I thought you said he was a getaway driver.

This is from last month, but it was never posted and I didn't wear anything of note today (worked from home thanks to some lady cramps), so I figured it'd do for today's post, don't you? After all, it features a wonderful little "leather" jacket I picked up from Express, which I wore throughout the colder days in December during my blog hiatus.

One thing about this jacket, though, and that I suspect may be true for all leather/pleather jackets -- it's noisy. At least, it's noisy when you consider that I work in a relatively quiet office environment. All I could think of while typing and hearing my jacket go squink with every jostle is this scene from Snatch:

But no matter, the jacket is much loved nonetheless...

white tee, j.crewplaid shirt, j.crew outletpleather jacket, expressblack denim, j.crewloafers, f21rings, etsy and from australia

Purple Week, Day Three: Purple + Aqua

We're halfway through Purple Week and today I'm sporting a different shade of purple. This hue leans more towards the red end of the purple spectrum rather than the blue end. I got the idea to pair it with my aqua top after doing laundry and seeing them neatly folded on top of one another. It just kind of clicked in my head, like, "Hey! That could work!"

Don't you just love off-the-cuff inspiration? Sometimes that's where the best ideas come from!

top, h&m

cardigan, j.crew

skirt, j.crew outlet

heels, j.crew collection

belt, j.crew

Yeesh, I'm all J.Crew-ed out today and I didn't even notice until now! I guess that just goes to show that J.Crew looks great when worn with more J.Crew. That's probably part of their ingenious plan to take over my closet.

And now, your takes on Purple Week!

Julie of Julie of All Trades is back with a sweet plummy dress! I love the kerchief tied around her neck, too -- very chic! It takes the dress from basic to just a wee bit funky, which is in no way a bad thing.

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Purple doesn't have to end with just your clothes, it can go all the way down to your toes! (That rhyme was unintentional, but I'll take it.) 'Tia from Fat and Fierce is rocking some seriously purple heels, paired with a pink button-down. Pink and purple just makes my inner little girl squeal!

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Proving that purple can come in all shades, here's Jen (Vintageglammz) and her mauve-y dress! This is just layered perfection -- I love the tights, boots, and that incredible trench. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous...

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Angela (Notes from the Dressing Room) is incredibly bold when it comes to her fashion choices, and I just love it. For instance, take her outfit here. That is a bright shirt, and a bright skirt, and a fun patterned cardigan, and she wears it so well!

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Want to join in the fun? Send me your pictures to amy.kelinda@gmail.com!

the boy jacket

The weekend! It is here! I don't know about you guys, but I plan to do a whole lot of nothing this entire weekend and enjoy every second of it.

At least, that's the plan. It always manages to never go as planned, though. Somehow, I always get coerced into doing something on the weekends that I don't want to do anything. Of course, the weekends where I want to do something are the ones where I end up doing nothing.

Sometimes life is exactly like an Alanis Morissette song.

striped sequined cami, j.crew factory

boy's jacket, gap kids

jeans, gap

wedges, lauren by ralph lauren

monocle necklace, gift

ring, f21

You know, Alanis's "Hand In My Pocket" wouldn't be a bad song to model a life after. I mean, she talks about giving high fives and playing pianos and hailing taxi cabs (huh?), and that all sounds pretty rad to me. Except for the whole "I'm broke/poor/sick/etc" part. I'd rather just have the high fives and piano playing, thanks.

UPDATE: I wrote this post in such a rush that I didn't even realize that I failed to talk about my outfit at all! Yeesh, where is my brain? (hint: already in Boston) The jacket is from Gap Kids because let's face it -- kids usually have some really awesome clothes, so I will shop in the kid's section whenever I can! Now if only I can figure out how to fit my adult feet into those adorable glitter flats from Crewcuts...

The jeans, last seen in this post, are suuuuper long because only the "regular" length was available in the store, so I can only wear them with my tallest heels or wedges. I haven't tried any other Gap jeans from the Long & Lean line, but if they fit half as well as these do, I'm a fan!

Have a great weekend, you guys!

SPECKLES AND EYELET

This will be a quick post because I have to make up half an hour of work that I missed yesterday -- I went home early after getting absolutely sick without warning. Luckily, I'm feeling 100% now!

I decided to wear one of my favorite pencil skirts today (yes, this is an actual OOTD!), and finally got the nude pumps out again. I'm terrible at wearing heels. I wobble around like my knees are made out of Jell-O, and I am a repeat offender when it comes to making that heel-scraping-on-the-floor sound. I don't walk with a satisfying click-click-click -- I walk with a clomp-stomp-scraaaaaaape. This needs to be fixed.

I've vowed to wear heels at least once a week from here on out. I'm hoping that will give me the practice I need to perfect the click-click-click.

free flow tank, anthropologie

type designer cardigan, modcloth

eyelet pencil skirt, j.crew outlet [x]

juliet nude pumps, j.crew [x] [x]

skinny studded belt, j.crew [x]

Have a good weekend, everyone!

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO'S THE PLAIDEST OF THEM ALL?

I've been waking up 10 minutes later than usual lately and I couldn't even tell you why other than that maybe my internal clock is in another time zone -- you know, one that is only 10 minutes behind Central time. This is the same internal clock that always makes me miss the first preview every time I go to the movies, and that doesn't sit well with me because I love watching previews, almost as much as I love watching movies. Unless that preview is for The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which looked so bad, and not in that deliciously bad way like trailers for any Jason Statham movie, but in a decidedly bad bad way, though the movie itself was pretty decent despite Jay Baruchel amping up his Jay Baruchel-ness to never before seen levels. Seriously, just when you think he's reached the pinnacle of gangly, nerdy, and awkward, he out-Jay-Baruchels himself.

The point being that I've been having to scuttle to work without snapping any decent photos in the apartment. So, here is another set of work-bathroom-mirror pictures. Classy!

In retrospect, the cropped jacket with the long shirt wasn't the best idea because all it does is emphasize my midsection and draw attention to my stumpy legs. Both bad things.

buffalo checked shirt, j.crew outlet

gray cami, cotton on

jacket, diane von furstenberg

skinny jeans, gap

red flats, target

gold ring, f21

silver rings, from australia

gold bangle, kate spade

Inspired by my misstep of wearing too short a jacket with too long a shirt, I've decided to try my hand at a new feature for next week: Breaking the Rules Week. Because while many sartorial rules exist to prevent people from wearing garbage bags and tiaras, there are some that I believe can be broken if executed properly.

For example, navy and black or brown and black. Both apparently should not be combined but HA! I laugh! Those hues can be mixed together in a single ensemble without making the wearer look like she simply couldn't find her black belt to match with her black dress. So leave in the comments what fashion rules you'd like to see broken, and maybe some of you fellow bloggers can even join me in breaking the rules next week! I'll hammer out more details of this later.

MARCHING BAND PLEATS

Brrr, it's cold out there! My apartment complex even stuck little notices on our doors telling us to drip our faucets while we're out so that none of the pipes will freeze and then burst due to the sudden drop in temperature. Because I am a good citizen and generally do not enjoy having the pipes in my dwelling dabble in any explosive activity, I complied. I can't believe those of you who live in colder climates deal with this stuff annually. Or maybe your pipes are actually insulated against the cold whereas ours are not... hmmmmmmm...

But, the upside to this chill spell is that I got to finally wear my favorite coat! I bought this red J.Crew number as my first "real winter coat against the elements" a few years back when I was still in college up in Boston. I just can't get behind puffer jackets, warm as they are, so instead I opted to buy a nice wool coat lined with thinsulate. It did the job admirably and has held up against sleet, rain, and snow for 3+ years.

Also note the glittens that Boyfriend got me for Christmas, which do a good job of keeping my digits warm/making my hands look street urchin-y:

button cami, gap

twisted trooper cardigan, f21

pleated sweater skirt, vintage via etsy

berry bush tights, anthropologie

kinnetic flats, steve madden

leatherette accent belt, f21 [x]

duchess stone ring, j.crew

gold bangle, kate spade

coat, j.crew (pictured below)

glittens, j.crew outlet (pictured below)

Speaking of my college life in Boston, I have awesome news: Boyfriend and I are officially going up to Boston in mid-April. Woo hoo! I am super psyched! We've already booked our hotel, so now we just have to keep our ears and eyes perked for a cheap flight. Any Bean Town ladies who want to meet up, let me know because I will most definitely be doing some shopping while I'm there!

LAZY BLAZEY

Well well well, it looks like Boyfriend's debut review yesterday on ke.KE was a hit! I'll be sure to have him try on something every time we go to J.Crew so that all you ladies shopping for men in your lives -- husbands, sons, nephews, brothers, whoever! -- can at least get some insight into how things fit. If any of you have review requests for either me or Boyfriend, just let me know and I'll do my best to oblige.

Also, you'll notice that the table is no longer in the pictures. We took down our Christmas tree this past weekend and moved the table back over. Our apartment seems so empty now.

Some days I just can't decide what to wear, so I'll just throw on a t-shirt, jeans, and a blazer and call it a day. Like way back when over here. And this day!

paris tee, urban outfitters

blazer, j.crew outlet

jeans, gap

leopard flats, steve madden

duchess stone ring, j.crew

monocle necklace, gift

And this has absolutely nothing to do with clothes, but I need to brag -- I have finally successfully pan-fried a steak. And it was delicious. You see, I've been wanting to make a perfect pan-fried steak ever since I saw That One Eccentric Aunt in Twister cook some up for the gang before they went out chasing wind funnels. Yes, after watching a 90s disaster flick about barn-ripping, cow tossing, and bad-guy-impaling F5 tornadoes, all I got of it was, "I really want to make a pan-fried steak."

My first attempt last year proved disastrous. I managed to smoke out the entire apartment and set off the fire alarm. Not to mention that I overcooked the steaks so much that it tasted like a shoe coated in volcanic ash. Yum. But yesterday's was perfectly medium rare and tender as a block of room temperature butter. Bliss.

So my question to you is, have any of you recently mastered cooking something that was a disaster the first time around?

...and she's back.

Geez, it took me long enough, right? BUT I'M BACK! Things have been chaotic lately. Even my week off work didn't feel like a vacation because of the flurry of activities to be dealt with. Let's just say that I've dubbed the month of May as "Graduation Fest 2010."

But Sea World was fun! I'll post up a few pictures when I get the chance later this week. Work has been hectic as well, and couple that with my being sick (seriously, is my immune system on hiatus or something?) for the past two weeks (yes, even during my vacation, UGH) and yeah... This blog unfortunately fell by the wayside. But here's to hoping that I can get the gears on kelinda.KELINDA moving again and that I haven't lost too many readers!

white ruffle cami, target

cartography cardigan, anthropologie

eyelet pencil skirt, j.crew outlet

trip the light fantastic heels, seychelles

classic leather belt, j.crew

flower brooch, macys

duchess stone cocktail ring, j.crew

I found this darling skirt and some awesome seersucker pants while at the J.Crew outlet last weekend! They both came home with me... but I need to get those pants to a tailor ASAP before I forget all about them and they remain 6 feet too long forever. (I could still wear them... WITH STILTS.)

runrunrun

AGH, late posting! I was running super behind this morning and I'm pretty sure it shows. Usually I'd throw on my "Lazy Day" outfit, but I couldn't even be bothered with that. So this is what you get with AmyK moving 80 mph:

xhilaration tiered tank, target

ruffle tiered cardigan, j.crew outlet

denim, joe's jeans

'joley' patent flats, j.crew

kimchi blue 'wide metal leaf' belt, urban outfitters [x]

'cluster' ring, j.crew

turquoise stone bracelet, lucky brand

I'm moving "Trendwatch Thursday" to Saturdays, so look out for that feature this weekend! I'll be catching up with blogs tomorrow!

the garland cami gets fresco-ed

Look at the lovely top I found during a weekend trip to the J.Crew Outlet (and please ignore my goofy "looking in the camera while taking a photo" face):

topped with a cardigan

Does this look familiar? It's J.Crew's garland cami in the fresco print from last spring! See?

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And here's the tag for anyone who's interested:

The quality is great, just like on the regular garland cami. I found that it runs slightly big because of the straight cut, so I'd size down to avoid looking like you're swimming in the fabric. For the record, I typically wear a size 2-4 in tops, or S. I definitely want to snag this, but I'll be waiting for it to go on sale since J.Crew's outlet stores seem to have sales pretty often. Let's hope I'm right in predicting that this top will see a promotion soon!

There was also a rack with cardigans donning the fresco print as well, but I wasn't really attracted to the way it looked. In my opinion, the print looks better printed on silk, but the outlet cardigan may be a good substitute to those who missed out on the fresco cardigan from last year.

I also stopped by Ann Taylor Loft and picked up two dresses, so stay tuned for those tonight!