Look of the Day: Midi or Pencil?

It's probably supposed to be a pencil skirt, but I'm hecka short so it is a midi skirt on me.

...Hold on a sec. I was just reading about it on the JCPenney website and I guess it's meant to be long. Also, it's apparently convertible. You learn something new every day.

Anyway, I've been looking for a good skirt, and you know what? No one has a good selection! It's kind of strange. All the buyers opted for sun dresses this summer. I finally found a couple at Value Village this week, but honestly it's taken a couple months! Seems weird that a good skirt would be so hard to find. Especially jean skirts! Washes are weird, waists seem to come in only one size (not waist shaped), and they're all waaaay too short. The skirt I found is from the 80s, hits a couple inches above the knee, and has a huge bongo tab on the back. It'll have to do for now. I also found a white a-line skirt with lots of eyelets. It's cute.

What have you been on the hunt for this summer?

Vintage crop top (similar) - Bisou Bisou Convertible Skirt - Tocca Jewelry Black Tourmaline Necklace - Birkenstocks - Vintage Nordstrom Sunglasses 
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Pinterest Spotlight: Round-up #2

 

Here's a round-up of my latest favorites from Pinterest.

 Festive yet cool. Found on Rivet & Sway's Look Stylish: Holiday Parties board

 Katie Rodgers is quite possibly my favorite pinner. All her boards are chock-full of beautiful and inspiring pins. She also pins a lot of her gorgeous fashion illustration, like the one above.

 Visit Alexa's DIY Fashion pinboard for fashion project ideas and inspiration

 

I'm lucky to consider Nana a blogger friend. She's also a huge style inspiration! Visit her pinboard to see more of her street style.

 Tori's board, Fall Focus, won the Rivet & Sway pin-to-win I hosted a couple months ago. She has great taste.

My friend Camille's pinboard, MillieVixen Inspiration, is full of fun looks and styles that inspire her fashion designs.

Click here to see what pinners were featured in my first Pinterest Spotlight. If you're interested in being featured, leave a comment with a link to your Pinterest account. I'm always looking for new inspiration!

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A Year of Fashion: 12 Looks from 2012

January.

It snowed

February.

We had a strange warm spell. It was very pleasant.

March.

My dark haired days were numbered

April.

Back to blonde!

May.

My hair was almost purple here. I loved it.

June.

I did a local photo shoot!

July.

My cousin got married.

August.

Probably my favorite look from the whole year.

September.

What I wore to FNO

October.

A nice homeless look for Autumn

November.

Election season comes to an end.

December.

Finished off the year with another local photo shoot

What a year!! I hope yours has been filled with love and happiness and I hope 2013 is no different! Here's to the New Year!

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Look of the Day: black+blue+fur

What day is it?? Where am I? I feel so out of it! I guess it always like this after the holidays, but I think it's even worse because I've been gone so much. I spent Christmas in California with my husband and our friends. We stayed in San Jose for the most part and then Napa Valley for one night. I ate so much good food and got to spend so much time with some of my favorite people. I wish I could have had my whole family around for Christmas, but there's always next year. I'll post photos from the trip in the next couple days.

How was your  Christmas? Wonderful and magical, I hope!

Rabbit fur hat (similar) - H&M blazer (similar) - vintage sweatshirt - Uniqlo HeatTech shirt - BDG pants - H&M bag - thrifted flats

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Look of the Day: Core Strength

As many of you readers may know by now, I've been working with a local eyeglass company, Rivet & Sway. A few weeks back, I got my wits about me and did something smart: I went to the Rivet & Sway pop-up shop at U Village and did some "networking". It's something I rarely do, because, honestly, I'm pretty shy in person. I'm very happy I did because all the people at Rivet & Sway are just as lovely in person as they were over email. The icing on the cake? They asked if I would want to help out with their Holiday campaign!

I said yes, of course, and now have these gorgeous photo to add to my portfolio. We had an amazing photographer, Barbara Kinney, and the fact that she has photographed Hillary Clinton just makes me swoon.

It's sounds funny, but I am the official face of their newest frames, The Core Strength. If you follow the link, you can see what the frames look like from different angles and in different colors. Scroll down for a little mouse-over thingy where you can make me turn my head back and forth!

This image was used in the Rivet & Sway mailer a couple weeks ago. I love their branding so much. Gorgeous typeface, simple colors, and all-around excellent graphic design.

Now to find a camelhair coat like the one Britt let me borrow!

Look of the Day: Winter Neutrals

 The pace of life has really picked up. I have a horrible head cold, so am having trouble keeping up with everything. For instance, I should be packing right now, because I leave for England tomorrow! Instead, I'm blogging and listening to NPR and hoping this grogginess will go away.

Last week I had the chance to do some modeling for a local company. I'm usually a total wreck when someone else is taking my picture, but I like the ladies of Rivet & Sway so much that it just felt like hanging out with friends. I was pretty surprised with how at ease I felt. (There may or may not have been prosecco involved.) One of the photos is up on the Rivet & Sway website now. I'm the face of their holiday sale!

I have a question for you guys. Does anybody know what style of Coach this is? I bought it last week from Crossroads Trading Company in the U District thinking it was the Court Bag. It is not. It has a center pocket and is much wider at the base. I'm curious to find out what style it is!

Before I go, I wanted to give one more shout out to the generous souls at Vivilli. They gifted me this gorgeous white jacket. I love how structured it is, and all the zipper detailing is right up my alley. It come in 2 other colors as well and is a total steal (only $36!).

Look of the Day: on repeat

The velvet skirt appears, yet again! Autumn is usually the only time I get to wear it, so I've been wearing it a lot. It's just so much tawny velvet, doesn't seem appropriate in any other season.

 Not to jump subjects too drastically, but... ELECTION DAY IS TOMORROW. Thank the Heavens, we've made it through!! Please, please, please don't let it be "too close to call". At least, even if it is, the ads will stop. Hopefully. Here in Washington, our gubernatorial race is neck-in-neck, so even if the presidential race ends with a clear winner, we might still have to suffer through months of recounts and hearings. It happened in 2008 and it definitely could happen again.

How is your election season? Coming to a sweet, sweet end, I hope.

 A gentle reminder: I'm running a great giveaway, especially if you're need of some stylish new glasses. It's a pin-to-win, so it's a lot of fun, too! GO ENTER!

GAP denim jacket - H&M striped shirt - United Colors of Benetton scarf - Coach bag - vintage skirt - Forever21 sunglasses

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My biggest giveaway yet!

Ready for it? Rivet & Sway is giving away a set of frames worth $199!

This time, there won't be any boring Rafflecopters involved. Instead, it's going to be a Pin-to-Win and the reader with the most creative and detailed board will win her choice of stylish glasses, complete with prescription lenses! If you don't have a Rx, that's OK, too. Rivet & Sway glasses can also be made with high-quality, non-prescription lenses, and include a 100% UV filter coating.

Here are some images of their gorgeous frames if, for some reason, you need more reasons to enter.

From top to bottom, The Rizzo in Honey Drip, The Faster Pussycat in Jet Black, and The Spitfire in Galapagos Green

Or maybe these will convince you...

The Poetic Justice in Royal Tortoise

 OK, are you ready to enter?

Let's get down to the details:

1. Follow Rivet & Sway on Pinterest

2. Create a pinboard called "Fall Focus". Be creative!

3. Pin your favorite pair of frames from Rivet & Sway

4. Include the hashtag #pintowin on all of your pins
5. Leave a comment here with a link to your board (this is crucial!!)

If you need some ideas for your board, Both Rivet & Sway and I have created a Fall Focus pinboard. Here's mine and here's the one created by Rivet & Sway.

The winner will be chosen by me and Rivet & Sway!

Contest ends NOVEMBER 16th, 2012
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Rivet & Sway

One of my goals this year has been to work with local Seattle businesses. This city is chalk-full of stylish, talented people who make any proud Seattlite even happier to call this city home.

Rivet & Sway is one of those local businesses that makes me proud to be from Seattle. They're the total package.

The company is staffed by great people and, despite it being an online shopping experience, it doesn't feel that way! Everyone is so helpful and friendly, and the service is so personalized, that it really feels like you're a VIP at a local boutique. They even have a personal stylist who will help you find the perfect pair of frames.

At the moment, I have no need for prescription glasses, but judging by the amount of people who wear them in my family, I will probably need them soon. That's why I only felt a little silly ordering frames from Rivet & Sway. When Ritzy, Rivet & Sway's personal stylist, contacted me about writing a review I thought "Well, say what you want about fake glasses on people who don't need them, I'll at least have a nice pair of frames when my eyesight starts to go!" Plus, as you all probably know, I am not shy about wearing non-prescription lense.

The whole process is pretty simple. 

1. Choose three

If you know what works for your face or what you love, then you can just choose for yourself. If you can't decide, you can use the Personal Styling feature and Ritzy will send you some personalized recommendations based on what you like and face shape.

2. Try them at home

Once you've picked three frames, Rivet & Sway will ship them, both ways, for free! You get 3 days to try them on, ask your friends for input, etc. Ritzy is even available to give advice if you can't decide! When you've decide, you ship all the frames back.

3. Order your favorite

The last step is to order the pair you decided on. This is where you enter your Rx info and they will be ready within a week!

I'm such a sucker for great packaging and graphic design.

I'm rather partial to the Spitfire in Galapagos Green

Which style should I go for?

Check back for a pin-to-win sponsored by Rivet & Sway!