A few of this week's outfits & 2 little cuties

Yesterday I wore my cheery yellow skirt as part of an outfit inspired by Kendi. See her version here. I liked the idea of pairing my gold skirt with this dark navy polka dot blouse and then adding the contrasting maroon color with the tights. My husband even commented that he liked the tights.

Dark Navy Polka Dot Blouse (LOFT)
Field Skirt (Anthropologie)
Looping Lanes Belt (Anthropologie)
Maroon Tights (Hue)
Wedges (Target)

Close up of navy & white polka dots with gold & brown:



My other outfit is from Wednesday and it was just something that I threw together quickly. The flash was so bright when this picture was taken that it's hard to see the white top part of the dress that I wore under the red cardigan.

Jacqueline Dress (Anthropologie)
Breezy Polkas Cardigan (Anthropologie)
Grey Snakebite Belt (Anthropologie)
Fishnets Tights (JCPennys)
Red Mary-Janes (Kohls)

Close up of the texture of the tights and my red shoes:



And here are my two cute furballs wondering why I'm taking pictures of my shoes. ;-)
Jefferson:


Bailey:

Random Thoughts

First of all, THANK YOU so much for all of your wonderful messages in response to my baby news! I appreciate all the support and encouragement. I've been really excited to tell all of you and I'm so happy to be a part of a blogging community that is so kind and supportive.

--I had a doctors appointment this morning and got to hear the heartbeat! I'm scheduled for a sono on Feb. 21 and we'll get to find out if it's a boy or a girl. Yay! Can't wait!

--Someone asked if we've started thinking of names. We have but we're going to keep it a secret until the baby is born. ;-) We like names that are a bit unusual (not made up names, just not super traditional). We're getting inspiration from Greek mythology, Latin, Italian, and interesting people in history. Boy names have been more difficult for us. Surprisingly it's been my husband who has been much better at this than me! It's so cute to see him get really into it and he's spent hours looking at baby name websites and making lists for me.

--I just saw this morning that the UK-based clothing store Boden has a new maternity line! Check it out here. Cute stuff! I especially love this dress:


--In non-baby news, I've been kind of shoe-obsessed lately. The black boots I was wearing in my previous post are new. They're J Crew via Ebay. I've been stalking that particular style for over a year and finally found them for an amazing buy-it-now price so I had to pounce. Love them!

--I've also been thinking ahead to footwear for spring and summer. I like the Seychelles "Get Outta Town" flats that were popular last year and you can still find a few available online. My favorites are the yellow and the pewter. I also like the Seychelles "Bette" flats (a few still left online in limited colors and sizes). But then Jan posted a link last night to the Seychelles "Cream of the Crop" sandals and I like them even better! A little more searching led me to a similar pair on Target's website. I'm going to try to track them down later this week and see how I like the color and fit. Has anyone else come across these at their local Target store? If so, please let us know what you thought of them!

--Besides babies and shoes, I've been thinking about how awesome the movie "The King's Speech" was. Has anyone else seen it yet? Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush were excellent, as I expected. I hope it wins a bunch of awards because they will be well-deserved!

--Last, I've been getting back to reading on my Kindle a little bit everyday after neglecting it for a few weeks. I'm more than half-way done with The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I'll try to post a review when I'm finished. In the meantime, check out this recent post by Tania, fashion-blogger and fellow-academic, who gave some great book recommendations. I second Atonement and Dracula as must-reads, and I've already added Ex Libris and White Teeth to my "to-read" list.

Well, I better get back to work (writing and researching)! Have a great day everyone!

Exciting News!

I've got some exciting news to share! It's been hard to keep it a secret but I had to wait until we'd told our family.

We're having a baby! I'm due at the beginning of August. It wasn't totally planned but we're really excited.

I still plan to keep this blog mostly focused on fashion / Anthro, but I'll share some occasional baby updates and you'll see my bump get bigger as I try to retain the essence of my usual style. Any tips on maternity wear, maternity fashion blogs, or just any pregnancy-related links or advice you found useful are welcome! :-) Fashion-wise, I'm excited that one of my favorite bloggers, S. from Academichic is also pregnant (and only about 2 weeks ahead of me) so I'll be able to get some inspiration from her and the archives of one of her co-bloggers E. who documented her pregnancy fashion two years ago.

I'm not showing much yet and still able to wear all of my regular clothes. I think stretchy dresses like this one will soon be my preferred choice though!



Here's a little bump shot. I'm exaggerating it a bit here. I've never had a flat stomach (even when I was thin). Sometimes it sticks out a bit but mostly you can't really tell yet.



It will be fun sharing my journey with all of you!

OOTD: Shades of Brown

This was yesterday's outfit. It's not a lot different than how I've worn the dress before but I like the two different shades of brown together from my cardigan/tights and belt/shoes. This is definitely one of my favorite dresses ever! :-) It's been a little bit warmer lately in north Florida (sorry to everyone who is stuck in the snow!) so I opted for a short sleeve cardigan but I did grab my trench coat as I walked out of the door. It seems that Florida can't quite decide if we're done with winter and ready to start spring.

Southward Stop Dress (Anthropologie)
Brown Cardigan (LOFT)
Looping Lanes Belt (Anthropologie)
Brown Herringbone Tights (Kohls)
Brown Wedges (Target)
Initial Necklace (Urban Outfitters)

Who else is looking forward to the weekend??!! We don't have any plans but I'm just looking forward to spending some time with my sweetie. :-)

OOTD: Seeing Spots

Today I enjoyed my day off and got to have lunch with my friend Sara (Mommyland) & her adorable little Sydney at our favorite local Thai restaurant. It was a rainy, grey day so I wanted to wear something vibrant to brighten it up. I don't wear red that often but I love my new Breezy Polkas cardigan which I debuted with my Mullany dress. My outfit was inspired by another stylish Sara (You, Me & Anthropologie) and Jen (Vintageglammz) -- see their cute outfits here and here. Edited to add: Ooops, I forgot another lovely blogger who rocked the Mullany Dress with red cardigan ensemble: the always beautiful Anjali (Goldenmeans), seen here. [Thanks for reminding me Jen!]

Here's my version:

Mullany Dress (Anthro)
Skinny Black Belt (J Crew)
Breezy Polkas Cardigan (Anthro)
Black Knit Tights (JC Pennys)
Black Shoes (Steinmart)

The rain has finally stopped here and I'm looking forward to a short but hopefully productive work week starting tomorrow. :-)

OOTD: True Grit

Yesterday we went to see True Grit and fittingly I wore my boots. They aren't exactly cowboy boots, but I felt like I could have hopped on a horse and taken a ride. ;-) I can't say the movie was my favorite that I've seen recently, but it was interesting as a period piece. No matter what the story line is, I always enjoy seeing films set in the period from the 1870's to the early part of the 20th century. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I also study that time period in literature and I find it to be one of the most fascinating times in American history.

Cardigan & Shirt: LOFT
Cords, Boots & Necklace: Anthropologie

OOTD: Grey & Yellow

Just a quick OOTD post (this was actually Wednesday's outfit). I love grey & yellow together!

Yellow Cardigan (Bealls)
Ruffly Blouse (LOFT)
Peppered & Striped Skirt (Anthro)
Grey Tights (Target)
Hallowed Halls Oxfords (Anthro)

Happy Friday! :-)

Chilly Day / Chili Night

I know what you're thinking: two posts from me in one day?! I've been pretty productive today and even managed to get a picture of my OOTD when my husband got home from work tonight, so I thought I'd go ahead and blog it. ;-) It was super cold today so I had to pull out a sweater I haven't worn in awhile and do some layering to stay warm. The weather made it a perfect night to make chili for dinner and now we're all snuggled up on the couch together.

Here's my OOTD (sorry about the red-eye but I couldn't get my photo-editing program to work and gave up).

Sweater: Eddie Bauer
Long-Sleeve Grey t-shirt: Gap
Belt: Anthropologie
Skirt: Ruche (Christmas gift from MIL!)
Tights: Kohls
Boots: Anthropologie

Stay warm everyone!

Love My Shoes

If you love shoes as much as I do, then get over to In Pursuit of Pretty Things for their awesome giveaway! You could win an adorable new book called Shoe-La-La and a $50 Zappos giftcard.

While you're there, check out Carol's crafty project for creating your own custom party shoes. How cute!

Carol asked those who enter to also share their most memorable shoe story. Currently my favorite shoes are probably my boots, my Target wedges, or my new Hallowed Halls Oxfords. But if I'm thinking of most memorable shoes, I've got to go back a little further in time. Even though I have had lots of shoes that I've loved over the years, one pair from high school sticks out in my memory. I can't remember the brand but they were brown platform sandals and I wore them all the time. In fact, my three best friends all had a pair too! We wore them with our graduation gowns and somewhere there is a picture of us showing them off on graduation day but I can't find it. [Sara, if you're reading this, do you have a copy of that picture?] I did a quick search through some old photos and was able to find a couple of pictures of me wearing the sandals during my first year of college, so I'll include those even though they aren't the greatest quality photos. Please excuse the dorky outfit! I have no idea why I thought it would be cool to wear these with shorts!

Here I am at 19 wearing my favorite shoes:





Pictures taken in Tampa, circa summer 1999.

So, which shoes stick out in your memory as favorites?

Weekend OOTD's

I hope everyone had a fun weekend! I was proud of myself for actually remembering to get pictures of both of my outfits this weekend! :-)

On Saturday we had to do some errands and met my mom for lunch. I've been wanting to try my new yellow skirt with boots so I put together this outfit. It turns out that I unintentionally dressed myself in my old high school colors! haha Go Pirates! ;-)

Blooming Lattice Cardigan (Anthro)
Blue Book Blouse (Anthro)
Field Skirt (Anthro)
Initial Necklace (Urban Outfitters)
Navy Tights (Walmart)
Berry Stitched Boots (Anthro)

Yesterday we decided to bundle up and spend some time outdoors, so we went for a long walk at the Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens. We've done the shorter trail before but this time we did the long trail that goes around the whole place and it was so much fun! We then promptly canceled out all of that exercise by pigging out on cheese fries and zingers. ;-) A trip to Target finished off our weekend. Here's what I wore under my coat on Sunday. This isn't the greatest picture of me but I like this casual outfit. I told my husband that this is my "If Dorothy wore jeans" outfit. Red shoes + blue gingham = Dorothy to me! :-)

Shirt: Old Navy (Christmas present from husband!)
Tank: Bealls
Jeans: Old Navy
Red Shoes: Naturalizer via Kohls

Well, it's time for me to get back to work and do something productive today! This rainy, gloomy day isn't helping though. Maybe I'll wear something bright today to counteract the gray skies outside. :-)

OOTD: Pink & Ruffles

Just a quick OOTD post today! I'm loving my Tria sweater skirt that I got for Christmas. Today I paired it with an old pink cardigan and my favorite tights.

Pink Cardigan & Cami (LOFT)
Tria Sweater Skirt (Anthro)
Berry Bush Tights (Anthro)
Wedges (Target)
Pessinus Garden Necklace (Anthro)

Have a nice weekend everyone!! :-)