Dots and stripes.

• Button down: Maurices (previously)
• Cami: Maurices (buy)
• Skirt: Maurices (previously)
• Sandals: Lela Rose for Payless

This post is part of Megan's challenge to show off your stripes. Okay, this is going to have to be super quick: I got slammed a little yesterday and today, and have a lot of non-blog things to do (trust me, I would rather be blogging! :) ). And for all my blogging buddies further to the north... our weather is supposed to get unpleasant later in the week, so please don't hate on the bare legs! And of course, the pictures today were taken by my awesome wife.

First outfit of spring.

• Top: Maurices (previously)
• Skirt: Maurices (previously)
• Sandals: Payless

Megan of Megan Mae Daily is hosting a challenge this week to showcase your stripes. Since the weather around here has suddenly and dramatically become gorgeous and springy, I decided to go for something simple and suitable for just enjoying the weather. And I while I originally planned to get caught up on some blogging this weekend, the weather was too nice to stay inside, and my cabin fever won out, so we went exploring on the back roads in the countryside on Saturday. I may have found some neat places to do some outfit photos in the future, so I'll just save the details for a later post (hopefully one with pictures! :) ). Oh, and of course, my beautiful wife took the pictures for today's post.

Green for Saint Patrick's Day.

• Blue t-shirt: Maurices
• Green t-shirt: Maurices
• Trouser Jeans: Maurices (previously)
• Oxfords: Payless (previously)

This was my casual outfit for Saint Patrick's Day. I know it's nothing particularly exciting, but I had some errands to run around town, and I went with something a little more subtle. While it was actually a beautiful day out, it was still enough on the chilly side that I went for layered t-shirts. Tomorrow I have a pretty full day, and my wife and I are going out with friends in the evening, and I will hopefully have a post about that next week. And of course, my adorable wife took the pictures for today's post.

An outfit for driving.

• Hoodie: Maurices (buy)
• T-shirt: Old Navy
• Jeans: Maurices (previously)
• Boots: Clarks via Craigslist
• Socks: Hanes

Since the beginning of the year one of our ongoing projects has been to get rid of some excess stuff, either by taking it to consignment and thrift stores, or by selling it on Craigslist. This plan has a flaw I have recently discovered: other people on Craigslist have things I want, and so I end up "window shopping" the other listings. And that is the genesis of this outfit. I found a listing for a formal dress on the cheap, and while I have no "reason" to own one, I found myself realizing that it would be really nice to try one on, and own one "just in case", and the seller was offering an excellent deal, and really, this is all just rationalization for the fact that I want to make up for wearing a tux to my HS prom. So I sent an email, and scheduled a time and place to try on the dresses to make sure they fit. I realized that since I would mostly be driving and trying on dresses, I might as well dress how I wanted. And so after a pleasant and chilly afternoon drive, I am now the proud owner of a formal dress, and pleased with my outfit for the day. Even though this outfit spent more time in the vehicle than it did outside.

And of course today's pictures were taken by my wonderful wife. And I am slowly getting back into the swing of things with blogging and commenting, it only took the first two months of 2011 to do that. Thanks everyone for your comments and reading my blog!

Trippy heels.

• Top: Maurices (previously)
• Cardigan: Maurices
• Trouser Jeans: Maurices
• Pumps: Nine West
• Bag: Target (previously)
• Necklace: Maurices (previously)
• Bracelets: Torrid (previously)
• Umbrella: Crabtree & Evelyn (previously)

Some friends of ours had some guests over this past weekend, and I took the opportunity to dress up. I was really excited about my new trouser jeans, and I really wanted to wear heels with them, so I paired them these heels which I have never really worn other than the initial try on, despite owning them for a while. The weather was pretty rainy and dreary, and I briefly thought about switching things out for my rainboots, but I knew we weren't going to get any good outside shots, and I figured we would mostly be making a few brief trips to and from the car.

After a fun evening with friends though, in the dark and rainy night, I mis-stepped on their stairs walking to the car and tripped. The biggest casualty besides my pride, was my pair of heels, as you can see above. The jeans are mostly okay, but I will probably be demoting them to much more casual purposes due to the blemish on the knee. (I realize that logic may be flawed since I have a matching blemish on my leg...)

I admit I'm a little bummed out about the shoes, but I got to spend a couple of days dressed how I wanted last week, and it helped my mood out a lot actually. And I will have more on that (and the outfits) in a future post. Plus, it turns out there may be some hope for the shoes after all! I talked to some friends and did some searching and I found a cobbler, and when I dropped the shoes off yesterday, they didn't seem to think it was too big of a deal to fix them. And honestly, while replacing shoes in my collection can be a little difficult due to sizing, I feel a lot more bold about going out these days and this blog has definitely played a role in that. And frankly, I'm happy I wore the shoes outside to an event with friends, even if they did get damaged in the process. There was a time when I would not have believed that I would ever own a pair of shoes like this, much less severely damage them from wearing them out and about.

So I look forward to seeing how the shoes come back from the cobbler (this is a new experience for me), and hopefully I will be figuring out a better balance of blogging with the rest of my life. I really miss everyone! And of course, my beautiful wife helped with my hair and makeup and took the pictures for today's post! (She's also still letting me borrow her computer!)

What we actually wore: Valentine's part 2.

My Outfit

• Button down: JC Penney (previously)
• Pants: JC Penney (previously)
• Tie: JC Penney
• Oxfords: ? (previously)
• Belt: JC Penney

My Wife's Outfit

• Dress: Maurices
• Belt: Maurices
• Pumps: Maurices

I'm a little later than I meant posting this. (Wow, take a day off and the rest of the week goes nuts.) But I wanted to post what we actually wore for the big date. And some of the pictures from the evening. The evening started when my wife got home from work about 10 minutes after my previous post.

I was afraid my wife might be forced to work late, so our reservations were late enough to provide some extra time which we didn't need. So instead, I took back roads that my wife is less familiar with, and slowly drove by a lot of restaurants which also would have been suitable for the day. (Okay, and I also drove past a few fast food restaurants too, just to add more suspense...). The good news is that when she finally saw the restaurant sign, she was too confused to guess if it was our destination or not.

Neither of us had been to a Brazilian steakhouse before. But I have to say if your budget can afford it, I highly recommend the experience at least once. Unless you're a vegetarian: while they did have a pretty cool salad bar, the meats are what makes it awesome, and its not exactly a vegetarian/vegan friendly sort of place. For those who don't know, the staff is constantly circulating through the restaurant with skewers of steaks, and they constantly stop at your table and cut off whatever you want in whatever quantity you want. And it's all you can eat. I had the funny idea I wanted to sample one of each thing on the menu, but I couldn't make it. We did save room for dessert though. I'm not sure how. So after the restaurant, I suggested coffee at a Starbucks near the hotel, which my wife agreed to, still in shock over the pleasant surprise of the restaurant. After coffee, I feigned getting lost only to pull into the hotel parking garage a few minutes later. My wife was speechless at this point. I later showed her the previous blog post and everyone's comments, which she thoroughly enjoyed reading. The only real downside is that I have no clue how to top this next year.

And of course, my very surprised wife took some of the pictures in today's post, and I took the rest for once. I hope everyone has a wonderful (and possibly long) weekend, and maybe someday I'll get caught up on everything I'm behind on (including your wonderful blogs...)

Lounge wear?

• Button-down: Covington via Craigslist
• Vest: Maurices (previously)
• Skirt: Sag Harbor via Craigslist
• Pumps: Naturalizer via Craigslist
• Pantyhose: Just My Size via Walmart

This was Wednesday's outfit, and it was almost completely created from recent Craigslist purchases. It's definitely a little different from my normal style, but the long wool skirt was really calling to me. Of course, that's probably because after warming up just enough to a relatively balmy 40's and 50's, it was back below freezing again.

I also wanted to take a minute to mention that I love answering reader questions, and a few posts ago, Cara from the wonderful Cara's Closet asked a question: An odd question, and possibly a question you don't want to answer (in which case, ignore me!!), but does your love of women's fashion stretch over into lounge/sleep wear?

First, within reasonable bounds, I will try to answer any question I can, and I certainly don't mind discussing lounge/sleep wear. I actually have been interested in extending my interest in fashion to lounge and sleep wear, but right now, I don't actually have anything like that. My current sleep wear is a pair of a cotton shorts and a cotton t-shirt, both from the men's section. It's actually fine by me, but they are getting a little worn out, and I have been shopping for some more "feminine" replacements. I haven't met with much success though, as most of what I've found either hasn't really inspired me, or has been too impractical, or just looks to... um... "granny-ish" for my preferences. The story is similar with lounge wear: I've looked off and on, but I haven't really found anything that has inspired me.

I think part of this is also because when I do go shopping, its easier to get excited about things I can put into my daily rotation, or a new pair of shoes. I have a similar problem getting excited about basics and layering pieces, and I have a similar gap in my wardrobe for those pieces. There are also many days where I don't get to dress how I want through the day, and I frequently try to dress up in the evenings, so, somewhat ironically, many of the outfits I post on this blog might be classified as "lounge wear".

Again, I love answering questions, so please feel free to email me, or leave them in a comment, and I will try to do my best to answer them in a future post! I tag all my answers if you would like to read past questions. And of course, the pictures in today's post were taken by my fabulous wife.