WWW #1

My first Weekend Wardrobe Wrap-up  (aka WWW) post is here as promised.  So far so good on my promise.  So, let’s go ahead and get started.  My first day back to work after my shoulder surgery was Monday.  I wanted to dress nice for a change. 

I’m wearing a new dress I just bought on the sale after Christmas at New York and Company.  This dress was only $20.  I wore it along with a black shrug, a wide black belt, black tights, and my high heeled black boots.  I wore black and silver Brighton jewelry along with it. 

Tuesday’s outfit was a little warmer because it turned cold on Monday night.

I’m wearing a long tunic that is a base of cream with a bunch of other colors.  I’m wearing it with my brown corduroy skinny jeans, my brown flat boots, and a mesh and sequin vest.   I wore it with my Tiffany’s silver heart necklace and bracelet. 

Wednesday’s outfit was a little dressier with higher heels.

 

I’m wearing my navy blue suit that I got at Ann Taylor.  The blouse is a coral sleeveless shell I bought on sale at New York and Company after Christmas.  You can’t see them here (bummer) but I’m wearing nude pumps with the outfit.  The jewelry is gold and bling with lots of large cubic zirconias and pearls.  I also have a gold headband in my hair.

Thursday I went for comfort again, it was really cold on Thursday morning (like 19 degrees!) which meant I really needed to figure out how to wear a coat with my sling.  And, yes I know you don’t see my sling in any of these pictures.  I wanted to take my pictures without the sling on but I promise I have been putting it on after taking these pictures every morning!

 

I’m wearing my heather gray pants with a gray, pink, and orange sweater with a gray turtleneck shell underneath.  I’m also wearing my gray suede shoes.  The necklace I’m wearing is a clear locket that I made several inserts to go inside.  It has a pink and orange insert in it.  In addition to that I’m wearing other silver jewelry and my hair is in a clippy (well, spell check doesn’t like that word but that’s what I call them!  ha ha ha)

Yippee Skippy!  It’s finally Friday and I’ve made it through the entire week on my first week back to work after surgery.  I have to admit, I was tired and worn out but I’m proud of myself for making it through the week.  I went for comfort again on Friday.

 

I’m wearing black knit pants that I bought at the big sale at New York and Company after Christmas.  (They were only $11!!!!  SWEET!)  The purple sweater was my Christmas present from my mom.  I’m also wearing my black patent leather Sperry flats.  The jewelry for the day is a long Brighton heart necklace with matching bracelet and earrings.  I wore my hair a little different as well by pinning my bangs back.

So, one week down!  Like I said this first post is pretty boring and probably they will be for awhile but soon it is going to be a challenge to wear something different each day.  Stay tuned!!!!

Making the hard choices

Well, you've all been waiting with bated breath, I can just tell, so here it is...wait not longer...my "Spring Fling in the Closet" post is now here! (hands clapping I'm so sure!) So, this is where I started, in my closet. Yes, it is super full and I was having a really hard time. Every time I went to get something to wear it would be crammed in so tight that it would get wrinkled and I was having to iron...Eee GADS! Not that!!!!

The first step to cleaning my closet and moving out the heavy winter things to make room for the lighter, cooler summer things is to first of all pick out all of the winter things into 2 stacks. One stack is to be hung in the spare bedroom closet to save until next winter, and the other stack is to get rid of. I made myself do some hard choices too. Things like this. Do I really need 2 gray turtlenecks? Um, no probably not. I mean seriously, how often do I actually wear a long sleeved turtleneck? The answer, not often. You see, I'm VERY hot natured. I get hot very easy. So, I looked at the 2 of these. One is a thick sweater like material, the other is a thin cotton. You guessed it, the thin cotton won out. The thick one got tossed in the "get rid of" stack.
Now comes another hard choice. The blouse below. I LOVE IT! Seriously I really love it. It's long and is perfect with jeans or with leggings and boots. The problem you ask? Well, every time I put it on, I ended up taking it right back off. The top part is just too damn tight around my boobs. So, while I still love this, it had to go. It was just taking up room and never getting worn. To the "to get rid of" stack you go. sniff sniff
Next, I have a serious addiction to ruffles. I ADORE them. I just went about ape shit crazy when ruffles made a come back. But, do I REALLY need 4 white ruffled shirts? REALLY? Probably not. I can see needing 2 of them, say you wear one on a Monday and don't do laundry until the weekend and want to wear it on Friday, then yeah, you could possibly need 2 of them, but not 4. So, I took all of my white ruffled shirts down, looked them over. Actually tried each of them on and picked out my favorite 2. The other 2...yep..."to get rid of" stack they went. Whew...it's getting easier now!
Oh now wait a minute. This one didn't actually qualify as a ruffled shirt per se. The collar has a slight ruffling on it, but it wasn't truly ruffled. What it is though is my all-time favorite white blouse of all time. It is from Cold Water Creek and it is iron free and they are serious when they claim that. I've never had to iron it. And, boy howdy did I wear this blouse. But, as you can see from the picture below, I've obviously worn it just a little too much. The cuffs on the sleeves were positively gross and I could not get them clean. Now, I still wore the blouse because I loved it that much. But, I found myself hiding my hands so people wouldn't see the stained cuffs, not good! So, as much as I hated it, I made myself get rid of my beloved favorite blouse. (pausing for a moment of silence here....)

Oh, and yet another white blouse. Go ahead, ask it. I know you want to. Just how many white blouses does this chick have? Well, it's a lot less now thank you very much! So, the blouse below, isn't it just adorable? You may be asking, well what is wrong with that one? The answer (which you probably can't tell from the picture) is it's too see through! I found myself being terribly uncomfortable whenever I wore it because you could see through it like it wasn't even there. Now while I do love many of my pretty bras I don't really want anyone besides the hubs to see them. :) To the "to get rid of" stack you go missy!

Whew! OK, white blouses are done and I actually have room now to move my black, white, and brown shirts around. How cool is that?

Moving on! OK, time to go through the jackets. I was on a roll at this point and decided to be good and keep the momentum going. First thing up, the jacket below. I bought it on clearance one day at New York and Company. I thought it would be so cute. Turns out, it was hot, and tight, and just didn't feel "right" for me and my age. Out it goes.


Next, is this really pretty jacket I got at Cold Water Creek. I loved this jacket, and still do as a matter of fact. The problem? It is too short waisted for me. The button would hit right below my breasts and that is definitely not where it was supposed to be hitting. Out it goes.

Now is the really hard choice. A long time favorite Harley jacket. I loved this! I asked my hubby for it for my birthday one year and he got it for me. Unfortunately they didn't have my size so he got it a size smaller. I wore it for a couple of years like this but now is the time. It just doesn't look good to wear clothes that are too small. Period. The. End. I'm not fooling myself anymore thinking "oh, when I lose weight it will look so good." Yeah, if that hasn't happened in the last 2-3 years, it's probably not going to happen. Time for my poor beautiful jacket to find someone else to cherish it. On the upside, the lady that does my nails is also a Harley girl and I know this jacket would fit her, so I'm going to give it to her next time I see her. Good bye old friend!

So, it's done! I've gone through all of my clothes and pulled out all the winter stuff. This is what I have decided to part with. Whew...that felt good!

And, this is how much more room I have in my closet now. It is looking so good!!!!!


Now, it's time to bring out the spring/summer stuff that's been stashed in the closet in the spare bedroom. Wow, I didn't realize I had so much back there!!!!


But, after using the logic from above and being super duper strict with myself, that stack whittled down to this stack! That's right, this is all that is going into the closet now.

And, this is what I'm getting rid of. Quite a difference don't you agree?

After bundling up everything to get rid off, I ended up with 5 large garbage bags full of clothes!

Now, back to the closet and let's start with the shoes! This is what it looks like before I start.

I moved the boots to the top since I won't be wearing them until next winter, and then I went through the rest of the shoes and got rid of anything that just seriously hurts my feet or I just won't wear or are just old and tired looking. For some reason my foot seems to have shrunk recently. I know! Go figure huh? Too bad the rest of my body didn't follow suit! ha ha ha So, I have all of these shoes that are really just too big. Out they go! I mean, how can I buy new cute shoes if I have no room for them right? ha ha ha

After going through them all, this is the stack to get rid of.
And, this is how my wonderful closet looks now! So much more room, I can actually see what I have now!
Now, there are 3 things that I've decided I love just too much to get rid of, even though there is something wrong with them. With these 3 things I've decided to get them fixed and/or altered. The shoes are some of my all-time favorite little summer sandals. I love them but they are super old and way worn out. I'm going to take them to a shoe shop and get them to put a new sole on them. The black and white pants are so cute but they are too long and really too wide at the bottom on the legs. I'm taking them to be altered to sew up the legs a little and take a little off the length. The jeans are these really cute Lucky's but they are too short. I'm taking them at the same time as the pants and having them turned into capris. So, you don't necessarily have to get rid of everything that isn't perfect. You can also have things fixed!

So, that's it! My closet is complete. I'm ready for Spring baby! Bring it on!!!!



How about you? Have you done the Winter/Spring switcheroo yet?

Moving from Winter to Spring.

So, I got a gentle reminder the other day that I have not posted anything in a very long time. I could make all kinds of excuses as to why this has happened but the real reason is I just haven't had that much inspire me lately to create a post about. But, that is about to change! First off, my daughter has turn me on to the coolest new web site idea. It's called Pinterest. You set up an account and then you can create idea boards for whatever you want. I'm still waiting for my invite but I'm super excited about it. I have been saving pictures from the web of all these wonderful things I just love but they are just dumped into a folder in my documents and then forgotten. I can't wait to get my own account and actually organize all these great things that I love. I'll be sure and post my site when I get it. In the meantime, you should go check out others there. There are so many cute and wonderful things there.

Second...Spring has Sprung! I'm so excited too. This winter has taken its toll on me this year. Not that we've had a lot of cold weather or anything but I'm just ready for green and growth and Spring Fashion! I'm going through my closet today to move out those winter sweaters, turtlenecks and bringing in my cute Spring/Summer things.


So, let's do it... When I change out my closets by the season the first thing I do is go through everything I have in my closet right now. I take out everything that I have not worn at least once throughout the entire season. Seriously, if you didn't wear it at least once, chances are you won't ever wear it, right? However, I have learned (the hard way) that sometimes that truth doesn't necessarily work. What I've decided now is if I didn't wear it at least one time but I still like it, I put it in a special pile to save in a box at the back of my "off season" closet. Then, come next Spring, if I didn't go and look for it and wear it again during next Winter, it gets tossed. The rest of the things I didn't wear at least once and I really don't think I'll ever wear it due to the fact that it doesn't fit well, or I just don't like the color, or I don't like the style...out it goes! I give my sisters first dibs on my old clothes and then anything left I take to Goodwill. I get a tax deduction and someone else might love the things that I don't love so much anymore.

Once the Winter clothes are separated and moved out, in come the Spring/Summer things. I do another review of everything. As I already said, when I moved the Spring/Summer things out to make room for the Winter things I did my review then, but my tastes and fashion change over a season. So while I may have loved it last Fall and kept it, I may change my mind by now and I no longer love it. The review really does work. I remove and discard anything that just doesn't work anymore.

The last step is to SURF THE WEB!!!!! Check out what is in fashion this Spring/Summer. Look at high designers and less costly alternatives as well. I pick out the looks I really like, but that would WORK for me. Then, I go back to my closet and decide...what do I have that will work for the new season. Lastly, it's time to decide, what do I need? What pieces do I need to make me happy this season? I'm on a very limited budget this year. We are doing some work on our house this year and...well...I just went on a trip to Chicago with my dear hubby and totally splurged on a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes. So, most of my Spring/Summer wardrobe money was spent on a single pair of shoes. Luckily they are THE SHOES for the season so whatever else I need will totally go with the shoes. :) I'm going to take lots of pictures today to illustrate my process and post a new post this week with actual images. However, no post is complete without at least one picture so here are the infamous shoes I got in Chicago. I'm in LUV!!!!! (This picture makes them look a little darker than they do in person, the actual color is called Nude)...aren't they just divine?

Tootsies

As the seasons are changing I find myself struggling with deciding what to wear each day. I guess I've discovered that my wardrobe consists of 2 seasons of clothing...summer and winter. I don't seem to have very many in-between things. My winter stuff is all heavy, wool, long sleeved, and way too hot to wear in 80 degree afternoons. My summer stuff is all light, breezy, summery...and way too cold to wear on those 50 degree mornings. Not only that but I've also discovered that apparently my very obvious and often lamented shoe fetish seems to be concentrated on summer type shoes. I really don't have very many close toed shoes. I have quite a few pair of boots, some of which are actually new for this year but I feel awkward and out of place wearing boots in 80 degrees. So, what is a girl to do? I could go out and go hog wild buying tons of new shoes, of which I have no place to store, or I could somehow make do with what I have.


This brings me to today's post. I did some research last night to find out what the "experts" say about the subject of today's blog. Is it ok to wear tights with open toed shoes? Unless you've been living under a rock you have to have noticed that tights have made a come back. No longer do they exist only in pictures from the 70's, no ma'am. They are back with a vengeance. But, is it ok to wear them with open toed shoes? Here is what I found:


First of all, nude hose are so passe. I didn't find a single article that thought they were ok anymore. So, for all of you out there with a firm supply of panty hose, you might want to rethink wearing them. Apparently it is not ok anymore. Most everything I read said to just go bare legged rather than wearing the dreaded nude pantyhose. However, tights are a different story. They are definitely in the "it's hot" category. But, can you wear them with open toed shoes? The answer (according to many sources as well as myself) is YES! You can wear your cute opaque tights with open toed shoes. There are some guidelines though so pay attention.


First of all, the tights need to be opaque, meaning not sheer and you can't see your legs through them. This will prevent some people from taking some pantyhose that are black and claiming them as tights and then breaking the above rule of no more pantyhose. If in doubt, stretch them out on your hand, can you see your skin? You should not be able to.


Second, patterns are a yes. However, the pattern colors must be muted. Don't go for a bright fuschia and black plaid for example. However a nice muted gray and black plaid is very cute.


Third, do not mix different color tights. For example, do not have one pink leg and one yellow leg. This just makes you look like a clown. No, really...Don't do it!


So, as for the shoes. I actually found it was ok to wear the tights with open toed shoes. There are some gotcha's on it though. You can't wear tights with some cute strappy sandals. Oh honey no...that would just look horrible. You can wear them with a peep toe shoe though or even a sandal if, and only if, the sandal is chunky with wide straps and a big heel. Here are some cute examples of what is ok:

I love this outfit, tights, shoes, purse, dress...it all rocks!

Now I'm not overly fond of these tights but I have to admit, they are still cute with these shoes and this is totally ok.

Now on to an "oh honey no" example:

Please, Please, Please, do not EVER wear this:

Unless you want to look like those little old ladies in church that really just don't know any better, this is a horrible look. Can you see the difference between this and the 2 above? The difference is in the shoe. Chunky peep toe shoes are dang cute with tights. Strappy (say it isn't so WHITE) sandals are so not ok with black tights. Let's just go ahead and put those strappy white sandals in the closet until after Easter shall we?

Until next time, this is just another "the world according to me" post. Feel free to argue, complain, agree, or disagree down there in the comments.

Have a great Friday!

A Fresh New Blog

Well, here it is, a fresh new blog. This blog is totally different from any previous endeavor I've undertaken in the realm of blogs. This blog is going to be about 3 of my passions: Food, Fashion, and Design. So, this is not necessarily going to be me trying to be funny, or me bitching about my everyday life. No sirree. This here blog is going to be about me sharing new ideas, new recipes, new fashion tips, new decorating ideas, and just in general new things that I find that I really like. So, with that, here goes:


Speaking of fashion...I was watching Project Runway the other day and Heidi Klum said something that after much consideration I've decided I just don't agree with. One of the designers created this very cute outfit with a kind of goldish, yellow piping. Then the designer paired the outfit with some goldish, yellow shoes. Heidi criticized the outfit saying (and I quote here) "that's just too matchy matchy and that's not where it's at now." OK...well maybe she didn't say those EXACT words but pretty much that sums up what she said. After she said that I really started to think about it. What is so wrong about "matchy matchy"? Personally I've always really strived to go for the matched look. I think you look more put together and more stylish if you really do try to match something in your outfit with your shoes. Now, there are exceptions to this rule. Such as: a totally black and white outfit rocks out with some bright red shoes, or a hot pink dress looks fab with some black patent leather pumps. But, in general, I prefer to match. Does this mean I'm no longer the fashionista that I've self proclaimed myself to be? Say it isn't so.


Well, being the investigative reporter that I am I decided to do a little research. (Don't you just love Google?). Well, the Urban Dictionary defines "matchy matchy" as: Often used in fashion blogs (ya think?). Used to describe an outfit that is too coordinated and consists of too many of the same types of colours, patterns, fabrics, accessories, designer pieces, thematic elements, etc. Can also be used in reference to interior design. Google also has a plethora of pictures dedicated to illustrate exactly what matchy matchy looks like. However, many of these pictures I find cute. Exhibit A:

Now I'm not a Paris Hilton fan, don't get me wrong there, but personally I find this outfit incredibly cute. I like the red belt, purse, and shoes. I like the contrast with the blue and I don't find the outfit "wrong" in any way. Well, of course except the obvious thing of it is Paris Hilton wearing it. But really? This was shown as an example of what not to do.

Next exhibit B:

Now this I do consider just a tad too much matching. There should be more than one color. So, in this case I do think they are right, this is a bit too much matching. However, on the other hand, this girl is really rocking this outfit. She looks polished, put together and confident. So, even though the outfit is a bit too much "matchy matchy", she pulls it off because of her self confidence.

So, after exhaustive research I've decided two things. The fashion world may be a little off on this one. Matchy Matchy is ok, as long as it isn't the entire outfit. Matching your shoes with another accessory can totally rock! Sorry Heidi, you got it wrong this time. Second, it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or says, if you feel pretty you can rock anything. Self confidence is where it's at baby!

This is another "the world according to me" post. Feel free to argue, agree, or just express any opinion you would like here in the comments.

Until next time, remember fashion is a reflection of yourself. Don't be frumpy!