Hello everyone! I've been away from home (and YLF) for the past week, because of a conference I was attending in the Bay Area. I also swung by Chicago for a day to visit some friends on my way back, so I had a few potential weather conditions to pack for (CA heat, indoor AC, possible Chicago rain/chilly weather). I decided to overpack since I've had a tendency to underpack a bit on my past few trips. The conference dress code is officially business casual, but people wore everything from full suits to athletic gear. Presenters tended to dress slightly more formal than those who were just attendees on a given day.

I wanted to share what I packed:

three toppers: my Zara checked brown blazer and black embellished cardigan from Banana Republic: http://bananarepublic.gap.com/.....g3fU2reKgA
and a short sleeve camel colored cotton cropped jacket

one packable purple anorak in case of rain.

my red H&M shirtdress (and one waist belt and tights to go with it)

three bottoms: skinny jeans, my sailboat skirt from Anthropologie, and a pair of taupe dress pants

seven tops: magenta woven rollup sleeve tunic, two colored tees (one dark red, one coral), one stripey fancy tee that I didn't wear, two buttondown blouses (one dark green and ruffled), one white that I didn't wear, and a floral woven polyester top from BR (http://bananarepublic.gap.com/.....vliv01.jpg)

three pairs of shoes: cognac loafers, nude patent ballet flats, black safety pin ballet flats

This is what I ended up wearing:

Monday (day of the flight to CA): checked blazer, rollup sleeve tunic, skinny jeans, cognac loafers

Tuesday (first day at conference, not presenting): green ruffled buttondown, sailboat skirt, cropped camel jacket when it got cold, nude patent ballet flats

Wednesday (second day at conference, not presenting): dark red tee, skinny jeans, black cardigan, black ballet flats

Thursday (third day of conference, this day I was presenting): black cardigan, BR woven floral polyester top, and black ballet flats.

Friday (early morning flight to Chicago): checked blazer, coral tee, skinny jeans, loafers. I'm not sure the coral and the brown went well together, but it was so early in the morning I didn't really care.

Friday (evening dinner party in Chicago): red shirtdress, waist belt, sans hose. The party was at the house I was staying, so I didn't wear any shoes. Friday's weather in Chicago was quite warm, similar to the CA weather except even more humid.

Saturday (wandering around Chicago, and flight back to Boston): red shirtdress again, since I had only worn it for a few hours the day before, this time with some swiss dot hose (since it was rainy and chilly outside), and the black ballet flats. Even with the black cardigan and anorak (due to the rain), I felt very cold after a week of wonderful warm weather in the Bay Area.

A guy in Hyde Park, Chicago stopped me and asked whether he could take a picture of my ballet flats because of the safety pin embellishment! I wonder if my feet are on some blog somewhere.

Reflections on packing: overall, it was a successful week, I felt comfortable and fashionably dressed. I didn't end up wearing my blazer as much as I thought I would, since it didn't go well with my dress pants and wouldn't have gone with the skirt. Fortunately, the black cardigan was quite versatile. Also, I was leery of wearing my sailboat skirt again at the conference, since it's a very memorable print. The two blouses left unworn were meant to be worn with that skirt, so that's partially why they went unworn. The stripey top in particular was left orphaned, since the length ended up not working well with the skirt due to the high waistedness of the skirt, but at the same time, it was too short for my jeans. I preferred the visual interest of the floral blouse to a plain white buttondown for my poster presentation. But overall, it was nice not to be scrambling for tops by the end of the trip.

Sorry for the lack of pictures!