Friend Friday: Remixing

October 2010 - Present

Katy came up with these questions.

The one-time use phenomenon. I've been reading a number of posts lately about only wearing something once and how many bloggers are accused of this. Seems a good topic for us. 

October 2011, February 2012

1. Are you a one-time wearer? 
Not even close. I even post in the exact same outfit more than once.

2. Do you feel the need to purchase something new for an evening out or a special event?
No. I hate to do that. Sometimes I feel guilty about not doing it because it was the same dress before but it still all works out. I will buy new dresses because I feel like it and I don't do it when there is a special event coming up.

3. Re-mixing is something a lot of bloggers are proud of being able to accomplish - are you a re-mixing pro or do you shy away from posting items frequently? Why?
Sometimes I might post items from one outfit the very next day. I don't tend to wear things so close so the posts aren't so close but it's not like I'm holding back.  But I don't think I'm a pro. I still tend to catch myself wearing the same shirt with the same skirt even though clearly both would go with other things. If I have worn the same jeans and a tee shirt multiple times I don't take the time to make my pretty arrows with with I got things anymore though. I have previously posted about why I remix. I try not to wear the same thing within a few weeks if it is more obscure like a pink skirt or a plaid skirt. If it is black pants or a black skirt on the other hand, I'll wear those whenever.  I have a large closet and hate focusing on one thing so each day I try to branch out more. I even leave my clean clothes in the laundry room longer just to go a bit longer without seeing them and thus wearing them. I went through some old pictures with this post as motivation and you can see how I remixed a few things. The pictures are scattered through this post.  You will notice that even some identical outfits repeat.

March 2010 - Present

4. Do you have a clothing budget or are you an impulse buyer?
I do not have a clothing budget and I am not an impulse buyer.  I need an option about being encouraged by my husband to buy new clothes. I analyze in the store. I won't buy anything unless I love it. Some days I go to the mall with the intent to buy some new things and I'm not even specific in what I'm looking for and I leave empty handed.

February 2007 - Present (not all photos)

5. Do you find yourself bored when reading a blog in which clothing items are often remixed and appear frequently?
I wish everyone would show how they remix the same article of clothing close together so I wouldn't be bored with it.  Before buying a new trendy item, I'd like to see how versatile it'll be.  The more a blogger repeats, the more I appreciate them. I keep wanting to do posts on how I remixed a certain outfit, but that keeps staying on my to-do list and I never seem to get to it. I have done it a few times though.

3.27

Necklace: Sears
Sweater: Express
Pants: VS
Shoes: Famous Footwear (Nine West)

I hit snooze yet again for another hour. I'm just too exhausted.
I was insanely busy again at work. I was having difficulty thinking again. I'm still drained. I need relax time. I think even more than just an evening.

I thought I'd leave early to relax but then I ended up staying late.  I was going to go to the gym after work but I felt like skipping so I did. I definitely should have lifted weights.  Oh well.

I got home and ate dinner and watched TV.  Then I watched more TV. I just needed more time to just sit there.  Then I used the exercise bike, did a core workout, then stretched for 10 minutes.   I cleaned up a bit in the bedroom and organized my closet a little while watching Biggest Loser.  I had moer to do but then got lazy and just sat on the bed to watch the rest of the show.

1.19

Pants: VS, Sweater: Express, Shoes: Aldo, Necklace: Sears

I've worn this combination before but different shoes this time. These shoes aren't as tall and it's noticeable that the pants are too long. I hate how it is dark when I leave for work and Dark when I get home. Indoor daily pictures are kind of sucky. (Granted outdoor ones are too because I don't have a working remote so then the shrubs across the street are in focus and not me.)

I made it out of bed to shower and get to work by 7:30 for a meeting.

I didn't feel well at work. I swear I had a fever or something.  It was rough going at work. I wasn't very productive.  I probably should have left a bit early but I didn't.

I ran to Target after work to buy stuff for our Holiday Party.  The snow had started coming down so everyone was trying to leave work and drive and it was all going far too slow. I wish I would have remembered to buy some Mr Clean to mop with. Sigh.

I got home and was very productive emptying the garbage, taking out the trash, moving the mower, moving the boxes, and moving the recycling.  It was exhausting.   I wanted to curl up in a ball but knew some of that had to get done before Dave's car was in the garage.  I also shoveled the entire side of the driveway to make it easier for Dave to get into the garage.    He didn't get home for 30+ minutes and the driveway was covered again but at least he was able to make it up it without having to stop in the street to get out and shovel.

We made little hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls for dinner.  I ate a bunch of junk after that.

We were watching American Idol. We stopped that at 8pm to watch the debate.  I can't believe the first question was to Gingrich about how his ex-wife had interviews about him asking for an open marriage.   17 minutes into the debate, Romney only said 1 thing (let's get on to the real questions).  I thought they should try to be even.

I cleaned up a little bit. I finally washed 2 trays still dirty from my party on January 7.  On January 8, a friend asked me if I did all the dishes yet. I laughed. I still haven't done them all!  There are 2 cutting boards still sitting there waiting to be washed.      I was productive even though I didn't want to be. I wanted to curl up in a ball.

11.29

Sweater: Express
Pants: VS
Shoes: Nine West via Famous Footwear
Necklace: Sears
Earrings: Target

Dave and I saw a rainbow on our way to lunch.

Some people loved my red pants and I got to tell them about VS and the pants. It was great. I love when people want to know about things I have.  Someone also wanted to know about BodyMedia fit.  Sometimes I think I'm better than a sales rep for everything that I know about the product.

I ran with Jen but since I couldn't find my headlamp we went running at a track instead of North Park.  After running with Jen, I watched TV with Dave.  After that I watched Dancing with the Stars. Then it became too late to do anything on my to-do list. Oops.

12.10 - Party

Sweater: Express
Pants: VS
Necklace: Sears
Shoes: Famous Footwear

I woke up knowing I had a ton to do. I didn't want to do any of it. I forgot to set my alarm so we got started a little late. We went down and made the chili. It had to be in the crockpot for 9 hours on low (which is what we were going for but it could also have been on high for 5 hours). I played on my computer.
I ate lunch, I watched many episodes of West Wing.  At 1 we had paused it to make the glaze for the kielbasa.

Around 3:00 we stopped watching West Wing and decided to start cleaning and cooking.  We sure know how to do it right.

At one point I showered and decided to cut my hair, because obviously cutting my hair was important to be done before company.  At another point we hung up some pictures in our hallway.  At another point in time I decided to make another kind of cookies since I know my uncle likes chocolate so why not make a double chocolate cookie for him. He doesn't even eat many cookies so that wasn't a requirement to be done either.

At 4:30 guests arrived. (Well my parents showed up early but I said they could.)

We were ready to eat at 5.   We ran out of some food. I thought we were going to have SO MUCH extra. We did not. We just had a ton extra of some of the appetizer stuff. We have a ton left of the expensive cheese though.
Some family left at 8:30. The rest left at 11 or so.  Man was I tired.  I could barely stay awake.

I probably shouldn't have cooked while wearing those heels. My feet hurt by the end of the night.

10.21

Sweater: Express
Pants: VS
Shoes: Nine West via Famous Footwear
Necklace: Lia Sophia

I drove an hour for work for the last time. Boy was it exhausting.  We finished the audit.

Then I headed up to Cranberry for a happy hour with some people from the gym. I was going to go run at the gym after. But then I stayed at the happy hour for over 5 hours.

I always learn interesting things at happy hour. I really wish I would have gotten my workout in though.

Also on my way to Cranberry I missed the Cranberry exit and had to go 13 more miles to Beaver and turn around. That sucked.  I was a little early so I went to Target and Famous Footwear.  I was late for dinner with Dave so he went home.

9.6 Red Pants

September 13 is Everybody Everywear day for colored pants.  And well my red pants work perfectly. But the thing is I get a week behing on posting (or more) so I wore these early. 1 week early.

Oh man how I love these pants.  For the past few months I was debating buying a new pair since these were too tight. I held out and now they fit. Yay. I'm so glad I didn't have to buy a new pair because VS is so hit or miss. Twice now they have had the most amazing pants ever and 3 times the pants sucked. The 2 good pairs fit nicely, are washable and dryable, and do not need to be ironed. The other 3 pairs are not like that. If you look at the VS website you can't tell the materials and they don't list washing instructions most of the time.  I wish they had reviews like other sites so I could read what people said about them.

My little baby Poly was hugging my arm.  I couldn't possibly get out of bed. 

Once I did bring myself to get out of bed, my little Poly tried to sabotage by sleeping on my new clothes.

I left work to go to Olive Garden for dinner with Dave.  I saw that they have the never ending pasta bowl so I knew I had to get that. This was the first time I wore my red pants in a long time and the last few times I wore them, they were far too tight, so I preemptive unbuttoned them. They were under my shirt and my cardigan. Nobody could tell while I was sitting anyway. Then I ate all of my food. Dave didn't even eat all of his. I also at at a faster rate than him.  I left the pants unbuttoned and with the shirts over it you couldn't tell at all.  This was the first time I unbuttoned pants before it was necessary. It was a good idea. I could have probably gotten a second bowl but I didn't.  Dave said the guys were eyeing me up when I was leaving Olive Garden. He thought my red pants drew their attention so they had to check me out.

Then it was off to work.  I worked until after 7:30 since I was gone for dinner a bit in there.  Leaving for dinner was great because it broke up the work day.

At 7:30 I went to the gym.

I didn't get home until about 9.  It didn't feel like such a long day because I left work for dinner.  That dinner just had so many benefits.  It also helped me run at the gym.

Day 18 - Red (4.4.11)

I went for the red pants today instead of a red shirt because of a post I saw recently. A few days ago Daphne wore a very similar outfit. She was my inspiration.  (She wore her red pants on stripes day. I wore my stripes on red day. Still the same thing.)

BTW I sure didn't know my cardigan was so see through until looking at these pictures.

So every morning I put my clothes on the bed before I get dressed. Every morning Poly sits on these clothes to stop me from getting dressed. Well today I put decoy clothes on the bed. She sat on those. I was able to get ready with a breeze. She was even sleeping on it when I left for work. Now only if my clean cardigan wasn't cat hair covered, I would have won.

I was able to leave the house 5 minutes sooner than I have been lately so I guess it worked.

Sorry the pictures look so blurry or odd; it is because the lens is completely dirty. I noticed it at the very end of today. I have been wondering why my pictures were coming out so bad.

I got a ton done at work today. Then I realized that was because I didn't have any meetings.  Then I looked at the rest of the week and I have a ton of meetings. :(

I made tuna noodle casserole. Poly cried up a storm. She wanted some so bad.
Dave made me watch Jeopardy. I don't like it because I'm too slow at thinking up answers.
We watched two episodes of Criminal Minds and now I'm blogging.  Dave has been asleep since 3 minutes into the second episode of Criminal Minds though. Poly was on my lap sleeping so I had to watch more TV.

30 for 30 Outfit 21: November 29

Shirt: Express
Cardigan: NY&Co.
Pants: VS
Shoes: Famous Footwear
Belt: Target
Necklace: Sears

All part of the 30 for 30.

Usually I wear taller shoes with these pants but I wanted more comfortable shoes. The pants look a little long.  At least I was sitting most of the day.   I always fall back on black and white with red.  I have done blue, but I should do more.  I searched high and low and found cardigans that I thought the sleeves were long enough. I was deceived.

Close-up of my belt knot

I had to miss my workout to go to Monroeville for a doctor appointment.  I really need to switch doctors. Missing body pump wouldn't necessarily mean I would totally miss a workout but I made up some time from leaving work early and while my computer was out, I just worked for a few more hours. 

At work someone needed Dave's help (for a club not for actual work). He didn't have to help.  He agreed to help if I did the dishes.  This was the mess I had to deal with. There were also dishes in the sink from the baking I did.  I think I got the raw end of the deal.  Plus he would have helped anyway.

30 for 30 Outfit 4: 11/11/10

I went to the gym before work today so I had to take my outfit photos after work. 

I went to the gym at lunch.  I mentioned to a friend about how I brought a belt but was too afraid to wear it earlier because too many people were around for me to eye up how I looked in the mirror.  She told me it'd look OK and there weren't many people there at lunch, so I put it on.    So the first half of the day was the same outfit without the belt. 

I then mentioned to this friend about how my tights were scary. She said tights are awesome. I've never seen her in tights though.  If so many people think tights are awesome, why are they all wearing them?

Cami: Express
Cardigan: NY&Co (11/7/10)
Pants: Victoria's Secret
Shoes: Famous Footwear (10/1/10)
Necklace: Sears (9/4/10)
Belt: Target

I just realized I wore red on Tuesday and today. I wasn't at work Wednesday so that's the equivalent of wearing the same color two days in a row. I hate when I do that.   Note I wore pants to avoid the decision about tights (well and to wear something else in my 30 for 30 and you can only wear red pants every few weeks so I had to get them in within week one... Lesson Learned from round 1 of 30 for 30)

Is the outfit better with or without the belt?


Do any of you have a red skirt or red pants that you wear to work in a corporate environment? Do you get comments on said pants/skirt? I often get comments on these like "those pants make your legs look skinny" or something about being tall. Now I wear the same heels with other pants.  I have almost identical pants in dark gray.  I think the red draws people's attention and then they comment.  (BTW my pants don't make my legs look skinny, my legs do and that's what I told the girl.)


Today I went to the gym, hung out where my meeting would, had said meeting, went to a meeting room, did some stuff, had 2 meetings, went to the gym, then finally went over to my office building.  I ate my lunch as my computer was waking up from being asleep. I finished the entire lunch before it was up and working too.

In the afternoon facilities came around asking about how bad the sun was and if it bothered me. Oh boy did I tell them about how it bothered me.  I hope they fix something like putting in thicker blinds that actually block the sun.

Summary 1-19 and random thoughts

I'm too impatient to wait until Monday for 1 through 20 so I did 1 through 19 and the first photo is repeated at the end since it wants an even number.

It would have been 1 through 18 but I decided not to take Friday off to hurry this contest along.

If you want to see what day I wore each of them since I scrambled the pictures above, just look at my calendar site.

I have a few outfits picked out to wear for next week:

1. black and white shirt with red pants
2. White shirt with khaki skirt
3. black and white dress, black cardigan, black, white, or purple shoes
4. black cardigan, red shirt (white belt), and some skirt but not the gray one
5. Green shirt and black and white skirt (I only wore the green shirt once and it wasn't even to work) + perhaps a cardigan and then a belt
6. black skirt with turquoise shirt

Seeing the summary in one shot helps me know what outfits I didn't wear yet. I need to print this so I can know what to wear. Well it appears I planned more than a week's worth since I numbered them. I even have more options. I'm glad I did not quit this challenge 1 week ago. When I was only halfway through it seemed like the end was an eternity away. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

What will I do in the winter when I cant wear so many skirts? I think I will have to buy new pants that fit.  I also can't wait for winter so I can find red jewelry. Now just seems to not be the time. I want a red necklace.

I was ready fashion blogs this morning just like every weekend morning. I still have not found an engineer that documents their clothes daily.  Most people are in fashion design, write professionally, or use their fashion blog as their full time job. I did follow one that just took her bar exam. So that's unique there.   I read all these tips like make sure you proofread your posts. Hah. I never do that. Even if I do, I don't notice my mistakes.  I  don't have that kind of time. I have so many ideas in my head that I want to post about. All ideas are centered around me: my running, my clothes, my creative creations. Perhaps the title of my blog should have been titled in a way to focus on me but I do not want to change the name because I know a few people are following me (even if it's not listed on the side) and I don't want to lose them.   I often wonder if I should have multiple blogs for my multiple interests.  Most fashion blogs are all fashion. Most running blogs are all running. I'm a mix of everything.  I don't even know if I would consider me a fashion blog but I just started posting them here recently because I could write about my outfit a little, but I still love my calendar site. I like to see it all together. I like to easily be able to tell the last time I wore my red pants and how many weeks ago it was.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can improve my blog or improve my website?

Summer Black-out

In late June, I participated in Summer Black-out. It started out as a week, but I seemed to do it for more than a week.

There were only 9 pictures. I actually wore a khaki skirt and blue shirt (not the khaki skirt in the pictures above and not the blue shirt either) but I forgot to take my picture that day. The first picture is repeated at the end because that is how picasa does it.

I enjoyed not wearing black and barely wore it all summer. I think I only wore my black pants once and my black skirt a few times.  I seem to keep misplacing my black shirts so that made it easy not to wear them.  I actually didn't wear black on the weekends but the pictures weren't as nice so I didn't include them in the summary.  View my calendar site for what I wore all days.  The calendar is an easy way to get a quick view of all my outfits.

Sally went the entire summer without wearing black and has a nice recap of her experience.

Source: http://www.alreadypretty.com/ 

When I started the challenge, I didn't know if there was a purpose, I just thought it would be fun to do. I liked doing it because it gave me something to do with my outfits besides just looking at my entire closet and grabbing something.  I used to wear black all the time and basically lived in black pants. I loved that I stopped wearing so much black.  I never got so many compliments on my outfits as I did this summer. Many of the things I wore, I had for years so I had worn them before but they were just always worn with black or were barely noticed with all the boring outfits I was wearing.  I just skimmed through some months in 2006 to see what I had been wearing and maybe I didn't wear black daily but it was always black or brown even in the summer months. Now I wear a wider variety of clothes and colors. Also I have expanded my jewelry collection and actually wear what I have.  I wear this one pink necklace now at least every other week and I have had the necklace for 4 years and 3 months and probably only started wearing it 3 months ago.

At first with the Black-out I didn't realize you could wear black or have black in patterns. The skirt above that is white with black embroidery was actually my first day after the black-out was over but that was barely any black and the next few days I didn't wear black so I left it in.

I think my next goal should be to try to wear everything in my closet or maybe to get rid of the 20 pairs of shoes that I have and won't wear because they hurt my feet.

I read 10 Fashion Don'ts today and they specifically say not to wear red pants to work. I disagree with them.