I have a shopping problem.

I'm currently on a spending ban.  Anything that is not groceries can't come home with me.  I really don't need anymore clothes or gadgets and I can't afford it. I'm still trying to play catch-up from when I was unemployed a few short months ago and racked up quite the credit card bill.  Of course I've gotten around this with the help of gift cards I'd forgotten about and most recently with the excuse that I need stuff for work.  I bought tights and shoes last night.  I had to get approval from The Boy of course, since he's (trying to) help me stick to my ban, but this was an emergency...
My cat ripped a hole in the one pair of black opaque tights I own(ed).  So I bit the bullet and bought some new ones.  While I was at it I couldn't resist branching out a little with these patterned ones...

(and some ribbed tan, and some opaque brown, and patterned black ones too...)  See - I have a problem. I must be stopped!

As for the shoes, I don't really own any nice winter shoes.  I live most of the year in ballet flats - I must have over 20 pairs.  Occasionally I'll bust out some heels, but only if I know I won't be walking or standing much that day.
My snow boots, though adorable, don't really cut it in the workplace and most of my other close toed full coverage shoes are casual and not very winter-proof.

I'm not sure what made me think that these were winter appropriate, but so far they haven't let me down.  No water inside them walking through today's rain storm is a good sign that I won't get them packed with snow when that starts falling. Though heeled they are extreeeeeeeeeemly comfy - even for my wide feet, work appropriate, and cute.

I don't want ALL of my posts to be outfit posts, but I haven't quite gotten around to writing about anything else yet, plus I got compliments on this today from the boy and my boss.  The boy is usually pretty ambivalent about what I wear - "You're a cute girl, you look good in everything" is what I usually hear when I ask what he thinks, and my boss is the super stylish Executive VP of my company and is always put together, so I must have done something right today and I want to share.

[Cardigan - Gap / Pencil Skirt - Kasper / Grey Lace Trim Tank - Old Navy / Grey Patterned Tights - Target / Belt - Target / Shoes - Eurostyle / Bird Necklace - owned since High School, don't remember]

If anyone actually reads this, I'm hoping you can help me stick to my shopping ban (not that you'd know if I went out and bought something new - since you've only seen 2 outfits).  But I'll be relying on my favorite fashionista bloggers to give me inspriation on how to re-mix my closet without spending money!

And one for The Boy...

Until next time...
E :)

Dear Blazer: Welcome To My Wardrobe

If you've glanced at my “How It Started” section, you'll know that recently I had a crisis of self. So now I'm working on re-discovering me, including what I wear and how I feel about my body. One of the things that led me to start a blog in the first place was my crazy shopping habits and more recent addiction to fashion blogs. Something I loved about the fashion blogging community was all the plus size and body loving blogs I found. There are so many women of all shapes and sized out there proud and stylish and interesting that I felt inspired by.

In the past year I think I've really started to find my own style. I'm understanding what works on my body and what doesn't. Not because “style rules” or trends tell me what to where, but because I like it, I'm comfortable in it, and I think it looks good.

To help me further this, I'm going to try Outfit of the Day posts. We'll see how this fares, because I don't necessarily love full body open shot photographs of myself – I think I always look awkward and it's always a bad angle etc. This will probably be a small form of torture to do on a regular basis, but I like the idea of sharing my style journey and learning from myself.  

Today's outfit really grew on me throughout the day - I was unsure at first, but catching glances in the mirror and taking photos of it convinced me that it will probably make a re-appearance in the future.

 {Sidenote: I don't know how people take pictures outside in the winter without proper environmental protection.. I'm not even from the coldest place around (Ohio can be pretty temperate sometimes) but when the temperature drops below 55 degrees I'm somehow always freezing.}

Now that I've gotten that whining out of the way... This blazer is one I bough a few months ago and it's just been sitting in my closet, unsure of where it belongs in my wardrobe and how it works on my body. I fell in love with it and it looked perfect for fall, but then i got it home and I thought it made me look like a school marm. I regretted ever thinking that it worked with my style. But somehow today paired with my brown cords it just worked for me. I liked it layered with a cardigan and tank with the different colors poking out. It looks younger, but still [mostly] appropriate for my business casual work environment.  The color is somewhere in between the rust in the outdoor photos, and the yellow-orange in the lights of the thrift store.

[ Blazer - Talbots / Cardigan - Simply Vera / Olive Tank - Old Navy / 

Brown Cords - Old Navy / Nude Flats - Steve Madden ]

PS. I promise to work on taking better photos, since these  pretty much suck by fashion blog standards, but I wanted to get this blog started already and not have ANOTHER excuse to put it off!