30x30, days 2 and 3

My challenge is to wear and document my favorite 30 winter pieces.  I haven't completely decided whether scarves count as individual pieces, nor footwear.  

Today I'm wearing a red version of my favorite tonal blue outfit that I showed a couple of days ago.  Burgundy jeans, dark red sweater, big plaid scarf.  I decided to wear my cognac boots (it matches the gold in the scarf) because I want to get plenty of wear out of my boots while it's cold. For going out, I add my gold jacket (it's actually a bit too chilly for it today, and I should wear my boring coat instead), and a super-casual dark floral cross-body bag.  The plaid and bag are print-mixing :)

Yesterday I wore my "perfect jeans" again (the WHBM ones that Angie started the lemming trend for), and paired it with a super-casual sweatshirt, that has an interesting shape and texture. I added more texture through the fuzzy cowl-scarf (to keep my neck warm) and black leather boots. 

30 favorite pieces so far:

1. WHBM jeans (pic #5)
2. navy sweater (shown earlier)
3. blue waterlillies scarf (shown earlier)
4. grey sweatshirt (pic #5)
5. burgundy jeans (pic #1-4)
6. red sweater (pic #1-4)
7. plaid scarf (pic #1-4)
9. burgundy shoes for around the house (shown earlier, not usually worn out)
10. black boots (they're knee-high, pic #5)
11. cognac boots (pic #1-4)
12. Gold jacket (pic #3-4)

I'm gonna get to 30 way too soon.  

Comments, feedback, suggestions, and anything welcome :)

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Winter 30x30, and selfie attempts.

In my head, I've been doing an approximate 30x30 since summer.  But I haven't documented nor counted anything.

In the spirit of having fun, and needing a tad bit of a diversion, I'm challenging myself to document my favorite 30ish pieces for winter, and to consider purging the rest.

The limitation to a smaller number of pieces that I've discovered so far is laundry.  There's times I wear something I don't love simply because what I do love isn't clean yet.  Today, though, what I love is clean, so I decided to try for a photo of my current favorite FFB outfit: perfect jeans (the lemming ones from WHBM), navy sweater and interesting scarf. 

I'm comfortable in this casual outfit - it feels just pulled together enough.  I'd eventually like a different navy sweater for this sort of combo, but haven't found the right one yet.

Honest feedback is invited - and suggestions for improvements (including selfie-taking with a phone improvements).  Thanks you all!

30x30 pieces:
WHBM blue jeans
Navy sweater
Burgundy shoes (these are my at-home around-the-house comfortable-for-working-at-my-standing-desk-all-day shoes.  They're not all that pretty, but I like the color and wear them almost every day)
blue water lilies scarf (I think I'll end up lumping every scarf I wear into one piece.  But for now I'll document it like an article of clothing)

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Specs shopping

I'm shopping for new specs, though not sure that I'm really going to buy soon.  I need an update to my prescription, but it's not super urgent.  Still, I'm starting to look.

I went shopping a few days ago, and tried on a few.  It turned out that I was limited to men's specs, because my head and the bridge of my nose are quite large.  So all of these pictured are men's.

These are ones that I liked.  Are any of these terrific, or should I keep looking?

#1 Coach.  I like the shape, but the big logo on the arm kinda turns me off.  They're brown.
#2 Izod.  These were probably my favorite pair in the store upon first trying them on.  They're dark red.
#3 Carter.  I'm surprised by how well I like the tortoise shell in the picture, usually I prefer solids, but I like it here.
#4 Another Carter - these are brown.
#5 - #6 And a third Carter (I liked how this brand followed my eyebrows).  These look black in the picture, but I think they were actually a dark brown.  I don't think I want black specs, so they're probably out.

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WIW: Bright pink and soft? red

When I first saw this ensemble, I thought "Too bad I don't have those colors - they're so pretty together".  Then I was trying to decide what to wear this morning, and my neon pink pants jumped out at me.  I decided to try out pairing them with this brick-red (almost rust) mesh sweater, and liked the result.  I paired it with a bronze necklace and bronze-toned sandals, and carried my cognac back pack.  Thanks Angie for the idea!

All feedback and suggestions for improvement are welcome :)

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An Inadvertent 30x30

My family and I went camping from Memorial Day to July 4th.  (34 days, and no, not "real" camping - we stayed in our camper, which has electricity and a flushable toilet, with a bath house nearby for water.  We also used the camp kitchen).  We had a great time, learned some lessons, and sorely missed the internet.

Upon returning, I checked in here, and noticed all the talk about 30x30.  It made me decide to count.  I had taken (and worn) 32 pieces for the 5 weeks.  Granted, I had only two lifestyle needs to cover: getting dirty playing in nature, and seeing-people casual.  (There was one wedding, but it was also casual).  The weather varied from in the 40s F to in the 90s F.

I didn't get much for outfit pictures, but did have some thoughts on the experiment.

  • 30 pieces was close to enough.  With less variance in the weather and a more casual than "grubby" lifestyle, I think I would have loved it.
  • I will no longer wear seven pieces
  • Nine pieces were only worn once
  • My clothes included:
    • 2 blouses
    • 4 shirts
    • 1 dress
    • 10 tee shirts and 1 jersey tank (that's a bit dressier than a tee)
    • 1 sweatshirt, 2 sweaters and a jacket
    • 4 pairs of shorts
    • 2 cropped jeans (one flares and one jeggins)
    • 3 skirts
    • 1 pair jean culottes
  • I didn't count one scarf and two pairs shoes.  If I had, it would be 35x34, I guess.
  • I also took along a few things I didn't wear (black shorts and black crops)
  • My ratio is about twice as many tops as bottoms.  I think this is a good ratio for me.
When we returned home, I gasped in delight when I caught site of my shoe rack.  Endless options!  (But in real life, I've continued wearing the two pair I wore camping).

Now that I'm recovering and returning to a more normal-for-me lifestyle, I want to try it again.  I have picked out my favorites from last month and started.  But I still haven't taken outfit photos.  I'll have to work my way back into that.

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WWW: Travel capsule

In a few days, I leave for two weeks on business (to France - across the ocean for me).  The dress code will be smart casual (everyone will be in jeans, but I'm the only female, and I don't want to look sloppy).  

I'm facing a similar challenge to the one LisaP wrote about a couple of weeks ago - my weight is higher than I'm comfortable with it being, and as a consequence, I don't like the way my clothes fit.  This makes choosing a travel capsule more challenging, because I'm hoping that the clothes I take fit well enough that I can feel confident, rather than oversized, in them.

Here's what I think I'm taking:
Bottoms:
2 pair black skinny jeans (one cropped, one full length)
1 pair cropped white skinny jeans
Possibly my blue cropped flared jeans (shown in pic #9 - should they come along?  They're comfy enough to sleep on the plane in, so they're a serious contender)

Top possibilities:
Navy silk sleeveless shirt ( pic #1)
turquoise pattern shirt (pic #2)
dark grey heathered sweater (pic #3 )
light grey

heathered

short-sleeved sweater (too similar to darker one?) (pic #4)
Turquoise blouse (pic #5)
hot pink sweater (pic #6)
cream/black/tan blouse (pic #7)
Black asymmetrical sweater (pic #8) (Should I take the pink polka-dot pants too?  I kinda don't think so)

Toppers (not shown):
black jacket (in finds, embroidered with company logo)
black cardigan (in finds, embroidered with company logo).
Company logo is silver, blue and green

Shoes: 
black loafers (not shown in any pictures)
possibly black pumps (shown, are they frumpy?)
possibly black boots (in pic #8 and #9) or another shoe.  I haven't decided yet.

Here are pictures of the outfits (with my black spiegel jacket standing in for the toppers, which will be arriving to me tomorrow).    I'd love your suggestions on which tops to take.

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WIW: playing with patterns and brights

Here's a few outfits from the past week - I've been playing with pairing brights with black in search of the perfect 'business casual' capsule (note: in my company 'business casual' means black jeans.  I know, that's super casual, but it truly is what they expect us to wear.)

I've also been playing with pattern mixing just to have fun.  

So here's what I've tried.

#1-2 black with lace, pearls and a floral scarf (in #1) The shell under the lace is purple, but I don't think you could tell even in real life - so much for adding that bright.

#3 Instead of black jeans, how about a black asymmetrical sweater with hot pink corduroys?  I think it's just as professional looking as the black jeans, personally....

#4 This one was a brights-mixing failure in my book.  The skinnies are too tight ( sad face ), and the mixed brights didn't look as intentional as I'd hoped.

#5-6 Valentine's day pattern mixing with floral pants and a window-pane sheer top.  I liked it better with the cardigan (in #5).  Pardon the tag showing in the picture.

#7 A bright pattern with black.  I like this - does it actually work, or am I kidding myself?  Is it worthy of putting in my biz-caz capsule?

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WIW: bold color pattern mixing

Here's my "kitchen-sink-lite" pattern mixing fun.  I've liked bright and bold colors recently, so this combo made me happy even if it's not the most put-together look.

Cobalt cords, bright stripes sweater with bold black/white zig zag cardigan.  Cardigan is bookended with black/white printed shoes.

#2 is how I intended to wear it
#1 is how I actually wore it, because I was chilly and liked the print combo of the black and white zig zag over the bold stripes.

It's not my favorite outfit ever, but it was comfy and cheery, and that's good enough at the moment :)

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WIW: more crops

I'm still working through how to wear (or, whether to wear) crops.  Today is the first outing for a newly-cropped pair of too-short jeans that were too comfy to toss.

I think I got the length right, but I don't feel like they're at all flattering.  Is my eye just slow to adjust, or is there something else going on that I could fix and make them work better?

(The outfit is the same in all three photos - I'm trying to figure out lighting and camera angles for when it's too cold for outdoor photos - see me shivering in #1?)

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WIW: Late to the cropped pants bandwagon

My eye has been really slow to adjust to cropped pants, and I still don't have it figured out, but I'm starting to try.

I realize that this outfit would probably be more flattering if my boots were white or my pants black, so that they elongated my leg line.  In spite of this, I still liked the outfit pretty well.  I may try it next time with a shorter, less drapey top.

What would you change?
(pic 2 shows the shape of the top better)

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