Last of Winter

This is my last look from my winter capsule, and I can't say I'll miss it! I learned a lot about my personal sense of style and I can't wait to bring that learning into my spring capsule.

I wore this get-up to celebrate my brother's engagement to my lovely friend and future sister-in-law! I'm so full of joy to be welcoming her into our family!

Ann Taylor button up, Target dress (similar), Zara boots (similar)

Western?

Yesterday we were told to dress in Western theme for today... I'm not sure why... But this was my attempt. Chambray and jeans with boots. And turquoise jewelry. So Western.

Also how is it that we had two snow ice days this week but its dragged on forever! I'm so glad there's only one more day! I'm also so glad I only have 2 days left of my winter capsule, I'm excited to bust out the midi skirts and flats. Not that the weather is not necessarily going to cooperate... But I can dream.

Loft Chambray shirt (on sale!), Target cardigan (similar), Gap jeans, Gap ankle boots (similar)

Failed Monochrome

This morning I woke up feeling as gray as the sky so I intended to go all gray- sweater, skirt, and boots. When I peaked outside, however, I saw the gray sky I was channeling was also spitting some sleety icey stuff. So that immediately disqualified my gray suede boots for use today. So I went for a bichromatic look rather than all monochrome. This is after the roller-coaster weather veered up to a pleasant 45°. I'm looking forward to some consistency!

Gap Factory sweater, Banana Republic skirt (thrifted, similar on sale!), Zara riding boots (similar)

Weekend Stripes

Quick outfit post, just something I wore to a fundraiser for the Baha'i community- something called Kabob Fest. I know what you're thinking- "Kabob Fest? Is that real?" Yes. Its real and its heaven.

Loft top, Banana Republic Skirt (similar midi style), Gap ankle boots (similar)

Friday!

Happy Friday! I had crossing guard duty every morning this week and you better believe I'm glad this week is over. This is my Goodwill dressing room selfie after I changed out of my "fun Friday" clothes and got a haircut. I may or may not be searching for the perfect jeans to make cut offs for the summer. I don't think its too early... even though its definitely February... Because soon all the hipsters will be trolling Goodwill for high waisted mom jeans to chop and shred. So I'll be searching. If you're out there, perfect mom jeans, I'll find you!

Loft blouse, Topshop jacket, Gap jeans, Gap ankle boots (similar), Target necklace

Enjoy the weekend! Hopefully where ever you are you're inside and not dealing with the so called "arctic blast," which is anything from -30 and 40. Break out your old man sweaters people!

Berry Cold

So my pants are berry colored and it's berrrrry cold today... Harharhar... Sorry, its essentially Monday.

I realize that this sweater is my go to for the coldest days, but this week and next seem to be full of them! I'll have to be a little more creative. There's only so many ways to wear a huge turtleneck and riding boots.

Gap Factory sweater, Old Navy turtleneck, Target pants (similar), Zara boots (similar)

Feeling Cold!

After this lovely weekend of 60's and 70's, today was a total sensory shock! Trekking across campus today was rough with the cold wind pushing against my layers. Keeping it simple for this relaxed day with stripes, drapes, and boots! I'm actually feeling kind of 70's layering my turtleneck? At least I'm cozy!

Old Navy turtleneck, H&M jeans, Zara boots (similar), Target cardigan (similar)

Valentine's Blush

Before the color blush came into the world of fashion like 3 years ago, I never wore pink. Actually, I haven't worn pink by choice since I was 6. I have only brothers and loved running around with them and wearing hand-me-downs, so for the past 17 years or so, I've avoided pink because I thought it was too girly. To be honest, I still don't like pink. But blush is like pink's older, more elegant cousin who only comes to visit when you need to look cool and feminine. Pink wants to go see a rom-com and Blush stays in to cook a fancy romantic dinner that is somehow low maintenance and relaxing.

Regardless of the differing extracurricular activities of colors, blush has become one of my favorite this season. With the exception of summer, which I think requires a little more punch, blush can be part of any palette for spring, fall, and winter. It pairs beautifully with so many colors! These are my favorites.

For Valentine's Day, I figured I'd put to use my favorite Loft purchase and wear some pink blush. I paired this blouse with a full black skirt and nude flats. E and I went with a group of friends to sushi in Dallas, then wandered around the Galleria. The day was warm, sunny, and all-around stunning, so even with my reputation for always being cold, my moto jacket stayed firmly in the car until the sun went down.

Loft button up, Banana Republic skirt (I love this longer version), Chinese Laundry flats

Oversized Stripes

I'll be real- it was nearly impossible to get out of bed today. A long day of work and class is not exactly inspiring, so I relied on one of the few pieces of sparkle I have in my jewelry box to brighten my day. I got this necklace on eBay after reading posts from other bloggers who have found awesome statement necklaces for like a dollar. I scoured for weeks- I wanted the right colors to be as wearable as possible, I wanted sparkle but not too distracting, and I wanted the perfect size. When I finally got my shamefully cheap necklace, I realized that this necklace was none of those things. The colors are fine, but the gray is a little weird. The sparkle is so flashy. But the biggest issue is... This necklace is giant. Like, unwearably so. This is the only outfit I can wear this bauble with, I'm trying to both match the gray and hide the majority of the sparkle- but I'll be darned if it isn't a charming combination.

Gap sweater (similar), Loft chambray shirt (on sale!), Mango jeans, Gap ankle boots, 

Necklace from eBay 

Playing catch up

This week has been madness! I'm so glad to finally be catching a break after rushing home from a cancelled class to see E before he went to work. I'm trying to catch up on my outfits, its been busy enough so far that I haven't been home when its light enough to get a decent shot!

Lauren Conrad blazer (similar), thrifted button up, Mango jeans, Gap loafers (similar)

 Old Navy turtleneck, Mango skinny jeans, Chinese Laundry flats

Joe Fresh button up (similar, super on sale and lovely), thrifted sheath dress (similar), 

Gap ankle boots

I love this dress! I hadn't originally put it in my capsule for this season but I added it back after missing it and day dreaming about looking like a 40's secretary going to a funeral. I love this length but it was killing me on campus going up and down the stairs! 

Hope the rest of the week is a little more laid back for everyone!

Weekend in Wichita

This weekend I got to go back to my hometown, Wichita, to visit with my dearest friends and family. I'm the luckiest! We meandered downtown and visited one of Wichita's calling cards, the Donut Whole. It was delicious and so refreshing to be outside in February wearing so few pieces of clothing! We also stopped into one of my former thrift store favorites, where they had so many glorious old man sweaters that I had to be dragged away. Luckily the warm weather made it a little easier to leave them behind!

Ann Taylor button up, H&M jeans, Gap ankle boots (similar), Target purse (similar), Citizen watch

If I could, my outfits would always be documented outside in natural light and a warm breeze... Thanks M!

Gray and Blush for a gray day

This time of year usually gives me the blues- it's cold and gray, sometimes my expectations for the holidays are unfulfilled (I have three holidays this month- Valentine's Day, the Baha'i celebration called Ayyamiha, and my birthday which  I consider a holiday!), and spring still seems so far off.

But this year the usual feelings are absent, I'm feeling more positive than I expected. Hopefully it'll carry me right into spring!

Target cardigan (similar), Loft button up (on sale!!!), Banana Republic skirt (thrifted, similar), Gap ankle boot (similar), H&M necklace (old, couldn't find similar)

Sorry I'm a little glowly in this- I forgot to turn off HDR!

Birthday stripes

Today is my birthday! I had a nice day working with the kids, who shouted Happy Birthday in random spurts when they remembered, then I had class... Which was not as nice! But now I'm relaxing with an embarrassingly large piece of cake and Friends reruns. Ah, 23 feels good!

When I planned my capsule, this was one of the outfits I envisioned. I love this top, it was a spur of the moment clearance purchase that actually has paid off. Its cozy and relaxed, but structured and light enough to be layered in different seasons.

Loft cropped sweatshirt (similar), Ann Taylor blouse (on sale in different colors!), Gap high-waisted jeans, Gap ankle boots

Gray and plum, bundled

Today is the first day of my morning crossing guard duty, and a sublime 25° dawn greeted me as I marched to the sidewalk, wrapped in so much clothing I could have been a walking rack of winter accessories. Under all those coats, scarves, hats, and gloves was this outfit. Believe it or not, even though I have leggings and extra layers under the sweater, I was still a popsicle when I went back to class. The kids looked at me like I was an abominal snow woman, although they would hardly know what snow is! Last week we discussed the seasons and what comes with them, it was hard to convince them that the 75° weather was in fact happening during winter.

Gap factory sweater, Halogen pants (thrifted, similar), Zara riding boots (old, similar)

I love the texture of these pants! The color is perfect for any season!

Simple Gray

As I put together this outfit this morning I thought, "My! this is boring." But is it? I'm not sure. I don't know if classics can be boring. I saw the white and the gray together and it felt so fresh and clean I had to wear it.

Mango button up, Gap sweater, Gap jeans, Gap ankle boots (sold out, similar), Target necklace (reallllly old, similar)

In case you were wondering, this is my team's jeans week at school. We can wear jeans with non-school shirts for a week, whereas usually we can only have on jeans with school shirts on Fridays. So usually I'll be sharing workwear that doesn't involve denim, it just happened that two weeks into blogging I had this fluke. Back to normalcy next week!

Trying on a Capsule Wardrobe

Last week, my sister-in-law Aleah and I were discussing shopping and my self-proclaimed mild shopping addiction, and she showed me this beautiful blog, Unfancy. After reading about Caroline's journey towards a simple, cohesive wardrobe, I was inspired. She created a system for capsule wardrobes that I decided ((full disclosure: Aleah totally convinced me)) that I would give capsule wardrobes a try for this season. Although I'm not totally convinced that this method will work for me, I don't want to continue filling my closet with great deals that gather dust in my closet. This post on shopping has given me great perspective about how to make my purchases (including thrift store scores!) more meaningful and this post really hit home with me about how I feel about so many things in my closet . This is her simple guide to capsule wardrobes, and while I didn't follow the rules exactly, I still found her method helpful.  This is the process I went through to get to my own 37 pieces ((full disclosure: more like 39. Or 40. I want to be flexible)) which, I will mention, that I did most of this process without looking at my clothing... So... I don't recommend that.

1. I wrote down  the items I wore all the time, both to work and otherwise. These are my go-to, wear all the time in every season pieces, like my black skinny jeans and button up blouses. If I had been at home during this process, I would have pulled them out of my closet and made a pile, but between 8 hours in the classroom and 3 hours of class every night... You get the picture.
2. I wrote down the items that I love, but don't necessarily wear frequently because I don't want something to happen to them (read: glue smears, marker dots, a 3 year old's boogers, salad dressing drips). Looking at my closet, I wrote down things like the beautiful blue silk blouse I've had for 2 years and have worn 4 times, the mauve button up I bought full-price because I couldn't wait to wear it. I added those to the list because I want to wear them. I realized that most of my wardrobe was bought from clearance racks and thrift store piles, and therefore didn't cost much. Almost all of my favorites are basics that are easily replaceable and therefore if something happens to it (read: a 4 year old is so excited to see me they don't wait to wash their hands after painting to give me a hug), I can always find a great deal on another similar piece. 
3. I filled in the blanks. I used Unfancy's guide to building a capsule, I rounded out my list and included some things I didn't think about immediately- like flats (I hadn't worn any since November until yesterday) and a blazer. 
4. I created a color palette. I think ideally this step should be coupled with the planning process, like before you shop or pull together your pieces- but being away from my closet I used this more as a check to make sure the colors I put together made sense. I used this tool, then shared my palette with Aleah. We compared our color selections and we nearly had the same palette- classic colors with soft accents. 
5. I actually looked in my closet. This step should probably come second, no? At this point I made my adjustments to my list- added slacks (I forgot to include workwear, that's why my list is 39 piece instead of the usual 37) and removed some sweaters (I forgot its Texas winter- its 80 degrees today). After I adjusted my list, I adjusted my closet. I moved my other items into storage, or made piles for giving away or selling ((full disclosure: this is still happening. Sorry for the mess, E!))

I found this whole process both exciting and exhausting- I made the mistake of starting building my wardrobe the same week my university semester began... Not recommended.

Although I've only been working within my capsule for a few days, I've had one insight: Having a capsule wardrobe gives you permission to wear what you love all the time. I'm no longer guilt-tripped every time I get dressed- I can wear my all-star piece every day! That alone might keep me using a capsule wardrobe. We'll see how the next two months go!

These are the majority of my pieces- a few of them are thrifted vintage pieces I can't find equivalents of online.

Layered Stripes

The other day I came up with this shirt combo and I definitely questioned it... Until I saw it on. I don't think it looks like two different shirts, it seems to be to look very intentional. I love layering button ups in unexpected ways- theres only so many times you can put a collared shirt under a sweater! Trust me, I do that every other day. But this was a refreshing change!

Another refreshing change was the lack of extra layers for most of the day- I didn't have to wear the blazer (same as yesterday) for most of the afternoon! I actually got hot. A miracle! Sorry for anyone reading this in the northeast who isn't enjoying the piles of snow.

Mango button up, thrifted striped top (similar), Gap jeans, Gap loafers, vintage necklace (similar)