I Call Bull

Dog, that is.

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It is surprisingly hard to find cute english bulldog clothes. And, yes. I realize that might be a weird thing to search for, but I like bulldogs. I like clothes. And ever the two shall meet.

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There are numerous french bulldog items. And pug items. But hardly ever english bulldogs. I wonder why that is. Whatever the reason, I usually scoop up the French Bulldog tees and give them love, any way. This French Bulldog shirt was no exception. My husband wants our next dog to be a French Bulldog. I want to stick with what we have, um, because have you seen our walls? They are covered in English Bulldog and Bichon paintings. It would seem weird not to continue the theme.

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But, I digress.

What I really want to talk about is the act of getting dressed.

I am not a fashion blog. Or a style blog. Or anything like that, regardless of what some might think. I know nothing about either of those things.

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I am simply a “getting dressed” blog.

As in, whoppee! I got dressed today! I can do this thing called life. Let’s be dressed together because whilst naked always sounds like fun it rarely ends up being so. Just ask my neighbors.

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Men and women used to dress for the day. They used to really dress. I am not quite sure when it stopped. To be frank, I don’t really care what anybody else wears. I would never judge. I just wish that it went both ways.

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For instance, I was at the grocery store later the day I wore this last week and the cashier said to me, “You’re all dressed up. Where are you going?” And I thought to myself, I’m wearing a dog t-shirt and a skirt. This should not be described as dressed up.

I started to feel defensive as other people turned to stare at the ridiculous girl who was dressed up.

“I just came back from a date,” I lied.

Well, I kind of lied. I had gone and seen a movie with my husband but we ate at Del Taco and went to the early bird seating. The whole “experience” cost less than $20. It was not exactly fancy, but again… dog t-shirt.

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Honestly, putting on happy clothes makes a huge difference in my day. I knew I wanted to pair this happy shirt with my skirt I had scored at the consignment store last year for $10 (similar skirt here. I previously wore the skirt in this post here with my bulldog). The Glimmered Horseshoe Necklace, boots and belt were past sale scores from Anthropologie. And the scarf is a few years old from H&M.

Are you one of the “dressed up” few? How does that make you feel?

Did you notice that I never, not once, mentioned the somewhat unfortunate placement of the bulldogs on this shirt? It is because I am growing up. I didn’t even snicker it at all.

Bull…

Shifts In A Denim Shift

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I started out wearing this little denim dress from Urban Outfitters (sold out. But Old Navy currently has a cute denim dress also available in plus size). With boots. And I asked my husband if he could take pictures of it.

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And he looked at the dress and said, “Whoa! That is short!”

But I didn’t believe him.

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And then I looked at these pictures while we were out taking the pictures and I had to agree. But I still thought maybe it was the heels and not the dress. Because I had kind of all ready worn this dress around town that day and I really could not bear to think of how many people saw me sans pants. I stubbornly stuck with, “It is a dress and it is long enough.” As all sixteen thirty seven year olds do.

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So I changed to flats.

It’s called denial.

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And it is my speciality.

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It was how I originally wanted to wear the dress any way. And I did. For approximately five seconds.

Before I took a peek at these pictures and decided it was not the heels.

It was not the flats.

It was the dress.

And it was a shirt.

I hate when that happens.

Although, I cannot wait to layer it over another dress like Atlantic Pacific did here.

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I put on some tights that I had in my car.

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What? You don’t carry tights in your car? What about spare deodorant? Extra underwear? Straws? Salt?

A girl has always gots to be prepared.

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I do admit, I felt more comfortable in the tights.

Just don’t tell my husband.

He’ll never let me live it down.

He is all ready teasing me about always being pantless.

There will be no living with him if he learns that I agree with him.

Have you ever been in denial about an outfit? Left the house in an indecent state? I am afraid that I can answer “yes” to both of those questions too often. I need to shift that. Top the next outfit. Ad-dress the issue and move on. For not once, but twice, in school, I left the changing room for p.e. without pants on. If I could get through it in junior high school, I can do it now. It is amazing how things can change and yet always stay the same.

Winner Of The Blog Giveaway And Musings

Congratulations to Lyn for winning the Urban Outfitters e-gift card! Thank you to all who participated! I very much appreciate it.

This month is flying by! I cannot tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I would say, “only time will tell,” but that seems redundant and also wrong. February is a mystery that I am still trying to catch up with.

Here are some things I am craving to wear, do or just share:

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One of my goals this month is to make a dutch baby in the oven. I am going to try this recipe from Food Network. Wish me luck! The very scary part of this is that neither myself nor my husband like dutch babies. But they look so impressive that I am hoping one made at home will be better than any others we have tried. I make sense that way.

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Speaking of food, this is more of a warning than anything else. We use our microwave a lot. I always thought of it as a relatively safe appliance. So I never really gave much safety advice to my children in regards to it. The oven and the stovetop were the appliances that I taught caution towards. That ended up being a mistake. We have had many mishaps with the appliance. Yesterday was definitely the scariest one. My son microwaved himself some sort of meal and about five minutes later there was a giant explosion. He had left the glass pyrex pan that I keep in the microwave (I have too many cooking vessels) in there when he microwaved his food. Apparently it could not handle being empty with the heat. I am so grateful he was not standing near it at the time. Glass reached the middle of the living room. Now both my kids know to never ever microwave an empty glass container. About two years ago my daughter accidentally hit the power button instead of the timer on the microwave and microwaved the oven with nothing inside of it for fifteen minutes. I cannot believe it did not fry it. It did not work for one day as it cooled down but then it was fine again. I have heard that you cannot microwave water in glass and obviously no metal in the device. Two weeks ago, my daughter microwaved a rice krispie treat on a plastic plate and created a giant burn hole in the plate. We threw it away but it could have caused a fire. And also, don’t microwave rice krispie treats! There is so much more to teaching kids about the machine than I had originally thought. Just an FYI for those of you with kiddos.

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Of all of the things that I like in stores, this Free People Summer Winds Dress tops the list. I love it for summer. I would love to buy it in the coming months. It just seems easy and breezy and can be worn an infinite amount of ways. I also like that it does not appear to be too short. Who doesn’t love a white dress?

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I had written earlier that I wanted a new couch this year, but then I put on our old white slipcover for this couch after having a dark grey velvet on it for months and my heart was happy again. And I ended up liking the other one in the other room equally. The couch is fifteen years old. But I still love it. It has been vomited on, had food spills, drink spills, crayon mishaps and it keeps on ticking. So, for now, it stays. Of course, right after I put the slipcover on, Ollie went and wiped his jowls on it. The couch is a glutton for punishment.

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I asked my daughter if what she was wearing was clean and she replied, “Yes. I got it from the laundry chair.”

The laundry chair!

Oi! The stories my kids will tell their children…

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Finally, this was my OOTD yesterday. I decided it was a black outfit and orange lipstick kind of day.

When my daughter got home, I said, “Hey! Look! I went emo today.”

She scoffed. “That is not emo.”

“Yes. It is.”

“No. It’s girly goth.”

I liked that description better any way, but I dare not tell her that.

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This photo was taken during dinner last night. Ollie knows he can’t be near the dinner table so he plants his butt on the edge of the carpet so he is still considered in the living room and stares at us. He is not amused by me taking pictures of him and not feeding him. I think he will go wipe his face on the white couch some more.

How’s your February going? If you have dogs, do they try to push the rules like Ollie? Today I am off to get my first pedicure since last May. I guess it’s about time. I just never expected to be wearing sandals in February.

Anthropologie Reviews: February 2015

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I had not been planning on going to Anthropologie on this day. I had planned on staying home and cleaning my house. But my mom had sent me a gift card to Anthropologie a few days before to try to lift my spirits from January.

I wore my tasseled dress from this post and a tasseled scarf from Forever 21. I had actually gone to the store with the sole purpose of purchasing this necklace. I had seen three of them at the store I went to the last time I was there and I was stunned by how gorgeous the necklace was in person. I vowed to buy it when it went on sale. It did. My store ended up having sold out of the necklace, but they did order me one that should come later this week. The store was not crowded at all. And it had all of the new arrivals that I had been wanting to try on. It was perfect. Thank you Mom for bringing joy into my day.

My last set of reviews was a hard post to write. I ended up not really loving anything. It is difficult to write about something that you aren’t passionate about. But, oh, this time, I loved every single thing I tried on. Some just as suggestions for others, but I was very pleased with the February selections in store:

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It seems as though every blogger has The Homestead Shirtdress. And they make me want it all the more. I love it on Karissa Marie. It is easy. It is comfortable. It has breathable fabric. It is pretty much perfect. I am wearing my usual size medium and that is the size I currently have wishlisted. I did have some pulling in the chest, which you can kind of see in the top picture. The buttons felt like they were straining. I am not even that busty, so more well endowed girls might have to size up.

It was a toss up between this dress and the dress below as to which one I was going to bring home with me. I loved them both a ten out of ten. But I had all ready bought this H&M dress with a similar shape and color pallet earlier in the month with their 20% off discount. I could not justify the purchase of two dresses so close in style. For those interested, the H&M dress fits true to size. It is a heavy polyester. It hangs well. I think it is a great dress for a good price (look for a discount code. They were offering 20% off awhile back, but now I think they are offering 20% off if you sign up for their email. Check their website for more information).

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Oh, Leifdottir, they always get it right. The Sarita Swing Dress is brilliant. The outer lining is 100% silk. It is groan-worthy scrumptious. I bought this in the size eight I am wearing in the pictures and wore it immediately the next day. Wait. Immediately and the next day don’t exactly go together, do they? Well, it was as immediate as I get.

Who doesn’t want to look like a tiger butterfly? Nobody, that’s who, if they’re being honest. I was so excited to see that this dress came in sizes up to 16. Of course, that size and size 14 are currently sold out online as they never stock enough of those sizes. Tsk, tsk, Anthropologie. But I do hope that a store might still have that size for those of you who want it by calling around (often when a size is sold out online, stores still have it, like the size 10 skirt further below).

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The lining is special, too. It has the sweetest crochet lace detail on the end. I wore my dress with a turquoise necklace (post coming on Thursday) and I loved the colors together.

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I had such high hopes for The Tindaya Dress. It has exquisite detail. It is flowy. And it looks good from the front. However…

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It is a bit too flowy for me. There is so much fabric to this dress it could almost be two dresses. I have seen some girls wear this belted up high and it looks very pretty that way. I could never wear this not belted. I am in a size medium.

I all ready have a lot going on down below the waist. This just adds more volume. It is like a fabric party is going on in this dress and it is a Monday and I have to work. This is a pass for me. The tall and thin would look amazing in this.

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Everybody loves The Mixed Plaid Tunic. It is all over Instagram. Usually the girls tie it at the bottom. I am not that cool. I knew trying this on that it would not work for me. I have large arms and the cut of the arms is at an odd bias which does not work for girls with larger upper arms.

I was right, so this is a pass for me, but it is still a sweet and simple dress.

I am in a medium. It fit perfectly with plenty of room. It is a cute and easy dress. It did not have the wow factor for me. But I think it will look great on a lot of body types. It will transition into each season nicely as a good piece on its own and an even more fabulous layering item.

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But? What?! How on Earth?

No pockets!

For such a simple everyday dress this seems to be a huge miss. I still cannot believe it did not have any. I am not speaking of the ones slathered on the chest. Every girl knows that those are unusable, unless you want lumpy boobs. I am speaking of waist pockets. Of course, I am old and it was not too long ago I can remember that no dresses came with pockets. But I have been spoiled these last few years and have come to expect them. Like I said, spoiled.

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I saw the price tag of this Elodie Dropwaist Dress (sold out, but might still be available in stores) and had to try it on. It was $29.95. It was a size L which I actually think works with the baggy style of the dress. Again, it did not have enough of a wow factor for me to pick it up, but it was cute. It was also extremely itchy. It was made from that itchy fake denim fabric. So, if you have sensitive skin I would definitely avoid this dress.

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I had been wanting to try on The Dotted Jacquard Skirt for some time. It just seemed like a piece that would go with most anything. I am wearing a medium in the picture and if I purchased this (which I will not be), I would size down to a small. I like the color. I like the fabric, but it is not as easy to work with as I had originally had hoped. It would be great with pullovers and simple tees, but it just did not feel like me. Great skirt, though! I recommend checking this in the store, because quite a few of them all ready had black scuff marks on them from the hazards of women trying them on. It’s tough being a white skirt!

If you work in a casual office, the Ashby Buttondown is wonderful. I think the price is okay for it. It is a very nice quality. It has a nice substantial weight to the fabric. The pretty grey denimy texture is soothing. It will go with a lot of different bottoms. It does not fit in with my lifestyle, so it was a pass for me. I am wearing a size medium. It fit just right. I highly recommend this one.

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Oh, Clementina Skirt. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Or the large patterns on this yummy design. My husband loves pencil skirts. So I buy them. Then I feel self conscious in them. And then I don’t wear them. Round and round we go… Like a clementine. I really like this skirt. I sized up to a 10 in it to allow for my ample thighs. Too many donuts not enough clementines.

I like the design, however, I tend to avoid giant designs on my lady parts. Ugh, I cannot believe I just wrote “lady parts.” But you know what I mean. I hesitate to get nitty gritty in a review post I am writing sober. This design does not bother me as much as others because the pattern repeats at the bottom. If it was singular, it would be a pass for me. It does bother me that the design does not line up on the sides, as shown in the second picture. Despite that, I have wishlisted this in hopes of getting it on sale.

The Crossed Pointelle Pullover is pretty. I like the design. It will be easy to layer this pullover over pretty slips or longer shirts. Or you could just wear it with pencil skirts. I am wearing a medium and it fit well and was soft and comfortable.

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Tricky. Tricky. The Tecoma Blouse is going to be a love/hate item. I happen to love it. It is an online only item, but my store happened to have one in my size medium that someone else had returned. I expect this to happen a lot. The pattern is amazing. The ties at the elbow are sweet yet sophisticated. The cut is flattering. It will go with pretty much any skirt that you own.

And everything about it is perfect. Except one kind of huge thing. The fabric.

Oh. That fabric. For many reasons, and so little, I own a variety of pirate wench costumes. Huh? Let’s ignore that little confession and just get to the point. My costumes always come with some sort of striped fabric. This fabric feels like that. It is that awful silky polyester that will be hot and sweaty. But I still bought it. Why? Because I just could not get over the wonderfulness of all of its other attributes. Plus, I’m used to being sweaty pirate costumes. I plan on wearing my shirt with everything. This week I will be pairing it with my Dotty Trumpet Skirt from a few years ago. I also want to mention that the top is very short. If you have a long torso, this might be a difficult top to tuck in.

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Gawh! Did I break the internet? I think not as my bum was all ready broken. I was trying to show the back of the skirt as well as the side of the shirt but instead ended up looking like a weirdo. Next time you are in a dressing room and you hate what you just tried on, just imagine that the person next door is taking odd selfies like this one. You will feel better. As for me, well, I better just stick to my pirate costumes… instead of Arr-nthropologie. Now that probably broke the internet.

Have you tried anything good on lately? Do you want to dress up like a tiger butterfly or a pirate? Or a pirafly? Or a buttrate? Oh. This could be dangerous. I better stop while I’m ahead