FBFF - Repeat offenders

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It's FBFF day again, and the theme for this week is "repeat offenders."  If you've been reading my blog, you know I am definitely a repeat offender.  If you are here for the first time, just take a look at my "popular posts" on the left.  I'm wearing the same pink cardigan in 3 of the 5 pictures!  I put together some collages of my frequently worn items.  I won't even get into the fact that I have 3 pairs of jeans that I wear ALL the time! 

1. Are you a one-time wearer? I try not to be.  I'm not a millionaire, so I try to buy items I can wear many times, and many different ways.  I do have some items that I've only worn once or just a few times.  I'm trying to be better about getting rid of these things, to make room for more versatile items.

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2. Do you feel the need to purchase something new for an evening out or a
special event?  Sometimes, and it depends on the event.  I usually try to find something I already have that will work.  For example, I bought a new dress last spring for a friend's bachelorette party in Kansas City.  It was about $35, which is more than I would have liked to spend for a dress.  By changing my accessories, I was able to wear the same dress for Easter, another friend's wedding, a banquet for work, and my anniversary dinner last year.  $7 per wear isn't too bad!

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3. Re-mixing is something a lot of bloggers are proud of being able to
accomplish - are you a re-mixing pro or do you shy away from posting items
frequently? Why?  I like remixing my items.  Most of my favorite bloggers do a lot of remixing, so when I started my own blog, it seemed totally acceptable.  I also started this blog as a way to become a better re-mixer.  Before I started blogging, I felt like I was rotating the EXACT same 14 outfits.  I'm not afraid of posting the same cardigan worn multiple ways. 

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4. Do you have a clothing budget or are you an impulse buyer?  I'm supposed to have a budget, but I wasn't doing a good job of keeping track.  I don't think I was going way over budget, but I wanted to be a more discriminating shopper.  I'm on the tail end of a 3 month break from shopping, which has been good.  I'm afraid I would have been impulse shopping more as trends come up. Now I have a better idea of what is missing in my wardrobe, and what types of items I should be looking out for.

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5. Do you find yourself bored when reading a blog in which clothing items
are often remixed and appear frequently?  No, I really enjoy seeing the different ways an item can be worn.  I actually like the "remixy" blogs better than the ones that never repeat.  It would be easy to get dressed every day and wear something amazing if I had an unlimited budget.  It's a little harder to come up with exciting and creative outfits when I can't go out and buy new things every week.  I like seeing bloggers who are in the same boat, and get inspiration from their remixing ideas. 


Go check out the other FBFF bloggers here!

Copying Myself

This is totally the spring version of this outfit.  One of the best things about the changing seasons is stealing outfit inspiration from the things I wore in the winter, and tweaking them slightly for warmer weather.  The jacket isn't really necessary for outside temps, but the office air conditioner is keeping it cool inside.

Jacket:  Relativity
Shirt:  Target
Tank:  Gap
Skirt:  Express
Shoes: Born

Ruby Slippers

I know that many style bloggers go out to public places to take their photos.  I mostly take my pictures inside my house for 2 reasons:  1) It's usually dark by the time I get home from work.  2)  The ledge in our entryway is the perfect height for self-timer photos.

Since the days are getting longer, I'm able to take some outside pictures when I get home from work.  If John isn't home yet, I have a few tricks for setting the camera up at the proper height.  These pictures looked good on my camera, but they are a bit blurry once I uploaded them.  I'm still getting the hang of it!  

As I take pictures in my backyard, I mostly just hope my neighbors don't notice me traipsing around out there.  If one of them notices and asks me what I'm doing, I should probably come up with a better explanation than "Um, I take pictures of my outfits and post them on the internet.  No, it's not weird.  Lots of people do it."

Top:  Macy's
Cardigan + Skirt:  Old Navy
Shoes:  Rampage

Windblown

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this outfit.  I liked it when I was wearing it, but in the pictures, I just feel very washed out.  I've been spending more time outside on the weekends, so I'm hoping to get some color on my legs.  

These pictures were also taken right after we drove home from church.  With the windows down.  On the interstate.  This explains my crazy hair.  

On another note, look at how green the grass is in that last picture!  It's amazing what a little rain can do.  

Sweater:  Ann Taylor

Skirt:  Loft

Cami:  Gap

Shoes:  Born

Sunglasses:  Fossil

Midnight Movie Madness!

Unless you are living under a rock with no internet or TV, you probably heard that a little movie called The Hunger Games was opening this weekend.  If you are living under a rock with no internet, I'm not sure how you would be reading blogs, so I'll just assume everyone has heard of the movie.

Against my better judgement, I went to the midnight showing on Thursday night/Friday morning.  The movie was great, the other attendees were crazy, and I was one tired chica on Friday at work.

My group of 5 got to the theater around 10:30.  I was surprised that they were already letting people in to grab seats.  Of course, it was mostly teenagers, and they were all saving seats for their friends.  I saw 2 people sitting in a row with 4 seats on one side of them and 3 seats on the other side.  The guy looked to be in his 40s, so I assumed he would be a reasonable person.  I was wrong.  I asked if they would mind scooting over ONE seat, so the 5 of us could sit there.  He found that to be a pretty outrageous request and ranted at me about how he had been there since 3pm and he wasn't going to move for us.  All I could think was, "Dude, get a life!"  Long story short, we ended up pretty close to the front.

Also, I felt like a grumpy old lady with all the teenagers.  They were pretty good during the actual movie, but by then I had gone deaf from their screaming during the Twilight preview.  I hope no one in there wanted to hear the preview, because it was nonstop screaming.  I don't get it!  I don't think I screamed at movies with I was 15, but maybe I am just forgetting...

In spite of the crazies at the theater, it was a really great movie!  You should go see it.  Actually, you should read the book and then go see the movie.  It's a quick read.  Seriously, go read it right now.

FBFF - Spring is in the air

Spring is officially here!  And with that, FBFF's theme this week is Spring!  Here are a few things I am excited about for this spring:

• Sandals and NO tights!  I'm just a little tired of wearing boots every day.  See that outfit above - it's basically the same as this one, but it feels completely different!
• Spending time outside!  Whether it is at a baseball game, or just sitting on the deck to eat dinner, I am loving the fresh air and sunshine.  When you live in Nebraska, you have to take advantage of these days, because before too long, it will be uncomfortably hot and humid outside. 
• Flowers and gardening!  Since we moved into our house last summer, we have been looking forward to the spring when we can do some landscaping and plant flowers in our yard.  I think we are going to try a little garden, too.  I don't really know the first thing about gardening, but I'm excited to give it a try.
• My parents are coming to visit!  Rumor has it, the folks are making their way to Nebraska in April.  I'm so excited to spend a couple of days with them, and show off our house. 

And last but not least (although it probably should be least)...

• I am counting down the days until I am allowed to shop again!  April 12th will be here before I know it.  I'm making mental lists of the new items I want to pick up, and hopefully will be a more discerning shopper.  Remember, an $8 shirt that I never wear is a BAD INVESTMENT!

What are you looking forward to this spring?  Go check out the other bloggers at FBFF!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

 After a few days of gorgeous sunny weather, we have had a few days of gorgeous rainy weather.  I am pretty okay with gray skies when it is still 60+ degrees outside!  And no tornadoes, please. 

I wanted to wear my wellies, but they were in the garage, and I was in a hurry.  Regular boots will work just fine for splashing through puddles. 

So, is anyone else going to see The Hunger Games tonight?  Against my better judgement, I'm going at midnight.  I'm pretty excited!  I might be kind of sleepy on Friday, but I'm willing to take that risk. 

Dress:  Old Navy
Belt:  from another dress
Jacket:  Izod
Boots:  BareTraps

Leopard Mint

I'm still trying to get the hang of taking outfit photos in my new office.  There's nothing tall enough for me to set my camera on for pictures.  I really need to invest in a tripod and probably a remote sometime.  Anyone want to buy me a present?  Perhaps a belated 10,000 days gift?  No?  Well, you can't blame a girl for trying.

Anyway, you can't tell in the picture, but this cardigan is a very light mint green.  I really want to get on the bright green and leopard bandwagon, but my shopping ban is really cramping my style.  I'm hoping on April 12, I will find some bright green skinnies on the clearance rack at Old Navy.   

Shirt:  handmade
Cardigan:  Gap
Jeans:  Old Navy
Shoes:  BCBGeneration
Necklace: gift (

No Cardigan Needed

Have I mentioned how excited I am about this warmer weather??  It just makes getting dressed in the morning so much easier!  Dress+belt+shoes=done.  No need for tights, cardigans, coats, scarves, etc. 

It does get a little more difficult to make an outfit interesting.  I'm excited to have a new season of outfits, so I hope I don't run out of combinations.  Next time, I'll wear this dress with my brown shoes.  So tricky!

Dress:  Target
Belt:  Francesca's
Shoes:  BCBGeneration

Baseball Season!

It has been a crazy week!  All good things, I just haven't had as much time for blogging as I would like.  Spring is definitely here, and I am loving every minute of it!  Birds are singing, the sun is shining, trees are budding, and it is officially baseball season!

Wednesday night, John got tickets to the Creighton baseball game at the fancy new ballpark downtown.  We started out in the club seats and then got called up to the suite.  I could definitely get used to that kind of luxury!  It was a beautiful night, and turned out to be the fastest baseball game ever.  Creighton beat Louisiana Tech 3-1, in about 1hour and 45 minutes.  

After the game, I had John snap a few photos of me in front of the stadium.  I'm not sure how I feel about this outfit.  I had on different shoes at work, but changed into my Chucks for walking around downtown.

Quick story about this shirt:  I was out shopping with my sister and niece a few years ago.  It was just a couple days before Christmas.  I saw this shirt, and I thought it was kind of cute, and I didn't have very much purple in my wardrobe at that point.  I think it was about $4 or something.  I had my niece with me, who was probably about 4, so I held up the shirt and asked her if she thought it was pretty.  She looked completely horrified and said "Everyone would see your tummy if you wore that shirt!"  So I had to explain the beauty of layering a tank under sheer things.  Then she conceded that, yes, it was a pretty shirt and I could buy it. 

Shirt:  Target
Jeans: Gap
Shoes:  Converse

Pink and Green

 

March means springtime and St. Patrick's Day, so it only made sense for the EBEW theme to be GREEN!  I had some crazy idea for what I might wear, but then the weather was way nicer than I expected, so I had to improvise.

I got this skirt many years ago, but I still love it.  I hear nautical fashion is in again this spring.  No problem!

And apparently I think this pink cardigan goes with everything.  I just realized I wore it for the February EBEW, too.  I'll try to avoid it in April!    

Cardigan:  Marisa Christina
T-shirt:  Loft
Skirt:  Tommy Hilfiger
Shoes: Gap

Shoe Repairs are Magic

I bought these shoes in the summer of 2007.  I completely wore the heels away, and didn't know of a good shoe repair shop in town.  Instead of putting them away until I could fix them, I just kept on wearing them.  The rubber heel was completely gone, and by the time I found a good shoe repair shop, I figured these shoes were goners.  I took them in anyway, and the guy said "No problem!" and fixed them right up!  $10 later, my brown peep-toe shoes are back in action! 

Top: NY&Co
Cardigan:  Gap
Jeans: Old Navy
Shoes:  Target

Ten Thousand Days

Today, I am 10,000 days old.  Why do I know this?  Well, a couple weeks ago, my friend Charlotte posted that it was her 10,000th day, and my birthday is 11 days after hers, so I knew my 10,000th day was coming up soon.  It's pretty uneventful to turn 10,000 days old.  It does make 27 years seem longer!

I found this 10000 day calculator and played around with other dates: 

• It's been 2053 days since John and I started dating
• 365 days after that, we got married.  
• We've been married 1688 days. 
• I graduated from college1912 days ago.
• I've been at my current company for 1910 days. 
• We've been homeowners for 256 days.  
• I started this blog 114 days ago.  

This is also my ONE HUNDREDTH post on the blog!  Could this day get any more exciting?  I may have noticed I was getting close to 100 and purposely waited to do it on my 10,000th day.

The above outfit is from yesterday, when the weather was completely gorgeous.  Today is kind of rainy, but it still smells like spring outside.  I know I'm breaking the rules by wearing flip flops as real shoes.  Here's the truth:  I love flip flops.  I wear them all the time in the summer.  I know it would be better to wear more respectable shoes, but I just don't care enough to change.

The weather forecast for this week is just ridiculous - highs in the 70s every day.  I am so excited!

In other news, I finally joined twitter.  If you want to follow me, I am @another_smith1.


Shirt:  Gap
Jacket:  Izod
Skirt: French Connection
Flip Flops:  Old Navy

Rock and Roll

Wednesday evening, I went with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to see Rock of Ages, which I keep wanting to call Rock of Love.  Not the same thing at all, except for the Poison connection. 

The show was ridiculous!  Very fun, great music, but definitely not appropriate for kids.  I felt bad for the parents who thought it would be a cute show for their 8-year old kids to attend.  Broadway shows are always more scandalous than I expect them to be!  

When I grow up, I want to be a rock star, or a Broadway star or something.  I really think I'd be great at it, other than the lack of musical talent. I should probably just stick with playing Rock Band on the PS3. 

Dress: Target
Shirt & Tank top (and coat):  Gap
Tights:  Express
Shoes:  BCBGeneration
Necklace: Charming Charlie (gift from my sister)

Look, No Tights!

When I learned that Tuesday was supposed to be sunny with a high in the 70s, my first thought was that I should pretend to be sick so I could go outside and play instead of working.  After I talked myself out of that plan, I just decided I wouldn't wear tights with my skirt.

I did get some fresh air yesterday.  I recently moved offices, so I'm not in the "main" building anymore.  This means I get to walk over for meetings every so often.  On cold, snowy, rainy days, this is not pleasant.  Yesterday, I walked as slowly as possible, to soak in every second of sunshine and fresh air! 

It was such a beautiful day!  We are back to gray skies and chilly temps today, but I'm hoping for several repeats of yesterday in the coming months. 

Sweater: Gap
Jacket:  Relativity
Skirt:  Express
Shoes:  Born

Easy Breezy

 

I'm in the home stretch of my break from shopping!  April 12th will be here soon, and I'll probably go out and buy some colored pants immediately.  I've been pretty good.  A couple weeks ago, Loft was emailing me about crazy sales, and I had a gift card from Christmas.  How could I resist?  I was pretty disappointed in the selection.  There was a reason most of stuff was on sale.  It was not so cute.

I ended up getting 2 shirts - an orange long sleeve t-shirt, and this striped top.  I was going for easy and comfortable when I paired this shirt with jeans.  It was a little ho-hum, so I did the reasonable thing and added bright pink shoes.  

Shirt & Shoes:  Loft

Jeans:  Gap

Sunglasses:  Fossil

The Problem with Pants

The other day, Kendi wrote about the problem with skirts, when they feel too fancy for every day wear.  I realized I have the opposite problem - I feel sloppy (just look at those wrinkles from sitting at my desk!) and kind of like a boy when I wear dress pants.  This is the 3rd pants outfit I have posted to the blog, and I'm nearing 100 posts.  Do I really wear pants only 3% of the time?  I think so.  Granted, I'm not including jeans in my definition of pants.  I wear jeans pretty often.   

Maybe I've been brain-washed by my private school days.  I mean, I had to wear a dress/jumper every day from 2nd-5th grade, and then an equally unattractive skirt from 6th-high school.  And I always wore a skirt or dress to church on Sundays.

I'll probably just keep wearing skirts and dresses.

Shirt & Shoes:  Gap
Sweater:  NY&Co
Pants:  Loft

Writer's Block

I've had this outfit in mind, ever since I saw this on Pinterest.  How did people get dressed every morning before the internet??

I totally have writer's block today, so I'm stealing the ABC's of Me idea from Katie over at 

High Heels and Bubble Gum.  This totally reminds me of the olden days of internetting, when we'd send stuff like this out on email, or (dare I admit) post it on Xanga.  

Age: 9,993 days (27yrs) - I'm excited for my 10,000th day next week.  Feel free to send presents.

Bedsize: Full
Chores that you hate: Can I say everything?  Mostly washing dishes, because it is never ending.
Dogs: none at the moment.  I had 2 dogs as a kid. 
Essential start to your day: hitting the snooze button for about an hour
Favorite color: probably pink or green
Gold or Silver: white gold!
Height: 5'9''
Instruments you play: do the drums on Rock Band count?  No?  Ok, then I don't play any instruments.
Job title: Project Manager
Kids: Kids are pretty cool.  I don't have any, if that's what this is supposed to be asking.
Live: Omaha, Nebraska
Mother’s Name: Linda
Nicknames: pretty much just Andi.  I guess my friends from high school called me Red, because I was always the red game piece when we played Sorry.  Yes, we played Sorry in high school pretty regularly.  It was cool, I promise.
Overnight hospital stays: Never
Pet peeves: bad drivers, bad spellers, and people who use "having a bad day" as an excuse to be mean.
Quote from a movie or tv show: Dozens of people spontaneously combust every year.  It's just not very well documented - from Spinal Tap
Right or Lefty: Lefty
Siblings: 2 sisters, 1 brother, 2 sisters-in-law, 1 brother-in-law
Time you wake up: This is embarrassing.  During the week - usually 8:30.  On the weekends - sometime between 10-noon. 
Underwear: every day. 
Vegetable you hate: All of them.  It's a character flaw. 
What makes you run late: everything.  It's genetic.  I'm always rushing to get places on time. 
X-Rays You’ve Had:  Mouth/dental, ankle, arm, I think that's all. 
Yummy food you make: Chocolate Chip Cookies are my favorite. 
Zoo Animal:  Polar bears

Outfit details:

Dress & Belt:  Old Navy

Cardigan: Marisa Christina

Boots:  BareTraps via DSW

Out of Africa

Today's outfit is very similar to my monochrome outfit from the winter challenge.  I just went with pink tights, a darker blue sweater, and a different necklace. 

 

It was one of the windiest days ever, so a flowy skirt wasn't the best idea.  I think I avoided any serious Marilyn Monroe moments, though.   I need to pay attention to more than just the temperature when I check the weather each morning.

 

So, background on the necklace:  In 2006, I went to Kenya with my Dad and a group from our church.  One of the days, we went to a place (I can't remember the name), but it was a kind of refuge for women with AIDS, and they made various items to sell.  This shop was full of gorgeous necklaces.  It was so hard to pick just one, but I ended up with this one.  

I tracked down the picture below from the trip.  The quality is pretty bad, but that's my Dad and me, at the farm "at the foot of the Ngong Hills" where Karen Blixen lived, and then wrote about.  I've never read the book, but the movie is BO-RING.   

Here's another picture from the trip, at no extra charge.  This is at The Giraffe Center, where we got to feed giraffes.  As you can tell from the picture below, these giraffes were not shy at all.  Some of the workers were putting the giraffe food in their mouths, to get a giraffe kiss.  They tried to convince us to do that, but I declined.  A lady has to draw the line somewhere!

Tank top and Sweater:  Gap
Skirt:  George
Tights:  Steve Madden
Boots:  Wanted via Piperlime
Necklace:  from Kenya

Court Jester

Sometimes, when I don't know what to wear, I just pick one ridiculous item and go from there.  The other day, I started with these tights.  I have no idea where or when I got them, but I've had them for a few years and never worn them.  When I first pulled them on, I immediately felt like a court jester.
To tone down the silliness, I went very neutral with the rest of my outfit. I have to say that I really loved the way it turned out. 

It rained all day on Tuesday, so the boots were a necessity.  My umbrella helped some, but it was so windy that I got pretty soaked when I was walking between buildings at work.  I'm hopeful that spring might be here, but it's pretty likely we will get a couple more snows before winter is really over.

Shirt and Skirt:  Old Navy
Sweater:  Gap
Tights:  ???
Boots:  Bare Traps via DSW
Necklace:  InPink