A Big Bench and Some Not So Little House on the Prairie Dresses

Top: Self Esteem, Macy's; Skirt: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Shoes: Impo, DSW

Bag: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Ring: Making Waves, Ocean City; Barrettes: Goody, Target; Necklace: The Tote Trove; Sunglasses: Wild Fable, Target; Embellished bangle: Now-defunct mall boutique, Blue bangle: So, Kohl's; Yellow and red bangles: B Fabulous; Pink bangle: Say What, Zulily

Socks (because everything else gets billing below!): St. John's Bay, JCPenney

Skirt: Modcloth

Top: Derek Heart, Macy's (now with blue and green tissue paper!)

Boots: JustFab; Bag: Nine West, Ross; Purple Potpourri Necklace; Belt: Belt is Cool, Amazon; Sunglasses: Target; Arm warmers: Gifted; Purple flower barrette: Claire's; Rings: Express; Blue flower barrette: Gifted

Dress: POPSUGAR, Kohl's

Bag: Apt. 9, Kohl's; Bangles: B Fabulous; Maple Mix Barrette Brooch; Saguaro Central Necklace; Belt: Belt is Cool, Amazon; Ring: Charlotte Russe

Top: Jessica Simpson Collection, Belk

Shoes: Jessica Simpson Collection, DSW

Boots: Apt. 9, Kohl's

Zigzag bangle: Strawbridge & Clothier, Mint bangle: Decree, JCPenney; Floral bangle: JCPenney; Yellow bangle: Silver Linings, Ocean City; Red bangle: XOXO, Ross; Rings: Mixit, JCPenney; Bag: Delia's

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Llama Mama Necklace, Other necklaces: The Tote Trove; Belt: Belt is Cool, Amazon

Bag: Dolls Kill

Belts: Belt is Cool, Amazon; Yellow bangles: B Fabulous; Fuchsia bangle: Mixit, JCPenney; Blue ring: Delia's

Fabulous Felt Cactus Barrette, Fabulous Felt Sweet Strawberries Barrette

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

As you can see, I've finally, (insert groan-slash-drum-cymbal-sound), fallen for fall.  I started out in sandals and ended up in boots.  Just yesterday, I was getting dressed to go out to buy beads when I realized that the purple LC Lauren Conrad dress I'd planned to wear (and that'd been waiting in my closet all summer) would be little comfort against the cool air.  No matter; I just layered my trusty black and white pin dot turtleneck underneath it!  It too is from Kohl's, and I've had it for fifteen years.  I distinctly remember buying it along with two pairs of l.e.i. jeans (who else had those?), one red, one royal blue.  The jeans are long gone, but the turtleneck remains a true blue outfit saver.  

Anyway, autumn often means prairie skirts and dresses, and I had fun making the most of both.  It was also good to finally bust out two unworn Jessica Simpson pieces, namely a top I ordered from Belk's and shoes I got free from DSW.  Well, they were free in the sense that I used my Rakuten rewards to buy them.  Which isn't really free, since I had to spend to get the rewards in the first place.  Still, it was nice to slip on the patchwork-print peau de soie pumps with my green POPSUGAR dress knowing that they were a "gift" I got for shopping. 

And now that I've babbled on about my wardrobe ad nauseum, it's time to explain what I'm sitting on.  It's a bench -- complete with sliding doors for storage -- that the husband made for a customer!  He's since moved it from our office to its new home, and the customer was so impressed that she thought the husband bought it.  I was a little affronted by that and said I should've taken video of him slaving away at it so we could send it to her.  But the husband felt no need to provide such proof.  A calm soul through and through, he just took the compliment.    

I'm sure Pa Ingalls would've done the same. 

Chartreuse the Abstruse and a Note About Shopping

Chartreuse Chanteuse Necklace

Dress: XOXO

Sweater: So, Kohl's

Shoes: Guess, DSW

Bag: Merona, Target

Belt: Izod, Marshalls

Scarf: Nicole Miller, Marshalls

Sunglasses: Rampage, Boscov's

Lemon Lightning Necklace

Top: Gifted

Skirt: L'Amour by Nanette Lepore for JCPenney

Shoes: Venus

Bag: Merona, Target

Belt: Marshalls

Sunglasses: Cloud Nine, Ocean City

Topaz Pizazz Necklace

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Shoes: Bucco, Kohl's

Bag: Gifted

Belt: Marshalls

Sunglasses: Rampage, Boscov's

According to dictionary.com, "abstruse" means "hard to understand; recondite; esoteric," making it as apt a descriptor as any for the oft misunderstood chartreuse.  Also, it rhymes, which is always a bonus.

I used to think of chartreuse as the afterthought of the neon color palette.  Pink, blue, and orange were indisputably the prominent players, their too-flagrant-to-be-lemon colleague little more than an interloper to be gently humored.  Maybe that's why I ended up relegating the bulk of my chartreuse beads (so acquired in mixed lots containing other, more suitable colors) to a see-through plastic green rectangle of a reticule stashed deep in the recesses of my purse closet.  To be fair, I'd put the beads in the purse to photograph for this very blog (it's on here somewhere if you look hard enough) -- the solid chartreuse made the translucent and hard-to-photograph plastic appear as a solid lime.  I rediscovered the beads just weeks ago at, as it turned out, a most opportune time.  I'd just vowed to buy as few new jewelry-making supplies (as well as clothes) as possible and instead make do with the stuff I already had, a decision that was born of both frugality and the allure of a personal challenge, necessity being the mother of invention and all of that.  When I started using the chartreuse beads, I realized that the odd, problem-child shade had a way of brightening up, and dare I say, bringing out the best in my more mainstream but less radiant beads.  It stoked the fires of coppers and ambers, thawed the frost of pinks and blues, and rescued russet from the bullying bluster of blues and purples.  The result was three funky new pieces for my Rustic Romance collection.  (As a side note, upon telling someone that the Electric Elephant Necklace belonged to the Rustic Romance group, the said someone asked if "rustic romance" was what I called it when the elephants "got together."  I somewhat haughtily retorted, "no," then launched into a monologue on the various and nuanced meanings of the word "romance."  Interestingly, I've since moved all of my other elephant necklaces [for yes, there are others] into this category, unwittingly orchestrating a safari-themed singles scene.)  

Anyway, the new necklaces make me glad that I decided to go on a bit of a shopping hiatus.  I'm approaching this challenge with the strategy of any addict, which is to try to quit cold turkey.  (It's no accident that I penned this post from a Boscov's parking lot.)  You know how a normal person can play a slot machine every now and then without it being a big deal, but how just one bet will send an inveterate gambler on the road to bankruptcy?  Well, this is kind of like that, except not one-tenth as serious (lest there be any confusion, I'm not going bankrupt).  Which is to say, a person who isn't a shopaholic can buy a sweater she doesn't need without it mattering much, but for someone who shops all the time, even a small, unnecessary purchase can send her backsliding down into a spiral of unchecked retail therapy.  So far I feel virtuous, like someone on the Cleanse, smugly superior to people popping cookies, or, in my case, this season's clutches.  Also, a bit like Laura Ingalls Wilder, sewing buttons on blouses instead of buying new ones and washing dish towels instead of going through reams of Bounty.  But how long before I run out of shampoo samples and need to hit Target, only to emerge with a week's worth of socks and the latest Weezer CD?  To prevent such a relapse, I came up with a few buys that don't count:

-- Items under $10.

-- Paperback books. (Hey, I've got to read, and I'm not entirely sure that I'm allowed back in the Brigantine library.)

-- Gifts. (Why should others have to pay for my penury?)  

That having been said, sometimes you have to let the Crock-Pot breathe before it explodes.  Which is a cute way of saying that I'm not cut out for going cold turkey.  But no matter; cool chicken has its challenges, too.

Something New and Sparkly: An Orange Slice is Very Nice . . .

Fabulous Felt Orange Gelatin Mold Barrette

Dress: Olsenboye, JCPenney

Shoes: MetroStyle

Bag: XOXO, ROSS Dress for Less

Scarf: A.C. Moore

. . . to garnish your burger supreme.  But a citrus that wiggles when its consumer giggles is the stuff of a mandarin dream.

Too silly too soon?  Here's something more serious to balance it out.  Sometimes, when I'm eating an orange, I think about the "Little House on the Prairie" books and how Laura Ingalls was so impressed to be served an orange as a starter course at the home of some semi-affluent friend.  It always makes me a little guilty about the decadently orange-rich life I lead.

Now that the mood is all gloomy, let's return to this Fabulous Felt Orange Gelatin Mold Barrette and the profusion of polka dots that surrounds it.  Yep, perked me right up.