Girl and the Goat

Last Monday, two of my best buddies and I went to the Girl and the Goat in the West Loop of Chicago--  Although the food was to die for, I think its big claim to fame is its chief, Stephanie Izard, winner of Top Chief's fourth season (and I saw her! eek!). I know I was excited to be there! We had to make the reservation two months in advance-- I know, its that kind of restaurant.

The food was excellent; its served like tapas so we each ordered three dishes to share between us. Everything was exceptionally savory. The only dish I wasn't a huge fan of was the lamb tartar. I don't know, there's just something about raw meat that is not appealing to me...Anywhoo, to add the to great evening was the surprise arrival of Rham Emanual, Chicago's mayor! I don't care what your politics are, its pretty cool to see someone with "celebrity" status walk through the door right next to you...with body guards.

 

Here is what I wore to the dinner (I had to look good for my ladies!)

 After dinner. I should've snapped a quick photo of Rahm!

(Yes, this photo is blurry. I'm working on the timed picture process, so we'll see how I improve!)

Belt ~ Thrifted

Sweater ~ Gap (sale)

Dress~ Forever 21 (gift)

Pants ~ Crosstrader ($16?)

I have to comment about my pants. They are actually stretchy cotton and, oh so comfy!

Shoes ~ Payless ($20)

Hope you have a swell Thursday!

السلام!

A Few Things...

Tragedy struck two weeks ago. My favorite pair of Gap skinny jeans ripped. Right by my crotch...lovely. I didn’t feel it rip, didn’t heard it rip, so it was a great shock when, as I was sitting cross legged on the floor, glanced down and noticed the huge hole! I. was.devastated. My heart sank to the floor, the only sounds I could emit from my mouth were little squeaks of horror and sadness.

Now, I have always believed that if you don’t know how to sew, make friends with someone who does, better yet, make it someone in your family. Fortunately, my mother is an incredible seamstress, a true artist with the needle and thread. Unfortunately, she lives in Tucson, hundreds of mile from my home.

As I was trying to solve my dilemma (I was seriously thinking of bringing my jeans to Tucson-- I’ll be there today!), when my adopted sewing queen came to the rescue! For the past month, my friend Talia’s parents have been in the city to be present for the birth of their second grandchild (no, not Talia’s). When I mentioned to Talia what had happened to my jeans (because I knew she would understand my devastation, as she also has a love affair with her Gap skinny jeans) she suggested her mom fix them. Ta-dah! Genius! Excellent idea! A wave of relief washed over me; my pants were going to be saved, they would be fixed by the time I went to Tucson and I wouldn't have to drop $60 that I don’t have at Gap. Hallelujah!

 Like new! Thanks Momma Schlamowitz!

On to other musings: the state of my jewelry box.

All of my necklaces are hanging neatly on my wall. My earrings on the other hand, well, they are in utter chaos.

I wish I could say this is organized chaos, but its not. When I’m looking for smaller earrings, I have to take out the larger earrings just to find them. Any thoughts on how I could organize my earrings in a civilized manner?

The Diamond Age

Well it’s been a week since I posted. Look at me not winning. (Sorry, just had to get that in there somewhere) Honestly, the icky weather we’ve been having lately took a toll on my motivation and I just didn’t have it in me to dress well last week. Sweatshirts it was for me! So to get back on track I think I’ll start the week with a book review. I recently finished this book and although its not particularly long, it did take me a while to get through it. I think that is because the style and genre were different from what I normally read. But I’ll get to that in a bit, lets start from the beginning.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Someone dear to me once said that reading a Neal Stephenson book is like getting a snapshot of time in the futuristic world he creates. There really is no beginning or end, just the middle. From the first page, the reader is thrown into the technologically overrun future Earth, where countries no longer exist, and people live in phyles (or clans). There seems to be an expectation that the reader should know this world and the way it works, which can cause some confusion at the start. However, once the reader settles in, one finds that Stephenson’s world is not as hard to comprehend as one might have thought.

Although the book weaves through many characters, the main character, Nell, is a strong heroine. Nell grows into a smart, tough young woman by reading a primer she acquired at the age of four. Through the primer, the reader and Nell are taken through a story that teaches Nell how to learn, analyze, and develop survival skills that help her in the real world. As the book follows Nell from age four to sixteen, subsequently far too much happens for me to give an adequate summary. However, I’m going to spoil the ending by telling you that Nell becomes Queen of the Mouse Army. Sounds bad ass, right? Yeah, that’s cuz it is. You should read this book to find out what the hell the Mouse Army is, and how Nell ends up their leader.

Coming full circle, let’s discuss the style and genre of the novel. I mentioned before that Stephenson’s style of writing threw me off at the beginning. Stephenson writes in a way that leaves no mercy for the reader; the reader had better keep up or she is going to get left behind. However, once you get into the rhythm of the story, you won’t want to put the book down. The genre is also out of my usual territory of literature. The novel is science fiction, but not in an outer space type of way. Stephenson focuses on nanotechnology and how its advancement has made all other technology obsolete. Food, clothing, furniture, you name it, is made from a single machine. Stephenson’s imaginative use of nanotechnology is impressive, however it wasn’t what pulled me through the story. I was more interested in Nell and her experiences, than the technology that was included along the way.

If you are looking to read something different, I highly recommend this book.

Easter Outfit

I hope you had a wonderful Easter, Passover, or just a nice, relaxing Sunday. This year I was invited over to the Homsy residence for Easter dinner. I was very excited to spend the afternoon and evening eating delicious Middle Eastern food and conversing with some quality people. At the moment, my belly is about to burst from all the stuffed grape leaves, ham, kibba and kinaffe I ate. So worth it.

For this occasion, I decided to wear a new Spring dress I bought from Target, on sale. Woot!

My very close friend, Annie, took this picture, so no awkward photo in from of the mirror this time. YAY!

I love this print! The colors remind me of Spring. Speaking of, Spring needs to get here already!

The black sweater I also bought from Target on sale for $13. Yeah baby! The cropped sleeves will be perfect for the Spring and Summer, when it finally decides to get here...

The shoes~ Jeffery Campbell. I <3 them.

 

I honestly can't remember where I bought the black belt....oh well.

Until next time! 

السلام!

My new Converse

In high school I was that kid that wore Converse. Not only that, but they were Kelly green Converse. Not only that, I wore them with Care Bear shoe laces. Oh yes, Care. Bear. laces. I was most definitely at the height of fashion...not. My junior (or maybe it was my senior?) year of high school I switched to black Converse. Perhaps I was trying to be more serious? Who knows. It's been several years since then that I've actually worn a pair of Converse sneakers. But recently I'd been getting this desire to own a pair once again. By complete happenstance, I was at DSW the other day with my girl Sarah (Second City Slicker) trying to find shoes for her wedding. We didn't find what we were looking for, so we decided to check out the clearance rack, and low-and-behold a pair of black Converse, size nine for 40% off, was staring right at me! I couldn't believe my luck!

A few days later, I wore this outfit to work. 

 I love how the top and bottom portions of this outfit blend together to make a sophisticated but casual look.

Everyone keeps telling me I need to scruff up my Converse, but I think I'll keep the whites white for a little longer. 

 Converse~ DSW $26

Soon enough, and if you continue to follow this blog, you will begin to see my obsession with owls. I'm not sure how I became infatuated with these adorable birds, but I love them, and I love them as a part of my wardrobe. Over the past few months, I've seen owls everywhere I shop, which is fantastic, but horrible at the same time because I want every owl thing I see! Recently, I purchased this owl necklace from ModCloth. I thought it was a nice touch to my outfit.

GAH! So cute!

Moving on...I love this turtle neck because it has short sleeves, which makes layering easy and comfortable. I hate when long sleeves get bunched up under sweaters. 

Turtle neck~ Forever21, but a hand-me-down from a friend.

I haven't worn this sweater in a while so it was nice to incorporate it in this outfit. Because I worry that it might look very baby doll-esk, I like pairing it with darker colors. 

Sweater~ H&M

 And that is Freya's rump in the photo. I didn't have the heart to move her. 

Oh, and my jeans are from Gap, FYI.

Happy Easter! 

السلام!

P.S. I still own those green Converse. I've saved them for the occasional 80s party, where they are always a hit.

You know you love them.

Feels like Fall

This week has been chock-full of crappy weather. :(

While I'm peeved I must wait to wear my "springy" clothing, even though it is APRIL, it has given me a chance to put together another outfit that matches my rain boots. Yes, I like matching...but I'm working on that.

Here is what I wore to work on Wednesday.

Freya seems pretty interested in what I'm doing.  

I just had to add a picture of her enjoying her resting place on my DSW and Crate and Barrel Outlet bags. Usually she's a plastic bag type of gal, but she seemed pretty content on those paper bags. 

Aside from my awesome rain boots, I want to highlight the earrings I wore. Sometimes accessories can make or brake the outfit and I think these earrings were the icing on the cake.  I got them from UO on sale. I love buying things on sale. It makes me feel good and I know it makes my momma proud. 

Are these not the cutest owl earrings you have EVER seen?! Every time I see them, they put a smile on my face and they were a big hit at the office.

Speaking of sales, the shirt I wore I got on sale at Gap for $6. I don't think I've ever been so happy at the Gap cash register before.

Lastly, the sweater I got as a Christmas present from a very good friend :) 

We were shopping at Target together and I was pretty broke at the time. She knew I really wanted this sweater, as I had expressed wanting to add a brown one to my wardrobe for some time. So she got it for me as my Christmas present. I was so happy :D

You can see me wearing my rain boots, as well as these jeans, here.

السلام!

Snow in April...ugh.

Well folks, this week I woke up to see this outside my window. That’s right, that’s snow...in April. 

This put a wrench in the cute outfit I had planned for that day, so I ended up wearing this.

Casual and warm. I refuse to wear my snow boots in April so I wore my rain boots, which I adore. 

Rain boots~ Urban Outfitters. 

I'm also wearing my new favorite pair of pink pearl earrings that I purchased from Send the Trend, Christian Siriano's latest project.

The rest:

Skinny jeans from Gap. Gray thermal, I think J.C. Penny. Abercrombie Sweatshirt- hand-me-down from a friend (I do not endorse buying clothing with the label on the outside, hence this is the only Aby article of clothing I “own”). 

Stay warm!

Peace.