New To My Closet- Thrift Finds

I recently had a day of unexpected thrifting luck with the adorable Sandhya from the blog Livin' Wide and wanted to share my finds with you, so here they are...

Apologies...I didn't take the best pictures or detail close ups this time around.
Anyway, this little shirt dress has pintucks all the way around the upper body, making it just the right fit and not too snug around my mid section, which is still suffering from my food rampage in New Orleans. On its own, it is a reasonable length for work but I'll probably pair it with tights or a legging of some type. The fabric is also slightly heavier which means it'll easily carry me into fall, with an over the knee boot.

I worked hard at breaking my usual color blocked style and went for some fun patterns like this Express snakey pencil skirt in raspberry and lavender...super crazy! But so fun! It was a tad big but I've already altered it to fit. I like the idea of a simple white button down for a sort of secreterial style, but I tried it on with a gray jersey cowl neck and big black belt and loved this look as well.

BCBG red pants...ok, way out of my comfort zone! But, other than the length, they fit extremely well. I'm always on the hunt for something other than jeans and these are definitely unexpected. I purchased them mostly for work wear and already hemmed them, so now I only need to be brave enough to wear them! Maybe today...

I love everything I found, but this dress might be my favorite. It fit right off the rack and needed no alterations other than a good hand washing. Geometric print, pops of yellow and light weight, perfect for summer! It works belted as well and I think it'll be just the right dress for the Lucite necklace I found a month or so back. I might need to go out for cocktail hour sooner than expected just to wear it!

Even though this ABS dress is a little big and needs to be shortened in the arms and length, I love it! Or the print to be exact. It looks like a forest in the middle of winter...

And it's not just black, but navy as well. The two tones gives it a little depth. It's also a little heavy for summer along with the longer sleeves, so alterations on this one can wait a little longer. I'm picturing it layered over some knit tights...

I also found a jersey cream and black perfectly simple dress but it's currently hang drying and will have to wait for another post.

The thrift Gods were smiling upon me that day! Best part about it is I didn't go over my $20 thrifting budget, which included lunch! I think everything combined was around $18 give or take a few pennies. (Not including gas...) Yup, an entire thrifting day for under $20. That being said, I could have spent more...
J.

New Orleans Trip

Once again, I've been a bad blogger! But for good reason. I've been in New Orleans for a friend's wedding and some fun. The wedding was incredible but of course I had used up my memory card and have no actual pictures of the wedding itself! But I do have a few to share of New Orleans...

We had a balcony room about a building away from Bourbon St. This is a view of the Royal Sonesta Hotel...I love all the iron work!

The hotel restaurant. I was tempted to try oysters since they will no longer be available very soon due to the oil leak in the Gulf (they say that this month may be the last of them,) but a fellow airplane passenger told me the rule is that you should only eat oysters during the months that have an "r" in them...as we all know, there isn't an "r" in June...I decided not to press my luck!

Cool bike...

With a cool rim!

This was another view from our balcony. (This wasn't from the wedding we were attending.) It had just stopped raining and was crazy humid. Air conditioning from our room and the humidity caused my camera lens to blur when I took the picture it gave it such a dreamy look...happy accident!

Ok, thanks for indulging me!
J.

From My Boyfriend's Closet- Hugo Boss Shirt

While life here has been a little hectic, as it seems to be for many of you, it hasn't been all work and no play. I really had a great week meeting a few of the local bloggers from around town. On Wednesday, I met up with Diya from the blog In Her Stilettos for a local swimsuit fashion show. After the show we headed downtown to Halcyon for make your own s'mores and chit chat. Unfortunately, I somehow lost the pictures from that night and have nothing to show you...sorry! I'm going to try to convince her to go back with me so I can snap a few photos of the indoor s'mores set up. (And to eat them too!) It was brilliant!

On Thursday, Diya took me to the Ladies Who Lunch which was set up by Grechen from the New to ATX blog. It was here I also met Sandhya from Livin Wide, Ashley from Hello Hauteness and Anslee, a local designer, singer and photographer. (And once again, no pictures as to living proof I was there...oh well, I had fun anyway!) I loved meeting all the lovely ladies and hopefully will have lunch with them again. So busy, yes, but enjoying my summer so far as well.

Now onto the outfit...
I was getting ready to take a bag of donations to Goodwill and was adding to the sack the shirts I know my boyfriend wasn't interested in for whatever reason and decided that this Hugo Boss that he rejected would be a lovely addition to my side of our shared closet...

I love the print! Sort of a graphic leaf, it's quite mesmerizing. It's big of course, but not quite long enough to use as a shirt dress, or at least I'm not that brave.
(Note to self...find more interesting background.)
A black mini solves this problem, and really, it pairs well with most things in my closet. The addition of the belt and boots gave the whole look a bit of edge, and I stayed with the contrasting color scheme by adding my favorite (and only) white bag and bracelet.

Ladies, how do you wear your men's wear? Men, how do you like sharing your clothes? Just wondering...
J.

Shifting My Closet Views-Going From Night To Day

Sorry for not updating like a good blogger should!!! I didn't expect summer to be as busy as it has been and I think it may get a little crazier still! I promise to try to get back into the game and not only post more frequently but also get to my regular reading of your blogs...I promise I miss you! (Bad bad J.)

One of the things that has been taking up most of my days is a new part time job...funny how that eats away at all my free time! But I can't complain, it gets me out of the house. Since I haven't been working, that also means I haven't been replenishing my bank account and I don't really have the money to spend on a new work wardrobe. So time to get creative.

Normally, I would wear this dress for evenings out. The back has a very low drape (sorry I didn't take a pic of it,) and limits the wearing of certain under garments, really not work wear at all. But the fabric is light weight, and the muted tones of grey, silver, taupe and blue evoke a cool feeling even when the temperature is 90+ outside. But why limit it to evenings only?

Just adding the denim shirt not only covered my open back but gave the dress a much more casual day look. (This also solves the freezing air conditioning problem.) Pairing it with the lace up wedges also tones it down and is much more comfortable and appropriate for those long hours on my feet. Best of all, I can throw an extra pair of heels in my bag and after work be ready to head out for dinner or cocktails!

I'm finding that the simple denim shirt is really a good answer to changing up a lot of items in my closet. And to think I was going to donate it!

On another note, I've been playing around with the makeup again and was inspired by a look in a magazine to do a dark eye and light lip. I've not gone with black liner in I don't know how many years, I normally prefer a little more color or a neutral palette but it was worth a try...

Surprisingly, I'm ok with the dark eye and as long as it doesn't melt off my face, I'd even do it for the day. It's the ultra pale pink lip that doesn't work so much for me. Anyone have any suggestions? (Don't say a dark lip liner, I'm not going for Pamela Anderson!)
J.

Always In My Closet - Vintage Floral Blouse

We all make shopping mistakes. I know I do! The mistakes I buy are probably because it seems like such an incredible bargain, and it must go with something in the closet. Yet when I get home, it doesn't fit like I imagined it did in the store and really doesn't work with anything, so it ends up hanging, with tags still attached, in the dark depths of my wardrobe, only to be rediscovered long past it's trendy due date and eventually (and regretfully) it goes to Goodwill. Yup, I have plenty of these.

And then there are those far and few items that make it into my possession that can never, under any circumstance, ever be replaced. These are pieces that I pat myself on the back for making such a great purchase, I always feel amazing when wearing it and, crazy as it sounds, goes with 75% of what I own. This blouse, for me, is one of those pieces...

Ok, to the average eye, you might think I'm insane. The label inside says Teddi Of Hollywood, and I purchased it 14 years ago when I first moved to Austin at a local Family Thrift Store for maybe $7 or maybe even $1. But I have gotten thousands of dollars worth of wear out of it. It's really sort of strange that I've never posted it!
It's just a little bit sheer which makes it slightly risky but the print makes it more innocent. (It sort of reminds me of Dries Van Noten a few seasons ago.) It works equally well with black and brown. I've worn it with jeans, skirts, dress pants, vests, well almost everything!
I'm relatively sure that it was vintage when I acquired it and it has since needed many repairs to the seams but I've never let that bother me. I guess the only thing "wrong" with it is that I'm unsure of what type of fabric it is and my guess is polyester that doesn't really breath well here in the summer.
Hmmm...now that I think about it, the only other item I've ever felt this way about was a pair of Nikes I had back in grade school that Mom threw out while I was asleep one night. Rightfully so. They were disgusting.
What items do you have in your closet that would pain you to get rid of?
J.