Cleaning in High Heels? How 50s Housewife of me...

Not working=high heels (even though all I'm doing today is cleaning house and cooking!)




Sweater: The Limited via Plato's Closet
Dress: H&M via Plato's Closet
Tights: Target
Boots: Faded Glory via Goodwill
Belt: Target

Play play

Today was a day off from work, so I busted out my high heels and stormed the city. Well, at least I busted out my high heels...

It was actually warm today, a nice change from the gloomy weather we've had lately, and I even (*gasp!*) took off my sweater in the afternoon!

I also went shopping, much to the chagrin of Mr. P, and continued to stock up my teacher wardrobe. Photos coming soon!














Sweater: Unknown brand (literally, the tag is a blank piece of black ribbon), found at the end of the school year as someone was donating it to the Goodwill

Dress: Pour la Frime, also snagged for free from someone's end-of-year donation pile

Belt: Target

Tights: Hue via Plato's Closet

Shoes: Goodwill, padded out with a variety of shoe inserts (they are maybe half a size too big at most, but I have narrow feet >:P )

Bag: COACH from 365 Fashion Rehab (WOOHOO! It is awesome)

Earrings: Originally from clearance at Claires years ago, modified by me (I made them shorter--they were long and oh-so-heavy)

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

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!!!)

Yummy Shoes

One of my favorite activities is making lists, even when they are completely unnecessary. I love the way that they make me feel organized, like I have a handle on things, and I love the feeling of crossing off items from a to-do list. Since I am currently on a no-buy and am trying to be more conscious with what new articles of clothing I buy (when I do start shopping again), one of my favorite activities recently has been making, editing, and adding things to my 'articles of clothing that I want' list.

One of my worries with my goal of buying quality clothing items over quantity is that my shopping habits won't really change, I will just be spending more money as I justify it with 'but it's quality!' reasoning. Some specific items I think will naturally avoid this trap--for example, one of the items on my to-buy list is a pair of comfy summer sandals. I don't think I have had a pair of truly comfortable sandals since I was a kid, and those were the huge, clunky, dark brown 'leather' ones that lots of kids my age had. I have a ton of feet and ankle problems (achilles tendonitis in both ankles? check. extra high arches? check. unusual bone structure that encourages feet wear and tear? check.) and with how active I am in the summer, I think this would be a good investment. Now, I use the term 'investment' in terms of both the health of my feet as well as an eventual lower PPW for the shoes. Normally at the beginning of every summer I fork out between 20 and 40$ for a pair of summer shoes that usually wear out by fall. I am hoping to avoid this problem with the amazing shoe options I have found! They are a bit pricey, but if they last merely two summers then they will have an equal or lower PPW than my cheapy versions (with more comfort!).










Indigo by Clarks 'Smooch'









Clarks Unstructured 'Un.helm' Sandal








Indigo by Clarks 'Bordeaux' Sanda





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Indigo by Clarks 'Edie' Sandal


Ok, so the last one is more of a 'lust' than an actual shoe I would get...but aren't they all pretty? They are all by Clarks (haven't tried the brand yet, but have heard good things about the comfort), they are all in that light brown/honey/cognac shade that I enjoy so very much, they are all leather, and they are all flat. Oh, and they all can be bought from Nordstrom, which I love because of the return policy (often, with my feet, I don't even notice that the shoes are not comfortable until I wear them for a week or so, and with other stores I am then SOL and cannot return them. Yay Nordstrom!). Pretty much all my requirements.

However, some other items on my list I worry that I will fall into the trap of spending more for 'quality' and ending up with another problematic garment in my wardrobe, since I am not that great yet at deciding what looks good on me, what I will actually wear in real life, and what I will *still* like six months down the road. I'm hoping that the reality check of spending money on a single garment will challenge my beliefs enough, but I would love it if I could transfer this thought process over to my second hand shopping, where I wouldn't be spending a ton of money. It's so much harder to be picky when each item costs under 5$ though...my thought process: 'well, even if I only wear it six times, that puts my PPW under 1$, and then it's worth it, right?' Not really. I really shouldn't buy something that I only plan on wearing for a few times, unless it's special-occasion wear.

Well, it's all a process, right? I'm in my twenties, so I always have the 'young and stupid' excuse to fall back on, lol. Besides, if I'm afraid to change things up a bit, try new ideas, take chances, then what's left? So I'll try my experiment of quality over quantity, while also trying to bring it to my second hand shopping.

Granted, this doesn't start until I can actually *go* shopping. 15 days left, according the 365 Fashion Rehab Challenge!

Ok, Outfit of the Day.











Scarf: Selfmade
Shirt: Gap, via Plato's Closet
Dress: Unknown, Goodwill Outlet
Belt: Target
Leggings: Under Armour
Socks: Target
Boots: Faded Glory via Goodwill







Goal Count Up:
Exercise: I'm bad...but I *did* run all over today with errands and work and planning last-minute events for my hall! *hangs head in shame*
Vitamins: Check

First Entry

Well, here it is. My first blog entry. We'll see how long this blogging thing lasts for me--my attention span is notoriously short and I tend to flit from obsession to obsession. However, I've decided to try to make my short bursts of intense focus work for me as I set a series of small goals for myself in an effort to improve me. Think of it as Plummy, but better. These short goals may take a variety of forms, recently including: exercise more (I've been running for three days a week for the past year and a half, with minor incidences of falling off the bandwagon--read: summer and vacations), improve my style (still a major work in progress), improve my hair (dying, bleaching, straightening and blowdrying are apparently not good things...) and improving my nail care (I have started painting my nails regularly, huzzah for good nail care). However, one of the main limiting factors (besides my lack of attention span): lack of funds. Yep, this will not be a fabulous blog full of recent designer acquisitions (or even recent department store acquisitions). I am just graduating from University, my husband and I just bought our first car, and we are completely broke. However, I have joined the no-buy month over at 365 Fashion Rehab for a sense of solidarity in my inability to buy things! But anyways...

One of my recent goals: attempt to take daily outfit pictures to get an idea of what style I am portraying, what is flattering, and what definitely is not. I've been doing this for about two months now and will be posting them here to share what I am learning with all of you. Assuming anyone reads this, of course. :P

Well, first post, might as well do first photo:



















Might as well start off with a relatively flattering one. This was from a semi-formal event that I went to yesterday.
Dress: Goodwill
Belt: Target
Leggings: lol, these are old nylons that I cut the feet off of.
Shoes: I LOVE these shoes. Not very comfy, though. :( Dollhouse. 12$ on clearance from Ross, originally size 6.5 (I am 7.5, somehow these fit). I used my trick of wearing socks in gradually increasing sizes, culminating with wool socks that I then wear, with the shoes on, in the shower (never with leather shoes! only with synthetic, I promise!) to stretch them out to my feet, mold them if you will. My method has worked wonders with these and a few other pairs I have gotten that have been a bit tight!
Earrings: Claires, from a sale over five years ago.