My Five - Chris Benz Fall 2012

Lots of pattern and color in this collection with a retro vibe.  Here are my picks!

Images via Style.com

My Five - Bottega Veneta Fall 2012

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  I spent mine trying to get items together and labeled for the local kid's consignment sale (held twice a year).  There are a few in my area, but I usually consign and shop at the one at the church less than a mile from my house - talk about easy.  I'll have a post later in the week about these sales, in case you are curious. 

Anyway, let's start the week off with a beautifully tailored collection from Bottega Veneta.  Here's what caught my eye:

Images via Vogue.com

 Some lovely accessories:

Images via Style.com

Pantone's Color of the Year - Tangerine Tango

I'm sure everyone has heard the news about Pantone's declaration of Tangerine Tango as 2012's color of the year.  I for one am very happy since I adore orange.  But orange can be a bit scary to wear (it's a color that seems to be easier to work with in decor than in apparel, no?), I mean you don't want to look like a traffic cone or like you are celebrating Halloween.

One of my favorite colors to pair with orange right now is navy.  There are multiple examples of this pairing in the Spring 2012 collections (I first called this color combo as a trend back in September and still think it's the way to go).  A great way to incorporate the orange/navy combo is to pair an orange top with navy pants or dark denim.  In fact dark denim is a great way to ease into it.  Here are some looks I put together to show how wearable this pairing can be:

Button Front Tops by Topshop
Sandals by Steve Madden

Cardigans by Mossimo
Flats by Minnetonka

Longsleeve Tops by Mango
Totes by Brooks Brothers

Shortsleeve Tops by Bebe
Pumps by Sam Edelman

What do you think?  Is this a color combo you can get into?

Hello Monday and my Oscar Best Dressed Picks and Monday Mingle

Hi!  Happy Monday!  At least I'm trying to convince myself it is.  It's chilly and raining here and my daughter decided that 5:30am would be an awesome time to wake up.  Of course that wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been up until 3am with one of my insomnia bouts*.  I didn't get to watch the Oscar show itself, but I watched the "pregame" on E! where I saw Sacha Baron Cohen dump the "ashes" on Ryan Seacrest live!  It was so funny because you could tell that Ryan was not amused and was scrambling to act like it was no big deal.  Didn't work.  Hey Ryan, we know it ticked you off and that, my dear, is why Mr. Cohen decided to do it to you.  Did anyone else see it?  Did anyone else notice how Ryan kept bringing it up to everyone he talked to the rest of the night?  He practically cried when he was talking to J.Lo about it.  Tee hee.

Okay, now to what really matters - the fashion!  In my opinion, there were three ladies who knocked it out of the park.  First up, Jessica Chastain in a gorgeous Alexander McQueen dress.  The dress is incredible and her hair was just perfection.  She was my top pick.

Next up is Octavia Spencer.  This Tadashi Shoji dress is perfect, the fit, the color, the way it pulls in at the waist.  She looked amazing! (And how happy was I that she won?  So happy!)

My last pick is Gwyneth Paltrow in Tom Ford.  I love the drama of the cape with the dress.  Without the cape, the dress is okay, but the cape adds an almost architectural element, which I find really interesting.  Her hair was a fail in my opinion, it was weird.

So what do you all think?  Was the show as boring as I've been hearing?

*On a side note, TLC had a "My 600 Pound Life" marathon on last night while I was up and what a riveting show.  Oh man, heartbreaking, inspiring, happy, sad - there's a whole range of emotions that bubble up watching the struggles.  Has anyone else watched that show?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

I'm joining up with my girls over at BonBon Rose Girls today for the Monday Mingle.

Have a great Monday!

Images via UsWeekly and Style.com

Friend Friday - Blogging Tools

I'm joining up with Katy over at Modly Chic for this month's FBFF.  This month's questions have to do with what tools we use for blogging. 

Source: flickr.com via Jenny on Pinterest

1.  What are the tools you use to blog?

I swear I'm the most low tech blogger out there (see that's me above, ha!).  I used to use our old Dell laptop - painfully slow, but we just got a pretty sweet Samsung desktop that I'm using now.  The main tool is Blogger, it's so easy to use.  I read and comment on blogs on my iPad.  I don't have an iPhone and my Blackberry is ancient so no on-the-go blogging/posting.  I have a Sony point and shoot digital camera that is a pain to use (that's why my outfit posts are few and far between).  Pinterest is a great tool as is Picnik - though since it's shutting down, I'm investigating the photo editing alternatives.

2.  What technology item is on your wish list?

#1 - iPhone and #2 - a better camera.  I also would like to have Photoshop.  I wish I could figure out how to post on my iPad - I just can't get it to work from there at all.  Anyone figure out how to do it that uses Blogger?

3. Through the barrage of posts, tweets, pics, poses, messages, etc...how do you avoid becoming a slave to the constant infiltration of information?

This is tough, it can become consuming if you let it.  Getting the iPad has helped tremendously, I literally could not keep up without that gadget (I'm sure an iPhone or any smartphone is the same way).  It has eased all my social media stress.  I also have my posts automatically posted on my personal and blog's Facebook pages, haven't figured out how to do that with Twitter though.  I focus on just a few of the social media tools and I use them regularly - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.  I would rather do just a few well so I don't spread myself too thin.

Make sure you head over to Modly Chic to check out what everyone else's answers are!

My Five - Victoria, Victoria Beckham Fall 2012

In keeping with the Victoria Beckham theme this week, here are my five picks from her (relatively speaking) lower priced dress line.  These are so much fun and boy I wish I could afford to buy one (or two).  Anyway, here are my picks from this collection, enjoy!

Images via Style.com

My Five - Victoria Beckham Fall 2012

Hi!  I'm back!  What a rainy weekend we had here in the Southeast and yesterday the rod and shelving in my closet decided to break in two and fall off the wall.  So now my hanging clothes are on the kitchen table piled high.  Boo!  We are trying to figure out the best way to fix it.  Man, I hate not having my closet the way I want it.  Nothing says classy like digging through a pile of clothes on your kitchen table in the mornings - ha! 

Anyway, I'm going to jump into my New York Fashion Week coverage like I always do - with the lovely Victoria Beckham's collection.  Here are my picks:

Images via Style.com

She also introduced a new bag called (appropriately enough) "Harper", named for her baby girl.  I love it!  Hey Posh, if you are reading this, as I'm sure you are, feel free to send one my way ;o)

Source: Uploaded by user via Jenny on Pinterest

Photo via @VictoriaBeckham on Twitter