Daily MelWear: Double Polka

Somehow I don't think the Double Polka is quite as amusing as the Double Rainbow. {I can't believe you can buy the song on iTunes now. You'd think in this day and age, I would've been able to come up with something comparable to get rich.}

{By the way, if you're thinking, "Wow Melissa, that cardigan looks awfully familiar, didn't you just wear that?" the answer is no, but great observation. :) I have this cardigan in two colors and I wore the turquoise one last week!}

I'm still sniffly and sneezy but instead of talking about that, let's talk about double polka dots! My boss isn't a huge fan of patterns to begin with, so mixing them at work isn't quite an option. Since she's out this week, I took advantage of the wee bit of freedom to pair these two pieces together. I really like it! I love the peach and teal together, plus there's a happy contrast with the white polka dots on the dress and the black ones on the cardigan.

When it comes to pattern mixing, do you prefer to mix two different patterns, or two pieces with the same type of pattern? What are your favorite patterns to mix?

Have a great Thursday, friends!

Today's outfit:

Dress: Target

Cardigan: Forever 21

Belt: Target
Heels: Beall's

Daily MelWear: Black & Blue

I truly, honestly, wholeheartedly believe that I have the best readers in the world. Because you're not just readers, you're friends - and you've given me so much support and encouragement that just saying thank you doesn't seem to be enough. 

I'm going to say thank you anyway, and in the meantime I'll try to come up with a better way to express my gratitude. :) I so very much appreciate all of your comments yesterday. Yes, I'm in the middle of a rough patch at the moment with a lot of things, but I tried to make my post lighthearted in spite of all that. Thank you for recognizing that I needed some encouragement and for sending some to me. 

Now before I get all weepy...

This is what I wore for the board meeting. I don't know why I'm having such a difficult time coming up with board meeting attire lately. I feel like I should wear a standard skirt suit but I've worn them all already. My boss isn't big on prints in skirts, so I there are a few dresses that I can't wear and several skirts that I can't wear for board meetings. 

I do like this though. I think it's the jacket that pulls it all together! There's some subtle pattern mixing with the vertical pinstripes in the skirt and the horizontal stripes in the shirt. Those shoes are really fun too with the zipper detail on the toe bed. 

And...since our meeting ended up being around 3 hours, I didn't leave work until 9PM so I'm kind of exhausted and am going to bed.

Thanks again, friends. If you've ever doubted how special you are, don't. You're all very, very special to me. :) Have a great day!

Tuesday's outfit:

Black Pinstripe Skirt: Ross (part of a suit)

Striped Top: Macy's

Blue Blazer: Burlington (part of a set)

Black Belt: Can't remember

Heels: Target

Daily MelWear: Blue Flowers

Happy Day-After-Memorial-Day to my U.S. readers! Hope you all had a wonderful long weekend relaxing, barbecuing and giving thanks for the freedoms we've been afforded.

I spent Saturday with my girl at our family's annual Memorial Day pool party (my aunt had to work on Monday so we had to switch the day) and then I brought her to her dad, since this was his weekend with her. Sunday was spent at home, going through clothes to donate, cleaning things up, getting blog posts ready (did you read yesterday's Proper Professional with Kileen?) and organizing a new series of blog posts.

Speaking of a new series of blog posts, I have SO much good stuff in store for you guys! I had a fantastic time at SheCon last weekend and I know that I can't possibly capture every part of it. I want to share the experience with all of you and I want you to meet all of the great new friends that I made. 

What better way for you to meet all of these fabulous people than to have them each introduce themselves to you! Starting this Friday, I'm beginning a series called SheCon Lovelies where each of my new friends will guest post in an interview format, sharing themselves and their SheCon experiences with all of you. This way you'll get to meet each of them and hear their perspective on what they learned and enjoyed at the conference. I'm SO excited! YAY!!!

Okay so back to the weekend - Sunday night, my mom and I went out with a good friend of mine to see Bridesmaids. SO HYSTERICAL! I loved it!

Monday was full of errands. FULL of errands. And kind of full of annoyance because certain places were closed or I forgot something or something else happened. I ran out of time and didn't get to finish everything I wanted to do, but I did get to go shopping with some coupons at Payless and DSW. Those shoes will be on the blog soon. VERY soon.

My mom wanted to look for some dresses for our family reunion-type vacation at the beach in June so we stopped by Ross. I remembered that TiAnna mentioned she doesn't have a Ross but heard that  Burlington was similar, so I decided to pop into Burlington (where I rarely shop) to check it out and compare. Today's outfit is the result of that trip and TiAnna can expect a bill in the mail for all the clothes I ended up buying there. {I'm kidding. Sort of.}

So - whew! That was a lot of text. If you got through all of it, you deserve a cookie. No seriously, go get one. Bring one back for me, too.

Have a great Tuesday, friends!

Today's outfit:
Skirt / Jacket / Belt: Burlington
Black Tank: Target
Black Heels: Beall's
Green Necklace: Beya

Daily MelWear: Peachy Keen

Look at me, just look at me! I don't actually mean me, I mean look at the blog!!! Especially if you're reading through a reader (that sounds so redundant). Nelah installed her design over the weekend! Didn't she do a fabulous job? I really love it. She perfectly encapsulated who I am and what I like. We still have a few tweaks to work out but I can't begin to tell you how much I adore her design. So, so much!

If you're a fan on Facebook, you may have seen that I posted a little contest over there to see who could come up with a name for the new feature that I mentioned last week.  There are some GREAT submissions and while I think I might have made a decision, I'm not calling it yet so go suggest something!

Speaking of the new feature, so many of you expressed interest in either participating or reading about others' points of view on the subject of what constitutes professional attire. I want this feature to inspire and encourage all of us. That's why I'd like to know what YOU want to know. I've come up with a questionnaire to ask the featured bloggers, but I don't want to only ask them my questions; I want to ask them your questions as well.

Let me know what questions you'd like to see answered in this feature via the comments or send me an email {aworkingmomsclost at gmail.com}. I'll include as many of them as possible!

Now for the outfit. It's hard to tell in the photos but this sheath dress has some silvery criss cross patterns on it, subtle enough that I think it works for the "no patterned skirt" policy. With the polka dots in the cardigan, there's just enough pattern mixing to make me happy but still office-appropriate (I think so, anyway). This cardigan is a recent purchase from Forever21.com. I ordered it on the Friday that they offered 100% of proceeds to be given to the relief efforts in Japan. I also ordered one in teal with brown polka dots. So cute! There's a bow design that's hard to see but it's there and it makes me happy. I will say that I ended up buttoning the top buttong and pinning the top of the dress to the cardigan so it wouldn't droop down - I have to make sure my neckline is as high as possible. 

Let's recap:
1.  Click through to the blog (unless you're there already) to check out the new design by Nelah!
2. Go to Facebook, become a fan, submit a suggestion for the feature title.
3. Leave a comment or send me an email {aworkingmomscloset at gmail.com} with some questions you'd like answered for the new feature.

Easy, right?

Have a great day!

Today's outfit:
Dress: Target
Cardigan: Forever 21
Heels: Target
Belt: Payless

Daily MelWear: Outfit 30/30 - WE DID IT!!!

YOU GUYS! We finished the 30 for 30 challenge! Okay, some of you finished sooner and some of you still have a few more outfits to go, but YAY!

Now I have no idea what to wear tomorrow.

But in even better news, my tax return came yesterday JUST in time for this challenge to be over so I can go shopping!!!

I'm kidding. I'm not really going shopping. Well...I am, but just for that new camera. And I have to pick out a full size tripod and I need to figure out what kind of laptop I'm going to get. Hopefully I can find all of these things on Amazon so that I can just place one order and be done with it. If anyone would like to email me some links to check out for tripods and laptops, I'd appreciate your suggestions! My email is aworkingmomscloset at gmail.com.

Today WILL be a good day. I'm going to make it a good day. For my new readers who aren't as familiar with my life in the past few months (hi new friends!!!), I'll just quickly fill you in by saying that since around September, life has been a little rough. My husband and I divorced in December, and today would have been our 10 year anniversary. We're still very good friends and in fact, he wrote on my Facebook wall this morning to tell me not to let it make me sad and that he's grateful for more than 10 years of our friendship. I feel the same way.

And today also marks two months since my friend Jamie passed away from Leukemia. Some of you may have been wondering why I wear the orange bracelet every single day, and it's because I simply can't take it off yet. It's a Leukemia Awareness bracelet that I got at Jamie's memorial service. I'm just not ready to take it off.

Okay - WHEW! I'm telling you this because I really just want to be honest about who and what I am. Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes things get depressing. But our reaction to events and situations can determine how everything plays out and whether or not we're essentially happy.

So today, I choose to be happy. I choose to be grateful that I knew Jamie for the short time that I did, that I had the honor and priviledge of being touched by her amazing faith and that I was able to visit with her a few more times before she died. I continue to be blessed by her through reading the blog her father has started since her passing.

I'm grateful that I know my ex-husband, that we created such a beautiful, intelligent, funny and sweet, sweet-spirited little almost-four-year-old, that we are still the best of friends and that I can rely and depend on him every time I need him.

And I'm grateful that my tax return got here so I can get all the new junk I need!

I will make today a good day. How about you?

Today's outfit:
Purple Dress: Plato's Closet
Striped Shirt: Wal-Mart
White Belt: Wal-Mart
Leopard Flats: Target
Necklace: Can't remember
Ring: Forever 21 (um...I think)

Don't forget to enter the Shopbop Giveaway! Entries are accepted through Sunday night!

Daily MelWear: Outfit 25/30

Good heavens, those are some white legs. Wow. Don't look.

Well guys, I'm now a day behind. Because we went to Disney yesterday and I didn't have any of my dresses clean, so I had to wear some shorts and a tank that were not in my 30. Oops.

And...in the interest of being completely honest, I need to point out that these sandals are not in my 30 either. After walking around all day yesterday, I used my gift certificate from Christmas for a pedicure last night, then I decided that I couldn't wear closed toe shoes all weekend with pretty new polish on! So I wore sandals. 

I'm a cheater. But my toes are so pretty! 

This outfit was inspired by a suggestion from Cara and while I was too chicken to wear it without the cardigan to break up some of the pattern mixing, I do really, really like the two patterns together! Thanks Cara!

Oh yeah - and new hair! Actually...it's the same old hair but I haven't had it cut/trimmed in a LONG time so it seems like new hair.

Thank you to everyone who commented and emailed in regard to yesterday's post. As I mentioned in some of my replies (I'm trying to reply to everyone if there's an email attached, but I haven't been home all day and I'm about to crash right now!), I totally felt like a party pooper when I wrote it but the response from those of you that feel the same has been overwhelmingly reassuring. I just feel the need to point out again that I am completely in support of the nominations and awards, I'm glad that so many bloggers are being recognized for their hard work and that it's been such fun for so many people. It's just not my cup of tea, that's all. They're English Breakfast, I'm Earl Gray. 

Or something.

And by the way, have you entered to win a $100 Shopbop gift card yet? What are you waiting for?

Today's outfit:

Black/White Skirt: Salvation Army

Striped Sweater: Wal-Mart

Black Cardigan: Kohl's

Pink Sparkly Belt: Charlotte Russe

Black Sandals: Payless

Black Rose Ring: Charlotte Russe

Necklace: Charlotte Russe

Daily MelWear: Outfit 12/30

So, there's good news and there's bad news. 

The good news is that I'm getting a little more creative on the weekends, since I can't really be as creative at work during the week.

The bad news is that I'm already running out of outfit ideas with my 30 pieces. And frankly, having to do laundry more often is making me a little cranky.

 

Let's dissect this outfit, shall we? My plans for today included having my car detailed (to remove the ever-alluring fragrance of sour milk - new rule: no milk in mommy's car), then taking my girl to do "arts and craps" (she's 3, she doesn't quite have her "f"s down yet), then going to see Huey Lewis at SeaWorld. So I started with my purple dress that always looks blue but I assure you, it is purple. I layered my striped sweater over it. Then I decided to add another color with the fuchsia tights and figured I'd throw another pattern in there with the black tights on top. Before I left for the concert, I added another pair of cotton black tights underneath the fuchsia ones and I added another black long-sleeved tee under the dress, because the concert was outside and it was supposed to get cold.

Yes, I KNOW this looks like blue and purple, but I assure you that it's purple and fuchsia in person!

Then...we found out the concert was WAY earlier than we'd thought, and we had missed it. So we went to see Just Go With It with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston instead. Granted, I was a little warm in all those layers indoors, but I felt cute. And the movie was HYSTERICAL! Predictable, of course, but so funny. 

And at least I was home early enough to put my girl to bed. I miss not having her every night like I did when we were married, so when I do have her it means a lot for me to kiss her good-night and spend every second I can with her.

Hey, time is running out to enter the Custom Designed Pronta Scarf Giveaway! Entries are accepted only through tomorrow night, the winner will be chosen on Monday morning so enter if you haven't yet! 

Also, don't forget about Fabulous In February: A Month of Positivity - start thinking of three more positive things to say about yourself on Monday!!!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Today's outfit:

Purple Dress: Plato's Closet

Striped Sweater: Wal-Mart

Fuchsia Tights: Target

Black Tights: Target

Black Long-Sleeved Tee: Forever 21

Black Bow Belt: Charlotte Russe

Black Boots: Belk

Black Rosebud Ring: Charlotte Russe

Daily MelWear: Outfits 4, 5 & 6/30

Originally my plan for this weekend was to get caught up on reading blogs, organize my jewelry a little, search for the online owner's manual for my dad's camera that I've been using and just rest. This is my daughter's weekend with her dad so I wanted to keep my time occupied and stay distracted from missing her. 

Then we decided to do a family day at SeaWorld on Friday and another one at Disney on Saturday. So YAY! 

Friday at SeaWorld was really warm, close to 80, and I didn't pick many short-sleeved pieces in my 30. Plus it was Go Red For Women, so I needed something red as well. I think I pulled it off pretty well. 

Saturday at Disney was warm too for part of the day, but it was also rainy and gloomy and by the end of the day, I was extremely grateful for my leggings and scarf!

Today my daughter is with her dad at a Renaissance Fair, so I did some grocery shopping this morning and I've gotta be honest: now that my pictures are done for today, I'm about to just throw on some sweats. I really want to spend the rest of the day catching up on your blogs and resting.

Don't forget - tomorrow is the first installment of Fabulous in February: A Month of Positivity! Remember to include {at least} three (3) positive comments about yourself in your posts tomorrow (or leave them as a comment here if you don't have a blog!) and then come back and link up on either my post or Hope's.These should be comments that are positive about WHO you are and WHAT you are, not about what you have (it's awesome to be grateful for your job or your family, but we want to hear what makes YOU awesome because we know that you ARE awesome!).

Hope you're all having a great weekend! Can't wait to read your positive thoughts about yourselves tomorrow!

Daily MelWear: The Calm Before the Storm

This is it!

The day before the 30 For 30 Challenge begins.

My items are picked and hanging in certain spots in my closet. It was a little difficult choosing an outfit for today since I didn't want to pick any of my 30 pieces yet. Today's tasks at work include putting packets together for all of our board members for delivery tomorrow, so I wanted something comfortable since I'll be up and down in my chair all day, back and forth to the copier and printer and filing cabinet.

I do like the subtle pattern mixing between the printed tights and the polka dot belt. That makes me happy.

Notice anything different with these pictures? Different background because...(drum roll, please) - I'm using a real, honest-to-goodness camera! With a timer! I bought a card reader since my computer at work doesn't have card slots and I was able to practice using my dad's camera with the timer yesterday, so I used it for today's outfit photos.

What do you think? Better than my iPhone photos, worse than my iPhone photos, about the same, doesn't matter either way?

I really want to get a camera with a remote instead of a timer, but my dad said his isn't compatible with a remote. So. Grrr. One day...

Today's outfit:

Black Dress: Ross

Teal Tank: Target

Black Cardigan: Ross
Polka Dot Belt: Plato's Closet
Purple Lace Print Tights: Target
Black Flats: Target
Necklace: Wal-Mart
Ring: Charlotte Russe

Daily MelWear: BBCA Day 28

Hi friends!

I have so many things to share with you, but I'm short on time today. I've got some fantastic giveaways coming up sponsored by the fabulous ML of Twenty York Street, and as we're nearing the end of October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I wanted to remind you about the Mammogram Promise campaign. As Megan mentioned in an email to me, "We are now past 3,000 promises (>$3,000 for mammography research), but there is still money to be raised and tons of prizes still to be won! ...There is even a new, fun video (includes some nice eye-candy) that got made for MammoPromise which is a cute way to share with all the ladies in your life as well." If you haven't checked out the site yet, hurry there now!

This outfit is inspired by Hillary and the spectacular way she is able to style vests.  I've had this one for a few months but just didn't feel like I could pull it off.  I figured what better time to try than on the last "work attire" day of the Blogging for Breast Cancer aWEARness Challenge? It turned out pretty well, I think.  I like the subtle pattern mixing between the stripes on the vest and the pattern on the skirt.

I'm going to spend tomorrow packing up the rest of the condo (SO grateful to my friend April for offering to come help and have lunch with me and The Princess!) and then we move on Saturday. Sunday is church and then settling in plus some Halloween-ing. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post again until Monday, but I'd really like to try doing a recap post of the challenge outfits. 

Hope you all have a great Thursday!

Today's outfit:
Black/White Skirt: Salvation Army
Pink Top: Target
Vest: Ross
Black Heels: Payless
Pearl Bracelet: Gift from ML

Daily MelWear: Oh Monday...

I earnestly wish that I'd worn something sleeveless.  And shorter.

My office is normally somewhere around 69-72 degrees.  I have a space heater under my desk.

Not today, however.  Not today.

Instead, the AC is broken, so it's 80 degrees in here. The AC company is on site trying to fix it. It breaks a lot, but it's never been quite this hot in here before. I guess it hasn't broken since the start of this unusually warm summer.

To add insult to injury, I think I might have caught what The Princess had last week. I don't have a fever (well, I might now with it being so stinkin' hot in here), but my throat is a little sore, my head hurts, my nose is congested and I'm just exhausted and so sleepy.

I did get up at my usual 4:30AM to work out, but I just did a two-mile Leslie Sansone walk instead of my normal Insanity or The Firm routines.

What I'd really like to do is go right back to bed. I'm so tired. I suppose that's the reason I feel so blah about this outfit. It's just sort of okay to me. It works, I'm clothed, but it doesn't do much for me. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day!

So how was YOUR weekend? How's your Monday starting out?

Today's outfit: 

Top (all one piece): Kohl's

Skirt: Ross

Belt: Plato's Closet

Shoes: My mom (Payless, I think)

Pink Earrings/Necklace: Beya 

Daily MelWear: Purple and Pattern

Today's outfit is brought to you by a night of not-enough-sleep.

Last night my husband and I rented The Hangover.  Which, by the way, is hysterical. Yes, it's crude and the language is awful most of the time, but it's funny.

Anyway.

We heard our daughter doing her normal groaning in her sleep and decided once the movie was over we'd go check on her (which is something we rarely ever do because she's such a good sleeper).  Well...as soon as we opened the door to her room, we were greeted with the overwhelming smell of vomit. I was trying to come up with another word to use but really, they all sound gross. 

It was all over her bed, her clothes, her pillow, her blanket, her floor, in her hair and on her face...it was AWFUL.  And that poor baby was SLEEPING! She was so startled when we woke her up but once she realized she was going to play in the bathtub, she was a happy little clam. She thought it was the silliest thing ever for me to brush her teeth while she was in the tub, so that was fun. :)

It took us about 45 minutes to an hour to get her cleaned up, get her room cleaned up, put her clothes/bed stuff in the wash and remake her bed. Needless to say, I did NOT wake up at my usual 4:30AM to work out this morning. 

She didn't eat dinner last night, we had pasta which she normally likes but she decided she didn't feel like eating (which is typical of her, half the time we make her favorites and she'd still rather play than eat) so she had one bite and that was it. Very, very normal, everything went as usual. I have no idea what could have caused her to get sick.  And this is the FIRST time she has ever gotten sick. I cry when I get sick like that, it hurts and it's scary! I'm surprised that she just went right back to sleep, there were no retching sounds, she didn't call for us or anything. 

She woke up this morning at her normal time (I really thought she'd sleep later but not so much) and was her usual, happy self.  No fever, said her stomach felt okay.

 

The whole thing is just WEIRD, ya'll.

On to the outfit: when I woke up, I decided I wanted to try the all-white that I've been seeing on some other bloggers. I only own one pair of white trousers and I picked a plain white tee for the top (still need to find a great white button-down).  I figured my scarf would look nice and I don't wear it often, so this was a good opportunity.  To make it a little more professional, I added the striped blazer then to top off the outfit, my silver stilettos. I kind of like the little bit of pattern mixing between the scarf and the blazer.

I did end up pushing the sleeves up because it just seems like a more summery look instead of having them down.  

So...how was YOUR night?

Today's outfit:

White Trousers: Charlotte Russe

White Tee: Target

Purple Floral Scarf: Plato's Closet

Purple Striped Blazer: hand-me-down from a co-worker

Silver Stilettos: Payless

Daily MelWear: A Little Bit of Sunshine

I had no idea what to title this post.  The I looked down at the yellow in my shirt and figured this title works. :)

I had such a hard time figuring out what to wear this morning! I don't know why.  I kept thinking that I did want to wear this dress, but I really wish that I had a yellow cardigan or a simple pink one (my pink one is rufflicious and would be a little too much next to this pattern). This shirt came to mind but it's yellow with white stripes and I wasn't sure the pattern mixing would work. 

Well...you can't really see the stripes, you mostly see only the yellow. So it works.  Kind of.  The back is really the only part where you can see the stripes but my hair is long enough that it covers it for the most part.

How do you all put your outfits together?  Do you think of outfits for the entire week, do you pick one out the night before, or do you throw something on in the morning?

Today's outfit:

Dress: I have no idea. It was my mother's.

Yellow/White Shirt: Macy's

Black Mary Janes: Wal-Mart

Necklace/Earrings: Wal-Mart (gift from a co-worker)

Daily MelWear: Polka Dots and Flowers

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a good Monday.  The beginning of the week is hard, isn't it?

Today I'm incorporating another Plato's Closet find: this belt.  I think it's fabulous. It's elastic so there's some give to it.  I love the bunched up look and the polka dots. 

My process in this outfit started with the dress.  This dress is old.  O.L.D. My husband remembers it from around the time that we met.  Which was approximately 11 years ago.  I can't even remember the last time that I wore it! I saw it in my closet and decided that it has a classic look to it so it'll still work.  The white band at the neckline continues to the straps of the dress and around the armholes.  Maybe I should've taken a picture without the cardigan.  Next time. 

I haven't worn this cardigan in a few months and I love it, so I thought I'd wear it today.  I wasn't going to belt it at first, then figured I'd throw on a black belt, then I decided I'd do a little bit of pattern mixing and wear this new belt instead.  I like how it came together!

The shoes were my mom's.  Technically I think they're navy and white.  Technically.  But with a black and white dress, the shoes also look black and white so it's okay.  They'll look navy when paired with a navy something-or-other.

{Am I way off base?  Do they look navy and thus ridiculous with this outfit?}

There you have it. Wasn't that entertaining? Hm.

Today's outfit:

Dress: From the store of ANCIENT (really, I don't remember)

Cardigan: Kohl's

Belt: Plato's Closet

Shoes: From my mom (I think she got them at Payless)