Time with my Genes

First of all, thank you for all the great  discussion on yesterday's post. Wednesday's always feel like: "Oh, I don't know what to talk about" and then they always result in such interesting feedback. They're now my favourite post of the week.

But today is Thursday, and that means clothes!

My weekend was filled with family from my sister picking me up from work on Friday to watching The Good Wife with Scott on Sunday. It was good, after a busy week at work, to pull on jeans.

Causal Friday is even more vague than business casual, but again, I feel pretty confident in my ability to navigate the murky waters.

It still feels a little odd on Casual Friday to come home and change into something more casual - but I love jeans and a hoodie way more than sweaters and dress shirts when it comes to playing board games and drinking my sister's beer.

I'm hoping this next outfit came out quirky - I have never done the exposed sock before, but it met with some derision from my sister... and my parents... and my not-yet-formulating-full-sentences-niece. However, I am struggling with choosing shoes for skinny jeans in a no-longer-winter-not-yet-summer season.

What do you think? Too bright of sock? The whole sock thing too weird?

Day to... Day?

So many bloggers do such a great job of showing how they take their daytime outfits and adapt them for the nightlife. While I finally have the time for the nightlife, I don't have the funds for it. Instead, I am finding my new schedule (of job interviews and distracting myself while waiting to hear back from job interviews) requires an equally as adaptable wardrobe.

Last Tuesday, I had a 9am job interview and a 1pm coffee date with a friend. While I didn't repeat any pieces, I repeated the colour. The interview, I stuck with a tailored jacket and a tweed dress, but added some personality with a bright red belt and floral tights. Not sure I like patterned tights with a tweed dress, but you never know until you try!

For coffee, I started with a black shirt, and threw on a plaid shirt. While I usually am afraid of pink and red, I figured the scarf actually worked quite well with red! And of course, I've been loving getting back into my shoe collection - cowboy boots were necessary.

I like my world in little boxes

I spend far too many hours a day digging through baskets for tights. "I need my black tights" I say to Scott, as he picks up random pairs. "These ones?" "No, those are the footless black tights". "How about these ones: "No, those are the pinstripe black tights". And while, yes, I could weed down my tights, I thought: "why not just organize them better?"

The idea came to me when I was grocery shopping. Why not use milk cartons to help me keep everything together? 

You will need:
milk cartons
utility knife
duct tape
measuring tape
marker or pen

First, measure your milk carton, and see how many you can fit into your drawer / shelf / basket. You can get 2 boxes out of each carton

Open the top of the carton fully. Slice the corners down from the top to the horizontal fold line.

Then, fold the flaps down so form a flat bottom. Be liberal with the duct tape.

Measure and mark halfway up (or down) the carton, all the way around it. Cut along this line. Once it's open, you may need to duct tape the flaps on the inside of the top of the two boxes down.

Place in drawer and organize!!

And since it's Monday, I need to get rid of something. I have a couple pairs of skinny jeans that have lost their stretch or have gone through the knees. I'm getting rid of 2 pairs this week. But since I've already replaced them (with 1 pair, so I'm still going down 1), there's no need to show you.

Cardigan Vs. Blazer: the Rematch

Given the influx of cardigans in my closet, I couldn't let blazers have the last word. Sure, it is easy to throw in a blazer to complete a look, cardigans have rewards of their own.

They can add softness to a harsh outfit. Whether it's a soft knit, or a sweeping style, paired with typically masculine patterns (tweed and stripe) and conservative styles (pencil skirt and dress shirt - ok, this is a little less conservative of a shirt than I could have gone), it makes the outfit more approachable.

And perhaps the best reason I have to choose a cardigan over a blazer? Colour. As blazers typically fall under "investment pieces," given the difficulty to find an appropriately fitting blazer typically comes with a larger price tag, they tend to stay within safe neutral colours. Cardigans, particularly those in inferior quality which don't seem be any harder to fit than those of higher quality, are easier to purchase in larger quantities, and in a larger variety of colours.
  

A bright wrap sweater - the perfect alternative to the blazer!

Where do you weigh in? Blazers or cardigans?

Cardigans & Blazers Week

After doing a rather thorough tidy this weekend, I decided to count my blazers. Twice. I didn't quite believe the number the first time. Sure enough, both counts came to 15. When I recounted the tale to my mother, she commented that maybe I certainly took Stacey and Clinton's advice on creating structure and fit to heart. I mused on that thought as we perused my preferred Value Village location, carefully avoiding the oh so tempting blazer section.

Again, I mused on this point as I edited the outfit pictures from the last week. Of the four pictures, I had a strong preference for two outfits that featured blazers, which made me feel powerful and pulled together over the two outfits that featured cardigans that made me feel shapeless and schlumpy.

Today, I'll show you the cardigan outfits, taken out of comparison with the blazers, in order to examine them in their own merit.

And yes, the pink with the red belt was my Valentine's day outfit, worn in participation with EBEW - despite posting a week late, and therefore not eligible to link up, I still played along!!

Check back on Thursday to see the blazers. I will note, that since taking count, I did weed out 4 blazers... expect to see those on a Monday post soon!