It’s Not a Habit, It’s Cool, I Feel Alive

Tags

black heeled boots, black leggings, flower necklace, K's Choice, oatmeal and grey striped cardigan, wide black belt

Hellooooooo! Is this thing on? Is anybody still reading this thing? Raise your hand, now, and tell me while you’re at it: how the hell are ya? I’ve felt so distant from you guys! I don’t know what’s going on but I don’t like it!

I know it’s in part my fault because I’ve been distracted. The best way I can describe the past couple of weeks is…head explodey. So, I do apologize. I am sort of feeling my way through as much as possible. I’m excited about the first couple of posts going on over at All The Pretty Dresses. Now, I just have to get back on track over thisaway. For those of you still digging this blog, what would you like to see? Any new features or challenges (within reason)? I’m still working on a few things myself, but I’m definitely open to suggestions. Otherwise, I think I know just what you came for.

Outfit, yes?

Oh. My. God. There is potentially another reason why I haven’t been posting much lately. I cannot freaking stop wearing black and white! I’m in a color rut big time. It’s all, I want to wear. Just zero inclination to bust out the color. And while I guess that’s fine in the day-to-day, it does make fashion blogging très boring! So I promise to have an intervention with myself very soon. Even though I don’t need one. Because I do not have a problem. I can quit any time I want. I’m self-medicating with clothing. Tomorrow I’ll wear fuchsia. Tomorrow, I swear. This is just for today. Just this one more time.

And if you believe that, then maybe you’ll believe me when I say that I haven’t worn this outfit twice in the past couple of weeks. OMG, I know. But I still have some residual anxiety about outfit duplication, these days. In any event, I was very tired this morning and I expressly didn’t feel like snapping pictures in the fuh-reezing cold.  But I popped outside for a somewhat reluctant photoshoot. And here you go.

In the end, I decided that I might be more likely to end my rut and my repetitive ways, if I went ahead and posted the outfit and then moved on to greener (or bluer, or redder, maybe even pinker, or any GD color, really) pastures. Here’s hoping anyway.

Striped Cardigan – 5.7.9
Belt – Stolen off a shirt
Black Tee – Work
Grey Tunic Tank – Work
Leggings - Work
Necklace – Vanity
Boots – Target

Title courtesy of K’s Choice – “Not an Addict”

Let’s Go To The Movies, I Will Hum You a Song About Nothing at All

Tags

black heeled boots, fleece-lined black leggings, Regina Spektor, tan and black embroidered tunic dress

Hello today! How are you my friends? I am off today and I have some fun plans, so I am quite well. Headed to Denver to see the Big Air show as well as One Republic playing. Exciting! But that’s not all that’s exciting! Nope not even a little.

Today we bring you Day Four of Dress Theme Week Spectacular here at the Closet365. All this week I’m rocking out in some of my favorite dresses. Why? Because a) Dresses are the best thing ever and b) We’re getting to know my new blogging project aka ALLTHEPRETTYDRESSES.COM. Yesterday I introduced you to my uber reading list for the next two years. But the fun doesn’t end there. If you visit ATPD today, you’ll find yet another component to my adventures before turning 30. What could it be?

Why it’s a movie list! My 100 series continues in multimedia fashion. In addition to 100 great books, I plan to watch 100 great films before my 30th birthday. My list comes from the American Film Institute and I have to say I am really looking forward to getting my watch on. I love movies, but there are so many classics that I haven’t seen. Movies I’ve always wanted to take in but saved for a rainy day. But save no more! For the next two years I’ll be watching about one movie per week off the list. (And of course writing about it for the blog.) I’ll finally be getting to know some of the most acclaimed flicks of our time. Check out the list today and stay tuned for YET MORE LISTS O’ FUN this week. Really? Yes, really.

So this is another one of my favorite little dresses. Er…techinically I think it may actually be a tunic top. But being all of 5’1″ on a good day, I find that these types of sartorial guidelines don’t really apply to me. So by my honorary decree, (which is all that really matters anyway) I call this a dress. Pair it with some leggings and voila! Dress!

But seriously. I adore the stitching on this and the simple shape. Since the project’s end, I’ve worn this dress about three or four times. Which tells you something about how much I like it. I didn’t change much of anything about the original styling of this dress other than I’m wearing different boots and I added a long-sleeve layer for warmth. Pretty basic, but really, what more does it need? That’s one of the things I love about all dresses, really. They speak for themselves. They’re statement pieces without having to do much.

Do you love dresses as much as I do? Then maybe you should enter my giveaway if you haven’t already! Enter to win the Shabby Apple “Cortez” dress now through January 31st! And I’ll see you guys tomorrow with even more fun stuff being added to AllThePrettyDresses.com

Title courtesy of Regina Spektor – “Loveology”

I Know It’s Been Awhile, But I’m Glad You Came

Tags

black heeled boots, black leggings, black long sleeve, Britney Spears, grey crocheted tunic top, zebra floral scarf

WHAT IS UP PEOPLE?!!

Soooo… I know I said I’d be finishing up my project recap over the weekend and then a post never actually materialized. So, first and foremost, I want to apologize for not following through. But the thing is that, the more I procrastinated it, the more I realized I just wasn’t up to it. As much as I feel like a 365-day adventure requires contemplation and to be given its due, I also haven’t quite made it to the headspace where I can do that. There’s a lot to it, really. Trying to quantify and congeal the hows and the whys, to tell you just what the experience meant to me seemed like a daunting task. So for the time being, I’m opting to skip that part. Sorry dudes.

And anyway, to sit down and bang out an essay about the significance of it all might imply a kind of finality. When in fact, the ride just ain’t over yet. I hope that’s okay with you guys, too. The truth is, I’ve enjoyed my break from outfitting and blogging (and primping. Oy with the primping.) but I’ve also missed the hell out of it. There has been some project postpartum, goin’ on. So I started small. By applying makeup a couple of times. Late last week I began again in earnest, to accessorize. Yesterday, I even went so far as to straighten my hair again. And then today well…

It is mother-effing outfit time!!!!!!!!!! (!!!!!!!!) Can’t you just see those rays of light in the last picture? If there were a patron saint of outfit blogging (Alas, I am pretty up on my patron saints but I believe there is not. Sad day.) she would be shining down upon us! And we are back in bidness.

Now don’t get too terribly excited. As I’ve previously specified, I simply can’t sustain another year of doing this daily. But the plan is to keep the outfits coming a few per week, so as to keep this space active. Also, to keep me accountable to not just wearing hoodies and dirty gym clothes every day for the duration of my life. I have at least one new feature in the works and a THEME WEEK scheduled for next week. Why? Well because we can. And also to help introduce you guys to my new blogging venture. I am slating my own launch date for February 1st, so mark your calendars and join me for the rest of the month as I gear up. Or don’t. But if you do, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I’m sorry if I’m being an awful tease, but I promise you won’t have to wait much longer. Exciting stuff is headed your way.

As for the outfit, this is a new favorite of mine. A very wise fellow fashion blogger advised me that I should just “repeat the shit out stuff” to my heart’s content. So that’s kind of exactly what I’ve been doing. I wore this outfit earlier this month. And then the day after that. Took a week or so off and now I’m wearing it again. I’m not gonna lie. I’m probably going to wear it tomorrow too. Not because I particularly love it. Although I do think it’s cute. But more because of the novelty of being able to repeat outfits once more! One of my goals at present it to institute an unofficial shopping ban on purchasing new clothes. Not because I can’t afford it, but because I simply need to enjoy the stuff I have! I spent so much of last year acquiring so many awesome items but I’ve scarcely gotten to enjoy most of them. I have things I love but that I’ve only worn a handful of times, if that.

Today’s outfit is a bit of an exception. Most of this is new but purchased from my store using gift certificates. This is the story of ever-thankless retail work. At Christmas, the time of year when we most bust our butts, most retail chains do not reward you with anything in the way of a holiday bonus. However, they do offer up a  number of contests and sales goals designed to make you work EVEN HARDER and if you pull it off you get gift cards, which you can then use to purchase yet more crap from the store. I recently was awarded with a plethora of said certificates so I have been rather spendy with them. This is outfit is the result of that and I still have more to burn. Hooray shopping! I mean… at least this way things won’t get too boring.

Title courtesy of Britney Spears - “Break The Ice”

But My Selective Memory Won’t Let Me

Tags

black basic long sleeve, black heeled boots, black leggings, pearl and crystal bead necklace, polka dot belt, red polka dot dress, The Eels, white knit cardigan

Good evening, peeps. Well the big news of my day is that it snowed here. For the first time for real this year. And I guess given that I live in Colorado and November is a third of the way gone, I shouldn’t be surprised. I wasn’t. But I have to say the weather kind of kicked my butt today. I expected it to be cold, but I was not ready for that cold. I spent the whole day teeth chattering and losing feeling in various limbs.

Later in the day I had an hour or two to kill before my dinner plans so I went to the gym and ran, just to warm up. You know you’re cold when you work out just to raise your body temperature. I recently switched to a new gym and I’m still getting used to it. I really like it, but I have one minor beef – which is that they play nothing but 90s grunge rock. Which is so not motivating in the least. I suddenly have a new understanding of heroin chic. No wonder people opted for drugs to get skinny in the 90s. Who really wants to get up and get moving to the Goo Goo dolls? Additionally, said gym brews and serves free coffee. Between the retro tunes and the java smell, I have to stop and ask myself did I come to the gym or in Seattle?

So there are outfit plans. And then there are snow days. A big fresh pile of snow is kind of a game-changer when getting dressed. Here I’ve been looking forward to wearing this admittedly springy little dress for some time. I had grand plans to layer it with a rouched tank and some sassy heels and maybe a cardigan, since it isn’t exactly summer. But our inaugural winter storm rather thwarted those plans of mine. Time to winterize!

Now, I’m not gonna lie. I had one idea for this dress. And then another which didn’t work because I had no matching shoes of an appropriate cover capacity. So this is version three and I may or may not have seen a resemblance to a certain cartoon character when I looked in the mirror. I chose to overlook it because I was in a hurry and I thought I could slip under the radar. Surely, most respectable people aren’t up on their Disney trivia enough to make the connection. Turns out I was wrong. On three counts. Maybe more. It was just that three people saw fit to inform me that I looked like Minnie Mouse. “In a cute way” they were all nice enough to add.

So yeah. Consider my Minnie nod a carryover from icon week. I may not have intentionally set out to imitate Mickey’s polka dotted paramour. But twenty years ago I would have been all about it. I totally loved Minnie. And who knows? Maybe that’s even what drew me to the dress in the first place. I still think this is a cute dress. I merely blame the snow for this ill-fated styling. If tomorrow I show up on the blog dressed as my other childhood cartoon idol – Miss Piggy – well… then it we’ll have cause to get concerned.

Dress – Thrifted
Black Long Sleeve – Work
Cardigan – Wet Seal
Leggings – Work
Boots – Target
Necklace – Wet Seal
Belt – Stolen off a shirt

Title courtesy of  The Eels – “Selective Memory”

 

And Eyes That Burn Like Cigarettes

Tags

black heeled boots, black leggings, black long sleeve basic tee, CAKE, olive mini skirt, red 60s jacket

Welcome to Friday, guys! Hooray right?

My sincerest apologies – in my tired haze and my haste yesterday, I neglected to draw and post our giveaway winner. DUH! Sorry! So anyway. Out of 25 email and comment responses I used random.org to select my autumn inspired prize package and we do have a winner…

Julie M.! Congrats! Email me and I’ll make arrangements to get your goodies to you. And thank you thank you thank you to all of you who provided feedback. You are all super awesome and the info you provided really helps. I wish I could send you all some chocolate covered candy corn. It is truly dangerous.

Anywho. We are at the tail end of our October Theme Week. All week we’ve been admiring some of my favorite icons of style and culture. Using my own clothes to recreate their looks and pay my respects. So who’s up for today?

I just adore Twiggy. As icons go she isn’t necessarily inspirational to me. However she embodies fashion in my mind. One of the first super models and the epitome of 1960s style. Twiggy and I have so little in common. She is kind of tall and lanky and blonde and I am kinda…well…not. But I thought I’d have fun with this one anyway.

Twiggy wore, and introduced us, to some of the best clothes of her era. I don’t own a lot of 1960s inspired garb so I just stuck to the basic silhouette. This newly thrifted skirt seemed perfectly appropriate, as did my ever-faithful go-go boots.

And can we talk about this jacket? The Mom nabbed it for me on our last thrift trip and for $6? Vintage? That pattern? Made of 100% double poly knit? With a tag that reads “Panhandle Slim?”  Funky fresh! And I didn’t even care what I’d wear it with. Sonny Bono called and said he wanted it back. But I sent him to voicemail. Mine. In any event, it made a perfect complement to my 60s look today. I look forward to creating more looks with it. Especially after someone today referred to it in passing as a “wicked jacket.”

I must also add that this theme week has provided me with a fun opportunity to experiment with new makeup looks. You may not be able to see it in the pics but I am wearing more coats of mascara today than I have all year. Shagadelic!

 Jacket – Thrifted (Vintage)
Long Sleeve Black Tee – Work
Skirt – Thrifted
Leggings – Work
Boots – Target

Title courtesy of CAKE – “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”

Andy Walking, Andy Tired

Tags

black heeled boots, black tie, David Bowie, grey knit sweater, jeggings, tunic button-down

Happy Thursday, people. Welcome to theme week.

Do I sound a little monotone? Maybe I am. Maybe it’s been a rough week. Or maybe I’m just being stoic for the sake of art. Who can know? I guess you can tell me if it’s working in a minute.

All this week, I’ve been bringing you looks inspired by my favorite icons of art, fashion and culture. While not going for a full-blown costume, I’m using my muses to make outfits and pay my respects. Today’s honoree?

Not perhaps, what you were expecting as icons go. But Andy is an inspiration to me in many ways besides fashion. Andy saw the potential in soup cans, in pop stars and in even the most mundane things. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t make into art and nothing he didn’t appreciate even if it was only for irony’s sake. If you think about it, it’s not all that far removed from my own ideas about fashion. In short, I dig.

I wish I had a little more to give back to Andy today, but I did my best.

“Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?” – Andy Warhol

Title courtesy of David Bowie – “Andy Warhol”

We Go Where We Go, We’re Marchin’ On

Tags

black heeled boots, black leggings, black tunic tee, grey blazer jacket, grey tunic tank, houndstooth scarf, OneRepublic

Oy guys. Is anyone else feeling completely and totally overwhelmed with life right now? I confess that I am. And I’m not sure if it’s because of or in spite of the fact that the holidays are approaching. Yes, I just said that. The holidays are approaching. Can you even believe it? It seems like just yesterday I was sitting around tinkering with a banner for this blog and preparing to start the project. Not finish it. Whew.

In my store, I don’t see a lot of daylight, so I’ve learned to tell what time of year it is by the merchandise coming and going. Some people use schmancy techniques like reading sun dials, charting the barometric pressure or observing the phases of the moon. But I can tell time in skirts and sandals, boots and sweaters. Although in retail, things happen to come about one season ahead of time. It just so happens that I have been running my store for two and a half years now, so I have the routine almost down pat. Today, I clearanced out some of the last of the sleeveless tops, which was one sign that The Season is creeping up. And then the unthinkable happened – the mittens and the gift sets arrived. So basically we are effed now.

I am actually kind of looking forward to Christmas but I swear I am going to suck every last drop of downtime out of the next few weeks. Starting with our cabin journey the rest of the week.  Run! Time to unplug, while I still can!

I am excited about today’s look! I have to say. I put it on and it was instant gratification. It all just fell right into place. Just add scarf. And boots. And jacket. Well…  you get the picture.  Like oh hey there, Instant BAMF How you doin’?. No tweaking necessary. Some days you really just need an effortless look and today felt like one of those.

This is my new favorite blazer. I’m not usually big on blazer jackets. They just don’t seem to work well on my frame. But this one works well for me, because it’s got a really nice feminine shape. Especially once I performed surgery on it. I had to cure it of its shoulder pads. Seriously? What is the story behind shoulder pads making it past the mid 80s? Who benefits from them? Who still insists on putting them into garments? Who thinks that is okay?!?! But anyway, once I slayed those beasts, the jacket was perfect.

I wanted to keep the rest of the look simple, so I just stuck with a black and grey palette and some houndstooth action for good measure. I’m a little torn on what generation this look belongs to. On one hand it feels completely retro, “Say Anything” style. On the other, I also get a modern-business-lady-with-an-ass-kicking agenda vibe from it. Thoughts?

Jacket – Thrifted
Black Tunic Tee – Work
Grey Tunic Tank – Work
Black Leggings – Work
Scarf – Work
Boots – Target

Title courtesy of OneRepublic – “Marchin’ On”

It Takes a Day to Explain the Crime

Tags

black heeled boots, black leggings, chambrey button down, Long Winters, plain white tee, skinny white belt, star rhinestone necklace, yellow scarf

Hello people! I hope this Saturday afternoon finds you happy.

I wanted to say briefly, that I’m sorry the blog has been kind of low energy lately. I suspected it all a long and then in looking at stats/comments for the week, I’m guessing you felt it too. Maybe it’s in the air. I don’t know. But it’s lame. Stop it, life energy. Stop being lame.

Tomorrow is another theme week for me. I’m a little nervous because it’s a little off-the-cuff for me but I’m also excited to try something different. I’m also a little worried I won’t have much to write about. So I’m just going to put this out there. If you like it you can take it, if you don’t, send it right back… I set up a Formspring. The link will be permanently on the sidebar over yonder. If there is anything you wish I’d write about or anything you want to ask, well… the world is your oyster. The anonymous option is enabled. I’m pretty much game for whatever, so ask away!

Notice I still have all my overgrown hair? Yeah. I rescheduled my hair appointment to accommodate our Denver trip and now I have to wait until Wednesday. Still no input on what to do with it? Okay then. Mullet it is.

Pretty simple outfit today. It’s super windy and cold out, so I took my in for another boot and scarf concoction. Black and yellow is one of my most favorite color combinations. Ever. It’s a nice twist on classic black and white. And you can never have too many excuses to wear a yellow scarf, in my humble opinion.

I am perilously close to breaking my own rule about leggings as pants here. technically my butt is still covered by my shirt, but not as much as I’d normally opt for. Whatev, I guess. It’s been a long/weird week and I’m headed out for a closing shift at the store. Comfort is the name of the game.

Happy weekend wishes to you all. Thanks for reading. Check back tomorrow for theme week and don’t forget to Formspring it up!

Yellow Scarf – Vanity
White Tee – Work
Chambrey Button-Down – Max Rave
Leggings – Work
Necklace – 5.7.9
Boots – Target

Title courtesy of The Long Winters - “Blue Diamonds”

 

Somehow it Got Easy to Laugh Out Loud

Tags

black basic long sleeve, black heeled boots, black leggings, cluster necklace, purple sweater cape, silver disc chandelier earrings, The Walkmen

So, here is a picture taken out of my office window this morning and here is one of it, early this evening. Just to give you a little perspective into my frustration with the weather. How does one dress exactly, when a matter of hours can change the weather completely?

I was still a little cranky this morning but it was nothing a little primal scream therapy in my car, and a long workout didn’t fix. Plus, there isn’t much complaining to do about two days off from work. I’ve been bad about scheduling my days off consecutively this year, because sometimes I like to break my week up. But a full two days in a row is probably better for my mental health. The husband is even off to join me. We made plans to go sledding and do a little shopping. But as it turned out, the snow was already sloshy by the time we really got around to it.

We hit a few thrift stores, but nothing too terribly exciting. Tonight we’re going to watch a movie and I am even going to cook something.  I can bake like a mofo, but my cooking is nothing to write home about. Dinner is typically the husband’s chore. He enjoys cooking and is good at it. Therefore, it’s an unspoken agreement that we’re both happier when he cooks, but occasionally I bust out. Cross your fingers for me.

I didn’t spend a terrible lot of time on today’s outfit. The weather has even me confounded as to what to wear. Earlier this month, I started keeping a running calendar with loosely based outfit plans. Nothing set in stone. Just a sort of a back up plan for days when I might be short on time or feeling uninspired. All that went out the window with the random blizzard action this past week. But I will be damned if the weather is going to screw with my upcoming theme week. No ma’am. Theme week is going down as planned, regardless of what the weather decides to do.

For today, I just decided to throw on my purple sweater cape, while I still can. The sweater cape is an odd thing to try and pull off. I wore it once before at the beginning of the project as part of an Old Lady Sunday but today I went for a more eccentric dalliance. I mean it’s a cape for cripes sake. A little eccentricity is a given. I felt like a badass in my boots, sunglasses and cape. And milkmaid braids? Well, that’s neither here nor there. CAPE!

Sweater Cape – 5.7.9
Basic Black Long Sleeve – Work
Black Leggings – Work
Boots – Target
Earrings – No idea. They just showed up in my jewelry box
Necklace – Work

Title courtesy of The Walkmen – “We’ve Been Had”

To Be There In Velvet, To Give ‘em a Smile

Tags

black and gold embroidered dress, black heeled boots, Tom Petty, white long sleeve basic tee

Oy vey. I am finding so much on my plate this week, it isn’t even funny. I’m keeping up alright, and I think I’m actually at my best when I’m uber busy. I just need a few extra hours in the day. That’s all.

Tonight, I attended my first blogger meetup for other bloggers in my area. I was terrified to go and almost didn’t. For one thing, I’m just horribly shy and socially inept, especially in new groups. And for the other, I get a little self-conscious about explaining The Project to strangers. I figured I would be surrounded by Serious Bloggers writing about Serious Things like greenhouse gases and cystic fibrosis and who knows what else, and then in walks crazy Jenny with her crazy outfits, taking notes with a Hello Kitty pen. Awkward.

Still, I am always in pursuit of knowledge about blogging and making this project bigger and better. I thought it would be good to branch out, and so I went. It was really interesting. Some geek speak still goes over my head, but I did pick up quite a bit of new insight. Whether I fit in or not remains to be seen, but I think I will attend more meetups and hopefully eventually work up the courage to be a better participant. But yay for trying new things?

Well, if you can’t feel important, you can at least look it, right? This motto has pretty much gotten me through life in its entirety. So if I’m wrong, please don’t correct me and shatter my illusions. In high school, while some people were putting holes in their face and dressing in all black to intimidate, my armor was smart skirts and dressy shoes. Still is.

For a thrifted dress from Buffalo Exchange, that originally hailed from Forever 21, this dress feels rather regal to me. I just love the gold embroidery. I also adore the bell sleeves and the swingy quality about the skirt. I pranced around in it all day and was seriously killing me that I couldn’t make time to go out and give it a proper photoshoot. I’m sorry dress. You deserve better. I promise to me a more humble servant to you in subsequent summery adaptations.

More nude stockings and I’m sorry for that. I think I’m trying to call forth actual bare-legged weather by imitating it. I just can’t bring myself to full-on leggings. I’ll try harder tomorrow. If only because I am irritated by the term “nude stockings.” It just sounds gross.

This is my most favorite winter coat. It’s big and red. What two better qualities can you ask for in a coat?

 Dress – Thrifted (F21)
White long sleeve tee – Work
Necklace – Work
Boots – Target

 Title courtesy of Tom Petty – “It’s Good to be King”