I usually take an annual glammed up self portrait around my birthday.  A nice picture of me that I can frame up for the hubby and just for posterity’s sake.  I usually forget to print them, though.  This year I actual have several “self portraits” due to this blog, but I thought I would do it anyways.

I’m only about a month or so late on this…and these were taken about two months ago.  I am obviously a bit busy lately.

Work, work, work…plus I have been reading trashy romance novels into the wee hours of the morning when I get a chance to relax.  I just haven’t had the energy to do outfit shots lately.

I had dyed my hair the day before, so it is very fresh color.  It fades over a few washings and then kinda sticks to the light auburn color you usually see in my pictures.

I am wearing a $10-15 stretch velvet dress I bought at TJ Maxx about 15 years ago.

Make-up done by me.  Oh, how I love make-up.

I once had a guy friend come over, so I could do his makeup for Halloween.  He was dressed as a girl with big fake boobs and everything.  He got hit on at the bar that night by a guy who thought he was a girl.  I am that good.

I gave my hubby a 5×7 of the two pictures below for his desk at work in his Valentine’s Day card.  The last one he had was about 7 or 8 years old, so it was time for a refresh.

Hopefully, I can get a few outfit pictures taken during the week again. Need to get to bed earlier, so I have a few minutes in the morning before rushing out the door.

Lately sleep has been winning!

I can count on my hubs complementing me on how I look about once a month if I am lucky, but I guess we have been married almost 15 years.  The expectations are low at this point.

The hair is a spin-off of this style at Hair Romance.  She has a lot of fun and elegant hairstyles, but my hair is too long for some of them.  This is actually day two of having these braids in, so they are a bit rough looking after sleeping on them.

Hey, if I take the time to braid all of them, I need to get more use out of them!

Turquoise top – Von Maur

Black striped sleeveless top – Express

Skirt – LOFT

Boots – The Cool People by Vivona

Hair – Braided my fringe into a braid, then side braids on each side.  Two braids go off of each side.  I braided the braids from one side down along the bottom to get them all together with the extra hair.  Then, I put it into a bun at the bottom and put lots and lots of hairpins in it to get it stay.

Everyday when I get to my office, I turn on my (non-fire code compliant) heater underneath my desk.  Even in the summer.  I like to be warm, and 75-80 degrees feels about right to me.

We don’t have our house that warm, though.  We keep the temperature around 72 when we are home and during the day it goes down to 60 in the wintertime.  Saving money and electricity it important, right??

That would be the reason why I change into fleece when I get home from work.  The fashion police would take me to jail if they saw what I wear at home when I am snuggled under my blankets reading my Nook.  Definitely not sexy, but nice and warm!

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Cardigan – via Zulily

Wrap shirt – CAbi

Cami – JC Penny

Pants – CAbi

Shoes – Charlotte Russe

Jewelry – ?? a defunct silver jewelry maker for the Western clothes market

Hair – Mohawk braids!  Split the hair into sections and french braided them down.  Then braided them all together.  I pulled hair out of the middle section so it didn’t lay flat.

Comfy, professional and not too fussy.

Oh, and I straightened my hair on a Monday.  This rarely happens.  I tend to not take the 15 minutes needed to straighten my hair more than a few times a month.

Look at how long it is getting!  Actually, I just cut a few inches off a few weeks prior.  I told my stylist, “It is getting long!” and she laughed at me.  I think she thought it was getting long 10 inches ago!  I will probably let it grow another year and then get 8-10 inches cut off again to donate.  I’ve donated my hair twice in the last 5 years.  I donated 12 inches to Locks of Love in October 2007.  After about two years it was long again, so I donated 8 inches to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths in October 2009.  My hair grows fairly easily, but I do like it longer as opposed to shorter.  It has taken 3 years to get it this long again, and I like this length.  Maybe I can get it really long again and then I won’t mind cutting off a good chunk.

Sweater – Express

Shirt & Skirt – Made by Me

Necklace – Gift

Earrings – Von Maur

Tights – Via Zulily

Shoes – Aerosoles

Hair – Straightened

I also had my annual review at work on this day.  Always so much fun.  Especially, when you have been doing the same job for over 10 years.  Not much new to say really.  I’m just glad I have a job in this lovely economy!

Jacket & Necklace – Von Maur

Sweater – Consignment store

Skirt – Made by Me

Belt – Made by Me

Earrings – Claire’s

Hair – Braided the fringe and down the side, then braided the other side down across the bottom to the other side.  Where they met I twisted the braids together and secured with a pony.

Oh, just me??

These boots fell into that category.  I usually wear them once per winter.  They are not the best boots, but they match a few things and since they were in my closet…I felt like I had to try to wear them.

After this wearing, I put them in the charity pile.  No more!

Ouchy, ouchy, ouchy.

I am getting better at getting rid of my uncomfortable shoes, and even better at not buying them in the first place.

That, I think…is the key.

Sweater – via Zulily

Shirt and Skirt – ?? Retail many moons ago

Boots – ?? brand…pretty sure I got them at Famous Footwear

Jewelry – Lia Sophia and Freesilverjewelry.com

Hair – French braid down the back

I also wore really tall, plasticy boots.  They make lovely noises when I walked, but I don’t care.  They look cool.

I can’t say I was dressed up for nothing, really.  We had a belated birthday dinner for me that night.  I turned 39 (…errr…29??) a few days previously, so we went out for a nice meal on a free night.  The kids activities and my husband’s poker night pushed off dinner a few nights from my birthday.  That was fine…I still got my gift on my birthday.  They got me a Nook HD+!  Very cool for reading books, watching Netflix and some minor surfing.  I am not an Apple person, so don’t feel the need to pay 3-4x as much for a tablet to get an iPad.  I am sure they are just lovely, but I already sit at a computer all day.  I can deal with it’s ugly cousin just fine.

Shirt – LOFT

Skirt – Made by Me

Jewelry – Birthday Gift from my Aunt

Tights – Zulily

Boots – Type Z

Hair – French braided down both sides, then met them in the back for another braid.

I really do like the look of these shoes, but I need to figure out how to wear them so they don’t instantly blister my feet.

This is the problem of ordering online from a store that won’t let you return anything (Zulily).  I wouldn’t buy anything too spendy from there if you are iffy about the fit.  I figure at this point only about 2/3 of the stuff I would have still bought had I been able to try it on.  The rest either didn’t fit or didn’t look like I thought it would.  One sweater is super itchy, one jacket is gaudy as Hell, and one jacket was a Medium and I could barely get it on.  Some of my friends have gotten brand new free stuff as a result, which I guess is passing it forward, right??

Sweater – LOFT (hit a sale where their marked down merchandise was an extra 50% off…Yay!)

Wrap – Made by Me

Skirt – CAbi

Tights – Skweez Couture (via Zulily)

Shoes – Calvin Klein Jeans (via Zulily)

Hair – I had straightened my hair the day before, so it was nice and sleek.  This rarely happens.  I braided the top fringe into a braid down the side and then braided the other side down across the bottom.  Where they met up, I twisted them together and secured with a pony holder.  I pulled out some hair to make it look fuller.

]]> http://www.stylinstacy.com/?feed=rss2&p=1263 1 http://www.stylinstacy.com/?p=1266 http://www.stylinstacy.com/?p=1266#comments Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:44:27 +0000 stacy http://www.stylinstacy.com/?p=1266 Obviously, not one of those “get real dressed up!” office parties.  We used to have them when we had the “fun” guy running the office.  They were at night and our spouses were invited.  We had one party at an airplane museum, one at a swanky french restaurant, one at another swanky restaurant with a great jazz band and were picked up in limos.  Oh, those were the fun times!

That was the “fun” guy that made a hard pass at me one day at work.  Oh, fun times.  Thankfully, he retired and I don’t have to deal with him much anymore.

Now, we just have a low key lunch where we all go to a nice restaurant, they thank us for the hard work during the year, give us a nice gift and let us have the rest of the day off.  Whereby, I usually end up going back to the office to finish something up.

I was planning on getting the rest of my Christmas shopping done, so a comfy shopping outfit was in order.  I did get about an hour to get some shopping done, so it was still a win in that department.

I’m still kinda dressy, though, right??

Tunic –  via Zulily

Vest – JC Penny

Leggings – Express

Boots – Etienne Aigler

Garnet jewelry – Made by Me

Hair – Braided fringe down the side.  Put the rest of the hair into a pony and then braided it.  Wrapped both braids around into a bun and pinned lots.

Apparently, I really liked the yellow tones, since my pictures are exceedingly yellow.  Sorry, I was mass processing pictures, and apparently not paying enough attention when color correcting.

Anywhoo…

I based this outfit off of the scarf my hubby bought me at a fair this summer.  As we were waiting for the kids to get done with the bouncy house, we squirreled inside a shop while grandma and auntie watched the kids bounce.

We have seen them bounce.  It isn’t as exciting as it sounds.

This scarf and another top came home with us.  The boutique had some fun, but pricey, clothes.  I don’t expect much in small towns, but this was pretty good!

Scarf: ?? Can’t remember the name of the shop

Skirt – Made by Me

Cardigan – Express

Brown wrap top – CAbi

Boots – American Eagle

Earrings – Silpada

Hair – I parted the hair and then braided it all the way around. Usually if I just braid from one side, it is easy enough to tuck the ends under and pin.  This time I braided from both sides, so I had to thread the end in the sections underneath.  Once I got it in, I put lots of pins in my hair.