Look of the Day: Hot Child in the City

And by hot, I mean literally hot. I arrived in Manhattan on Friday and the high temperature for the day was 94˚F, which doesn’t sound so bad when I live in a city that hits 115˚F often during the summer… except I rather have 115˚F of dry heat over 94˚F with humidity any day. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived most of my life in the desert, but I cannot stand humidity, not even a little bit. Besides being extremely uncomfortable, it makes my already hard to handle hair even more of a mess, so I wore it pulled back the whole trip, as you’ll notice in all the pictures. Also, excuse any excess shine on my face you might see, but between my combination skin and the sweat, my adored Hourglass primer and Laura Mercier powder could barely keep up, and I wasn’t as good at retouching my makeup as I should’ve been. On top of all that, and at the risk of sounding too whiny (which I usually am indeed anyway), due to other, ahem, circumstances, I was also very bloated the whole time I was there.  So, bottom line, I am not very happy with how I look in the pictures but since I don’t use Photoshop, both you, my beloved readers, and I are stuck looking at the reality of my travels.

Now, all that said and as whiny as I can be, I’m not complaining… no, really, I’m not, I promise. I mean, I was in New York… wonderful, fabulous, exciting, beautiful, eclectic, full of possibilities, New York!!! The one and only, and my time there was all of that and more. I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited the city several times already (this was actually my fourth trip there), but this time was even more special because we took my 13 year old stepson along and it was his first time there. So I was just as excited as he was to show him around the main sights and the several fun activities the city has to offer, which are so many, a lot of them were a first for me too, despite having been there before.

I won’t tell you all about the trip in a single post because you know I like to keep them short(er), for your sake and mine. So, I’ll start with my first day there, and tell you about the rest in subsequent posts.

Like I mentioned earlier, I arrived Friday early morning. I actually took a red eye flight from Phoenix Thursday night, and didn’t get much sleep on it, so I was pretty exhausted when I arrived. Luckily, my husband and my stepson had gotten in the day before and spend the night in New Jersey to be close to the airport (I flew into Newark), so I was able to take a little morning nap there since check in at our hotel in Manhattan wasn’t going to happen earlier than 3 P.M. Of course I didn’t want to waste much time sleeping, so I just took a 2 hour nap and was good to go.

Nevertheless, we decided to take it easy on Friday, and we just drove around the city for a bit, as an introductory tour for my stepson. Then went to the TKTS booth on South Street Seaport to try to find a good deal for a Broadway show, which we did, but more on that later. After, we had lunch at a little chain cafe, nothing fancy but even simple sandwiches at low key cafes are so yummy there. Next, it was time to check in at our hotel.

We stayed at The Roosevelt Hotel, which is gorgeous and has a great location in Midtown Manhattan, almost behind Grand Central Station (one of my favorite sights… but then again, you’ll hear/read me saying that about most places in New York!). So we got settled in, and after a quick change of clothes, off we went to visit Grand Central Station and look at the Chrysler building. And those are the pictures I share with you on this post: the first outfit I wore around Manhattan (technically), and some pictures I took of Grand Central Station and the Chrysler building. I had also planned to use some official pictures of the hotel from their website (since theirs are far better than any I could’ve taken) to share with you, but turns out they don’t allow that, so if you would like to check their photo gallery, you can do it here.

Dressed up in heels to explore the hotel
Wearing flats to explore the city
View of Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building
Chrysler Building
Grand Central Station façade .
Grand Central Station Main Concourse
Grand Central Station ceiling

What I Wore
Top: H&M
Skirt: Vintage
Handbag: Deux Lux
Belt: H&M
Orange Shoes: Gianni Bini
Flats: Crocs
Sunnies: $5 pair from street vendor in Mexico City

Look of the Day: Hat or No Hat?

Even though today I’m just sharing a simple and comfortable look you may find me wearing on a weekend, it’s still kind of a special post because I’m introducing for the first time on the blog my babies, a.k.a my hats. Just a couple of them, because you should know I own quite a few.

My love affair with this marvelous piece of accessory was born out of my inability to do anything interesting or creative with my hair, which results in more than your average amount of the infamous ‘bad hair days’. So I initially resorted to hats as a sort of  cover up for such sad disastrous days (in hair terms anyway), but soon enough they really grew on me. Not only are they practical and purposeful pieces (they do offer wonderful sun protection), they are quite stylish as well. I love that they come in all shapes, colors and sizes. They offer enough variety for anyone to find the piece that betters suits her features and/or moods. My love of hats has grown so deep I have even become quite taken with the often-ridiculed British fascinators (the extravagant hats commonly worn by British women to weddings and certain events). I would love for that tradition to find its way into the American culture.

Anyway, back to today’s outfit, I present you 3 versions of it: without a hat, with big floppy hat, and with a classic fedora. You can pick your favorite. I, on the other hand, can’t. I like all 3 versions, and will wear them all, depending on my mood and the occasion. The day the pictures were taken I ended up going out without a hat for no particular reason.

Now, besides introducing you to two of my beloved hats, there’s another piece in this ensemble that I am currently enamored with, a large cocktail ring I recently purchased. You see, I love accessories in general, from hats to belts to big chunky jewelry, because I often dress in simple and comfortable clothes, and it’s all these add-on pieces that really end up making the outfit fun and interesting. Plus, like I mentioned before, on most days I don’t wear makeup and I feel like the accessories help dress up the look a bit more; in my opinion, they keep me from looking just plain frumpy.

So, which outfit version is your favorite? Do you wear hats? Do you have a favorite hat style? Please share!

Dress: H&M
Belt: H&M
Tote Bag: Saks Fifth Avenue via Good Will Store
Shoes: Circa Joan & David via Macy's
Necklace: Vintage
Cocktail Ring: BCBG Max Azria
Big Floppy Hat: Target
Fedora: it was a present from Mexico

Look of the Day: Neon Shopping

Here’s a little something I put together over the weekend, portraying my latest obsession: the neon trend! I’m particularly fond of the neon yellow/gray color combo, so just warning you, this won’t be the last time you see me wearing it. Something else that won’t be the last time you’ll see me wearing is the belted-waist silhouette, in fact, it’s what I wear the most. You see, I’m a curvy hourglass figure, and highlighting my waist (like with a belt!) along with an A-cut skirt or dress is what works best on me, so I stick to it. I also looooove statement necklaces, and I own a small collection of them (including this fringe necklace), so that’s another staple of mine you’ll find here often.

This past weekend was quite busy for me, but one of the highlights was squeezing in some time to do some fun shopping. Under 2 hours at the mall is all it took for me to find quite a few lovely additions to my wardrobe. One of them is this neutral envelope clutch from Aldo, which I had been needing for a while, and of course it didn’t hurt that it was on sale for $17!

Hope you guys had a fabulous weekend as well, what were the highlights of yours?

20120729-230114.jpg

Continue reading

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...