Inspired by Domestic Deeds, I took a look at 2011 blog statistics. Considering the lengthy breaks I have been taking this summer and fall, I was shocked to discover that I had 17,493 visitors last year. Average time spent was 1m 42s, and most of the visits that arrived via links were from Facebook and A Working Mom’s Closet. Favorite posts include the Fashion Mama Spotlight, how to wear short skirts to work, and love for skirt pockets. Top five countries (besides the US) include:

Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
Germany
Poland

Wow. Working moms of the world unite.

I have had a wonderful holiday and an amazing year. I started feeling sentimental yesterday about the wonderful things my family and I have experienced – one of which is a new baby on the way.

As a farewell to 2011, here are some final looks. With my overseas travels this fall, I missed sharing some good ones. Alas, any working mom knows that you can’t do it all. But you can come pretty close.

Happy New Years.

I like eyeshadow (when I have time), but I hate this look.

I’m more into the blended effect, which is hard to do if you are working with a dark or highly pigmented crease color. Here is a tip when it comes to blending the crease color into the rest of the eyelid:

1. Sweep the shadow brush across your crease several times.
2. Then make tiny circles with the brush across the same area from left to right, then right to left.
3. Sweep your brush all the way back across several times.

Sweep, circle, sweep. Or circle, sweep, circle.

For bonus points, put your crease shadow on first, then layer a wash of your all over color last.

It is perfect.

I had fun wearing this strange Marc Jacobs jacket – vest piece I scored at a Neiman Marcus last call sale. The red felt pencil skirt is from Talbots with the Isola peep toes and Chanel accessories.

For my toddler’s birthday, we took a trip down to Texas to celebrate with my parents. The night before the party, my mom brought over some of my favorite dolls from the 80s, including my boy and girl Cabbage Patch dolls (yes, she still had their birth certificates), a Strawberry Shortcake doll, and a couple of necklaces in a clear plastic tote my tot now uses as a purse. One of the necklaces is a big gold bead costume piece that I recently wore it to work with a blazer from Brooks Brothers and a jersey dress from Tory Burch. I still love the 80s.

I’ve been haunting this blog, Squeeze the Pug, that is – I think you can reasonably say – obsessed with Chanel. I really enjoy the fact that she goes all out in a way that Chanel herself would approve. Although she owns quite a bit of the real thing, she also posts DIY to recreate the Chanel look, like this one.

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure I liked the jacket she crafted. But when she put it together with the blouse, BAM. I am impressed and inspired.

When you look at what I wore last Friday, you might think, Wowee – she is living in the 80s! Hot pink boxy jacket? Big buckle white and black belt? Black ankle boots? Check, check, check.

And why not? It was an empowering time for women.

is my new favorite blog for the working mom. Here is the start of her latest post: “Today I got another ‘I don’t know how you work with a baby, I stayed home with my babies,’ comment. Seriously, why do people think this is an ok thing to say? I don’t say to fat people, ‘wow I can’t believe, you continue to be so fat, I went on a diet and it is so much better to not be fat.’”

She’s witty, well-spoken, and hey – she’s a lawyer, too. Check it out.

My recent trip of 7 days quickly turned into 10, then 14 days away. Best way to cope when you fear you have already underpacked? Hit the closest Zara. I got by with just one pair of booties, a cozy striped wool dress and a furry vest (it was really cold).

Here is the vest.

Zara (clipped to polyvore.com)

I also wanted these rain boots. They would look great on the weekend with dark skinny jeans. But they simply weren’t travel friendly.

Zara boots (see more patent shoes)