Week 3

This week I did not feel very motivated to get all beautiful, or even try...maybe I just really need spring break!? SLEEP? I'm not sure, but this is how this week went. I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures...you will see what I'm talking about...

Monday:Today I wore a navy blue collared wrap around dress with these awesome red sandals. I forgot to take a picture of my dress, but it's just a typical me dress, simple, nothing extraordinary.



Tuesday:Jack, my foster chihuhua visited me today and I didn't take a picture of my outfit...so this is kind of the gist of my outfit...white collared shirt, black vest, and black pants. Nothing special, but he's sooo cute!



Wednesday:Today I wore green pants I haven't worn before, girly top, and yellow sandals. It kind of looked like I was trying too hard, but the reality was, I WAS SUPER COMFORTABLE! Not super cute, but REALLY COMFY! And I DID MY HAIR! I went all Hunger Games and did my hair like Katniss. I've always liked that front french braid that goes around and I hadn't done my hair like this since summer...so....



Thursday:Today was a bland busniness looking day...dress that's black and white, belt, and wore a cardigan because it was a tank top dress. I even got lazy and wore my red sandals and nice MJ's.



I also am kind of excited...I bought lipstick for the first time today. I went to Sephora, had a gay man help me pick it out...and this is what it looks like...

I guess I was so interested in trying lipstick because I read this article researching red ipstick, pink lipgloss, and bare lipped women and how long people paid attention to them while speaking. And of course the woman who had red lipstick on held the attention of people longer! So I'm going to try it at school. LOL. The color isn't that great, but you get the idea. It's actually a really beautiful color. It's like a burgundy/pinkish? Not sure how to describe it...



BUT...I JUST realized I bought the wrong one...I bought the NARS Shanghai Express...and this one is soo pink, it's good, but I liked another one better...drats! And grabbed the wrong one! OI! I guess that means another trip to Sephora.... :) REMEMBER....NARS Viridiana is the one I need!!

Friday: I ended up wearing cropped black pants, white button-up shirt, and NEON yellow camel toe Nike tennies. =)

19 Days!?

I just took a look at my "Hair Countdown Clock" and it totally freaked me out! Only 19 days until I cut off my hair! I think what freaked me out EVEN MORE though is the fact that Daniel loves long hair...and I read an article about why men think women are attractive...and the #1 reason was...their hair. OH GEESH!



Regardless, I think it could be a great change for me and a chance to rediscover new hairstyles and to try something new....(this is me being optimistic...)

Sporty Spice?

....not really. But today I had a "field trip" to the Natural History Museum and I it was pretty warm when I left the house, so I decided to wear a skirt. But I also needed to wear a skirt with comfortable shoes...so of course, denim skirt with cute pink tennies, and topped it off with a golf polo to match my students... Nothing fabulous or fashionable, but comfortable, so I guess you can just call me Comfortable Spice!

School Girl

Today was one of those days... I couldn't find anything to wear; I couldn't wear pants because I scraped up my knees and they are irritated...I can't wear heels because my ankle is all screwed up... So I put on the most comfortable pair of flats, tried to match it with a skirt, and threw on a button-down with sweater. TA-DA! This is what I got...



...it may not be the most beautiful outfit, but at least I got some compliments! Plus, I went for the side-pony and that was fun...I won't have that for much longer...

Which Hair?

I'm looking for an awesome new hair style for when I cut my hair for Locks of Love on April 14th. Please give me some suggestions and feedback. I have an oval face, so most of these people have similar face shapes...

















...what do you think?

Beautiful in Black!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE black! And although they say it flushes the color out of people, I still continue to wear it. This is probably one of my favorite outfits I've conjured so far. I have been feeling so successful in wearing things that I don't usually wear, so YAY! Hopefully I will keep this up and be able to get rid of things in my wardrobe that are hideous and that I can't wear or put together with anything else I have.

So today I wore some heels I haven't worn in FOREVER! They are just the classic old Mary Jane type shoes with a little bit of male shoe mixed into it. Cute, but not that comfortable... (I won't be wearing heels for a while though, so lucky thing I got to wear this outfit today...I messed up my ankle at soccer :( SO SAD!) I paired it with a black top that had an interesting neckline and is cut thin enough to be tucked into a cute skirt I've never worn! My sister gave this skirt to me a while ago and I've never worn it because I felt like I didn't have anything to wear with it, apparently now I do. =) And to finish it off, I just added a belt. Next time I might add a bracelet? But definitely NO necklace, I love the look of this neckline, it's so fun!

Hamptons Anyone?

Apparently my outfit today was Hampton-ish. This made me laugh when someone at work told me that, so of course I wanted to include it in my post. Today I wore a pair of pants that I bought in New York,(Correction, Macy's bought me. THANK YOU MACY'S!) they are cream and kind of a weird cut, but I was told that everyone needs a pair of cream pants and my cream pants are ruined and have blue dots all over them, so I got these. They are pretty comfy, I even got to pair it with a beautiful necklace my friend, Amanda, made for me. The shirt I picked was flowy and another one of those impulsive shopping buys that I haven't worn a whole lot. In fact I probably have 5 or 6 shirts that are similar in style, but I think it was $8 at Kohl's, so I got them.... I really have a problem... However, I haven't been shopping in a while, so wahoo!! I just wore some cute sandals I picked up at The Rack for $13. They are super cute with flowers on them, I'm so glad it's getting warm enough so I can wear sandals again!



I need to start working on my hair, it's so scary!! That is why I cut off my face. I didn't like the way I looked in these pictures, so I just cropped it out. LOL. I won't have long hair for that much longer, I think Daniel and I are both going to be FREAKING OUT! On April 13th I am cutting off 10 inches and donating it to Locks of Love. Scary, but some lucky person will have a nice wig of my beautiful hair, and maybe it will give them the confidence and courage they need! I figure it will grow back, it will be an adventure...and maybe it will be fun and I won't cry every day? Let's hope I don't cry every day!

P.S. THANK YOU, Dina!

Also, I just wanted to give a shout-out to Dina. Thank you for complimenting ME! It makes me feel so loved!

I guess I need to come to terms with loving myself and the way I look again, I know there was a time when I was happy with the way I looked and didn't care about the way I dressed. Mostly I think it will just take some time, but with my workouts and trying to accessorize and be "more fashionable," I think I will eventually find my own style and fall in love with me again.

Here's to loving ourselves, becoming the superhero we all have deep inside ourselves, and coming to terms with everything about ourselves that bothers the inner devil in us all--CHEERS!



Picture by: M. Muren

Oh man, it was cold!

Today was the worse day for me to wear a dress, but what can I say, I LOVE DRESSES! There is something about a dress that makes me smile. =) Maybe it's the fact that it's so free and it almost feels like I'm wearing nothing? I'm not sure...but whatever it is, I LOVE it and I can't wait for summer to come so I can wear MORE dresses!

Today I wore one of my $12 dresses from Costco. This was a GREAT find and I wish I would have bought it in EVERY COLOR! What was I thinking!? Anyhow, it's a great length and it's super comfy!I like to wear it with my "witch" shoes. (Yes, I have these mules in red too. I also have two pair of identical slingbacks....I think I have a problem....)

So this is what I wore today, my feet got a little cut out of the picture, but it's hard to take a picture on your cellphone by yourself.




I think my favorite parts are the pieces I added when I went outside for recess duty and carpool duty:



These do not really go together. I guess I need to work on accessorizing outside gear with inside gear, and I guess I need to stop calling clothes gear...

I also wore two different pairs of shoes today at school, one for inside and one for outside. I love these new boots I got this winter, they are so warm, comfortable, and plain cute! I don't care what anyone else thinks!



I hope that tomorrow will be warmer, but I was so cold today that I'm going to settle for possibly wearing pants!

Dresses!

I LOVE dresses! They make everything better! I couldn't decide what to wear, so on went this dress:



Just add a belt and it's an outfit, put on some flats and it's casual enough to wear to work, yet not too much. Although it may border on almost too short when it's windy out!

I also went to a birthday party tonight and this is what I wore:



Yet again I added a belt, ta-DA! It was really a fun outfit since I've never worn it before. Then I put on some of my favorite heels and some sexy dangle-y earrings and BANG! Instant dancing outfit!

I certainly can't get enough of the dresses! I guess I should try to make my outfits more professional....that'll be my next step...

Shopaholic...

You would think that since I'm such a shopaholic that I'd have cuter clothes...apparently this isn't the case. I don't know what happens between the store and my house, but I end up with things like this:



These are a few items that I had in my closet. A shirt that I thought would be great with leggings and a lacy tank, both with tags still on. I'm going to try not buying things like this and to buy only things I ABSOLUTELY LOVE, but at the time, I THOUGHT I absolutely loved it (or maybe it was the sale price that I loved?)....oi!

This is a picture of what the outfit looked like. I know, I know, with Daniel gone it's been hard to take pictures for this blog; as you can tell most of the pictures are from really bad angles and have bad lighting except for the poncho picture, which I had a friend take for me.

Anyhow, this outfit I tried to center around the long over-sized shirt. It really is too big, it's a medium, but I thought it would be fun to wear with leggings. It turns out there's too much static to be comfortable, so I wore it with tight fitting black pants. I also had to put a lacy tank under it because it was so low cut. I tied a black satin ribbon around it to try to make it seem so big. I'm not sure if it made it worse or better? Either way, I don't like it very much. This shirt might turn into a summer dress, a scarf, or given away...

Compliments: Clothes or Me?

I just read this article. I couldn't help but worry, but thinking back I think it was a mixed poll, a little of both? I'm not sure! I'm going to pay more attention to it, as it kind of makes me think...

Who Gets the Compliments – You? Or Your Clothes?

Think back on the last few compliments you received on your appearance.

Chances are, there’s a difference between the compliments you get and the compliments you actually want.


The Compliments You Get:

Has anyone ever given you compliments like this?

“I love your jacket.”

“That is a great purse you have!”

“Your shoes are so cute.”

“Where did you get your shirt? It’s fabulous.”

Start noticing what people focus on when they give you compliments. Do they notice you? Or just focus on your clothes?

Is it possible that your clothes stand out more than you do? Consider the possibility that in the past when someone complimented you on your jacket, they saw your jacket, but not you!

Why do your clothes take center stage?

Because that’s the place they take in the fashion and beauty world.

Every season, the fashion and beauty industry introduces new trends and styles. And no matter who you are or what you look like, you’re expected to wear them if you want to be fashionable.

Some women focus on the trends. Other women get overwhelmed by them and give up. But either way, women are focusing on something other than their own, unique beauty when they get dressed in the morning. It’s not surprising that other people don’t focus on it either!


The Compliments You Want:

When was the last time you received compliments like this…

“You look amazing.”

“What have you done to yourself? You’ve never looked so good!”

“Wow, you look so alive and vibrant.”

“You look so beautiful.”

“You are hot!”

If you have not been hearing compliments like this, don’t blame yourself! You deserve to hear them. Every woman does.

Why you should come first, and your clothes second

In all the years I’ve worked with women, I’ve found that every woman wants to not only feel beautiful, but also look beautiful—not superficially beautiful and not even supermodel beautiful. Every woman just wants to look and feel naturally beautiful.

You know you’ve really brought out your natural beauty when you start getting compliments that focus on you instead of your clothes.

Learning how to use your clothes, accessories, hair and makeup as supports (not competitors) to your true beauty is the key to you being noticed and complimented, rather than what you are wearing. How do you do that?


Take Back Your Beauty (and Your Compliments!)

The fashion industry has not done a very good job of teaching the everyday woman how to bring her true beauty to life. It teaches a one-style-looks-good-on-every-woman approach. And when in-style clothes don’t look or feel good on you, you blame yourself!

Together, we women spend billions of dollars a year on clothes and accessories that receive compliments while these same items may be hiding our true beauty. But every woman deserves to be beautiful, effortlessly and affordably.

That’s where Dressing Your Truth comes in. It’s a supportive, easy-to-use fashion makeover system that reveals how beautiful you truly are and teaches you which clothes, jewelry, makeup, and hairstyles will honor and support your natural beauty—not cover it up.

Start receiving compliments that speak to you as a woman and not to the jacket you’re wearing. Take my 3-Minute Beauty Confidence Quiz to discover how.

The Poncho Outfit

Mrs. Weasley look-alike? Yes! I felt VERY comfortable today, the only problem was that I looked like Mrs. Weasley (from the Harry Potter novels). But I guess it's ok because the outfit, due to the poncho my mom got me, got tons of compliments! I couldn't believe it, apparently my mom knows fashion! It's really no wonder though, she was really trendy in her day and even now she looks beautiful in everything she puts together! So, "YAY FOR PONCHO!" Here is me in my new poncho, do you agree? Or were people just being nice?


I'm thinking this outfit was a 7.5, what do you think?

The only downside to my outfit today was that I didn't realize until about 8:50 a.m. that I was wearing my husband's socks!

Tomorrow...

...I'm going to try to follow some advice from a great site @Jess told me about, Dressing Your Truth. I'm going to try it with this fun and cute, but a little homely, sweater poncho my mom gave me. Wish me luck!!

This was the advice from the website that talked about 4 types of dressers, tomorrow I'm going for the:
"Subtle, Soft Type 2

Your attention to detail is a strength, but don’t let details overwhelm you. Start with a particular item. Then assembe details around it. You might be more willing to try something new if you remind yourself that you don’t have to repeat anything you don’t like."

Exerpt from: http://dressingyourtruth.com/put-together-an-amazing-outfit/

Here is the little poncho:


Happy dressing!

Classic Dress, Belt, and RED shoes! CHECK!

Today I wore something I liked, but it wasn't that comfortable. I wore a dress. Now, if I could, I would wear a dress EVERY DAY! I LOVE DRESSES! They are so EASY! Just put them on, and ta-da! outfit complete! But it seems like it's not that easy nowadays, there is these push to accessorize everything, so instead of wearing a necklace like in their picture, I put on a belt. I love belts and wish I had more of them. And I didn't have any awesome indigo wedges, so I wore my red witch shoes that I don't wear enough. I love those shoes; GIANNI BINI, you did good!

This is also the outfit I wore to the Democratic Caucus tonight. It was a very professional looking outfit and got me elected as one of the 2 delegates for my precinct! VERY EXCITED!

Their Outfit:


I had my friend take a picture of me today so I wouldn't have to try to snap one with my timer at home. LOL, so here I am standing in her classroom. This is my "Classic Twist" on Their Outfit:

RATE ME!!!

So as I'm doing this weird experiement with fashion: clothes, hair, make-up, etc. I hope you will help me find fashion within my closet. I feel like I don't have a great eye for things, usually I will think something looks great, when in fact, it does not. And SOME times, just SOME times, I think something it HIDEOUS and it turns out it's not so bad. SO PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave me feedback and RATE ME! Now you don't have to tell me I'm ugly, pull my hair, or spit in my face, but some advice, suggestions, or compliments would be really nice and HELPFUL for my cause. I'm trying to find things that look good on me and make me FEEL confident.

My Rating Scale:
1= FUGLY, Never wear that again!
5= Neither here, nor there....maybe you could change...or try....
10= AMAZING! Wear it again!!

The Comfy Classic look? I think not...

I ran in a race to cure cancer in October 2011, ran all the way through Central Park, and did we win? Did we find a cure? Not yet! But hopefully soon, until then I guess I'll settle for the awesome REDBOOK Magazines they have been sending to me as part of the goody bag.

In this magazine there was a "fashion special" called, 30 DAYS OF NEW OUTFITS! So today I tried one, with a twist of "what I had in my closet." I don't think it worked that great...

Here is their version:


I fine tuned mine since I could not wear jeans and my black blazer was dirty...and this is what I got:


Now let me just talk about what we all saw here. It was somewhat horrifying to me to realize I went ALL DAY LOOKING LIKE THIS! My friend, Dalton, complimented me on my belt earlier today and I think he was just being nice. I think I LOOK very frumpy. I FELT so comfortable all day! I really like the look of the hoodie underneath the blazer and I think I'm going to try it again with different colors, but the look I had here didn't look like what I thought it was going to look like. I think I needed a thinner brown belt or belt of color? I'm just not sure what else to say...I guess tomorrow is another day and I'll try something new....exciting...and hopefully not as scary!

A-Virgin to Fashion

In the beginning there was the fashionable...and well, me. When it comes to looking good I have never been very confident. I try and try, and try, but honestly it's no use. I usually end up looking like I tried WAY to hard, or like I just threw on a T-shirt and jeans (because that is usually what I do.). There is nothing wrong with this, but when you grow up with a gorgeous sister that looks flawless and makes a moo moo look like a prom dress it can make a girl feel a little self-conscious.

Since my discovery of Sephora and girly magazines, I've become very interested in looking more "put-together" and less like a college girl. Honestly, even the college girls look WAY nicer than I have ever looked. I've never been very polished looking, or at least 1 out of 1,000 days have felt good about what I'm wearing, how my hair looks, and how well my make-up highlights my face; so I'm making a blog to document my adventure in fashion and overcoming my fashion aversion.

So before I get any further let me show you what I look like. I'm not a gnome (apologies to any gnomes who may be offended), but by no means am I "modely." Here is a picture of me in a typical me outfit. A T-shirt, jeans, flipflops, and a newly added scarf.



This is a photo of me before my photo shoot in New York. I won this amazing teacher make-over from JONES NEW YORK IN THE CLASSROOM, met Lloyd Boston, and received an amazing amount of SWAG from MACY's. I also got to appear for a brief moment on the Rachel Ray Show. It was an amazing experience! And I guess I really need to show Lloyd that I read his book and that I'm trying to accessorize! So I"m dedicating this to Lloyd, my New York Friends, and all the people out there that are just like me. Wish me luck!