Daily Wear: running away with the band

I haven't been around much I know.  I've been working a lot, A LOT and I really feel i have no time for recreation between that and my errands and chores. I've just been way too busy to think about posts or clothes or pictures.  I haven't kept up on the blogs I follow either.

This month, not sure of the date, marks my one year anniversary of keeping this blog.  And I'm wondering if it's worth the bother to continue.  I think I'd feel guilty if I stopped.  And unlikely to ever start it up again.  But while it can be fun for me, it isn't necessary.  There are thousands of indistinguishable blogs out there and I'm not sure I want to contribute to the deluge.

A couple quick pics of my fantasy of running away.  I'm going to Rome and Barcelona in the fall.  Thinking about and planning that are taking up my brief moments of free time.

I don't wear my glasses much here, but I got new ones.

Daily Wear: Girly Menswear

I wanted to experiment with some menswear inspired looks with feminine details of course but I went too lady with it.  The only thing menswearish about it are the wide leg pants and corduroy blazer.

I wore the "suit" with a creamy ruffled blouse which in the end felt too prissy.  I would have preferred a plainer blouse or button up.

And then the shoes were dainty heels with little bows when what I really wanted were brogues , spectators with a more solid heel.

I like the purse though.  It ties in all the neutrals I was using.  I'm just disappointed I wasn't more 70s looking.  Oh well! 

outfit details: brown wideleg trousers (Gap)' cream ruffle blouse (forever 21); khaki cord blazer (rue21); colorblock purse (vintage); taupe/tan kitten heels.

Neon 80s Part 2!

So I guess I went through a little neon phase last year and I only did one post about it. This was from my archive, posted in November but from earlier, I'm guessing August?

I decided to have another go at it this time using pants as I'm trying to find a pair that fits and experimenting with the styling. dresses are really so much easier.


Well at least my photography skills are a little better. Ha Ha These pants are in fact very uncomfortable. The search continues. I blame my wide hips/thighs. Pants are for scrawny girls!

I tried auto adjusting the color but I think the color actually shows up truer in the unedited photos. Oh well. I ended up wearing the same black shoes and orange tights. I totally forgot what i wore last time. I've worn this blouse before. It's a very citron color, silk, with a pleated bow across the top. Hot pink bow belt continues the theme. Black capris to avoid overwhelming the whole thing and blinding people.

Outfit details: lemon silk blouse (zinc); pink bow belt (H&M); black capri pants (express); hot orange tights (hue); black heeled maryjanes (payless of course!).

I'm shooting to have something else posted on Monday. Enjoy your weekend folks!

Grey Days

I took some pictures next to my partially renovated kitchen wall because it's this lovely aqua blue and I wanted to punk up the blue tones in my clothes. I wish I had someplace interesting to take photos. Half my house is in shambles all the time because I'm working on one project or another and I live in a kind of depressed urban area. The best bit of nature is a cemetery and I feel really weird about hauling my tripod up their for vanity shots amongst people's dear dead loved ones. Pittsburgh is an exceedingly gloomy gray town anyway. I really can't wait until spring.




My life is all rather routine. Is yours? I have a work schedule and a chores schedule and I go to the same place for brunch every weekend. I have a couple thrift stores I frequent, a couple of places I order take out from. I watch a lot of movies on Netflix. I guess it's partly the weather, I tend not to want to do much when it's grey and cold. But I can't but feel that there isn't much to do anyway. What am I missing? It's hard to know if I'm bored or just boring.





Somebody send me some excitement! I guess I'll clean out my closet and get rid of anything that doesn't fit or I just don't care for anymore. I wish I had someone to give them to. I think that would be more enjoyable, to see someone love them, than to just drop them off at a charity shop.



I'm still feeling preppy casual these days. It's a nice break from dresses all the time.

outfit details: (wide leg jeans-Macys; argyle sweater vest-thrifted; blue stripe top-thrifted; and silver flats-payless of course)

'09 Year in Review Part 2

In my last post, I listed my top ten favorite outfits from the last year (or rather, the part of the year I had a blog, I'm still new!) In order to be fair and nor portray myself at some kind of high fashion vintage princess (haha) I thought I'd post some of my gaffs as well. But I'm only picking the worst five because my blog is young so I don't have many photos and I really do like most of my outfits from summer.

1) Attempting to mix black and brown.


This is still not a color combination I'm comfortable with though I've seen others do it quite well. This failed because it's too much with the layering and the lace texture and the plaid pants. And I think I used too many shades of black, cream, tan, and brown. Must learn simplicity.

2) The bland corporate look I need for my day job.


In fact, I'm wearing the jacket right now. I could get away with jazzing it up a bit and I do at times but I think I'm mostly depressed about the whole situation. And I look miserable here. I think I might feel better if I started wearing more fun jewelry. I never wear jewelry in general, except the wedding band.

3) Attempting to wear warm weather clothing in cold weather


This failed because of the jacket I think. Still too summery. I don't think it was that cold yet but I think even a light weight scarf and a more serious jacket in a tweed or something would have made that top more appropriate.

4) Lady in White.



This just isn't me. I like bright colors and patterns and this just feels wrong. I think it's a cute eyelet dress and I like the tiny white dots on the navy shoes but this outfit really lacks something that couldn't be helped by the little pins on my right breast. Just blah.

5) Winter layering

I'm not sure why I didn't like this. I guess I think it looks thrown together because it very much was. My husband called on his way home and said I had ten minutes to get ready so we could get dinner/drinks. These things were just close by. He liked it though.


So what sartorial mistakes have you made this year? And what have you learned?

Daily Wear: blurry is better, really

I've been blogging a lot lately despite not really having much to say. Seriously, it's like every day. Check the side bar, you may have missed one or ten of them! I guess it's a nice distraction from some of the things on my mind lately. Family stuff, seasonal depression stuff, work stuff, money stuff, friend stuff, etc and the list goes on. And of course none of it is anything I really want to get into on here. So instead I post my ugly face and blurry pictures of the same three things I wear over and over.



But I'm really starting to like my bad blurry photos and keep trying to find ways to make them more blurry. I just don't believe in photo shopping myself into some bizarre version of myself, I see no need to attempt perfection. So I say the blurrier the better! I don't mind so much being dark and mysterious.

I was really feeling very seventies, I guess, with my plaid pants flared out at the bottom. And my super warm cozy tunic cowl neck sweater.
Especially in the first pic. The blurry makes it look old. I could be my mom in that one. But by the time she was my age, she had me and I was old enough to be in school but not old enough to have my period. Haha, you do the math.


I'm sick of always taking pictures in my living room but it has the best light, I think because of the white walls. The dining room is very dark and not much else is finished. The bedroom, still very much in progress, is also very dark. I don't know why I picked so many dark colors. I guess because it was winter? I have dark teal, dark purple, dark grey.

Outfit details: brown/black plaid pants (H&M); black tunic cowl neck sweater (???had forever); brown tall boots (not really depicted ha!)

Mixing black and brown

Mixing black and brown is not something I feel comfortable with despite having seen many many examples of this done well. I cannot do this well. In general I like to wear dresses because I don't have to worry about proportion or matching like I do with separates. But i live in a cold climate, rely on public transportation, etc and must wear pant in winter.

But when I shop, I have a search and destroy mentality. I grab anything that attracts my eye, size doesn't matter, and take it all to the dressing room. Inside, i try everything on, sometimes twice and slowly whittle down my selections to what I'm going to buy.

For some reason I'm unable to think it terms of what my wardrobe lacks, outfits I could make, etc and so I always end up buying weird random things. And since I grab whatever attracts my eye, i have a closet full of bright colors and patterns, not always very conducive to making outfits.

So behold....




This is my attempt to mix black and brown which I have done so very unsuccessfully. I've also managed to mix many textures and possibly patterns if you consider lace more of a pattern than a texture. Ugh.

As this unfortunate close up reveals, I am wearing black and tan check plaid pants (H&M how dare you!) , a cream lace blouse with black attached ribbon, and my brown corduroy vaguely military-esque jacket.



The worstthing is, I'msick of taking pictures in front of the white mantle in my living room but the teal walls of the dining room and the plum walls of the bedroom are murder on my poor pictures. they always turn out terrible and I don't think there is anything my poor digital crap camera can do about it. Suggestions?

sorry my bedroom is such a mess, another reason I prefer the white mantle.

Daily Wear: It suits me

I have to dress kinda corporate for work, so I rarely take outfit pics during the week. Not that those kinds of outfits can't be creative and cool. It's just that my work look is pretty repetitive. A lot of black suits and skirts. I just don't want to clog up my blog with a lot of dreary sameness. Especially since I like wearing so many bright colors and patterns. Definite work no-nos.

But I made an exception in an effort to present myself as I am. Which is why I've been posting more casual outfits lately too. It's important to me that I don't gloss the truth on this blog. I don't use photoshop. I don't exclusively wear vintage dresses. Sometimes I don't even wear makeup.

This is me in a work outfit.


Black pinstripe suit, which in itself is pretty edgy for the dress code. Outfit made further rebellious by wearing a black tunic t shirt underneath.


A close up of my necklace. This is a way that I can show my real personality and style. It's a faux pearl flower necklace. Not vintage but old and romantic in feel. On of my favorites though I rarely wear jewelry. i want that to change.

What do you have to wearfor work? Can you be as creative as you'd like?

Daily Wear: Summer into Fall

Like everyone else I suppose, I'm trying to transition my summer clothes into fall. Historically the fall season has been my favorite for fashion but this year I just can't seem to get into anything I'm seeing in stores. I'm sick to death of purple. Corduroy is so unflattering. And leopard print can suck it.

Whoa. Sorry. I let a little bitterness seep out there didn't I?

I'm really wimpy about cold weather. Really. I think even 50' is horrendous and where I live it gets much colder than that. And I suspect that my winter melancholy has arrived much sooner than usual.

I've really enjoyed wearing dresses this summer. I'm usually so shy about drawing attention to myself or showing any skin but this year I really let myself be free. I don't want to go back into drab layers and brown everything.

So I'm holding on to my summer wardrobe for as long as possible, maybe forever!

Here I'm seen rolling my eyes upward as I try to autumnize my floral sleeveless top. I decided that although it's actually a very summer top, it'll would pass because it's such a dark floral. They main colors are black and burgundy which I'm seeing everywhere for fall with a little bit of green, grey, and mustard. It's also a pop art style of floral, they don't look realistic which lends a tougher, colder weather feel.

I paired the top with grey slacks (get used to them, they are the only pants that fit), my cropped denim jacket, and some ankle boots with a side detail that looks like buttons. They aren't quite grey, nor quite brown. Very strange. As they match nothing, they can be worn with everything!

I'd call this a successful transition. I'm hoping to replicate this success with more of my summer tops. As soon as I get them out of the wash...

Daily Wear: Lazing About the House

I don't tend to make very frequent posts or at least frequent posts of a personal nature mostly because my life isn't that exciting and i don't have much to post about. My clothing isn't very interesting for my main job, because it isn't allowed and when i do get dressed up and go out I'm too busy living to take pictures. So when I post it's just me standing in my living room looking awkward and wishing i had something to do or say. I don't even know how to pose. And while I do wear lots of vintage dresses in my real life away from the internet, I often just throw any old thing on and laze about the house. So in the spirit of full disclosure this is me on a boring old Saturday afternoon. I'm dressed so fall like because this was the one sorta chilly day we've had in months so I was able to put away the pink sundresses and full out the brown trousers.


Being lazy on the sofa, not knowing how to pose....



Getting excited about showing off my morrissey t shirt...



Faking a nap......because I do so many self conscious leg shots?



My clothes were so comfy I could have napped for real in them. So what do you do for casual comfort?