Red, white and black

It's difficult to think of something new and interesting to write about my outfits four or five days a week. I can only write about pattern mixing or my reasons for choosing color combinations so many times before I get bored with it. And today I'm bored with it. So here's my outfit; that's all I have to say for now :)

Black tank top: Target

Black and white shorts: Loft

Red strawberry flats: Asos

Black hat: gift from my aunt

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Red necklace and mah jongg tile earrings: free from my aunt

Gold cuff: gift from my mom

Date night

This was my outfit from a date night with Josh a few days ago. We went to the sushi restaurant where we had our first date. Whenever we do that we always get nostalgic and lovey-dovey, and reminisce about that night where we sat in the sushi restaurant for about three hours, talking and laughing and drinking green tea and trying new and weird foods (like fish eggs - blech). A few days earlier he had called and left me a message, saying he wanted to ask me something important and that I should call him back. So I did, and when he said, "I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date with me," I literally shouted, "Yes!" I've never been one to hide my enthusiasm.

And then four weeks later we were engaged. But I'll save that story for another time :)

Floral shirt: Georgia tee from StyleMint

Black and white shorts: Loft

Black espadrilles: Loft

Spider necklace: Bauble Bar

Pink bracelet: H&M

Polka dot pattern mixing

The last time I wore this dress was almost exactly a year ago (in this post). Obviously I'm not great at wearing all my clothes on a regular basis. I really shouldn't have neglected this piece, though, because it has such a fun pattern, plus that magic ingredient that every woman loves in a dress - pockets. I decided to go for a bit of a retro look with the white collared blouse and white wedges, and I borrowed the idea of pattern mixing with the belt from the last time I wore this dress.

When I was putting together this outfit I had on a layered pearl necklace that I tucked under the collar. Josh took one look at it and said, "You should take that off. It makes your outfit too busy." Every year when Project Runway returns, he goes all Tim Gunn on me for a few months and styles my outfits. I kind of love it. It took a lot of convincing to get him to watch that show with me, but now he loves all the drama, and it's taught him enough about fashion that quite often he knows what looks good better than I do.

We discovered this park yesterday and used it for these outfit photos. It's right in the middle of the city, but in this photo it looks like it's far out in the country....

Red polka dot dress: possibly vintage

White blouse: free from my aunt

White wedges: Sam Edelman (Kendall wedges) from Piperlime

Belt: thrifted

Red watch: thrifted from Village Merchants

The cat, the spider and the ant

It was unintentional that I combined leopard print and stripes for two posts in a row - I had forgotten about yesterday's post when I took today's photos. This look was inspired by this fun outfit of Lydia's. Since I was already wearing animal print, I decided to throw a few other creatures into the mix - my spider necklace and ant bracelet. And yes, the ant is real.

Striped sweater: Loft

Leopard print blouse: thrifted from Goodwill

Black faux leather skirt: H&M

Black tights: American Apparel

Black and brown wedges: Asos

Spider necklace: Bauble Bar

Watch: thrifted from Village Merchants

Ant bracelet: flea market

Leopard and stripes

I guess I have a thing for mixing stripes and leopard print. Sometimes when I mix patterns I try to combine them tastefully, but other times - like here - I really just want to throw together an odd combination just for the fun of it. In retrospect I don't love that I rolled up my blazer sleeves to show the striped sleeves - I think it would have looked more polished with the sleeves rolled down. (Although really, with a leopard print hat and a huge blue-green necklace, was I ever going to achieve "polished"?)

Combining these jeans and boots (here, here and here) is apparently my go-to look for when Josh and I go out to eat and I want to be comfortable but still wear heels. On Saturday when I wore this we walked downtown for lunch and a bit of bridesmaid dress shopping. (And in case you're wondering, Josh did not have to suffer through watching me try on dresses! He went to the video game store.) My friend Rachel is getting married in a few months and she's letting all the bridesmaids pick out their own dresses as long as they're gray. The other three bridesmaids have their dresses already, but I apparently have hit a wall. I've been to dozens of stores, visited about forty online retailers, and have yet to find a dress that is 1) In stock in my size (which is 8), 2) In my price range ($150 or less), 3) Solid gray with no patterns, and 4) Something I would wear again after the wedding. All I'm finding are dresses that I love that cost about $300, or dresses that look skanky and are way too short or show too much cleavage. Help! Do any of you have suggestions for where I could look for a dress? I've tried local boutiques, as well as a lot of big name stores (Asos, Topshop, Anthropologie, J. Crew, Macy's, Nordstrom, TJ Maxx, Ross, Marshall's, Nordstrom Rack, etc.).

PS - Stay tuned later for a post filled with adorable photos of my dog Onyx!

Striped top: H&M

Black blazer: Fred Meyer

Jeans: Levi's from Urban Outfitters

Beige wedge boots: Urban Outfitters

Leopard print hat: Albertus Swanepoel for Target

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Blue and green necklace: purchased in Florence, Italy

Bracelet: In Pink

It's what I've got

I will freely admit that this is an offbeat outfit - socks with open-toed heels and bright tights, pattern mixing, a gigantic slouchy sweater (from the 90's) - but I really like it. Sometimes I look at other blogs and feel disappointed that I don't do high-end designer looks, or that I don't do vintage fashion very well, or that I almost never look polished enough to work in an office - and then I have to remind myself that what I am good at when it comes to style is "bright and weird." And I know that's not a style that appeals to everyone, but it's what I've got.

The number one piece of advice I see successful fashion bloggers give to their fellow bloggers in interviews is "be yourself," and even though it's such a cliché at this point, I still like it. Obviously you need to take your surroundings into account - for instance, there are certain things you should and shouldn't wear to the office, church, funerals, weddings, etc. - but basically, I think everyone should wear whatever the heck they want. If you want to be weird, normal, bright, calm, neutral, experimental, urban, casual, dressy, high-maintenance, low-maintenance, whatever - I say go for it, even if that means you don't have as many followers as other blogs do, or (for those of you who aren't fashion bloggers) even if people give you funny looks because you're wearing something that's out of their comfort zone.

Purple sweater: free from my aunt

Floral skirt: thrifted from Village Merchants

Purple tights: American Apparel

Brown belt: thrifted from Goodwill

Gray bracelet: Self-made

Gray socks: Gap

Brown heels: Madden Girl from Macy's

Worn but not seen

Sometimes I feel like my outfits are wasted if no one sees them. That's why I try to save my favorite outfits for the weekend, when we go out to eat or to church - that way, the maximum amount of people will see what I wear. Yes, it's vain of me - but isn't that what most people do? They get dressed for others. If I was stuck in a house by myself and never had visitors and never went anywhere, I would probably wear the same pair of jeans and t-shirt every day - but if someone were to come visit, you better believe I would get dressed up. Which begs the (rather facetious) question: If an outfit is worn and no one sees it, does it really count as an outfit? This outfit was seen, but only by Josh, a few people in the elevator of my building, and you guys. It's a shame, because I thought it was a solid attempt at pattern mixing, and I would have liked to wear it around certain family members who would have said things like, "What are you wearing?" "Oh my, you look interesting," and, "Well that's a new combination."

Striped top: H&M

Blazer: Forever 21

Pants: thrifted from Salvation Army

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Earrings: gift from my parents, from B. Lee Designs

Scarf: purchased from a street vendor in China

You shouldn't dress like that on Sundays

This outfit originally included this black and white striped sweater instead of the plain black one, but when I looked at the finished product in the mirror, for the first time in my life I thought, "I'm too old to wear this combination." It felt more tasteful to switch to a solid colored top - although let's be honest, a neon color blocked skirt and polka dot tights are still not high on the tasteful scale. Case in point: when I was walking along the sidewalk, a homeless man who passed me by said, "You shouldn't dress like that on Sundays."

Sweater: Target

White blouse: free from aunt

Skirt: Forever 21 brand, thrifted from Crossroads Trading Co.

Tights: Asos

Shoes: Sam Edelman Kendall wedges from Piperlime

Earrings: Simply Jo Designs

Brooch: vintage, from my mom

War and Peace

Even though this outfit is entirely black and white, I didn't find it to be boring at all. It's got some fun pattern mixing going on, some funky space age wedges, and a gigantic furry hat that makes me feel Russian whenever I wear it.

Speaking of Russians....I just finished reading War and Peace. (Nice segue, right?) It took me four and a half months, which is longer than it's taken me to read any book, ever. I was an English Literature major in college, so by nature I love epic novels, but I had a lot of trouble with this one. On the one hand, the author Tolstoy was brilliant at creating characters who are endearingly and annoyingly human. On the other hand, he really loved to talk about politics and war strategies for hundreds of pages. It was a struggle to read, and so I feel very proud of my accomplishment of finishing this 1,400-page novel, and wanted to share it with you guys! And also, now that I've finished this book that I've been reading through for months, I'm at a loss as to what to read next, so I thought I'd ask - do any of you have any book recommendations? What are some of your all-time favorite novels?

Shirt: H&M

Jacket: Forever 21 brand from Jen Loves Kev's closet sale

Skirt: Anthropologie

Tights: American Apparel

Shoes: Sam Edelman Kendall wedges from Piperlime

Hat and scarf: Fred Meyer

Earrings: free from aunt

Necklace: from running the Portland Marathon

Belt: gift from my parents, from Uruguay

Leopard and snakeskin

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this brilliant blanket of yellow leaves along the sidewalk the other day! It may not have been the best backdrop against which to showcase this outfit, but I couldn't resist. I always find something to be giddy about in every season. Winter: snow! Spring: daffodils! Summer: heat! And in fall I love scenes like this, where the world looks like it's been showered in gold.

This outfit started with the shoes. Josh and I were walking past Urban Outfitters on Saturday and saw that they were having a 50% off sale items sale, so we went inside and I found these faux snakeskin loafers for only $10! When I got home I tried them out with a bunch of different outfits, and it was tricky at first to find anything besides jeans that went with them, but then I decided to just try the weirdest combination possible and put on my leopard pants, and I kind of liked the look! And yes, some people may think it's tacky to wear two animal prints together, but I would much rather be eclectic and adventurous than classy :)

Sweater: Target

Chambray shirt (under sweater): Sears

Pants: thrifted from Salvation Army

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Hat: from my dad, from a hat shop in York, England

Earrings: church craft sale

Bracelets: H&M, In Pink

Hair tie faux pas

One of the annoying things about taking photos for a fashion blog is that sometimes you spend five minutes in front of the mirror making sure the brim of your hat is tipped at just the right angle, and then you end up leaving your hair tie around your wrist in photos. Whoops.

I feel like I have a pretty substantial collection of hats (twelve, as soon as this baby arrives in the mail), and yet I could not find one that coordinated with this outfit in a satisfactory way. All my hats are neutral colors (black, brown, gray, cream), but I think I need to start adding in some reds and blues. I went with the gray hat, which doesn't look too bad, but I think a dark blue hat would have looked better. What are your thoughts on the matter?

Top: thrifted from The William Temple House (for $1!)

Skirt: thrifted from Crossroads Trading Co.

Tights: Target

Shoes: Lulu's

Hat: Fred Meyer

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Necklace: Dress Barn

Bracelets: H&M

Pattern overload

I'm pretty sure this is the craziest pattern mixing I've ever done! Alright, let's go ahead and call it "pattern clashing," because I'm not altogether sure that it goes together. Usually if I'm unsure about the general presentable-ness of my outfits I run it by Josh - he's really good about telling me straight out if something looks weird or if something looks great. But he wasn't at home the day I wore this, so I had to trust my own opinion, which was - "This outfit is so fun!" Regardless of whether or not it looked good, I sure enjoyed wearing it.

I walked up to the Rose Garden on Friday after taking these photos, because I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful Indian summer we were having and have a stroll through the roses before they all disappeared. It was so gorgeous up there. Many of the roses were still in full bloom and smelled heavenly, and the fat little honeybees buzzed around lazily and bounced off my head when I leaned in close to smell the flowers. It was, in a word, blissful.

Top: thrifted, sleeves hemmed by me

Skirt: Urban Outfitters

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell from Lulu's

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Belt: free from aunt

Bracelets: H&M

Perfect blend

I love most of the outfits I wear (which is a good thing!), but this outfit is hands down my favorite outfit ever. I've literally had it planned for months, but it was just too warm to wear long sleeves during the summer. The weather needed to be the perfect blend of cool-enough-for-long-sleeves and not-too-cold-for-bare-legs, and Sunday was that day. This outfit is the perfect encapsulation of my personality and style: loud, bright, and kind of quirky :) I love how the thin stripes of the shirt play off the bold stripes of the color-blocked skirt (also worn here), and how the dark outlining on the shoes goes with the stripes on the top. For something that felt so oddball when I put it on, in these pictures it actually looks like it matches really well. This is an outfit I want to wear over and over again - you might see it on here again in a few months with a pair of tights and black boots!

Top: H&M

Skirt: Forever 21 brand, thrifted from Crossroads Trading Co.

Shoes: Sam Edelman Kendall wedges from Piperlime

Bag: thrifted from The William Temple House

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx