OOTD - Staying Warm in Summer

September is almost here and I'm really not ready for the cold weather that's coming up.  With the temperatures reaching 100 degrees outside, and dipping as low as 30 degrees in the office, I am already faced with a bit of a dressing challenge. My daily goal is to create warm layers, without adding bulk, that can be peeled off as the day gets warmer or if I go outside. To this end, I will usually start my outfit with a short sleeve or sleeveless blouse, add a thin knit cardi and top it off with a jacket and sometimes a scarf.


I am not always successful in creating an outfit that is warm, office appropriate, visually interesting and comfortable. And there are times when I throw caution to the wind and wear that summer dress regardless of the office temperature and suffer through with blue hands and feet. Other times, I will add so many layers for warmth that the outfit doesn't have a ghost of a chance of looking office chic at all. Well, you guys understand........you win some, you lose some. I felt like this outfit met all of the required criteria above and so I thought I'd share it with you .................

Ann Taylor Loft Brown Silk Cap-Sleeve Blouse 00p (Similar here)
Ann Taylor Tan Pants 00p (Similar here)
JCrew Gold Thong Sandals 6 (Similar here)
Necklace, Bracelet & Gold Bauble Ring Forever 21
(Similar here , here & here)

Old Navy Light Camel Cardi xs (Similar here)

Ann Taylor Loft Faux Denim Jacket 00p (Similar here)
Jessica Simpson Leopard Print Bag (Similar here)

Hope you guys are staying warm too!  ; )
UPDATE:  Be sure to check out this great giveaway at Oh Beauty's First Giveaway!

OOTD & Ann Taylor Loft Cotton Faille Jacket with Ruffle Review

I really love this Loft jacket and I know you guys have seen this jacket reviewed by Really Petite and Extra Petite earlier this month.  I was slightly disappointed when the jacket first arrived because there is extra room in the body of the jacket.  I do love the sleeve length, color, jacket length and ruffle detail in the back.  There are so many great things to love about this jacket, that I'm hoping to just move the button over ever so slightly and create the perfect fit.

Ann Taylor Loft Petite Cotton Faille Jacket with Ruffle

I haven't moved the button over yet, but here it is on it's own.........

The fit is almost perfect, so hopefully moving the button just a tiny bit will work out.  Either way, I think I'll keep it, the details on it are so special and the lines are so slimming.

(Did you guys see the little girl sleeping under the armoire)?

I played around pairing the skirt with some other tops.......

Brown Ann Taylor Cardi
Sequin Trim Loft Tank
Maroon Ann Taylor Skinny Belt
Printed Loft Pencil Skirt
Mushroom Nine West Pumps

Please let me know which look you like the best, I really couldn't decide!

Petite Fashion Challange # 1: "Do a Petite Don't"

Jean at Extra Petite is hosting the first petite fashion challange for our petite blogging community.  Basically, her thought was to create an outfit for a weekend brunch with your girlfriends. She depicted that the outfit should include one clothing item that is always labeled a petite "don't" by styling guru's and  portray it as a petite "do". 

It was not hard for me to oblige Jean in this challange, my closet is full of clothes that would make Stacy and Clinton shudder in horror.  I adore wearing long tunics over jeans, successfully cutting the length of my legs down to two inches so that I look like a stump in shoes, I love wearing my comfy wide leg jeans with flats creating a wide squat oompa loompa, and just try to stop me from throwing on my floor length maxi skirt and running around town looking like a little girl playing dress up......Nope, no problem at all! 

So here we go, I actually think this mid-calf "don't" works on me because my calves are so small and straight without a whole lot of shape......For this outfit I was thinking maybe an alfresco brunch with the girls down at that new little Mexican place on the square..........

Ann Taylor Loft wrap blouse 00p
Anthropologie skirt 0
JCrew gold thong sandals 6

Bag Target (2009?)

In retrospect, I really should have added some gold bracelet bangels to complete the look.  It's so nice being able to look back at outfits, it really helps me notice things that I would have completly missed otherwise.  I am really looking forward to seeing all of your outfits!  Eeee!!  This is so much fun  ; )

OOTD & JCrew Double Serge Pencil Skirt Review

Hi Guys,

Just getting ready for work tomorrow and threw together a really simple outfit that I thought I'd share.  It occured to me that I hadn't seen any reviews on JCrew since they've extended their sizes to include 00p, so here is the JCrew Double Serge Pencil Skirt.

So you guys know my measurements (or you can look them up in my profile).  Hopefully you will be able to tell if this skirt will work for you from the pictures below.  (Sorry about the cut-off head, I was trying to get as close to the skirt as possible).

I did order this skirt in the mustard and rose color too, but I can only keep one of them.  I'm trying to figure out which one will go with more of the stuff in my closet before I make the final cut.  Let me know what you think.......

Banana Republic Blouse 00p (Summer '09)
JCrew Double Serge Pencil Skirt 00p
Sigerson Morrison shoes 6

Have a great Monday everybody!.....Almost forgot, I wore the cream colored Loeffeler Randall bag with this outfit that I wore in Extra Petite's Summer Work Outfit Giveaway.

OOTD - TGIF Casual Style

Hey Guys,  So glad it's Friday!  With my new blogging hobby I only made it to the gym once this week (shame face).........but I know I'll do better once I get the hang of posting and get everything added to the site that I need.  For now, I am posting casual outfit number two, which is ironic because the majority of my work wear is neither casual, nor jeans!  lol  Some of you may remember this sweater from Extra Petite's Summer Work Outfit Giveaway Contest.  It's one of my favorites and seems to add visual interest to everything it's paired with.

F21 Open ruffle front cardi xs
F21 Banded embroidered top s
Areopostale Avery jeans short 1/2
JCrew gold thong kitten heels 6

Ann Taylor Loft & Forever 21 Tiered Skirt Reviews

Hey Guys, I hope everyone is having a good week so far. Tomorrow is hump day and it should be all down hill from there ; )

Recently I have been craving one of the pretty tiered skirts that have been cropping up everywhere. So, when the ATL F&F 30% off sale came around I took advantage of the free shipping and ordered one of their tiered skirts in 00p.

Ann Taylor Loft Tiered Silk Skirt
(see a review of this same skirt at Alterations Needed and Extra Petite)

The description gave the length measurements of this skirt at 18" long, which is usually just a little short for my tastes, but I ordered it anyway because, well...... you never know, right? At the same time that I ordered the skirt from the Loft, I ran across a very similar skirt on-line at Forever 21.

The description for this skirt said that the waist would be 24" and the length would be 21" (measurements taken from their size small). "Even better" I thought, the waist sounds perfect as does the length and I wouldn't mind saving a few bucks either. The price for ATL skirt is $79.50 (before the 30% discount) and the price for the F21 skirt is $29.99 Upon the arrival of the ATL skirt, I was not surprised to find that it wasn't perfect. The waist was quite comfortable but the length was too short as I expected, and I didn't care for the aline shape.

At this point, I remained optimistic. I was still expecting the skirt from F21 and expecting the fit to be much better. Imagine my dismay when the F21 skirt arrived the very next day and turned out to be not 21" long and certainly not with a 24" waist.

The total length was 16" (2" inches shorter than the ATL skirt) and the waist was larger at 26" with extra volume in the hip area.

Verdict: Return for both.  Fingers crossed for next time!

OOTD Casual Friday & Ann Taylor Loft Military Jacket Review

Welcome, here I am, joining the petite online fashion community. Here is my OOTD for last Friday. I added the new military jacket from the Loft to the outfit to see how it would layer because I was so dissapointed with the fit of the jacket on it's own.

Long sleeve knit top: Ann Taylor Loft xxspFloral Scarf: Ann Taylor LoftWeekender Boyfriend Jeans: Old Navy 0Brown Thong Sandals: Old Navy 6

Ann Taylor Loft's clothes will usually fit perfectly off the rack in 00p, but this jacket seemed just large enough to make me look like I was slowly melting. Besides the overall wider fit of this jacket, the sleeves were a bit wide and a tad long too.

Verdict for this jacket: Not Perfect - Return.