Amiable's Blog

I read the blog post first thing this morning, commented that I liked the look but didn't have a hoodie, then went out for a little run.  When I returned, I hung up my hoodie, and thought - oh! wait....

So I had to try it out.  What do you think?

(Tried out with two jackets - I think the longer is better, right?)

I do think the combo is fun!

Bonus pic of WIW Saturday for a jam-making marathon.  Finished most of this season's fruit, and verified that my new workout/running shoes are comfy over a long time standing and walking.  

Update: After reading your comments, I made a few tweaks.  Here's the new pics and what I'm now wearing :)  Better?  

Maybe I didn't sleep well last night, I'm not sure. But for the life of me, I couldn't decide what to wear. After rejecting two outfits, I decided to have my kids photo my attempts to get dressed.  Here are attempts 3 through 8, which still doesn't capture how I ran errands around town...

The first two attempts were blue and orange.  I really want them to work, and the color of my orange sweater is delicious, and a good color for me (I think).  But it was too warm for today.

Then I tried teal, red and black - like yesterday, but flipped around (#1).  It felt okay, but a little stodgy. I wanted more edge. Or something.

So I decided to try  a combination of crisp with grunge - something that's been on my mind for a while now. In my mind, it's my white jeans with a farmer/lumberjack flannel. Here's my attempts with that.

#2-3 White jeans, white lace shell over a tee to create a mixed-media sweatshirt vibe, lumberjack vest.  The vest is super thick and puffy.  I didn't like the pic on my camera, even though it looks okay to me now as I edit it.

#4 White jeans, white tee, blue and white plaid flannel worn as a jacket.  The plaid is nice and soft, but the white is grayer than the white of the jeans, and made the shirt look dirty. Black belt and shoes seemed too contrasty to me.

#5 White jeans, white tee, red multicolor plaid flannel worn as a jacket.  The flannel was stiff, and less comfy than the blue.

Finally I was frustrated with myself and pushing time to get out the door, so I asked my kids what they thought.  They suggested the blue, but with brown shoes.  So that's what I went with (#6-#7).  But it was cold outside, so I tossed on my jean jacket.  Later, I buttoned up the flannel and tucked it in - I think that looked better under the jacket.  But I didn't get a pic of it.  While I was indoors, I wore the flannel open like in #6-7.  Was it a good choice?

What a saga.  I'm glad it's not this difficult to get dressed every day!

Which of these have potential to work?  What should I change?

Here's what I wore the past two days - I don't think they're super special or anything, but I was comfy in them, and just warm enough in this gorgeous fall weather.

#1 Black jeans, Gray/black heathered sweater, black oxford booties.  This felt kinda dark and drab wearing it, but I couldn't come up with a good way to add something bright.  I tried a white tee under (#3), but I thought it looked better without.  So I decided that I didn't mind the dark and drab.  :)

#2 I've been wondering if I'm over my red jeans from last winter.  I really want a pair of burgundy ones - tomato red like these is much less "me".  But I decided to give them a bash today, copying the colors of an outfit that I noticed last Sunday at church and liked - tomato red, black and teal.  and I'm glad I did, because I liked it, and suddenly want to wear these again.  I'm looking for fresh color combos though - I think I'll try pink...

What do you think?  Suggestions for improvement?  I kinda feel like these are uninspired, but then, they're perfect for my kinda hum-drum life :)

I pinned a look that was basically a caramel colored sweater with black geans, and I wanted to try it.  But my caramel colored sweater ended up really being more cream.  I noticed that it matched my faux burberry belt, and decided to bring in the other colors of the belt with booties, and a cardigan (though it's not quite cold enough for the cardigan, so I'll probably wear it without).  Does it work?  Is it soul-sucking beige?

Yesterday I was uninspired and went for black over dark denim with a flannel-shirt jacket.  It was very comfy :)

Thoughts?  Suggestions for improvement?

It's nice to be at the point in my style journey when I can recognize that a trend is probably not one that will work for me.

For example, there's the cropped top with flared-skirt combo.  It looks really great in models.  And normal tops fit me like cropped tops in general, so it should be really easy to pull off.  But, I do like my tops long, now that I have a few like that, and I don't like highlighting my thickest part - my tummy.  Still, when a "cropped" short sleeve sweater came up at a clothing giveaway and fit me perfectly, I decided to try it out.  Even with a flared-ish midi skirt (#1)

My misgivings were correct - I felt thick in the middle where the band of the sweater hit, and I showed my cami underneath every time I raised my arms.  In the afternoon I changed into jeans, and the top didn't even cover the waist band of my highest rise jeans.

So nope, truly cropped tops aren't for me.  I may play with faux cropped tops, but I really do prefer a top to hit on my hips, not my tummy.

Anyway, that's WIW today.  In general, I wore the white jacket from Ceit over it, because it was chilly.  I got tons of compliments on the jacket :)

Friday I wore skinnies with a top that feels trendy (exposed zippers on the shoulders, a print that I don't think is terribly dated yet).  I played around with different boot heights, and settled on the tall ones have being proportionally better.  Was I right? (Comparison in pic #4)  Next time I wear this top, it'll be with flares (well, probably bootcuts) to try out the flared pants/trendy top combo.  :)

Suggestions for improvements on either outfit?

I pinned this outfit (#2) the other day, because I thought it was a fun juxtaposition - drape-y, kinda-dressy trousers with a very tomboyish shaped tank.

Today it's warm (mid-80s), so I tried it out with gray trousers, a striped tomboy tank and sandals (they're ankle-strap, but you can only really see the mint toe strap). 

pics #3-4 are a couple other renditions - fully tucked, with a hat, and with more colors.  I prefer the colors of the colored tank, but I like the fit of the light blue striped top better, so I'm wearing that instead.  And I'm much more comfy in the semi-tuck than the full tuck.  But I might keep the hat on while I work.

What do you think?  How should it be improved?

My new favorite color combo is black/white/cobalt.  I feel like I could wear it every day for weeks, and I'm itching to try out all sorts of iterations of it in my closet.  But I don't want to wear myself out on it - I want to savor it all winter long.  So I deliberately didn't want to wear anything like black/white and blue today.

Instead I chose grey and burgundy.  (Gray jeans, burgundy pullover and boots, silver watch for jewelry).  I like the combo fine, but I don't think my cognac belt is working.  What color belt would be better?  I don't have grey.  (Or maybe I should just carry a cognac bag to tie it in?)

What are your other suggestions for improvement?

I like my black/white/cobalt color combo so much yesterday that I'm wearing it again today.   Here's today's rendition.

The white jeans are a little longer, and less slouchy.  The shoes are oxford booties (maybe shoeties) rather than the knee-high lace-ups. And no black silk scarf today.  I'm adding the Spiegel lemming as a topper for when I go out. 

Does it work?  Are the proportions okay?  What are your suggestions?

I've been waiting for the right weather to wear these tall eyelet boots, and also waiting for the right weather and circumstances to wear my white jeans some more.  Today I decided to go for both.

I paired them with a cobalt pullover sweater, pushed up the sleeves, and added a watch.  My neck was chilly, so I added a black silk scarf to continue the colorblock.  (I think this is grounds to get a black turtleneck - to wear under pullover sweaters).  When I run errands later, I'll carry my black/white striped bag, because I think it's fun with this outfit.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with this outfit - despite that in less than two hours, my white jeans are already dirty.... *sigh*

What do you think?  Suggestions?  (I planned to try it with my black pointy oxford booties too, but will likely save that for another day, unless the tall boots don't work to your eyes).

Thanks to Suz for demonstrating Angie's recent formula!

It sparked several possibilities in my mind, and this one won my husband's "favorite" vote.  So I wore it to church today.

Sorry for the strange pose - I was thinking "stand up tall and straight". 

And it was so chilly today ( barely 50, and even snowed a bit - after being nearly 90 two days ago - I love Nebraska weather) that I wore my Spiegel through most of the day.

Bonus one of the other combo I tried - in terribly low light.  My husband preferred the long skirt, but I think the short one is worth getting worn sometime too.