City Pretty: In Good Company

Skirt: H&M

Green and yellow bangles: B Fabulous; Red bangle: XOXO, Ross; Blue bangle, So, Kohl's; Pink bangle: Silver Linings, Ocean City; Ring: Wet Seal

Top: Self Esteem, Macy's

Saguaro Stripe Barrette Brooch

Top: New York & Company

Skirt: Amazon

Bow: Carole, JCPenney; Blue bracelet: Cloud Nine, Ocean City; Maroon bangle: Iris Apfel for INC, Macy's; Red bangle: B Fabulous; Yellow ring: Making Waves, Ocean City; Red ring: Nordstrom; Brown ring: Charlotte Russe; Belt: Hand-me-down from my mom

Top: New York & Company

Skirt: Material Girl, Macy's

Checkerboard Cherry Barrette Brooch

Shoes: 2 Lips Too, JCPenney

Bag: Current Mood, Dolls Kill

 

Top: New York & Company

When the husband took this first pic of me, he said that I looked like The Nanny on an acid trip.  And even though I don't condone drug use, I couldn't help but laugh.  Because the striped cravat blouse, rainbow cactus brooch, and poufy hair did indeed remind me of the Flashy Girl from Flushing if she were under the influence.  Which makes sense because all three blouses in this lineup are from (to me, anyway) Queens-themed New York & Company.

It wasn't until last spring that I started shopping there in earnest.  I couldn't believe that I hadn't started sooner.  They have so many affordable, brightly colored, polyester tops -- my favorite kind!  Best of all, my new shirts inspired me to make some new barrette brooches.  The Saguaro Stripe one started out as Striped Swallow but never quite took flight: 

The southwestern style worked better, I think.  I love the idea of a black cactus against a rainbow, a kind of stylized version of what the desert might look like at sunset.  

Then there's Checkerboard Cherry, which is pure '80s.

And here they all are together, the for-sale ones and the just-for-me doppelgangers, in -- what else? -- checkerboard formation: 

It's all a little magically messy and messily magical.  In other words, as perfectly imperfect as Topher Grace riding off into the sunset with Scarlett Johansson.

Which means that I'm, ahem, in good company.