BBCA 5 - Friend Friday: Fall

Cardigan: J Crew
Shirt: Target
Cami: Target
Pants: Lauren Conrad via Kohl's
Scarf: vintage, thrifted
Shoes: Steve Madden
Earrings: Turkey

So this week for the visual Friend Friday, we're linking up our quintessential fall looks over at 260 Days, No Repeats. Of course, it's also the last day of my BBCA week, so my fall look also has a touch of pink.


I have to say that at this point, I consider myself an expert in fall looks. I've mentioned before that I live in the land of eternal fall, so I've built a lot of outfits around boots, cardigans, and scarves. To me, fall is about classic silhouettes, mixed neutrals, and piled layers.


I really like the simple white button up, navy chinos, and cognac flats, but I like them better with the purple cami, chartreuse cardigan, and patterned scarf. I love the pops of color peeking out, especially when all those pops serve to keep me warm.


Feel free to ignore my award winning under eye circles, mmkay? Let's talk about this scarf. How pretty are those pink and green and turquoise swirls? So pretty. Also, it keeps my ears warm and hides my crazy hair - both are bonuses in my world.

BBCA 1 - Family

Cardigan: Target? gift from my mom
Tee: Ann Taylor
Pants: New York & Co.
Scarf: gift from my mom
Brooch: vintage
Earrings: Target
Shoes: Steve Madden

Well, hello, y'all. Can I start by saying that sometimes a week off is just the right thing? It's been a rough couple weeks. Let me go ahead and confess that it's been a rough nine or so months since we moved. Things haven't been easy and the blog felt like one more thing on my to do list, which wasn't cool, so, a break.


But! I am participating in BBCA, started by Melissa over at A Working Mom's Closet (breaks are apparently going around these days...). I don't own a lot of pink; I don't really like it, but I did want to participate so I've been digging out my pink.


I love this outfit and I honestly built it around this brooch, with its pops of pink. When B and I were back in the States, his grandmother pulled out her jewelry box and let me and B's sister M take whatever we wanted. I fell in love with this brooch, and I love the sense of connection I have with B's family - now my family, too - when I wear it.


And, yeah, I think I've just come to a point where I feel like they're my family, too. Apparently it takes me visiting them four times to get to that point; that's the problem when the family lives all over the place.

Friend Friday: Refashioning

Tee: Hanes
Skirt: Target
Shoes: Steve Madden
Belt: Target
Earrings: Turkey

Today's visual Friend Friday is about refashioning, which is something I have only recently started doing. Well, I guess that's not entirely true because I've cut the necks out of a bunch of crew neck shirts for years.


Lately, though, I've been dabbling in hemming and I've got big plans to dye some stuff (I even have dye and rubber gloves on hand). Oh, and I took in this men's shirt so that it didn't fit me like a giant bag.


See? I got my instructions here and although I haven't quite gotten the technique, I think I can try it again.


As it is, I can still wear the shirt and not just as pajamas. Besides, any no sew trick is good in my book.


Oh, and speaking of DIY... I cut my hair. Just me, a pair of scissors and the bathroom mirror. It was scary as all get out, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Besides, it was so long, I was going CRAZY.

Classics

Shirt: Target
Jeans: 7 for all Mankind (thrifted)
Booties: Aldo
Earrings: Turkey

This is an outfit I've been dreaming of wearing for the longest. Is it earth shatteringly creative? Nope. Is it new and exciting? Also no. Is it classic? Yes.


For some reason, it's the classics that give me a hard time. Good jeans are hard to find for me - somewhere between my waist and my booty, and my thighs, it all makes me crazy and I give up. But these worked out. Are they my most comfortable jeans? No; they're a little too low rise for that. But they do work.


And then we've got the white button-up. Y'all know these are not made for women larger than a B cup, right? But B and I wandered into Target while we were in the States and I found this shirt on the clearance rack. The second button buttoned, so it was a go. It's still a bit loose elsewhere, especially tied this way, but I think that's fixable.


So, while this might be as classic as they come, it wasn't the most effortless look. Am I the only one who has the hardest time ever finding jeans and button ups? Someone let me know I'm not alone....

Green

Sweater: Target
Dress: Target (gift from my mom)
Belt: Target
Shoes: Steve Madden (gift from my mom)
Earrings: Turkey

Seriously? How did I end up wearing so much Target? I don't even know. But I guess that's okay because B picked this outfit out and if he'd wanted more variety in clothing sources, he'd have made it happen, right?


He loves this sweater, and I love it in theory. What I mean is that I love it when it's on, but it's not the thing that I reach for when I'm getting dressed. I don't know why because the silhouette is perfect and the color is so much fun. I should be reaching for it more often, am I right?


I'm glad B helps me to get some use out of this particular item, though. Any outfit suggestions for this sweater?


Also, I asked my mom for some flat shoes so I can keep walking to school when our car breaks down (it's at least once a month, y'all) and she sent me these and the oxfords I've already shown off. Cute, right? I'm pretty smitten.

White shirt week day 4

Tee: Target (gift from A)
Cardigan: Ann Taylor
Tank: Banana Republic
Belt: Etsy (don't remember which vendor and it was ages ago)
Leggings: Target (gift from my sister)
Earrings: Turkey
Boots: Noble Town Vintage via Etsy

It's the last installment of my white shirt challenge, y'all. I still have mixed feelings about this outfit, though I did feel like a dancer while I wore it (especially when I lost the cardigan when I hung around the house). Feeling like a dancer makes me happy because (a) I love dancing and (b) am OB.SESSED. with So You Think You Can Dance.


Of course, I'm a perfectly mediocre dancer so this about as close as I get to feeling like a real dancer - you know, piles of thin layers with some flowy pieces.


Y'all, my husband and I have the house to ourselves for the first time, in, oh, forever. We had seven people living in our house for most of the summer, which was sometimes nice but often overwhelming. Not that we didn't love our interns (we did), just that sometimes I'd like to live with just my husband and our pets.


We're on our own for the next two weeks and I'm. So. Excited.

White shirt week day 3

Tee: Target (gift from A)
Dress (worn as a skirt): Victoria's Secret (gift from my mom)
Sandals: Simply Vera via Kohl's
Belt: Target
Earrings: Kohl's
Ring: swapped
Bracelets: gifts
Drama face: ?

Truth: I spent most of the day wondering about this outfit. I kept switching from "Hate it" to "Love it" like a crazy person. In the end, I think I kinda like it. It definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone in terms of silhouette and jewelry, and it made me get a little creative with stuff.


I mean, the bodice of this dress has a huge flounce on it which I had to tuck under so that I could layer appropriately. Also, I spent most of the day holding the skirt up like that so I could, you know, walk. Because that's kind of important sometimes.


B really liked this, though, and my students told me that they loved the skirt and that I looked like an angel. Win, win, win.


Also winning? My hippie hair. I've got two baby French braids along the crown and five baby buns in the back.


That and a couple fistfuls of bobby pins. I have to say, this might be the easiest thing to do with freshly washed hair early in the morning. It totally dries the way I want it to and it stays out of the way. That and it takes me all of seven minutes; I didn't time it, I just like the number seven.

White shirt week day 2

Top: Target (gift from A)
Skirt: J Crew (gift from my mom)
Scarf: Target
Sunnies: Puerto Rico
Booties: Aldo
Earrings: Turkey

I don't know that this is my favorite look. Part of it is that the skirt was super wrinkled by the end of the school day, so I feel like I look a little sloppy.


But B really liked it and he liked the way the skirt fit, even though I was a little skeptical. So that made me feel a little better. I'm still not loving the look, though.


It could be the bagginess of the top combined with the pleated waist of the skirt. Or it could be the wrinkled mess that I'd become by the end of the day. Or it could be that this is kind of a boring look to begin with....


Help me out y'all. How can I make this work?

EBEW: Yellow and a return to my roots

Tank: Target
Cardigan: Target
Belt: Target
Dress (worn as skirt): Target
Flip flops: Ann Taylor
Earrings: Turkey
Bracelet: gift from our intern, A.

Another Everybody, Everywear post, y'all. It was hard to come up with this look - not because I don't have much yellow, but because I love yellow and I couldn't decide what to wear. Apparently it was Target day, though, so I reached for this dress. (P.S. Hey, Target, if you want to sponsor me, we can talk. If not, I accept gift cards....)


I got in touch with my roots today and visited a sugar processing plant. My maternal grandmother grew up in a town that was basically a sugar plantation / processing plant and my great-grandfather and great-uncle worked there in some capacity. I'm not sure of all the particulars, but it was cool to see this thing that was, for so many years, the driving force behind the Puerto Rican economy. And, yeah, we're in Costa Rica (two totally different countries), but it was really cool.


They also process coffee at this place - it's the oldest cooperative in Costa Rica - so we got a tour of that, too.


And yeah, I took pictures while we were on our tour and pretended that no one else could see me. Behind me are the machines that move the sugar cane and break it down into little pieces. And then they squeeze it so the juice comes out. Eventually that thickens to molasses and then they put it in the centrifuge and you get raw sugar. You guys! Sugar processing! It's so exciting!


Or maybe that's just me....

Snug

Tee: Ann Taylor
Jeans: J Crew
Wedges: Nine West
Bangles: gift from my uncle and aunt
Earrings: Turkey
Sunnies: Puerto Rico

This is the kind of outfit I could only wear while coming off the high of Dress Your Best Week. I think I'll be celebrating my body in a slightly less intentional way this week because I'm feeling so confident and in love with the body I have. And it's weird to think that and type that because I'm not the kind of woman who likes to draw attention to herself (even though I share a lot of stuff with the Internet).


But yeah, I put this on expecting it NOT to work, but it did, and even though I was a little afraid of all the body-hugging pieces, I went with it. And then to top it off, I let my hair do the 1960s-meets-1980s thing it was doing all by itself. Because if I'm going for it, I'm going all out. Go big or go home, baby. That's how we roll in our house.


And these shoes? I love them. They're so old, y'all. I've had them for five or six years - maybe even longer. They remind me of some shoes that my mom wore in her engagement pictures with jeans a lot like these. Honestly, I kind of felt like I was channeling my mom circa 1981 in this outfit.


I wore this to go out on a date day with B. We went to the farmer's market down in the nearest city (15 plantains for $2? Yes, please), then off to the mall for a cheap lunch and some bookstore browsing. Then we wandered through the streets of Alajuela where we did a little thrifting (we scored some amazing pieces) and enjoyed ice cream cones. I love our date days.


Oh, and Happy Fourth, to all of you in the States (and my fellow expats). I'll be celebrating on the beach.