I can’t believe I’m posting day 29 already!  Not keeping up with the posting (sorry) has meant that I haven’t really had any idea of what day I was on.  All I knew was that I was still wearing my 30 items and taking pictures every day.  Who knew I was so close to being done?!  I actually would be totally done if I hadn’t skipped a day (Friday) due to a total lack of clean laundry.  I had to resort to the other (for now unused) part of my closet for one day.  In any case here are the last couple of outfits.

Day 25 – when I asked Ben if the pictures looked ok he told me I looked cold. It’s ok, I *was* cold. It was freezing out. I think the high was 19 degrees. Fun times. I barely lasted long enough without a coat to take this photo before I ran back inside. I have never worn this sweater with a striped shirt before because I thought it would be too much. It turns out I like it much MORE with a striped shirt. Who would have guessed?

Day 26 – after being insanely cold it switched back to being downright balmy. I really have no idea what to expect these days. Ok, by balmy I mean it was somewhere in the 40s but compared to 19 it was quite an improvement. Still not warm enough to leave the house without a jacket but at least I didn’t require 4 layers to fend off frostbite. I was in a bit of a rut on this day. I was running low on laundry and ideas so this one is a bit of a repeat. But I tucked the dress up shorter to make it into a shirt (is that funny or inventive?) so that I could wear it again.

Day 27 – I was determined to wear this dress again in a different way so I put a shirt on under (kind of my go-to wear a short sleeved dress in cold weather trick) but I’m not sure it works. I feel like it looks a little funny. Ben thinks it was ok. I’m undecided.

Day 28 – it always seems to get warmer when it rains and yesterday was no exception. Rainy (so we couldn’t play outside) but a pleasantly warm 53 degrees even in the evening while I was driving home from my knitting group. I really can’t figure out this weather. When are we going to have some snow?! At least I got to wear my rain boots again

Day 29 – this is much more what I had in mind when I picked out this jacket. As opposed to the crazy art teacher look I was sporting last time I wore it. Phew. I feel like the jacket redeemed itself. And it’s actually still warm enough out today (in the low 50s) that I don’t even need a winter coat on over.

One more day to go…

This is my “official” outfit for day 20 but to say that it’s what I wore today would be an exaggeration.  Due to the day’s activities what I wore most of my waking hours involved pajama pants and a zippy sweatshirt. Yeah. Hot stuff. Ben and I may or may not be working on a top secret project with the kids that involves lots and lots and LOTS of time inside the house for the next three days and a whole pile of big kid underwear. More on that later 🙂

In any case, since Ben and I were in the house all day today and pretty much looking awesome in our PJs we decided that maybe after the kids went to bed we should do some grown up things – like shower. So we both got all fancied up, this is the dress and shoes I included in my 30 items in case we went on a date sometime during the month of the challenge, and got some yummy italian take out food. I baked some delicious ginger cookies and we watched Top Chef All Stars. That’s date night, house arrest style

Wow… 9 days at once, this is going to be a long post.

Day 10 – Ben was off at school all during the daylight hours so I decided to take a self timer portrait indoors and Amelia decided she wanted to be in it as well. It was definitely a comfy/cozy day – just my regular jeans, a tank top and cardigan with my super cozy toms.

Day 11 – This is me. Wearing jeggings. Yes. I said it (or rather typed it). I own jeggings. I laughed at them at first but they are SO comfy and they fit well under boots. I goofed a little picking items for the 30 day challenge and didn’t really pick anything other than this dress that was long enough to cover my rear end (I will wear jeggings but not with an uncovered rear – I’m not quite there yet) so I am not sure if I’ll be able to wear them again until the challenge is over.

Day 12 – Thanksgiving day! We spent the weekend with family in a fabulous rental house on the coast where it was actually a bit colder than it had been in our neighborhood. I was pretty cold taking this picture and I’m hoping that’s why I have the weird look on my face. In any case, this is one of my absolute favorite dresses. Another item with not so many different ways to wear it but I just loved it too much not to include it.

Day 13 – Another favorite, go-to, cozy outfit (seems like I have a lot of those, huh?) Once again, comfy jeans, a cozy sweater and shoes. All set for a post-Thanksgiving lounge (and more overeating)

Day 14 – Note to self – Slouching is not cute, and neither are fake smiles. Yikes. Not my finest photograph. I do think this outfit was fine, maybe not my favorite but still ok. I don’t know if I like the light colored skirt with a dark sweater and having the sweater buttoned also looks weird, but I never would have known if I hadn’t photographed it so I guess I learned my lesson.

Day 15 – This was a surprisingly successful outfit (at least I thought it was). I wasn’t sure about tucking in a shirt with a defined waist but I did it anyway (look at me breaking my own rules!) and I think it turned out fine. I do really like this skirt with a belt which is something I’d never tried and I also think I should own more blouses for tucking. I never used to be a tucker-inner but I think I’m starting to like it.

Day 16 – Ben was off at school again so Allison took this shot. She said I was doing the same pose I do in all the pictures (well, yeah, I don’t know how to do anything else) so she suggested jumping. Here is my “I look CRAZY” jumping face 🙂

Day 17 – Another day of no Ben in the daytime (are you sensing a trend? He’s working on final projects. Plus it gets dark before 5 here, madness I tell you) so we took one indoors at night. Lovely blank wall, right? Every time I see someone on a blog with a belt over a shirt or sweater I think it looks cute, and yet every time I try it myself I feel silly. I always imagine people walking by and thinking “that silly girl, doesn’t she know that belt isn’t holding anything up?” But I am going to keep doing it in the hopes that I will eventually get used to it. I used to feel awkward in skinny jeans and now I love them to bits.

Day 18 – I included the green top I wore yesterday in my 30 picks just so I could wear it with my black shirt. It’s become a favorite. Two shirts is warmer than one and I am a fan of being warm, plus for some reason I always just feel good when I wear them together. With my skinny jeans and toms of course. Shocked? I know, I’m so unpredictable.

Day 19 – Which brings us to today! Whew! All caught up. Today’s outfit is a shameless rip-off of this outfit on Kendi Everyday. Right down to the mustard yellow scarflet. I think I actually gasped out loud when I saw hers “ooh my I MUST own that scarf!” I love everything mustard yellow and being cold here I clearly need as many scarves as possible. One of the rules of the 30 for 30 is that you’re not supposed to shop for any new clothing during that whole month… so I made the scarf instead. Are there any rules about that? Someone actually left a comment on Kendi’s blog about finding a similar pattern on ravelry (which I happen to LOVE) so I scooted right on over and set to work making my own. I do think my outfit is a little less pulled together than hers. I really wish I’d had a brown or other neutral top (other than my yellow, which would have looked weird) to wear as a top layer – but I didn’t. So black it was. I also wish I had had that little bit of blouse sleeve poking out but my blouse was short sleeved. Next time it will be better. Oh yes, this outfit will have a next time!

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.