One Piece Many Ways link-up

Well it looks like I haven't blogged in over a year. Hello! Yeah so keeping up on my blog hasn't been a big priority, but when I find something fun to participate in, I pull it out again.  Today I'm joining Audrey's Link-up at Putting Me Together. I went exploring the links and y'all are way more creative than I am, but I'm posting anyway and here's why. I live in Phoenix and it.is.HOT.  So I can't layer and throw on a chambray, and so forth but if you are stuck in a tee-and-shorts climate, then you've come to the right place.  Today I'm styling my red ruffle shirt from Target.  Love this shirt, I also have one in white and I'd buy it in more colors if I didn't fear being called "that ruffle shirt girl." So here goes:


First up, this is how I wear this most often:

Because I think that this is a nicer tee and these are my nicer shorts, I often pair them together.  But I forgot as I staged this picture that I usually wear it with my red Toms, but here I'm wearing my black fake-Toms (from Kmart).  I often don't bother with a necklace because of the crew neckline, but here I'm wearing my black beads. (Shorts are Lee from Kohl's, necklace was inherited from my grandmother.)

Second outfit:

This day, I wanted to wear my new tan sandals so I wore my tan shorts. (Sadly it turned out my shoes did not fit well and I exchanged them for a different pair of tan sandals.  Earth Origins from Famous Footwear.  Shorts are Gloria Vanderbilt from Kohls.)  I kept it casual with no jewelry.

This third outfit I often wear to church. Option A, red shoes:

Option B, black shoes:

I don't remember why, but this day I wanted to wear my black sandals, so I styled my outfit with a black and red necklace.  This skirt is actually a skort from Athleta that I absolutely love and I wear it all the time whenever I want to dress up just a little bit or look pulled together.  Find it here.

Bonus outift:

I've not actually worn this yet because the shorts are a bit tight, but doesn't the red shirt look great with the madras plaid? Actually, my friend thinks the combo is too busy with the plaid plus the ruffles. What say you?  Shorts are from Lands End.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I had lots of fun with this challenge and dusting off the old blog. You can see my style evolution, such as it is, by checking out my other fashion posts.  

WIWW April 25

This is my first time joining What I Wore Wednesday at the Pleated Poppy.  It's already summer here in Phoenix and below are pretty good examples of my standard summer uniform--tees and shorts.  My goal is to somehow try to kick things up a notch, with nicer tees, cute shoes, and jewelry.  Hopefully, we'll see improvement as the summer goes on.

Tuesday 4/17

This is a new tee from Kohls. I'm barefoot in the picture but I wore my everday black sandals (you'll see them in Saturday's photo).  Shirt and shorts from Kohls.

 Wednesday 4/18
Very dull. I tried to add a necklace but I thought the outfit was too casual for jewelry so I took it off.What do you think, should I have added a necklace?
Shirt and shorts from Kohls, shoes are Bare Traps from Famous Footwear.

 Thursday 4/19
I love this new striped tee (so into stripes right now) but I need a better tank underneath.  Again, no shoes in the picture, I wore the black sandals as usual.
Tee from Old Navy, tank from H&M, shorts from Kohls.
I didn't get a close-up of my necklace but it's a strand of black beads and it's from my grandmother's collection.

 Saturday 4/21
I love this outfit and got compliments on my shirt.  I wore this to the Gluten Free Expo and out to lunch with Hubby.
Shirt and capris from Kohls.  Shoes are Bare Traps (above) from Famous Footwear.

 Tuesday 4/24
This is one of my new peasant tops for this summer.  I couldn't decide which shoes to wear, my everyday black sandals or my blue plaid boat shoes.  What do you think?
Shirt and shorts from Kohls, sandals same as above, boat shoes are Joe Boxer from Kmart (6 bucks!).

 In the end, I wore the blue plaid shoes. Am I crazy?

Linking up with the Pleated Poppy.

So tell me, How can I spice up my summer uniform????

Fashion Challenge WInter Edition Part 2

In for a penny, in for a pound. I'm participating in another day of the Winter Fashion Challenge hosted by Kayla. Today was Winter Brights. I actually wore this yesterday when I couldn't come up with Decade/Region--I skipped ahead. I was inspired to wear jeans other than my new bootcuts I've been wearing so often, so I grabbed my black jeans, BRIGHT pink tee and black soft blazer. Tada:

Sorry for the terrible picture quality, I will never be a fashion blogger. The jeans are from Kohls, tee from Kmart, blazer was a gift (okay, I'll admit this is also Motherhood Maternity, what is with me wearing my old maternity clothes?!), shoes are the same ones from DSW.

For my previous foray into fashion photography, go here.

For more Challenge photos, go here.

Fashion Challenge--Winter Edition

Okay, so when I decided that my style needed a kick in the butt, I started reading fashion blogs (love them!) and one of them, Freckles in April, is doing a 2-week fashion challenge. I couldn't help but join in. This is what I wore on Tuesday when the prompt was MONOCHROME:

Brown is my favorite color so I had plenty to work with, but I'd never worn this sweater vest with my brown jeans before because I felt the 2 shades of brown clashed. But when I tried it this week, I thought the lighter brown tee served as a barrier between the two and eliminated the conflict. What do you think?

sweater vest: Steinmart; long sleeve tee: Target; jeans: Eddie Bauer; shoes: DSW

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Today's prompt was to "channel someone." It took me a long time to think of an inspiration that matched things I own, but eventually I came up with this outfit inspired by Disney's Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.

The plain tee and cardigan didn't feel evocative enough until I added the jewelry. The necklace has small lavender stones in it (Tiana's other signature color, right?) and the bracelet has green and yellow flowers that reminded me of lilypads. It was fun to go around today knowing I chose my clothes based on a cartoon character!

white tee: Kohls; green sweater: Motherhood Maternity (no, I'm not pregnant); jeans: Eddie Bauer; shoes (same as above): DSW; jewelry: unknown, from a long time ago

The inspiration:

For more fashion fun, go to Freckles in April.