Better Shiny Than Sorry

I have a lot of cropped pants in my closet.  And a lot of stripes.  So, I figured I'd wear them together:

With a little bit of shine to keep my neutral outfit from being too boring:

Just kidding.  There is no way a waist this high is boring.  It's just flat out glorious.  And stripes aren't boring either.  They're classic.  And awesome.



But, still, you can't go wrong with a little shine:

Shirt: old LOFT (similar)  Pants: Ann Taylor
Necklace: Piperlime (similar)  Belt: LOFT (similar)  Sandals: Isola 'Lisinda'

Because, you know what they say, "Better shiny than sorry."  And if they don't say that, they should.



Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Dryel and All the Lurex

When it comes to the holidays, I'm not a big fan of wearing red and green and snowflakes and appliqued elves.  Instead, I tend towards shiny holiday dressing.  I mean, if there is any time to wear all the thrifted Lurex you can find, the holidays are it!

And I do plan on wearing all the Lurex this holiday season:

Unfortunately, Lurex is best when it's dry cleaned and dry cleaning can add to the already high cost of the holidays.


That's where Dryel comes in:

As an official Dryel ambassador, I knew immediately that the first things I was going to clean with the Starter Kit were my Lurex pieces to get them ready for the holidays.


I had never used Dryel before, but can I just tell you how easy it is?  The first step was popping all that shiny goodness into the Dryel Fabric Protection bag:

I then added the ULTRAcleansing cloth, set my dryer and et voila, the clothes were done within 30 minutes!  Happily all of the pieces kept their shape and their shine.  And they smelled good too; not overly perfumed, just clean.


Not only is Dryel quicker than a trip to the dry cleaners, it's also less expensive.  The Starter Kit retails for $6.99 and includes an improved Dryel Fabric Protection bag good for up to 30 loads.  Once you've used all the cloths in the starter kit, make sure you keep the bag and get yourself a Refill Kit.  They retail for $8.99 and clean up to 30 garments.

So, as you shop for the holidays, don't forget to look for Dryel in the new, red packaging and add it to your cart.  You can find it most anywhere.


Happy Friday, All!

Gracey



Please Note: As a Dryel Ambassador, I am compensated for my review of their product.  But, as always, all opinions expressed within this blog are mine and mine alone.  And that means that if it were no good, I'd let you know.  Promise.

Lowercase Shiny

I'm not big on daytime shine.  I mean, I like shine, just not necessarily for day.  For example, I don't think I'd ever wear my sequined jacket to the office but it's completely necessary to my wardrobe that I own a sequined jacket.  However, I found that I can do just a little shine during the day and, it's kind of fun.

Like this gold striped sweater:

Top: BR Outlet  Jeans: Old Navy  Jacket: Thrifted  Boots: Gap  Necklace: Hive & Honey

It's not SHINY, it's just shiny, and I can do lowercase shiny during the day.  Heck, I even added to the shine with my necklace:

I figure if I'm otherwise in muted tones like olive and denim a double dose of lowercase shiny isn't going to make me feel like a disco ball.

See? shiny.


Happy Friday, All!

Gracey

Get the Look

Similar metallic striped top

Similar olive jacket

Old Navy Mid-Rise jeans

Similar mid-calf boots

Similar chevron necklace

Monday, Shiny Monday

I'm having a very shiny Monday:

Between my "glitter grunge" sweatshirt and my velvet scarf, it's just shiny, shiny, shiny.

Not that I mind.  Being shiny on a Monday definitely cheers me more than being dull and drab.

Shirt: Gap, similar  Scarf: thrifted  Jeans:JCP   Boots: Born Crown, similar

And, I'm not just shiny, I'm pretty visible in this outfit, so I'm linking up with Patti at Not Dead Yet Style for Visible Monday.

How is your Monday, Reader Friends?

xoxo,

Gracey

It’s My Party and I’ll Shine If I Want To

Well, it wasn’t actually a party, it was dinner, but it was my dinner and my dress was shiny:

I wore this outfit for Day 2 of my Birthday Extravaganza.  We were going to dinner at The Chart House, which is a lovely restaurant in the hills above Portland, and I figured why not wear sequins.  So I did:

Although I love my black, sequined dress (vintage via Goodwill), I wanted to inject a little color into my outfit as well, so I added blue tights (Hue via Marshalls) and a burgundy eelskin clutch (vintage via Goodwill).  I also added a few bracelets, the same Juicy Couture necklace (via Nordstrom) I wore the night before (I know, I know, worst blogger ever) and black Mary Jane pumps (Franco Sarto Leticia via Nordstrom).

Franco Sarto "Leticia" - image via Nordstrom.com

Dinner was fabulous.  The view was amazing and so were the food and the service.  Definitely an excellent Day 2.

Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

** Disclosure: Actions taken from the hyperlinks in this blog post may yield commission/compensation for the writer. Please see the Disclosure tab for more details.

Green With Envy?

Nope.  I’m just green with poor photography skills.  Unfortunately, I had to take these photos inside and I had to take them myself (the horror!), so the end result is green Gracey in a cute outfit:

Now let’s talk about the cute outfit, shall we?  It looks like pants and a tunic, but it's actually a dress over pants.  See?

The dress is obviously too long to be worn over pants, but I didn’t want to wear it alone as the holiday party I was attending was in a bowling alley.  A nice bowling alley, but still, a bowling alley.  So, I belted the dress with a skinny belt and then pulled it up to hang over the belt, creating a sort of blouson effect.  Et voila, my dress is now a tunic:

In addition to the dress-as-tunic (vintage via Goodwill) and cropped pants (Vince Camuto via Nordstrom), I also wore leopard pumps (Merona “Maye” via Target): 

Merona "Maye" pumps - Image via target.com

I finished off the look with a vintage gold clutch (Goodwill), a couple of vintage bangles (Red Fox Vintage) and my black mini-bubble necklace: 

And there you have it, what I wore for my holiday party.  What about about you Reader Friends?  Are you attending any holiday parties this year?  If so, what are you wearing?!

Happy Friday, Everyone!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Gracey

WeeCap: Mad Men

My friend Alex and I are huge Mad Men fans; as much for clothes as for the wonderful acting, writing and that sexy misogynist, Don Draper.  So, when we heard that the theme for this year’s annual Salem Art Association Clay Ball was Mad Men, we knew we had to go.  And we knew we had to go all out.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything appropriately 60s in my closet, so I had to go shopping.  Luckily I was able to find this dress at an antique mall in Albany:

I realize in looking at these pictures that it’s a little too big for me, which I didn’t notice before because too big vintage is not often an issue I run into.  I’ll probably have to take it in before I wear it again.

Fit aside, I knew I had to get this dress as soon as I saw the fabulous sleeves – I love that they’re unattached and sequined.  Not that the sequins were enough; oh, no, I had to add some rhinestones too:

I embellished my hair with two clip-on rhinestone earrings, wore the rhinestone earrings and a bracelet and added a rhinestone pin to my clutch.

Unlike me, Alex had the foresight to buy a gorgeous 60s gown a couple years ago:

Isn’t it amazing? She also accessorized with rhinestones and added long white gloves and major lashes.

And then we were off to the party.  And, you guys?  It was so much fun.  The first couple of hours were the silent auction, drinks and hors d’oeuvres.  And a photo booth:

Erich McVey Photography was there with a very cool wall of old advertisements from the late 50s and early 60s.  If you want to see more pictures from the event, go to http://www.hautebooth.com/ and you can see a bunch of the other party goers.

After the silent auction we had dinner and the live auction – it was the first I’d ever attended, and it was fabulous.  Really, the whole night was fabulous.  Except that my feet hurt the next day.

It doesn’t help that I was out dancing Friday night too but by Sunday, the dogs were barking.  Luckily, I had some of these to wear around the next day:

They’re Kushyfoot Flats-to-Go and they’re wonderful.  They fit easily into my purse and they really are cushy.  When I received them from the fine folks at Kushyfoot, I was a little worried because the size is 9/10 and in my experience, things that have two size on them never fit the larger size listed.  But, I was wrong; these wonderfully comfortable flats really do fit my monstrous size 10 feet easily.

My pair is black embossed crocodile, but these fabulous flats also come in bronze alligator, zebra, polka dot, snake, perforated cream, black patent and silver.  And they're only $9.99 per pair in drug stores everywhere.  Or, of course, you can get some at kushyfoot.com.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!

Gracey

Casual Shine

As I said during the EBEW Sequins and Shine Challenge, I have a hard time breaking out the shine in casual situations.  Sequins and shine just read “fancy” to me and I like that about them.  But, today, I think maybe I’ve mastered casual shine:

I really, really like today’s outfit.  Yes, in part because it involves leggings and a tunic, for which I am a sucker.  But, I also love it because it exudes a bit of shimmery goodness that falls well within my Daytime Shine Comfort Level.  The silvery-gray blouse (Halogen via Nordstrom) worn over the black tunic (Old Navy) has a subtle shine.  And it picks up the similarly-hued shimmer from my snakings (snake-leggings via Target).  The scarf (BCBG) has a less subtle shine but still doesn’t make me feel as if I should be tap dancing in a top hat* so I’m comfortable with it.  I finished the look with black riding boots (Vince Camuto “Fantastic” via Nordstrom), earrings and a bracelet

And, there you have it; casual shine as imagined by a giant.

Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

*Point of fact: if I could tap dance, I would do it all the time, whether I was wearing sequins and a top hat or not.

Neon and Turquoise

Here’s the deal.  It’s Friday, it’s summertime and I’m only working half a day today.  So, yep, Captain Casual strikes again:

But, how awesome is this necklace with this neon top? 

For today's possibly-overly-casual look, I paired my beloved beaded necklace (rummaged) with a neon tank (J. Crew – thrifted) layered over a white tank (Target), with clam diggers (made by me from Gap Long and Lean jeans) and the same metallic cuff (thrifted) and sandals (Lovely People via Ideeli) I wore yesterday.

I’ve said before that this necklace goes with everything and I think today’s pairing settles it.  I love this necklace anyway, but am just thrilled with how it looks with neon and white.  I’m also pretty happy with my self-cut clam diggers.  I love cut-offs for the summer, but I can’t say that I love them on me.  But, when I saw Angie of You Look Fab’s clam diggers, I thought that might be something that would work for me.  And I think they do work – I wore these all last weekend and will probably wear them much of this weekend as well.

Because?  This weekend?  This is the weekend that I’m finally, finally getting over to the coast.  Somehow it turns out that I haven’t been there all summer.  But, we’re going over tomorrow and I’m super excited and I’ll take lots of pictures (probably in these same pants).

Today’s Takeaway?  Turquoise, like orange, really does go with everything.

Happy Friday, Everyone!  Have a fabulous weekend!

Gracey

More Lazy Dressing

I slept horribly last night and as a result I seriously struggled with what to wear today.  Because I didn’t have the mental acuity to come up with anything creative I went the lazy route once again:

While yesterday I couldn't be bothered with more than a dress, today I wore two whole pieces (your're welcome).  I layered an embellished tank (Design History via Ross) over a maxi dress (thrifted), added metallic sandals (Lovely People via Ideeli) and a metallic cuff (thrifted) and called it a day.  Is it lazy?  You bet your sweet bippy it is.  But, it’s also comfortable and sometimes a girl just can’t manage anything more than some lazy comfort.

Today’s Takeaway?  Shiny accessories totally make lazy outfits work-appropriate (Within reason, folks.  Lawyers probably won't be distracted by shiny stuff).

Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

EBEW: Gettin’ Thrifty With It

Yeah, that’s right, my title is a bad pun that references an even worse song.  Because that’s how I roll.  Also how I roll?  In thrifted clothes:

In fact, everything in this outfit is thrifted with the exception of the bangles (Nordstrom) and the necklace (vintage brooch-on-a-chain via Lil’ Gypsy).  And with the exclusion of those items, this outfit cost me a whopping $9.97.  The marigold blouse (never worn Liz Claiborne), which is silk and is the best color ever, was $1.98, the blue pleated skirt (vintage) was $3.00, the shoes (Franco Sarto) were $1.00 and the belt  (Mossimo/Target) was $3.99.

For those of you who bet yourself that I’d wear a pleated skirt for the EBEW Thrift Challenge, give yourself a cookie from me.  While my fabulous bloggy friend Katie loves to thrift silk scarves, I love to thrift pleated skirts.  And I was especially excited about this blue one. I’d been admiring the pleated blue Zara skirt that so many bloggers (like the lovely Katherine) rocked this summer, but we don’t have a Zara here in Oregon (hell, we just got H&M last fall).  So, of course I tried to thrift one.  And for months, I had no luck.  But, I kept my eyes open and finally found one, prompting a little happy dance in the aisle.

See? So happy!

If you’d like to see more of my thrifted pleated skirt collection, you can see this post, this one, or this guest post for gorgeous Fabienne of The House in the Clouds.  And if you’d like to see more thrifty posts (you know you want to), pop on over to Everybody, Everywear and feast your eyes.

Today’s Takeaway?  Whatever you’re looking to thrift (presumably pleated skirts because they’re awesome), be patient; it’ll pay off in the long run.

Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

WeeCap for July 16th and 17th

Really, this is a weecap for July 15th and 16th as I didn't take any pictures on Sunday the 17th (although I did wear clothes).  I don't supposed the particulars matter too much though, so let's get started!

After work on Friday, Alex and I went to the Salem Art Fair and I wore this:

  

Fair warning: I love this tank so you're probably going to see a lot of it this summer.  I paired the tank (Ross) with grey cut-offs (v. old), black gladiator sandals (Target), some bangles (garage-saled) and some 80s sunglasses (same garage sale).

While at the fair we listened to two absolutely wonderful bands.  The first was Billy D and the Hoodoos; they are identified as a "roots" band, but I'm not sure what that is.  They sounded sort of bluesy to me and where absolutely fabulous.  The second band was a group called the Ty Curtis Band and they are definitely a blues band.  We've gone to hear them play before and they're always just wonderful.

On Saturday morning I did a little thrifting - one piece of which you'll see on Thursday for the special Everybody, Everywear thrift challenge - and then (finally) finished hemming the dress I wore that night.  I apologize that I couldn't get a very good full length picture of the outfit but you can get the gist of it here:

The dress is vintage (thrifted) and was (rather poorly) altered by me.  I hemmed it but don't have the skills to mess with the blouson effect at the waist, so I added a sequin sash to give me a bit more of a waist.  I wore a pair of strappy heels (Nine West, v. old), a vintage clutch (thrifted), a vintage tassel necklace (borrowed from Alex), bracelets and gold chandelier earrings (Target).

Here is a close-up picture from dinner:

Dinner was at a lovely restaurant in Portland called Gilt.  The decor was very cool, all dark reds and old gold with the most interesting light fixtures:

For dinner it was (from left to right) Jenny, Lori, myself and Alex:

After dinner we were supposed to go to Darcelle XV for a drag show, but unfortunately Jen and Lori were half an hour late for dinner, causing us to be half an hour late for the show which filled up before we could be seated.  Luckily, Alex and I always have a Plan B in a blues club called The Candlelight Room.

The Candlelight Room is located near Portland State University and hands-down has some of the best live music in Portland.  It's small and sweaty and they play the absolute best blues there.  On Saturday night we listened to Richard Arnold and his band play.  They played blues, but they also played some old Motown and a little Broadway; and everything they played was great.

During one of the band's breaks, we were talking to a man named Elliot who sang a couple of songs with band, and it came up that it was Alex's birthday.  And Elliot and Richard began singing Happy Birthday to Alex, a capella, right there on the street corner!  It was fabulous.  Richard has a gorgeous low voice (baritone) and his and Elliot's voices harmonized perfectly.  I know I should have taken a picture, but I was just too thrilled with the moment to remember my camera.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.  No drag queens, but lots of sequins, and that always makes a girl feel good.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!


Gracey