Weekend Review

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers and to all of you who may not be a Mother in name, but mother others to make their lives better. I wish I could be as eloquent as Lissa of Humble Pie, but I'm not, so I will send you over to her blog to read her post in honor of Mother's Day, I Love Being Your Mama. It is truly beautiful, inspirational, and, of course, tear-inducing. So to my wonderful children (the 2 2-legged kids, and 1 4-legged kid), I'll just say "Ditto."

Let's catch up, shall we? I really took an online break this weekend. On Saturday, 3-Penny Princess hosted a tea for the DC J Crew Aficionadas. It truly lived up to all expectations. It was absolutely lovely. A gorgeous day. Beautiful setting. Fantastic company. These ladies are so amazing. It was so great to see old friends and to meet some new ones. The tea and goodies were just divine. The garden was so beautiful. I am a total loser and did *not* bring my camera, so head over to see 3-Penny Princess' or Slastena's blog to see pics. Maybe next time. Hey, the big fat SLR just did not fit into the cutie-pie J Crew rattan clutch! (although just about everything else does)

Update - Summerilla and Cloggsy have both posted their pics. They were both just lovely and I'm so glad I got to meet them!!

I ditched my planned outfit last minute as it was so humid, so I went with an AT Loft black shift dress (soon to be replaced by its fresher, woven twin at J Crew so that it will last longer) but mostly J Crew accessories - twisted crystal + fireball necklaces, rattan clutch, Joley flats, and the bouquet cardi. I did not, in fact, wear the hat as I just wasn't feeling it that afternoon. But oh, I should have when we were outside as my nose was a little pink that evening. (And I am such a sunscreen Nazi that I really am appalled at myself.)

Polyvore set for Tea:


What I Really Wore to Tea today - 5/9/09 by HeidiGblog featuring J Crew dresses

I wish I could have stayed longer at tea but my parents came up for the weekend so I needed to head back home and meet up with them. Hubby cooked filet on the grill. We just chilled out on the patio. And I got to road test the J Crew Dressy Strapless Dress I was posting about a week and a half ago. Final verdict? It was way comfy. A perfect piece to slip into for hanging out. For me, an excellent buy, but I need to alter the removable strap because it's just too long for me. In other words, there isn't that much there for it to hold up. And yes, I was barefoot the entire rest of the day...and it was good. It was my goal and goals are important, right?

Polyvore for later on Saturday:



What I *Really* Wore After the DC JCA Tea by HeidiGblog featuring J Crew dresses

Mother's Day started out with breakfast in bed (chocolate donut - yum, I love the ones that are yellow with the plastic-chocolate coating - but only if they have been chilled). Later in the morning, shrimp & grits, asparagus, and strawberries for Brunch, cooked by Hubby, of course. Hubby & kiddies surprised me with Wii Fit for Mother's Day (no, it wasn't a veiled insult; I had asked for it for Xmas). Speaking of veiled insults, when I was pregnant with E, I got a new digital scale for Mother's Day. Totally by request. I was like "after I have this baby and start trying to lose weight, I want to know if I've even lost 1 pound because that will motivate me." I'm such a numbers girl. But I always love telling people about the Mother's Day scale because they usually look so shocked and appalled. hehehehe.

I say surprise because we had just spent $1400 getting a new A/C for my car the day before so I thought that was my Mother's Day present. And like Dina said yesterday, "I've been in a car without A/C with kids in 90-degree heat. It's worth every penny!" Plus I got a lovely poem that M wrote in his class, and E made one of those plates with flower petals stapled/glued on that list different things she'll do for me. I opted for "wash your car" today, so she, M & hubby did a total clean out of the inside. You should have seen the bag full of stuff that hubby brought it - every nook & cranny was emptied, including the glove box & console. Outside of car was already clean...which for $1400 at the dealership, I would bloody well hope!

It's too bad there wasn't a "I will change my attitude and stop being grumpy" petal because I would have totally cashed that one in. What can I say - kiddies spent the night in the basement with Hubby as a special treat, and so they could do the breakfast in bed thing for me & my mom this morning...but they stayed up way too late, so I had 2 tired grumpy kids this evening. They went to bed early, so here's hoping tomorrow morning is not a total disaster. Nothing's better than having the health room tech call you and say "E told me that you said she should come to school and if she's not feeling well, she can come to the Health room" and me replying "I tell her that 3 days out of 5." I will note that since she started using the alarm on her clock, she has been better. But I'm not counting my chickens for tomorrow morning until they hatch themselves out of bed.

So I wore what I had originally planned for yesterday, since it was cooler today. I finally am wearing the henna tee that I obtained in the JCA weekly exchange. Love love love it! Note the accessories in the PV set differ from IRL (gold vs. silver/pewter). But I was too lazy to do a new set because hey, it's Mother's Day! I'm sure I will wear this as pictured at some point.

Polyvore set for Mother's Day:

Wearing Later Today - 5/9/09 by HeidiGblog featuring Old Navy tops

All in all, it was a wonderful day, a wonderful weekend. And now I'm off to bed...promise to catch up on blog reading tomorrow!!

J Crew Dressy Jersey Strapless Dress &

A couple of quick reviews since the Mickey crewpon expires tomorrow. Ah, we had a good run, didn't we, little red card? I'll miss you. But my husband won't....

The J Crew Dressy Jersey Strapless Dress (#14982, $78). Love love love. Seriously love. First of all, thanks to sparrowsandsparkles for first posting about this dress and the clutch (which I will get to further down). And also, I am barefoot because I was doing this upstairs while the cleaning ladies were downstairs and was swapping out clothes quickly. Lucy was dozing on the floor of the bathroom.

I live in dresses like this in the summer. And after they are done as dresses, they become bathing suit cover-ups. This one really is constructed better than the usual knit dress with boning at the sides of the bodice, the sticky sticky tape stuff at the top to help it not slide off your skin, and the fantastic & removable halter strap (seriously love that it's removable). I had tried the Sanur dress, and liked it - but this one is really much more me. I debated about the colors for a while. I loved the dark charcoal and the navy, but wondered if I should get a bright. Final decision was to go with the 2 darker colors because (1) they are my 2 fave JC colors, seriously, and (2) they make it look more like a dress, so I think that makes it more versatile. And (3) would be that the darker color makes it easier to get away without wearing a bra on the really really hot days. And since I had the crewpon, which made it under $60 each, I got both. But I will, without question, wear them that much.

Fit-wise - I took a Medium and there was plenty of room, so do NOT size up on this one - go TTS or a little down. I love the length - it goes to the top of my knees, and I think that helps it feel like more of a dress. The detail on the bodice is really pretty, too.By the way, you probably think I am wearing the same dress in both pics. The 1st one, without dress strap or rattan clutch, is the dark charcoal. The 2nd one, with clutch and dress strap, is the navy. Don't worry, I promise to accessorize, unless we literally just got back from the pool and I'm dying of heatstroke and I just need 3 more glasses of water.

And so onto the Rattan Clutch (#14665, $48). Love this. And $36, not too bad of a deal. I don't know about you, but I am tired of clutches that barely fit my BlackBerry and keys, much less my sunglasses - which are vitally important in the summer. Well, actually, year-round for me, but I'm not carrying this clutch in December unless I am on a fab vacation. I took a pic (below right) of what actually fits in the clutch - and I would say, quite a bit. I could choose between my entire huge wallet and BB, or the assortment below - BB, big sunglasses, lipstick, some cards, with plenty of room for keys, mints, mace, whatever you need.