OOTD: The "Grimace" Dress

Today's outfit is inspired by three things: this picture of Angelina Jolie:

,a sudden and harrowing number of Christmas sweaters being worn at my office, and the fact that there are four inches of snow at my house (still!) and I can't bring myself to wear heels in those conditions. And I'm really running out of things that are work appropriate that can be worn with my boots.

(And yes, this is a really wretched picture. I'm an idiot who forgot to turn the flash off, so all the better pictures that I took have flash in them. Which is bad on my part. Seriously, ya'll, posting a picture of one's outfit is much harder than it looks. Or perhaps I am just very nearly functionally retarded.)

Sweater dress: Old Navy
Tights: Target
Riding boots: Target
Headband: J. Crew
Necklace: American Eagle

I saw that picture of Angelina yesterday, and as I always am when Angelina is involved, was completely blown away. She managed to answer a question that I have always had ("What do celebrities wear when it is cold, but they still need to stand outside and look fashionable?") and look amazingly, earthshatteringly gorgeous all at the same time. I love that dress--it looks comfortable, and sweater-y and very formal all at the same time. Which is a tough thing to pull off. Seeing it also made me want to wear nothing but sweater dresses for the rest of the winter. Too bad I only own one.

Also, yesterday I noticed a whole crap ton of Christmas sweaters/pins/jewels/FLAIR around this office. It has been slowly elevating, but yesterday reached fever freaking pitch. I think everyone in here had something Christmas-y on. Hell, I was wearing a t-shirt from Target that said "Peace, Joy, Cheer" under my Loft boyfriend cardi (we went to get our tree yesterday, so I had to look somewhat festive, even though hardly anyone saw my t-shirt from under the sweater and scarf and coat and 45 layers of other crap because Jesus Christ on a rubber crutch was it cold). I want to be festive too, but I also don't want to look like a jack ass. So today I paired the sweater with a sparkly necklace (it is a gray satin ribbon with little Crew-esque fireballs interspersed throughout the ribbon) and wore a satiny headband from the Crew's Holiday line last Christmas. That, I think, is festive without being totally jingle jangle. You know?

And yes, we still have snow. My kids are out of school AGAIN today, which means that I am going to try to get home from the office relatively early so that I can care for them and their snowbound antics don't drive anyone else crazy. On Monday, I wore my riding pants with the boots, yesterday since I was leaving early I wore jeggings with the boots (SHHH! Don't tell anyone!), and today I am wearing this dress. Tomorrow I am going to have to break down and wear heels. Hopefully, something will melt. Fingers crossed.

Now, a note on this dress in case you want to go buy one. I really like it. I ordered it during Gap Give and Get, and just got it last week because I picked the new free shipping which evidently is delivered by a combination of carrier pigeon and being strapped to the back of a tortoise who meanders in a circuitous route across the southern states. After it finally made it to my town, instead of bringing the stuff to my door, it was left at the post office in my town, which is manned haphazardly at best. Unfortunately, because of my work schedule last week, I could not make it to the PO during their "hours" to pick it up. I finally managed to get it on Friday, along with, it seems, everyone else in our town. What an experience. Luckily, both items I ordered worked because I don't think I could bear to have to deal with the whole thing again and send them back. I was really afraid that it wouldn't work, because I after I hit the "place order" button, all I could think of was this:

What is Grimace, anyway? A side note: I had a birthday party at McDonald's when I was 4. This was special because the closest McDonald's was in the CITY across the state line in TN . And it had a merry-go-round in it. My stepmother had just married my dad, and she bought me a crimping iron. Which is, you know, a suitable gift for a 4 year old who lives in the south. ANYWAY, my mom gave me the piece of the cake (because at that time, McDonald's actually had cake you could buy for your party) that had Grimace on it because I like purple. It was awesome. I remember that I wore a pair of pink leggings with snowflakes on them, and a long white sweatshirt-y tunic that had a bunny skiing on it. And slouch socks.

Where was I?

Oh yes. I don't look like Grimace in this dress, which is nice. The purple on this thing is especially good--a dark, rich tone. I would add that it is some sort of wool, but is not itchy and is a very nice weight--not too thick, but substantial enough to hang correctly. And the cut is form fitting without being too much so. Because sweater dresses can go from school girl to Coco in very little time. Not that I have a problem with Coco. In fact, I may like her a bit more than I would ever admit to anyone. Except for you. Because we're buddies.

This, my friends, is the reason why I don't post one of these everyday. This thing is long. Which, you know, is exactly what she said.

HA!

Thanks, I'll be here all night. Tip your waitresses.