Style Imitating Art: Aspens, Northern New Mexico

It's Style Imitating Art time! As a reminder, this week's inspiration was Aspens, Northern New Mexico by the great Ansel Adams. Let's get started! (Wednesday night side note: I logged on tonight to check on comments and...apparently I didn't click Publish. Fail. I apologize that this post is late!)

Stephanie said that this was a great choice for a winter palette, which I didn't even think of but she's totally right! And she looks awesome--I've never thought to wear a maxi skirt in the winter but I'm going to have to do it now!



I was really hoping someone would pull out some plaid this week, and Mike delivered! He looks ready to spend some time among the aspens.



I am really excited about Kezzie of Kezzie AG's pattern. It matches the tree in front so well!



Melissa of Peace and Crumbs did a wonderful job styling her outfit--I love the little details like the stripes on her skirt and the circle belt!



AW at Rabbit Style News is participating in SIA for the first time, and I hope she sticks around! She looks incredibly sharp.



First of all, I'm still so in love with Jen's bangs (they frame your face so well!). Her post on Librarian for Life and Style details her super-textured outfit, which is a great way to interpret this week's inspiration!



I love Erin of Loop Looks' camel coat--it compliments the feel of Aspens perfectly!



Noelle of The Classy Junk has more chutzpah than I do because all weekend during our snow storm I just wore yoga pants. She looks awesome!



My cocreator of SIA, Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, looks super ready for crappy weather. I usually look like a frump in long coats so I am quite jealous!



And there's me. My quest for cords that fit FINALLY came to a happy end!



Thank you all for participating! It's so exciting to have a big crowd this week!

Hello from the other side

Jacket: Target | Dress: Old Navy | Belt: Target | Tights: probably Target | Boots: Target

The other side of the holidays, that is. My boyfriend put up his tree, which is 100% decorated with ornament discards from my parents. I kind of love it though--it's like my tree, but somewhere else! And it's nice to look at all the ornaments and think of all the people that have helped make these ornaments, especially my grandmother. She died when I was only 5, but I have some fond and comical memories of her. In addition, we found a black Santa ornament, painted by her. She took me to an AME church when I was little and she drove an old Red Cross station wagon stuff to the gills with crap. So when I look at the tree, with all its unique and weird and cute and kitsch ornaments, I'm reminded of her and how funny she was. And then I look at the bottom of the tree and see a cat rolling around under it and knocking a poor wool cardinal off its branch. Perfect.

Sitting duck

Top: handmade; shirt itself from Walmart | Skirt: Talbots | Flats: Target

I only wear this top once every four years or so. I'd say I don't know why, but I know exactly why: it's too short. You guys, it's practically a crop top on me. I was a moron and found the perfect shirt for making my own version of the 2008 ModCloth shirt above, and then chucked it into the wash and it shrunk. Of course, I didn't notice until I had spent dozens of hours stitching on strips of sequins, and was like I DON'T CARE I'LL WEAR IT ANYWAY. And then I didn't. But I should just sew a strap of fabric on the bottom to make it longer, right? Red, white, something different? I don't know. But I do know that this shirt has survived at least 6 serious closet weedings, so maybe I need to take it a little more seriously.

Runner's high

Shades: Party City | Necklace: J.Crew Factory | Top: J.Crew Factory | Skirt: this one from Modcloth | Wedges: Target | Lips: NARS Funny Face

I ran (like legit ran, except for a few walks) my second 5k on Saturday, and managed to not die! My only goal was to make it in less than an hour, and my time ended up being 45:48! I'm really pleased, because I'm generally a pretty slow runner. If I had known I was so close to under 45, I would have pushed it a little harder--but regardless, I'm happy. I loved the race I ran (it's a small one in Cardiganland), and now I have a legit 3.1 mile course fairly close to where I live that I can train on! I'm already aiming for a 5k in January and I'm hoping to shave my time down to sub-40 by then. Ultimately, my official year long goal is to run the Great Smoky Mountains Half Marathon on September 10th, 2016. I might be insane, and I might have to walk parts of it, but I'm doing it. And I'm really excited. Doing the math, it makes sense--I can spend the rest of this year focusing on my 5k work, then start nailing down a 10k training program. The half marathon training program I've found is a 16 week program, and that leaves me with the first five months of 2016 to really get ready for that. I have no delusions of grandeur here; I know I'm in for pain and misery and torture and long nights at the gym and a lot of hours on my sneakers, but I'm kind of looking forward to it.

I mean, I'm going to hate myself immensely while I'm running. But I'm still going to do it.

Style Imitating Art: Leopard I

It's Style Imitating Art time! Yessssss. This week's inspiration was Leopard I by Megan Carn. Let's get to it!

First up is Stephanie, who doesn't have (a lot of) leopard--but that doesn't matter! Her outfit still rings true to the painting, and even the backdrop matches!



Next is Erin of Loop Looks, who looks super sharp. I love that she licked a location that also matches this week's painting!



Noelle of The Classy Junk embodied this week's inspiration without the leopard! (Well, mostly.) I love that she still has a pattern in the same family going!



Carriehas a really cute top that emulates the same pattern as the leopard. It has a really cool vibe, and the colours complement the painting, too!



SIA co-curator Jen of Librarian for Life and Style found a light blue cardigan to wear with her leopard skirt. And red lips! Everything about her outfit works so well together!



And other SIA co-curator Salazar at 14 Shades of Grey is wearing burgundy, which I would have never even thought of. But Salazar knows how to class it up better than I do so I'm not surprised ;)



And then there's me! I dig this outfit, even if my pencil skirt kind of hung off me all day...



I love this week's entries. Everyone looks vibrant and bold (I guess leopard does that to you, even if you don't actually wear it), and these outfits are so stylish. Thank you all for participating!

Glamour

Jacket: Forever 21 via Dani | Top: J. Crew Factory | Skirt: Target | Tights: oh, probably Target | Heels: Urban Outfitters | Nails: butter London Artful Dodger

Something about the photo above--the shot of my moneymaker--feels really 90s to me. Maybe it's the leopard. Maybe it's the red. Maybe it's the gigantic hair. But whatever it is, I love it. Getting my glamour shots on.

Swing by tomorrow morning for this week's SIA roundup! Everyone has great outfits this week!

What to wear to a Kesha Concert (again)

Kesha
September 19th @ 9:45pm
Upper intramural fields, Clemson University, Clemson, SC

S. wore:



K. wore:



L. wore:



I wore:



Talk about usual suspects--all this crew has been on AC at one point or another for going to a concert with me! K. and I surprised L. with with a ticket to see Kesha with us for her birthday, and we were all stuffed into my Prius for the twoish hour ride to Clemson. The school's performance/production group brought Kesha in, and since she hasn't done a great lot of live performing recently, we jumped at the chance to see her live (again for most of us; this was L.'s first time). K. dumped an entire bag of glitter into her weave, and even now at work I find little clusters of purple glitter on the carpet and in the bathroom. But anyway--the show was supposed to start at 9, and when 9 rolled around, we were still waiting in line and my poor friends experienced their first fan crush. (Or maybe poor me, since it wasn't my first by a long shot.) We finally got around to getting into the field Clemson had blocked off for the show and the show didn't start until 9:45pm, but it was great. Kesha looks happy and healthy and sounds fantastic, and while her set was nothing new, it was still a lot of fun and involved an enormous blow up rainbow to celebrate gay marriage's legality. Kesha mentioned that she was sick all day and her doctor told her to cancel, so I'm really glad we didn't end up with another Miley situation, especially since we had to drive almost two hours to get to Clemson! And Kesha just ain't that kind. She made it happen, and it was awesome.

And as a note: of all the concerts I've been to, I've never been to one whose parking situation was as well done as Clemson's. The Intramural fields were all used as parking, and they were all very well lit (they have sports lighting so our pictures turned out great, and we were super safe!) Clemson's production club also had the police on hand to help direct traffic. This is probably peanuts to them compared to the games at Death Valley, but still--for those of us who are used to pitch black parking lots and sitting for an hour waiting to get out of the lot in the first place, the organization and setup of the concert were greatly appreciated!

The water is wide

Scarf: JCPenney | Jacket: Target | Dress: Gap Outlet | Belt: Target | Tights: Target | Cowboy boots: Belk

Cardiganland spent most of this past weekend bracing for impact, and expecting the worst, but I'm very lucky to say that most of Joaquin missed my part of the state. We got plenty of rain--about 7 inches overall--and one person did die in the area last week, but the situation could have been much, much worse. I have friends who live in Columbia but were in Charlotte over the weekend and now they can't get home, because every interstate between the two cities is flooded in some areas. I hate that there are parts of South Carolina that are in such dire straits right now. It's devastating. But one thing I know about this state is that for better or worse, people band together. And in this situation, I believe it will be for the better.

Check out Jen's blog tomorrow for more outfits inspired by this week's SIA selection!

Mad for plaid

Jacket: Target | Top: Target | Pants: Old Navy | Fledges: Target | Necklace: aptoart on Etsy

I have been looking for plaid pants for three falls now. It's taken THAT LONG to find a pair that suited me. I checked all over the place and liked a few pairs, but I really struggle to find pants that fit--I'm 5'10 and I have a long torso, but my legs are comparatively stubby. Usually pants are either too long, or they're baggy, or they're tight in the waist, whatever. But Old Navy! They came through! And in a big way, because these plaid pants are Philadelphia Eagles green! Fat lot of good it did, since they lost last night (boooooooo), but I did what I could to support the cause. Happy football season, y'all!