My Dance Capsule in Action!

It has been a(very long) while since I posted my WIW - I think a year maybe? Life has been busy and I fell out of the habit to take daily outfit pictures. I still do not take them yet (maybe I should start again, just to keep myself in shape).
However this is a special WIW post for my dance capsule!
As you may remember my hubby and I started ballroom dancing 2.5 years ago. One of the benefits of dancing is that you get to dress up on regular basis, pile on as much bling as you want  and do not look out of place! Try to beat that, especially if you live in a city where wearing a silk blouse with jeans feels overdressed.

When we started dancing I have one single cocktail dress and quickly realized that it is not enough  when you have dance parties to go to once or even twice a week! So of course it meant dress shopping and of course YLF played an important part in it.

Some of you asked before if I can post pictures for my dance capsule in action and here it is  even if a year late. Please don't mind some silly facial expressions and funny poses - they were real action dance shots!

I have included my dress capsule in the finds below, some of you may remember times when you discussed them with me and shared my joy from finding real gems.
 
Thanks again for helping me out to get where I am now with my dance capsule - a very happy place!

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A little taste of my recent vacation with some WIWs thrown in

I have been back from my vacation for 3 weeks now but was so busy at work that did not have much time and energy for YLF. It is not going to ease much before the New Year but I will try to pop in here from time to time so you know I am still alive. I promise.
For starters here is a short post on my travels with some WIW from my carry on suitcase. We visited 2 cities in Poland - Warsaw and Krakow, 3 cities in Moravia and 2 cities in Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It was our most cultural trip ever as in addition to museums we also visited a lot of performances - concerts, opera, ballet and even Prague specialty -  "Laterna Magika" - non-verbal show with pantomime and dance which was amazing.
Here are some observations from my trip:
- It looks like there are 3 things Warsaw cannot live there without: flowers, music and books. I have never seen anywhere so many bookstores  - felt like there was one on each city block! The same with the flower shops - they are everywhere, including stands on the streets. As for the music the highlight was a free Chopin piano concert in the park with a great musician. It was truly magical!
- We were lucky to catch an opera premiere in Brno (the capital of Czech Moravia). The performance was great but what struck me the most is that at least 10% of women visiting the theater wore full length evening gowns! Maybe it is the norm somewhere in North America too but not where I live. Czechs take theater visits very seriously and dress to the nines - I was glad I took my sheath dress and lace shell with me so I hope I did not look too touristy (pic 8)
- We were also lucky to catch the burcak season in Moravia. Burcak is the young wine which is only sold for a couple of weeks in September and October and it is phenomenal! One of the best memories of this trip (and yes, Czech beer is not a competition to burcak in my eyes :-) )
I have to stop myself now or this short post will turn into a very long one.
Here are some pictures for you with my WIWs from the trip:
- pic 1 - 3 are from Krakow.
- pic 4 is from the wine capital of Moravia - Mikulov where we rented the bikes to see the countryside (which was almost a disaster due to my "skills" of riding the bike).
- pic 5 is from a fabulous little cafe in Cesky Krumlov where coffee and cakes were delicious,  where there were books lying at each table and where we saw this charming coffee table made from the old piano!
- pic 6 and 7 are also from Cesky Krumlov where we explored this little town on the backstreets, away from the tourist throngs.
- pic 8 was taken in Prague Smetana concert hall - amazing masterpiece of Art Nouve. Beautiful!

OK, I promised a short post so this is it!
I am off to bed now - see you later :-)
 

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Quick WIW post and run!

Very quick post and run as I am off to work now and then to the airport: my vacation starts TONIGHT!!!!

This is inspired by Angie's blog post on fresh jeans. My Madewell skinnies rolled up with high-er shaft booties. Also debuting my latest Danier score - Winona jacket in dove grey.I have hard time with greys but I like this shade - hopefully it does not look too horribly on me.

Have to run - my ride for work is here.
See you in a couple of weeks!!!!

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At last: Friday ensemble I can wear!

I am always looking forward to Angie;s Friday ensemble posts but lately I have hard time implementing them from my closet. Either colors I don't have or styles I don't wear...
...but today is different! Graphic black and white - here I come - and because this is not a frequent case for me I wanted to link it to the blog post right away!
Everything in this outfit is old: Club Monaco silk blouse, BR cream skinnies, JCrew oxfords, Danier black satchel. Hopefully it still looks current even without any this season refreshers in the mix.
I think I can use some advice with this silk blouse. I liked the graphic feel of it when I bought it but it is almost an orphan. The reason: I have hard time layering over it. For some reason this type of collar in the contrast color just does not go with any toppers I have in my closet. Any suggestions for possible layering?

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For Shevia: another Topshop vest outfit with the rest of the week thrown in

Now I am really catching up with the WIW backlog - this one is for the last week. I wanted to post another Topshop vest outfit for Shevia and decided to get others as well :-)

pic #1 - for Shevia :-)
Another attempt of Topshop moto vest - this time with the white. I may be wrong but I think this color works very well with white. So far I think I found 2 ways to wear this vest - with white and with dark (black or ink / navy). I also tried it closed with my burgundy dress and I think it works too - but it is too hot for this now.
Even if dark and white are the only colors which can work with it I think it is still a winner for me (as I have a lo of dark and white  in my wardrobe). However I am going to experiment with other colors too so stay tuned! 

pic #2 
Sorry for such dark picture - by the time I got home from work and the gym it was already getting dark so I had to use a flash. This outfit is on the OTT side I think - with bright orange, leather moto and stripes. i would be interested to know what do you think.

pic #3
Hot and humid! I took the denim jacket to wear in the office but ended up not wearing it at all.

pic #4
Another hot and humid - I did not even take the topper to the office that day! This BR shirt feels very nice in the heat. Unfortunately I am not looking my best here and my hair is a disaster (cannot wait for my hair appointment next weekend!)

pic #5
This was inspired by Angie's Friday post - rust and navy -  very loosely interpreted by me :-). I don't have any rust so I decided to use the leopard loafers for the bit of cognac they have. So here we go- this is my version which I call " A bit of rust (cognac), navy and a lot of pastel blue" :-)

Thank you for looking and as usual all comments and suggestions are very much appreciated!

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WIW: more catching up - and it was cool enough to wear some NAS loot!

I am falling behind in posting my WIWs even though I was trying to take the pictures diligently for the last weeks - so here is another catch up.

This was 2 weeks ago - sitting now in the beginning of September in 30C heat with almost 100% humidity I cannot believe what I was wearing just 2 weeks ago to keep myself warm in the end of August!

pic  #1 
A lot of drape is going on here - for me anyway: drapey cross-over blouse and fluid track pants. Coated utility vest seemed to balance out this drapeness for me.

Buying these Express cropped Editor pants was a mistake - they are too baggy on me  after a half day of wear. I got them for a sudden business trip when I realized that I have not summer pants which are business casual appropriate but now I wish I went with the Columnist style...

pic #2
 I wanted to try wearing leggings again but this is the only tunic I own which is long enough for leggings in my eye. It was cool enough for this tunic so I jumped on the chance to wear leggings with it.

pic #3
Trying to wear my new summer pieces while it is still summer. This Gap peplum top does require not hot weather because the fabric is pretty think and substantial. I wore it with a pencil skirt before but tried bootcust here. These Paige Hidden Hills are barely long enough to wear with the flats so I opted for the brown loafers here as I prefer higher shoe vamp with the bootcuts. Sky blue Zara jacket was for the freeing AC in the office.

pic #4
Debut of my Topshop vest from NAS! I am playing around with it to see what can I wear it with. Here I opted for lower contrast bottoms and shoes with the vest but added a darker top - hopefully it worked. 

pic #5
This one is closer to "fails"  - I think because this Gap moto jacket is too short to wear with medium rise jeans and tucked in top - too many horizontal lines! However this top semitucked just did no feel right here either. I still like the idea of the colors together but will not wear this moto in this combination anymore. At least taking pictures help me to figure these things out :-)

Thank you for looking and as usual all comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.
Hopefully I can catch up with the last week over this long weekend and become up to date :-)

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WIW: catching up

I am still here and trying to check YLF from time to time when I surface for a gulp of fresh air :-) Here is a quick WIW post before I have to dive again :-(
pic #1 
These jeans are full length with the scrunch so they are too long for these low ankle strap sandals but I ma not ready to hack at them: it is so hard to find full length jeans for me and full length is more useful for me in a cold season. So this is the "cropped" version with hems rolled under. I think I will pass on this Gap yellow blazer in the end of the season. It starting to look tired and fabric does not hold that well.  I need to find a new one in this color as it makes me happy.

pic #2 
Trying to wear skirts with flat footwear - this time white loafers. Hopefully it was JFE. Not sure about the top tucked into this skirt though. I blousoned it out so the elastic waistband of the skirt does not show but still...I wish I had high-low top like Suz's CM tank: it looked awesome!

pic #3
Another thing which most likely is in its last season - this floral dress from LTS It is a bit too big on me now and I don't fancy how it fits. Was not really excited about this one.

pic #4
I am not very original in how I wear this BR vest and tunic - combine them together every time I think. Hopefully it does not look boring because it feels good :-) 

pic #5
This was inspired by one of Angie's ensembles - white, black and light blue. Again - flat shoes with the skirt. I decided on the animal print loafers here just for fun! I really enjoy pairing this lace top with faded denim.

That was my week. Thanks for looking and as usual all comments and suggestions are appreciated!

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WIW: just to prove I am still here :-)

I wanted to follow my off topic post with this quick WIW just to prove that I am still here and kicking :-) Hopefully I can get back to normal soon and return to taking my outfit pictures on a regular basis.
These were my outfits for the last week - before the heat wave struck as you can see.
#1 Navy and orange.
I am continuing to experiment with low heel high vamp shoes as they are the most comfortable for me. This time the loafers with track pants and long vest - is it at least JFE?

#2 Whiteout
I think I already posted almost identical outfits a couple of times - this eyelet tunic and leather vest continue to be one of my favorite combinations this summer.

#3 Denim and lace
This lace blouse was another buy this summer which made me happy - I
feel happy every time I wear it! I love these old Paige flares but I am afraid they are too big for me now - what do you think?

#4 Leather and stripes
Angie's twin! :-) After much agonizing I decided to keep this peplum top and here it is with the skirt. Do proportion look OK to your eye? I am stll getting used to the peplum style on me so not sure. I have also added a leather vest to keep me warm in blasting A/C - do you think it all works together?

Thank you so much for looking and as usual all comments and suggestions are very much appreciated!

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WIW which is short on words...

...because it is too hot now to think what to write! Last week was extremely busy for me with spending 3 mornings in the hospital so most of the time it was for FFBO to the rescue.

pic 1 Trying to find ways to incorporate these brown loafers into my summer outfits - here is with white. Works?

pic 2 Morning in the hospital to drive my hubby to and from a procedure and then to work. Of course I was running late in the morning and no time to dress properly so very simple shirt-pants formula was needed!

pic 3 I am trying to get more wear from my new summer pieces before winter is back. This one felt pretty good.

pic 4 Another summer shirt I want to wear more often while I can - and the vest too!

pic 5-6 I think I have a mental block wearing skinnies with shorter tops which I tried to overcome here. I am adding the side and back view as this is my most "tender" spot now - do you think I can wear shorter tops with skinnies or I ma better off sticking to the ones which cover my behind as much as possible?

pic 7 This is my "not NAS" purchase from yesterday trip - Vince Camuto tube skirt in black. I have one in stripe for the 3rd season now and while I love it sometimes pattern mixing is too much so I picked up this solid black yesterday. As you can see I am firmly on the Team Wear as I wore it to work the next day!

Thank you for looking and as usual all comments and suggestions are very much appreciated!

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WIW: to take my mind of NAS...

...I decided to post my outfits from the previous week which I did not have a chance to post yet. So here we go!

pic #1 White, black and nude.
I love this lace top from BR - amazing how much better it looks in person than in the stock picture. I prefer to layer it over a black tank so the lace pattern stands out more (neat trick I learned from Angie) The top may be too long for the skirt but I hope it is JFE!

pic #2 Orchid, black and navy
I really like the color of this J Crew sweater but I have an issue with the fit - it is too big. I am not sure if it stretched out that much or if it was too big to start with as I bought it before finishing my weight loss last year. I know some of fabbers have this same sweater (Suz? Tanya?)  - did yours stretched out too? I cannot wear it without a partial tuck and sleeve scrunching as it is too oversized for my liking.
It also definitely faded after a couple of washes!
Other than the sweater fit I was really happy with this outfit includig the scarf. I am really warming up back to them now!

pic #3 Almost whiteout
I got this BR silk shell on a big discount at the store to use as a layering piece and this is my first attempt to wear it. I am not sure though - may be this neckline which is not the best for layering? I don't think I was as happy with this outfit as I was with the other two...

OK, thus distracted from NAS browsing I am going off to bed :-)
Thanks for looking nad as usual all commenst and suggestions are very much appreciated!

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