Another Citrine Sweater

Sweater: M+O silk cashmere
Tubetop: American Eagle
Jeans: M+O
Shoes: Seychelles

The color of this cardigan is very similar to the citrine sweater from 2 days ago. But this one is made out of silk cashmere (so soft) and I love this one too! Underneath I wore this white eyelet tube top (I can't recall why in the world I wanted to buy a tube top) that I had bought years ago in college and only just recently re-discovered. My jeans are the light grey ones that I am obsessed with, and my shoes are the Seychelles ballet flats I wear all the time to work just because they are so comfortable.

I snapped this at the end of my shift tonight, its not perfect because I was trying to take a quick photo before my co-workers caught me doing this and I would have been extremely embarassed. In an ideal world I would have worn these jeans with at least a slight wedge heel, but in the retail world that just doesn't work for me. I can't wait until the warmer months, when we are allowed to wear our leather Rainbow flipflops to work!

Unfortunately I may or or may not have purchased a few new items from the Martin + Osa Spring II collection (*feels guilty, luckily they weren't too pricey). Our new floorset should be out on Sunday, but we've been getting shipments for the last few days. There is a TON of adorable items, and a few that have definitely been added to my list of things I want to get eventually. Also, right now there is a great promotion going on this weekend in store, where you get 30% off of any purchase over $75. This is amazing because it includes everything, full price and sale, is applied after any additional discounts in the store (for example, 30% off of outerwear, $50 jeans), and you can use it on third party brands such as Ray-ban sunglasses and Havaiana flip flops! Definitely worth checking out.

Lots of Blue

I have been pretty busy lately with school and work, so I have been feeling lazy about taking self-timer pictures on my digital camera and posting them. Insteaad, I've been snapping them with my Blackberry Curve camera, which isn't ideal, but isn't that horrible either. This photo was taken at the gym on Thursday night, after my work out but before I went out for dinner/drinks. I personally thought that following a work out with a beer was counterproductive, but my boyfriend disagreed. I literally shoved this outfit into my gym bag before running out the door, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this outfit.

Sweater: J.Crew
Jeans: Paige
Shoes: Sofft
Scarf: American Eagle

The scarf is a recent purchase. I have been trying not to spend money, but I have spring fever and needed a few new additions to my closet (this is my sad, sad justification). Luckily I found this adorable printed scarf at American Eagle, where with my discount this scarf was a cheap thrill (thankfully). Cobalt blue is one of my favorite colors, and I got this sweater pretty cheap from the J.Crew website last fall.

Citrine and Navy

Sweater: M+O cotton cashmere v-neck
Tank: American Apparel
Pants: J.Crew
Shoes: M+O
Necklace: J.Crew

I really wish I took this photo before I left for work this morning, instead of taking it after a long day. So my hair is a bit limp and I'm a tad shiny, oops. This is another outfit that I swear looks so much better in person, I feel like this looks very dumpy. This was the best I could do at 7:30 this morning, I hadn't really planned a work outfit and I had a very hard time making it out of bed on time today.

But I really like citrine and navy together, citrine is a color that has really grown on me. I thought it would be horrendous on me, but I found it to be flattering on a lot of different skintones. The shoes are grey textured peep toes, not the most comfortable shoe in the world but I love them, they remind me a bit of certain Loeffler Randall flats, without the crazy price tag (especially with my discount). The pants are ages old, but I love them, so comfortable. The necklace is actually a longer necklace that is wrapped around twice.

Even though I don't love this outfit, I've decided to post it anyway. Hopefully I have gained some insight after seeing this in a photo. And it will make me appreciate the outfits that I really enjoy wearing even more.

Close ups of the shoes and the necklace:

Goya Blue Shawnessy

Dress: Diane von Furstenberg
Tights: Givenchy
Shoes: Miu Miu

This is a terrible photo of the best dress ever! (I really need to work on taking more flattering photos). This is the Diane von Furstenberg Shawnessy dress in Goya Blue. Goya blue is a fantastic color that I swear looks great on everyone. I have a wrap dress in this color, which I don't wear often enough, that I adore as well. The ruching on the Shawnessy makes it pretty flattering, even though in this photo I could have pulled down the bottom a bit, it was clinging to my tights. I love that DVF makes some great non-wrap dresses as well, since it can get boring to wear the same thing all the time. When I worked in an office, I was hooked to her wraps and couldn't get enough, since they were so versatile. Now they are looking pretty in my closet, and I try to find reasons to wear them.

I wore this last night to a fabulous dinner with a friend in DC at a restaurant called Il Mulino, which had some delicious Italian food! I am also proud of myself for wearing my Miu Miu pumps out. I really should wear them more often, since I spent a looooong time searching for these. I became obsessed with these way after they were in season, and after they went on sale, so it was pretty hard tracking these down. I eventually found them on bergdorfgoodman.com at a decent price (ebay prices were absurd!) and I finally had them in my hands! But the high heel intimidated me, and I've only worn them a few times. I feel like they are a bit outrageous for me, but the neutral colors in the shoe makes them go with a lot of different colors. Here is a close up picture of the shoes, along with my nude fishnets from Givenchy.

Favorite Oscar Dress - Marisa Tomei

I had a lot of work to do so I DVR-ed the Oscars, and only watched the beginning hour or so last night, but I did take a chance to flip through celebrity photos from last night! My favorite out of all the glitz and glamour had to be Marisa Tomei in Versace. I thought her dress was beautiful, her hair and makeup were perfect, and she looked like a dream! The train of the dress seemed a bit unwieldy though, I feel like I would have had to practice for hours if I ever had to wear a dress like that.

And on a completely different note, I am so glad that Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture among many other Oscars! It was a great movie that brought me to tears and broke my heart at several poignant scenes throughout the movie.

Lazy Monday

Now that I've seen it in a photo, not just in a mirror, I've decided that today's outfit is not one of my favorites. But it's incredibly comfortable, which can be just as important. I had a case of the Mondays and didn't feel like wearing pants today. Who wants to wear restrictive pants when you can wear stretchy soft leggings? Now, I am completely aware that leggings do NOT equal pants. But I felt that since my soft flannel top covered the important bits, I could get away with wearing this outfit to class.

Top: Molly
Belt: Banana Republic (suede with patent trim)
Leggings: Aerie
Boots: Corso Como for M+O
Jacket: Mike & Chris
Scarf: Anthropologie

I feel sort of like a fierce lumberjack in this outfit. I also realize that I have a pouty "I hate getting out of bed to go to class" face on. Also, it was absolutely freezing cold outside today, and very windy. I was not very excited about that either, since I have to walk between buildings to go to class. Pretty much miserable weather. But I was loving the Mike & Chris fleece trench that I was wearing, it is like wearing a giant sweatshirt, which is a nice comfortable feeling. It's hard to tell in the photo, but my scarf has metallic strands woven in it, gives my otherwise bland outfit some sparkle.

On a positive note tonight I have plans to head into DC for a Restaurant Week dinner with a friend, and hopefully I will like my outfit for tonight better. I am going to attempt to incorporate these bad boys into it:

Shopping in My Closet - Shoes!

I really, really hate studying. So I will do anything I can to procrastinate, so that I won't have to study. So on this lovely Sunday afternoon, I decided to go through some of my things that I have yet to unpack from my recent move. I love heels, but I really can't walk in them for long periods of time. I am a huge weenie about foot pain. Lately I've been living in boots and ballet flats, in the warmer months I will probably switch to my Jack Rogers sandals and Rainbow flipflops. But the thing is, I absolutely adore the way I look in heels, I just don't last that long in them. When I was working in an office environment last year, I loved wearing heels in the carpeted office, but always changed into comfortable flats while walking to and from work. I have accumulated a large collection of heels, that have been gathering dust in their bins ever since I quit that job. As a student and a part-time retail sales associate, I don't really get the chance to wear heels that much. But today I dug into my collection of abandoned shoes, and rediscovered 4 pairs that I would really try to get some wear out of soon.

Left to right they are: Joie Veronica mary janes in Caviar, Steve Madden Engaged pumps, Miu Miu Naplack Patch pumps in Nudo, and Clarks mary janes in Cognac

Right now I am currently wearing the Joie Veronicas around the house, in an attempt to get more practice in wearing heels. Even if I can't wear them to school or work, I am going to try to get more wear out of these when going out or running errands. These are all gorgeous shoes and don't deserve to be stuck in my closet! I'm thinking they will go great with sweaterdresses and tights for the cool weather at the moment.

And now I have absolutely no excuse to buy new shoes, when I can "shop my closet" all day long.

Sunday Brunch

Today I was so very excited to meet up with a college friend who had been in town this weekend for a wedding for good ole Sunday brunch. We ended up going to this restaurant right by the water with great views, and even though it was drizzling out it was great to see sailboats go right by us while we were eating. They had a great brunch salad bar, and I ended up eating a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon in addition to the Hawaiian French Toast I ended up ordering. So now I am stuffed, but it was delicious. This warm knitted sweater was the perfect top to wear today, and when its damp out, pants tucked into boots is my favorite combination.


Sweater: J.Crew
Tank: Old Navy
Pants: Martin + Osa slim jeans in navy
Boots: Corso Como for M+O
Bag: Hayden-Harnett Havana in Eggplant

After brunch, even though I was stuffed and could barely move, we headed to the mall to do some shopping. I've been doing pretty well on my shop-lite lately, but I was in the mood to buy something, anything! Nothing too pricey, just something to perk me up on this nasty weather day. Alas, I left H&M, Forever 21, and J.Crew empty handed. Which is probably for the best, since I don't need anything really. Of course there is lots I *want*, most of which is completely out of my budget.

Charcoal and Red

Cardigan: Anthropologie
Belt: White House Black Market
Jeans: Martin + Osa
Shoes: Loeffler Randall

I wore this outfit out for dinner and drinks at the yacht club last night. I didn't really feel like dressing up, and it was chilly out, so I was more concerned about warmth than fashion. This was really comfortable, the cardigan is an open drape cardigan that I wrapped around myself and fastened with the belt, which is elastic (I think it looks better than it sounds). The jeans are my current go-to dark bootcut denim from M+O, and I wear my red flats way too often. But I did enjoy delicious chicken nachos and a pear and blue cheese salad at the club, along with a couple of Dark and Stormys (my favorite drink). The cold weather is making me grumpy, and completely uninspired when it comes to clothes. Which is probably why I went for the darker option last night, just wanted to be warm and comfy.

I was almost late for work today....

to buy these Kenny Chesney tickets! They went on sale this morning, I barely made it to work on time because I really wanted to get them. Attending school in Music City has made country music really grow on me, and now I love it! I like Kenny Chesney, but I also adore Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum, so I am pumped!

Raspberry and Grey

This is the first outfit that I'm posting! I actually wore this yesterday, but was too lazy to upload to my computer. I am wearing head to toe Martin + Osa (ok, almost, the flats aren't M+O), I usually try to mix up my brands, but I had to go to work and apparently there was a VP of some sort on a store visit, so I was told to look my "very best Osa look". I felt that the raspberry cardigan looked good with the pale grey denim, which is my first foray into non-blue denim. I never really liked non-blue jeans, but this season I have branched out and purchased a pair of grey denim and a pair of white denim! (How in the world I am going to keep the white denim clean is still a mystery to me.) The grey pair of boot cut jeans are really stretchy and comfortable, yet didn't stretch out over day long wear, which is really good news to me. I did have to size down in them because they are so stretchy, but that only made me feel good.

Disclaimer: Please do not judge me on the condition of my closet, it is still under construction, the trim needed to be re-done, and doors attached. But for now, it will serve as a colorful backdrop.



Cardigan: Martin + Osa Silk Cashmere Cardigan
Tanks: M+O ribbed tanks in white and grey
Jeans: M+O light grey bootcut jeans
Shoes: red Loeffler Randall button flats (score from Nordstrom Rack!)
Scarf: H&M
Bag: Bally ("borrowed" from my mother's closet, she hadn't carried it since my childhood)

I wasn't sure if I'd like the red flats with the fuschia cardigan, but it was an attempt at making my outfit a bit more interesting, and avoiding the all too safe grey flats option. The cardigan is so soft and comfortable, I had to buy it in 3 colors, I have a sickness. I am a sucker for a soft cardigan. I am currently obsessed with the Bally bag, it is soft quilted leather with a chain link strap, I remember my mother had carried it when I was little. It is still in excellent condition, and it gives me enough of a quilted Chanel vibe without being an obvious knockoff.

Introductions

Welcome to Love at First Shop, which was created simply for my own amusement. I'm R, a twenty-something living in Maryland, and I'm a recovering shopaholic. I absolutely love shopping, and definitely get a rush out of buying and wearing new items. I would definitely call it a problem, as I am running out of closet space, and am on a tight budget due to some life changes. I say I am recovering because I am aware that I really don't *need* anything new, and in this economy especially I should be focused on saving money and working with what I already own in my closet. Currently I work part-time at Martin + Osa, which may be my new favorite store! I had never shopped there before applying, but I am definitely a convert. Although M+O carries a lot of basics, I feel like my style is a big hodge-podge of different styles. My style can best be described as classic with a twist, I love wearing traditional silhouettes in unique colors or with exciting accessories. My favorite brands include J.Crew, Diane von Furstenberg, Theory, Rebecca Minkoff, Foley & Corinna, and Marc by Marc Jacobs. I have far too many cardigans and wrap dresses in my closet, I can't seem to stop buying them!

Like I wrote earlier, this blog simply exists for me to vent to the world, post my outfits, inspirations, wishlists, and reviews. Hopefully this will be a fun outlet for me to express my opinions and get some feedback.

The gratuitous photo below is of one of my two cats, Roadie, who loves to fall asleep on my purses! This particular one is a black Mini City tote by Foley & Corinna, which is a bag I adore and use constantly.