Spring Rainfall

My biking outfit! It was rather chilly, with a possibility of rain, so I went for layers. I used my new cross-body bag so my hands would be free, and fun tights for my pop of color.

Dress: self-made from a vintage 50s pattern
Belt: Target
Sweater: unknown brand, someone was throwing it out at the end of the school year at my uni
Tights: Hue via Plato's Closet
Scarf: self-made
Coat: Jenifer (from France)
Bag: Aldo, found (literally) in a dumpster at the end of the school year
Shoes: unknown brand, France

Work work work

Work has pretty much taken over my life at this point...HOWEVER, with the dress code, I have been cultivating my 'professional-cute-yet-hip-and-appropriate-for-high-end-retail' LOOK! Here is what I am wearing today.


Shirt: Loft via Plato's Closet
Cami: F21
Sweater (omg I love this sweater): Limited via Goodwill (and in new condition, too! Just got this one last week)
Pants: Unknown, have had them since HS
Shoes: Champion via someone was throwing them out at the end of this last school year, and they are in awesome condition!

Hopefully I will be more on it with updating--my schedule is still super wonky, but I am getting into the swing of things. Work is fun, but very hectic!

Now, let's look at my goals:
Vitamins: check! yay.
Exercise: haven't been running in ages, but have done some random hiking, rock-climbing, and at work I am literally running around or speed walking for almost all of my 8hr shifts. I would say I am doing ok.


My shopping has been great so far, haven't spent too much money (although I am *this close* to placing another order at Fyrinnae...it's so hard when it's only 20$ for an amazing haul of goodness! I don't want to lie, I'll probably place my order later tonight. I don't really need any of it--but do I really need most of the stuff I buy?--but it would make me exceedingly happy. Plus, I'm finally ordering some every day wearable colors! Taupe eyeshadows! Neutral lipstain! Oh, plus some eyeshadows that are orange, chartreuse and...oh yes...more orange. BUT mostly everyday wearable! :] ) I am mostly waiting for my first payday, in 5 days (countdown? noooo...lol). I plan to buy a few bras (which I really do need to do soon), and to keep trawling the thrift shops for my list of teacher clothing.

!!!

I just won a prize from the No-Shop Challenge over at 365 Fashion Rehab! I am SO EXCITED! Vintage Coach purse, HERE I COME!!! *ahem* Yes, Plummy is super stoked about this. I would also like to apologize for the recent sparsity of posts--I just got an awesome retail job, but it is full-time with a weird schedule, in addition to another part-time job I am working, plus meetings for my teaching job and out-of-town guests. It's been hectic, to say the least. BUT but but BUT I am very very excited about this bag--Yay! Participating in the No-Shopwas a lot of fun and very enlightening, and while I am still on a super-slim shopping budget (until my first paycheck at least, when all hell may let loose) I definitely have a clearer idea of what I like, what looks good on me, and what I actually need in my wardrobe (with need, of course, being 'lust for' and 'want,' as I really don't need anything).

Yay!

Opposites Attract?

This is an example of how the exact same outfit can work for the summer (on the left, with bare legs and flats) and for the winter (on the right, with my new kickass tights and heels). This skirt is pushing shortness for school, so I would never wear it with bare legs and heels in a school setting. However, with the darkness of the tights, the fun heels add a nice pop! Outerwear is the only other thing to change between these two outfits. This shirt is a new one I got in my recent shopping trip--it is Ann Taylor Loft from Plato's Closet, and while on first glance it appeared to be an old lady shirt, on second I was liking it, and after trying it on with my wardrobe I *love* it! The background is creme (neutral!), and the dominant colors in the pattern are cranberry and teal (my primary and secondary colors in my wardrobe). It goes with so many things in my closet.
Shirt: Ann Taylor Loft via Plato's Closet
Skirt: Nordstrom via St. Vincent Thrift
Gray Shoes: Unknown brand, from La Halle de Chaussures in France
Tan Shoes: Covington via Goodwill
Tights: Hue via Plato's Closet (new)

Leopard Awesomeness

I am re-posting part of this from my reply on the 365 Fashion Rehab thread. My shopping day!

I was very proud of myself for shopping with a plan! Instead of just looking around and buying whatever caught my eye, I had a list of both articles of clothing to look for and color stories to stick to. You can look at my blog for the in-depth description, but I went through my closet and counted up how much I had of everything--that was a shock, lol. Then did editing, then listed what I need for the work year (since summer clothing was not needed at ALL, lol), and last of all picked my color story (bright coral and cranberry, with plentiful neutrals and accents of turquoise).

Today I ended up buying 2 dresses, 2 shirts and 1 pair of tights from Plato's Closet, 1 pair of awesome flats from Naturalizer, and 2 shirts from Banana Republic Outlet (and man, are their prices good!). AND they all are teacher-appropriate and fall within my color range, woohoo! Total damage: about 70$, thanks to amazing sales and a small gift card I had stashed away (which thankfully survived my 6 weeks of No-Buy--at one point I had almost convinced myself that spending a gift card wasn't spending 'real' money and therefore wasn't shopping. Thankfully, that delusional state didn't last).

Now, I'm also going to do something I haven't done before--look at the pieces I just bought in the context of my wardrobe and decide if they function with what I already have, above and beyond how they look on me (it's like a revelation, lol).

AND upon further review, I decided to return BOTH dresses. Cute, but didn't follow fit in nicely with my other pieces of clothing. More money to buy more tights! lol...

Here's an outfit post for when I am teaching. You might recognize the skirt as a dress I have previously worn on this blog. I was concerned that it might be a bit short for work, but when I sit down it doesn't get shorter, so I think it's ok, especially worn with (my new awesomely-awesome) flats.






Dress: Goodwill
Shirt: H&M via Goodwill
Belt: Target
Sweater: Express via Goodwill Outlet
Shoes: Love them! Super comfy. Naturalizers (on sale!!!)

Oh So Excited

I am so excited to go shopping tomorrow...on one hand, I feel that it is rather sad that I am so excited. On the other hand, I've spent six weeks with no shopping, and I love shopping! It's definitely more about the thrill of the chase than the final items, which is one reason why I think I love thrift shopping so much. The chase is so much longer, but the rewards can be so great! Tomorrow I am grabbing those Hue tights I found on sale, plus going to some outlet stores with my mum that I haven't been to before--including Banana Republic Outlet, Gap Outlet, Ann Taylor Outlet (although sadly not Ann Taylor Loft Outlet), and Nordstrom's Rack. I have made my list, know what I am searching for, and have an insanely small budget to go along with it all. Yay!

List-o-mania

As promised, an inventory of my closet:

Pants: 7 total
--Jeans: 3
--Cords: 1
--Cargo: 1
--Slacks: 2
Shorts: 3
Sweatshirts: 2
Coats: 5
Blazers: 3 (all black)
Long sleeved work-appropriate shirts: 9
Casual long-sleeved shirts: 5
Work-appropriate skirts: 4
Casual skirts: 10
Sweaters/Cardigans: 9 total
--Shrugs: 2
--Casual-only: 3
--Work appropriate: 4 (only one of which is long-sleeved and any amount of warm)
Casual short sleeved shirts: 31 total
--T shirts: 5
--Tanks: 8 (in my defense, I just got 5 for free from a trash bin)
--Camis/Layering shirts: 9
--Other: 7
Work-appropriate short-sleeved shirts: 9
Work-appropriate dresses: 8
Casual dresses: 13 total
--Can be worn as a tunic for work (with a sweater): 3
--Can be worn as a skirt for work: 1
--Neither, just casual-wear: 9
Formal dresses: 3
High heels: 7
Flats: 9
Boots: 4
Swimsuits: 2

Hmm...seems a lot more than I realized, looking at my closet. I think it's because many of the things I own have qualifiers attached (this can only be worn with a sweater on top because it exposes too much, these shoes are falling apart and can only be worn on very casual days, etc) so I feel like I have less. For example, look at my sweaters/cardigans number: 9. That seems like more cardigans than I should need. However, 2 of those are shrugs that I rarely wear (what's the point? They look wintery, with their color, but don't give any warmth and you can't wear anything over them!), one is a cropped knit thin thing that is from AE, falling apart but I wear it because I don't have anything better, one is a long vest (no warmth!), one is too child-ish for work...and then we are left with 3, one of which has 3/4 sleeves and is very light (although pretty), one is very sporty (not work appropriate, but I love it and wear it all the time) and the other is standard gray knit (which I just got for free from the trash!).

I'm sensing a purge coming on to eliminate these problems...Especially in tanks. I do not wear tanks very often, I got 5 from a trash bin (no joke), and I do not need this many.

Alright, holes in my wardrobe. Definitely warm sweaters. I am a sweater girl, I am almost always cold, and while I love my zip-up dearly, it shouldn't come with me to work unless it is a casual field-trip day. I really need more than one thin gray sweater. I definitely want to look for neutrals in all my clothing, neutrals that ARE NOT BLACK because I just have black and a whole lot of color (better than earlier this year, when I JUST had black).

Another hole: work appropriate skirts. 5? And they are all colors, too--rusty orange, purple plaid, BRIGHT purple (don't know what to pair it with!), hunter green (looks very severe, it's my fall-back interview skirt), and cranberry. Neutrals again! Plus, they are pencil skirts (except one, which is an A-line), so I will keep an eye out for fuller skirts that will allow for a greater range of motion during teaching.

I definitely want to keep my eye out for: nice shirts for work, comfy comfy shoes (sandals, high heels, flats, maybe some more awesome boots), tights (hopefully will be covered as per my previous post, but always good to look for!), belts (non-elastic! professional-looking), maybe some non-black blazers, and grown-up jewelry (least emphasized).

Well...at least I shoot for high goals. :) Plus, I have all summer to look through thrift shops for these items!