Tag Archives: J.Crew

Something old, something new.

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Phew I made it to Friday – my last day home alone with the children.  Seriously, I admire all stay at home mums/moms/dads – their job is so much more difficult than going to the office.  As a treat for our last day together I took us all out for a late lunch at a local taco restaurant.  It was fun and the skinny margarita was a nice treat for me.

Organizing my new closet has reminded me of some lovely pieces I have that have been stored downstairs since the renovations started.  I found this lovely J.Crew jumper yesterday from 2010 – it has a lovely slit neck and is 100% cashmere.  I have to admit it looks far better without a t-shirt underneath but it was freezing yesterday and I felt the need for an extra layer.  It’ll look even better after I lose the last few pounds around my middle.  I’ve been in the gym every day this week and and can feel it starting to have an impact – I’ve even signed up for a free weight orientation next week – I’m going to start pumping iron!

Anyway – the J.Crew jumper is the something old – the something new are the Newbury charcoal suede boots.  No I have not broken my New Year’s resolution already – they have in fact been in my closet for over a month unworn.  After buying my leather Newburys and loving them to bits – I actually vacillated between the Isabel Marant Dickers and these suede Newburys.  I ordered them both and darn it ended up keeping both.  There is something really special about the Rag & Bone Newbury – which accounts for it’s immense popularity.  They are incredibly comfortable and worn with these black Gap jeans they made my legs feel like they go on forever.  Even though they are ‘charcoal’ they are much more of a ‘black’ suede and I love the contrast of the wooden heel.

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Before heading out I put on my Boden Chic leather biker jacket and my H&M sparkly scarf.  Lovely and toasty.

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Mr. UPS turned up in the afternoon with my fabulous sales haul (again bought before the end of the year!).  It was like Christmas all over again!

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My Vince Camuto fawna flats are just gorgeous!  If you are in the US I encourage you to order on the Vince Camuto website – I discovered an Extra25 code off sale items!  I had initially ordered them from Nordstrom – but one pair was canceled before shipping due to lack of inventory and then the pair that arrived were really disheveled looking – not happy but they are responsive on Twitter so the CS is making up for it.  These are the ones that arrived directly from Vince Camuto – with the code they were just $33 each!  Obviously I ordered the croissant color (pink/silver) too and they are on their way.

Caramel fawna:

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Cloud fawna:

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I’ll post on my other bits and bobs soon but needless to say the J.Crew velvet jeans are gorgeous as are the Hudson Leeloo tuxedo jeans that I found reduced on Zappos.com!

Happy weekend!! x

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Wish it was time for school!!

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We’re climbing the walls here.  MM is back at work and I am going stir crazy with 2 little ones at home.  Yesterday we spent the morning at the Y and then had a play date to keep them busy.  Today we headed out to Zoo Atlanta.  Far too cold for most animals to be out but at least my animals got to run around and let off some steam for a couple of hours.  They are now in front of The Aristocats for the afternoon:)

It was nice to get dressed after a day in work out gear – though it was definitely a day for layering.  I chose the emerald green Zara jeans – in the sale at $30 – (I dreamed about wearing them – I must be outfit planning in my sleep now…), paired with my H&M stripe t-shirt dress with my fab Boden Off Duty jumper.  I really do love the neck on this – really snuggly for a cold day like today – though I had to de-feather it after wearing it under my puffa the other day in NYC.  The boots are some old favorites – Frye Shirley over-the-knee.  They are buttery soft and super comfy because they are nice and flat – a beautiful riding boot that I also own in taupe.  Hurry quick to Zappos.com here as they’re reduced by nearly $100!

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So before we headed out I donned my J.Crew cashmere hat, H&M wrist warmers and a favorite coat from last year.  It’s a faux sheepskin waterfall coat from Marks & Spencer.  I bought it in their coat sale last December when I was back home.  I love it – really warm and stylish.  This might be the one that comes to the UK with me in February.  This is the closest to it I can see online, and online it is sold out, at just 30GBP in the sale.  If you are in the UK there may still be some in store – worth checking out!

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Now please send oodles of patience my way as I resolve conflicts over movie preferences….

 

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A New Year and a new closet!

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First let me tell you – if you did as I did and ordered in J.Crew‘s sale at the weekend, call them and ask them to apply the new 30% off sale prices STYLE2013 code to your order – they just did for me and have credited me $50 – brilliant customer service I have to say.

Another couple of sale purchases were made last night (trying to get it done before the New Year’s resolution etc…).  As MM was watching football I was surfing Nordstrom’s shoe sale.  It started with a want/need/itch – call it what you want – for some black and white ballet flats for the Spring to wear with my new J.Crew cafe capris.  Not willing to pay Chanel type prices but wanting a Chanel type shoe I thought Nordstrom would be the place to start.  Low and behold I found these beauties – the Vince Camuto Fawna.  Unfortunately, at 50% off I also thought I’d save more i.e. spend more, and I ordered the pink and caramel versions too!  They’re also available in the sale on the Vince Camuto site if you are in the US.

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So the Christmas tree is down today and the house is looking relatively normal again.  I have to say the Christmas present I am loving more and more each day is our new closet.  I am so thrilled we got it finished before the Holidays.  Each time I walk in there I feel giddy.  Everything is put away neatly, all within reach, and the best bit is we built it all ourselves – such a sense of accomplishment!  So as promised here are some photos of our new IKEA Pax closet – the steps are necessary for me to reach to top – we are using every inch of the room – and don’t worry MM has some space at the other end of the closet!

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Not much going on today – I nipped out to Trader Joe’s for some more Cava and Prosecco for tonight.  MM and I aren’t huge fans of New Year’s Eve – we always used to call it amateur night.  We’re much happier sitting in with a Chinese takeaway, some fizzy wine and Carson and Ryan on the t.v. – I am so ready for 2013 to start.  2012 has been an amazing year – and I am expecting great things from 2013.  We’re planning a year of travel and trips – no money on the house this year!  I hope 2013 brings you all health, wealth and happiness – and THANK YOU for being here – for reading, being interested and leaving comments and sending emails – it means more than you can possibly imagine.

So here’s the last outfit of 2012 – some sparkles and fur.  MM wanted to know where I was going clubbing when I nipped out to the shops:)  It’s time for the Target fur (reduced to $35 online), worn over a Zara t-shirt layered with an old, but favorite Diesel sequin t-shirt.  The jeans are Hudson Collins and the boots are the Isabel Marant Dickers.  HAPPY NEW YEAR! xx

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Sale purchases before 2013 starts!

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Yes my New Year’s resolution is to stop buying clothes – but fortunately New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken – no?  Before my shopping ban begins (please don’t re-read the blog to count how many times I said this in 2012…) I thought I’d share with you a few of the sale purchases and non-sale purchases that I’ve made over the Holiday.

Amazingly I spent all of $50 in NYC – I really tried to spend more but just wasn’t in ‘shopping mood’ – the irony hey – 3 days in shopping heaven and not in the mood!  On Friday, before heading to the airport, I did manage to buy a couple of hats (of the woolly variety) and these herringbone trousers from J.Crew that were marked down in store to $20!

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Before the Holidays I’d bought another couple of pairs of their cafe capris for Spring.  I must be pining for some bright colors as I bought the green and guava – they’ll look great with ballet flats.  They’re a great price right now, starting at $35, with free shipping using FREESHIP code.

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Also remember a while ago when I blogged about J.Crew – I was lusting after these velvet pants?  I was hoping they would be reduced further but this pink color has proven popular so I snapped them up at $80 reduced from $110 – not a huge saving admittedly – but while they had my size in I quickly swooped.

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This heartbreaker sweater is super cute too and will go with the pink trousers perfectly!

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My last couple of purchases are from Zara’s current collection.  Regarding their sale – I either have everything that I wanted or the mark downs were not significant enough to tempt me.  I love these two jackets though, and was happy to pay full price instead of wait 6 months for the next sale.  The sizing is random as I had to return the black and white striped one for a smaller size.

I can’t wait to wear this with my leather trousers or with simple white capris in the spring.  It’s linen mix and unlined so will work in warmer weather too.

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Then this tartan blazer is fun and will look great with just blue jeans and a white t-shirt.

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Now one final fun purchase for the Bet Lynch in me.  I love this leopard print jacket from Forever 21 – I know some will despise it – but indulge me – I promise it will be great with all black.  I doubt I’ll be wearing it as modeled here, as reluctantly I have come to terms with the fact that I am not forever 21.

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What are your favorite Holiday/sale purchases?

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Some love for J.Crew.

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My style isn’t at all preppy but I love J.Crew for certain items.  I’ve received a few inquiries about my shorts and they are all from J.Crew.  Their cashmere comes in great colors and I also have a couple of classic blazers from there.  Recently, each time I get a new catalogue from them, I find there is more I love.  There are some amazing jewel tones and lovely plush fabrics for winter.  The great news for all you in the UK is that J.Crew will ship to the UK and they are available through Net-a-porter.com, plus they are planning to open their first store there in 2013.

Some of my current favorites include the following.  These toothpick jeans in velvet mauve blush are just gorgeous.

Their ever popular Minnie pant is now available in the color of the season – cabernet.

The school boy blazer in boulevard green is stunning – I love this color – and I think I need this jacket especially as the model is wearing glasses too:)

Their flats are lovely and come in an array of colors, prints and styles – this might be the time to try something other than my beloved Tory Burch flats.  The Mila is gorgeous and would look fab with those velvet trousers!  I just wish there were reviews online for how the shoes fit – reviews really help for those of us between sizes.

My outfit today is very autumnal – lots of muted tones.  The Must have Jumper is one of my favorite items from Boden – I love the cut and the 3/4 length sleeves are great for layering over a long sleeved tee.  The one I’m wearing today is a Boden essential t-shirt from last Fall.  Jeans are Hudson and the boots are Sam Edelman Lisle in British Burgundy.  I love these boots – they are a very similar shape, if not the same, as the Louie boot, but these have a lovely rose gold zipper at the back.  Back zippers seem to be very popular this season on boots.  The leather is quite distressed which I think looks great in this color and will look even better after a few wears.  An added bonus – they are incredibly comfortable.  Sorry my photos have come out dark today – must be the impact of the dark Atlanta skies.

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Fall Telly.

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I am ridiculously excited about this Sunday evening.  No I’m not being wined and dined, nor are we expecting guests…the new seasons of Homeland and Dexter start!  How sad am I?

Bored to tears with Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, Real Housewives etc…I have recently been exploring the pleasures of On Demand viewing.  I have watched Season 1 of Girls, Season 1 and 2 of Game of Thrones (appeals to my inner dork), Season 1 of Homeland plus I am completely up to date on Dexter.  The correlation of my increased t.v. viewing with the start of the football season is no coincidence.  There is no greater way to watch a mini series than from beginning to end with no commercial breaks – bliss!  Now my only debate is do I watch the new season live or should I DVR it so I can enjoy without commercials?…The latter I think!

I’ll be ready for a bit of sofa surfing on Sunday as we have another jam packed weekend with birthday parties and swimming lessons – plus on Sunday afternoon we are having a photo session with Muddy Faces on a farm.  Karen who is the photographer is amazing and has a real knack for taking natural, uncontrived photos, and I am so excited about getting some lovely portraits of the children.  I refuse to buy the school portraits that have the naff, fake backgrounds on them.

Today I’m wearing my J.Crew shorts in Casablanca blue – these are 5″ ones and were bought in the sale – they are so comfortable and a great length – not too revealing – but nowhere near the knees either.  With them I’m wearing my Primark t-shirt with the bus heading to Croydon, with my Zara off white jersey jacket and Sam Edelman Louie boots.  I’ve decided if I wear shorts I can wear boots, but it’s still too warm for jeans and boots together.

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Amazing Georgia.

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I hate to sound like a broken record…but…the weather here is incredible right now.  Temperatures have dropped, the sky is bright blue without a cloud in sight – just amazing.  Unfortunately much of Saturday was spent inside the YMCA.  Poppy had her first swim meet.  We were incredibly excited and nervous as it’s a pretty big deal for a 6 yr old and her parents.  The great thing about the Y is that it’s not too intense – they a racing for fun – and the parents and coaches are all pretty relaxed.  However no one told me how many kids would be there nor how long we would be there!  If I tell you that Poppy’s races were #21 and #33 that will give you some idea!  I’m not sure how many different events there were in total, but safe to say a lot – relays, individuals, 50 and 25 – then multiply that by all age groups up to 17!  Some kids had event #70 written on their arm!!  All in all we were there from 1.30pm till 6.30pm for just 2 races – having said that we had a blast and Poppy loved it.  I was so proud of her dealing with it all – from the long lines for races to the pressure of a starting block start – she looked a real pro at just 6!  My heart was in my mouth for both her races but as always we tend to underestimate our children’s resilience and ability and she did brilliantly.

In order to get some fresh air after Saturday we headed up to North Georgia yesterday.  When we are out and about I always wish we did it more often.  Georgia truly is amazing and the mountains were stunning yesterday.  We headed to Amicalola Falls and needless to say after marching to the top and then using the many, many steps to walk down by the side of the Falls, my legs and butt are killing me today.  Stairs really do use muscles that no other exercise can!

It’s definitely layering weather as it was freezing at the bus stop this morning.  I took Tennyson for a walk this morning and it was lovely and brisk – when we were walking up the driveway back to the house I gasped as Bambi ran across the lawn – breathtaking and a brilliant way to start the week.

I opted for my fab Zara red jeans today – at just $35 they are a great price – but as always with Zara their sizing is random.  I was certain I’d be a US 8 as Zara tend to fit small but I ended up with a US 6 as there is so much stretch in these and I can’t stand jeans that get baggy over the course of a day.  I’m wearing them with my Express black tank, J.Crew black boyfriend cardigan from a couple of years ago, and my fabulous Sam Edelman Alvins in leopard print – probably the most comfortable shoes I own.

 

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Weekend outfits.

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Thursday night was fab – the meet and greet was so much fun and we’re lucky we have a great bunch of parents and a fabulous teacher for our class.  I decided to wear my loud Zara snake print pants – they are lush.  They have so many colors in them – pink, taupe, green, and the zips at the ankle – I will wear these a lot through Fall and they’ll also look great with boots or my Ash trainers.  The shirt is a really old Zara shirt – their basic shirts are fabulous and wear well – they have a similar style this season with an elastic waist which is lovely in all three colors.  Of course I have on here my trusty Tory Burch Eddies in Camilla pink – I wanted to wear heels but hate clomping around on someone else’s hardwoods in heels – I never walk on mine in them so why would I risk damaging someone else’s?!

Fall has absolutely arrived here – the weather is stunning.  Clear air with no humidity, bright blue skies and stunning sunshine – this is my favorite time in Atlanta.  Yesterday was Fall Festival at Hugh’s daycare – pony rides, fire trucks, bouncy castles etc and we had a great time – another family not so much – as their kid got off the bouncy castle with the worse bloody nose ever, poor guy!  I wore my new Ash Bowie trainers – just gorgeous soft leather and perfect for this kind of event.  Kat over at Doesmybumlook40 has a fab blog on wedge trainers today.  She introduced them to me as I see very few Ash over here but Nordstrom‘s do sell them.  I ordered mine on Amazon but they do have an online store here too but a lot of sizes are out.  These are another pair that I love from Steve Madden – the Hilight available in a variety of colors – a complete rip off of the Isabel Marant style but only $150.  Steve Madden has a plethora of wedge sneakers here this season.

I went casual with J.Crew selvedge denim shorts and my Top Shop t-shirt bought back in the UK in June – though I did notice that Top Shop is now available here in Nordstrom – exciting!

Off to spend the day by the pool today so there’ll be no outfit photos this evening:)
A big thank you to all of your comments on the Warby Parker frames too – you can see them all here!

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Meet the parents.

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So tonight we have our parent/teacher party.  We didn’t go last year so I’m really not sure what I’m in for but basically one set of parents from the class has kindly offered to host a ‘meet and greet’ where all the parents get to mingle and meet the teacher in a relaxed, informal environment.  It’s also a potluck where we can take an appetizer, dessert or wine – guess who’s taking wine?  Yep me – partly because I want to make sure there is some there and partly because I am rubbish at being organized enough to prepare something to take.  As MM and I had to organize a babysitter for the evening we have decided to get our moneys worth and head out afterwards for some fun:)  I can’t wait – it feels a bit naughty on a school night!

Given my daughter and her friend have already been to the Principle’s office just 5 weeks into the year (the shame!) it should be interesting!  MM is quite proud of her achievements, and after getting 2 yellow lights in 2 days he has suggested encouraging her to just go for it this September and get it all out of her system.  As you can imagine I don’t quite approve of this approach – but I’m also quite proud of us for dealing with it in such a relaxed fashion – she is only 6 after all and she has been quite remorseful – at least in front of us!  In my eyes they were fairly minor offenses and I’m happy for the discipline to be handed out at school – we’ve obviously discussed it at home and I think she’s got the message.  My dentist is also a parent at the school and yesterday she made me feel so much better when she told me she had received 3 calls from her son’s teacher in just one day last week – relating parenting nightmares is always fun and it’s nice to be reassured that we can all be as incompetent as each other sometimes:)

So hopefully I’ll have another outfit shot tonight to share – not sure what to wear at all given it’s relaxed and informal but I go out so rarely it’s always nice to make a bit of an effort:)

Today I decided to wear a skirt – mainly because I wanted to wear my Frye Sabrinas and they look so much better with skirts than trousers – these clay ones are currently on sale at Zappos.com.  This is an old J.Crew linen skirt worn with an Express tank and H&M linen jumper.  The necklace is an old J.Crew outlet one which I love – it’s like the blue one I wore here.

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Remembering.

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I cried this morning.  Listening to ‘Imagine’ on the radio just made it worse.  As I took Tennyson out for a walk it dawned on me that it was 9/11 again.  I immediately had a flash back – I remember it all so well.  I was driving to work here in Atlanta, running late, it had just gone 9am and the radio announcer said they were getting reports that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.  I was shocked but somewhat dismissed it as a dreadful, unfortunate accident.  As the morning unfolded it turned out to be far more sinister than that.  I remember feeling guilty because I was so irritated when all air traffic was grounded as my sister was supposed to be flying out here on the 13th and I so wanted to see her.  There were many people who would now never see their siblings again.  Even for those of us who were no where near NYC that day it still feels very raw, we will carry memories of that day forever.  So peace and love to all, and we will never forget.

Shifting gears now to something far more trite and inconsequential – clothes and hair.

Inspired by Miley’s new look (totally wrong for a 41 year old to be inspired by Miley Cyrus) and Pink’s hair at the VMA awards (again totally wrong of me) I decided to try and go for bigger hair up top today using a bit of pomade – I quite like it for a change:)

I’m wearing my Zara floral jacket and in attempt to transition it to Fall I wore a darker blue Boden long sleeved essential tee from last Fall.  I love these t-shirts – they are so soft and stretchy and great quality.  I’m in my Gap boyfriend jeans and my Tory Burch Revas in hibiscus pink – the necklace is an old J.Crew Factory store one that I bought years ago.  I’m making an attempt to be more thoughtful about accessorizing – accessories are the first thing to be forgotten about if I’m in a hurry in the morning.

My final order from Zara arrived yesterday – final for now anyway – remember I am going cold turkey.  It’s a stunning blue jacket that I just love – it will look great with jeans and tan ankle boots.  I love the gathered shoulders too – I know I will wear this a lot.  Question is do I get the most out of it and start wearing it now or wait to wear it in October when MM and I are off to a trade show in Louisville (oh the glamour!)?  I’m thinking if one really likes something then surely it makes sense to wear it and enjoy it – but nervous about that approach as I know I will want something new to wear come trade show time!

 

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