Okay here we are at day 5 – the belting challenge. Since I’m a HUGE fan of belting EVERYTHING, this wasn’t much of a challenge for me. However, I felt I needed to challenge myself at least a little bit. Usually, I belt things pretty high – I mean right under my chest like I did in my last post. So, I decided moving the belt would be a great idea. That’s how I ended up with this outfit – I moved it down a little bit. I felt like a Pinup Girl.

For the accessories, I layered a couple of necklaces – the one I wore the other day and this pink heart that I love. It’s so sparkly and pretty. I put my pretty flower ring with it again – no other reason than I like it.

My shoes were the black ones I’ve worn twice this week, so I didn’t take anymore pictures of them.

For Color Blocking, I decided to have a little fun. You see, I’m not a huge fan of the trend. I just never thought I would be able to pull it off. So, I put my own twist on it. I wore my teal maxi dress and put a tank top over it. Since I didn’t think it looked right where the tank top cut off, I folded it under and belted it so it didn’t look too awkward where the two pieces meet. I also put on a cardigan to add a third color in there. Of course, it’s like 100 degrees outside, so I rolled up the sleeves. I love the way the skirt swings, though. It’s so flowy and it makes me feel pretty.

Since there was so much going on up above, I decided to wear my neutral shoes. I love these. I wear them all the time … You can tell because they’re peeling around the top. But you can’t see that when they’re on my feet, so I wear them anyway.

And just because I wanted to have a little fun, here are some more pictures.

Today’s challenge was to mix patterns. I’m not much of a pattern mixer, but I have seen it done very well. I have also seen it go oh so wrong. When I took on this challenge, I was expecting it to be terrible. However, I actually think this came out pretty well. I layered one of my favorite tops over a dress that on its own does not flatter me as much as I thought. I put a belt with it to define my waist and layered on some silver accessories to match the silver in the belt.

By the way, excuse the wet hair. I wasn’t completely picture ready yet – but I couldn’t wait.

The shoes are actually the same ones I wore yesterday, so I decided to add a couple more detail shots instead. There is a pattern on my belt, as well. Does that mean I just mixed 3 patterns? I think it does.

For the second day of the challenge, Kayla wanted us to “tuck it in!” Well, I’m not a big fan of tucking it in. But this is a challenge, so I decided I would try it out. First I tried the whole tuck-in-just-the-front thing, but it looked terrible on me – so I scratched it and went back to my closet. All my boyfriend has been talking about is the new Blue October CD and how it came out on Tuesday, so I decided to represent. I wore my Blue October shirt I got from a concert with a long black vest and jeans.

Since I’m in my rock ensemble, I decided to make the accessories a little edgy by keeping them dark. I got the necklace at Walmart last year. I swore I would never buy clothing or accessories from there, but it’s actually really cute and I always get compliments on it.

Since the rest of the outfit is pretty casual for my normal style, I decided to straighten my hair and wear some cute shoes. This is another pair of heels that I wear a lot. I have had these for several years, but lately, they have become a staple in my daily outfits. They’re an easy throw-on-with-anything shoe … And I love them.

First I need to get this out of the way – Yes, I am wearing my glasses. This is not normal and not by choice. I have been wearing contacts since I was in high school. I know it’s bad for you, but I have slept in them almost every night since I started to wear them. Of course, there were the weeks I would go without them to “give my eyes a break,” but that was my choice. Well, Monday morning I woke up only being able to see out of one eye. It seems I lost a contact while I was sleeping. I searched everywhere for it, but couldn’t find it. In all of my contact-wearing years, I have never had a contact fall out of my eye while I was sleeping – and of course it would happen the day the challenge began. Now I have to wear my glasses for the next couple of weeks. Anyway, on with the challenge.

All of these pictures were taken by me with my iPhone, so they’re not the best. Maybe one day my photographer sister will come take my picture.

For the first day of the challenge, we were to pick an item we could remix at least 3 times over the course of this challenge. Since I had to go to work that day, I had to wear something I was able to wear to work that could look good while I was not at work, as well. I chose this top I bought a couple of years ago. I have worn it with other things many times before and like the way it looks when it’s not with the basic black pants I’m required to wear to work. I also layered it with a purple tank top underneath. I’m kind of iffy about the bow on the side – sometimes I like it. Other times, it makes me feel as if it puts way too much emphasis on my hips.

For accessories, I have my big heart ring – no other reason than I love it. It’s my favorite ring, so you may see it several more times during this challenge. I also wore light blue stud earrings to match the blue in my top.

The shoes I picked are some of my favorites. I have worn them so many times because they’re adorable. They’re professional looking, but playful at the same time. So cute.

This is just a quick note to let you all know that I will be competing in Freckles in April’s 21 Day Challenge. I wanted a reason to start posting outfit posts and this seems like the perfect opportunity! If you would like more information, click the image above! It starts tomorrow, so get ready!

Of course, you didn’t think I’d come back to my blog without this column, did you? I didn’t think so.

The beautiful photo above was taken by Eliza Claire. She does amazing work.

An Angry Birds birthday party? Oh, yeah!

Since I am going to school for retail management, I have a business plan in the works that will be complete for my capstone project. This post on A Beautiful Mess makes me even more excited to keep working on it! Great job, Elsie!

I’m a little obsessed with books. Not necessarily reading them, but I love the look of piles of books all over the place. Combining that with fashion is just amazing to me. Therefore, these photos from Janetteria are breathtaking.

I know it’s half a year away, but I’m excited to decorate for Christmas this year. Fancy House Road has some posts about Christmas color trends – like silver and green – and even DIY ideas – like these ornaments – for this coming year. Are you ready?

WWD posted an article about some of the best finds at their Paris Trade Show. My favorites? The headpieces and jewelry at Coralie de Seynes and the fine jewelry at Sigomonta.

Fashionista posted a list of some of Tim Gunn’s best sayings. There are some great ones in here!

Also on Fashionista this week, they announced the (reported) cast list for the Sex and the City prequel. I don’t know – I would love to see Blake as Carrie instead of Samantha. What do you think?

I’m not much of drinker. I can drink socially, but I don’t love the taste of alcohol. I do, however, LOVE jello shots. So good! Here are some pretty ones.

As a lover of old movies – and a sucker for celebrity gossip – I found this article on the affairs of Clark Gable extremely interesting.

Do you remember the Nickelodean shows from the 90’s? They’re back on TeenNick. Clarissa Explains it All is already on my DVR! What do you want to see come back?

I’m not the most organized person in the world. The last couple of years, I’ve actually gotten a lot better. My boyfriend, believe it or not, is the one who helped me a lot with that. Don’t tell him I said that, though. I don’t want him to get a big head. Anyway, if you need help in that department, here are some organizing tips from Stacks And Stacks.

I can't tell you how much I love this video.
It is definitely the phase of creativity I am in right now.

This is another creativity video. Love this one, as well.

I told you I would be back!

I’ve been through a lot in the last couple of months. I’m going to spare you most of the details, because honestly they are a little boring. I did put on a fashion show, which I mentioned in an earlier post, that came out really great! I also competed in a fashion challenge – that I didn’t win, but it was a great experience. My sister wrote about it on her blog, though.

Anyway, I’m starting this off with a new nail polish of the week. I’ve got to admit that I got the idea from several blogs around the internet, but I added my own glittery little touch to it. I think it came out really pretty. Excuse the short nails – they haven’t been getting much care lately.

I promise. I’m still here.

Expect a new post (and a blog that gets updated more regularly…) in the next week.

(Source from this site)

Some things (just a few…) that caught my attention this week…

The first tweet ever – 5 years ago today

Tokyo pictures on Sea of Shoes

Some terrible things happened in Japan this week. … See how you can help – especially if you live in LA.

A friend of mine just started a baking blog called Build a Cake. You should go check it out. She just started it this week, so she is still learning, but she needs readers. So, go!

While we’re on the subject of friends’ blogs, my sister the photographer made one recently called Emma-Lee Photography. Also, Cut a Fine Feather (A little edgier fashion – you know I love that) and fashionably late… (She updates like 5 times a day!) are both awesome blogs run by bloggers who go to my school.

Listen to this song … while you’re alone in your car … on your way to work (or school … or whatever normal routine you have) and tell me you don’t feel like you rule the road.