Denim, Sequin and Happy Thanksgiving...

Happy thanksgiving everyone. It's thanksgiving Friday or black Friday as it is popularly called and I am home just relaxing and taking a break from anything related to work. It was a fun day yesterday at my home; a lot of singing and dancing and eating. It was indeed a day to count all those wonderful blessings God bestowed on us all. Like it or not, everyone sure has something to be thankful for. The pictures in this post were taken last weekend  and I just decided to share it in my style/fashion diary; my blog!...:)

It's a very simple semi casual and semi dressy look and since sequins are somewhat trendy now, I incorporated it into my style with the silver sequin xhiliration shoulder bag. The denim skirt was designed by me. I had always wanted a dressy denim skirt and when I could not find what I wanted at the department stores, I hit the fabric store and with denim fabric in one hand and a sketch on the other hand, I went to see my tailor and this is the final product here.

I like the flared hem of the skirt. You can see a previous post on it here

We finally have our "Minne-snow-ta" weather back. It snowed yesterday and since the temperature dropped a lot, we still have up to three inches of wet snow on the ground and it is really really cold. (Like I said earlier, these are pictures from last week.) It seems like I'll really have to say goodbye now officially to my summer outfits and just embrace all the jackets and boots and sweater dresses in order to keep warm. My goal is to keep on incorporating color into every outfit all through the winter season.

 

The thanksgiving continues everyday and I will keep on counting my blessings with great gratitude to God for his wonderful works. Thanks for reading everyone. **Kisses**

 

 

Beauty

Ojo

My-Shopping...Where?

Hi All, wishing you you a happy thanksgiving and all the best of the season as you dine and shop with your loved ones. What better time to talk about shopping than now; the busiest shopping season of the year? I took these pictures a year ago on one of my shopping sprees with hubby and it really took my mind back when I stumbled upon them in one of my picture folders.
I remember the weather being very nice and mild and I decided to wear this light white cotton top by Nine West and some simple denim; very comfy outfit for shopping in an outdoor mall that had cool nice music blaring from the buried speakers as we moved from store to store. Some sun glasses and white strapy sandals completed the look. I also could not do without my all time favorite teal handbag which comes handy all the time whether I want to dress up or dress down.

                                                                                                    traa-laa...:)

So, to answer my own question; shopping where? I will say that I can shop anywhere and everywhere so long as there are good deals there and quality items. I do not believe that anyone has to shop from high end stores all the time even if you can afford it. There are quality items in affordable stores too and most of the time the high end stores just charge exorbitant prices just for marketing and packaging alone anyway. Usually, I go to to big and expensive stores when they have sales and discounts going on and at regular times, I just go to my dearly beloved affordable store. Most of the time I shop online too because I usually get promotional e-mails in my shopping e-mail account reserved specially for getting discount notifications. I already gave a list of my favorite stores in a previous post I did and I will like to say that since this is the best time of getting good discounts from stores, let's take advantage of it while exercising a little bit of restraint or caution. There is no need purchasing an item if you do not really need it. Save the dollar$$ for something else that will come handy in the future.

 

 

So that is it for now. Happy thanksgiving and God bless! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and reading.

 

 

Beauty

Ojo

My-Shopping...How?

Hi beauties! I'm back.....!! I trust everyone is doing great and gearing up for thanksgiving. Although everyone is in a celebratory mood at this time and ready to do all the end of the year shopping and enjoy all the holidays coming up but please let's not forget the victims of Hurricane Sandy in the East Coast. They still need our prayers and all that we can give to help.

The pictures in this post were all taken over a year ago when my family and I went to the Mall of America for some shopping and some fun and that is exactly the answer to my own question; My- Shopping...how? and the answer is that I just have fun! A lot of ladies enjoy shopping and I will say I am one of them. I do try to shop when I can get good discounts though and whenever there are big sales going on. Yes! That is being thrifty. There is no use throwing money away when it can be saved for something else. And have you ever bought something at regular price and then see that same item go up on sale soon after that at a very great discount? Well, I have and ouch!! it hurts!!!

So now, I just stalk particular shops where I like to shop and the best way to do this is to sign up for E-mail discounts from the store and if you are like me and do not like to get all those hundreds of annoying marketing e-mails in your regular mail, just have a different e-mail set up for store discounts and you can check in occasionally to know what promotions are going on at your favorite store. You can also give your mailing address too if you do not mind and all those coupons and promotional offers can be mailed straight to your home. A word of caution about this though. You must learn how to exercise restraint so that you do not run off to shop each time you get a good bargain. I have shoved a lot of coupons in the trash or passed them off to friends because I do not want to be a shopping addict. it was hard to do at first but now I've got good control and shop on my own terms. Some stores also want you to use their credit card in order to get good discounts and such mail gets in the trash mail too.

                                                                          My beautiful family

                                                                                          Moi

                                                                        My Kids and their friend

                          My baby...I had to add a dash of color to her outfit with the fuchsia ankle boots

                                                                  The leaders of tomorrow

                                                                                     My friend J and I  

Yeah, this was actually the same day the pictures above were taken. We went to the MOA (Mall of America) after church service and I took a change of clothes with me and actually changed in the restroom  into my casual clothes. A quick clean-up with hand sanitizer and I had fun shopping and playing with the kids. Mall of America in Bloomington Minnesota has very a wide range of entertainment for shoppers; parks, theaters...

                                                                           My Church Look

 

My Casual look

 

 

 

Thanks for reading everyone and enjoy yourself with family and friends this weekend and do not fail to thank God for everything in your life including the bad moments. If you give him total control of your life, he will turn your sadness into joy. He is there just waiting for everyone to reach out to him and he will never force himself on anyone but will welcome everyone who is ready to come to him with open hands.

 

 

Beauty

Ojo

My-Shopping...When?

Hi beautiful people, we are gradually approaching the end of the year and definitely the most beautiful time  of the year too with all the holidays, shopping and festivities. Thanksgiving is next week; "Yay!!" and as those of us in the US know, this is the official kick-off of the shopping season. I have not started my Christmas shopping yet but I decided that this is the best time to do a blog post on shopping. More so, since I have had these pictures saved on my computer a long time, I felt like this is the best time to upload them on my blog.


My first thought when I uploaded these pictures a year ago on my computer was that I'll never share them with people due to the serious wardrobe malfunction in the pictures but somehow I changed my mind and I am sharing them any way. **Do not ask me why**...:)

So here I am in this pic strolling through the aisle of a department store in heels. Do I always shop in heels or do ladies usually dress up in five inch heels to go shopping? And the answer is "Yes" and "No."

I was on my way to a friend's birthday party with hubby and remembered that I had not completed my shopping for the week and made a dash for the store. We were a little early for the party and had some time to spare so I rushed from aisle to aisle getting toiletries and all the knick knacks I needed not knowing that hubby who was supposed to be waiting for me in the car had followed me into the store and was taking pictures. You can guess I got quite a shock when I bumped into him in the aisle!

I was wearing this little navy blue glitter dress I bought from Tj Maxx with hot pink Jennifer Simpson's clutch and Victoriassecret pumps in a different shade of pink called lingdonberry. It was close to being matchy-matchy but I liked the way the two colors blended together. I also had silver drop ear-rings with pink studs and a black jacket on hand for the sudden change in weather.

                                                                                                                         Hubby and I

          At the Party and yeah, that is all we had to drink; pop! We are not drinkers at all...:)

So to answer the question "When do I shop?" I will say I shop whenever it is convenient for me. On my way back from work  or online. It is something I always do in a hurry and spontaneously most times. I rarely will leave the house dressed up just to go to the store and shop. It is always something I do while trying to get other things done so I always go to places where I can get good deals and quick check-outs. I am a busy-busy mom...:-) I wish you all a happy thanksgiving in advance.

Beauty

Ojo

Black and Green Check..

So, the weather was all nice yesterday as usual and it was actually quite unbelievable because we made it to sixty degrees. It was the perfect weather to deck out in shorts and capris and I did just that! This black and green check blouse from the House of Dereon is one of my favorite blouses because it is casual and yet so dressy. The top part of the blouse which is sheer  is attached to a stretch knit fabric that really acts as a sort of shaper and helps to keep everything nice and tucked in in the waist area...:)

                                         A green pair of heels and simple accessories  completed the look.

I secretly wish the weather would stay this way but I know nature got to take its course. All the seasons work together to give a perfect balance and harmony. I took a break from study this morning to put in some blogging time before getting ready for church service. Also, I have not had time to go visiting other fellow bloggers and to see all the beautiful pictures they have created but I would create time for that soon. Blogging is very relaxing and a very cool hobby and if you are not a writer at heart, you will never understand the benefits of pouring your thoughts out on paper or in this case on a blog. Thanks so much for reading. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

 

 

 

Beauty

Ojo

Birthday Dress

Hi beauty Kins; hope everyone is doing great! This post is all about my birthday dress. My hubby got me this gorgeous black sequin body-con dress from Express for my birthday. Yay!! I know if I had made the purchase myself, black would not have been my first choice because I desperately try to avoid buying black colored outfits these days. I think I have too many black and grey colored clothes and this blog was actually started at the time I started a closet makeover; incorporating color into my closet. Anyways, color aside, I just love this dress!! Aside from animal prints, sequins and glitter are my next thing.

So, after I thanked hubby and all, I decided to take a peek at the Express website to do some investigation on this dress and this is what I found; it comes in two other gorgeous colors- dark raspberry (somewhat dark purple?) and flower pink. Here are the beauties below;

Black body-con sequin Express dress (Front View)

Black body-con sequin Express dress (Back View)

Dark raspberry sequin body-con Express dress

Flower pink sequin body-con Express dress

The dark raspberry would have been my first choice but I love the choice my hubby made and I can't wait to wear this out on a dinner date with him and my sequin and glitter party dress collection is growing. I have a navy blue sequin dress I wore for my first daughter's one year birthday and a gold color glitter one-shoulder dress I wore for my second daughter's one year birthday. Below are pictures of both dresses and you can see an earlier post I did on them here.

 

 

 

So now I have my dress and I do not think I can wait for another baby's one year birthday to wear it..:) and besides, I have not had a birthday party yet although to tell you the truth, I am not even planning to have one. I'm super busy with school. However, I am thinking of how best to accessorize it right now. And of course since the dress is black, accessories have to be a color blast. I am thinking of using the Fushia heels from this Colin Stuart's collection with another Fushia piece; either ear-rings, necklace or a clutch. (Which I currently have in my closet) Or the black heels from this same collection and a bold color clutch in red which I also own already...:) I tried to order the teal color heels also but they sold out so fast in my size and I know they are smiling in hundreds of Fashionistas' closet right now. I always like to shop Victoriassecret shoes because the quality and prices of their shoes are just unbeatable.

 

 

 

 

 

Then there is the Christian Louboutin's Bianca which does not need a second red color accessory to go with it. It can hold its own any time. This can go with the black sequin dress perfectly and with a black clutch and minimal jewelry, I'll be party ready. "Yay!!!"

 

 

 

 

 

The back view is always so exquisite!

 

 

 

 

 

And yes, along with my sequin dress, I also got some cute black lace and Animal print pattern stockings from hubby and some cute silver jewelry all from Express. I just can't wait for that party! Invites anyone???...:)

 

 

 

Oh, did I mention that the dress looks perfectly okay without the satin sash? **obvious right?** Below is a pic I got from the Express Website of a Model wearing the dress without the sash.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, now I have to leave Blogs Ville **Sad Face** and go to the library to put my study hat on. I have a couple of essays and a field report to write and my LSAT is coming up too. **Kisses**

 

 

 

Beauty

Ojo