My guide to getting dressed

As (sort-of) requested by Sarah, my guide to getting ready in the morning:

1.  Move to a city where the cost of living is great, so that even though you make next to nothing, you can still buy clothes you like without feeling too guilty.

2.  Choose a career path that rarely requires you to be at work/school at a specific time (and having a boss that's not a morning person helps in my field as well).

3.  Pick out something from the closet that looks pretty.  Find something to match it with.  Add a belt.  No, that's not quite it, try another belt.

4. Discard outfit on the bed or the floor.  Pick something else out of the closet.  Realize you have the perfect shirt to go with it, if you could only find it.  No, it's not hanging up.  Or on the floor.  At last success!  Turns out it was chilling out on the bench on the other side of your room.

5.  Outfits 2-x are also discarded onto the pile of growing rejected clothing.  Stand around in despair that you have nothing to wear, even though you're also trying to downsize your closet.

6.  Brush teeth and go sit at the computer checking email.  When you wander back through the closet (my closet is like a really small hallway between the bedroom and bathroom), think of something else to try on.

7.  Outfit done, it's time to put on your lady face!  Just kidding, grad school has led to you giving up on wearing make-up on a regular basis.  If you set the bar low, you won't come into work to comments of wow, you look tired, on the days you don't have time in the morning to put it on.*

8.  Try your hair out in a couple of styles and realize that ultimately you're going to need to put it in a low bun or ponytail to fit the bike helmet over your head and that if you wear it down you will get A) hot, B) a mouthful of hair, C) increasingly annoyed by it throughout the course of the day and put it up anyways, or D) all of the above.  Roll with this.

9) Find some shoes that aren't pressing on any sore spots and can hopefully be relied for getting you through the day that lies ahead.

10) Gauge the increasingly larger pile of clothes on the floor.  Decide that things can stay how they are- if everything's out anyways, it'll totally be easier to find stuff!**   If the bf is coming over later, shove everything into a more compact pile on the closet floor that looks slightly more intentional.

To be fair, just like anyone else, some days are easier to get dressed than others, but for the most part I have a lot of clothes that I enjoy wearing, and while I typically only allow for 10-15 minutes to get ready before I want/need to be out of the door, most of that time is spent in the closet.  I think my guidelines are more along the lines of:
-buying things that I really like in some way
-having some idea of what works for me in terms of color and style (navy and maroon, full skirts that hit above the knee, defining my waist in some way)
-being unafraid to wear things (in an unexpected way, even if they don't necessarily follow the second guideline, etc)
For example, this dress is two things that I don't normally wear- a pastel and it has a triangle shaped top, which typically is not made large enough to fit my shape.  At some point (after seeing it on Kim of Anthroholic and Maria of Infinite Whimsy), I decided that I wanted it even though I don't typically wear mint.  It's a Target buy, so I wasn't making a huge investment if I didn't wear it that often, but I've been surprised at how often that I've pulled it out and that I've enjoyed wearing it.  Yesterday I layered both under and over it with a short sleeved button-down and a librarian cardi.  I liked doing this sort of thing even before I started reading style blogs, but I'm always delighted to see more examples of it on the internet for continued inspiration (check out Tania of What would a nerd wear for some good ones)
I love these Seychelles shoes (bought from Anthropologie, but available elsewhere too) because of the detailing.
The necklace I wore yesterday was semi DIY, by which I mean that I this key necklace I love, but I have a hard time wearing it, since the key and the necklace (which it can't be taken off) are totally different colors- instead I wound up grabbing a chain from another necklace and this key that came attached to the tag of a hoodie.

*As an aside, I did wear more make-up in high school than I do now, including the couple times a week I got ready in an ice skating rink bathroom after waking up at the crack of dawn to go practice- but it's never been a lot of make-up.  I've never gotten the hang of putting on foundation, so I've never worn it.  Sometimes I think that I should try to act like more of a grown-up and wear make-up, but really I'm totally okay with how I look with or without it, so I typically go the low-maintenance route.

** No, it will not be easier to find things.

6 comments:

  1. I love your outfit! Also I'm in love with those shoes- are they comfortable for being on your feet all day?

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  2. Heather, you know exactly how I feel about those shoes. You look so beautiful and put together, and you are a layering Jedi. And I guess we have the same routine in the morning - my pile of rejected or semi-clean clothes is growing to unreal heights and is comprised mostly of tights. (Mmmmmm.... tights.) Thanks for the step-by-step approach (my favorite step was "Roll with this!") and for sharing your sexy photos. I said it yesterday, but this blog pretty much makes my life happier.

    P.S. I got this text from Jamaican guy while in class today: "Put ure phone on vibrate in ure lap... I'll call it. ;)"

    You can't make that shit up.

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  3. Sarah! What is going on with Jamaican guy??? Also I agree that this blog makes my life better/happier/other positive adjectives.

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  4. Not sure what's going on... Nothing at the moment, though.

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  5. I'm hoping that these shoes will get up to the insane comfort level that some of my other shoes have, but right now they're just okay. I was on my feet for a few hours straight and didn't have anything cutting into my feet, which is a frequent problem for me, but they're a smidge small and haven't seen a lot of use yet, so they weren't like resting my feet in a cloud. But for a 2 1/2 inch heel, they're pretty darn good, and I biked to and from school in them just fine. Plus the dishwasher asked me in the hall "How do you walk in those shoes?" which I'm going to take as she liked them (or she didn't realize how tall I was and thought they were a higher heel than they are).

    Oh tights. I've pulled them out twice, but it's been a high of 80s here, so they're still neatly packed away. You guys, this blog is also making my life happier- I love being able to connect with ya'll on a daily basis and I'm hoping this'll stand as proof for defending my closet to the boyf (No, really, I do wear a lot of clothes and shoes- check on my blog!)

    And... did you text anything back?

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  6. Heather, I think you live in one of the innermost circles of Hell. I love summer and warm weather, don't get me wrong, but I love fall even more. I get to wear tights, yo!

    Can you write those shoes into your will so that I get them? I'm glad you survived the day in them.

    I texted back "LMAO" (because I was), which was followed by "You know you like it."

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