Anthro sweaters and my new jacket

I now remember why I avoid the mall like no other during the holiday season. No parking. Not even on a weekday lunch. :(

I debated whether or not to post these pictures since I seem to be kind of oddly evil cross-eyed in some of them, but oh well. Here we go! It'll be short and sweet!

Dressage Sweatercoat ($188?)

I missed the memo that said they were starting the sale at midnight eastern. :( Sad. I think I probably would have tried to get one of those last remaining mediums if they were still there. The one in the picture is a large and it looks more like a horse blanket than a horse coat. It is surprisingly soft and comfy, but it really needs a closure of some kind. Zippers, buttons, belt ... anything! All my open cardis keep getting blown back by the wind and since I always wear thin layers inside heavier cardis, obviously I start freezing. So maybe it was a blessing in disguise that they're all sold out of the smaller sizes (in store too!). But .... it has horses on it. I like horses. :(

Graduated Stripes Pullover ($88)

This is a tad big on me - my store only had mediums and bigger, and I probably would have tried on a small if they had one. I thought it worked well enough anyways. I liked the comfy retro look, and for a sweater, it was very non-itchy and soft. I bought this. (This is taken on a different day from other two - thus the uh, non cross eyes. What was wrong with me that day?!?)

Wool Blend Anorak with Faux Fur Trim (Nordstrom, Laundry by Shelli Segal, $278)

Okay, here's a departure from the usual Anthro clothes. I bought this recently and decided to snap a picture of it while I was doing the other two in the dressing room as well. I've been searching for a winter jacket for a long time. I came across this jacket from In Pursuit of Pretty Things and instantly fell in love. I have an 8. I initially ordered a four, and found it insanely tight in the shoulders. (Which is odd. I don't really think I have large shoulders, and nobody on Nordstrom's site is complaining about shoulders in the reviews. Maybe it's just me.) I took it back to the store and tried a six. Still too big in the shoulders. Size 8 - shoulders are finally perfect, the rest of the coat is now too big. Thankfully, the drawstring waist fixes most of the problems, and Nordstrom shortened the sleeves for me. It's a very well made jacket and it'll keep me comfy and warm for most of winter. I don't think it'll hold up to negative temps, but nothing really does unless I go looking for the patented windproof subthermal ski jackets, I think. I'm pretty happy with this purchase. (And once again, I assure you this jacket really looks a lot better when I am not cross-eyed.)

Speaking of the mall and holiday shopping, Tmobile posted a holiday flash mob/music video that was filmed at my home mall of Woodfield Mall, outside of Chicago. It's a bit heavy on the sappy side, but I'm too amused by just seeing my mall on here.

Alinea

So as Nina already wrote in the previous post, I was graced recently with a visit from two of my best friends here in Chicago. And what better way to celebrate their visit than to take them to the best restaurant in the US? (Well, when I mean "take," I mean - providing transportation. Driving car. Not buying them dinner. I earn a nice salary, and I love these girls, but well, a restaurant with a hefty reputation like this comes with an equally hefty bill. Kind of painful for only one wallet. They earn nice salaries too. They can buy their own meals. I'm a great friend! Everyone wants a friend like me!!)

Alinea is the obvious choice for a fancy, special occasion, once-in-a-lifetime (I hope to go back there again, so fine, once-every-few-years) meal. It recently was named the #1 restaurant in America (and in North America, as well), and #6 in the world. One of my favorite genres to read is culinary documentaries, and Alinea's chef, Grant Achatz, was featured prominently in two of my favorite books: Michael Ruhlman's Soul of a Chef and Reach of a Chef, so it was almost as if I knew him before I ate there! (Nah. Not really. He doesn't give a crap about me. But it's nice to pretend.)

Our story begins two months out at the beginning of August, which is when they opened reservations for the entire month of October. 21 busy signals later, I had a reservation for three lined up. Excellent. We fast forward to the beginning of October and we were in the car driving happily towards our much anticipated dinner. I got to show off my nifty backwards driving skills, as I overdrove the entrance and had to back up towards it (there is no sign, except for a small valet sign on the ground). The restaurant setup is rather non conventional. You walk through a closed in hallway, lit with red neon lights (it does make you wonder slightly if you are heading to dinner, or getting ready to get beamed up into a spaceship), and exit that into the restaurant proper. The glassed in kitchen is to your right, I think there were some dining rooms downstairs, and there were more upstairs, which is where we went. The restaurant reminds me of a modern styled house - there's several small dining rooms, connected by a hallway, and each dining rooms looks more like a living room than a dining room. There's a large island in each room, where the wait staff preps the food and does any last minute adjustments before serving. Speaking of the wait service, I was both amused and impressed. They were all dressed in smart black suits (all men, no women that I saw) and it felt like I was being served by the Secret Service. So, this is how it feels to be POTUS! :) For such a fancy-smanchy restaurant though, the waiters made you feel relaxed with some well timed quips about the food and the service - no pretentious snobbery here ("Wuld you like some GREEEAAAYYY POUPON?")

Okay, four paragraphs in, I suppose we should finally hit some food. :) I should note that they set down clean little cute white pillows to set our tableware on each time we had a dish that required utensils. I got spoiled real quick. ;) The next night at dinner, I was very sad when I had to set my fork down on my plate because I had no pillows.)

Note: All pictures stolen from Jenni, because my iPhone pictures were not great and hers were the easiest to steal from. :)


STEELHEAD ROE
watermelon, kaffir lime, oxalis
This dish was bright and so prettily plated. I loved the watermelon consomme - so light and sweet and a nice opener to the meal.


HAMACHI
west indies spices, pineapple, ginger
Our first interesting plating of the night. We picked up the vanilla bean from the - uh, cage like enclosure - and pulled the fried fish ball off the stick. We were told by the wait staff that "it looks big, but don't worry, it'll collapse in your mouth." Well, mine didn't - so I'm sure I looked super sophisticated chewing on my overly large ball of ... spicy banana-y goodness. (Yes, hamachi and pinapple combined to make me get bananas.)


At this time, they placed a single page of lettuce on a chopstick down on the table as decoration. (Well, three of them, for the three of us.)


Our next four courses came served a log. Now, how often do you get to eat off a log'? (Our waiter thought the same. Him to the table next to us: "I don't get to say this often, but can I take your log from you?") Each dish was a single bite of shellfish, served in it's own shell.


OYSTER LEAF
mignonette
It looks puny, but it was great. That one tiny leaf gave you a lot of salty ocean flavor.


TAYLOR BAY SCALLOP
hitachino white ale, old bay
I don't remember anything about this besides a lot of foam. ;)


TOP NECK CLAM
carrot, soy, daiko
I believe the waiter said this was reminiscent of XO sauce. It was very nice.


MUSSEL
saffron, chorizo, orange
This was one of my favorites of the night. I could have eaten a giant dish of this.


YUBA
shrimp, miso, togarashi
I will say that I took one for the team and broke my yuba stick, so nobody else had to feel bad about being messy or ruining food. This was very nice. I normally am not a big fan of miso, but I could barely taste it in the sauce. This reminded me of a fancy shrimp tempura.


MACKEREL
mango, radish flower, juniper
Remember when I was talking about interesting plating? Here's one that didn't require utensils - or fingers. Nope, just pull it right off the (bouncing) wire with your mouth. This evoked a lot of giggles. I think we were all worried about stabbing ourselves in the back of the throat with the wire. And you don't look very pretty pulling it off the wire with your mouth. It was fun to figure out, though. (Again, when else are you going to get told to eat a dish with your mouth only?) I think I was giggling too much over figuring out how to eat this to remember what it tasted like, but I remember getting a strong blast from the juniper berry?.


WILD MUSHROOMS
pine, sumac, ramp
This is a gorgeous dish - it really looks like you're picking fresh mushrooms from the forest floor. Actually, it tasted like that too. It was a really nice, earthy, rich taste.


HOT POTATO
cold potato, black truffle, butter
We had to put down our cameras for this, as we received very specific instructions on how to eat this. Our waiter loomed over the table and basically refused to leave until we all followed his directions. There was a small wax bowl containing a creamy truffle soup, with a pin stuck through the bowl holding some potato and a truffle. We pulled the pin out of the bowl, dumping the potato into the soup, and then slurped everything out of the bowl in one bite. You received a blast of heat from one of the potato cubes, a polarizing effect from one of the other potato cubes, which was chilled, and thus you received the name of this dish, which was "hot potato cold potato." I remember reading in an article in which Chef Achatz talked about this dish and said he hated people spending too much time taking pictures of a dish, because by the time they were done, the temperature of the dish had changed and they ended up with "warm potato warm potato" instead. One of my favorites.



AGNEAU
sauce choron, pomme de terre noisette
We received next a very unique plating set for the next course. Gold rimmed plates, beautifully edged silverware, and a lovely goblet with beautiful scrolling on it. They said that the dish was from Escoffier and I immediately thought that the dish had been stolen from NEXT, who just had their Escoffier menu (Next is Achatz's new restaurant, in which they serve themed menus for a couple of months only). I actually just looked up Next's Paris 1906 menu and this dish was not on their menu, but ... the plates look awfully familiar. ;) This was a standout for me. The lamb was cooked nicely and had great flavor, and they served a house made hibiscus soda with it that was very nice as well.


VENISON
red cabbage, mustard, paprika
We finally got to use the lettuce leaf for this course! We were served the garnishes first, which was plated over the rest of the serving dish. The garnishes sat on a glass tray, which lifted up to reveal two steel hooks, which attached together to form a bowl of sorts for the lettuce leaf. The waiter spooned in some braised vension chunks, and then we could add garnishes from the glass tray, which included bell pepper slaw, pickled onions, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, and a potato custard cube.


BLACK TRUFFLE
explosion, romaine, parmesan
Looking at the next picture makes me sad because I want another one of these right now. This was a single black truffle ravioli that exploded in your mouth (to be eaten in one bite only, not two, or else ... kaboom). I normally don't care for truffle too much (I think it tends to be a bit on the bitter side for me), but this was so incredibly delicious.


SQUAB
inspired by Miro
Our next dish came to us as many spoons. There was one bite on each spoon, and the waiters attempted to arrange the spoons in a very artistic arrangement (yes, they cleaned the table before they did this. They said it was a green tea spritzer that they cleaned the table with.) We were told that the main flavors were squab and lavender, and all the flavors were chosen to match well with those two. I noticed foie gras, beet jelly, and olives on the spoons, as well as a piece of roasted squab and some lavender noodles and flowers.


OCTOPUS
eggplant, coriander, red wine
This was similar to "hot potato cold potato" in that we were instructed to eat this all in a single slurp. The eggplant soup was really rich, light, and delicious.


SNOW
yuzu
Snowcone on an .... industrial screw? This was from yuza juice. It was really tart and cleansing and I would have loved more. However, I think I left more on the table than actually hit my mouth.


PEACH
jasmine, basil, balsamic
This was a really lovely composition of various dessert squares. The creme fraiche ice cream (the big white square) was my favorite on the plate.


LEMONGRASS
dragonfruit, thai basil, finger lime
Yes, it is what it looks like - a test tube! It was blocked off with lime gel at one end, and we were told to lift this to our mouth, and then just ... suck. Hard. (Insert joke here ...) It was a cool juice with cilantro and some other herbs, with a piece of dragonfruit at the very end. We were all getting really full by now, and this was really light and refreshing.


DARK CHOCOLATE
pumpkin pie, lingonberry, stout
Our last course for dessert was a giant spectacle. They spread out a silicon? tablemat on the table and lined up an array of garnishes and sauces on the side. Then they brought out two chocolate balls and poured - what I think is liquid nitrogen - into it, to flash freeze the ball, creating a bunch of smoke on our table. We had two chefs (one per ball) to pour and drip sauces all around the silicon tablemat. When that was completed, they picked up the now frozen chocolate ball and dropped it onto the table, causing it to explode and break, releasing all of the little goodies inside. We were all too full to properly enjoy it, but it was a really eye catching presentation.

Others:
Their wine pairing was pretty expensive, but individual glasses were reasonably well priced. Nina knows more about wine than me, but she took two half glasses and said later than if she had known how cheap they were (I think they were $9 a glass), she would opted for one or two more, maybe.
We all went for their tea offerings. I had no choice, I was getting over a cold and my throat was dying, so hot tea was a welcome option. They offered honey and fresh squeezed lemon juice, and I greatly enjoyed it. (I think this might have also been $9 for a small pot. They kind of don't tell you prices ahead of time ... I guess they assume if you can afford a meal there, you can afford their drink prices. I found it to be quite reasonable for the venue, anyways.)
The service really is top notch. They have a lot of wait staff that seem to stand around doing nothing (I'm sure they have something to do do) and they keep an eye on your table. Jenni mentioned that the water seemed to be a bit warm. About ten seconds later, a guy dashed over to take away all of our glasses and replace them with new glasses and chilled water (note: not just refill the glasses, but replace!). Also, during the last dessert course, the exploding chocolate ball, a bit of the sauce got on Jenni's dress. Without us asking, one of the waiters stopped by and offered her their business card, telling us that they would be happy to pay for dry cleaning.

I thought this was a really wonderful experience - and yes, experience, not a meal. The staff here really goes all out to make sure all aspects of the night: service, decor, presentations, ambiance, and yes - food - are all constructed to be one of a kind. It's the priciest meal I've ever had, but it's a one of a kind special event, so I judged it worth the price. You wouldn't want to do it every night, or every month, even - maybe not even every year - but .... well, I really want another black truffle ravioli explosion now. Drool.

Food for thought

In light of the recent debates about over-consumerism/shopping addiction/big elephant in the room/money on the various Anthropologie blogs, I felt it probably wasn't the right time to talk about new purchases. Therefore, you all are going to get treated to a rambling debate with myself about the next new big purchase that I am contemplating.

Dog Food!

I'm such a good puppy, feed me please.

Yes, dog food. Sasha came with a giant bag of food from the shelter. We continued to feed her from it because she's used to it, and hey - it's free! However, we're down to the last box of it or so (we split the bag into several airtight - or semi airtight - boxes to try and keep it from going stale) and it's now time to contemplate a move. I don't like the current food. She's not digesting a lot of it (read: there is a lot of poop) and the ingredients on the list don't have me thrilled. I don't know what to change to, though. Nina wanted me to post pics of my puppy, and I figured since two pictures don't constitute a post, I might as well argue with myself over dog food.

About six years ago, I got my first dog, a lovely little dachshund puppy named Cally. I was so incredibly thrilled. I'd wanted a dog all my life and now here he was, my dream dog! So I was determined to be a dream owner. I marched happily into Petsmart and chose the coolest looking, most impressively labeled dog food I could find on the shelves. I was such a good owner! That was, until I went to puppy kindergarten with Cally. In one of the classes, our instructor told us to bring in the ingredients label from our dog food. And then she said ...

I won't tell you what to feed your dog, but I'll tell you some important facts.

1) The ingredients are listed in order of quantity. The first ingredient makes up the biggest portion of the food, the last one the smallest.

2) There are a lot of fillers in the food that do nothing for your dog's health, besides fill him up, such as wheat, corn, beet pulp, etc (hence the name).

3) Meat by-product is actually a lot of junk left over from the slaughtering of the animal that is ground up, rendered, or whatever they want to do with it - stuff such as feet, bones, chicken feathers, intestines.

I am probably slightly off on some of these facts (take my word with a grain of salt) but the basic points my instructor was trying to make seeped into my mind. Wheat = bad. Corn = bad. Meat by-product = ewwww!! And oh joy - they're all at the top of my current puppy food's ingredients list!

I junked that food fast.

There is more debate online about various chemicals and pro-biotics and raw diets. It makes my head spin, so I won't get into it. But the above facts were enough to spur me into searching out pet stores nearby that carried premium dog foods. This became even more important when Cally developed allergies that restricted him from a lot of foods. And now, it's carried over to selecting food for Sasha.

Disclaimer: Not trying to lecture you on why your grocery store dog food is bad or talk you out of your favorite food, just mumbling to myself over dog food choices of my own preference.


Canidae was the first food I picked up for Cally (i think it was chicken and rice). It had high reviews online and the chicken meat was from a human grade facility. It didn't contain any wheat or corn. I was pleased with it, and Cally enjoyed it greatly. I could add this into Sasha's food rotation. However, I've heard that they changed the formula since I've last used it, and some of the latest reviews have not been as favorable.

Cally moved over to Innova Evo (turkey and chicken small bites) after we finally figured out what allergies he had. This was one of the few foods that didn't include corn, beef, peanuts, barley, or peas (the pea thing killed me, really. So many foods looked good, but ended up with peas in them! Argh!). He really liked this food. I heard that Proctor and Gamble bought Innova recently. I think someone said there was a 2 year ban on changing the formula, but I am wary about what changes they might make for this, although I still like this food and might use it for Sasha.

I also fed Cally Nature's Variety Instinct Raw medallions. These were probably the love of his life. These are frozen chunks of formula made with raw meat. I LOVED the ingredients label. You could understand just about every ingredient! And it was short!! They do include some ground up bone mixed in, to add essential minerals they need, there's fruit, vegetables, eggs - everything is recognizable! I really liked this food. I am unsure about adding this for Sasha as Cally loved this to the extent that he began ignoring his kibble in favor of this - and since this food is softer, it doesn't clean teeth to the extent that crunchy kibble can. I may choose to add in more raw foods to Sasha's diet in the future, but I want to keep her on kibble for now.



Orijen is one of the samples I received from the local natural/organic pet store and was recommended by an employee who was familiar with all the agonies I went through finding food for Cally. This has rave reviews and one of the few five star ratings on dogfoodadvisor.com. There are also pro-biotics added to this food, I believe, to help digestion. Sasha is currently sampling the 6 Fish food along with her current kibble, and she LOVES it. There are comments about some dogs not doing well on such a high protein food such as this. I am strongly scrutinizing her waste to make sure she's digesting this food okay. If all goes well, I will probably start her on this.

Other samples we received included Pinnacle Holistic (Trout and Sweet Potato) and Nature's Variety Instinct (Beef and Lamb) that I also might try out soon. I am not very familiar with Pinnacle, but I'm obviously familiar with Nature's Variety Instinct (from the raw medallions above) and might try more of the Nature's Variety Instinct kibble in the future.

I love food. Have I mentioned I love food? Feed me.

Butterflies, Robin Hood, and a puppy.

I stopped by Anthro today. Nothing interesting sale wise, but some new arrivals were in, so here they are!

Winter Tree Shirtdress $178

This is my favorite of the bunch. I love shirtdresses and these colors are a bit darker than I prefer, but I loved the print, so decided to try it anyways. It's a wrap dress, which I was a bit wary about, but it ended up draping really nicely. The silk is really nice and I really liked it on me, except for the fact that it was too big. This was my usual Maeve size 2. I think I'll have to try it again in a 0.

Neigh neigh.

I wanted to post about horses, but couldn't find an excuse to post solely about horses, so I dredged up all the old Anthro pics on my phone. :) Blame Anthro, they have nothing cute at the moment for me to take pictures of. Although .......... ELEPHANTS. THERE ARE ELEPHANTS ON THIS DRESS.

Too bad the Sing Sweetly shape looks so bad on me. :( I'll probably try it out anyways if it hits my store.


Mompos Dress ($228)

I think this is the only recent non-sale item in this post! It finally arrived at my store so I grabbed it to try on. This is a size 6 and I think it fits pretty well. (It's also the same size I tried on for Tracy Reese's Andrick coat last winter.) There's a sewn in slip for this dress, and a back zip, which I totally appreciate over side zips. I like this quite a bit and am waiting for sale on it. I actually did buy this dress to get to the free ship amount, and am hoping for a PA on this next week. (Therefore, Murphy's law - this will not go on sale next week, obviously!)

Shoulders

I hate strapless clothing, because I always feel like it's going to come flying off. But Jenni keeps insisting I try them on, so ... well, I guess the theme for today's reviews are bare shoulders, since there seems to be a lot of skinny straps/strapless items in Anthro right now.

But before we get into that, I have to break into my sports update. :) Congrats to my Chicago Bulls, who are getting ready to face the winner of the Orlando/Atlanta series on Monday for round 2 of the NBA Playoffs. Go Bulls! Also rooting on Atlanta (I'd rather not face Dwight Howard), Boston (I hate Miami), and Memphis (they almost closed out #1 San Antonio! What an underdog story!). And also, if you tune into USEF Network, I believe they are showing live coverage of the Rolex **** 3 Day Event this weekend. I was able to watch Dressage all day today, anyways. :) XCountry Saturday - it scares the beejeezus out of me, but it's amazing to watch, especially the water jumps!

Nathalie Lete Butterfly Net Dress ($158)

I have ranged anywhere from a 0 (Cyan Sweetbriar Dress) to a 6(Pigment and Canvas Dress) in Nathalie Lete, so I wasn't sure what to grab. Opted for a 2 and crossed my fingers. It fit, but wow, the material has no give in it! Everytime I took a step, I made it all of ... three inches before the dress stopped me. I could size up and hope that it would give me more room, but it's feeling a little loose up on top. I was going bra-less, so the bra straps wouldn't ruin the pic ... maybe a strapless bra would help fill it up more. The colors are lovely, but I'm not sure I'm feeling the whole strapless vibe.

Nocreative title here, just some reviews

Hi all, it's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm sorry. I blame Anthro. Instead of wandering in to the store to try all on my loves and snap pics of them, I end up walking around finding nothing that I really like and have to grab things deliberately to try on. That said, I have bought some Anthro lately. Everyone help me pray for a big sale/second cuts next week, since they gypped us today at the end of free ship. (I just picked up a De Chelly dress deliberately hoping for a second cut. Since I have done so, I can now guarantee you that there will not be a second cut before the end of my PA adjustment range.) I also picked up a few rare gems on ebay, but my bank account is not so delighted. I guess it's a good thing then that Anthro's latest offerings have been a bit stale.

What I also picked up was The Land of the Painted Caves, book six in the Earth's Children trilogy by Jean Auel. (Just out today!) Yessssss. I have a blissful evening ahead of me with lots of Stone Age historical fiction. The reviews seem weak, but I'm hoping I'll still like it. I don't necessarily need a lot of action and I like reading long boring historical descriptions of how to cook food or make clothes (which is what a lot of people seem to be knacking on the book for), so fingers crossed!

What else is new? I guess since I've posted about my riding exploits here in the past, I'll also share with you that I had my first fall last week! (I have been seriously going around talking about this to everyone I know. I don't know why I'm bragging about it. It's not that great a thing to be proud of. But I feel this is something vitally important that everyone must know.) It's actually not that exciting to speak of - one of the things I've had the most problems with right now is proper pacing into the jumps, and I generally epic fail at slowing down Remy over combinations. I screwed up and slewed him into the line at way too steep of an angle, which had me off balance over the first fence. He eyed the second fence and took off as usual - which threw me even more off balance - and then after we landed, I found myself hanging off the left side of the horse. I tried, but it wasn't quite saveable, and hanging off the side of the horse while he careened happily around the arena wasn't very appealing, so ..... ooomph and ploofmph! No harm, just had the wind knocked out of me and was sore for days afterwards. And I found sand in the oddest places afterwards. (in my nostrils?!?) At least I was triply inspired to go watch more videos after that. (Nope, sorry, no videos of my fall. I almost wish I had one. There are people on youtube that take great pleasure in making fall montages. I want to be cool like that!) What I have concluded after watching my old crap videos, and videos of grand prix riders, is that I think I throw myself too far forward at the two point and stay down in it too long. I need to try opening up on the downside of the jump. We'll see if I can remember that tomorrow in my next lesson.

Okay, Anthro reviews, which is much more exciting (and safer!)

Gathered Hemlock Dress ($148)

I tried the very similar Softly Structured dress on before and didn't care for it much on me, but I loved the bright sunny print of this dress. And .... still a no go. Shame. As I mentioned before, I love the print, and the dress is so comfortable and soft. I believe I took an xs and it fit just fine. I lay all blame on the top. I love the wrap style of the bottom, but the top seems too plain. If I put a hand over the bottom of the dress to just look at the top, it looks like a t-shirt. Maybe it's the wider neckline (which really isn't that wide and I've bought other shirts with wide necklines that look fine.) Maybe it's the short straight sleeves. But something just doesn't feel right to me.

Dresses, dresses, and more dresses!

The Iditarod 1000 mile sled dog race is starting tomorrow! Technically, it began today, but that was the ceremonial start which ran around downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Tomorrow is the re-start and the beginning of the actual race. That means that this week's productivity at work is shot. The Iditarod has, in the last few years, been placing GPS trackers on all the mushers sleds, which update every 15 minutes. Good idea for race fans. Bad idea for workers.

Me: Okay, I need to get started coding and writing my test plans.
* refreshes trackers *
Me: Grrr WHYYY aren't you moving? It's a race! You said you'd rest 6 hours! Your tracker stopped about 5 hours ago THEY'RE CATCHING UP TO YOU!!!!
* refreshes trackers *
Me: Good, trackers have changed the speed from 0.0 mph to 0.2 mph. Maybe the sled is moved in preparation of moving off their butts and getting back on the trail!
* refreshes trackers * Speed shows at 0.0 mph.
Me: GAAAHHHHH.
* refreshes trackers *
Speed shows at 6.8 mph (or something similar)
Me: Yeeaaah baby go dogs go! Okay, that was a good waste of an afternoon. Oh yeah, I was supposed to get stuff done today at work, wasn't I. Ooops.

x 10 days or so .....

Not so sure anyone else follows my obscure interest in sled dogs, but the team I follow is Aliy Zirkle and Allen Moore of SP Kennels. They have a lot of nice videos on the trail and do a fairly good job of keeping us updated with what's happening in the race.

But anyways, what you probably are interested in is not furry dogs trotting through an Artic Wilderness. On to the dresses!

Wisteria Halter Dress ($148)

I totally cannot figure out yet what to make of this dress. I love the colors. But the split confuses me. Why is the top purple and the bottom green? I know, top flowers, bottom vines. But it looks disjointed. I zoomed in on the website and finally figured out that it's a big long green vine with purple flowers on the top. But it doesn't look connected from a distance. The dress itself is a very sturdy cotton, almost a canvas like material. I took my usual 2 in Maeve and found it was way too big. I'd have to size down to a 0. I think I like the dress, despite the odd color splitage. It cries out for a belt though. I would love to throw my looping lanes belt on for styling. I found it very comfy, maybe a tad too heavy for the hottest days of summer because of the weight of the fabric, and definitely my favorite of all the dresses I tried on that day. Possibly wishlisted. (Which no, doesn't speak well for the rest of the dresses!)

Shoes!

To all ye bloggers out there I have mentally mocked inside my head for your crappy shoe pictures, I sincerely apologize. Yeah, not quite as easy as it seems. I think I took about 50 pictures in attempts to get some good ones for these reviews, and they're all crappy, but it's better than nothing.

Here goes!

Seychelles Pot of Gold Pump ($89.95)

With my discovery of Anthro in the past year, and my subsequent purchase of many many dresses, I have recently realized that I need nice shoes to go with my dresses too. So, here's one to start things off with. This is a stunner! Here's the real life shots:



Ignore ugly feet, please. And yay, ignore the photographer who took two pictures of the same shoe and came out with two different shadings! The first picture shows the blue more closely, and the second picture shoes off the peach shade better. I was undecided at first, primarily because of the heel height. It's 3.5 inches and I usually am more comfortable at 3 inches and lower. These weren't bad to walk in - a little wobbly - but I attribute that to the fact that I'm not not used to the heel height. It also does feel like all your weight is shoved towards your toes, but it's nicely padded. They are TTS - I am normally an 8.5 in unsocked shoes and this fit me perfectly in 8.5. I am leaning towards keeping these as they fit in quite well with my wardrobe, although I anticipate they'll hurt for a bit when I break them in. (I think all shoes, with the exception of sneakers, hurt when I break them in.)

Reviews: Tops and a Jacket

Still no booties in the mail today. :( But I did have these pictures saved up on my phone from awhile ago. I hesitated in posting them because they're such bad quality, but it's better than nothing. My phone decided to go even more yellow than usual. I attempted to clean it up in Photoshop, but I don't actually know how to use photoshop too well, so now they have some kind of old, aged, painted tint to them.

See what I mean?

Make a Splash Cowlneck ($78.00)

This actually doesn't it look like it fits too badly, but I remember this being being loose and a bit big on me. I took an xs. Deletta has been running big for me lately, and I find myself being sized out of most, if not all, of their things lately. It was very comfortable, although I was (and am still) skeptical of the off center neckline. I kept feeling like it was going to drop too low and give people an inadvertent show.

Want want want

This post is not really creative in anyway, in that you'll recognize only about 50 other bloggers have done the same thing. But it's been done to death precisely because it is a very good idea. It's ..... da da da ... Wishlist: Things I want to buy/things I need/Things I hope they come out with soon.

I did have a different post in mind - reviews of shoes I have recently bought - except Anthro decided to delay the last part of my post in that they sent me a pair of size 7 Lace Lover Booties. I am an 8.5. :( So, shoe review post coming later when my booties finally arrive from the Chicago store.

What's on my wishlist?

SHOES :)
I always focused on flats before, because I had convinced myself I couldn't wear heels. They're wobbly. They'll give me a sprained ankle. I don't want to break the heel. However, I finally broke my self imposed heel ban, because the perfect, beautiful, golden standard shoe had finally appeared in my life - and it had a heel on it. So I finally managed to acquire a pair of the Budding T-straps, and angels started to sing. I felt stable! I felt comfortable! And best of all - there is a rubber sole on this shoe. Seriously. Win. So that opened up a whole new avenue of shoes for me. Well, anything under 3 inches, with a thicker heel. No stiletto heels for this girl. I am still convinced I will twist my ankle and break the heel with something as skinny as that.

So. Heels. 3 inches and under. Brown, black, or any fun color. Preferably a t-strap or mary jane style. (While photographing shoes for the upcoming shoe review post, I have noticed that I don't really have very pretty feet. I think I need something to break up the expanse of ugly foot, such as some well placed straps or flowers or such.) Something cute enough to pair with dresses for a nice night out, or casual enough to wear to work or with jeans.

This is Poetic License's Apple Pie Mary Jane pump. I've been eyeing it in both black and this light blue. I do remember trying on once an Irregular Choice heel, which I believe is from the same parent company as Poetic License, and I don't remember it being very comfy, but this is pretty cute. Except Nina remarked that it reminded her of Minnie Mouse and now I have a hard time getting that image out of my head. I'm also not quite sure this fits in with a dressier outfit.

Naya Chalice Mary Jane Pump. This is promising. Except I really have enough light colored/neutral shoes right now in flats, and I really need to find darker shoes to pair with my darker dresses. They have this in black, but I don't think I can see the light flowery detail well enough on it.


Seychelles Pot of Gold T-strap. I actually bought this already, and am still waffling on this. More details to come in the upcoming shoe review post.


I know, it's not a new shoe. It's Anthro's Bouquet of Roses heels from 2009. You know, I had my finger about to buy a very reasonably priced auction for these shoes last year. And then I talked myself out of it, saying that I really would much rather prefer the Budding T-straps over these Bouquet of Roses heels, and I really should save money. So ... now I find myself in dire wants for these shoes, and kicking myself SO badly for not going for it last year. If you want to sell a size 8, 8.5, or 9 in these shoes, let me know. ;) Otherwise, I am impatiently awaiting the 2011 version of these shoes. (I still kind of like the 2010 version, the Rensselaer T-straps, but I'm waffling because of that big buckle on it. No buckles. Or little tiny buckles, please. But hey, if you want to sell a size 9 or 10 in these shoes, let me know too!)

SKIRTS
I have no idea what I really want. I have a vague impression in my mind, but it's just a feeling of a soft, silky, long flowing skirt. Not maxi length. And not above the knee length. Something just below the knee. Something that twirls nicely and floats, not the structured pencil skirts out right now. I guess I'll know it when I see it.

SPRING/FALL JACKET
I tried on the Engla trench a few weeks ago. I didn't take a picture of it because the weird ruffles around my neck reminded me strongly of a frilled lizard. But it was very very well made, and I need something nice like that in my life. I currently have a rip-off not-authentic-at-all Burberry hooded trench. It's very cute. It's also shoddily made. The Engla trench was lightweight and well lined, and I had the impression I could dash out into a pouring rainstorm and come out dry, warm, and completely unscatched. My fake Burberry is likely to rip apart in three seconds. I really need to combine the two .... which, er, would turn it into a well made, lightweight, well lined Burberry trench ... which actually means an authentic Burberry trench. Haha. But since I lack the 1.5k needed for such a jacket, that will have to pass for now.

CASUAL SUMMER DRESS
Currently my gold standard for this is last year's State Fair Dress. Something fun and easy to wear out anywhere and not worry about being overly dressed up. Except that dress was way too big on me even in a size 0. I have a Southward Stop shirtdress which also fits in this category, but that's a bit too structured for what I have in mind. Something soft and flowy. (Hey, that sounds like the skirt I have described! Wow, I'm not repeating myself at all.)

Too bad I think Anthro's March catalog will be swimsuit heavy, but I'm eagerly awaiting their late spring and summer stuff. I need them to fill up these categories in my closet. And guess what? It's supposed to be over freezing tomorrow! I think it's possibly time for me to break out my Tria Sweater skirt. I know the sweater part of that seems to hint that this should be worn when it's BELOW freezing ... but here in Chicago we've been in the teens, the single digits, and below zero. I am not wearing tights in that weather. So above freezing skirt, here we come!

A horsey break

I have a few new reviews that I'll put up soon, but in the meantime, I taped my most recent riding lesson. And then put with it the theme to the NBA on NBC in the 90's. (The reaction on my facebook was amusing. Confusion from the girls, and approval from the guys. Come on ... I could not have been the only sixth grader watching MJ's Bulls six peat back in the day!)




Analysis: Heels need to still be down more, but they've improved tenfold. Now .... time to work on tightening up the lower leg, getting it more stable, and to stop being so far forward in the saddle, which is leading up to me over-jumping. But progress! I see progress!!

Anthro Reviews and new loves

I was all excited when Anthro's January catalog came out. Nothing I wanted! I'd be able to save some money! Except .... I ended up falling in love with a bunch of older items. Sale goggles make everything look better! But it's all good, because some more expensive items ended up falling off my in love list, so I think I'm still saving money. Technically.

Yes, more yellow pictures.

Take Action Dress ($168)

This seems to be the current blogger dress favorite right now. For good reason, too. This is a gorgeous dress! I was initially put off by the Girls From Savoy label (their stuff did NOT fit me well at all last year) but I figured it was worth a try. And lo a behold, their stuff works this year! Or at least this dress does. I intially took my default size 4 for unknown brands, but had to size down to a 2 in this. It's very light and silky and easy to pull on, no zipper. The side elastic cinches make it easy to put on and it nips in the waist without having to look for a pesky belt or sash. The shoulders pull in tightly at the neck though, and it's going to show off bra straps, so you'd have to go strapless for this dress. This is a winner though. It's high on my "must have or cry sadly" list.

The horses of Fashion Farm

Not my horses, although I thoroughly wish they were!

Remember the beautiful September 2010 Anthropologie catalog, with the very strong equestrian theming?


I fell in love with it instantly because I love horses, although I'm only a rinky dink once-a-weeker showing a very bad Long Stirrup and training at home with equally bad 2'3" courses. :D Well, the inspiration behind Anthropologie's equine love is probably coming from the Urban Outfitters CEO, Glen Senk. He's a AA circuit hunter rider and has his horses under the name of Fashion Farm. (Explanations: The AA circuit is the top circuit for hunters/jumpers in the US. The hunter classes are subjective judging classes where the basis of judging falls mostly on the horse itself and how well it jumps it's rounds - it's been said the scoring is 80% horse, 20% rider.)

Glen Senk, UO CEO, and Dynamic, showing at the 2007 Winter Equestrian Festival in the 36-50 Adult Amateur Hunters division.

Sandy and Japayla, schooling at the barn. Hrm. One of these things is not like the other.

I'd like to own a horse one day, but it's vastly expensive and even if I won the lottery, I don't know anywhere near enough horsemanship to be a good owner. (No idea about feeding. I know the very very basics about tack. No idea how to check for lameness in a horse.) So in the meantime, since the Winter Equestrian Festival just started up this weekend in Wellington, FL, I've been following the results there as eagerly as I follow my Chicago Bulls or Bears. The WEF is a two month show and most of the big name hunters and jumpers from the US are in Florida at this time (although a lot of the west coast riders and horses stayed on the west coast and are over at the HITS Thermal circuit in California). So while I follow my usual riders at WEF - the top riders (McLain Ward, Beezie Madden, Eric Lamaze), some up and coming riders I've been impressed with (the Jaynes from Our Day Farm, Maggie and Charlie, Nicole Shahinian-Simpson), and the the girls from the Horsepower series a few years back on Animal Planet (Brianne Goutal, Chelsea Moss, Maria Schaub, and some others that kinda were on the show - Jessica Springsteen and Addison Phillips), I've added Glen Senk and the Fashion Farm horses to my list as well. They're lovely! (I suppose if one can't buy a horse, one can buy clothes that eventually go to fund a horse as well ...)

Glen trains under Scott Stewart, one of the top hunter riders and trainers in the US. Glen is competing in the Adult Amateur Hunters 50+ division at WEF and has already gathered in a red ribbon (2nd) with Highland Park this weekend. While Glen competes in the Adult Am's, Scott Stewart competes the Fashion Farm horses in the other hunter divisons. Scott is a wonderful hunter rider and I love watching him ride.

Okay, I think I basically made this entire post just so I had a reason to post this following video. I was looking up examples of a handy hunter hand gallop. Handy hunter is a hunter class in which a horse has to show off maneuverability and rideability. The course will include elements such as trot jumps, hand gallops, and tighter turns than a basic hunter class. A hand gallop is a controlled gallop used in competitions. This is similar to what is asked for in equitation classes (classes where judging is on how good a rider's position is and how well they ride their horse) and there are frequently discussions on the horse forums I frequent about what constitutes a hand gallop, is an extended canter a hand gallop (NO) and riders blowing the hand gallop and crashing into the fence. Scott Stewart was recommended as a rider who does a lovely hand gallop and looking on youtube, I found Scott at the USHJA Hunter Derby Finals Handy Round, mounted on Summer Place, a Fashion Farm horse.



Sigh. 'tis a lovely sight.

ETA: Oops, was looking at WEF results and saw a horse named Summer Place showing with Pony Lane Farm and Maggie Jayne. Checked USEF and looks like Fashion Farm sold him to PLF. No worries, Fashion Farm also owns a horse named Another Place!

Need to save some money! - and some reviews

Well, it's been a long few weeks of sales at Anthro. I'm especially glad the 25% sale is over. I really need to save money, and it's so easy to justify buying stuff when it's on super super sale! I'm glad nothing really caught my eye this week. I liked the Femme Fisherman Cardigan, but it was a bit scratchy, and I didn't love it enough to buy at $70. I still love the Karelia coat, but I can't justify it when it's nowhere near warm enough for an Illinois winter. And I have serious issue making myself pay over a hundred dollars for a sweater, so no Gathering Harvest /Best of the Bunch cardi for me either. Sniff. My wallet thanks me, anyways.

I did however buy a couple of small latte bowls and a $9.99 AG khaki in moss! They're super comfortable and if you're looking for some cheap pants now, it's a good time to get them at Anthro. (It's also apparently a good time to get an Exbury Gardens cardi, apparently. Last week, there were two or so sitting at my store. Walked in yesterday and there had to be 30+ on the racks. WTF?)

My iphone is all about the yellow shades. Apologies. I need to remember to bring my actual camera more often. :(

Sun Shades Dress ($158)

Everybody and their mother has reviewed this, and it's easy to see why. It's a bright happy dress that will lift your spirits up after nothing but pounds and pounds of gloomy ice and snow. Moulinette Souers sizing has confounded me lately (see Lucillae dress from the last post) so instead of my usual 2, I grabbed a 4. And ..... we're going back to a 2 next time. The 4 is big but I think the 2 will fit perfectly. I liked this dress a lot. It's a very light dress - I'm thinking summer moreso than spring. I think I'll bite if this goes on sale.

Whoohoo!

Happy New Year! It's a bit sad to be back in the dreary Midwest after an awesome time in the Caribbean, but eh, my house certainly feels as warm as the Caribbean, anyways. (Thank you Grandma who has an even lower endurance for cold than I do.) Nina would hate it - we constantly fought over the thermostat in our cruise room. ;) I'd walk in, shiver, and jam it up 5 degrees. 10 minutes later, Nina would grumble and turn it down by 7. Hey .... reminiscent of our dorm room in college. :)

All right, Anthro reviews.

Lucillae Dress ($99)

This is an old dress, but I just randomly found it for the first time on a sales rack at a store I don't normally frequent (thanks for not showing up in any of my usual stores!) so I had to try it on. I saw it on a SA in my usual store and it looked gorgeous! I normally can do a 2 in Moulinette Souers and luckily enough, that's what this was. Or, not so - it was insanely tight for the lower half of my body. The top fit well enough, but ... you know that saying, where people say they shimmy into tight dresses? I shimmied, literally. I jerked and pulled and yanked on the dress to put it on, and then I realized ... oops, this thing has to come off, and it is clinging like a baby clings to it's bottle. Okay ... shimmy shimmy shimmy shimmy shake shake. As you can imagine from my descriptions of how tight it was, it was horrible to walk in and the dress cut your stride off in half. Too bad, because this would be great to get with the 25% off sale. I wonder if a 4 might work, but maybe it would mean that I could walk a 3/4 stride instead of a half. And then the top might be drowning on me. Oh well. It means I save money for ...