goldenpig

I totally blame Angie and her Maximal Matchy Matchy thread she posted about the Banana Republic florals! I had already bought a bunch of matchy matchy floral items on sale at Kate Spade, but I couldn't resist trying out the Banana Republic florals as well--both prints to boot! Initially I was going to post a K/R on which of the three floral patterns to keep, Kate Spade hazy floral or the BR daisy floral or BR watercolor floral, but I couldn't bring myself to return any of them, so I kept them all! I'm justifying by saying the skirts are different silhouettes (A line midi, pencil, floaty pleated mini). OK I know it's a stretch, but I did wear them all! And in my defense, everything was on sale! I even have scarves in two of the patterns (no scarf available for the watercolor), but I couldn't quite work them in this time (I'm not really a scarf girl, I'm more into necklaces). Saving them though to extend the matchy matchy possibilities so I can wear the purses with other outfits.

And interestingly, I tried on the floral blazer and pants, but the pantsuit felt too masculine on me (haha, floral blazer too masculine?!) so that's why I stuck with the skirts. I don't know, I may decide to go back for the floral blazer after all. I used to wear a floral blazer all the time in 1985 with a big lace bow in my hair and long knotted pearl necklace (a la Madonna), so I may need another one in my life. I am still kicking myself that I didn't get the H&M one to match my floral pants, or the blue Zara floral blazer from a couple years ago.

My matchy matchy tendency combined with my maximal tendency of going overboard has resulted in another "anything worth doing is worth doing to excess" post. Pardon the plethora of pictures (do you like the alliteration in the title too?). I thought about making this into more than one post, but then where's the fun in that?! If it's maximal matchy matchy, then you need to see all three of these sets together! I'm all in for matchy matchy maximal mums (and other springtime florals)! Who's with me?!

People really get a kick out of seeing my handbag match my clothes. A cafeteria worker came up to me as I was carrying my tray in the hospital cafeteria and said "Excuse me!" I looked up, startled and concerned that somehow I had done something wrong, but then she said, "I just wanted to tell you that your outfit is so fabulous! You look amazing!" (28-32) Which of the shoe options do you like better, by the way? Turquoise pumps or orange loafers? I wore both. I'm really into swapping shoes for work to MOTG.

Another super fun thing about matchy matchy? Getting to do it with my mini-me! DD told me the other day, "We are the same. We both have black hair and glasses and we both like things to match." That day we had actually both worn purple and pink so we took a picture together (9). She's like my little twin! She is a little fashionista and does pattern mixing and matchy matchy like a pro. She doesn't let me dress her. She's much more stylish than I ever was at her age. It'll be fun to see how she dresses when she gets older! She's already planning to raid my closet...she's always commenting "Can I have that when I get older?" about the necklaces and purses and shoes that she likes. She's already called dibs on the butterfly necklace in 24 (lucky she's my only girl!). So I found a copycat Betsey Johnson like my Chanel silver boy bag for her. I had so much fun doing a mini-me three years ago when I got my other Chanel Ms. Scarlet and found her a Forever21 knockoff. We even had matching peplum stripe tops, floral pants and red ballet flats (8). Here's the prior post about it, fun to look back to the baby days!

http://goldenpig.lookfab.com/p.....-jeans-and

http://goldenpig.lookfab.com/p.....-two-weeks

I had initially worn it with my white purse, and we went out to dinner with the kids for Korean food in the city (I switched from the lace up flats to sneakers for MOTG because we were going to play at the park after dinner). Then I noticed that DD coincidentally had the same sort of floral skirt and silver sandals like my silver flats. So when we got home, she put on a denim jacket and we did a little matchy matchy mini me photo shoot. Super fun for both of us! She asked to try on my purse and shoes so I let her (5). Of course, it took a long time because the boys made it challenging to get a good shot, and DD also wanted in on the puppy pile (14-15), so I'm including the outtakes 10-15) because they are just too funny!

Thanks for sticking with me through the profusion of prose and photos! Having fun with fashion with my mini-me! Happy Spring!

Joy has requested to see the hedgehog purse--happen to have pics to share! Not sure how well this works with the loose over baggy, but trying Angie's ensemble with an unstructured shirt dress and cropped pants. With a gold hedgehog purse and gold boots to match. Another one of my cute tiny impractical Kate Spade clutches. Nothing fits in this thing! This one doesn't even fit my iPhone 6 Plus! Arggh! It was only $138 on clearance at the Kate Spade surprise sale (down from $398), but it was final sale, so I can't return. Not that I want to...DD is begging me to let her have it. I told her we can share! Maybe I should just think of this as a cosmetic case and toss it in my Longchamp tote. This is like the purse version of my 4 inch dragonfly heels. So entirely impractical, but so cute I can't get rid of it.

Vince shirtdress
Zella jogging capris
OTBT gold ankle boots
Banana Republic outlet necklace
Stella and Dot spiky bracelet (pretend they're little grubs? LOL)
Kate Spade Creme de la Creme hedgehog crossbody purse

Una asked me to post my polar bear clutch. I have so many bags I've been working through them since February! I've given up trying to use a different one each day (too difficult), but my goal is still to get through all of them. Now I'm down to novelty clutches, which I'm finding are really challenging to use in real life! They're so cute, but so teeny! I ended up having to carry my normal sized white satchel for work and just used the clutch for going out to dinner. It held my phone (barely because I have an iPhone 6 plus), one car key on the keychain, and a popsicle coin purse with one credit card and my lipstick. That's it, and I could barely close it! But I went out to dinner with two other women doctors in my practice and they absolutely loved the clutch!

So, moral of the story is, I need to stop buying cute tiny purses. But I love them so much and Kate is making it so hard for me to resist! I still have a camera and ice cream truck to show you!

For the outfit, I really wanted to wear the tulle skirt with this grey sweater (see prior tulle skirt post) but I felt kind of ridiculous going to work in a tulle skirt (not that MOTG in a tulle skirt is any less ridiculous) so I went with white culottes instead, which kind of gave the same vibe. Will wear the tulle skirt next time! Also feeling a little worried that the grey sweater is too form fitting for my apple belly, but I'm never going to have the perfect body, so I'll settle for sucking it in a little for WIWs, LOL. I wore the Kate Spade "Clink of Ice" necklace which I also got on sale to match the polar bear ice theme. And of course the polar bear keychain and popsicle coin purse.

ETA: adding a few more fish and seahorse pics for Eliza and Joy! And my fuzzy polar bear for Rachy. I don't have any fish shaped coin purses, but I do have a fishbowl coin purse, does that count? I had to dig out my old Paul Frank and Gama-Go collection. I'm realizing now that Kate Spade is kind of like the grown up version of Paul Frank! Maybe I should start using some of those bags too? Think I can get away with it? I'll pull out a few and see what you think!

New white bag for summer--bought on sale at Kate Spade. Never had a plain all white purse before, what do you think of this version? Could be as versatile as a black purse!

1-3. DS2 picked my necklace for today. I have all my necklaces in a clear organizer hanging on the closet door and he said he really wanted me to wear this seahorse necklace. So I went with the theme and added a starfish bracelet, and a "water" dress for the seahorse to swim in. And sandy shoes and sweater.
Michael Michael Kors dress
TJ Maxx seahorse necklace
Tommy Bahama starfish bracelet
Kate Spade small Hayden white satchel
Ugg ballet flats
Vince sweater
5-8. Navy and white. 
White House Black Market top
Paige jeans
Clarks sandals
Jolt jacket
Kate Spade purse
WHBM bracelet
Amazon necklace
9-10. Casual olive and red.
Anthro jacket
Karen Kane top
AG jeans
Timberland sneakers
Alexis Bittar necklace
Michael Kors bracelet
Fossil purse
11. St. Patrick's Day green.
Anthro top
WHBM skirt
Ugg ballet flats
Kate Spade purse
12-13. Snake & studs.
TheShirt red snake shirt
Halogen leather pencil skirt
Sam Edelman Ollie shoes
Michael Kors studded satchel
Alexis Bittar necklace
Hermes CDC bracelet

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
(cue music and scrolling)

An R2D2 unit appeared and was promptly appropriated by a little Jawa named DS2. The owner of R2D2 tried in vain to recover the stolen droid, but the stubborn Jawa could not be bribed. The two older Jawas, DD and DS1, arrived and began fighting with the littlest scavenger for the rights to ownership. It was a very Hot Topic...the fighting was intense and tempers flew. The only solution was to bring in reinforcements. BB-8 and Captain Phasma arrived to save the day. Now each of the Jawas had their own personal unit. Peace was once again restored to the galaxy...at least until the next disturbance in the force erupts...

Thanks for looking and for indulging my geekiness! I bought the R2D2 Loungefly bag from Hot Topic after Una posted hers. And yes, I bought another two bags so that each of my kids could have their own! And matching wallets and coin purses to boot!

In my usual manner of over the top-ness, I have created an ensemble of outfits for both work and play using these three bags. I tried to make the work outfits echo the color and theme of the bags. Like cobalt, white and red for R2D2, black/white/silver and hard edge for Captain Phasma, and dusty brown leather and orange and sand for BB-8's home planet of Jakku. I managed to borrow these purses long enough to wear them for these outfits before they were claimed back by their owners. Yes, I did really wear these bags to the hospital! My patients loved them. I wore the work outfits three days in a row while I was on call. One of the patients loved seeing all three of them in succession and said it was the highlight of her day. And one elderly patient said on Easter Sunday, "Oh, I love your Easter bag. Is that an easter egg?" (BB-8). o_o Also pulled out the matching jewelry (Rebel Alliance vs. Vader) for the appropriate days. The Star Wars sweatshirt was reversible, so I got to wear it for two outfits (and I have the matching sweatpants, so I'm wearing them as pajamas as I type this...)

Bonus pics of us at the theater all watching The Force Awakens when it came out. We took our two year old despite DH thinking he was too young...but he wasn't scared at all! DH kept trying to cover DS2's eyes during the scary parts, but he kept batting DH's hand away so he could watch. All three kids are obsessed with Star Wars now. DS1's birthday party was a Lego Star Wars theme at a Lego play place. Three other kids in his class have also had Lego Star Wars birthdays in the last couple of months. Even DS2 can name all the characters. DS1 likes to draw TIE fighters, X wing fighters and the Millennium Falcon battling each other.

DS2 says he likes being a bad guy and says he is "Dark Bader." He takes his red light saber and chops DH's arm off, then his other arm off, then his leg, then his other leg. He is very thorough. DS1 wants to be Kylo Ren, which also does not bode well for DH's safety. DD wants to be Rey. DH is already working on his Halloween costume...he is making a TIE fighter pilot uniform from scratch. His usual time intensive hobby. He is starting now so he will be done by October. He has found and joined an online forum which details exactly what is needed to create a TIE fighter pilot uniform to spec...apparently if you don't get every detail right, you will not be accepted into the squadron. I can't believe he has found a group who is even more detail obsessed about costumes than he is! Nerds unite! I haven't decided yet who I will be...probably Princess Leia (not the Jabba slave version though...)

1-2. R2D2 at work. Cynthia Steffe cobalt dress, Zara white jacket, Stuart Weizmann red Giveable flats. WHBM polka dot necklace and bracelet to echo R2D2's eye.
3-8. R2D2 at play. Spiegel leather jacket, Hot Topic Star Wars sweatshirt, AG jeans, Ugg boots. DS1's Lego Star Wars birthday party. Three Jedi knights.
9-10. Captain Phasma at work. Classiques Entier blazer (c/o MsMary at OC swap), Halogen pleated black leather skirt, Sam Edelman Ollie black studded pumps, Alexis Bittar necklace and WHBM silver cuff.
11-15. Captain Phasma at play. Spiegel leather jacket, Hot Topic Star Wars sweatshirt (reverse), AG jeans, Ugg boots, Darth Vader's TIE fighter necklace (Hot Topic).
16-19. BB-8 at work. Bailey 44 orange dress, Lafayette 148 leather jacket, Ugg sand colored flats, H&M cuff and Alexis Bittar necklace (echoing the desert planet and moon). Happy Easter, Peeps!
20-26. BB-8 at play. Anthro Hei Hei olive jacket, Star Wars Force Awakens shirt (Hot Topic), AG jeans, Born boots, Rebel Alliance necklace (Hot Topic).
27-28. Star Wars Trilogy.
29. Family outing to see Force Awakens in theater.
30. Playing with BB-8.
31. Star Wars chess.
32-33. Stormtrooper and Lord Vader.
34. Battle scene by DS1. TIE fighters, X wings and Millenium Falcon.

I know Angie's April Fool's post today about the Ultimate Power Suit was meant to be tongue in cheek, but I love that she listed everything needed to create this superhero ensemble down to the last detail. And what's more, I HAVE all of these items! Mini dress, check. Tights, check. Cape, check. Patent boots, check. Obi belt, check. Bulletproof cuff, check. Dark shades, check. So heck yeah, I'm doing it! Fantasy to reality! Feel like a superhero ready to kick some colon cancer @ss today! (PSA: If you're over 50 and haven't gotten your colonoscopy yet, do it!). Bonus pics of the Incredible family: Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Violet, Dash & baby Jack-Jack (shh, don't reveal our secret identities!). And one of my favorite scenes from the movie where Frozone is asking "Honey, where is my super suit? Where. Is. My. Super. Suit?!" My kids can quote this whole scene from memory! And Angie is our own Edna Mode...always wise and to the point. "I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now." Happy April Fool's Day, YLF!

Macy's INC sweater dress
Obi belt-Nordstrom
Helene Berman cape
H&M tights
Aquatalia Vavoom patent burgundy boots
White House Black Market silver cuff
Lacoste sunglasses
Betsey Johnson patent burgundy purse

I keep coming back to high contrast black and white looks. With all the pattern mixing and matching that I like to do, having a monochrome palette helps make it less ALGO and easier to do matchy matchy.

Morse code theme: dots and dashes (stripes). The shoes and purse look like they were part of a set with the polka dots and ivory snakeskin on both! How fun is that?!

Target zip shirt (CPW must be pennies by now!)
Halogen striped skirt
Michael Michael Kors "Dotty" satchel
All Black fish bow pumps

Japanese Floral Lace. I usually pair this purse and laptop sleeve with the exact match Kate Spade dress, but this DVF lace sweater and lace skirt seem to go quite nicely with the Japanese floral print too! The sweater reminds me of a Rorschach ink blot.

DVF lace sweater
DVF lace pencil skirt
Ugg black lace up ballet flats
Kate Spade Japanese floral purse and laptop sleeve

Remember the H&M floral pants? I remember when I first got it a few years ago Angie suggested I shorten them to capris, but I'm glad I was too lazy to do it...now ankle crop pants are in style! DH calls them my "clown pants", but he and I were both working today (in different places), so I didn't have to worry about hurting his eyes, LOL! Love the matchy matchy of the orange loafers with my new orange Hermes bag. And the triangle necklace with the V neck.

Karen Kane white blouse
H&M floral ankle crop pants
Banana Republic outlet necklace
Banana Republic Trina Turk bracelet
Michael Kors orange loafers
Hermes Jypsiere orange bag

Another outfit with an old H&M pink cardigan. And an old skirt I bought at the hospital gift shop. The necklace and bag both go with the black and white filigree pattern of the skirt. Maybe not the greatest fitting outfit (cardigan is too tight because of weight gain), but it was comfy enough for work.

H&M cardigan
Black Tommy Bahama tank
Soybu skirt
Kate Spade floral bag
Ugg black lace up ballet flats
Alexis Bittar necklace, WHBM bracelet

This is pajama party lite (sorry, no slip dresses or piped pajamas) but this dress did kind of remind me of a nightgown with the silky fabrication and bird print. I used to wear a pair of blue and white floral elastic waist palazzo pants all the time in the 90's and this print kind of reminds me of my favorite pants.

True to pajama party style with waking up with bedhead w/ cowlicks and going to bed with my slippers. I also tried the fit and flare version of this print, but that one was in a stiffer fabric and I couldn't even get it over my head. So I went with this silky sack dress instead. But added the belt to make it more work appropriate and flattering.

Pretty much dressed head to to in Kate Spade, all on sale. And doing my usual hypermatchy with the bird dress, bird belt, bird necklace, bird earrings and bird bracelet. Lots of compliments from staff/patients and even one patient who was seeing one of the other doctors called me over and asked me where I got my dress because she wanted one. Yesterday I went to Kate Spade and returned a bunch of stuff (I went way overboard when I ordered online!). Today I went back because I had returned the mint green ice cream truck clutch, but regretted it and went back to get it back. The SA remembered me from yesterday (bag over head!) but loved my entirely Kate Spade outfit.

The white pumps are an Angie pick and I have several Sam Edelman pumps in the same style and it matches my Kate Spade perforated floral purse and I love the thick ankle straps. However, after wearing it today, realized it's not that comfortable (the edges dig into the side of my big and little toes). Wondering if this is a stiffer fabric than the others. So I switched into white Vans for most of the day including after work for MOTG. Those white sneakers are so dirty though, not sure how best to clean them. So bummed that the white pumps aren't very comfortable. Wondering if maybe I should return them, but I love the style.

Kate Spade winter print shirtdress
Kate Spade kissing birds belt light blue
Kate Spade small Hayden purse light blue and navy
Kate Spade Cold Comforts bird studs, necklace and bracelet.
Sam Edelman Odynna pointy toe pump in white
Vans white sneakers
Spiegel black leather jacket

Angie really had my number when she posted about maxmal matchy matchy at Banana Republic. I couldn't resist the floral and insect theme and had to check it out! Couldn't find the daisy print items in store, but came home with a watercolor floral print skirt. This reminds me of the bias cut floral printed skirts from Ann Taylor and Banana Republic that I used to wear all the time in the late 1990's/early 2000's and only finally got rid of after I joined YLF 5 years ago (see 17-20 for the evidence). And now I'm right back where I started, pastels and florals, LOL. Hello Banana Republic floral skirt, nice seeing you again! How do you like the 2016 version? 

I knew the beetle earrings and brooch would be perfect with my beetle print shirt. It's a swarm of insects, between the butterflies, beetles and dragonflies throughout these two outfits. Yes, weird and over the top, but you know me, I can't resist a theme! Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess!

1-8. White House Black Market ink blue jacket
Everlane blush pink sweater
Banana Republic floral skirt
Banana Republic silver lace up flats (could not resist these--perfect for spring!)
Stella and Dot How Does She Do It blue ikat bag (doing a little pattern mixing with the skirt!)
Kate Spade butterfly necklace
Tildon dragonfly cuff (silver)

9-16. WHBM ink blue jacket
Tory Burch beetle blouse
Tory Burch skirt
Tory Burch dragonfly pumps
Alexis Bittar dragonfly necklace
Banana Republic beetle brooch & earrings
Tildon dragonfly cuff (gold)
Kate Spade High Line Leica clutch (yes I used this already this month but I'm running out of purses and it went best with this outfit)

17-20. 90's flashback! YLF newbie WIWs, circa 2011. Hopefully my style has evolved somewhat, but I still haven't changed my love of prints and delicate floral skirts!