Another day, another photo shoot! These images are from the A-Line shoot I styled for the January issue, with the lovely Sheila Gray as the model. You’d never know she has a teenage daughter–she came out of the dressing room in jeans and socks and looked like a teenager herself!

Snappin’ away at The American Can Factory

The photographer for the shoot was Gina of Kiwi Street Studios, one of those multi-talented creative types who does it all. She even managed to get a few snaps of me!

We wound up dragging some bonafide firemen (who just happened to be there answering a call) into a few pictures, too. No one is safe!

We totally caught these guys off guard, haha!

Check out the photos and the rest of the January issue of A-Line here. Happy reading!

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It looks like I’m becoming one of those bloggers who starts every post by apologizing for not doing any actual blogging. To be fair, I have been exceptionally busy–working two jobs, planning and styling a photo shoot, and finishing up a big photography and design project–all while fighting a sinus infection marked by a veritable rainbow of nasty ooze. You know what that means? That means I’m a BEAST.

Since I started a new office-y job last week, I’ve been trying to streamline my morning routine. For me, that means a new uniform: inappropriately casual top, high-waisted teacher pants, and a faux gold chain worthy of Mr. T.

Thrifted trousers and necklace (from the $1 bin!); Old Navy shirt; vintage heels

I figure not having to think too hard about what to wear every morning reduces the amount of time I need to get ready, but I swear, my hair takes forever. How do you  save time in the morning?

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Sometimes it’s all I can do to drag myself out of bed, let alone get into corporate power-bitch mode. I’ve been a proponent of the “dressy sweats” trend for a while, and even though I usually work from home now, this trick still comes in handy when I have to look halfway decent but don’t feel like getting dressed up.

Victoria’s Secret camisole and pants

I bought these cotton & cashmere blend sweat pants from Victoria’s Secret last year, and they’ve been my go-to lounge around the house gear ever since.

Thrifted shirt, men’s watch

American Apparel cardigan, earrings from Morrison & Me, vintage ring

Note that I’m still comfy! The cardigan is stretchy cotton, and I keep the accessories light and easy.

Thrifted blazer, Charles David heels, Buxton folio

Other than the blazer (which provides warmth) and the shoes (I’ll be sitting all day, so it doesn’t really matter), I’m basically wearing the same thing I’d wear to sit on the couch. If you think you can get away with wearing sweats to work, try it! But don’t fall asleep at your desk…

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Last week, I lamented my work load on Twitter:

(You can follow @StyleSample for real-time updates–most of the time I’m not so complain-y, I swear.)

Between the new issue of Style Sample magazine (out tomorrow!), Style Tour reviews, and a few other projects, my eyes are crossed from staring at page layouts and WordPress admin screens. Good thing I love this stuff!

Here’s a peek at some of the things I’ve been working on:

Style Sample magazine

Issue #10 comes out tomorrow! This one includes several interviews with fashion industry professionals–Project Runway alum Althea Harper, fashion stylist Lauren Messiah, and Vogue writer Grace Timothy–as well as several gorgeous photo shoots.

I’m still trying to find the right balance of content, so let me know what you think once it’s released tomorrow.

Style Tour

All of the Style Tour stops can be viewed here, but I like things fancy so I’m creating a flashier presentation that can be embedded on other sites. I’m also working on the print version of the guide, which will be available online and in the 4th Street Boutique.

Stop Traffick gift guide

My friend Emily from Stop Traffick Fashion asked me to help her put together a holiday gift guide with new and popular items from the shop. For those who don’t know, Stop Traffick sells cute jewelry and accessories made by survivors of human trafficking and is a wonderful way to support the organizations who are rescuing and rehabilitating victims. Plus, I’m like, a moddle for them.

I created a hi-res PDF for printing, as well as a web-friendly version with clickable links to the items for sale on the site. You can check that out here.

Whew! I feel like a spa day (or at least some mani-pedi action) will be in order next week…

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I use a lot of free software as a service applications to do everything from create and manage documents, to publish Style Sample magazine. I love free stuff, so if it looks interesting and doesn’t cost money, I’ll try it!  Here are some of my favorites:

Google Apps

You can use Google Apps to create and manage documents, develop free websites, create embeddable forms, and if you own your own domain name, manage your email. So instead of you@gmail.com, you can be you@yourdomain.com. I use the free Standard Edition to manage just about everything for the magazine ’cause it’s easy. And free.

ScreenJelly

Create screencasts quickly and easily with ScreenJelly and a microphone. It will record your screen as well as any audio, so you can create screen caps, site tours, and anything else that suits your fancy. At work, I use it to create quick video tutorials for the tech-challenged.

DimDim

DimDim provides a platform for free online conferencing, and allows you to share your screen, write on whiteboards, upload presentations, and record your audio, visual, and chat. I’ve used it to host and record training webinars, remote meetings, and brainstorming sessions. They recently changed their policy so that meetings can no longer be recorded using the freebie version, but it’s still free for up to 20 users.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a cloud-based storage service that has saved me from the days of forgetting my USB drive. You can upload files online or save them in your downloadable drop box, which functions the same as any other folder on your hard drive–except that it’s accessible via the web. Sign up is easy, files are share-able, and it’s free for up to 2GB of storage space. If you need to manage files across multiple computers, it’s life-changing.

Teux Deux

Described as a  simple yet design-y web-based task list, Teux Deux was created by a graphic designer and allows you to add day-to-day tasks as well as long-term items to your weekly list. I like to plan my entire week at once, so it’s perfect for me.

Twaitter

Some people may find it disingenous, but it can be difficult for us easily distracted folks to remember to tweet important stuff at the appropriate time.  Enter Twaitter, a service that allows you to schedule your tweets in advance–perfect for when I know I’ll be at work and may not have remember/have time to post.

Evernote and Instapaper

I have a million ideas and a short attention span, so I often don’t remember those ideas if more than 8 seconds pass before I write them down. You can frequently find me squinching my face in a fruitless attempt to remember something I just thought about.

Thank the tech gods for Evernote and Instapaper, which allow you to bookmark pages, record inspiration, and capture ideas just about anywhere. Both tools have a handy bookmarklet for when you’re browsing the web. (I wrote about these on StyleSampleMag.com, too.)

Firebug

Firebug is a nifty Firefox add-on that I use to check under the hood of sites I like and sites I run. I wanna see your code ’cause I’m nosy that way. Firebug is invaluable for learning how websites are put together and testing to see how changes affect design and layout.

Color Scheme Designer

Another design-y tool I use is Color Scheme Designer, mostly to determine the hexadecimal values of colors for print and the web. There are a lot of color scheme generators out there (Adobe Kuler, Color Schemer, Color Wizard, etc.), but this one has a lovely, sleek interface and is just generally fun to play with.

Font Picker

Some people clearly have too many fonts installed and always seem to find more (not me, of course). Font Picker is a simple but ingenious tool that reads all of the fonts installed on your system and allows you to type in a word or headline so you can see what it looks like in all of your available fonts. Typeface geeks love stuff like this, and I’m no exception.

I figure tools like WordPress, Twitter, Gmail, and their ilk are ubiquitous enough that they need no introduction. The above are my favorites, but what would you recommend?

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Thrifted pants, shoes, and bracelets; Iceberg top; Gucci belt

Wearing my old lady pants procured on a thrifting adventure (the high-waisted carrot shape looks so friggin’ good to me right now) and sticking to the color palette:

Aren’t you proud?

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Color Blocking
Thrift Gift 2
English Countryside

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You know how sometimes you’ll sit down to watch one of your favorite TV shows only to find out three minutes into it that it’s a rerun show? No, I don’t mean rerun as in beret-wearing What’s Happening? Rerun, I mean it turns out to be one of those “best of” recap shows that always seems to pop up during a writer’s strike/contract negotiations/general production laziness.

4. Take Flight
5. Gilded
6. Suited up

7. Bright blaze
8. Don’t play in her garden and don’t smell her flower
9. You don’t have to watch Dynasty

10. Whitewashed
11. A lovely day
12. All the world’s a stage

Consider yourself recapped. (Which, thankfully, is not nearly as violent as it sounds)

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Casual Style: Sweat Me
Work Style: Leather Love
Fashion Math

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I found this old Boy Scout shirt when I was digging through my closet and decided I really wanted to wear it with something sparkly and girly for contrast.

Of course, a grown woman wearing a Boy Scout shirt meant the comments from the peanut gallery were in full force:

“Are you going camping? Can you pitch my tent? Did you earn your badge in (insert blatant ignorance here)?”

Sigh.

I started to wonder why I bought that shirt at the thrift store in the first place.  Nostalgia for my old Brownie days? Nah, I hated selling cookies (though eating them is still a favorite pastime).

Inspired by Michael Jackson and his apparent love for elaborate patches? Perhaps.

Flashing back to 1989 and one of the best movies of that era? Definitely!

Does anyone else remember Shelley Long and a pre-Rilo Kiley Jenny Lewis in Troop Beverly Hills? God, I loved that movie! Give me a Scout shirt and a few merit badges and I’m ready to throw on a Tina Turner wig and sing “It’s Cookie Time!”

Do your childhood memories ever influence your fashion choices?

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I’m not really a math person. As a left-brained creative type, reading, spelling, and language have always been my favorite subjects. However, due to my anal-retentive control freak tendencies and a maniacal need for organization, I do appreciate formulas–as long as they don’t involve numbers.

This translates to my wardrobe accordingly: I like coming up with easy-to-understand combinations–recipes, if you will–for putting clothes together. For instance, trousers + fitted tee + blazer, or this pencil skirt + print blouse + cardigan + boots combo. It makes it simple to get dressed, but still leaves room to have fun with accessories (woo-hoo!) for interest.

Fashion Math really comes in handy when I’m deciding what to wear to work in the morning, especially since mai brane duz not wurk rite before 9am. Today’s equation was inspired by BOY by Band of Outsiders, and is really easy to pull off:

As with real equations, you can use different variables and get the same answer–in this case, the answer is looking good! Another plus (get it? Plus?) is that you probably already have most of these items in your closet, and if not, it’s easy to find inexpensive substitutes:

Left column: Shirt, American Apparel; Blazer, Urban Outfitters; Chinos, J. Crew; Shoes, Net-a-Porter Middle column: Shirt, Old Navy; Blazer, Pixie Market; Chinos, Bluefly; Heels, Steve Madden Right column: Shirt La Garconne; Blazer, asos; Chinos, Urban Outfitters; Heels, Zappos

How do you get dressed? Do you have a process or do you just throw caution to the wind every day?

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Screenprinted tee, Urban Outfitters; skirt, Warehouse; cardigan, The Limited; boots, Century 21; feather earrings, Anthropologie; belt, vintage.

I’m not usually a floral print type of girl–give me blacks and grays any day–but I guess the combination of rainy April weather and warm temperatures is making me feel more princess than witch.

Has the impending spring season had an impact on your style?

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