What I Wore...Baby Blues

My maternity leave wardrobe has mostly consisted of Kikilynn caftans and workout clothes (God bless spandex!). But there've been a few occasions when I actually put on REAL clothes, dried my hair AND even applied makeup. Two of those happened when we were at home in Idaho and they gave me the chance to wear some new baby blues I picked up at Zara.

First, this tunic does all the right things in all the right places in my mind. Stripes, wide cuffs, long in the back, great buttons...and a completely reasonable price.

Zara does outerwear so well and I know I'm going to get a ton of use out of this blue coat. I wear it like a blazer and it was perfect for Baby McB's baptism at the same church where we were married.

And I put the two together for some wine tasting in Walla Walla.



Zara, you never fail to perform. 

What I Wore

During our recent trip to Sun Valley, I picked up this amazing Rebecca Taylor silk ruffle dress at Consign Design. We returned to SV over the weekend to meet Mini Fashionista II, and some family friends hosted a "sip n' see". It offered the perfect opportunity to wear my new dress. 

I paired it with my Target Wedges (post here). It's hard to believe they are 4 years old. And for my birthday (it's this week), Katie gave me the Smith Sidney sunglasses I was coveting (post here)...Thanks Sister.

This post is a good example how you can mix and match expensive and inexpensive. Rebecca Taylor dress + target shoes. A match made! 

And cheers to AS (a loyal friend and reader) for taking the photos! She experienced her first trip to SV over the weekend, and I think she's hooked. Of course we had to take her to Consign Design... #svlifeisthebestlife

What I Wore

If you saw this Instagram teaser photo on Saturday you already know that I attended a "white party" on Friday night. 

It was a lovely fundraiser at the Oregon Golf Club for the Tiffany Autism Foundation.  I wore my favorite gold Ferragamo Sandals from Consign Design (post here) and my go-to nude Zellie clutch from Danielle Nicole (post here). 

As for the dress...you may remember my "White to Wear" post where I shared a number of white dresses that I was considering for the event. Well, I decided on the Aqua Lace Empire Dress. I got it on sale for $69! 

 Here are a few more photos from the evening. My friend SB rocked it in this amazing jumpsuit!

And my +1 mastered the country club "pool boy" look (hot!).

As for my hair. I conveniently planned a haircut the day of the event, which meant someone else did it for me. Ive been wanting to conquer the straightening iron "curls" for a while now, but know my hairstyling is pretty limited to a flat iron and blow dryer. The hairdresser knocked out this look in a matter of minutes! 

If you want to try it yourself, here's a tutorial. My hair rarely holds curl, but because this heats and bends your hair it stays longer. I think I might have to spend some time perfecting this technique on myself.
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What I Wore: The Maternity Finale

As I wrote two weeks ago, I'm officially done buying maternity clothes. With five weeks to go (and yes, I am counting every damn day), what you see is what you get. Which at the office means they basically see the same outfits every week. Of the four things I got in my last ASOS order, I kept just one. I figured this dress would work out since the style and fabric looked very similar to this dress I bought early on in my pregnancy. And, it did.

Paired with a white denim jacket (Old Navy, non-maternity), a pair of wedges, and two Angela Caputi bracelets, I didn't feel half bad. With summer in full swing here, I know I'll be getting at least another three or four wears out of this before baby McB arrives.

What I Wore: Maternity Update

About 10 days ago this little baby turned from an awkward spare tire to a full on bump...project camouflage has become embrace basketball. So yesterday with abnormally warm temps in D.C. I broke out a dress I bought at ASOS months ago. You know we're big fans of ASOS here at C & C...and so far my two favorite maternity dresses have come from there. This is going to get some heavy use in the next 12 weeks before baby McB arrives.

Unfortunately I bought it so long ago it is sold out, but here are a few other floral ASOS options that are pretty darn cute. 

Bonded Skater Dress

 

Wiggle Dress





Midi Dress



And for those that aren't pregnant, please shop some of the non-maternity options for me - and have a glass of wine or two as well while you're at it.

Pencil Scuba Midi Dress

Mix & Match Midi Skater Dress



Lime Floral Bandeau Midi




What I Wore: Kiki Lynn Caftan

As you might have seen on instagram, last week we took our #zikafreeholiday (aka baby moon)..our last big hurrah alone before baby McB arrives in July. We were supposed to go to Baja, but if you've seen the news you know why we switched to California instead (hence the hashtag). More to come on that later, since these are ON SALE right now, I thought I'd post my most-worn garment of the trip - the Kiki Lynn Amy Caftan (excuse the bad photo). 

I wore this to and from the pool, on our drive from Laguna to Palm Springs and to grab lunch. This is going to be a pregnancy and post-pregnancy staple for me this summer. And in a range of colors, you really can't go wrong. Pink for the pool, black for travel, navy for weekends and olive green for coffee with friends...if you need ideas. And at this price, you really can't go wrong (think cost per wear). The navy is next on my list as I'm pretty sure I can't get through summer with just one of these babies.

What I Wore: Maternity Staples

We are THRILLED about the pending arrival of our little girl. That being said, I'm not one of those women who loves being pregnant. I'm just not. And while I love to dress and put together outfits, dressing for pregnancy is NOT easy. The challenge when you're tall and not super petite is that instead of getting a cute little bump you just get thick...everywhere. I want to walk around with  a sign saying, "I haven't been on a 4-month eating spree, I'm pregnant."

I thought I'd share some of my maternity staples for the first 22 weeks. You can't go wrong with a LBD and that's definitely true when you're pregnant. I love this dress from ASOS (as an aside, did you know it's pronounced a-sauce?). 

I've been pairing it with statement necklaces (History & Industry to the rescue), long vests and jackets.  Now the disclaimer...when I washed it (according to the instructions, without putting it in the dryer) it shrunk pretty significantly. ASOS has incredible customer service and they let me return it...but if you're tall, it could be an issue. This looks similar (unfortunately with long sleeves which aren't ideal for a DC summer) so I might order it as a replacement. There's no way I can go the rest of the pregnancy without a good black dress. Stay tuned for future posts about ASOS maternity clothes - I've got two dresses I bought early on before they sold out and am looking forward to wearing them. 

Gap has been my other go-to so far. Again, it's all about basics. These jeans fit great and with a 30% off coupon were a great deal. And there's no way I can go 40 weeks without a great white button down. The length on this is perfection for me. And, I'll definitely be able to get good use out of this after the mini's arrival too. 

And while I don't have a good photo, these black demi panel perfect trouser pants are a must-have for work. I'm hoping to not buy too many maternity clothes and with these great basis, I might be able to get away with it.

Do you have any favorites I should try?

Washington State Wedding Weekend

We're back! Thanks for your understanding while Regan was gallivanting around Europe and I was traveling and crazy with work. If you follow us on instagram you'll see that I'm off again on a business trip to Rome (I know, tough...but someone has to do it). If I get the chance to do something other than work, I'll definitely blog about it. In the meantime, here's a recap of a wedding we attended two weekends ago in Washington State at Alderbrook Resort. Get ready, this is an "On the Move" and "What I Wore" all in ONE! 

One of my best friends got married at this amazing little gem of a spot on the Hood Canal about two hours from Seattle. Despite the rainy weekend (with about 15 minutes of combined sun), we had a wonderful time celebrating the bride and groom and catching up with my best girls and their spouses. 

Dr. B and I got a little r & r at the spa with massages, which was so nice. And I must say, the oatmeal at the hotel's restaurant is not to be missed. I got a fresh berry compote with mine and Dr. B had the brown sugar and maple creme fraiche. One of my favorite parts about the weekend was the "reverse wedding" schedule. The actual ceremony and reception were on Friday night and Saturday was left for brunch, a boat ride, and a BBQ. 

You know I love a good Rent the Runway opportunity, and this seemed like the perfect occasion to get the Gables Dress by Opening Ceremony I'd had on my "Hearts" list for a while. Paired with my turquoise tassel earrings I was going to bring some sunshine to the rainy day one way or another. I forgot to get a full outfit picture until the very end of the night in the poor light of our hotel room. Overall impression of the dress - it was good, but not amazing - even though I got plenty of compliments. You have to be tall to wear this dress. There is SO much fabric. I'm not petite, so it worked for me (I wore the size small, which tells you something). The fabric also picked up the outline of my bra (as you can see), which I didn't love. This would be a great maternity dress (although I'm not pregnant). 

We bundled up in wedding weekend attire for night two. Just as planned, I wore the Ann Taylor Loft maxi I bought on super sale earlier this summer and since it was a wedding, I broke out the Lauren Hope bling. 

Time with girl friends is just good for the soul. Nothing beats 17 years of friendship with these lovely ladies. Congrats B & M! We love you! 

What I Wore: Perfect Pieces

I recently shared with you the awesome maxi dress I found at Ann Taylor Loft and mentioned that I picked up a few other items on crazy sale. I finally got around to wearing them and know you're probably going to want to add these perfect pieces to your closet. 

This striped long pencil skirt is pretty much like wearing sweats it's that comfortable. And I thought I got a steal paying $25, but it's now $20. For work or play you can't go wrong. It's going to be a replacement for this skirt that is starting to show just how well-loved it is. 

And I seriously don't want to take off this striped summer softened shirt. It's the perfect fit and the perfect length, and you know I'm a sucker for blue and white stripes. It has Friday casual written all over it and is 30% off.  

After finding these perfect pieces, I'm definitely going to shop Loft more often. 

What I Wore

If you follow C&C on Instagram, you may have seen this photo I posted on Friday night. My +1 and I went out to dinner with friends, and it was the perfect opportunity to wear the new striped shirt I recently bought at Anthropologie (on sale for $30)! 

I paired it with my Joe Fresh (from JCP) shorts (similar here), Manolo Blahnik cork wedges, the Danielle Nicole Zelie clutch that Katie blogged about just yesterday (post here) and an Angela Caputi Chainlink bracelet. 

I always feel so silly taking pictures of myself to share "What I Wore", but I continue to do it, despite feeling completely ridiculous.

I wish I'd taken a photo of the back of the shirt because it has a really cool gold exposed zipper.

What I Wore: Old Navy FTW

I was perusing the GAP website the other day and decided to make a hop, skip and a jump over to Old Navy...and I'm so glad I did. I've been on the lookout for some easy, relaxed-fit summer dresses to get through the hot and humidity of DC summers. Something to throw on for a trip to the grocery store or to run errands. They had just what I was looking for - and even in "tall" so it's not a mini dress! Old Navy with the striped linen-blend shift dress for the win! 

As you can see, it's not the most form-fitting dress, but every once and a while it's okay to sacrifice a little bit of fashion and fit for function - especially at these temps (did I just type that?)! If you're a regular in the blogosphere, you've probably seen a few girls wearing the same dress in red and white (they claim red, I swear it's pink). 

I also picked up this white denim jacket for chilly Idaho summer nights or D.C. air conditioned buildings. 

What I Wore...and Didn't Wear

This weekend I attended the wedding of a colleague. I was excited for the event (which was gorgeous, as was the bride) and an excuse to buy a new dress (I've been Renting the Runway so my own options were EXTREMELY limited). I stumbled upon this dress from ASOS and it was love at first sight. I love myself a good plunging V.

 

 

 

Saturday afternoon came and I was all ready to go. I'd tried the dress on when it arrived, but didn't have it on for that long. With the crazy humid weather, double-sided tape was not sticking like it needed to and the deep V was a little too risqué for the company of work colleagues. I'm just not sure I can commit to the full side-boob...who do I think I am, J. Lo? 



  

So, the dress is going back and I called an audible. Enter old-reliable, the black ASOS jumpsuit. 

 

Paired with old Zara d'orsay pink suede heels, a wicker clutch (similar here and here), and my new earrings from Tuckernuck (they come in six colors - black is next on my "wish list"), I was back in action...without the embarrassment of a wardrobe malfunction. Dr. B and I had a great evening out and it got me in the spirit for wedding season. We've got one more the end of August!

 



What I Wore: Pairing Peplum

Any Madame Secretary fans? Even though I typically shy away from D.C.-related political dramas (I'm too quick to knit-pick all the things that are completely unrealistic), I really like the series - especially Tea Leoni. Hillary Clinton should take some fashion cues from her wardrobe. So on a recent episode, Daisy the press secretary's outfit gave me some sartorial inspiration. 

She paired this Oscar de la Renta peplum top (of course a State Department employee wears Oscar...said no one ever) with a white button-down, and I majorly swooned not just for the top itself, but for how smart looking the combo is. And...it's a perfect way to transition sleeveless through spring. 

Straight to the closet I went to outfit plan. C. Wonder peplum top, Brooks Brothers non-iron shirt, Joe Fresh cropped straight-leg trousers, and Cole Haan patent mary janes had me feeling like I was ready for a Madame Secretary audition. 

I started out the day with the collar open, but once I got to work decided it looked more sophisticated closed. You might also note I got my cast off (insert sounds of heavens opening up at the idea of being able to shower without a plastic bag on my arm)! Serendipitously, the brace I "get" to wear for the next four weeks paired perfectly with the outfit. 

Don't have a sleeveless peplum? Here are a few options you might consider. 

Neiman Marcus Last Call - $24.12

H & M - $29.95

H & M - $29.95

Blue Fly - $59.99

Nordstrom - $68

Kate Spade - $198