Daily MelWear: The Calm Before the Storm

This is it!

The day before the 30 For 30 Challenge begins.

My items are picked and hanging in certain spots in my closet. It was a little difficult choosing an outfit for today since I didn't want to pick any of my 30 pieces yet. Today's tasks at work include putting packets together for all of our board members for delivery tomorrow, so I wanted something comfortable since I'll be up and down in my chair all day, back and forth to the copier and printer and filing cabinet.

I do like the subtle pattern mixing between the printed tights and the polka dot belt. That makes me happy.

Notice anything different with these pictures? Different background because...(drum roll, please) - I'm using a real, honest-to-goodness camera! With a timer! I bought a card reader since my computer at work doesn't have card slots and I was able to practice using my dad's camera with the timer yesterday, so I used it for today's outfit photos.

What do you think? Better than my iPhone photos, worse than my iPhone photos, about the same, doesn't matter either way?

I really want to get a camera with a remote instead of a timer, but my dad said his isn't compatible with a remote. So. Grrr. One day...

Today's outfit:

Black Dress: Ross

Teal Tank: Target

Black Cardigan: Ross
Polka Dot Belt: Plato's Closet
Purple Lace Print Tights: Target
Black Flats: Target
Necklace: Wal-Mart
Ring: Charlotte Russe

And So It Begins... My 30 For 30 Picks!

Ever since I decided to participate in Kendi's 30 For 30: Winter Edition and set some of my favorite pieces aside, I've had a difficult time choosing outfits from the rest of my wardrobe.

I wonder if that means this is going to be easy? Ah, famous last words.

I'm hoping this will help me to refine my style a little more so that I'll have a better grasp on what I do and don't like and I can avoid impulsively buying things simply because they're "cute" or "trendy" or "bargains."

I'm not sure why I used so many quotation marks. Totally unnecessary.

Anyway, without further ado, here are my picks for my VERY FIRST EVER 30 For 30 Challenge!

 

Five pairs of shoes.

 Six cardigans.

 

One pair of jeans, one pair of pants, three skirts.

 

Three dresses (check out that leopard one - NEW!!!)

 

Two jackets (planning on using that blazer for Everybody, Everywear).

 

Three long-sleeved tees.

Six tops.

So, there you have it. Since these are all of my favorites, tomorrow should be interesting picking out an outfit without them since the challenge starts on Tuesday. I'm ready to get started, are you?

Friend Friday: Let's Talk Shop

That phrase makes me think of Home Improvement and Tool Time. I used to love that show.

This week Katy decided to center the questions around the tools that we use for our blogs. While I consider myself to be fairly computer savvy when it comes to software and what have you, I am pretty ignorant in the field of HTML and coding and designing and cameras and lenses and PhotoShop and just thinking about everything that I really should learn gives me a headache!

That's why I'm so glad to see these Friend Friday questions! I'll give you my {very basic and quite frankly, boring} answers and then I'm going to read everyone else's to get some ideas and inspiration to learn, improve and grow! Well...grow the blog. I think growing myself isn't going to happen at this point. I'm pretty much short for life.

Anyway...

Here are the questions!

1. What technology do you use in blogging? (computer, camera, video camera, tripod, etc...)
I have my laptop that I use when I'm at home, my PC at work, and my iPhone 4 is my camera...for now. I just bought a card reader so that I can borrow my dad's camera while I'm saving up to buy my own. Hopefully I can mess around with the tripod this weekend so I'll be good to go with it on Monday!

2. What computer and online technology do you use? (blogging system, photo storage, photo editing tools, etc..)
Photo editing? What? Yeah, I don't do that so much. I take my pictures before dashing off to work, then I upload them and write my post at the office, where we don't have PhotoShop. Or anything else fun, for that matter.

Right now I use Blogger (I totally just typed Booger first) but I've really wanted a better commenting system so I think with the help of my ex-husband, I'm going to migrate over to WordPress sometime in the next few weeks.

And with Blogger, I've been using Picasa for my photos because it's free and private, but I think I'm about at my limit of free storage space. I really need to start using flickr or something but I don't really know how. And I need something quick and super easy. (I know starting sentences with "And" isn't grammatically correct, but this isn't a formal publication or anything so it's okay, right? Right? Eh.)

3. What is your process for taking pictures?
Lately, it's been handing my iPhone to my mother and using the same poses. Because I'm not all that creative with poses. And I don't have much time before I have to leave for work, so I stick with what seems to be working.

4. When it comes to backdrops for your photos what do you consider? Do you scout locations or shoot the same spot daily?
See #3. I really wish that I had the time to shoot at different locations and edit my photos and always take fabulous pictures, but I just don't. I also don't have any spectacular backdrops at my parents' house, so for inside shots I've been using a door and when I'm able to do outside shots, I take them on the front porch. Not really fantastic, but I can only work with what I've got.

5. If you could splurge and get one new piece of equipment what would you be buying?
A DSLR, for sure! I'm amazed and in awe of the beautiful quality in the photos that these types of cameras produce. But, alas, I don't have the money for such an extravagant gift to myself, so instead I'm going to use my dad's point-and-shoot and save up for my own camera. Which might also end up being a point-and-shoot since I have to save money for a new laptop too, but that's neither here nor there right now.

I can't wait to read everyone else's answers! These are the types of things I've been so interested to know but just haven't asked. I'm glad Katy asked for me! If you don't participate in Friend Friday, leave your answers in the comments!

Hope you all have a great day! My daughter and I are heading out to spend the day at Disney with her dad. The weather is supposed to be beautiful so I'm excited!

Daily MelWear: Purple Leopard

This outfit is a prime example of why something that is slimming isn't necessarily better. It drives me crazy when people say "don't wear horizontal stripes because they make you look bigger" or "don't wear this type of cut because it's not very slimming." Just because something makes you look slimmer doesn't mean it makes you look better overall.

This skirt is not very slimming on me at all, but this outfit makes me happy anyway! Every single part of this outfit (except for the booties and the cardigan) is out of code. It's a good thing I don't have any meetings today. And my boss isn't here. Heh. {Uh...except I just realized that I have a deliver a packet to one of our board members. Whoops.}

I have something to tell you about! The ever adorable Hope from Hope and the Dress Code and I have teamed up to create what we're calling Fabulous In February: A Month of Positivity. We've decided that too many of us tend to be very negative towards ourselves and we believe that if everyone was more positive, the entire world would be a better place.

So here is our challenge: Each Monday in February beginning on the 7th (because Mondays always seem the most negative, so we want to change that!), we are challenging all of YOU to include in your regular blog post three positive things about yourself - every Monday, three new things. They can be physical aspects, something you're good at, something for which you're grateful about yourself (no being grateful for things that you have, this is to be positive just about who and what you are), anything that brings positivity to YOU. Hope and I will each have a place to link up every Monday so we can all join in the positive goodness together!

If you don't write your own blogs, my challenge to you is to leave a comment on these posts with your three positive things!

I am SO excited about this! I really think this will do so much to change everyone for the better!

PS - Have you voted for Collette today? I voted twice from both my personal and work emails!

Today's outfit:
Gold Skirt: Target (clearance!)
Leopard Blouse: Salvation Army
Black Cardigan: Kohl's
Purple Belt: Salvation Army
Purple Tights: Charlotte Russe
Black Booties: Payless
Necklace: Gift from ML
Ring: Forever 21

Daily MelWear: Spur of the Moment

I have no idea why I'm wearing this today. Seriously, no idea. When I went to sleep last night, I thought of several pieces that I've bought recently and haven't worn yet and I thought of how I could style them today. Then, I woke up, saw this skirt and threw this outfit on. It doesn't make me particularly happy, but it's not bad either.

I really don't know why I didn't wear the new stuff. Sometimes I'm not sure how my own mind works.

And with the 30x30 coming up soon, I'm not sure when I'll get to wear those new pieces! I don't know that I'm brave enough to include new items in my 30.

I have a few things to tell you about!

First, my super special friend Kimberly has opened her own etsy shop selling the MOST adorable skirts! She can make them sized for toddlers and girls or for YOU! Please go visit her blog post about it and let her know if you'd be interested in purchasing a skirt. They're really quite fabulous!

Second, I don't think I've mentioned this yet but please remember to vote for Collette in the E.L.F. Beauty at All Ages Model Contest! She is the total package of brains and beauty both inside and out and deserves to win this more than anyone I know.

Third, I've been having so much fun lately getting to know some of you better through emails and Facebook and Formspring. I'd love to chat with even more of you so please get in touch with me! My email is {aworkingmomscloset at gmail dot com}, click here to find me on Facebook, here for Twitter and here to ask me anything you want on Formspring. I love the community and relationships created through blogging!

That's it for me, hope you all have a great day and I hope to hear from you!

Today's outfit:

Skirt: Target

Pink Tee: Kohl's
Brown Sweater: Plato's Closet
Pink Belt: Salvation Army
Brown Boots: Can't remember, some outlet mall same as my black boots
Necklace: Gift from ML (she needs some love and encouragement guys, go give her some love!)
Ring: Forever 21
Earrings:  Gift from my mother-in-law

Daily MelWear: The Bad With the Good

You know how sometimes it gets frustrating to read a blog where the writer always, always looks picture perfect, has fabulous photos and never any bad ones?

This is not that blog.

I'm not sure if it's the angle of the shot or if it's the blousy-ness of the shirt (which, by the way, is in fact a deep purple and not at all blue like it appears on my screen) or if it's the fact that this skirt is just a little too big...but either way, not my favorite.

I wonder if it would've looked better with the blouse untucked and belted. May need to try that next time. I have a few other remix ideas for this blouse. I absolutely love the color and the high neck. It's a blank canvas that would look fantastic with some layered necklaces, but tonight is a board meeting night and "bling" is not allowed per the corporate dress code.

I added touches of my style through the patterned tights and the ruffled blazer. Otherwise, it's kind of boring but apparently that's how they like it here. And since I like it here and would like to stay here, I'm going to comply.

Thank you for all of your get well wishes yesterday! I took some Nyquil again last night and slept all through the night, thankfully. I felt a little better when I woke up this morning so hopefully this ick-ness is on its way out.

And HEY! Do you all read Collette's blog, or Kimberly's blog? Well you SHOULD. Collette has a fabulous weekly feature called Twitter Tuesdays where she highlights one of her Twitter friends and this week she's highlighting Kimberly! Two of my favorite bloggers (and favorite people, really!) combined in one blog post! It doesn't get much better than that. Go check it out!

Today's outfit:
Purple Blouse: Stein Mart
Black Skirt: Ross
Black Ruffled Blazer: Stein Mart
Black Tights: Can't remember
Black Pumps: Target

Daily MelWear: Red and Blue and Ick All Over

I believe there will come a time when I'm able to go a full month without getting sick.

I was sick over Thanksgiving, over New Year's and I'm sick again now. I'm sick and tired of being sick. And tired. Heh.

Nyquil commenced at 6:30PM last night and bed was around 7:45PM. Other than waking up at midnight for a little while, I think I slept most of the night and probably got around 9 hours of sleep. Of course when I got to work this morning, my boss said they'd much prefer that I be sick at home rather than here getting them sick. That being said, there's a good chance that this outfit will be replaced with sweats by this afternoon.

On a happier note, my brother's family was here this weekend! And he fixed the AC in my car! Yay!!! We had a really good weekend with them AND I was able to keep my daughter for most of it, even though it was her dad's weekend (it helps to still be best friends after you're divorced - I'm more grateful for his friendship than I can begin to express). I love extra time with my girl and she had a great time playing with her baby cousin!

Hey, I have a question for those of you that blog.  There's been a lot of discussion in the Fashion Beauty Friend Friday Google group about using Disqus in Blogger vs switching from Blogger to Wordpress. Although I've noticed that a LOT of Blogger blogs have installed Disqus recently, I have STRONGLY been considering switching over to Wordpress because of these discussions. Have any of you switched from Blogger to Wordpress and if so, would you recommend it? Does it take very long, do you need a lot of knowledge to do it, are there a lot of kinks to work out first? I need opinions. And HELP. Lots of help.

How was your weekend? Is anyone else sick? I hope not,  I hope you're all healthy!

Today's outfit:
Dress: Ross
Black Leggings: Wal-Mart
Red Tee: Plato's Closet
Black Boots: Can't remember, some store in an outlet mall
Necklace and Earrings: Wal-Mart
Red Belt: Salvation Army

Daily MelWear: Friday Funday

The Friend Friday topic for today is blogger authenticity. 

Well, I'm authentically out of time and wasn't able to write a post for this week. I'm sorry! I've really enjoyed reading everyone else's posts, though!

So instead, I thought I'd show you some photos of what I ended up wearing today! How's that for exciting? Not so much? 

Hm. 

Annnnyway...

I started this outfit thinking that the weather today was going to be in the 70's, close to 80, and rainy. I dressed in the skirt with the teal tank and pink tee, thinking I would just throw on some black flats and leave it at that. 

Then I saw the weather report where they said the high today was going to be around 65 or something. And windy.

Cue the black cardigan, tights and boots! How's that for taking an outfit from warm to cool weather? I was going to just wear black leggings but then I thought it'd be much more fun to add another color with the tights. And I was right. This is much more fun. :)

This weekend is going to be fun, I think. My brother's family is here because he's fixing some of our cars (he fixed the AC in mine today, woo-hoo!). My mom and I spent the morning/afternoon with my sister-in-law, her baby boy and my daughter going to my mom's office, my sister-in-law's mom's office and then to lunch. Now the babies are napping and we're going to have a pizza shindig tonight! 

Tomorrow's plan is to have everyone in the family over for our monthly Family Dinner. This isn't my weekend for my daughter, but her dad is going to be here for Family Dinner with us and then he'll take her with him afterward, so I'll have Saturday night and Sunday without her this weekend. Start writing some blogs, people, and sending me emails (aworkingmomscloset at gmail dot com) and other things (Formspring, Facebook, Twitter!) to keep me occupied because I can NOT go shopping this time!

I think my daughter is about to wake up from her nap so I'm gonna go. Hope you're all have a fabulous day!!!

Today's outfit:

Black/White Skirt: Kohl's

Teal Tank: Target

Pink Tee: Plato's Closet

Black Cardigan: Target

Black Belt: Charlotte Russe

Purple Tights: Target

Black Boots: Belk

Necklace: Charlotte Russe

Ring: Forever 21

Daily MelWear: Satin and Lace

Typically I'm a skinny jeans kind of girl. However, here's a secret: I only own one pair of skinny jeans. And I wore those on Monday. And I haven't done laundry yet. So trouser jeans, it is!

I like jeans days at work.

I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to wear a blazer with jeans to the office, even though I've worn them that way before. Katy styled her jeans with a blazer earlier this week and I'm glad she did, because it reminded me!

AND it reminded me that I have this new blazer! I don't usually shop at Stein Mart, but my mom talked me into at least looking there and this blazer is the result. Yay! I love that it's not a full sleeve length, plus the lace detailing is so pretty. I decided to go with a purple tank underneath for some color (and because it's almost 80 degrees here today, so I didn't want anything warmer) and the leopard booties seemed like a good complement to everything else. Plus they make me feel super tall!

So...satin, lace, denim and leopard. Win?

Today's outfit:

Jeans: Kohl's

Purple Tank: Charlotte Russe
Black Blazer: Stein Mart
Leopard Booties: Charlotte Russe
Black Flower Ring: Charlotte Russe
Necklace: Can't remember now!

Daily MelWear: Ladylike

Have you heard?

The blog world is all atwitter with Kendi's announcement that the Winter Edition of the 30 for 30 Challenge will begin on February 1st.

You guys...I signed up to do it this time. And it terrifies me.

How's that for overdramatic?

I haven't participated in one of the 30 for 30s yet, so I'm excited about it, but I'm also a little nervous at the idea of limiting my options for 30 days and trying to take pictures of all 30 outfits. With last week's little emergency on Thursday, I do need to limit my spending for a while and this is perfect timing for that. So yay!

How many of you are going to play this time around? Do those of you that have participated in the past have any advice in regards to picking items, what to avoid, what to definitely include, etc.?

I didn't realize that we have a meeting scheduled for this morning so when we sat down for our little office coffee meeting, my boss reminded me that I'd have to "take off the bling" later. It amuses me that she calls it bling. I don't know why, it just makes me smile. Working here makes me so much happier.

I found this dress on clearance at Target a few weeks ago and figured it was time to break it out. The temperature today is supposed to be in the mid-70s so I figured bare legs and a light cardigan were all I'd need. It's simple and comfortable and I like it.

Hope you're all having a great day so far!

Today's outfit:
Black Sheath Dress: Target
Purple Cardigan: Plato's Closet
Silver Belt: Can't remember
Silver Heels: Payless
Necklace: Charlotte Russe
Black Flower Necklace: Charlotte Russe

Daily MelWear: Little Things Mean A Lot

Hi friends!

How was your Monday? Are you glad it's over now? Mine was pretty busy at work yesterday, but I did feel really productive. That's always a good feeling.

My plan for this outfit was to wear a 3/4 length striped shirt underneath the sweater...but it was a little too tight and I opted for something more comfortable. The stripes would have made the outfit less boring but at least the sequins on the tank add a little bit of sparkle. Sparkle makes me happy.

This jacket was priced originally at $45 but I got it for $10! Can't beat that! I love the puffy shoulder details and the gold threads throughout. More shinyness!

I would have added more sparkle and detail with some jewelry but we're delivering packets to our board members today for them to review prior to next week's meeting, so I need to adhere more closely to our dress code. We're not supposed to wear much jewelry (earrings must be studs only, necklaces can only be thin silver or gold chains with one small pendant, no bracelets or rings other than wedding rings...) so I opted to not wear anything other than my watch.

This week is supposed to be warmer, in the 70s, so I may go with dresses and skirts sans tights! Ooooh, in winter! This is winter in Florida. We're one of two states that hasn't gotten snow. And THAT is why I live here.

Have a great day, everyone!

Today's outfit:
Black Pants: Charlotte Russe
Black Tank: Kohl's
Cranberry Sweater: Forever 21
Belt: Charlotte Russe
Black Pumps: Target
Bow Headband: Icing
Black and Gold Jacket: Charlotte Russe

Daily MelWear: Monday, Monday

Wow. I had a post all written out, ready to go, and Blogger just ate it. I'm annoyed. I don't have a whole lot of time to re-write everything, so I'm just going to recap as much as I can.

I had a great weekend with my daughter. We saw Tangled, went to dinner with friends, played at the mall, had ice cream and just spent lots of fun time together.

"They" keep saying it'll get easier, but it's still just as hard to say good-bye to her as it was the first time. And I still cry.

Sorry for not posting on Thursday (although I'm sure my absence wasn't all that noticeable!). I had an emergency come up and wasn't in the mood for taking outfit photos. The emergency also brought me to the conclusion that while I do really need a new laptop soon and a camera, I'm not going to be able to afford either one of those for a while. So I wait. And once I buy a card reader, I can hopefully borrow my dad's camera for the time being.

Our boss sent us a text last evening to let us know that we can wear jeans today if we don't have any errands to run at the main medical plaza.  Our errands will wait. :)

I only watched the first few minutes of the Golden Globes last night before I had to go to bed (I was exhausted!) so I missed most of it.

Tell me what your favorite joke/quote/comment was! And tell me about your weekend!!!

Today's outfit:

Skinny Jeans: Kohl's

Purple Tee: Target

Black Sweater: Plato's Closet

Gold Belt: Charlotte Russe

Leopard Flats: Target

Flower Ring: Forever 21

Turtle Earrings: Gift from my mother-in-law