Aida ~

A week of outfits from earlier this month; the weather was warm overall but starting to cool down. I am enjoying adding some black and richer colors back into rotation as we get into fall. Feeling chatty, feel free to skip ahead to the photos :)

1. Monday, worn to run errands then off to work. After work went out for tacos with hubby and ran into friends there (fun!). Dusting the rust off my layering muscles; inspired by this outfit. Love how it turned out and I can already think of how to wear it again when the weather cools down (hint: with tall brown slouchy boots!).
2. Tuesday, worn to run errands then off to work. Continuing to stretch my layering muscles with a blue/aqua version of a fuchsia/red outfit I wore back in April; I like the colors, but didn't like the bun (half up would have looked much better) and it felt awfully fussy. I don't know if it's because I've gotten used to simpler summer layers or if I'm actually not into heavy layering anymore.
3. Wednesday, worn to work then to pick up dinner. I've been really loving all the white watches you gals have been wearing this summer, so after my recent conversion to Team Watch I went out and found my own :D Love the little bit of red peeking out under this top; the print has lots of great colors I can do this with, I totally want to try purple next (teal also worked really well).
4. Thursday, worn to work. I wanted to try a variation of the outfit I wore to my friend's art show on 07.07. I really like how it turned out (the scarf thickness on the right is more accurate, it was windy out)! It felt really fall-ish so I added all white accessories to keep it summery since fall hadn't yet started. (Later realized the colors totally coordinate with the background of the photos, tee hee!)
5. Friday, worn to work. Really love how this one turned out! I didn't wear muffler-tied silky scarves as much as I'd planned this summer, but I still want to so I'm hoping to pick up a couple more large square scarves. Also, I hadn't worn these black jeans in 3 months (!), it was a lovely reunion :)
6. Saturday, worn out for dinner and drinks with hubby, sis, and a friend we haven't seen for a few years who's just moved back here. Lots of fun! We had just a few minutes notice, and I didn't have an outfit ready but I'm happy with how this turned out. Perfectly casual, comfy, and put-together for the occasion. Also remembered to snap a close-up of my new white watch.
7. Sunday, worn out to lunch with my husband, and later my sister and folks stopped by to say hi, then my sister and her dog stayed to hang out.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

Since I'm right in the middle of the RATE/Polished continuum, my challenge was to do one outfit that's fully RATE and one that's fully Polished. Well, I must say it was harder than I expected! True to my 50-50 nature, even my clothing items don't squarely fall into one category or the other (due to material, cut, distressing, etc.). So I ended up with two looks that simply tip the scale on each side; I don't feel that either of these fully qualify for the spectrum end they're meant to represent -_-

1. Monday, worn to work. RATE elements: drapey jersey top, lightly acid washed jeans with plenty of scrunch, distressed faux leather booties, nubby-knit oversized cardigan, slouchy bag, mismatched metals, unruly hair :)
2. Tuesday (today), worn to work. Polished elements: crisp and structured fabric dress (also very fitted), shiny python embossed flats, silk scarf at the neck, matching warm metallic tones, semi-structured bag, hair is up and styled on purpose (this is as polished as I can get my hair myself, ladies).

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

Well these Matisse cheetah print booties were a lovely thing to find at my door when I got home from work today! I'd been eyeing them since Angie posted them on her blog entry about how to wear animal print shoes, and of course after seeing them in action during her NYFW coverage I was totally sold on them.

The booties are beautiful, with very soft leather and great comfort level. However they are a gappy around the ankles (I'm on Team Small Ankles); acceptable amount or no? What do you ladies think about these shoes for me? Animal print is already out of my comfort zone, so Cheetah print booties are WAY out of my comfort zone. Worth diving? :)

I recently picked up a couple of items I would love to get some feedback on. I am very keen on getting some interesting toppers for this fall, as well as improve my under 4" heels selection :)

1,2 - Leopard print cardigan. Animal print is way out of my comfort zone, but hey I'm all for plunging right in ^^ I like the gray tonal print here, but am a bit concerned with the fit. Is it possible/worth getting the waist taken in? Am I being silly? This is the smallest size. I think I can wear this in a way that fits my style, what do you ladies think?

3,4 - Military vest. I was looking for one all spring/summer without luck, and randomly spotted this one when I wasn't looking any more. The color is a wee bit richer in person. Thoughts?

5,6 - While on a help-sister-shop-for-fall-clothes outing, we stopped by the new DSW (my first time at a DSW, boy could I do some damage there if I'm not careful!) that opened near us. Saw these lovely black and cream shoes, and managed to not purchase (I'm currently on a don't buy heels diet). But immediately after we walked out of the store, I turned around and walked right back in to buy these beauties because I couldn't bear to leave without them :) Totally don't regret that decision!

7,8 - The only Missoni for Target clothing items I ended up keeping were the silk scarves. While out shopping with my sis I also picked up two necklaces and a coral skinny belt. Planning to keep all of these.

A week of very casual summery outfits following the Picture Perfect Challenge, and lots of blues! (Tuesday's outfit was posted already, using AJ's scarf-as-vest trick with a polka dot scarf.) I am slowly catching up, hope you gals are still interested in these older outfits :)

1. Monday; worn to work then out for tacos. Decided to start working black and darker colors back into my outfits on cooler days (none of which were this week!).
2. Wednesday; worn to work, then after work my husband and I went to the Everett Aquasox baseball (single A, short season) game for dinner :) I was inspired to wear this combo by Mo (can't find the link now, but it's older I think?), and hey it's even a FL tee!
3. Thursday; worn to work, and also out to lunch (Red Robin) with my sister, mom, and dad. Lunch was unexpected, and I was certainly over dressed but that's always fine with me. Rare day without earrings; felt like the neckline had a lot going on already.
4. Friday; worn to work. Not sure if the sweater+shorts looks too seasonally confused? I believe it was in the mid-70s that day. (Too bad you can't really see the long feather earrings, they're so fun!)
5. Saturday; worn for a day out with my husband. We went out for burgers, then headed down to Seattle for a Mariner's game. We got there early so we'd be sure to get our little Larry Bernandez bobbleheads (yay!). It was really warm out, and we had to stand around for an hour (the line was insanely long), so I was glad to be wearing flats and a skirt. Toothy grin (my "normal face" heh) courtesy of hubby being silly :)
6. Sunday; worn out with hubby to buy some night stands, new bed covers, and some decorating stuff. After wearing a watch for one outfit during the Picture Perfect challenge, I just wanted to keep wearing it! I wore it Friday without it working and then decided I better get a battery, so I did :) I'm now totally a convert to Team Watch and have been wearing daily since!

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

So my husband told me that he finds tucked shirts too masculine looking (also blazers, but that's a whole other thing). I'm not sure if he means in general or just on me, but I don't see this at all. Curious what you ladies think, because I had no good answer for him?

A week of somewhat-summery outfits from last month ^^ (This was the week before the Picture Perfect Challenge.)

1. Monday, worn to work then out for tacos with my husband and a good friend of ours. A rare chance for me to sport yellow+gray, a color combo I really love.
2. Tuesday, worn to work then to Type Tuesday (gathering of local designers and typographers). Needed something casual-meets-professional, I think this worked nicely.
3. Wednesday, worn to work. An attempt at "soft" but not "muted" colors, I like how it turned out.
4. Thursday, worn to work. Sometimes you just want bold and bright :)
5. Friday, worn to work, then out for date night with my husband (dinner and a movie). The olive+faded blue+white+coral was really snappy in person.
6. Sunday, worn out to breakfast with my husband.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

Natalie posted about a fun remixing challenge where we take 12 current basics and mix with 6 new fall items. I have been super busy with work so I didn't have time to actually dress up and snap photos, but I did do some little sketches on the computer which I thought I'd share. #1 shows the setup, and #2-6 show outfits based around each new piece; these are all pieces you've seen before, either in WIW posts or in KeepOrReturn posts (well maybe not the lace top, never quite figured that one out).

I didn't think I'd picked my basics for the challenge very well and yet to my surprise I was able to come up with 48 (!!) new combinations; and far more than that if we include how accessories can drastically change many of these looks. I'd been hoping to take one of these outfits and style 3 versions with accessories as an example of this, but *sigh* no time. Maybe this weekend :)

My take away from this is... I have a LOT of outfit options at my disposal. Way more than I'd thought, especially since the "old" 12 items are but a fraction of what I've got in my closet. Of course, some of these may be better "on paper" than in practice but it was still a very useful exercise. I have decided that I need to do another pass through my closet and be much more strict about purging those not-quite-perfect or not-quite-my-style items. Thanks for suggesting this great challenge, Natalie!

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

My apologies for double posting this outfit, but I would love to have some discussion about the intricacies of pattern mixing. This particular mix met a varied response. Some people thought it worked, others didn't. Paraphrasing the reasons given:

Worked: The top's small print almost reads as a solid; black & white tones are echoed in the skirt.

Didn't work: Too busy; need to be in more similar tones; need another element of the teal in the outfit.

Would love to hear more thoughts on this mix (and complex mixing in general), and what makes it work or not work for you, alone or in context of the whole outfit. I've added a close-up of the top's print; it is composed of black, white, and turquoise which I think got a bit lost in the original photo. Does this change your opinion on whether the pattern mix works? If not, what would you change? If you could swap one of these pieces to another patterned piece, what would it be?

I'll post my own rationale behind this particular outfit after we get some discussion going, I'm curious to hear your thoughts first :)

Outfits from the beginning of last month. Our weather _finally_ started to pick up in August so I was happy to wear more bare legged outfits :D

1. Monday, worn to work. I was pretty pleased with this pattern mixing, but my sister and husband didn't like it. What do you ladies think?
2. Tuesday, worn to work. I felt bulky in this, but maybe I just don't like belting cardigans (I rarely do it).
3. Wednesday, worn to work. I was really happy with how this turned out! Unfortunately, I managed to get some wicked food poisoning just a couple hours into the day so the outfit was very short lived :(
4. Thursday. Wasn't quite feeling better after the food poisoning, but I had a brow appointment bright and early after which I met my husband for lunch, then went to work, then out to dinner with a friend (busy day!). Debut outfit of the Hinge peacock blouse, I really really love this blouse and felt super fab in this outfit!
5. Friday, worn to work then out for date night dinner with my husband. This outfit was too bright for him, but I adore these colors together. Totally want to wear it again (and the Hinge outfit from Thurs!!). I'm so happy that these days I love many of my outfits enough to want to repeat them. This is a Very Good Thing. I'm starting to seriously reconsider my no-repeats policy.
6. Sunday. Spent most of the weekend gardening and cleaning out my closet. Wore this down to Ivar's (waterfront) with my husband for dinner where I had the Best Salad Ever: Strawberry Onion Caprese. Strawberry slices, onion slivers, fresh mozzarella, basil, all drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. I wish I could eat it every day!

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.