Friday, February 26, 2010

Wind Swept 35/70

Ok, I have something to admit: the hair post has been pushed to Monday (but it'll be great, promise!). This has just been such an insane week at work. It's just didn't happen. But I thought of a cool idea today....
Dress: Urban Outfitters (68.00)
Shoes: Charlotte Ronson (60.00)
Tights: TjMaxx 2 pair (4.99 ea.)
Cardigan: H&M (16.00)
Necklaces: J.Crew, Leviticus, Dolly and Boy
I can't wait until spring, there I said it. I want warmer weather. That storm we had last night? In a word: destructive. My town woke up this morning to downed trees, leaky roofs (mine), broken windows, sailboats run ashore (seriously), and all of the metal lettering missing from the cinema marquee (blown off to some unknown destination). So F--- you winter, let's hear it for the season of re-birth! In anticipation of the end of winter, I've been doing a little bit of shopping, actual shopping for new things, which is pretty unprecedented. I feel like since November, it's been all thrift all the time. Sometimes it's just so nice to have something that doesn't already have a history! Anyways, I've though of a new little project where I model my usual daily outfit with whatever transitional thing included, but also put together a little collage of how I would wear it for Spring/Summer. That's where 35/70 comes in: 35 degrees to 70 degrees!

So this is how I wore my beautiful new Urban Outfitters dress in 35 degree weather:
I doubled up on tights today with a purple pair underneath grey, for warmth but also for color: I wanted a warmer grey than I had and the purple did the trick!

And this is how I would wear it come 70 ... ok... 80 degree weather:
Dress: Urban Outfitters ($68) Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell ($125) Bag: J.Crew ($50) Necklace: Fred Flare ($44) Sunglasses: Fred Flare ($11)
I created the collage with a trip to Todd Farms Flea in mind, which is this great flea market close to where we live. It's one of my favorite sunday morning Julie & Chris activities, we'll usually wake up super early to get there and then go out for breakfast or ice cream after. I included a big canvas tote to store all my treasures and giant Jeffrey Campbell platforms to keep me out of the dust. I can't wait until the Flea opens back up for the season!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! What do you have planned?
Don't forget, you still have time to enter my giveaway!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Weather Girl

Dress: Thakoon for Target (30.00)
Shoes: Charlotte Ronson via Ebay (60.00)
Tights: TjMaxx (4.99)
Necklaces: H&M / Dolly and Boy
Belts: from other dresses
Today has been a no good, blah blah blah, very bad day...or however the saying goes. So, let's focus on the positive. Good things: I received a new dress in the mail from Urban Outfitters! Also received the new UO spring/summer lookbook, which is gorgeous! Grilled cheese with apples and onions for dinner! Cats! Yay! Something else that I'm thankful for: I had the foresight to take outfit photos on Tuesday, before we experienced 48 straight hours of rain, with 48 more to go. All you New York and Philly girls, count your blessings you're getting snow, because this is disgusting.

Anyway enough complaining, on to my outfit. I realized that I haven't worn my Thakoon dress in awhile and I really liked how the grey looked with my purple shoes. I chose to keep the palette neutral, rather than add a lot of color, since the shoes are so eye-catching. I added a couple of long, drapey necklaces to add some texture up top.

I'm keeping things short and sweet tonight, hope you all stay dry! And don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Goodnight!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Over The Weekend Style File...

Future's so bright...blah blah blah...
Trench: J.Crew (19.00)
Sweatshirt: J.Crew (15.00)
Button Up: Marshalls (7.00)
Jeans: Urban Outfitters (gift)
Shoes: Sperry Topsiders via Salvation Army (7.00)
Sunnies: Fred Flare (11.00)
Photos: Chris
This weekend was a quiet one, just a lot of errand-running, so I wanted to be comfortable. I wore this on Saturday to go with Chris to Salvation Army and a bunch of other places. Usually, when I go to thrift stores I'm a little more practical with what I wear, but it was 50 F outside and I felt springy! I had the incredible luck a few weeks ago of finding a brand new pair of Sperry boat shoes at the thrift store, so they made their debut on saturday. I really want to get them broken in before Summer. I'm not going to lie, I want warm weather badly. This has been an anti-climactic winter, although the weather sounds like it's going to be nasty later this week.
I also broke out one of my favorite pins (above). It's rare that I find anything with my name on it that isn't "Julia" so I was stoked a few years ago to find this vintage pin-up girl. She's an old WWII plane decal. I like knowing that a hot lady with my name cheered up soldiers long ago. And yes, that button needs to be sewed on.

Also, Rachel from AdventuresInCooking asked a great question:
Q: "I have a question for you...how do you decide if you are crossing the line between "professional" and "Unprofressional" with your clothing. I have a purple and navy dress similar to the one you are wearing that I am dying to wear with tights and flats. I worry it's too short. How do you decide?????"

A: First of all, I am in no way the authority on how to dress in the workplace. I have the advantage of working in a creative environment where we are able to get away with a lot. For my skirts and dresses, I usually go by the five finger rule: lay your arms flat against your sides with your fingers straight down, is your skirt above or below them? Mine are usually even with or a little below my middle finger (this was the rule for camp dances when I was a kid, I guess it stuck). In the winter, I always wear tights, and year round I always stay covered-up up top. The key is to keep your outfit balanced. During my travel season when I'm visiting high schools, I am more modest with what I wear in consideration for the circumstances. I also almost never show the tattoos on my back and usually wear bracelets to cover the one on my wrist, this is to balance the fact that I have a big metal ring through my nose (I am not the only one in my office who has piercing's). Also, and this is a big one, my work mantra: Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. With-in reason, of course!

If you have a question, please feel free to email me or leave a comment!
(any hair questions will be addressed in the monthly hair-post)

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Slow Graffiti

Dress: H&M (18.00)
Bag: H&M (18.00)
Shoes: Target (6.99 sale)
Tights: TjMaxx (4.99)
Necklaces: H&M / Dolly and Boy
Headband: Goody
Photos: Chris
A quick post tonight because it's late and I'm sleepy. Chris and I just got back from having dinner with friends in East Boston, I love that we live so close to the city. The past couple of days have been extremely busy at the College I work at, admissions hosted a couple of open house events so today I opted for comfort in my wardrobe choices. I bought this dress and bag last week on my New York trip with Jen. As much as I love vintage and thrift, sometimes it's nice to have new things. I love the kind of frenchy-mod style of this mini dress and the studded bag is exactly what I've been looking for. I was definitely comfortable too, good for running around campus!

My hair style today was inspired by all the beautiful twists I've been seeing lately on the Urban Outfitters website. I woke up really late today and needed something easy, and this off center bun fit the bill. I've been getting lots of hair questions lately, my monthly hair post will be coming next week!

Also, someone asked about the knitting pattern I used for the cowl in my last post. I'm sorry to say I didn't use a pattern at all, it was all free form (and very imperfect). I just cast on 18 stitches and knit half a scarf and then sewed it together. Very un-technical!

I hope everyone has a great weekend, I'm off to watch 21 Jump Street with Chris! Yes!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A Girl of Many Hats

Cold nose, cold hands...
Hat: Complements of Hats In The Belfry
Tunnel Scarf: Knitted by me
Coat: H&M (two years old $70.00)
We finally got snow! There were blizzard conditions all day yesterday, and it was so beautiful. I love it when it snows out and everything that is ugly about the the city is blanketed in soft white. So pretty for about 24 hours. It was the perfect day to try out my new cloche from Hats In The Belfry. For a girl who usually grabs one of her boyfriends stretched out beanies before sprinting out of the house for work, this hat is very very fancy. I love how the grey in the flower (removable- it's a pin! it's a brooch! it's on my hat! no it's not!) matches my coat, which, depending on how I wear it can be very '20's or very '60's. Hats In The Belfry has some amazing pieces on their site, some straw hats I'm dying over for Spring!
Unlike the rest of me, my head stayed warm and dry. By the time I was finished taking photos my hands were frozen solid and I was skeptical if my camera would ever work again. February is always a snowy month here in Massachusetts, fingers crossed for more storms!
I added just a dash of color with my first successful knitting project: a tunnel scarf.

and because winter's not over yet...
Hats In The Belfry is offering Orchid Grey readers 10% off on their products,
Just enter the code HATS10 at checkout!

Hats In The Belfry kindly provided the hat in this post

Monday, February 15, 2010

Over the Weekend Part 1: where do I even begin?

What a great weekend! So good in fact, that it will take not one but two posts to cover it! On Friday, I (legally) played hooky from work and drove to western
Massachussetts to meet up with Jen, we then caught a train that brought us right into Grand Central in NYC (I love trains). We rushed to our hotel to get ready
for the Girls Night Out party sponsored by Dove and hosted by Jessica. We arrived just a little fashionably late (because of our train), and
the party was in full swing. It was amazing being able to meet the other bloggers there, I love all of these girl's blogs, and many of them were
inspiration for me to start my own. It's so funny meeting bloggers in person, it's almost as if the getting-to-know-you stage is ver with because you read their
posts everyday! We started our night at the Dove Parlor, where we sipped drinks and ate mini sandwiches...
Erin, Me, Rebecca, and Jen
Jen, Me, Tieka, and Elizabeth
Tieka, Elizabeth, Jessica, Melissa, and Kim
Me and Tieka
Jessica, Erin, and Rebecca
A very rare picture of my back tattoos...and the back of my head
...The second half of the evening was spend touring New York City in a WHITE-STRETCH-SUV-LIMO-WITH-WHITE-VELVET-INTERIOR. Yeah, I know...Rad. Our driver was extremely patient and brought us all over, we stopped in Times Square - to take outfit shots of course- and then to Rockafeller Center to take more pictures. The whole night was loud, raucous, and exactly what I needed to end this winter funk.
Left to Right: Andrea, Elizabeth, Erin, Tieka, Jen, Melissa, Kim, Jessica, Rebecca, and me
And of course, my ($13 dollar) outfit:
Dress: Vintage Victoria's Secret (Mom's)
Belt: Vintage (1.00)
Tights: TjMaxx (4.99)
Shoes: Target (6.99)
A big thank you to Jessica for being such a gracious host, Dove for providing the food, drinks and limo service, and Andrea for taking so many pictures!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and Valentines day!
xoxo

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentines Day!


This isn't fashion or style related, but in the spirit of Valentines Day I wanted to wish everyone lots of love! It seemed like the longest drive ever (but not as long as Tieka and Andrea's!) but I'm back home and taking it easy after a great 48 hours in NYC. Chris and I are going to grab drinks together after he gets out of work tonight. I don't talk about my relationship much on this blog but I wanted to use February 14th as an excuse to be gushy and gross. We've been together since I was 20 and he was 19 and it's been the best six years ever (that photo was taken the first week we dated). xoxo. ok, I'll stop now.

Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Maybe Sparrow

Cardigan: Thrifted UO (3.00)
Top: H&M (24.00)
Shorts: Forever 21 (19.00)
Tights: Anna Sui for Kohls (7.00)
Shoes: Urban Outfitters (19.00)
Purse: Vintage via thrift (6.00)
Necklace: H&M (9.00)
photos: Chris
Sorry for my absence yesterday, it seems I just can't catch a break this week. I can, however, catch a nasty cold which I have been laid up with for the past 48 hours. Not. Fun. This is what I wore- reluctantly- to work today. I went to the mall for the first time in two months on Sunday and found these cute shorts, which I think are the perfect winter/spring transitional piece. I admit that I've been feeling a little exasperated with winter, we were supposed to get this huge-mega storm, and all we got was nothing. I'm trying my hardest to appreciate every season, but so far February has been a downer. Wow, I'm kind of a downer too huh? To tell you the truth, I was excited to be snowed in and I'm a little jealous of all you DC'ers, New Yorkers, and Philadelphians will all your snow!

Anyway, this post has taken me so long to write because Chris and I are watching Zombieland. Has anyone else seen it? It's wonderful! (and distracting)
My "Delightful Dozen" post has been pushed till tomorrow because of my cold, so stay tuned!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Over the Weekend...

First of all, thank you all for being so understanding of my silence last week. Even though I was posting regularly, I really felt absent from my blog and it was a weird feeling. Thank you for all the sweet comments, and I'll be playing catch-up for the rest of the week!
Dress: Rodarte for Target (30.00 sale!)
Tights: TjMaxx
Flats: Target (6.99 sale)
Necklace: Dolly and Boy
After being so frazzled up until Saturday, I welcomed the task of being sent to buy h'orderves for our gallery opening. I always check out the sale section at Target when I'm there, and was happy to find this Rodarte dress on a little bit of a mark-down. I really liked this one when I first checked out the collection, but wasn't totally sold, well I'm so glad I bought it now! I'm actually planning on wearing it again next weekend with a sweater and heavy boots for when Jen and I head into NYC! It's funny because I felt very much in-touch with my New England roots when I wore this, despite looking rather sleek, I'm wearing a thermal top and three pairs of tights underneath!

So as you may have seen from one of last week's posts, I am co-curating a gallery show for the month of February, and Saturday was the opening! Bea and I prepped the space with a little (a lot of) help from our cohorts fivesevendelle all last week in anticipation of the influx of guests for Saturday night's reception, and we were not disappointed! The reception went so well, it was great to re-connect with some of the artists involved (many of whom I already knew from school) and also meet new faces! If anyone is still interested in viewing the exhibition, It will be up until February 28th and I (believe) we'll be hosting a small closing reception later in the month. Email me if you want details...
me and Bea
the space is an alternative space located on Mission Hill in Boston in a converted brownstone.
Emily...

I hope everyone had a great weekend!
(did anyone get snow?!)

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Lazy Jane

Tomorrow is Friday!
Sweater: J.Crew outlet (20.00?)
Oxford Dress: American Apparel outlet (40.00)
Tights: TjMaxx (4.99)
SHoes: Target (6.99)
Earrings: tag sale (1.00)
Jacket (worn below): J.Crew outlet (20.00?)

Today is possibly the first time I've worn earrings in, maybe two years? It's funny because earrings used to be my go-to accessory (and I have an amazing collection) but I never wear them anymore. Weird how our preferences can fluctuate like that, don't you think? Today though, I rediscovered what used to be my absolute favorite pair.

I absolutely LOVE the pairing of red and blue, I think blue just sets off red so much, makes it brighter. This is dress definitely one of my go-to pieces. It's so versatile. I didn't end up getting home from the Gallery until around midnight last night, so today I was extremely sleepy and wanted an easy outfit to throw on. The boater sweater was lying on my dresser, and considering how cold it was today (can you see my red nose?) I opted for some extra warmth.

Well, I'm happy to say that the installation of artwork in our show is almost done. Bea and I drove to the gallery after work today, and installed the artwork with some (major) help from the FiveSevenDelle folks. I hope some of you can make it on Saturday, the work looks amazing!
My photos didn't quite come out the way I had hoped today, a little disjointed. It was cold and windy, yeah..let's just blame it on the weather!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The blues are still blue

This is a scheduled post as I will be at the gallery receiving work tonight! Saturday is just around the corner!
(If I look tired, it's because I am. I took these early early this morning)
Mens Shirt: Salvation army in Framingham, MA (2.00)
Suede Skirt: Goodwill in Harrison, ME (2.99)
Tights: Target (5.00)
Shoes: Target sale (6.99)
Necklaces: H&M and Dolly and Boy
When I woke up this morning it was very lightly snowing, which only means one thing: I want comfort. Comfort food, comfort drinks, and comfort clothes. This isn't what I was planning on wearing at all today, but I realized I haven't worn this mens button down in months and it seemed appropriate for the kind of day it was. It's super old and worn in, the perfect soft thing. With the busy plaid pattern and my hair down, I didn't feel like it needed too much accessorizing: just a couple of long necklaces. I like how the sleeves almost look like they're dolman sleeves, but it's just because of how big the shirt is.

I'm on second day hair today, which is great because all I had to do was finger-comb it and touch up the front with my curling iron. I'm never too perfect with curling it, I'll leave a lot straight. My goal is for it to look as natural as possible (plus it requires less effort). Occasionally I'll curl the whole thing but I just end up feeling too sweet and like a poodle.
So I hope some of you can come to the gallery show! You can also visit the This Collective Pull blog to read more about it and be connected to the Facebook group. I'm really excited for the opening on Saturday, but I'm also a little excited for the quiet and solitude that Sunday will bring with it! I'm a hermit at heart!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Attraction Action Reaction

Let's just close our eyes and imagine warm weather and leaves on the trees! Got it? Ok!
Scarf: gift from friend's France trip in high school
Swiss-Dot button-up: GAP via Salvation Army in Saugus, MA (3.99)
The most amazing shoes ever: Charlotte Ronson via E-Bay (60.00)
Tee-Shirt (worn beneath): J.Crew (9.00)
Cardigan: H&M old (16.00)
Jeans: H&M old (24.00?)
Socks: J.Crew sale (3.99)
It was nice to get a little sun this afternoon. Don't get me wrong, it was only about 30 *F today, but sun is sun and I needed some Vitamin D. I was determined to have a better day today than I did tomorrow and the first step was to actually make some effort with my hair. I always feel better when my hair is done! I just air-dried it last night and then used a 1 inch curling iron on the ends this morning, I really liked the end results!

Anyway, on to my outfit! The shoes I'm wearing are my birthday present to myself, and I love them. I have a little obsession with enormous platforms and I fell in love with this Charlotte Ronson pair months ago when I first spotted them on Chic Faced . After months of internet stalking them (the shoes, not the bloggers) I finally nabbed them for cheap on E-Bay. The color is what does it for me, I love deep purple (the color, not the band).
I was a little unsure about the shoes-with-socks trend, but I really like how this looks. The best thing about these shoes? They're surprisingly easy to walk in and easy on my poor knees! Wow, do I sound like an old lady or what? Ha!

Have a great night!

Monday, February 1, 2010

You're Invited!

This morning was a bad start to a busy week, hence, no outfit post. Despite having picked out five outfits that I thought could work for what I know will be a crazy five days, nothing worked this morning at 7am. Blah, winter doldrums! I want Spring already!

So instead of an outfit post, I going to use Monday's post to invite all you Boston and Massachusetts based bloggers to someting I've been working on with a friend...
Those of you who have been reading Orchid Grey since it's inception may remember the first "Collective Pull" event that I participated in (if not, you can read about them here...and here...). Well, Bea and I are at it again. This time we're working with a great alternative space on Mission Hill in Boston called fivesevendelle. We've curated a great group of Massachusetts based artists, both established and up-and-coming and are really excited to put the show together!
This Collective Pull: A Mass Collaboration will be at 57 Delle Avenue, Boston, MA until Feburary 28, but if you're thinking about visiting the space, you should come to the opening reception. It will be a great chance to meet the artists involved and possibly plan some collaborations for the future!

Here's a little sneak peek at some of the work we'll be hanging...
So, this is something I'm really excited about (and a little stressed too!). I hope some of you can come, and please feel free to pass the invite on to friends!

On another note, one of my favorite bloggers, Delightfully Tacky, chose me as her blogger of the moment. I was so excited when she asked me, because her blog is one that I read almost every day. So head over here to read the interview, or if you're sick of me, just go visit her blog, because she has amazing style (and hair!).

And, just a quick comment on comments! I know I've been really slow on commenting back lately, I'm really sorry. This time of year is crazy in my office and I'll be receiving and installing work all week for the gallery show. Just know that I read and love every single comment left for me, thank you to all of my amazing subscribers, Orchid Grey would be a very quiet place with out all of you lovelies!