Thrifting Queen

I think I must be one of the last people in the Western Hemisphere who hasn't been to Ikea - so MIL and I headed out this afternoon on a cloudy afternoon to see what all the fuss was about. I think I spent about $10,000 in under 20 minutes in my head!

I wore these distressed denim crops with my Gap grey mesh sleeve sweater faux tucked with my snakeskin belt. For footwear, I chose my bone laser cut oxfords. And I'm debuting my oversized animal print clutch that I thrifted yesterday - no time to waste!

So what do you think? does it all work together? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Sweater: Gap
Denim crops: Vigoss (thrifted)
Clutch: XOXO (thrifted)
Shoes: Dolce Vita

Had a wonderful time with hubby thrifting and going for coffee today. Here's my finds - please excuse the rather limp looking hair (cursed heat and humidity!). These aren't particularly styled well but hopefully you'll get the idea. 

#1 - 4: Zara wool blend jacket in a blush/taupe shade. Asymmetrical buttoning with elastic back detail which makes it fit sort of like a peplum. For fall/winter. Can also see it with several of my bottoms including black trousers, white full length jeans and even my new Cameron BF jeans. 

#5 - 6: RW & Co short sleeved black blazer. For spring/summer. Not exciting but a very useful staple for me.

#7-10/#13: Miss Style (yes...that's the name of the brand) black/grey/white glen plaid open jacket - doesn't fasten closed. It has wide bracelet length sleeves and shoulder pads. I suspect you're either gonna love this or hate this. It is not what I would call conventionally flattering but I adore the vintage vibe of this jacket and the oversized look. Also pictured with this is a black eel skin purse I thrifted today. It must have had a strap at one point but it is missing - great as a clutch.

#11: Laura Petite short sleeved animal print cardi and Fylo linen cropped trousers, rolled to be long baggy shorts (inspired by Shevia's baggy shorts). Cardigan can be worn with jeans, white jeans, citron skirt (going to be my first work pairing with it), denim skirt, black pencil skirt, etc. 

#14-15: More pics of Fylo linen crops with my  Gap mesh sleeve sweater and a thrifted XOXO over sized clutch. These crops will be fab for the heat - I absolutely adore linen in the summer.

So what do you think of my finds? Anything in particular speak to you in a good way or anything you are questioning my sanity on???

Hubby and I both have the week off from work but are not going out of town so we're just hanging out in our city this week and then doing some day trips to the beach, etc. 

I have a favourite thrift shop in the trendy part of town that I don't get to often enough so hubby suggested we go out for iced coffee on a patio and then head to the thrift shop. Didn't have to ask me twice! Found some real treasures at the thrift shop which I'll post in a separate thread.

It's super hot and humid again today so white and light was the way to go. I paired my white BF shorts with a white sleeveless tee with blue gingham trim, faux tucked with my wide white leather belt. On my feet, are my grey leather oxfords with neon green soles. I forgot to take a pic with my handbag but I used LBB.

This week will be Casual Shannon but I'm still going to post my daily outfits if that's ok. I think I'm slowly getting a handle on my super casual summer wear but still would like feedback so I can continue to tweak where needed.

What do you think of this outfit for a casual afternoon? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Shorts: Revolution (thrifted)
Tee: Laura Petites (thrifted)
Belt: Danier Leather (thrifted)
Shoes: Rachel Roy

Hung out with my BFF on her patio earlier this afternoon drinking Long Island ice teas, eating fruit salad and yakking about anything and everything...'twas lovely :)

It has been incredibly hot here for the past week and I wanted something comfy, cool but still covered. I thrifted this 100% linen dress a week ago and today was the perfect occasion to wear it. It just slips on over your head but there is a seam under the bust and a bit of shaping in the waist that keeps the dress from being too boxy. It's a purple-blue colour and the linen is just lovely. 

I paired my thrifted cognac thong sandals and my also thrifted cognac leather Ralph Lauren cross body bag with the dress. I love the colour combination of cognac and purple, don't you?

Hey - I just realized my entire outfit is thrifted! Anyway, this is about as boho as I get and is a real departure from my usual style. What do you think? Does it work and is it ok to wear out of the house? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

P.S. Both Dusty Bottom and Gain think I should order more shoes for delivery - they are very much enjoying the Fluevog delivery box :)

I'm going to be taking my new TR Cameron slim BF jeans to Wonder Woman today for hemming. I have started pinning hems myself - not that I don't trust her, I most certainly do - but it saves time when I go and drop off items and I always seem to be piggy-backing a bunch of errands so it's just more convenient.

I'm showing the jeans with my red booties first - unfortunately because there is about 4.5 inches of excess fabric folded under, they are not quite sitting right on the top of the boot which is pushing up the fabric a bit and bunching at the knee. So I'm not sure this is the best representation.

I then switched the boots to my patent pumps so that the legs sit properly. I think this probably shows the length more accurately.

I've pinned the legs so that they will work with my average fall/winter heel height, which is 1.5 - 2 inches. This will accommodate my two pairs of kitten heels, red booties, python booties, blue suede booties, cream oxfords and my new Fluevog oxfords. No more high heels for me :(

Does this look about right? shorter? longer?

Do you ever get drawn to an item that is clearly not your regular style and you can't pinpoint exactly why you love it, you just do? 

I feel this way about the Eileen Fisher drapey cardigan I recently bought. It clearly doesn't fit with what I normally purchase and wear and yet, I JUST FELL FOR IT.  And I'm totally looking forward to wearing it once fall comes around.

Do you think it's these types of items that end up propelling us into a style shift? Or maybe we just enjoy wearing something less predictable and having an item that can change things up when we're in the mood?

So ladies...do you have any "not my style" items that you bought and love?

Well the A/C still isn't working in our building and it is nearly unbearable by mid afternoon in my office. Technically today is Denim Day but the thought of wearing any sort of denim in the heat was purely nauseating. But then I thought of my white denim-like (cotton) Bermuda shorts and thought I'd give those a bash for casual day. Our office is pretty laid back on Fridays in the summer so these shouldn't be an issue re: dress code.

Paired with my white Bermuda's is my silk-blend white and floral tee. I love the fabric and non-clinging drape for the heat. I've added my silver/bone sandals for footwear, my cobalt and cream handbag and a gold/turquoise cuff for accessories.

What do you think? Does it all work together? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Tee: Laura Petite
Shorts: Jones New York (thrifted as pants and altered by Wonder Woman)
Shoes: Fugitive
Handbag: Danier
Cuff: thrifted

This taupe skirt hasn't gotten a lot of love in the last year (bought it last spring). I wore the heck out of it the first summer I had it and then this year, felt it was too short to wear bare legged. I ended up letting down the hem by an inch and it does feel better, but I still haven't worn it much. I'm doing a final closet round-up for the summer and pulling out a couple of orphans to see if they are "keepers" or not. This skirt is one of those.

I've paired the skirt with my citron/cream/grey/taupe abstract drapey tank. No jacket today as the A/C in the office still isn't working and it's hot hot HOT here today. But I still feel appropriately covered. For footwear, I've got on my Blondo sandals and my handbag is my woven straw-like vintage bag. In looking at the pics, I wish I had chosen my citron clutch instead but too late now.

Jewelry is my silver wedding band and a steel/ebony Fossil watch my husband bought me for Christmas many years ago.

So what do you think? Does this all work together? Does the skirt deserve to stay in my closet? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Top: Laura Petite
Skirt: Cleo Petite
Sandals: Blondo
Handbag: vintage
Watch: Fossil

HAPPY JULY 4TH TO ALL OF OUR WONDERFUL AMERICAN YLF'ERS :)

I love that our office allows dressy shorts in the summer - it's nice to be able to change things up from a skirt or dress. 

Today's outfit started with my silky shorts to which I added a tiered black sleeveless top, faux tucked to show a bit of my black leather belt. I then topped off the outfit with my crisp white blazer. How did I survive last summer without a white blazer???

I was stuck between my black pointy toe kitten heel pumps and my silver/bone sandals for footwear and ended up choosing the silver/bone sandals to bookend the white of the blazer. Do you think the pumps would have been a better choice? I'm wondering if the sandals are a bit too casual in this instance.

Handbag is my cream satchel and jewelry is my silver wedding band and a silver bangle/silver watch.

What do you think? does this work together? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Blazer: Nygard
Sleeveless top: Revolution
Short: Baby Phat (thrifted)
Sandals: Fugitive
Handbag: Danier Leather

ETA: It's going to be a scorcher here today and yesterday, our A/C at work was not working properly. Just before leaving the house, I switched the shoes to my black kitten heel pumps so that if I need to take off my blazer in the office due to the heat, the outfit looks more cohesive. The silver/bone sandals don't look right with the outfit sans the jacket.

I adore the look of these jeans on Angie, Suz, Rae, Una and everyone else who has them. And I have been looking for "my" jeans for a while now. I have a few pair I like, but I don't truly have a pair I want to wear all.the.time.

I PM'd Angie and asked her what she thought of these jeans for a petite apple - I clearly don't have the slim build of the YLFers that sport these jeans. But Angie felt they were worth a try so I went on Amazon to order them. I am between sizes and so was going to order the smaller of those sizes based on discussion with Angie but when I went to order them, they were already sold out. So I decided to try one size smaller than that and here they are.

Let me start by saying the quality of these jeans is fabulous - the weight, the softness of the denim, the stitching, everything. I also haven't owned any button-fly jeans since my Levi's in high school. Unfortunately I was not able to get the 100% cotton version that Suz and Angie have - these do have 2% elastane, but I'm ok with that. 

Now some of you may be questioning why I would invest in a pair of not-so-inexpensive premium jeans when I'm on a weight loss/fitness journey. But in talking with hubby before pulling the trigger, I decided I really want to feel good NOW in a pair of jeans and if in 5 months they are too big, so be it. Besides my body is under some stress right now due to my health issues and the weight loss has kind of stalled for now. Without a belt, I can slip the jeans right off my hips but won't mind them a little baggier should I lose some girth.

Please note these are not styled in any way and I simply ripped open the box, took off my cut off shorts after watering the garden and slipped these on. Also note I am not a member of Team Rear so not so worried about the butt view. Oh and what do DH and DS think of them??? DS - "those are great Mom" and DH - "like the view coming and going in those honey".

What do I think? I'll leave that for now and turn it over to you...