TGIF (Unless, like me, you work on Saturday...)

In which case, people who are happy it's Friday just get on your damn nerves. Lane Bryant dress from Spring 06 (I think...that was a long time ago!). This dress has been sitting in a pile in my room for more than 12 months, but this past week I was very very bored with my wardrobe and my Thursday night To Do List had 2 items: give self pedicure so can continue to hold my head up in open toed shoes and wash/iron b&w dress to wear tomorrow. I got SO many compliments as I have every time I've worn this dress and looking at this picture I can see why, it is very flattering. And now it's also very big on me! This is a size 18 and I am wearing a 14 now but it may be worth the effort to get this one altered.
I wore a red sandwashed silk shrug over this but had taken it off by the time Zac snapped a photo. He cut me off at the ankles but I wore 4 inch BCBG Girls peeptoe T-straps with a big black tulle flower on the toe. The big silver hoop earrings are from Walmart last week for 2.97 (SCORE!). I pulled all my hair back and wore red lipstick.

On Friday I felt very very bad. I have been sick all week with a nasty chest & throat virus. But every day I really made an effort and truly, it is amazing the way you feel so much better after recieving compliments all day long. One lady in the elevator with me asked if I was a model, and my manager said, "You must be feeling better! You look great!"
Actually I felt like a steaming sack of poo, but those compliments carried me through the day.

Wicked Wednesday

I am not feeling well this week, and this is my go-to LBD. I bought it at Walmart probably about a year ago and I think I have worn it at least once a week ever since. I always feel good in this dress. It swishes nicely around the knees when I walk and I imagine it would be perfect for a tango class. Nine West shoes via amazon.com; the necklace is a brooch from Lane Bryant that I got as a gift with purchase a few years ago and strung on a gold chain for today. Big, chunky necklaces seem to be very hot for summer, so check out your favorite shopping haunts for a little something (or a big something) to freshen up your favorite tees and tanks for summer. I am loving the necklaces at anthropologie.com although I doubt I will be able to afford one--Wikipedia says anthropologie is aimed at the 200k and up income mark! Definitely not my ball park, but anyone can look and get ideas! Some styles are very seventies inspired; if you are lucky enough to have access to your mom's jewelry box, you might score some great finds.

I LIED.

I didn't wear Hefty to work today. Up at 6:30AM because the baby was coughing so badly, I got out her asthma medicine (albuterol machine) and hooked it up. I usually go in at 8AM on Saturdays to get that extra hour of overtime, but this morning I looked that hour of overtime in the face and told it straight up, FUCK YOU.

(Sorry, Mom)

I slathered on sunscreen and donned darkwash capris from Lane Bryant Spring 08, longsleeved grass green tshirt same provenance, and Jessica Simpson Barb pumps in black patent leather with cork sole & platforms. What do you MEAN, you don't consider four inch heels to be casual Saturday work wear???

I did think about wearing flats. Briefly. But then I remembered the unassuagable anguish I feel when I see another woman wearing heels when I have on flats, and the urge passed. (I did throw flipflops in my tote bag just in case)

Wore a longsleeved tshirt because, as so many workplaces do, we are frozen in the summer and toasted in the winter. Seriously, it does not matter where I work or where I sit, I will always be under a blasted vent. In the winter I sit in perfect comfort in sleeveless dresses, and by July I am anxiously perusing victoriassecret.com to see what kind of sweaters they have on sale. This may be a conspiracy between Corporate America and The Fashion Police, it bears looking into.

TGIF

I had had an idea in the back of my mind about draping a lot of pearls a la Coco Chanel, and this AM when I was running late for work and noticed some stains (GAH) on the front of my cream colored sleeveless polo seemed like the perfect time to put this idea into play.

After work I went to the local margarita watering hole ((VIVA TEQUILA!!!)) with some friends from work. It's amazing how a couple of ibuprofen and a giant frozen 'rita can completely erase foot pain. I am not looking forward to going to work in the morning and will DEFINITELY NOT be blogging my outfit as it could prominently feature Hefty as a name brand.

hehehe!

Have a fabulous weekend, everybody!!!

A day that starts off with The Flood calls for eyeliner. A friend at work that drops by my desk a couple days a week to check out the latest celeb gossip rags told me today that I had everything going on FLAWLESSLY.
That was several hours before this picture was taken. All mistakes are on the part of and also the complete responsibility of...the photographer! hehehe, I blame him for these capacious childbearing hips!!!! Vocally and whenever possible.

Mr. DeMille, I'm NOT ready yet....

This is what happens when your photog is eleven and thinks it is funny to take a shot of your....butt. And just when I was thinking, this pants just magically make my fat disappear! It's like I am...NOT FAT!!!

And then reality had to go and rear it's ugly head. And dimpled thighs.

I seriously must get back to the gym and out of the local Mexican restaurants.

Lane Bryant dark rinse jeans, Lane Bryant royal purple satin squarenecked top, Nine West slutty librarian peeptoe platform loafers, makeup same as previous--pink Revlon lipstick, pink Neutrogena gloss, curled LashBlasted eyelashes.

these are my Cop Sunglasses

My pupils couldn't have survived the camera's flash, I almost had to leave work today as by 3:30PM I was nauseated with vertigo and black spots in my vision from a really bad headache that was heading towards Migraine Station. I took some Advil LiquiGels and used a Headache Remover homeopathic stick that a couple of the girls at work lent me--I tell ya, if I get the urge to climb the Himalayas, I'm bringing Shannon and Pam with me. Lint remover? Safety pin? Band-Aids? Over the counter meds? They've got it. Nail polish? Nail polish remover? Check. And yet I drag around a huge tote AND a clutch, and the best I can come up with is sunscreen and an eyelash curler....it makes no sense.

So. A favorite black dress from Walmart, gold five inch Bebe heels, Revlon Renewist lipstick in Berry Fulfilling, and I powdered before I left work because I was tired of looking like a hot mess in my post work pics. Behold the power of Prescriptives! I really love their custom blend. My skin tone is really difficult to match--I am pale, red & blotchy, with a blue undertone to my skin, so it can't have a yellow undertone, but too much pink undertone and I look sunburned--anyway, sometimes it really is cheaper to go buy one right thing that lasts for years (I have had this powder probably about five years) than to waste 10 dollars every time you go to Walmart or the drugstore and piling up a lot of failures that you forget to return or lost the reciept. I mean, drugstore makeup costs now what department store makeup cost when I was a teenager (right after we discovered fire and invented the wheel), and I don't have money to waste, I need something that works so I can work it every day!

Aviator sunglasses, 12 bucks at Adger Grocery, dress, less than 20 bucks, shoes off eBay, I know less than fifty dollars. Add in my trusty black Lane Bryant bra, bought on sale, and my whole outfit is probably less than a hundred!

What Can Brown Do For You?

This is one of my favorite dresses, another Walmart special purchased last summer at my local. I wear a lot of black, but as a child of the '80's and still owning a copy of Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson (I can actually quote passages from the book as if it were poetry or literature for the ages....geesh), I'm a Summer and I always wonder, Is black too dramatic for my coloring?

Nah. Really, can ANYTHING be too dramatic for ME?

Not so much, not really.

But, anycrap, I always feel secure in this brown dress, knowing that it flatters my coloring. Also, those Jessica Simpson shoes? EXTREMELY comfortable for a four inch heel, which is to say, I don't need a walker today and I wore those shoes yesterday from the time that I put them on at the house until I got back home and changed. I forgot to take flats with me yesterday, I usually have them on at my desk for a couple of hours after lunch to give my feet a break--I WISH that I had pain free feet but really I just grin and bear it and work with it as much as I can. So all of you sensibly shod ladies? Heels are just a cry for constant external validation.



Thank God, it works!



Wood bead necklace, also Walmart, gold necklace, that disk is etched with a photo of Zac at 3 wearing angel wings. Wedding set, no earrings, makeup is CityBlock, Prescriptives powder, looks like lipstick was gone by this point, as well as the powder, CoverGirl LashBlast mascara on curled eyelashes. I've started using DHC Arbutin moisturizer at night and after just a couple of nights I have noticed my skin feels very smooth and soft in the mornings and it doesn't break me out like the sample of Olay Definity that I tried for a few nights before that, I woke up every morning with a new blemish and with a complexion that's already red & blotchy, I most surely do not need that! Might be good for winter when my skin is drier but this DHC will be better for summertime. I am going to keep using and hope to see great results after 4-6 weeks of every night usage. I have been MUCH more disciplined about cleaning my face every night, knowing that I am posting my pictures on the Internet! Hey, whatever it takes, y'know?
Have a most fabulous weekend and a Wonderful Mother's Day, ya'll!!!

Peekaboo, I See You!

yep, it's me again! Long time no see, huh? As you know, it's been Driving Miss Crazy round these here paaaahts....but I've missed you, lovely, and I'm baaaack!

Dress bought a couple weeks or a month ago at the local Walmart, shoes are positively ancient, Steve Madden circa 1996. I didn't use any makeup today (not even the Clinique SuperCityBlock as it was raining) except for powder (obviously worn off, hehehe) and pink lipstick--let me see, I am too lazy to get up...

But not too lazy to call for Zac to bring me my bag!

Lipstick is Revlon Super Lustrous Creme Lipstick in Love That Pink with a slick of Neutrogena MoistureShine gloss in Groove on top.