Embroidered Happiness

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Vineet Bahl is one of my favorite designers. His Kantha Dresses he designed for Anthropologie a few years ago are my most treasured items in my closet (previous outfit post can be found here).

I stalked The Vine Beaded Maxi Dress (now sold out) for many months until it finally went on sale with an extra percentage off.

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I love the polka dot pattern mixed with the really neat bohemian neckline.

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I feel all of my thirty seven years in this dress. I like that it is more mature and the length is perfect.

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I kept the accessories simple. With the intricate neckline all ready so busy, I just paired the dress with some earrings from World Market (old). You cannot really see my shoes but they are Indian sandals from a trip to Maui two years ago.

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The dress comes lined and I very much appreciate that. Especially since I have a tendency for odd poses.

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I love the way Jessica wore it on What I Wore. In fact, after seeing it on her many months ago, I began lusting after the dress even more.

Do you ever see an item of clothing on someone else and want it even more? What is the longest you have waited for an item to hit sale? I think the River Fade Dress might be it for me. I finally got it at the end of August, after waiting since January for it to hit sale.

*Everything I am wearing is sold out. Sorry about that. If I can find a similar item, I will link to it. But I will never put in a link for the sake of simply getting clicks. I do not want to waste your time. I could not find something similar enough to link to that I felt was worthy of a link. I have seen the dress selling on eBay for a bit more than what I paid (I paid $104). I took a size small in the dress.

July 2014 Clothing Purchases

I am currently working on my Comic Con posts so that I can get them up starting tomorrow and also my funny but mortifying story of seeing Patrick Rothfuss again. I was not going to post anything today while I worked on those, but I decided to share the things I purchased in July instead. Because I always enjoy seeing, reading or hearing about other people’s finds.

July was my birthday month so I was able to splurge much, much more than usual. The great news is I did not spend my own money on most of these purchases because almost all of my birthday presents were gift cards to my favorite stores (thank you family and friends!). Plus, I had birthday discounts and 20% off sale purchases going on when I acquired a lot of these items. And I still have funds left over on a gift card to Anthropologie (which I am saving for the River Fade Dress when it goes on sale). I have become an exclusively sale shopper (I have to be with a kid heading to college in three years), so some of the items that I list are probably sold out but you might still find them in a store if you call customer service with the style number. I am still hoping for a price adjustment in the next two weeks on some of these things as long as they get further cut.

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First, I purchased some accessories that I had in my wishlist for what seemed like forever as I patiently waited for them to go on sale: The Caterpillar Earrings (these are brown and not green in real life), Tassel Bloom Hoops in purple, Anthropologie Monogram Bangle (this did turn my wrist green), and Free People Kantha Clips. Of those four accessories my favorite is the Kantha Clips. I love anything Kantha and these are no exception. I actually own three different pairs.

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I also picked up the Anthropologie Rainforest Belt now that it is such an amazing sale price. It reminds me of dragon scales. Just call me Khaleesi.

No, seriously.

Oh wait, that’s just what I make my kids do. Don’t worry, it ‘s not all of the time… Just when they want dinner… Or food… Or a ride.

It’s tough being the kids of The Mother of Dragons.

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My Modcloth Twofer Honey Dress that I styled here with my honeycomb earrings was such a cool addition to my wardrobe. The dress just got cut to 70% off! I think it is now a great price.

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I am so happy with both the Free People Loretta High Neck Dress and the Free People Late Summer Love Dress (styled here). My husband’s very favorite dress (and outfit post showcasing it which is going up later this week) in the world is now the Loretta High Neck Dress. So I love it all the more now. Plus, now I know what to wear when I need somethin’. Not that the Mother of Dragons ever wants for anything.

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Anthropologie’s Melanie V-Neck Dress that I got for $20, down from $138 was one of my best scores.

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Anthropologie’s Talisman Peasant Dress was 75% off after my birthday discount, but I still debated on keeping it. I was unsure about the fit, but when my daughter saw me try it on she could not stop gasping about its awesomeness, so now I am definitely wearing that teenage-conversation-starter everywhere.

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The Anthropologie Salta Shirtdress (I thought this was awful on until I cut off the extra sleeves) was a great popback price. I love the dress with the alteration I made.

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And this Anthropologie Laced Chambray Popover was too good of a price at $20 to pass up.

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I waited for the Anthropologie Sunpass Dress for months, too, (after reviewing it here) and when it hit almost 75% off, I pounced. I am still hoping this gets cut one more time because I am greedy. (Edited on 8/3/2014 to add it did get one more cut! Wheeeee!).

Those dragons need to bring Momma some gold. Isn’t that the good thing about dragons? Don’t they hoard gold? Mine are slackin’.

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Last but not least is my beloved Free People New Romantics Rio Dress. I originally tried on this dress here, but it was much too expensive for me. Every morning since I reviewed this dress in March, I would wake up and check the website to see if it had gone on sale (I am a patient stalker). Last week I noticed a review I must have missed where the reviewer spoke of buying the dress on sale in the store. Free People’s clothing prices do vary from store to website.

I called a store that the website had listed as having it in stock as soon as it opened (if you know me, you know this terrified me. I never call to order something. I get nervous, slur my words and inevitably get the sweaty shakes, but I did it for this dress. And guess what? They were really nice to me. I think it had nothing to do with my dragons roaring in the background). I bought both colors because both dresses purchased through the store were still 30% less than just one dress would have been retail price. Plus the store I ordered them from did not charge me tax or shipping. Score! Not since my beloved Anthropologie Vanga Kantha Dresses have I been this excited about a dress. I still have not received them, but I am hopeful they will arrive soon.

Whew! Thank goodness for birthdays! It was so fun to stretch my gift cards by being frugal and buying multiple items that were on generous sale markdowns with them instead of just one or two items. I only had one black dress in my closet before this month but I saw this post from the wonderful and incredibly witty fashion blog, Suzanne Carillo Style Files, and it made me want more black little numbers. I knew I wanted to add some to my clothing collection (a much nicer way of saying, gluttonous pile of excess) with my wonderful, generous presents. I am doubtful August will lead to any purchases for myself because the majority of the budget will go to the children’s back-to-school finds, and alas, my birthday gift cards are almost gone.

Do you own one or more black dresses? Do you buy more in your birthday month (gotta love those discounts)? Are you waiting for anything to hit sale? Do you ever stalk something for months (I’m hopeful no one will say me)?

*this post contains some affiliate links. Clicking on a link on this post may result in a small commission to feed my dragons for this site.

Photos are from Anthropologie, Free People and Modcloth.

Sunset Skirt At Sunset

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I am at Comic Con again today and so I decided to share some outfit pictures from our vacation to Maui that somehow never made the cut. I think it was because I was burnt out about talking about that trip.

By the way, this skirt is Free People’s Colorblock Skirt and I love it. I previously wore it here.

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What did you do this weekend? Did it involve the beach? I am traversing around a convention center with giant blisters on my heels and looking for new art. Wish me luck! : )

P.S. I think the gnome hidden on this one is pretty tricky. Did you spot it?

*these photos were edited using the App Afterlife’s Bloom Filter.

An Antique & Artsy Date Night

A week ago, my husband and I ventured out on a date. We are always hungry early, and so like the old folks that we are, we decided to leave our house at 5:00. Being the procrastinator that I am, I had not changed clothes for the date. It was 4:45 and I was still in my pajamas…

From my closet, I yelled over my shoulder to my husband, “I have nothing to wear!”

To which I heard a grumbled, “Seriously?”

And then my muffled response, as I choked and gagged on my gluttonous amount of clothes, “I’m just kidding!”

And his muttered-under-his-breath-but-consciously-loud-enough-for-me-to-hear-from-the-bedroom-to-the-closet reply, “No you’re not.”

And he was kinda right. I never know what to wear on a date. I love free-flowing bohemian maxis. My husband likes short fitted dresses.

Never the two shall meet.

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I ended up picking this Modcloth dress (similar here) from last year that I had purchased when I went and saw Cindy Lauper (post here and here). It was a good choice, because my husband really liked it.

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It was his choice as to where we would eat that night and he picked a trendy little hipster restaurant in the old part of our town. That part of town is now filled with antique stores and gourmet restaurants. My husband loves the hamburgers there. I love the decor.

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Look at this chandelier made from honey bear jars. Wicked cool right?

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I can’t believe I just said, “wicked cool.” Next thing you know, I’ll be saying “uber”. If that happens, just hang me up with those bears, okay?

Let’s pretend that never happened.

I took pictures of the art on the walls, whilst unbeknownst to me also attracting the attention of the chefs.

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I pored over the menu, even though I always get the same thing.

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The hamburger.

I had to include the funny picture, because I hate pictures of me eating. Don’t you?

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It was a beautiful evening and we planned on just heading home and watching a movie.

Oh! But before I move on, I have to talk about dessert! We had amazing homemade cheesecake. Or restaurant-made cheesecake. All I know is that it was good and made on the premises. I do not like going to restaurants that serve desserts they have ordered from other companies.

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We decided to walk down to my favorite antique store. Thankfully, my husband likes antiques as much as I do. Although on this night, he was antsy.

Look at the cool letters with my husband’s and my initials. I want them. Desperately. I think it is kismet that they happen to be our initials. I also love the colors. But they are very expensive. So, I am holding out.

Maybe one day…

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Other antiques we liked: an old door. Oh! The colors on this door (but I all ready have this one). Another want. An old toy horse. A really cool tractor part that had the prettiest patina.

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Then we made our way outside where unbeknownst to us, there was an art festival going on that had started mere minutes before. The artists were setting up booths and some were doing sidewalk chalk art. The picture above is the beginning of an art piece by my children’s art teacher, Lisa Owen Lynch, setting up her awesome Star War’s Princess Leia drawing. We randomly ran into her and it was neat to see her at work.

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Look at her shoes! She is the coolest!

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And we left her just as the hair was coming together. She is so talented. My kids are very lucky to get to learn from her.

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I ended up purchasing a small bird painting for $30 from one of the artists there. It looks like a strange bird at first, but it is actually two birds. Because of that, I thought it was weird and neat enough for a place in our home. Plus, the colors are great. The artist was super sweet, too.

I love that what started out as a simple dinner turned into a fun antique browse and art walk. There is something romantic about spontaneity. And I treasure when an evening turns out better than planned.

Where have you gone on a date recently? Do you always decide the restaurant or do you trade off with your partner?