've done that?

I also took some cheesy, touristy photos.

Oh and I saw a cow inside a store. Yeah, no big deal.

Then I went to Varanasi, home of the Ganga River where many people travel to cremate the dead and then scatter their ashes in the Ganga River. This is the view of the ghats (aka steps) that lead down to the water. There are nighttime ceremonies conducted by Brahmin priests which is what this is a photo of. This is also where my tour guide insulted me.

We took an early morning ride of the Ganga to see a very different side of river life.

People bathing in the Ganga. I was freezing sitting on my boat so I can't imagine how cold these individuals must have been.

People also wash clothing in the river. This is a photo of sari's drying along the waters edge. It was one of my favorite sights of my trip.

Goats, heading home from the market. They're awfully calm considering they're likely on their way to be slaughtered.

I visited a Hindu Temple. It was the first time I'd seen a swastika used as it was originally intended for. It was pretty cool.

The decoration at the City Palace was unbelievable

With a guard at the City Palace in Jaipur. The big vessel in the background is the largest silver vessel in the world and was built to carry water from the Ganga to England for a king to bathe in while he was on holiday.

This was in Jaipur and it's where the maharajah's ladies would sit and look out on city life through the windows. On my desk at work I have a things to see before you die page-a-day calendar and this was one of the sights listed while I was away. Kinda amazing right?

I went to a gorgeous fort. And wore tevas. Please, you can't judge me any more than I judge myself.

I went to a monkey temple which was fascinating and scary all at once. Wild monkeys are scary.

I met some cute school children who asked me to take their photo.

This is an Iraqi synagogue in Mumbai that has been there for over a 100 years. It was beautiful, I'd never seen a shul like it before in my life.

I splurged my last few days in Mumbai and booked myself at a nice hotel. I spent a lot of time at the pool. It was lush.

The next set of India photos will be things I didn't do in India. To be continued....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Although it pains me to admit this since I relish any occasion to dress in some sort of themed outfit, I forgot that today was St. Patrick's Day. Oops. It wasn't until I got off my subway station at work and was swarmed by Staten Island teenagers resplendent in green that I realized "shit it's St. Patty's Day and I'm not wearing green." Well I'm wearing this, so there's a bit of green but not enough to really count. I lived in Dublin and love the Irish (although not those that run the NYC St. Patty's Day Parade) so it's particularly disappointing.

I did however rock a green outfit last week so shh, lets all pretend I'm wearing this today.

I think everything I'm wearing has been featured before on my blog - no I take that back, I can't find the vest anywhere. The dress is from Old Navy, the vest and tights are from Target, the boots are Laila Rowe, the necklace is Betsy Johnson and the hair piece is from the Bust Craftacular.

Who do I Love More Than Words?

This girl.

And today she turned 30. Sadly because the entire continental US is in between the two of us, I wasn't able to be there to celebrate with her in person. So instead I am just going to publicly declare that this woman is the best friend I could have ever asked for. And even though she considers a black t-shirt dressing up, thinks bike bags are fashionable and laughs at what I wear on a very regular basis, I don't know how I would ever get by without her. I love you.

Sometimes it's the Little Things That Make the Big Difference

Like changing the part in your hair. Seriously. All I did was give myself a middle part and tie my hair back a bit and folks just could not stop commenting to me about it all day long. I even got stopped on my way to the subway by someone who wanted to give me his number. Which I kindly declined, but kudos to him for trying. Wish as I may, I could never be that forward. I really do wish, but I just can't do it.


I happen to like the whole outfit and I'm enjoying this incarnation of the dress way more than the last time I wore it. The dress is from Anthropologie, a store that I love and is shockingly good for inbetweenies, but it is also ridiculously expensive. So I'm going to take this as an opportunity to brag that I got it for $10, down from $78. Are you impressed? I am. Also, this dress (which is basically an elongated sweatshirt) is not worth anything close to $78.


The leggings are from Target via a Friday Fats post and they're kind of stretched out but as usual I don't have the heart to throw them (or any of my other clothing for that matter) out. The boots I got at the Camden Market in London and the belt and necklace are both from Primark. I always thought the belt was a butterfly but now I think it may not be. What say you?



Photo credit goes to my work-wife Nicole.

It's all About the Scarf

Remember how I said I knew I was tempting fate by running head first into spring? Well it came back to bite me in the ass and it only took about 4 days of lovely weather to do so. But I'm going to pretend for a few minutes that it's still nice and I haven't spent the last 3 days walking around with big hair and rain boots and share with you a photo from earlier last week when the weather was lovely.

My skirt and blue fishnets are from Old Navy, my top is hand-me-down from my friend Jamie, the jean jacket is Svoboda via Re/Dress as is the button on the jacket, the earrings are from Topshop, my sneakers are keds and may actually be from high school and the bag is Botkier and trust me, I got it like all my fancy handbags at a sample sale.

What makes the outfit interesting and special is the scarf.

I've already told you that I'm not really a scarf person and I never really know if I'm wearing them correctly. However I recently bought this scarf in India and I am obsessed with it because the entire design is hand blocked. Yup, you heard me, it was all done by hand.

While in India I went to this village called Sanganer that is famous for its handmade paper and textiles. I visited factories that made both and I bought this scarf at the hand blocking factory I went to. It was one of the absolute highlights of my trip and I thought I'd share a few photos from my visit there.

First you choose what pattern you like from a variety of blocks

Then it is dipped in the ink that you see on the right in this photo

Then this exceedingly talented man showed me how you press down on the fabric, hitting the block with a hammer to get the right outline. He also explained to me that you must use the same block, dipping in different colors to get the full design.

This is what the finished products look like. Now do you understand why I'm so obsessed with my scarf? The entire design was done by hand. Absolutely amazing.

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