Tag Archives: RIver Island

{ Architecture of an Outfit } Smart packing, convertible dress

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When we were in Las Vegas last week, being there for only three days, I made sure to pack my Limitless Dress by Emami, knowing that I needed a good array of outfits.

Getting away for a few moments by ourselves, we went out to dinner one night, and Nate surprised me the next day with tickets to Mystere by Cirque du Soleil. Having only one “night out” outfit, I made do with the Limitless Dress by Emami. Considering it’s a convertible dress that can be worn 30-40 ways, I think I was covered. The smartest thing I can do is wear a convertible dress from Iceland.

Here are the two ways I wore it.

To dinner. Bat wing sweater, front, back.




For the long skirt, the tube top comes down to the waist, the cape portion of the dress comes up from behind and ties around the waist. How to video 1 here. Video 2 here.

Version 2, a bit dressier for Cirque du Soleil… I didn’t realize my chest size makes the dress a bit sluttier than it is on the model in the instructional video. Oops.




Outfit Architectures: Emami Limitless Dress, Emami Bow Leggings, Norma Kamali bat wing sweater, Target knee highs, River Island cage heels, Causeway Mall bib necklace, Merona men style gold watch, Wendy Mink hammered gold vermeil cuff, Sole Sisters infinity earrings, Alex & Ani recycled spike bangles via Charlie & Lee.

Might’ve been hotter if I didn’t wear the cross-back bra, but I needed support for The Girls. Didn’t know I had these, did you? I told you I hide them.

Worn with my River Island cage heels and Emami Bow Leggings.

The dress is genius, because you can eat as much as you want and it’ll hide even the most onerous muffin top. Seriously. I wore it as a harem pant and a tent dress as well during the trip. 1 dress. 40 ways. Smart packing. I tell you.

SUH-MART.

{ What’s the smartest thing you take with you on trips? }

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{ Architecture of an Outfit } Very Merry Anniversary

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As you know (because I posted about it), my husband N and I have been married for a year as of Monday. Yea!

Too lazy for tripod, I’ve reverted to MySpace style cam whoring. Sorry. You’ll just have to deal with the mirror shots until I get unlazy for the tripod.


We don’t normally go out to eat at super nice places, due to the fact that we are on a budget, saving for our Honeymoon later this month (going to Iceland & UK), and also because N works about 75-80 hours a week with his design firm and full-time day job. So having an anniversary kind of was a nice excuse to go out a couple nights this week and do non-work-y things.

Well, okay, we also don’t go out, because it recently dawned upon us that while we don’t have the stereo-typical/proverbial attitude of the stigmatized lot, we have the tastes, preferences, and sometimes, regrettably, the prejudices of the lot. It has come to our attention that we are undeniably and unalterably, and absolutely embarrassingly: YUPPIES. What are the usual haunts of yuppies? Nice restaurants that serve really yummy food in a range of cuisines, but mainly serving really top notch seafood (fish–a Mae preference), and a tip-top scotch selection (an N requirement). And, while you can often visit an array of restaurants possessing these features in a low to moderate price range, N and I seem to inadvertently frequent establishments that result in food bills that go into the lower triple digits–not very friendly to those living on a budget… what the hell is wrong with us? Two middle-class nerds somehow grew up and became… yuppies? Snobs?

Uh, I thought you were supposed to grow up and achieve your dreams? I thought nerds were never supposed to grow up?

What happened? Oiye vey.

Anyway… I wore this. I’m annoyed with myself right now, so I’m not even going to talk about the outfit. It bears no description.

{ Outfit Architecture: Dress, Hyden Yoo, via Gilt Group. Statement collar necklace, Forever 21. Shoes, River Island (UK Brand). Bag, 1 of a kind design by Ployy. }

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{ Architecture of an Outfit } Dots and Lines (Opposing prints yet again.)

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If you couldn’t tell by now, I am an extreme fan of opposing prints.

This was worn on Tuesday, 8/4.

{ Outfit Architecture: striped t, J. Crew. Full skirt, Club Monaco. Belt, Forever 21. Cage heel wedges, River Island. Rings, Old Navy, J. Crew. Bow necklace, Modcloth. Watch, Merona via Target. }

Not much to say. I’m currently taking care of my mother in law’s dog while she’s out of town. Max, my dog, is a handful on his own–any 45lb Terrier would be. However, I am also on my own this weekend as N is out of town on business. B, an un-trained, spoiled dog who thinks he’s the king of the castle, who also marks every person’s house. I put him in makeshift diapers, and had to buy him a check-collar after he gave me carpal tunnel issues in my left wrist from yanking me around on the leash. The check collar definitely put him in his place. Little fucker.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for 25£ ($38USD) to ASOS! CLICK HERE! Giveaway closes on 8/13!

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{ Architecture of an Outfit } House Hunting in Stripes

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I wore this to the office and then immediately met the husby at a cute, character home in a historic, generally super expensive neighbourhood with million dollar homes for some house hunting fun.




{ Outfit Architecture: Shoes! River Island (thanks, Roland!). Pouf sleeve dress, belt: Forever 21. Flounce skirt, J. Crew. Watch, Random boutique in Detroit. Necklace, Jessica Simpson via Lauryn of Laureality. (Thanks, Lauryn!) }

The weather was insane on Tuesday. 91F, thunderstormy and totally humid. The day was actually 94F while we were house hunting, the house was already empty, since before March, and none of the A/C was running, so the house was baking. With the humidity, at 98%, the weather felt more like 104F.

The house was a gorgeous 1.4 acre lot with a 1 acre back yard, complete with a garden, manicured lawn, white picket fence, a POND, and a cabana with a hot tub in it. The house itself was a 1950′s charmer with 3 bedrooms, a library, formal dining room and living room and a partially finished basement. The upstairs needed no work except for the bathroom, but the downstairs needed a complete overhaul and the basement was partially finished but needed 100% work. There were spiders all over the place in the two bottom floors and on top of all the pests in the house, there was a decomposing raccoon right outside the cabana and hot tub… The cabana also was not sealed and had creepy crawly nests and webs all over the place. The kitchen was cramped, too. Being a cook, I would hate to turn around and accidentally stab someone, like husby, who sometimes likes to surprise me (and then pants me–he’s so mature).

And I would be 100% completely clueless with a separate family room and dining room. Honestly, the idea of having two separate rooms is silly to me, because in society today, we entertain others and ourselves in the same room. Having a formal anything other than a dining room doesn’t work with our lifestyle.

But the living room was amazing. A great old fireplace with a real mantel. We currently only have a mirror. (As you might be able to tell.) And a library with cute built-ins and lots of natural light. Who can say, “our house has a library”? It’s just so awesome.




A big yard with a pond and lawn that gets daylight all day long, perfect for a big dog who likes running around, and for a couple who love cooking and want a garden instead of a tiny little deck with a container garden. I loved it.

But then I started thinking… a couple with one partner who works 90 hours a week, and a wife who works 45-50 hours a week, plus does all the cooking and laundry? Who would manage the renovations? and once the house was ready to move in, who would be cleaning, and also maintaining the 1 acre of land? The little wife of 105lbs and no muscle. I think if we were probably in our late 30s with our kids and 2 dogs, this house might’ve been 100% percent perfect for us, but we’re not there yet. Which is sad, because this house, in this historic neighbourhood, would only appreciate more. In its heyday, I’m quite sure this house probably fetched upwards of $650K. Probably when the housing market was at its highest, this lot was probably closer to 800K or 900K because of the space.

In the end, as charming and full of potential the house was, I ended up saying, no way. I think the decaying raccoon was the Powers that Be giving us a sign to move on. I’m a bit sad, but a bit not.

A house I was looking at in another awesome neighborhood has dropped in price by $14K just as of today. I just creamed my pants a little.

Have you ever wanted something so badly and thought it was a super great purchase (big or small), but then were completely let down when the final product reached your hands? Tell me! I’m all ears.

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{ Architecture of an Outfit } Boating Chic? or Wanna-be Parisian?

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What kind of style is this outfit? I feel it kind of reminds me of Parisian school kids with the hat and the bow scarf. Of course the shoes keep it funky and sassy.



Much props to my good friend Roland, who purchased the shoes on my behalf from River Island and posted them to me. Curse these great UK brands who don’t ship to North America! Blast you, H&M, blast you, Zara! The shoes have a decent heel and are so fucking comfortable with the wedge heel. I love the suede mummy straps. I’ve been searching for over a year for a replacement for my Jeffrey Campbell Camp shoes which broke during my bachelorette party when I was partying so hard in a tequila-induced mental fog, I managed to break one of the wooden soles in half without even noticing the splintering until I got home and the shroud of drunken frenzy had lifted. Sigh. I am so, so happy now that I have the replacements.

It sucked that day (Tuesday), because it was so hot, by the time I got done with my 15 minute commute home, I ended up drenched in sweat and moisture was dripping down my back. I stopped by my neighbour’s house and we chatted for 30 minutes on the sidewalk while she watered her plants. I walked into the house needing to throw on the hat just for taking photos, because it looked like I had swum home. Ugh.

It was so hot 94F with 98% humidity index, making it feel like 104F. Since we keep the house pretty warm in the summers to save energy (76F inside), it can sometimes feel almost unbearable when outside is insane.

I turn to all-natural fruit Popsicles to keep me cool. They are so dear and necessary, I am unwilling to let one go when I’m taking photos. Whole Foods 365 organic brand is so awesome. If you get the chance, drop by a WF and grab a box of 4 all-natural fruit pops with real chunks of fruit. I always get the mango bars.

BLOOPERS!

Didn’t have the timer on.

With humidity and temperatures soaring, it’s important to remember to hydrate and keep yourself cool. You need to hydrate yourself a lot more frequently than you do in normal weather. Keep your pets out of cars and inside the house, make sure to hydrate them properly as well.

I love to draw the blinds to keep the sun out and the house cool (we have east-west facing windows, so our house gets natural light all hours of the day. However, with a west facing back wall with our deck and our bedroom window, the sides of the house where we spend a lot of room in the evening (at least me) get really hot! So I come home at lunch and draw the curtains closed to keep the house cool. The house plants don’t like it very much, and the dog gets sadder with a dark house. But with the house dark, I can cozy up on the couch (with a pile of laundry) and watch movies while I work without sweating to death.

I hate it when it gets hot. When I sweat too much, I feel dirty and really, really, really gross.

What do you do to deal with the heat?

{ Outfit Architecture: Dress, Hyden Yoo via Gilt Group. Belt, scarf, Forever 21. Shoes, River Island. Hat, Target. }

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