Loop Looks

Jacket – J.Crew via ebay (similar) | Shirt – The Limited (similar) | Jeans – Express via Poshmark | Shoes – MIA via Macy’s | (similar)

Today I am not in the office. I’m in the car headed to Urbana, Illinois to get ready to run 3.1 miles this evening and 26.2 miles tomorrow. But, I always feel better and more alive when I throw on a classy jacket with my jeans so even though I’m not going to the office I decided not to dress like a schlub.

I probably would wear this outfit to the office, though. A tweed jacket always classes up an outfit and this J. Crew one especially seems made to take a jeans and a shirt outfit to the next level.   Jill at Good Life for Less is the one who inspired me to purchase this jacket because I loved the way it made her simple outfits look amazing.

Oh, by the way, I also took Monday off work so my hope is to share my marathon outfit and story with you then. Fingers crossed it’s a good one!

Enjoy your weekend!

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As I mentioned on Friday, I’m in Phoenix this week for a conference for work. I’m both attending and presenting at the conference and let’s just say I’m mostly excited to go somewhere WARM and SUNNY! Chicago weather is really getting me down. It snowed on Saturday, people. Snowed. Anyway, Phoenix’s 80 degree weather will be a treat but packing for it was a bit challenging.

Sunday

For my travel day I decided on a striped tank top under a sheer white three-quarter length sleeve top with jeans, my black blazer, and my leopard flats. I plan to wear the blazer throughout the week and this way it doesn’t get all wrinkled in my suitcase. Plus, you should really wear your bulkiest item when traveling and in this case that’s my blazer. When I get to Phoenix I can ditch the blazer and the sheer top if necessary and revel in the fact that it’s warm enough to wear a tank top!

Monday

For Tuesday I’m busting out my green cropped pants, a simple striped t-shirt, the black blazer again, and the leopard flats. This is my day to attend conference sessions and the dress code at this conference ranges from jeans to suits so I figured I could get away with some fun colors and pattern mixing.  The blazer is because I’m sure the conference rooms will be freezing but the short sleeves are for outside.

Tuesday

Tuesday we give our presentation so I dressed it up with my black and white polka dot sheath dress and my black blazer and open-toed black patent heels. And some jewelry, of course.

Tuesday Night

Tuesday night is the customer/attendee appreciation party which I’ve been told is a pretty crazy event. This year it’s at a Western-themed locale so I decided to bust out the gingham and pair it with white jeans and a white tank top. And nude heels because I don’t own cowboy boots.

Wednesday

On Wednesday we fly back to Chicago.  And since it will probably be in the 40s when we land, I’m adding a scarf to my black, white and leopard outfit.  Plus, this is classy enough for a casual conference attendee look if I choose to attend any last day sessions.

Other items I packed but didn’t photograph? A black cardigan, white shorts, a swimsuit and a swimsuit cover-up, one running outfit, running shoes, some other jewelry,  and, of course, pajamas and underwear. Basically, everything except the dress can be mixed and matched with the other items I brought, too, so if I need to make a quick switcheroo for any reason, it should be simple enough.

And if it wasn’t for that pesky liquids restriction I could have gotten away with just a carry-on! Sadly, I couldn’t find a hair mousse I liked that came in a FAA-approved size.

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Blazer – The Limited (similar) | Shirt – The Limited (similar) | Jeans – The Limited (similar) | Earrings – Macy’s | Bracelet – JF & A Show (similar) | Shoes – Gabriella Rocha via 6pm.com (similar)

On the last day of the Mutually Inspired Series I decided to glam it up. Jen scored an adorable sequined top in a clothing swap and toned it down for work with a gray cardigan and jeans.

I don’t  own a gray cardigan so I decided to wear my gray blazer instead. Add a pair of heels, my new favorite jeans (after you all told me how amazing they looked on Monday) and simple earrings and I have an outfit for the office! Okay, it might not fly if your office is uber-conservative, but it definitely works for mine. I love the idea of wearing sequins during the day and I think the key is to keep them in softer colors like gray, pink, or white.

Also, please excuse me while I go on a slight rant. This shirt is sequined. Not “sequenced”. Or “sequence”. Or anything other than sequined or sequin. I see it misspelled all the time, particularly on Poshmark (<—click for proof), and it drives me batty!

Anyway, with that, Jen and I have reached the end of our week of showcasing our interpretations of one another’s outfits.  However, I had so much fun and have so many more ideas that I have a feeling we’ll be doing this again.  Or, if you’re a style blogger out there who wants to get in on the series, let me know! It would be great fun to have you!

P.S. I’ll be in Phoenix for part of next week for work. Apologies if posting gets a little sporadic.

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Shirt – Macy’s (similar) | Sweater vest – The Limited (similar) | Jeans – The Limited (similar) | Shoes – Bandolino (similar) | Necklace – Overstock.com (similar)

Welcome to the first day of the Mutually Inspired Series where Jen from Librarian for Life & Style and I use outfits one another has posted in the past to create new outfits for this week!

My outfit today comes courtesy of Jen’s post “Purple suede and pattern-mixing” where she paired an argyle sweater with a pinstriped button-up, jeans, and suede shoes.  Since I’m working from home today I got to wear jeans, too!

Here’s the amazing thing: everything I’m wearing today I’ve had for YEARS. Seriously, this shirt is older than my college best friend’s marriage. I know because there’s a picture of me wearing it the day she got engaged.

Same shirt, back in the day

Just goes to show you that there are certain items and patterns that just never go out of style. Are they trendy? Nope. Just classic. Argyle sweaters and striped oxford shirts and two of those patterns.

Now, don’t forget to head over to Jen’s blog to see which of my outfits inspired her today!

P.S. Full disclosure: I took all my outfit photos on Sunday since it is supposed to rain all week in Chicago. My rain boots will be getting a workout this week. But I promise I really am wearing these outfits this week!!

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Blazer – Forever 21 (similar)| Sweater – Old Navy  (similar) | Jeans – Express via Poshmark | Scarf – Gift (similar) | Necklace – NY&Co (similar) | Shoes – Eric Michael (similar under $30)

So, there was a sort-of unintentional theme to my outfits this week.  Can you guess what it was?  Here’s a different picture of my outfit that might help.

Still stuck? What if I told you that this week’s Friday’s Fancies theme is…..

Polka dots!

Yes, I seriously wore something with polka dots four out of five days this week. How did that happen?  Well, I knew that Friday I wanted to wear polka dots. And Monday was my polka dot dress because it fit the Inspiration Monday outfit so well.  After that I thought, hey, why not wear something polka dotted every day this week (minus Wednesday when I had already sent in my contribution for Work Your Wardrobe). So, I did. Turns out that I went from hardly owning anything polka dotted to owning enough items that I could wear polka dots every day for a week. Seriously. This isn’t even everything I own! There’s still a shirt and a scarf and another dress that I didn’t wear. Crazy, huh?

Which was your favorite polka dot outfit this week? The dress? The blue suit? The pencil skirt? Or today’s casual Friday look?

And don’t forget, next week I’m pairing up with Jen from Librarian for Life & Style for our Mutually Inspired Series!  Be sure to follow both of us to see how two different woman inspire one another.  Jen’s also giving away a $25 Old Navy gift card so be sure to get entered before Monday.

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Blazer – Bergner’s (similar) | Shirt  – Old Navy (similar) | Jeans – The Limited (similar) | Necklace – The Limited (similar) | Shoes – Anne Klein (similar)

As I’ve mentioned before, casual Friday is my nemesis. I want to wear jeans but I still want to look professional.  So what do I do? I default to a blazer! Seriously, I bet if you look through most of my posts on Fridays you’d find that I’m wearing some version of this. So, in an attempt to spice up today’s 5 Days, 5 Ways post, I’m going to give you 5 random facts about me (thanks to Valerie)  to go along with five of my other blazers.  Let’s get started.

Random Fact #1 – I am horribly allergic to cats but didn’t develop the allergy until I was in high school. Now, cats make me sneeze and my eyes itch, but they also cause my lungs to feel tight and, in severe cases, my throat to close up. I have been known to steal hits off my husband’s asthma inhaler when visiting people who have cats. I am, however, not allergic to dogs which is good because I LOVE dogs.

Random Fact #2 – The instant my fingernails grow more than a centimeter past the tip of my fingers I unconsciously bite them off. Yes, I’m a nail-biter and a cuticle-gnawer. I have tried to stop many times, even getting acrylic nails to see if that helped. Nope. I am the only person I know who chewed off her acrylic nails.

Random Fact #3 – I have run 3 marathons (my fourth will be at the end of April), twelve half-marathons, and I’ve lost count of how many other races of other distances I’ve done. Although if I wanted to I could count them up because I scrapbook all of my races. But that’s the only thing I scrapbook. And I’m over a year behind…

Random Fact #4 -  I don’t drink coffee or caffeinated soda and gave it up my freshman year of college. I will drink caffeinated tea but only one cup a day.  When I was in college I worked at the campus police station (random bonus fact!) and the officers and dispatchers couldn’t believe I gave up caffeine as a college student.

Random Fact #5 – I have not seen a lot of tv shows since I don’t watch much tv  but my brain is a sponge and soaks up random pop culture references. So even though I haven’t seen most of the shows, I can usually fake it in a conversation.  We also don’t currently watch tv other than Netflix (and Mythbusters, gotta watch Mythbusters) so I’m always several seasons, if not several years, behind. I prefer police procedurals (NCIS, Bones) and dramas about the supernatural (X-Files, Supernatural, Medium, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I dislike sitcoms and reality tv. And when a show goes on hiatus for the summer (or longer)? I apt to forget about it entirely!

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Jacket – J. Crew via ebay (similar) | Blouse – Gap (similar) | Jeans – The Limited (similar) | Boots – DSW (similar) | Necklace – NYC (similar)

Another casual-ish outfit for you today since I’m still off work and traveling home from visiting friends. However, I had two great reasons to take photos for today. The first, it’s Inspiration Monday and Two Birds was extoling the virtues of dressing up a plain white shirt with this inspiration photo.

Source

I bought this shirt over a year ago from the Gap.  Originally it was ridiculously overpriced for a polyester white blouse with a little bit of shoulder detail, but it turns out I’ve worn it so often that even if I had paid full price for it (I didn’t) I would have definitely gotten my monies worth.  Which is why I also chose to feature it today as part of the 5 Days, 5 Ways link-up with Franish and Along the Lines of Style since today’s topic is “Tops”.

As you can see, this blouse works with almost everything in my closet and across all seasons.  A white shirt that can be dressed up or down and can be worn untucked or tucked in turned out to be a major work horse in my wardrobe.

Want one of your own?  Here are a few options that I think would work.

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Shirt – The Limited (similar) | Scarf – JF&A Show (similar) | Jeans – Express | Belt – Target | Boots – Macy’s (similar)

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m off work for a few days. So today you get a weekend casual outfit from me instead of a regular casual Friday outfit! Yes, yes, I know I’m wearing boots with a heel, but flat boots like the similar ones I linked above or even boat shoes in warmer weather would also work with this outfit.  The key here is that I kept the visual interest with the striped shirt and the patterned scarf.

Next week I’m participating in Whitney’s and Franziska’s 5 Days, 5 Ways Link-Up so get ready to see how I’ve remixed pieces in my wardrobe into many different outfits.

Until then, I’m off to enjoy my weekend.  I hope you enjoy yours!  See you Monday!

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Blazer – J. Crew (similar under $35) | Shirt – The Limited (similar) | Scarf – JF&A Trade Show (similar) | Earrings – The Limited | Jeans – Gap Factory Outlet (similar) | Shoes – Lucky Brand via Marshall’s (similar)

Hooray for Friday! Seriously, this week has felt 1,000 years long, am I right? At least I had one piece of this outfit planned out when I heard that today’s Friday Fancies theme was lace. Throw on my lace top with jeans and a blazer and I’m good to go. At least, I thought I was.  I originally planned to wear this outfit with either my nude heels or my nude, gold studded flats, but I feel like I’ve been wearing those nude flats all the time! I  wanted to give some love to something else in my closet. Hence the leopard print flats.

And then I was struggling with what necklace to wear. Finally it struck me: wear a scarf. Wear this floral scarf, actually. It hasn’t gotten love on the blog and I thought it contrasted nicely with the lace and the leopard.

So, there you go. My thought process when getting dressed.  Seriously, throw a scarf and a blazer on with just about anything and your outfit will go from “eh” to “yeah”!

Also linking up with Two Thirty-Five Designs

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Blazer – So old I don’t remember (similar under $30) | Turtleneck – The Limited (similar under $30) | Jeans – Express | Boots – DSW (similar) | Necklace – NY&Co (similar) | Bracelet – gift (similar)

Actually, I don’t have zoo photos for you.  Sorry to disappoint!  We ended up having to skedaddle out of the zoo to catch our bus and I felt awkward asking my coworker to hang around longer while I took photos of myself. He doesn’t know about this here blog.

Anyway! On to the outfit.  You may be wondering what’s up with the random blue necklace.  Well, I originally saw this combo of tan, black, and leopard with a blue purse and thought it was something I could recreate.  I don’t own a blue purse so instead I went with blue jewelry.  Sadly, the weather is not conducive to leopard print ballet flats today so brown riding boots it is.

You know what’s also not working today? My brain. It’s been one heck of a week at work and I’ve been getting up early to get in my training for the Illinois Marathon. This will be my fourth marathon but the training never gets easier.  Which is why days like today I love that I’ve saved so many outfit ideas on Pinterest.  Makes getting dressed so much easier.

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