Quaking in my boots

Today is the last day of the challenge, and we were supposed to try something that scares us. Not something like sky-diving, but something like wearing neon, or, in my case, boots over jeans. When this trend started, I thought it looked fabulous on tall, willowy people, but I thought, "Oh, I could never wear that." I'm not tall or willowy. I'm 5'2" and curvy. When I bought this pair of skinny jeans last summer, I immediately tried them on with boots, you know, just to see. It made me feel like I was all hips and no legs. Fear of wearing something often relates pretty closely with body issues, doesn't it? I'm generally content with my figure. But I want to dress in a fashion that says neither 'I'm a frumpy librarian,' nor 'Hey, check out my curves!' It can be hard to know if I'm erring too far one way or the other, and boots over jeans made me feel like I was erring in both directions at once. Weird how we can have such an emotional reaction to clothes, isn't it?

I didn't wear this yesterday. I tried it on last night and had James take pictures. I'm wearing it today since Friday is jeans day at work. I'm actually really glad we took the picture before I had to wear it in public, because I feel much better about this look after seeing the photo than I did seeing it in the mirror. So once again the challenge has pushed me to wear something I wouldn't have otherwise, which I ended up liking. A big thanks to Kayla for hosting this shindig, because I've found it so valuable both times. Even though after two challenges, totaling a full month of outfit posts, I still feel ridiculously awkward getting my picture taken and posting it on the internet for any to see.

Sweater, the Limited. Jeans, thrifted (Ann Taylor). Boots, TJ Maxx. Necklace and earrings, made by my sister-in-law. Bracelets, made in Africa.

Penciled In

Today our mission, if we chose to accept it, was to create our own interpretation of this outfit:

Image source: J. Crew

This is part of the Open to Interpretation series that Kayla, our challenge host, does along with Amy and Erica. I did it once before. Since we just have to interpret the outfit, and not recreate it identically, this is not Mission: Impossible. It's actually pretty fun. You should take a look at all the variations on the theme. I had the wardrobe pieces to do a pretty close approximation this time. My thoughts with this inspiration pic were: OK, brown sweater, green pencil skirt. I can do that. Since my skirt has the white pattern, I decided to skip the white shirt under the sweater. Instead I opted to wear a black t-shirt. I wanted to incorporate the brown and black together element of the inspiration, and I hoped that layering black under the brown sweater would tie the two together the way the two-toned bag does.

I don't think I would ever have put this outfit together if it weren't for the inspiration. Usually I play it safe and wear this skirt with a white or green top. So both Kayla's challenges have gotten me to try pairing this skirt with something I might not have otherwise. Nice to be expanding my options! I wore the ponytail to further match the inspiration picture. I did not skip earrings because of the picture, though. I am wearing pearl earrings, but unfortunately this picture turned out a bit blurry so you can't really tell. We took a few photos, but this was the best one.

It worked out well to have a dressy outfit for yesterday, since we had Evening Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. Blessed feast to all!

Skirt, Ann Taylor Loft. Sweater, Kohls. T-shirt, thrifted. Shoes, Casual Corner. And it may be warmer than usual in Indy, but it's not bare legs warm. I'm wearing hose. Target, I think.

Cover-up

The challenge for today was to dress up a coat. Ironically, the weather was unseasonably warm in Indianapolis yesterday. Thanks to the Super Bowl, you can read about our typical (cold, snowy) weather this time of year here. But we had a balmy high of 58°F, and an overnight low of 47°F. It felt like late March or even April rather than late January, so I did not bundle up in my usual woolens. Instead I wore this lightweight green jacket. I dressed it up by adding a couple of pins. I frequently wear a pin on my winter coat, but the two pin thing was new for me. I was amazed at how much harder it is to put two pins on than one. It took me a surprisingly long time to arrange them! I may or may not have accidentally pinned my coat to my shirt during the process. The dove is my current favorite. I bought it for my grandmother at James Avery when I was in college. My mom found it in her jewelry and gave it to me after my grandmother passed away. The other pin was attached to a Christmas gift, and it conveniently doubles as a Christmas tree ornament.

Here's the rest of my outfit, since there aren't nearly enough awkward pictures of me on the internet yet. But more importantly you can see more of the fun paisley lining of this coat. Also, I liked this outfit, to my surprise. It's the first time I've worn this sweater as a vest. Since I went to high school in the '90s, I kind of have a thing against vests, but I thought this turned out classic and preppy. And have I mentioned I like green?

Coat, hand-me-down. Vest, trouser jeans, shoes, all thrifted. Shirt, Eddie Bauer.

Color me happy

I love to wear bright colors, so the prompt to do so was a welcome one to me. My two favorite colors are green and coral. I went with coral today, since I've worn green for the past three prompts. I added this scarf, which was a Christmas gift. It's part of my effort to insert more pattern into my wardrobe. My Mom gave it to me, and I really love the colors in it. I've worn it several times now (every time I was going to be around a different group of people), but so far I've used it to brighten up brown sweaters. I liked changing it up by pairing it with the coral. I want to try it with my orange shirt, too. I also tied it differently today than I've been wearing it.

Sweater and scarf, gifts. (My mom said the scarf is from Charming Charlies) Trousers, Stein Mart. Shoes ?

Decadent

Last week I joined in the challenge at the last minute, so I wore all my outfits on the day of the challenge. This week I decided to get ahead of the game, and I wore this to church yesterday. The prompt was to wear an outfit inspired by a decade or region. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling very inspired, so I think this is pretty blah. But it's also very me, since I usually just put together basic (often green) pieces with not much accessorizing.

Can you guess what I took as my inspiration? No? It's the '50s. A cardigan over a tucked in shirt, and a long, full, skirt are the fifties inspired elements. I went modern by wearing it with boots. This is also very me. I wear skirts with boots constantly in the winter. I love skirts, but I hate to be cold. Heels mean cold feet, so even though that would have been a stronger fifties look, I stuck with my boots and socks.

Once I saw the picture I realized I should have added a short scarf à la Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday to jazz this up a little and carry the Fifties theme a little more strongly. Or layering the skirt to give it more fullness would have been a good idea, too. It may look blah, but it feels a bit decadent thanks to the fabrics. The skirt is velvet, and the cabled cardigan is a silk-cotton-cashmere blend. Even the shirt actually has some white, lacy looking embroidery, making the outfit a little more textured and layered looking in person than it came off in the blurry picture. I guess if I'm going to blog about my outfits, I should get more than one picture of them. :) Oh well, live and learn. I'm looking forward to bright colors and the OTI this week. I'm not so sure about the coat challenge or the last day, but I am sure the second week of the challenge will continue to be fun and educational.

Skirt, Target (old). Shirt, hand-me-down. Sweater, thrifted. Boots, probably Lazarus, which is now Macy's.

Mixing it up

I never got around to posting this last night, but yesterday the prompt was to mix patterns. After the rest of the prompts this week, this one felt easy. In actuality, most of my clothing is solid, and that goes double for my winter clothes. So the fact is, I didn't have all that many options. I put this together pretty quickly. I really liked this outfit, but I didn't feel like I was stretching myself with it. I don't bat an eyelash at stripes with patterns now. :) It was fun seeing everyone else's pattern mixing. Quite the stripy group!

The 10 Day Winter Challenge is weekday gig, so I'll be back Monday with another outfit.

Sweater, The Limited. It was a gift several years ago. Striped shirt, jeans, shoes, thrifted.

Anything you can do...

The prompt today was to channel someone--to create an outfit inspired by the style of a person or fictional character. So far the challenges have gotten progressively harder for me every day. I was so stumped with this one! I kept trying to think of someone whose style I admire, but I couldn't seem to build an outfit from there. Finally, I stood in my closet and tried to think about whether any of my clothes reminded me of anyone. That took me in an unexpected direction. I decided to channel the sartorial style of Annie Oakley. She definitely a had style of her own, and she was one of the first female American celebrities, in the modern sense.

Image Source

The reason I settled on Annie Oakley was I spotted this shirt. It was the fringe that made me think of her. The shirt was given to me by my grandmother when I was in college. I was completely befuddled by the gift, since it seemed totally outside the realm of my usual wardrobe. I couldn't imagine why she might have given me such a shirt. The only thing I could figure was that she gave it to me because of the Western look, since I went to college in Texas. She must have been on to something, though, since I still have it. I can't remember the last time I wore it, but I guess I have a sentimental attachment to it, so it hasn't ended up in the donate pile.

I was kind of nervous my outfit too costumey, but my husband actually liked it. An Annie Oakley look requires boots, and the shirt has all the shape of a potato sack, so it cried out for a belt. Thus, the same belt and boots as yesterday, totally different look. I added my twirly denim skirt, red tights, and I was ready to go. This was a pretty fun outfit to wear, and it was very comfortable and warm. Since James gave it the thumbs up, I may wear it again.

Shirt, gift. T-shirt & skirt, thrifted. Tights, another item I've had since high school (Express, I think. Can't believe they've lasted this long.). Boots, TJ Maxx, Belt, Kohls.

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

I thought the challenge to embrace a trend was going to be really hard, since I am just not a trendy person. I like what I like, and I don't really worry about trends. Hey, I still wear clothes from high school!

And I read through Kayla's list of suggestions with mounting concern about my ability to meet the prompt. I rejected trend after trend basically because I owned no clothes that fit the bill. And nail polish wasn't going to happen. Fun fact: I don't mind toe nail polish, but I can't stand how it feels on my fingernails. My options seemed pretty limited.

But then at the bottom of the list was ”Tangerine.” And I thought, "Oh, yeah. Orange!” I knew all about the Pantone color of the year. And because I'm so in tune with the zeitgeist, I bought this orange shirt at a thrift store at the beginning of November, before the color was even announced. It's been in my special needs laundry pile ever since. So last night I gathered some other delicates and washed it.

Being as it's cold here, I layered it with this cream colored sweater. I decided to wear it with this blue skirt, because thanks to my knowledge of the color wheel, I knew pairing the orange with its complementary color would play up its orangeness. And you can't tell in the picture, despite the fact that I forgot to zip my boots, but my tights have a chevron pattern. So I believe that's actually two trends in one outfit, even if chevrons are like, so totally 2011.

Shirt, thrifted. Sweater, hand-me-down. Skirt, Stein Mart. Belt, Kohls. Tights, Target. Boots, TJ Maxx

Don't take my monochrome away

Today the prompt was monochrome: to wear clothes from only color family. We did this one in the summer, too, and both times it was super hard for me. Head to toe neutrals is not a look I feel like I can pull off, but I don't have any colored pants or skirts for winter at the moment. I do have this reddish brown skirt, so I went with maroon. I can't remember if I've ever worn this combination before, so I don't know if met my novel outfit criteria, but it was my only option that wasn't brown, blue, or black.

Since I thought I might have worn this before, I added jewelry, which I normally wouldn't bother with. Not sure I loved the jewelry I chose with this outfit, but at least it was different than what I would typically do. I've had both the jewelry and the shirt since high school (probably 16-18 years). The shirt is very comfortable and doesn't have to be ironed, so it's always been a favorite. Plus, I like the colors, and it's still in great shape. Go cotton velour! It was from American Eagle. I wonder if their stuff generally holds up this well? The skirt is a hand-me-down and probably from the late '70s, early '80s? I like how it flares at the bottom. The movement when I walk makes it fun to wear. All in all, I'd say this outfit gets a passing grade. I was satisfied with it, but not excited about it.

Skirt: vintage. Shirt, jewelry: vintage-ish. Boots: TJMaxx. Tank: thrifted.

Layering

Kayla over at Freckles in April is hosting another clothing challenge. This time it's only 10 days, not 21. Since the last time was so educational and inspiring to me, and 10 days doesn't seem too daunting, I thought I'd try it again. I hope it's not boring for people to see what I wear everyday, since I'm certainly no fashionista. For me it's kind of an interesting creative exercise. The 21 Day Challenge in August led me to introduce more stripes, scarves, and belts into my wardrobe, so we'll see what happens this time.

Today, the prompt was to wear layers. This was not outside my comfort zone at all. I frequently layer clothes but usually for practical reasons: warmth or modesty. I have a lot of go-to layered outfits, but my personal goal with this challenge is to combine my clothes in a novel way each day--to come up with an outfit I've never worn before.

Today I layered a short sleeved pale pink cashmere sweater with a long sleeved red tee. My guess is the sweater was once part of a twinset, but I got it at a thrift store (I actually bought it during the last challenge), and it is sadly divorced from its matching cardigan. I liked it with the red t-shirt, because I thought it was kind of a fun, modern look for the soft, sweet, vintage sweater. Plus it was bright and cheerful on this grey, gloomy day. The necklace I made for the statement jewelry prompt in the 21 Day Challenge, and I just remembered I wore it on the last day, too. I forgot about that! We could just pretend that I was intentionally bridging the two challenges, though. :)

Shirt, sweater, corduroys all thrifted. Necklace made by me. Shoes, from Kohls, forever ago.

Open to Interpretation

Remember way back in August when I did the 21 Day Challenge and I managed something unheard of for me and posted every day for 21 days in a row? And I posted awkward photos of what I wore? I had a lot of fun and thought about clothes in a different way. I'm not gonna lie to you, I still frequently go with my standard method of wearing anything that doesn't need ironed (and one thing I love about fall and winter is that my sweaters usually don't require ironing). But at least some of the time I'm trying to apply what I learned and accessorize, layer my clothes, and wear scarves and belts. I feel really fancy when I bother with that. :)

Well, today Kayla, who organized the 21 Day Challenge, is hosting another fashion challenge, along with bloggers Amy and Erica. They do this fun thing called Open to Interpretation where they choose an image with a look they like and then they create an outfit inspired by that one. And they've invited everyone to play along this time, so I thought I'd join in.

Here's the inspiration outfit:

Unfortunately the original source is unknown.

And here is my outfit:

Sweater:Ann Taylor Loft c/o my mom, t-shirt: Gap via Goodwill, pants: Goodwill (no idea what brand), Shoes: Kohls, Necklace: made by me.

Textured oatmeal sweater? Check. Layered with a striped tee? Check. Big furry earflap hat? Ummm, no. Red skinny jeans? Sorry. Brown booties? Nope.  I actually tried a bunch of possibilities for the bottom half of this outfit before I went with this. I have some red tights, and I was really hoping to make those work, but I didn't like any of the skirts or shorts I tried with it. Oh, well. Camel colored cords it is. I tried my brown boots with this, too, but it was a no go. So this is what we've got. And I took a bunch of pictures and even experimented with the timer, and, sadly, this really was the best I could do. But check out my new specs!

And go check out all the other interpretations:

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?