A Day of Colored Denim

Jeans: Gap, Jacket: Calvin Klein, T-shirt: Nordstrom, Booties: KORS Michael Kors, Necklace: Anthropologie, Bracelets: Lucky,
Watch: Michael Kors, Sunglasses: Armani Exchange

These pants are seriously blinding in these photos. The more I look at them, the more it looks like someone colored my legs with a neon highlighter. I swear they're not this bright in real life. Something about the sun and where I was standing apparently dialed up the color from "acceptably bright" to "eyeball-searing." Usually when I wear these pants to my office I feel slightly self-conscious since I'm pretty sure pink pants qualify as slightly ridiculous in the workplace — not that that would ever stop me from wearing them. But luckily a coworker/friend of mine also showed up wearing super-bright colored denim yesterday. (Those are her legs, all she would let me photograph, in the cobalt blue.) It was even more impressive considering our coordinated pants-travaganza was not at all planned. Coincidences are great to begin with, but when they involved neon pants? Instantly a million times better. 


I thought I had fulfilled my desire for colored denim awhile ago. Little did I know it was going to rear its ugly head again as soon as someone else showed up in a color I don't own. Now I'm resisting the urge to go buy this pair from Gap or this pair from J.Crew in every color (but especially the green). Would that be so wrong? What do you guys think? How much colored denim qualifies as TOO much? And what's your favorite color? 

Awkward Encounters

Tunic: Calvin Klein, Blazer: Sara Berman (last seen here), Boots: Frye, Scarf: Michael Kors, Sunglasses: Armani Exchange, Purse: Marc by Marc Jacobs

I'm lucky enough to work at a company that's okay with me taking outfit photos in and around our building on a semi-regular basis. (In fact, my boss took these photos for me as we left work the other afternoon. Thanks, Beth!) I mean, I'm sure everyone thinks it's a little weird. Every time someone drives past me in our parking lot while I'm taking photos I figure they pretty much assume I'm doing one of the following: 

A) Attempting to recreate my senior photos

B) Taking photos for my online dating site 

(For the record, coworkers, neither of the above is true.)

As we were taking the above photos, a random old man (seen walking away in the last photo where I'm laughing hysterically) wandered past. Poor guy was probably just out for his afternoon walk. Little did he know he was about to get sucked into an awkward photo shoot. He and I had an exchange that I've been waiting for since I started this blog. It went something like this:

Me (freaking out): Oh, god, that guy is getting closer. This is going to be awkward.

Boss (quietly cracking up to herself): It's fine. Who cares? Just relax.

Old man (wanders closer, looks confused): Hey there. What's with the photo shoot? Fashion week?

Me: Um, sort of. Not really. You see, I run this style blog and . . .

Old man: Ahh . . . gotcha. Facebook? 

Me: Um, no . . . not exactly. It more like . . .

Boss (interrupts): Yep, Facebook. That's it.

End scene

Moral of the story, yes taking outfit photos is every bit as awkward as you would imagine. I should probably stop trying to explain to people what exactly I'm doing and just hope they don't later try to find me on Match.com.

Pattern Mania

Blouse: Hinge, Skirt: Vince Camuto, Shoes: Ann Taylor, Tights: Gap,
Watch: Michael Kors, Bracelets: Simon Sebbag, Ring: vintage

This is my "Holy crap, it's January and I can go outside without risking frostbite" outfit. I love this blouse, but the pattern can get a little overwhelming if it's not tucked into something — for some reason, that makes a HUGE difference. (Apparently I can't get enough, though, because I just realized it matches this blog almost perfectly.) Anyway, I've been waiting and waiting to pair it with this flowy skirt until it was warm enough to risk semi-bare legs, and thankfully, it's been unnaturally warm here the past few days. (I have to say, if this is what global warming feels like, I'll take it.) I was really excited to be celebrating mid-40's, vaguely sunny weather in Minneapolis until some friends out in San Diego informed me that it was in the upper 70's and sunny there. Suddenly my joy was severely diminished. In the words of Stephanie Tanner, "Rude."

These pictures almost didn't see the light of day. I am severely technically challenged and somehow managed to save them to my camera's internal memory, rather than the memory card. Because the photos weren't on my memory card, the only way to get them off was to transfer them directly from my camera with some type of cable. But since I keep all of my cords/cables stored in a giant, jumbled "electronics box" (which also contains old remotes and the VHS tapes I used to tape ANTM in college) and have next to no idea what most of them do, clearly that wasn't an option. Luckily, the several nice salesmen at Best Buy took pity on me (probably because they were looking to put a stop to my incoherent explanation) and scrounged up a replacement cable. AND they gave it to me for free. You read that right, FREE. Thirty minutes of flirting, plus a free camera cable? Not bad for a day's work.