Color Me Beautiful

I know this trend has been bouncing around for a while, but I all of a sudden caught the colored jean bug.  I found myself with an hour of child-freeness and wandered into the Joe's Jeans down the street and was overcome by their 55 colors of jeans. Yes, 55.  So I decided I had to take at least one color home with me. Or two.

I picked up these red ones.

And these blue ones.  

Joe's Jeans, $158

And my oh my are they the comfiest jeans in history. I want to wear them everyday.

What do you think?  Will you be rocking some color this spring?

How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?

As you know, I've just moved to a new neighborhood in Chicago, which means lots of new stores to check out! Lucky for me (and unluck for Mr. EWP), within 2-3 blocks of me there is a Club Monaco, Marc Jacobs, Intermix, Scoop, Cynthia Rowley, and Nanette Lepore, just to name a few stores. I'm in heaven.



I am a ridiculous sucker for Nanette Lepore. Her dresses and, well, everything are just so tailored, chic, and feminine. I want all of them. All the time. And those jerks over at Nanette Lepore must know this about me, because they change the window display ALL. THE. TIME. Every time I walk by with little miss BabyWP in her stroller, there is a new dress, top, something in the window. And they all make me swoon.



But this one I had to share because for the first time since having Miss BabyWP, I wished I was back at work. Why? Because then I would have somewhere to wear this:

Nanette Lepore, $398

Look at those darling pin stripes! And the perfect grey! And the shape flattering ruffled waist! *SWOON*



Well, I know how much that doggy in the window is, and I hope someone can find it a good home, because I just can't bring it home with me right now.

New Sunglasses

I hadn't bought a new pair of sunglasses in over four years. As you know, I don't own anything for that long! I was BEYOND bored with my Ferragamo sunglasses [which I might be selling, so let me know if you're interested], and ready to vomit at the sight of my Coach sunglasses. (Coach? Coach?! What self-respecting fashionista wears Coach?! I mean, unless you want to buy them. haha) It was high time for a change.

So when my friend Kimmers went shopping for some new specs, I tagged along to help (and help myself). I wanted something black, as I'd be less likely to get bored of it if it was neutral. And I definitely wanted big, as my head is gigantic. Seriously, my head is huge. I don't fit hats. Well, except for that one I just posted. Anyway, something interesting to fit my style. And I saw these bows and I was sold. *sigh* Bows. Except my bow is black. You know, because of that whole getting bored thing. Also, it's less obnoxious. I didn't want them to be all "LOOK! CHANEL!" So with the black bows and the tiny tiny signature Chanel logo, it's not so obnoxious.

Chanel, $428

Two Dresses for a Kim

Whilst I've been stay at home momming it, I've had little reason to go out fancy dress shopping. I've had to steer clear of dry clean only clothing for the most part. When you're covered in drool and other things on a daily basis, the dry cleaning bills would just be too much.

But that doesn't mean that the need for shopping has left me, so when my friend Kim called me up and asked her to find some dresses for a couple of events she had coming up, I was all in.

First up: a casualish summer outdoor wedding. And I think we found something so very perfect. I love this dress so much I almost bought it for myself, but had nowhere to wear it. It's so very 50s housewife. And you know I love that. Kimmers got it in navy.

Taylor Dresses, $138

Event #2: a cocktail attire gala. I just heart that word gala. And I also heart one-shoulder dresses. And I heart rosettes. YUM! Kimmers is quite the fit lady, and is training for the 2012 Paralympics in London, so she definitely has the shoulders and arms for this dress. She looked HAWT in it. Swoon. If only I had something to wear a one-shouldered rosette dress to. And had the body for it :)

Jessica Simpson, $148 @

@Available in more colors

Things That Worry Me

1. I got a very long handwritten thank you card from a store I recently shopped at. Does this mean I spent way too much money there?
2. The state of my hair. These early April highlights are grown out and faded; I just wish they'd grow out a little faster! Come on, prenatal vitamins, work your magic.
3. The state of my closet. I just tried on every dress I have and put away everything that no longer fits. This has left me with 2 things to wear. I'm in trouble.
4. What kind of world BabyWP will grow up in. All the hate speech and attacks on people for being Muslim or Muslim-looking have taken me back to post-9/11 when shots were fired at my mosque, my house was egged, I was chased down the street by men screaming "bin Laden!", and I just generally felt unsafe. I want so much better for BabyWP. No one should ever feel that way.

The Top I Spent Too Much On (Also a Tunics Post)

It didn't make any sense to do a leggings post, without following it up with a tunics post. I mean, what on earth were you going to wear on top of those leggings? And of course I am here to help.

But first, let's discuss my new favorite tunic ever. And how I spent way too much money on it. One day last week, on the way home from dinner, Mr. EWP and I stopped into Pea in the Pod to pick me up a tunic or two to go with all my new leggings I was totally in love with. We didn't know this before we went in, but apparently the Pea in the Pod on Oak Street is the super chi chi fancy pants designer Pea in the Pod and nothing in the store is under $150. Oops.

That, however, didn't stop me from trying on, no exaggeration, 24 tops. All the while Mr. EWP sat and waited for me to actually like one. And then I did. I fell in love with one particular tunic, and walked out of the dressing room. Mr. EWP liked it too but wanted me to try on the fake bump to make sure it'd fit down the road. And OMG, after I put on that fake bump I'm pretty sure I could have gotten Mr. EWP to agree to buying every single item in that store. He was totally in love. But I decided to be reasonable (depending on your definition) and only walked out with this:

Pea in the Pod, $145

Yes, I'm fully aware it's way too much money for a maternity top. But I was totally in love with it. And both Mr. EWP and I envision me wearing it post-pregnancy with a big wide belt. It could happen. And it'd be super cute.


But for the non-preggo set, here are some tunic options just for you:

Velvet, was $195, sale $110

Only Hearts, $40-$80 @

Love Sam, $136 *

Juicy Couture, $158

Joe's Jeans, $77

G-Star, $130

Forever 21, $22.80 *

Forever 21, $24.80 @ *

Forever 21, $27.80

Forever 21, $15.80

Forever 21, $19.80

Forever 21, $17.80

C&C California, $68

@Available in more colors

* EWP fave

Retro Feminine Perfection

I recently went on a shopping excursion with my friend Emily. Emily isn't really a big fan of shopping. And she's even less of a fan of trying things on. But when we laid eyes on this dress we both were clamoring to get to the fitting rooms. Now a dress eliciting that kind of response from Emily is really saying something.

These pictures do it absolutely NO justice. It's totally darling. And has many layers underneath of fabric to give it all the extra pouf you could ask for, just what his adorably 40s glam dress needs. And it seriously does nice things for your bazooms.

I heart a feminine dress. And I especially heart this one. Is it okay if I get it in both patterns?

Anthropologie, $158

EWP Goes to the Fanciest Mall Ever

No vacay anywhere is complete without a day of shopping. It's been my rule since ever since I can remember. With three daughters and years of shopping trips, my dad can't set foot in a mall without breaking out in hives. But now the tradition has been passed on to Mr. EWP and he's actually doing quite well with it. He did the shopping research all on his own. He googled "Christian Louboutin" and "Chloe" and found some places to shop. I was seriously impressed that A) that he did the shopping planning on his own, and B) that he even knew what Chloe was. AND he said I could buy anything I wanted. Anything. I was very excited.

First stop: The Miami Design District. I was really excited. I always think other big cities have something fun like Michigan Ave. where it's just lines of nice shops and people wandering in and out.Well, um, the Miami Design District was not like that. It was deserted, in the middle of a gorgeous Saturday! And the whole area was kind of warehousey and not cute. There'd be one nice store I'd consider shopping in, and then a bunch of faucet and plumbing stores. It was SO WEIRD.

But they did have this store. My mecca. My home. I love you, Christian!

I was hoping to try on these shoes that I'd been coveting for a while, but they didn't carry them.

But they did have these adorably Parisian be-bowed, polka-dotted heels.

Funny story. I tried these on and Mr. EWP goes, "the heel's kinda low" and the saleswoman balks and goes, "they're four inches!" hahahhaha. I guess I've conditioned him to really ridiculous heel heights. I was wearing 6 inchers this day.

As cute as I thought they were, and as much as I could see me spending the whole summer in them, I just didn't think they were as cute as the piped canvas mary jane peep-toes. So I said goodbye.

From there we wandered over to Marni where I learned a very important lesson: never ever go to a store starved for customers wearing shoes from that store. OMG, once those 2 sales associates saw my shoes, they were tripping over themselves to show me everything in their store. Including stuff in the back they hadn't put out yet! They were all, we got a new collection, would you like to see it? No, I would not, people. You're scaring me.

It was high time to leave the Design District. So we crossed the bridge and headed over to what turned out to be the fanciest mall I've ever been to.

Sure I've been to nice shopping places, but none like this. It was discerning, it was high class.

Sure there were trees like other malls

And the fish were pretty cute.

But it was the stores that got me. There was no Banana or Club Monaco to be seen. The upstairs were the "lowly" stores - Tory Burch, Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs. Things I can manage to swing in the budget.

But downstairs, wowee, downstairs was something else.

Hello, Carolina.

And Lanvin! I don't believe I've seen a Lanvin in person before. Not that I went in, I didn't feel worthy.

I was on a handbag hunt. I marched into Chloe looking for the bag I saw back in Chicago, but they didn't carry it. So we wandered to some other stores and looked at bags. Some had comical prices ($3,000??? WHAT?) and others were maybe buyable.

I wandered into Valentino to check out their rosette bags that I totally love. And the Valentino clerk totally did a once over of my bag and turned up his little nose at me. I wanted to be like, "It's Kate Spade, not Guess, dude!" And I wanted to inform him that he worked in a store. But I didn't.

For better or for worse, the people at Dior gave me much better service. Well, better as in they were attentive, not that they actually understood anything I was saying. I went in and said I wanted a plain, basic bag. I like my bags pretty basic. And the Dior woman took me to a bag that had bulky chains weaved through. In what world does "plan and basic" mean "bulky chains"?? And then, oh my and then, she brought me a bag with an across the body shoulder strap. I tried to smile politely, but I was really just trying not to vomit. Because one cannot vomit in Dior. But it was tough, people. It was tough. Across the body shoulder strap?? Who are these people?

So, even though I had the green light from my husband, nothing was purchased that day. Guess I really just love my Chicago shopping.

Spotted: Cute Ruffly Dress

I went to Nordies today to find some Miami-rific dresses. I found two, but didn't bother to take pictures of them for you. I will eventually, promise.

But what I did feel totally compelled to snap a pic of (on my phone, sorry, didn't have the dslr) was this adorably be-petaled dress. I think I'm in love. And the prices is pretty sensational. Now if only I had somewhere to wear it.

Calvin Klein, $178 @

@Available in more colors