More From the Back of the Closet

Continuing on the back of the closet trend, I pulled out this Tar-jay beauty. I bought it on clearance and paid about $10 for it. I feel very Mad Men- it has a really high waist and the collar ties into a bow on the side. It's funny, I didn't feel very cute all day, but like how the pictures turned out, so I take it back.

I love these shoes. They're a wonderfully strange brown/dark purple color that goes with everything. Each one has a half bow that opens to the outside. Sadly, they're too big and slip off with every step-it gets very uncomfortable and I end up walking like a duck. So off they must go. I gave them one more try and they still hurt my feet ;(

Sigh. Good bye pretty shoes. I my eyes will miss your looks, but my feet will not miss your pain!

Reaching into the Back of the Closet

Waay into the back. All the way back to 2007.

I'm making a point of wearing what's in my closet. If I don't feel like wearing it, off to Goodwill it goes! I have too many clothes and I don't wear half of them. How can I be a curator of my collection if I don't edit once in a while? Plus, I have no room for new stuff. Granted, I'm not really looking for new stuff, but it's important to be prepared. For new stuff. Those Boy Scouts are pretty wise kids, even if they do try to sell popcorn instead of cookies (just copy the Girl Scouts and come up with some sweet new flavors.)

Anyhoo, I wore this skirt to our rehearsal dinner. I love the scalloped bottom and the super cute pockets (which you can't see, but they have little bows-adorable!) I used to wear this with a navy button-down, but I like this green combo better. I also like that this coat is even older than the skirt. I took the buttons off over a year ago. For now, its safety-pinned shut under the belt. I'm fancy like that.

Great American Sportswear

I felt much cuter while I was wearing this outfit.

I definitely didn't feel as wide as I look in this pic. Oh well, it just goes to show that you don't always look how you feel. That can be both a good and a bad thing. But I'm still happy with this outfit. I wanted to do something different from the skinny pant/high boot that has become my pant standard. I also wanted to try something loosely tucked. So we'll call this one a work in progress. I probably got these pants in 2004. J Crew khakis were part of my standard uniform back then and I still have a soft place in my heart for them.

This is more the "look" I was going for-relaxed but not too slouchy:

And here's the skinny looking pic ;)

Top-J Crew

Pants- J Crew

Belt- J Crew Outlet (noticing a theme here?)

Flats- Banana Outlet (oh well, pretty close)

Plays Games, All Sorts

Every time I wear this top, I get that line stuck in my head. All day long. It's sweet, but a little annoying. Just in case you're not a huge Julie Andrews fan and you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'll go ahead and fill you in. It's a lyric from Mary Poppins. Remember, when the kids are singing their list of criteria for their new nanny? Then their mean dad rips the list up and but Mary Poppins shows up with list anyway?! I know, crazy!

This top is from my favoritest store, Anthro. I love the colors. I also love that it looks like polka dots until you get closer and realize that it's candy! Allsorts to be exact. That crazy mix of licorice chewy bits. Maybe not my favorite candy in the world, but still amusing on a shirt. It's candy! I love candy!

When I got a little colder, I threw on an old scarf. It matches close enough for me and my back hallway.

Oh Mondays, how dull you can be. Thank goodness for amusing candy shirts.

I just don't know what to do with myself...

It's 4:11 am and I'm awake. I'm cold, I can't stop yawning and I have a wicked stomach ache. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep very well last night. In part because of my stomach and in part because I can't stop thinking about work. I don't want to be there, but I can't stop thinking about it and worrying that I missed something. That I'm behind on a due date. That a coworker had to pick up my slack. My rational side tries to remind me that I can't do anything about it immediately, everything will be taken care of in the morning, I need to sleep now, I'm not saving lives, etc. But I still can't turn the worrying off. I know part of the worry really is work related, but at least 75% of it is actually personal.

Deep down inside the scary questions keep popping up. What the heck do I want to do with the rest of my life? Why am I such a bad person? Why am I so hard on myself? Why the heck can't I worry about this during daylight hours so I can get some sleep??

And the super scary one-is it even possible to build a life around doing something I actually enjoy as my job?

In my darkest moments, the only answer I see is no. I see no other options. And I'm 31.

What the heck is wrong with me? I have no idea. But I'm finding that once I see it all written down in black and white, it seems so silly. I can do whatever I want to. As long as I try.

Rome wasn't built in a day. Progress is made in a multitude of small steps. It took me a year in a half to pay off my credit card bills. Why would my dream career happen overnight?

I feel better now. I don't know all the answers, but at least I can go back to bed. Small steps taken every day will help my life change for the better. Step one today was proving how silly I am at 4:11 in the morning. Step one is going back to bed and getting some rest for tomorrow.

4.4.11 Outfit-Ships Ahoy

I love all things nautical. Mostly because I am obsessed with French sailor shirts (I really have a thing for the French don't I? I had no idea it was this bad...) Nothing says "timeless classic" to me like a simple striped boatneck shirt. I love it! And a nautical theme always works in home decor...it reminds me of lazy summer nights and relaxing afternoons at the beach. I would probably cover my house in ropes and stripes and miniature ships and starfish if I really let myself go. But instead I'll just rock the striped tee with jaunty candy apple red flats. Do you see the little bows on them? Adorable! And a cardigan because its still freezing here.

Tee- J Crew (I loved this so much I bought 2 and paid full price for BOTH!)

Cardi- Gap (old)

Jeans- Target (the zipper's broken and I use a safety pin to keep it up)

Flats- Enzo Angiolini via DSW

Earrings- Christmas Tree Shop (seriously)

4.4.11 Outfit- Moody Monday Mode Math

My first blog post as a 31 year old. How super exciting! How could life possibly be more exciting?!? The alliteration and French in the title keep it fancy. Mode=Fashionable. Oh la la.

Today I rocked my tried-and-true cool weather outfit formula:

Colored tights+skirt+tshirt+cardigan+boots+belt=generally adorable

It's a good solution for a dreary Monday. It doesn't require too much thought, I probably have over 200 possible permutations and the results are usually cute.

Or cute enough to stare at Excel spreadsheets all day in my cube. I'm currently suffering from Excel-itis and general blah. I may as well try and look the part of a cute spunky girl. If I keep playing the part, I'm hoping the spunk will follow.

Cardi-Loft

Tee- Target

Skirt- Ann Taylor via Goodwill

Belt-Goodwill

Tights (they're forest green BTW) Hue via Marshalls

Boots-Ciao Bella via DSW (I love you boots!)

3.07.11 Outfit-Forest Hunter

I didn't intend to go to Goodwill, but that's where I ended up Saturday afternoon. I had a jacket for a theme party I never used, so I decided to try out their exchange policy. I felt a bit, how do you say, douchay exchanging it. I should have just donated it back (new and improved after a wash.) But I've already re-donated a couple things; I figured they could handle one $7 credit. I actually saw my re-donated Christmas sweater hanging up on Saturday.

In the midst of my douchay exchange, I uncovered a platinum-colored silk top from Tahari and a cotton Gap safari jacket. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the top. But how could I pass up silk Tahari for $4? This sort of behavior will get me into trouble eventually...

But I made good use of the jacket already. It washed beautifully. This outfit's nice, but I need to find something that makes it pop. Check out my sweet modeling skills. This is one of my signature moves-"trapped in the hallway."

The black dress is pretty basic cotton, but it has a nice gathered waist in front. It's from Martin+Osa, the now extinct sister brand of American Eagle. I got it for a good deal at TJs.

Keeping the tights/boot combo alive for another day.

3.01.11 Outfit The Kilt

This outfit registered a 2 on the compliment scale (one of those from a complete stranger on the way to the cafeteria!) The compliment scale is exactly what it sounds like, how many compliments I got that day. Yeah, I'm that shallow, sue me.

I found this skirt a couple months ago at the Goodwill for something like $7. I love a good thrift. It's the classic 60s/70s kilt-100% wool with leather belt-y tabs on the side. It's a little longer than I would normally wear, but I'm keeping it that way for now in homage of the era this baby came from. You can't quite tell, but my tights are actually blue. I love colored tights and boots.

Tee- TJ Maxx

Sweater- Target

Skirt- Goodwill

Tights- Hue via Marshalls

Boots- Ciao Bella via DSW

2.28.11 Outfit Post

I finally pulled it together and staged a private photo shoot! For myself, by myself. I was the best photographer and model there. In my hallway. Alone. I have to admit, it was a 2 hour ordeal getting the pics from the camera to this post. I have random holes in my basic computer knowledge!

I just resurrected the jacket from the basement. I've had this jacket forever and just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. I took off the brass buttons ages ago.

Jacket-Target (old)

Top-Target

Pants- J crew

Boots-Ciao Bella via DSW

Fixing My Makeup

Oh, makeup. I love/hate it. Carmindy makes it looks so easy. And glamorous. But I am committed to the 5 minute face on weekdays. I guess that's what happens when you turn 30 and inherit dark under-eye circles from your mom. There's really no need to scare innocent coworkers.

Nothing bums me out more than dropping makeup. The case breaks, the mirror shatters, and it goes everywhere. Of course this happens on the day I'm running late and (of course) its a only a week old.

If it's a liquid, all you can do is clean it up the sloppy glass and cry over the lost $55. If it's a powder, I can usually use sad the remnants as a messy loose powder. That's exactly what I've been doing with my face powder for the past 2 months.


The mess it was making in my sink every morning was annoying. And then I saw this helpful hint in Rachael Ray:

With nothing to lose, I decided to give it the old college try. I gathered up my supplies and got to dropping. Eyedropping. I didn't have an eyedropper on hand (does anyone?) so I put the rubbing alcohol in an old contact solution bottle. Which I clearly labelled to avoid any angry-husband-with-burning-eyes confusion.

After I mixed it all together with one of my favorite tools, I got this paste. Not too shabby. Seriously, how great are butter knives? They can do everything.

The next morning, I had pressed powder again! It's not exactly the same as brand new, but it's a vast improvement over what I was working with before.

I've been using the reinvented compact for a couple weeks now and its working out great! Way to go RRay. Thanks to this, you annoy me less today ;)

Sundays. Ugh.

If only I was talking about sundaes...then I might be happier.

Well, happy for a couple minutes and then full of guilt and depression over the unnecessary calories. What? I struggle with a love/hate relationship with food as much as the next gal.

Back to stinky Sundays. For as long as I can remember, I've hated Sundays, especially Sunday evenings. They are the lowest low of my week. The weekend is ending, I have nothing to look forward to but Monday (ugh) and Tuesday (ugh) Wednesday (ugh.) And the biggest kicker is that I usually feel like I wasted the weekend. I've had two days for just me and I haven't accomplished enough. I wasted the days feeling too overwhelmed to actually start anything, so I just end up watching TV. Maybe we made it to Home Depot once. But that's not enough, I should have painted all the trim in the guest room or started the great American novel or fed the homeless or something amazing. Ok, maybe I'm a little too hard on myself.

I was beginning to feel that way about this weekend. But then I forced myself to list what I did this weekend, and I was surprised to discover it wasn't too bad. Not amazing, but still pretty good.

Friday night I had a movie night/slumber party with my MPG girls. No Strings Attached is one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but it was still so nice to see my MPG girls-we don't get to see each other often enough. I also cancelled the Weight Watchers subscription I haven't used in over a year. I would still like to lose a couple pounds, but I just wasn't making use of the subscription. There's $200/year saved. A excellent step towards my New Year's resolution to Waste Less. So when you think about it like that, Friday was a success!

Saturday morning I got up early and got a hair cut, went to Target before 9 am and picked up breakfast for B and I. That afternoon we spent 3.5 hours at Home Depot working with a Certified Kitchen Designer on ideas for our kitchen (WOOOHOOO) and had a lovely dinner. With the kitchen planning alone, Saturday was a success.

Today I stayed in my PJs until 3, which is what made me feel lazy in the first place. But during that time, B and I agreed upon a bunch of upcoming house projects (agreeing=HUGE step), rearranged the guest room, did 4 loads of laundry, ran the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen. I think that's pretty good overall. I also felt bad I didn't make it to the grocery store (its really cold outside.) But I ended up doing something better instead. I played Top Chef with the random food we had in the fridge (spinach, broccoli slaw, lemon, chicken, fresh thyme, leftover mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and pie crust) and actually created a tasty dinner without a recipe. I had a lot of fun doing it, I used up all our leftovers and 80% of it was vegetables, so it was healthy. Did I Waste Less again on Sunday? You bet! Goooo me!

So overall, this weekend wasn't the waste I felt like it was. It was a bunch of itty bitty baby steps towards a happier and more fulfilling life. Sounds pretty good to me. So, I take back the ugh.

Sundays. Yay!

Goodwill Hunting

My favorite Saturday afternoon activity is going down to the local Goodwill and sifting through the treasures. Sometimes they have great furniture, sometimes a decent leather purse and sometimes I come home empty handed feeling grimy. It really depends on the day and my mood. Overall, the good days outweigh the bad ones.

On bad days, thrift stores can be VERY overwhelming and annoying (Ugh, why can't they just show me the adorable things!) BUT I refuse to miss out on good deals because my blood sugar is low. So I have a pretty simple method:

Go directly to the pretty things. Skip the boring junk and look for shiny or embroidered or pretty patterns. I have a real addition to all things embroidery and crewel. I want to cover EVERYTHING in it. I haven't done so yet, but I'm sure it will happen soon, just you wait, it will be bad.

Anyway, after something catches my eye I check out the brand and/or quality of fabric and construction. Sometimes brand is enough of an indication. If not, I look for natural fabrics-wool, silk and cotton.

This week I struck gold in the jacket department.

J Jill embroidered number (shocker) that I have in mind for my mom:

A tagged-ripped out (AKA really good) 100% silk one that I think might be sweet for my oma (sorry the color's washed out):

A classic grey wool for moi (it always helps when a cute hipster walks by and says "that looks great on you." Ok, thanks I will take this one-I look cute in it.)

And a cute purple puffy sleever that I don't know what to do with, but has the potential for adorable-ness.

Now I need to decide how to style these babies...

Deals in the most random of places

Ok, it's not that random. I go to BJ's for deals on toilet paper and Sonicare toothbrush heads and Laughing Cow cheese. Sometimes I'll pick up a paperback while I'm there. But finding a item for my wardrobe that I've been pining after for years? Unheard of! There I was, trying to decide between 1 or 2 gallons of olive oil when I turned around to see a shining beacon ahead of me:

HUNTER WELLIES!

*cue the sounds of angels singing*

Let me just start by saying that I am a diehard Anglophile. I love all things British. This may or may not be directly related to the fact that my family watched a lot of PBS and Monty Python when I was growing up. But studying abroad in London for a semester only made it worse. Some of the happiest moments in my life occurred strolling down the streets of London, just going to or from class. Ah, precious memories....

Anyhoo, I love wellies. Wellington boots. Rain boots. They're adorable and functional. And I love well made/quality items. The kinds of things that Queens prefer to wear. And I love a good deal.

Hunter wellies for $125 at Nordstrom? Quality-check. Good deal-uh, no.

Hunter wellies at BJ's for $80? Done and done. That's a 36% savings my friends! And I'm confident these will last me for years to come, making them a good investment. It also helps that my current electric blue Polo wellies from Marshalls were on their last legs. They were also adorable, an excellent deal and served me well for 5 years. Alas, they were a little too small and lining at the heels had worn through. So they will be donated so someone else can love them as much as I did And when Spring come, I will being my love affair with my aubergine Hunters wellies. Unless I can find a good deal on liners sooner than that ;)



*I apologize for my horrible picture taking skills-they're actually a lovely deep purple that sometimes looks navy. Aubergine=fancy way of saying eggplant in French.

Keeping Resolutions

It's only a couple days later and I'm already having trouble keeping my resolutions. Boo. I know everything is a work in progress, but I hate the "in progress" part. I got a great deal yesterday on something I've wanted forever, but could never justify the cost. And I found them in the most random of places! But my card reader isn't working (of course) and a picture is worth a thousand words. So that will just have to wait for a slightly later date. And this is still technically blogging, it's just not exciting blogging.

Baby steps and less hitting of the snooze button (I told you I was lazy by nature!)

New Year's Resolutions

I know, I know, resolutions are lame. They're just society's way of setting oneself up for failure. Look at how crowded gyms are for the first 6 weeks of the year, and then they empty again. By Valentine's Day, you get your normal elliptical back, no waiting. I'm as guilty as everyone else of breaking resolutions. I actually stopped making resolutions for a few years, I made "life changes" instead. But they were really just resolutions with a nicer name. I felt like less of a cliche when I didn't fulfill them. But I'm back to making good old fashioned resolutions them and this blog is one of 'em. My life needs some changes and I feel like I can't make them unless I do so in baby steps. One blog post at a time. So what are my resolutions? I have three:

Take more risks
Waste less
Blog

They kind of tie into each other, and I'm hoping that will help me succeed to some degree at all of them. I've been living a somewhat quiet life for a couple years now and I'm itching for a change. I don't feel fulfilled-there's more joy to squeeze out of this existence and I'm going to find it. I'm not one to take risks (unfortunately I'm lazy by nature), so let's step that up a bit. Wasting less applies to everything-money, time, resources, my life! I want to feel like my life has a purpose again (even if it's small and only makes me happy.) I read blogs daily and always say I should start my own but never follow through. I've been to afraid of people judging me and sounding like a fool. Whatevs, I sound like a fool on a daily basis and I'm judged all the time. So there will now be a written record of it. Sounds like progress to me ;)