Whew! It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks but life is finally calming down again. A bit. Maybe I'm hallucinating.  Either way, it annoys me when I don't get a chance to create and publish all the posts for this site that I would like to on a regular basis.  But thankfully the breaks are few and far between.
In the coming weeks I have a lot of great stuff planned for you.  My first ever "paid" review from a REALLY unique place. (They didn't pay me, they just asked if I'd like to try anything out and review it. I agreed and really like what I chose.) A couple of new "Ask Image Interpreters" posts. A great one for the men included! And lots of fantastic fall fashion as we approach another Season for Clothes.

For this happy Monday I'm presenting a Modest Moment from the mother of all supermodels - Cindy Crawford.

She's busy in a miriad non-supermodel ways nowadays so current pictures of her don't crop up that often but goodness, the woman knows how to dress in a flattering way.
Love the bright top and white jeans.

I know she's in mid sentence below, but I loved the shades of gray and silver outfit.
Casual but not schlumpy. And it doesn't look like she's trying too hard, unlike some celebrity moms out there who can't seem to master "mom on the go."  Cindy nails it in both shots with flattering jeans, simple-but-not-boring tops, and interesting shoes.
There's a lesson to be learned here!

Whew! It's been a whirlwind of a week.  Visiting family, reunion, etc.  Lots of fun.  While I unpack and wash all our camping clothes, here's the latest inspiration from Piperlime to dress well.  As I mentioned in this post covering all the previous Piperlime ads, I adore these ads.  Sometimes we just need a little weekly wake-up call to present our best selves to the world.

"BE THE GIRL YOU WERE TOO LAZY TO BE YESTERDAY."

Oh boy, have I ever had lazy days. I'm sure we all have. When they come, I hope we all turn them into a springboard for looking extra great the next day.  

Summer is always a difficult time to keep up on all the fun blog posts I want to do.  I'm leaving today for a family reunion so please enjoy this final round of lovely outfits from Kate's North American tour.  It's a far cry from what I'll be seeing this weekend. 
It's a camping reunion.  Camping is rarely rich with style. Mercy.

I found the source of the blazer from this photo I highlighted in the first post of this series.  It's from Smythe.  She later paired it with a sheath dress (below).
Love the simple, structured bag!

Lovely dress.  I like the yellow Jenny Packham dress from yesterday better, but this is elegant. I'm not in love with the nude heels with this one. I'd have chosen something in the purple family with this gray/possibly light lavender dress.

LOVING this pleated skirt and lacy cardigan!  I have a skirt very similar to this and will now be creating an outfit like this around it.  Totally love it.

Again, love the simple and elegant dress - would have chosen purple-ish heels.

Wanted to close with another glance at the fantastic Alexander McQueen sweater dress. I would wear this in a heart beat. I'm desperately hoping somebody makes a version in my price range this fall.

We had the biggest microburst hail and rain storm I've ever seen here Monday night.  It tried to take over our driveway and destroy our basement.  Actually, it tried to do that to several houses in our neighborhood where the storm drains simply couldn't keep up. 
So I'm very behind on things I would like to post.  I still have a ton of clean up work to do, but need a little break.  So today, let's check out more of Kate's awesome outfits from the  her trip to our side of the pond. For the first post of her looks, click here.

Love this! I fell in love with coats-matching-dresses in Doris Day movies.

The girl's gone country! I sometimes chuckle when Europeans try western, but they both actually did alright! William finally doffed his blue suit.

There has been MUCH hoopla made over Kate's use of sheer stockings (nylons, pantyhose, whatever your generation chose to call them.) While there appear to be certain standards for royal dressing that she is adhering to, I think she mainly just wants nice looking legs without the fake tan orange glow. Her sister Pippa is also wearing them a ton and it has sparked a MASSIVE upsurge in sheer stocking sales. I don't often think to wear them in summer but I have a pair of Donna Karan's that are exquisitely sheer, never sag around the ankles or knees, and make my legs look great. Plus, they're slightly control top so they help my hip area as well. Bonus.

A note of warning if you're going to wear them.
These are NOT tan colored stockings. They should be sheer in a color that exactly matches YOUR skin tone. You're simply trying to make your legs look smooth and even-toned.  You are NOT using the stockings to simulate a tan.

And finally, a lovely DVF dress. I swear, is there anyone that von Furstenberg dresses don't look great on? Double love the sleeve length on this dress.

In my Stylish Renovation post two days ago I shared the amazing beautifulness that is my new wood floor.  Sigh.  We wake up every day, see the floor and say, "That is a DANG good lookin' floor!" We love it.  Each night this week we've said, "Goodnight, beautiful floor."

As you read in that post, I escaped to the Nordstrom Anniversary sale with my girls.  Mr. Darcy and I couldn't decide whose job would be harder; helping put in a new floor or wrangling three toddlers in a crowded department store.  In the end, the Summit men were so efficient my husband mostly watched the floor materialize before his eyes so the harder job was mine. That's what Chupa-Chups sent from Grandpa are for!
Before I show you what the sale brought us, I must give you a little back story. When we saw the movie Inception, Mr. Darcy and I kept saying, "That's a great shirt!" any time Tom Hardy (Eames) appeared on screen. They just had a little somethin' somethin' and I've been on a major hunt for Eames-like shirts ever since.

I found about 10 but took my favorite 2.


Zagiri dark brown shirt with really cool side paneling.  This fits much more trimly than shown on this model, which is good.

As for me, I beelined straight for the boots.  As I mentioned last fall in The Boots Zip, a whole new world of shoes opened up to me with my weight loss.  My now trim calves have found utopia in a world I could only watch from the sidelines in the past.  I alternated between the two pair of boots I bought last year nearly every day of fall, winter and spring. I've added two darlings to the family.  

Cole Haan "Jalisa" black dress boots. 
Black dress boots were at the top of my list. I love that these do not have a leather wrapped heel, which gets destroyed so easily. I've put them on 10 times since last Friday.

Vince Camuto "Bilco" over-the-knee boot in this gorgeous brandy color.
The sales guy said, "Look, you can fold them down too." No way! I love them at their full height. They hit right at the middle of my knee cap so there's no Puss-in-Boots vibe. These boots fit so great around the ankle. My size had to be shipped to me and they arrived an hour ago. I'm  wearing them right now. They're awesome. They have three rows of mini studs up the back that you can see in this picture of the Coal color. 

Next on the shopping list is two new pair of skinny jeans to tuck into these lovelies. I shrunk out of the ones I bought last year. I knew I would; they were only an interim size so I had grabbed a pair on sale at Old Navy. Turned out to be hud. Stretched out the instant I bent my knees. Looking back now, I wore them so often and was so infuriated by them, I'd have been much better off investing a little more in higher quality.

It's mopping day. I get to give my new floor some love. And the girls have a couple friends coming over so I better take my boots off before my feet start sweating.  Sigh.  I'm sure I'll wake up every day, see the boots and say, "Those are DANG good lookin' boots!" Each night I'll say, "Goodnight, beautiful boots." Or maybe I'll just go ahead and wear them to do the mopping. They sound so fierce on my new floor.

Our babies aren't babies anymore (sniff!). It's sad, how fast they grow up, but when they start to grow up, you can get new flooring put in! How's that, do you figure?  Well, when my husband and I bought our house, it was in the framing stage so we were able to make some tweaks and choose the flooring.  Hoping to start a family soon after purchasing it, we put carpet everywhere except the kitchen and bathrooms.  Even in the dining room.  We have a great room floor plan so the kitchen flows seamlessly to the dining room then living room.  With crawling babies we wanted as much soft flooring as possible. 
Here's how our dining room/kitchen looked until Thursday night.

Now that the girls are almost 4 and 2.5, the need for soft surfaces to crawl on is no longer a necessity and we've been planning for a while to put in wood flooring.  As luck would have it, our next door neighbor owns his own wood flooring business! We had long put off getting an estimate, fearing a bid of multiple thousands of dollars that would just disappoint us and kill the dream of new floors.  But Mr. Darcy bit the bullet one day while I was out of town and was happily shocked to learn the project was well within our budget. Samples were viewed, wood was chosen and before we knew it, we were ripping up carpet...

Then in went the beautiful new boards.

Here is the gorgeous new floor I came home to Friday afternoon.

Where was I? The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale started Friday so it was the perfect place to escape with my girls while the men did the floor.  Toddlers and tools do not mix.
I'll show you the delicious pieces I procured at the sale in the next post.  Boots are involved! For now, I'm just happy to gaze at this beautiful new floor.  Many thanks to Mr. Darcy and the Summit Flooring men!  As luck would also have it, Summit is about to launch a brand new website, so I'll share the link to that in the next post as well. The phone number is 801-592-4928.  If you live in Utah, are dying for beautiful new floors and would like an excellent referral, these guys are it!  Colton is so meticulous I swear he goes over things with toothpicks and Q-tips. Mr. Darcy is incredibly handy and loves a good home project, but when he saw all the measuring, re-measuring, and re-re-measuring to get the floor in absolutely perfectly, he was glad we hadn't tackled it ourselves.
Thanks again, Summit!

The Prince and his new bride have been touring our side of the world.  The ever elegant and simple Kate has, in my humble opinion, been making some great choices. Let's look.

There have been many different types of events on their tour, from casual to dressy to ceremonial. Every look I've seen pictures of so far has shown a modest hemline to the knee, and sleeves. Brava, Princess!!

I've seen how this Erdem lace sheath dress looked on the runway, she had more lining added for more coverage. No doubt about it, this woman knows the power of a tailor.

I'm just showing one picture of each look, but there are tons of shots out there. The lace shoulders on the dress above are filled in for coverage.

This sailor sweater dress is BY FAR my favorite.  Oh, how I drool.  If I had the cash, I would get this in a heartbeat. Dang you, McQueen for sticking at a price point beyond my reach.

Some fashion critics have ragged on her for being too modest. (We get that all the time, don't we?) They equate modest with boring.  They say she's dressing too "safe."  "With a figure like hers we should be seeing more skin!"  I say, "PLUG YOUR EARS, PRINCESS!" You keep fighting the good fight.  She knows what fits her body and looks good on her.  As I've said before, she's not out to shock anyone or push any envelopes just for the sake of rebellion.  She's very respectful of her title and position in the world and I absolutely applaud her.  Prince William, however, could try a suit color other than navy.

The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale preview mini-mag hit my mailbox the other day. 
On page 11 was this.

I always love seeing things that modest dressers have always worn suddenly hailed as the "Newest Shape!" "Newest length!" Yep, it's a knee-length skirt. How refreshingly novel!

As I admonished you in this post about midi skirts, get 'em while the gettin's good!
It's much easier to shop for items when they're a hot ticket in style "trends."  When the rest of the fashion world is going gaga over mini skirts, knee length won't be as prevalent in the stores.  I may get this skirt. I really like the slightly a-line shape and the slightly 60's mod styling.  In a sturdy stretch ponte knit it'll last for-absolutely-ever.

Remember, the Nordstrom Anniversary sale is NEW fall season items at sweet sale prices. Here are a few other things I'm digging from the preview.

Fantastic blazer. And I swoon for anything that smacks of Chanel (at a price I can afford.)

Gorgeous brown tall boots.  Because as I mentioned last year... the boots zip!!

Because I shrunk out of all my coats last year and I love the asymmetrical closure and cool leather and knit sleeve details.
But I want it in black.

I frequently encourage you to cast a wide search net when you're hunting for items to round-out your wardrobe.  I certainly have my favorite stores, but I peruse lots of other places for new and interesting pieces. Shopping only from one or two places can often result in a wardrobe in a rut. So today, I'm reviewing the top 4 sample sale sites that you should definitely be checking out.
To join any or all of the sites (each is free) click on any logo below.

You might be asking - what in the heck is a sample sale site? Have you ever heard of designer sample sales in New York and L.A.? Did you see "Confessions of a Shopaholic?" The scene where all the women are let into the before-unknown warehouse location and duke it out for the few samples of highly coveted items? That was fairly accurate, and  these internet sale sites are the same concept, minus the fisticuffs. 

Last week I got to accompany my health coach Amber to speak to a large group (about 500) of teachers about our healthy weight loss program.  In my pre-married-with-kids career life, large conferences were part of my regular routine so it was a lot of fun to briefly revisit that era.  Mom's out there know, breaks like this don't crop up often so I jumped at the request to go and cashed in some airline miles for my ticket.

It's about time I started showcasing the pieces I'm buying to rebuild my new skinny wardrobe, so here's what I wore the day of the conference.

I accessorized the top with a really cool necklace that coordinates so great. I picked it up in Park City for my -15 pound reward. It has about 15 strands of tiny turquoise colored beads, anchored by a big dark wooden clasp. It's a substantial statement necklace and I dig it.

On the plane and to the BBQ that evening, I wore this:

I wore dark boot cut jeans and dark orange Nine West strappy sandals with gold accents that coordinated awesome with the orange striped tank. Tiffany blue polish on my toes that was hidden by the b/w slingbacks so I wasn't too matchy-matchy with my blue top, but went awesome when I switched to the orange outfit.
UPDATE! The above cardigan is the one I talked about in this Sucker Moment post.

I accessorized with a gold teardrop beaded necklace and large white Venice lace earrings that I DIY'd after seeing these in an Anthropologie catalog.

Unfortunately, my 6:55 am flight out of Detroit was canceled (plane wouldn't boot up) which made me miss my connection in Chicago to Salt Lake City. After 13 hours hanging around the Detroit airport, I finally got a flight out. But it was delayed (weather) so I missed my rebooked connection to SLC and had to spend the night in Chicago. I was rebooked on an 8 am flight to SLC, but at 5 am I received an automated call that THAT flight had been canceled (couldn't crew it). I went to the airport anyway- ready to lay waste to O'Hare airport - and the American Airlines ticket counter agent got me on the next United flight to SLC.  I finally made it home Friday afternoon.  Fun stuff! I certainly didn't intend for my travel outfit to be put through it's paces, but it was a trooper and kept me looking put together, instead of crazed and exhausted like I felt.