Change of plans

First night of Hanukkah happened to take precedence over my need to analyze my funk. 

Failure to plan for Hanukkah took precedence over sticking with the 30 for 30.  Sweatshirt, jeans and a baseball cap ... woo hoo!

And, times like this take precedence over everything. 

 

The Destroyer is trying her hand at remixing as well.  Swimmy diaper as a hat.  I think it could catch on.

 

Getting ready to turn it all back around

There was nothing particularly inspiring about my outfit today.  Black slacks, red sweater, black boots.  No accessories ... so no pictures either.  Switched into jeans and a sweatshirt and just played with my girls.  Much more inspiring for me :)  Well, minus having to deny the Destroyer her TV time as punishment for misbehaving at school today.  Teacher meeting on Thursday.  Yeah, I have *that* child right now.  Sigh.

Just returned from last-minute Hanukkah shopping at Kohl's (still refrained from purchasing anything for myself even though the shoes were just CALLING me) ... but after much more than I had anticipated spending, the bulk of the family is covered.  Seeing as how tomorrow night is the first night, I'm just thankful my girls are too young to realize their Mom flaked.

Bryan and his family celebrate Christmas.  So, I've got time to redeem myself.  Well, at least wrap the damn gifts.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on posting a sequence of photos from the past 10 years and a little blog about what I think is part of the reason for my funk. A way of closing a chapter.  Turning a page.  Getting "me" back.  Maybe getting it out of my head and in writing will help me to better tackle the problem.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week.  It's well past my bed-time.  Nighty-night.

Day 18 and 22 ... sigh

So, I went into the Holiday weekend with great plans, great expectations, great attitude.  And then got hit with a shit-fan from hell.  After receiving the "you don't take care of yourself ... it's obvious in how you've been dressing that you're not happy with how you look," I just kind of got funked.  And, I still am.  But, I AM trying to keep to the "exercise" as it were.

My outfit for Thanksgiving day didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.  I don't know if it is because we took pictures after one too many Van Gogh and Baileys, but my scarf seemed to take over the entire outfit.

 

Brown dress - NY&Co, Orange halter - No Stress, Shoes - Aldo, Scarf - found in my box of random fabric bits!

Speaking of the scarf.  I went looking in my random fabric bits as a result of a comment (and some fantastic outfits) from Jodi at Day2DayWear.  Jodi, if you happen to be reading today ... look at what I found!!

The rest of the holiday weekend was spent in sweats and other comfy clothes.  I was just not in the mood and didn't even want to look at my closet or make any attempt at caring.  Oh well, on to today (Monday) and while I had to cheat a bit and swap in a different pair of shoes, it was just too cold for anything else.

Sweater - NY&Co, Dress (as a skirt) - Motherhood maternity, Black boots - I have no clue and no energy to go back downstairs and find out :)

So, congratulations to all of you fellow (I am still including myself in the group despite my back-slides) remixers for all the amazing outfits and ideas.  And to those of you who, like me, have either back-slid, cheated, or determined that now is just NOT the time for this (in my case it's a bit of all three - but I put away almost every other article of clothing I have and ... again ... I just do NOT have the energy to go unpack it yet.  So, I'll be remixing by necessity lol)... I hope to see you next time and will continue to enjoy following your blogs.

17 of 30

I fell asleep putting the Destroyer to bed.  Which I'll take as a sign that I needed the sleep:)  So here is my outfit from yesterday.  I felt good in it and I guess I look okay in it.  What I've noticed though, is that regardless of which pieces I am mixing, I'm generally using the same "look."  And, I don't know if it's laziness, fear, comfort (hiding the fat lol) or what.  If anyone could, please let me know if it is even the right look for me (as best you can tell from photos that is).

 Jacket, sweater and pants - NY&Co, Boots - skechers, 

Scarf - hand-made by me, necklace - WV local artist festival of some sort.

 Bryan has a tendency to take rapid-fire photos when we do this.  The flash is going off constantly (which unfortunately gives me a migraine 50% of the time) and this is my ... is *THIS* a better pose?  FAIL ;)

 This is my "I just heard a crash in the other room ... hope there's no blood" pose.

Nope, no blood!  No tears,  either.  Woo hoo!

I really just included this shot for the necklace.  I really love the pink hues in it.

16

So what does one do when she failed to incorporate tall black boots into her 30 for 30 to accompany her skirts and/or dresses?  Throws on a pair of pants ... that's what she does.  I actually did this a lot while I was pregnant.  I don't know that it works for my body, but it definitely works for my comfort :) 



Bryan just took these pictures at 10:00 when he got home from work and our girls were finally crashed out.  Holidays bring family and friends from all over, and schedules be damned!  Needless to say, I'm a bit tired.  And, the red scarf that I wore as both a belt and a scarf at various times of the day was left in my car and I just didn't have the energy to completely re-create.

 Sweater - G.A.S, Dress - Motherhood Maternity, Tank/Cami - NY&Co, Pants - Dockers, Boots - Skechers, Necklace (metallic gray & garnet - nice jewelry box find) - gifted.

  

 

Bryan apparently enjoys zooming in on a particular area of my body.  Guess that's a good thing?

Day Fif ... Oh who am I kidding?

So, it should be pretty obvious that I've gone a bit off track.  My trip to Vegas did not include a camera.  It included my Flip - which made an appearance on Day 1, but no camera.  And, while I fully intended to channel my inner quick-change artist upon my return ... it just wasn't meant to be. 

Along with a portion of my bank account, Vegas also took a piece of my heart ... in the form of my favourite boots.  I thought I could make them work with pants and they lasted one glorious compliment filled day.  Seriously compliments from men.  Straight men.  Sigh.  Until I took them off and realized that an entire section of material had disappeared.  I had visions of pieces of my boots trailing behind me as I walked and tearfully dumped them in the hotel trashcan.  *note - I didn't really cry.  I thought about it.  But I didn't.

Luckily, my trip also involved a community service type task.  I, along with about 200+ other conference attendees went to the St. Jude's (not affiliated with the hospital) Ranch for Children to clean up and landscape their community area.  While there, I took a little trip into their gift shop ... and found a beautiful pair of Aldo tan peek-a-boo heels for $6 ... $6!!!!  And they matched the only outfit I had for the final event that night.  It was  *taps head* ... what's that word ... serendipitous?  Nah - I think there's another word I'm looking for.  I'm just too fried.

So, while I stuck to the plan during my trip, when I got home, it all fell apart.  Too busy, too much damage control (apparently my girls are NOT ready for me to be gone), and too much just ... blah.  So, I'm picking back up where I left off.  I just may end up repeating some outfits - some were pretty darn cute.

I did, however, have to do some switcheroos.  As I noted in my first posted outfit (I think), I base my outfits on what shoes I want to wear.  Since I had to toss the boots (and another pair of shoes - another day's post) I also had to switch out a skirt.  So while it looks as if my journey has been derailed ... I'm trying to get back on track.

Today's outfit was a hit.  I got several compliments at work, was even asked if I lost weight (*note - I haven't, I actually had gained several pounds).  I went to the store to get a laundry basket and the manager had the cashier over-ride the price to give me 1/2 off.  Yes, I will be shopping there frequently.

 The Raptor insisted on being held.  Which I love, of course :)

 Jacket - NY&Co, Green sweater - Michael Stars, Jeans (substitute) - Gitano hand-me downs from friend, Brown boots (substitute) - Skechers gift from sister, scarf made by me.

The jacket was bunched a little because I had just put down the Raptor and hadn't re-adjusted. The picture isn't as indicative of today's successful return to the 30 for 30 ... but it's all good ;)

I have a lot of fellow re-mixers blogs to catch up on ... I'll be making the rounds this week.  I'm sure I've missed some amazing outfits.

Day 3

My brown boots were still at the repair shop, so I forced myself to wear the lace-ups and just deal with the fact that I'm that much more pear shaped without heels.  On a sad note, when I picked up  my boots this evening (and put them on for the second pic so I could see for myself the difference between the flats and the heels) I realized they are very, very damaged.  Sigh.  They'll be fine with pants ... but so much for wearing them with skirts.  I'm going to have to break the rules, most likely, and make one purchase to replace my much-loved boots. 

Today was another hectic day as I leave for Vegas tomorrow.  I'm a bit sick to my stomach since I've never been away from the Destroyer for more than a night and haven't been away from the Raptor at all.  And now I'll be gone for 4 entire days and 3 nights.  I'm freaking out.  But what's done is done.  Truth be told - I need this.  And the thought of having 8 hours of interruption-free reading time (even if it's on a plane) is smoothing out the rough edges of my anxiety.

So, today's outfit.  I had to reassemble again since I am required to take just about everything off as soon as I walk in the door.  I don't know what Alanna's issue is with my wearing a scarf, jacket ... even jewelry ... but she wants it OFF as soon as I walk in the door ... shoes too.

First, in flats.  Boots - Geox, Brown pinstripe pants - NY & Co, Yellow Sweater - NY & Co, Scarf - handmade by me (and quite necessary to cover cleavage), Jacket - Chicos.

I am trying to wear more jewelry.  (Hence the "see the necklace" stupid pose).  Today, I grabbed a pair of earrings that had never been worn and a necklace I think I've worn once.  I don't remember were I bought it ... but I have this tiny voice in my head saying it has matching earrings and a belly chain (HA!) ... so I'm guessing it was a long-ass-time ago.  PS - I never wore the belly chain.

And, this is the same outfit with the Diba boots.  See, I immediately see a difference in how my legs look.  Even when obscured by the wee ones.  One who has immediately taken possession of my Coach wallet (purchased for about $10 on a crazy outlet sale) and the other reaching for the other amazing buy ... the Coach purse that was marked down to $70 and then was 75% off.  *sigh* I just realized I really miss shopping :)