Outfit Of The Day (High-Low, High-Low, It's Off To Work We Go...)

Hello blog world, how are you?

I'm grrrrreat. Some pretty major demolition happened in our house this past weekend--we cut, tore, stomped, hammered, ripped, and threw away all we could to the point that Husband and I have been hobbling around  every evening like two 90-year olds.  Things are sore that I didn't even know could be sore from this, like my chin and right earlobe and left lung and all of my hair; and everything is now covered in that powdery, sneezable woody dust that only occurs with construction. I also have to stop Kitty nearly every 10 seconds to fish something (staples? old carpet padding? my sanity?) that she has collected in her long, swishy-swooshy chihuahua tail.

This is all worthless without pictures, isn't it?  So a little further down is a shot looking into our home from this afternoon. I really liked the way the sunlight was hitting the chair, as if it were a lone, sturdy buoy left serenely bobbing in the ocean after a chaotic storm. Oh cushion-less chair, you daffy, highfalutin beacon of sanguineness, you.

(And my 9-year old nephew also tried to dismantle it  {along with its matching couch we bought earlier this year, too} so we could take it to the dump along with all of the other junk--it's still making me laugh nearly 72 hours later.)

We are beginning with the upstairs master bedroom area and working down, so the main floor has yet to be completely ripped to shreds.  It's instead doing a mighty fine job of holding some of the chaos and clutter in the meanwhile, and you can see the (almost) bare, now carpet-less stairs to the right:

Here is a shot of our bedroom; the dark gray paint (SW's "Garret Gray") is going both here and in our  walk-in closet.  It is very dark and lovely, lovely, lovely:

And here is one last shot at the corner of our (almost) empty, white-walled closet before I finished moving it all into our basement for safe keeping.  It will eventually be something grand-ish, but for now:

And of course--a big, huge thanks to everyone who came over and helped us this weekend! Ya'll know who you are, we couldn't have done it without you, and I am totally working on Husband to get a Slurpee machine installed in this bish as it only seems practical practically awesome, and it'll save us the  precious minutes of running to 7-11 to get them. Wishusluck.

Now for an outfit. Pleats are a big trend at the moment, as are high-low hems and sheer, wispy layers, and I wasn't really sold on it until I took another look at Gucci's F/W 2011 collection.  While the looks there were super dramatic and high-glam:

....there is still something wearable and neat about it, too.  It's like the best of both worlds--is it a mini skirt?  A maxi?  A mini-axi-axi?

"Oh, lots of girls in Hong Kong were wearing those skirts," my twin sister said a few weeks ago as we were out shopping together; she had just recently returned from another two-week trip to China. "I thought they forgot to wear the correct length slip underneath or something weird.  Ugh."

Well. It does sort of look that way, doesn't it? But this pleated maxi skirt from ASOS is so much fun to wear that it doesn't matter how odd it might look to our twin-sisters-with-world-traveler-entitlement issues, I discovered--the pleated, airy top layer dramatically swishes and  swooshes around as you walk, and the mini skirt underneath adds a bit of interest without being too scandalous. It makes me want to spin and twirl like a happy little loon, a loon that totally forgot to wear the correct length slip underneath.

(Want it for yourself? To give you an idea on the length: I am 5'2" and wearing the petite length with 3 1/2" heels; it skims the floor nicely but is short enough that I don't get tripped up in it. It's perfect, I'd say! I also sized up one size per usual in ASOS Petite clothing.)

I have been wearing this skirt mostly with cotton tanks and camp shirts right now in the hot summer weather, but can't wait to pair it with soft, slouchy sweaters and heavier layers this fall:

 {yeah, trying to get my janky stupid clicky camera remote to work nooooo idea.}

Top: J Crew (similar style here) (and here) (and here, on sale!) (and in pretty, pretty colors here)
Belt: Forever 21 (similar style here) (and here for under $10)
Skirt: ASOS (buy it here) (buy it in petite- the length I am wearing- here!) (an un-pleated style here) (and a more demure style here!)
Necklace: Forever 21 (buy it here) (similar style here) (and here)
Bag: J Crew Galaxy Sequin Crossbody (similar style here) (and here on sale for $36) (and here by Rebecca Minkoff!)
Shoes: ALDO Goodsite Sandals (similar style here) (and here) (and here on sale - 50% off!)

(Currently swishing around to...)