The (almost) perfect (almost) skirt

Outfit: Dress as skirt, shoes: Target, Shirt: BR outlet, Cardigan: Express, Sunnies: Urban Outfitter, Jewelry: Gifts

This skirt (well dress really) falls into the category of items that I prooobably should not have bought based on the way that it fits when worn the way that it is meant to be worn, but has seen a lot of usage in a modified form.  I've realized lately that I do that a lot (wear things that don't fit the way they're are meant to) and I have to wonder, is it just me that does that?  I know that traditional style advice is that you should be buying things that you really love AND that fit you well, but some days I look into my closet and feel like I don't follow that very well.  And this dress is almost perfect as a skirt- isn't that good enough?

Wildflowers growing

Outfit: Dress, Earmuffs: Ruche; Shirt, Cardi: Anthropologie; Tights (2x): We love colors;= Boots: Madden Girl via Delias, Necklace: Tiffany's (gift)

Note, no wildflowers were harmed during the taking of these photos.  There was however, a sign up letting me know that wildflowers were growing (which is good, since I thought it was mostly grasses and stuff), so this might be a ridiculously pretty place come spring (Texas wildflowers are gorgeous).  A lot of the grasses had previously been tramped down, I'm thinking either by teenage hoodlums, drug dealers, or wildflower eating beasts.

Providing entertainment for the smokers outside the hospital

Guess who's got two thumbs, 30 items of clothing to wear over the next 30-40 days and a tripod?  This guy!  I was planning to do lots of research (i.e. reading last weeks FBFF posts on blogger tools), but decided to be a little more impulsive.  Instead I went over to the local Target and actually managed to find a tripod that is fairly lightweight and compact, so it fits in my everyday bag.  I generally take public trans or bike in, so finding something that can be transported pretty easily was my only real requirement.  I'm not sure if it would hold up to a concentrated cat attack, but it stayed standing in spite of the windy day.  I'm classifying this as a good impulse buy.

Outfit: Dress: Modcloth, Sweater, Leggings, Socks: Target, Boots: Steve Madden Intyce,  Scarf: Urban Outfitters, Necklace, Armwarmers: Ruche

The cold and windy weather worked to my advantage in shooting outside in public, since they weren't too many people around, even though the area near where I work probably has relatively high traffic for Houston (since most people drive everywhere).  In spite of the trees and park-like appearance of this background, the other side is actually a hospital outside which there are frequently patients/staff hanging out (often smoking) or people waiting for the bus.  So there's a lot of pictures where I have a somewhat vague or uncomfortable look on my face.  Like this one.   

Muted primary colors

I admitted to my bf when I bought this and another sweater skirt at Anthropologie the other week, I was afraid that I wouldn't wear them as much as I liked them due to the fact that it's Houston in January (so spring is just around the corner), and that it might not have been the wisest decision ever.

And then I wore them three times in the last week (four if you count last night when I threw this on because my legs were cold and it's like wearing a giant sweater on your legs).

Outfit: Cardi, Sweater: Anthropologie, Shirt: Victoria's Secret, Tights: We Love Colors, Boots: Steve Madden Intyce, Cat: BF's

I think this is why I have a hard time with controlling my buying impulses and also getting rid of things sometimes- even though I didn't know whether this skirt would be totally practical, I've been seeking it out for wear already while more "practical" items will sometime sit unused for some time.  I also find that I tend to go through phases of heavy wear and no wear at all with a lot of things too.  The bf's advice (when I'm sitting on the floor in my closet frustrated and surrounded by piles of clothing, knowing there must be something I should be getting rid of) is to give away everything I haven't worn for 6 months (he doesn't really do anything different for seasonal clothing).  When I protest that I don't wear all my sweaters and tights in the summer, he'll sigh and say alright, how about everything you haven't worn in a year.  This causes me to dejectedly sigh and try to burrow further into my nest of clothing- there's plenty of things that I haven't worn in a year, but what if I start wearing it again all the time, or get rid of it and then realize that it would have been the absolutely perfect thing to wear?  I know, I probably sound like someone on Hoarders, but there have been items that I've set aside for a couple years and only then figured out a new way to wear it, or decided that it looks better on that I remembered- these instances make it hard for me to loosen my grip on clothes.

For those who appreciated the gratuitous cat photobombing on this post near the end of my 30 for 30, I thought I'd include the last photo- they haven't been coming up to me a lot during outfit shots lately, but they will frequently try to swat at the camera and stare at the flashing light.

Reasons why I should get a tripod

1.  So that I don't accidentally end up taking pictures of grass with me in the background
2.  So that my camera doesn't get blown over or fall off of things

Outfit: Cardigan: Gap, Cami: Anthropologie, Skirt, Leggings, Socks: Target, Boots: Steve Madden Intyce, Necklace: Express, Bike: Mommed

These were taken a bit back actually, and now that I'm looking at them, I think I actually like both them and the outfit much better than I did the day of- it's amazing what a little perspective can do to you.

Taking these ended up being a little more epic than I would have liked at the time- when I've taken outfit photos along my bike path, I've usually attempted to co-opt the seat of my bike as a tripod, which sometimes works better than at other times.  For example- when windy?  Not as good an idea.  Also, I had a couple bikers stop to ask if I was alright (you mean, people don't awkwardly try to take pictures of themselves in public all the time?)  So I figured I would go to the lower part of the bike trail and use the slope of the hill as a tripod, which, well- at least when it fell over it didn't have far to go.  Unfortunately, you may have guessed based on the above photos that it was difficult to find an area that didn't have grass that got in the way and provided a more attractive focus point.

This story could also function as part of the list of why I shouldn't have nice things- inevitably cheap things seem to bounce back better from falls (and they're easier to replace).  Another one to add to the list?  I broke the beautiful, nice (expensive) stand mixer the bf had thoughtfully given to me for my birthday this weekend.  I accidentally got a spatula too close and it won the fight.  Now, obviously this could have (and should have) been avoided by being more careful- but I'm pretty sure that something similar has happened to my $6 hand mixer from Walgreen's that I've been using for the past 4 or so years.  Sigh.  Anyone know how to go about trying to fix fancy household appliances (or at least figure out how much it'll cost)?

Sometimes I like to dress like a present

And by present, really it's just a bow belt.  Although this plaid could totally be a wrapping paper pattern- I recently learned from the bf's family that using wrapping paper with a straight line pattern (lines, plaids, repeated squares with things in them) is the greatest thing ever for not looking like a drunken monkey wrapped your present.  Most of what gets posted on here is stuff worn to school, but ya'll are getting a rare peek at a date night cupcake look.  By which I mean that I had time to change before we went out for a date instead of our usual surprise date nights.  Although surprise dates are not so much of a surprise, it's more of a we're both tired, so let's pay someone to make dinner for us.  I suppose I should have taken a detail shot, but the only really special thing about the outfit is that I got to wear less practical shoes- they're fairly comfortable for the height, but it's hard to walk at my normal pace, and it kinda throws me off when I'm trying to work at my lab bench wearing anything above a two inch height- I'm just not used to the angle.

Outfit: Dress: Target, Cardigan: Modcloth, Shoes, Liz Claibourne, Tights: We love colors, Belt: from an Anthro dress, Necklace: gift

Date night consisted of convincing the bf to drive (excellent), dinner at Carraba's (tasty Italian) mostly funded by a Christmas gift card from my brother and his fiance (thanks dudes), followed by seeing The King's Speech at the local theater that serves drinks (totally awesome except the parts where I kept spilling my wine- fortunately no clothes were harmed).  People go out to eat in Houston a lot, but it's a little less crazy to go out during the week, and last night was no exception.  We're both pretty impatient and usually hungry, making it even more frustrating to go from place to place only to be told there's an hour, hour and a half wait, so we try to do weeknight date nights.  Do you have a night you tend to favor for going out to eat/date nights?