Monthly Archives: August 2011

Death Throes (21 Day Challenge)

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Outfit Details: Cardigan: Target; Tank Top: Gift from Sister; Jeans: TJ Maxx; Shoes: Blowfish

I’m still getting back into the swing of things now, hence the late posts. By tomorrow, I should be perfectly on schedule (like I used to be). You may be wondering what the repaired item here is. That would be the top.

This top used to be my sister’s and the straps were much too long for it to work on me (unless I wanted to show the world my bra). So the straps were cut and sewed so that the length would be better for me. I’m starting to wonder if this top needs a hem too. It’s a little too short (by like 2 inches) to be a dress on me. It probably worked better for my sister who is much taller.

It’s a gorgeous shade of blue, in a jersey sort of fabric. I decided to pair it with a cardigan, because I don’t usually like to show off my back and this tank is a racerback. Needless to say, a lot more skin than I’m used to showing.

I also fully admit that I have become obsessed with my two pairs of skinny jeans/jeggings. They’re amazing. Why did I never pick a pair up before now?!

I was planning for this post to be populated with several more photos, however my camera decided to thwart me in this task and died. Whoops, I suppose that’s what I get for not charging my battery last night.

Man I Feel Like… (21 Day Challenge)

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Outfit Details: Blazer: AGB; Blouse: White House, Black Market; Pants: Mossimo; Shoes: DVF, from the Outnet.

I fully admit that Menswear is not my forte. I love the looks of menswear, but it is very much not my style. I always find attempting menswear to be difficult because I have a very curvy figure, and the looks that I tend to love are…not made for curvier figures.

I decided to go for the suit look. Mostly because I wanted to wear this blazer. I ended up pairing it with pants in lighter shade of grey, as I did not have a pair that was closer in color to the blazer. I then debated with myself for several minutes before deciding I could live with it–and it probably doesn’t look that bad. Then came the discovery that these pants are not hemmed. At 5’1″, my pants need to be hemmed there is no way around it. To thwart this problem, I safety pinned the bottom and wore my highest heels (6″).

I felt like the slicked down/pulled back hair worked with the overall look. It’s definitely not something I would do everyday though.

No jewelry since men don’t tend to wear much jewelry, aside from watches (and the only watch I have is a dainty little thing that I had to get resized).

These shoes were a great deal during one of the Outnet’s sales. I snagged them for less than $100. They’re a wonderful shade of brown, and just utterly gorgeous.

In other news– cleaning and working on getting the rest of the outfits (Sunday’s & Monday’s) up.

 

Is It Charm, Is It Poise? No, It’s Hairspray! (21 Day Challenge)

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Outfit Details: Top: TJ Maxx; Skirt: Small local/vintage store; Shoes: Blowfish

I’ve already experimented with my hair once twice during the 21 Day Challenge (here and here), so when I saw this I was like “oh noooo” because I felt like I’d run out of good ideas. Then I decided I was being utterly ridiculous (because I was) and I came up with the hairstyle I’m wearing above. In other news, this is also the third time I’ve worn my remix item (1 and 2). I admit, I want to squeeze it in a couple more times after this. (Excuse the bra showing, I fixed the straps after the pictures…)

Here are a couple details shots of the hairstyle I did.

Essentially it’s a half topsy-turvy. So instead of pulling the hair all the way though, you leave some coming out the top. (Hopefully that makes sense…) I’ll probably make a how-to video if it is still confusing.

I also chose to make it pigtails, because growing out an a-line means I have a lot of length in the front and pretty much none in the back. I had no idea growing it out would be this awful.

(Title from Hairspray, the musical)

Nine Lives Like A Kitty Cat (21 Day Challenge)

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Outfit Details: Dress: Macy’s, $10!; Cardigan: Macy’s, $40; Shoes (old): Payless; Hat: Target, $15-20.

My inspiration came from this (really old) Sea of Shoes picture. I’m not one who considers wearing long items with other long items. I tend to pair my dresses with cardigans that hit at the waist, or above it. So I pinterested this because I liked the idea of a long cardi with a dress.

via Sea of Shoes

Obviously, I had a rather liberal interpretation. I would have tried to match colors too, but it wasn’t happening. I tried to keep a similar type of pastel-y feel to my interpretation. I really liked that this look had no jewelry (minus those bracelets, but I don’t really own any bracelets) but still looks so gorgeous.

In other news, these pictures are bad. Better pictures will be up tomorrow. I’m trying to get all the posts up that I missed while I was visiting my bestie for her birthday. I fully admit, I had to re-dress up in this to take the pictures and I am sooo exhausted right now.

(Title from Britney’s Spears’ catchiest song from her newest CD) 

I Wear My Sunglasses…All The Time (21 Day Challenge)

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Outfit Details: Top: TJ Maxx; Jeans: Ross: Shoes: Blowfish; Glasses: Marc Jacobs / Sunglasses: Ebay

So you may be looking at the pictures above and saying to yourself: “hey, I don’t see any color in there? Where’s the COLOR?!” That’s all right. Sometimes it’s all in the details, people. Good things come to those who wait (unless winter is coming).

So check out the pop that I chose for this outfit:

That’s right, my nails. I know, I’m cool like that. Also, while I was taking pictures in the afternoon, I was delighted when a package arrived for me. New sunglasses! And of course, they went so well with my outfit that I had to wear them.

That’s right. Red heart shaped sunglasses! For only $3 (and free shipping) on ebay! I was delighted, since I’ve wanted a pair forever. I even decided to wear contacts because… well, some things are worth wearing contacts for.

In other news–you may be wondering where my Saturday Link-up is and why this post is so late. I’m actually visiting friends over the weekend and did not schedule posts (I know, I know) so tomorrow’s posts will likely be posted in the evening also. Monday’s posts are likely to be posted by mid-afternoon. As for my Saturday Link-up, I have been soooo behind that I have not caught up on any of my favorite blogs and thus had only 2 items for you guys to read. So I’ll just be scheduling it for next Saturday.

Secret Garden (21 Day Challenge)

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Outfit Details: Cardigan: Atmosphere via Nostalgia; Blouse: Chi Chi via Nostalgia; Camisole: Unknown. Jeans: Per Se via TJ Maxx; Flats: Ross; Earrings: X-mas gift; Ring: Graduation gift; Clutch: Ross; Glasses: Marc Jacobs via Costco. 

To say I love this outfit? That would be an understatement.  When I looked into my closet this morning I had “I have nothing to wear!” syndrome. It’s something I haven’t been afflicted with recently, considering I bought a bunch of new clothes so it came as a shock. And then I told myself, “Don’t be ridiculous! You have plenty to wear!” and I pulled out this blouse and cardigan that I’ve only worn once or twice. I bought the two of them to go together towards the end of my senior of college. The majority of my college years were horrifying if you go by what I wore. It was pretty much: rain jacket, hoodie, shirt, jeans, Uggs. FOR TWO YEARS. (The first year I actually made an effort).

I love that I was able to take a day that could have been BLAH and made it BAM! Can I just give myself a pat on the back, y’all? I did not wear sweats today! I did not stay in my pajamas all day! I’ve actually worn outfits I could leave my house in (and posted them) for the past couple days!

This blouse contains everything I love. Ruffles, lace, florals. It’s a trifecta of amazing. The cardigan adds a completely different texture into the outfit with it’s fuzziness and beading. And the cute little clutch is just metallic enough to work with the whole look, I believe. I still hate my hair so I pulled it back into a clip.

As for what I did today? Well, when I woke up I remembered I was going to have lunch with friends (I’ve been doing that a lot lately, huh?). So I was delighted to step out of my house looking rather wonderful. I headed to the place we were to meet, got us a table, and started to wait. Then I started to have an inkling… something was niggling at the back of my brain. So I pulled out my phone to text them that I was waiting and…. I saw the day. My internal clock was a day off. To save face, I pretend to text back and forth for a bit while the waiters ran about then flagged one down and said my friends had texted me and rescheduled and I was very sorry for the inconvenience. Then I skidaddled out of there.

After that, I went to library and donated some books instead.

You Can Call Me Back (21 Day Challenge)

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Outfit Details: Top: White House Black Market; Skirt: Ross; Shoes: Lindsay Phillips

Some days I hate skirts. And for some reason, today was one of those days. I saw Kayla’s post that today’s challenge was “wear a skirt or dress” and all I could think was “I don’t want toooooo” in a horribly whiny tone. I scowled, and rebelled against it, and wallowed in my pajamas until 3 pm.

And that’s when my parents called up the stairs–”Cortney, nearby place is hiring and has a job fair today, so-and-so is here to take you!” And I’m like “whuuuuuttt?” since I had no idea about this. So I dug around in my closet, pulled out some suitable interview clothes and pulled my hair into a ponytail before running out the door.

(For some reason WordPress.com is having difficulty uploading pictures today. So there are only two for this post. I plan to upload more later, but I just don’t have the time right now.) 

Lil Orphan Annie

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Outfit Details: Tunic as dress: Forever 21; Cardigan: Ross; Shoes: Lindsay Phillips; Earrings: Ideeli.com

This *ahem* tunic (yes I am really short, don’t judge me!) is something I have never worn. Every time I considered wearing it, I didn’t. Seriously. I bought it after I got a horrible t-shirt sunburn right before my wedding, so I only went about wearing strapless items to try and fix my unique tan before the big day.

This item just never made it into rotation. In addition, I hate that it’s strapless. So it really never made it into rotation. However, wear a normal bra and throwing a cardigan over it fixes that problem.

These cameo earrings I saw on Ideeli.com one day were too good to pass up. They were so cute, I actually bought two pairs. This one, and a pink cameo pair. I thought they’d be bigger, but I actually love how tiny they are.

These Lindsay Phillips shoes are also closet orphans in their own right. I think I’ve worn them once since I got them Christmas. I tend to reach for my other pairs of black pumps a bit to easily and pass up these guys. I was actually surprised at how comfortable they are.

The pattern on this tunic is utterly gorgeous. I really should wear this more often. It’s definitely a stunning piece and a good addition to my closet although it would be better if it had straps.

Cherry Cherry, Quite Contrary (21 Day Challenge)

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Outfit Details: Dress: JCPenny; Scarf: gifted from my mom; shoes: Steve Madden; glasses: Costco

When Kayla said there would be bonus points for bright colors, something inside of me snapped. It was like school, and extra credit, and suddenly I just needed those bonus points. I had to have them! It was like free money or not! So I began digging through my closet and pulled out this very bright dress. I decided it was perfect for the challenge. Besides, I’d already used my yellow dress a couple days ago and this isn’t 30×30, people.

To my utter joy, this meant I could pull out this red scarf that’s been getting a lot of wear recently, and my red glasses, and my second pair of red flats. I’m not sure if it’s weird that I have multiple pairs of red flats–but I kind of think it is.

I tied the scarf up around my head for a nice headband-look. Sadly enough, a red headband is one of the few headband colors I don’t own. Looks like I’ll have to pick one up eventually… The scarf has a great diamond pattern on it, along with gold threads running throughout. This dimension means when I don’t feel like wearing it as a headband it still looks fine with the rest of my outfit.

I’ve had these buckled red flats for awhile, but I never wear them as much as my Ross ones. It’s kind of sad how little love these guys get. I left out jewelry because I didn’t own anything in red (except a rusty red necklace and earrings. I didn’t feel like putting them on).

Of course, to complete my monochromatic look, I topped it off with my red glasses. This was the perfect outfit for a cloudy and sunshine-less Washington day. I definitely cheered myself up in this!

Fancy Pants (21 Day Challenge)

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Outfit Details: Dress: Gift from sister; Shirt: gift from sister; Shoes: Payless; Earrings: Gift from sister;

I was actually embarrassed when I realized that the majority of this outfit was gifted to me from my little sister. Needless to say, she’s a stylish one and an amazing shopper. Whenever she doesn’t want something in her closet she’ll ask if I do, and often they’re items she’s hardly worn! So, I guess this had to happen eventually.

For mixing fancy & casual, I chose this long formal (sparkly!) dress that I’m pretty sure my sister wore to homecoming or something. I layered a cute tee with a giraffe emblazoned on it to make it more casual, then added pink flip flops to make it a lot more casual. I wanted to add a hat, but I didn’t have one that would work.

I planned to add a necklace, but when I put any of them on I just didn’t like the way it looked. The little giraffe’s face needed to be seen! These earrings were the perfect substitute, and seemed to set the tone I was going for (monotone, heh).

I’ve oddly been super busy lately, and so I’ve been writing my posts in the evenings. Last night, that came back to bite me when our internet went out. Thanks Comcast! Hence why this post is up late and Sunday’s Read never made it up. I rescheduled it for next Sunday, so you’ll see it then.