on a blustery day.

Shame on me for not wearing my bright purple tights today with this Kate Spade dress- I froze my tush off in the cold Chicago wind. Luckily, I overdosed on the hair spray this morning so my bun didn't move an inch.

dress, shoes and necklace: Kate Spade (all sold out)

in her pearls.

Pearls, even if they are from F21, instantly make me feel like a lady. Thanks again to Charlene for taking these photos!
 

dress (worn as top): Kate Spade skirt: H&M (recent, same one I bought my sister for this post).  

necklace: F21 (similar here) shoes: Calvin Klein bracelets: DY. watch: Marc by Marc Jacobs.

to dress it down.

The weekend after our wedding (back in June), we had an event at Rick's country club. I obviously chose "country club wife" as my outfit theme and headed over to Kate Spade- the holy grail of preppy, chic, trendy and generally adorable clothing. I tried on every single dress in the store, no joke, and ended up with a black, pleated skirt number that had some awesome detailing on the neckline. Apparently, country club wives are a little saucy these days, and my friend and I ended up being the most conservatively dressed ladies at the dance (not to mention the youngest. My friend wore Lilly Pulitzer, by the way).

Anyway, I had every intention of wearing this dress again over the summer and I failed miserably. It waited patiently in its bright pink garment bag to be taken out to another party, but the cost per wear remained embarrassingly high. Last week, I decided to cut the poor thing some slack and take it out for a spin. I wore my trusty chambray button-down underneath and a casual skinny belt to dress it down.

dress: Kate Spade. shirt: J.Crew. belt: J.Crew. shoes: Cole Haan. bracelets: DY.

me & my handsome hubby at the party (ignore my red wine teeth and farmer's tan).