Liquid Silver

I wore this a while back, and thought it would make a great Fourth of July outfit...


[H&M jacket ($15 on clearance), Old Navy camisole ($3), dagger necklace made by me, Gap striped shorts, Pour La Victoire faux snake skin sandals]

...but the weather would not permit the jacket on the actual holiday. Time for Plan B. I resorted to something that was light and captured the spirit without the obvious color scheme. The hoodie is white, the sunglasses has blue frames, and the eyeshadow was a flaming copper red. Everything else sparkled like embers of fireworks.

[Marc Jacobs sunglasses ($15 from Loehmann's clearance), Ben Amun chain necklace ($7, also from Loehmann's clearance), Park Vogel sheer hoodie, Old Navy lurex racerback dress, Givenchy Gillie jelly sandals, silver nail polish for the toes.]


I just love fluid forms in bright, reflective silver--simple yet striking and sophisticated. In addition to the big chunky necklace above, I picked up a couple of smaller baubles. They are perfect for going with all the dark colors and simple pieces that I've been wearing for work these days.

[Argento Vivo sterling silver twist pendant necklace ($10 from Loehmann's. I wore it here, but it didn't show up so well in the pictures), Forever 21 plastic dome ring ($2.80).]

Pluses and Minuses

It's pretty nice to spend my Fourth of July with my family, and I especially appreciate some quality Mother-Daughter time with my mom. We lunched, discussed plans for the upcoming trip (i.e. what to bring, what to wear, what to gift), and did a bit of shopping for things that my mom needed. Unfortunately, we came away empty-handed and quite disappointed for a couple of reasons.

Murphy's Law is always applicable when we're shopping for something--the perfect item is available when we're not searching for it, but suddenly becomes elusive during the moment of need. There were a couple of things that we were trying to find. One is a pair of shoes--it had to be comfortable for lots of walking, it can't be too flat or too high-heeled, and it should look stylish. Unfortunately, the "comfort" options yielded shoes that were chunky and fugly, and shoes that had the right height tended to be thong sandals (which my mom didn't like). We'll give it another go at DSW on another day.

Another disappointment came in the form of dresses. I had a pretty good eye for what would look good for my mom's body type, and she tended to agree with the styles that I picked out for her. There were some very cute dresses at Macy's. Sadly, it is unsurprisingly difficult to find anything beyond a Size 10, and quite a few shoppers around us were having the same problem. I was pleasantly surprised that J.C. Penney had a wider range of sizes than Macy's did, and some of the designs are really cute, but the quality and array of styles are far more limited than the better department stores.

I've read a number of articles and blog posts about retailers cutting back or cutting out their plus-size offerings in stores, or limiting their plus-size options to the online stores. Some of those retailers rationalize their decisions by citing high production costs for plus-size clothing, or lack of demand, or some other excuses, but they are really just shooting themselves in the foot. The demand is certainly there, and woefully underserved; there really has to be something more out there than Lane Bryant or Torrid. The customers are stylish women with discerning tastes. They are willing to spend the money, but the options are just not there. My mom is by no means a frumpy woman--she knows what looks good. I was willing to spend a pretty penny for a nice dress at the store, but apparently the store doesn't want my money. That's fine--I'll go someplace that does.

In order to survive and thrive in an economic downturn, businesses with their backs against the wall should try out new ideas. The plus-size market is a ticket out of the minus-sign territory. Forever 21 is getting into the act, and Topshop is too (but only after Beth Ditto took a stand). Hopefully producers of quality clothing will follow suit.

Black Moth Super Rainbow

The beauty of a good public radio station is that the programming is intellectual, eclectic, and fun at the same time. I get my morning news on my drive to work. What comes on my car radio on the second half of the day depends on when I drive home. If I leave the office during Rush Hour, I get another dose of news along with the intriguing type of human interest stories that you can only get through print media. If I head out later at night, the music is perfect for cruising.

One night, a song grabbed my attention such that I had to go home, go online, and check the set list to see what it was. It was "Counting Backwards to Black" by Black Moth Super Rainbow. The song has been getting quite a bit of airplay on my iPod these days. It is hard to picture what a "Black Moth Super Rainbow" is, but I think the phrase best describes what I wore today.

[Converse One Star for Target jacket, black dress that I picked up for $15 from a parking lot sale, Argento Vivo necklace (clearance item from Loehmann's. I love it--simple but eye-catching), Givenchy Gillie jelly sandals.]




After waiting a couple of months for the price to come down, I finally picked up the Givenchy lace-up sandals from the local DSW. As cute as they are, I refused to pay a 3-digit sum for a pair of jelly sandals. I'll admit that even on sale, I probably paid more than I should for a pair of plastic shoes, but I love the form and the surprisingly pleasant level of comfort. I have never been a big fan of jelly shoes, but these do not look like jelly shoes at all. The matte surface is beautiful, the molded plastic does not have any seams on the sides, and the cut-outs look like gorgeous wings. For some reason, the lace-up front really got me--it adds a certain level of sophistication to an otherwise casual genre of footwear. I believe that they will be very versatile for travelling, since they can take the abuse of being stuffed in luggage and will work well with all different types of outfits. It also helps that they can be washed and cleaned easily. Given all the positives, I'm sure that I'll wear these sandals quite a bit.

Help Wanted

I hope everyone will have an enjoyable and safe 4th of July weekend! My office is closed today, so I'm trying to take some time off relaxing before fitting in some work in between the festivities throughout the weekend. I haven't fleshed out my weekend plans yet, but just getting caught up with sleep would be fine by me.

I'll be travelling overseas for a wedding in November. It'll be my first real (i.e. lasting longer than a couple of days) vacation in about 5-6 years, and it'll be the first time I'll see some family members in roughly 20 years. I'm definitely excited about that, but the planning has to start now. Since I expect to be very busy for work in the next couple of months, I'm going to have to do a lot of planning, etc. and spread out the vacation-prep labor over time.

One of my biggest concerns is getting souvenirs, gifts, etc. to my many family members. Obviously, I'll need to get a wedding gift for the bride and groom, and then gifts for aunts, uncles, and cousins. What kind of quintessentially All-American, practical, and compact gifts do you recommend for $20 or under?