When Bri of Work Clothes I Suppose asked me to co-host her Third Thursday Threads linkup, I was shocked, humbled, and excited to say yes!  If this is your first visit to NCsquared Life, then I’d like to say welcome and thank you so much for stopping by. My name is Nikki and I’m a full-time graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in public health. NCsquared Life is a lifestyle blog that mostly documents my daily style with a little bit of life and DIY from my husband, Nick, sprinkled in. Nick + Nikki = NCsquared. I hope you like what you see and will stick around. If you’ve been here a time or two before, it’s nice to see you again.

I’ve come to realize that I rarely dress up on the blog so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show off my newest dress and my favorite heeled sandals. There’s a story behind these sandals that made me feel I should choose them for this post: I saw them online at Banana Republic and wanted them so badly but by the time I had enough money to purchase them (broke graduate student here!), they were gone. I continuously checked to see if they would come back and when they did, even at $8 more than their original price, I snatched them right up. The heel height is perfect and the color is great. I have no regrets! Oh, and the dress is really fun, too.

Here’s the fun one: this dress is fun to twirl in, and I like twirling!

AND because we’re huge nerds, Nick created a gif of me walking in my awesome sandals in honor of this thread!  Enjoy!

Dress: Mystree via Stitch Fix
Belt: Modcloth (came with another dress, but I wear it with everything!)
Necklace & Clutch: Francesca’s
Bracelet: Old Navy
Sandals: Banana Republic

So, with a little twist, here’s how this works:

1. Follow Work Clothes, I Suppose, and NCsquared Life!
2. Link to a specific post, not your general blog URL, and please be wearing or talking about sandals.
3. Visit the other bloggers who have linked up!

I love clever puns and ModCloth is the queen of them. ‘Leaf Me Breathless’ is what they called this cutie-patootie flora and fauna dress when I purchased it a few years ago. It’s really light and flowy, and has become my go-to dress in the summer. Having a backyard barbeque? Let me grab my little green dress and sandals. Outdoor wedding? Little green dress with a blazer and wedges. Brunch on Sunday? Little green dress. Class on Tuesday? Little. Green. Dress. You get the picture. Also, the belt came with the dress and I’ve worn it with so many other outfits that e,ven if I didn’t wear the dress, the belt itself would have made the purchase worth it.

Here’s what it looks like without the cardigan:

And here’s the fun one:

If you couldn’t tell, I really like Banana Republic. Their petite sizing fits me like a glove, and they always make me look so grown up. I would wear their clothes even if Nick didn’t work there and gets us a sweet discount. It’s no secret that I”m short so tailoring is a way of life for me if I want to look put together. But with petites at BR, I rarely have to have anything tailored, which makes life a lot easier, and kind of makes up for the prices. I’ve started to branch out to other petite departments, like Loft, mostly because they finally have them! I guess what I’m trying to say is if you make clothes that will fit me without much effort, I will love you.

Anywho, I wore this outfit to my first internship meeting and then to present in my public health ethics class. I was leary of the flair on this skirt because I was afraid it would make my hips look even bigger than they are, but it actually balances them out. It’s like perfection in a skirt.

Also, more navy.

And here’s the fun one:

I’m addicted to navy… and to cognac… and to wearing them together. I seriously can’t get enough of it lately. I’ve worn it here and here and here and here and now I’m wearing it again. I promise I have other colors but navy blue has been my go-to for the last few weeks which is probably because, according to About.com “navy conveys importance, confidence, power, and authority as well as intelligence, stability, unity, and conservatism. Like black, it carries a sense of elegance, sophistication.” This is very timely because I’ve needed confidence, authority, and intelligence for school, so I wore this outfit to class and then to dinner with my mother-in-law.  I love that it’s simple but still elegant.

I always ask Nick what he thinks of my outfits (and often, I ask multiple times) because he has a really good sense of fashion. When I asked about this one, his reply was that it was “very Durham”  because it looks  pretty and put together but doesn’t take itself too seriously, much like the city of Durham, where we live.

I wore this out for a night of drinking and hanging out with friends under the stars. I must admit that it took me slighly out of my comfort zone, but by the end of the night, I felt right at home in all the pieces. I’ve taken chances on outfits in the past where I never came around to feeling good them so I never wore them again. But this one will get thrown on repeat!

I apologize for any blindness that might occur from looking at my legs! My poor, pale skin hasn’t seen much sun lately but now that the weather is nice, that will change!