Over/Under

Rand dislikes most TV, and can't stand to be in the same room when bad reality TV is on. He is a better man than I, b/c I love some bad reality TV. So I made a standing date to watch Survivor at a friends house. It give us an opportunity to catch up with my friend and prevents Rand from being subjected to bad TV.

I wore this same dress and sweater together a couple of months ago, but then I layered the sweater over the dress rather than under. ------------>

Which do you prefer? Over or under?

What I Wore That Was Under Rather Than Over:

• black dress (Gap)
• cream cowlneck sweater (Anne Taylor)
• black fishnets (Target)
• gold/black pumps (Anne Klein)
• cream leaf brooch (via Goodwill)
• white/gold/silver braided belt (new, via Goodwill)
• silver circle cuff bracelet (can't remember)

What I Ate Before Watching Survivor:

• breakfast: homemade McMuffin, grapfruit
• lunch: leftover pasta, snap peas, small apple, cheese stick (melted)
• snack: lite yogurt, SoyJoy, small orange, hot tea
• dinner: sloppy joe made with longhorn beef, roasted onions and veggies
• midnight snack: 7 almonds

Total for the Day: 29 points, no exercise

Best Tights Ever!

If you can beleive it, I picked these fabulous new tights up at Goodwill. And they were indeed new. They still had the carboard in the center, but sadly no outside packaging. Total bummer b/c I would absolutely by whatever brand this is. The tights are nice and thick, so I wasn't terrified that I was going to shove a thumb throught the delicate pattern when I put them on. And they are by far the best pattern of tights that I've seen for plus size. And I really wanted to let them take center stage, so I kept the rest of the outfit pretty simple.

What I Wore For the Love of Tights:

• black dress (Gap)
• magenta tights (via Goodwill)
• magenta tweed jacket (Lane Bryant)
• black leather belt (Target)
• seed pearl necklace and bracelet (made by friend's mom)
• earrings (Target)
• black suede wedges (BCBGirls)
• leather envelope purse (via Goodwill)

What I Ate That Was Not Worth It:

We were supposed to go grocery shopping on the way home from work, but I left the list at home and we were starving, so we popped into the loval italien restaurant near our new house. It was cute and very romantic inside, but that's where the priase stops. The service sucked, they were blaring tejano music (which is so weird with italien food), and the food was thoroughly mediocre. I'm sad, b/c we really like to patronize local restaurants, esp those in our neighborhood.

• breakfast: barley & oats w/ cream and apple
• lunch: chicken sandwich, carrots, tomatoe, 1/2 avocado, orange
• snack: grapes, yogurt, SoyJoy
• dinner: watery chicken parmesan, uncoooked & stale penne, slimy veggies (the photo is not my actual dinner. I forgot to take a pic)

What I Did While Discussing How Our Wedding Guest List Keeps Growing:

Purple Week Day #7

We had some friends over for Sunday brunch. I made dutch apple pancakes, real bacon(!!), mimosas, and bloddy marys. We had a great time.

What I Wore While Drinking Mimosas:

• black dress (Gap)
• purple/black plaid flats (Steve Madden)
• purple cardi (Rainbow)
• feather headband (Target)
• mimosa (me!)

Purple Week Day #1

As I was selecting outfits on Sunday, I noticed that my first 3 had purple in them. Well, far be it from me to ignore that, so I swapped out my fourth outfit to something with purple. I don't usually plan my casual Friday outfits in advance, so I only pick out four outfits each Sunday. But I know I've got a couple of choices to stick with the purple theme come Friday. And I told some coworkers that it's purple week and I think they are going to throw on some purple tomorrow too. Yay! I love a good community play-along event.

I had to run home in the morning to meet the plumber. I hate leaving work in the middle of the day, bu it meant I got some pics in the natural light. Always a plus.

What I Wore While the Plumber Fixed 2 Leaky Faucets:

• black dress (you know it, you love it, it's still from the Gap)
• purple white jacket (Simply Vera via Kohls)
• purple harlequin (Lane Bryant)
• black patent pumps (Payless)
• white beaded necklace (via Goodwill)
• silvertone/mother of pearl bracelet (gift from my sis)
• white studded belt (new via Goodwill)
• silvertone/mother of pearl earrings (inherited from Grandmother)
• grey pashmina (Worth via Goodwill)
• grey pearl/rhinstone brooch (St. Vincent de Paul thrift store)

CopyCat on MLK Day

So this is the inspiration for my outfit. Although, can you really call it inspiration if you are actually just copying the look with items from your own wardrobe as opposed to coming up with something new based on the vibe of it? I think not, so I correct myself.

This is the outfit I am copying. I don't know where it is from, which is too bad b/c I can't give photo credit. I'm pretty sure it's from a cataloge, and I think I stole the pic from someone else's blog a few months ago. I do that sometimes - just snag a photo and stick it in my "you should try this look" folder. But generally, I like to give credit where credit is due, so if you recognize this, please let me know.

EDITED TO ADD: Kimberly let me know that it's from Ruche's Winter Lookbook. Click the photo to link to their site.

BTW, this is the same black dress from my Black Dress Challenge. And this outfit was insanely comfortable. Plus Rand really liked it, which always makes me feel even prettier.

Anyway, we had MLK day off, so Rand and I went to visit his fam and to take his mom out for a birthday lunch. It's always nice to see them. But I did get my butt kicked at Scrabble. Oh well. I wouldn't have minded, but Rand won. And he loves to win, which just makes it all the more annoying. haha

What I Wore While Getting Stuck With the Q:

• black T-shirt dress (Old Navy)
• camel cardi (Lane Bryant via Goodwill)
• black pashmina (via Ross)
• argyle socks (Target)
• brown suede boots (via swap)

What I Ate In a Small-Town Diner:

• breakfast: alternative bagel sandwich, navel orange
• lunch: french dip sandwich, chips, sugar-free cherry pie
• dinner: chicken and snowpeas chinese delivery

Locksmith Locator

We're getting all the locks at the new house replaced and having keyless deadbolts installed. The landlord didn't know he had to do this under TX law, so we're having it done and taking it out of the rent. I had no idea locks were so expensive. I'm glad I'm not having to pay for this!

What I Wore While Hiring a Locksmith:

• black dress (Gap)
• pink skirt (via Goodwill)
• black patterned tights (Target)
• black suede wedges (Rampage, if memory serves)
• pale pink cardi with black beading (via JC Penny - this thing was on $4 on mega sale)
• black belt (came with some clothing item)
• black ribbon/pearl necklace (Target)
• black earings (?? via Ross??)

Yes, it's the same black dress again. There seem to be multiple people wearing black dresses over and over. Kimberly has a go-to dress she often wears on Mondays. And Danielle wears the same black dress every Monday. Hey! I wore this on Monday. Maybe I need to always wear it on Mondays so I can be cool like those ladies?!?!? Today I decided to follow Audi's lead and elongate the look with a skirt thrown under it. It's a little fussy for the office, but I really love the look.

What I Ate Out of the Freezer:

I'm eating whatever is left in the house so we don't have to move it, so expect to see some weird things on my dinner plate. One thing that isn't a leftover is this candied ginger that I had for a snack. I picked it up at Trader Joes when I was in NY. (Okay, why isn't there a Trader Joe's in Dallas?? Seriously, we are a HUGE city. Hey! Trader Joe's Corporate! I'm talking to you. Put a store in DFW already!!! Sheesh!) Anyway, I have to rave about this stuff. It's not crystalizes so it's not as sugary. In fact, it's really spicy. I love it. It's much better than the chocolate covered edamame that I also bought.

• breakfast: peanut butter Clif bar
• lunch: 1/2 california club, cup of potato soup, cup of fruit (Jason's Deli)
• snack: candied ginger (Trader Joes)
• dinner: pasta w/ meat sauce and a serious lack of veggies

Exercise:

Does lugging boxes from house to house count? My arms are sore, so it should!

Don't forget to sign up for the Perricone giveaway.

It's Good To Take Advice

Today I wore my black Gap dress again. I took laniza's advice and paired it with cream. Sparkley cream, in fact. Whooo hoooo!!!

What I Wore While Following Advice:

• black T-shirt dress (Gap)
• cream sweater (Ann Taylor)
• black tights (Lane Bryant)
• black satin flats (via Kohls)
• black lace earrings (made for me by Maria)
• black necklace (from my sister's wedding)
• beaded belt (local thrift store)

Exercise: 20 pushups

Don't forget to sign up for the Perricone Giveaway.

Black Dress Challenge Week

A while ago, Maria suggest that I follow the lead of this woman and wear the same black dress every day for a month. I didn't feel like I would want to do an entire month of that, but I tucked it away in my brain to do as a week-long challenge in the future. And that week has come. In fact, in case you hadn't notice, it was last week.

I wore a basic black T-shirt dress from the Gap. Here is my week roundup:

(click to enlarge)

I'm in the process of uploading my entire wardrobe to Flickr. Right now most of my jewelry is up there, but that's it. But I'm thinking it might be fun to do an homage to this black dress by hearing suggestions of how you think I should wear it. Now all I have to do it get my clothing posted up there too.

Tina

Finally Fall

Well I think it is finally Fall in Dallas, but don't quote me on that. I did some more house hunting today and there were so many leaves down in all the yards. It was so pretty. One house had a pecan tree in the backyard and there were pecans everywhere. It's an unoccupied house, so I took a handful home with me.

What I Wore While Harvesting Fallen Pecans:

• black cotton dress (Gap)
• jean jacket (so very very old)
• shoes (Sketchers)
• graffiti belt (via Kohls)
• earrings (Payless)

Purple People Eater

I highly recommend playing this song while you read today's blog post.

Okay now that's going, it's time for comments from Rand.

Rand's Daily Outfit Assessment: "You look like a purple people eater." This comment of course prompted some singing while I finished getting ready for work.

What I Wore While Looking Like Something With One Horn and One Eye:

• black cotton dress (Gap)
• grey fishnets (Target)
• purple cardi (Target)
• purple floral scarf (Goodwill)
• purple earrings (??)
• purple brooch (inherited from Grandma)
• wine (brought to me my Rand when I walked in the door)

What I Ate While Working Late:

• breakfast: cheesy egg, banana, hot tea
• lunch: leftovers from the office kitchen
• snack: yogurt
• dinner: sweet potato and kidney bean burritos

Exercise:

40 pushups

Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day!!! I don't know about you, but all 3 of my grandfathers were WWII vets: two in the army and one in the marines. My dad was a marine during Vietnam, and my mom and stepfather were both in the Navy during the first Gulf War. So Veteran's Day means a lot to me. I was really bummed out when I got to work and realized that I forgot to wear my veteran's pin that my grandfather gave me.

What I Wore While Watching a Parade:

• black dress (Gap)
• striped vest (Lane Bryant outlet)
• black flats (Simply Vera via Kohls)
• faux pearl necklaces (4 various strands from a variety of sources)
• faux pearl bracelet (Goodwill)
• faux pearl earrings (I don't remember)
• white/silver braided belt (Goodwill)
• silver brooch, holding vest cinched in the back (via Ross)

What I Ate That Other People Provided:

A coworker had some extra fruit this morning, so I ate that for breakfast. Then my employers brought in lunch. They had said they were going to bring in sandwiches and salad froma certain bakery, so I planned accordingly. Then they actually brought in pizza and pasta. I overate. sigh.

Exercies:

40 pushups

Bonus Video:

In case you didn't get to see your own parade, here is a little snippet of the one that went through downtown Dallas. We stood on the curb outside our building and watched part of it. But it was so long that we had to go back to work before the end. I think it lasted over an hour.

Victorian Inspired

A coworker recently turned me onto Greek. They have all of the episodes on Hulu, so I'm in hte middle of the first season. So far I really like it. I didn't rush in college, so I keep asking my coworker (who did) how realistic it is. With a few exceptions, she says it's spot on. So I find it fascinating.

What I Wore While Watching Greek:

• black cotton dress (Gap)
• sheer blouse (Newport News)
• black flats (Simply Vera via Kohls)
• studded belt (Goodwill)
• fly brooch and oval brooch (Goodwill)
• circle flower brooch (from Grandma)
• cameo earrings (vintage shop in Austin)

What I Ate While Cleaning Out Leftovers from the Fridge:

• breakfast: cheesy egg, alternative bagel, 1/2 apple
• lunch: wilted spinach, pork, carrots, cheese stick
• snack: yogurt
• dinner: homemade veggie pizza

Exercise:

20 pushups. Sheila inspired me and now it's my turn. Two other women at work have also started doing pushups at work. Yay!

Total for the Day: 20 pushups, 28 points