Day 1 of 30 My favorite dress

These pictures turned out terrible! My fault. I took them after the sun was starting to go down, I had no natural light, and it has been an overcast day anyway. I thought the dress would look great against the snow, but I am not stepping a foot outside until the temp goes above -1.

I might re-take these photos tomorrow when I am off work early; the faded light does not do the colors of this dress justice!

Wrap dress: DvF (2004)

Jeans: 7 Dojo (2005)

Shoes: Jimmy Choo 100mm black (2005)

This is my favorite dress. It always goes with me when I travel, and I love wearing wrap dresses with jeans when it's cold! And it looks amazing with nude heels.

I will be making a post for my thirty items soon. I have photographed them but I still need to photoshop them. Are there any tall petites from Alterations Needed doing 30 for 30?

Things that look great on my frame

And these are the things I love and have committed to in holy matrimony.

Wrap dresses a la DvF
It is very hard to find things that define my waist as well as a wrap dress. They are body-conscious without being questionable, and I just could not live without the six or so I have in my closet. The wilder the print, the better. I always have something to wear. I can just throw one on and feel great. In wintertime, you will always find me wearing one over pants. I will be trying one with OTK boots on Tuesday (although it is supposed to be all of 1 degree when I go into work, so that might change).

 I always look so annoyed lol. DvF hmm I am thinking Fall '09 but don't know for sure.

Fitted sleeveless tops close-fitting arm holes are key. The Jason Choi top always gets compliments! My favorite top ever.

 Anna Sui for Target Fall '09 Love this top. It has nice high armholes and a back zipper, and the material is slightly sheer with a bit of foil woven in.

Richard Choi for Target hmm Spring 08? This is my absolute favorite piece of clothing I own. I call it my "Clown shirt" because of the orange ruffle. I wear it on any occasion and it always seems to fit in. I wore this the first time I met M's parents! Perfect-fitting piece that doesn't try too hard. Love the high arm holes and the side-zip. Could use an ironing, though! :)

Ann Taylor triacetate tunic, sometime in 2003 or 2004, I remember I got it on sale for $19. I have worn it to death!

Boot-cut jeans or pants (or a even a slight flare) I love those Hollister California jeans. Their 0s fit perfectly. Great 32" inseam. I like an opening of about 18" at the bottom. I need a little built-in hourglass-to-my-pants to give me some shape. 

Low-rise pants that buckle around my hips (too bad I can't tuck anything in without looking odd)

Fitted Button-down shirts (stretch)
Those are hard to find, though. I have had luck at Hollister (stretch/dressy, great patterns!--although some can hit a little short (barely at hip) so you might want to try them on if you are a tall petite) and sometimes American Eagle (cottony/casual) if I can find 00s. Good sleeve length on both stores, too--never too short!

Workout clothes
AE Aerie Yoga pants are absolutely perfect in both fit and inseam (XS regular)

Target's Mossimo Interlock hoodies' sleeves are the perfect length if I can remember not to dry them! And $16.
Target's Mossimo short and long sleeve tops are also perfect (and between $10 and $30; I just to use J.Crew's (on sale) but have since gone Target.

Demi purses
Like my Coaches. They don't overwhelm my frame like my big buckets do. I think I don't need any more purses. I am glad I grabbed up those other colors when I found them.

Steve Madden ballet flats in Kappy
I bought these on sale for $29 at Macy's Winter 2008 and I am upset they have not become a regularly stocked item. I would have paid full price ($59); they are the quintessential low rise ballet shoe. I have 2 pairs but one is slowly dying from too much use. I will soon send it to my shoe man Mike Morelli at Brooks Shoe Service in Chicago who does an excellent job resoling shoes! If you have new shoes you want to keep perfect, I highly recommend his company.

Sandals that cover the beginnings of my toes
I just don't have cute feet. If the tips of the toes stick out, that is fine, but I don't have feet I want to show off. I love these from Vera Wang at Kohl's!

Coats that cinch at the waist
Green GAP jacket
Trench coat

Jewel colors like emerald green, ruby, indigo, violet. Emerald green is my favorite! Kelly green for summer. It just looks so good with dark hair!

Owls about staying late?

Ha! There I am. I haven't played around with photos, blogging, etc., and I figured if I let 30/30 be the first time I went live, It'd be trouble. My apartment is trashed (and you can pretty much see all 400 square feet of it!) and I took this pic around 6:30 after the sun had gone down. I will have to play around with lighting and figure out if my camera has a self-timer this weekend.

I knew today would be madness (28 tickets in the queue :O ) and the main IT guy is still out sick. Working IT and teaching on the same days is a toughie, outfit-wise. You can get grimy crawling around behind the hardware, but I still want to look cute for teaching my course! I knew today would have to be a casual day due to the tickets, although I really wanted to debut my new boots.

Now you can see my makeup explosion...hmm the point of this one was to show the shoes!

This is a close-up of the owl print. I was paired this with an orange Dooney bucket bag but I forgot to include the bag in the pics.

Oh well. This is what I am wearing head to toe:
Necklace: James Avery
Cardigan: J.Crew ($19)
Black tank: Psst from Nordstrom Rack ($7)
Owl tank: Forever 21 ($20?)
Belt: a black ribbon likely pulled from a F21 dress
Watch: Citizen
Jeans: Seven lightweight Dojos from Nordstrom Rack
Shoes: Steve Madden ($29)

And one last pic of my helper, Boris Snoris I Adoris, my darling Boston Terrorist.