Sorry for the wonky colors in these pictures.  I waited too long and took them when there wasn’t enough light (again).  I really should know better.  I kind of had to laugh at myself a little while labeling the clothing (wow, I shop at Old Navy a LOT apparently) since I have almost exclusively stuff from big box stores (hello Target and Payless shoes).  But oh well, it seems to be what everyone is doing so I went along and tagged mine as well.  So without further ado,

the skirts

the pants

the t-shirts

the tops

the dresses

the jackets (as far as I read the rules my “real” winter jackets don’t count towards the 30 items. that’s how I’m playing in any case)

the sweaters

and finally… my favorite part… shoes

All of my accessories and such (jewelry, scarves, tights, socks, etc) aren’t counted in the 30 items and it’s lucky for me because looking through my closet I am apparently getting most of my color from shoes and accessories (who knew?) and I need a lot of it when the sky is grey. I also have to say (in the spirit of full disclosure) that while there is only one white camisole pictured in this set of 30 items I have a veritable ARMY of white camisoles in my dresser. They seem to be something of a wardrobe staple for me, a security blanket if you will. I am almost always wearing one under pretty much anything else I might happen to be wearing that day. So instead of filling my 30 items with 7 different versions of the same white camisole I’m going to just count them all as one item. Call me a cheater if you will but I just don’t feel right going out of the house without a shirt on (under my shirt that is) and I think Ben will thank me for wearing more than one so that I have a chance to, you know, wash it… and not stink… and all that good stuff.

So there you have it. These are the only 30 articles of clothing you will see me in for the next 30 days. Hopefully I still love them all at the end of this little experiment. We shall see

Day 3 of my 30 for 30.  We managed to get outside before the sun was too low this afternoon (hooray!) and I happen to love this outfit, it’s definitely an old standby.  The shirt is one of my favorites and I pretty much live in this pair of jeans.  Topped off with my most comfy (and fun) red shoes and I’m pretty much a happy camper.

I don’t know why I’m so embarrassed to post this… but here goes.

For the last year or so I’ve been reading a few “independent style blogs” – and I’m kind of addicted. I don’t know why that should be embarrassing. Maybe it’s my 8th grade self (you know, the one who is wearing oversized green sweat pants and a men’s XL tee shirt with airwalk sneakers? Yeah, that one) worrying that if I admit that I care what I wear I might be inadvertently opening myself up for critique. Like somehow secretly caring what you wear and not telling anyone makes it ok if your outfit is a *little bit* funny looking or doesn’t *quite* go. Maybe then you’d say “oh that outfit is almost cute but it’s good for her, because, you know, she doesn’t really care what she’s wearing”. But if I actually care it raises the bar. Now that I’ve typed it that really doesn’t make any sense does it?

In any case I do read a few “style blogs”… which I put into quotations only because they’re not blogs that the “fashion industry” put together… they’re just blogs that other people.. and mainly other 20 or 30 something people… write to share what they’re wearing and what they think is cool. I used to look at what people were wearing out on the streets when Ben and I were living in Paris and pick up ideas from the more put together ladies. I think that was probably the first time that I started actually thinking about clothing as something that I could use to express myself. Since my life as a mom (where most of my interaction is with 2 year olds or moms in the park in sweat suits) has taken me out of most of the social situations where I might be able to keep an eye on the latest trends I had to look elsewhere for inspiration.

Oh man, and there goes the embarrassment again. Even typing “latest trends” makes me cringe a little. I certainly don’t claim to think I’m on the cutting edge of fashion. I realize I’m pretty far from it. But I’m at least caring what I look like these days, which I think is an improvement since two years ago I was living in pajama pants and nursing tank tops.

In any case this is getting rambling. I should really get to my point. One of my absolute favorite blogs to read is Kendi Everyday. I love most of the things she wears and I think her writing style is witty and funny. I also like that she admits that she is nerdy and shy in person since I am very much both of those things. I’ve been following her for a while and love the idea of her 30 for 30 remixes. I kept going back and forth on whether or not I wanted to do one and actually considered starting another secret blog to show my outfits on (yeah, I’m THAT embarrassed to be typing this). In the end I decided I should just post them here and get over the cringe factor.

I started a few days late so even though most of the other remixers are on day 6 or 7 (I’m not entirely sure actually) I’m only on day 3. And without further ado, outfits 1 & 2.

I’m not so sure about this one… I’m not sure if I can pull off white tights so I might not try it again. I felt like an oversized toddler coming from ballet class. But maybe that’s just me. Ben said he thought it was cute. Also please forgive the slightly blurry photo. It gets dark way too early here and we didn’t take the picture early enough in the day so there wasn’t enough light.

I have picked out all my pieces for the whole 30 days but haven’t gotten around to photographing them yet. Or the outfit I’m wearing today. I really need to get over my fear of looking goofy in photographs. Hopefully 30 days of being photographed will make me less self conscious.