15 Pieces

It's that time of week again. I've been online window shopping all week and here are my favorite 15 pieces in no particular order.

Workout Wednesday: Hot Pink & Hair Talk

I have a confession. I'm the worst at putting my hair up. Not only do I think my ponytail making abilities are sub-par to most of my ten-year-old students, but I also almost always forget to bring a hair tie to all my workout classes. Just ask my instructors who always let me borrow one (thanks Jen and Julie!)

There is one style I'm pretty good at, This inverted french braid! Bonus, all I need to secure it is a few bobby pins which I can usually find at the bottom of any of my bags. Most people learn to french braid the regular way but somehow when I taught myself a few years back (when those little Jennifer Aniston inspired crown braids were the thing to do) my fingers could only figure out how to do it upside down. I've never been able to do a French braid any other way. 

It turns out looking how you see below and stays pretty secure and out of my face when I work out! This braid is my favorite hair mistake I've ever made just please don't ask me to teach you how to do it because only my fingers and subconscious mind seem to know how to make it happen!

Jacket: Lululemon (old but similar here)

Leggings: Zella via Nordstrom
Shoes: Avia (fun option here)

Mad for Plaid

This skirt has everything a tall girl like me could want. It's longer length and stretchy tube constrution make it the easiest skirt in my closet to wear this winter. Just add tights and boots!

TopShop must have realized they struck gold with this style so they made it in a variety of colors and patterns. And the best part is that when Topshop runs out of a size there is now a back up plan! Nordstrom's Topshop capusle line alsmost always has what they have sold out of at the Topshop website/store. 

Jacket: Forever 21(similar)

Skirt: TopShop (similar here too)

Boots: H&M

Blouse: Nordstrom (super similar on sale here)

Sunglasses: Zara

Weekend Casual

Casual is actually a really hard look for me. Since I'm always either dressed up for work or in workout clothes, the in-between always becomes a challenge.

This was one of the few times I was actually proud of my weekend ensemble. Mostly because on a recent trip to Forever 21 I walked out with three very unusual things for me: these causal jeans; a neutral gray sweater; and a black jacket that will appear later this week on the blog. Not a lick of bright color in the lot! 

I added the red lip to give the look a little pop, and off I went on a day of baby shopping (with my best friend, who is due to have her baby girl any day now!) Forgive me if there is an unannounced radio silence here on HPS because I will be helping welcome the little one into this world whenever she decides the time is right! So excited!!

Sweater: Forever 21 (cute option here) 

Jeans: Forever 21

Bag: H&M (old)

Jacket: Forever 21 (similar style and color)

Booties: Report "Marks" (similar)

Sunglasses: Zara

Necklace: Buffalo Exchange

Hot Pink Moto

When it comes to shopping, I'm not a digger. I hate to dig through piles of sale items from who knows what brands. The only place I am willing to do that digging is the Bloomingdales Outlet at the Chicago Fashion Outlets because my track record is so good. I scored a pair of Seven jeans for $65 and then I found this hot pink moto jacket that was screaming my name. There was not much digging involved in finding this one actually, it was pretty hard to miss.

And speaking of good deals, let me call to your attention my amazing new Joie sweater that I scored for $49 (down from $198) at Roam Chicago! They provided all the clothes that the girls and I wore on WGN so I just had to go in and check out what they had. And what they had was a SALE! I got some pretty spectacular deals on some labels I would otherwise never be able to afford.

Booties: Shoemint (similar for just $29)

White button-down: Forever 21 (just $9)

Sweater: Joie via Roam Boutique Chicago

Pants: Nordstrom (my favorite most comfy black pants)

Moto Jacket: Calvin Klein via Bloomingdales Outlet at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago

Lips: Mac "Up the Amp"

Tweed Dress

This dress is one of those items that sits in my closet, and then I put it on and remember why. 

That's right, it's because this dress is not really a dress on me, more of a tunic, so I always have to wear it with leggings. Tall girl problems.

Early in the day a thread just to the left of the bottom of the zipper got tugged out after it got stuck on a binder at a meeting. You can see its sad self hanging out. The other bad part that you can't see is that this dress shed light fuzz all over the black long-sleeve button-down I wore underneath it. One student actually asked me what happend and how did I get all "dirty."

So this outfit may look put together from afar, just don't look too close.

Coat: Andrew Marc

Dress: Kirna Zabete from Target from last year

Leggings: Aritzia TNA

Boots: DSW

Necklace: Accessory Mercado "Nina"

Workout Wednesday: Happy Pants

Nothing makes a workout more exiting than new gym clothes. These 15 pairs of loud-and-proud pants will kick you right into workout gear!

And don't forget to check out this post I did for the WERQ Dance Fitness blog. WERQ is a cardio dance fitness class that makes you forget you're working out because you're having so much fun dancing to all your favorite music. Want to try a WERQ class? Go to their website and find a class near you. You won't regret it!

Windy Camo

Some days are just too cold and windy to take pictures outside. But I'm no quitter, so here's the best that came from this windy shoot!

Sweater: Target

Blouse: J. Crew Factory

Camo Pants: Gap

Pink Necklace: Sparkle and Sophistication's "Hot Pink Style" necklace

Gold Tassel necklace: Sole Society

Shoes: Me Too bow flats (old from Nordstrom but very similar here)
Lips: Revlon Matte Balm stick in Striking

DIY: Lightly Distressed Denim

Lately all I've wanted from the denim world was a good pair of slightly distressed jeans. Nothing too excessivly holey or boyfriendy: something I can still wear to work on Fridays.

Seeing Olivia Palermo look so gosh-darn put together in hers made me want a pair RIGHT NOW! But every store I went into told me they weren't out yet and that I'd have to wait till spring. Boo.

So what did I do? I asked Jillian from Bevello which tutorial she used to create the holes on her jeans and then tried it myself. Here's how it went.

Questions? Ask away in the comments. 

Not very crafty and want to buy some now? Lucky for you. spring options are finally coming out in stores and online! Shop some of my favorites here!

Shop my Midi Obsession

It's no surprise that midi skirts are so on trend right now. They make girls of every height feel ladylike and feminine and also make your waist look teeny tiny! What's not to love about that? I surely don't know.

I found these 8 that I think are stunners. Check out this section here from ASOS too for tons of options!

Happy shopping!

Hot Pink Valentine

It's not hard for me to put together an Valentine's Day outfit. I own enough pink clothing to clothe a sorority house!

I grabbed all my favorite pink and red items and threw them all together. Turns out this isn't far from something I would wear on any other day! In fact, my husband didn't even realize it was my Valentine outfit for this post till I told him. Clearly not one to shy away from color.

Have a day filled with love and lots of hot pink!

Coat: J. Crew

Pants: Forever 21

Boots: Hunter Boots (love these super-light, packable, roll-up-and-go Hunters I got for Christmas!)
Tee: Gap (sold out online but found for $7 in the clearance section Tuesday night!)
Necklace: eBay
Lips: Nars "Yu"
Purse: Kate Spade "Gold Coast Ginnie"

Workout Wednesday

You know I love color, and I really think one of the best and easiest places to play with color is in your workout wear. I live by a no-rules motto when it comes to how I put together my workout attire. In fact sometimes the more colors/patterns I can squeeze into one outfit, the better. 

This is a fine example with this green and gray combo. The tank is striped, the pants are two-tone and then you have these crazy blue socks. They may look a little loud but I don't mind because they actually serve a purpose. They are the newest color of the official Bar Method grippy socks that they sell in the studio. Basically I only ever buy their expensive socks when I have forgotten my own. I'm not gonna lie, they are way more comfy and helpful in preventing my feet from sliding and heels from aching on the bar with their tiny cushion backs. So I'll gladly display them as a little "feet treat".

Tank: Lululemon Power Y tank

Leggings: Ellie

Socks: Bar Method

Zip Pullover: Nike (love this retro one)

Shoes: Nike "Victoria" (would like to upgrade to these)

Sunglasses: Nordstrom

Jill of All Trades: Necklace Storage Solutions!

If you have been following my blog for a while now, you have probably seen my necklace wall. 

A friend of mine recently did an apartment clean-out, and that inspired me to do a jewlery clean-out. If you can believe it, below was what was left over.

Now don't worry, pretty much every necklace you see here was max $14, and most well under that. (thanks, Forever 21!) I believe you don't have to spend a ton on jewlery to have great pieces. 

So as you can see, this peg board (that you can pick up at your local Home Depot) can be cut in-store to any custom shape and arranged to your liking. You can also find different styles of hooks that will work better for different pieces. I like the long-armed ones for bracelets (bottom left) and the multi-hooked, narrow-spaced hook (bottom center) for daintier necklaces. All of these were found at the South Loop Home Depot a few years back. Another clever idea is to buy some good old spray paint and spray the board to the color of your choice. My walls are already busy enough, and another color may have been too much, so I kept it white.

I used to store my necklaces inside a cabinet and never remembered to wear them. Now that they are out in the open, they're pretty hard to forget about. And the best part is, since they are all tucked behind our bedroom door they are almost in a room of their own. When the door is open you don't even know what is back there (see bottom picture). Oh, did you also notice I'm hiding a sea of shoes back there too? Pretty convinent corner, huh?

If you are having jewlery overload storage problems I highly reccomend a trip over to the hardware store to get one of these peg boards. It's a cheap, easy, organized and pretty way to make the most of your jewlery collection. And if you want me to come right over and make this happen in your house, email Jill of All Trades Chicago. I can even supply the necklaces too!