christmas.

 (i am not a skilled selfie taker)

how were your holidays?!

this is sunday // day 8.

laundry and petsi pies. such a treat when doing such a chore. today's picks were sour cream coffeecake and a bacon scallion cheddar biscuit. and of course, a vanilla latte for me (just coffee for terry). we woke up early, or were woken up early by our landlady. it turned out to be a good thing because we got our laundry and grocery shopping done before noon! this left time to for terry to make a quick sauce to have with some gnocchi for lunch before we took the girl kitty to the vet (she has been eating anything and everything!) and time for terry to make a practically gourmet dinner! gotta love a man who cooks and who brings you wine while he is cooking and you are on the computer..

sweater // heartloom

chambray // urban outfitters

leggings // arie 

scarf // urban outfitters

hat // topshop

boots // ll bean

and of course, we spent time with our crazy kitties... 

weekly wrap-up // days 2 -7.

monday // day 2.

so day 2 was even a little hard. i do love the way this outfit looks, but it is not far from my 'uniform'. the shirt is sleeveless and that's the only way i can make it through the 85 degree temps at work.. i still love denim on denim. i think it is looks pulled together and fun. ankle length jeans with a gold strap on the shoe also makes this look a bit more sophisticated.

shirt // salvation army

jeans // urban outfitters

shoes // urban outfitters

hat // j. crew

coat // goodwill (the $5 i spent on this has gone a long way!)

tuesday // day 3.

this is the day where i tried to step it up a little this week. unfortunately, you can't see the cool black lace detail at the bottom of this and you probably can't tell that it is velvet, but it is. i dressed down what would normally be a LBD for evening with a flannel and a southwestern-ish necklace, and of course, the chucks help to dress anything down. festive, seasonal, and i won't die of heat stroke!

dress // vivienne tam (goodwill)

flannel // goodwill

necklace // gift

hat // target

shoes // converse

wednesday // day 4.

today was the first day i worked at the burlington mall, helping out a fellow merchandiser. i wasn't sure what the temperature at this store would be, but i chanced it and wore a pullover sweater! it definitely wasn't as hot as my store, but i still got pretty warm as the day went on. my sweater just happens to be from urban and i sold it to at least two customers while working there, so i guess i must be doing something right. i love the coloring and different textures. it is an easy sweater to wear, but the small details make it seem a bit more special. and as i once talked about before, here is another way to make a crop top work for just about anyone. this one is not just cropped but it is wide. the fact that it isn't tight and that i paired it with something high waisted, makes it flattering.

sweater // urban outfitters

shirt // urban outfitters

shorts // levis (made into cut offs myself)

hat // target

thursday // day 5.

well here it is folks! i went blonde.. all blonde! i am still in the whitening process (i don't know if that is a real thing. i made it up). but i have another appointment to go back and get the rest of the yellow out and make it more of a pure white. (the lighting in my apartment sure doesn't help either). it sure is a change, but once i reach the final color, i will have the hair color i have been dreaming of for years. and plus, it is just hair, so why not have some fun with it while i am still young. i am still young, right?

as for my outfit, i like to be subtly sexy and after just wearing jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers for awhile, this outfit felt really good. this dress comes with a detachable lining. i took it out, paired it with some high waisted jeans and a velvet bra top. i am showing just a tiny bit of skin, but when you don't feel the best about your body, this makes you feel like a supermodel. 

dress // urban outfitters

sweater // obey

jeans // goodwill

socks // happy socks

shoes // urban outfitters

necklace // madewell

friday // day 6.

who has school spirit? i do! for the month of december, we have been doing district wide theme dress up days on friday and this week was 'black on black on black'. i took whatever black pieces i could that would go together and i wore them.

saturday // day 7.

so this is my shopping, what i wear under my coat outfit. its just an oversized flannel, some jeans and boots. we spent our saturday doing some christmas shopping. i just threw something on in the morning with the plan to change for the evening. with the snow, our plans changed and our evening turned into italian takeout, svu marathon, and pjs. this ended up being the best look of the day.

overall, it was a good week. i am starting to move away from my 'uniform' and have gone back to having fun getting dressed. i did learn a few things from going back over what i wore last week and this is what i am going for this coming week:

- limit the amount of times a wear a beanie all day. it is a must when outside because it is cold, but too many days this past week, i wore one all day. this may mean i will have to wash my hair more often, but so be it!

- i can only wear my patch ankle jeans from urban once this week (i would say none, but i need them for this friday's theme day). i have realized how desperately i need new jeans. in case anyone still needs gift ideas for me, i like high waisted, ankle length skinnies. 

- i only tied something around my waist twice this past week.. pretty good for me when all i do is delayer and then layer again, all day!

- i also wore the same necklace a lot. this is something that is harder to move away from, seeing as i lost a lot of jewelry when our apartment was broken into, but i can still do better at it.

- and then there are the converse.. this one is hard because i carry heavy stuff up and down stairs all day, but..

- i also was reminded that blogging is hard. i hope to really get back into it and i admire the people who are able to do it on a regular basis.

so there you have it. week one is done! on to the next.

day one // horizontal vertical

(take a bow)

this was yesterday. sunday. a day of shopping with my mom and sister who came to visit for the day! right after a late night out at my holiday work party..

i am so in love with these levi's 501s. i love trying all types of denim fits and styles, not just those skinny ones anymore. these are like a boyfriend, but a little bit sleeker and much cooler. hehe. and they fit the butt real nice.

yesterday was raw. it was cold and you knew it was going to snow or something. layering for shopping is one of the best things you can do because you know no matter how cold it is outside, you will get warm going in and out of stores. so a tee and a sweater is perfect.

i still love mixing prints and textures. and i really love stripes. this cardigan is great because it is shaped like a fancy lady cardigan, complete with gold buttons, but the pattern is relaxed.

these booties are also pretty fun. the cutouts with leather straps may not seem super weather appropriate, but that is what they make fun, wool socks for, right!?

so this outfit may not seem like its high fashion or anyway to kick of this challenge, but it was great for a sunday spent mostly with a coat on. adding a few fun textures and prints make it more than just jeans, a tee, and a cardigan.

and don't you just love my garden of plant pots..

sweater // goodwill $2.50
tee // salvation army $1.99
jeans // urban outfitters $9.99
shoes // urban outfitters $40
necklace // christmas gift
beanie // target

coming back to life..

i have lived in boston for 1 year, 3 months, and 9 days. when i got here, i was someone very different than who i am now.

i moved here for work. i got promoted. i got promoted again and then again. i love my job. it is hard and i am tired, but it is creative and fun and i enjoy the people i work with. but with taking the promotion and moving to boston, i left someone else behind. i thought by coming here i would be able to branch out, blog more, meet lots of new people, and maybe even gain new clients.

in reality, i had the worst moving experience ever. put something of a bitter taste in my mouth (not as bitter anymore). working in bigger stores with lots of stairs and taking multiple methods of public transportation everyday made more tired than i was used to being. i lost motivation. i couldn't find inspiration. i put off doing anything for myself, outside of work. planning to do it next week. next week became next month and now its been over a year and i am still where i started.

in portland, i felt like i was someone or on the way to becoming someone. in boston, in a sense, i had to start over. but i didn't put the effort in. i held on to my great accomplishments from the years past, compared myself to others who were doing what i wanted to be doing and got more discouraged.

then the worst thing of all happened. our apartment was broken into. they stole everything. my computer, my camera, my memory cards, my external hard drive. i lost everything i have ever worked on. material objects can be replaced, but those photos and projects can not. it was a really hard experience. it was violating. it was scary and it was sad.

now i have pulled myself off of the couch and i am committing to get back into doing what i love. and in order to really commit myself, i am going back to the roots of this blog.

it started as a virtual diary. i had just left a job i hated and finally had the freedom to wear the clothes i had been collecting for years. it was my chance to get creative and dress for myself. i challenged myself to 30 days without wearing the same outfit and not buying anything new. and i did it for a year!

this time i am only doing it for 30 days. i need to get out of this rut i am in. i have let myself fall victim to all the excuses. i get up at 4:30 in the morning and especially when it is cold in my apartment, i just want to put on something comfy. and back to being cold, it is cold outside. but when i get to work, the thermostat literally reads anywhere from 82-85 degrees everyday. it is hot. i am dressing for winter only to strip down once i get to work. so let me tell you, jeans and a t-shirt, a pair of chucks, and on many days, a beanie, has been my go-to work uniform. but i am a motherfucking merchandiser in a fashion forward company! mind you, i don't go to work looking like a schlump. i do put on jewelry and makeup and occasionally try to do my hair, but come on. i have so much clothing and i need to put it to use. (i am only yelling at myself here. unless you know you are like me, then i am yelling at you too!)

so here we go! another 30 days of 30 different outfits. as jay-z recently said (haha i know he didn't actually come up with this. or did he..), it takes 21 days to make something a habit. i am just giving myself a few more for, let's say.. good luck.

now here goes everything.