Reverse 30x30: Navy Sweater & Casual Day

We try round two of the root canal today since six shots of novocaine proved useless last time. Wish me luck that he does not drill into my nerve and I still feel it this time around. 

I went to the ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor yesterday and came bearing CT films as a gift. 

You know you have super sinuses when the specialist's response to your x-rays is "WHOA. No wonder you've been in so much pain." You know me, I'm always here to impress.

Apparently, I have pan sinusitis. My teaching English to the common teenager informed me that pan means all, so I predicted that "pan" sinusitis fell into the not-so-fun category. Two of my sinus cavities are completely blocked, but ALL (where "pan" comes into play) of my sinuses are impacted in some way. Supposedly, he should have seen a wall in there. Nope, no wall. Just lots of gray. Speaking of gray, I like these gray pants. Thanks for designing them, J.Lo. 

The Look:

Sweater (reversed item): Apt 9 via Kohl's (it was surprisingly difficult to style! Very similar one from Old Navy)

Button up: Old Navy (it's surprisingly versatile. Similar gingham one from Forever 21)

Pants: J.Lo via Kohl's (similar from Old Navy)

Flats: via DSW (very similar from Zappos)

Necklace: New York & Co.  (similar from Stella & Dot) 

(Sometimes, my eyes disappear when I smile.)

Linking up with

Style Sessions

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Reversed 30x30 Update:

(Original Post in case you want pictures and a run down of this challenge)
Click on the link after each item to view the post that features it. 

1. coral and khaki skirt (look forward to this one this week!)

2. gray and yellow skirt 

3. white pencil skirt (officially waiting for spring--too cold for the outfits I have planned for it)

4. teal velvet pants (officially reversed)

5. polka dot tights (you'll see them tomorrow.)

6. khaki pants (officially returned)

7. brown boots (officially reversed)

8. black wedge booties (officially reversed)

9. red heels

10. tri-color wedges (officially reversed)

11. aztec scarf 

12. teal necklace

13. striped dress (officially reversed)

14. tan dress (officially rejected)

15. navy dress (probationally reversed)

16. polka dot shirt (officially reversed)

17. polka dot cardi (you'll see it this week.)

18. polka dot blouse (officially reversed) 

19. printed blazer (on probation, might be leaving the closet, LEAVING the closet)

20. chambray (officially reversed)

21. paisley blouse (officially rejected)

22. gray shirt (officially rejected)  

23. paisley blouse 2 (officially reversed)

24. emerald sleeveless sweater (too cold for it just yet)

25. navy sweater (officially reversed)

26. blush sweater with silver polka dots (next week)

27. silver sweater (officially rejected)

28. black sweater (next week...if I don't expatriate it)

29. white lace sweater (officially reversed)

30. orange sweater (officially reversed)

31. long-sleeve purple shirt (next week)

32. gray skinnies (these have REALLY been reversed)

33. light khakis (you'll see them later this week)

34. gold blazer (officially reversed) 

I'm almost finished! I've really started to wear some of these items (especially the brown boots and gray pants) a LOT. I'm quite glad I thought up and took on this challenge :) Anyone planning on trying it out sometime?

The skinny on my skinnies

I own a lot of work pants. The problem with about ten pairs is that they don't look good with flats and heels. In fact, I struggle to find any shoes that go well with them. (I bought most of them years ago, and I bought them solely because I liked the color and the price.)

I decided to keep the pants because I thought I might have an epiphany about how to wear them. And an epiphany I had. I realized that the only part of these pants that annoyed me was the cut. Plus, every time I hunted for the same colors in a fit that I liked, I came up empty. Enter my epiphany. I did a little search on Pinterest for "making skinny pants." (Feel free to peruse my DIY Fashion board here.) Note: I could have taken these pants to a tailor, but that was money I did not want to spend. I also like learning new things :)

For these pants, I read this tutorial and this one. However, after my troubles, I viewed this video, which comes from this blog. I like her method much better. Plus, she explains how to avoid some of the same problems I ran into while on my adventure of pant fixing.

I'm not going to provide you a tutorial because these work just fine, but I'll tell you some tips (from a novice) and materials.

Necessary materials: seam ripper, sewing scissors, pins, chalk/fabric marker, and sewing machine.

Tips:

• Do NOT cut your pants until you've tried them on with the new stitching. For the first leg I did, I couldn't squeeze my calf into the pants. I needed my handy seam ripper to fix that mistake. 
• If you don't have a fabric marker, chalk works just fine. You moms out there probably have sidewalk chalk just chilling in your house. (One tutorial recommends a Sharpie. If you use the first two tutorials, I do not recommend Sharpie because it can get on the pants you're using as a pattern, which is another reason I suggest the video.) 
• Read both tutorials and watch the video before you begin. 
• I completely finished one leg before the other, which I thought was good because I could measure the unfinished leg against the finished one. I sort of used the finished leg as a pattern for the other one. It helped me keep them identical. 
• If you don't want to sew and have a good tailor, they can do this for you :) 

pant leg comparison in my seemingly yellow hallway...

My pseudo emo look 

Originally, I had "charcoal straight/skinny work pants (must have belt loops)" on my closet holes list. I now can cross that item off the list without having spent any money. Win! 

The shirt is recent and from Old Navy. The heels are NOT recent and are Aerosoles from Marshall's. 

Once we sell this house and I don't have to worry constantly about not making messes, I will move on to my pair of brown work pants. I think I'll go for more of a straight leg with those. 

I hope this post prevents you from donating/selling a pair of pants just because you dislike the bottom half of your bottoms :)

Dear, Shopping-Addicted Self:

Dear, Shopping-Addicted Self,

1. Do not buy anything just because it is on sale; otherwise, you will end up with a closet full of mismatched pieces (i.e. the hole I am currently digging my wardrobe out of). 

2. Conversely, never pay full price for anything unless it is already within the price point you wish to spend on that particular item. 

3. Just because it fits does not mean it ships to "you look like the bomb.com" town. Additionally, just because, "Mooooom, everyone else is wearing it!" and it looks good on everyone else, does not mean it will look good on you. 

4. Confidence completes any outfit. If you're confident in rocking those paisley pants, then you get down with your bad self and rock those paisley pants. Fashion is meant to be fun, not formulated.

5.  If you do not absolutely love it in the store, you certainly will not love it once you get it home. Some outfits just do not qualify as "take me home to Momma" material. Accept it. 

6. If it itches, bunches, pulls, and smacks you in the face (or other, more awkward body parts) after five minutes in the dressing room, you're going to be dolphin-punching angry after five hours in it. You used this strategy when you shopped for wedding dresses, and it worked swimmingly. Apply this strategy to all clothing.

7. If you cannot make this item part of at least three different outfits in your wardrobe, then it is a colossal waste of money. 

8. If you continue to buy five versions of the same damn black sweater or striped shirt or red cardigan, I'm stealing your piggy bank and never returning it. And you like that piggy bank because it's actually an orange elephant you named Penny. Penny's life depends on this rule. 

9. You know the best place to shop? Your own closet! Oh.Em.Geeee. Who would've thunk it? You have so many lovely clothes that your husband has to store his in the office closet. Maybe you should shop your own closet before heading to Target...again. 

Please take these rules into consideration every time that you pull out your wallet, or I will be forced to hide your Pirate's Booty cheddar puffs somewhere that you will never find them. Penny will go with them. 

Love,

Your Reasonable Shopper Other Half

Does anyone else have public, written conversations with themselves? Or, is that idiosyncrasy all mine? 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's outfit. I came up with a new way (for me) to tie my scarf: in a bow! I figure shirts with bows are all the rage. What should stop me from turning my scarf into one? 

Maybe common sense, but who has that anymore? 

Outfit Deets:

Sweater: Forever 21

Pants: J.Lo via Kohl's (Momma bought 'em for me!)

Boots: Franco Sarto via Marshall's

Scarf: From Momma (not sure where she got it)

What would you put in a letter to yourself?

New Year's Day Outfit

Let's be honest: I cannot make a "resolution" for the new year. If I resolve to stop spending money, I'll spend more just to spite myself. Emotional terrorism is always a good idea.

So, how do I go about making 2012 better than 2011? I trick myself. Here's my plan to curb my spending: shop smarter (and just buying everything on sale is not smarter). I am going to turn outfit creation into a game. My closet houses a lot of clothes, but I never seem to have anything to wear. Typical problem for women, yeah?

Well, let's call this game my new year's challenge. I challenge myself to stop buying the same things in several colors (I only ever wear one of the colors), forgetting what's in my closet (too many things get shoved to the back), buying multiple versions of the same dang thing (who really needs five black cardigans?), and being too lazy to take back clothes I clearly won't wear (if it still wears the tags after a month, then it needs to go back to the store).

 So, how else can I curtail my spending habits?

1. Buy only what I love. I need to stop buying "meh" items just because they're on sale. They just collect dust in my closet and eventually end up in Goodwill bags or a friend's closet.

2. Buy with outfits in mind. If I can think of at least three things that shirt will compliment, then I'm making a smart choice.
 
3. Take notes (mental or written down) on what I "need." If I try to put together an outfit, but I know it would benefit from a gold belt, then I should go on a hunt for a gold belt. (It's good to maintain focus.)  

4. If I'm really not sure about something, I must think on it. If it's still around in a few weeks-month and I'm still thinking about it, then it's a wise purchase. For example, see the white coat in the following picture? I waited TWO months for that coat. It was $148, and I refused to pay that much. I took some items back to The Limited yesterday, and I decided to take a gander at the clearance rack. Low and behold, what did I find? Only one of those coats was left, it was in my size, and it was marked down to $69.99. Fate? I think so. I took the coat to the register and asked if I could tack my teacher's discount (15%) to this clearance item. She said yes, so I bought the coat for $60. Patience is a virtue, folks.

 This necklace was already in my collection. I'm pretty sure it came from Kohl's, and I'm certain that my mom allowed me to use one of the million 30% off coupons she poops out.

The pink sweater is also from Kohl's.

The gray skinny corduroys are from American Eagle. I think my mom bought them for me last Christmas. You'll find that my mom picked out a lot of my clothes. I put new meaning to the song "I get it from my momma."

I found these lacy black flats on the clearance rack at DSW. I wanted black flats, and I narrowed my choices down to two. I took a picture of both shoes on my feet and texted the picture to my mom. She liked these better than the others, which I was hoping she'd say.

(Side note: I'm glad I could exercise self control and buy only one pair. See, I'm already making progress!)

Wish me luck on my new year's clothes challenge!