Forgettable

No lie, I sat down to write this post, and could not, for the life of me, remember what I wore today. (I had changed into sweats and a t-shirt after getting home, so I wasn't wearing it anymore, otherwise, obviously, I would have just looked down.) I thought, and thought, and thought... and eventually I had to look at the pics I took to remember. That's a bad sign for my current mental health, right?

At any rate, here it is, and while it was apparently forgettable to my addlepated brain, I rather like the outfit overall. This is a favorite dress of mine, which means it should surprise no one that it is from Target's maternity section. Above the black flower belt I added, you can see that the dress has a fitted band around the ribcage already, but I like to add a bit of color variation with some other kind of belt when I wear this dress.

I matched my earrings to the flower on the belt, but kept my bracelet, tights, and boots in black. I also added a black cardigan for the chilly morning weather:

On an unrelated note, what can I do to inspire you all to comment a little more often? I feel, sometimes, like I'm shouting into a huge echoing abyss where my own words fly back at me with little other feedback. I want to know what you all think! Do you have opinions on my choices? Do you have questions I'm not addressing with my commentary? Do you have any fun stories to tell from your day today? If the answer to all of those is no, then maybe consider just saying hi. :)


Get the look for yourself:
Dress - Target; similar here or (in a different color) here.
Belt - Target; similar here.
Cardigan - Target; similar here.
Boots - Payless; similar here.

New Boots

I mentioned in this post that I had started budgeting recently, and this had driven me to prioritize my clothing "wish list" a little more than I used to. With my October clothing budget, one of my major priorities was to get a new pair of brown/tan knee-high boots. The pair you can see here and here was beginning to get a little worn-out and scuffed, so I wanted to get a nice new pair, assuming I could find a good deal. I did, and here are my new boots in action:

I hadn't initially planned to wear these today, but it was so chilly this morning that I decided to debut the boots instead of going with the flats I'd intended to wear. These burgundy skinnies had only been worn once so far this year, which surprises me given how much I already love them. The blouse is a great favorite of mine - the cream is a warmer tone than a pure white, and the bow at the neckline is a nice embellishment.

For the sake of modesty - as in, not having my pants fall down to my ankles at a moment's notice - I added a tan braided belt. The necklace has brown, copper, and a light teal, and I liked that pop of a contrasting color with the rest of the outfit. Sometimes people who aren't very confident in their fashion choices get stuck thinking that everything in an outfit needs to match, but that's not true. As many fashion experts are fond of saying, "It doesn't have to match; it has to GO." And people who don't understand fashion are probably tempted to respond with something like, "What in the name of all things chic is that supposed to mean?" Basically, it means that you can bring in a new color, as long as it doesn't clash with the rest of the outfit - it doesn't need to match, it just has to not MISmatch.

So... what's the verdict on my new boots? Thumbs up? Or should I have prioritized them lower on my wish list?


Get the look for yourself:
Blouse - Target; similar here.
Skinnies - New York and Company; similar here.
Boots - Amazon.com, available here.
Belt - Target, available here.
Necklace - Target; similar here.

Too Busy for Complete Sentences

Clothes - I wore them.

Maxi Dress Friday. Maxi skirt with blouse. Belted.

Black floral flats. Pearl bracelet and earrings. Light pink headband.

Yay! Now back to work...

Supporting the Seniors

My first outfit in today's post may not seem fully appropriate in terms of professionalism at first glance, but allow me to explain:

I heard from a couple former students (who are now seniors) that the senior class decided to have a "Shoe Spirit Week" this week. I found out on Tuesday, so I asked what the themes were for the rest of the week. My Ballroom Dance class has a number of seniors, so I wanted to support them if I could, plus, who wouldn't have fun joining in with something like this? I learned that Wednesday was going to be "Converse or Vans" day, so I decided to design an outfit around my Converse All-Stars.

As I mentioned earlier, it's not the most professional outfit I could have chosen to wear. It's not horrifically unprofessional either, but it's a little more casual than I usually wear. The ivory skinnies look more work-appropriate than any blue jeans would, and the collared button-down black blouse is nicer than a pullover tee. I added a maroon lace-edged camisole under the blouse, partially for modesty (though I could have just buttoned the shirt up to the top), but more to add another color to the outfit besides just white and black; I think it worked well breaking up the otherwise block-y color palette.

And, of course, I wore my black Converse, which is really where the outfit becomes overtly casual. But when you think about it, am I being a better teacher by wearing "traditional" professional clothes or by supporting my students in a fun community-building shoe-fest? I decided the latter.


Get the look for yourself:
Blouse - Goodwill; similar here.
Camisole - Target, available here.
Skinnies - Express; similar here.
Shoes - Target, available here.
Bracelet - Street vendor; similar here.
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Today's shoe theme was boots, which was an ostensibly easy one for me to follow, yet I took FOREVER (hyperbolically speaking) to come up with an outfit I liked.

Eventually I decided on this striped shirt-dress and black boots. Technically, the sash around the waist is supposed to be a strip of the same printed fabric as the rest of the dress, but I couldn't find it in my rush this morning, so I grabbed a black sash instead, and I think it worked fine. I figured no necklace was needed for this, but I wore some dangly black earrings and a simple black bracelet for my other jewelry.

For the boots, I chose these folded suede boots, but I regretted it immediately upon arriving at school. As it turns out, right boot slouches A LOT, and left boot stays nicely in place; right boot got on my bad side real fast. See, I'm even giving it a dirty look:

"Really, boot? Really?"

It annoyed me so much that within twenty minutes I had to drive myself home to change into a different pair of black boots. (Unfortunately, I didn't have time to retake pictures, but the general look was very similar.) Once I had the new boots on, however, I was quite pleased with the overall look, and happy that I was able to play along with the seniors for a second day.

Tomorrow? The theme is mismatched shoes. I... don't think I'll be participating.


Get the look for yourself:
Dress - Target; similar here.
Boots - Cathy Jean; similar (and hopefully less annoying) here.

The Heat Is On

If you don't live in the Bay Area, you might not realize that it's been WICKED HOT here lately, so I've been bringing out dresses this week. I feel sorry for boys sometimes, because wearing a dress on a hot day is easy and cool, and only we girls have that option (at least as a socially acceptable option). I've said it before, and I'll say it again: It's like wearing a big, comfy t-shirt.

Except it looks way better, right? This is a dress I think works with precious little added in the way of accessories, which makes it one of the easiest dresses I own. It's a very flattering cut, coming in at the narrowest part of the ribcage and then flaring out to an a-line skirt hitting just above the knee. Ties come from the waistline to cinch around the back and create an hourglass shape. The black in the dress is a slimming shade, but the purple print keeps it from looking too dark and dowdy.

I desperately needed open-toed shoes to keep from overheating, so I opted for my faux-jeweled sandals again. Happily, I was able to come up with an easy, fashionable way to beat the heat... at least on Monday.

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So what about Tuesday? Still hot, still needed a dress, but this time, I paid a little more attention to accessorizing the dress.

My shirt-dress outfit paired a green dress and tan belt, and I've done it again here, though with a richer green and a more feminine cut to the dress. I opted for a tribal-looking long necklace, flower wrap bracelet, and African (yes, from Africa) cocktail ring. Desperate again for open-toed shoes, I went with heeled sandals.

For modesty, I added a camisole to raise the neckline to an appropriate level. I felt a white cami would be too stark against the green, given that all my accessories were in the tan family, so I went with a nude or flesh-colored tank. Fortunately, my skin is so fair, "flesh-colored" clothes still look like a light brown against my fishbelly paleness alabaster beauty.

Of the two outfits, I prefer the second, but I like both. What I do NOT like is this heat - let's get going with autumn already!


Get the looks for yourself:
Dress #1 - Target; similar here.
Shoes #1 - Payless, available here.
Necklace #1 - Target, available here.
Dress #2 - Target; similar here (it's maternity, but you know I love me some maternity dresses).
Belt - Target, available here.
Shoes #2 - Payless; similar here.
Necklace #2 - Target; similar here.

Geo Print Maxi Skirt

Well, I ended up too sick to go to school on Thursday, so no, Kammy, I didn't wear red and black to finish the primary colors trio. (Actually, I wore all black, but that's just because my sweatpants and sweatshirt happened to be black.) Forcing myself back to school on Friday - though I really could've used another day to recoup - I looked for a skirt for Maxi Dress Friday, and came up with this one:

Sadly, just based on my maxi skirt options, whatever I chose would have to include black, either in choosing a black skirt, or in choosing a black top to go with a skirt. In some ways, actually, the blue print on bottom with the black shirt on top is a nice flip-flop from Wednesday's outfit. The top is really just a black t-shirt, but it's nicely fitted to keep it from looking too casual for wearing to work, and with a maxi skirt it's dressier than with pants or capris.

I wanted some kind of line at the waist, so I added a simple black sash. For shoes, I needed flats - since the skirt isn't long enough for heels - but didn't want to wear just ordinary flip-flops. As I said in an earlier post, these sandals are "nice enough (because of the faux jewels on the front strap)" to still look good at school. In retrospect, I wish I'd chosen a long necklace rather than this shorter one; longer necklaces elongate the body, and I could have used that given the way I put this outfit together.

See, this outfit, with the top of the skirt hitting significantly lower than my natural waist, shortens my frame considerably - in fact, I shortened it even further by putting a sash two inches even further below the top of the skirt, meaning I created a visual waistline about six to eight inches below my natural waist. Remember how I created the word "stumpify" in an earlier post? Yeah, this outfit is a good pictorial definition of that word.

I am lucky, however, in that because I am naturally tall, but even more so because I have very long legs, I can afford to stumpify myself and still look pretty normal. Shorter gals out there? Sorry, but you have pretty much no leeway whatsoever for stumpifying, so you have to be on guard against stumpification at all times. We taller girls have a bit more margin for error, and I took some liberties in that area with this outfit, mostly because I was more eager for comfort than style.

What can I say? Even we fashionistas fall short sometimes. (Get it? Stumpified? Fall short? I'm hilarious.)


Get the look for yourself:
Shirt - Old Navy; similar here.
Skirt - Target; similar here.
Shoes - Payless, available here.
Necklace - Express; similar here.

Back in Black and Ponytails

I have been having a rough week for a variety of personal reasons, and I realize that is probably becoming clear through the amount of black I've been wearing and the fact that I keep giving up on my hair in the morning and throwing it into a ponytail. Still, I think I'm managing to do okay with my outfits in spite of that.

Yesterday's outfit starred a new emerald green top from New York and Company, and I mostly chose to surround it with black so that the vibrant color would have the attention all to itself. I adore jewel tones - that's what we use to refer to the really rich colors we associate with various gemstones, like sapphires, emeralds, rubies, etc. - and I think most women look amazing in at least one of the jewel tones. For me, because of the green tints in my hazel eyes, I look good in rich emerald greens like this one that draw attention to my eyes.

The shirt has a great twist of the fabric in the front, pulling nicely at the waist to create a good shape. A keyhole opening near the neckline keeps it from feeling too severely conservative while still maintaining modesty because it buttons at the top. Since it's a sleeveless top, I paired it with a cropped short-sleeved cardigan at school, which also hits at the perfect spot at the waist to establish the hourglass figure. I added a comfy pair of skinny black pants and my rolled slouchy boots,and jewelry was simple black and silver, keeping all the focus on the green top.

Get the look for yourself:
Shirt - New York and Company, available here.
Cardigan - Target; similar here.
Pants - Gap, available here.
Boots - Cathy Jean; similar here.
Necklace - Target, available here.
Ring - Old Navy; similar here.
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Today's outfit, similar to yesterday's, featured a colored top from New York and Company surrounded by black, and if I'd realized that similarity earlier, I probably would have avoided the repetition. (Especially since I wore a ponytail on both days, too.)

Originally, I hadn't planned on the leggings, but it was chillier this morning than I had anticipated, and eventually I was very glad I chose not to go with the bare legs. Still, wearing the capri leggings instead of full leggings kept the outfit looking fun and fresh, rather than overly morose and heavy. I also paired them with flats rather than boots, also in the hopes of keeping the whole look a little lighter.

Looking at these pics, I am determined to wear something non-black tomorrow. Of course, I might wake up and send all of that straight to the toilet with an LBD ("little black dress") and another pair of black boots. That's the joyous mystery of this blog! Stay tuned to find out what I decide.

Get the look for yourself:
Shirt - New York and Company; similar here.
Skirt - Target; similar here.
Belt - Target; similar here.
Leggings - Target, available here.
Shoes - Payless; similar here.
Necklace and earrings - Target, available here.