A Hard Day's Work in Polka Dots

Today's Everybody Everywhere challenge was to incorporate polka dots into our outfits today. I've become a bigger fan of polka dots over the last couple of years, so have a handful of fun dotted pieces.



However, in picking my outfit today, the main limitation was the day's activities - the first day loading our group's opera production into the theater. Now through mid-April, I'm basically going to be busy on the opera. We've got a few days to setup now, then rehearsals, then performances, then we head off to Chicago and do it all over again! Exciting stuff.


This red shirt is one of my only polka-dotted pieces that is not a skirt or a dress. Add pants and flat shoes for climbing around in the theater, and all pieces that can handle a bit of heavy lifting.


Details: Red dotted shirt, Andrew and Co, thrifted. Pants, Old Navy. Tank: Express. Boots, Steve Madden, thrifted. Earrings, handmade.

Going to be a crazy busy few weeks...early mornings, late nights. Tonight may be the last evening for a while that I make it home reasonably. I'm not so good with the lack of sleep...but it should be a fun time.

Me-Made May 19 and 20

For Day 19, I went pretty simple. This was another day when I had to get by with just me-made jewelry, mostly because it was cold and raining and I really wanted to wear some warm clothing. This implies that I need to do some more sewing this weekend!


Details:
Jeans: Seven, thrifted.
Jewelry: me-made
Top: Banana Republic, thrifted.
Shoes: thrifted.


I've been finding it interesting to see how thrifting has allowed me to have some more "grown-up" brands in my closet... For example, I tend to really like things now from stores like Banana Republic and Ann Taylor. Back when I was doing my clothing shopping at the malls, I would only buy clothing from those stores on rare super-sale occasions, generally turning to Forever21 and Wet Seal instead (sometimes Express as well). At the dollar-a-pound I shop at now, I run into a fair amount of Banana Republic/Ann Taylor/various other more tailored/polished/adult-seeming brands...so my closet has gradually shifted. Anybody else experience this with thrift-store shopping?

Day 20: polka dots!


So there's a bit of a reason for this outfit... one of my favorite style bloggers, The Glamourai, (actually, she was one of the first style blogs I started following...) had a week of wearing multiple polka-dotted items, and encouraged others to try it as well and send her pictures. Thus, the dotted skirt paired with the tiny dots on the blouse collar and cuffs. (and I wore my trench coat with the pink/brown polka dot trim, but that was completely unintentional, I swear!)


Details:
Dotted skirt: Liz Claiborne, thrifted and refashioned.
White skirt: Forever21.
Black top with built in collar: Voice, thrifted.
Shoes: Steve Madden, thrifted.
Belt and bag: thrifted.

Anybody else glad it's almost the weekend?

Spring at last!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend! I know it was a beautiful spring weekend here in the Boston area...worth taking advantage of. This may have lead to a bit too little work-related activity, but it was worth it (I hope). I spent some time outside, a bit of time crafting (including a couple of things I'll post later), some time relaxing, and some time at the lab and working on the thesis. The boyfriend and I took a long walk down by the Charles River on Saturday, which was just terrific. Spring really is my favorite season, especially this brief spring period when everything starts flowering and it's just warm enough.


So this was my outfit Saturday. Everything is from the dollar-a-pound except the sandals, which are a few years old and showing it...there's a dry torn spot on the top of one foot that rubbed a hole in the top of one of my feet. Sunday I wore the red dress that I'd just refashioned and posted recently.


This was today's outfit, along the lines of that spring thing. It was a busy day today: meeting with my adviser in the morning, coding, group meeting, working on a class project, ending with a demo at 7PM. Plus I've had a little bit of cold-like symptoms since last night, so not sure what to make of that. Perhaps it's just allergies? Though I generally don't get seasonal allergies...


Today also proved appropriate to break out the trench coat! This is the first trench coat I've ever owned...a dollar-a-pound find... and I really love it so far! It's also got some lovely details like a silky pink-and-brown polka-dot piping.


Look! Toenail polish for the first time this year! Ignore the bandaid from Saturday's sandals...

Outfit details:
White lacy shirt: thrifted (dollar-a-pound)
Blue polka-dotted skirt: Liz Claiborne, thrifted (dollar-a-pound) and hemmed by me.
White skirt (used as petticoat): Forever21
Shoes: Naturalizer, thrifted (dollar-a-pound)
Coat: Suzuya, thrifted (dollar-a-pound)