Ketchup and mustard

What do you do when you leave your camera at home and dh isn't around to snap a photo? You find a shiny thing and use your phone to snap some shots.

This, my friends, is what I call a comfortable outfit. These jeggings are basically like pajamas. So much so that sometimes when I'm at work I have to look down to make sure I didn't accidentally wear my pajamas to work.

Ok, that's not true. But they are comfortable enough that I can get all cozy in my work chair and sit with one foot tucked neatly under me. Like a little school girl. Wearing pants the color of ketchup and a vest the color of mustard.

And these loafers. These loafers. Are amazing. Clearly the winner for best shoes bought in 2011. Kudos to you, Dolce Vita, for bringing them into my life.

My brain is so empty right now I can only talk about my clothes. Cut me some slack, y'all. What would you rather me talk about? Seriously. What should I talk about on here? I'm currently taking suggestions.

Banana Republic Outlet sweatshirt, Gap jeggings, Old Navy vest, Dolce Vita loafers <3

So I creep.... yeah.

Remember the good old days? When I had a lovely porch and fun back alley and even an indoor location where I could take some perfectly lighted outfit photos before anyone else got to work?

When I got my new job, my photoshoot locations suffered. To get an outdoor shot, I have to wait for a weekend and a willing photographer (ahem, husband, ahem).

Well, today as I was walking to the mailbox to send off some belated Christmas cards, I saw this alley. It's a little creepy, but also well lit at four o'clock in the afternoon. There was even a band practicing somewhere in one of the buildings off of the alleyway, so I felt like I had my own photoshoot theme music.

I didn't stay long, but I did manage to find a ledge on which to prop the point-and-shoot to take some quick timed shots. I think I'll be back.

On another note, I'm listening to the Civil Wars right now and I'm digging them so much. If you have Spotify, listen to their album, Barton Hollow, here: The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow

That's another Christmas present from me to you! I'm on a roll!

Gap top, jeans and belt, Old Navy vest (hubs thinks it looks like baby puke), boots and bag, gifted scarf

P.S. Did you notice I brought the rounded edges back? No? Oh, well. I like 'em.

Contribute

Well, hello there!

In order to further expand my online writing horizons, I've been looking for places to contribute in my spare time. Well, I found the easiest one: the Yahoo! Contributor Network. My understanding is that you contribute original content, following Yahoo's guidelines, and wait for it to be reviewed and, hopefully, published.

For my first article, I decided just to claim a "story assignment" and get to writing. My post, "8 Low-Maintenance Winter Beauty Tips," was published yesterday! I'm excited, even though this contributor network is kind of like a black hole for content. It's at least out there, and it didn't take me long to create. It's something else to add to my portfolio, and something besides credit and personal finance (not that I don't love writing on those topics).

I'm still researching and looking for other places to write, but for now, it's a start.

And I promised a giveaway this week, didn't I?

Don't worry, there's one a-comin'. Its just been a bit delayed, thanks to a busy birthday week. (By the way, 29 feels eerily similar to 28.)

Well, I'm off to a Christmas party!

Gap sweater, Old Navy tee, vest, pants and boots, gifted scarf, H&M bracelet

Not enough

Four-day weekend is almost over. And I'm not nearly as far along in NaNoWriMo as I wanted to be. It's because my holiday laziness took over. (Blame it on the turkey.)

I got some writing done today, and I think I know basically how I need to build the story and then wrap it up, but I'm still lots of thousands of words behind where I need to be.

Can I complete my novel in time? Only time will tell. But it will take some major writing sessions.

In other news, Thanksgiving was great! As is tradition, our friend provided the turkey (he gets it from work for free), and I roasted it. 17.61 pounds of roasted meat and lots of side dishes later, 20 of us were stuffed full around my neighbor's makeshift banquet table. Yes, 20 people around a table in a one-bedroom apartment. It can be done, folks!

After the big meal and several hours of chatting, hubs and I went to our second, and more non-traditional, dinner at his coworker's place. It was a Puerto Rican feast of deliciousness and much smaller, with just six of us in attendance. All in all, Thanksgiving was great.

I'm super grateful for my SF friends, wonderful neighbors and awesome husband. I'm also grateful for my family near and far (but mostly far), even though I wasn't able to be with them this Thanksgiving. I'm thankful to have seen my in-laws just recently and that my parents will be here in just a month.

What are you thankful for?

Old Navy top and vest, Gap jeans, Madden boots

Layer FAIL

Well, I tried.

I tried a style out of InStyle magazine.

Old Navy dress, vest & scarf, Target leggings, Madden boots

InStyle has a great feature on layering different types of apparel pieces together.

And so I tried this one:

But it didn't really turn out the way I wanted:

I still liked the outfit, but I think I'll try something else layering-wise.

Banner

The blog had a mini-makeover with a new banner that I'm not in love with. Honestly, though, I was tired of seeing my face on the top of the page. Weird, huh? By nature, style bloggers are a bit narcissistic. (I'll fess up to that.) But there was something about seeing three of my faces gracing the top of my blog that made me fee weird.

So I went in the opposite direction and used a photo of my feet. Makes sense, right? I think I'll experiment with some other designs before I settle on one, but it'll do for now.

 gifted top and jeans, Old Navy vest and scarf, Target flats and ring, gifted (from Sudan) earrings

Can we talk about my vest? Better yet, I'll talk, you decide whether or not to listen. :)

This is one of the new pieces from Old Navy. (Remember how much I said I loved their stuff right now?) I was saddened that I missed the Banana Republic vest that so many bloggers own. (I'd find a link, but I'm just too lazy to do so right now.) So imagine my excitement when I found this one in ON? (Go ahead. Imagine my excited face!)

It was a match made in olive drab, utilitarian heaven.

OK, enough vest talk.

You know what's nice? Getting down on my accordion has me bitten with the musical bud. As I type, my left-hand fingertips are a little numb from playing the guitar today. It's nice to strum again.

Steal From Your Husband, Part Deux!

It's been a weird week. Tuesday night Chip left to fly to Hong Kong. Yesterday morning I locked myself out of the apartment--awesome, since my husband's gone. Then a car ran a stop sign and nearly ran into me while I was driving my scooter.

Also yesterday the power went out for a couple of hours at work and we just sat around and chatted and laughed. And then it came back on and we all went back to our computers. Just a weird week. Not a bad week. In fact, I've have a great week. Just... weird.

One thing about taking daily photos of my outfits: I notice when I need to change something up. Like yesterday. I wanted to wear husband's button-down denim shirt, but couldn't figure out how I wanted to style it. The scarf wasn't great. And just plain with the necklace needed some color.

And then I remembered this long vest. Perfect! I am really digging this look. And husband is planning on getting rid of this shirt. (It's in his "to sell" pile.) So I think I might steal it indefinitely.

 Martin & Osa top, Old Navy scarf, Gap jeans, Soda shoes, F21 necklace, gifted vest

Fashion Risk #4: Winterized Shorts

Combat boots: day two.

I'm getting used to them. I still look down and see big feet, but I also feel kind of cool wearing them. Like I could stomp out a fire.

I threw on these shorts this morning to see how I'd feel about the shorts/leggings/boots combo. I think the cowl neck sweater makes this outfit.

Sweater: Gap    Vest: gift    Shorts: Delias (old)    Leggings: Target    Boots: Restricted via Piperlime