Summer 10×10 Remix: Day 5

As part of the Summer 10×10 remix (hosted by UnFancy and Style Bee), I’m attempting to post what I’ve been wearing each day as I live out of my suitcase on back-to-back family reunions. What’s a 10×10 remix? 10 pieces of clothing, 10 outfits, 10 days. What you count as an item is up to you (I’m not counting shoes, workout gear, outerwear) since the point isn’t following strict rules – it’s using limitations to spark creativity.

Day 5: Lake Champlain

Hello from the Green Mountain State! After a hellish travel day involving 5 hours of flight delays and 7 hours in the car (including driving through the night), we’re now hanging out with the other side of the family in Vermont at a beautiful lake house. See the water in the background there?

That glass is full of delicious local cider which we paired with delicious local cheese. I heart you, Vermont.

Shirt: Old Navy – thrifted
Shorts: Bebe – thrifted
Cuff: Monet – thrifted
Sandals: Saltwater – retail
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban – retail

When your spouse tells you to quit posing with his glass because you’re drinking all his cider:

But you don’t listen:

I wrote this while watching my cousin clean a bass he caught on the dock. Now off to go swimming in the chilly water! I’m thinking that horrible travel day was worth it. See ya tomorrow!

Summer 10×10 Remix: Day 4

Day 4: On the Farm

I feel so fancy having a great backdrop and a real camera to capture outfits! Turns out it pays to go on vacation with people who will take outfit photos.

This isn’t our family farm, but this corn crib is similar to one that my uncle & aunt disassembled last year. The 100+ year old aged pine was turned into a beautiful table where lots of us can eat and several other cherished furniture projects.

Dress: J. Crew – thrifted
Hat: unlabeled – thrifted
Cuff bracelet: Monet – thrifted
Sandals: Saltwater (retail)
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban (retail)

This is the most comfortable dress I own – so soft, so practical (I can sit cross-legged, and it has pockets!), and it gives a great silhouette – sort of boxy on top and almost like drawstring shorts on the bottom. Paired with the straw hat and some sandals that got me through fields, barns, and water fights, it just exudes easy, summery chic.

I feel like a legit style blogger over here:

So many good memories from corn cribs like this and farm yards full of grasshoppers and monarch butterflies by day and studded with fireflies by night.

More tomorrow!

Summer 10×10 Remix: Days 2 & 3

Unsurprisingly, vacation has gotten in the way of posting my remix challenges on a daily basis – what a happy problem to have! As part of the Summer 10×10 remix (hosted by UnFancy and Style Bee), I’m attempting to post what I’ve been wearing each day as I live out of my suitcase on back-to-back family reunions.

Day 2: On the Farm

We headed straight over to the family farm and explored all our favorite spots. My preschooler was enthralled with this gravel pile – exciting!

Beautiful prairie and cornfields in the background.

Shirt: Madewell – thrifted
Shorts: Bill Blass – thrifted
Hat: unlabled – thrifted
Sandals: Saltwater – retail
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban – retail

Grain bins make a great background for your striped shirts:

I have great memories of climbing those grain bins to a small platform near the top to watch sunsets. In my biased opinion, Iowa sunsets are the best in the world.

Day 3: Color Run 5K & Family Reunion

I started off the day with a 5K through town – so much fun!

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It was the first color run I’ve done and I got some interesting looks showing up at the town pancake breakfast covered in festive accoutrement:

Tank & shorts: Champion – thrifted
Running shoes: Champion – retail. Running shoes don’t have to be expensive to work well!

After a parade, I went home to shower and then we headed back to the farm for a family reunion. Aren’t my relatives good looking?

I only got family pics, no outfit pics, so pardon the cropping out of family members:

Shirt: Madewell – thrifted
Shorts: Bebe – thrifted
Sandals, cuff, hat, sunglasses (not pictured) – same as above

On the farm no one cares if you wear the same shirt two days in a row, so I happily reused the shirt from Day 2. The beauty of a capsule/travel wardrobe that all works together is that you can swap out one component and end up with an entirely different look. (And it helps that the pheasant hunting lodge where we stayed had laundry!)

See ya tomorrow!

Summer 10×10 Remix: Day 1

Hello Thrifters! Caroline of Un-Fancy and Lee of StyleBee start their 10×10 summer wardrobe remix today, and although I didn’t have time to write up my remix selections beforehand, since I’m already living out of a totebag with 10 items (hello back-to-back family reunions!) I figured I might as well play along. (Click here to see my 10×10 spring wardrobe challenge.)

What’s a 10×10 remix? 10 pieces of clothing, 10 outfits, 10 days. What you count as an item is up to you (I’m not counting shoes, workout gear, outerwear) since the point isn’t following strict rules – it’s using limitations to spark creativity. I’m not sure this edition of the remix, will spark all that much creativity, since I’m using tried and true travel outfits. But I may be surprised…and even if I’m not, I hope you all will enjoy seeing what I wore!

Day 1 – Travel & a Hike

We’re flying from Atlanta to Minneapolis, waiting four hours to pick up my sister and her husband, then driving four hours to a family reunion in Iowa. Temps in Iowa promise to be hot, but later in the week we’re headed to Lake Champlain in Vermont, where evenings can be a bit nippy, so I’ve packed pants and a couple 3/4-length sleeve tops that will pull double-duty on the plane. (My personal thermostat runs cold, so I find airplanes chillllly.)

Ta-da:

Airport bathrooms selfies are the best.

Top: Gap

Red chinos: Bandolino

Cuff bracelet: Monet jewelry

Leather crossbody bag: Marco Avane

Everything thrifted but the Hank from Finding Dory sticker (thank you to my preschooler for color coordinating your sticker choice with my outfit).

Let’s get a proper look at that bag (and the Saltwater sandals I’m wearing all week) since I haven’t yet featured it on the blog:

Through trial and error (aka thrifting bags I never use), I’ve learned that I don’t need two similar bags just to be able to swap colors/fabric with the changing seasons, despite what fashion/the internet says.

But when I saw this bag, it occurred to me that I might find a different size bag useful – for example when I am not with my kid or at work.

It fits my wallet, phone, chapstick, and sunglasses.

This considerably narrows the window of when I might actually use said bag, but I can at least dream of weekly date nights and the occasional girls’ weekend, right?

Turns out it’s come in handy for more than that, though – we are flying with baggage restrictions (one personal item per person, thank you Spirit), and this puppy packs down into my tote bag (pictured on the post linked above).

So far I’ve loved carrying a lighter bag around although the kid stuff (snacks, books, great white shark puppet) has to fit in my tote.

During our wait in Minneapolis we drove over to the Fort Snelling State Park, located about 5 minutes from the airport, and went for a short hike. We spotted turkey vultures, turkeys, goldfinches, cardinals, bluejays, bluebirds, and downy woodpeckers and generally enjoyed being out of confined spaces. For this expedition I changed into running clothes and sneakers so I could sweat in peace.

More to come tomorrow, assuming I have internet access! In the meantime, tell me if you are doing the 10×10 challenge this time and your tips for getting away with a smaller bag.

What I Wore: Floating Crop Top & Saltwater Sandals

If you had asked me whether I would ever wear (let alone title a post with) something that could be called a crop top, I would have laughed – and bet money against you. Although I wore some shortish things in my youth, as an adult I’m just not into exposing my midriff (my mother is sighing with relief – I’m sure from her perspective it was a near thing for awhile there).

Now, though, I guess I owe myself some theoretical money:

What is happening??

Sleeveless top: Dahlia – thrifted
Chrysanthemum skirt: no label – thrifted
Necklace: DIY from thrifted parts
Bracelet: Monet – thrifted
Sandals: Saltwater by Hoy – retail

But actually, theoretical me comes out on top because while this appears to be a crop top…

…it’s actually a faux crop:

Secret under layer!

You may recognize this top in all its glory from my summer wardrobe:

I paired it with a high-waisted skirt and simply tucked in the lower layer et voilà, an apparent crop top that gives me a whole new silhouette whose breezy floatiness pairs perfectly with hot summer weather:

A little DIY necklace action:

That’s a dolphin down there in case you can’t tell.

Cuff closeup:

Closeup on that chrysanthemum pattern:

We’re headed to a lake next week for a family reunion and I own no waterproof shoes. My Clarks sandals were also starting to hurt one foot – they have pretty solid arch support but can’t snug tight enough around my narrow feet to keep the arch in place. (My feet are also slightly different sizes, which means one foot was hurting but not the other. Go figure.)

So I decided to try out Saltwaters, a waterproof sandal that’s also chic enough for work. Check out the lovely caramel color and gold buckle (and ignore my straggly toenail polish):

That chic ankle strap holds things in place enough that my super-narrow feet don’t move around even though the footbed is wider than I need. You will notice a few little spots on them – this is how they look after a trip to the playground unexpectedly turned into some delightfully muddy trail exploring. These babies did really well – a swipe with a damp cloth afterwards and they were like new. I also wore them on the 4th to throw a football in a field in the rain (do we detect a pattern of weather-related adventures?) and then wore them to work the next day without any cleaning. BAM.

They don’t have any arch support but since I’ve been happily wearing sneakers without any arch, I figured maybe having no arch support at all was better than an arch support sticking me in the wrong place. A Google search confirmed I have normal arches and should be able to make no-support work. We’ll see long-term.

I bought mine online and paid about $50 – not unexpected for decent quality sandals. If you buy some, make sure to pay attention to the women’s size, not the kid’s size – mine run true to the women’s size listed. (Apparently ModCloth lists the size differently than the rest of the internet, so shopper beware.) They’re sometimes made in the USA (I can’t tell from website whether my particular style was – I hope it was for labor conditions). Many reviews say to soak them in water first, then mold to your footbed – I haven’t had time to try this out yet.

Have you tried Saltwaters? Would you wear a “crop” top – or an actual crop top? Scroll down to share!

What I Wore: Classic Nautical

This is 100% classic Leah. A muted nautical palette, print-mixing, gold accents, and a “gentlewoman chic” silhouette:
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Everything thrifted but the necklace & sunglasses:
Top: vintage Jacqueline Ferrar (yes those are shoulder pads!)
Pants: Bandolino
Shoes: City Sneaks
Belt: J. Crew
Cuff bracelet: Monet
Necklace: vintage from my grandma
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban via Costco

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Styling: It’s funny, I don’t think I’ve ever showcased this outfit on the blog or on Instagram, but I do wear it often – so often that I don’t even have to think about the pairing. The boxy fit of this blouse plus the longer, tailored sleeves dress up the chinos nicely. I’ve also done this look with dressy sandals and champagne flats, but it’s summer casual at my office, so I just went all out with the floral sneaks.

Thoughts: This outfit isn’t groundbreaking, but it is “me.” The color palette and tailored top + casual pants just feel like no-brainers and I feel relaxed and chic at the same time.
Do you all have an outfit you wear so often it doesn’t feel remarkable to you at all – yet it has enough oomph to keep you coming back? Scroll down to comment!

What I Wore: Leopard Print & White Pants

June in Atlanta has been strangely…80s. As in hovering around 80 degrees and lots of rain. I can tell it isn’t really “summer” yet (as Hotlanta defines it) because I can still get away with wearing these lined white pants without my lower half sweating to death:

Leopard print blouse: Banana Republic Heritage, thrifted
Pants: Banana Republic, thrifted
Belt: J. Crew, thrifted
Cuff bracelet: Monet, thrifted
Sandals: Clarks, retail
Necklace: heirloom (the dove is by James Avery)
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban, Costco (post on these coming soon)

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Styling: I paired bright white with more muted leopard to tone this whole thing down a bit – we’re not talking beachfront BBQs just yet. For a footwear alternative, this outfit would have been great with my champagne Trotters flats, but I still haven’t doctored them up yet and I wanted to show off my toes (hard to see but they’re painted a surprisingly lovely, warm shade of beige). Rolled up sleeves, of course – and a bracelet to showcase the resulting forearm. Clubmasters to top it all off, because it’s sunny out and the colors go great with the leopard. (And yes, I am one of those annoying people who uses sunglasses as a headband. At least they’re not my beach-scavenged purple and yellow wayfarers!)

Thoughts: this outfit is a total win for me. The subtle leopard print brings some funk while the lines are clean and classic. It’s summery chic, with a definite nod to the Inès de la Fressange-inspired side of my style.

Closeup on the jewelry:

Are you wearing straight-up summer clothes (for your neck of the woods) yet? Southern hemisphereans, are you in your cold-weather duds yet? Scroll down to share.

Dressing Up a Breton Stripe Tee, Two Ways

My last few Thursday nights have been marked by a distinct lack of sleep. But Mama’s gotta work; wearing this Madewell Breton stripe tee (which is super comfortable – it basically feels like pajamas) is as close as I could get to staying in bed. How to dress up such a casual-vibe top without completely scrapping the comfort factor?

Decidedly casual.

I wore the outfits below on two consecutive Fridays to play with the styling a bit:

Both: shirt, Madewell; blazer, Charlotte Russe; sneakers, City Sneaks. First: pants, Vince Camuto. Second: pants, Bandolino.

And how’s here I added some spit and polish:

The blazer was key to smartening up both of these looks; its touch of stretch kept it from feeling too confining or stiff.

How I dressed it up in the first photo: the “cigarette” pants are in a slim cut and a neutral hue. The necklace (closeup photo below) lends a little gravitas – it’s a focal point with some character. And my cuff bracelet makes the whole thing look “finished.”

How I dressed it up in the second: the tucked shirt and skinny belt give a pulled-together look. While the sunglasses-as-headband look definitely reads “beach” in parts of the country, they are my first well-made, non-scavenged pair and they made me feel more dressy. (More on these in a later post.)

Admittedly the floral sneakers round this down to the casual end of “business casual.” If I really wanted to dress up, I would’ve combined all the polished elements listed above into one outfit (grey pants, tucked/belted tee, statement necklace, cuff bracelet) and skipped straight to my bronze wedges:

But the combos above passed muster for Casual Friday in my office and prevented me from feeling like a slob even though I *did* feel like going back to sleep.

Here’s a closeup on the necklace, a vintage number that belonged to my Grandma:

Do you have any tricks for dressing up t-shirts? Or for masquerading pj-level comfy outfits as workwear? Scroll down to share!

What I Wore: Pink & Wine

I don’t know if the color of this scarf is properly called “wine” but I’m going with it:

Dress: H&M
Blazer: Cartonnier
Scarf: no label – I think it’s wool
Sandals: Clarks (retail)

Here’s a closeup. The “wine” color is a bit intense/saturated compared to my normal wardrobe palette, but the pink/gold/orange tones in it lighten things up a bit, as does the pink jacket and the white dress:

Mmmm, print-mixing…

I don’t do square scarves very often and this is why:

I can’t get them to stay where I want/showing the part of the pattern I want. Suggestions? Maybe I’ll just pin the sucker to my dress next time…

Here is the outfit sans blazer:

Side view:
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Styling: I started with a dress; Tuesday = yoga day which calls for a simple one-piece to change into after 90 minutes of down dog. I wanted to warm things up with some red-based tones after having worn navy blue-heavy outfits the previous three days, and I knew the v-neck of the dress would work well as a spot to showcase a scarf; hence this particular number, with colors that make me beam!
I knew we’d have meetings in chilly parts of the building so I added a blazer, with this woman’s wide range of reds as inspiration for my color choice:

From this post

That way I could also justify keeping my red nail polish on!

I rolled my cuffs and went to work (literally).

Thoughts: the print-mixing on this is my happy place. I really like how the pink/wine (mulberry?)/red all read together and have Costco lady above to thank for that. In hindsight I would have worn a gold necklace peeping through the scarf and my gold cuff to bring a little more polish (and pick up the gold tones in the scarf).

What are your tricks for making a scarf stay in place? What do you think of my smorgasboard of red-based hues? Scroll down to comment.

A Tale of Two Outfits; or, Context Is Everything

Here are two outfits I’ve worn within the last week. If you were following my 10×10 challenge, I bet you can guess which felt more “me”:
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Left: blouse by Lucky Brand; chinos by Gap; sneakers by City Sneaks. Right: blouse by Talbots; blazer by Charlotte Russe; pants by Alfani; cuff by Monet; wedge slides by Bandolino. Everything thrifted.

Well, it’s kind of a trick question. The outfit on the right is definitely more “me” for work. It has clean, polished lines and the pattern and necklace (close up below) give it some interest without being crazily funky. PS It features the pants I thrifted to fill the “navy dress pants” slot in yesterday’s thrift list; together with the blazer I think it a good informal “suit.”

As you can probably tell from the background, though, I wore both to work. And I felt “meh” in the more casual outfit, even though I wore it on a Friday when my work environment relaxes a bit. All day I was wondering whether I needed to donate this shirt since I felt so lukewarm about it, a feeling I’d had before. (Yes I think about my clothes more than is strictly necessary/normal.)

But then I asked myself why I wasn’t loving it – because on paper I dig the silhouette, the popover neck, the roll-tab sleeves, the color palette, the fabric detail (below), and even the embroidery. Turns out I simply felt too casual, not polished enough for work. (I think it was all the cotton – apparently I need fancy synthetic or silk fabrics to feel dressed up.)

Well, then my conundrum morphed into an altogether different question: why couldn’t I just move this shirt from my closet rack to my casual/weekend drawer? I wore it with shorts after I got home to play outside with my child, and suddenly I liked it again. I stored it that night in my drawer and felt a sense of cohesion and relief. (Again, yes, I emote about my clothes a lot – in the name of feeling GREAT about them all the time!)

Funny what asking the right question plus a simple change of context will do for your outfit.

Here’s a closeup of both blouses (necklace up top from a childhood trip to New Mexico; necklace below belonged to my Grandma):

Which outfit do you prefer? When has context changed your feelings about a particular piece of clothing or an outfit?

Building a stylishly edited wardrobe from thrift store finds

Category: What I Wore

Summer 10×10 Remix: Day 5

Summer 10×10 Remix: Day 4

Summer 10×10 Remix: Days 2 & 3

Summer 10×10 Remix: Day 1

What I Wore: Floating Crop Top & Saltwater Sandals

What I Wore: Classic Nautical

What I Wore: Leopard Print & White Pants

Dressing Up a Breton Stripe Tee, Two Ways

What I Wore: Pink & Wine

A Tale of Two Outfits; or, Context Is Everything

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