Chameleon Style

It occurred to me this weekend while stuck in traffic on the freeway that this is the first time in my adult life that I just have one dress code in my life. That probably doesn’t make a lot of sense so let me expand on that thought. My clothes and my style for that matter have always been divided into several categories, clothes for school, clothes for work, clothes for relaxing after work, clothes for dating, clothes for partying, clothes for shopping, etc…. and I seemed to don a different personality based on what I was currently wearing. But right now I have an awesome job that has a very laid back dress code that allows me to wear pretty much anything I want from a suit to a shift dress and boots to jeans and a cotton top. Because of this I have noticed more and more overlap of what I wear to work is also what I shop in and what I wear to meet friends for coffee etc… I don’t date anymore really and my partying is virtually non-existent so I have been wearing the same clothes over and over again. Because of this, or maybe in combination with this and my age, my personal style has started to show thru more consistently.

VS

I’m not sure what you would call it however, I am west coast thru and thru (way more Marilyn than Jackie) laid back thanks to living in the Pacific Northwest for so long and I still have a bit of California in me, also a bit rocker with lace and girly details. I have always been a bit of a chameleon and can adapt easily to nearly any group or situation, but it always left me wondering who I truly was underneath it all. Now I have a better idea and while I will probably always watch the trends and adapt to the situation around me I can say with some confidence that my true style will come out in everything that I wear.

Christmas

Christmas has once again come and gone and instead of having that morning after remorseful feeling I am instead going to remember the memories that will be mine forever and the faces of the people I love and was able to spend the day with.  If I do start to feel sad I can always look back at the awesome stuff I got and remember how much I am loved.

Barbie purse/makeup bag from Costco

This is actually filled with makeup, in every imaginable combination of glitter and pink of course, but I will use it as a purse for sure. Originally I was gonna give the stuff inside to somebody's daughter but I am having a lot of fun playing with it instead.  Just because I am getting older doesn't mean I have to grow up.



Cupcake/cake carried from Costco


I love baking, especially cupcakes and cakes for my family and friends but every time I bake cupcakes I run into the difficulty of trying to transport them, most carriers have low tops (hard when they are decorated) and only carry 24 at a time. Now that I have this I can carry 36 fully decorated cupcakes, or a tall cake and lots of cookies, all without worry.

My brother in law and his father are going to put a new roof on my house for me as soon as the snow goes away. It was my brother in laws idea to write it on the gingerbread house and present it like this, totally creative, he really is going to make a great teacher.

I am a self professed linens snob. I love high thread count sheets and big soft fluffy over sized towels, but then again who doesn't? I got a brand new sheet set, with 4 pillow cases, and new towels for the bathroom. I am excited to use them, soon hopefully.

My family knows me so well, I truly am blessed.



Glitter and the Nutcracker

Friday night I had the opportunity to take my entire family, all 8 of us (minus my 3 year old nephew) to the opening night of the Nutcracker Ballet. Needless to say the women were more excited to go than the men were, Dad wasn’t bad as he appreciates that type of thing, probably something to do with learning to appreciate culture with age but "C" and my brother in law were less than happy. To my delight and everybody else's surprise "A" really got into it as well, the 1st half is all story telling and sword fighting so we really liked that but the 2nd half is a lot mor ballet and he started to fade a little but over all not bad for a 8 year old boy.

As soon as I knew we were going my mind immediatley went to what would I wear? I know it is probably just my little girl coming thru but is there anything better than opening night of the Nutcracker during the Christmas season? This clearly deserved a new outfit and as soon as I found these great shoes I knew my search was over. I went simple with the rest of the outfit to keep the emphasis on the shoes, dark wash skinny jeans a gold dolman sweater and I was ready to go. They are the same style as the black ones (mentioned here) but with glitter instead of sequins. Gold heels and the Ballet, two things that definitely go well together.

Miu Miu Naplack Booties

I first saw these almost 2 years ago in a magazine spread and ever since then have noticed them popping up in the most random places. The most recent was today on Emily at Cupcakes & Cashmere, I follow her daily, she wears these pretty frequently and today they popped up once again. While they are by Miu Miu ("affordable" line by Prada) I totally think I could justify the price tag of $625 but they are an older style and are completely sold out everywhere. http://www.thelook4less.net/ also featured these along with their more affordable version back in 2008, which are completely sold out as well. My only hope now is to watch Ebay and other sites like that and hope by some miracle somebody decides to sell a pair.




Miu Miu Naplack Booties

 
Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Shanty { the blog }

There are certain blogs that I check on a daily basis and while some of them do do daily updates others are more sporadic, The Shanty blog is one of those. When I check it and a new blog post pops up its like a unexpected little indulgence. I get to  spend a few minutes admiring the great products and  every time I end up mentally planning out my shopping list for the next time I head over to Newport and am able to go into the store. If I were to list out everything that I bought there because I saw it first (like the awesome jacket & tapestry bracelet) on the blog it would be a really  long post.

Twisted-Silver Tapestry Bracelet

Shanty { the blog }: some of our favorite decorations....: "sweet little bird vintage style tin canisters...4 different styles and size...set them in the kitchen or under the tree love this for a c..."

Their most recent post is no different, I knew right away that I was going to have to have both of these items for my retro inspired house.

vintage style tin canisters

more vintage! 7x10 tin prints...same as the canisters

Check out their site and you will see what I am talking about but don't say I didn't warn you when you add it to your favorites list.

Bathroom floor, done.

Ok, so the tile for the bathroom floor finally came in and we installed it last night. It still needs to be completely grouted but at least you can get an idea of what it will look like. We are taking this weekend off to go to A's Hockey tournament but hopefully it will be finished very soon.

Uggs

While I agree with the rest of the fashion world that Uggs have definitely outlived their heyday (except here in the Pacific Northwest where people just cant seem to get enough of them), I did find several new styles in their fall/winter 10’ line that are very exciting. With all the boot options this fall I was a little overwhelmed and was looking for just the right boot that would go with everything and do everything, I know I know aren’t we all. I had looked all over town and thru all of my favorite online options before I stumbled upon these lovely little gems at Nordstrom.com, the UGG® Australia 'Lynnea' Ankle Boot. They come in several colors and in leather or suede and can be worn both up or folded down. The catch, they are sold out everywhere, including from the manufacturer, in fact they are currently selling on Ebay for about $50 – 75 over retail. I hemmed and hawed for about a week before deciding to just give it a shot, I called my favorite shoe salesmen at Nordstrom and had him search for me. Sure enough of the 3 left in the company (or at least that’s what their computer said) he was able to find me the color and size I wanted in Minnesota. They are being shipped to me as we speak and hopefully I will love them as much in person as I do online. The other thing is hopefully my Scottish blood won’t get the better of me and I don’t sell them on Ebay, we will have to wait and see.

 On a side note, my extremely fashionable cousin bought a pair of Miz Mooz that are practically identical. I was telling her about my awesome find over Thanksgiving and she broke these out to show me. Great minds really do think alike.

Nordstrom vs. Home Deopt

I have been asked several times to be a guest blogger for The Shanty , a great little store up in Newport WA and was reminded again today. While I love the idea of being a guest blogger and Lord knows I love The Shanty I find myself resisting. I haven’t opened a fashion magazine since the beginning of October, read when the house stuff really started to get underway, and I haven’t shopped online or in a store for anything other than toys (Christmas is just a few weeks away) and house stuff. Once I realized that I started looking back over my own blog and while only in actual existence for a couple of months (I have been blogging in my head for almost a year now) I see that I have done very little fashion related blogs on here and definitely nothing that could be counted as cutting edge or even on trend.

Just one more reason that I am looking forward to getting this house done, I can get back to what I am most comfortable with, shopping at Nordstrom instead of Home Depot.

Photo Booth

I have mentioned the prior weekends weeding several times and wanted to share a little memento that C and I got at the wedding. We have a long running joke that while I have a camera with me at all times we have very few pictures of the two of us together, and every time we get dressed up and go somewhere it seems that somewhere on the ride home one of us realizes that once again we didn’t  get a photo taken together. Well this weekend started out the same, I made the joke as I put my camera into my purse “Let’s try to actually get a picture of the two of us together tonight” and while I didn’t actually take any pictures with my camera the bride did have the foresight to order a Photo Booth for the guests to use at the wedding. So now not only did we get a photo but we got 4 different photos or 8 if you want to be technical and cut them in half.

LBS

I had a wedding to go to this weekend and was able to do something that rarely ever happens to me; I had a complete outfit already ready, dress, shoes, accessories the works. I helped at the Best of Spokane 2010 party in October and was able to put everything together for that event and loved how it turned out so I knew that I would wear the same thing to two winter weddings that I was going to attend, this one on Saturday and another one on New Year’s Eve. I wore a red & black (I know Iknow) Donna Morgan dress that I bought for my High School Reunion but the crown jewels, as least as I saw it were these Steve Madden heels. They are black sequin and patent leather and have just enough of a platform to be really attractive and are actually very comfortable, something I am not used to in shoes. Usually you can either get them to be comfortable but they aren’t that cute or they are super hot but not comfortable at all and I was able to hit the jackpot with these. I am so impressed in fact that the search is on for any other colors that I can find in this style.

These will defiantly become my new go-to shoe for holiday events, finally the LBD has found the perfect LBS (little black shoe).



Photo Unceremoniously heisted from keidikins.com



Mint Condition

As previously mentioned my favorite colors are Red & Black and when I first started looking at color schemes for the new house certain things were a given, like the kitchen floors would be black and white checkerboard, my bedroom would be cream with a dramatic dark wall, A’s room would be shades of blue but the bathroom was a bit of a dilemma. I knew I wanted to inject some color and make the room seem as large as possible while staying true to the homes original bones. I wanted it to seem luxurious without feeling too girly. As our previous bathroom was all done in a yellow and blue duck theme I decided that while I did like the ducks it was time for our bathroom to grow up a little.

Moen Moentrol "Monticello"

My first decision was to pick the shower hardware, my plumber recommended a certain line from Moen so that helped me narrow my decision down among just those 20 or so options. I choose this great set because it has clean lines while still seeming modern and classic all at once, I did have to order this special porcelain handle which I think will totally complete the look.

Porcelain Handle for Moen "Monticello"

The inside of the shower was a given as well, I knew from the start that I wanted 3x6 white subway tile with some kind of colored liner tile towards the top. When I found the green glass linear tile I knew almost instantly that that’s what I wanted and while some of my helpers weren’t quite as convinced as I was once it was completed everybody agreed that it looks awesome.


The floors were a challenge at first only because I couldn’t find anything that I loved but after lots of research and shopping around I came across this at Home Depot and knew instantly that this was what I wanted.

White Metro Hex Tile

Luckily the tub was in great shape so nothing needed to be done with that, the toilet as previously discussed had to go and I was able to find a great pedestal sink on Craigslist that has perfect lines for the bathroom.  The medicine cabinet also had to go, it was small and the mirror wasn’t in very good condition, luckily I was able to find this one at Lowes that had great reviews and was only $38 so it was definitely in my price range.

The walls originally had pink plastic tile on them and while I did like them I did not want to live with them forever so they did have to go. Once they were removed they was so much glue residue that it would have been nearly impossible to smooth the wall down enough to paint it and have it look nice so I decided to put up wood paneling bead board which was super easy and while we are still in the process of putting up the last of the moldings it already looks very polished and well put together.

The finishing touch was the paint for the walls, it was decided that I would paint 3 of the walls, the 3 without the shower on them, and I choose Sherwin Williams  "Mint Condition" ” for this. It is a very nice light almost sea foam color with great saturation without making you look sickly in the mirror. I tested out a patch on the wall on Thursday and came back on Friday to see how it looked  once it dried and was very pleased to see that the results were amazing.

While it still isn’t completely done it is really starting to feel like it’s coming together and every day gets us closer to the finished project.

"Bombshell"

 One thing I have always taken pride in and possibly taken for granted was my nails. I know that sounds incredibly vain and probably not very important to most people but my nails have always grown long and have been very strong, thru no fault of my own as I admit to not drinking enough milk.My poor mother has very thin nails and because of this has had artificial nails for as long as I can remember, for how little she takes care of herself she has always found time to get them done and has always had a relationship with her nail lady, its kinda like a shrink in some ways, you go see them every two weeks and you sit and talk to them for several hours at a time, As seen in the movie "Legally Blonde". I have memories of going to the salon with her when i was in early elementary school and her nail lady "Daphne" would paint my  nails as well, I always felt grown up when I was there, in fact that probably fed into this obsesion that I have now. I admit to having done artifucial nails a few times in my life and always end up regretting it, they are a lot of upkeep, they are expensive and isn't the point of artificial nails to look like you have long natural nails anyway? It is a very peculiar thing in our society right now that women from all walks of life see their nails as a status symbol of sorts, it is showcased in movies, television shows, and even music videos.
 

Hot Shot - my Summer 09 color

Mirror Mirror - my Fall 10 color

While I love all the fun colors they come out with every year and anxiously awate each season to see what the 'it' color of the season will be and yet I always end of going back to two of my favorite tried and true colors, Bombshell & Liquid Vinyl. Orly  is my favorite brand of nail polish and I rarely use anything else. They are formulated for natural nails and can last several weeks without a touch up and have a rubber handle with texture which makes painting your own nails easier especially when you can actually hold the brush carefully without worry of it slipping at all.


Bombshell



Liquid Vinyl

It is no secret the my two favorite colors are Red and Black. They were the colors of my High School, my College , my car, and my kitchen. While I admit that red nails can be a little cliche they are also timeless and classic and have a way of making you look and feel very polished and put together. While I love a good pink now and then I see pink as the princess and red is more for the queen, which just seems to fit me better.

I had a revelation last night, I have been so caught up in all this house stuff for the last 3 months that I am ashamed to say I haven't done anything to my nails, except for trying to scrape the paint off them every night when I leave. This weekend I have a wedding to go to and I spent about last 20 minutes this morning filing and painting my nails in preparation and now I can't stop looking down and I have caught myself smiling several times as I looked at them. Now the trick is going to be trying to keep them nice until Saturday. Wish me luck.





Roughed In

A toilet is one of those things that you take for granted until you don’t have one to use and it’s not like anything else could do the job. It is a fairly simple design that hasn’t changed much since the early 1900’s. It is probably one of the most used and most unappreciated pieces of furniture in our homes. So imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed spending an entire day researching and shopping for a new one.
In theory there is nothing wrong with the one that was already in the bathroom but since we had to take that out to do the floors anyway and I had been playing with the idea of replacing it I decided that it was now or never. In truth I just didn’t like the design of it, it was very low profile (it was actually longer than it was tall) and had an elongated bowl which meant that when you were sitting there you would be looking directly at the underside of the new pedestal sink that will be right next to it and your knees will be practically touching the tub across from it.

I have been trying to find a balance between style, sustainability, and my budget thru this whole process and in very few instances have I been able to make all 3 meet, I am very happy to say that this is one of them. I wanted one that was chair heights, water sense, & round bowl but with some kind of angular lines either on the tank or on the pedestal part so that it would go with the new sink and the hexagonal shaped floor tile. The other catch was that I needed it to be 11” between the bolts and wall which turned out to be the real difficult part. We went to two different stores and all the toilets had the “roughed in” dimension at 12”. When after several hours I finally asked a salesperson if an 11” toilet existed he explained that “roughed in” describes the length between the stud and the bolts on an unfinished wall. Seems like the silliest measurement ever but apparently this is common knowledge among the remodeling insiders.

Kohler "Wellworth" toilet

Once we solved that issue I was able to find a toilet that I am very excited about, something that I never thought I would say. It is everything that I was looking for and am looking forward to actually installing it and seeing how it looks in the room.

Tights and Leggings

Every season there are exciting new trends that I just can’t wait to try, the last two fall seasons  I was definitely excited about all the great new options for legs there were out there. Tights and leggings defintatly make it easier to look great when the weather goes from 20 degrees under to 40 and rainey in the same day here in the lovely Pacific Northwest. However there are certain things that I struggle with, one is leggings, I am a big believe that while everythign does come back around in style that if you wore it the first time you shouldn’t’ wear it when it comes back around and Lord knows I rocked the leggings in the 80’s. The other thing I can’t seem to embrace is tights with open open toed shoes. While I love how it looks on the runway and even on real women around town I just cant seem to bring myself to do it.

Maybe its because I just don’t have the right tight and shoe combination, maybe I should go shopping just in case.

 (All photos unceremoniously heisted from Lucky.com)

Grouting is good

So with this house remodel I am learning how to do all kinds of things that I never knew how to before. How to stain hardwood floors, how to measure for tile, how to pick homeowners insurance, how to move without loosing your mind (ok so maybe I didn't really master that one yet), but by far the most enjoyable thing I have learned is how tile grout. Dad , aka the foreman, and the other boys spent almost a week laying the 3x6 subway tile on all 3 sides of my shower all the way up to the ceiling and they did an amazing job but when it came putting in the grout I was recruited to come help. Being that I am the more detailed person in this group it turned out to be a good fit. With just a few minutes of instruction and demonstration I was able to take the trowel and do it on my own, even though I was under constant supervision from the foreman it felt good to get in there and get my hands dirty. It went pretty quick once I got started and I must say that I am definitely looking forward to doing the grout for the bathroom and the kitchen floors. I am so excited with how well the shower turned out that I am having a hard time picking out a shower curtain, hide my gorgeous new tile, I don’t think so.