Shopping.

• Cardigan: Old Navy (previously)
• Cami: Maurices (previously)
• Belt: Maurices (from a dress)
• Skirt: Old Navy (previously)
• Pumps: Nine West (previously)
• Pantyhose: Just My Size via Walmart

I previously wrote about finding some shoes for sale in my size on Craigslist. During the visit, the lady selling the shoes mentioned that she was also doing some end of year cleaning out of clothes that no longer fit her, and many of them were in sizes near my own. I told her to let me know if she ended up with some clothes in my size. Luckily for me, she did, and sent me an email this past weekend, so we scheduled a meeting time on Sunday for me to visit and "shop".

This was my shopping outfit for the day. My wonderful wife did my hair and makeup, but she ended up having pre-existing plans for the afternoon and didn't accompany me on the visit. I ended up getting a lot of wonderful pieces for a great price, and I will be incorporating them in future posts. It was a fun day, and this was an interesting first for me: making a solo visit to a stranger, and I enjoyed the opportunity to get out and about. Of course, I was careful. This trip was also a good confidence builder for this weekend, but that will have to wait for another post.

I also want to take a second to thank Melanie, of Dressed to IL for mentioning me in her post on authenticity.

I also need to thank LaToya of A Chameleon's Closet for giving me the Versatile Blogger Award in her post Leopard and Purple. So here are seven more things about me as part of the award.

1. Since I mentioned music in my previous post, I figured I would share some more. I like a lot of music, so this is just another sample of the randomness that is my playlist. Here are some bands that showed up on my playlist in the past few minutes: Cage the Elephant, Gogol Bordello, Beck, Muse, Hybrid, Rage Against the Machine, The White Stripes, The Killers, and Movits!.
2. Last time, I also mentioned that I liked bad movies. Well, I also frequently like cult classic movies, and as an example I have to mention one of my all time favorites. Krull. Which has an epic soundtrack by James Horner, and a young Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane in early minor roles. Its not a movie for everyone, but its one of my favorites.
3. I have no siblings.
4. I am scared of have serious reservations about flying. Every movie I've watched where things go wrong with airplanes makes it worse. My wife finds it seriously unpleasant to fly with me.
5. I don't drink, this makes the previous fact even more difficult to cope with. I once had a fellow passenger (whom I did not know) offer me some of her drink, in fact, I was so visibly nervous.
6. I also don't smoke.
7. I dislike raw tomatoes, but I enjoy Ketchup and nearly every other tomato based product you can imagine.

Things have been incredibly busy lately, and I look forward to being to get caught up soon, I haven't forgotten about everyone, but this month hit the ground running, and hasn't let up at all. Thanks so much for bearing with me. And of course, my amazing 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!

CSN Stores Gift Certificate Winner!

• Tote: Maurices
• Paper slips with everyone's name: Walmart
• Winning Entry: Pretty Penny Mae

My wife wanted to do the drawing, so I took the pictures today. The method of picking the winner was, of course, a random drawing!

Congratulations to Brooke of Pretty Penny Mae! You've won the $25 gift certificate to CSN stores! I will be sending you your gift card in an email momentarily! If you don't get the email or have trouble using the gift card, please let me know!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my first giveaway!

A blue kinda day.

• Top: Maurices
• Cardigan: Old Navy
• Skinny Jeans: Z. Cavaricci via Torrid (buy)
• Pumps: ? via Craigslist

The blue, in this case, is for the cold as well as my outfit. Yesterday barely got above freezing, and we had the additional fun of a fresh layer of snow on top or more ice and snow that had not yet melted. But that's okay, on Saturday, my wife and I followed a Craigslist post to a wonderful lady selling a large lot of shoes, and I ended up with several new-to-me pairs of shoes on the cheap. And since it was way too icy, snowy, and cold to be outside much today, I decided to wear one of my new pairs of heels. I just love the blue color of the shoes, and so I decided to keep piling on more blue and neutrals.

Today's post is my first outfit of 2011, and it feels like I'm starting to get back on track. I just want to thank every one for bearing with me while I've been so busy lately. I feel so disconnected, and I just can't wait to go read everyone's blogs and see what been going on. I also wanted to introduce a friend of mine who has just started blogging: Just A Small Town Girl.... Oh, and if you're interested, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $25 gift certificate to CSN Stores.

I hope everyone is having a great start to their year, and as usual, my fantastic wife took the pictures for today's post.

My first giveaway.

I have repeatedly expressed just how much I appreciate everyone who reads my blog, and all the wonderful comments you leave. Now, the wonderful people at CSN Stores have made it possible for me to give something back. In case you haven't heard of them, CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from stylish modern dining room furniture to cute cookware to chic lighting pieces! Did I also mention they have shoes? Well, whether you're interested in furniture, cookware, shoes, or something else, the lucky winner of this giveaway will receive a $25 gift certificate to use at any of CSN's online stores.

To enter this giveaway, first make sure you can receive packages in either the US or Canada since CSN will only ship to those two countries. Next leave a comment on this post between now and midnight Eastern Time on Sunday, January 16th, 2011. Also, please make sure I know how to contact you! I will be emailing the winner the promotion code which CSN has graciously provided. If you don't want to post your email in the comments or its not available on your profile page, feel free to send me an email instead.

Full Disclosure: The $25 gift code to csnstores was provided to me free of charge for hosting this giveaway.

PS: Things have been a little busy around here since New Year's, I promise regular posting will resume soon!

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)! :)

Seasons greetings.

• Tree: Walmart
• Lights: Walmart
• Star: Walmart

My wife and I will be spending the next few days visiting with friends and our families and observing the Christmas holidays. And while I will be reading and catching up on blogs here and there, I will be taking a posting break until next week, and posting lightly until after the New Years. I can't thank everyone enough who reads this blog, and thank you for all the wonderful comments you leave! It has really made a huge impact on my life! Rather than an outfit today, I thought I would post our Christmas tree. Our Christmas tree is rather small, but that does make it perfect for the moderate size of the space we live in. Even better, we bought this tree together while we were still dating in college, and so it has a lot of sentimental value to us. But I know many of you celebrate different holidays, or no holidays at all. But no matter the details of what you do or don't celebrate, I wish you the best! Thanks again everyone, see you next week!