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.

Funky office casual.

• Blazer: Maurices (previously)
• Tube top: Maurices
• Cropped pants: Torrid
• Pumps: Payless

I've had this tube top in my closet for a while, but I've not been satisfied with my attempts to style it until now. And while a tube top is not something I think most people would count as acceptable office attire, I think it works well under this blazer. Admittedly, since I work from home, any discussions about acceptable office wear are purely theoretical. (And let's face it, in my case, most people are going to get stuck on that whole "crossdressing" thing instead of noticing the tube top...). And while I'm not sure if it shows up in the pictures, but the shading on the pumps are actually polka dots that slowly get bigger and more dense toward the toe.

I have one more outfit from my backlog to post, and we're still having to share computers in our household (not much longer I hope!), and of course in addition to being so gracious with her laptop my amazing wife took the pictures for today's post.

Too many patterns.

• Dress: Maurices
• Belt: Maurices (came with dress)
• Button down: Old Navy (previously)
• Pumps: Payless
• Pantyhose: Just My Size

This is another outfit from the backlog that was trapped on my old computer. When I put this outfit together I decided to have fun with pattern mixing. The shoes are plaid, and both the dress and the button down have vertical stripes in them. And in writing this post, I realized this outfit has a certain resemblance to the previous one in which I wore this button down. I guess that means I just need to get more button downs. And the temperature around here has been up and down lately, so it's just been too chilly for bare legs, but I've had this dress for a few months, and I really wanted to wear it, so I opted for the pantyhose.

And I am slowly getting caught up(and I'm still borrowing my wife's computer that she is graciously sharing with me until my new one gets here). And of course, my awesome wife took the pictures for this post.

Velma.

• Dress: Macy's (buy)
• Boots: Payless
• Pantyhose: Just My Size
• Socks: Target (previously)

This was an outfit from last week that I meant to blog. The dress was bought with Christmas money, but I've had my eyes on it for a while. So when I was doing some after Christmas shopping, and noticed it on clearance... I figured that meant it was time to make a purchase. When I picked it out, the burnt orange color was one of the draws, but it was only after I had the outfit on with some nerd-chic glasses (not pictured of course...) that I realized that with a few minor changes, I was dressed similar to a certain Scooby Doo character.

Now I have to take a second to thank some really awesome bloggers. First, AppGal of Musings on the Mountain listed me, along with some other wonderful bloggers, in her post on blogs you should read! So thanks the for wonderful shout out! And Lisa from respect the shoes reminded her readers about my giveaway in her Lazy on a Sunday Afternoon. And Meg of Questionable Taste kindly mentioned me in her post What I've Learned. Thank you so much for these mentions! And of course, I hope I haven't missed anyone!

And last but not least, Ariana of fatale fashion gave me a stylish blogger award! Thanks so much Ariana! Now as part of the award I'm supposed to list seven things about me.

1. I love ballroom and latin dancing. Its a passion actually, but where we're located, we don't have a lot of opportunities to go out and dance.
2. I love horrible movies. The worse the better actually. My latest favorite is Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. Of course, some movies really are just bad, but there are certain types of Grade D cheese fests that I adore.
3. I secretly enjoy Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, La Roux, and other pop singers. And I don't usually want to admit it to my friends. (And I'll even admit that I owned a New Kids on the Block tape when I was growing up.) Now, I'm not one to obsess, so I'm not a super fan by any means, and I enjoy a pretty wide range of music.
4. I love traveling. I have seen (and waded in) both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean within the same two week period once.
5. I was involved in band all the way through college. I even stuck with marching band for part of my college career. Ironically (or perhaps not...) I don't usually enjoy watching football at all.
6. In addition to my personal addiction to shoes, my wife and I both have a serious addiction to collecting books. And books, like shoes, present serious storage issues when you have "too many". We have "too many".
7. I spend a lot of time procrastinating. Its actually gotten worse as I've gotten older. I try to compensate for this by reading nearly anything I can find on better ways to be organized. Of course, reading up on better ways to be organized is a great way to procrastinate. :)

I know I'm supposed to pass the award on to 8 other bloggers, but I have so many wonderful blog friends and I wouldn't feel right leaving someone out. In addition I truly believe all of my readers are stylish, so if you need a reminder of how stylish you already are, consider yourself awarded the Stylish Blogger Award!

New Year's Eve.

• Dress: Maurices
• Necklace: Torrid (previously)
• Bracelet: Torrid (previously)
• Shoes: Payless
• Purse: Maurices (previously)
• Coat: Kohls (previously)

Due to a confluence of unused vacation that wouldn't roll over, and Christmas and New Year's being on a Saturday, my wife had a rather long vacation, and so I took the time off to be with her. And between family holiday events, some (still ongoing) end of the year clean-up and clean-out, and spending some quality time together, it turned into a bigger blogging break than even I meant it to be. And now that 2011 is in full swing, I'm even more behind than ever (not just on blogging). But I've missed everyone and I look forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

However, today's post is not my first outfit of 2011 (coming soon though). While we didn't have plans to go out on New Year's Eve, I decided I wanted to glam it up just a bit for a while, and put together this outfit. My wife did my hair and makeup, and we went out for a drive, bought some drive through dinner, and went home to watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV, although by then we were both in PJ's.

Oh, and in addition to all that, we took some time to take some outdoor shots near our apartment. It was surprisingly warm out, but the streets were mostly deserted. And I have to add, I bought this dress on a clearance rack for $5 several years ago. It was actually one of the first dresses I ever owned, and I still love it, although I need to take it to tailor, the zipper gets hung in one spot, and I think it needs to be fixed before something really goes wrong with it.

Oh, and I have really appreciated the comments everyone left about our Christmas tree and my Christmas party outfit last year, and in particular, Melissa from A Working Mom's Closet featured the outfit in her Favorite Holiday Outfits! post. I can't wait to get started posting some 2011 outfits and see what I've missed! As always my wonderful wife took the pictures (and held my purse and coat)! :)