Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hey everyone, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Did you wear green today to celebrate the holiday? I did! Stealing my inspiration from Audrey Hepburn with the cropped pants and ballet flats today. Heres my OOTD:

I also had to celebrate by getting a shamrock shake from McDonalds. I love those things. This was the second one I had this year. They apparently sell a lot of them, when I was there they had to change the syrup and the one lady said they had just changed it an hour before. There were some boys there as well and they got like 6 of them. Some people don't like them, but I am not one of them. 

So in yesterdays post, I was debating over which color of the Vivette dress I liked better. It was a VERY tough decision to me, and I have to thank Gigi for helping me out! She liked the provence pink color from the start, and thats which one I ended up choosing. I think that she was absolutely right that my pinkish undertones of my skin are complimented nicely by the blush color of the dress. So here it is, with the accessories I plan to wear with it on Saturday night for med school prom :-)

All accessories are from J.Crew, and the shoes are a grey patent leather mary jane from J.crew a few years back.

Med School Prom by jencirino featuring a leaf dress

So in order to get the dress, I had to go back to my local B&M store, and I couldn't leave without trying anything on of course. Its a horrible habit, one I will hopefully be able to overcome someday. Anyways, since that didn't happen today, here are some fitting room reviews (many of these are also see on shoppingwithm here):

Madras Popover (39258) $72 - I first saw this on shoppingwithm. I thought this one actually ran TTS. I took a small. I tried the medium as well, and it would have worked too, but I just thought the small was a good fit (pictured below). This is a nice lightweight top that is a very easy throw-on piece. 

Cotton Swiss Dott Dress (37241) $98 - as others have mentioned, this one is not showing up online as of right now. I thought this dress was adorable, and fit TTS. I took a small in this one as well. J.Crew seems to have a lot of effortless summer dresses coming out right now, and this is one of them. It is an off-white/ivory color fabric with red dots on it. 

Wilder Dress (37245) $88 - So this dress...I liked the overall shape and pattern of it, but the fit was not that great for someone who has a chest that is any bigger than a 12 year old. That little flat area at the top is where they are supposed to go, and quite frankly I felt smooshed. This dress is definitely for those that are not that big in the chest area (as are MANY of J.Crews things as I have noticed). Even giving that annoyance, it was comfy. The fabric is pretty thin, and you could see through the top portion a bit. The one plus was that the straps on this one are adjustable like bra straps, so that was a nice feature.

Silk serenade dress (36066) $138 - So Ema reviewed this dress here recently in the deep lagoon color. In my store they had it in spicy guava, and I decided to give it a try. I honestly don't understand this dress. It makes no sense to my the way it was crafted. As Ema points out the line below where it cinches in at the waste is in fact a seam. See the picture below for a closeup view of this. I liked the color but that is where it stops. To me this dress design is a terrible failure. And for $138?? No thanks...

Canvas Schoolboy blazer (39289) $138 - This jacket I really liked. It fit TTS, and is a nice classic jacket. There is a nice beige pinstripe lining that comes out on the sleeves when you roll them as I have done below. For the same price, I would much rather spend the money on this piece than the silk dress above.

Katie colorblock cami (36736) $69.50 - I originally tried this one on in a 6, but it was too big. The 4 worked out perfectly, so I would say you could potentially size down in this one. I really like this color combination. This one is on my birthday list :-)

Waverly Chino (29468) $69.50 - I loved the fabric of these pants. It was ridiculously soft. Overall I thought the pants were cute, and I liked this color, but I did not like how you could see a line from the pockets in the front. This was a size 6, I didn't try sizing up, this probably would have fixed the problem, but I didn't really feel like it, and just left it at this. This color does not appear to be available online anymore, but there are a few other colors available, and a khaki color for $59.50.

Paisley pencil skirt (37867) $118 - This one isn't online either. I thought this one was really cute, and I am loving this orangy-red color right now. I probably could have used a petite in this, it seems a bit long for me. 

Sorry for such long posts lately! Have a great day!

XOXO Jennifer

Vivette Dress and an OOTD

Hey everyone,

This saturday, we have what everyone likes to refer to as "Med school prom." Last year I thought it was pretty fun. All of my friends are going again this year, so I kind of felt obligated to go again. The boyfriend complains about things like this all the time, but luckily, he is friends with one of my friend's boyfriend (wow that was a mouthful), so he will have company. I was trying to figure out what to wear then I realized that this would be a perfect occasion to try out the Vivette dress from J.Crew. Its not a ridiculously formal occasion like high school prom, so something dressy and simply like the Vivette would be perfect.

So a little over a week ago I posted here about some things I tried on while at my local B&M. One of the items was the Vivette dress. I had originally wanted this dress in the warm buttercup color, but my B&M only had it in the province pink, so I tried that on. I ended up really liking the pink, but I ended up ordering the warm buttercup. I really like it in both colors. I think I am leaning towards the warm buttercup at this point, but am having a really hard time deciding. I will probably end up keeping the warm buttercup but what do you think? Which color do you like better?

Here's some more pictures of the warm buttercup Vivette with some accessories, all from J.Crew.

Also, here are some shots of the outfit I wore today. I love this skirt, and got it a few years ago from J.Crew. Also in these pictures is my Burberry Trench which I got for my birthday last year. I love this coat! Its the epitome of a classic trench.

3/16/11 by jencirino featuring a knit cardigan


Have a great day!

XOXO Jennifer

Some J.Crew Reviews

Hey everyone, so I went home to visit my family this weekend and went to J.Crew for some quality mother-daughter shopping time :-) Thats one thing I've really missed since I moved away for school, but luckily, we can still do it occasionally when I come to town. Picked up some more things for my upcoming birthday :-)

They also asked me at this store if I had tried one of their personal shoppers. I took this time to vent about my recent experience with a personal shopper at the store I go to here in NY (I won't give the exact location). You can find my vent about this experience here, but all in all, I was not happy with the experience, so I shared this with them. They agreed with me that this was not how it normally is, and offered to have me try one at their store at some point. They made it sound like at that store, they do it just as I was expecting from my local store here. So I will probably try it at some point. I want a personal shopper that knows me, and knows my style, and puts things aside she thinks I'll like. Thats what I have heard of other bloggers personal shoppers and thats what I want. So I'm hoping my experience will be better next time!

Now on to my J.Crew trip:

Tulip Ruffle Cami (6) - I thought this was pretty cute. It was very comfortable, but I didn't LOVE it. I did really like the color though. I might save this one for a sale or rewards card :-)

Raglan babydoll tee (S) - I absolutely loved this top. I don't really have any complaints about it. Its a pretty thin fabric, so I'm hoping it holds up well, but on the plus side of that, it should be nice and airy for spring/summer. I loved the button detail on the shoulder (bottom picture). 

Eyelet Embroidered tank (S) and Day-tripper pant (6) - The tank I was not crazy about. I thought it was cute, but just didn't really do anything for me. Sorry the eyelet pattern on the front got washed out in the first picture but you can see it better in the second. It does have a cute keyhole back with a ribbon tie. I liked this detail, but the rest of it just didn't really do it for me. The pants, I loved. They are SO comfortable. The material is pretty thin, so once again, good for spring/summer. They were a tad long for me (I'm 5'3"), but I've seen these styled rolled up a lot, so I figured that would work out just fine. I tried them in both the cobblestone and vintage fatigue. I really liked both colors, but decided on the cobblestone, I figured they might be easier to wear, although both really were great colors.

Liberty Vintge Floral Mini (8) - The liberty print seems to be huge this year, so I decided to give this skirt a try and I found it to be really cute! I think it will be perfect for spring/summer. I sized up from my normal skirt size. I like to do this sometimes in the skirts so that I can were them a little lower on the hips if I can. I thought the length on this skirt was good. Not too short. I also really love random little details like the bright green zipper in the back. Thought that was a cute added touch. 

Maritime V-neck Dress (S) - Love. Another casual summer dress to add to my collection. It has pockets on the side. The fabric is cottony and is actually pretty thick/substantial. I can't wait to wear this one as soon as the warm weather comes. This one also has a cute little button detail on the shoulder that I loved. I would say this dress fit TTS, I usually take a small in their dresses. I also got a hawthorn green jackie cardigan to go with this dress. One of the sales associates pointed out this combination to me as I was checking out, and I loved the color combination. The jackie was also on sale so that was another plus! I want to say it was $39.95 or something like that.

Jenny Dress (4) - So this one they only had in a 4 in this color. I usually take a 6 in their dresses, so this one was a little too small. There was some pulling on the top. I would say it fits TTS. I thought it was cute, but I have two dresses in other colors that are a very similar style, so I decided that I didn't need another dress like this one. It was cute but nothing special to me. As many others have mentioned, its definitely quite steep at $78... wishlisted for a sale hopefully, or a rewards card

Heres the polyvore of what I wore shopping:

3/12/11 by jencirino featuring vintage style handbags

Also, Fabulous Florida Mommy is having a GREAT giveaway on her blog to Shopbop.com! Don't forget to visit her blog and enter here! Shopbop is an awesome site, and she's giving away $100 to use there. I know there are plenty of things I would love to get!

Have a great day!

XOXO Jennifer

Shamrock Shake!

Hey everyone, so today I FINALLY got my first Shamrock shake from McDonalds of the year. Not everyone seems to like these, but I have loved them since I was about 10. I still remember very vividly the first time I ever had one. I had gone to a soccer game of my cousin's and then afterwards, we had gone to McDonalds to eat, and they talked about this thing called the shamrock shake, so I tried it. I fell in love, and was very displeased to know it was only available during St. Patrick's Day. So typically as soon as I find out they are available I rush out and get one. They are so yummy!

So I found two recipes online, both very similar, that are copy-cats of the Shamrock Shake. I have yet to try them, but I plan to ASAP now that I have discovered them. You can try this one or this one. I think the second one looks super cute the way its presented (and is also where the picture came from).

One more thing for today. So Lent starts today, meaning I had to come up with something to give up for 40 days. I usually have a hard time with this, and it never lasts, but we will see how this year goes. This year I chose to give up all things chocolate. I came up with this as a result of my recent chocolate milk addiction. It got really bad to the point that I was drinking 3-4 glasses of it a day. Not that there's anything wrong with chocolate milk, but who really needs that much of it in a day? Probably nobody. And we all know what they say about drinking your calories anyways. So thats my sacrifice, chocolate. We will see how I do!

Have a great day!

XOXO Jennifer

Happy Pączki Day & an OOTD

Hey everyone, happy Pączki day! Incase you don't know what a Pączek is, it is basically like a jelly-filled (black raspberry is my favorite) glazed doughnut with about a million calories in it! They are amazing, but you only eat them once a year, on fat tuesday. The purpose being that tomorrow is Ash wednesday, and you are supposed to fast all day, according to the traditional method anyways. This is all a Polish Catholic thing that I have been doing for years. Oh, and I discovered a few years ago that Pączek is the singular form for one of these things, and Pączki is the plural form, which has become a new pet peeve of mine when people call them Pączkis. :-)

My OOTD is quite plain today. Its a typical outfit that I wear to class, comfy. This is definitely one of my go-to outfits in my closet when I'm rushing to get ready for class in the morning. All of these items are from J.Crew a few years back.

3/8/11 by jencirino featuring floral tops

Have a great day!

XOXO Jennifer

OOTD and some J.Crew Reviews

So First off, here is a polyvore and real life picture of what I wore today. This look is basically right from the look that was styled by FFM here. I saw this polyvore and LOVED it! So I figured I had to try it out for myself. I don't have all of the accessories, but I liked the way it looked with them so I put them in my polyvore too. So Thank you FFM for the awesome inspiration!!

3/5/11 by jencirino on Polyvore.com

Now onto my trip to the J.Crew Store today. So I tried out using the store's personal shopper, and I must say, I was pretty disappointed. I just felt like she didn't actually take the time to help me out. I don't know if it was because I was working from a list that I was trying stuff on for (birthday) or because I wasn't planning on buying anything today, but that should matter, and I was kind of annoyed that I didn't get the attention I thought I should have. I figured I would give it one more shot, and if its like this again, I probably won't use her again.

Anyways, on to the good stuff. So I pretty much loved everything I tried on. I thought it all worked out great so that was super exciting :-) All of these things are from my previous post here, so see there for links.

Stripe Mandarin Tee (s) - This was a size small, and I must say, I was quite happy with this piece. It was potentially my favorite thing I tried on today, which was a surprise. 

Boathouse Shirtdress (4) - LOVED this one as well. As others have mentioned, it was ridiculously comfy. I can see this becoming one of my go-to pieces this summer. This dress runs a bit big, so I sized down from my usual J.Crew dress size.

Vivette Dress (6)- So this dress I have on my list in the warm buttercup color but they only had in the provence pink, which I actually thought looked very nice, but felt like it potentially washed me out a tad. I loved the ruching on the bodice. It was very flatting in my opinion.

Delaney Eyelet dress (6) - This was a nice simple summer dress. Simple as that. Really liked the pattern on the bottom of the dress.

Lace-over tank (XS) - I tried this on in ivory. I thought it ran big, I had to size down to an XS, although the small would have worked, it was a little baggier than I liked. This is the small followed by the XS for comparison.

Dorrie skirt (6)- I loved this one too :-) Adorable bright vibrant color. Very comfy. I do wish there was an easier way to put in on than unbuttoning the buttons in the front. That to me was a tad annoying.

So what do you think? Overall, I was VERY happy with my selections, and can't wait for my birthday to get some of this great stuff!

Have a great day!

XOXO Jennifer