Face down in a pile of tissue tees?

No- I think not. No relapse here in case you are wondering where I've been- it has NOT been my B&M. It has been a crazy few weeks between work heating-up, my son's 9th birthday, and a funeral out of town to support a good friend who lost her brother way before his time. I can't make sense of it, and no J Crew seems so trivial. As we head into Thanksgiving I am feeling very grateful for my wonderful family and friends. I will be breaking out a very old pair of JC shoes for turkey day- they are grey flannel with square buckles and hubby calls them my pilgrim shoes (I will try to snap an IRL pic on Thursday because they make me laugh).
Here is OOTD:



OOTD by Woobie featuring GAP

I really must be making some progress here and I toot my horn of abstinence for this reason: the JC December catalog arrived last week and I have yet to open it. It feels like I have freed up more time in my day than I care to admit which is a great thing. We'll see how I do as we head into that shop shoppiest time of the year. So what's everyone wearing for Thanksgiving? Any other pilgrim shoes out there?

The Secret Decoder Ring

OK- there is no ring, but for my non- shopping friends supporting me through this, I have had many questions related to the secret language we speak here in blog land (IRL, B&M, IMO, KWIM?) so I would like to take a minute and point them to a wonderful blog- Gigis Gone Shopping http://gigisgoneshopping.blogspot.com/2009/05/vocab-list.html for some additional insight. I look at this as a precursor to the teen texting that I am sure is much closer than I care to admit with my own kids; yes indeed, these are life skills we are building here in blog land. Let's get back to some closet surfing. It was a BEAUTIFUL weekend here in the Midwest- if the thermometer rises above 60 this time of year, out come the shorts, so here is the weekend wear. For taking kids to birthday parties:


11-08-09 by Woobie featuring J Crew


Next up on the weekend agenda was the mother/son hike at my kids' school. Fifty-eight acres of forested fen on a sunny day. We saw a red-tail hawk, lots of deer, and some frogs- much for the kids (and moms) to be excited about and one word comes to mind: GRATITUDE. I am so thankful to be part of this gem of a school. The campus and community are amazing. I am going to go ahead and share my crew gear, despite my slobby look. DaniBP recently posted on the selvedge chambray shirt- she had hers tailored and it looks great (http://danibp.blogspot.com/2009/11/ootd-featuring-review-of-selvedge.html )
So here is my J Crew chambray- I loved it when it was only out for men- and of course I ordered it. They had showed it styled on women in the catalog, but I can't imagine how those toothpicks were sporting it- quite big, but perfect for a mother-son hike.

shirt- Jcrew
turtleneck- JC tissue
pants- JC cords
belt- come on, go ahead and guess
shoes- Chucky T.

DON'T FORGET THE CHUCKS!!


A scene from the hike.


I wrapped-up the weekend with the dreaded change of season wardrobe shuffle. Am I the only one who does this? All linen, shorts, traces of warm weather- packed away. Out came the wool, cords, sweaters, shoes.....And like most things in my life- the project is still hanging out there half-done. Piles of things that need to be dry-cleaned, laundered, put away. It certainly reminded me that I have TOO MUCH, and I have to say right now at this very minute, I am feeling very OK with the no shopping (Nicole- no snickers from you- I will post on that tomorrow!).

I really am curious- who out there does the wardrobe seasonal shuffle? Or are you blessed with that SUPER big closet? Or even better- maybe you live somewhere warm year round -SIGH. Tell me about it.

Tis Better to Give than Receive

I'm a little behind on my OOTDs, so let me try to catch-up from the past week. Monday, jammies, skip. Tuesday my battery wasn't working yet, so here is the polyvore:

OOTD by
My wool capris are from a few seasons ago, but I see JCrew is offering the same exact style this season. I own multiple pair in multiple colors (they used to make navy as well- not out this year). Anyway it is a year round wool and I love them. Wednesday I actually worked out and then worked at home in my spandex gear so I will spare you a picture of that! Thursday was a belated bday sushi lunch with friends at work and it was YUMMY. For the occasion I brought out the double serge pencil skirt. I love this skirt- so comfy, another item that I wish I had bought in bulk because the colors are looking great this season (as evidenced by FFM's recent sets with the skirt in Dusty blossom.) This is the ochre from last season snagged on clearance. I know I am wearing the Molly's into the ground (they are my new neutral shoe) but I have 6 months of winter ahead of me, so I am getting some good wear out of them before it hits.

Shirt- J Crew hammered silk blouse

Sweater- Old Navy

Skirt- J Crew double serge pencil

Shoes- J Crew Molly peeps

Necklace- Pearls from hubby's last business trip to China

And let's talk about how I'm feeling. I stood at the shopping fork in the road as I shopped for my first gift with the personal ban on. My girlfriend's bday present- she likes clothes- I could go to Ann Taylor, Gap..... or she likes wine. I don't think I am ready to set foot in a clothing store, so instead it was Riedel stemware (after last weekend one might make the argument that I should stay away from the wine gear too, ha ha!). I must admit- it felt good standing at the register. Now why is that? It got me thinking about the holiday gift buying season ahead and I need to start working on my strategy before I turn into gift giver gone wild. I'm going to ponder that one- I'll get back to you.

Who's started shopping? Do you make a list or just hit the stores for inspiration?

Mommy, I think it says J CREW

Said my sweet little girl as she peered out the door to see what the man in brown left for us. Whoo hoo! Who needs kindergarten, my baby's been schooled in J Crew, and with this statement I am going to go ahead and declare her a reader. Well, there they are, my last boxes from my final days as a shopper. I remain shop free, but I am not going to lie, things aren't as rosy and fun as they were last week. Let's move on to my closet shopping. I started out strong, but my IRL streak stopped at day one. Ready for my dog ate my homework line? My battery is dead, I can't find the back-up, nor the charger. The last time I saw either was our leaf-peeping trip to WI. Have no fear- I will find them, I just can't promise when (and those who know me understand it could be after the shopping ban is lifted). My dear friend Tinker snapped a pic for me on Thursday but we had technical difficulties downloading so it is back to polyvore. Let me share my Ema inspired outfit for the Halloween festivities at the kids' school.

Halloween Outfit by Woobie featuring J Crew

I would LOVE to share my Saturday night outfit- we attended a wedding in the city and I pulled out a Diane Von Furstenburg from a few years back. I can't find a pic of it anywhere but you're going to have to trust me on this one- cute. I had a little bit of a shopping dilemma when it came to the hosiery, because per my rules, hosiery= inbounds. I of course found a $50 pair of gold toned nylons at Neiman Marcus and it just didn't feel right; in the spirit of living simplistically, I instead purchased a $3.99 pair from my local drugstore. sigh. And since I am on a roll with the confessions, I'll move on to the rest of my evening. It was SO MUCH FUN- hubby and I had a chance to visit with a lot of old, dear friends that we seldom see. I was so wrapped up in my social butterflying that I lost track of my vino intake (you know where this is going).......and somehow I turned back the clock from 41 years to approximately 21 yo. Why bother with this detail- well I thought it might help you understand that Sunday and Monday I spent recovering in my jammies (41 year olds do not bounce back that quickly) so there will be no IRLs until work tomorrow.

The good news- I am currently being entertained by the book No Impact Man by Colin Beavan. My good friend Lynne gave it to me in an attempt to lessen the blow of my shop free life- the glass if way more than half-full as I am reading this. For those that have not read it- the gist- an NYC resident spends a year making zero net impact on the environment. Not only do they NOT SHOP, but things such as toilet paper and electricity are also given up along the way. So crew free really isn't that bad right? Has anybody read the book? If so, did it motivate you to change anything in your life?