Coats? Totes. Unless No One Says That Anymore.

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Bag: Dolls Kill

Pink bangle: Don't Ask, Zulily; Maroon bangle: Iris Apfel for INC, Macy's; Blue bangle: B Fabulous; Yellow bangle: Later Operator, Etsy; Ring: Delia's

Blue Bell Spell Necklace

Bag: Nordstrom

Skirt: Tinseltown, Macy's

Belt: Belt is Cool, Amazon; Flower bracelet: Belk's; Green bracelet: Cloud Nine, Ocean City; Giraffe bracelet: Target; Watch: Zulily; Ring: Mixit, JCPenney

Top: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Bag: Delia's

Shoes: Chase & Chloe, Zulily

Dress: POPSUGAR, Kohl's

Belt: Belt is Cool, Amazon; Headband: Capelli, ULTA; Yellow bangle: B Fabulous; Striped bangle: Mixit, JCPenney; Floral bangle: JCPenney; Ring: Making Waves, Ocean City

Top: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

"Totes" and its offspring, "totes magotes," are firmly planted in the parlance of the 2010s.  The only other phrase I remember post-2000 is "throwing (someone) under the bus," which was yet another unfortunate offshoot from that beast known as reality TV.  No, the slang that really sticks in my head is the kind coined in the '90s.  First periods and pimples have a way of cementing stuff.  Here are my lingo list-toppers:

As if.

Don't go there.

Whatever.

Talk to the hand.

Not!

Not! was my favorite.  I said it a lot.  And with that settled, we can move on.  

I know there's only one coat in this post, but the plural means that there are more on the horizon (also, how else would I have wedged in "totes"?!).  This blue number is what's called a teddy coat.  Teddy as in bear because the people at Nine West think it's cuddly.  The husband thinks it looks like Cookie Monster.  Which isn't bad, as far as fictional furballs go.  At least it's not a Gremlin; I'll take it.

Coat: Nine West, Kohl's

Also on the near-junk food front, we have this Emboldened Arches Necklace.  Sadly, no French fries were harmed in the making of it.  

Emboldened Arches Necklace

And now on to calendar news!  I can't believe that next week is winter.  The sun will set on autumn, signaling Mother Nature to spin her sorcery -- and make snow cones.  So I thought now was a good time to post this fally pic of a sunset that the husband took outside our house.  I like to think of it as Pastel Parade Over the Pasture.  True, there aren't any horses.  But that barn-like structure suggests that there could be.    

Finally, here's more nature, albeit of an artificial kind:

In past years, I've perched these little red birds on my Christmas tree or banister.  This year I said, "Hang out on this holly bush.  You'll like it."  Because as every holiday hoarder knows, the cardinal rule of decorating is mixing things up.

Just like with winter weather.

Not!

Something from the Star: Bright Light, Lite Brite

Neon Orange and Chartreuse Barrettes

Neon Purple, Blue, and Pink Barrettes

Banana Bow Barrette

 Neon Pink, Chartreuse, and Orange Barrettes

Inner Circle Barrette

Neon Purple and Pink Barrettes 

 Yellow Bow Barrettes

Top: Candie's, Kohl's

Skirt (a dress!): Modcloth

Shoes: Circus by Sam Edelman, Kohl's

Bag: Princess Vera, Kohl's

Belt: Gifted

What do G. Love & Special Sauce, Gremlins, and that Christmas light-like toy have in common?  They're all about lights and getting lit.  Although not necessarily in that order.  

Because Friday was the solstice, I thought it was a good time for a party look made for -- what else? -- northern lights and winter nights.  Enter this fluorescent frock, sparkly black top, and starry clutch  (holographic parka to ward off frostbite excluded.)  The top reminds me of an inky black sky, making for a spangled, albeit slightly smoggy backdrop for the brooch-styled barrettes.  I've worn it only once, to the movies.  This outfit, however, is ideal for clubbing in Juneau or Helsinki while downing mulled ciders and hot buttered rums.  Or, in my case, hot chocolates and herbal teas (see aforementioned sentence about me wearing this top to see Daddy's Home 2).  Because December is no time to guzzle the cold beverages so immortalized by the Sauce. 

So, about these barrettes.  I can't stop staring at them!  What can I say, their vivid colors and graphic shapes speak to me.  To make them, I decided not to fool with the craft store fare of openwork metal French and alligator clips and instead headed straight to the source, a.k.a. the grocery store grooming aisle, for Scunci and Goody.  These high-quality barrettes are comprised of French clips covered with durable plastic bars that make sturdy perches for cabochons.  The finished products make me think of candy, all colorful and shiny.  And yes, tasty.  Is it bad form to call one's own stuff tasty?  Not according to wannabe rap icon Big Tasty.  Then again, it's probably bad form to view the misguided middle kid from The Goldbergs as any kind of role model.  

One thing's for sure; these barrettes are a step up from the first barrette I ever made, which featured a weird, disembodied harlequin head.  I was about ten and big into harlequins, which were everywhere in the '90s.  Don't ask.  Anyway, the barrette was a big, gold-rimmed white plastic rectangle to which I affixed a ceramic sparkly green and purple turbanned head.  It was pretty heavy (figuratively and literally, clown motifs always being disturbing), and I don't think I ever wore it.  Kind of like how I rarely played with my Lite Brite set.  That was more of my sister's thing (literally; it was her toy.)  Maybe that was because of the if-not-menacing-than-unquestionably-unsettling clown head on the box.  The head that was most certainly that of a workaday circus performer and not a high-brow harlequin.  

It always comes back to clowns.  Maybe they're the ones we shouldn't feed after midnight.