Style Goal: Fall Wedding Guest Outfit in Sunny California

I was supposed to post this last week, but I ended up on a flight without WiFi, so never had the chance to hit publish.

I'm headed across the country for a super quick trip to California for my aunt's wedding, so I thought I'd share the outfit I've put together. Wedding guest outfits are always a sensitive subject, it seems. You can't wear too much white, black is still considered a no-no by some, and you have to dress appropriately for the setting and fanciness of the wedding, while taking into account the weather.

So this is what I will be wearing for a fall wedding, taking place mid-day in a church, with a lunch reception in a nice restaurant afterwards. It's supposed to be around 70 degrees but sunny, so layering is important.

Coral and fushia dress: Modcloth, Black clutch: eBags, Purple necklace: NY&Co, Purple belt: Express, Purple cardigan: J.Crew, Purple patent pumps: Zappos

OOTD: Volunteering

So much to post, so little time!

But until I can get my act together with finishing several half-written-but-still-need-photos-and-citations posts, here's a quick one. I'm finally leaving the house, to go somewhere other than the hardware or grocery stores! What can I say, it's been too hot to go anywhere fun, and with the sometimes multiple trips per day to Lowes on the weekends, no time or point to dress up.

But tonight I'm going to my first volunteer meeting with the OCRCC. My sister in law is on the board of directors, and asked me to help out with planning the decor for their annual charity auction this winter. I'm excited to do something to give back to the community, especially since women's issues are important to me. Plus, decorating for events/weddings/dinners/etc is something I find really enjoyable!

And finally getting out of the house also means I have an excuse to wear this cute ikat Anthropologie dress that has been sitting in my closet for two months, unworn. I ordered it back in May, for my Chicago trip, but it ended up being back ordered for 3 weeks, so I haven't had a chance to wear it yet. But I'm loving how breezy and light weight the material is, perfect for summer, even with the sleeves.

Shirt Dress: Anthropologie (Ikat Frequencies), Brown Belt: Target (the dress came with a matching belt, but I prefer something with more contrast), Brown Mary Janes: Nine West, Necklace: Target, Super Pale Legs: courtesy of the too-hot-to-go-outside NC weather

Have you done any volunteering lately? It's been far too long since I've done much other than donating money to causes (I've only volunteered once this year for the Weddingbee Weekend of Action, before that, last spring in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans was the last time I volunteered my time) and I need to get out and do more.

 

Summer Vacation Style: Weekend in Chicago

I used to blog about fashion somewhat frequently. Remember that?

I still love clothes and shoes, but have been in a bit of a rut lately. Working from home, combined with the fact that most of my "fun money" lately has been going to house stuff, has meant that I haven't been paying that much attention to fashion. Nobody sees what I'm wearing, so no need to buy anything new.

But that's changed, at least for the moment! I've got an upcoming girls weekend trip to Chicago, so I took the opportunity to buy some cute new summer dresses, and put together my weekend outfit plans. And since I've kind of been OD'ing on the fire pit/house posts lately, I thought it might be fun to change gears and share my summery outfits with you all. Everything in this post is either clothes and accessories I already own, or close substitutes I found online if I couldn't find the originals to link to.

Thursday Daytime: Travel Outfit

I like to be comfortable and casual when I travel. In the winter that means lots of layers, since I'm usually freezing on planes, and in the summer it means shorts, because I am usually hot on planes. I also like to bring a good sized tote bag with me as my carry on, so I can stuff things like my laptop, book, etc inside it, and also have room for a smaller clutch that I will use while traveling as my purse/wallet combo.

Coral shorts, comfy platform flip flops, big earrings, The Sak tote bag (received it for Christmas), blousy satin top (I have the same one in purple)

OOTD: Nervous But Excited

I've been way too lazy to take photos of my outfits like I used to! To lazy to take pictures everyday, and too lazy to get dressed up half the time. I guess colder weather makes me like my PJs a whole lot more!

But this morning I got out of my yoga pants and T-shirt, for a very exciting, but slightly nerve-racking meeting. Remember how in this post I said we weren't going to settle on something on our house hunting adventure, and were going to take our time? Um, yeah....apparently not (to the taking time part, not the settling part)!

We found a house! And put in an offer this morning!

It's one of the ones I teased a photo of in this post, but I don't want to jinx anything by talking about it just yet. So instead, this is what I wore to go fill out our offer paperwork. Not too overdressed or too casual.

Chiffon Dress: Express, Black Cardigan: Old Navy, Black Tights: H&M, Necklace: Target, Belt: H&M (came with another dress), Boots: Steve Madden

The necklace is hard to see in the above photos, so I wanted to show another photo of it. It's probably my favorite of all my Target jewelry finds: a little birdcage, with a dove inside and a vintage looking finish. I found it on the jewelry clearance rack for $5.99 a few months ago, and it goes perfectly with the gold glittery thread on my dress.

Also, my kitty was just begging me to take her picture while I was photographing the necklace by our back door.  

Fur Coat: Authentic Blue Point Siamese!

So now we're just playing the waiting game, impatiently waiting to hear back from the sellers if they'll accept our offer, or want to negotiate further. Fingers crossed that it will all work out and we'll be closing in early March!

A Kinda Fun Fashion Discovery

Well, being so busy with work has made me very unsuccessful at doing my Work From Home outfit posts. But I did manage to dress up one day last week, to go to the grocery store.

And at the same time, I also made kind of a fun fashion discovery!

See this cute ruffled red scarf?

Does it look familiar at all? How about now?

Yep, that's right, I discovered that I can turn this dress into a scarf!

The dress just happened to be lying over the arm of my chaise lounge bench in such a way that when I glanced down at it, I realized it sort of looked like a scarf from that angle. So I grabbed it and played around for a minute, when I realized I could just pull it through the arm holes and it magically turned into a scarf!

Like so:

Black Top: Target, Jean Pencil Skirt: Express, Brown Belt: Target, Dress-Turned-Scarf: Target, Brown Boots: Reneeze, Earrings and Bracelets: Target and H&M

The blue flowers on the dress even work well with my Anthropologie coat!

So that was my fun little discovery last week. I'm excited to try it out with a couple of more dresses too, since how great is it to find a use for my sundresses before next spring? I've opened up a whole world of new scarf possibilities that are already in my closet!

Have you ever made a surprising fashion discovery, or found a new way to wear something that was already in your wardrobe?

Work From Home Style, Fall Week 3

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great Halloween yesterday. I can't wait to get caught up on everyone's blogs to see what you guys did to celebrate! But first, last week's outfit recap.

Monday:

My allergies have really been acting up the past two weeks, and so I didn't wear my contacts for once. Glasses bug me to death (I hate not having peripheral vision, and my eyelashes rub against the lenses when I blink), but at least they made me look studious!

Argyle Vest: NY&Co, White Blouse: H&M, Grey Slacks: H&M, Necklace, Earrings and Headband: Target

Grey and Black Pumps: Michael Antonio

Tuesday:

I love this outfit because the skirt is so comfy. It's made out of a stretchy woven material, and feels just like a sweater for my legs.

Short Sleeve Sweater: Victoria's Secret, Grey Sweater Skirt: Target, Ombre Infinity Scarf: Old Navy, Black Tights: My Diva's Closet, Earrings: Target

Black Patent Heels: Paprika

Wednesday:

I have a ton of argyle prints in my closet, and am happy to get to wear them again, since they're mostly sweaters that are too hot to wear for half of the year. This sweater was a Christmas gift from several years ago, and the new burgundy tights I bought this year just happened to match the burgundy in the argyle pattern.

Black, Pink and Burgundy Argyle Sweater: Gift, Black Skirt: JCPenny's (part of a suit set), Belt: H&M (came with a dress), Tights: My Diva's Closet, Earrings: Target

Snakeskin Black Heels: Michael Antonio

Thursday:

Thursday's outfit ended up being a little boring. Earlier in the day I'd also been wearing a grey scarf, but I very gracefully dipped it in salad dressing while eating lunch, and didn't snap these photos until after the scarf had already been thrown in the laundry. Whoops!

Purple and Grey Striped Blouse: JCPenny's, Skinny Jeans: Target, Earrings: Target

Grey Studded Boots: Michael Antonio

Friday:

Friday we went to a party that some of my BIL's friends were throwing, but it wasn't a Halloween party, so I didn't have an excuse to wear a costume. Instead I wore this cream and grey dress with black accessories. Next time I wear a knee-length dress with boots though, I need to make sure I wear high heeled boots, to make me look taller. But at least I was comfy standing around the party in my flat boots!

Dress: Target, Leather Jacket: Victoria's Secret, Belt: H&M, Necklace and Earrings: Target 

Black Boots: Steve Madden

Bonus Outfit - Saturday:

My wedding guest outfit for Katie's wedding. This is the dress that I mentioned last week, that I'd tried on, then walked around the entire mall before coming back and buying it. By itself, I felt the dress was a little boring, although it did have a slight gold shimmer to it that is hard to see in these pictures. But it was a lot better than the taffeta with giant bows dresses I found in the department stores, so I went back and got the dress, along with a bunch of accessories to spice it up.

Pink Party Dress: H&M (couldn't find it online, but it was $24.95 in store), Black Cardigan: Old Navy, Belt: H&M (also worn on Wednesday), Tights: Missoni for Target, Earrings, Bracelets, Ring and Necklace: all new from H&M

 Black Patent Heels: Paprika

I think my favorite part of the whole outfit was the pink owl necklace. Except for the fact that my husband pointed out that I had a hooter on my hooters after I put it on, haha!

I also tried out these Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips last week, since I thought my nails could be another way to accessorize my wedding guest dress. So far, I'm pretty impressed with how easy they were to apply, and how long they've lasted.

Have you had to dress up for any weddings lately? Does anyone else always use weddings as an excuse to buy a new dress?

Work From Home Style, Fall Week 2

Happy Monday, everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend!

We had a busy, but fun weekend, and especially enjoyed our trip to the state fair (and the food, oh the food!), but that's for another post. :) On with last week's outfit recap!

Monday:

The weather around here has been weird. Some days its in the high 60s, others its in the 80s. Monday was one of the low 80s days (I think we almost hit the record high of 84 degrees!), so I did end up taking off my cardigan and tights later in the day to go grocery shopping. But it my outfit was fall-ish in the morning at least!

Grey Cardigan: Old Navy, White T: Old Navy, Pink Floral Skirt: Kohl's, Black Tights: My Diva's Closet, Black Belt: H&M, Pink Ribbon Necklace: Gift

Grey Mary Jane Pumps: Target

Tuesday:

I was going to wear tights today too, but it was another warm day, so I decided against them. Knee high boots really do keep my legs warm enough most of the time anyway.

Pink Cardigan: NY&Co, Brown Skirt: JCPenny, Brown Belt: Target, Necklace and Earrings: Target (probably, they're really old)

Dark Brown Stiletto Boots: Michael Antonio

Wednesday:

This is an outfit that I totally picked around these polka dot tights. And an outfit I would have definitely worn to the office back before I worked from home, with the addition of a black cardigan. Also, I'm glad to see a lot more tie neck blouses around the fashion blogs lately. I've had this tie and ruffle neck top for years, and I'm glad I held on to it!

White Tie Neck Top: JCPenny, Black Skirt: Victoria's Secret, Black Belt: Steve Madden, Polka Dot Tights: My Diva's Closet, Bracelet and Earrings: Target (and the bracelet is really a necklace wrapped around my wrist a few times)

Black and White Buckle Slingbacks: Guess

I almost never show the backs of my outfits (can you say awkward!), but I really like the pleats in the back of this skirt. They make it a lot more interesting than just a regular old black skirt, although it's a little hard to see the pleats in this lighting.

Thursday:

And unlike earlier in the week, this day it was actually cool enough to dress this way...that is, if I'd gone outside for more than just to check the mail! This skirt is a bit long on me (and I wear it pulled up to my natural waist, since I'm only 5'2"), but I love the little pleats on it, which are on both the front and back, so I've always been hesitant to shorten it and mess them up.

Purple Cardigan: Old Navy, Grey Tweed Skirt: Victoria's Secret, Purple Scarf: Target, Black Tights: My Diva's Closet, Purple Earrings: Target

Dark Plum Pumps: Nine West

Friday Saturday:

Um, it's only the second week back to dressing up daily, and I already blew it for Friday. I do have an excuse though, that I went to go work out on my lunch break, and then got sucked in to work stuff in the afternoon. And we didn't go out to eat like we usually do on Fridays, since I wanted to save my calories for all of the fair food on Saturday. So I didn't get around to dressing up on Friday, so instead I'll show you the outfit I wore to the NC State Fair on Saturday.

Yellow Cardigan: Victoria's Secret, Floral Print Dress: Target, Belt: Anthropologie, Sunglasses and Earrings: Target

Cognac Boots: Steve Madden

Yes, I caved and bought the Steve Madden Intyce boots in cognac, after owning and loving the black ones for a month. They're just so comfy, although after walking over 7 miles that day (according to my new Fitbit, I walked about 4.5 miles at the State Fair, and another 2.5 around the mall later that night on a never ending search for a wedding guest outfit for next weekend. Just my luck, after searching what felt like every store in the mall, I ended up going back to H&M and buying the very first dress I tried on for $25.) my feet were pretty tired. Although I bet even in tennis shoes, my feet would be tired after 7 miles, so for boots, these are pretty dang good.

Do you own any really comfy boots? And has your weather finally tipped all the way to fall, or are you still experiencing unseasonably warm days here and there like we are?

6 Tips for Planning Out Your Outfits in Advance

A while ago I mentioned that I like to plan out my outfits ahead of time. But I didn't go into too many details, so I thought it might be fun to devote a blog post to my system for planning out weeks and weeks of outfits at a time. Maybe it will inspire some of you to plan ahead, save time, and add variety to your daily outfits!

And since I just went through my outfit planning process to kick start my fall working from home outfits series, I thought now would be the perfect time to share some tips.

Outfit Planning Tip #1: Start With a Clean Work Space

It takes some space to lay out a lot of clothes, so I like to start by cleaning my closet bedroom, hanging up all of my clothes into groupings (keeping like items together, like all of my skirts in the same place), and putting all of my shoes up on their shoe racks.

Full disclosure, my closet was a huge mess last weekend. I still had moving boxes in the middle of the floor, with clothes piled high on them, and shoes everywhere. I seem to have a never ending problem with hanging up clothes! Want to see how bad it was?

(Anyone having flashbacks to this old post?)

I was able to make some space on a shelf in my closet for about half of my purse collection, so the box in the middle of the room wouldn't be overflowing, and I shoved it in the closet, along with two other unpacked boxes of shoes, to free up some floor space.

Look, there was wood floors in there!

Anyway, back to tip #1, start with a clean and organized closet area before you begin the process of laying out your outfits. Several hours after I started, I finally accomplished that step. And I finally had room for my flea market chaise lounge bench!

(Although I've decided to wait until we move next spring to recover the chaise it in different fabric--there's too many other things I'd need to tie everything together in my closet bedroom, like a big area rug under it, wall paint and an actual vanity, instead of a plastic shelving unit with a mirror propped on it. It's just a better idea to wait until after we move, when I'll know what size of room I'll be working with in my new closet bedroom.)

Outfit Planning Tip #2: Set Aside Some Staging Space

"Staging" is a term used commonly in merchandising and trade show booth planning, which is some of what my department at work is responsible for. It's basically just laying out a bunch of products in different configurations, to find out what looks best. And of course, you need extra space to play around with your different clothing configurations. So just like in tip #1, having a clean area is key, but also be sure you have some space set aside for your staging.

It can be anything from the edge of a drawer, side of an ironing board, and I like to empty one of my garment racks as well, to leave room for my staging.

(Also, the end of a garment rack is a great place to hang long necklaces, so they won't tangle)

Outfit Planning Tip #3: Make Sure Your Accessories are Accessible

Accessories are a key part of outfit planning, so you want to make sure they're accessible when you're laying out your outfits. I hate forgetting I own a certain scarf, or wearing the same black belt too many times in a row because a different belt slipped my mind.

Usually I store my belts and scarves on this tree lamp, but as you can see, it's kind of a contained mess.

So before I start putting together outfits, I like to lay out my accessories where I can see all of them. That way I won't forget about a single scarf, belt, or pair of tights, and can have that much more variety in my outfits over the coming weeks.

Outfit Planning Tip #4: Write Down Accessories and Shoes For Each Outfit

To go along with tip #3, as I'm laying out my outfits, I like to keep track of which accessories and shoes I'm going to wear with the outfit. Because I'm going to wear the same black belt, say, 3 times over the next 8 weeks, I can't lay that belt out with the outfits, because there's more than one outfit it goes with. So I just use a Sharpie and some printer paper with a little hole in it to keep track of my accessories, and put the piece of paper on the hanger with the clothes. This gives me a lot more flexibility with incorporating the same accessory item with multiple outfits, and also saves space when staging, since things like knee high boots take up a lot of room.

Outfit Planning Tip #5: Start With Special and Favorite Clothing Items, and Work From There

It can be overwhelming to get started with planning out a ton of outfits at once (In my case, I planned out 8 weeks of work from home outfits, or 40 total outfits). Where do you start?

Well, I like to go in with my favorite and specialty clothing items first. Since I try to wear dresses on Fridays, I start by pulling out some dresses to one of my staging areas. Then I figure out how I'm going to accessorize them, and add their tags from tip #4.

Next, I start pulling out favorite clothing items, or ones I just really feel like wearing, like the tie neck shirt below.

Sometimes I'll even start with an accessory I want to be sure to wear, and work out from there, like the houndstooth brown and black tights below. I knew I wanted to be sure to wear these tights, so I built an outfit around it.

Just keep pulling items out a few at a time, like four skirts you like, and slowly begin to pair them up with coordinating tops, writing down your accessories and shoes as you go. And if you plan to wear the same skirt or pair of pants more than once over the coming weeks, just write it down on an accessories paper sheet, and attach it to the hanger of the top you're wearing the repeat skirt or pair of pants with.

Eventually you'll get up to your target number of outfits, and your staging area will be covered with tons of outfits, and you're ready for the last tip.

Outfit Planning Tip #6: Get Organized For Maximum Variety

You've got a ton of outfits put together, but now what? You don't want to necessarily just start wearing them in the random order they're currently in, spread out all over your staging areas. You want to get all the outfits organized by week, so you're optimizing the variety of clothing items, accessories and outfit colors.

I start by rearranging my staging areas into different groupings. This time around, I grouped by:
- Outfits with boots
- Outfits with belts (other than those with boots + belts)
- Outfits without belts or boots

And then within those groupings, I group the outfits with skirts and the outfits with pants.

Once your staging areas are nicely organized, it's really easy to just go around and pull outfits by week.

I put all of my Friday dresses in place on the garment racks, and then, say, if I was wearing boots with that Friday's dress, I knew I could only grab two more outfits with boots that week, for a maximum of 3 boots worn per week. I know I want to wear at least 1-2 pairs of pants per week, so I grabbed from staged areas of pants outfits. And I was sure to keep track of which belts and accessories I'd included by week, so that I'm not wearing the same scarf more than once, and my belted outfits were spread out as well. Finally, I make sure that my outfit colors are distributed enough. The last thing I want is to end up with all black and white or neutral outfits in one week, and five outfits with pink the next week.

It all comes down to a little playing and rearranging, but it's a lot easier if you've organized all of your staged outfits first, and if you go week by week. In the end, you'll have all of your outfits for weeks and weeks laid out and ready to quickly pull on each morning with no thought, other than grabbing some earrings or other jewelry. Unless of course you don't feel like wearing that day's outfit--the beauty of having all of these outfits already laid out is you can be flexible if you want, and just grab another already-put-together outfit if you feel like it that day!

(I also put out my shoes, other than boots, in the same order as I'll wear them, to make it even easier in the mornings)

So, there's my 6 tips on how to plan out your outfits in advance. I know it can seem overwhelming at first, but it really works for me, and maybe for some of you it will too. I just love the time savings, and the fact that over the coming weeks, I won't have to worry about forgetting to accessorize, or remembering if I wore the same boots two days ago.

It took me about an hour and a half to lay out these 40 outfits (after all of the cleaning I did, that is). Which is much, much better than the 10 minutes a day it would normally take me to stare at my closet and try to pick something out (it would be 6 hours and 40 minutes total time spent on picking 40 outfits if I was spending 10 minutes a day!).

Do you ever plan out your outfits in advance? Got any other tips on how to save time putting together your outfits in the morning?