animal instinct

I'm linking up today for Marionberry Style's Animal Print Trend of the Month link-up! I didn't realize just how much animal print I had in my closet until today. I guess this skirt qualifies as zebra? I've got some snake going on on the shoes, and a "tooth" on my necklace, too. I had today off from work for the Jewish holiday and I really did nothing special except get my oil changed. It should have been a quick thing but somehow it turned into a 3 hour ordeal! This is why it took me a year in between my last oil change, lol, I just have no patience to sit around at a car shop. My car is probably the area in my life that I am the least responsible. Do you follow the rules when it comes to your car and taking care of it? To change the subject - I love this top from Old Navy! It is very soft and comfortable to wear. Plus it is VERY easy to iron! I hateeee wearing button up shirts and really never wear them because I find them constricting, but this top is A-OK in my book, I highly recommend it.

Blazer: Forever 21 (similar)

Blouse: Old Navy

Skirt: Loft (similar)

Shoes: Corso Como

Clutch: Urban Expressions

Necklace: Forever 21 (similar concept)

Watch: Michael Kors

Ring: Ebay (faux YSL Arty) (the real deal)

blood red, navy, green

I wore this outfit to Walmart of all places. The closest Walmart to me is like 7 miles away (REALLY FAR in Miami traffic) so BF and I made a day of it. We stopped for lunch at On the Border - he had never been before, and he'll never be back lol. Walmart was interesting, but unfortunately no pictures worthy of www.peopleofwalmart.com. I also wore this to an early dinner at Yardhouse. I love their food, but I hate how the bartender is kind of condescending if you just want to order a bud light - SORRY I don't want to try one of your 200 kinds of specialty beer on tap - just gimme a bud light and I'm happy. I'm also linking up a little late for the Petite Fashion Challenge. This month was hosted by Pandaphilia, and the theme was "Trend Benders" - we were challenged to choose a summer or fall trend and make it work for us. I've sort of got 3 trends going on here, one is definitely color blocking, another is colored jeans/bottoms, and the last is the oxblood/burgundy color for the fall. I might even re-use this post for the upcoming Bloggers Do it Better oxblood challenge hosted by Pretty Shiny Sparkly - double duty! I decided on the colors after watching Wendy's color wheel video on Youtube. I wouldn't say that I followed any of the suggested ways to choose color (no complementary/triadic/whatev) but it certainly helped to view the colors on a wheel, and I'll definitely consider a color wheel next time I'm having trouble matching. How do you decide which colors "go" together when getting dressed? 

Click HERE to see the other Petite Fashion Challenge entrants!

Blazer: Forever 21 Ponte Knit Blazer

Blouse: Ann Taylor Marina Sleeveless Top in Dark Navy

Jeans: Old Navy Rockstar in Gestalt Green (on sale for $19!)

Shoes: Forever 21 Almond Toe Wedges (so comfy!)

Bag: B. Makowsky

Necklace: Forever 21 Long Oval Chain Necklace

Bracelet: Mom

Casual Friday

I wore this to work today with a blazer and lost the belt because it made the dress shorter by a few inches, but I'm going to re-use this exact outfit for shopping trips and lunches in the future. It took me a long time to get into stripes, but I'm glad I waited for this dress to really embrace them. Old Navy hit it out of the park! I found the mixture of stripes and color blocking to be very on-trend yet classic at the same time, and it was hard to choose just one color - I ordered a few and am still considering whether to keep more than one.

Dress: Old Navy

Belt: Thrifted (I like this one!)

Shoes: Ellen Tracy via TJ Maxx (similar)

Necklace: Forever 21 (similar)

Bracelet: gift from Ma'

Bag: Longchamp

Professionally Petite, Esq.

On Tuesday, I found out that I passed the Florida bar exam! And on Wednesday, I got sworn in as an attorney! Although Tuesday was one of the best moments of my life, it was tainted slightly by lingering food poisoning from Monday. You see, Monday my BF and I went to another Marlins game to try to get our minds off finding out our exam results on Tuesday (BF also passed the bar, woo woo!) Unfortunately, something we ate at the game disturbed both our stomachs, and all of Tuesday (through Thursday) was spent with a stomach bug. Last night, my BF's parents happened to be in town and they took us to dinner to celebrate the bar passage/swearing in ceremony. I ate crab cakes and afterward complained of feeling short of breath and that my throat kind of felt like it was closing up... and low and behold, this morning I woke up with hives all over! (This is why my face is cropped out, the hives are most noticeable there haha)

Blouse: Ann Taylor

Cardigan: Banana Republic (similar at BR)

Skirt: Ann Taylor

Shoes: Payless (similar)

Belt: Forever 21

Bracelets: Tiffany, Fossil, unknown

Rings: Lord & Taylor Effy Collection

black, lace, tortoiseshell, gold

Blazer: Theory Gabe B

Blouse: Loft

Jeans: F21 Ankle Skinny

Shoes: DV by Dolce Vita

Bag: Loeffler Randall Rider

Sunglasses: F21 Wayfarers

Necklace: F21 Oval Chain Necklace

Watch: Michael Kors

I did somethingggg... I splurged on this bag. I consider it a "congrats on working for the rest of your life," present. I was afraid to carry it the first few days I had it, but I quickly got over that fear when I realized it goes with everything and makes me look like I mean business all the time. If you sign up for Amazon shoes emails you get 20% off a shoe or handbag purchase! I used my coupon for this bag, and I used a giftcard that I had been saving from my LexisNexis points - law students will understand that one :-)

black, white, purple, pink

Jacket: Tibi (similar w/ epaulets)

Tee: Pac Sun (similar at Old Navy)

Skirt: F21

Shoes: thrifted (similar at Asos)

Bag: Longchamp

Necklace: F21

Bracelets: Movado, John Hardy

I was doing some serious thinking the other day while I was cleaning out my closet. I was thinking about what my favorite and most frivolous purchases that I've made in the past year. One of my favorite purchases by far was this Tibi jacket that I found at the grand opening of the TJ Maxx near my apartment. I originally left it behind because my BF talked me out of paying $149 for it...but I kept thinking about it. I kept going back just to look at it, and one day when I went back it was on the clearance rack, in my size, for a whopping $42! I took it as a sign and immediately bought it - I never looked back! It is definitely a statement jacket, but I've gotten my use out of it. This time, I paired it with my new (to me) pink thrifted heels by Charter Club and a matching pink revlon lip butter for a VERY late dinner on Lincoln Road on South Beach. Are there any purchases that stand out as your favorite?

red-orange for the Miami Marlins

Jacket: Zara

Tee: Old Navy

Jeans: F21

Shoes: Target

Bag: Rebecca Minkoff

Necklace: F21

I went to my first Miami Marlins game last night after work with my BF. We had fantastic seats and our tickets came with $25 each for food/drink/memorabilia which was awesome. BF was going to buy a hat (I LOVE him in flat brimmed hats but he just won't wear them!) but we instead opted to get gourmet burgers, gelato, and a soft pretzel. The food selection at the stadium was definitely the most sophisticated that I've seen. Of course there were your typical hot dogs and chicken fingers, but there was also an entire section devoted to typical Miami cuisine - Cuban sandwiches, empanadas, etc. Instead of a typical personal pizza, the stadium has a partnership with a pretty good chain pizza place down here called Sir Pizza. There is actually a club inside the stadium - the Clevelander (the real one is on South Beach) - We were sitting across from it and I could see the go-go dancers dancing! So random, haha! I honestly don't follow the Marlins or baseball too closely (my team if I had to choose one would be the Yankees) so I happened to look up their colors right before we left and one of them is red-orange. I figured it would be the perfect time to wear this Zara jacket that I got during the recent sale! What did you pick up from the Zara sale?? I certainly lucked out with a few nice finds this time around.

I also submitted this look for EBEW back to school! If only I was going back to school, this is def what I'd be wearing :)

deposed

Suit: Ann Taylor

Blouse: Ann Taylor

Heels: Ann Taylor

Belt: Ann Taylor

(I just LOLed because I didn't realize everything was Ann Taylor until now)

Necklace: Bon Ton

Bag: Longchamp

Today called for a suit at work as I was present in court for a hot second and then accompanied my boss to my first civil deposition. A deposition, in case ya didn't know, is a statement under oath before a court reporter and usually attorneys from both sides to find out facts about the case. Because depositions are under oath, you have to choose your words carefully because if the case ends up going to trial and your words differ at trial than from what was said in the deposition, it can mean some trouble for you. I did literally countless depositions while interning for the public defender but civil depositions are different. There is more of a time crunch to get it done quickly because the client (or in this case, the defense attorney's client) is paying for the deposition and the more time it takes the more money it costs. For Florida criminal cases, in contrast, the state/government/taxpayers pay for depositions so they are taken more liberally and frequently. This particular one was pretty straightforward, and was a good learning experience.
BF took my photos today, and let's just say he needs some practice with the camera :) This is the only shot that didn't come out completely blurry.

Outfits and deals via iPhoto

Labor Day weekend... my first holiday weekend since I started my "real" life. I can't say it was too exciting, but I did finally venture out to the beach for the first time since before beginning to study for the bar exam in May, I saw an old friend, did some shopping, did some brunching, and did some relaxing, too.

Top Left: my french bulldog named Wednesday - This is what I wake up to most mornings.

Top Right: work outfit from this Friday - Zara blazer, TJ Maxx blouse, F21 jeans, TJ Maxx sandals, F21 jewelry

Bottom Left: work outfit from Thursday - trying out curls in my keratin treated hair (they stayed ALL day, it was awesome) Banana Republic blazer, H&M snake print blouse

Bottom Right: labor day thrift store finds. No really good deals at the outlet malls today, but I did venture into the unknown (Hialeah) to thrift, and I ended up with a Petite Sophisticate blue/purple skirt for $2 and hot pink (feels like real leather) Charter Club heels for $3. 

What did you do this labor day weekend? Did you find any good deals?