Week 2 - Animal Outfit of the Day #aootd

Hi there - decided to post a full week vs. day by day.  Welcome to Animal Outfit of the Day - week 2. #aootd.


Day 8 - Sunday, January 8 - a lazy Sunday at home.  Since I didn't have to go out (it was torrentially raining thanks to the atmospheric river of moisture, I picked animal comfy clothes - narwhal and llama.

• Narwhal tee: Gnome Enterprises
• Llama flannel pants: Old Navy

Day 9 - Monday, January 9 - back to work!  Needed a little bit of color to contrast against the gray rainy skies.  Multiple Animal Monday - giraffe, rhino, zebra, tiger.

• Scarf: Lulla from Nordstrom Rack
• Sweater: Banana Republic
• Tank: Lucky Brand
• Jeans: Gap
• Booties: Dolce Vita

Day 10 - Tuesday, January 10 - Giraffes!

• Giraffe sweater: Anthropologie (I LOVE this sweater - it was a bit of a splurge, but every time I wear it, I love love love it)
• Lace tank: Banana republic
• Jeans: Gap
• Booties: Sam Edelman

Day 11 - Wednesday, January 11 - Cheetah!

• Cheetah tank: Lucky Brand
• Sweater: Anthropologie
• Jeans: Gap
• Booties: Sam Edelman

Day 12 - Thursday, January 12 - Horses!

• Horse tee - Porridge
• Sweater: Anthropologie
• Jeans: Gap
• Deer duvet cover & bedding: Garnet Hill

Day 13 - Friday, January 13 - Giraffes!

• Giraffe sweater - LRG
• Lace tee - J.Crew
• Jeans - Martin & Osa
• Booties - Sam Edelman

Day 14 - Saturday, January 14 - Bear, grrrrr

• Bear tee - Cotton On
• Sweater - J.Crew
• Jeans - Gap
• Booties - Dolce Vita
• Bunny - found in yard on our way home

Day 15 - Sunday, January 15 - subtle animal accessories - Bird and Bunny

• Bird necklace - Urban Outfitters
• Bird earrings - gift from a friend
• Bunny ring - Anthropologie
• Dress - Maeve from Anthropologie
• Sweater - Banana Republic
• Tights - Urban Outfitters
• Booties - Sam Edelman

Whew!  Another week down!  Half way done, 16 more days to go!  Yeay!

Day 7 - a week of Animal Outfits

Week 1 comes to a close - 7 days of animal outfits down, 24 more days to go (and maybe more!)

For our Saturday excursion, I picked an oldie but a goodie for my animal outfit of the day - my beloved hedgehog tee from Anthropologie.  I bought this top in 2013 right before my wedding.  I wore it 2 days before the wedding to get my mani/pedi.  I love this top!  While The Husband and I were eating lunch at Tender Greens, a girl stopped by out table on her way out and asked where I got my top - I pointed to the gigantic Anthropologie store diagonal from us and said there - but a few years back.  She smiled and said she loved the hedgehogs!

I especially love the scoop-back with buttons - an unexpected detail for this cute little tee.

The pictures from this post were taken in front of the new (and gigantic) Anthropologie & Co store at the Stanford Shopping Center - it is 2 stories and 20,000 square feet of glorious Anthropologie, Terrain, and BHLDN products - it's my happy place!  It will be yours too once you go there.

• Hedgehog tee - Anthropologie
• Green cardigan - Anthropologie
• Jeans - Gap
• Tennies - Brooks

On to week 2!

Day 6 - 31 days Animal Outfits Challenge

6th day in a row of animal outfits and the people at work don't notice the theme...  Another day of zebras - guess I like the black and white stripes!

• Pink zebra infinity scarf: Lulla (from Nordstrom Rack)
• Gold & white striped tank: J.Crew
• Gray cardigan: Banana Republic
• Jeans: Lucky Brand
• Booties: Dolce Vita

See you animals tomorrow!

5 days of Animal Outfits

So - I've made it 5 days now.  And, I haven't even come close to wearing all of my animal clothes...

And - it's another day of zebras.  I figure why not just go for it with the zebras - they're awesome!  And did you know that zebras love reading books?  The black print on white pages makes them feel right at home.  You might spy a sneaky zebra reading in a library somewhere...  Here's hoping!

• Cardigan: Gap
• Tank: Lucky Brand (side note - I saw this tank several years back and loved it.  Ordered it on-line, and hated it on.  Then last year, I was perusing the Lucky sale section online and saw it again - for like $5.99 or some ridiculously low price.  I thought it would make a cute workout top.  It does.  Today is the first day I've worn it as something other than a workout top.  I love it!)
• Jeans: Gap
• Fox Socks: Gap
• Booties: Dolce Vita

On to day 6!

Day 4 of 31 days of Animal Outfits

Apparently I really like zebras.  I didn't realize how much zebra stuff I have - and this isn't the end of it.

• Tee - Banana Republic
• Cardigan - J.Crew
• Jeans - Gap
• Booties - Dolce Vita
• Arrow necklace - Stella & Dot

Until tomorrow!

31 Days of Animal Outfits - Day 3

I was in a zebra state of mind today.  Little known facts: zebras love roasted fingerling and sweet potatoes (organic, of course).

• Sweater & Tee: J.Crew
• Jeans: Gap
• Booties: Sam Edelman
• Necklace: Forever 21 (from forever ago)
• Zebra mask: Diddam's

And, we're on to day 4 tomorrow!  Wheeeeeeeee

31 Days of Animal Outfits - Day 2

It's day 2 of the animal outfit challenge (#aootd).  Today is "Subtle Animal".

• The leopard print scarf was a gift from a friend
• I picked up the bird earrings many years ago on a vacation to Mazatlan, Mexico
• The silver bird ring and pebble ring are by Kristiana Spaulding from Silver Trailer (http://silvertrailer.com/)  //  the round opal ring is from a street vendor in San Francisco (outside the Ferry Building)
• Tee - J.Crew
• Cardigan - Banana Republic
• Jeans - Gap
• Booties - Dolce Vita

Until tomorrow!!!  Yeay animals!

31 days of Animals - #AOOTD

So - it's no surprise that I love animals (and sparkly things).  When I made my last animal clothing purchase (a zebra sweater and gold animal tee from J.Crew - pictured below),

The Husband laughed and said that I could probably wear something "animal" everyday for a month.

Challenge accepted.

So - here's to 31 days of animal outfits of the day (#aootd) in January!

January 1, 2017 - pulled out an animal from the archives - this sweater from Banana Republic back in Spring 2013.  I love giraffes and just had to have this navy & white striped giraffe sweater.  I paired this with a pair of J.Crew leggings, Puma tennies, and a Land's End white vest. And, the pay phone actually works!

Not pictured are my llama flannel PJ pants that I'm lounging around in this evening.  I've got animals for every occasion!

Until tomorrow!

Ahhhh, more animal plates!

So, I think it is clear that I am gaga for adorable animal things.

West Elm is at it again with these cute little animal plates - not the Dapper Animal plates that I love - but something equally as adorable.

Meet the Painted Animal Plates - how cute are these?

Some other adorable animal stuff of late:

Sir/Madam Fauna Grand 2-sided mugs (West Elm) - they are on-sale right now and all are not currently available, much to my chagrin.

Wild Wanderer Planter (Anthropologie) - I got the Giraffe one - it is ADORABLE!

Narwhals (CB2) - I got the small and large - LOVE LOVE LOVE them!  And, can't beat the price.

Wheee! Animals!

Be still my heart... More Dapper Animal Plates!!!

Hello sparkles!  It's been a while.  But I still love sparkles.

At work today, I was talking with a coworker about animals and other cute things - it was a slow Friday afternoon.  I remarked that I saw a little tan fox scurry across the road on my way home from work earlier in the week.  Then we talked about a chipmunk (or squirrel) I saw last week on the side of the road near the golf course either eating a rat (are chipmunks/squirrels carnivorous?) or holding a baby in its mouth.  Then she shared with me a link to a super cute fuzzy Shar Pei dog named Tonkey - so cute.  Then I shared with her Theo & Beau.  The somehow I mentioned my first round of dapper animal plates, and how the Husband chuckles each time I pull a plate for breakfast not knowing which I will pull.  I love them all, but definitely have my favorites.  Then a second round came out, and of course we got them.  Then a third round came out around the holidays, and sadly, we didn't get them.

So, the Husband and I spent the late afternoon together sipping some iced tea from Philz and walking around University Avenue in Palo Alto.  One of my favorite spots is our local West Elm store.  We sauntered in to take a little look.  As we were making our way through the store, the Husband points out a new dapper animal plate!  And, lo and behold, there are 6 new plates.  SIX!!!!!  And, of course we got them: Moose, Bear, Puffin, Wood Pecker, Lynx, and Llama.

Was my chat with my co-worker foreshadowing our dapper animal encounter later in the day?  I don't know.  I don't care.  I love our newest Dapper Animal additions!  YEAY!

Not generally a fan of Fine China...

Hello there fellow sparkle lovers...  A quick little post for this evening since I haven't posted in a while.

I got married a year ago last weekend, and when the husband and I did our registries, we knew instantly that we weren't "Fine China" people - I mean, we live in a small apartment, have very little storage, and don't have a place in our lives for plates that we would use at most once per year, and have to store the other 364 days.  So, we opted instead to register for nice every-day plates - a huge upgrade from the old plates my family used when I was a kid that I inherited, and the Corelle plates the husband had in his bachelor pad (unbreakable). 

We really like the plates (dinner plates, salad plates, and bowls) that we got - Noritake Colorwave collection.  So far they seem sturdy, they look nice, and we've mixed in some other dishes that go with these but aren't too matchy-matchy.

We picked up some little bowls "Potter's Workshop Bowls" from
West Elm that are super cute (and were super on sale) that are similar to these but more turquoise in color.

We also added in the "Dapper Animal Plates" from West Elm and as much as the husband doesn't want to admit it, he loves them.  I've written about them and other adorable animal tableware here.

Begrudgingly, the husband told me about the new matching mugs that go with the plates.  I LOVE them, but after seeing them in person, they aren't quite big enough, and I also already have mugs that I love (from Anthropologie - Monogram Mugs).  However, if we had a bigger kitchen, I'd surely get these adorable mugs.  I'm certain of that.

This past weekend, we had a leisurely Saturday afternoon bike ride to a local Farmers' Market, a nice lunch, and a stroll through our local West Elm.  I always like looking at things in that store - the furniture is so lovely, their lighting is so pretty, love their tableware, and I just really like looking around at the pretty stuff I would love to own.

And, on this stroll I became a fan of Fine China.  I am seriously salivating over this China.  Had these been on the market when we made our wedding registry, they most definitely would have been on it.  I covet these.  I want these.  I love these!!!  The Guilded Dapper Animal collection (plates and mugs and gold-rimmed plain plates) is everything I love - animal stuff, gold, cuteness.  I don't do "tablescapes" but I would tablescape the shit out of these!  If I see these on sale, I'm sure I will find a place to store them until I get my dream kitchen with plenty of storage.

Eating with animals!

It really is no surprise that I fall in love with cute animal stuff.  For some reason, I'm just attracted to it - I can't really explain why, but I've always loved cute animal stuff.  When I was a kid, I had a gigantic collection of stuffed animals.  My mom devised a way to store them - we hung a hammock from the ceiling in my room over my bed and put my animals in it.  If we hadn't devised this storage solution, there would have been no place for me to sleep on my bed.  I distinctly remember when we had to clean out my stuffed animal collection to get rid of some old ones to make room for new ones.  I remember one time that I agreed to get rid of a few animals, I woke up in the middle of the night and was crying because I didn't want to get rid of any.  I snuck into the closet and took back the ones I thought I could part with.

I saw these plates at West Elm some time ago, and absolutely wanted to buy them, but my Husband, the voice of reason, asked, "Do we really need them?"  Of course we didn't really need them, but they are so cute!  I really wanted them, but refrained from buying them.  Until... they went on sale for $6 each.  And.... we have four of them now to mix in with our regular plates.  Husband actually really likes them too.  There is something so whimsical and cute about these.

When I pulled them up to include here, I see that there are four new versions of them now...  Love the bunny and badger and rooster and blue jay!   Uh oh, I may need a set of these too.

These cute owl mugs, also from West Elm would make a happy addition to the animal collection.  I love the metallic gold one - super cute!

If ceramic plates aren't your thing, West Elm has these darling melamine plates (and serving trays too)!

Anthropologie also has some absolutely adorable animal stuff too!

Love these animal plates - there 10 designs to pick from, including a parrot, butterflies, a monkey, a lion, a cheetah, a little girl, an owl, lady bugs, a bunny (my fave), and a humming bird.

These little dessert plates are absolutely adorable.  There are several designs to pick from too - giraffe (my fave), lady bugs, red birds, owl, bee, chameleon, humming birds,  and a praying mantis.  I love the slightly different shapes of each of these plates, and the varying borders for each.  Imagine getting one of each of these - love love love!

And, these canape plates are super cute!  Not every one of these is an animal, but there are several in the collection - dog, horse, love birds, narwhal (one of my faves), octopus, bee, unicorn (one of my faves), and zebra.

I can't possibly use all of these plates, but, hey, a girl can dream, right?

Finally, I saw these foxy juice glasses the other day in the Paper Source catalog.  I love getting this catalog and looking at all of the cute little things they have.  But, these glasses really stood out.  They have tea towels, aprons, and a variety of other adorable fox things to go along with these glasses.

If you are in need of any little animal tchotchkes, Kikkerland, has a TON of amazingly fun, cute, and inexpensive things.  I picked up this little hedgehog toothbrush cover over the weekend.  I could spend lots of time and money ordering from this site.

And, hey - eating with animals is way more fun than eating with a boring white plate.

who doesn't love a Giraffe?

So, who doesn't love a giraffe?  Show me someone who doesn't smile a little when they see a lanky-legged little baby giraffe.  Or even a gigantic stable-footed giraffe.  I mean, they are adorable, right?

I seem to be having a newly-ish rekindled love affair with giraffes!

And, it seems that everywhere I look, I am finding a ton of giraffe stuff that I am obsessing over.

Over Christmas, my sister sent me a link to this super cute sweater from LRG, and of course I just had to have it.  It's oversized, comfy, and thankfully not too itchy.  I was concerned with the itch factor because of the mohair content, but it hasn't been an issue.


My sister also gave me this darling little giraffe trinket tray from Anthropologie.  I have it on my night stand, and it is the perfect place for earrings and rings to live.

Something about coming home to this little cutie and putting my hoop earrings around its neck and some of my rings into the tray just makes me happy.


Anthropologie always has a ton of cute stuff, and they have a few other adorable giraffe items right now.

How about this fun little giraffe bust made from layers of cement bags covered with vintage French book pages.  If giraffes aren't your favorite, there are other animal busts to pick from.

This adorable Paul & Joe dress is on sale right now.  Definitely not something you can wear every day, but it is totally cute.  If too short for you as a dress, put on over skinny jeans or leggings and voila! enough coverage, and still super cute!

This cardigan from Anthropologie is also so cute!  You can have a giraffe give you a hug all day long!

Need some giraffe for the guy in your life (or for you, as I wear men's t-shirts frequently, especially for the gym) check this little gem out (from Urban Outfitters).

Need a little giraffe jewelry to adorn yourself with?  

These 2 necklaces might foot the bill.  

I have this one from J.Crew Factory.  I wear it all the time, and love it.  It is pretty small, and is on a long-ish chain.  At only $12.50, it is a steal!

And, this one, from Urban Outfitters, is equally as adorable.  And, is only $16.  This one is on a shorter chain - 16".

Giraffes even made an appearance (along with some other animals) at my wedding.  I wish it was in the form of a petting zoo, but the husband wouldn't let me go that far.  And, on second thought, having a petting zoo at a wedding might be a little messy.

For our escort cards and table numbers, we used a variety of animal ink stamps (we purchased from The Paper Source).  Each table had an animal label and the escort cards had the matching animal.

The animal stamps were small, so we stamped them on paper, cut them out, then scanned them and enlarged them so they would be suitable for table numbers.  We printed them out on card stock, then glued them together so the animal was visible on each side.  Then we glued them to straws (as stakes) to be put into the centerpieces.  The stamps fit onto the escort cards as-is, so no extra  scanning & printing was needed. 

We had multiple mini-desserts in addition to a cake.  We needed some way to label everything, and I thought it would be cute to use animals.  We found these gigantic animals on Amazon, and then made and printed the labels ourselves and tied them to the animals with the same baker's twine that we used on the favors.  There were several animals that didn't have labels on them but that were scattered about the table for added decor and cuteness.  

The cake toppers are Jonathan Adler ceramic giraffes that I bought years ago.  We made a green tie out of felt for the "boy/groom" giraffe, and a little veil out of elastic and tulle for the "girl/bride" giraffe.

And, the animal masks we found at Diddam's party supply store for the photobooth were a HUGE hit!

Animals aren't for everyone, but I LOVE them.  They can be cute, funny, fuzzy, furry, warm, cuddly, and slightly absurd (but in a good way, especially when used in moderation).


Wedding pictures taken by the amazing Ginny (and her husband Mike) of Retrospect Images in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Desserts made by Sweet Tooth Confections in San Jose, CA.  Photobooth by Photo3lements.


UPDATE:
This is just plain wrong.  Prevent inbreeding by sending your excess giraffes to another zoo, not killing them.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Zoo-staff-get-death-threats-after-giraffe-killing-5220920.php