For the majority of my career, I’ve worked for nonprofit organizations. I love the work and I love that I feel good about what I do because I know we’re making a difference in the community. I also appreciate that I’ve never really had a hard dress code. Mostly, it’s always been wear whatever you want as long as you didn’t sleep in it (you know, pajamas). My current office is business casual which roughly translates to “anything but regular blue jeans” except on casual Fridays. And I really like this because it forces me to put some thought into my work wear without having to follow guidelines that are too rigid. Some days I feel like dressing up a little more than others and our business casual allows for that.

In my office, it’s not uncommon to see anything from skirt/pant suits to pretty skirts to chinos and a nice blouse. And I’ve worn them all. This is an outfit I work to work last week and it fit quite nicely. It could easily be a drab gray and white number but all of the little details take it up a notch. The tied belt and pleats add visual interest to the trousers while the sparkle of the shoe adds a little pep in my step 🙂

Who says you can’t look cute and fun even when you sit at a desk, entering data?! Now I just have to do something about that hair.

Top: Belk, I think | Trousers: Banana Republic | Shoes: Fioni via Payless | Necklace: Old Navy | Watch & Sunnies: Target

I bought these pants at Zara last July on my trip to Los Angeles to visit my best friend so I call them my “LA pants.” On the day I got them, we had planned to go hiking in Griffith Park while Nick played golf but when K told me there was a Zara in the mall, I begged her to take me there instead. I wanted to be able to say I went shopping at Zara. Why this was a big deal to me, I still have no idea, but I went and ended up with these awesome pants. I only got to wear them a few times because I knew that I was pregnant and pretty soon they wouldn’t fit. So now I’m making up for lost time. I wore this outfit to work last week and received a few compliments. Not bad.

I like that the floral pattern has a lot of different colors; they’re pretty easy to match with different tops. I chose red for this outfit but I’ll probably go with pink next time and mustard after that. The possibilities are pretty much endless. I also really like the straight leg. While I think skinny jeans/pants look nice and are comfortable, I’m also a fan of the larger leg opening of straight and boot cut jeans because I think they can be just as flattering. And they make me look a little taller than I am!

Cardigan: ModCloth | Blouse: Le Tote | Trousers: Zara | Shoes: Banana Republic | Sunnies: Target

Participating in: Trend Spin Linkup

The best thing about this floral tank is that the colors in it match almost every cardigan and blazer in my closet. I’ve worn it once already with a plum cardigan and navy cropped trousers to a baby shower. This time I kept it a bit more casual and wore this outfit to dinner. I spent the day babysitting the two most adorable one-year-olds on the planet, but I wore these jeans and a gray t-shirt. When I got home, I wanted to wear something nice to dinner so I changed into this tank and mustard cardi, ad the result is really cute. Is mustard a fall or spring color? Or both? Oh, who cares, I wear it year-round! And this outfit will be put on repeat for the rest of the summer.

P.S. I’m loving these d’orsay pumps. They’re perfect for everything!

Here’s the fun blooper: I was pulling up my sleeve; it kept getting caught in my FitBit.

Cardigan: Old Navy | Blouse: Sunny Girl via ModCloth | Belt: Target | Jeans: kensie via Stitch Fix | Heels: Brash via Payless | Necklace, Sunnies, and Handbag: Target 

Linking up with Maria of Not Fancy, Just Life

This may sound strange, but I don’t know how to dress for graduate school. Dressing for work in an office was easy because I knew what was expected and what was appropriate; I wore pencil skirts, trousers, and cute heels and I had a lot of fun putting together different combinations. But grad school is different, at least for me, because it’s much more casual and anything goes, but casual has never really been my forte. Also, I tend to look much younger than my actual age (of 29) when I dress down, so I have trouble dressing casually for my age without looking like a teenager or a soccer mom. So, here is my take on dressing casually for my age and lifestyle. It’s comfortable but still put together. Unfortunately, it started raining so I changed into flats and didn’t get any photos with them.

Let’s talk about these shoes. They’re from Banana Republic and I coveted them for weeks because the color is great and the heel height is PERFECT but my size is only available online, which means I have to pay full price (can’t use Nick’s discount on the internet, boo!). By the time I was ready to purchase them, they were gone. Like, completely taken off the site. No “out of stock” notifications or anything. I was crushed. I checked every other day to see if they were back in stock. Finally, they were back BUT for $8 more than their original price! Ugh, give me a break, Banana. I purchased them as soon as I could, and considered getting a pair in all the other colors (black, white, and coral/snakeskin) but decided against it because I’m a poor grad student. And every time I try to wear them, it rains. I cannot catch a break with these things. #firstworldproblems

It all looks adorable with this trench, though, so it was totally worth it.

And here’s the fun one:

 Linking up with More Pieces of Me | Perfectly Coutured  | Walking in Heels In Memphis | Mix and Match Fashion | Stylin’ in St. Louis| Vodka Infused Lemonade

I wanted a flowy blouse and found this one on sale. It was love at first site in the dressing room! Because I’m so short, I have to be careful wearing flowy tops. I make sure they’re flowy but still the right proportions for my height, which is why I decided to belt this blouse/cardigan combo. I wore this to class last week and my friend told me I looked like a teacher. So, to all you teachers out there, you’re looking good!

This beautiful mint necklace makes me long for spring. And ice cream. I’ve said before that I don’t really like pairing bright or primary colors, and I think this is a good example of how I’d rather wear muted colors. Some folks are comfortable wearing yellow and green together, but I’d rather wear mustard and mint. Also, green and yellow were my high school’s colors so I steer clear.

And here’s the fun one:

BONUS: Nick’s wearing hot, red pants! Look how handsome my husband is with that sexy smile.