Outfit of the Day: Fancy Birthday Dinner

Salut Mes Amie

Earlier this week on Monday Tim and I went out for a special fancy dinner to celebrate a friend's birthday. We went out in a big group for this get together. It was nice getting to celebrate with my friend and getting to see a lot of our other friends as well.


Outfit of the Day:

For the day's festivities I decided to wear my Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal. I love the colors on this dress and love how pretty the print is. I paired this with a light turquoisey-blue cardigan I got from Target some years back and a pair of Chelsea Crew seafoam green heels which I got from Modcloth for a great price during their end of the year sale last year. For a finishing touch I wore a pair of light blue tear drop earrings and wore a peacock feather hair piece.

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Front View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Front View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Side View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Front View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Front View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Side View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Close Up

Outfit of the Day: First Three Outfits Of The Year

I hope you all had a wonderful New Years celebration!

After my flurry of posts around Christmas time I've been a bit quiet on the blog. It was just too good to enjoy the peace and quiet at home, vegging out to Netflix, and even being super productive one day cleaning out the garage! Anyhow, now I have a bit of catch up to do!

My outfits are from a couple days after Christmas going out for Chilli's for lunch, New Years Eve spending a quiet and cold evening on a friend's sail boat on the San Francisco Bay to watch the fireworks, and from New Years Day going out for lunch at a new Italian place nearby that Tim and I haven't tried yet.


Outfit of the Day:
A Few Days After Christmas:

Going out for Chilli's for lunch a few days after Christmas I decided to wear my Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Catcus Rouge. I thought it would be fitting as it has cactus all over and has a strong southwestern feel to it. Not ready to shed the Christmas feel just yet I dressed it up with lots of red: a red overcoat from Target I got a couple years ago, a red cardigan I got from Nordstrom Rack also a couple years, and red velvet mary janes I got recently from ebay. To keep warm I also paired this with beige Vera Wang sweater tights I got from Kohl's a couple years ago. For a finishing touch, to continue with the southwester theme, I paired this with a pair of multi stone small hoop earrings which include turquoise, a stone often associated with the desert of the southwest.

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Front View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Side View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Front View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Front View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Side View

Trashy Diva Bonita dress in Cactus Rouge- Close Up

New Years Eve:

For New Years Eve Tim and I got invited to a sunset sail on one of our friend's sail boats. It was a low key boat party with a few friends where we stopped at Jack London Square for dinner just before continuing to sail to San Francisco to watch the fireworks show on the water. I knew this was going to be a super cold event being outside on the water so I was sure to dress ultra warm!

For this event I picked out my Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal. To keep extra warm I paired this with black fleece lined tights I got a couple weeks ago from Nordstrom Rack, black fleece lined velvet mary janes I got from Urban Outfitters a couple years ago, a black cardigan from the Gap from several years ago, a large wool Betsey Johnson overcoat I got a few years ago from Nordstrom Rack and a thick black wool beret by San Diego Hat Company which I got from Amazon last year. While on the boat I was sure to wear my gloves as well! For a finishing touch I wore a sparkly pair of blue crystal earrings I've had since high school.

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Front View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Side View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Front View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Front View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Side View

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Peacock Royal- Close Up

New Years Day:

On New Years Day Tim took me out to lunch at a new Italian place in town which I've been wanting to try. Originally the plan was to go out for dinner and I had a much fancier dress planned for the occasion (my peacock Lilian by Trashy Diva). But when the day rolled around I wasn't much in a super fancy mood. Instead, I decided it was the perfect day to dress cozy and wear a pair of separates I've been wanting to pair together!

I got the idea to wear this dog sweater paired with a skirt when I saw Lauren of Prefer to be Demure, a blogger I just recently started following, wear one of her dog sweaters paired with a skirt in her post, Woof from some weeks ago. I got this sweater from my mom several years ago. My mom is so cute. I paired this with a black skirt by Steady, grey tights I got just a couple weeks ago from Nordstrom, burgundy and white Chelsea Crew heels, a wool cape I got from Modcloth last year, the Charming on the Quad Cape. For a finishing touch I wore this with a maroon beret I got from Forever 21 last year and a pair of sparkly silver earrings I got from a local retro style shop, Vintage Alley. I was surprised and happy to find that these earrings went so perfectly with grey.

Modcloth Charming on the Quad cape with Steady skirt- Front View

Modcloth Charming on the Quad cape with Steady skirt- Side View

Gifted Dog Sweater with black Steady skirt- Front View

Gifted Dog Sweater with black Steady skirt- Front View

Gifted Dog Sweater with black Steady skirt- Side View

Vintage Alley earrings- Close Up

Matching Your Dresses To Your Teaware Part 11: Golden Fleur De Lis

 It's a fleur de lis and holly pairing today! 

Well there's no actual holly anywhere on the blog post today but I wanted to feature this pairing just before the Christmas holiday because to me gold is a classic if not a staple elegant addition to anyone's Christmas color scheme.

Heart of Haute's Monique dress in gold Fleur de Lis found at Cats Like Us blows my mind! I love the metallic all over fleur de lis pattern in this print. Together with the classic boatneck and a-line styling of the Monique dress, this dress makes for a beautiful and elegant dress that I think would be perfect for Christmas morning!  This dress comes with a matching self fabric tie belt which can be tied into a dainty bow in either the front or back of the dress.

Heart of Haute Monique dress in Fleur de Lis print, photo: http://shop.catslikeus.com/products/heart-of-haute-fleur-de-lis-monique-dress

 

This elegant dress pairs perfectly with the Spode Fleur de Lys teapot.

Spode Fleur de Lys Teapot, photo: http://www.bowlcompany.com/ViewMoreInfo.aspx?ProductId=129961

Spode is a longtime standing company that dates back to 1770. The name is synonymous with quality teaware and dinnerware products. While they have many pieces in their collection that exude class and elegance, their Fleur de Lys teapot really stands out as a tour de force piece! This teapot found at the Bowl Company features a distinctively fluted Chelsea shape, the term which defines all the numerous embossed ridges along the body of the teapot and lid. The details on this teapot do not stop there! The fluted Chelsea shape extend all the way to the knob of the tea lid throughout the body of the spout, and can also be seen along the handle of the teapot. While this is an indisputably elegant teapot, what I personally love most about this teapot is the all over gold fleur de lys pattern accompanied by the filigree detail at the edges of the lid and top of teapot.

The all over fleur de lys print in the teapot coordinates perfectly with the all over gold fleur de lis print in Heart of Haute's Monique dress. And that they are both in metallic gold make this a quintessential pairing perfect for your most bedecked Christmas holiday.

A Good Peacock is Hard to Find

"'What a beauti-ful birrrrd!' the priest murmured." The Displaced Person, Flannery O'Conner

I love peacocks. Mind you, not as much as I love cats, but I do love peacocks.

I used to live in an apartment complex that had tons of these majestic birds prancing about, singing their call. I miss those birds. So, I'm extremely happy now when I can find peacock things that help remind me of just how beautiful those birds are. Last month I wrote about a peacock teapot I got in A Peacock for All Occasions. And now, just a month later, I found the most beauti-ful peacock dress!

I got this dress from Cats Like Us. I was fortunate enough to be on their email mailing list and again fortunate enough to open my email within the same hour they sent it out which said that they just got in more of these peacock dresses from Heart of Haute. Then once again I was fortunate enough to be able to be one of the lucky people to grab this dress in my size before they sold out. And boy, were these dresses selling out fast! They only had this dress up on their website a few days the first time around before they sold out, then the second time they stocked this dress, they only had most sizes for the first day! After the first day they only had this dress in xsmall. Though if you are pining over this dress like I was fear not because Heart of Haute will be restocking this dress and anticipate to restock it sometime in May.

And now, on to the review!

The Heart of Haute Monique Peacock Royal dress is a fitted A-line dress with a boatneck neck line and matching tie belt. It has a hidden side-zip though no back closure. While the lack of a back closure could create a bit of a nuisance to get in and out of the dress, it ensures there are no back seams on this dress that could unintentionally make breaks in the print of the fabric on the top back side. The fabric is 100% cotton which is my fabric of choice for easy care. It has a nice heavy weight that gives the dress substance and gives the skirt of the dress a great flair! The colors of this dress are extremely vibrate without being overbearing. The teal, blue, green, and mustard yellow colors really stand out against the black background of this print. And, if that wasn't enough, metallic gold adorns the peacocks as well as the flowers throughout the print. As I've mentioned before in other reviews of Heart of Haute's dresses, I am continuously surprised at the great fit of their dresses. It's almost like each of the dresses I buy of theirs was made specifically for me. For reference I am 38"-30"-38", 5'3" and as usual I bought this dress in Large. I did find that the arm holes did feel a little tight in this style and felt it rubbed under the arms a bit but I think if I sized up the dress would probably fit a tad too big. In any case, this is a beautiful dress which was well worth the wait as well as its weight in gold!

"'So beauti-ful,' the priest said. 'A tail full of suns,'" The Displaced Person, Flannery O'Conner

Heart of Haute Monique Peacock Royal Dress- Front View

Heart of Haute Monique Peacock Royal Dress- Side View

Heart of Haute Monique Peacock Royal Dress- Back View

Heart of Haute Monique Peacock Royal Dress- Close Up of Print

Heart of Haute Monique Peacock Royal Dress- Close Up with Earrings

I couldn't resist putting these two things together for this review. How perfect are these earrings with this dress? I got these earrings last summer at the annual Fremont Festival of the Arts from a seller at the festival, Melissa Huntsman. I even bought these earrings with peacocks in mind when I saw them!