she loves: clothes

ribbon trim blouse || ann taylor

i am just LOVING the delicately feminine details on women's clothes right now. i've always been more of a no-fuss basics girl (dark wash denim, long & lean solid tops, classic cardigans) and left the "fun" to accessories. but this season, i just haven't been able to resist the ruffles, the rosettes, things floating and trailing and moving. clothes are more like original works of art these days, and i'm riding the wave.

(i even like the multiple bracelet style i'm seeing in so many lookbooks, including on the model above.)

until now i've shopped exclusively at stores that sell more basic styles, but by some stroke of luck (for my happiness, not my checking account) i ended up in the sale section of Ann Taylor a few weeks ago. the flirty and embellished (while still classic) things i found there tempted me. and because i'm getting older, and because it's high time i stop wearing ribbed tanks from Old Navy all the time, and because i've reached a point where i'm just going to admit that taking care with how i dress myself has a positive affect on how i feel on any given day,

i gave in.

i bought a few things. i splurged. i swallowed my indie "Ann Taylor is for yuppy career women" pride and clicked "Add to Cart." and because i happened to be visiting on a day when even sale items were an additional 40% off (i kid you not, the good Lord blesses my shopping like you wouldn't believe), i got a few $90 shirts for $30.

and it was good.

i bought the shirt above, in the winter white (because i'm also carrying a nice summer tan at the moment). the first time i wore it, i got black ballpoint pen on the front, but it wasn't anything a Tide To-Go pen couldn't address.

so i have some learning to do when it comes to actually WEARING nice clothes, but thus far i'm liking my style transition from young college grad to sophisticated twentysomething. and i don't need to be a yuppy career woman who always wears sheer nude pantyhose to pull off Ann Taylor clothes . . . i can still be my bargain-shopper self and enjoy pretty things.

sigh. writing about my shopping exploits
always lifts my spirits.

loving it,