Crewsing Thru My 50's

Rainy Labor Day Movie Date

2011-09-05T16:57:00.001-04:00

Rainy Labor Day Movie Date by tarheelmom featuring paisley tops

J Crew pocket dress, $50
J Crew paisley top
J crew jewelry, $30
Women's shoes - ballets - Zip-front ballet flats - J.Crew, $70

Can you tell what my favorite summertime acquisition has turned out to be? Here's that versatile little Urbanite shift dress again, making good new use out of my beloved old Trastevere cardigan and Glass Cylinder necklace, plus the cute Zip-Front Ballet Flats I found on sale at my B&M.

It's just miserable weather here, but we're making the best of it with a relaxing day and are headed out to see an early movie. An umbrella will complete my ensemble for this evening!

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Urbanite Shift Part II, Featuring Tortoise Accessories

2011-09-02T11:49:00.000-04:00

The wonderful Urbanite Shift dress again, slightly "dressed up" as I wore it for a garden club luncheon with girlfriends.

I ordered these Cece leather & tortoise ballet flats weeks ago and was waitlisted -- and honestly nearly forgot I'd ordered them til they suddenly arrived on my doorstep! They're back in full stock, it appears. On first wearing they were SUPER comfy all day, and I think the color is going to be really useful going into my fall wardrobe of skirts and matchstick cords.

The sunglasses, earrings, purse and watch in this Polyvore set are all pieces that I own and really love, but you can see how easily you could substitute anything with a touch of tortoise to achieve the same complementary look with the Cece flats.

Once again, y'all, enjoy your holiday weekend -- and send Atlanta some rain, will ya? :-)

Urbanite & Tortoise Part II (feat. Cece Tortoise Ballet Flats) by tarheelmom featuring tortoise watches

Urbanite Errands!

2011-09-02T11:40:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, happy Labor Day weekend!

Sorry I've been gone all summer -- I haven't been away, but I haven't been online much at all. The construction and repair issues at our house have continued on and sucked my attention and my budget nearly bone dry (like what this relentless drought and heat have done to our poor plants!)

But I have picked up a few J. Crew pieces here and there, because sometimes a girl's just gotta have a little retail relief, ya know?

One of my recent finds was the Urbanite Shift Dress, still available in a few sizes and colors and in Petites. I bought it in Spiced Olive and took the size 4. This dress has gotten mixed reviews, but I decided to take a Final Sale gamble on it and am so glad that I did because it is sheer perfection on me. Perfect shape for my rectangular, boyish build -- it accentuates my broad shoulders in a nice way, and the color's great, too. Warmer and richer than I'd thought it would be. And while I was afraid the cotton would wrinkle, it really doesn't at all, maybe because of the touch of stretch in it.

Another great find -- and I owe this to the lovely Dina, who pointed these out -- is the Antiqued Stone Flip Flops. Hands-down the most comfy flippers I have ever worn, and straight out of the box. I bought them in Metallic Gold first, and within days stampeded back jcrew.com to buy them in Safari Fatigue and in Ebony. I know they'll be go-to's for me for a long time. Merci, ma belle ami Dina, for yet another fabulous recommendation! :-)

Here's how I paired the dress and shoes to run a few errands on yet another sweltering Atlanta August day. The necklace, by the way, is the Factory Tortoise & Cylinder Fireball necklace. Lightweight, fun and a bit sparkly. Perfect summer fun!

Urbanite Errands by tarheelmom featuring tortoise jewelry

Sparkling for Sparklers! Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T23:59:00.000-04:00

Sparkling for Sparklers! Happy 4th of July! by JCAUNCMom featuring scoop neck tops

J Crew scoop neck top
$15 - jcrew.com

J crew jeans
$125 - jcrew.com

J Crew patent flat
$100 - jcrew.com

Coach jewelry
$78 - coach.com

J Crew teardrop jewelry
$55 - jcrew.com

J Crew slimmer belt
$35 - jcrew.com

Happy 4th of July Lawn Banner 15in x 48in- Party America
$7.99 - partyamerica.com

The Ultimate Summertime Salad Recipe

2011-06-29T17:39:00.000-04:00

Hey everybody, remember when I mentioned in a recent post that we'd had friends over to kickoff the grand re-opening of our pool and deck? For that dinner party I made a spectacularly pretty and delicious summertime salad, and wonder of wonders, I remembered to photograph the process. (You have no idea how big an accomplishment that was, y'all. My meno-challenged mind -- once a crafty lawyer's steel trap -- now most closely, and pitifully, resembles a steel collander!)

This salad has a lot of ingredients and takes some time to put together, but it's not difficult at all and it's well worth the work. Just plan your time and make it a day ahead. Hope y'all will enjoy -- maybe over the 4th of July holiday weekend!

Fresh Corn, Black Bean and Edamame Salad

Adapted from several sources, including Alton Brown’s Roasted Edamame Salad

and Fresh365online.com’s Corn, Edamame & Black Bean Salad

Serves 4

Keeps covered in fridge for 4 to 5 days

Salad Ingredients:

Kernels cut from 2 large ears fresh corn, drained

2 cups fresh or frozen cooked edamame, shelled

1 15.5-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 red peppers, quartered, seeded and with white membranes removed

1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered and drained (may use halved grape tomatoes, drained)

½ cup Craisins or dried cherries (please do NOT omit -- a fantastic, unexpected addition!)

½ small red onion, finely chopped (optional but pretty)

4 scallions (including green stems), finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

¼ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Pinch cayenne pepper

¾ tsp. kosher salt or sea salt

½ freshly ground black pepper

Dressing Ingredients:

2 large or 3 small limes, juiced

1 tsp. white sugar

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

5 Tbsp. red wine vinegar OR rice vinegar OR combo (just use what you have on hand!)

3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil (this is in addition to the 1 Tbsp. mentioned above)

To make:

1. Preheat one oven to 450 degrees F and preheat a second oven to 400 degrees F. (Note: If you’re working with a single oven, then as soon as the red peppers come out reduce the oven temp to 400 degrees F.)

2. Place red peppers on a lightly Pam’d cookie sheet and roast at 450 degrees til peppers are just beginning to blacken, about 20 minutes. Cool and chop medium-fine, then set aside.

3. Combine corn kernels, scallions, garlic, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, salt and black pepper. Stir to combine and pour into a 13 x 9 METAL pan.

4. Place the corn-edamame-scallions mixture on the middle rack of the oven and roast at 400 degrees F until edamame have just begun to brown, stirring occasionally. (Note: This will take between 15 - 20 and 35 - 40 minutes, depending upon whether you use frozen or fresh (or thawed) edamame. I’ve found that I prefer to use fresh or thawed edamame because everything cooks more quickly and a bit more evenly. But I’ve used straight-from-the-freezer edamame too, and it all comes out fine.)

5. Remove the corn-edamame-scallion mixture from the oven and let the pan cool for a few minutes, then remove the contents into a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and cool thoroughly in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

6. Make the dressing by combining all ingredients in the blender at medium speed.

7. When corn-edamame-black beans mixture is cooled, gently fold in the black beans, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, red onion, Craisins (or dried cherries), and cayenne pepper.

8. Add dressing and toss gently to combine. Taste and adjust salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper as desired.

9. Finally, gently fold in the basil and cilantro, reserving a combined Tbsp. of both herbs for garnish. Refrigerate til 30 minutes before serving.

10. Before serving, garnish the top of the salad with the reserved Tbsp. of fresh herbs.

Borrowing from the Crewcuts Jewelry Box, Pt. 2

2011-06-16T16:26:00.000-04:00

Borrowing from the Crewcuts Jewelry Box, Pt. 2 by JCAUNCMom featuring a striped tank

J Crew striped tank
$25 - jcrew.com

Cardigan
jcrew.com

Flip flop
$13 - jcrew.com

Kate Spade stud earrings
$38 - couture.zappos.com

Vintage slim-fit jean in white denim
$98 - jcrew.com

Girls' magic mirror necklace
$12 - jcrew.com

Girls' magic mirror bracelet
$7.60 - jcrew.com

Sorry the set's a little sloppy, girls. Still playing with the Agate and Cobalt (since I own a little of each). And -- let's be honest here, shall we? -- killing time before I head out to cycling at 5:00. I can think of a dozen things I should be doing, but hey, Polyvoring my wardrobe is a useful function in life, right? ;-)

Have a nice summertime evening!

Borrowing from the Crewcuts Jewelry Box

2011-06-16T16:24:00.000-04:00

Borrowing from the Crewcuts Jewelry Box by JCAUNCMom featuring cotton short shorts

J Crew sheer tee
$40 - jcrew.com

J Crew cotton short shorts
$60 - jcrew.com

Stella McCartney blue shoes
£150 - matchesfashion.com

Girls' magic mirror necklace
$12 - jcrew.com

Every now and then I spot something in the Crewcuts jewelry line that inspires an unexpected and fun color combo --- like this ridiculously inexpensive, cute and summery little necklace. Plays well with the colors Agate and Deep Cobalt from the Grown-Up Girls' line. :-)

I sure wish my budget would allow for those Stella McCartney sandals. Do they not look uber-comfy?

Where My Budget's Gone in 2011

2011-06-15T15:37:00.001-04:00

Recently we had two couples who are our closest friends over for a celebratory dinner as we officially began to enjoy the Giant Black Hole where all of our money has gone in 2011. You're seeing why I'm closet-cleaning and closet-shopping these days! Welcome, JCA pals, to the new and greatly improved back deck of our house or, as we now call it around here, Spa de FAH! (FAH is my hubby's nickname among friends -- an acronym for "Fun As Hell" Kenny, which he most certainly is!)

The pool and wall (previously orange brick, which made no sense as our house has Tennessee fieldstone all over it) were here when we bought our house in 1985. We've resurfaced the pool, but the deck's just been a slowly-worsening concrete eyesore and, even worse, has been creating a worsening drainage problem for our house's foundation. (We're convinced the original owners wrote their own Certificate of Occupancy, because this on-grade-with-the-house deck and so many other things in our 1975 house, we discovered, ridiculously violated city and county building codes. And we've had to fix every flippin' thing.)

So last fall we interviewed engineers, landscapers, concrete companies, etc., and found out for sure that the only way to fix our drainage problem was to take the whole area back to dirt and start over with new grading and a re-pour. At that point FAH and I figured what the heck, it's time to add the water feature and decent grill we've always dreamed about. And away we -- and our wallet -- went. They will have to take us out of this house feet-first, y'all. We are here for. the. duration.

As usual, the project went over budget, just enough to eat up the "new outdoor furniture" line item, so what you see here is our 15-year-old stuff. Next year, if I'm lucky and keep shopping my closet, that old junk goes and something in a lovely outdoor wicker will appear. When my clothing budget will re-appear is a whole other question. No time soon, I can tell ya THAT.

During construction (taken from my dining room window in early March, just after the wall was re-surfaced in stone and the deck was demolished:

And after, in late May, featuring FAH's new toy:

Here's what I wore on the very hot evening we entertained our friends at Spa de FAH:

Cool & Summery for the Opening of Spa de FAH! by JCAUNCMom featuring chino shorts

Shopping My Closet: Menagerie Style

2011-06-15T15:21:00.002-04:00

Shopping My Closet: Menagerie Style by JCAUNCMom.

Created 6.15.11. Finding new ways to play with this Whisper Linen Cardi, one of a handful of new additions to my closet this spring. It's a floaty, hip-length, very cool (in all ways :-)) piece and I highly recommend it! And this color (and many others) are on sale!

For reference, the pink isn't icy -- it's soft and has just enough yellow in it to work well on my auburn/strawberry-blonde-ish coloring. The buttons are HOT pink, a nice touch and an exact match with the very bright, fun Favorite Tank.

I bought the Small, and actually could have worn the XS (to give me a little more of a fitted look through the body), but I thought the arms were way too tight in the XS.

Wishful thinking on that cute as heck watch, by the way. Don't own it but sure would like to!

Old School Basics with a Twist

2011-06-13T13:18:00.003-04:00

Old School Basics with a Twist by JCAUNCMom featuring chain jewelry

J Crew polo top
$40 - jcrew.com

J Crew denim vest
49 GBP - net-a-porter.com

J Crew safari pants
$70 - jcrew.com

J Crew glitter sandals
$98 - net-a-porter.com

Gucci 18k jewelry
$2,650 - net-a-porter.com

J Crew chain jewelry
$33 - jcrew.com

J Crew belt
$33 - jcrew.com

Amazon.com: Orly Nail Polish Green with Envy 40638 .5oz: Beauty
$6.99 - amazon.com

Wearing 6-13-11. All closet-shopping except the sandals, which are new and beloved already! I've been drooling over them all season but suddenly they were just gone, and I figured well, Fate. And then they were shockingly THERE in my size the other night when I was battling insomnia and randomly surfing Net-a-Porter. An early birthday present!

And today my saved eBay search on these same sandals sent me an e-mail reporting a pair in my size 8, up for auction for $90 + shipping or BEST OFFER. I haven't seen ANY of these on eBay. Go figure! :-) If you're an 8 and you've been wanting these sandals, there you go!

Not sure yet how I'm feeling about the teal green pedicure -- way outside my usual wheelhouse, and creating a bit of unexpected havoc with my clothing choices. But oh what a BEAUTIFUL color!

At the Movies (Super 8) in Pink (Hot), Papaya (Sweet) & Pearl (Cool)!

2011-06-11T23:03:00.003-04:00

At the Movies (Super 8) in Pink, Papaya & Pearl by JCAUNCMom featuring safari pants

Date night to the movies -- went to see "Super 8" and WHAT A FUN FLICK!! J.J. Abrams/Steven Spielberg collaboration -- an awesomely perfect summer flick and a real homage to "early" Spielberg sci-fi.

This adorable top was my third and final sale rack "find" at Anthro yesterday, and I was surprised and delighted to discover that the large salmon-y stripe is almost an exact match to last spring's J. Crew "sweet papaya" color. And my Banana Republic moccasins (a late '09-early '10 eBay score) are this exact shoe pictured, but in the very same pale pinky-peachy color.

Isn't it fun when something that unexpected happens in your wardrobe amongst "odd" colors?

Have a fun weekend, everyone!

BR Soft Ribbon-Trimmed Moc in Papaya

2011-06-11T22:46:00.001-04:00

BR Soft Ribbon-Trimmed Moc in Papaya (clipped to Polyvore.com)

Anthropologie En Plein Air Dress, Mad Men Dinner-Style

2011-06-11T15:09:00.003-04:00

Anthropologie En Plein Air Dress, Mad Men Dinner-Style by JCAUNCMom featuring choker necklaces

Channeling Betty Draper... These shoes look gorgeous with the dress, y'all. The patent leather is summery, and the soft wood of the heel echoes the earth tones in the dress.

Anthropologie Tag Sale: En Plein Air Dress, Laura Petrie Style

2011-06-11T14:33:00.005-04:00

Anthropologie Tag Sale: En Plein Air Dress, Laura Petrie Style by JCAUNCMom featuring tory burch flats

I don't shop much at Anthropologie. Lovely, lovely store and beautiful things, but usually not nearly so "me" as J. Crew. If you follow my occasional IRL posts and Polyvores, you know that my personal style leans strongly toward the tailored, the un-frilly and the classic preppy-with-a-bit-of-discreet-bling.

But every now and then Fate steps in to pull me out of my little comfy rut.

Yesterday I was walking purposefully through the mall in a hurry and on a house project-related scouting mission to Bloomingdale's. I passed Anthropologie and they had a gigantic tent sign that I literally had to skirt around, advertising their "Take an additional 25% off!" sale. Well, girls, that's the kind of sign that I don't take lightly. So I zipped in out of curiosity (mentally giving myself five minutes tops) and there, on the sale dresses rack, was one lone En Plein Air dress in my size, marked from $258 to $128 less 25%.

Two minutes in the dressing room and I was singing "Welcome to my closet!!" Such a piece of gorgeousness this dress is, I'm sayin'. Way outside my usual style zone, but so classic and feminine you just want to giggle when you put it on!

The SA suggested wearing ballet flats and a more casual necklace (as pictured, my other sale score!) for a 60's daytime look. Hence this Polyvore. And of course, I plan to wear pumps (like my Juliets in Glazed Pecan, maybe) and pearls for a bit more glamour.

The Gucci watch is an item I've had for at least 15 years -- a gift from MIL long ago that must seriously be at minus $10 cost per wearing now. The bezels are interchangeable, and a couple of the soft colored bezels add a nice bracelet-y zing. I was searching for an online pic for Polyvore and much to my surprise found my EXACT watch on eBay here, in case you're interested. Expensive, but worth every nickel -- incredibly versatile!

Where My 2011 (2012, 2013...) Clothing Budget's Gone

2011-06-04T13:09:00.000-04:00

Tonight we're having two couples who are our closest friends over for a celebratory dinner as we officially begin to enjoy the Giant Black Hole where all of our money has gone in 2011. You're seeing why I'm closet-cleaning and closet-shopping these days! Welcome, JCA pals, to the new and greatly improved back deck of our house or, as we now call it around here, Spa de FAH! (FAH is my hubby's nickname among friends -- an acronym for "Fun As Hell" Kenny, which he most certainly is!)

The pool and wall (previously orange brick, which made no sense as our house has Tennessee fieldstone all over it) were here when we bought our house in 1985. We've resurfaced the pool, but the deck's just been a slowly-worsening concrete eyesore and, even worse, has been creating a worsening drainage problem for our house's foundation. (We're convinced the original owners wrote their own Certificate of Occupancy, because this on-grade-with-the-house deck and so many other things in our 1975 house, we discovered, ridiculously violated city and county building codes. And we've had to fix every flippin' thing.)

So last fall we interviewed engineers, landscapers, concrete companies, etc., and found out for sure that the only way to fix our drainage problem was to take the whole area back to dirt and start over with new grading and a re-pour. At that point FAH and I figured what the heck, it's time to add the water feature and decent grill we've always dreamed about. And away we -- and our wallet -- went. They will have to take us out of this house feet-first, y'all. We are here for. the. duration.

As usual, the project went over budget, just enough to eat up the "new outdoor furniture" line item, so what you see here is our 15-year-old stuff. Next year, if I'm lucky and keep shopping my closet, that old junk goes and something in a lovely outdoor wicker will appear. When my clothing budget will re-appear is a whole other question. No time soon, I can tell ya THAT.

During construction (taken from my dining room window in early March, just after the wall was re-surfaced in stone and the deck was demolished:

And after, in late May, featuring FAH's new toy:

I'll be back tomorrow to tell y'all what I'm making because I have a couple of fun recipes to share. Here's what I'm wearing:

Cool & Summery for the Opening of Spa de FAH! by JCAUNCMom featuring chino shorts

Tawny Olive & Agate on a Hot, Hot Day!

2011-06-03T11:41:00.000-04:00

Tawny Olive & Agate on a Hot, Hot Day by JCAUNCMom featuring layered necklaces

J crew cardigan, $62
J Crew camisole top, $18
J Crew mini skirt, $75
J Crew gladiator shoes, $88
J crew handbag, $35
J Crew heart bracelet, $36
J Crew vintage jewelry, $98
J Crew beaded wrap bracelet, $23
J Crew layered necklace, $33
J Crew layered necklace, $33

A little old, a little new! This '08 python print mini skirt (in Tawny Olive) was a recent eBay "score" for $20 (shipped) and it's been a great addition to my closet. Once again it's going into the 90's here and it's dripping with humidity, but I'm headed to Costco where the produce room is a freakin' meat locker, so this cute cardi with the tortoise buttons should do the trick for me!

Shopping My Closet for University of Delaware Graduation Celebration Casual Dinner 5-28-11

2011-06-02T19:12:00.003-04:00

Shopping My Closet for University of Delaware Graduation Celebration Casual Dinner 5-28-11 by JCAUNCMom featuring wendy mink jewelry

Lots of goodies for sale!

2011-06-02T16:53:00.000-04:00

Hey y'all! Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend, as we did. We were in Delaware for my niece's exciting graduation from the University of Delaware (go Fightin' Blue Hens!) and then in northern NJ with my hubby's fam. Good times, good food, good wine, all in l-a-r-g-e quantities. Can I just say that teaching my cycling class on Tuesday was hard, hard, hard?!?!?!?

NEWS! I have a new closet-cleaning blog, which you can find right here. And I have zero Followers there since it's new, but I'm hopeful that y'all can help me change that. All things being equal, I'd much rather sell stuff "inside" this community before I resort to eBay or local consignment. So please check it out!

By the way, if you wear a size 8 medium-width shoe, pay special attention to the Rieker skimmers. I cannot overemphasize how insanely comfortable these shoes are -- the very best travel shoes ever.

I've put Polyvores of each item up too (these just duplicate what's on the sale blog, but I figured each site has its audience). You can find my Polyvore home page here.

See you soon!

FOR SALE! Tory Burch Anne-Marie Metallic Ballet Flats 8.5M

2011-06-02T13:09:00.003-04:00

FOR SALE! Tory Burch Anne-Marie Metallic Ballet Flats by JCAUNCMom on Polyvore.com

For more info, go here and scroll down!

Blues Boy's Summer Adventure

2011-05-26T16:06:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone! A quick non-fashion post to share a couple of fun photos featuring Blues Boy, a/k/a our handsome blue-eyed son #2 who's a rising senior at UNC-Chapel Hill.

BB is currently in Rome (Italy) with 14 other UNC students on a 6-week Honors Summer Program. They're in class 4 hours a day Monday thru Thursday, and then they're free to do whatever they want and go wherever they want to go in the afternoons, evenings and weekends. (Example: This weekend half of them are going to Venice and the other half (including BB) are going to Cinque Terre, an exquisite beach town on the Italian Riviera.)

And get this -- the breakdown of BB's UNC group is: him + 5 other equally giddy guys + 9 young women who surely must be contestants in the Miss Adorable contest.

They've been there exactly one week, already have bonded as tight as SuperGlue and, for obvious reasons, are having the time of their lives. I know this for a fact because we've Skype-video-chatted (amazing thing, that Skype) with our boy and seen his glowing face "IRL", and also because one of the girls on the trip -- the tall, leggy brunette shown below who I'll call Miss J. M. -- has been posting dozens of fab photos every day on her Facebook page. Thank goodness they're all visible for parental viewing, since nobody else including BB seems to be using their cameras!

So here ya go, y'all -- three choice shots from Miss J. M.'s collection. Hope they'll bring a smile to your faces, too. And have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

BB, with what appears to be his newly permanent facial expression and a stowaway rider perched on his head!

Frolicking at Trevi Fountain with new pals...

... and exploring the Colosseum with a bevy of UNC's prettiest women!

Sweltering Sunday, Cool Gingham

2011-05-22T16:51:00.001-04:00

Sweltering Sunday, Cool Gingham by JCAUNCMom featuring a j crew cardigan

Animal Magnetism (a/k/a Saturday Night With Bon Jovi)

2011-05-16T11:47:00.004-04:00

Animal Magnetism Defined by JCAUNCMom

Last Christmas my preciously understanding hubby gave me ridiculously jaw-dropping floor seats to this past weekend's Bon Jovi concert. I couldn't have been more excited if I'd been 17 years old. I've never (!) had floor seats before, and these were so close that I could see my all-time favorite rocker (and, next to DH, all-time favorite eye candy) glistening, growling and grinning his blinding smile even without my binoculars.

The evening was weirdly cool for mid-May here, so I needed a sweater and, in a flash of (I must say) genius, I broke out a couple of old but perfect "theme" pieces. I must say, I looked cute and I was pleased with this respectful and subtle nod to JBJ's golden-maned, pearly-toothed, "King of the Jungle" stage-prowling awesomeness. And if you're thinking "Well, girl, I'm glad YOU looked good but how did HE look?", well, all I can say is that he really must have a portrait of himself in his attic like Dorian Gray, because the man gets more handsome and more fit with every passing year. And it was a fantastic, rockin', sing-along show, y'all. Philips Arena was completely sold out (20,000 happy fans) and I'd say the ratio of women (of all ages) to men was 85/15. A squeal fest for sure!

My husband scored enough brownie points with this one to last him through 2012. ;-)

Animal Magnetism Defined

2011-05-16T11:36:00.001-04:00

Animal Magnetism Defined by JCAUNCMom featuring cotton tees

WHBM Perfect Cropped Pants for Short-Shinners

2011-04-21T11:23:00.000-04:00

Hey everybody!

If you've followed my "Tips & Tricks" posts (see here, here, here and here) about finding and taking advantage of your ideal skirt length, you know what I mean by "short-shinner" (your thighs are longer than your shins) and "long-shinner" (your shins are longer than your thighs). You also know that the same body proportioning ideas also determine your ideal cropped pants/capris length, too. One length doesn't flatter everyone.

You'd think that womens' clothing retailers would wise up to this very basic idea and offer cropped pants or capris in more than one length, as they often do with shorts. Yet they generally don't, aside from sometimes offering a petite version. And buying the petite version isn't always a good solution for the short-shinner looking for a cropped pant, because petite pants are shorter in the stride, too.

White House Black Market to the rescue! In their newest rollout they're offering cropped pants styles in several lengths! The entire collection (including some very cute cropped jeggings and denim pedal pushers) can be seen here.

I'll just point out a couple of stand-outs for short-shinners and one versatile style that will work pretty darned well for everyone. Currently all of these are at full price, but they're worthy of bookmarking and sale-stalking. WHBM allows online review posting, too, so keep an eye out for that good feedback.

Especially For Short-Shinners:

Cotton Twill Cargo Pedal Pushers ($78) 17" inseam, a very flattering length for short-shinners! Cute rear pockets and grosgrain ribbons to cinch the pants at the bottom. Available in black, white and "canyon" (think J. Crew's Sandalwood colorway).

Notice that while the model's Natural Ankle Wrap Wedges ($88) are tall and chunky, they're in a neutral, leg-blending color (which helps to negate the "chopping off" effect of the ankle strap), and they boast slender, very girlie ribbon-wrap straps. See how they add a couple of visual inches to her lower leg? Really good choice!

Another view of the shoe. I would soooooo fall off of this shoe and break my ankle, y'all. Seriously. :-)

Bi-Stretch Twill Pedal Pushers ($74) Same 17" inseam length; a little spandex added. Simple and clean lines with a notched hem.

Her black wedges work, even though they're anything BUT leg-blending and even though they definitely have the horizontal "chopping off" effect at the ankle. Why? Because despite their height they're quite delicate with not a whole lot of black showing, and because they dramatically lift her foot "Barbie-style" as if she were wearing tall pumps. See how they make the top of her foot visible so that her feet "extend" her lower legs?

Another view showing the insanely feminine and also insanely tall Silk Raffia Bow Wedges ($88).

Wearable by Everyone:

Zouave Cargo Pants ($88) (Note that there is another pair of pants ($80) at WHBM with the very same name -- weird, like J. Crew's two same-named Safari Shirtdresses -- but it's not as narrow-legged).

This slim pant features a 25" inseam with some classically "zouave"-styled details, like the elasticized side leg hem with snaps which is designed to be pushed up the leg the way you'd push up your sweater sleeve, so that the pant legs "blouse" just slightly -- known as a "blouson" effect. Worn full-length (as in the photo), 25" is ideally a better length for long-shinners. But most short-shinners can also wear this pant effectively -- just take advantage of the Zouave style and push the hems up a little!

Side views show the cargo pocket detail and slender leg.

And yet another pair of adorable, 3.5" tall shoes, the Faux Patent Bow Espadrille Wedge ($88, apparently WHBM's favorite go-to price point!) This shoe would also be an acceptable choice for short-shinners because there's some elevation of the foot and there's a lot of foot and very little shoe showing from the front view.

I'm hoping to get by WHBM in the next few days, and if I do I'll get some IRL pix for you.

Enjoy!

Crazy for Camo(fleur & Revas)!

2011-04-20T16:44:00.000-04:00

Crazy for Camo by JCAUNCMom

Doing a little clothes planning for my niece's college graduation weekend in Delaware, coming up in mid-May. I figure the weather for our casual Friday evening family get-together could still be really unpredictable, maybe even chilly -- a great chance to pack a cardi that hasn't gotten much use yet!

I did, and I do, have a buying ban in place, but as I've sorted out my spring closet I've made a handful of exceptions for pieces that I know will bring new "oomph" to things I already own -- like these Tory Burch Camo Revas. I spotted them marked down to $94 when Tory Burch recently had a "Private Sale", and at that price I jumped. I know camo's a trend, but these cuties weren't a huge risk for me because, heck, at least half my closet is some variation on colors like "Fatigue" and "Olive Moss".

A couple of days later I discovered Patina's adorable PV set featuring these shoes and the J. Crew Camofleur tee -- a late winter/early spring 2011 item that I swear I don't even remember seeing online or in the stores. I was happy to find it reasonably priced on eBay from one of my favorite sellers, and can I tell you, this is a precious little tee -- bateau neckline, 3/4 sleeves, very flattering just-right-clingy cotton jersey, not too thin, a little sprinkling of clear sequins. Perfection.

If you own these Revas, the color "Hawthorn green" in the current J. Crew roll-out looks wonderful with them and is a nice change of pace from Army green. Some shades of khaki look great, too, and of course black.

And if you don't own these shoes but want to, I see that there are several pair on eBay -- not for $94, but still, available, along with the equally-cute TB camo cross-body mini-bag.

Just enabling. ;-)

Crisscross Simple

2011-04-12T10:46:00.005-04:00

Crisscross Simple by JCAUNCMom

More simple options for accessorizing the J. Crew Crisscross Dress. I'm continuing to play with ideas from my own closet for creating that pretty and feminine retro 50's look of flats with a natural-waisted, swirling-skirted dress. I happen to have a lot of red accessories, but yellow, spring green or turquoise would be equally pretty, I think.

This easy (and by the way perfectly packable) dress is on sale right now and probably will be priced even lower at some point, since it's in full supply in all colors. If you haven't already, do give it a look.

Last Saturday my local B&M only had it stocked in the navy (which is really a lovely and dark but warm navy), but it was a popular item, apparently. When I zipped back to the dressing room with it, two other women were also trying it on. So we all modeled it for each other. The dress looked cute as a button on all three of us, and we all bought it. Their body types were totally different from mine, too, so this was an especially fun, worthwhile and interesting little coincidental experience.

I'd have included my beloved J. Crew City Ballet Flats in Pewter in this Polyvore set, but I have worn those dear puppies out at last. They've been resoled and polished and moisturized to pieces, and I've even touched up the toes (which I tend to scuff up like a five-year-old) with a metallic paint pen from Michael's -- the genius suggestion of a crafty friend of mine. Alas, they're just old and tired and deserve retiring. But what a perfect little shoe that was!

Red White & Blue Garden Party with the Crisscross Dress

2011-04-11T17:23:00.000-04:00

Red White & Blue Garden Party with the Crisscross Dress by JCAUNCMom

Before my Mickey card expired I broke my shopping ban and found a few unexpectedly fun items at my B&M this weekend. One such item was the much-discussed, often disliked Crisscross Dress (size S; I could have done the XS but they didn't have it, and the fabric's kinda forgiving in either sizing direction.)

I know YMMV, but with my broad shoulders (and even with me being short-waisted), the dress is really cute and flattering on me all by itself. IRL pics coming soon, cross my heart. But my PS sealed the sale by pairing it (to me, surprisingly) with the Schoolboy Eyelet Blazer in crisp white. With the blazer sleeves gently pushed up, the two are really an adorable combo and both went home with me. I'm going to have a tiny hook & eye put into the X-bodice of the dress to keep the neckline secured.

So I'm going to cycling class at 6:00 but stole 15 minutes to just play around online with this dress, and found some terrific ruby patent-leather shoes, bag, sunglasses and a wonderful necklace and bracelet (I'd wear one or the other, not both) from the new spring line at White House Black Market. Add a cute J. Crew summer straw hat and I'm ready for a July 4th garden party!

I also own the very low-vamped ("cleavage" ;-)) Salina patent ballet flats from '08 in the bright red color (not a ruby-red like these accessories), and I think they'd be quite cute with the dress (with or without the jacket), the WHBM bracelet and some simple silver hoop earrings. A more casual, very retro '50's look wearing the cinch-waisted V-neck swingy dress and flats, n'est ce pas?

4-11-11 J. Crew For Sale!

2011-04-11T15:31:00.002-04:00

4-11-11 J. Crew For Sale! by JCAUNCMom

J Crew cotton cardigan sweater
$100 - jcrew.com

J Crew cotton blouse
$78 - jcrew.com

J Crew top
$18 - jcrew.com

J Crew blazer jacket
$168 - jcrew.com

J Crew canvas jacket
$148 - jcrew.com

J Crew ballet flat shoes
$80 - jcrew.com

sale - AllProducts - Georgia cardigan - J.Crew
$78 - jcrew.com

Part I of a major closet clean-out, so stay tuned!

Hoping to find good homes for these pretty things in the JCA community. I'll list anything unsold here on eBay, in some cases for higher prices.

All items are J. Crew retail and all are from my closet. In most cases I bought the wrong size or have changed sizes since buying the item. A couple can only be explained as hormonal purchases because they never looked good on me.

Shipping by USPS Priority Mail, $5 Flat Rate shipping per large envelope. Whatever I can safely fit into one envelope, I'll fit. Each jacket will take most of an envelope, please note.

Send questions or offers to jcauncmom@gmail.com. All offers are welcome and will be considered! THANKS!

1. NWT Crocodile Jacket, size 6 (Spg '09), $100

2. NWOT Atelier Jacket, size 6 (Spg '09), $95 (exact same body style as Crocodile, bought both at same time; both adorable and in pristine condition. Wore Atelier once.)

3. EUC Contrast Stitch Perfect Shirt, size 10 (Spg '09), $30 (rare, rare find -- the true "perfect shirt" that my then-PS talked me into buying at least a size too big; have worn 2 - 3 times and dry-cleaned each time (it's machine washable but I love the crispness), and recently I was thrilled to buy this shirt in a smaller size from another JCA. If you're a 10, this is seriously your lucky day.)

4. VGUC Jackie Cotton Shell, Navy, size M, $10 (bought in Spg '10 and wore/washed several times.)

5. EUC Lester’s Hat Shop Tissue Tee, size S, $15 (Spg/Sum ’10)(worn/washed once.)

6. EUC Salina iridescent Patent Ballet Flats in Guava/Blush, size 8, $40 (Spg ’08)(Fabulous summer neutral -- bought these on eBay and was so excited, but have worn a few times and they’re a ½ size too short. Drat.)

7. EUC Perfect Fit Tank in Guava/Blush, size M, $5 (Spg ’09, worn/washed 2 – 3 times)

8. NWT Georgia Cardigan in Bistro Orange, size M, $5 (Sum ’09)(PLEASE NOTE: I’m essentially giving this sweater away because, apparently, it “grows” on the hanger. It came to me (for a lot more $$) from an eBay seller with some “growth” in the length of the body and the arms. Imagine my unhappy surprise. I think this could probably be reshaped from wet, but I’ve left the tags on it and haven’t tried. Or if you’re tall with long arms, it’s perfect for you as-is. ☺)

Maritime Movie Night

2011-04-10T15:01:00.005-04:00

Maritime Movie Night by JCAUNCMom featuring the J. Crew Maritime Dress

Wish I had an IRL pic for you, but alas, forgot to take it. I promise next time I wear this adorable dress you'll see it on me. So comfy I almost wore it as jammies. :-) I wore it for the first time last night when Hubby and I went to see the new Jake Gyllenhaal thriller "Source Code". Great popcorn flick!

Tips & Tricks for Everybody: Skirt Length Rules FAQ's (Part 4) - More On Shoes & Legwear

2011-04-10T13:53:00.003-04:00

Here's the last installment in the FAQ's about the "Skirt Length" Rules -- and this post is for EVERYONE!

Shoe & Legwear Guidelines for:
(1) Maxi skirts and dresses
(2) Wider-legged capris (which I really don't recommend, but I see that the 'gaucho' look is back)
(3) Wider-legged pants
(4) Calf-length, fuller-skirted skirts and dresses

 Everybody
Surprise! The footwear and legwear guidelines for this category for everyone are the same! Why? Because regardless of your leg length proportions, these clothing categories will tend to add visual bulk and width to your entire hip-to-foot area.

So all of us will want our footwear and legwear to help us counteract that no-so-flattering "widescreen effect". We're aiming for either of two equally-acceptable visual goals: (1) We want to float or skim the floor with disappearing, barely noticeable feet ("weightless footwear"); or (2) we want to be firmly and noticeably anchored to the floor ("gravity footwear").

Let's look first at legwear: Ideally, match or blend legs with your shoe color. Why? Because your clothing is already creating a horizontal line near the bottom of your leg, so you don't want to add yet another horizontal line where your leg and shoe "break".

Footwear: Choose "extremes" footwear -- meaning:

"Weightless footwear" -- Ethereal little bits of shoe that barely add anything to our feet, and the more neutral or quiet the color, the better. Examples: ballet shoes, or flat sandals either with a lot of skinny straps or with just a few wider straps. Notice the footwear choice J. Crew showed with the dreamy Rose Trellis Taryn dress in the picture at right. Dark, but really just a wisp of leather and no heel at all. Perfect floaty choice.

On the other "extreme", your choice would be "gravity footwear" with a lot of heft and substance, both literally and visually. Examples: wedges, riding boots, booties, shooties or other high-vamped shoes/boots with a flat heel or a chunky heel. Notice how J. Crew styles the gaucho jean for Spring/Summer 2011. Very chunky, high-vamped sandal with a lot of dark leather showing, a lot of "heft" to the body and the heel.

And one last tip: With these types of clothes, we should all avoid skinny or kitten heels of any height, which make us look like we're teeter-tottering on tippy-toe with yards of fabric swirling around us. The higher the heel, of course, the more that's the look. Visualize a pretty bunch of barely-tied-down party balloons in the breeze. Not what we're going for. :-)

That's a wrap, y'all -- for now, the end of these FAQ's. I hope they're helpful guidelines for you. If you've got questions or requests for future "Tips & Tricks" posts, please e-mail me at jcauncmom@gmail.com!

Tips & Tricks for Long Shinners: Skirt Length Rules FAQ's (Part 3) - Shoes & Legwear

2011-04-10T12:52:00.000-04:00

Good morning, everybody! Continuing the edited FAQ's about the infamous "skirt length rules", this post will focus on lovely long-shinners.

Question: "I feel like my shoes really change the way my skirt lengths look on me. Am I right, and if so how do I pick shoes?"

Answer: Footwear and legwear can make a huge difference in how the proportioning of your body looks in your overall ensemble.

By the way, to you lucky and rare neutral-shinners out there who have a balanced measurement in your upper and lower legs: Do read on, but know that you can experiment with short-shinner AND long-shinner "looks" and probably carry most of them off beautifully!

Shoe and Legwear Guidelines for:
(1) Shorter skirts and dresses(remember what "shorter" means for you!)
(2) Narrow-legged capris
(3) Narrow-legged full-length pants, and
(3) Narrow-skirted mid-calf skirts and dresses

Long-shinners
Guiding words for you: High Vamp Shoes, High Contrast Legwear

Long-shinner lovelies, in contrast to your short-shinner friends, you don’t want or need for your footwear and legwear to appear to extend the length of your lower legs.

Footwear: High vamp shoes (in any heel height) are your friends. These are, of course, are just the opposite of low vamp shoes -- they're footwear that comes up high onto the top of your foot. Examples are shooties, booties, oxfords of every heel height, and most sneakers. "Less you, more shoe" is your mantra, and these styles take a few inches off the apparent length of your leg by "chopping it off at your foot" (sorry, effective but awful image!)

I mentioned that sneakers are almost always a high-vamp shoe, and they deserve a special shout-out for you. While short-shinners are going to look better (and instinctively prefer) a no-sock or no-show sock look with their sneakers, YOU are the gals who are going to look precious in a high-top sneaker, a sneaker paired with some contrasting-colored ankle socks, or even brighter-colored or patterned sneakers. Lucky ducks. :-)

Legwear: Pairing your high vamp footwear with contrasting colors or tones (little color, strong color) in legwear, socks or pants will create a flattering visual “break” between your leg and foot. You're the gals who can wear gorgeous two-toned oxfords with a nude leg, bright socks or tights, capris or a shorter skirt.

That's it, ladies -- pretty simple if you remember those four guiding words! Try them and see how they work for you. Of course, how you wear your own wardrobe can't simply be dictated by a set of math-based visual proportioning tricks. Only you can decide how all of this jives with your own tastes. So use what helps you feel and look like your best YOU, and toss the rest. Compromise is A-OK because the most important rule is this: You should love it if you're gonna own it and wear it!

Please e-mail me at jcauncmom@gmail.com if you have more questions about any of the concepts I've discussed, other wardrobe "fit" questions, or requests for future wardrobe tips & tricks posts!

Tips & Tricks for Short-Shinners: Skirt Length Rules FAQ's (Part 2) - Shoes & Legwear

2011-04-05T14:22:00.076-04:00

Today's edited Parts 2, 3 and 4 in the FAQ's about the "skirt length rules" will take a look at the often-overlooked importance of how your choice of shoes and legwear affects the visual proportioning of your body. We'll focus on short-shinners first, because they (I should say "we", because this is my category) are the majority of women out there.

By the way, to you lucky and rare neutral-shinners out there who have a balanced measurement in your upper and lower legs: Do read on, but know that you can experiment with both the short-shinner and long-shinner "looks" and probably carry most of them off beautifully!

Question: "I feel like my shoes really change the way my skirt lengths look on me. Am I right, and if so how do I pick shoes?"

Answer: Footwear and legwear can make a huge difference in how the proportioning of your body looks in your overall ensemble.

Shoe and Legwear Guidelines for:
(1) Shorter skirts and dresses(remember what "shorter" means for you!)
(2) Narrow-legged capris
(3) Narrow-legged full-length pants, and
(3) Narrow-skirted mid-calf skirts and dresses

Short-shinners
Guiding words for you: Low Vamp Shoes, Low Contrast Legwear

My thanks to the Mothership for this image!

Footwear: A shoe that shows a lot of the top of your foot is known to shoemakers as a “low vamp” shoe. And short-shinners, especially with these strong-horizontal-lined categories of clothing, this is YOUR footwear because a low vamp shoe adds visual length to your lower leg -- perfect to promote your visual goal of "more you, less shoe"! Classic low vamp examples: Ballet flats -- the most extreme low vamp of which are the infamous "toe cleavage" ballet flats -- and the J. Crew Juliet-style mid- to high-heeled pump. The "more you, less shoe" effect is even more powerful in tall low vamp heels, because the top of your foot's visible in the semi-vertical position.

Legwear: Minimize the contrast between shoe color and leg color. Aim to blend or match the color of your legs (socks, tights or full-length pants legs) to the color of your shoes. Shoes that contrast too much with the color on your legs will increase the appearance that your legs are weirdly cut off too soon.

The only no-fail exception to the short-shinners' low vamp-low contrast guideline is wearing a low vamp, high-heeled pump with a nude leg. That's an exceptionally pretty look on a short-shinner because it so dramatically elongates the lower leg.

High vamp shoes, of course, are just the opposite of low vamp shoes -- they're footwear that comes up high onto the top of your foot. Examples are shooties, booties, oxfords of every heel height, and most sneakers. The worst visual-proportioning offender for short-shinners (with any clothing, actually) is the high vamp shoe worn with high-contrast legwear. If you just looooooove and want to wear high vamp footwear (and I do, too), choose a high vamp shoe that matches or closely blends with your leg color. Or wear low-contrasting socks and full-length pants in a color that "blends" with the shoe. Remember, your goal is to make your leg and foot disappear into each other -- "more you, less shoe"!

I mentioned that sneakers are almost always a high-vamp shoe. So, with "more you, less shoe" in mind, short-shinners, are you having an AHA! moment? Now you know why the reason why most women -- because most women are short-shinners -- instinctively prefer the way sneakers look worn with no socks (or no-shows). See, your brain's telling you how to visually correct your proportions and you didn't even realize it!

I encourage you to see how these simple guidelines work for you. Of course, how you wear your own wardrobe can't simply be dictated by a set of math-based visual proportioning tricks. Only you can decide how all of this jives with your own tastes. So use what helps you feel and look like your best YOU, and toss the rest. Compromise is A-OK because the most important rule is this: You should love it if you're gonna own it and wear it!

Please e-mail me at jcauncmom@gmail.com if you have more questions about any of the concepts I've discussed, other wardrobe "fit" questions, or requests for future wardrobe tips & tricks posts!

Tips & Tricks: Skirt Length Rules FAQ's (Part 1)

2011-04-04T13:55:00.003-04:00

Wow, is it ever true that time flies. This past weekend I got an e-mail notice that a new comment had been made at my two-part post entitled "How to Decide Your Ideal Skirt Length" (Part I here and Part II here). Imagine my surprise at discovering that those posts were published 18 months ago!

Since some of the best skirt-wearing times of the year are just around the corner, I thought that over the next few days I'd post some FAQ's about the "skirt length rules" and related topics. If you haven't read my original posts, peek before you read on so that "short shinner" and "long shinner" are terms you'll understand! And y'all, listen -- what I'm going to tell you is based upon my fairly extensive experience and education in the garment trade, but these are my opinions, and you're entitled to decide that you disagree. I only ask that you do so respectfully. :-)

1.   Question: “[F]or the top [leg] measurement, are you talking about [measuring from] the top of the hip above the bellybutton or lower down? I'm coming up with 21" on top and 14" on the bottom which seems crazy!?!”

Answer: Those measurements aren’t crazy at all for a short-shinner! Measure your upper leg length from the middle of your kneecap upwards to the protruding (you can feel it even you can’t see it) part of your outer hipbone that is just below your bellybutton. To put it another way -- see on this illustration how your pelvis is shaped kind of like an abstract pair of Mickey Mouse ears? You’re measuring from the upper-outer corner of either one of the Mickey Mouse ears (right around what's labeled -- and misspelled -- here as the "spina ilaca"), down to the middle of your kneecap on the same side.

2.   Question: "How does the "skirt length rule" apply to wearing shorts?"

Answer: Use the same skirt length rule to determine your optimal shorts length. Short-shinners will look better in shorter shorts. Long-shinners are born to be Bermuda shorts girls.

3.   Question: “Is there math to the right length of capris/crop pants? I have never -- as in, ever -- had any idea how long they should be on me...”

Answer: Yep, the same "visual proportioning" rules and some related concepts apply for wearing capris.

Short-shinners

Capri length: To visually correct your proportions, you’re gonna want more of your lower leg to show. So hem or roll your capris so that they stop at the fullest part of your calf, leaving a nice “swell” of calf and showing. Try on a pair of your J. Crew café capris, roll the leg to the length I'm suggesting and look at the difference 2 - 3 inches makes!

Capri leg width: I realize this is mildly controversial, but I promise you, short-shinners, you're going to look better in narrow-legged capris even if you're a girl with some hips. Why? Because the more closely the hem of your capris hugs your legs, the more it appears that your capris and your legs are one nice, elongated visual unit. A wider pants leg visually chops up the line of your leg, much like a skirt hem does.

Long-shinners

Capri length: Your thighs are longer than your calves, so you want to visually shorten your lower leg by having less of it showing. Therefore, your capris are going to look better in a lower-hitting hem -- one that ends between the smaller tapering part of your calf and no less than about 4 inches above the "knob" of your ankle.

Capri leg width: Surprise! Long-shinners, you are ALSO going to look best in a narrower capri leg, but you can successfully carry off a bit more width than your short-shinned friends (say, a stovepipe-shaped pant leg).

And let me just say this to everybody -- again, perhaps igniting a flame war, but I'm sticking to this opinion like Custer's Last Stand: A wide-legged cropped pant is simply not an optimal look on any woman. For that matter, cuffs on a cropped pant of any width aren't great, either -- they add bulk at just the wrong place, unless they're skinnied-up in that mysterious folding trick that J. Crew uses. Promise me that if you're just jonesing to wear wide-legged capris, you'll at least pay close attention to where they're hemmed.

4. Question: "How does your [hemline] rule apply to wearing longer skirts?"

Answer: Just like it applies to capris.

Short-shinners

To hem a below-the-knee skirt, apply the "capris rules". Allow as much of your lower leg to show as you can without significantly altering the "look" and flow of your skirt.

Long-shinners

Apply your "capris rules". Stop the hemline no lower than about 4 inches above the "knob" of your ankle.

That's it for now, y'all. Part 2 coming tomorrow. Stay tuned!

From A to Z about me!

2011-03-31T19:58:00.158-04:00

Hi everyone! I apologize for going incommunicado with no explanation after my little flurry of OOTD posts last fall. Lotta reasons, but my biggest driving force was my New Year's resolution to call a complete halt to my J. Crew shopping until I got my closet, and my buying habits, properly sorted out. It helped to just kinda go underground. Suffice it to say that progress has been made on both fronts. Look for a lot of stuff to be going on the weekly exchange from me really soon!

And be on the lookout for a little overhauling around my blog. I'll still include some OOTD's and fashion finds and wardrobe teaching tidbits (like my now-famous short-shin/long-shin skirt-length-rule!) from time to time, but I'd like to branch out and talk about other things that interest me and, I hope, will provoke thought and discussion. I hope you'll find the changes fun and worth sticking around for. You might possibly see a change to my screenname, too. It's always been mysterious to some people and, I will admit, it's definitely unpronounceable as written. (For the record, JCAUNCMom translated is JCA, as in "J. Crew Aficionada", UNC (as in University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) Mom (because both of my adored sons are UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels.) I'll make sure y'all know where to find me, and that it's ME whose ramblings you're reading!

On to today's post -- my version of the very cute A to Z. Just to kick off the notion of letting y'all get to know the non-fashion side of me a bit. Hope you enjoy!

A. Age: Mid-50's (ugh)

B. Bed size: King, and there are four of us in the bed: (1) my sweet husband who sleeps like a windmill, (2) our old, dear, Bichon Frise who likes to sleep on. my. feet. (as in, if I move them, he moves back on top of them --- he's vigilant), (3) me, and (4) menopause, who's a hot bedfellow, lemme tell you. Honest, the mattress could be the size of my bedroom floor, and it just might not be big enough for all four of us.

C. Chore you dislike: Unloading the dishwasher. I don't mind cleaning up a dirty kitchen. I just cannot stand to unload clean dishes. And I feel similarly about laundry -- don't mind doing it, don't mind folding it, detest putting it away. Weird, I know.

D. Dogs: Eddie, world's largest Bichon Frise, age 14 but frisky. May we please, Lord, have a few more years with this awesomely intelligent, wonderful little guy. (Eddie's picture is at the bottom of my blog home page - enjoy!)

E. Essential start to your day: Bold caffeinated coffee with 1 packet of Truvia and 1 Tbsp. Fat-Free Hazelnut Coffeemate. Drink and repeat. I am a big fan of clean eating, but, as the saying goes, they'll have to pry my Coffeemate from my cold dead hands.

F. Favorite color: Very different preferences in clothing and household decorating. Household decorating: Sage green, slightly olive. Clothing: Tie between black and navy blue. (You didn't ask, but I'll tell you anyhow: Favorite clothing pattern by FAR: stripes.)

G. Gold or silver: I like and own both but look way better in yellow gold.

H. Height: 5'4"

I. Instruments you play(ed): Piano lessons from age 9 to age 18, and like my French after nine years of classes, now totally atrophied. These two should catapult to the top of my bucket list, by all rights. Shameful.

J. Job title: Group fitness instructor specializing in indoor cycling classes (loooooooooove doing this). Newsletter editor/Board member/volunteer for a women's community service group (love this, too). College applications-preparation/essay-writing tutor for high school students (yet another awesomely fun and rewarding thing). Occasional civil litigation lawyer (used to do this full-time at a big law firm, still do it in connection with keeping my license current, never thought it was much fun at all). Also former big-company telecommunications transactional lawyer (more fun than civil litigation, but not much). Also former partner in a direct-market high-end women's clothing business, and sales trainer/corporate educator for the same company (both parts of that job were GREAT fun).

I've concluded that I really do have a juvenile attention span. :-)

K. Kids: 2 sons, ages 24 and 21. And Eddie.

L. Live: In a northern suburb of Atlanta, GA.

M. Mom’s name: Joyce (Rest in peace, Mama. I miss you so much.)

N. Nicknames: "Kas", pronounced "Cass" -- short for "Casper", as in the ghost, but spelled with a K as is my name, Kathy. My parents nicknamed me "Kas" because apparently as a little kid I had this disconcerting way of suddenly appearing in a room without making a sound, as if by magic. Wooooooo. Also often called "Kath". Possibly interesting fact: "Kathy" is the name my parents used to introduce me to new people, school, camp, church, etc., and so it became the name I most associated with my "public" self and it's the name I have always used to introduce myself. But neither my parents nor anybody else in my maternal/paternal extended families called me "Kathy", and my husband doesn't, either.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Two childbirths at ages 32 and 34 3/4, and a tonsillectomy when I was 5 that I don't remember at all. My parents loved this story: The surgeon instructed them not to tell me I'd have a sore throat after my operation, and boy, did that "mind over matter" trick work. I didn't know that I should feel a little pain, so I didn't feel any. The day after surgery (as legend has it) I asked for, and promptly ate, a hamburger with extra onions and a side order of fries from the local drive-in greasy spoon.

P. Pet peeves: Biggest one lately: People who have great abundance in their lives (money, time, energy, education, whatever) and don't share with those who have little. It really does amaze me how selfish otherwise seemingly normal, rational people can be. I was raised to believe, and we taught our children, that much is expected from those to whom much is given. You know what I mean -- if you have a whole, fresh loaf of bread, share with those who have only crumbs. Not to get all preachy, but this concept seems so simple and self-evident to me.

Q. Quote from a movie: "If you build it, they will come." Such a profound little metaphorical statement.

R. Righty or lefty: Righty

S. Siblings: 1 sister, 15 months younger, who calls me "Sister". (I forgot that nickname!)

T. Time you wake up: 7:45-ish although I'm often awake earlier because I'm not much of a sleeper. I'm also a serious night owl and rarely go to sleep before 12:30. I must say I'm super-lucky to have this flexibility. My work doesn't require me to be out of the house early, my kids are grown so I'm no longer on get-them-off-to-school or make-breakfast duty (my DH doesn't eat breakfast), and my little old dog sleeps very late.

U. Underwear: Oh yeah. Truthfully, commando as a concept kinda gives me the creeps. And the idea of a SKIRT commando is, well, a bit hussy-like.

V. Vegetables you don’t like: Beets and turnips.

W. What makes you run late: Existentially speaking, just being me. It's a family joke that if I holler downstairs that I'm "about ready", my boys could put a frozen pizza in the oven and it could well be ready before me. I try, I try, I try, but the only things I am consistently on time for are doctors' appts and the cycling classes that I take and teach.

X. X-rays you’ve had: Teeth, chest and sinuses.

Y. Yummy food you make: I'm a really good amateur cook and baker if I do say so myself. I make a great Ragu Bolognese sauce, I do a mean banana pudding, and every week I whip up a batch of killer balsamic vinaigrette with a bit of a twist.

Z. Zoo animal favorites: I've always had a true love/hate relationship with the concept of zoos, and I feel that even more keenly since we've had the incredible good fortune to go on safari in Africa. I understand and value the conservation aspect of what zoos do for endangered animals, but I hate seeing animals outside their native habitats even in "great" zoos. That being said, hands down my favorite zoo animal is the panda, which has got to be the front runner for God's Cutest Creature. Oh, that face!

Great news about our friend, and a Christmas video!

2010-12-18T13:10:00.023-05:00

How y'all doin'? That little image to the left remarkably resembles me this week (sans heels) -- I have been moving a mile a minute and finishing everything up before houseguests begin to arrive!

Just whizzing by the 'puter on this busy Saturday-before-Christmas for three quickie reasons, y'all!

First, I really want to send a (((((((HUG))))) and shout-out to our beautiful friend Dina over at My Superfluities. I was very, very glad to hear that she's safely at home recuperating and taking care of herself. That news is the answer, I know, to the prayers that so many of us sent up to the good Lord!! Can I speak for us, JCAs? Dina, we miss you, we all adore you, and we can't wait to hear that you're feeling 100% like your energetic, sassy, stylish self again!

Okay, second, I promise I'll be back soon with OOTD. This week's been crazy, as I said, and I've generally not been wearing anything new or especially interesting. Like other gals I've been putting my Ankle Stretch Toothpick Jeans (in the Twilight wash and the Amore wash) through a heavy get-dressed-quickly rotation, along with the adorable Tartan Perfect Shirt and similar combos of a perfect shirt with a cardi or a cashmere henley and boots. Preppy, predictable for me and not too thrilling, but always wicked cute and comfy in a pinch, ya know?

And third, from my heart to yours, I wanted to share a really wonderful 5-minute YouTube video for the holidays. The "star" of this video is the young pastor of a church in Ohio that one of my dearest friends attends. But don't be fooled by that -- this is no ordinary "pastor video" and you won't hear a sermon. Trust me -- grab some hot chocolate and prepare to smile! Whether Christmas is your holiday or not, you can't help but feel the infectious joy and spirit of the season in this video, and you'll want to share it with your friends, too!

Happy holidays, everyone -- be back soon! MWAH!

P.S. Could I ask a favor, glaydies? If you see this post, please pass along the good news about Dina, and this fantastic video, to other JCA's!

Ho Ho Ho ROTD: a GREAT Soup Recipe!

2010-12-11T10:37:00.004-05:00

Happy Saturday morning!

Okay, who else besides me is s-l-o-g-g-i-n-g through the Great Holiday To-Do List this weekend! :-)

DH is away on a quick guys' junket with friends, so my trusty sidekick Eddie and I are holding down the fort here at Casa UNC, and we're in full-on decorating mode. Being an interfaith family we gear up for Hanukkah and Christmas, and since Hanukkah came early this year those decorations have gone up and come down already. I am way behind schedule decorating for Christmas, though, since I lost an entire week right after Thanksgiving snuffling around feeling crummy with a wicked head cold.

But Eddie and I are making good progress and we've got our system down. I decorate and he watches and occasionally chuffs and yarfs with an approving opinion. The Christmas candles are in the windows, I've made my wreath, hung it on the front door and rigged up our spotlight for it, and a family of lighted reindeer are festively grazing in our front yard. Oh, and the tree is patiently waiting, naked but fragrant, in its stand until DH gets home tomorrow -- he'll string the lights and we'll put the ornaments on together. God bless my adorable Jewish hubby, who gets such a sweet kick out of decorating a Christmas tree! I'm taking a break shortly to have lunch and hit Kohl's (her fave place) with one of my best BFFs from high school. It's a holiday Saturday tradition for us and I can't wait! Later on, today's remaining projects are a mantel and the banisters/balusters on the staircase. Pictures coming soon!

Instead of an OOTD (I'm in schleppy clothes right now and am changing for lunch into an outfit y'all have seen), I thought I'd post a ROTD -- Recipe of the Day. This is a fantastic and truly insanely simple Rachael Ray soup. The picture at left shows it garnished with Rachael's homemade Cheese and Herb Puffs, which I haven't tried, but I'll post that recipe for you, too -- they look yum-o, as she would say!

This soup was really good the day I made it, but 24 hours in the fridge made a HUGE difference to the depth of flavor. I served it with turkey sandwiches and a simple green salad -- so homey and delicious! And by the way, it's not a thick soup -- it's hearty, but it's one that you could sip in a mug if you wanted to. Another yum-o idea.

Hope you enjoy, everyone! Ho Ho Ho!!!

Rachael Ray's Roasted Garlic and Roasted Tomato Soup
Link to video of Rachael making this

2 heads garlic
EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling plus 2 tablespoons
Salt and pepper
12 plum or Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise (I used a whole container of Campari tomatoes)
2 tablespoons fresh herbs, such as chopped fresh thyme, rosemary, parsley (To this, I added 2 Tsp dried Italian herbs mixture)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large can Italian tomatoes or crushed tomatoes (I used a large can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes; Muir Glen would be good, too)
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock (I used Kitchen Basics chicken stock)
A generous handful of basil, shredded or torn
I used Low-Sodium stock and regretted that b/c the finished product tasted a little flat to me, so I added 1 heaping tsp "Better Than Bouillon" chicken-flavored bouillon.

Yields: Serves 4.

For roasted garlic: Preheat oven to 425° F.

With a very sharp knife, cut the top (pointy) ends off the heads of garlic, drizzle with EVOO and season with salt and pepper. Wrap them in foil and roast til soft, 40-45 minutes.

If you've got one oven, this can be done ahead of time -- just keep the garlic wrapped in foil and set it aside on your countertop. If you have two ovens, you can roast the garlic and tomatoes at the same time (on separate timers!)

For roasted tomatoes: Preheat oven (or reduce heat in oven if you've just finished roasting the garlic in your single oven) to 300° F. Arrange the 24 halves of tomatoes on a cooking rack set on a baking sheet, so heat can circulate around the tomatoes. Drizzle with EVOO and season with salt, pepper and your herbs of choice. Roast for 2 hours.

While the garlic and tomatoes are roasting, sauté the chopped onion in EVOO (one turn around the pan) until soft and caramelized slightly, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

From here, you have two prep options:

EITHER: Unwrap garlic and squeeze the cloves out of the paper husks (it should come right out very easily.) Discard husks. Place roasted garlic cloves, 1/2 to 3/4 of the roasted tomatoes, the onions and the canned tomatoes into a food processor or heavy-duty blender, and purée until smooth. Pour this tomato base into a pot with the chicken or veggie stock and stir to combine, then heat through. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. (I used quite a bit of black pepper as we like a little "bite".)
OR: Unwrap garlic and squeeze the cloves out of the paper husks (it should come right out very easily.) Discard husks. Place roasted garlic cloves, 1/2 to 3/4 of the roasted tomatoes, the onions and the canned tomatoes directly into a pot with the chicken or veggie stock, and use an immersion blender (I call mine my "boat motor") to combine and puree, then heat through. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, chop remaining roasted tomatoes and stir into soup to give the soup some texture. Serve in shallow bowls. Garnish with Cheese and Herb Puffs or fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and additional chopped fresh or dried herbs. Great with grilled cheese or turkey sandwiches and a simple salad alongside!

Rachael Ray's Cheese and Herb Puffs
Link to video of Rachael making this

1 cup water
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
2 tablespoons fresh herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, parsley
1 cup Gruyère cheese, shredded

Yields: Makes 24-30 puffs

Preheat oven to 400º F.

In a medium saucepot over medium-high heat, combine water, butter and salt. Heat until butter has melted and water is boiling.

Add flour and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Stir until mixture begins to create a dough ball in the center of the pot and the dough is completely pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 2 minutes.

Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. On low speed, add the eggs to the mixture one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl well after each addition and beating until the bowl feels cool (the mixture should be very smooth and silky). Add in the herbs and cheese after the last addition of the eggs.

Transfer the mixture to a large Baggie and cut half an inch off of one corner to create a pastry bag. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, squeeze the mixture into small rounds and bake until golden brown and puffed, about 25 minutes. (If you're not into piping, I think you could also easily create small rounds by hand, simply using a teaspoon and WET hands.)

Rachael says: These can be made a day or two ahead of time and kept in an airtight container at room temperature. If they feel soggy when you take them out, pop them into a 400º F oven for a couple of minutes until they crisp up again.

IRL OOTD: Mixing Warm Tonal Neutrals

2010-12-07T16:43:00.022-05:00

Thank you ALL so much for the ri-DUNK-ulously flattering comments on my recent IRL blog pix!! Especially coming from the sophisticated eyes of the JCA community, your compliments are so deeply appreciated by this little old middle-aged mama! Seriously, you're inspiring me to spiff up a bit each morning, eat my Wheaties and get to my cycling classes! :-)

Today's outfit was thrown together quickly because I've had (and am having, but blogging on my Hot List!) a wacko day. But I'm happy with it, because it reflects one of my favorite ways to dress.

Sorry about the exposure on the pix, but hope you'll be able to get the color-combo idea. :-)

This ensemble combines a slightly surprising blend of J. Crew warm tonal neutrals including:

the Wool Flannel Schoolboy Blazer in Butterscotch (2009) (size 8; a bit big in the body, but necessary for my linebacker shoulders ;-))
the Vintage Matchstick Cords in Dark Loden (2010) (size 28S -- I am 5'4" and they're perfect with flats)
the very soft and pretty Ruffle-Front Vine Print Perfect Shirt in Pale Oak (2009) (size 8, which is what I always buy in the Perfect Shirts because, again, of my shoulders)
and the Cashmere Crewneck Long-Sleeved Tee in Bronzed Olive (2010) (size M; looking at these pix thinking maybe I could have/ should have done the size S, but this is fine for layering).

All of these blended tones are tied together by the accessories, starring (once again) the Bayberry Washed Wool Scarf (2010), a piece that I would now pay 3X FP for because it's turned out to be such a workhorse. I'm sure you're all getting just a wee bit weary of seeing me wear it, actually. To wear this scarf today, I wove it around last year's very long Crystal Cadence Necklace, then looped the combined scarf-necklace into a soft, controlled knot. Echoing the necklace, I added the Heirloom Flora Earrings a/k/a the 2009 "J. Crew Says Thank You for Devoting Your AmEx Card to Us" earrings.

I also added a loose belt for a pop of soft color reinforcing the colors in the scarf, and as "waist jewelry" -- see my Polyvore set for today for an explanation of that concept. This belt is truly vintage J. Crew and I have no clue what it's called or when I bought it; I can tell you I've had it for at LEAST five years and I'd bet longer. It's a rich burgundy-wine patent leather skinny belt, and the patent leather is broken up by segments of antiqued gold thick chain links. Terrific piece. And although the pic above weirdly makes it look like I've got a spare tire over the top of the belt, IRL the effect isn't like that at all -- it's a slimming, waist-enhancing little belt. I swear. ;-)

And as for my shoes, they're a find, too. Last year I was whizzing thru DSW one day and spotted a pair of EXACTLY THE SAME COLOR BURGUNDY PATENT Nine West penny loafers (a style called "Winogreen") in my size on the super-sale rack. Super comfy, too. Whoo baby. There were only four appropriate words: Welcome to my closet!

Close-up of the scarf/necklace combo and
shoes. Socks are a sort of pale-oak color lightweight wool -- too chilly to go without them today!!! :-)

Polyvore:

OOTD featuring Loden, Moss, Pale Oak & Butterscotch by JCAUNCMom featuring cashmere tops

Aw-ight, outta here. Cycling class at 6, dinner to throw together first. Ciao cuties!!!

BRRRR!!! IRL OOTD featuring the Caramel Arrow Sweater-Jacket

2010-12-06T17:25:00.004-05:00

Holla to all y'all! Which, by the way, is the proper plural form of 'y'all', for those of you longing to speak better Southern. :-)

Most people make New Year's resolutions; some keep them; some fail to keep them; some, like me, avoid them altogether. But I got my first iPhone recently and it inspired me to make a Thanksgiving resolution of sorts: that I'd try my d*!$%mnedest (1) to find a place in my house where I could take pix of myself with my fancy-schmancy new phone-that-does-everything-except-drive-me-to-my-appointments and (2) with IRL pix in hand, to start actually blogging on my blog.

Hence, y'all, I'm tryin'.

It is cold here today, by our thin-blooded standards and I'd wager by anyone's -- right now, Weatherbug informs me that it's 33.9 degrees, and it's windy, too. This morning our bossy senior citizen Bichon Frise, Eddie (see below and at the bottom of my blog) even hesitated to take his quite fur-clad self outside for a potty break. Watching Eddie this morning I couldn't help but think about what my mom would have said. She was a true Steel Magnolia who had a perfect one-liner for every occasion -- often slightly inappropriate, always delivered with a serenely confident straight face. Mama never seemed aware of being off-color or funny, which just made her funnier. About today, she would have said "Honey, bundle up, it's as cold as a hooker's heart out there!"

What better day, then, to layer up with my luscious Arrow Sweater-Jacket in the Heathered Caramel color! Here's my OOTD, minus my Tall Classic UGGs in Chestnut, which I wore while I was out and about earlier. I changed shoes when I got home to my toasty house.

OOTD 12-06-10

featuring the Arrow Sweater-Jacket
in Heathered Caramel (size Small)

I am also wearing:

J. Crew Merino Turtleneck from 2008 in Bright Peony (size Small)

J. Crew Dressage Belt in English Saddle (size Medium) (See it styled wonderfully on Slastena here) -- I liked the way it added some "finish" at my waist over the turtleneck, and I wore it as you would wear "waist jewelry" -- loose and drapey -- not cinched as if it were holding up my jeans. Little added short-waisted-girl trick there. ;-)

J. Crew Ankle Toothpick Stretch jeans in Black Resin wash (size 29S)

J. Crew Bayberry Washed Wool Scarf (sold out but worthy of stalking) -- and since the product page seems to be wonky and the picture isn't showing, below is a closeup of this versatile, soft and lightweight but warm piece.

Cole-Haan Air Penny Driver Moccasins in Chestnut Croc Suede (fit is TTS and the comfort -- Uh. May. Zing. Also have them in the Blue Croc Suede and will feature those in an outfit soon.

Hairdo courtesy of Pebbles Flintstone. There isn't much else that fine, flyaway hair like mine will do on such a cold day, so I don't fight it.

The fab Bayberry Scarf.

Polyvore for the day.

OOTD 12-06-10 BRR!! Caramel Arrow Sweater-Jacket by JCAUNCMom featuring moccasins shoes

And I'll leave you with a shot of my old doggie enjoying the early evening in his favorite position and favorite chair (on what we call his "chair sheet") by the fire. Everybody all together now: AAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

IRL OOTD 12-04-10 Black, Grey & Holiday Red

2010-12-04T18:47:00.004-05:00

Darkness has fallen (in that sudden THUD! way that winter darkness comes) and the holiday lights are twinkling at my neighbors' houses, inspiring me to get my decorating mojo cookin' tomorrow!

This weekend one of my BFFs (who makes gorgeous vintage-glass garden art) was working a gigantic craft festival selling her beautiful wares, and I had the great pleasure of manning her booth with her this afternoon. There is nothing like an arts 'n crafts show to get your holiday juices flowing! This one was called the "Apple Annie Festival" (who knows why) and was held at a big Catholic church in a nearby suburb. The place was hoppin', and I was really pleased to see that people were buying, not just looking. Maybe the economy really is inching its way around the corner, Mr. President! In any event, the atmosphere was warm and communal and holly-jolly, and it was fantastic to see my dear friend's special pieces selling like hotcakes!

Today's ensemble features last year's black A-line Wool Bungalow Skirt, a piece that I've really enjoyed a lot. This is a size 6, which gives me room to pull it down a bit.

For a day like this when I knew I'd be bending, stooping, standing for a long time and even hauling bulky things to people's cars for them, this little skirt was a no-brainer. It's super comfortable; a very decent length even when bending and stooping; fresh, perky and unwrinkled even after hours of wear. You can still buy this skirt in the Factory version right here (I am seriously thinking about getting it in the Cabernet color since I missed out on last year's lovely Garnet color).

And you could sub in any number of things from the current J. Crew inventory to get a similar effect, such as the Wooltown Skirt or the equally cute Wool Bell Skirt (currently at a nice sale price, especially in the versatile Heathered Aluminum).

Also wearing:

Heathered dark grey tights from Nine West that I picked up last week at the mall on a 2 for $15 sale. I had planned to inaugurate the lovely J. Crew Wool-Blend Ribbed Tights in Urban Grey, but listen to this -- they snagged on the band of my wristwatch as I was putting them on. For the first time. BIG snag. BIG. I know they didn't cost me an arm and a leg, but come ON -- the FIRST TIME I PUT THEM ON?? Sigh. So out came the new Nine West substitutes, and I must say they are super great tights.
J. Crew Vachetta Grommet Belt, size M, in black, from earlier in 2010. Factory version still available right here.
My much-loved, ridiculously comfortable black suede Pirate Boots a/k/a the Nine West Frollic from Fall 2009 (often available on eBay, as I've linked here). I wore them scrunched down to bootie height today, but often wear them full height over jeans or cords.
A very old but awesome J. Crew bateau-necked 3/4 sleeve very soft cotton knit sweater -- anybody have a clue what this one was called? It was also made in navy and I would love to stalk eBay for it, because I've had this one for at least four years and it looks brand new with bright white and fresh holiday-red stripes despite having been washed probably 35 times. Oh J. Crew, bring back this quality! This year's crazy popular Vintage Bateau Top in Dark Pewter would be a great sub for this kind of look, as I've shown in my Polyvore for today.
Gold hoops on my ears and a couple of very good David Yurman knockoff long necklaces (see links on my Polyvore set to the real items). Love his stuff -- casual and sporty. I have several real Yurman pieces, but I also have, and loooooooove, a very good knockoff lady. You didn't hear me say that, right? Never, ever would I wear my real stuff to do what I did today!
And finally, although it is VERY difficult to see in this picture (sorry sorry sorry), I also wore a black, grey and red plaid cotton gauze scarf from Target -- one of those $14 finds that makes you just grin all day. Similar here, here and here. Here's a closer look at the colors (taken right here in my office under way better light than my full-length mirror):

Dinner beckons. Have a nice evening, everyone! Polyvore set for today:

OOTD: 12-04-10 Wool Bungalow Skirt by JCAUNCMom featuring a thigh high hosiery

IRL OOTD: Under the Weather with J. Crew, featuring Zip-Side Sweatshirt

2010-12-02T17:29:00.005-05:00

Hello everybody! My second attempt at IRL photos of myself comes to you from another bright but quite chilly day, and one on which I woke up to find that Zicam, Vitamin C and I have lost the little battle we've been waging against an oncoming cold and sore throat. Ugh, right?

I'm working on a project at home today and had no place that I absolutely HAD to go. So when I got dressed (which almost didn't happen at all, because lemme tell ya, some flannel jammies were looking real good), the ONLY requirement for me was that whatever I put on had to ooooooooooze comfort. And this outfit does the trick nicely, I think. Plus, I'm pretty pleased with myself (honk honk sniff sniff) under the circumstances for being uber-comfy whilst also nodding to the "let's all wear sweatpants as if they were jeans" trend. Suhhhh-WISH -- score for me! :-)

Lemme tell ya a bit about what I'm loafin' around in. And my apologies for the quality of the pictures. I plead the Sudafed effect, y'all. I was finding it ridiculously hard to hold my iPhone and myself still at the same time, so I'm posing a bit goofy, and it didn't help matters that I'm wearing navy and charcoal grey today in not-great lighting. But I'll show ya what I got, okay?

OOTD 12-02-10

"Under the Weather with J. Crew"

J. Crew Zip-Side Sweatshirt in Heather Charcoal (on sale in a few remaining sizes for $39.99 in this color and $24.99 in "dark cloud", which is really a heathered athletic gray -- plus 25% to 30% off depending on your ride-along skillz!)

This French Terry item got mixed reviews from the JCA community, but I found it on a super-sale rack a while back for, like, a dollar plus a discount. So it screamed "Try me on!", and I like it a lot. Lightweight and slightly fitted (I got the Medium), and wicked comfy. It looks very cute with a Perfect Shirt peeking out from under it, too. There is more contrast between the navy pants and this sweatshirt than you'd think from my pix.

J. Crew Plaid Scarf in Navy Grey (sold out)

This can be seen better in the picture below, and was another lucky find, on sale early in the season. It's 72" long and made of a gauzy wool and cotton blend, so it's warm but not itchy and very easy to work with. By the way, a big thank-you to Sparrowsandsparkles, from whose wonderful blog I learned how to tie the version of a four-in-hand knot shown in my pix. I use that technique ALL the time, and every time I tie a scarf that way I know for sure that some other woman is going to stop me and ask me how to do it. Awesome little trick!

J. Crew Ultraknit Weekend Pants (from 2009) in Navy, size Small (Polyvore link here; similar 2010 version available here in Navy and other colors-- same wonderful knit but without the elastic cuff on the bottom of the pants, in Navy and other colors)

I wish I'd bought these last year in every available color. And I wish I had a nickel for every time I've worn or washed this pair. They've stayed true to color and have held up beautifully. I personally prefer the elasticized bottom cuff because it makes them very easy to tuck into boots (as I've done today), but I like this year's version, too, and I suppose it's still available in every size and every color only because it's not on sale. With the current promo, I'm tempted to tell Santa to bring me another pair!

UGGs Classic Tall in Grey

Y'all read my UGGs testimonial yesterday. This is my second pair, and I just love 'em. Size down one from your regular shoe size for this Classic version.

So that's it from Sneezeville for today! Stay warm, y'all, and don't forget to cough into your elbow, sneeze into a soft Kleenex and Purell Purell Purell!!!

Oh, and my Polyvore for today is below.

OOTD 12-2-10: Under the Weather with J. Crew by JCAUNCMom featuring knit pants

IRL (!!) OOTD: 12-01-10 featuring Marled Wool Shawl-Collar Cardi

2010-12-01T15:23:00.003-05:00

Oh how I love this cardigan, J. Crew's Marled Wool Shawl-Collar cardi from the October '10 rollout. It's toasty, not itchy, flattering and very well made. The fit is TTS to a smidge large. I am a size 6 or 8 (most often 8) in J. Crew jackets and I took a Small in this cardi. On this blustery, brilliantly blue-skied day, I can't think of a more perfect yummy piece to pull out for an afternoon of Santa errands!

Hold onto your hats, kids, because I have finally found a spot where I can take IRL pictures of myself (a weird skill, can I just say?) and so, with great fanfare, here ya go -- not fantastic quality because the lighting in my "spot" isn't great. I'll keep working on that!

OOTD 12-01-10

Details:

J. Crew Ankle Stretch Toothpick Jean in Twilight Wash, size 29 (from early 2010, but lots of similar options are available -- IMHO, a dark but warm blue wash like this one looks best with this cardi)

J. Crew Marled Wool Shawl-Collar Cardigan in Camel, size Small (sold out in both colors, but look for popbacks)

J. Crew Smooth Leather Belt in Weathered Wood, size Medium (sold out in this caramel-y color, but this is an AWESOME belt, glaydies, and the basic black is on sale for $19.99)

J. Crew Ringspun Candy "Licorice" Tee, size Medium (I could have taken the Small too; this piece is one many of y'all will remember from Holiday 2008. I bought it on eBay about a year ago for a song from a seller who clearly had no idea what he/she HAD! And if you're an XS, here ya go -- one's currently listed on eBay: Current eBay listing for XS Licorice Tee)

UGGs Classic Tall in Chestnut, size 7 (I'm an 8 in most shoes and I think UGGs Classics reliably run one size small). I do not know for the life of me why I waited years to buy a pair of UGGs, but believe me, once I did I went running back for another pair real soon. What an INSANE idea these shoes are -- it's like wearing bedroom slippers to the mall. Warm slippers, at that. I. am. sayin'. For comfort like this, I'll happily accept the fact that UGGs + my skinny legs = an unmistakable resemblance to Daisy Duck.

And rounding out this outfit, I just tossed on some big gold hoop earrings (you can't see 'em behind all that hair) and one of my handy necklaces from Forever 21. Being the mom of a college student and a college graduate (oh yikes -- translation: there is just no flippin' way around the fact that I am on the downhill side of middle age), I always feel a bit conspicuous in F21 amongst all the teenyboppers and young moms. But it's worth braving all that youthfulness to get their ridiculously useful and cheap jewelry. This necklace is typical -- it has faux crystal fireballs and faux resin beads in caramel, pale grey and peach, all on a super long gold-toned chain-link single strand that can be doubled, or worn piled up as a bracelet. I believe I paid about $6.00 for this baby last year at the mall. What a find for the 2009-2010 J. Crew color scheme, huh?

My Polyvore for today:

Marled Wool Shawl-Collar Cardi & UGGs by JCAUNCMom featuring j crew tops

HURRY!! 24-hour TODAY show "Steals and Deals"

2010-11-16T11:05:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone!

I promise (cross my heart) to re-start my blogging. But that's not why I've dashed to the computer today, y'all.

A small favor, please? If by chance any of my Followers read this (and I can't imagine why you would since I've sunk without a trace), please share a link to this post with others in the Crewniverse. And bless your little Follower hearts for hangin' in there with me.

So -- THE NEWS:

The TODAY show has brought back their wildly popular 24-hour holiday "Steals and Deals", and there are some crazy-good deals including Gemma Redux necklaces for $39 (they each retail for around $400), and a beautiful basic Ann Taylor merino v-neck cardigan for $24 (retail is $78). And there's more. Check it out here:

TODAY Show's Holiday Steals and Deals

I'll be back soon with an update on life and fashion in the always-some-shade-of-blue household of JCAUNCMom and my wonderful hubby, UNCDad a/k/a "I Went to Duke So Why Did BOTH of My Sons Go to Carolina??". :-) Ciao!

OOTD and Product Review: Medallion Foulard Skimmer Pant

2010-07-13T17:01:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone!

I am, truly, the world's worst blogger. Every day I pinky-swear I'm gonna find time to write. And every day I also swear to myself that I'm gonna find a spot in my house where I can photograph myself in a mirror, so that you all can actually SEE me in a few of my outfits. (I say a few because I am self-aware enough to know that I -- unlike so many of you impressive JCAs -- will nevah, evah be disciplined enough, or find the time enough, to snap daily or even frequent pix of my lil' ensembles.)

But y'all can see how bad I am at honoring my own pinky-swears. :-) It sure is a good thing that I'm not making promises to myself about anything life-altering, don't ya think??

This afternoon I've found myself with a bit of extra time -- which I really ought to be using to get dinner started or to photograph some for-sale items for the weekly exchange. Hubby (known in these parts as FAH -- short for "Fun As Hell", which he most definitely is) will just have to deal with salad and leftovers. And you'll have to remain in suspense about what I've found in my closet to which you could say "Well, welcome to MY closet!!"

Because, IRL pic or not (and it's a not, again, sadly), I have a Polyvore, at least, of today's outfit, and a product review, even!

The product of the day here is the Medallion Foulard Skimmer Pant, now available only on popback but lately on sale, ridiculously, for $19.99. I say ridiculously because, glaydies, these pants are da bomb. Stalk them, girls. I'm tellin' ya.

I tried on the solid-colored Skimmer Pants earlier in the season at my B&M since, being a nicely obedient little J. Crew customer, I listened when The Crew told us the Skimmers were this year's answer to last year's wonderful summerweight cocktail capris and cafe capris. And they were, indeed, terrific -- they hug the derriere in a flattering way, with cute rear pockets that add a little sporty interest to yo' tushy, and they're a versatile 26" length. But I kinda pigged out on last year's similar styles, so I passed on buying any of the solid colors.

Then one day recently I was playing on Polyvore looking for ideas (instead of writing in my blog, yeah, I know, I know) and I ran across this classic white-shirt set from the fabulously fashionable itztru: Itztru's Medallion Foulard Skimmer Pant Classic White Shirt Look. I had never noticed these pants before, but I thought they were interesting and itztru mentioned that she'd bought them for $19.99! This, of course, piqued my interest even more, so I clicked on over to JC to read more about them -- and discovered them still on sale for that price, and not even FS. So naturally I added them to the always-growing pile in my shopping cart, and when we got the last EXTRA20 I bought them for $16 and change. Loooooooooooove it.

The fabric is what makes these Medallion Foulard Skimmers very special. I don't know what mill JC bought this luscious cotton from, but I'm betting it's one of the best. The cotton is silky and crisp at the same time, and has a lovely, subtle sateen finish. The foulard print's small and also subtle, and the scale and colors of the print work beautifully across a surprising array of my tee shirts and sweaters. And the fit, as I mentioned, is very nice. And TTS, by the way. Today I inaugurated them with a whole day of errand-running and they still look crisp and pretty fresh after all these hot, humid hours in and out of my car.

So here's the Polyvore of my OOTD, which, I must say, exactly reflects my personal style. This is the kind of look you'll see me in five days out of seven. The other two days I'll maybe throw in a smidge of ruffled-something-or-other. Because how can you be a true JCA and not wear a smidge of ruffled-something-or-other?? :-)

The Medallion Foulard Skimmer Pants by JCAUNCMom featuring J Crew

Back to Basics: Revisiting Finding Your Best Colors

2010-06-15T16:39:00.004-04:00

Hey y'all, I'm back from our safari trip to Africa and enjoying catching up on your blogs. I've put 150 trip pix on my Facebook page, so if any of you are on FB and would like to be my FB friend to look at pix (among other fine reasons :-)), please e-mail me at jcauncmom@gmail.com! Sneak peek:

The Mosela-sela Pride

18 lionesses and juveniles, Madikwe Game Reserve, May 2010

On to today's topic which has jolted me out of my post-vacation lurking laziness. Hope y'all will find this interesting and fun!

One of my new favorite bloggers, Sue from ReBloomer, has a really thought-provoking post today called Are You In a Color Rut? If I can paraphrase her, she's feeling pulled and tugged and a bit confused by the "colors du jour" in the fashion industry and especially by the invitingly-named colors at J. Crew.

We all want to look "fresh" and at least current, if not trendy or faddish. But we also want to look our best, right? So with the rag trade in general and our favorite "What recession??" retailer in particular trying to tell us what colors are fashionable, what colors should we all be buying?

Big ol' thanks to Sue for bringing this up, because this issue hits a bulls-eye with me.

Back in the day when I sold expensive clothes, my clients would walk into our showroom and be knocked flat by the display. We had 600-ish new pieces every season, and we arranged them beautifully, so it was just too much to take in, like some lavish buffet when you're hungry. Our clients didn't know where to start, and my job was to help them instantly screen out the things that weren't even going to be worth a look for them. We'd start by identifying pieces that weren't going to be flattering in proportion, shape or pattern.

Then we'd screen out the "wrong" colors, and of course to do that we had to zero in on the RIGHT colors. For new clients, here's how I'd help them do that.

(1) Find the color palettes that work on you the best. You'll have a primary and a secondary. Despite the fact that it was a worked-to-death concept fifteen years ago, the whole "seasonal colors" idea really is legitimate. There are four basic color palettes, and the "seasonal" labels of Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer work just fine for identifying them. Everyone has one primary palette, and a companion/secondary season (Fall with Spring, Winter with Summer) that will also look good, just not quite AS good.

(2) Stick MOSTLY with your primary and secondary color palette when shopping, and this will build the most mix & match into your closet.

(3) Use colors outside your primary/secondary palettes ONLY for accessories or for a splash of color but keep those "outsider" colors away from your face!

There are several ways to go about figuring out which ones are your primary and secondary palettes, but I have always had great success using this simple method.

All you need to do is figure out is whether you have warm, yellow or peach undertones to your skin or cool, pink or blue undertones to your skin. Everyone has one or the other, even people who are quite pale or quite dark. And the only tools you need to determine which one you have are these: A sheet of white computer paper and your own forearm -- UNTANNED, please!

Go someplace where there is strong, natural light. Now flip your arm over so that your palm is facing upwards, and lay your arm onto the white paper. Look closely at your forearm and compare your skin to the paper. Do you see yellow or peach? Do you see pink or blue, or even violet? If you're not sure, ask one or two other people to look and tell you what they see.

Once you know whether you're yellow-peach-warm or pink-blue-violet-cool, identifying your color palettes become really easy.

Warm, peachy-yellow undertones to your skin equals Fall and Spring color palettes. They're all colors that look like they've had a bit of yellow added to them. So you're talking about a buttery yellow (versus a lemon yellow, which is Winter/Summer), a yellow-y, watermelon-y coral (versus a pinky coral), an orange-y red (versus a blue-red), a yellow-y eggplant purple (versus a cool blueberry-pie purple) etc. Fall colors (which include all of the October leaf season landscape colors) are stronger than Spring colors; you might say that Spring colors are Fall colors with a bit of baby powder added to soften them up.

Choosing which of these two palettes is your "primary" is subjective, and it will depend upon how strongly colored and dark your hair and eyes are, and how pale your skin is. Your primary and secondary can change from time to time, too, if you're prone (like me) to experimenting with your hair. Just to give you an example, I'm a natural auburn brunette with hazel eyes and naturally pale, freckly, definitely yellow-undertoned Irish skin. So the best colors in my closet are the ones in the Fall/Spring palettes. When I'm wearing my hair darker, I can carry off the Fall colors beautifully -- warm olive green, strong honey-glaze yellow, true orange, warm chocolate brown, blazing autumn red. But if I've blonded up my hair quite a bit (as I periodically do), then the Fall colors are too much -- they overwhelm my face and I look better in the Spring palette. Say, a peachy coral instead of a strong orange. As my "blonder self" I can still wear my Fall colors, but I need to keep them away from my face.

By contrast, if you have cool pink-blue-violet undertones to your skin, you're going to look better in the Winter-Summer palettes. The Winter colors are clear, strong and cool. Think gem-stone colors, like a blue-red the color of rubies (or American Beauty roses), or the icy royal blue of a sapphire.

And again, the Summer palette is the Winter color family with baby powder added to kind of "pastel" them out. If these are your two palettes, then, again, whether your "primary" is Winter or Summer will depend on the strength of your coloring.

Oh, and one other related thing. Fall/Spring gals generally look better in gold-toned jewelry (warmer). Winter/Summer gals look better in silver-toned jewelry (cooler).

The real beauty of finding your primary and secondary color palettes is discovering that you can wear some version of almost literally every color. If you've been told that you can't wear yellow, hogwash. Everyone has a yellow that she can wear -- the trick is just figuring out whether that's lemony or buttery. Every gal has a red -- some orange-red, some blue-red. Every woman can wear some version of blue.

You see this isn't rocket science, right? And the simple truth is that when I practice what I preach and stick to those Fall/Spring colors, I look better with far less effort. Period. But here's the wrinkle. I like many colors that I don't wear well at all, and lately I've been way too lazy about practicing what I preach about colors and I've made way too many purchasing mistakes. Why? Because I've been letting myself get wowed and wooed by the way items are styled in the J. Crew catalog. And I'll confess that I've been even more influenced by the way things look on other JCA's.

As dumb as this seems when I write it down and think about it, the fact is that when I see a wonderful outfit in colors that I like on someone with a build similar to mine, I think "Oh wow, I could definitely wear that!" I get all excited (especially if there's a sale going on) and I ignore the important "Yeah, but can I really wear those colors??" part of the equation and I order the outfit without trying it on. And I end up taking at least some of the outfit back to my B&M because the colors don't do a thing for me, even if the garment shape works just fine on my body shape.

If I had a nickel and a gallon of gas for every time I've returned something because the colors looked somewhere between "Meh" and "Yeegads" on me, I'd have enough gas to drive to New York and enough money to -- well, treat my son the MTV Intern to lunch in Manhattan.

The View from the Saddle: Ovarian Cycle 100-Mile Ride!

2010-04-26T13:19:00.010-04:00

Very happy, totally recovered cyclist here reporting in!

Ovarian Cycle Saturday was an amazing experience. I've never done anything so exhausting and yet with such an emotional high. What a day!!

Registration at the host gym opened early and we were greeted with a terrific goodie bag with an awesome T-shirt, towel, a bike jersey (if you'd raised above a certain amount of $$), a lot of coupons and a fabulous "Hope and Promise" makeup kit from L'Oreal (the event's major sponsor and a huge supporter of ovarian cancer research). The event room was a huge, 2-story-high basketball court with an indoor track circling the ceiling level and six racquetball courts "ringing" the room at the floor level. There were almost 200 cyclists riding the whole 100 miles in our event, and the event staff had tied a balloon to each bike. Most teams had creatively decorated their bikes, too. Our team had attached bouquets of beautiful silk springtime flowers onto the front our bikes and we’d tied teal ribbon bows onto our handlebars. I can't tell you how festive and really thrilling that gigantic fleet of bikes looked! Everywhere there were floating teal, pink and white balloons, and banners with each team's "Honor Roll" lists, a giant Ovarian Cycle sign and huge silver stars on the walls symbolizing the fact that this event was helping women "reach for the stars" in the search for reliable early detection tests and cures for all gynecological cancers.

I’m telling ya, this event was planned out to “T” and “I” perfection. Those volunteers really took care of us and were ready to do anything they could to make the ride more fun and comfortable for the cyclists. Throughout the day, they walked among the bikes while we were riding, bringing us fresh towels, picking up our trash and recyclables, and offering us water, Gatorade, PowerAde, orange slices, bananas, peanut butter sandwiches, crackers, power gels and energy bars. And one of the adjacent racquetball courts was filled with tables of water, drinks and food, too --- available not only to riders but also to family and friends who came to watch and cheer, so in addition to the performance food that the cyclists would prefer to grab there were brownies, pizza, chocolate chip cookies and all sorts of other treat foods. While I wouldn't ever plan on doing an all-day ride this way, you could theoretically have shown up with your clothes and shoes and been A-okay on food and hydration. The provisions were THAT generous.

Along the back wall there were also silent auction tables -- lots of very cool stuff -- and there was a masseuse doing complimentary 10-minute neck and shoulder massages. Ahhhhhhhh!

We started our ride at 9:00 sharp, and the day was basically formatted like 6 hours of spin class. We had a different instructor each hour, and 5-minute breaks once an hour to dash to the potty, change clothes, eat, fill water bottles, stretch, etc. Almost all of the music rocked, the instructors were great, and there was a lot of variety in the ride -- even if the scenery didn't change much. :-) We did seated and standing sprints, jumps, seated climbs, standing climbs, etc. Just about the only thing we didn't do that's a "regular" item in spin class was anything really slow and heavy, and I’m sure that's because to hit our mileage goal we needed to be riding pretty fast all day. Each instructor set the pace for us, and if you kept up, I think you'd have been pedaling at an average of around 15 to 18 mph, with sprints thrown in here and there.

The day ended with Eminem's "Lose Yourself" -- what a great cycling song — and that last couple of minutes was unbelievably emotional. My sweet hubby and DS #1 a/k/a Journey Boy came for the last 30 minutes and stood with a lot of other riders' family and friends on the sidelines, cheering us on. Looking around me, I could see that every single rider in the room had found one last ounce of legs and wind for that last song, and we were all standing out of the saddle, hill-climbing on cadence with that thumpin' bass beat at a pretty hefty resistance -- heaviest of the day for me! -- and singing at the top of our lungs. As the song ended we were all whooping and high-fiving. Then they played “We Are the Champions” and we shouted out that chorus together while we cooled down. The lump in my throat was the size of a baseball.

All day long there were photographers snapping shots of the ride, so I will post some pictures when they become available. (The picture shown here is from the 2009 event held in the same facility, just to give you a "flavor".) But trust me, you do NOT want to see pictures (nor do I want to show pictures!) from the last hour or two — all of us were soaked through and looking bedraggled by then, and I had lost count of the number of bandannas I’d gone thru. I don’t think I’ve ever been so ready for a hot shower, y’all. I scrubbed and shampooed and held my face under that wonderful spray until the hot water ran completely out!

I am so, so proud to have been part of this awesome event. I raised more than $3,200 for ovarian cancer research -- can you believe it?? -- and finished the biggest athletic challenge of my life feeling strong and like I could have kept going. Unbelievable for this little middle-aged mama!

Thank you all again so much for everything you did to encourage and support me. It means more to me than I can express, and I’m incredibly grateful. I'll definitely do this Ovarian Cycle ride again next year, and if OC’s doing a ride anywhere near your city I encourage you to give it a try. You can write to me and I’ll walk you through a training and nutrition schedule. And I promise you will thank me!!! :-)

One Day to Go!!!

2010-04-22T18:20:00.001-04:00

I am leaving as soon as I hit "PUBLISH POST" to hit the gym for one more short but intense training ride, dear readers, and then I'm done with my training -- just tomorrow, a rest and fuel-up day, and then Saturday morning it's finally time for the Atlanta 2010 RIDE TO CHANGE THE FUTURE™!

My thanks again to the wonderful Gigi of Gigi's Gone Shopping, who surprised me earlier this week by thoughtfully including a shout-out to me and to this cycling event (which benefits ovarian cancer research) in her daily blog post. I've been really delighted and moved to find donations from JCA's at my Ovarian Cycle home page. You are all, truly, a lovely crowd of fine, strong women. Thank you so much for including me in your midst, and for supporting my "century" ride!

And, of course, you are also fashionable women, so what kind of JCA would I be if I didn't make at least SOME effort to be well-dressed for my 100-mile ride?

Thus, my Polyvore set of what will be going in my gym bag. :-)

Atlanta Ride to Change the Future 4/24/10!!! by JCAUNCMom on Polyvore.com

It's not too late to donate to Ovarian Cycle, by the way, so if you're of a mind to chip in a few dollars towards the search for a reliable early-detection test for ovarian cancer, just go here and look for the "Make A Donation" box on the left column. I'll appreciate every dollar!

See y'all on Sunday, when I'll tell you, I'm sure, what an amazing Saturday I had!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Rock and Roll

2010-04-19T13:13:00.048-04:00

As bloggers go, I'm a Model T auto. I sputter along, occasionally I pick up a little cantering, not-quite-galloping speed for brief intervals, but then I conk out and have to be re-cranked. I do so admire you sleek, Maserati-style bloggers whose words of wit, wisdom and fashion advice appear freshly and dependably on my Dashboard every day. And this post, sadly, will do nothing to enhance my reputation in the universe of great, fun fashion bloggers. Fashion's not on my mind today. (Well, not much -- I'm sure I'll do some ritualistic J. Crew Weekly Exchange and Spring Sale Section browsing later.)

Nope, what's got me cranked and cantering happily today has to do with August 1, 1981. And MTV. Stick with me here, I promise I'll connect the dots.

It turns out that August 1, 1981 (8-1-81 -- this had to mean something in the world of numerology, right?) was an auspicious day in the unfolding life plan of one young Atlanta lawyer who would grow up to be JCAUNCMom. I didn't know that, of course, and I don't remember the day at all, truthfully. (Heck, I don't remember last MONTH, truthfully. Menopause sucks.)

But I'm sure that it was hot as blazes, that you could cut the air with a knife, and that I had arrived at work sometime around 7:45 a.m. faithfully dressed in my earnest little John T. Molloy Dress for Success uniform: a stiff, starchy, button-up-the-back cotton blouse, a string of pearls, a navy/gray/black conservative suit (pencil skirt just above the knee, no pants -- not allowed for young lady lawyers for a loooooong time), L'Eggs suntan-colored pantyhose and Etienne Aigner closed-toe pumps in black, navy or burgundy. I was one year out of UVa Law School and had been a junior trial law associate at a giant downtown law firm for almost one year to the day. I had just turned 26 years old.

Dot number one. (Huge dot.) On August 1, 1981, my husband-to-be came to work in the same department at my firm. I could tell you that bells rang, birds chirped and choirs sang when we met each other, but that would be taking just a smidge of artistic license. The truth is that I don't remember the day we met. I can tell you that I thought he was adorable and that within weeks we were buddies -- we had lunch together a lot and compared dating tales of woe, and by late November we'd tiptoed sideways into our first date, both of us petrified that this would ruin our friendship. But see how wrong we were? And the rest, as they say, is history.

Dot number two. At 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981 on one lone Northern New Jersey cable system, a brand new television channel rather quietly made its broadcast debut. It was MTV -- Music Television. What you see above is the original, iconic MTV logo, which changed colors often but otherwise stayed much the same for nearly 30 years. (*** See footnote. Seriously, I wrote one, lawyer-style.) Another weird my-life coincidence: Among the few thousand lucky cable customers who could see MTV that first midnight was my future brother-in-law, then a night-owl and music aficionado college student. I'd betcha $20 that he actually saw Music Television go live. Remind me to ask him.

Check out this link on YouTube, dear readers. It's the debut of MTV and the very first-ever music video broadcast ("Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles -- save that one for trivia night for sure). For those of you who are anywhere near my age (shout out, Meno-'Mazing Girls!), I'm sure that watching this will jar loose a visceral memory of the original MTV logo (man stepping onto the moon), the fantastic original MTV guitar-riff theme music, and those six simple words that would forever change music for us all, from an audio-only event to an audio-visual event:

"Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll."

The guy who posted this on YouTube also posted many other links to hours and hours of that first day of MTV. You will not, will NOT, believe these archaic videos. Laughable now, but to us -- my gosh, BANDS SINGING THEIR SONGS ON TV!! I highly recommend spending a little time with a cup of coffee browsing and smiling and watching history unfold.

Because it really was history, on a scale much grander than the my-husband-to-be-entered-my-small-world kind. For you youngsters out there who only know MTV as it is today -- mostly non-music programming filled with reality TV shows -- I can only tell you that the original MTV truly was revolutionary stuff on an order of magnitude of, say, "I Love Lucy". It was modeled after broadcast radio, so the format was simple: 24/7 music videos, a few commercials, and, anchoring it all, a team of young, hip, oh-so-cool "veejays" (and yeah, MTV coined that term) who introduced the videos. To those of us who were young adults in the early 80's, the original MTV VJ's were rock stars in their own right. Who, amongst my age group, doesn't remember Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn??

Today, MTV is just one of a veritable battalion of "child" and "sister/brother" channels owned by Viacom, including MTV2, MTV Hits, MTVu (aimed squarely at college students), MTVTr3's (in Spanish -- as in 'uno, dos, tres', get it?), VH1, Comedy Central, Palladia, Nickelodeon -- the list is long. To watch music videos in the old-school MTV wall-to-wall style, you have to be lucky enough either to get MTV Hits on your cable/satellite system or to tune in to one of the other sibling channels during a "block" of music videos. And even then, there's no J.J., no Martha, no Mark, no Alan, no Nina freakin' Blackwood. Oh sure, there's good stuff to watch, but today's sophisticated videos cannot remotely compare to the original MTV programming in plain old sheer titanic value -- it's like comparing the pebble-sized impact of today's fine "Saturday Night Live" cast with the asteroid-sized impact of the original SNL Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

Yes, 8-1-81 was a very cool day indeed. And who knew.

Now you're thinking "Fascinating little history lesson, honey, and so glad you were an MTV fan, but, um, today's not August 1st so whazzup with this post?"

Glad you asked, since that gives me the opportunity to connect the dots for you, and grin, and brag.

My darling boy with his cousin (visiting from U-Delaware, go Blue Hens) in Chapel Hill last fall.

Dot number three. (Also huge.) I am thrilled to share breaking news: My DS#2, a/k/a Blues Boy, child who owns half my mama heart, distinguished UNC-Chapel Hill Communications Studies/Media Production/Electronic Journalism/Creative Writing student and all-round fabulous fellow, is going to be...

...interning this summer for the Production Department at MTV Networks in New York City.

!!!!!!!!! I know, right???? We are so excited for him!!! He will be one of the busy go-to, go-fer guys assisting the squadron of ridiculously young MTV staffers who write, plan, produce, edit and air the content -- including original music videos -- for several of the MTV family of channels. He'll be living in the NYU dorms, he'll be riding the subway to work like a real-live New Yorker, and he will be having, I know, the time of his life. And making contacts that will be invaluable in launching his own young career. Who knows -- maybe we're witnessing the "birth" of a future J.J. or Mark or Alan. Or Chevy Chase or Dan Aykroyd. Or Jon Stewart.

Dot number four. I love this one. Guess when Blues Boy will have his last Friday at work, his last weekend hurrah with his new friends and colleagues, and move out of his dorm to come home? You guessed it. It's the weekend of Friday, July 30th... Saturday, July 31st... and Sunday, August 1st.

Now you tell me that's not cosmic dot-connecting. :-)

*** Footnote, lawyer-style:

In February, 2010, in recognition of how much the content of its flagship channel had changed, MTV retired the words "Music Television" from its logo. This news created barely a ripple in the media. But speaking on behalf of my generation, I say let's have a moment of silence. In honor of Music Television, and those cheesy videos, and that kickin' theme music, and J.J., Alan, Mark, Martha, and Nina freakin' Blackwood. Rock on.

For Sale 4/12/10

2010-04-13T16:09:00.002-04:00

Just one item this week, but a beauty!

NWT, size 8 Victoria cami in Golden Olive, as pictured. $65 shipped (this is exactly what I paid for it, and shipping's on me. :-))

The Lovely Jaipur Perfect Shirt

2010-04-10T19:45:00.000-04:00

Happy springtimy Saturday, JCA's!

I popped by my neighborhood B&M this week to return something and was stopped in my tracks by the slim, beautiful new Jaipur Perfect Shirt.

It's always fun to find a print that you can immediately envision with quite a few things already in your closet, and this one was calling out to everything that was caramel, khaki, pecan, papaya, plum, guava, berry and denim blue. So then, of course I had to grab it and float thru the store creating mental outfits (this is called Advanced Rationalizing), and oh, how pretty it is with this spring's soft terracotta and ginger pieces!

As if to seal the deal, there was one -- just one -- lovely, lightweight merino ethereal ruffle v-neck cardigan hanging on the sale rack, marked to $39.99, and lo and behold it was (a) my size and (b) light berry. LUSCIOUS with this shirt and the new terracotta Scout chinos!

So I said "Welcome to my closet!" and the sweater and the chinos (along with a totally necessary, way cute little braided belt in salmon) came home with me. It won't bother me one little bit if you wanna welcome these pieces to your closets, too. :-)

Here's the Polyvore of my new fave ensemble. My sweater's different, as I mentioned, but I do love the one pictured in my set.

The Lovely Jaipur Perfect Shirt by JCAUNCMom featuring J Crew

Items in this set:
Women's new arrivals - sweaters - Cashmere V-neck ladder-stitch..., $145
J.Crew - Jaipur perfect shirt, $110
Women - jackets & outerwear - Studio blazer - J.Crew, $30
sale - AllProducts - Scout chino - J.Crew, $60
Leather classic ballet flats - J.Crew, $98

Have a great -- and of course fashionable -- weekend, everyone!

JCAs, I'm cycling 100 miles and would love to have your support

2010-03-26T14:15:00.006-04:00

Hi my dear JCA friends!

Be forewarned: This post is NOT fashion-related in any way, because it has to do with the use of chamois-padded cycling shorts which, I think we can all agree, are not a fashion item anywhere in this galaxy. :-)

You may have noticed that once again I've been AWOL from blogging. But I've got a REALLY good reason. I've been quietly investing increasing amounts of time to training for the biggest athletic challenge I've ever set out for myself, and I'm ready to tell y'all about it.

I’m going to take part in a really exciting and important event, glaydies. And I'm asking (hat in hand) for your encouragement and, if you can do it, your monetary support.

On Saturday, April 24, 2010, I’m going to be indoor-cycling 100 miles in this year's Atlanta RIDE TO CHANGE THE FUTURE™ benefiting Ovarian Cycle, a wonderful 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of and funds for the fight against ovarian cancer.

Since 2004 Ovarian Cycle’s indoor cycling events like this one have raised $645,500 for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, the Ovarian Cancer Institute and the Norma Livingston Foundation, all of which are working on the development of a reliable, early-detection screening test for ovarian cancer. This is critically important work. Ovarian cancer remains a deadly threat to women in large part because only 25% of cases are diagnosed in the early stages when treatment is most effective. This year more than 20,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and the statistics tell us that 15,000 of these women likely will lose their lives to this disease.

I'll be riding my "century" (100 miles) with some good friends from my weekly spinning classes. We call ourselves “Team Pedal Pushers" and we are riding together because, sadly, we've all watched friends or family battle ovarian cancer or a related cancer. Many of you, I'm sure, have had the same awful experience.

I'm going to cycle in honor and celebration of my beautiful Texan friend Virginia Tate, who I get to see every summer at a fitness weekend I attend. Last summer she wasn’t able to attend our annual event because she was battling fallopian tube cancer, a rare and frightening malignancy that's very closely related to ovarian cancer. Thankfully, she’s had a complete recovery. I'll be thinking of her radiant face all day long as I'm pedaling through a "virtual" Georgia!

My goal is to raise $2,500 to support Ovarian Cycle's important mission, to honor Virginia's courage and the miracle of her recovery, and to honor all of the countless women we all know and adore who have fought so bravely against terrifying gynecological cancers. I always hate asking for money, and in these tough economic times I know that I’ve set an especially ambitious target for my fundraising. But I also know that every dollar will help bring us one step closer to important breakthroughs in the detection and successful treatment of the family of ovarian-related cancers, and that means more happy endings like the one my friend Virginia is living today.

So I'm asking for help from everyone I know, and it occurred to me that I should include you, darling JCA's. You are intelligent, joyful, generously-spirited women, and I'd be so pleased to have your support for my ride. I will deeply appreciate any donation you can make, big or small. Your donations are fully tax-deductible, and if you prefer to keep your IRL name private, you may donate anonymously.

And if you're not in a position to donate right now, then just cheer me on, and please keep Ovarian Cycle in mind for future support when you're feeling able to contribute.

Please click on this link to go to my Ovarian Cycle home page, where you can find more information about Ovarian Cycle and can make a contribution if you like:

JCAUNCMom's Ovarian Cycle Atlanta RIDE TO CHANGE THE FUTURE™ 2010 Page

One more important thing: Whether or not you’re able to donate money, please be sure to write to me at jcauncmom@gmail.com if you’d like to tell me the name of any woman you know who has faced an ovarian-related cancer. It would be my privilege to ride in celebration of your loved ones, and I’d like to add their names to Team Pedal Pushers’ Honor Roll of the courageous women for whom we’ll be cycling.

And could I ask this of you? If you're a Follower here (and there aren't many of you, but bless your little hearts for hangin' in there with me), please pass along a link to this post to anyone you know who might be interested in supporting Ovarian Cycle's vital work.

Thank you so much, everyone!! Now, off to meet the team for a 2.5 hour afternoon training ride -- huff puff!!! :-)

Dashing By With Ann Taylor Money Saving Advice

2010-03-18T15:59:00.000-04:00

Hey y'all!!

Belated Happy Saint Patrick's Day from this 99.9999% Irish JCA! Hope yours was green and fun, as was mine!!

Puh-leez accept my apologies for being inexcusably AWOL lately. I have been reading and lurking occasionally, but obviously not posting. The past couple of weeks I've been Willie Nelsoning a bit, including a visit to my MIL at her Snowbird perch in Florida where it was seriously NOT WARM (?????), and then almost as soon as I got home, our very adorable Tar Heel DS#2 was home for spring break. Of course, I spent his whole visit just eatin' him up with a spoon. One thing is very clear to me: There is no girl good enough. Period. I'm just sayin'.

So I have Tales to Tell, but not today. Today I'm on the fly, and am just buzzing by quickly to impart Secret Important Money Saving Advice. (My mom, who never "went" anywhere in her life, would have loved that description of my day. Here's how she'd have described what I've been up to: "Well honey, (she'd begin) I've have to stand up to weewee today for sure. I had to dash to the grocery store and then zip by the dry cleaner's, and then I made a mad dash by the alteration place and just sprinted real quick thru Target on the way home." Boy, do I miss ya, Mama. In your honor later I'm gonna scoot to my spin class. :-)

But back to my quick point, right? Today's Secret Important Money Saving Advice applies to Ann Taylor. And the Advice is: Call Ann Taylor's very friendly customer service people (who, I learned, are in Utah where it's also NOT WARM) before you place an online order. They will flippin' volunteer to do good things for your wallet.

I know this because I have been eyeing a couple of AT pieces that have now gone on sale, and during my dashes, zips and flits today I was positively, pitifully seized with the notion that my sale items were going to sell out while I was driving around. So instead of eating lunch I went online (yeah, I know, but again I'm SAYIN') to place my lil' order but before hitting SEND I called AT CS to ask a sizing question. As CS Gal is looking up my sizing info I casually ask "So, have ya got any good promos you can help me out with? I haven't been able to find anything that would apply to sale stuff." To which she says, "Well, you're right, all of our current codes apply to full-price stuff, but I'm sure I could find something good for you...." And she proceeded to take $30 off my order, which pre-discount was only a little over $100. This was way better than what I'd have earned in Ebates dollars.

So call, shuggas. There are many adorable things left on sale. Don't trust the AT online search engine by size, by the way -- things go missing. Just scroll thru the categories and you'll find goodies.

And if you do order online don't forget to order thru Ebates. Here are a few Ann Taylor codes that are currently working for full-price items. Enjoy!

30% off $100 coupon -- Use code: 30CABIN
Click link, enter code & you'll receive 30% off your online order of $100 or more (excludes sale.)

This coupon expires April 7, 2010.

40% off coupon -- Use code: 40CABIN
Click link, enter code & you'll receive 40% off your online order of three or more full-priced items.

This coupon expires March 24, 2010.

30% off $100 coupon -- Use code: 30MORE
Click link, enter code & you'll receive 30% off your online order of $100 or more (excludes sale.)

This coupon expires April 7, 2010.

40% off coupon -- Use code: ANN STYLE

Click link, enter code & you'll receive 40% off your online order of three or more full-priced items).

This coupon expires March 24, 2010.

Buzzing out of here, now that I've fully enabled your AT shopping! Be back soon with Tales to Tell!!!

Penny Loafers & "Penny Moccasins", Revisited

2010-02-07T19:22:00.001-05:00

It's been a quiet weekend around Casa JCAUNCMom (I am going to HAVE to shorten my screen name) with just me and my pooch -- DH is out of town and Journey Boy's been out and about with friends, and working at his new part-time restaurant/bakery job. (More on that another time!)

Today I want to follow up with more thoughts on the what's-old-is-new-again return of the classic Penny Loafer. Ever since I saw the Bass Weejun in the February JC catalog and Kathy's follow up post over at her blog, I've been musing about buying a pair. And if you're like me, boy, do you have some good options. What's old really is new again! Let me share a few finds with you.

The Penny Loafer (mine were Bass) and the Sperry A/O Two-Eye Topsider (also on-trend this spring -- go figure) were truly the shoes of my teens and college years, girls. (Yeah, I know how olllllllllld that makes me. ;-)) Bass Weejuns were a staple in my high school wardrobe, and we wore them pretty much as you see them being styled by J. Crew -- with everything, with and without socks. I had two pairs, and my favorite was in a color that reminded me of my mother's distressed walnut dining room chairs -- sort of a warm chestnut brown. Lo and behold, they looked exactly like these beauties:

Bass Wayfarers (a/k/a Weejuns) in "Karicole Patent" (yes, patent -- but kind of a soft satin finish) available at Zappo's (in this color and several others) for $89.

Just a quick Google search and I found this same shoe quite widely available, with prices are almost all right around Zappos' price. Here's an example: Shoes and Boots Now.com, where this shoe is $80 and shipping's free for anything over $79, but you'll wait longer than with Zappos' amazing free overnight shipping and free return shipping. By the way, if you're not already signed up to be a "VIP" Zappos customer at VIP Zappos.com, hurry on over. Just being a customer there guarantees you the best in all of Zappos' deals on shipping and pricing.

In case this shoe floats your boat, I'll tell you that Bass Wayfarers famously, always and still run 1/2 size big on most people. I know Kathy has gotten a pair or two and she felt they were running big (although I think she kept her usual size to allow for a little extra width -- they do run narrow, so do what Kathy did if your tootsies are wide.)

Compare this to the nearly-if-not-identical G. H. Bass Penny Loafer being sold at JC for a defiantly whopping $120:

Now check this out:

This one's a Sebago Plaza in a very similar color just called "Brown" (wow, who stayed up all night thinking of that one), also available at Zappos for $89, and preferred by many Zappos customers for style (a little different tongue, a bit higher on the foot all around and a stitch-reinforced heel) and fit. These seem to fit narrower feet even better.

But wait, Loafer Lovers. There's more. My second pair of high school Penny Loafers was in a menswear color that guys call "cordovan" -- a gorgeous burgundy that looked sooooo good year-round with blacks and greys and cooler colors and even khakis. Presto, here they are:

If you like this, you'll find it at Zappos, or anyplace else the classic Wayfarer/Weejun is sold. The color's called "Burgundy Box".

But let's say cordovan/burgundy's not your thing, and you'd prefer a richer, darker brown? With maybe a touch of shine for spring? How d'ya like these? Gorgeous, huh?

Another view of the same shoe:

This one's made, believe it or not, by Sperry, and it's called the Authentic Original (or A/O) Capetown. This color is called "Dark Brown Patent Croc", and it also comes in black patent which is wicked pretty. You'll find this shoe at both Zappos ($85 in limited sizes) and Onlineshoes.com ($74 in more sizes). Word is that it runs TTS.

So you're saying "Kath, love that glammed-up brown, but a Penny Loafer's not my thing." How about a fantastically comfortable driving moc style in a bronzed brown metallic? This ought to take you from winter into a very fashionable spring:

This is the Cole Haan Air Penny Driver Moccasin" in Brown Metallic, on sale for a fantastically great $99 (40% off) at Nordstrom.

I lucked into this shoe just a week or so ago at TJ Maxx in a crinkled black patent, and honest to goodness, it puts my JC driving mocs to shame. Look for it if you're near a Teej. It runs TTS, it's got that Nike Air insole for cushiness, glove-soft leather and heavy-duty treads on the soles for traction and comfort. If there's no Teej near you carrying them, you can find this shoe at Nordstrom in a smooth black patent, as well as in black calf and brown calf. We're talking the ultimate in driving moc comfort and style. No offense, J. Crew, 'cause you know I love me my Lizzies.

Now, last but by no means least in my book, there's the always-hard-to-resist colorful loafer option. Y'all know by now what a sucker I am for colorful shoes, especially since I often tend to dress in a "column of color" (like, say, black or navy or grey or cream) and I don't wear many prints unless they're kind of subtle. A pop of color in my shoes is one of my "personal style" looks -- ya know, something that my friends often see on me and seem to enjoy. I get especially woozy when I see a good looking pair of red shoes. Whaddaya know, I can be on-trend with Penny Loafers AND wear red shoes! Whatcha think of these babies?

These are the same Bass Wayfarers from Zappos, in Red Patent.

Cute as a ladybug, if you ask me. But coming in neck-and-neck, and possibly winning because of that awesome Air Nike insole, is the equally fetching Cole Haan "Air Penny Moccasin" in Lacquer Red patent:

This one's currently on sale at the marked-down price of $120 at Nordstrom.

There you have it -- a few of the wonderful choices out there if you're interested in trying a classic Penny Loafer. Or are in the market for a fab pair of driving mocs to add to your collection. :-) I'd love to hear what you think of these, glaydies.

Stay warm, and to my Mid-Atlantic pals, be careful in all that snow but enjoy it!

See y'all later in the week!

For Gigi -- The Redwood Schoolboy Blazer, Three Ways

2010-01-27T12:07:00.004-05:00

Another quickie from me today, girls. I am wearing my Redwood Schoolboy Blazer today (look number three below) and thought I'd Polyvore up a few options for Gigi. Keep that jacket, girlfriend.

This is fast becoming one of my favorite jackets, and right now it's still available in a wide array of sizes. Marked down from $198 to $99.99 plus today's EXTRA30 -- at that price, I think it's a deal and a half, girls. It runs TTS for this type of classic, fitted blazer, which, for me, translates as the larger of my 2 JC jacket sizes.

Enjoy the day, everybody! It's so pretty here and I'm about to go and enjoy some errand-running and a little bit of cranked-up Beatles in my car! :-)

The Redwood Schoolboy Blazer

(a surprisingly versatile little jacket!)

Option I

Redwood Schoolboy Blazer I by JCAUNCMom featuring J Crew

Items in this set:
Frances ruffled tuxedo shirt - J.Crew, $90
Women's jackets & blazers - jackets & blazers - Wool schoolboy blazer..., $100
Women - wool - Wool tweed Oona coat - J.Crew, $90
J.Crew - Search, $165
Tory Burch 'Nico' East-West Tote

Option II

Redwood Schoolboy Blazer II by JCAUNCMom featuring J Crew

Items in this set:
J.Crew Frances stripe ruffled tuxedo shirt, $90
Women's jackets & blazers - jackets & blazers - Wool schoolboy blazer..., $100
WILD BLACKBERRY Stretch twill minnie pant - J.Crew, $40
Women's Patent Tortoise Ballet Flats - J.Crew, $125
Women's Navigation - Women - Campo bag - J.Crew, $300

and Option III (what I'm wearing today, with very similar oxford shoes)

Redwood Schoolboy Blazer III by JCAUNCMom featuring J Crew

Items in this set:
j.crew doggie tee
Women J.Crew cashmere Tissue turtleneck, $40
Women knits & tees Ringspun cotton crewneck tee, $33
Women's jackets & blazers - jackets & blazers - Wool schoolboy blazer..., $100
Women vintage slim Distressed vintage slim jean, $135

The tissue turtleneck is worn under the doggie tee, but is also optional -- if the day is warmer just wear the tee.

Another shoe option for this look would be the Cadogan ankle boot (without the argyles, of course). Wicked cute with the jeans rolled tightly to about an inch above the boots.

And for an fun alternate belt look, try using TWO skinny leather belts. Sometimes I criss cross them and buckle each one into the other one's buckle.

For this look, I'd use these two faves -- the hazelnut and the neon orange classic leather belt.

OOTD 1/24/10: Sunday Night Sushi featuring the Professor Blazer

2010-01-25T13:36:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! Quick little post (I know, uncharacteristic) with an equally quick Polyvore for you of a simple and comfy outfit that I wore last night. It was raw, chilly and raining cats and dogs, but DH and I ventured out to have all-you-can-eat sushi & dim sum with some good friends. Given the weather it seemed appropriate to incorporate the much-love doggie tee!

And by the way, this outfit would have been cute, too, with the Schoolboy blazer in Redwood and the same glass cylinder necklace in dusty blossom (or both necklaces). I know Gigi has pondered keeping that Redwood blazer, here, and FWIW, I'm finding that it's a very workable neutral.

Enjoy your day! :-)

Sunday Night Out featuring the Professor Blazer by JCAUNCMom featuring J Crew

Items in this set:
j.crew doggie tee
Women knits & tees Ringspun cotton crewneck tee, $33
J.Crew - Wool herringbone professor blazer, $200
J.Crew ankle toothpick jean in twilight wash, $125
Black Boots (Nine West "Frollic" in black suede)

Speaking of Sperry Topsiders

2010-01-21T12:55:00.007-05:00

Hey gals and the occasional guy! Busy day around Casa di Tar Heels. Journey Boy's having a few extra friends over for dinner. JB's college buddy/housemate and housemate's girlfriend are coming later today to spend the night with us en route to driving out to Colorado where they'll be living for two years and working, I think, with Americorps. (Could be Teach America or the Peace Corps -- I'm not 100% sure which organization, but you get the idea.)

But of course, even in the midst of a busy day I have to make time for a cup of coffee and pop by my Blogger Dashboard. Something always catches my eye amongst your wonderful writings. Today's eye-catcher was the chatter over at the mothership about Sperry Topsiders.

What a jolt of nostalgia THIS product reappearance has given me! I lived in Topsiders for four years of college, honest to goodness. At both of my colleges (I switched mid-sophomore year), Topsiders were a part of the unisex uniform, and life simply could not go on if yours wore out. We all had plain old brown ones with cream-colored soles and caramel rawhide laces, just like these:

I don't think Sperry even made this shoe in another color, and if they did, my crowd didn't buy 'em. In downtown Athens, Georgia (home of my beloved UGA -- go Dawgs!) there was a fantastic clothing and shoe store called Heery's Clothes Closet that had student-priced stuff AND chic mom-and-dad-priced stuff. Heery's is still there and still fabulous, and boy, back in the day it was THE place to shop. They did a brisk lil' biz in Topsiders -- I'll bet I bought 5 or 6 identical pair in my 2.5 years at UGA. I wore them with Army green fatigues or canvas painter's pants from the Army/Navy store, plus an Izod shirt and a clear vinyl belt. Voila, uniform completed.

So I will mos' def get myself some Topsiders for this spring, and I'll grin every time I put them on, I'm sure. Which ones to get, though? The color and fabric choices now are mind-boggling.

Here are a few of my favorites from Zappos, in the Topsider classic "A/O 2 Eye" style and in a sister style called the "Bluefish 2 Eye". Be forewarned, kids -- I am a sucker for brightly colored shoes. If you prefer neutrals, click on the Zappos links because lots of cute neutral combos are available.

Here's the A/O 2 Eye in Raspberry. Cute as a pink bug, and available for you to invite into your closet RIGHT HERE. I'm picturing cropped pants or shorts, a fun tee with ruffles or a graphic, and a Jackie in a contrasting bright color.

Meet Miss Orange, the cheerful sistuh of Miss Raspberry.

Oh please, STOP it. How can anybody NOT love Topsiders in navy denim with navy patent accents?? What could I NOT wear these with, from my khaki/grey/army green/honey glaze/rosy pink basic palette? Welcome to my closet, cuties. Heidi, are ya seeing these? ;-)

These are the "Bluefish" style (which also is available in a couple of colors with a shearling lining -- oh SNAP!) Check them out along with FIFTEEN other color combos RIGHT HERE. This color is so luscious in the suede, and although it's hard to see here, there's patent on the accents here, too.

Same shoe. Had to show you this rich forest green.

Last one of the "Bluefish" for ya. I love this combination of a creamy vanilla, springtime-y base color with the fun plaid accents. Come to Mama.

So whatcha think, glaydies?

That's it for me for now -- off to make lasagna for a crowd. For which, by the way, I'll post the recipe later if you like. This variation is vegetarian (in honor of JB's vegetarian buddy/housemate) and uses roasted veggies of all sorts, black beans and a spicy sauce. Yum-O!

Oh my, an award!!

2010-01-08T12:05:00.006-05:00

A view of Atlanta's downtown skyline ... with a rare addition to the ground cover!

Good morning, everyone, from freeeeeeezing (16 degrees) and ice-glazed, snow-dusted Atlanta, where we are so not used to dealing with this!!! BRRRR!!!

As always, a cup of coffee and a visit to some of my favorite blogs started me off on the right foot -- I should say the right fashionably-clad, fit and well-fed foot. My blogroll is chock full of JCA's, but in the wake of Julie & Julia and the holiday season I've been adding a few cooking and baking blogs, and of course I follow my most beloved fitness instructors' blogs as well. To be a proper online guest, I really should sit down at my computer dressed in a fetching workout ensemble accessorized with great J. Crew jewelry, with one perfectly-brewed serving of coffee in a bone china cup on the rim of which is perched one perfectly-made gourmet breakfast scone.

Hold onto that image, friends. Naturally, that is exactly what I usually look like sitting here. Do not picture me, hair thrown up on my head like Pebbles Flintstone, sprawled in my comfy leather office chair this late in the morning in a UNC sweatshirt over candy-cane-decorated thermal jammies and fuzzy red 'n white Victoria's Secret snowflake slippers (yeah, I'm slow putting away the holiday garb, I know.) I plead total inertia and I blame it on ice and cold and snowy dust, which in the ATL equals immobilized city.

So, you got the right pic of me in your minds, right? Super, because yours truly was given the prized Beautiful Blogger award by one of my blog heroes, the always-wonderful Fabulous Florida Mommy! Thank you so much, FFM! It's a wonderful award, and especially nice to receive it from you!

To accept this award I need to tell you 7 random things about me, and then nominate 7 of my favorite bloggers to receive the same award. Cool. Here ya go, inquiring minds!

My parents nicknamed me "Kathy" when I was born (short for Kathryn), but I don't remember a single time in my entire life that either of them called me Kathy. They had other pet names for me. My dad's favorite was Kas -- pronounced like "Cass" -- and my mom's fave was Katie. Even my sister never called me Kathy (she did, and does, call me "Sister".) Being the good girl that I was, for years I only introduced myself as "Kathy", as instructed. Imagine how confusing this was to new friends who visited me at home! As an adult I still introduce myself as Kathy, but sometimes I share this oddball naming tidbit from my past with my friends, and as a result one whole group of friends has chosen to call me "Kas." Another group has made up a whole new nickname of their own and only call me "Kath." By the way, my DH calls me Kathryn or Kath -- NEVER Kathy. I'll answer to anything if you're holding movie theater popcorn for me.

I'm a seriously addicted fan of everything Star Trek and own the entire 7-year box set of ST: The Next Generation. You could strand me with Patrick Stewart and I'd be a happy castaway.

I have watched and adored Days of Our Lives since I was in college. Of course I missed a few years pre-VCR/pre-TiVO, when I was a full-time working mother of two busy boys. But in the soap opera universe time is a weirdly fluid kinda thing, so when I was able to start taping the show I caught up in no time. Now I TiVo the whole week and on the weekend I cruise through all five episodes in about 45 minutes. A real guilty pleasure.

If Journey Boy (DS #1) had been a girl, we were going to name him Caroline. His girlfriend of almost four years is named Caroline. I consider this cosmic.

If I'd been a boy, my parents were going to name me Kevin. I wanted to name Blues Boy (DS #2) Kevin. For months DH said no (and it was always more like "HELL NO", actually), but he was strangely dodgey about telling me why, so I kept trying to persuade him. Finally he confessed that the only wrestling match he lost in his stellar high school career was to a guy named Kevin. 'Nuff said. I didn't entirely lose the war, though; hearing me tell the story of why NOT "Kevin", my paralegal said to me "Well, why don't you name him 'Evan'?" Eureka. We did. Close enough.

I looooove spinning and take a class on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 6:00. One of my secret (except to you ;-)) 2010 goals is to become certified to teach spinning myself.

My taste in music is kinda all over the map. I love 70's and 80's music (you could also strand me with Jon Bon Jovi, actually -- I'd never wanna be rescued.) But I also like me a little country (Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Sugarland, a little bit of Brad Paisley and Willie Nelson, and I highly recommend you check out Billy Currington's "People are Crazy" for a classically country hoot 'n a holler.) And I'm a big fan of Usher and Kanye.

Okay, fangirls, that does it for my mini-autobiography. Now I'd like to pass along this award to seven terrific bloggers, some of whom y'all might not know. Not in any particular order...

The Brownie Project -- An awesome, awesome blog devoted to one of my favorite food groups.
Mid-Century Mom -- The nom de plume of the beautiful DinaGideon, who in my book would give June Cleaver a serious run for the money as Most Elegant, Effortless & Ethereally Pretty Homemaker.
Jillian, Inc. -- A recently-discovered new favorite; an Atlanta JCA gal like me who is gorgeous, well-dressed, devoted to her equally gorgeous family and very, very witty.
Dinners for a Year and Beyond -- A gold mine of great recipes and a delightful cook/author.
Smells Like Home -- Another foodie blog that I really love, devoted mostly if not entirely to Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) recipes -- and I always love Ina's food! Beautiful pictures that you just wanna take a bite out of. Great stuff.
My Favorite Things -- Love this blog, love this gal. Read about what she accomplished in 2009. And she's a big fan of LOST -- me too, girl, me too. :-)
Tracey's Blog -- The blog home of my friend Tracey Staehle, who is a truly wonderful gal. She's a fitness instructor who has been producing fitness videos for a few years (see her website, Fit by Tracey) and she's the proud new mommy of the beautiful Scarlett Olivia Staehle. If you own a treadmill, you MUST buy Tracey's "Walking Strong" DVD and you MUST preorder her just-filmed "Walking Stronger." She makes walking on a treadmill hard, productive and fun. A party in a package.

Happy Friday, everybody! Stay warm and have a nice weekend. Blues Boy leaves to go back to college on Sunday morning so we'll be doing Fun Things With the Family for the next two days. See you soon!

Surfacing for Air! Happy Holidays from Casa de JCAUNCMom!!

2009-12-28T16:12:00.006-05:00

Hi glaydies!

I'm about three weeks late in saying this, friends, but do let me wish all of you a wonderful holiday season! I hope every celebration in your holiday universe has been joyful, stress-free and fun -- be it Hanukkah, Christmas (traditional or orthodox), Kwanzaa or anything else including the often-overlooked Seinfeldian Festivus.

As you have no doubt noticed if you're one of my trusty little band of followers or are an occasional dropper-by, I've been AWOL from my own blog for weeks and weeks. I've been suffering from an extreme case of Overwhelmeditis, which is especially easy for ME to catch since I am a card-carrying, founding member of the "seriously ADD but didn't know it til her kid was diagnosed" Club. It's been an exceptionally busy holiday season around here, starting really just before Thanksgiving. In six weeks here's what's been shakin' around Casa de JCAUNCMom:

Journey Boy arrived home safe, sound, healthy and happy from his epic cross-country trip, with hundreds of pictures and reams of journal pages that he's working on editing (so, more to come on both text and pics as soon as he's officially allowed me to publish a few).
I had a mercifully short bout of the flu -- the regular kind, not the swine kind, yet just awful nonetheless. It started right before Thanksgiving and sort of limped along that whole holiday weekend during which we were in NJ visiting the DH Clan. My immune system really pulled out the stops and I managed to get thru that weekend reasonably intact with just a sort of overall feeling of crummy, but when I got home the last of my brave little defenses collapsed and I was flattened for another four or five days. Yuck.
Blues Boy's early December birthday arrived (age 20 ... twenty???) just as I was recuperating from the flu and just as he and all five of his suitemates at UNC came down with a wicked head cold. Poor kids. I had remembered even in my flu-induced stupor to order him a strawberry birthday cake from my all-time favorite cake site Very Vera, and over the course of a week he and his buddies apparently ate it in shifts, as their heads cleared enough to allow them to taste it. Then their exams started. Poor kids again!
Mrs. Santa -- depending heavily upon her Online Elves this year -- got a late start but managed to get everyone on the Nice List a few goodies. In view of this year's economy we really did dial it back, but I was pleased to take advantage of a couple of the good sales at The CrewseShip's site. Can I say that all my boys are lookin' quite well-outfitted this week? Oo la la!
Mrs. Santa also decorated the house, which in our interfaith home means that I go allllllllll out. Translation: Cars slow down to gawk. I think the neighbors send their friends to look, seriously. We've got a menorah faithfully lit for the 8 nights of Hanukkah, but we've also got an old-fashioned multi-colored Christmas tree, a wreath on the door and reindeer in the yard. And why not, right? True story: When our boys were young we used to invite some of their Jewish friends to help decorate our tree, and one year I actually had my DH (Jewish) and the two dads (one Jewish and one Buddhist) of a couple of our sons' friends on ladders putting lights on my tree for me. Isn't that the definition of Ho Ho Ho???
Blues Boy made it home safely after exams, still sniffling. He's all better now, thanks to a ten day dose of super-intense Mama Care.
Hanukkah came and went, with our usual small-scaled but sincere and fun celebration.
The four of us went to see Billy Crystal do his one-man show 700 Sundays. Fantastic show -- a hysterically funny, deeply moving and truly awesome tour de force memoir of Billy's fascinating family life. Such a great treat for us, and a nice Jewishly change of pace from our usual family "holiday night out" which is often The Nutcracker at Atlanta Ballet or A Christmas Carol or some other festive Christmas show at one of the many local theaters. L'chaim, y'all!
And right on Hanukkah's heels Christmas week roared by in a happy blur of wrapping packages, cooking, baking and visiting with friends.

So here we are. It's quiet at Mi Casa today. JB's beautiful girlfriend is visiting, so they're out hitting the after-Christmas sales. BB is, as I type this, searching On Demand for a movie and sinking into an impressive sub sandwich he constructed from Christmas leftovers. I hear Eddie doing his most pitiful "pleeeeeeaaaaassse share" whine and I'm betting BB will ignore him. DH is at work, and I am enjoying this tiny lull before I get set for us to ring out 2009 in style with a small dinner party on Thursday evening for three couples who are all dear old friends. I'm thinking Italian buffet -- whatch'all think? I'll post menu ideas, how 'bout that?

Glaydies, I hope for all of you, and for my own family here and scattered all over, that 2010 becomes a year that we'll be able to look back upon fondly. I don't do "New Year's Resolutions" any more, having decided years ago that big, grand, long-term goals like that don't work for little ol' ADD me. But I do set smaller, more manageable goals for myself, and one of mine this next year is going to be: Write more in my blogs. So, if I'm "on track", look for more of me and my scribblings here (WITH OOTD AND IRL PICS, I PROMISE) and at my other blog 500 Characters Max. You can bet you'll see me commenting here and there on YOUR wonderful blogs.

Before I sign off, I do want to share three pics with you all. Enjoy!

The first is my Tar Heels (BB on left, JB on right) on Christmas morning (check out their Santa hats :-)) with our 13-year-old Bichon Frise, Eddie. It was early-ish, and you can see how very excited Eddie was to be roused from his favorite Nap Chair for this picture:

And here is what I believe might win the prize for Funniest Power-Point-Created Christmas Gift Packaging Ever. I had asked the boys for a copy of "This Is It", the Michael Jackson DVD. Here's what I got:

Happy New Year, everyone!!!!!!

If You Coveted ABC's Purple LP Clutch....

2009-11-07T09:15:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

It's been awhile since I've had time to post, although I've tried to find a few minutes each day to peek at your blogs for fun. All's well here, though, and when I can get back here later today to tell y'all what's been cookin'. (Hint: Navy shoe shopping. Plus ridiculous water-related house repair issues keep cropping up like mushrooms!)

For the moment, I've got a couple of quickies to post about. First things first -- HUGE THANKS to Kathy and Seashell for giving me the Over the Top Blogger Award! I'm so tickled, girls -- I just love you two and I really appreciate you thinking of me! Watch for another post from me where I'll answer the OTT Blogger questions! :-)

And next, I want to pass along a tip from my morning e-mail: a Bluefly TODAY ONLY extra 15% off sale. :-) If you've never shopped Bluefly (and I can't imagine you girls haven't), it's essentially Loehmann's Back Room, online. High-end stuff at ever-increasing discounts. The gamble is to wait something out -- if it's still there in a couple of weeks it WILL be marked down again.

There's lots of great stuff marked down the extra 15% today, but the main reason I'm alerting you to this sale is that contemporary handbags are marked down... including some gorgeous Linea Pelle bags. And what will you find there, if you look? None other than that beautiful LP "Alyssa" clutch in "Purple Dawn" that our friend A Bigger Closet bought to replace the J. Crew Lexi clutch in Light Amethyst, which she didn't love. She's a big fan of this Linea Pelle clutch.

I have borrowed this picture from ABC's blog for you (thank you, ABC -- hope this was okay to do!)

Bluefly has this cutie (or the same bag in a pretty taupe color) on sale for $99.45, marked down from $195. ABC was able to buy hers directly from Linea Pelle for a little less money because she scored an awesome sale + a discount code, but this bag's sold out at LP's website. Bluefly's price is still a great sale price.

Don't forget to do your Bluefly shopping through Ebates.com so that you can rack up an extra 4% in Ebates dollars! And get this -- if you are a first-time Bluefly shopper and spend more than $200, Ebates will kick in another $40 off for you!

Happy shopping, glaydies, and I'll see ya later!

Searching for the Elusive Navy Flat Shoe

2009-10-26T13:05:00.004-04:00

Part II of today's posting. :-)

It's autumn, and for my wardrobe color palette that means I'm on a quest for some new navy shoes. I need driving mocs/loafers for my usual "uniform" of cords, tee and sweater, and I need some ballet flats for my skinny lil' toothpick jeans. As much as I really hate to say this, I am finding over time that many of my Crew ballet flats aren't very comfortable. Do y'all find this?? It's especially true of some of the stiffer patent leathers (e.g., metallic guava and peacock Salinas), which I love... until I wear them for a while. Could be I am needing to size up a 1/2 size -- I may try that -- but I'm feeling a little burned and so am looking elsewhere for this fall. And I'm not looking to spend $$$ on anything -- $$ or better yet $ would be wonderful for my clothing budget!

Wow, are there some cutie pie shoes out there in the $ to $$ price range, from basics on up. I'm with our friend Sweet Tea in Seattle on this: I love Endless.com. I also have a close personal one-on-one relationship with Zappos.com. I've even been invited to join VIP.Zappos.com. Oo-la-la. :-)

I Polyvored a few candidates, of course including some juicy little items that aren't navy -- aren't even blue at all! -- but look so luscious. I especially like the idea of the little evergreen-colored Calvin Klein suede ballet flat with some of that gorgeous new forest-green stuff at JC.

Here are the mocs & loafers:

It's Autumn -- New Navy Mocs & Loafers Needed! by JCAUNCMom on Polyvore.com

And here are a few from the SO many beautiful ballet flats out there:

Ballet Flats in Beautiful Colors! by JCAUNCMom featuring Cole Haan shoes

Whatcha think, JCA's?

A Visit Home from Blues Boy

2009-10-26T11:09:00.002-04:00

Good morning JCA's!

I've been searching for navy blue flats (ballet and moc-style) and in my next post want to report on a few interesting possibilities (Heidi, oh Heidi, are you listening, GF?) -- but first lemme tell y'all why you're looking at an especially happy JCAUNCMom today!

(1) The weather's (finally) beautiful and dry here and

(2) WAY more important, Mr. J'Mom and I had the absolute delight of a nice long-weekend visit home from our almost-20-year-old DS#2!!!

Since his older brother Journey Boy has a blogosphere name, let's name DS#2 more descriptively. How about "Blues Boy", in honor of his startlingly blue eyes and his love for all things "Carolina Blue"? Sneak peek at the big blue eyes and the face I love so much:

Blues Boy blew into town last Wednesday night for UNC's fall break and brought with him an adorable suitemate, along with a huge dose of clutter and stinky giant shoes and noise and laughter. The most fantastic manly aromas drifted out of Blues Boy's shades-drawn-vampire-in-residence bedroom, our guest room (shades also drawn -- vampire number two in temporary residence) and my usually-pristine-these-days bathrooms, which for four days stayed all delightfully steamed up and messy with wet towels on the floor and the lingering scents of Old Spice deodorant (BB's favorite) and some pleasant girl-enticing cologne. I spent the whole weekend wearing a big silly grin. The boys packed just about every Atlanta activity possible into their 3 1/2 days here. Lots of college kids seemed to be on break or just in town this weekend, so Blues Boy got to introduce many of his high school "posse" to Cute Suitemate. Saturday night a big crew piled into our house for ping pong, pool and roasting s'mores, marshmallows and banana boats over our little copper fire pit. Hubby and I spent the evening in the living room watching shows we'd TIVO'd, answering the front door, happily getting big hugs and hearing life-at-college tales, and listening to the chatter and belly laughs coming from the back yard. Heaven heaven heaven!!!

Today the boys are back at college, and in the ATL our house is quiet, order is restored, and our little old dog is zonked in a state of delighted exhaustion. This must be a bit like what Cinderella felt like at 12:10 a.m. Dinner tonight will be on a much smaller scale, and the doorbell won't ring to interrupt our evening. These aren't bad things at all -- don't get me wrong. Life in an Empty Nest is sweet in many ways, and I do enjoy the order and peacefulness. But I don't think anything will ever send our happiness rating soaring more than having our children, their friends, and someday their wives and children home to visit. It's the definition of pure joy. If we could bottle that feeling, creating world peace would be a piece of cake. :-)

Passing This Along: Deal on NWT Navy Winnie Stadium Jacket, Size 6

2009-10-18T16:05:00.000-04:00

Hey folks,

I'm just running my usual recreational searches on eBay this lazy afternoon while DH "watches football" (meaning, of course, naps), and I ran across an auction by a seller who always offers discount deals on NWT JC stuff. Today's auction is for a size 6 NWT Winnie Stadium Jacket from this fall season's collection, in NAVY (the auction photo is yellow, but read the auction text) -- Buy It Now price is $160 or bid starting at $140.

FYI, I tried this jacket on IRL and it runs a bit roomy, IMHO. I'm almost always an 8 in my JC jackets and coats, and the 6 was fine.

Buyer beware, of course. If you're hesitant I'd ask the seller some questions. I have no clue how he manages this pricing, but I bought one item from this seller before and had no problems at all. If the merchandise is counterfeit I sure couldn't tell it.

Here's the link: Winnie Stadium Jacket eBay Auction

Journey Boy Checks In

2009-10-17T15:11:00.024-04:00

Happy dreary Saturday, friends!

Once again, I'm looking around my fair Southern city and my cheerful, busy neighborhood today and wondering when we all got picked up Dorothy-style and dropped over the rainbow into the Pacific Northwest. It is raw, wet, and unseasonably cold -- again -- and there are no bikes, trikes, Big Wheels or skateboards afoot outside. We're all hunkered down.

It's been like this now for weeks with few breaks, and I find myself (a) sending big mental hugs to my JCA friends who really ARE in the Pacific Northwest -- and other areas where this is ordinary October weather -- and (b) having to search harder and harder for mood pick-me-uppers. But today I got a great one when I logged into my e-mail with my first cup of coffee: an e-mail (the first of the trip) from our wonderful DS#1, a/k/a Journey Boy, with pictures!

If you don't know who and what I'm talking about, before you read on I suggest you peek back at my post from mid-September about my son's then-impending departure on his dream trip. He's a month in, with about six weeks to go, and he's as happy as a pig in the mud, I'm tellin' ya. Today's e-mail was brisk and jaunty, and his pictures reflect that same delighted attitude. He and his traveling buddy "Moose" (the non-dredlocked guy in the blue shirt in the first picture below -- Moose is so nicknamed because he was born in Canada) are loving what Journey Boy calls "life in the Champagne Beauty" --- their name for the champagne-colored 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan that they're calling home. In the first month of their trip they've camped, climbed, hiked, visited friends and family and generally cavorted their genial way thru the Carolinas, the Virginias, New Jersey and New York, Kentucky, the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota, Grand Tetons National Park, Nevada (with a stop in Reno to mail home a box of clothes that, although fresh from the laundromat, smelled magically like my boy!), Salt Lake City, and parts of California, where last week they met up with two other buddies who will be with them for the remainder of their trip.

Journey Boy (left) and Moose.

Journey Boy in his climbing harness.

The Badlands in South Dakota.

Sunrise, somewhere early in their trip -- this one wasn't labeled. But wow.

Moose (left) and JB. With George Washington. (Mount Rushmore -- look carefully at the background. This is your "Where's Waldo?" picture of the day. )

I can't look at this picture without grinning and without thinking about Willie Nelson's classic lyrics:

On the road again,

Goin’ places that I’ve never been.

Seein’ things that I may never see again,

And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

On the road again,

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway.

We’re the best of friends,

Insisting that the world keep turning our way.

And our way is

On the road again.

JB does his bouldering thing.

The Black Hills of South Dakota. D'ya see those granite peaks (probably "the Needles" but we're not certain) in the background? I'm betting that my son did a bit of dangling there.

Here's my boy in the burgundy sweatshirt, just getting started on the ascent of a bouldering "problem" (that's kinda like "route" or "as-yet unconquered piece of giant rockface" to the rest of us non-climbers). He's standing in front of Moose and I think that's their other two pals Nate and Tommy who are watching.

Today's e-mail reported that "...we're taking a rest day right now in the town of Bishop [California] after having climbed hard the past two days, and plan to stay here through the weekend at least. The bouldering is so good, and the camping is free and easy. After that we'll probably head to Yosemite ...".

As his brother would say, Sweeeeeet.

I can't say that the worry and anxiety I wore so heavily when I wrote that September post have miraculously vanished, girls. They're still there and I think about my dear faraway child constantly. But I've managed with surprising success to back-burner almost all thoughts of him dangling 40 feet up, driving at 2:00 a.m., camping with nearby bears (and without what I would personally consider adequately waterproof boots, but then I'm kinda wussy about that kind of thing).

And the reason I'm able to back-burner these scary, worrisome visions is really simple: There is not a doubt in my mind that he has never been quite so contented -- and he's generally a contented person, so I'm saying a lot here. Last week he called for a quick chat while he stood outside a laundromat waiting for his clothes to dry. He told me that one night, after a nice day hike, he and Moose had camped on the shore of a lake in Grand Tetons National Park. He had woken up at dawn feeling really cold and unable to go back to sleep. So he'd opened the tent flap, intending to make a fire and start some coffee, and he'd discovered an overnight snowfall. Instead of making the fire right away, he bundled up, tiptoed out of the tent and sat, alone, on the shore watching the sun come up over the mountains, listening to the trickle of water and the sounds of birds and little woodland creatures awakening. Later in the morning he and Moose hiked back out thru all that fresh fluffy stuff. A few pictures from that lovely day:

Moose, enjoying the same view his traveling pal had enjoyed earlier in the morning.

Brrr. But again, wow.

No matter how cold your face may be, you just cannot contain a grin that comes all the way up from your frozen toes.

I listened to the joy in his voice as he shared this experience so vividly with me, and I wanted to cheer and cry all at the same time. And I asked him if he was reaping from this trip everything he'd hoped he'd discover and gain. This was his answer: "Well, Mom, you know, I'd say yeah, actually. I would say I definitely feel.... (long pause as he pondered the right word choice) ... Expanded. Know what I mean?"

I sure do. Awesome.

Sad news for me means good news for one of you!

2009-10-15T15:47:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone!

It's been another rainy, dreary week here, and I've found myself wondering how our pal Sweet Tea in Seattle stands so MUCH rainy weather. STIS, you're my hero, girl. Enough already here. Bring me some autumn sunshine!

I thought I had a bit of autumn sunshine earlier this week when my Shimmer Paisley Lawn Dress arrived safe and sound. What a beauty this dress is IRL! The fabric is so light, floaty and soft, and the print is the most gorgeous paisley mix of muted fall-like colors. It looks fantastic with a cardi -- especially one of the delicate chiffon-trimmed ones like last year's Tartines -- and all of the colors in the glazed pecan-honey glaze-burnished olive family work. Ditto for any skinny belt that you might want to play with.

I got the 8, and it was perfect thru the bust so I know the 6 would have been too tight there. Unfortunately, pretty much everywhere else it fit me poorly. I'm simply too short to wear it -- at least to wear it in a size that accommodates the meno-boobs. :-) The bodice was too long (making the beautiful neckline droop), the shirred waist hit me above my waistline at a weird "nothing" place, and the full skirt (even as I imagined it hemmed shorter) just did nothing at all for my short little legs. Oh well. This wasn't a big surprise to me since I know my body type, but a gal can hope, ya know.

I actually let the dress hang in my closet for a whole day and then tried it on again. Nothing miraculous happened overnight -- shockeroo -- and it still looked frumpy and dumpy. Not at all like it looked (which was: fan-freakin'-tastic) on Dina or on RatsonParade. And check out ROP's lovely Polyvore set.

So glaydies, who'd like to give this truly fabulous and sold-out piece a home? I will sell it for exactly what I paid plus your choice of shipping. I paid FP ($150) plus $12 sales tax (interesting -- it came from a store in South Florida) and free shipping, so my total was $162. You pick the shipper and I'll send it anyway you like. I've got a PayPal account so paying will be real simple.

If you're interested, give me a shout.

Starting a new blog -- please stop by! :-)

2009-10-12T13:41:00.002-04:00

Glaydies (what DOES that mean, Gigi -- it just sounds so cute),

I'm launching a new blog today and you're invited to visit and bring friends. It's called "500 Characters Max" and it's going to be the place where I finally stop talking about being a writer and start learning to be a writer. I'm going to post bits and pieces of things I've written or am working on, and I hope you'll give me your honest feedback.

This of course does NOT mean that I'm abandoning "Crewsing Thru My 50's". I will continue to post about my J. Crew addiction (threatened by the overflow of ruffles right now, but hanging in there), tips and tricks from my adventures in the rag trade, my workout addiction and whatever else randomly amuses me about being (alarmingly) old enough to have adult children. And you know I'll keep reading your blogs every day.

If I ever figure out how to do it, I'll even post some IRL pics of my OOTD.

Stay tuned, and come see me over at the new blog. Happy October rollout, JCA's!

A Miracle Story: Using My New "White Card"

2009-10-08T12:11:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd pass this along, lovelies --

After seeing Dina's post today about finding the beautiful Shimmer Paisley Lawn Dress which I've been kicking myself for not ordering, I decided on impulse to try out the phone number on my new "VIP" White Card, which I was surprised and delighted to receive yesterday from my new close personal friend Mickey D. I figured it was a nothing-to-lose situation -- why not see if my very own dedicated Personal Shopper could find the dress for me?

So I called and talked to my friendly guy Paul and I put him on the chase. He asked -- and he honest to goodness sounded nervous and apologetic -- if it would be alright with me if he took a few hours to look into this, seeing as how the West Coast stores were hours from even being open yet and thus he couldn't call them. Good grief. How demanding can these customer service divas BE? :-) He promised to e-mail me later today with a report on his progress.

Y'all, five minutes later I got an e-mail from him saying that he found the dress for me and it's being sent to me today with SHIPPING FOR FREE. Holy cow. Apparently mine's coming from an East Coast or Central Time Zone store, because none of the other stores would have been taking Paul's (I'm sure quite frantic) call yet.

The moral of this tale is that it's most definitely worth making a phone call to the "find it for me" hotline if you're coveting this dress. Paul commented that while it's been a hot item, the inventory's still showing a little availability in "most sizes" somewhere in the country.

I ordered the dress in the larger of my two JC upper-body sizes (6 and 8) because the always-smart Dina nailed it with this sage advice: "I would rather take in than squeeze in..." This dress would be an especially easy take-in alteration because it's got a center back seam and zipper with a shirred waist. Whther or not I don't have to take it in, I'll definitely have to hem it, we know that for sure. Remember, students, short shins = knee length is an uuuuuuuuggggggggggly look.

And even hemmed, there's a good chance that this style may not work on me, Miss Shortest-Waisted-Preemie of 1955. But it's such a cute and versatile dress (and in my best color palette, too) that I figured it's worth a shot.

If it doesn't do a thing for me, I'll sell it to one of y'all for $ for $ what I paid JC for it, okie dokie? :-)