One solution!

I found a way to spice up my sweater-over-skinny-jeans look yesterday - I added a dress under the sweater! I like this outfit okay, this sweater has never been a favorite of mine, but it worked okay here. I was very warm while running errands yesterday - we got a ton of snow last night so I probably won't be posting any going-out-outfits for a few days!

By the way, this is my favorite purse at the moment. I love it!

My go-to winter outfit

Warm sweater, skinny jeans, and boots are my favorite outfit this winter! I wore the outfit on the left yesterday and the outfit on the right today... even though I always get compliments on the red and other colored sweater, I felt like the outfit was too boring, so today I tried to add a little excitement with a big necklace and funky hairdo. I'm not sure if I succeeded - it still felt a little boring (especially paired with a gray wool peacoat), but I did get several compliments on my outfit today.

Any suggestions on how to further spice up the sweater and skinny jeans combo?


I bought this necklace at a local arts and crafts festival and I looooove it. It matches this sweater particularly well!

And I did two buns in my hair, held in place with maple hair prongs:

Work

I really liked this outfit, but again the picture is not very good! I'm going to have to start seriously working on getting better pictures. Its a dark-wash A-line denim skirt, black textured sweater-tights, purple leather shoes, a black sweater, and a big chunky necklace that's silver with pink and purple beads. I had my hair pulled back in a black headband, but decided after seeing this picture it was a little too harsh with the black glasses, so I ditched the headband and wore bangs for the rest of the day.

Newscaster costume

A friend of mine is writing/filming/directing comedy sketches to put on youtube, and I played a newscaster! This was my outfit:

Not that great of a picture, my 5 year old son took it for me!

first toe in the water

So, one of the big trends now is mixing patterns... and I have such a problem doing that! So, I decided to put one toe in the water and wear patterned tights with this patterned dress. I think it turned out pretty cute!

I got the dress at a thriftstore and I like it except for the fluttery sleeves. I have broad shoulders and muscular arms (I do hardcore weightlifting), and I feel like sleeves like this broaden my profile too much. Maybe next time I'll pair this with a shrug. I also added a black camisole top under the dress so it wouldn't be so low-cut for church, and that also broadened the look of it.

Housedress

So, on days when I'm in at-home mode, I alternate between housedresses and track suits. I much prefer wearing a housedress, though - so much cuter! My definition of a housdress is a non-confining dress that is long enough to not be obscene while I'm bending over to pick stuff up off the floor while I'm cleaning. I find dresses to meet this standard at thrift shops fairly often, so I usually only pay about $4/dress. I got this one a few weeks ago and today was the first time I wore it. Its actually quite a pretty dress, and I could easily pair it with heels and wear it to work during the summer! But since its winter now, I wore a sweater/shrug with it for most of the day:
And I also wore my hair up in a bun using one of the fabulous hairsticks my husband made me! You can buy them on our Etsy shop.

General

Today I'm in the process of cleaning house, so hopefully by this evening my living room will look nice enough to take pictures in. So, till then I'll share some generalities about what I like...

MAKEUP: I loooooove wearning makeup, and even though I've been wearing makeup regularly since I was about 13, I found this tutorial VERY helpful!

Makeup in 5 Minutes Part 1
Makeup in 5 Minutes Part 2

Though, I will admit that in my profile pic the only makeup I'm wearing is lip gloss. I have a few different levels of makeup. For days I'm a stay-at-home mama, I just wear moisturizer and lip gloss. Days I'm running errands, I usually wear foundation or tinted moisturizer, cream blush, mascara, and lip gloss. For days I'm working out of the home, going to church, going out with my husband, etc I wear foundation, cream blush, eye shadow, black eyeliner, white eyeliner on the lower water line, mascara, and lipstick. I used to wear contacts on days I was out, but I don't do that much anymore now that I have glasses I really love.

SHOES: I adore high heels. The higher the better! My favorite style is super-high-heeled peep toes. I have pairs like that in brown, red, and cream right now. I also love super high heels with an ankle strap - I have two black pairs like that. During the winter I tend more toward boots. I have a couple pairs with really high heels, but also a couple pair with low heels that are more reasonable for bad weather days.

JACKETS/COATS: This is a real weakness of mine! I have a ton of jackets... thank goodness for thrift stores! I have several leather jackets that I absolutely adore: one black short jacket, two short brown jackets, one long brown jacket, and one long red jacket. I also have a wool pea coat, a wool dress coat that's long, a down jacket that's short, a mini-trench raincoat that's black, a cropped denim jacket, and a regular denim jacket.

NAIL POLISH: I used to always, always, always have my nails painted bright, funky colors... but since having kids that has just not been maintainable. Now I keep my fingernails and toenails super-short and keep either clear or sparkle nail polish on them. When I'm wearing sandals and peep-toes a lot during the summer I make sure my toenails are always sparkly and pretty!

Other new glasses

Here's my other new glasses! I'm loving www.zennioptical.com a lot - I got several new pairs of glasses for less than one pair of glasses from my optometrist would cost.

Re-inspired!

So, my sister started a fashion blog and has re-inspired me to start blogging about fashion again!

First of all, here's her blog - go check it out!

Secondly, probably my biggest fashion-related change the past few months has been getting new glasses! I have these glasses in red and in black, and I think I'm going to give up contacts for awhile.


No, I don't normally go all-red like in this picture! This was taken Christmas Eve and I'd just gotten the red scarf as a gift. And, the awesome tree necklace - which my sister made for me. (We have an Etsy shop at www.birnamgrove.com - you should check that out, too!

I also have to say that I will also start featuring some of my daughter's awesome outfits on this blog. She's four years old and has amazing fashion sense - much more adventurous than mine!