Style Challenge: Wear Something That Hasn't Left Your Closet in 6+ Months

I was really excited about this week's Putting Me Together Style Challenge -- wear something you haven't worn in more than six months. I browsed through my closet and, let me tell you, I'm almost ashamed of how many things I found that fit the challenge.

 

After digging out a bunch of pieces that haven't seen the light of day in quite a long time, I put together several outfits for the week. But Ohio decided not to cooperate, and I didn't get a chance to wear two of the cutest ones because they'd really look better with flats -- and our weather this week has been snow, snow, and bitter freakin' cold -- and I wasn't about to freeze my little tootsies off! (In just over a week I'll be sinking my feet into some warm Hawaii sand I'd really like to have all my toes for that experience!)

Monday: Jarrod and I both had the day of work so we went out to lunch at Panera Bread -- the perfect lunch for a snowy day. Although who am I kidding? I could eat soup and a sandwich for lunch every day forever!

The gold-sequined tank top has languished in my closet for at least two years. I can't remember the last time I wore those gold earrings. And I bought the boots from Target over Thanksgiving and (for some crazy reason!) hadn't ever gotten around to wearing them. Paired with my workhorse pink sweater, I think everything came together to make a pretty cute outfit!

 

 Tuesday: Work.

I'm really not much of a dress person, and I last wore this dress over two years ago when we lived in Hawaii. And this cream cardigan... it's a perfectly good sweater, but for some reason I never think to grab it. I guess I always gravitate  more toward my gray and tan sweaters. This was my favorite outfit of the week; it was cute and surprisingly comfy.

 

Wednesday: Work and grocery shopping in horrendous weather. (Snow and slippery roads followed by sunshine, wind and extreme cold. Brr.)

I bought this sweater from Macy's a couple years ago on clearance and with an extra coupon. Its original price was over $100 (!!!) and I guess since it's so fragile I was afraid to wear and wash it too often. Which is too bad, because while the color is still gorgeous the silhouette is a bit outdated. The paper-bead necklace and freshwater pearl earrings also don't get enough wear -- and they match perfectly with the pink sweater!

In case you're wondering, no, I didn't wear these slippers to work. Though wouldn't that be nice?! I had on the same boots from Tuesday's outfit, but after grocery shopping they were covered in snow and salt and I couldn't bring them in the house. Alas, you get to see what I wear all day, every day, when I'm at home. I have two pairs of these L.L. Bean slippers and I really could not live without them.

 

 

I loved this challenge! It was fun and forced me to look through all my clothes and re-discover some great pieces that don't get enough wear -- or else are just completely forgotten about, like the poor lonely dress from Tuesday. I encourage you to take a browse through your closet and see if you have as much luck as I did!

 

Style Challenge: Wear A Valentine's Color

The Style Challenge at Putting Me Together this week is to wear red, pink or purple in honor of Valentine's Day. We don't celebrate Valentine's Day as a couple (Jarrod thinks it's a totally commercialized fake holiday, and really, it is) but I still like to send cards, decorate and wear appropriate colors.

I actually had planned for this post to feature three outfits with a different color each day. But the pictures of my coral sweater from yesterday didn't come out at all (thanks, perpetually gloomy Ohio weather, for the horrible lighting) and today it's snowing so I can't wear the red flats I had planned. So! That leaves just one outfit -- the pink one!

I really love the way this outfit came together! I just bought the striped sweater from Old Navy and this was the first time I'd worn it. It's super-comfy, although a little lightweight for this time of year.

 

The pink flats... oh, I love them. But horror of horrors, I somehow got mud or some random library goo on them at work Tuesday! Any tips on cleaning suede would be appreciated! I found some info online, but I'm nervous to mess up my favorite shoes even more!

I'm really excited about next week's Style Challenge: wear something you haven't worn in over six months. I definitely have some things lurking in the dark depths of my closet that haven't seen the light of day in quite a while. Maybe I'll make a week of it!

Style Challenge: Copy an Outfit from Pinterest

It's Thursday, and that means it's time for the Style Challenge at Putting Me Together. This week's challenge was to replicate an outfit from Pinterest. I don't have a zillion things pinned on Pinterest, but I do have a few cute outfits saved and it was fun to look through them and decide which one I wanted to draw from for inspiration.

Here's my outfit, which was warm, comfy and had the advantage of getting me to wear one of my hand-knit shawls that seem to languish in the dark depths of my closet. It's not an exact match for the Pinterest outfit, but it's got lots of similar elements. And it pushed me a bit out of my comfort zone; I normally wouldn't wear a button-down shirt completely unbuttoned like that, which is weird because I wear most of my cardigans open. I was worried it would take away some of my shape, but the stripes underneath helped.

This is the look I was going for. Here's the Pinterest link.

Striped shirt: check.
Chambray button-down: check.
Knit neckwear: check.
Dark pants: check.
Brown boots: check.

How'd I do? Check back next week to see me attempt to try a new hairstyle (yikes -- not my forte!).

Style Challenge: Wear a Bright Color

It's week 2 of the Style Challenge created by Audrey, awesome fashion blogger from Putting Me Together. Last week's prompt was to wear a dress, and that was definitely a challenge for me. This week, it's wear a bright color.

Not hard at all, since my closet is full of them! I do think I could've put a little more effort and creativity into my look, though, since this outfit is pretty run-of-the-mill for me. The Style Challenges should help me push my boundaries or experiment with new looks, not just pick any ol' thing that I'd normally wear. But, alas, this outfit does feature my favorite bright color combo -- coral and turquoise.

 

This is the world's worst picture of my outfit (well, it did beat out the other four I took!), but I had just gotten home from work and it was about to rain, so I had to hustle!

What's your favorite bright, happy color to wear? Stop by next week to see how I pull off the Challenge for week 3: copy a look from Pinterest!

Style Challenge: Wear a Dress

I was really excited to see a new feature and link-up on my favorite style blog, Putting Me Together. Audrey has come up with a series of weekly fashion challenges -- anything from trying a new hairstyle to copying an outfit from Pinterest. The challenge for week 1 is to WEAR A DRESS.

This may not sound very hard, but for one thing it's winter in Ohio. For another, I'm a tried-and-true jeans girl and I hardly own any dresses. But one of my goals is to add more skirts and dresses to my wardrobe -- they always make such put-together outfits.

I dug around in my closet and came up with this pretty cream lace dress that I wore to my brother's high school graduation back in 2012 and -- woo hoo! -- it still fit! I paired it with a dark pink sweater, a leopard-print belt, leggings, brown boots and blue-green earrings for a pop of color.

 I was pretty pleased with the look I put together and I even got a few compliments on my dress at work! It was a super comfy outfit and I'm going to make it a point to add this dress into my regular wardrobe rotation. I'm sure I can come up with a few more fun ways to wear it!

Check back next week for style challenge 2: wear a bright color!

 

Monday Musings 2

Do you ever have weeks where you're just in a funk? Where you're in a perpetual state of grumpiness, you feel like crap mentally and physically, everything seems just... blah, everyone you know gets on your nerves, and you just feel burnt out on your day-to-day life? Where you're fully aware that you're acting like a total bitch, yet you can't stop? That was me last week.

Here's hoping I can leave my melancholy mood behind and enjoy Thanksgiving week! For now, here are some of the good things that happened to me while I was busy being a grouch:

I spent Monday morning doing this:

Snow day! We had 3-4 inches of snow from Sunday to Monday and I got to go into work 2 1/2 hours late. And what better way to spend a snowy, cold morning than work on my Gryffindor scarf while watching "Harry Potter"?!

These arrived:

I've had my eye on these teal pointy-toe flats from Old Navy forever, but I never saw them at the store and I didn't want to pay $7 for shipping. Finally they went on sale -- and there was free shipping! You can bet I snatched these puppies up. How sweet are these shoes?!

I wore this:

I wear jeans a lot. Like, almost every single day of the year regardless of the season. They're my daily uniform. But this summer I bought a couple skirts hoping to branch out a bit. This one was too short to wear to work without something under it, but it looks pretty awesome with leggings. I took a step out of my comfort zone with this outfit and was rewarded with several compliments. Woo hoo!

We bought these:

Florida Georgia Line, baby! We went to see them with Jason Aldean in Columbus back in September, but it was a total clusterfuck getting into the concert and we missed half of FGL! This time they're going to be right here in Dayton and I couldn't be more excited to have a second chance to see my favorite country group!

I whipped this up:

That is one badass pom-pom, if I do say so myself! :)

We saw this:

It was really good, though I wasn't quite as blown away as I was with "Catching Fire." I'm already looking forward to the conclusion next year. I wonder what they'll do about Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character, or if they'd already done most of the filming before he died? If you've already seen "Mockingjay," what did you think? Ooh, and I really loved that Lorde song that played during the credits, "Flicker." Look it up if you like Lorde!

I discovered this guy:

I first heard "Take Me To Church" a few months ago (which is not actually about going to church at all, but rather more of a political commentary) and finally listened to Hozier's whole album on Spotify. What a gorgeous, soulful sound he has!

Stitch Fix Box 2 Review: Fail

Earlier this week I received my second Stitch Fix box, and I'm sad to say that I just don't think Stitch Fix is for me. You can see a description of Stitch Fix, my reasons for signing up for the subscription, and the items from my first box here. (See the items from this box below.)

So why am I canceling my subscription?

*I was so excited to have a real, live stylist pick out clothes she thought would suit me and maybe take me a little outside what I'd normally choose. I was hoping to transition to a slightly more grown-up wardrobe and avoid miserable shopping trips to the mall. But after two boxes and two different stylists, I just don't feel they have a good grasp of what I like. My second stylist DID listen to my feedback about the first Fix -- I wanted more form-fitting clothes and summer stuff (which should have been obvious for a May box?) -- but even so, nothing was quite right. I included a link to some outfit posts from my blog in my Stitch Fix style profile, but I'm pretty sure neither stylist looked at it to get an idea of what kinds of clothes I prefer. The first stylist seemed to focus on my meager Pinterest style board, which does give an idea of some clothes I think are pretty but shows nothing of my body type, how clothes fit on me, and what I actually wear day-to-day.

 

*The clothes just don't seem well-made and high-quality enough for the prices. Maybe if the clothing was all made in the U.S.A. I'd be willing to pay $50 or $60 for things, but most are made in India and China just like everything else, and the fabrics don't seem to be any different than what I'd find at Old Navy or Target -- places where I'm trying to shop less as my goal is to focus more on quality over quantity with my wardrobe. (I'm not having much success so far!)

*With my wide hips, long legs and arms, and bodily imperfections, I really need to try stuff on; for this reason I rarely buy clothes online. I was worried sizing would be a factor and sure enough it was. That's not really Stitch Fix's fault, though.

And below are the five items from my Stitch Fix Box #2:

 

1. Pomelo brand Brentwood Space Dye Tiered Tank, $58
I actually liked this tank top well enough. I wasn't crazy about the "space-dye" (little white lines throughout the blue that you can't see well in the photo) but it fit pretty well and I liked how it disguised my stomach. However, it was almost $60 and I just couldn't pay that much for a tank top that that I wasn't absolutely drooling over -- or really, ANY tank top. A sweater, sure. Jeans, definitely. But a little tank top? I considered it, but in the end I just couldn't shell out 6 hours worth of work at the library for a tank top that I couldn't even WEAR to work.

 

2. Renee C brand Haime Abstract Chevron Spaghetti Strap Tank, $48
Stitch Fix stylist, why oh why oh why couldn't you have sent a regular tank top with this amazing chevron pattern?! I absolutely adored the print, but the halter neck was kind of weird (though even I admit that it looks good on) and as a rule I avoid clothes that require a (horrifically uncomfortable) strapless bra. I almost kept this one, but it was a bit small in the hips and bunched weirdly right above my butt. In the end, I couldn't get over how wrinkly and odd it looked in the back; that, combined with the strapless bra issue, had me worried that it would just hang in my closet and I'd have wasted $50.

 

3. Angie brand Royce Spaghetti Strap Paisley Print Dress, $58
I knew as soon as I pulled this dress out of the box that it wasn't going to be for me. I actually like this style of dress (other than the spaghetti straps, due to my aforementioned aversion to strapless bras) but I didn't care for the pattern. I know the dress looks decent in the picture, but the fit was off. It gapped badly in the armpits (a perpetual problem I have with dresses -- apparently my hips aren't proportionate to my boobs) and the elastic cinching hit at a really uncomfortable spot, somewhere between my natural waist and my bust, and I kept wanting to tug it up or down.

 

4. Pink Martini brand Joshua Colored Ankle Jean, $64
I love the cobalt color of these and have absolutely no problem paying more than twice this price for jeans. I was thrilled to see that I might be saved from pants shopping but I should've known it was too good to be true. These are a generic size large, which seems odd for something as specific size-wise as jeans, and they were way too small. I couldn't even get them over my thighs. And I think that even if they had been big enough in the waist they'd have been too short. :(

 

5. Zad brand Charlize Tiered Chandelier Earrings, $34
These earrings aren't my style and they seemed really cheap. They looked like they were made out of ball chain and couldn't possibly be worth $34.

Stitch Fix Subscription Box Review

A couple weeks ago, I received my much-anticipated first delivery from Stitch Fix, an innovative though-the-mail fashion company. For $20 a month, you get a personal stylist who picks out five pieces of clothing and accessories for you. First you fill out an extensive style profile. Then you get the box of goodies in the mail, have three days to try everything on and decide what to keep, then you simply pop the return shipping envelope in the mail. If you keep anything, the $20 stylist fee is deducted from the price of your items (and if you keep everything you get a 25% discount). The whole thing is extremely fun, easy and convenient!

I'm in a weird style place right now; some of the stores and brands I've chosen for so long now seem too youthful as I approach 30, but I often find that the more grown-up styles and cuts don't do anything for me. I'm also in a constant battle of quality vs. quantity. I KNOW those cheap-y $5 tops from Old Navy and Target don't fit me right and I should stop buying them. But who can resist a $5 shirt? Instead, I really need to focus on having fewer pieces, but pieces that fit me right, are made well and are comfortable.

That's where Stitch Fix comes in. I signed up hoping that the eye of a professional stylist would help me in transitioning my wardrobe to adulthood. And get my out of my comfort zone, with some fun new pieces and colors. Stitch Fix states right up front that the average price of its items is $65, so I knew I'd have to bite the bullet in that regard and get over some of my cheap-ass-ness.

My first box was sort of a success. At first glance, I liked every one of the five items. But the three tops just didn't fit me right, and the scarf was way too expensive for something that I didn't really need. After much debate, I only kept the necklace. I wrote lots of feedback about why the rejected pieces didn't work for me, and I'm hopeful that my next box will be a better fit. I was most disappointed that, despite the box arriving in mid-May, there were no short sleeves or tank tops. All the sweaters were fairly lightweight, but I know I wouldn't really have worn any of them until fall. This is hot, humid Ohio for god's sake! I asked for my next box to include summer stuff -- maybe something cute for me to wear to Lollapalooza in August.

If you're interested in signing up for Stitch Fix deliveries (they can be sent once a month or less frequently, it's up to you), follow this link and I'll get a credit for my next box! Woo hoo!

http://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3687430

And without further ado, here are the goodies that filled up my May box (I accidentally tossed the price list, but costs per item ranged from $38 to around $60):
 

Oh, the delicious anticipation!

 

 

This is the one piece I kept. It was over $40... way more than I'd normally pay for a necklace! But I loved the colors and the length, and it's crafted from paper beads made by women in an impoverished country (Uganda, I think?), so hopefully my $40 did a bit of good. I've worn this necklace on several occasions already and gotten compliments each time!

 

Beautiful but way-overpriced scarf!

 

The dolman sleeves of this sweatshirt did nothing for me. And it was just way too loose in the sides. I told my stylist that I need clothes with more shaping in the waist since I've got "child-bearing" hips.

 

I really liked this funnel-neck sweater -- though it refused to photograph properly and was actually a kelly/grass green, not the pretty turquoise that it appears here. The fabric was soft and light and I reeeeally wanted to like it, but it didn't do anything for my figure. It would have counted as stepping out of my comfort zone, since I probably wouldn't have chosen that color on my own.

 

This cocoon sweater with the fun accents on the back was the item I was most excited about when I opened my box, but it just didn't fit right at all. Sad!

My next fix comes June 17. I can't wait to see what sartorial wonders that box will hold!

7x7 Wardrobe Remix

When I saw that my favorite fashion blogger Audrey from Putting Me Together was participating in a 7x7 remix link-up, I decided to join in too! I've taken a hiatus from What I Wore Wednesday at The Pleated Poppy and I thought it'd be fun to have a reason to spend some time in my closet.

A 7x7 wardrobe remix involves selecting 7 items of clothing (including shoes, in this case) and using them to create 7 different outfits. The point is to help you see your clothes in new ways and come up with outfits you might not have thought of otherwise. I decided to include two brand-new, never-before-worn purchases in my remix to make it even more productive.

The cast of characters:

The Outfits:

Look #1:

Target shorts +

Old Navy chambray +

Kohl's flip flops

 

Look #2:

Target shorts +

Kohl's tank top +

Kohl's flip flops

 

 Look #3:

Target shorts +

Banana Republic striped shirt +

Kohl's flip flops

 *Sidenote: I absolutely love this soft, comfy shirt with its cute three-button detail at the shoulder. It's the most versatile top in my whole wardrobe! (Plus it was on clearance for around $10!)

 

 

Look #4:
Seven For All Mankind jeans +

Banana Republic striped shirt +

Kohl's flip flops

Look #5:

Seven For All Mankind jeans +

Banana Republic striped shirt +

Old Navy chambray +

Kohl's flip flops

Look #6:
7 For All Mankind Jeans +

Kohl's tank top +

Macy's sweater +

Kohl's flip flops

Look #7:

Seven For All Mankind jeans +
Banana Republic striped shirt +
Macy's sweater +
Kohl's flip flops