Sisterly Style

I thought I'd feature this cute little ensemble that my mom put together for my little sister for her senior pictures. I think it's super cute. It's all from Bealls in Clearwater, FL.

The back of the best has a really pretty lace detail, like what you can see on the shoulders. My little sis doesn't seem to think it's nearly as stylish as I do. But I'm more into mixing patterns than she is. And as she will tell you--in her snotty 17-year-old tone--"Sara's style is really Bohemian-chic." So there you go, apparently that is my style. While I do love a flowy Bohemian look, I refuse to be pigeon holed, especially by a teenager:)

M.I.A

I've been blogging my style for all of a few weeks and I've already gone M.I.A. Well, let's just say I've had a tough week. Like really tough. But I'm over it and ready to move on. Because of my week, I only have one outfit photographed for you. I also organized my jewelry last week though, so we'll just make this a hodgepodge of a post.

Here is one of my favorite spring/summer outfits.
Maxi dress from NY & Company. I LOVE this dress and I am so very sad that they don't stock it anymore because I really regret not getting it in a second color to save for when this one is worn out. I got it for just $30, too. Steal! I also really love this soldier-style denim jacket that I'm wearing with it; also from NY & Company. It's my go-to summer take-a-long item.

This outfit also features my items for the $10 shopping challenge. I got the silver bangles for $1 at a flea market and the black beaded bracelet was $7, I bought it at a local hair salon.

I spent several evenings last weekend organizing my jewelry. I have a lot of costume jewelry. I'm thinking about making a reader giveaway out of some of it. What do you guys think?

I should have taken a before picture of my dresser. It was a huge mess. Now I have my black antique glove box on top of my jewelry box. That holds items that are in need of repair. The jewelry box holds everyday items. Long costume necklaces are hung from one of the curly-q's on the mirror and then earrings are on their holder, suspended from another curly-q on the mirror with a re- purposed costume necklace that I never wear.

How about a brief trip through my closet?

I have to share with the husband, uggg, I know, right? Luckily, he is pretty generous with the space and I usually move my strictly winter (during summer) and strictly summer (during winter) to one of the spare bedroom closets. So that helps.

As you can see, my closet is not exactly clutter free. And this is at a point when I consider it pretty neat. I'm a major neat freak, but for whatever reason that does not apply to my closet or my car, those are the exceptions. But when I'm having a particularly wound day, I tend to clean those to things. It's like I save them for when I really need to feel I've accomplished something. I don't know.

Anyway, I don't organize by color. I organize by item. Pants, skirts, sweaters, jackets, blouses, everyday tops and cami's. I tend to want to look for a particular type of item before the color, so this works for me. The laundry basket in the picture is stuff that is about to be donated. The three-drawer stack hold purses and the cages hold tennis shoes, boots and the husbands shoes.

You can see below, I kinda like shoes. And that doesn't even include my boots and most of the sandals. This picture is from when I was working in an office setting so there are lots of pointy toed pumps. I work from home now, so the collection has evolved a little, but not much. I will wear a fab shoe anywhere. I've also added lots of booties with the recent trend. Wow, I just looked more closely at that picture, I only still own eight pair that are pictured! I really need to get up a new photo for this.

Don't forget to enter the Day 2 of the Sizzlin' Summer Giveaway Week at Bon Bon Rose Girls. There is a beautiful layered necklace from Alex Keller, a cordless flat iron, perfect for the woman on the go from Misikko and so much more.

$10 Shopping Challenge

A couple of the fashion bloggers that I read are doing this really fun $10 weekly shopping challenge. I saw that and thought it was something I needed to participate in for sure, because I have a bit of a shopping habit, to say the least, and holding myself to $10 a week would be a blessing for my budget. Here Bombshell Beauty talks about what she picked up this week. And Tina over at T Minus T Plus chats about her amazing deals from the week before.

This week I snagged this fun screen printed tank at Pac Sun for $5.
The print is a city scape with a woman in front.

I also thrifted this cute jersey knit sweater for $4! I love the detail on the back and it also looks really cute with the points tied in front.

Fab Giveaway at Bon Bon Rose Girls

Hop on over to Bon Bon Rose Girls today to check out and enter their amazing giveaway.

Up for grabs:

Personally, I'm completely crushing on the Gumball necklace.

7/14/10 Outfit Post

First of all, Blackberry outfit photos will not suffice for future posts, but it's all I have, so we'll all have to deal with it for now.

Today I had a grown up meeting where I got to leave my home office and meet with a client. I was headed to a college campus, so the day called for a slightly more buttoned up look than I typically might go for.

Black and white plaid swing jacket from Steinmart*.

Blue cami from New York and Company.

Black pull-on pants from New York and Company.

Black and White plaid Anne Klein pumps that I scored on clearance for $10 from Elder Beerman!

And I topped off the look with my "Pebbles" necklace that I picked up at a boutique in Atlanta in March.

* I love Steinmart. If you have one in your area, you must go. It is a great place to find higher end, particularly work attire, at amazing prices.

Where to begin?

<------Let me begin by telling you that I have an unapologetic love of giant shades. Whether they are in or out of style, I always wear them.

I love all things clothing, accessories and being stylish. I've become completely inspired by the new trend of style blogging. Some of my favs include Fab Finds Under 50, Curvy Girl Chic, Bombshell Beauty, ...love Maegan and so many more. I figured, why not, I'm sure people need one more blog to read, so why not mine?

The beauty of style blogging is that we are all so unique, that it makes each blog a little different with the ability to offer something new. I hope that my blog shows my future readers a little bit of my personality, my style--er mix of styles--I refuse to subscribe to just one and provides inspiration to try something new. I plan to chronicle semi-daily outfits, accessories, cosmetics and more.

For now, I'll leave you with a recent history of some of my style choices--the good and the bad.

2008-ish. I wanted a longer shot of this, but it wouldn't upload:(

Short hair, lots of blonde in there.
Very little make up, I was a busy girl at this time.

Loving my scarf, I really wish I could get the full shot to work.

Mid-2008. I really love this picture.
Not only because I loved my outfit that night,
but I think it's a really fun snap of me and the hubs.
Hair was the same cut as above, flipped out, still with the blonde lights.
Totally hot tank from Charlotte Russe.
The back of this tank was to.die.for. I'll get a pic of it someday for here.
Just getting into layering multiple chain necklaces here.

2007. Vacation to Sonoma/SF.
Nothing special here, sort of boring non-stylish stage for me.
Fell into the summer trend of a long tank with a cropped cardi.
Cute, but nothing special.
Nice natural, soft brown hair.

This is all the way back to 2004 at the hubs college graduation.
Simple, flippy hair. Soft make up.
Just getting acquainted with the scarf and loving it.
Totally rocking the very trendy Pea Coat.

And finally, I can't believe I'm posting this!
My college graduation in early 2003.
Clearly, you can't see my outfit,
but you can see that I thought purple hair was a great style choice!
Truthfully, I LOVED it at the time and that's all that really matters.