Latte Loves Style

so, my ‘new’ hairstyle doesn’t exactly blow you out of the water?

Believe me, I really wanted to try this…but all the product in the world couldn’t make my hair do what Katie’s does (and as Nodakademic mentioned, it’s probably 50% photoshop.)

It’s hard to do much with my hair, even though its the longest now that it’s been in quite a while [I have a cut scheduled for tomorrow.]

I was a big fan of the pouf back when I had long hair, so I thought I’d try to tame my bangs back again.

These colors are just so breezy and beachy.

This is a seasonally modified copycat outfit. i knew I wanted to wear my gingham shirt, and that Kendi has posted lots of fun outfits featuring her blue gingham, so I pinterested (yes, it’s a verb now) her and loved this combination.

But she had worn in it the fall with tights and boots. (see Kendi’s original post) So I slipped on my sexy suede heels and called it a [hot, summer] day. 

I have to admit that while I did put on this outfit on Saturday, I didn’t really ‘wear’ it. I put on a bathing suit early in the day in preparation to head to the beach with E.

[side note: This was an anomaly in itself… E not only agreed to go to the beach (something he’s typically not a fan of) but he suggested we spend the day at the beach on his last Saturday before school starts.] 
   After I got over the who-are-you-and-what-have-you-done-with-my-husband shock, we had a lovely day sunning & reading. After coming home and showering I put on this outfit at about 6pm, took photos and promptly came inside to sit on the couch and finally watch the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance - even though I already knew the winner (Thanks to social media) (at least it was Melanie)

on a final note, I really hesitated putting this photo up because, I’ll admit, it’s kind of ridiculous. I was pulling some sort of sultry Tyra look mixed with a 15-year-old myspace pose, but it’s the only close up of the scarf, so here you go internets

I wanted another opportunity to wear my thrifted re-make top, and thankfully, this Friday being the last one before school starts (and unofficially, the end of summer casual Fridays), I could pull this off!

It was a rough day at work and being in jeans just makes things a little more unbearable. Besides that, this may be one of my classic testimony to thrifting outfits: a mix of funky vintage, and designer that still puts this whole outfit under $50.

I’m getting really behind on these outfit posts, so look out for few words and many photos while I try to catch up from this weekend of wear.

This is another happy thrift store purchase of late, from H & M. I almost didn’t try it on because it’s so bold, but then I did and I loved it.

I loved styling it with the browns for a wild, jungle look, but I’m not sure I’d be able to style it any other way.

Do you guys have suggestions for me? [in other words, I am not creative, please help.]

I don’t have many closet orphans…I’ve actually gotten pretty good at purging my closet almost every time I buy something new. I’ve actually done quite a lot of shopping lately so I should show you some of my closet newborns sometime soon.

This is a thrifted top that seemed like a good idea at the time, but it’s too big and the sleeves are comically enormous and I think it’s time to give this closet orphan up for adoption.

…but not before I wore it all day!

I thought about wearing whites today, but I’m saving that for another day in the challenge (neutrals with a pop of color). Having a real life photographer for the past 4 outfit posts has made me lazy and these pictures turned out pretty terribly as I was running late.

This was the first day in the challenge that I told myself I needed to look up the challenge the night before and lay something out. This isn’t my most ingenious ensemble, and I kind of feel ‘blah’ about it. 

Monday brought Cait and I to La Jolla, but only after I worked a half-day. So I needed to wear something work-appropriate that was easy enough for eating/shopping/site-seeing in La Jolla in the afternoon. I also wanted to repeat my remix item (the trousers) before it got too late in the challenge.

the dressy: top from BR outlet
the casual: striped cardigan, also from BR outlet
the rest
trousers: the Limited
belt: BR outlet
sandals: target 

A long walk back to the car brought us to this fabulous tiled mural called “What’s your favorite color?” It was just begging to be the background for our outfit photos.

If this outfit looks familiar, you have a good memory of Day 1. [I didn’t spend hours coming up with this combo, as you can see]

Also, here’s Cait - rocking an almost identical outfit to what I wore on Saturday! GSTA. [great stylists think alike] In fairness, she packed her clothes long before I picked out what I was going to wear so she definitely wins the originality award.

Sunday I wanted to go for something comfy and casual to allow the focus on my layered jewelry for the 21 day challenge.

In addition to my friend Cait visiting, we were also puppy-sitting for E’s parents this weekend and spent a lot of time loving on little Pookie.

E loves his family’s dog, so I may just have to frame this little photo for his study desk.

My friend Cait is in from out of town. We’re touring San Diego, getting sunburnt - and I’m loving having an outfit photographer!

Since I’ve already worn things unconventionally two days this week (dresses as skirts) I had to some up with something slightly more creative for this one.

Here is round two of trying to make a handkerchief around my wrist look cool. (round 1) Wore this to the farmer’s market and hanging out in Encinitas for the day.

crazy bright colors + another dress turned skirt + color blocking-ish + double-knotted belt. Super fashion woman, that’s me.

This belt is approximately three times to big for me, so when I wear it at my hips I knot it once, but in order to wear it at my waist, I had to go for the figure-eight double knot. I’m kind of digging it. [although I got another husband eyebrow raise.]

Thankfully, he still agreed to take the pictures for my late self this morning. They turn out so much better with a human behind the camera!

For a girl that has pretty limited options when it comes to colors in her wardrobe, I knew color-blocking was going to be a challenge. I didn’t realize how confident I’d need to be to pull it off. I had to give myself a little pep talk in front of the closet this morning so I’m hoping I walked into work with confidence.

ps. can you guess where I got that blue skirt? Here’s a hint.

This might prove to be the hardest part of my challenge and it’s only Day 3! 

The truth is, I only have about 5 items that are patterned in my closet, and I ran out of potential pattern mixes after one try.

So, in desperation I scraped to the bottom of my dresser drawer and found a tank top I wore almost every day the summer of 2006. and I made it work.

ps. Sorry for the headless shots. I took these photos before my morning coffee. enough said.

Tucking in it on Day Two.

Does anyone else have trouble keeping button-up tops tucked in? I feel like every 30 minutes I am re-tucking.

Style is hard work. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

I do not understand how my calves still look halfway decent when I have only exercised twice in the last three months.

I’ll take it.

Reminder: I’m participating in Freckles in April’s 21 day style challenge. We’re given a prompt and then wear our interpretation of it the following day.

Day 1: Something to Remix

I just picked up these Drew Safari trousers at The Limited for a whopping $8. (sadly, no longer available) and this was a real step-out-of-the-box moment for me. They got the eyebrow raise from E.

And I’m proud that I have my first piece that might allow me to be considered a Man Repeller. So trendy.

Anyway, this is the item I chose to remix three or four times within the challenge, because I want to figure out how to wear them a few different ways (like a legit fashion blogger - as a scarf or something.)

This purple gap dress is such a blank slate I wanted to try to do something different with. (see also: dark and gray)

So I’m channeling pansy today. simple, bright sweet.

Speaking of inspiration - I’m looking forward to it for the next three weeks (and you can expect truly daily postings) as I’m going to participate in the 21 day style challenge hosted by Kayla at Freckles in April! 

She’s going to post a daily prompt and we’ll post our interpretation of it the next day. Check out the Flickr group here.

Plus, she’s giving away lots of great stuff for participation!

I wore a top two times in the space of three days. I’m not sure what this makes me. Sadly, I didn’t get a full body shot of this outfit at Blogher ‘11, but I was wearing Lucky brand jeans and adorable yellow peep toe wedges with bows on the toes. Maybe I’ll recreate the outfit when I get home today…

I picked up both the top and the sweater at the Banana Republic Outlet in Cabazon, near Palm Springs. This is my very first foray into pattern mixing, so I took it easy!

Also, I’m going to pretend this mug is advertising for my blog and not Got Milk.

When I was shopping in Cabazon Outlets near Palm Springs last weekend with friends, we talked about how quickly we wear new clothes after purchasing them. Both of the other women said they wait for several weeks…letting their clothes ‘marinate’ in the closet while they think about their purchase, make sure they want to keep it, and figure out what to pair it with.

At the same time, I couldn’t stand see cute new clothing items hanging in my closet untouched for weeks! This top was calling to me just two days after I bought it, and I succumbed. I changed into jeans later to drive the 3 hrs up to LAX to pick up E who just got home from Italy.

top: Banana Republic outlet
blazer: thrifted, Ann Taylor Loft
skirt: thrifted
wedges: ELLE for Kohl’s 

Wow. where did this week go? I promise I’ve been getting dressed. [I’ve even been taking pictures!] Just not getting them up here apparently.

what is that thing around my wrist you ask? It’s my feeble attempt to copy this gorgeousness, and I just don’t think I got it quite right. (maybe i need a watch? and a longer scarf?) I’m faking it until I make it over here.

The best news of all is that my husband made it back home from Italy safely. Big smiles to go around for a while…