Best of 2012

Since every other blogger is doing it, I thought I'd jump on the "2012 outfit recap" bandwagon. Here are my favorite outfits from the past year, with the link to each post under the photo...

Fall color-blocking

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Broken record

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Repeat

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French nautical

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Pink and gray

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Polka dots and mah jongg

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Another wedding

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Belated patriotism

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Life in black and white

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Free spirit

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Layered

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Love and leopard print

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Old clothes, new love

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Impractical footwear

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Traditions

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Stripes, stripes and stripes

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Styled by my husband

I'm dreaming of a non-rainy Christmas

All I want for Christmas is a rain-free day. Okay, that's not true - I also want some cool shoes, and books, and The Avengers on DVD. But a rain-free day is high on my list, because we haven't had one of those in a while.

This skirt just screams "Christmas" to me, so I wore it practically the same way as I did this time last year. (And after looking at that old post, I really miss my red hair.)

I hope all of you have a merry Christmas!

Turtleneck: Kohl's

Skirt: vintage, from an antique show

Boots: Jessica Simpson from Macy's

Earrings and bracelet: gift

Belt: thrifted

Lumpy

This was one of those outfits that looked great in my ill-lit bedroom, but out in the light of day turned out to be kind of lumpy. That's what I get for layering a thin turtleneck over a stiffly pleated dress. Oh well - I really liked the concept, just not the execution.

Skirt (actually a dress): BB Dakota from Lulu's

Turtleneck: Old Navy

Scarf: self-made

Belt: came with dress

Tights: Forever 21

Shoes: DSW

The stuff that dreams are made of

My creativity was not needed to put together this outfit, because it came to me in a dream. Yes, I dreamed about wearing this outfit - and when I woke up it still seemed like a good idea, so I went with it :)

I really like this vest, but this is only my third time wearing it in over a year of owning it. It just doesn't go with much, so I'm always pleased when I find a way to wear it.

Sweater and vest: Anthropologie

Jeans: Levi's

Boots: Urban Outfitters

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Necklace: Evidence Jewelry, won in a giveaway

Bracelet: gift from my mom

A non-Christmasy dress

I wore this to a Christmas brunch at my cousin's house a week ago (and then re-wore it for 10 minutes on Saturday to get photos). I know it's not really a Christmas-y dress, but it's so pretty and it makes me happy, so I wore it anyway.

Dress: Zara

Cardigan: Old Navy

Belt: Gap

Tights: Target

Boots: Steve Madden from Zappos

Earrings: B. Lee Designs

Jeans and boots

I've been feeling uninspired lately as far as outfits go. That's not a bad thing - it's not like creating interesting outfits is my job, or a crucial part of my existence. These jeans and boots have been worn a lot, and some of those jeans-and-boots outfits have been more interesting than others. Like this one - the women in my family went nuts when they saw this outfit a few weeks ago. I thought it was fairly simple, but they thought it was awesome, so I figured that meant it was worth posting on this blog.

Since I would feel weird only having one photo in this post (the top one is the only one that turned out), I thought I'd throw in these two below. The first one is my cousin Summer's awesome perfume collection, which I saw at a brunch on Sunday, and the second is my favorite of those perfume bottles, by Nicki Minaj...

Turtleneck: Kohl's

Crocheted vest: Forever 21

Jeans: Levi's

Boots: Jessica Simpson from Macy's

Hat: Albertus Swanepoel for Target

Necklace: Forever 21

Belt: thrifted

Bracelet: In Pink

Fall color-blocking

I really have a thing for wearing these pants and these shoes with blue tops. (Seen here and here.) If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Plus, I feel like these colors allow me to color-block in a somewhat calm way - I like outrageous fashion, but the insane neon color-blocking that I've been seeing in fashion magazines lately hurts my eyes.

Also - I made this bracelet! The gold piece is an old shoe buckle. It was one of the first bracelets I made earlier this year, so it's probably going to fall apart fairly soon due to lack of quality craftsmanship, at which point I suppose I will just re-make it.

Turtleneck: Kohl's

Jacket: purchased in China

Corduroy pants: Anthropologie

Shoes: Sam Edelman from Nordstrom Rack

Necklace: Dress Barn

Belt: thrifted

Bracelet: made by me

Humph!

I'm so glad I bought this skirt a few months ago. I have a limited number of shirts I can wear with it because of the unusual colors in the pattern, but I don't mind because it's such an odd, fun piece.

I added the pin to this outfit because "Humph" pretty much sums up my feelings towards all the rain we've been having lately. (If you look behind me in the photo above, you'll see that the path is flooded.) You'd think I'd be used to all the rain we get, having been an Oregonian for nearly three decades, but I'm not. I'm still astonished and disappointed every winter at just how much it rains.

Turtleneck: free from a family member

Chair skirt: Anthropologie

Brown tights: American Apparel

Boots: Jessica Simpson from Macy's

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

"Humph" pin: free from my aunt

Bracelet: gift

ScanFair

This is hardly an inspiring outfit, but man, it's been a long time since I last posted, so I thought I'd put it on here anyway. I wore this on Saturday to ScanFair, a festival put on by the Scandinavian Heritage Foundation in Portland every December. The women in my family have a tradition of attending every year, and buying each other Christmas presents there and eating delicious Scandinavian foods, like æbleskiver, and fruit soup and rice pudding.

I try not to pick on my appearance in blog photos too much, but today if I had a magic Photoshop wand that I could wave, I would fix the odd grimace/smile in the top photo (people were staring at me), my apparently missing eyebrows (they really don't show up well in photos), and the droopiness of the scarf (which is supposed to button neatly at the neck, but clearly didn't cooperate).

Striped blouse: Forever 21

Leather jacket: MICHAEL Michael Kors from Nordstrom Rack

Jeans: Levi's

Flats: ShoeMint

Necklace: Bauble Bar

Scarf: made by me

Re-worn

This was the outfit I wore on Thanksgiving, but since we didn't get any photos of it then, I re-wore it yesterday to go bowling with my parents and youngest brother.

Tunic: American Apparel, thrifted from Crossroads Trading Co.

Cardigan: Cynthia Rowley from TJ Maxx

Jeans: Levi's

Boots: Aldo

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Necklace: Dress Barn

Belt: thrifted

Bracelet: In Pink

Mended

I forgot to take photos of nearly every outfit I wore over Thanksgiving weekend, so all you get is this fairly simple outfit from Sunday. The dress by itself is pretty but a bit boring, so that's why I threw on the bright scarf as a belt. It's been about a year and a half since I last wore this dress, because one of the buttons came off, and yes, it took me this long to sew it back on. I tend to be a horrible procrastinator when it comes to mending my clothes, and half the time they just end up in the garage sale pile because I'm too lazy to fix them. But ever since I read the book Overdressed, I've taken to working through my mending pile in the evenings, because now I realize it's important to care for the clothes I have, and not just toss them out when they're missing a button or have a hole.

Dress: vintage

Red scarf worn as a belt: thrifted

Black tights: Forever 21

Black heels: DSW

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Earrings: gift

And here are some awesome photos of me and my brothers on Thanksgiving. I'm not sure we've ever taken a "nice" photo together, but we always take fun ones. Here's triple suicide...

...awkward smiling...

...and Gangnam Style...

Rainy day

It was absurdly rainy yesterday. (Although yes, we did manage to get a brief dry spell for our photos.) On days like that, I pretty much always wear my rain boots and rain coat. Since a rain coat and boots isn't necessarily an inspiring combination, I tried to make it more interesting with a bright sweater, and a necklace that I've had since elementary school. (Yes, sometimes I'm a hoarder.) These Hunter rain boots are the most worn item in my closet. They may not be pretty to look at, but they're comfortable and they've kept my feet dry for two years so far.

Yesterday I had the final exam for my tax class, and I passed with 94%! Wooo! Now all I need to do is pass the state board exam in December, and I'll be a licensed tax preparer. Even if I don't get a job from this experience, it was worth it just for all the personal knowledge I've gained. My taxes are going to be a breeze after this.

I'm taking the rest of the week off from blogging to enjoy some quality family time, so I'll see you all next week! Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Purple sweater: Target

Red coat: Calvin Klein from Costco

Jeans: Levi's

Boots: Hunter from Nordstrom

Hat: H&M

Necklace: owned since 3rd grade!

Ring: In Pink

Hillary Clinton's hair

A few months ago someone told me that she thought Hillary Clinton’s unflattering hairstyle caused her to lose credibility as Secretary of State. Now, she didn’t say “Hillary Clinton’s messy hair,” or “greasy hair,” or “offensive and outrageous hair” – no, she was simply referring to a hairstyle that was not complimentary.

[Edit: At this point I feel compelled to mention something that I wrote in the comments below, lest you think I'm complaining just for the sake of complaining. If this type of comment were a one-time thing, I wouldn't have written a blog post. But I've heard a lot of people at one time or another say crazy things like, "She so smart, why doesn't she dress better?" or "I would never hire a woman who didn't wear makeup." And I'm tired of hearing people say those things, and think someone needs to point it out.]

I have a problem with this for two reasons. (Okay, three reasons, if you count the fact that I think Hillary Clinton is awesome and no one should say anything bad about her ever.) The first reason is: it’s not my business, or anyone else’s, to criticize Hillary Clinton’s hairstyle. Oh, that doesn’t mean I don’t have my moments of looking at someone’s hair and thinking, “That looks terrible” – but I really shouldn’t. Because who knows, maybe that woman you criticize really loves the hairstyle you think is ugly, and maybe she would hate the hairstyle you think is pretty. And anyway, it’s her hair, not yours, so why does it matter anyway? Or maybe in Hillary Clinton’s case, she has adopted a utilitarian style because she has a stressful job and doesn’t want to spend any more time on her hair than she has to. Really, for a government employee in the public eye, I think the only guidelines for hair should be: not outrageous (i.e. a hot pink mohawk), and not dirty.

The second, and main, reason this person’s statement bothered me so much is that Hillary Clinton’s job performance isn’t affected by the way she wears her hair. I think she’s done an admirable job as Secretary of State, even if her hair isn’t pretty. (Though I would disagree with the person who made this statement, because I think Hillary’s hair looks great.) I also feel fairly certain that men wouldn’t be held to the same standard. The truth is, people in general critique women on their appearance more than men, probably because they expect women to care more. And when they encounter a woman who doesn’t seem to care about the way she looks, they suspect she doesn’t care about anything at all.

If we had a male Secretary of State who was balding on top with a fringe of hair wrapped around his head, I don’t think anyone would mind. I mean, I think there would be people who found it ugly, but I think there would be very few, if any, people who thought his hair made him lose credibility as a representative of the United States.

This is really a huge topic to explore, when you consider all the ways in which women are held to different standards than men, but I’ll leave it at that for now. I just wish Hillary Clinton, who travels for months out of the year and works sixteen-hour days, could be cut some slack for not living up to someone else’s idea of beauty.

Time for a change

It was time for a change, so I dyed my hair brown! My hair has been every natural color except white and gray (and I'm sure those will happen eventually), but it was only brown for a few months back in college, so I thought I'd try it again. I loved my red hair, but it's the dye that fades the fastest and it was just getting too pricey to maintain. I did this on Saturday with two boxes of dye, because my hair is too long and thick for one box, and with Josh's help, because the last time I tried to dye my hair out of a box I missed huge patches.

I suppose it would be cheaper and easier to just go with my natural color, but once my hair turned from pale blond to dishwater blond in high school, I stopped being interested in keeping it natural.

Sweater: Target

Paisley skirt: thrifted from Rerun

Leather jacket: MICHAEL Michael Kors from Nordstrom Rack

Tights: American Apparel

Heels: DSW

Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta from TJ Maxx

Necklace: gift from my aunt

Bracelet: H&M