Little Leopards, Every Flair

Skirt: Wild Fable, Target

Sweater: On 34th, Macy's

Shoes: Madden Girl, Amazon

Bag: Amazon; Sunglasses: Nordstrom Rack

Sweater: Candie's, Kohl's; Skirt: Vanilla Star, Macy's

Bag and charm: Madden Girl, Kohl's

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Boscov's

Jeans: Wild Fable, Target

Socks: Macy's

Tee: Rebellious One, Macy's

Heart and Rainbows Necklace

Bag: Madden Girl, Macy's

Barrettes: SHEIN; Clips: Wild Fable, Target

Leopard's for rebels.  Leopard's for ladies.  Leopard's tacky.  Leopard's classy.  In other words, leopard's a neutral.

Because no matter what kind of cat you are, there's a little leopard in all of us.

Book Crooks and Crusaders: Reading Between the Lies

When my sister chose Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave for book club, I was disappointed.  Although I enjoyed the series about a single mom and romance writer-turned-PI, the last one we read, Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice, got really gruesome.  But I started reading Digs Her Own Grave anyway, wondering if the title would prove to be prophetic in more ways than one.  Here's what I dug up:

They say that fish and visitors stink in three days.  But Mrs. Haggerty is a whole new class of crusty crustacean.  After she's sprung from the slammer, her grandson dumps her on Finlay and her nanny Vero.  Yet the fact that Mrs. Haggerty allegedly did not murder the man exhumed from her rose garden isn't the most disturbing thing about the octogenarian.  It's that she's been judging --and spying on --- Finlay for years.  But things go from annoying to alarming when Finlay's ex-husband is arrested instead.  Although part of Finlay would love to see Steven behind bars, she ultimately doesn't want the father of her children to end up with a teardrop tattoo.  So she and Vero do what they do best -- set out to solve a murder.

What follows is the usual roller coaster ride of hijinks and danger.  And also, this time, a book club.  Mrs. Haggerty becomes a tough love Mary Poppins to Finlay's kids.  Teen hacker Cam and Finlay's flamboyantly dressed agent Sylvia add to the chaos.  But it's hot cop Nick who commands our attention -- and Finlay's.  Their on-again, off-again romance is very much on and becomes more layered.  That said, the tale is more mystery than thriller, making it my favorite in the series.  Which is a plot twist I didn't see coming.

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave is as compelling as it is complicated, widening the feminist lens through which the series is filtered.

And, of course, reminding us to keep our friends close -- and our neighbors closer.  

The Great Indoors: Camera Crew Who?

Coat, top: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Hulla-Ba-Blue Necklace

Catching some rays.

Hair clip: Kate Spade New York for Target

Shoes: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Socks: Amazon; Tights: Zulily

Bag: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Dress: Zulily; Top: So, Kohl's

Bag: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

View with a hue.

Shoes: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Tights: A New Day, Target

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Shoes: Nine West, Amazon

More leaves, because Y not?

Bag: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Bag charm: Michaels

Headband: Headbands of Hope, Kohl's

Now that Halloween's history, I'm back in my regularly scheduled fall fits.  And it feels cozy, like eating apple pie in front of a fire.  A fire in a fireplace, that is, because there's nothing cozy about camping.  Unless you have a double deluxe, vanilla-slash-lavender-scented Porta Potty like Barbara Howard on Abbott Elementary.  Which is the sort of reference you'd expect from someone who does her stargazing via sitcoms.

Anyway, I was adventurous enough to try one new thing, namely taking my own outfit pics.  It recently dawned on me that I don't have to bug the husband every time I need a glamor shot.  Because nothing says mother of the year like interrupting your baby's breakfast to catch the best light.  So I ordered a tripod, took a bunch of bad pics, and got good enough to take some I could live with.  Spoiler alert: it isn't easy!  Especially if you take your show on the road, which I haven't had the guts to do yet.  So kudos to all of you who've been the cameraperson since day one.  I'm in awe of you.

And of anyone brave enough to bunk with bears.

Good Witch vs. Bad Bitch: Order on the Tennis Court

I don't have an athletic bone in my body, and I hate competitive sports.  So I was wary about reading a novel starring a tennis pro.  But Lauren Weisberger's The Singles Game won me over from the first serve.  That's because The Devil Wears Prada phenom is unparalleled in telling tales of fame and fortune.  She drills down through the glamor and games to give us very human heroines torn between glory and the truth of their hearts.  And The Singles Game's Charlotte Silver slams some of the toughest truths yet.

Charlie's story starts when a career-threatening injury at Wimbledon forces her to make a choice: retire early or double down to become the champion she's always known she could be.  So she ditches her compassionate coach for a viper and embarks on a rebrand that transforms her from goody-two-shoes to "warrior princess."  She's immediately thrust into the celebrity sphere of parties, hookups, and a near-sadistic training regimen.  It's a cocktail of glitz and grit (even if she's only allowed Pellegrino), all part of the persona that her new coach plots to portray.  But winning the warrior way means more than swapping her tennis whites for bedazzled black.  It means playing dirty, which is the opposite of what Charlie's old coach and her tennis pro dad taught her.

I didn't always like Charlie or the choices she made, but I think that's what Weisberger wants.  We're supposed to question her dubious path and wonder what we'd do in her Nikes.  Yet her never-say-die spirit, girl-next-door origins, and inner moral compass, however thwarted, make her sympathetic even when she's wrong.  She's the everywoman we want to root for because at her root, she's all of us.

Game, set, match, Weisberger.

Color Me Happy Halloween

Boots: Simply Vera, Kohl's

Bag: Nine West, Marshalls

Sweater: ModCloth

Sweater: Bar III, Macy's

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Amazon

Scary Skate Necklace

Shoes: Madden Girl, DSW

Headband: Lady Arya, Zulily

Pretty scary in pink and purple.

Bow: Target

The husband's handiwork.

Pumpkin: Marshalls; Cat: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's; Ring: PinkBopp, Etsy

Creepy cute cozy.

Tights: Marshalls; Shoes: Circus by Sam Edelman, Kohl's

No one makes a graveyard cake like Mom.

Too cool for school supplies?  Never!

How is it Halloween already?!  I don't even have anything clever to say, just this shock that the year's almost over.  Last Halloween, Char Bar had just learned to roll over, and this year I had to put the pumpkins on the mantel so she wouldn't run off with them. 

So yeah, like every other parent, I'm exhausted.  So much so that I sometimes wish I could trade all my shoes for a nap.  But I'm also -- happy.  Because that's one of the things about being busy.  The little things that used to bother you seem kind of ridiculous.  Mostly because they're replaced by big things, like trying to stop your toddler from racing across the street.  But also because being in charge of a life other than your own has a way of putting things in perspective.  

So happy Halloween.  I'm grateful that I get to spend even a little of mine with you.

And also that the husband snagged me some pumpkin M&Ms.

Wed but Undead: Bride of Frankenstein State of Mind

Cardigan: New York & Company; Skirt: Tinseltown, Macy's

Garland: Michaels

Prismatic Pumpkin Necklace

Bag: Zulily; Ring: PinkBopp, Etsy

Hair clip: Walgreens

Shoes: Madden Girl, Amazon; Socks: Amazon

Michaels

Tee, ModCloth

Sunglasses: Nordstrom Rack

I've never had strong opinions about the Bride of Frankenstein (or, more accurately, the bride of Frankenstein's monster).  Then last Christmas, I found this tee for just a few bucks at ModCloth.  Its bride is far from the frumpy lady love of the lugubrious lug.  Instead, she's a va-va-voom vixen rocking a mini dress and an insouciant expression beside the age-old challenge of trick-or-treat.  So I snapped it up and tucked it away with high hopes for Halloween.

And now it's time to bust it out in a fit of candy-colored chaos.  Styling it with patterns and accessories a-plenty was more fun -- and freeing -- than wearing a costume.  Because it's still me -- only amplified.

It's what Mary Shelley would've wanted.

Well, that and the right to own property.