Fresh Cuts: Prairie Skirts

Call them what you like: prairie skirts, maxi skirts, long skirts, a-little-tricky-to-get-in-the-car-but-I-really-like-it skirts, or it's-time-to-hide-the-holiday-pounds skirt. Like any good skirt, they come in all shapes, sizes, colors, designs, patterns and materials. Fight me if you will, but I seriously don't understand how people don't like skirts! Sure, there not every skirt is alike, but I am thoroughly convinced there is a style and cut for each body type that will both flatter AND be incredibly comfortable. You can't deny that skirts are more forgiving than your average jeans. I like to call them "grace". That's it. If I ever start designing my own line of skirts, I will call it "Grace". Don't steal my name. Although I'll try to practice a little grace on you if you do. 

Ok, ok, enough rambling. Here are today's Fresh Cuts.  

Accordian Cutout Skirt

Bedford Falls Skirt

Flounced Wrap Skirt

Spotted Seam Maxi

Stilt Striders Skirt

Pleats Abounding Maxi

Which style of skirt works for your body type? 

What do you think of skirts? 

Fresh Cuts: High & Low

Today allowed me very little time to do or think about myself, hence why I am here at 10:30pm working on today's Fresh Cuts. I guess they're not so fresh anymore :(

Today is what happens when you get back from 6 (glorious) days off in a row.

Today is what happens when you need to fit in a workout to fight those holiday (and birthday) pounds. I guess birthday calories DO count.

Today is what happens when the morning comes faster than your body was prepared for.

Today is what happens when you are forced back into reality.

It wasn't a bad day, just a day. There were some highs and lows, some highish-lows and some lowish-highs. In today's honor, here are some of the lowest and highest priced Fresh Cut items.

Lowest:

Borealis Drop Earrings 

Enclosed Stone Danglers

Immeasurable Marks Loop 

Look Smart Pouch

Highest: 

Clarissa Coat

Valea Skirt 

Draping Shearling Jacket

Supine Satchel 

Fresh Cuts: I Want it ALL

This post has absolutely nothing to do with Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving with all my heart, as I previously mentioned, but I have yet to decide what "Thanksgiving" type of post to write. Who knows, maybe I will forgo writing about it all together. That's kind of my style...going against the grain sometimes :)

Anyways, I think I figured out what took Anthropologie soooo long to update their "Fresh Cuts" page. And by "sooo long" I mean like, 2 days (or for all I know it was actually updated yesterday. I didn't have a lot of screen time yesterday). I happened to glance at their site today just in case anything struck my fancy, and lo and behold their Fresh Cuts are POPPIN today. Journals, books, accessories, home goods, and even kids' clothes! Maybe they were holding out until closer to Black Friday? Either way, I am currently wishing I had oodles of moolah to dress my sweet (& feisty) nieces, but for now I will settle on just being thankful for having them :) 

Here is a little taste of what to expect from the Fresh Cuts page. But seriously, like I tell you every week...you need to go see for yourself!

How I would like to dress myself: 

Smoke Signs Blouse

Citizens of Humanity Brass High-Legs

Triangle Reflection Drops

How I would like to dress one of my nieces (pretty sure none of them would let me): 

Malted Tweed Cardigan

Tussie-Mussie  Skirt

Silver-Shined T-Straps

And if someone else were paying (as if I can actually buy the items above!): 

Enchanted Morning Jewelry Box, Bunny 

Bubble Bluebird Journal

Solid Socks 

Endless Necklace

Geri Boxer Shorts

Heathered Hillside Cardigan

Seriously, there is too much stuff to pass up today. So GOOOOO. 

Thanksgiving is for Lovers

Normally I'd be posting Fresh Cuts today, but since the page didn't seem to be updated, I figured I would go another route and give you Fresh Cuts when there actually are some. Until then...

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I couldn't be more excited. I've loved Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember, and my love for it just seems to keep growing. Maybe it has something to do with sharing my birthday month with Thanksgiving. Occasionally my birthday falls on Thanksgiving, but usually it serves as the pre-cursor to my birthday--like an appetizer if you will...and those appetizers are ooohh sooo delish. 

I love thanksgiving because it has everything to do with family and food and absolutely nothing to do with presents (unless it happens to also be my birthday). For my family, Thanksgiving usually starts with a long morning in our pajamas, cooking and baking to our heart's content. Now that we are older we are doing this mostly in our own homes, but since I am the baby of the family, I still get to pawn myself off on a welcoming sibling who will let me take over part of their house to make a mess and some really good rolls (or whatever it is I am baking that year). This year my sister has the privilege of my presence :) 

As a say-at-home-mom most of her life, my mom spent a lot of time cooking and baking from scratch, especially when we were little. She has some incredible recipes and taught all of us kids how to do it on our own. This is a lifeskill I am so grateful to have! We may not have been spoiled with stuff, but we sure got spoiled with good food!

In light of that, Thanksgiving has become our own version of Top Chef. We cook, we bake, we sweat, we experiment, and we make darn good food. Well, I guess I would say we are a little more "Little House on the Prairie" than "Top Chef", but either way we end with a good meal, so that's all that matters. 

I could honestly keep talking about Thanksgiving for hours, so to keep things interesting here are a few things I would love to have or wear this Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving may not be about presents (phew!), but there is always room for a little Anthropologie in there!

Kitchen Impressionism Apron

Imagined Iris Cup & Saucer 

Breton Holders

Stream Bank Platter

Alistair Napkin, Flora

Reclining Rabbit Tureen

That last one I couldn't help but include. Come on, a bunny?? How awesome is that?!

Gift Tip: With Christmas just 33 days away I can't help but think about what to buy for the people I love. As much as I love that Thanksgiving has nothing to do with gifts, ironically one of my favorite things to do is give them! Some of the best luck I have had with gift giving is with aprons. Anthropologie has great deals on aprons practically year round for both kids and adults (that one above is only $19.95). It's always fun to get a new, fun apron that changes things up a little, and since it's something you only wear at home for a few hours at a time, I find that people are a little more adventurous with styles. I swear you can find one to match any personality-you really can't go wrong though. For a few more apron options, click here, here, here, and here <--- that last one is only $7.95!!!

Focus On: Coats (Pt. 2)

I still have the first coat I ever bought with my own money. It's a classic  black trench coat, purchased on sale from Banana Republic at some point during my junior or senior year of high school. I love that coat. I still remember the incredible excitement that washed over me as I walked out of the store, coat in hand--all was right in the world. Not only did I have a new coat, I had a fabulous new coat. Black. Skims the knee. Straight bodice, cinched in at the waist with a silver-studded belt. A classic collar reaching down towards the waist. Swooshes just slightly as you walk.

While I still love that coat, I have come a long way in my fashion sense since then. You can never have too many classics, but you can also never have too many original pieces either. After all, how then will your kids be able to look back at pictures of you and ask, "what are you wearing??!?" Something about a perm and a muumuu-type dress is coming to my mind...love you mom :)

With that being said, here are my top picks of classics with a twist (and a few alternative pieces too).

Fatigue Finery Cape

Apsley Parka

Vaterland Parka

Flounced Pintuck Parka

Savoy Quilted Leather Jacket

Penobscot Poncho

Tell me: Do you go classic or  original when it comes to buying statement pieces?

Focus On: Coats (Pt. 1)

There are few things in life I will pay a large sum of money for, especially when the item is not on sale. I'm a sale shopper and would rather spend hours finding an amazing deal on something I love than splurge on a big purchase that will set me back a pretty penny too many. To be honest, I rarely even look in the "not" sale section, because I am convince *almost* everything from that section ends up in the sale section.

However, there are a few thing I WILL spend a little more on (whether sale or regularly priced) and one of those things is COATS.

I seriously LOVE coats. If I could have a new coat for every day of the month I would be one happy girl. For now though I settle on about one new coat a year. Coats just have this way of pulling an outfit--ANY outfit--together and expressing who you are as a person. It's a statement piece, but since you don't generally wear a coat for more than a few minutes or half hour at a time, it becomes this subtle statement of who you are without being the obnoxious girl wearing too many accessories with neon tights and matching hair. Sometimes too much is just too much.

I haven't bought a new coat yet this season-only within the last week has the weather become coat-worthy. So until I find a coat that matches my budget, style, and personality, I will continue to scour stores and websites imagining myself in each one I find. I just started looking, but already I have found too many I love. Because I want to show them to you all, I am going to have to make this post a two-parter. Today I give you straight-up coats by design. Tomorrow will bring a few more unique designs that spice things up but. Not that you could call any of todays coats dull...

Sweeping Swing Coat

Ascot Swing Coat

Hampden Peacoat

Keswick Coat 

Popham Peacoat 

Dipped Nougat Coat 

Adare Anorak 

Tell me: Which is your favorite? Where do you shop for coats?

Napkin Throw Pillow (DIY)

For a girl who loves Anthropologie, I sure can't afford to buy much of it! Instead of walking right through the front door and picking up the first thing I see that I love to try on, I'm the girl who walks in with blinders that direct me straight to the sale rack. Then, once I get there, I scour the racks, focusing my time not on the clothing items but instead on the price tags. I know what I can afford, so I only pick up items in that range. Eventually I make it to a fitting room, then it's time to see if I like anything.

You'd be surprised what items you'll want to leave with that you never would have thought to try on. I think this system all started for me back when my roommate and I would make each other try on the ugliest thing we could find for the other person. To my surprise, those were the items I started taking home with me.

Since I can't afford a majority of the store, I started finding little things here and there that were affordable to add a little Anthro love to my life. For example, a few weeks back, as I sifted through the "Home" sale section I found simple cloth napkins in a fun, bright pattern. Cost? $3.95. About the price of a latte but something that would last me a little longer. I bought two napkins in slightly different patterns with the intent to use them for something beyond their original purpose. This is often how I look at their sale items.

What would these napkins become? Well, a pillow of course!

Cloth Napkin Throw Pillow 
(MYO-Make Your Own)

What you need:

• 2 square shaped cloth napkins
• sharp scissors
• thread
• sewing machine and/or needle (I hand sewed mine)
• buttons only if you want to add something fun at the end (I decided not to)

1. Put fabrics together, right sides together so 

you see the backsides of both napkins.

2. Safety pins edges together on three sides. 

3. Beginning at edge of opening, sew all three sides together 

with sewing machine or hand stitch. Remove safety pins as you go. 

4. Insert pillow (I used one already covered).  

5. Fold edges in toward pillow and pin together. 

Sides should be even and not bunched anywhere. 

Pull from ends (corners) to make sure everything is even.  

6. Make sure to tuck all corners in. 

7. Begin at one corner of pillow and sew final seam. 

Get as close to the edge as possible (you may want to do by hand) 

so the seem is not immediately noticeable.  

8. Continue stitching until entire side is sewn shut. 

9. Add buttons around edges if you want to 

add a final touch of detail. I chose to keep mine simple.