All About Comfort: My Favorite Loungewear

One of the fashion/style blogs I follow recently posted suggestions for what to wear when you work from home. I work from home two days a week, so I was excited to find some more comfy-cute options to try.

The blogger’s suggestions included button down shirts, jeans, delicate necklaces and a cool pair of printed shoes.

Can you see me rolling my eyes all the way across the internet?

Who the heck is going to put on a $70 button down shirt and fancy shoes to work from home? I mean, I understand that you want to look presentable if you have a client meeting or skype call or something (even then, you don’t really have to wear real pants…) but REALLY?!

Look, I get it that some people may not want to wear their pajamas all day, but I just can’t see me getting all dolled up for my dog to stare at.

So, I put together a list of my favorite comfy clothes for lounging around the house. Or working from home. Or running out for kid drop off… because they are so cute you can totally leave the house in them if you want.

Click on over to check out the special post I wrote for BlogHer’s Style Section, My 4 Favorite Loungewear Pieces to Get Cozy In, and let me know what you think!

Special post pic

Do you have a favorite “loungewear” item that I should check out? Do you immediately put on pajamas the moment you get home, no matter what time it is?

PS, If you haven’t already, be sure to stop by yesterday’s post and leave a comment to enter to win some gorgeous handmade bracelets!

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Musana & a Giveaway

{This is not a sponsored review and Musana has no idea I’m writing about them or giving away an item}

I have a weakness for jewelry with a story.

Most of my favorite pieces of jewelry have some sentimentality involved. When I travel, I tend to buy myself something made locally to remember my trip. I’m obsessed with the whole small batch/handmade aspect of Etsy.

So obviously when I heard about Musana I was immediately intrigued.

The women who make the jewelry work at their workshop in Lugazi, Uganda for a steady salary which helps them provide for their children. The organization provides the women with opportunities to take English classes, business classes, receive financial mentoring and more at workshops throughout the week. They also subsidize medical costs, work to prevent sickness, and give back to the community. You can learn more here.

When clicking around on their site, the necklace that immediately caught my attention was the Bumba necklace ($42).

The beads are made from clay sourced an hour from the Lugazi workshop. The artisans shape each clay bead by hand and then send it to the kiln for firing. After firing, the beads are strung on fishing line and tied up to be painted. The women mix the color and paint each bead by hand. Then, the beads dry for two days before being taken down and strung onto the necklaces.

All that work done by hand results in this gorgeous one-of-a-kind necklace that I just HAD to have. It comes in a bunch of different colors, but I really love the teal.

Musana 4

Pretty, right?
And such a great story too.

Musana 1

Actually, it even had a story in getting to my house. Somehow my beautiful necklace was lost in the mail for so long that the nice people at Musana sent me a second one, along with a trio of bracelets as an apology for it taking so long.

The Festival Bangle bracelets (retail value $42) are a lightweight set of three hand-pounded metal bangles (7.5 inches) locally sourced in Lagazi, Uganda. They are so pretty and I can totally see wearing them stacked together or even adding in a leather wrap bracelet or two.

Musana 2

Ollie likes them too.

Musana 3

While I love the bracelets, I’d actually love it more to give them to one of you! All you have to do to enter to win is leave a comment on this post telling me the story of one of your pieces of jewelry. I’ll use a random number generator to pick a winner on Thursday!

So, what’s your best jewelry story?

2/4/16 Update: The winner of the handmade bracelet set is… Annie Greaves! Congrats and thank you to everyone who shared their jewelry story!

Disclosure: I repeat… this was NOT a sponsored post. I paid for the Musana necklace with my own money. They gifted me the bracelets because my order was lost. I’ll randomly pick a winner on Thursday and post the winner’s name here.

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My Style: January Favorite Outfits

Geez, if I thought I was in sloth mode last month with my holiday break, this month’s snow days have certainly given me a run for my money. I basically wore this sweatshirt for a week straight. No regrets though… not one!

Luckily I put a little effort in earlier in the month and came up with a few favorite outfits to share with you. If you see something you like, I’ve made it easy for you to steal my style with links for each item, as well as some similar styles at different price points. If you want to check out previous My Style posts, you can find them here.

Look #1: Super Soft & Warm

January - My Style 1

The Sweater
On one of my visits to Nordstrom Rack, I passed by a rack, my hand lightly touched this sweater and I was sold. This sweater is SO SOFT that I call it my hugging sweater and I encourage people to come over for a super awkward – yet warm and comfy – hug from me. I bought it in dark gray and then liked it so much that I went back and got it in blue too. They have a few colors/sizes still available on the website here but if you live near a Rack you might have better luck just looking around for the Harlowe & Graham rack. I’m actually wearing the gray version today with my berry-colored skinnies (pic here).

The Pants
Ugh, I am such a broken record with these pants. I mean, what real fashion blogger-type person wears the same darn pants all the time? Whatever, I love them and have FOUR pairs (one still with the tags on, just waiting for its day to shine). It looks like they are all sold out on the Nordstrom Rack website, but they still have them on Amazon here: Democracy Women’s AB Solution and Booty Lift Technology Jegging.

The Boots
These are my trusty Naturalizer Wide Calf boots that I bought before last winter struck. At the time, I was thrilled to finally find a pair of knee-high boots that fit my (apparently) large calves and they have been a winter staple in my closet ever since. I even picked up a brown pair this past fall that I’ve been wearing to death too. Nordstrom Rack’s website hardly has anything from Naturalizer, but here is a similar pair from the Naturalizer website. There are also a ton of really cute riding boot options at DSW. I especially like the Lucky Brand Hanover Riding Boots and the Bandolino Blushe Riding Boots.

The Necklace
You’ve seen this necklace before and you’ll see it again, I picked it up a couple months ago on super clearance from Anthropologie. If you ever need statement jewelry, their clearance section is the BEST and they often have sales for additional money off. Right now I’m waiting for the Moondance Fringe Necklace or the Isemene Tassel Necklace to go on sale!

Look #2: Weekend Snuggles

January - My Style 2

The Top
I received this top in a recent Stitch Fix and finally broke the tags off to wear it a couple weeks ago. I love that the main body of the top is super soft and then it has those contrasting cuffs to add some interest. It reminds me of the Free People lodge top that all the cool girls wear. I’m obsessed with the black version and if it goes on sale that baby will be MINE! Have you seen anything similar for a lower price point?

The Jeans
I received these Kut from the Kloth Mia Skinny Jeans in my January Trendsend box (here’s the post) I love the darker wash and the slim fit… especially that they fit well and don’t give me muffin-top! You can find the exact jeans here.

The Boots
I saw these Uggs Studded Motorcycle boots at Nordstrom Rack time and time again, but they never got down to a price where I was comfortable buying them. So, I checked eBay and totally lucked out on finding a pair for 1/3 of the cost in my size. Heck yeah! If you like the motorcycle boot look, you may like these Vince Camuto’s on sale at Nordstrom for $119 or these Quilted Moto Boots for just $41.

Look #3: Donuts are Always Cool

January - My Style 3

The Socks
These fabulous socks were a gift from my friend Katie at Words for Worms and she made me promise to wear them to my next morning event at Krispy Kreme. You can find them at Target and here is a quickie link to them. Now, bring on the donuts!

 

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