Day 4, Dress 94: Cowgirl Chic

Saturday was the start of a long, lovely and very busy Labor Day weekend. The weather was perfect and for the first time all summer you actually needed a layer to keep warm once the sun went down. As my friend said "I'm cold and it's not because of air conditioning." After the summer we've had, music to most New Yorkers ears.

The cool(ish) weather also meant I could wear boots and some denim for the first time in a very long time. Yay! I haven't worn boots in months and I desperately missed them. Not to mention that fall shoe wear is so much more supportive than summer shoes, so on Saturday I was able to wear cute shoes and not have an aching foot at the end of the night. Have I mentioned to you yet how much I cannot wait for my tendinitis to be gone?

I adore this dress, which is some random brand that I picked up in Loehmann's last year. Paired with cowboy boots and a bit of denim, I love it even more. Last year when I wore this outfit a friend of mine told me I looked "hyper sexualized" in it. I am not even going to get into how angry that comment of hers made me, but suffice it to say I think she's wrong. What do you think?

I added some dangly earrings from Primark for a bit of bling.

And finally I wanted to share with you the heart shaped, blueberry birthday torte I made for my wonderful, fabulous, awesome, amazing friend Ateqah. I figure since her name comes up in the photo credits so often, I was allowed to wish her a very public happy birthday on my blog. Ats I love you and am so happy you and your hearts came into my life 2 years ago.


Photo credit goes to Amy.

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.



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.



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