21 Day Challenge, Day 21: Work It

Today is the last day of the Challenge! Wow, I can't believe I made it through the whole thing and participated every day. It was a great experience to think of my clothes as an outlet for creativity, and to stretch myself by trying new things with my clothing. I think it helped me get a better feel for my own style, and I hope to carry some of what I learned with me. Also it was great to take on a project that required some blogging discipline and actually complete it. I'm pretty excited about that, and another thing I hope to do is carry that blogging energy forward to new topics (the bedroom DIY projects will get talked about, for sure). Also, it was really fun to see all the outfits of the other ladies, check out their interpretations of the prompts, and get some some feedback about my efforts. I will add a few new blogs to my reader. As positive as the experience has been, I'm kind of glad it's over. I'll be glad to have a little more free time to work on other things. Blogging every single day is a little too much for me.  We'll see what kind of pattern I'll fall into with it now.  



The final prompt was to put together a great outfit showcasing what we've learned. This dress has been hanging in my closet for a year, and I've never worn it before. After I got it, I washed it, as you do. But then it needed ironing, and it's linen. And the skirt is super full with a ton of those panels. So I knew it was going to take for-ev-er to iron. And it did. An hour. It took a whole hour. I listened to an entire disk of Neil Diamond's greatest hits while ironing this dress. But I'm glad I did it. Closet orphan, no more. I love the dress, and I think in the future I might have it dry-cleaned. :) But it definitely illustrated one of the main things I learned from this challenge. Looking put together and styled requires a lot of ironing! I think I ironed at least one thing for 21 out of 22 outfits. That is a crazy high percentage for me, since my most common method of choosing outfits is to go for whatever doesn't need ironed. This outfit also showcases my new-found love for belts, layering, and statement jewelry. Right now I can only make the one statement, but that is something I plan to work on. 


And I said 22 outfits because after church today we headed to the toe of the state to spend some time with my family over Labor Day weekend. My husband had to be here for the annual family fantasy football draft, and I tagged along to hang out with my grandmother, aunts and cousins. I changed into something a little more comfortable and appropriate for that part of our agenda. I'm sharing this outfit too, because another thing I learned was to take as much trouble with your casual, hanging out with family or Saturday running errands outfits as you do with your go to church or go to work looks. Although I admit, my outfit for tomorrow involved far less thought. I even forgot to pack shoes for it. Hopefully I'll do a little better at applying what I've learned in the future. It was a really fun ride. Thanks to Kayla for hosting this virtual shindig. Thanks to everyone who has put in a kind word and indulged me in this exercise, and thanks to my husband for taking my picture every day without complaint or mockery.

Church--Dress:Calvin Klein, TJ Maxx; Sweater: DKNY, thrifted; Shoes: Target, Necklace: made by me, beads from Michael's

Casual--Shirt: Clio, hand me down; Sweater: see above; Shorts:Target; Shoes: Liz Claiborne, thrifted; headband: belt from dress

21 Day Challenge, Day 20: Sunday Shoes.

I really don't have much delineation between church shoes and everyday shoes. If anything, I tend to wear more comfortable shoes for church, since it involves a lot of standing, whereas at work I spend most of my day sitting at my desk with my shoes kicked off. I do admit, I tend to go for the most casual footwear on Saturdays. Today we were supposed to pull out the fancy kicks. But it was the first Saturday of the month. You may think this has nothing to do with fancy shoes, but that's where you'd be wrong. On the first Saturday of the month the Indianapolis area Goodwill stores have their storewide 50% off sale. I go to the two closest Goodwill stores, which takes several hours if I am looking for clothes. Consequently, I just wasn't going to go for any fancy heels today. I decided to take the Sunday Shoes thing literally, and I wore the comfy wedges I wore the first Sunday of the challenge. And I decided to give the neutral with a pop of color thing another go, since I wasn't thrilled with my outfit for that prompt. I'm pretty pleased with this one. And it wasn't even bad for trying on clothes. I just left the scarf pinned and slipped it off over my head.



Here is my haul for the day. I got all this for less than $20. I bought a pair of wide leg khakis, my first pair of skinny jeans, a patterned coral tunic, stretchy striped Tee, cabled coral sweater, pale pink cashmere, a belt, and some navy wedges. I spent longer than usual today, since I don't generally bother to look at the patterned shirts. I had never looked at the belts before, either. They are only 50 cents on half price day! The challenge has definitely given me a new eye.

21 Day Challenge, Day 19: Wear Something On Your Head

Wearing a scarf headband seemed like an easy way to meet today's prompt: wear some kind of head accessory. I don't think I've ever worn a scarf like this before, and when I tried it out, I thought it seemed very 1950s. I went with that idea, and rolled up my jeans, which was a smart move since it was 95 here today. Classic Keds or saddle shoes would have suited the theme, but I don't have any, so ballet flats seemed like the way to go. Here I am in my fave green shoes again, since they are my only ballet flats. I've got to say, wearing three different shades of green kind of hurt my brain. I felt ready to whip off my scarf to start a drag race, but I can't quite decide if the greens worked or not. I'm glad the challenge is taking me out of my comfort zone, though.

Scarf: gift from my Mom from India; Shirt: hand me down; Shoes and jeans: thrifted

21 Day Challenge, Day 18: Statement Jewelry

I was really excited about my outfit for today's challenge. I previously didn't own anything you could really call statement jewelry, unless that statement was a very subtle one. But last week I wore this T-shirt on jazz up your jeans day, and I just didn't think it was jazzy enough. I really wanted it to have some more pops of red, so when I saw that today was statement jewelry day, I knew I wanted a chunky red necklace. I didn't have a lot of time to be combing stores looking for something, so I just went to Michael's. They have a big bead selection, and they were having a sale. I bought three packs of these beads and some clear elastic cord. The packs of beads were about 5.60 each, and the cord was 2.50, so the necklace came out to about $20. Frankly, that was pretty painful to my cheapskate self, since I've been buying all my clothes at thrift stores. Luckily, I was returning some stuff I didn't need for a different project, so even with the 1.92 for 2 yards of ribbon for my belt, I only had to fork over about six bucks.

I have to say, I actually do think it was money well spent. I love the necklace, and I got tons of compliments on my outfit at work today. Since we'll be promoting Geek the Library through the spring, I'll be wearing this shirt a lot. I like having the red necklace to wear with this shirt, since I tend to look like death warmed over when I wear black next to my face. I think this necklace will also look great with turquoise. Plus it will be fun to wear at Christmas time. So, no regrets. I still have plenty of elastic cord, so I will probably make some more jewelry, too. Thanks to the 21 Day Challenge I will be checking thrift stores for jewelry and belts in the future.

I'd like to note that I wore my remix piece for the fourth time today. See the other looks here, here, and here. All four outfits were combinations I'd never worn before, and I thought they were pretty different looks. The neutral one was kind of blah, (too much neutral, not enough pop) but I really liked the others. I'd say overall the remix project was a success. I might try some starch when ironing this skirt in the future since it tends to get really wrinkly by the end of the day. The remix was a very fun and useful challenge.

Finally, I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year! It's a time of endings and new beginnings, and we are very nearly to the end of the 21 Day Challenge. I have had a great time, learned a lot, and enjoyed meeting some new people.

T-shirt: www.geekthelibrary.org ; Skirt: Target; Shoes: Keds; Belt:grosgrain ribbon, Michaels; Necklace: I made it, beads from Michaels

21 Day Challenge, Day 17: Repair It and Wear It

Today we were enjoined to take something out of our mending piles, fix it, and wear it. I have a pair of pants that have wax on them from Holy Week (ahem, 2010) and my plan was to clean those up and wear them. But I couldn't find them. I had recently pulled them out of the pile and left them on the guest bed in the hopes of spurring me to take action on. Currently the guest bed is disassembled and leaning against the wall as part of our remodeling upheaval, so clearly they are no longer there. I poked around a bit, but there are all kinds of bags and boxes of stuff in the guest room right now, so I gave up. I did manage to find my mending pile. It contains: 3 winter sweaters, 2 pairs of pants and a shirt belonging to James, a towel, one pair of pants with completely seam ripped legs, which in theory I intend to convert to a skirt, and this shirt. There were also a few things that had been in the pile so long that they no longer fit, and they are now in the donate pile. There was no way I was going to wear I a sweater, since I thought it was too hot for slacks and a long sleeved shirt yesterday. The towel and the clothes belonging to James were definitely out. My sewing machine is inaccessible, thanks to the general mayhem, so that ruled out the pants/future skirt project.

That left this shirt. Confession: I didn't actually repair the shirt before I wore it. It has a small rip in one of the ties, right where it's attached to the shirt. You can't see it when it's tied. The shirt has been in the repair pile for years. It never got fixed because I'm not that keen on this shirt. It's one of those weird tie it 100 different ways for 98 strange and unflattering looks shirts. It was a freebie from an Avon grab bag, and I figured I'd wear it as a test run before going to the trouble of fixing it. I'm still on the fence about whether or not I want to keep it. Feel free to cast your vote as to whether or not it's a keeper. I put it on and I thought, "Meh, I hate this shirt." But then, thanks to all the fashion knowledge I've absorbed in the last 17 days, I decided to tuck it in. And I tied the tie so it was like a belt. I've always worn it tied under the bust for an empire waste before. I don't hate it like this, but I can't say I love it either. I do love the skirt, though. And I got a new hair dryer yesterday, so I'm loving my haircut, too.

Shirt: Avon; Tank: Kohls; Skirt: Thrifted (vintage), Shoes: Shoe Carnival; Jewelry: Don't remember.

21 Day Challenge, Day 16: Menswear Inspired

Today the prompt was to create a menswear inspired outfit. This was a pretty fun one. It felt natural to me, and check out how I'm applying what I've learned. Not only did I tuck my shirt in and belt it again, I've actually layered accessories. I thought the dogtag style necklace went with the whole menswear thing, and I decided to add pearls for a classic feminine touch. These pants have a herringbone stripe, so they fit the challenge perfectly. I didn't raid my husband's closet for the tie, I actually bought it several years ago for a Hermione costume, and it's not the first time I've worn it as a belt. I also wore it the day the final Harry Potter book was released. I liked this outfit, but it felt pretty autumnal. Fall is not here yet in central Indiana. Ironically, I was a bit too warm wearing this when we were rehearsing our dancing librarians routine for the Fall Festival parade today. In non-clothing related news, here's a bit of a sneak peek of more of the work that's been going on in our bedroom this week.

Shirt: Eddie Bauer; Pants: Scott Taylor, Stein Mart; Tie: Brooks, thrifted; Shoes: Danexx (That's the brand name on them. I don't remember the name of the store where I bought them) Jewelry: dogtag, Anne Klein, Pearls: I've had the necklace since high school, they're fake and probably from Claire's; Earrings, they were my mother's, real.

21 Day Challenge, Day 15: New Hair Do

I mentioned yesterday that I was excited about today's prompt, which is to sport a new hairstyle. Kayla, the host of the 21 Day Challenge told us, ”Your head has the power to makeorbreak your outfit (AND your confidence).” It occurred to me that I always feel the most confident with a bob, and that all summer long I've been wanting to get my hair cut. It's been driving me crazy for the past month, so I took the challenge as the push I needed to get it cut. It definitely gave me a confidence boost today, and that's despite the fact that my hair dryer fritzed out on me this morning. I'll have to make sure I don't put off replacing it as long as I put off getting a haircut.



In honor of confidence boosts, I wore my favorite shirt. Not sure I love it with this skirt, though. It's been helpful to see my clothes in photos. A full length mirror is just not the same perspective.

Shirt, vintage; Skirt, J. Crew; Shoes, Avon; Bracelet, gift--Moroccan

21 Day Challenge, Day 14, Copycat

When I read today's prompt, find an outfit you love and recreate it,my first thought was: "Oh, no!" You might think it would be kind of fun and easy to copy somebody else's outfit, but before this I didn't read fashion blogs, and I while I love Pinterest, I've been pinning house stuff, not clothes. The only thing I had pinned to my "wearables" board was a swimming suit. Not really an outfit I could recreate. Yesterday I worked a half day, and then spent the rest of the day working on my bedroom. I managed to squeeze in a little time looking at the fashion and apparel boards on Pinterest to find an outfit I could recreate. I settled on this:

Source: polyvore.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Finding a look I liked that I could actually replicate with my own clothes on short order was definitely a challenge. Then add into the mix that I needed a church outfit, and I felt pretty stumped. When I saw this, I thought it was pretty cute. I'm a fan of blue and green together, and I happen to have a green purse. Plus, I have a blue and white striped silk shell. So I decided to take this basic idea and dress it up a little for church. So here we go. I like the scarf in the inspiration pic, but I don't have one with this shade of green. I decided to go with my green flats and green jewelry. All in all, I was pleased with this outfit, and I think I might try the casual version sometime, too. Maybe I'll have to start pinning clothing more in the future.

Since you can't see my bracelet in the picture, and I love it, here's a picture of it, too. It's malachite and lapis lazuli. My mom gave it to me when I was in high school.

Oh, and I was having a terrible hair day, and I'm really excited about tomorrow's prompt!

Cardigan: Croft and Barrow, thrifted; Shell: Silx, hand me down; Skirt: Jones & Co., Stein Mart; Shoes: Repetto, thrifted; necklace: I made it; Purse: Coach, inherited from my kind, generous, funny, smart,beautiful, stylish cousin who departed this life in January at the age of 34 from complications related to Diabetes. Memory eternal, Alison!

21 Day Challenge, Day 13: Neutrals with a Pop of Color

Over all I think I liked my outfits for week one of the 21 Day Challenge better than my week two efforts. Traveling definitely added an extra layer of complication to things at the beginning of the week, and the rest of the week has been so busy as a result that I still didn't have much energy to put into my clothes. Hopefully I can step up my game for the third and final week. I'm looking forward to some of the prompts, and some will be more of a reach. Should be fun, though.

Today the prompt was to wear neutrals with with a pop of color. I figured this was a good chance to wear my remix skirt again, since white is definitely a neutral. I just wanted something easy, since I knew it would be a long day. I threw on a heathered grey t-shirt and these bright peep toe flats for my pop of color. That was still pretty boring, so I added this shell necklace. I like that the pink beads tie in with my shoes, but the shells still read as neutral. Not the most adventurous outfit, but it got the job done. James didn't get home from work until I was in the midst of painting, so we took this picture after I had showered for dinner. You can see random evidence of DIY in the photo. I'm really pleased with the progress we're making, and as soon as the Challenge is over I'll start chronicling our DIY adventures.

T-shirt: J. Crew, thrifted; Skirt: Target, remix! Shoes: Avon (My mom works for Avon corporate, so I think these were free in some grab bag) Necklace: Some vacation?

21 Day Challenge, Day 12: Jazz Up Jeans

Jazzing up jeans is not really something I typically do these days. Usually I reach for jeans because they are easy, and at work more often than not I'm wearing some obligatory T-shirt with them. Witness today's shirt: Geek the library is a national campaign to promote public libraries, their value to communities, and the services they provide. The library where I work kicked off the campaign locally this week. It makes use of the word geek as a verb meaning to be passionate for or really interested in something. Whatever you geek, your local public library has resources to support your interest. So if you geek fashion, you may find the library has subscriptions to your favorite fashion mags, and if you geek church history your library may have or can inter-library loan books on that topic. Libraries offer all kinds of resources to help you get your geek on, like wi-fi, community rooms, instructional DVDs, online classes and materials, programs, and, yes, books. So if you haven't visited your local library lately, you should check it out. And if you're already a big fan of libraries, you might want to see what you can do to support library funding in your community. Library funding has taken a hit all over the country, and library use goes up during economic downturns. Unfortunately, libraries tend to have the least money when we have the most users. /public service announcement

Since we kicked off the campaign this week, I wanted to wear my T-shirt, team player that I am. I would probably have worn it yesterday with my skirt, and gone with something a little jazzier today if I had known today was going to be just jeans, not jeans and a tee. I think this would be more fun with another pop of red, like a red belt, or some big red beads. However, I had to work with what I've got, so I did what I could with red heels, and ”fancy” jewelry. I also added this belt since I learned last Friday that a belt and heels go a long way to dress up jeans and a t-shirt. My assessment of this outfit: not bad, but room for improvement. Since we will be running Geek the Library through the spring, I'm going to have to get some red accessories.

Jeans: Old Navy, thrifted; T-shirt: www.geekthelibrary.org; Shoes, bracelets, earrings: Target, Belt: came with a dress

21 Day Challenge, Day 11: Skirt or Dress

We're just over halfway through the 21 Day Challenge! Good news if you're getting bored with seeing pictures of my clothes every day. Or if you're my husband and you're getting sick of taking my picture every day. And have you noticed it's getting dark earlier? I got home before dark today, but I started fixing dinner and the next thing I knew the sun had set. I'm kind of bummed because this was one of my favorite outfits so far, and this picture doesn't do justice to these shoes. I really liked how fresh and summery the green and white felt. Autumn may be coming fast, but I'm not ready for it quite yet.

The prompt today was to wear a skirt or dress. This was, without a doubt, the easiest one for me so far. I love wearing skirts and dresses. You may have guessed that by the fact that I wore one every day for the first week. They're so comfortable, and they're much easier in terms of fit than pants and shorts. My first thought with this prompt was to wear a dress, since I've only worn one so far, but then I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to wear my remix piece. It seemed like a no-brainer, since it is a skirt. I've also been wanting a chance to wear these fun green flats, which are a recent Goodwill find. I will definitely wear this again.


Shirt: Old Navy, thrifted; Shoes: Repetto, thrifted; Skirt: Target; jewelry: gifts

21 Day Challenge, Day 10: Closet Orphan

Imagine the clothes you have hanging around, gathering dust at the back of your closet because you never wear them. Those are your closet orphans, and today for the 21 Day Challenge we were supposed to drag one out and wear it. I don't know about you, but most of my clothes are in regular rotation, except for the ones that don't quite fit. I do have several items in that category that I'm particularly fond of and can't bring myself to donate. You know, just in case I lose 5-10 pounds.

So that limited my options of wearable closet orphans. However, I've had this shirt for about three years, and I'd only worn it once before. It is blue silk shot with purple, and I guess it just seems really dressy to me. I never think to wear it; the one time I did wear it was for a wedding. Today, I decided to embrace the dressiness, and I wore it with tuxedo pants. It's rather hard to see the satin stripe on the pant leg since I get home after dark on Wednesdays. I actually really liked this outfit, so I think I'll start wearing this shirt more. I'd say operation closet orphan was a success.

Since I had to take a picture inside, here I am in my bedroom with our beautiful new cork floor. As you can see by the lack of outlet covers, the bedroom is still a work in progress, but the floor is such a huge step in the right direction.

Shirt & pants: hand me downs, Shoes: Shoe Carnival, Jewelry: gifts

21 Day Challenge, Day 9: Monochrome

Despite the fact that I am 5'2", and wearing all one color is supposed to make you look taller, this is something I very rarely do. For some reason I feel weird about it. Partly I think it's my deeply ingrained desire for colors to match precisely. If they aren't exactly the same shade, I feel like they shouldn't be worn together. I'm trying to stretch myself as part of the 21 Day Challenge. So I'm trying to break myself of the matchy-matchy thing. For instance, on color blocking day, my scarf and skirt were slightly different shades of green. Two different green tones! Wacky, right? And for today's monochromatic prompt here I am in all brown, even though the browns are not the same. I'm breaking my self-imposed rules. (Or maybe mother imposed?)

I thought this was kind of boring, and I wish I would have gone with another color. I could have managed a monochrome outfit in all green, but I've worn both of my green skirts already. I don't have many skirts or pants that are not neutrals. I did really like the jewelry with it, though. I only wore this for about 2 hours today, and I don't think anyone saw it besides my husband. We just got up and drove home this morning. James took my picture (once again in our backyard), we ate lunch, and then we spent the rest of the day working on the flooring in our bedroom.



I stuck with the monochrome look for my work clothes, though. Two shades of blue!  I feel no personal obligation for my clothes to match when I am installing flooring underlayment, however, so I didn't really go out on a limb with the different blues. We finished the floor today! We set up the bed in our room again, and we are pretty excited to be sleeping in our own bed tonight. There are still a number of other projects ahead of us in our bedroom, and we also still have to install the new flooring in the other two bedrooms. Even so, it felt pretty wonderful to finish this phase of the project.

Shirt: Kohls; Capris: Ann Taylor Loft; Shoes: Target; Necklace & earrings: made by my SIL; Bracelet: gift; I'm also wearing a tank. It's beige, so it's blending in with my skin tone and not really showing up in this picture. It's from the Limited, and I've had it for about 12 years. I'm sure you're dying to know the sources for my work clothing, too. The t-shirt was designed by a fellow AmeriCorps*NCCC member back in 2001. The shorts are a pair of my little brother's old gym shorts.

21 Day Challenge, Day 8: Mixing Fancy & Casual

I think packing for a trip is challenging enough without adding another later of complication, but we are spending a couple of days in a state park lodge as a little anniversary getaway/escape from remodeling chaos. So here I am with a travel edition of the 21 Day Challenge, squinty vacation picture and all. I was a little concerned when I saw the prompt for today was to mix dressy and casual, since my plans for the day included hiking and swimming. I puzzled over it for quite a while, but finally I thought of this shirt. I usually wear it with black pants or skirt. Full disclosure: I did not wear this for hiking or swimming. :-) But it was great for playing tourist in town where we wandered around checking out boutiques and galleries. I even got a few compliments on my shirt. We are having a great time and enjoying gorgeous weather. Back to vacation now; I'll write more about our trip later.

Details: Shirt: Hand me down; Jeans: Target, thrifted; Shoes, Sketchers; one of my bracelets from yesterday

21 Day Challenge, Day 7: Layering Accessories

I made it through week one, and I've met every challenge! Plus I've blogged every day, which is unheard of for me. Now, there's no chance I'm going to become a fashion blogger after this 21 Day Challenge is over, but it has been such a great experience so far. We'll see if I've changed my tune after week two. :-) Today the challenge was to layer accessories. I don't think I came up with a particularly interesting look, but it is definitely outside my normal comfort zone. I've actually been accessorizing much more than normal this past week. Typically I wear my cross and the same pair of silver earrings, and maybe I'll throw on a bracelet. I used to wear more jewelry, but I have a bad habit of losing it. My skin is pretty sensitive, and I don't really like the feel of it, so I take it off and misplace it. All this to say, generally I don't really bother with accessories, so I definitely don't layer them.

I played around with them a lot trying to decide what to layer. I had fun with it, but in the end I decided to keep it pretty simple. We left on a short getaway right after church, and since we were going to be spending time in the car and playing tourist, my main goal with my clothing was comfort. I decided to wear a necklace with my cross, and wear three bracelets. I pretty much never wear other necklaces with my cross. On the rare occasion that I do wear a different necklace, I just don't wear the cross. What I took from this challenge is that I'll have to be on the lookout for other necklaces I can wear with it, because I feel kind of naked without my cross.



Dress and shoes: Kohls; Tank: Valerie Stevens, hand me down (it's part of a twinset with the cardigan I wore Monday; Cross: gift; Turquoise necklace: ? I don't remember; Bracelets: I made the one with black beads, the other two are hand me downs

21 Day Challenge: Day 6, Unconventional

Today for the 21 Day Challenge we were supposed to take an item of clothing and wear it in an unconventional fashion. At the beginning of the week I thought this would be really hard for me. Thankfully, after a week of seeing all the creative outfits the other women in the challenge were putting together, it was a lot easier to get my head around the idea.

I ended up having a very swimwear oriented day. I struck on the idea of using this bikini top from my college days. Even though I haven't worn a bikini in years, I haven't let go of this one because I love the colors. I tried this as a headband, which I really liked, but then when I was trying to decide what to wear with it, I thought of this T-shirt dress. It's also from college, making both of these over 10 years old, and I've only kept the dress for use as a swimsuit cover-up. I thought it would tie in well with the orange in the swimsuit. So then I decided to tuck it into this skirt, and wear the swimsuit top as a belt/sash.

I'm hitting on a ton of challenge prompts today. I'm tucked in, belted, and wearing a closet orphan, in addition to fulfilling the prompt for today. I thought it wasn't a bad look for casual Saturday running errands. But I don't recommend unconventional dressing when you're going to be trying on clothes! One of my errands was to try on some clearance swimsuits for a brief getaway we're taking this week. No luck unfortunately, and this outfit was kind of a hassle to take off and put on.

T-shirt dress as shirt: the Limited; bandeau bikini top as sash: Old Navy; Skirt (only 5 years old), J. Crew; Flip flops: my mom brought these back from India

21 Day Challenge: Day 5, Belt It

Today the prompt for the 21 Day Challenge was to wear a belt. This was actually the hardest one for me so far. I have three belts, and I wore one of them for Day 2, Tuck It In, so my choices were limited. As far as I can recall, I have never, no not ever, worn a belt over a shirt, so I tried something new. I wasn't thrilled with the result. The belt felt awkward, and I kept fussing with it all day. I did like how the belt dressed up a simple T-shirt. I think without the belt this would have seemed too casual for work, even for jeans day. Plus, I love these shoes, and they worked for this prompt because they have a belt thing going on with the buckles. I think I might like belting a shirt more if I had a belt that stayed in place better. I'm glad I tried something different for me, and I think I'll be more open to belts in the future.

Shirt: Ann Taylor Loft; Jeans: Target, thrifted; Belt: Kohl's; Shoes: Nine West, Stein Mart; Necklace: made for me by my lovely sister-in-law; Bracelet, gift from my parents, who got it as a souvenir in Morocco about 20 years ago.

21 Day Challenge: Day 4, Color Blocking

Today was color blocking day for the 21 Day Challenge which is basically wearing multiple solid colors together. This is actually something I do all the time, since most of my wardrobe pieces are solids. Usually I pair a bright with a neutral, so since I'm doing this challenge to challenge myself, I went with two brights. Plus, I wore a scarf! I know, heady stuff, but usually my major consideration when getting dressed is what I can wear that doesn't need to be ironed. Accessories don't typically enter into it. This challenge has been really fun and inspiring so far. I can't wait to see what the prompts are for next week.

Details: Sweater: Ann Taylor, thrifted; S.L.B., hand me down; Scarf: gift, my best friend brought this back for me after she was in India with the Foreign Service; Shoes: Liz Claiborn, Stein Mart; Bracelet, gift from my mother in law--it has a little guy and girl charms, the year we got married, plus three hearts to represent the three family weddings that summer.

21 Day Challenge: Day 3, Pattern Mixing

Today the prompt for the 21 Day Challenge was pattern mixing. I don't really wear many patterns. I'd say 90% of my clothing is solid, so mixing patterns definitely isn't something I do, um, ever. I immediately knew what I wanted to wear for this challenge, though. I've kind of been wanting to wear these two pieces together. I like the combo of navy and green, but my mind always balked at the pattern mixing. I don't know why I couldn't bring myself to try this before. I'm not exactly out on a limb with this outfit. The pattern on the shirt is so subtle you can't even see it in my photo! The second chapter of Pattern Mixing for Beginners by Dotty Houndstooth (my imaginary guide) is: Try Patterns that Read as Solids. The first chapter, if you're wondering, is: Try Stripes. I'm sure there are more chapters, but I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm taking baby steps with the patterns.

I added the inset so you can see the tiny polka dots in my shirt. I had to prove I really did mix patterns. Sorry for the terrible photo where you can't even see my mixing efforts. I didn't get home until after dark, and it just wasn't happening with the cell phone. It was bedtime, and we didn't have the energy to track down the regular camera and batteries in the chaos that is remodeling. Anyway, I think the pattern mixing was a success, even thought I didn't get any shrugs. :) I'll have to try harder next time. I think I'd have to buy some more patterned shirts to manage it, though.

Outfit details--Top and skirt: Ann Taylor Loft, a few years ago; earrings and bracelets: Target, last year; shoes: Nina, my wedding shoes! Still love these, 8 years ago from Lazarus, which is now Macy's.

Despite the fact that it's getting rather ragged at this point, and I'm in my jammies, I wanted to show my favorite part of my look for today. This pic makes me think of Hermione, "Is that really how my hair looks from the back?"

21 Day Challenge: Day 2, Tuck It In

OK, so today's challenge was to tuck it in. I almost never wear my shirt tucked in, and the last few times I've tried it, I've been dissatisfied with my outfit. I felt like I was going to have trouble with this challenge, and I didn't pick anything out until this morning. I had visions of myself trying on every pair of pants I own, but then I thought of this skirt. This was the first thing I put on today, and I loved it!  I never would have thought of wearing a shirt tucked into this skirt if it weren't for the challenge, and I will probably wear this again.

Outfit details: my shirt is from Eddie Bauer, 5-10 years old. Tank is Danzen, thrifted. The skirt is from the Gap. I was so pleased when I found it at a thrift store last month.  It is fun to wear because it's very full and twirly.  My shoes are from Payless, 4-5 years ago. I've always liked the color combo in them; they're kind of peach striped with green, and the heels are green. The belt is a hand me down from a friend. The bracelet was a gift. It's originally supposed to be a choker, but the beads feel sharp to me, so I twisted the wire into a bracelet. It has a bigger bead dangling from it that you can't see in the pic. My basic white earrings are from Target last year.

So that's it for today.