Gettin' Dressy With It

I think I have bargain hunter's remorse.  I bought a little dress at Ross a while ago because it was less than $10.  At the time of the purchase, I had it in my head that I needed to add more solids to my wardrobe since I am a print girl at heart and my closet is sadly lacking in neutral solids.  This dress is not neutral.  This dress is not particularly flattering on my chesty frame.  This dress was less than $10.  With that being said, here are two of the options I came up with for it.

At least I got to wear some amazing shoes.  What do you think?  Are you the kind of bargain hunter who would keep the dress because it was a steal, or would you return it and get something better for your money?

I kept it.  I wore the bottom look for Easter Dinner (which I hosted and cooked for...in those heels!)  I will probably wear it at some point with the leopard accessories as well, because it was OK as an outfit.  Not super spectacular, but OK.  Breaking that down...cost per wear at less than $5, and if I get a 3rd outfit out of it...that's a cpw of $3.33.  Alright, I'm not so remorseful any longer.

XO,
Alyssa

It Was Bound to Happen or An Idea So Good Bears Repeating

What happens when you love an outfit concept soooo much that you copy yourself?

You get an oops I did it again moment, that's what!  The "maxi skirt as a dress" vision is going to take me through this whole summer, I swear to you.  Can't you imagine this about a million other ways?  Different shoes, jewelry and topper piece and the look will change each time!  You might also be proud to note, that I wore those shoes for a full shift and no blisters or sore toes occurred.

If you need a little reminder of my first "maxi skirt as a dress" look,  click here to see the original post.  From last week.  How sad.

But just to stay legit...I found this a moment ago on The Pinterest...

Original Image Source

XO,
Alyssa

It's All in the Details

Or....sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference.

By now you know that my job requires me to be on my feet, climbing ladders, running clothes, helping customers etc. which for the most part requires me to be in flat shoes.  On this particular day, I had an 8 hour shift so I needed to be both cute and mobile.  I threw on one of my favorite pairs of jeans, mixed up some patterns on top and threw on my trusty cognac colored sandals.  I looked in the mirror, gave it a pass and took my outfit photos for the day.  Upon review of these pictures I noticed something looked off.  It's a little something, but it is kind of important.  Look at photo number two.

Switching into some 3 inch wedges allowed the pant leg to hang properly and really made the whole look better.  Did I suffer for it, yes I did.  By hour 5 my toes really hurt and I had a blister the size of Texas.  Did my pants look a heck of a lot better all day?  Yes, yes they did.

The moral of the story?  Pay attention to where your pant leg sits.  If it's bunching up around your ankle or sitting on the ground, you need to hem it or wear higher heels.  If your pant leg doesn't come anywhere near the floor, then your heels are too high and you need to wear lower ones.  So the "little thing", the detail for today...heel height matters.
(and obviously, blisters don't)  LOL

XO,
Alyssa

More Fun with Pinterest Inspiration...It's Copycat Thursday

Has everyone met Carly from Texas Lovebirds and Mary from Trusty Chucks?  If you haven't you need to.  These two cuties, aside from having very good blogs in and of themselves,  have been trying to get a Copycat link party going on Thursdays and I don't see any of my "friends" joining the party.  Now I KNOW we are all so very clever that we don't need to be copycats all the time, but I think its really fun to scour my blogs and see how closely I can match or how well I can interpret someone else's outfit idea.  Heck, sometimes I find outfits that look just like ones I've already done so its a reverse copycat.  Why don't you guys join me next week and show me your copycat style?

source

This was my inspiration for this week's look.  Its been sitting in my "Outfits I love" Pinterest board forever now, and I finally got around to wearing it this week.  You know I had my big old bag and sunnies on when I left the house, so I'll leave you to imagine how they worked into the look.  Great right??

Mission complete.  Please check out my sidebar for a link to the Texas Lovebirds linky party...you won't be sorry you did!!

XO,
Alyssa

Getting More from My Wardrobe Staples

You guys, I am so excited.  Behind the times as usual, but excited none the less.  Did you know that you can wear a maxi skirt as a dress?  Seriously, this is not a hard concept for most of you out there, I'm not sure why it has never occurred to me before.

Especially since when I wear it as a skirt I have to hike it up to my boobs anyway because I am so short.  With a little larger hike, skirt becomes dress.  Throw on a belt to give it shape, a cardigan to cover my voluptuousness and you get a great springy outfit.
Simple, comfy and I dare say cute as well.  Love.  I can see so many more possibilities with this wardrobe staple now.  Perhaps next time...maxi skirt turned midi skirt.  Oh will wonders never cease?!

Skirt/Dress:  Gap Factory Store

Cardigan:  Gap Factory Store

Belt:  Gap Factory Store

Shoes: Target

Necklace:  T&J Designs (but read this post first)

Question...should I start telling you where my stuff is from?  Do you care?  If you do want to know, then should I link it for you too?  Let me know guys, what do you think?

XO,

Alyssa

It's Monday/Tuesday

Back to your regularly scheduled outfit photos.  Albeit a day later than intended and a week later than real life.  This is what I wore to work last Friday.

I love this blazer from Target, which I got on clearance for under $10.  The best thing about it (aside from the snappy color) is that I have seen it a lot on the Internet so there is much fodder out there for me to copy from.  I only took one picture though and this is it.  Don't mind the greasy looking bangs...I was out of dry shampoo, and God forbid I shower ;o)

XO,

Alyssa

linking late to the Visible Monday party, sorry Patti!!  (see sidebar for the link)

The Big One

There is a back story to every one's story.  You don't know me, really.  You know only those parts of me that I have shared, but have no real contextual knowledge of where those parts fit into the whole person.  That is probably as it should be.  That is not how it will remain.  In order to know me, as I want you to know me, you NEED to know my back story, my history.  Without knowing that, you are getting an incomplete picture and I want you to be able to see it all.  Those stories that relate to my life long struggle with weight are the ones that will help you best understand some of my sartorial comments and choices.  It will help you understand what I see.

Before we go there however I want to say one more thing.  My life is a blessed one.  I am fortunate beyond words and I appreciate those blessings every day.  My struggles are insignificant in the grand scheme of things and I KNOW this.  I still feel like sharing though, and whining a little.  If you don't want to keep reading, that's cool.  I'll see you later.  If you want to learn a bit more about me, then make the jump.

Spring Bright Pastels

Bright pastel?  Probably not the best descriptor since something can't be pastel and bright at the same time since the definition of pastel is "soft and pale" regarding colors.  But you feel me here, right?  That classic yellow, blue, pink combination with white as a grounding color evokes Spring like nothing else can.  It reminds me of lambs and chicks playing under a bright blue sky.  Ok,  that's a stretch.

My vision of this outfit and the reality of it were not meshing.  This particular yellow shirt is very long, almost a tunic.  So when I don't have my hands in my pockets it hangs down very low and loose, creating a very big color block that wasn't what I had imagined.  On a taller girl, it would have been great, but I didn't like it on me.  So I tucked it all in.  I think I like it better that way, plus I got to show a pop of pink from the belt.

I can't decide.  Tell me what you think...shirt in or out wins the day?

xo,
Alyssa