Friday, April 1, 2011

Warm Weather Wear

This week is flying by...thank goodness we have two weeks of spring break this year because I'd be pretty sad if it were already almost over! Today we decided to take a little trip over to Napa where they have a great little park for the kids, good food for everyone and a J Crew outlet for me. We met up with friends to play at the park and then headed over to Gott's for lunch. I had heard of this place before but we'd never been. Let me assure you, we'll be returning soon! It was SOOOOO good! If you're ever in the area you should definitely stop in for lunch or dinner. The garlic fries and "Black and White" milkshakes are divine...not to mention their YUMMY burgers rock (the buns are homemade). After lunch we made our way on over to the outlets where I wanted to make a quick stop into J Crew to see what they had to offer. We actually have a J Crew outlet about 10 minutes from our house but the Napa store is bigger and has more stock. We didn't stay too long (but long enough to find some good deals...more on that later).

It was hot out today...I loved it! It was shorts and t-shirt weather for the kids. While at the park my girlfriend and I were talking about the fact that it's so hard to figure out hot weather-wear on the bottom (keep in mind I don't wear things above my knee by personal choice which also lends itself to be a challenge). I'm not a huge fan of knee-length shorts on me...but I sometimes wear them. Capris and even cropped pants, according to some fashion "experts" are not the way to go (although I also own some of those too-capris are not my faves), denim can sometimes be too heavy in the warm temperatures, Maxi dresses require layers on top and can get hot, and where we live it's really windy so fuller skirts are sometimes inconvenient (I'm always worried my skirt is going to blow up in the air). So what's left? Hmmm... We came up with pencil or A-line skirts and denim skirts (heavier material assures you that it won't catch in the wind and blow up in the air). It's just not practical to live in skirts all summer though...and I don't want to. I like jeans and other types of bottom wear. But what to wear? Really, I'd love to know what you think! I have started rolling my skinny jeans a bit to create a less-than cropped but shorter than the regular length of jeans look and don't think it looks too bad. But in 90 degree weather I don't know that I'm gonna want to wear almost full-length jeans. Part of my personal problem is that rolled up or cropped jeans on me only look good if they are skinny at the bottom...my ankles are tiny and look ridiculous coming out of the bottoms of jeans that are wider bottomed...even straight leg bottoms look meh on me. I took a look back at some OOTD pictures from last summer and have decided that I don't like most of what I wore on the bottom in a lot of outfits. Time for an overhaul.

While we were at the park we were also doing a bit of people watching...it's hard not to! It's interesting to see what people wear. We spotted one girl who had the cutest shirt on--stripes with a bit of a Dolman short-sleeve...I made the comment that it looked very "J-Crew-ish" but I didn't recognize it from any recent roll outs that I had seen. Well, after lunch as I mentioned above, I made my way on over to the J Crew outlet. I walked around looking at all their cute things and low and behold what do I see lying on one of the tables? The shirt! I grabbed it! It came in three colors (navy stripes, black stripes and res stripes)...they had the navy and red in my size so I tried both. I went with the XS and it was plenty roomy. In the past I have been attracted to this Dolman sleeve-blousey looking kind of top but until today none of them really wowed me. Today, I liked what I saw. It's really cute! Plus it was 25% and I had a 20% off entire purchase coupon on top of that so for $15.99 this came home with me:



And here's what I wore today to beat the heat (#2 snuck into the picture with me):



Details:
-Bianka Blouse-Anthropologie
-White tank-Old Navy
-Skinny Cropped Cargos-Loft
-Presta Wedge Sandals-Target
-Necklace-Tiffany
-Earrings-Express
-Ring-Forever 21

So the month of March is officially over. It was a disastrous month for my budget. I got annoyed with the idea of a budget (although I recognize the benefits for having one). It was one of those months where the more I restricted myself the worse-off I was (kind of like when you tell yourself not to eat ice cream but all you can think of after that is how much you want to eat some ice cream). I need to come up with something better for April. I do have a list of things I want to replace in my closet so some of that will be happening in April. I also want to focus on finding a few fabulous short-sleeve shirts. I love tanks but since I don't wear sleeveless things I always wear a cardigan over any tanks I wear. It would be nice to have more short-sleeve tops that can be worn without having to layer a cardigan over it. I'm on the lookout!

I'm off to bed...need my zzz's! Have a great Friday!

18 comments:

  1. You could seriously be my fashion twin! I picked that shirt up at the outlets last weekend. Sounds like you got a better deal on it, though! :) With you on the short-sleeve shirt issue. My shirts are either sleeveless or too plain to not use a cardigan but the ensemble is getting old! I've been trying to find a better way to spice up tees other than a cardi and have fallen in love with the ruffled sweater vest at j.crew factory. It will be mine!
    Love those cargo pants!

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  2. I have some really thin cargo pants that are pretty comfortable even in the summer, so maybe try looking for thinner materials? Summer can easily get 100+ where I'm from, so the thought of walking around in jeans is enough to make me want to cry. I also plan to wear the casual dresses I got from Old Navy a lot this summer. They're more A-line than full skirts, and I liked them so much I bought three colors. I wore one of them here -- dunno if that would be too short for you, but you can always size up for length. ON might have something similar coming out soon that you can look at!

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  3. Oooh, I wish I had a spring break right about now! Sounds like you had a fun-filled day in Napa, and you can never go wrong if your day involves a visit to the J.Crew outlet!!

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  4. We're in the same boat! I'm trying to figure out what kind of bottoms to get for the summer too. I hate shorts, but wear them anyway and would live in denim, but here in AZ that is just crazy. It's supposed to be 100 degrees today, which is not okay! I'll be interested to see what you come up with and what people suggest. Help needed!

    PS. Love the JCrew shirt and LOL on the spending! Feb and March were the worst months ever for my wallet.

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  5. Jen - I didn't even know this blog existed! I thought you'd just gotten blog lazy, and now I know just how wrong I was! Love seeing you and your outfits everyday!!

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  6. I am in the same boat with the shorts during summer thing. Not a big fan!! I also roll my skinny jeans up! I am NOT a fan of capris and am happy that the jeans roll up is working. I live in dresses although the wind does usually blow 30-50 MPH here on most days so I am always trying to "hold" things down. I love the striped JCrew top! I just found out that they are opening a JCrew outlet about 1 1/2 hrs from where I live in August I am so excited! The closest right now is about 5-6 hrs away i won't mind driving 1 1/2 hrs. I also love the red top! Very cute! The skinny cropped cargos are also adorable!

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  7. I also am with you Jenn on the sleeveless tank and cardi I don't like to wear sleeveless anything.

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  8. Oh my that striped top is amazing! Looks so comfy casual I love it!

    Meet Virginia Design

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  9. I notice you have a thing for stripes and you wore it so well. I am struggling with shopping addition too. Let me know if you find something works for you. This year the maxi dress seem to be in, don't know if you like those.

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  10. Really love that red and white striped blouse!

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  11. Kristine--great minds think alike...and in this case, look alike too! =)

    Katie--funny that you mention that dress because I own it! It actually falls about 3-4 inches above my knee so I have to wear it with leggings. And thanks for the award! =)

    Kelly--Spring break is the best..loving it!!

    Megan--it's a constant issue isn't it?! If I come up with anything fabulous I'll be sure to pass it on!

    Amber-you found my little secret! haha...not a lazy bloger, just a lazy family blogger. bad. =) When are you coming out here next??

    Jenny-YAY for the outlet coming closer to you! We'll be moving next summer and I'm sad to think we may not have one close to us at our next stop!

    Morgan--thanks! I'm loving stripes right now.

    Inkmark-- Maxis are cute but it's hard to find a short-sleeve version. I have one that I just wear a shrot-sleeve shirt under but it too gets hot after a while with all the layers. If you see any short-sleeved versions let me know!

    Tara--thanks!! =)

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  12. Love your crops with both those shirts! I so wish it was warm here...I wore a skirt today and it started pouring.

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  13. Love your blouse with the cargos. I reallly need to make a trip to a Jcrew outlet- maybe I should come your way. Napa sounds so fun! I love those sandals- Anjali has them too - did you get them recently? Oh I hate it when I blow the budget, but it's a new month you can start fresh!!

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  14. I got that top last weekend too! I love it - already wore it this week :)

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  15. I love that red/white stripped shirt! Seriously, I want it.
    And people watching? THE BEST. I swear parks are the best, or even public beaches!

    You are one hot mama!

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  16. I love the new top you got! I have a hard time finding dolman sleeved tops that I like on ME, though I love them on others, so I hear ya! Also I had to chuckle b/c I get the same way about my clothing budget sometimes. Like the restriction makes me feel bitter. Though really, I think I've saved more this year with the budget than ever and I bet you've spent less too. :)

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  17. I came to the same point a few weeks ago: I've got so many cute tanks but with summer on the way a cardigan for a little extra coverage will be too warm. I have got to look for shirts with sleeves! Keep us posted on your good finds.

    One thing I did order and LOVE is Shade's Demi Cap Sleeve (in white and black.) It's exactly like their layering shirts but only a half shirt. A full layering shirt under a tank gets a little hot in the humid Missouri summers. It's a good solution under some tanks.

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