I Hate Clothes Shopping

I've been working on my 29 before 30 goals and one of them is to get myself a new wardrobe. I cleaned out my closet and started selling a bunch of stuff on Ebay, which takes a little time, but seems to be slowly building up a nice little fund for new clothes. I've been obsessively "window shopping" on the internet (or would you call it screen shopping? eh...) and I've come to the conclusion that I hate buying clothes.

Can I be considered a girl if I hate clothes shopping? Ok, so hate is a strong word. I mean, I don't despise clothes shopping. It's not like I would rather be at the dentist or something. It's always fun to buy yourself new clothes. It's just so stressful! I'm not a fashion person. I don't "style" my outfits or call individual clothing items "pieces." After clicking away and wish-listing things on a half a dozen websites I came to the conclusion that I'm only going to purchase things that are black, white, grey or shades of brown. This is because I can't for the life of me figure out how to combine colors in outfits. One minute I look in my cart and I've got three red things and I don't even like red that much. The next minute I've got burgundy socks, a yellow blouse and a black skirt which I KNOW aren't going to go together. This doesn't even take into account jackets and purses and shoes that all have to match. 

Oh yeah, and then there is money. Clothes are expensive, people! I don't want to buy junk from Forever 21 anymore just to save money and have them fall apart in a couple months. I'm too old for that shit. When I spend my money on clothes I need to make it count.

OH YEAH, and another thing: time. When I'm back to being civilian and going to school again (I got accepted to my school by the way!) I'm going to have to wake up early to get Ellie to daycare.
Daycare starts at 7.
Ugh.
So theoretically I'm going to be waking up around 5 to get ready, eat breakfast and get the baby ready by 6:30 so I can make the half hour drive. This doesn't count snow removal time from the car or defrosting-the-window times. Am I really going to wake up and put together a multi-layered outfit with a skirt, tights, knee socks, boots, a blouse, a cardigan, a scarf, a fashionable jacket and a hat? 
NO.
I can tell you with certainty that will not happen. 
What will happen will look like this: I wake up at 5. I am tired a cranky and cold. I will put on skinny jeans and the first decent looking t-shirt I can find. I will put on makeup and my hair in a bun if it hasn't been straightened already the night before. I will put on the warmest coat I own (aka: Not fashionable. Because being warm means looking like a marshmallow.) That will be that.

So what the heck do I do with all this?
My fashion idols are the likes of The Clothes Horse and The Dainty Squid. But this will never be my fashion destiny. So I've switched gears and tried to take some inspiration from Caroline's blog Un-fancy and her "Capsule Wardrobe" idea. 
Holy moley, guys. There is even a downloadable Wardrobe Planner. I don't consider myself  big "planner" but I AM a Virgo and Virgos like to have things organized. This might be my saving grace. She may become my clothing sensei and I will be that little grasshopper kid.

What We Wore, Poolside

Does it count as a What We Wore post if it's bathing suits? 

I needed a new bathing suit since the ones I had were from about 7 years ago and getting a little snug (they were snug when I bought them!) Right after having a baby there was just no way they would fit! I really hate most of the styles that have been popular lately since they're all made for a long waisted body shape - really really low rise and super tiny tops. I also didn't want to blind people with my Alaskan-winter pale skin, so I searched for a cute one piece. My first stop was Pinup Girl Clothing. I love the Rockabilly style even though I don't get to dress in it, so I took the opportunity to get the Betty Swimsuit in Black Cherry. Does anyone else love Rockabilly style, but can't get it together enough to wear it more often? I think it's the hair that gets me. It just takes way too long to do those victory rolls and pin curls do NOT work out for me. I still faithfully watch Cherry Dollface and Lisa Freemont Street hoping one day I can get it right! 

What kind of new mama wouldn't want to have her baby girl wear a matching cherry suit too?? I searched everywhere in vain for a bathing suit to match and the closest I came was a Carters onesie that was navy blue. I still love it and especially love the floppy sun hat from iPlay (they have a matching tankini and swim diaper set that is too big for her just yet!) We dipped her little toesies in the toddler pool but she didn't really seem to care and continued sleeping.

Mother-Daughter-Granddaughter selfie! My mom liked my suit so much she got one too!

Over the Weekend

(1) Joe won a game of Risk Legacy and wrote his name on the board (I won a game too and named a country "Charlandia" for Charlie the dog. (2) Trying on maternity clothes with the funny pillow "bump" they have in the dressing rooms. I'm SO psyched to wear the leggings! (3) Kitty being curious about what's going on outside. Maybe a squirrel?

Flattop Mountian

I finally decided I wanted to go take a hike with Joe. I hate hiking. The last time I took this hike I didn't even go all the way to the top because I was afraid of falling off the mountain. However, I survived it this time and made it to the top! We brought a couple beers to celebrate reaching the top without me having a temper tantrum and quitting.

What I Wore and Fancy Cars

Today was such a beautiful day, I had to walk around and try to take some photos. I figured I would try another outfit post, even though the idea is still weird and embarrassing to me. I enjoy trying on all the new clothes I got from my friends. In fact, almost my entire outfit was free. The tops from two of my friends, the necklace from a friend and my husbands cords. The scarf was from a second hand shop and my converse were from Goodwill.

I took some of the photos inside, after I tried doing them outside. It's hard to get over the fear that someone will see me taking picture of myself. It seems so vain! I don't believe I'm a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination, but it gives me something to do and a reason to actually get dressed in the morning. Being in uniform all week gets so tiring that I really want to dress up on the weekend, but I frequently get caught in the boxer/t-shirt combo.

There was a car show going on across the street. I really love old hot rods. A couple of these looked like they were from the 50's, but nothing too much older (I'm no expert though!)

Beautiful!

Now I'm hanging out at home enjoying a cocktail with pineapple juice, lime, coconut rum and club soda. Not sure what else to do. Just counting the days until my husband comes to visit.

What I Wore and Thrift Finds

I've never done an outfit post before! Today I made the very spontaneous decision to do one. You can tell because of my out-of-the-shower braid. My awesome friend Kyla was getting rid of a ton of clothes, which she offered to let me go through before she took it to a fashion exchange. I went home with a LOAD of great, free clothes! I'm going to have fun making outfits with everything.

Maybe one day I'll do another outfit post.

Top: Volcom/gift

Skirt: Actually a dress... Billabong/gift

Tights: Target

Boots: Charlotte Russe

Bag: H&M

Before I did my little photo shoot I went thrifting. There are some excellent thrift shops in Anchorage! I was one my way to a Value Village when I got lost on the impossible highways, but I ended up at the OTHER Value Village with a Salvation Army right next to it. I found a weaving loom, which I almost bought. I found an espresso machine, waffle maker and cute cups and cookware. But best of all I found my wedding cake topper!!! For $4!! 

My husband and I have a thing about bears. It started out by me calling him "panda bear" as a pet name, but since then we have expanded to all kinds of bear themes. I'll send him bear postcards, bear bottle openers, bear pins, he'll send me stuffed bears, bear cards and he even wears bear shirts and sometimes a fuzzy hat with bear ears on it. So naturally our wedding cake topper had to be bears! I couldn't believe it when I saw how cute this little figurine was. 

I just love it!