Style Idol: Blair Waldorf

I was about 10ish years older than the target audience when Gossip Girl aired. Maybe more like 15ish. But, I was as big a superfan of Blair Waldorf as any teenager in a headband. I loved her take-no-shit attitude, her confidence-bred-from-insecurity, her hair (that one's on you, Leighton Meester), and her fabulous mix of cutesy, ladylike, preppy, and NYC style. 

I was living in Manhattan when the show first aired, in the Upper East Side, though in an apartment in hospital housing instead of a chic brownstone. I was only a few blocks from "New York's elite" however, and *my* apartment overlooked the East River. I watched the show religiously, in between dashing off to explore New York and my new single life, and window-shopped all the amazing stores from which Blair regularly toted overfilled bags.

A bargain-hunting fashion lover, I had snatched up an adorable Marc by Marc Jacobs Alessandro Bow dress marked way way down. Probably from Gilt.com. A simple A-line dress, but with a bold orange-red color on the bottom, with the huge distinctive bow tied across the chest, it was a statement-making outfit for work but still cute enough to wear out. I had literally owned it for less than two weeks, when Blair crossed my screen wearing my dress. My brother (who was my roommate at the time) was mostly indifferent to this, but it was like being blessed by my style pope. She did look much better than I did, but I wore it first. 

I still love the dress. I wore it in my work ID photo. I wore it again today, 7 years later. It's a rare quirky cutesy dress that doesn't look foolish on a 39 year old. 

Blair+Chuck4Eva

Saturday with Coffee Musings

Trying new, undiscovered brands is exciting. I'm hoping to make it to SCHAI, a Seattle-based clothing line by Suk Chai, before I leave for vacation. My closet is incredibly varied, so even though I do not usually think of myself in minimalist, angled, Asian-influenced clothing, I want to give it a try, She has a lovely, well tailored sheer skirt which she layered under a more traditional knee-length pencil skirt which may be exactly my speed.

There are a few brands, though, that I cannot make myself buy, even when tempted by a gorgeous piece, simply because of their names. That may sound silly, but the idea of wearing an amazing outfit and having to tell someone that it was by ACNE, T Bags, Nasty Gal, etc. Am I a prude? 

Throwback Thursday: My wedding

I'm only throwing back to the second wedding. The first also had a gorgeous dress, but that's a different story.

My second wedding was atypical even for a second wedding. I'd been reluctant to consider remarrying, after a particularly brutal and bitter divorce. In fact, we had even chosen to have a child before any decision about marriage. When I was pregnant, though, we started to get the questioning from family. It was initially funny to joke about baby daddies, and to claim I refused to marry my sweetheart only because he wanted me to change my name (Still does. Still won't.)

But in the end, we decided to get married: partially for practical reasons (insurance, wills), partially because I gradually overcame my fear of legal attachment to another person, and partially because PRETTY DRESS. 

No offense to Mr. Emerson, but the opposite of this

We bought the rings together. He stashed them away for months, until I thought maybe he had changed his mind, until his parents were in babysitting and we had a date night. We ate at the restaurant where we had our first date, he popped the question, we updated our facebook statuses, and went to the movie. No wasting a kid-free night.

Vintage Art Deco diamond and sapphire ring in platinum

Can I admit something? I had purchased a gift certificate to Luly Yang, a local designer, at a school auction two years earlier, and considered a wedding dress as one of the potential options. Clearly, at heart, I was still a romantic. We decided to elope. I wanted a dress that was genuinely rewearable, and since we attend charity events and the ballet often, it actually would get reworn.

I arrived at my first appointment armed with a Pinterest board and browsed the options, trying on different dresses and deciding what suited me best. Some options were just not suited to my curvy petite frame (especially while breastfeeding.) Sleeves were a must (it was couture, after all, so worth choosing something where fit was important) as was color. I selected a full skirt with layers of tulle (all white except a single pale blue layer), a silk faille bodice in stone blue with a sweetheart neckline, covered by a long sleeved V-neck "Luly Love" lace top, and a duchesse satin belt in dark navy. 

 I finally got her to stop calling me "Miss Shannon"

We eloped on the anniversary of our first date to the Willows Inn at Lummi Island, which was once ranked by the New York Times as one of ten restaurants worth a plane ride. It was 3 hours drive including ferry for us. The wedding was officiated by my husband's uncle,  a minister in Seattle. He and his wife were the only attendants, other than our toddler and my older son. 

We then roped them in for babysitting while we feasted at the restaurant (I have pictures of every course, but that's yet another story.) 

Shoes also by Luly Yang - sparkly!

I have worn the dress again, last year at the Pacific Northwest Ballet First Look Gala, and we even got our picture in Seattle Met magazine, probably because of my good-looking husband. There are some things I would change about the dress in retrospect - the lace was a little bulky given my, ahem, ample bosom - but I love it so much and loved knowing that my dress was unique.