and layers it on.

Another cold weather in Colorado look...a.k.a put many warm things on your body, cinch with a belt and call it a day.

dress: J.Crew sweater: Madewell tights & belt: J.Crew socks: Madewell 

boots: MICHAEL Michael Kors necklace: J.Crew (similar)

to be warm and toasty.

After a very chilly day at the office on Monday, I decided to pull out all of my warmest and coziest clothes to keep my teeth from chattering on Tuesday. Enter my pleather leggings, this long sweater dress and an animal print scarf- mission accomplished.

sweater: H&M pants: H&M scarf: J.Crew shoes: Calvin Klein necklace: BR

to winterize her favorite skirt.

My goal for this winter is to still wear my go-to warmer weather pieces by layering the crap out of them. I love that cozy, chunky sweaters and turtlenecks are big for this season, makes it much easier to achieve my goal. Here's my first winterizing attempt (although I'll have to put tights with this when it gets really cold!), photographed by the lovely Charlene Ondak:

sweater: J.Crew shirt: Lands' End Canvas skirt: J.Crew (sold out!) booties: Loft (last year)  

watch: Marc by Marc Jacobs bracelets: DY sunglasses: Ray-Ban

and is a repeat offender.

Yes, I wore this sweater out on Saturday. Yes, I wore again to work on Sunday. It's not gross because it didn't technically touch my skin the first day.

I'm just loving this comfy knit (surprisingly soft for H&M) and I'm especially loving my new red pants from J.Crew (wool cafe capri that's selling like hotcakes- get 'em while they're hot, ladies).

sweater: H&M. pants: J.Crew. shoes: J.Crew. sunglasses: Ray Ban.

to continue her love affair with the sweater dress.

I'm pretty sure I went shopping like 6 different times for my cozy sweater project. I kept changing my mind about what kind of look I wanted- I loved how the inspiration picture mixed dressy, silky bottoms with big knit tops, but I couldn't find anything quite right. I finally came across an off-white long sweater with tan elbow pads that was so cute and a great price- $35 from H&M. I bought it thinking I could find a skirt to go with it, but ended up back at H&M the next day to get another, thinner sweater dress to put underneath. This one was $35 too, so I only spent $70 of my $100 budget! Woohoo, go me, I'm the winner!! I know I'll be wearing these a lot; a sweater dress, tights and boots is my go-to outfit in the fall and winter.

The rainy weather I was complaining about in my last post has disappeared, and it has been replaced by the gorgeous, sunny, cool autumn weather that makes me want to race to an apple orchard to pick apples to eat as many fresh cinnamon and sugar donuts as humanly possible. I wore this outfit yesterday over to a friend's house, and it transitioned beautifully to an impromptu steak dinner with my wonderful in-laws and hubby. Pictures are compliments of Mr. lauren goes shopping (I learned that if you feed him approximately 6 beers, 2 glasses of wine and a whiskey, he LOVES taking blog photos).

dresses: H&M. necklace: BR. shoes: Ann Taylor Loft. bag: my Lou baby.

to get cozy.

Fall has arrived in Chicago. Unfortunately it's not the crisp, colorful and fresh autumn that we all love, it's the cold and wet one. The kind that makes you want to curl up in a big and comfy sweater with a glass of wine (one must be warmed from the inside and out). With these thoughts in my head, I was tinkering around on the InStyle website and found this top trend, big knits:

This was a no-brainer for my next project. There's no better investment for a girl in Chicago than a warm sweater, and I know I'll be thanking myself for this one come January. I've set the budget at $100, and me and my bestie are hitting the shops together tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!