Winter wonderland - my trip to NC

With 20 inches of snow forecasted for Boston area last Sunday, I was geared up to do some after-snow pictures. It turned out that Boston didn't even get to have the "blizzard" that it was hyped to be, but we got some nasty wind and about 8 inches of snow over night. Even if we did have the 20 inches of snow, I wouldn't have had the time to take pictures, because we had to brave the storm and drove down to North Carolina to visit my sister's family. Talking about determination. The 2-day drive was brutal, but the result of being able to see my sister and her family and spend some quality time together was priceless. (translation: eat good food together, my sister is a wonderful cook, unlike me).  We finally arrived yesterday and I had a great night of sleep after the long trip.
Worst part of the trip was waiting for 45 minutes in the New Jersey Turnpike service area exit, twice. First time to use the facility and second time to fill up the gas. The reason for the wait was the stupid NJ law that prohibits self service gas pumping. They didn't hire enough workers so every car was taking 10-20 minutes to get gas. The gas station lane was so backed up that even people who just wanted to go to the restroom had to wait in line. That was the most frustrating part of the trip. I am NOT going to get gas in NJ on the way back!
Best part of the trip was also related to the rest stop. We were in one of the rest area in Virginia and everyone went to the bathroom. My boy went in with my husband and came out dancing and laughing. I was surprised to see him so happy after a leak. Then I heard what happened from my husband. Apparently, my boy went to a stall and locked the door, did his job, and tried to get out. But he couldn't unlock the door! Know what he did? He climbed out from the bottom! Now the stall is permanently locked, from the inside!

On to my outfit. This was taken BEFORE the famous storm, so no you are not looking at the aftermath of the storm. I was wearing Miss Sixty long wool coat and Cole Haan green cashmere scarf. The scarf was a Christmas present from my mom, and I absolutely love it! The color is so rich and it feels warm and soft!

Happy Holidays, everyone!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Hello, everyone! Merry Christmas!!! I had a great Christmas eve spending time with my best friend Linda and her family. We feasted and played games. This morning, we opened presents. I spent the whole day getting ready for a road trip to visit my sister. Yep, I packed several of my favorite outfits including the gold J.Crew cardi. :) Since I'll be on the road for the next 2 days I want to do a quick post of my OOTD from yesterday.  No I didn't wear anything red or green, sort of having a festive withdrawal. :) 

First, the sweater from Express. I grabbed this comfy and stylish sweater jacket (orig. $79.90, on sale now for $47.94) from Express on my trip to the mall for a major J.Crew return last week. They were having a 40% off sale in store, and it was stackable with the $15 off $30 coupon and $10 GC from Express. I ended up paying only $23 for it.  It's size XS and fits me very well. The length is great in both front and back. You can either wear it open or with a skinny belt.  I love the scallopy shawl collared front and the back looks very flattering.

My Christmas gift from hubby - a flip camera.  Maybe that's a hint from him saying that I should start doing video posting in the new year??? :) I briefly tried it and loved the simply user interface so far.

A handmade bracelet from my daughter.

 A box full of "hug coupons" that never expires, again from my daughter.

The green necklace handmade by my daughter. I can't imagine how much time she spent making this necklace from these little tiny beads. Impressive.

I also got a Cole Haan cashmere scarf from my mother which I will do a separate post on next week. 

Outfit details:

Loft striped tee. (xsp, last summer)

Express shawl collar sweater jacket (xs, comes in 7 colors, buy here)

Loft skinny pants (00P, old)

Express necklace (old, similar here)

Black Onyx and diamond earrings (fine jeweler)

Coach belt (xs, these run tiny, I actually had to used the first hole since it was sitting below my waist)

The limited braclet (old)

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and talk to you soon!

OOTD: JCrew Chiffon-Placket Cardigan in Gold

It's finally my turn to post an outfit with this beautiful cardigan that was rocking the petite community last week.  I tweeted about this cardigan when I first received it and reported that the arms on xxs is a bit tight. Now I'm happy to report that the sleeves do stretch a bit after some wear, and now it feels just right on me. :) See this cardigan on Really Petite, Extra Petite, Alterations Needed, SewPetiteGal, and Elle. Please let me know if I missed anyone, I'll make sure to link your post.
Now this is me after several failed attempt to take indoor pictures, ventured outside in the snow and 30s temperature, trying to stay calm, and not looking freezing. I have to say the pictures look pretty lively. LOL! (Click on the picture to see larger view.)

Outfit details:

Ann Taylor outlet shell (xxsp)

J.Crew Chiffon-Placket cardigan in gold (xxs, buy it here)

Loft wool skirt with grosgrain waist (00P)

Aldo shoes (sz 6, last reviewed here, buy it here)

Ann Taylor perfect patent skinny belt in Granite(sz S, extra hole punched, buy it here)

Swarovski necklace and earrings 

OOTD: Mustard Yellow, I finally found you!

Ever since I saw the Gap moto jacket on Jean from Extra Petite, I became obsessed with this mustard yellow color. I was determined to find a sweater of that color. Of course the same jacket wasn't available anywhere by the time Jean's post was out, even she had to get it from another store and had it shipped. So I kept my eyes open. When I saw this sweater at BR outlet yesterday I had to get it. It fits very snug for a regular size xs which is a good thing. I like the design on the collar, cuff and bottom. After I bought it I found out that several petite bloggers own this sweater, including Petite Gorgeous who blogged about it. What do you guys think? Do you like this color as much as I do?

Outfit details:

BR outlet sweater (xs)

Loft banded bottom ruffle shell (xxsp, buy it here)

Loft jean leggings (0P last season)

Chinese Laundry pumps

The Limited bangle

Kenneth Cole earrings

Tara from Mix and Match Fashion put together a 4-day feature showing how bloggers wear Loft for holidays.  I personally really enjoyed reading them. (I was featured today). Feel free to check it out.

HOW TO: protect your suede boots

It's cold and dark and picture taking is getting more and more challenging. It's before Christmas sale time, and resisting the lower and lower prices are becoming futile. I found myself either shopping in the mall, shopping online, returning stuff that didn't work, ending up buying more stuff, price adjusting because the pretty sweater I just bought yesterday went on further sale, life is busy around Christmas. Wait, I still have Christmas cards to write. Doh!
Today I'd like to post a different topic. I recently bought several very nice suede boots and booties and I was really hesitant to break them out because I was so worried about them getting dirty. Then I found two magic products that will make my worries go away. You might even have one of them in your house already. So I'd like to tell you guys what I did to protect my boots. Let me start by telling you how easy it is, because I am not a Martha Stewart, and I don't like to iron. I like to keep my life nice and simple. And this is R-E-A-L-L-Y easy.

What you need:

• Disposable Lint roller - This is a must-have item in your house. I use it to roll over my winter coat to make it look new instantaneously.
• leather and suede guard - You can get it in Target, Walmart, or Payless Shoe Source.

What you do:

Lay boots flat

Peel off the Lint Roller cover

Roll the Lint Roller all over the boots.

Look how dirty your shoes can be.

Peel the dirty paper off.

Now you have a new roller. Do it as many times as necessary, until the boots are clean.

Spray the boots with rain/stain guard according to the directions on the can. Make sure to wear protective gloves

Dry for an hour before wearing them.

Enjoy your beautiful boots! Hope you find these instructions easy and useful. And share your thoughts and tips if you have any. 

Review: Little Black Dress from eShakti.com

I was recently contacted by eShakti to do a product review. I had never heard of this company before, so I went to their website and did a bit of browsing. eShakti is a very unique women's apparel store online that allows custom changes in the style of the garment – sleeve, neckline, length can all be changed by the customer to her preference. They offer the full size selection from size 0-26W and custom size as well. Their online store offers a large range of clothing items, from dresses, skirts, pants, to coats and jackets and accessories. The concept was definitely very interesting to me, so I gladly accepted the offer to receive a free product sample of my choice and write a review about it. 

I decided to go with full custom, because that's how I can test out their concept to see if it works or not. I order this Beaded Tulle and Crepe Dress.

You can then choose from "Standard Size" and "Custom Size". The Standard Size option goes from 0 to 26W. I checked out their size 0 measurement which was "Bust 32, Waist 25, Hips 35", and realized that their size 0 is still too big for most petites. No worries, their Custom Size option is only $7.5 extra, which is really reasonable considering how expensive alterations can go for.  Here is the list of size measurements you need to do for customization.  You only have to do the measurement once, and the information will be stored in their system. 

The order process was relatively painless, and here's dress that was sent to me. 

I'm overall very happy with this dress and would recommend eShakti.com to my friends.

Pros:

• Quality of the dress is very good. No loose threads and crooked stitching.
• The price is reasonable. The online price of this dress is $69.95. With $7.5 customization fee, this dress totals less than $80. For a party dress that fits like a glove, I think it's worth it.
• Great customization. Not only can you customize the length, the waist, the shoulder width,etc, you can also customize the look. For example, you can add sleeves to this dress. The possibilities are endless. I changed this dress from knee length to above the knee, and you can change it to below the knee as well. To me that's a very cool option.
• Never stocked out. 

Cons:

• It took about 2 weeks for my shipment to arrive. Although it is by no means standard, and they told me it would take longer for product samples to arrive, shipping product from India can't be lightening fast.

I hope you enjoyed this review and check out eShakti for yourself. 

OOTD: JCrew cardigan and Blog Award

I am so behind on blogging and reading blogs that it's not even funny. I missed a few tags that I got and who knows maybe I even won something and I'm not aware of it. :( Just to be back on the swing of things, I'd like to post an outfit I put together this morning with one of my new shipment from J.Crew. Some of you may know that J.Crew has done awesome in the petite community recently. The xxs cardigans and shells I ordered all fit very nicely and the colors are beyond amazing. J.Crew is having a 30% off everything sale online right now until Friday (that's tomorrow.) and free shipping of orders $150 or more. (that's AFTER the 30% discount, not BEFORE). Use code MUSTHAVE. I ordered Merino Chiffon-Placket cardigan in gold and mansfield blue, both in XXS. The fit is a bit tight on the arms, but both colors look absolutely stunning and it fits nicely on other parts of my body. These cute cardis are on sale now for $21, down from $78. It's 100% merino wool, and 100% silk for the placket. High quality item at unbelievable price. The Merino Cielo Ruffle Cardigan in XXS fits just right on me everywhere and that's what I am going to show you today on my OOTD. This cardigan is on sale for only $18, down from $88 in some colors. Hurry up before sizes run out.

Outfit details:

Loft mini cheetah print shell (xxsp, last worn here)

JCrew Cielo Ruffle Cardigan (on sale here for less than $20)

Ann Taylor Boot Cut Jeans (old, didn't get much love recently due to GAP legging jeans)

Aldo shoes (last worn here, buy it here)

Loft earrings

The beautiful Kileen from Cute and Little awarded me my first ever blog award!


Thank you so much Kileen for this award. I was really flattered and outright giddy when I saw this award. Thanks to all the wonderful bloggers and readers out there who were so very generous in giving me encouragement and suggestions. I won't be here without you! Thank you!
I'd like to pass this award to the following bloggers:

• Michelle from The Petite Fitting Room - Michelle is amazing in putting simple clothes together and making an outfit with a wow factor. Her fitting room review is always one of my favorite reads. 
• Annie from Really Petite - Her beautiful smiles can light up a room. I enjoy her haul posts and her outfit posts. Her video reviews are awesome. And this pretty lady has a charming personality that no one can resist. (I'm one of the victims. :))
• Last but not least, Jean from Extra Petite - Have you seen her reviews? You will be surprised by how much details she knows about a garment. Her blogs are truly good reads and she always look stunning in every outfit. She's also the queen of deal spreader. Remember the blush deal from Rock and Republic? How can you not love her!

Holiday is approaching fast, I'm going to have a group luncheon at Sichuan Gourmet tomorrow, followed by the new movie Tron at IMAX. Great way to end the year at work.  

Loft Cowl Neck Sweater - fitting room pics

I want to do a quick post on the Loft Cowl Neck Sweater I bought today in Dessert Mauve. The sweater was on a one day promotion for $25 (orig. $59.50) and it was stackable with the $25 savings card. You see the excitement here right? The sweater is quiet attractive in person. The fitting of the xxsp is too small and short on me, so I went up a size to xsp. I like the look of the xsp a lot.

This is the sweater in xxsp, see how short the sleeves are? I like my sweater sleeves long. Also I tried to wear the cowl neck two different ways and love both.

 This is the sweater in xsp. Much better.

This sweater is very scratchy. So if you have sensitive skin, stay away, but I plan to wear it over something else, so it shouldn't be too big of a problem.

On a separate note, I saw the military sweater on super sale (under $30), so I tried on an xsp. I liked it this time. Remember my disgust in this review? Well, I think it was because I was wearing a size too small. I was wearing an xxsp. (or is it because the price is too good to pass?) Update: This sweater is sold out online, but still available in some stores.

What do you guys think?