Subtly Sexy - Day 23

 So, I believe I’ve mentioned before how much I love this shirt. One of the reasons I love it (aside from the color, pattern, shape, and lightness of fabric) is its neckline – this wide almost boat-neck can be centered (like in my other post), or pulled off one shoulder for a slightly sexier look, like so.

Easy Breezy - Day 22

So, this was a day of running errands, and since it was unbelievably hot I decided to keep things casual with jean shorts and a t-shirt. Only this isn’t a t-shirt. This is one of the ways that the 30 x 30 has helped me think outside the box – I never really considered this or the other cardigan as “shirts” – they were always “cover-ups” to me, and strictly to be worn as an extra layer when I needed to cover my shoulders. 

I made what may have been the mistake of not including any basic t-shirts in my 30 x 30 (Awesome basics, but so boring! Who wants that when they can have detailed?), and that’s all I wanted to wear. Then I thought, “Wait – I HAVE a t-shirt! Or close to it, anyway.” And this is what I came up with.

Copycat! - Day 21

This particular outfit was inspired by Kendi Everyday – twice! I combined both of her ideas and came up with this:

I'm an original, I swear! I put my own spin on the two ideas - I was just inspired by her! Geez.

Sevens!

I interrupt the 30 x 30 with this important announcement: I have officially bought my first pairs of 7 for All Mankind jeans. Even better than that, they were only $35 each! And I bought them after I was done with the 30 x 30. So there – I didn’t even break any rules!

Where did I get such a great deal, you ask?

Expect the Unexpected - Day 20

This was an outfit that I didn’t think would work, but ended up loving. Has that ever happened to you?

Initially, I thought that the girlishness of the dress and the toughness of the denim shirt wouldn't work together, but decided to give it a try. Isn’t it cute?

Being a Grown-up - Day 19

You may have forgotten (and I wouldn’t blame you), but Day 18 was actually Fourth of July, and I already posted that blog entry here. So I wore this on Tuesday, when it was back to being a teacher and a grown-up.

Isn't it Romantic? - Day 17

This outfit whispers “romance” to me. I don’t know why – it just does. Maybe it’s the fact that both my top and my skirt (which is a dress, by the way) have ruffles. Maybe it’s the ribbons that tie around my ankles and make me feel like a ballerina in wedges. Maybe it’s the angel wings hanging from my ears. Maybe it’s the soft colors in the outfit. Or maybe it’s all of those – I don’t know. At any rate, in my mind this outfit has become synonymous with the idea of romantic summer nights. 

Hot and Cold - Day 16

I know, I know, it’s been a while since I’ve posted – so shoot me, I’ve been busy (and the weather’s been HORRIBLE and my apt isn’t exactly picture friendly). I promise, I’ve been following the 30 x 30 rules (most of the time). In fact, my last day was TODAY, and I’m very, very happy about it. However, you, darling readers, don’t get to read about it yet because my procrastinating self is still two weeks behind all the other bloggers at posting. I’m sorry, I really am. My main problem is, unlike most of the other fashion bloggers out there, I live by myself so I have no one to take pictures for me on a regular basis. I can usually coerce one of my friends to do it, but that doesn’t always work when I want it to. 

It's enough to make me consider getting married just so I'll have a photographer at my beck and call. 

Anyway.

Mischief Managed (Almost)

Tonight’s blog posting will not be about the 30 x 30. Instead, in homage to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 that I am not attending (I’m going Saturday morning), it’ll be about my (unhealthy) obsession with Harry Potter, the Series About Him, and how to declare your nerdiness fashionably.

Indian for a Day - Day 15

Yay! Halfway there (at least with my posts)! Believe it or not, in real life I’m actually on Day 25. It’s sad, I’m ten days behind. But whatever. 

Not Overdoing It - Really! - Day 14

So, I think this may be my favorite outfit yet. It’s bright and fun, yet (I think) sophisticated. As I’ve said before, I LOVE this pink shirt, and I think these yellow wedges are my favorite shoes of all time. 

Same Story, Different Day - Day 13

So…yeah. You guys have seen versions of this outfit before, only this time I’ve done a shirt and a skirt with a cardigan belted over them instead of a dress. Whoo (I’m getting a little tired of this – can you tell?). I actually wore everything with my dark denim trousers to teach (bet you were wondering, since the skirt’s so short), but it was sooooooo hot that I had to get out of them as soon as I got done at noon.

Superwoman - Day 12

Look! Over by the tree! It’s a skirt! It’s a dress! It’s…an OUTFIT! Well, mostly, anyway.

I was quite proud of myself for coming up with this one, mainly because I came up with a way to make a dress REALLY look like a skirt. Normally, when I wear a dress as a skirt like this, I leave the shirttails untucked and wrap a belt around my waist to create shape. However, I feel like it still looks like I’m wearing a dress as a skirt, though it usually looks pretty cute. But look! I’ve solved the problem!

I Don't Believe in Signs - Day 11

I love this shirt. I know, I say that about all my shirts, but it’s true! That’s one thing that I’ve tried to make standard – that I love everything in my closet. At the very least, I don’t own any items of clothing that I hate, which isn’t very convenient when I decide I want to do some painting. Oh well…

Strawberry Lemonade - Day 10

I love bright colors. Really, I do. I know it might not seem like it (sarcasm) but I really, really do, especially yellow. It just makes me happy! I’ve even gotten to the point that if it’s gray and rainy outside, I’ll wear yellow just to brighten things up. And I always think of strawberry lemonade when I wear yellow and pink together, so…there you go.  

Funny story behind this outfit. I bought this yellow dress (which was originally over $100 but on sale for $15 when I got it – yes!) back in October or something, and it’s super awesome. I have to wear a tank under it because the v-neck goes down so low, but ultimately it’s a great dress. It only has one problem:

It doesn’t really fit anymore, and I don’t know why. It fits perfectly well around the skirt area! But for some reason whenever I zip it up all the way, I have trouble breathing. As in, it’s so tight I forget to. I’m assuming this means that I’ve gained weight (which sucks), but I’m going to claim it’s muscle gain and not fat gain. And go to the gym five times a week.

So, since I have problems breathing when I zip up this dress, I’ve come up with what I think is a great solution: I don’t zip up the dress all the way.

Yeah, I know. Awful.

Thus, I wear a shirt over it to turn it into a skirt. I put on the shirt, knotted it at the waist, and then tucked it all under the scarf so that it looks like it’s tucked into the skirt. Nifty, right? I felt like a fifties housewife, especially with my little buttoned-up shoes. Though a fifties housewife wouldn't have been at work all day, and consequently wouldn't have such a wrinkled skirt. It was the end of the day!

A fifties housewife also would probably have paired pearls with this instead of a cool ethnic necklace like I did. Oh well. I wasn't going for authenticity anyway.

This is also the first time I’ve ever really worn a scarf as a belt, and I think it turned out well. I actually really like the swinging end being in the front, and will probably do that again. What do you think?

Kisses!

Shirt: H&M

Dress: Cooper by Courtney Warrant from Imagine Boutique

Scarf: World Market

Necklace: Change Clothes Consignment

Shoes: Unlisted from Change Clothes Consignment

Watch: Charming Charlie's

Go Fourth on the River - Day 18

Well, I just realized that I am over a week behind on this challenge, at least as far as posting entries goes. Great.

Anyway, since it’s a holiday (and I managed to get pictures taken today) I decided to go ahead and post today’s outfit(s) even though I’m over a week behind. Also since it’s a holiday, I cheated a teensy tiny little bit.

It was a holiday!

I have two outfits today, and this is the one I wore for most of the morning. It’s cute, comfortable, and patriotic. Yay!

However, the problem (and reason I changed outfits) is that this morning I had hotdogs and hamburgers at my grandmother’s house, where there’s AC. Tonight, I went to New Orleans to Go Fourth on the River at the Spanish Plaza where I knew I’d be sitting outside in the heat, and I changed into this:

What's wrong with this outfit, you ask? Well...neither of the tops are in my 30 x 30 list. But it was a holiday! And I wore the right things earlier! 

Go Fourth on the River is really cool – there were various cover bands, and then the night wraped up with patriotic bands like The Victory Belles (who perform at our WWII Museum) and The Crescent Crew (our resident Navy rock band). Then there were dueling firework barges on the river, which was awesome.

Hellooooooo sailors!

Boom!

Boom, boom! Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon!

However, all of this awesomeness meant that the outfit I’d picked was wrong for two reasons:

1)   It’s HOOOOOOOOOT. Like, 100 degrees hot. I needed to be able to take off my outer layer, and I really don’t like doing that when my inner layer is just a tank top. 

2) I knew I’d be sitting on the ground, which is not ideal if you’re wearing white shorts. So I wore regular jean ones instead.

And then, there was a puppy! This is Savanna, an adorable little Maltese owned by my friend Liz, who’s visiting from Ohio. She took these pictures for me. Isn’t she great?

Kisses!

Outfit 1

Outer shirt: American Eagle

Tank: American Eagle

Shorts: American Eagle

Shoes: Steve Madden

Earrings: Gift

Watch: Charming Charlie's

Outfit 2

Outer shirt: Aeropostale

Shirt: American Eagle

Shorts: American Eagle

Shoes: Steve Madden

Earrings: Gift
Maltese: Savanna, borrowed from Liz

Happy Independence Day!

Greek Goddess - Day 9

I know, I know – three posts in three days. Crazy! Really, I’ve got to catch up with all the other bloggers doing the 30 for 30 thing – they’re all on like, day fifteen at least, and I’ve only got nine up. I’m so behind.

Now, there’s a story behind these photos. See, my wonderful friend Mindy took several pictures of this outfit for me. However, it was dusk, and we didn’t realize how bad the light was until we took the pictures. I tried fiddling with them, but all that did was make the colors funny, so my friend Lauren re-took them for me. I’m still going to include the one above that Mindy took because it’s awesome, but all the rest of pictures were taken by Lauren.

So. On to the outfit itself. 

Can you believe that I got this dress from Victoria’s Secret? It was on sale for $20 or $30 – I can’t remember which. I got it forever ago, and it’s become one of my wardrobe staples. I love all the colors in it, especially the little hints of yellow that I tie my shoes and necklace into (even though you can't really tell in the detail shot). They're there, I promise. On the bright side, this has coral in it too, so I could probably wear my coral cardigan with this. Hmm...

It's also not as short as it looks - I'm raising the hem a tad. Since, you know, hemlines are fairly important to me this summer. Unfortunately.

The pattern is great too - I love that it's vaguely Middle Eastern or Greek. I tend to think of it as my Greek dress since it's strapless and all the colors are so crisp. I think of Greece as being very hot, with bright whites, cool blues, and warm oranges as the dominant colors. This is probably because every picture I've ever seen of Greece (I've never actually been there) is one of those cityscapes where all the buildings are white with royal blue roofs.

See? Blue, white, cream, and yellowish tones. 

I also especially love my yellow wedges – they were my very favorite pair of shoes last summer, and are still pretty high on my list of shoes (as you can see, since they made this list). They combine all of the best summer trends – zippers, ruffles, a bright yellow color, and woven wedge heels, though I don’t think they’re technically espadrilles. I feel like they become the focal point of any outfit I wear them with, just because they’re THAT awesome.

Kisses!

Dress: Victoria's Secret

Cardigan: Victoria's Secret

Belt: Flea Market

Necklace: ShoeDazzle.com

Shoes: Qupid by Obsession Boutique

Watch: Charming Charlie's

Rocky the Flying Squirrel - Day 8

This is one of my favorite shirts ever - I feel in love with it the moment I tried it on. 

It’s beautifully light, which is especially nice now that it reaches 100 degrees on a regular basis. Granted, that also means that it's so sheer that I need to wear a tank under it, but that's really a small price to pay (or at least, it didn't stop me buying the shirt). I really like the embroidery and the colors in the embroidery – I wear blues and purples a lot, so this fits in with my wardrobe really well. And then, the sleeves are just awesome. Ha, the description of the shirt is actually “bat-winged”, which just makes me happy for some reason. Though a friend of mine did tell me that I reminded her of Rocky the Flying Squirrel from "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show". Can't imagine why...

Look, Ma! I can fly!

And, as I’ve mentioned before, I love all things ethnic and bohemian, so this is right up my alley. I did try to make it sleek and sophisticated with the dark trouser jeans, so you have to give me points for that.

Another thing that I really like about this shirt is that even though it has giant sleeves that connect to the shirt itself, I still have a visible waist when I wear it. This is why it’s especially important to try on clothes, particularly shirts like this one. These shirts with big, flowy sleeves are really popular right now, but if you want one that’s going to flatter you, you should pick one that has seaming at the waist so that it doesn’t make you look shapeless.

I hope you guys like the outfit. Kisses!

Shirt: Luv2Luv from Imagine Boutique

Jeans: !It Jeans from Imagine Boutique

Shoes: Classified from Obsession Boutique

Watch: Relic

Earrings: World Market (from the first 30 x 30 post)

Prepster - Day 7

 I almost titled this post "Joe Cool" because that's how I feel in this pose. I need sunglasses and a wall to lean against...anyway.

I love these pants - the color and shape are just perfect, and I have to make a conscious effort not to wear them every day. They’re actually ankle pants, which I’ve always felt is a weird length, but I think because these pants are so slim, it works.

I feel very WASP-y in this outfit (hence the pearls) - it’s actually something that I don’t usually wear. You may have noticed that I tend towards dresses, ethnic prints, and flowy silhouettes, so I’m outside of my box, even though I feel very conservative. I still really like it, though. And the pearl earrings were a gift from my aunt that she got in the Philippines, so they're still kind of ethnic, even if you can't really tell.

I felt like this was a nice mix of structured and soft – the striped button-down (I know it’s hard to tell), vest, and straight pants feel very structured to me, but then the light, pastel colors softened the whole thing.

Overall, I really like this outfit, despite the fact that it’s so different from the things I normally wear. I can do preppy too! Yay!

Kisses!

Shirt: American Eagle from Change Clothes Consignment

Vest: Old Navy

Pants: Gap

Shoes: Unlisted from Change Clothes Consignment

Headband: Target

Earrings: Manila, Philippines

Watch: Relic

Bracelet: American Eagle