polka dots and tu-tu's

Good news -- I not only woke up on the right side of the bed today but I also had time to make breakfast. Even before 8:30, I knew it was going to be a better day. Thanks for not abandoning me and my bad mood. He usually doesn't stick around for longer than a day.

So after reading my post on Monday about slipping on denim leggings under my dress, my sister texted me today and asked my what denim leggings were. I found it a bit challenging to find the right words to describe them, so I went with the birds and the bees approach: Let's say that knit leggings and denim jeans were up in the club and decided to hook-up after quickly eloping (trying to keep it family friendly here). Well then the pair of jeans got pregnant and decided to keep the baby, although the leggings wasn't ready to start a family. Nine months later denim leggings were born and are now available at most retailers, including J.Crew. Which I drooled over in their newest catalog. While I was eating Nutella mind you. By the spoonful. It was very sticky drool. Had to throw the catalog away. Along with a few books that were on the table as well. Well there you go. I've gone and done it again. I've completely over-shared.

Now that you know about my steady diet of Nutella and J.Crew catalogs, on to the outfit. As you know, I usually pull out the old adult-sized tu-tu to make me feel better and the way that yesterday was going it felt like the tu-tu was necessary in order to save this week from going to pot. Tonight was date night after all, so why not live a little? I'm only young once, I'll dress boring when I'm dead. And now I'm back on the couch catching up on American Idol and Lost. AND I blogged before 10 pm. Now that's a good day.

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at least I'm not Kate Gosselin

Today I was in a rotten mood. Technically, I could blame this on the 28 day monster, but I think that I will blame it on that dang clear sky and sunshine. Hey -- 80 degree weather, quit trying to ruin my bad day. It's not going to happen. I've got sunglasses and cramps to cover you up.

Bad mood Tuesday almost threatened my outfit and photoshoot today. I was faking it as much as I could through the photoshoot till I finally said I was done. I figured if looked half as bad as I felt in the pictures then we should just stop all together. But thank the good Lord for my husband. Not only did he make me laugh all the way through but he only snapped when I was smiling and not during the sour face/complaining moments.

If you didn't notice, I didn't label my photos as usual. It was kind of pointless since everything I wore today was from Old Navy. Yes, even the shoes. I got my jacket last spring and my shoes last fall. But the belt and dress were recent purchases and come highly recommended.

Okay, you know what? I might be a paranoid schizophrenic. Yesterday I was so afraid of my dress being too short for work that I left at noon to put on pants. Today I wore an even shorter dress. Again, I'm blaming it on PMS and a messy cocktail of alcohol from swallowed mouth wash and extra-strength tylenol. I shouldn't have even drove today. Who knows what tomorrow may hold.

Someone left a comment saying they were confused about my job -- is it conservative or can i wear what I want? Well, I can see where your confusion might come from, dear reader as I too am confused. You see, there is little to no known dress code BUT I work with a lot of older people (and by older, I just mean older than me) so I try to keep the lengths of my skirts and dresses appropriate just in case someone has HR on speed dial and has a secret personal vendetta against me or exposed knees. This is actually the first job I've had that I haven't gotten "the talk" from HR about the way I dress. So I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to skirts and dresses. I try not to push my limits, even though it's a bit of unknown territory. So let me put it this way: Everyone in my office dresses very conservatively (I'm normally the only person with pant-less legs. Gasp!) but I've never been told that I've offended anyone with the way I dress. Although, from time to time I get a few raised eyebrows. I just try not to toe that line, but if I do, I at least wear cute shoes.

You've just had a brief but schizophrenic look into the way I think. Scary isn't it?

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Most Likely to Succeed

Do you ever wake up and your face is swollen but you don't know why? Well I did today and I didn't notice it until I got to work and went to the bathroom around 10 am. "Dang." Was the first thing out of my mouth followed by " How did I miss that?" referring to the dark circles under my eyes. Then I wondered if I had sleep-walked to a bar and enrolled in an underground fight club. Of course no visible bruises, only swollen face so maybe I just did some cortisone on the way home. Someone at work asked if I'd been crying, another asked if it was allergies. I went with allergies. It's official, I'm allergic to Mondays. And probably pollen.

Well let's be honest here. If this dress were in the yearbook, it would be voted "Most Likely Too Short To Wear to The Office." But seemingly how I was voted "Class Favorite" in 7th grade, I thought that I'd try it out. I wore it as shown this morning but then I actually slipped on some denim leggings at lunch, just to be on the safe side. You know what they say: Better safe, than fired. Or at least that's what my boss says.


In other news, I am wearing one of the only thrifted items I still own. In college, I was a thrift store maniac. It was when thrifting wasn't the hippest thing and none of the thrift stores were picked over, so I had the run of the store most of the time. I love this necklace, very faux-thropologie. And like I said -- one of the few things I kept. I got rid of most of the items I'd thrifted because it either didn't fit or it was a t-shirt, which I never wear any more. Ahh the college days, when Chuck's, skinny jeans and a thrifted Reba McIntyre concert tee meant I was cool. Now I have to smile and tell jokes for people to like me. Man, being a grown up is hard.

UPDATE: Okay, after reading all of your comments, I agree -- my dress wasn't too short to wear to work. (Yay!) I think that I'm just afraid of spring legs without tights or pants. I feel a bit exposed after months of wearing tights. Especially when everyone in my office wears pants. When you're the only pair of uncovered legs, things can get weird. From the bottom of my bare legs, thank you for the encouragement to wear skirts and dresses without the comfort of tights. Spring it on.

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gal friday

I feel weird blogging on a Friday night. But in all honesty, this is the first Friday night in a very long time that my husband and I have been home with no friends coming into town, no family and absolutely no plans. Oh yes, and no quasi-disease threatening to attack every good part of my body. Needless to say, we are stoked.

So what do we have planned this evening you ask? Well we started with pizza and wings (which I accidentally just typed "wigs" instead of "wings". Pizza and wigs was last night. On Thursday nights, we can get crazzzzy.) And now we have moved on to catching up on 30 Rock, Community and The Office. I might even see if the husband will spring for a Project Runway. Tim Gunn -- it's been too long.

At my office, pretty much every day can be casual Friday, if you'd like. There is literally no known dress code. Don't get me wrong if I showed up in a snuggie and some sweat pants day after day, someone would call HR on me. (Rightfully so. Snuggie me once, shame on you. Snuggie me twice, shame on me.) But I could probably wear a halloween costume and as long as it hit around my knees, no one would complain. However, with the lax rules and atmosphere I try to keep my jean wearing to a minimum, just so that I don't abuse the freedom. Plus, it feels good after a week of skirts to finally put on some jeans. One day I think that I'm going to walk in and my co-workers will applaud me for having covered legs. Till then though, 4 days for skirts and dresses and 1 day for jeans.

Okay, TV break is over. Sad when you take a break from television to blog. Sad or an extremely good Friday night?

Feather Necklace courtesy of Dolly and Boy Jewelry.

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Featured Blogger on StyleMeMamie.com

This month I am the featured blogger over at StyleMeMamie.com, the style blog of the darling ladies, Megan and Amy, who own the online boutique, Shop Mamie. Head on over and check it out!*

*Forgive me if my answers are awkward. I blame it on first interview jitters.

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yesterday's news

To whomever googled "compliments from co-workers" and stumbled upon my blog:

Why, hello. You will not find what you are looking for here, if in fact you are looking for compliments from your co-workers. I would suggest asking your peers face to face for compliments. It's easy to fish for compliments, just do what I do and drop hints as to what you want someone to compliment you on. Like your hair, say "I got my hair cut, isn't it great?" 99% of the time they will say yes and there you go. A compliment to put in your pocket.

Yes, someone actually googled "compliments from co-workers" and ended up on my blog. I bet he or she was so disappointed. "It's just some girl in a dress with a weird smile!" that's probably what they told their friends, who pondered as to what the search query brought. Well, whoever you are, you made my day and I hope you did in fact receive a compliment today. In case you didn't, you have pretty eyes.

So I wore this yesterday and not today. I'm just trying to keep things honest here on Kendi Everyday and I didn't want this to happen to me, if in fact we ever meet. B bought me this dress from anthropologie when it went on sale a while back. He's my little Anthrobot, I have him wired to watch for sales of my favorite items and then buy them for me. I even signed him up for emails and he's never once complained. Best man ever.

Anyways, I've worn this dress before but I wanted to switch it up a bit. Since stripes are so hot right now, I put on my favorite little striped shirt. I also added my new necklace that I received from sweet Courtney of Dolly and Boy Jewelry. It is made from recycled brass bullet shells. How cool is that? I once tried to make a belt out of old recycled bottle caps and I ended up looking like a crazy trash hobo. This girl is talented.

See more of Courtney's jewelry here.

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moving day

Good news my friends -- I upgraded to a real office today at work. I reside in a cubicle no longer. I now have 4 walls and a door instead of 3 partitions and an opening. And now I have a window. I know this seems like lame news but this is my first real office. You know what they say, every time a young girl gets an office, Donald Trump gets a new wig. Or something like that.

So not only did I get a new office at work today, I also moved my old office in its entirety to my new one. I was unaware of this move when I got dressed, so my outfit wasn't exactly conducive to this type of labor. Had I known that the move was today I certainly wouldn't have adorned myself in my favorite skirt and a heavy necklace, but they held up pretty well during the move. I also don't know how many people I flashed today, but some things are just better left unknown.

The shoes I wore today are from 1999*. That's right, eleven years old. I think that I got my $19.99 worth, no? I'm a big fan of cheap shoes. Mainly because I can't afford anything expensive but I have shoes from Payless and Target that have lasted forever. I also enjoy Steve Madden shoes when they go on sale. Well, I take that back. I would enjoy them full price too if someone gave them to me. I do not place judgement on full-priced gifts. But I do on sale-priced gifts. (You know who you are...)

*I think that's right.

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faking it: j.crew style

There are three things I need to say about this outfit. First I'm wearing pants. This is a very rare for me here on my blog. Besides jeans, I don't really wear pants that often. It's usually a skirt or nothing at all. (The Nothing At All site hasn't gone live yet.) I've been seeing pants all over this spring and decided to give these capris a whirl. Capris of all pants too. I know, I know -- I'm just so unpredictable.

Two, I felt a bit Stepford wife-ish or like I should belong to a country club. I was trying to go for a "J.Crew on the cheap" look. It's always good to remind my employers that I don't always dress like a 14 year old girl. I think I succeeded in my homage to j.crew, but I still felt like I needed a martini, a long cigarette and some small town gossip to spread. I also made my husband chauffeur me around today while I lounged in the back seat of our town car. It's a tough life.

Three, I should be applauded for not falling down in those heels today. It was their first day out on the town and I pretty much just shuffled around. Shuffled as in I might as well have been wearing roller blades, because that's what it looked like I was doing. I've always prided myself on being able to walk well in heels, but these guys with their tiny 3 inch heel presented a challenge. But they were cheap and I'm always up for a good challenge.

I also need some light praise for this photo shoot today. I'm normally very private with our shoots and I prefer to do them in places where no one will see us. (I'm terrified of people asking me what I'm doing. You should hear the excuses I've come up with just in case we get asked. School project, I'm a tourist, or the old "we got lost" routine...) Well not only was this shop downtown where many people were around but I got honked at, waved to and someone asked Bryan to take their picture as well. Somewhere in between starting this blog and now I've lost all self-awareness. And that's a very good thing.

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a walk in the park

You guys I'm having major writer's block. I have no idea what to write about. I've been staring at my computer through two episodes of Lost and The Office and nothing. I've got nothing. I knew this day would come. And when it did I knew that I would need a back up plan. So I put all sorts of topics into a hat so that I could draw a topic and write about it. So, here goes. I'm drawing out a topic. Drumroll please. And the topic to write about is... what I wore today. How appropriate.

Remember that blue plaid shirt that I had to fight for from American Eagle? Well I picked up this pretty little dress there as well. I didn't have to punch anyone as the only sizes left in this dress were not pre-teen or hot cougar mom friendly. But they were Kendi friendly so score for being larger than a 14 year old. I knew these hips would come in handy one day. (I think I just heard my mother-in-law say that they are for birthing babies, too.) I fell in love with the print of this dress and the nice springy colors. It is just perfect for a day like today. I believe it got up to 72 degrees here. Spring is here and I couldn't be happier.

I wore a blazer over this to work today, if you were wondering. If you weren't, then I guess that was an information overload for you and I apologize. I also forgot to brush my teeth today and I didn't wash my hair. Still a TMI? Geez, you all are hard to please.

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channeling zooey

Go ahead, pinch me. I'm not wearing green. I don't celebrate SPD for two reasons: 1) I don't own green and 2) I hate the irish -- just kidding, it's actually because I forget every year. And this year was no different. I didn't know it was a special day of observation until I got to work and someone pinched me. So I'm sorry for being lame but I wore yellow and red instead of green. I just hope in Ireland tomorrow they celebrate St. Kendi day and all paint their legs pasty white and then eat their feelings for dinner. With green beer of course.

I felt very Zooey D. today because of my dress. I call it my "zooey" dress because it kind of looks like something she wore in that cotton commercial. I, like every other brunette with long-ish hair and bangs, feel like I look exactly like her. When in all reality, I look more like Rachel Ray's step daughter. But my dress -- my dress looks like Zooey, so I'll take it.

I coughed so hard today at work that three co-workers came by my cubicle to see if I was okay. Someone thought that I had vomited. I should have gone with it and taken the afternoon off because it was so pretty. But I apologized for being so loud with my coughing. Yes, I'm that co-worker. The over apologetic one who wears kind of short dresses and blogs a lot. So sterotypical, aren't I?

(Also, I'm thinking of growing out my bangs -- yes or no? I can't decide if I should make a hair appointment or not. Mostly because I'm lazy and my hairdresser scares me. Discuss.)

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