Around town

    I've had both of these outfit pictures for a while.  They're of what I wear whenever the Fiance and I go to town and run errands or go out to eat.  You've seen this purple dress before many times.  It's one of my favorites as its flattering and purple.  Why purple?  Well, even though blue is my favorite color, I've taken a liking to purple.  It's such a pretty color and its almost an unexpected color for a dress that I can wear many different ways.  
    This wear, in particular, was when The Fiance's parents came to visit our house for the first time since they helped us move.  (They were impressed by how quickly we got rid of most of the boxes.)  They also took us out to dinner.  Unfortunately, it was a rainy day so I grabbed a pair of close toed flats since I didn't want to get my toes or other nice shoes wet. 
The Details:
Dress: Target
Belt: Old navy
Tank: Old Navy
Necklace: Tio Gordo
Flats: Puma 

    This second outfit garnered a reaction from the Fiance.  He inquired as to whether I was trying to go back to the 80's.  Since I was born in the 80's and only have movies to tell me what people wore then, I told him that what I was wearing was very much in style and he should just be nice.  
    If you've been around the blog long enough, you'll remember that I made this skirt out of a pair of jeans.   For whatever reason, I really wanted to wear a pair of tights with it and opted for these footless tights so that I could wear these flats while out running errands.  (Sorry for the bad pic, the t-shirt is actually a dark purple).

The Details:   
T-Shirt: Old Navy
Skirt: Me
Tights: Hue (I think)
Flats: Target

More Orange

     This is another outfit from my orange week.  Turns out I have 2 orange and brown skirts and 2 orange tops.  This particular skirt I got brand new from the consignment shop.  It was originally like $90 at J.Jill and I snagged it for around $15.  Oh and its silk.  

  It's a beautiful skirt, but I'm going to need to figure out how best to style it.  In this picture it looks ok b/c my hands on my hips brings focus to my waist, but otherwise, because of the pleats of the skirt, the focus goes down to my hips where they look huge.  I haven't tried it before, but I might try to belt this blazer to see how it looks.  Might end up being the solution I've been looking for.  Any other thoughts on how best to style this skirt? 

How it looks w/out waist definition

The Details:
Skirt: J.Jill (consignment)
Top: Express
Blazer: Old Navy
Heels: Nine West 

The Fair!

    Friday was a big day for us.  The Fiance had an interview for which he was offered a job and he accepted!  In addition, we went to the State Fair.  I am a *huge* fan of the State Fair.  I love the food, the crafts, the animals and of course the food.  I don't go for the rides, and in fact this time around we didn't even consider going on a single one.  I did, however, eat my weight in bad for me foods.  But that's ok.  I gave myself permission to indulge since its not every day I get to eat funnel cake, roast corn, candy apples or drink fair lemonade.  Besides, we spent a total of 6 hours at the fair.  All that walking definitely burned off at least a funnel cake.  

    So what's a girl to wear when heading to the fair?  Knowing it would cool down as soon as the sun went down, I went for a cashmere blend sweater layered over a black tank and jeans.  For footwear, I grabbed my trusty Reebok Easytone sneakers. I was warm and comfy all afternoon and night long.  Which was super important as we walked all over the fair for several hours.  We also met up with my sister while at the fair.  Even she remarked that I looked good and asked if I had lost some weight.  :)
    This was also the first day that I've tried a new product.  I won't tell you what it is yet, but I will let you know that my hair felt softer than usual and was very touchable all day and night long.

oh and P.S. I want a baby pygmy goat SOOO bad! 

From: http://www.skipopia.com/pygmy-animals/

The Details:
Sweater: no idea, its been in my closet for a while
Tank: Old Navy
Jeans: Old Navy
Sneakers: Reebok via Lady Foot Locker   

Online Shopping!

     I am a HUGE fan of using the internet to help shop.  While I don't normally shop online, I do look at styles, colors and shapes of items before I head out to stores.  I tend to use the internet as a super awesome research tool and not as a means of shopping.  I have a preference for trying things on and touching them before I buy them.  But there are always exceptions.  Recently, I was approached by a company to take advantage of the internet to do some shopping.  And I've agreed.  The really cool part is that this company has over 200 websites with items that range from upholstered headboards, to bar stools, to designer shoes, to wallets to anything else you can think of.  If you guessed that this is CSNStores.com, then you're right!  I am really excited and know that this will bring good things not just to me, but to the blog and to my lovely readers as well.  So stay tuned. . .  

Interview Outfit

Look guys!  I'm featured on Academichic's Interview Attire Symposium.  Head over there and check it out and let me know what you think of my suit and my ridiculous "power" pose.  

Weight Loss

    As I've mentioned numerous times on the blog, I need to lose weight.  I've been trying to figure out the best way to do this.  I've got a stationary bike and treadmill upstairs in my very own workout room.  I also have Wii fit and Wii fitness coach.  I've also got an adorable puppy I can go walking with or throw the ball with.  I've also got a Fiance that I know wants me to be around forever.  Put that all together and you've got a girl with a goal and tools, but no plan.  
     If I liked or enjoyed running, I could probably sign up for a marathon and train for it using one of several marathon get ready programs out there.  (If that's up your alley, then I'll pass along my sister's recommendation to try the Couch to 5K program.)  But I don't like to run.  Part of it has to do with my boobs and the lack of support that even a great sports bra offers them.  Part of it is that I just don't like it.
   I've got a whole bunch of ways to monitor progress.  The Wii Fit alone will tell me my weight, BMI, waist measurements, frequency of working out and will even let me input non-wii Fit activities.  The only requirement is that I turn it on and use it.  And while having a great way to monitor progress is awesome, I still don't have a plan.  
    So my plan, or at least the current iteration of my plan is this, use my iPhone to help me lose weight.  I've got a pedomoter app to measure my steps whenever I walk Bella or walk to and from court.  I also have the myfitnesspal app.  I found it about a month ago and only just Saturday decided to try it out.  I've tried to use other apps to keep track of food and activities, but when it came down to cooking my own meals, which is generally healthier than eating out, having to manually compute every piece of a recipe just pissed me off.  So in looking at myfitnesspal I found that inputting recipes is really easy.  It also breaks down everything really well.  At the moment I have my goal set for losing one pound a week.  Using my height, weight, age and sedentary level, it has calculated how many calories per day I'm allowed.  If I exercise, it figures out how many calories I've burned and tells me how many calories I have left to eat.  I think that this app should be really useful when used in combination with my pedometer and existing exercise equipment.  Of course, in order for me to actually lose weight I have to use all of the equipment and monitoring apps and the like, but who said this was going to be easy?  
    So I'm curious, who else out there is trying to lose weight?  What are your motivations?  What keeps you going and what have you found that works?  Conversely, what have you found that doesn't work?  
     I'll go first.  I want to lose weight because I want to get healthier.  I'm a hispanic woman with a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.  I'm also young enough to know that I can at least alter the odds against me.  I want to look stunning in a wedding dress.  I also want to make it easier on myself to go shopping.  Lastly, I would love for my boobs to get smaller without resorting to surgery.  So far I've found that not having a plan sucks.  I need accountability and a way to see what I've done so far and what still needs to get done.  That is where you dear readers get to help me out.  I've added a widget to the sidebar to remind me that I'm not the only one who can see my progress or lack thereof.  I'm hoping that some peer pressure will keep me on track and help me accomplish my goals. Oh! And I almost forgot, if you are on myfitnesspal sign up for it, add me as your friend so we can work toward our goals together.  

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Weight Loss Tools

This is not a review on any product whatsoever. 

Go Tigers?

    I've worn this suit before, hell, I've worn this entire outfit before.  The reason?  It's comfortable and I really like this blouse with this suit.  Also I can't go shopping for more blouses or suits.  So I'm stuck with what I've got.  But I *can* make it more interesting.  
     To be honest, a suit really isn't all that interesting and shouldn't be all that interesting.  At least when an attorney is wearing a suit, the point is to look professional but forgettable.  The last thing anyone wants is for their attorney to be remembered instead of their case.  So, my suit outfits are and probably will be boring forever.  

    HOWEVER, what isn't boring is what happens when the suit jacket comes off.  Or at least it shouldn't be boring.  Because when the suit jacket comes off is generally when I'm in the office or in the car or anywhere else where I don't have to look court appropriate.  This is where I get to have fun with my outfits and enjoy dressing.  In this particular outfit, this would be the scarf worn as decorative belt.  

    Since I know that I've worn this exact same suit + blouse combination about 3 times since I got it, I wanted it to look different, special if you will.  While pondering this the night before I wore it, I happened to remember this scarf.  A couple of months ago, my parents were in town and my mom asked me to store some of her winter clothes for her.  I recently unpacked the box and stored all the scarves in said box in my closet.  (I'm borrowing them, or something like that.)  So I wondered, while planning this outfit, would the scarf work as a belt of some sorts.  Of course there's no other way to find out than trying it on.  So I did, and I loved it. 

     By now you may be wondering about the title of this post.  Well, one of the judges that rotates through district court here is a huge Clemson fan.  In fact, his "magic words" aren't please and thank you, they're "Go Tigers!"  Knowing this and having had to exclaim it earlier in the week, I decided to "promote" the Tigers a bit more deviously.  Cue the picture to the left.  I painted my nails a very dark purple, almost black, to "support" the Tigers.  The judge looked at me funny and laughed when I showed him, but he understood it as harmless fun.  See? Attorneys aren't ALL boring.

The Details:

Suit: JCPenney
Blouse: The Limited
Heels: Nine West
Scarf: Mom's (New York Style)
Nail Polish: Sally Hansen in Pat on the Black

eShakti!

I'm sure by now you've heard of the amazing online store eShakti.  Here you can customize your clothes to your measurements and even adjust for sleeve and hem length!  Well, I just got an email with a $12 voucher that I can forward to all my friends.  Well darling readers, if you would like me to send you a $12 voucher to eShakti, leave a comment with your email and I'll send along the coupon.  Happy Shopping!

Hot for Teacher?

      Soooo I wore this outfit last week when there was a judge's conference and there wasn't any court for a week.  Not having to go to court allowed me to wear outfits that don't HAVE to work with a blazer.  Its actually pretty funny.  On days when I go to court, generally Monday through Thursday, I end up "wearing" 2 "different" outfits.  One that works with a blazer that I wear for a total of 30 mins to an hour.  And another outfit for the rest of the day that does not include the blazer.  These aren't drastically different outfits because they include the same top and bottom, but the lack of blazer makes a difference.   At least I think so.  Which has led me to make sure that I have a complete outfit both with and without a blazer. 

    Back to this particular outfit.  Over the summer, when I was on my studying for the bar hiatus, there was a J.Crew factory store sale in town.  (This is actually one of the things I wanted to update you all about that I mentioned here.)  Well, I had never bought anything from J.Crew because as a general rule the items in store just aren't within my price range.  Also, the town I went to law school in didn't have a J.Crew at the mall either.  So, my friend Jenn and I found a coupon that would give us an additional 20% off on top of the outlet prices.  Armed with our coupons we tried to go the first day of the sale during our bar prep lunch break.  No dice.  The line was around the building to get in and we decided to just grab lunch and go back later that afternoon.  When we did, there wasn't a line anymore and we were able to waltz right in.  What met us inside was crazy.  There were tables lined up all across what used to be a store and was now a large room with concrete floors.  There were curtains in the back of the store to separate merchandise that was on the floor and stuff that would be put out later.  Each table had at least 8 boxes on top of it with an additional 8 under it marked out by size and type.  IE Dresses size 12, shirts size S, pants size 10.  This filled the whole room.  

     So Jenn and I started at the front where they had dresses and lo and behold, I found this red dress.  It has loops for a belt, but there was no belt to be found in the box that contained all different types and styles of dresses that I found the dress in.  Oh!  Did I mention that there weren't any dressing rooms?  So me, dressed in a tank top and sweat pants got to try this dress on on top of my clothes to see if it fit.  Well it did fit so I took it home.  I also found a navy blue dress as well.  (And I also found a wedding dress the second time Jenn and some other friends of ours went.  But that's another story altogether.  Oh and that wedding dress, $32.33. :D ) 
    From the second I brought this dress home, I knew that I wanted to wear it as a jumper.  The neckline and the back in particular, are too low for me to wear it to work without something underneath it.  As a result this dress has sat in my closet for 2 months just waiting for it to get chilly enough for me to layer a button down under it.  And finally last week was the perfect opportunity to wear it.  I thought about adding my black knee high boots to the ensemble, but realized that you wouldn't see a single bit of my leg, so I opted for a shorter boot and some incredibly soft tights.  To tie the black from the bottom back into the dress and create a waist I added my very versatile Target belt.  

I look like a teacher, don't I?

    I felt really comfortable in this outfit, and what's more, I felt like I was dressing for me and for fun and not just because I had to put clothes on.  For the past 2 months I've been a very busy bee and for fear of making too many waves in this little town of mine, I've not been terribly creative with my wardrobe.  But I feel like slowly but surely that will change as I get more comfortable here and more integrated into daily life.  Speaking of changes, what do you all think of the new background?  What about the large photos?  Yay or nay?  Thoughts?  

The Details:
Dress: J.Crew Factory Sale
Blouse: Banana Republic
Tights: Hue via Steinmart
Boots: Nine West
Belt: Target

Saturday on the River

    Last Saturday the Fiance and I went down to the city's Riverfest.  Picture fair food, an arts and crafts bazaar, a playground for kids and some professional wrestling.  Oh and there are pirates everywhere.  Because you can't really have a good festival celebrating a river without pirates, can you?  
    So the Fiance and I headed down there and had a great time.  There were tons of crafts that had me really inspired.  I'm thinking that maybe I can try to monogram some of my makeup brush holders somehow.  I also realized that I would much rather re-cycle or up-cycle crafts than start from scratch.  Oh and fall is definitely my favorite season.  Apparently I was very inspired last Saturday.  :)  

    Speaking of inspiration and crafts, Bella is in heat for the second time.  (complete non sequiter, right?)  Well, I had put her in a pair of my old PJ shorts and cut a whole in the seam for her tail the first time around.  But such a cute dog deserves something better.  So I made her a fleece diaper.  Yes, those are bright big yellow rubber duckies on her fleece diaper.  The best part is that she seems much happier to wear this diaper than the shorts I had made for her.  She is able to wag her fluffy tail and I keep my floor and furniture nice and clean.  

   Saturday's weather was less than perfect.  When we left the house I wasn't sure how chilly it would get, so I wore my velvet blazer.  (Un)fortunately, it is now too big for me, so I took it in using the brooching technique that I got from Sally eons ago and used in March.  Cinching the blazer gave it a more fitted silhouette and made me significantly more comfortable as wearing something that is too big makes me feel weird.  

Notice the powdered sugar?

My favorite part of the outfit though is the boots.  I *really* wanted to wear them, but wasn't sure I could tuck my boot-cut (ie non-skinny) jeans into them.  As I've discussed before, I have big calves.  Nonetheless, I put the doubt aside and persevered.  I managed to squish my jeans into the boots and got the look I was hoping for.  

Fiance took this pic <3

The Details:
Tank: LOFT
Blazer: Old Navy
Jeans: Old Navy
Boots: Target
Brooch: Consignment Shop

Pity Party (part 1)

I've been thinking about this post for a while now.  I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to write it, let alone post it.  You see, I feel like my blog is one facet of who I am.  If I put too much of my every day feelings into it, then it breaks that illusion and ceases to be what I thought it was.  I know that every once in a while I update about my life and how things are going in the "real world," but this post is different.  So---if you want to avoid a whole lot of navel gazing, self-pity and self-doubt, go ahead and skip this post.  If not, here goes. . .

- - - - - -


    If I ever write a book about my life during the next few months its going to be called "I failed the bar and then my life was a catastrophe."  You read that right.  I failed the bar exam.  By 8 points.  Passing score is 346 and I got a 338.  When I first read my score I was relieved.  It meant I knew the stuff.  I KNOW the law.  But then I realized it also meant that the pain I was feeling on the days of the exam were enough to derail my concentration enough so that I failed.  Sucks might be too mild a way to put it.  Rather than make this one really long jumble of words and emotions, I'll give it some order, I'll go in a timeline/subject matter sequence.
    The bar exam was the last Tuesday and Wednesday of July.  Jenn and I drove to Raleigh Monday afternoon, checked into our hotel, checked in with some  of our friends and went out to eat dinner.  Our plan was to make it a chill evening.  After dinner and before bed, I was getting all my stuff together and realized that the extension cord that I had bought a week earlier was 2 prong.  My laptop charger is 3-pronged.  So off I went at too late an hour for starting such a gigantic exam the next morning to Walmart to buy a power strip.  Once I got back to the hotel I realized that it was too late, around 11 pm, for me to take tylenol PM and wake up the next morning without feeling groggy.  Little did I know at the time, but this was going to screw me over.  I didn't sleep.  I may have fallen asleep for 2 or 3 hours, but it was SO not enough.  The next morning sucked so bad.  My chest hurt, my back hurt and I was running on pure adrenaline for a while.  I took a bunch of ibuprofen in hopes that it would kick in quickly enough for me to be able to continue the exam and concentrate.  
    It wasn't enough.  My scores tell me that during the morning essay section I didn't do as well as on the afternoon portion.  It could be because of different subject matter in each, but I think it was the pain.  I was so distracted and worried about the pain in the morning that I did poorly on the morning section.  That's not to say that I didn't do well.  I actually scored 8/10 on 2 essays.  I also scored 2/10 on 2 essays.  The 8s were both in the afternoon, the 2s were in the morning. 
    I spent the whole of the 2 days in pain and wishing I could sleep.  Just a little nap would be enough.  I powered through the rest of the exam realizing I didn't have much else of a choice.  The bar exam isn't like any other test I've ever taken.  In high school, if I wasn't up for an exam I could skip the day and take it again some other time.  Same was mostly true for undergrad (so long as there was a valid reason).  Law school exams were brutal, but at least the deans knew that I was dealing with pain and if the pain got to be too much they would allow me to postpone exams.  The bar is such that in order to get special accommodations an applicant has to apply for them and show medical documentation  and then it gets decided on by a committee of some sort.  Since I had been fine for so long without any kind of pain, it didn't occur to me to even try for special accommodations.  Thinking back on it, I doubt that even if I tried I would have had them granted.  Chest and generalized body pain, while distracting, doesn't seem serious enough.  
    Anyway, by the time I was mid-exam, even if I wanted to, there was no way I could ask for a timeout from the exam.  As it was I worked as efficiently as possible while taking breaks to walk around and drink plenty of water and down lots of ibuprofen so that I could survive the whole process.  
    Leaving the exam I was ecstatic.  I felt pretty good about my performance.  I knew the stuff pretty well.  But its a curved exam and my score would depend on the scores of everyone else.  I had to hope that I was smarter and better prepared than at least 30% of the people in the room.  Surely I was. Right? Yes, of course.  But really?
    Turns out I may have been, but it wasn't enough.  I still failed.  By 8 points.  


- - - - 
In writing this story, I realized that it may take me several posts to complete it.  So bear with me.  Regularly scheduled programming will be coming soon. 

Vinegar!

    I love Vinegar.  Yes, it's amazing for chips and salad dressings, but that is not at all why I love it so.  This story starts several, dare I say maybe 10, years ago.  At the time we were living in Spain and one of the lady day talk shows was showing all natural recipes to make your hair gorgeous.  I remember them doing some form of a vinegar rinse and was mighty curious about it.  However, since at the time I was approximately 15 years old and did not have control of the kitchen nor of the grocery list, I couldn't try this rinse out.  
    Now fast forward to last year.  I was searching online for a quick easy way to clean shower heads.  I came upon this site.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered the vinegar rinse segment from a decade earlier and went about searching for what has turned out to be one of my favorite hair treatments EVER.  It is actually located o the same page near the end.  Here it is:

* Remove residue and styling product build up from hair: After shampooing, rinse your hair with a mixture of 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 warm water to remove all the build up and get rid of that dullness.

    Sounds super easy, right?  And it is!  All I do is put a cup to a cup and a half of vinegar to about the same amount of warm water in a mixing bowl, take it in with me to the bathroom, pour the mixture in my hair and sit in the filled up tub for about 10 minutes to let it soak in.  I know that the directions tell you to use the vinegar mix AFTER you shampoo.  But I do it before I shampoo and condition my hair as I don't want my head to smell like a bag of chips or salad dressing when I get out of the shower.  I know that washing my hair after the vinegar mix probably makes it less effective, but at least this way I don't end up smelling funky or making my pillow case smell funky as I normally wash my hair before bed.
    A word of caution: if you have scabs or scratches on your scalp due to scratching, the vinegar will sting, A LOT.  I did the vinegar rinse for my sister once and she had a few open spots from scratching her scalp and when the vinegar got in the wounds it stung. 
    The overall benefits are worth the sting.  My hair ends up super duper incredibly soft after a vinegar rinse and completely clear of all the gunk that shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner and anything else that I put in my hair from time to time that gets left behind despite washing it regularly.  Also, as I understand it, vinegar balances out the PH of your scalp as well which for some people is enough to clear up dandruff problems.  I definitely recommend this treatment and just know that you'll be impressed with how soft your hair can be too!


*This is my own review of something I tried.  No one in any way asked me to or encouraged me or is paying me for this.*   

Shades of Gray

    I took advantage of the wonderful turn in weather to whip out my tights.  I'm not sure if NC finally got the memo that it's officially fall or if it turned cool because of the rain the past week, but it is gorgeous out! I love when the weather turns cool.
    The cool weather also really makes me want to wear cooler colors.  Grays and blues are particular favorites.  I also love jewel tones when it turns cold.  I find that strong and bright colors keep me happy when the weather is less than ideal.  
    Anyway, so these are my gray flower patterned tights.  These are some of my favorite tights because from afar they look like plain gray tights.  However, when you look closer you can see that the tights have a subtle flower pattern.  It's like a secret super cool fashion statement.  It makes me happy. 
    So I have a question for you all.  What do you think of the proportions of this skirt?  Normally I think it works fine, but in looking at the picture to the left, I'm not 100% sure anymore.  If the skirt had a higher waist, I think the look to the left would look ok.  It might be that I've lost enough weight as of late so that the skirt no longer fits where its supposed to.  Either way, to me it seems that the skirt is too long or too low slung or both.  It just feels like too much solid black that isn't as flattering as it could be.  What do you all think, is this all in my head or am I on to something?  What would you do with a skirt like this, shorten it or tailor it to a higher waist or . . . ? 

The Details:
Shirt: New York & Co.
Skirt: Jones & Co.
Tights: Hanes Outlet
Heels: Bandolino





P.S. How awesome does my hair look in these pics?  No idea how the 100000% humidity didn't turn my hair into a gigantic ball of frizz, but this was a GREAT hair day.