Put a little prep in your step

In college, I hated that people would tell me "this ___ looks like something you would wear".
I had friends whose style I felt was so unpredictable and they could literally wear anything they wanted; I wanted so badly to be that person.
I went through phases of wearing baggy clothes, clothes that were too short for me, lots of dark clothes- all in efforts to keep a "well-balanced" closet.

The problem was, I never felt comfortable in most of the clothes I wore.
I was so caught up with trying to be trendy and stylish that I sacrificed my confidence.
I would try to wear those baggy, aztec-type sweaters and I just felt lost inside of clothes- I had no control over my style and certainly didn't felt comfortable with myself.

At 25, I am finally ok with being the preppy person I am.
In fact, I now fully embrace it- bring on the stripes, glitter, and hearts.
This "style crisis" was one of the reasons I started Real Life Dress Up- I have experienced how it feels to not feel comfortable with yourself and I have taken control back from my clothes.
I now wear clothes that I feel confident in and sometimes that means "skipping" on certain trends.


My tip to you- identify what you feel comfortable & confident with and embrace it.

& if your style happens to be more on the preppy side, then this is the blog for you :)

Sweater: F21 (old)

Shirt under sweater: Ross (old)

Jeans: F21 (old)

Shoes: GoJane

What is your personal style? Has anyone else experienced this shift?

Xoxo,

Nicole

Linking up: Penniless Socialite// Style Elixir

Legging Loophole

I've said it once & I'll say it again- casual Friday is where it's at. 
I don't know what "it" is- but I'm confident it involves the option to dress casually.
Don't get me wrong- I love dressing up just as much as the next girl... but I want it to be by choice.
You can find me in professional attire from Monday to Thursday and on Friday, I refuse to wear anything that is acceptable on professional attire days.

However, casual Friday strictly excludes leggings.
And much against my pleading, it doesn't look like leggings will ever be approved.
When I found these pants at H&M, I knew I found a loophole to the no legging rule.
Technically- these aren't leggings, they are just really tight pants.
Do my legs know any difference?
Nope. They share the same comfort as my trusted leggings.
& here we have it folks, the leggings loophole. 

 

Shirt: Old Navy 

Pants: H&M (12.95 right now!)

Happy weekend, lovies!

Love it or List it: Clothing Edition.

For years I have read the "rules" of cleaning out your closet.
"If you haven't worn it in x amount of months, get rid of it"
"Turn your hangers around when you wear the shirt..."'
These methods have never worked for me and I finally realized why...
Because I need to understand WHY I need to get rid of something.
Placing a time limit on my clothing was never a good enough reason to purge an item so my clothes would continue to pile up.

Now I have adopted a new method that works for me; it's based off one of my favorite shows- Love it or List it.
It's a fun way for me to clean out my closet and create some outfits, and in the end, I have to make the decision of if I am going to "love" an item and keep it,
or if I am going to "list" it, which really just means get rid of it. 
To help make the decision, I have to create at least 3 different outfits with the item that I love.
If I can't, it gets listed and is out of my closet forever.

Today's item: A sweater that I bought for $10 about a year ago.

 

 

So, after a couple outfits I usually begin to develop a pattern & can ask myself:

Are you going to love it? Or are you going to list it?

Today's verdict: List it. 

The cut is wrong, it does nothing for me & it's not versatile at all. 

This decision was really easy and I only had to create 3 outfits to understand that it's not worth holding onto. 

Does anyone else create weird games for themselves to complete tasks they don't really want to?

Neutral Sweaters

I am loving the neutral sweaters right now.
They are so versatile & will run you all the way through fall & winter- and these ones have such cute details.

Which are your favorites?
I think I have to buy #6- I never knew that buffalo could be so cute. 

 

one// two// three 

four// five// six

From Casual Friday to a Concert

Casual Friday is my favorite day of the work week; I seriously get upset if I miss casual Friday and have to wait a whole week to wear jeans to work.
But, since I am still at work, I try not to go too casual.
Today was going to be an even bigger challenge because the hubby & I are going to the John Mayer concert right after work (with no chance to change), so I needed an outfit that I could wear to work, but easily converted to a casual vibe without having to change.

Work:

 

 

Night: Throw on a camel bomber, pull a teal clutch out of my purse & I am ready for the night! 

 

Shirt: my favorite Kohl's shirt

 Scarf: Old Navy/old: similar

Jeans: Forever 21 Skinny Jeans

Shoes: Steve Madden Pumps via Ross 

Camel Bomber: Target (can't find online, but very recent purchase) 

What is your favorite casual Friday outfit?? 

Happy weekend time, lovies!

Xoxo,

Nicole

Linking up: Vodka Infused Lemonade & Hunters of Happiness

The evolution of the outfit

When I found this sweater at Target, I loved it and instantly thought of pairing it with my cobalt blue peplum skirt.
I put the outfit on together & realized that it failed miserably; I actually gasped when I put it on and realized how bad it looked.
(**I originally wasn't going to post a picture, but decided that it is part of the process & it's important to see that clothes can be very unflattering if you let them be. It's important to keep trying until you get the look that you originally wanted) 

1. This was the outfit that looked great in my head. On me, it looked miserable & was completely unflattering. I identified the skirt as the part that wasn't working, so I kept the sweater on & switched pants.

 

2. I added a pair of light blue corduroy pants and blue flats and knew I was on the right track, but I still wasn't convinced of the outfit.  I decided to see if it was the shoes or the pants I wasn't liking, so I tried to swap out the pants first.

 

3. I instantly knew I liked the jeans better because it made the sweater look less juvenile, but still felt a little matchy-matchy so I added the bubble necklace for some contrast. I liked the direction I was heading, but I wanted to make one more adjustment--- the competing shoes.

 

4. I swapped the blue shoes for some nude pumps and loved the chic look it created. The blue shoes were competing with the necklace and sweater and the dark denim with nude pumps allow for full focus on the sweater detail. 

By identifying pieces along the way that I wasn't crazy about, I was able to end up with an outfit that I love. When an outfit doesn't look the way you intended it to look- keep trying!

Have you ever ended up with an outfit that you loved as a result of evolving your closet? 

P.S. I am loving the comments and support--- you guys are amazing!!

Xoxo, Nicole  

Here's a sneak peak of tomorrow's post: 

Linking up: Everyday Fashion & Finance

Sequins & Plaid- A girl's best friend

My heart dropped when I saw this shirt in Target.
Sequins and plaid? It's a girls dream shirt.
I instantly grabbed it, but then stopped to try to justify the purchase & one of the biggest questions I was asking myself was "can I wear this to work?"
I knew it would be tricky and that I risked the chance of being too matchy-matchy or looking like a business farmer; but I was willing to take the chance.
& boy am I glad I did.
I love this shirt paired with this satin light pink skirt- it takes it away from looking too much like Christmas and adds a nice feminine touch.
I can't wait to wear this pair this shirt with weekend wear; boots, sweaters, chambray- the possibilities are endless!

Can you wear sequins and plaid to work?
Thanks for visiting! Make sure to follow for more outfits, and daily savings tips!


I just brainstormed some topics that I was thinking of posting in the next few weeks:
-Love it or List it, Closet Edition: A new way of cleaning out your closet
-Ways to save on JCrew, The Limited, Banana Republic, etc
-How I stick to my small Dave Ramsey clothing budget
-How I brainstorm before making new purchases
-What to do with inspiration images instead of buying new clothes

What are your thoughts? Anything stand out?

 

Shirt: Target (here)

Skirt: H&M (thrifted for $3)

Linking up here:
 

Old Navy Sweaters

Every Tuesday night, Donnie & I have our Dave Ramsey classes.
I usually have to go straight from work & after sitting in my work clothes all day, I don't want to spend another 3 hours in them- so I need something easy to change into before leaving work.
When I saw these cute graphic sweaters at Old Navy, I knew these would be something easy to change into or just something easy to throw on during the weekends.

When I first bought one of these sweaters, the Old Navy worker asked if I needed help about 743534 times- he probably thought I was crazy as I went back and forth; grabbing a sweater and putting it back, grabbing another sweater, walking around with it, putting it back, grabbing the sweater from before- it was quite the process!
I bought a different one in the store, but it paid off because this one was on sale at Old Navy! It looks like all of the rest are on sale right now & they are all SO cute.

 

Sweater: Old Navy (on sale here)

Jeans: Forever 21 (here)

Necklace: Forever 21 (here)

Flats: Target/old (similar)

I think I may need to buy this one for $12....

Are you as crazy about these sweaters as I am?

Linking up here:

Just another lazy Monday

Mondays are by far my most lazy day when I am getting dressed.
After 25 years of life, you would think that I would begin to anticipate that Monday comes after Sunday, but I never seem to quite make that connection.
Monday morning always hits me like a ton of bricks- thrown at my face.

Luckily, dresses exist and they are a quick way to get dressed on lazy Mondays.
Throw on a dress and a necklace & you are done! 

 

Dress: Target (very recent, on clearance)

Bag: Phillip Lim- Target 

What is everyone else's lazy Monday cure?

The story of my $8 Phillip Lim purse

For weeks I have been watching everyone on blogland post about their 3-1 Phillip Lim purchases at Target.
I've window shopped online a few times and one time this little baby made its way into my imaginary cart.
However, like all online window shopping experiences go, the shopping ended when I hit that little red exit in the corner and carried on with life. 

I was at Target today and, like all good Target trips, I ended up browsing through the purses. 
As I was looking through some clearance purses, my eyes drifted to the purse I remembered from my online experience, but I instantly assumed it was just placed in the clearance section by mistake and kept walking.
15 seconds later, my natural curiosity kicked in and I slowly reversed.
I held my breath as I flipped over the price tag; confident that there would be no red tag.
I literally squealed when I saw the red tag and when I saw the price, I squinted my eyes and looked closer; surely I was reading the tag wrong and this $45 purse wasn't on sale for $8.

While checking out, the cashier loudly gasped at the tag and I thought she was going to tell me that the purse had been terribly mismatched.
But she didn't. She simply rang it up and we both watched as $8.76 popped up on the screen.
After lots of oohing and aahing from her and other employees, I was told that online items are marked down when returned to stores because there is no place for them.
I was also told that deals like this are not rare and that in fact, the grey one has popped up a few times in the last couple of weeks.
Moral of the story?

Run to Target. Every Target. And go every day.

New to the blog? Thanks for swinging by & be sure to follow me for more helpful ways to save! Linking up here: