Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin-eater! - Day 6

I’d originally picked this dress as one of my thirty items.  Here it is as I wave good-bye to it and make a sad face.

It’s super cute, it combines three of my current favorite colors (hot pink, coral, and royal blue), and it’s the first halter dress I’ve ever been able to wear. However, it’s not versatile. I can’t turn it into a work dress – I’m teaching high school students, and all bottoms need to be at the knee or longer, so this is a tiny bit too short. The neckline also makes it difficult to style any differently than as a halter – tank tops look funny under it, and I don’t currently have any bandeau tops I can wear with it. It looks kind of funny under cardigans too, though I suppose I could force it to work. That takes too much effort, though. I ended up cheating with this dress instead:

Yeah...I didn't realize how different the lighting was in this pic. That would be why I'm brown in the first one and white in the second. Awesome.

I know – I’m so ashamed. But isn’t it pretty? Doesn’t that kind of sort of make up for it? And I broke up with the other dress first, I promise! It wasn’t a very serious relationship anyway.

This maxi is waaaaaaaay more versatile than the halter dress. It’s long, which eliminates the hemline problem; it’s strapless, which looks good under cardigans; and it has more colors, so it goes with more of the items I picked. Another great thing about this dress? Its ethnic print and the unexpected color combination. I love global/ethnic clothes, and this was pretty much perfect. It also didn't hurt that it was $30 at World Market either.

The first time I wore it, I decided to keep it simple. I’d been working at my second job (waitress/bartender) all day, so I wanted something I could just throw on. So I did. 

You can't really tell, but that's my Golden Snitch necklace. So awesome!

I hope no one’s mad at me for cheating! I love you guys anyway. Kisses!

Is it just me, or does it looks like I have on harem pants in this picture (I raised the hem so you could see my shoes)?

Original Dress: Flying Tomato from Ruby Boutique

Earrings: Can't remember - a shop in New Orleans

New Dress: World Market

Necklace: ViperCoraraDesigns on Etsy 

Sandals: American Eagle

Watch: Fossil

Fit to be Tied - Day 5

I love nearly everything about this pink shirt – the color, the lightness of the fabric, and the sleeves. However, the one thing that I’m not super crazy about is its fit. Sometimes I like it, but since it’s a little big (I didn’t realize it when I bought it) I feel like I need to be careful about how I style it. After looking at the pictures, I think it probably would have worked better if I’d thrown a vest over it or knotted it at the waist. Oh well, next time. 

I’m a major fan of this color combination – I feel like olive is practically a neutral, and I usually treat it as such.

These shoes are great too – I love wedges for summer, and ones that tie around the ankle are so pretty! They remind me of ballet shoes, and they can really emphasize a slender ankle. However, if you’re short (or just have shorter legs), you want to be careful about shoes like this that tie or buckle around the ankle, as they can make you look stumpy.

Final verdict: I like this outfit, but feel that it could have been a little better with my khaki vest. Maybe I’ll add a picture of that later, and you guys can let me know what you think. 

Shirt: H&M

Skirt: American Eagle

Belt: American Eagle

Shoes: American Eagle

Bracelet: Imagine Boutique

Book: Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes

Harry Potter and the Awesome Necklace - Day 4

I know this outfit may seem like a repeat of the one before, and…it totally is. I mean, there are a few key differences – the dress isn’t a strapless, for instance, and my shoes are flat-ish instead of heels.

Really, what had happened WUZ I just wasn’t feeling the outfit I was planning to wear this morning, so I jumped to this one, which was easy and sleek.

I got this black dress from a clothing swap – best things ever! If you’ve never had one with your girlfriends, tryyyyy it, you’ll liiiiiike it. I got like, ten things from this one that I didn’t have to pay for, AND I cleaned out my closet.

 

Now, there are two super-awesome things about this outfit. First, this red belt? Yeah, belonged to my grandmother when she was my age. Really, I swear! She gave it to me a year or so ago, and I wear it ALL THE TIME. She’s decided that, since she doesn’t really wear any of her jewelry or accessories anymore, she’s going to go ahead and give them to me instead of waiting until she’s no longer around (a thought that makes me very sad, but probably won’t happen any time soon).

The other fun thing is my necklace. Can anyone guess what it is?

It’s a Golden Snitch! Awesome, right?

I found it on Etsy for like, $16 and instantly fell in love with it. First, in case you didn’t know, I’m a Harry Potter NERD – I’ll actually be teaching two college-level classes on the series this Fall (that are both completely full, by the way). I also love that it’s subtle – if you’ve never seen or read Harry Potter before, you might think it’s based on a Greek or Egyptian piece. A friend of mine actually said it looks a bit like an Isis symbol, and I totally agree.

Kisses!

Dress: Gap, Swapped

Cardi: Victoria's Secret

Shoes: Steve Madden

Belt: Grandmother

Necklace: ViperCoraraDesigns from Etsy

Twilight - Day 3

So, today’s outfit is simple, but one of my staples. You see, I have a dilemma: I love strapless dresses, but have to make them work appropriate. Therefore, I have discovered...the short-sleeved cardigan! I got this one (and the other two that I own) from Victoria’s Secret, funnily enough. I’ve always been a fan of the long, skinny cardigan look – I feel like it elongates my (rather short) torso.

I’m afraid I don’t have a full-length outfit picture for you today because the one that I took came out funny. However, I’ll be adding one as soon as I take a new one, I promise. Until then, this will have to do. Still cute, right?

I love this white dress – I feel like it’s THE perfect Little White Dress. It’s strapless, so of course I love it. What’s nice about it is that it’s one of those strapless dresses with rouched tops, but the rouching doesn’t stop right after the bust – it stops at the waist, so you don’t get that “I might be pregnant” look that so many strapless tops and dresses create.

I also love the skirt – it’s white, but not boring at all because it’s soooo textured. It’s got a ruffled hem, Swiss dot panels, and then alternating panels with a silvery pattern. So pretty! The dress practically begs for twirling, and it kind of sparkles in the sunlight too, which is awesome. Ha, I guess that makes me an honorary Twilight vampire. My special power is…um…telekinesis!

I could totally kick Bella Swan's ass. 

Dress: Indian Tropical Fashion from Three Sisters Boutique

Cardigan: Victoria's Secret

Belt: Abercrombie and Fitch from Change Clothes Consignment

Shoes: Worthington from Change Clothes Consignment

Necklace: Hobby Lobby

Watch: Fossil

Flower Child - Day 2

I know, I know, I’m waaaaaaay behind. Shush. I promise, I’m playing by the rules for the 30x30 and wearing this stuff every day (though I did cheat and swap out a dress – more on that later). I had a busy weekend, okay?

Anyway, I bought this dress in OHIO of all places. Not saying that Ohio isn’t a great place or anything – it’s just that it doesn't exactly come to mind when I think of fashion. I can’t remember what the little boutique I got it from it was called…something like The Juniper Tree.

Oh, and just so you guys know, it's not that I'm too snobby for stores like Gap, Old Navy, Target, or Loft - it's that none of those stores (except for Target) are close to where I live. However, there are several awesome little boutiques and consignment stores in my tiny little town, so they tend to be where I shop.

I love this dress for soooooo many reasons, but somehow it always ends up hiding in the back of my closet, and then I forget about it until I stumble across it again. It’s especially great for summer, obviously. It’s beautifully light, and I like that it’s white, but has all these great colors in it. I especially like the blue lines that I’m calling clouds – they give it a vaguely Japanese feel (though that could totally just be me going crazy).

I had to wear the cardi because I was teaching this morning, and it was COLD. When I wear a cardi over a dress like this, I normally belt it. I got this Abercrombie belt for $3 – awesome, right? It’s my new favorite belt, mainly because it’s teal, and teal’s one of my new favorite colors, though it takes a backseat to coral at the moment. I’m DATING coral, but I cheat on it with teal pretty often. I know, I know, I’m a horrible person.

 

Cardi - American Eagle

Belt - Abercrombie and Fitch from Change Clothes Consignment

Dress - O'Neil from (?)

Shoes - Worthington from Change Clothes Consignment

Flower pin - Ulta Beauty

Earrings - Somewhere in San Diego

Hippie Chic - Day 1

So, today I felt like a hippie that was trying to be fashionable. This is so sleek, but also super comfy and slightly bohemian. 

I love, love, LOVE this tunic – it’s so light that it almost feels like I’m not wearing anything, but I’m not worried about being arrested for nudity. I also love the detailing at the neck and arms – I feel like that’s one of the trademarks of a good tunic.

The color is also fantastic. I like to wear cool colors (though lately I’ve been getting into yellow and coral), so this pale blue-green is perfect. It’s also a great shape – longish, but not so long that it feels too much like a dress. You also can’t really tell in the pictures, but the fabric has a subtle golden sheen that looks beautiful in the light.

These are my favorite pair of trouser jeans, and one of the only pairs that I’ll wear to work. I could definitely get away with wearing jeans to work every day, since I teach at a small university, but I try not to for several reasons. First, because I’m so young – I feel like I need to dress older than I am so that I’m not mistaken for a student. Second, because I feel that it’s more professional, and third, because it’s fun to dress up every day. I’ve also got tons of clothes, and it’d be a shame if I didn’t wear all of them.

I love these shoes, too. The button detail especially appeals to me – I feel like they could be vintage 1950s heels, even though they totally aren’t. I actually went into the store and stared at them longingly three separate times until I finally gave in and bought them, and now they’re a staple.

I love earrings with dangles too - so fun!

 

Tunic: Celle from Change Clothes Consignment

Jeans: !It Jeans from Imagine Boutique

Shoes: Unlisted from Change Clothes Consignment

Earrings: A gift, originally from World Market

Something New

So, I've decided to do something called the 30 for 30 Challenge, which I first read about on the blog Kendi Everyday (which is a fantastically fun blog, by the way). Essentially, I pick thirty items from my closet (including shoes, but not accessories), make those into thirty different outfits, and wear them for thirty days. I'm also not going to buy any clothing or shoes during those thirty days, though I'm not going to let that exclude me from things like jewelry, hats, or lingerie ;-). Anyway, this is supposed to encourage, not only budgeting, but originality, which it's doing so far. I've made a list plotting out everything I'm going to be wearing on a day-to-day basis, and though I may deviate from that list, it's helped a lot. Now I don't have to think as much about my clothes because I've already done it! Go me!

I also found myself pulling out items (like my floral white dress) that I don't usually wear, so that's been fun too. It's like I'm meeting old friends after a long time :-).

The biggest challenge so far has been finding items of clothing that will translate well for work and play. I teach for four hours in the morning and then have my afternoons to myself, so that took some thinking. I also teach in a freezing classroom, and then go out into sweltering Louisiana weather (I avoid my apartment during the day because my A.C. can't keep up - it's just that hot).

Here are my thirty items:

Seven pairs of shoes

Six dresses

Two skirts

Two pairs of pants and two pairs of shorts

Eleven tops

I'm not going to be counting tank tops or vests as clothing in this equation. Tanks are really a form of underwear for me (I never, ever wear one by itself unless I'm chilling at home or sunbathing), and I've always counted vests as accessories since they can't really be worn by themselves, unlike blazers or cardigans. Unless, you know, you're Britney Spears or something, which I certainly am not.

I also actually started this challenge on June 13 - I'm just late in posting my stuff. I'll get it all up, I promise! I was waiting to post everything I'm wearing until I did laundry, which didn't happen until a couple of days ago since I don't have my own washer and dryer, and must therefore resort to using my parents'. It's like I'm still in college...ah well. Kisses!

Sugar and Spice (and Everything Nice)

So, this outfit is based entirely around my shoes.

Why, do you ask? They’re just cute little brown oxfords – nothing particularly special.

Because these shoes, while I love them, have proven notoriously hard for me to style. I think it’s because they’re so obviously menswear shoes, and menswear can be tricky for most women (myself included).

Now, I like menswear as much as the next girl, particularly suits, blazers, ties, fedoras, and oxfords. I also especially like the whole boyfriend look, where the jeans and shirts are cut just slightly bigger than normal so that it looks like you borrowed them from your boyfriend. I mean, actual men's shirts are INCREDIBLY comfortable - I'm totally going to start raiding my guy friends' closets. 

Anyway, lots of girls can wear these styles and look AMAZING. However, the problem with menswear is that you have to walk a fine line – if you don’t have enough femininity in the outfit to counteract the menswear, you end up looking manish rather than cute.

My solution? Wear lots and lots of flowers. See? I think it works out nicely.

Another thing that works is to make sure that the menswear items you have fit you like a glove - hence the reason for the vest over the denim shirt. This is especially important when you're trying the boyfriend look. Make sure that if you have on a loose-fitting shirt, you're wearing skinny jeans or a short skirt to make up for it. 

Seriously though, these shoes, in my head, cry out for a floral skirt or a ruffled shirt, preferably in a pale color. So I obliged.

 

Oh, and I love my nail polish - I think it's the perfect color for this summer. It's Guy from Gal-veston, by OPI.

Floral hair pin -  Ulta Beauty

Shirt - American Eagle

Vest - Old Navy

Skirt - American Eagle

Shoes - Miss Me? from Obsession Boutique

Bracelet - from Imagine Boutique

And, since I wore so much floral today, I felt the need to be extra girly. Here's me acting extra girly. Kisses!

Too Hot to Trot

See? I told you I’d do better at posting more often!

So first, you get two outfits for the price of one today. Exciting, right? There’s a story there.

My favorite boutique in the very small city that I live in is called Imagine. The clothes are well-made and decently priced, the staff is great, and the owner is wonderful. She’s also been using text messages and Facebook to promote her store – she’ll send messages to customers who sign up for it about various deals. Well, one of those deals was yesterday – if you were one of the first five customers to come in after receiving a text, you received any pair of jeans in the store FREE with a purchase of $25 or more.

I was the fifth customer. Can I tell you how excited I was? I mean, I normally don’t need any excuse to visit Imagine, so this was like, a bonus. These are the ones I got, and the awesome flowy top was my $25-or-more purchase.

Aren’t they cute?

Normally, I go for the more professional, dark wash jeans, but these were just sooooo cute I couldn’t resist. Besides, it’s summer – I’m only teaching for six weeks anyway.

Unfortunately, because it’s summer in Louisiana, it’s waaaaaay too hot to wear these today, so I’m wearing this instead.

Rest assured, however, these jeans WILL be making a frequent appearance, especially when it cools down a bit.

Anyway, back to the outfit itself. Tops like this tend to scare a lot of women because they can be hard to style. Many women also have the misconception that tops like this will make them look fat. That’s actually not the case 90% of the time, though invariably, there will be one flowy top that WILL do that. This is why it’s important to try them on, and to keep in mind the idea of proportion: if you have something billowy on top, wear something fitted on the bottom.

This top in particular is nice because it’s so light and sheer – it literally feels like all I’m wearing is the tank top underneath. I also love the colors in it – it’ll go with nearly everything that I wear! It’s going to be making a frequent appearance, I can promise you. Because it's so bright, I kept to fairly simple gold jewelry. Silver or other metalics would also work, but because of the yellow and red in this top, I wanted to stick with warm tones.

 

 

Oh, and by the way this is the hairstyle that I wear when either a) I wake up and my hair looks like crap (usually b/c I washed it and slept on it), b) I washed it but don’t have time to dry it (which happened today), or c) I want to put it up in a style other than a pony tail. I found the idea for it here, on Stylish White Female’s blog (which is one of my favorites, by the way). It’s really easy, and if you do it with wet hair, you get awesome ringlets! I recommend using really strong bobby pins instead of the regular ones – they tend to fall down, though if you use enough of them (and enough hairspray) they work in a pinch. 

Top: 5^th Culture at Imagine Boutique

Jeans: Anoname at Imagine Boutique (a similar style is The Artist at American Eagle)

Shorts: American Eagle

Tank: American Eagle

Shoes: Steve Madden

Bracelet and Earrings: Thrifted from Change Clothes Consignment Boutique

Oh, and I FINALLY have a Twitter account, so everyone should totally follow me. Have a fun day! Kisses!