crinkle cascade, you are divine

Your order from J.Crew has shipped.

YIPPEE!!! Holiday party season is right around the corner, and you know what pretty little frock I have headed my way? This beauty:

Crinkle cascade dress, J.Crew [x]

I tried it on in the store last weekend, and the BF gave it a big ol' thumbs up. I was worried it would look too twee and cupcake-y, but the tie sash does a surprisingly effective job at reigning those tiers in. It fits TTS, as I took my usual size 4 in it. I'm a short gal, so the dress hit slightly below the knee rather than right above the knee as seen on the model here. My store didn't carry it in the black plum color (pictured), so I ordered it through the red phone. I can't wait for it to arrive! SQUEEEE!!! Gimme gimme nowwwww!

I'm going to hit up Anthropologie this weekend to scope out some other potential holiday party dresses. Thank goodness for J.Crew's 90-day return window. I'm also charged with the duty of picking something stellar for my lives-in-a-t-shirt-and-jeans date. I don't know whether I'm more excited to pick out my dress or his outfit. Finally, my subscriptions to Esquire and GQ may come in handy!

I hope you're all super excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow! I better get turkey. Or else I'll be miffed.

UPDATE: One of my wonderful commenters, sweetsy, brought it to my attention that the Cascade Crinkle Dress is now $178, down from the $250 it was just yesterday! Weirdly, it's not marked as being on sale. It appears that the price just dropped for no reason at all. What's with that, J.Crew? Not cool at all! My suspicion is that J.Crew realized it was too pricey and decided to reduce the price, but didn't mark it as a sale item because of the "extra 20% off sale items" promotion going on right now. Hiiiiiiighly suspect! Needless to say, I called customer service right away and got a nice price adjustment. Thanks, sweetsy! This blogging community is the best, and I'm so happy to be part of it and have such wonderful readers!

where are my shorts?!

I hate it when I get all the way to the gym locker room after work just to realize that I had forgotten to pack my workout shorts in my bag. GRRRR. The worst part is, yesterday's "oh-no-where-are-my-shorts-DAMMIT" incident wasn't the first of its kind, either.

I'm a pretty absent-minded person at times, so my forgetting to pack shorts even when I've packed everything else isn't that surprising to me. I mean, I'm the same person who once left her car keys in the refrigerator. And I know that sounds like something I made up, but it's not.

Sappho dress, Modcloth

Lace detail cardigan, Just Ginger
Black tights, Hue
Allie flats, BCBG
Skinny studded belt, J.Crew [x]
Monocle necklace, gifted
Starburst ring, Target
Check scarf, Burberry
Red coat, J.Crew

Sorry for the picture quality on that last one. It appears my camera decided it would much rather focus on my Backstreet Boys poster behind me than on me. Normally, I might be offended that I was slighted by an inanimate object, but this is the Backstreet Boys we're talking about here, so really, I can't be too upset. It just goes to show that my camera has impeccable taste.

KTBSPA. If you actually know what that stands for, you are automatically my friend and we should go get frozen yogurt together someday and gab about how Kevin soooooo should have never left BSB.

truce

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I spent it with good company, and even though we did nothing in particular, it was still a good time. But, now that I'm back for the week, I have plenty of your lovely blogs to catch up on!

Monday is here, but you know what? I don't mind it this time. Because Thanksgiving is a-coming, and the anticipation of fantastic food and family far outweighs my usual "case of the Mondays." So take that, Monday! BOO-YAH!

Perfect fit crewneck tee, J.Crew [x]

Mum cardigan, Old Navy
Dark wash skinnies, Joe's Jeans
Allie flats, BCBG
Skinny studded belt, J.Crew [x]
Monocle necklace, gifted
Starburst ring, Target
Tartan scarf, gifted

Does anyone have any good holiday recipes I should try? This is my first Thanksgiving back home in 2 years, so I am particularly itching to get back in the kitchen. I'm looking for side dishes and desserts, so if you've got some delicious crowd favorites passed down from generation to generation or grifted off of Martha Stewart, pray tell either through the comments or email!

to snuggie or not to snuggie

There's a gale outside, it seems. I was doing just fine walking from the parking garage to the office until the wind turned normal rain into the annoying "ha-HA!-I'm-coming-up-from-under-your-umbrella" horizontal rain. GRRRRR.

Striped tee, J.Crew
White cami, Cotton On
Cambridge cable pocket cardigan, J.Crew [x]
Black skinny jeans, Earnest Sewn
Bonnie Midstrap boots, Frye
Black slouch beret, Urban Outfitters
Red bow pin, thrifted
Elephant ring, F21 + Blue stone ring, Kohls

On the bright side, it is finally Friday! FRIDAY!!! My friend's little brother's birthday is this Monday, and the BF came up with the great idea to get him a Snuggie. There's a big inside joke in our circle involving those things. So I was at Target all ready to put it into my basket when READERS... I could... not... do... it! I was seized with a sudden sense of embarrassment for even considering buying something that is essentially a backwards robe. (even if it does come with a free book light) Ridiculous. So now I have to come up with something else for the soon-to-be-18-year-old.

18?! They grow up so fast.

Have a good weekend!

late night!

Late night post and I have to get to bed soon if I want to have any chance of waking up at all on time tomorrow for work, so this is going to be a short post. As in, here's my OOTD:

Bib blouse, Marc Jacobs
Houndstooth bow button cardigan, J.Crew
Double serge pencil skirt, J.Crew [x]
Allie flats, BCBG [x]
Skinny studded belt, J.Crew [x]
Black cable knit tights, Hue
Cluster ring, J.Crew [x]

...and the end! See you all tomorrow!

ain't no companion like a blue-eyed merle

I feel like the UPS guy would know me a little too well by now if I was actually home to pick up all the J.Crew packages that are constantly coming to my door. I have a problem, folks. I used to be a lot worse. Those boxes you see hastily stacked in my closet? Remnants of dark days, those are. I mean, I used to get several packages a week, and not all from J.Crew, mind you. Now I'm down to about one every 2 weeks. That's progress, right?

Don't judge me.

Anyway, I got my Cambridge Cable Pocket cardigan from J.Crew's 20% off promotion last week, and I love it! There were only size mediums left (I'm usually a XS-S), but I'm liking the loose sweater look of this size. The heather salmon color is just lovely, but it's less salmon-y and more like a bright pumpkin orange with just the slightest hint of pink. Maybe it should have been called "Bashful Pumpkin" instead. (clearly there's a reason I don't work in the 'name this color' industry)

Garland cami in gladiola print, J.Crew
Cambridge cable pocket cardigan in heather salmon, J.Crew [x]
Skinny jeans, DVB
Allie flats, BCBG [x]
Bow belt, Modcloth
Cluster ring, J.Crew [x]

You can see the tear on my garland cami in this picture. Sad. I'm pretty rough with my clothes.

start working on your fond farewells, 2009

Thanksgiving is next week.

In case you missed that, I'll say it again in all caps to drive home the point: THANKSGIVING IS NEXT WEEK. And am I thinking about all the delicious food I'll be stuffing my face with? No. I'm thinking about WHERE THE HECK DID 2009 GO?

(...Okay, and I'm thinking about all the delicious food I'll be stuffing my face with.)

Calico flower dress, thrifted
Ruffled Celosia cardigan, J.Crew
Jane 14 boots, Frye
Black tights, Hue + Xhilaration blue socks, Target
Brown leather belt, Urban Outfitters
Locket, Lucky Brand
Cluster ring, J.Crew
Red suede evil eye bracelet, mall kiosk

a twirl inspired by twirlmaster GingerSnap

The boots need some breaking in. And I need to wear them some more so the part on my calves will loosen up a bit more, lessening some of that scrunching that's going on there. I need to ease up on those calf raises.