Under My Umbrella Ella Ella, Ay Ay Ay

The temperature cooled down 30-40 degrees from yesterday, so I guess Texas' weather is no longer confused. Not only did it cool down, but it also rained. Today was a chilly and rainy day, much different from what we've been experiencing so far. It was the perfect opportunity to break out my favorite fall trench coat. Add my wrap sweater to that, and I was all set. I love the wide sleeves of the sweater which make it perfect for layering. I did this by pairing it with a simple black three-quarter sleeve tee. But, the best part of today's outfit was the umbrella. I could have gone for a simple black umbrella, but no. I needed something that popped. So, when I was looking for a new over-sized umbrella months ago, this one reached out to me among the sea of boring black ones. Imagine walking down the road on a rainy day and seeing a lime umbrella in the midst. It's sure to pop.

Styling tip: Accessories are a great way to add a pop of color and visual interest to an outfit. But, accessories do not have to be only jewelry and handbags. Try other elements in the outfit to make it shine. Today, I embraced the cold, rainy weather by having fun with my lime umbrella. It brought brightness to a rather dreary day.








This is my "Hurry up and take the picture. I'm cold...grrrrr" face LOL.



P.S. - In case the title of this post had you singing the song in your head, listen to it here.


Keeping it Classy,
Janell
xoxo

Confused

So, I think the weather here in Texas is a bit confused. Fall officially started about a month ago, and I keep seeing pictures everywhere of persons in sweaters, boots, and tights. But today, I'm here wearing a tank in the 85 degree weather. It's more like a cool summer. Not hot, not cold...just cool. It's not quite cool enough to break out coats and sweaters, so I'm making the best of the last few days left that I can wear my summer wardrobe. I'm still enjoying the leopard pumps that I bought recently, and I decided to pair them today with this color blocked outfit that I put together. I fell in love with the cobalt blue chiffon maxi skirt when I first saw it in the store. It's the kind of skirt that you can dress up and still dress down. The chiffon element of the skirt makes it perfect for an easy transformation. This is probably the last time that I'm going to get to wear this skirt for the year, until Spring. That is if this Texas weather doesn't continue to be confused.







Keeping it Classy,
Janell
xoxo

Fire and Ice

Remember the leopard pumps that I was contemplating on buying, here? Well, I got them! They made their debut on Saturday at the Fire and Ice fashion show hosted by the Jennifer Hobson Productions. The show featured styles from designers Roberto Valentin, Scott Blair, Amy Salas, and Grant Mower (12 year old designer of Michelle Obama's 2011 ball gown). I attended the event with some girlfriends, and though the show started really late, it turned out fine. Here are some pics of the designs and designers.
























I wore a fun and flirty light blue dress with the leopard pumps and popped it with some red accessories. I guess you can say that was my version of Fire (red accessories) and Ice (light blue dress). I'm glad I got the pumps. I can already see it being paired with a dozen outfits. I was a bit skeptical at first in wearing this light colored dress in the evening. I thought about wearing something darker, but the dress was so comfortable and the fit was so perfect, that I didn't regret it one bit.

Since the night was still young, we went out to dinner after the show at one of our favorite restaurants, Joe's Crab Shack. I dined on the Crab Daddy Feast and washed it down with a Pomberry Sangria. We were asked about three times if we were going out after dinner since we were all dressed up more than the average guest. Each time, our response was that we were just coming in. At 10:00 on a Saturday night, we figured it was a bit early to be "coming in," so the next person that asked was going to get a story about a fun late night on the town ahead of us. Sadly, no one else asked, but those that did were all pretty excited to hear that we were coming in from a fashion show :)
















Keeping it Classy,
Janell
xoxo

Word of the Day: Peplum

While browsing one of my favorite shopping sites, I came across this lovely Ponte Peplum Top. I was absolutely in love with the skirt-like detail towards the bottom of the top, and I thought to myself, "What on earth is peplum?" This lead to the origination of today's Word of the Day. Side note - this top would be absolutely office-chic with a nice pencil skirt and pumps...simple but classy.


Peplum (plural pepla) originates from the Greek word meaning "tunic," and I found about four different meanings for the word. It is a genre of Italian Historical or Biblical films also known as "Sword and Sandal." In the late 1950s to mid 1960s, the pepla attempted to imitate the big Hollywood Historical Epics such as "Spartacus," "Samson and Delilah," and "The Ten Commandments." Peplum referred to the togas or robes that the ancient Romans wore. Clearly this had nothing to do with the top that I found, but this definition was rather interesting. Peplum is also a short overskirt that is commonly attached to a fitted jacket, blouse, or dress. That sounds more like the picture above!

Such an interesting word...peplum. I honestly had never heard of it before. I know of the style, but I didn't know it had a name. Maybe this is a common term, maybe it isn't. Either way, I was very curious as to what other peplum-inspired items I could find just for fun, so, I went googling and came up with these other ensembles. Am I seriously the only person who didn't know this word??? I'm even here wondering if I'm pronouncing it correctly lol. Ah well, at least I can share my findings with others who are as oblivious to this word as I am. Enjoy!






Keeping it Classy,
Janell
xoxo

Shopping Miracle

If someone asked me what was my best purchase ever, I'd have to say it was these floral Madden Girl pumps by Steve Madden that I bought about a year ago. It was a complete miracle.

One day while scouring the clearance racks at DSW, I came across these lovelies. I had a $10 birthday coupon and a $10 gift certificate, so I was looking for something to use them on. These shoes ended up costing me $0.01. No, that wasn't a typo. I paid ONE CENT in CASH!!! So this is how the story goes....





A few months prior, DSW was running a promo where you could buy a $50 gift card and get a $10 gift card for free. I had a pair of boots that I had bought in Macy's at the time, but I found the exact same pair in DSW for $10 less. So, I bought the $50 gift card, got the free $10 one, returned the boots to Macy's, then bought the same pair in DSW. See what I did there? I basically pocketed $20 with that. I now had this $10 gift card that I needed to spend. Some time later, I received a $10 birthday coupon in the mail. (Gotta love those reward perks!) So, I basically had $20 of "free money" to burn. These pumps were originally $39.94 but were on clearance for 50% off, so I added the $10 gift card and the $10 coupon while checking out. When the cashier told me that my total was only one penny, I was in utter disbelief. She said she had never seen anything like it, and neither had I. I'm yet to pull off such a bargain since that episode. I'm all about doing some hardcore shopping. Now according to my calculations, they owed me about $0.03 since all promos are calculated off of the discounted price which in this case was the 50% off of $39.94, but hey, I didn't argue with them and I didn't want to. I don't mind paying $0.01. I guess they had to charge me SOMETHING. Some crazy person out there might have picked a fight with them over a couple pennies though lol.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was very relaxing...for once. Here's to the week ahead!


Keeping it Classy,
Janell
xoxo
© Cordially J

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