My favorite tee and adventures in the dog park

J Crew coat, Madewell T, cords, boots

As I type this, Moose the puppy is completely knocked out fast asleep on his bed. The reason that this is news is that Moose hasn't slept in his bed for over 3 months when he discovered the leaping power in his hind legs that propels him onto couches and beds, which are his preferred napping zones.

Anyway, here's some outfit shots we took on Sunday whilst hanging out in the dog run. We were supposed to be taking more photos but it didn't really end up that way. This is a close up of my awesome boots that Ori got me for Christmas. They are from Madewell, and a cool mix of utilitarian and heels.

This is a shot of my cardigan and you can see a glimpse of my tee. This is my favorite tee at the moment because of the sheerness, the loose fit and the chainmail pocket. Another one from Madewell.

Topshop cardigan, Madewell shirt and cords

Tuesday Mood Session

It's Tuesday, it's time to see where my head's at!

1. What's my mood?
Very good. My husband is happily entertained with basketball on television, Santa was great to me, work is quiet, and the blog is quietly picking up subscribers. Times are good!

2. What am I wearing?
Ha ha, funny story. I started the day wearing a J Crew long shirt and grey leggings. It is soo incredibly cold today, so I had to take the dog for a walk, so I just started putting clothes on top of my "base layer". So, Gap skinny jeans over grey leggings, black sequin tuxedo cardigan from J Crew over shirt, black Uggs, Madewell yellow madras scarf. Make up mostly from Warm & Cozy - my eyes are Chamomile, Expensive Pink (another one to tick off my list), Modellete, A Little Folie, and the darkest brown shade in the Devil May Care Palette, Lips are Warm Me Up and Feeling Dreamy, and skin is Bobbi Brown Moisture Rich Foundation and NARS Gilda Blush.

3. What am I obsessing over?
Getting my blog "out there", the fact that I'm going to Palm Beach in 2 days, and the new China Glaze Up & Away collection that should start shipping next week.

4. How was Christmas?
Lots of fun, despite the fact we are orphans far away from our family. We had Christmas morning at home with lots of presents and a yummy breakfast. Then we took the puppy for a long long walk, and went to our friend's house for dinner. A lovely, calm, relaxed day.

5. What's happening this week?
Palm Beach for New Year is the big story. I'll put up a few scheduled posts to keep my readers happy though. I'll be away for 4 days, but the weather forecast is not looking supreme. :(

6. Go on, admit it, what did you buy last week?
Target for Rodarte arrived, and then kind of sucked (better in photos than real life unfortunately. Or maybe if you are not 5' 8" and of "athletic build") so a lot got sent back. Walked around the sales but bought nothing. I have some returns to Sephora to do so maybe I'll pick up something then... Oh, duh, the Warm & Cozy stuff.

7. Even after all that, are you planning on buying anything this week?
Nope, not really. China Glaze next week. And All Races is coming out, so I'll get excited for that.

How was your Christmas? Got plans for New Year? Score anything in the sales? Leave it in the comments, I'll be sure to check it out!

Christmas Present Haul Post

Santa, aka my lovely husband, was very good to me this year. I got some great gifts like Frye boots, amazing, amazing books, and he made a stocking trip into Sephora. This, to me, was the cutest ever. He took a list I had sent him, handed it to a girl, and then she found everything for him in 10 minutes. So sweet! And she managed to throw in an awesome surprise!!

So, what's the haul:

• Fresh! Sugar Cubes. Oh, I'm so mad excited about these!!! Plus they were completely unexpected. Recently, I've been thinking I want to take more baths (I do shower, really), but haven't had anything nice or fun to throw in. I was debating heading to Lush! for their bath bombs, but these look uh-mazing. Fresh! are one of my favorite brands, but a wee bit pricey for me, so what a treat!
• Clinique Black Honey Almost Lipstick. Remember about 10 years ago this was THE lipstick to wear. Well, I gots me to thinking about 6 months ago that I wanted to try it again, and I couldn't find it anywhere. I put it on the list, and wow - thar she be! (I don't know why that came out as pirate speak). I think I may have to dedicate a whole post to it later. 
• NARS Dolce Vita Lipstick. Karen at Make Up and Beauty Blog posted about this a couple of weeks ago, so I decided it was a must have. I do love it, but weirdly, if you want to know what color my lips are, they are exactly the same. No difference when I put it on. Is that a good thing? Can't quite decide yet.
• NARS Lip Velvet Matte Pencil in Cruella. I heart these pencils so bad. I actually asked for Dragon Red, but it was sold out, and she said it was exactly the same. They aren't. Dragon Red is more blushy berry red, this is a cooler, bluer, stronger red. I've tried it once, I think I like it. Plus, lovely husband lost the receipt so I think I'm stuck with it. 
• Philosophy Bath & Shower Gel in Caramel Apple. I heard these were good, but at $16 they seemed pricey. Then I saw the size of the bottle. Hey ho! I wouldn't necessarily have picked this scent, but do you know what? I love it. Awesomeness. 
• Sephora Powder Brush. I actually asked for a blusher brush. I'm going to try and exchange it. That's kind of annoying that the girl got the wrong brush to be honest. They are different! 
• Essie Lollipop. What a gorgeous bright red! Maybe my pedicure color for West Palm Beach. 

Did Santa bring you any nice presents for Christmas?

Nails of the Week: China Glaze Short and Sassy

For Christmas Day this year I ended up wearing China Glaze's Short and Sassy from their Retro Diva collection. It's a nice, slightly cool dark dark red with just a hint of shimmer. In the bottle, it looks similar to Thunderbird which I posted about a couple of weeks ago, but this is darker. I put this on on Christmas day with no base coat (I know! I promise, next nail varnish haul I do I'll put it in the shopping basket!), and China Glaze's quick dry coating. It has not lasted very well, and I have chips which you can actually see on yesterday's picture. Hmm, 3-4 days wear. Anyways, a pretty color, definitely one I'll be repeating.

I'm heading to West Palm Beach for New Year's, so a great chance to wear summer bright colors instead! :)

Carey Mulligan in Vogue Looks Like a Cheeky Angel

I first started to pay attention to Carey Mulligan when An Education was released. She got a lot of press, and seemed to be genuinely intriguing. Her screen presence in An Education was literally mesmerizing. You could not take your eyes off her extremely expressive face. When I came across this spread in the January issue of Vogue (apart from Carey, completely disappointing. I could actually write a whole post on why the January 2010 Vogue is an embarrassment to Anna Wintour and Conde Nast, starting with that terrible cover), it was like a little ray of joy and light in an otherwise disappointing read. Anyway, these pictures display the fabulous quixotic nature of her beautiful, timeless face, how she is always and never herself. This shoot is a gorgeous display of fashion and art, and I love how Carey has thrown herself into it, rather than, as so many young female actresses are wont to do, staying safe and pretty. Love love love.

 

Ps. That hat! Those nude lips! 

The J Crew Catalogue Makes Me Want To Be Smiley in the Snow

It is fair to say that I am completely obsessed with the J Crew catalog. When I grow up, that's where I want to live, apart from all the models are already much younger than me. Jenna Lyons and her amazingly stylish team have an amazing knack of putting it all together in a way that makes me just swoon every time. Then what happens is that I order everything online during one of their 25% off everything sales (oh, how I love those sales), and strangely, it doesn't look quite the same on me. Part of that is not being a gorgeous skinny model, but part of it is that if I put on 17 different tanks, cardigans, sweaters and belts, I look like a crazy granny wearing everything she owns at once, rather than an uber stylish sleek fashion chick. And that's before I add a touch of the unexpected, which in the pictures below is a climbing rope belt and a lot of Sorel Caribou boots. This year's holiday catalog was shot in Chile and just looks amazing. Here's a couple of my favorite shots.

All clothing J Crew. Most should still be available online. 

 

 

Out of everything pictured here, I own the Sobel boots and socks, I have a very similar sequin top from Topshop, and I nearly bought the red coat today ($100 rather than $248!!!), but for some reason I balked. Crazy me. Odds are I'm going to go back and see if they still have it tomorrow morning.

 

Puppy Shot of the Day

Moose the puppy has very set routines, and one of them is to spend 10am until 12noon sleeping on the bed. Yes, we are bad puppy parents who let our wee dog sleep on beds. Yesterday with all the confusion of people being actually home during the morning, somehow Moose got into the bed while we were making it.