Fashion Book Review

Is fashion being a challenge for you? Are you questioning what works for you? Do you need help with a new chapter in your life?

The library has been my favorite source of information when it comes to fashion lately. I have always loved reading a good magazine. Fashion magazines are my vice of choice, but books have an appeal all their own. Not being able to rip out pages is sad but the feel of the books pages make up for it.


Last weekend I read Isaac Mizrahi's "How to Have Style".


It was a great weekend read. I loved how they showed two different shoes with the same outfit and how they had one woman try on everything in her closet and showed what worked and what didn't. A lot of the information in the book was semi common sense but it is put in a way that makes you think about it. It brings to light a lot of thought inducing wardrobe help.

I would suggest this as a read/buy.

What I Wore - Thrift store finds... PART TWO

American Apparel Shirt, Target Cardigan via Goodwill, black cord jeans Kohls, Grey thigh high socks (Target), White and Wood strappy platform heels (Old Navy), Daisy Fuentes hoop earrings (Kohls), belt (Marshall's)

I really wanted to use simple accessories for this outfit. A day to day basic for me is my hope love faith circle necklace. I was able to add my first Fossil watch, and my live your life bracelet (AE) to my outfit but I wasn't able to wear was my shamrock necklace. Well any of them. I thought they would flow well with the greens in the cardigan. I couldn't (sniff sniff) find (sniff) any of my shamrocks!!! Where have you gone shamrocks?

In a side note, I talk to inanimate objects. Most if not all inanimate objects. My truck's name is Griffy. My fourwheeler's name is Grizzy. Nothing earth shaking but I do talk to them. HAHA! So again SHAMROCKS where are YOU?

What I Wore - Thrift store finds... PART ONE

Excitement... CHECK
Creativity... CHECK
New Clothing... CHECK

So I am debuting a few of my Goodwill finds with my outfit from Thursday. I will look forward to wearing each of my pieces throughout the next week or weeks.

Why I like to shop could be explained by that, I like the challenge of putting items together in creative and pleasing ways. I must admit that I would be a lot more creative and outgoing if I were dressing someone other than myself. I would love to have the opportunity to dress someone a lot skinnier than myself. There are so many layering options that make a body such as mine look heavy. A person with less meat on their bones would be a great creative test for me.

Dress shirt, motorcycle jacket, black dress pants, new brown oxford shoes, hanes tank, shiny belt = OUTFIT

I don't know what is up with my alien coloring in this photo. Please overlook it for the outfit!


What's a girl to do when she has this great new casual jacket to wear and a business meeting to go to later in the same day? Switch the moto jacket out for a dress jacket and the transition to Super WORK Girl are COMPLETE! TADA!

What I Wore Wednesday

I read in Lucky magazine about the sweater clips that would hold sweaters together for the women back in the 50's(?). I didn't have one of those to hold my cropped sweater together, but I do have a brooch and a double ended suspender clip. I pinned the brooch to the clip and had the perfect solution. I paired my basic black dress pants (Gap) with a fun printed shirt (Kohl's) and my black cropped sweater (?). I added my reversible shiny belt (Target) and my pearl bead choker (thrifted). My awesome earrings (Target) didn't make it through the day. After helping my neighbor fix her computer under her desk, my earring fell out and the shell part of it broke. So sad! My accessories are having a rough week!

I changed my shoes before I left the house and wore my trusty black Sofft boots. The black thing I am holding is my awesome wrap. I bought this at Herbergers on sale and I LOVE it. I wear this wrap as a scarf all the time. I hope to wear it as a wrap once the weather permits it so keep an eye out for it. I will have to show you the detail/print on it at some point. I LOVE IT!

Thanks

I want to thank everyone for all their great comments. I am not good about responding unless I am asked a direct question so THANKS for all your comments. I love to read them please keep leaving them. Feel free to ask any questions.

Another thanks to everyone for their inspiring words. I have branched out majorly in the fashion arena since I started reading everyone's blogs. I hope to show some of the pictures that inspire me when I have time. (When is that anyway? Maybe this weekend, but I think I said that last weekend. HAHA)

Tim Gunn has Passion for Fashion

I am a fan of Tim Gunn. That being said I like his show Tim Gunn's Guide to Style. I like the idea of having great basics to build a wardrobe on. I have been working on building the basics in my wardrobe.

Tim's Ten Items Every Woman Should Have:
• Basic black dress
• Trench coat
• Classic dress pants
• Classic white shirt
• Skirt
• Blazer
• Day dress
• Cashmere sweater
• Jeans
• A comfortable alternative to a sweatsuit

In the past couple weeks, I have added a day dress, a couple pencil skirts, a little black dress, and a cashmere sweater to my wardrobe. I was missing more than half of this list of what Tim Gunn (I agree) thinks are good basics to have. Thank you Tim for opening my eyes. Since I have a black trench coat, some dress pants, a white shirt, a blazer, and some jeans I think I am doing well now. I am not really a sweatsuit person so I must have an alternative already. Does that mean that I am well dressed? Probably not but I think I am well on my way to being happy with my wardrobe. I definetly haven't had many I have nothing to wear days.

My sister in law did open my eyes to the fact that although I have great clothes for everyday and for work, I do NOT have the proper club attire. Jess, we will need to fix this problem PRONTO!

Lately I have been thinking about the point in the show where they ask the person to pull their five must have, can't live without items out of their closet. They are supposed to pick items that make them happy, that make them smile. I don't really know what I would pick for this? I am sure that at least some of my jeans would make the cut. But what else would I pick? Could I pick as many as five? Could I pick as few as five if I changed how I look at it? I would want these five items to be so fabulous I almost wouldn't want to wear them. I would want them to be so fabulous that I would want to hang them in the living room to stare at all the time. Do I have anything that reaches that status? Do I own too many clothes that I don't love any of what I have? Are my standards to high to pick five? Are they too low when I purchase things?

What do you think?
Do you have five FAVORITE items?
What are they?

Goodwilling hunting

I went on a shopping spree at the local goodwill. I won't tell you how much I spent... I just keep telling myself that it all goes for a good cause.

Shopping sprees like this one are when I wish that I had a fellow thrifter/shopper to go with me, but I don't have someone here with me so I went alone. That can be dangerous but I had an idea of a list of what I wanted to get so off I went. I was looking for a sweater to cut apart, a pair of pants to crop, a pair of jeans to destroy, and some dress shirts to experiment with. I DID find the dress shirts and a million other things I wasn't looking for!

I wanted to take a picture of my cart load of things to try on but I forgot. So sad!
I ran into two girls (sixteen?) by the dressing room and one of the girls looked at my cart with open mouthed shock and asked me if I was going to try all of that on. When I replied yes she said, "and I thought I was a shopaholic." Too funny!

I tried on most if not all of the things in my cart and then had to work on making some hard decisions. Out of a batch of about four skirts, six sweaters/cardigans, 1 jacket, 1 pair of jeans, 3 capris, 9 button downs, two dresses, some other shirts, and about 5 pairs of shoes(this is an estimate, I didn't count them), I narrowed it down to these items.

I FOUND a motorcycle jacket!!! (blue cordouroy with a slight sheen)
and a little black dress... ( on the maternity bandwagon for no reason other than it works for a big chested girl) Both items are brand new Target castoffs with tag on.


a sweatshirt and pencil skirt...



some great shoes... black flats are brand new Target castoff with tags on



A handkerchief shirt, a blue tunic, argyle cardigan... cardigan brand new Target cast off tags on



and three great dress shirts.



I am very excited about the items that I got. Can't wait to wear them all! I would wear them all at once if I could but I don't think that would be very fashionable.

I did pair the motorcycle jacket, the middle dress shirt, and the brown loafers together for my Thursday outfit so stay tuned for that!

So Sad... and MAD!

I was having a watch crisis today. I have 3 watches. Three!

I lost a link in one of the watches which made it too small to wear. I remembered that the battery was dead on one, and the last one is too casual to wear with my work suit. What's a girl to do?

I felt naked without my watch all day.

I have since solved the problem. I got a new battery, found my spare link, and was once again clothed... watched??

I am a huge Fossil fan. If you need a new watch and have never owned a Fossil I highly recommend them. They are at a decent price point.I think I paid $65 for mine. The watches are pretty indestructible. I am not gentle on my watches. They get bashed into things, they get hit, pulled, pushed, even thrown on occasion. One of my watches was even stolen! (and subsequently found) When I finally cracked the glass on my first watch after years of wearing, since they couldn't fix the glass they replaced my watch with a brand new similarly priced watch. How cool is that? For a watch for under $100? I still have the second watch after daily wear for two or three years. I have supplemented another Fossil watch about 6 months ago and I wear that watch daily. I love them!

Check out there watches here!

So much to blog about, so little time...

Bear with me, I have several posts started but I haven't had time to finish them. I am single parenting (to our doggie) for the week and let me tell you, she can be a handful when she misses her dad. She was looking in the coat closet... that we don't use.... as if to say," Dad, where are you?" Cute but pathetic.

Oh and I also bought out the local Goodwill. Maybe I just felt like it. There are many things that I touched back on the shelves just taunting me to come back and purchase them.
"HOLD ON GREAT ITEMS! I must ponder you a while. I might return if the wind blows me in your direction again." Or if my truck drives me back there! I had a blast. Jess, I am sorry but I did NOT get a picture of my overloaded cart. I started sorting things out to try on before I remembered. Thanks for talking me through it!

If nothing comes up I will have a barrage of posts ready tomorrow and at least one or two will be posted with a few waiting in the wings for the next couple of days.

Want to hear how the Alba lotion is faring?
How the Insta Dry nail polish is lasting?
What I have been wearing for dog walking duties?
How badly I raided the local Goodwill this evening?

Check back for information on all of that and more.

I haven't gotten many comments on the three words post. I am going to post what I think on the topic soon but I was hoping to hear from you first! Read the post and write your comments here.

What I Wore - Fake Denim Trousers on a Tuesday

Dressing can be interesting for me, not impossible but interesting. I am a top heavy girl with a lacking amount in the behind area. Granted the behind has grown in the past year, but it has not made dressing less of a challenge. Daily I think about how to minimize or at least not spotlight my chest area, and how to make my butt look something other than flat. I found these pants at Marshall's a couple weeks ago. I fell in love with the fact they are denim like but they are dress trousers. I feel like I am being BAD when I wear them to work. I think these pants would look great with many different tops and I can't wait to wear them in the summer when I don't have to add as many layers to the top half of my outfit. (Summer are you coming?)



I paired these pants with an Old Navy white tank top, a black Target long sleeve tee, and an American Eagle stadium cardigan.

I wore one of my MANY pairs of boots to finish off my outfit.

Facial Feelings for Healings and the Tips of my Fingers

I have been having skin issues on my face for a couple weeks now. I am having the post sick winter skin blues. I am testing a new facial moisturizer so wish me luck with that!

I am trying this...

Alba Aloe and Green Tea Moisturizer

I also decided to test out the fingernail polish that caught my eye on my moisturizer shopping trip. Sally Hansen Insta Dri Fast Dry Nail Polish. I found this in Blush Rush.

I am one of those people who can't keep nails from smearing while still painting them and can't go ten minutes without chipping them. I must say that I like the color a lot and I have NOT chipped a nail all day. Granted I only have one hand painted so far... oops. Lazy.

Not chipping is not EVEN the best part of this nail polish. The brush on this nail polish is fabulous. The brush is wider, it is softer, and it is tapered. I LOVE IT!

I will let you know how it lasts in a couple days. If it stays like this, I will be throwing out my current collection of OK nail polishes to buy a more of this polish in ever color.

What I Wore - Purple Monday

This is my I don't want to do anything fun outfit. You haven't seen a lot of this yet as I just started to blog my outfits and I have had a lot of inspiration (and new clothes) but I see black dress pant outfits in our future. I LOVE a good pair of black dress pants and ANYTHING.

Today's inspiration was the white tank peeking out from under the purple sweater. The white tank has awesome purple and pink detailing on it. I loved the colors and design and had to have it. The tank is Old Navy. The sweater is thrifted for $5. (It is sooo soft it is quite shocking! Literally. Every time my husband hugs me we get shocked.) I added my purple belt for some more purple color. (Target) I made the necklace that I am wearing. I got my inspiration from the movie Monster in Law. I was watching this JLo flick a couple months ago and I loved the necklace that JLo was wearing. I went out and bought clear string and a huge clear pendant. The pendant has a prismic coloring to it and is a heart shape. I LOVE it. So simple yet fun!

What I Wore - Valentine's Day

My husband and I decided to do a dinner in together instead of trying to beat the rushes of the big Valentine's Day melee. We decided instead to do lunch at Olive Garden and some shopping before heading to the grocery store to get the proper supplies for dinner.

After my husband got be gorgeous flowers for Valentine's Day, I decided to dress up for HIM. I am a large chested girl. My husband is a fan of that. For work and almost everything else, I cover up or minimize what I have but for dinner with my husband I let them do what they wanted to. That is my warning haha!



I pulled on my second favorite pair of jeans, my seven for all mankinds. I added a black and white shirt that I got from H&M in Indianapolis last year. I layered a white vneck tank top from JCPenney underneath the H&M top. The H&M top has a black band under the bust but to make it a Valentine's Day outfit I added a red satin tie as a belt doubled around my ribs. I wore a red American Eagle bracelet that Santa got me and a red rubber bracelet on the other arm. (I would LOVE to pile on a bunch of bangles every day and jingle away but I am sadly not able to. I can't fit bangles over my hands. Yes they are large hands.) The hat is due to a bad hair day. Every day is sort of a bad hair day for me but this was a hat day for me. I picked this hat up at Herbergers on sale one day and I wore it religiously for a couple weeks last summer. I then misplaced the hat and thought I had lost it forever in the move. A couple weeks ago during a weather change I FOUND IT. I love when you find the long lost item in a forgotten coat pocket. It is almost as good as money in the pants pocket. I closed the outfit with my aldo cowboy boots. Cute to look at but comfortable enough to walk the mall in.

Thanks to husband for being my photographer.

Three Words

If you had to pick three words to describe the style that you have what would they be?
If you had to pick three words to describe the style that you want what would they be?
Do you have the style that you want? Do you want to change something about your style? Are you stuck in a rut or learning what you want from life and style?

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
My husband surprised me this morning with flowers right away. Aren't they gorgeous? Better than red roses in my book! I love the orange orchids and I love the fuschia and pink colors mixed in. They are the best ever!

Now what to do with the rest of the day???

What I Wore - Going Out

Husband and I went out to the movies last night.

It was good! I want to go see it again. I don't think I could talk my husband into it again but oh well he said it was alright and he gets mega points for going. Husband even got dressed up for the movie. He put on the Ferragamo shoes that we picked up in a local thrift store.

I was going to put on a cute dress to go out but I wanted warmth and comfort more. In the end I layered one of my dresses under a long sleeve white teeshirt as a tunic. I put on my hot jeans and a pair of sexy heels. (BEWARE OF ICE!) I added tall socks for me and my new necklace that I made the other day.



I felt pretty good about my outfit. Now if only my hair was long enough for a pony tail that would stay in!

What I Wore Today - Bumble BEEEEEE

Today is of course Friday so in my line of work that means JEANS!!!!!!!!!!! I love me some jeans. The sad part about jeans is that in my former job I could wear them every day and I had ok jeans. Now I can only wear them once a week and that is IF something doesn't come up on Friday and I have some CRAZY awesome pairs of jeans. So SaD!

This morning I was ready to pair my jeans with something fun.
I went with the pick your accessory and build from there philosophy.

The belt is where the outfit started. This belt (ahem tie) is the tie that my husband wore for our wedding. (Our colors were blue and yellow hence the tie.) From the belt tie, I added the yellow shirt which for sake of warmth is layered over a black Old Navy tank top and a black long sleeve tee from Target. (I have put this Ann Taylor Loft yellow shirt on several times over the past month and never liked how it looked. The shirt is just not meant to be layered for me but today I perservered and wore the shirt layered.) Since the yellow shirt added some extra size to my already large enough frame, I added the black vest to slim the outfit. Again out of necessity is the real brown belt from Marshall's. I have no hips and no butt. This makes it tough to keep pants up. The pants that don't stay up, my Seven for All Mankinds. These were my first CRAZY awesome jeans. My husband took me shopping for these as my anniversary present this year and I LOVE them. They are second only to the pair that he got me for Christmas. Those of you who know me know how much I love the Sevens. You can imagine my love for my AG's. They both fit in unique ways that work for my rectangular shape.

For accessories, I added my Fossil chain necklace that was a Christmas present from Santa. Thanks Santa! My love circle necklace from my husband is ever present, as is my Fossil watch. (Yes I love Fossil.) As something different my love, faith, etc.. bracelet was the final accessory.



The bottom of my outfit has been a little controversial today. I must say that I DO NOT like socks with open toed shoes. That being said, I am wearing socks with open toed shoes. I have wanted to wear my birthday shoes since my birthday and it has been too cold. It could continue to be too cold for several months so I thought I would break them out anyway.

The controversial part of my outfit has not been that I am wearing socks with my open toed shoes. It seems to bother people what my socks SAY! Again I support my small town redneck nature. I am wearing yellow John Deere Green socks. Boy does that seem to KILL all the city people where I work.

I love it. I am a hick and I know it. If I felt like a total hick it might bother me but I think that if I dressed to be citified you would not be able to pick me out of a line up of full blown city people. Because of the chameleon like abilities that I carry I love to surprise people with my redneck side.

My foot is not deformed although it looks like it here.


Here is a close up of my belt.



Go John Deere! Run Like a Deer!

Husband and I are supposed to be going to see my movie tonight. No not Friday the 13th. Confessions of a shopaholic. I am EXCITED! It had better be good. Maybe I will get a pic if I/we look cute!

Jewelry Fun

I have been trying to clean up my bead collection and find some great uses for all the wonderful beads that I have spent a bunch of money on over the years. I tend to buy great things when I go to the crafty stores and then when I do to put them together, I end up not adding my favorite beads. My thinking seems to be that if I put the great beads together as something and don't use it it will be wasted. What I am learning is that you can cut alot of the stuff apart and reuse it.

Here is what I did last night. As usual, the pieces are a work in progress. Two Necklaces, a bracelet, and a set of earrings





I love being crafty. Now I just have to figure out what is wrong with my sewing machine. I want to finish my tshirt blanket, a couple dresses, some more jewelry, and other crafty items etc.

Here is a list for me:
tshirt blanket
dress
dress
earrings
necklaces
ribbon threaded watch
adjust offwhite skirt
add ribbon to pencil skirt
tie belts
rubber band shoes
black go dress stitching

That's it for now.. I will have to add more soon.

What I Wore Today - Business Professional

So for my second day back but my first feeling human enough to care about what I wore, I had to get dressed for a business meeting. I paired a grey shift dress with cap sleeves under an Old Navy tshirt with a square neckline. I added a Guess belt from Marshall's and my own necklace. I also added my black pumps. I realized as I was choosing shoes that I have several great pairs of boots (dress and cowboy.. ok somewhere around seven pairs of boots and that isn't counting winter, walking, or steel toed) lots of comfy flats or other shoes that work well with jeans for where I used to work, and lots of fun sandals and open heels. I have somewhere around 2 pairs of closed toe pumps. I think that means that I need some new shoes but boy oh boy where to start.

I also put on a suit coat. Actually it is the coat from my suit.

Back..

I hope to be back blogging soon. The sick bug took me down and I am hoping to be back...
Thanks!

What I Wore Today

You might be shocked but this is my "girlie" outfit. Yes the only thing that is girlie on me is pink lacy tank top sticking out. That is quite girly for me. I used a black lacy bottom American Apparel tshirt as my starting point for layering in this outfit and I had to ungirlify the outfit by putting the black cardigan over the top. These are my new lucky jeans. I was trying a different cut with these jeans that I am a little unsure about but I LOVE the pockets!

I finished off the outfit with my ALDO mens shortie boots.

TGIF this week! TGIF!
I think the crazy look on my face says it all!

Valentine's Day Wishes

I used to have a necklace from my Grandma that had an opal in it. I called it my bubble gum necklace as it was a bit of a pink color. At the time I was too young to appreciate it but now I would appreciate this necklace.
My husband picked out an awesome ring for my engagement ring but i would LOVE to have this ring for a different finger or in addition to my other rings. I love the simplicity and the clean lines but that it is something a little different.
I love rings but as I have huge fingers, I can't just pick them up at Target or Herbergers or places of that nature. Rings have to be a thought out... resized purchase for me.

Valentine's Day is just around the corner... a girl can dream right?

What I Wore Rocker Chick

This is my interpretation of rocker chic! I mean rocker chic! I love to wear these black corduroy jeans (fitted for me) with something rockerish. (Is that even a word?) I found this shiny design shirt at Target and I love that I can dress it up or dress it down depending on my mood. With the black corduroy jeans, white studded belt, and a black on black pinstriped blazer, I feel hip but presentable.

My job allows me to be creative in my projects but in dress I need to be a little more conservative. (Most days)

I love to look at all of the ladies who work in a fashion related field or something equally creative but I take advantage of the relaxed days when I can.

I am learning how to dress up a casual outfit for work. The easy first step is of course the blazer. A well fitting blazer can dress up almost any outfit. Secondly, I find something shiny to add to the outfit. Something shiny (some BLING) always makes me feel happy and a bit dressier than I would otherwise feel. The third thing to dress up a casual outfit is a pair of heels. As it is still cold and snowy outside I tend to pick closed toed shoes. I wear these black Sofft boots a lot. They are warm, they stay on, and they have a little traction. (All necessary in the snow.) Since I can't find/am to lazy to take a picture of my boots I will just describe them. My black boots are about mid calf to slightly higher height. The heel on them is about 2". They are black suede with strips of croc patterned black on the front, back, and both sided. When I found these boots I wasn't going to buy them. They were a bit too expensive and I wasn't looking for "that boot". I was shopping for a pair of brown boots to wear with dresses etc. I am sooo glad that I went back for this boot as I wear it all the time. (I had a pair of brown boots that I didn't LOVE but I wear them instead of buying another pair. GO RECESSIONISTA! Ok. I won't lie. I am not that. I LOVE to shop. My limits of shopping are different than some people. I don't own any Coach or LV or Louboutin's. But I do tend to like to buy what I want within reason. I go out to get my husband shoes.. and only shoes for him and I never come home without something. It is an addiction that honestly, I don't want to give up. I have been bribed with other things that I want but to no avail. I can't quit. (Those of you who know me might know what I have been bribed/sweet talked into saving up for.)

So back from that rant, another great item to dress up an outfit is a pair of earrings. Everyone tells you to keep a pair in your desk or purse to change up an outfit. Boy are they right. I carry this pair in my purse and I love them!My outfit today:
Jeans from Kohls
Tshirt from Target
Layered grey Tshirt American Apparel
Belt from Target
Boots from DSW
Jacket from JCPENNEY
Watch -Fossil
Bracelet - ?
5 Necklaces - Misc.

Also Loving...

I am also loving this jacket that is on sale normally $410 now $246.

And these shoes that are on sale normally $210 now$126.

If only money were not an object to be worried about.

Little Black Dress (LBD)

This is one HOT little black dress. I don't think it is in my price range but it is ON SALE!
Regularly cough $355 now on sale for$213.

What I Wore Today

I just want it to be warm again... but it isn't, so I had to dress warm. Not warm enough for my office were there is a fan blowing right on me, but warm enough.

I bought this jacket on sale somewhere a while ago. I tend to wear it with slimmer cut jeans so that the boxy shape doesn't make me look.... yes boxy. I found this clip at Joann's when shopping with my mom. I used it to pull the jacket in at the waist to give the jacket an hour glass shape.

The maroon boots are from Payless about 3 years ago. The khakis are from Ann Taylor Loft. The green tshirt is from Target. There is also a brooch pinned to the sleeve of the jacket. My mom gave me the brooch for Christmas and I have been looking for a way to wear it out of the ordinary.

I see from this post that it is again time to do something with my hair. I am trying to grow it out... I think... but I do love Toni's hair here.

To cut my hair or not????

Bday Presents

Here is what I got for my bday. Thanks everyone!
Can't wait to rock the shoes that my husband got me. Hopefully the Wii Fit does what it is supposed to do starting with making up for the cake.
Thanks everyone!

Is it summer yet?

Here is a pic of our fourwheeling "trip" this weekend. Husband and I took our fourwheeler out on the local lake to look at the scenery and houses. LOVED this bridge in the lighting.