It's official: If I'm not at work or working on an assignment, I am in full-on hibernation mode. I had yesterday off for President's Day, but took today off as well thanks to either a stomach bug or something I ate yesterday. And with the frigid temps outside, all I want is to hide under 18 thousand layers of blankets and sleep until it's spring. Heck, I'd take temps in the 30s if I could get 'em; it's 17 right now (4 with the wind chill) and we're not supposed to see anything above freezing until the weekend...when we're supposed to get another dump of snow before the temps plummet down to highs in the 20s again. I don't know if this is winter's last dying gasps or if things are gonna stay this crappy until after Daylight Savings kicks back in, but I sure hope it's the first.
But enough about how much I hate the cold and the snow.
t-shirt: H&M
cardi: Forever 21
jeans and flats: Target
necklace: Jane.com
I'm fairly sure I've blogged an outfit like this before, but I have this lovely new, unshrunk mustard cardigan and I went to a trusty ol' standby for styling it. Honestly, I've been doing a lot of repeats lately; this weather just saps all the energy out of me and makes it hard to style an outfit creatively. But I said I was done complaining about the weather, right?
I guess it could be worse. Now I have an excuse to stay in and work on projects in the evenings and on weekends; I don't feel like such a recluse for spending my Friday nights with a hot glue gun when everyone else I know is doing the same with Netflix or what have you. And the central Ohio area has been spared a lot; we've received nothing compared to the feet of snow that's been dumped on New England this year. Still, I find myself daydreaming more and more about the Mexican beach where Matt and I will be spending our honeymoon. We're inside the three-month mark now, and I couldn't be more excited!
Okay, yesterday things got a bit heavy and I was/am dealing with some triggers. I'd be lying if I said I'm feeling back to 100% normal, but my motto is "fake it till ya make it" so I'm just gonna do that. We now return to your regularly scheduled frivolity.
t-shirt: thrifted
jeans, flats: Target
belt: H&M
necklace: Jane
In other news, I am so so relieved to finally be showing some fairly sharp pics again on the blog. I think I've finally figured out the weirdness I was experiencing, namely that I had changed my focus area settings without realizing it and was messing around with pre-focusing my camera on a stationary object instead of letting the remote focus for me because apparently my cheapo remote does that. That noise you hear is me cheering, obvs. And okay, maybe these still aren't totally perfect but they're such a vast improvement from the entirely-out-of-focus-crap I've been shooting that I don't even care.
I don't usually tuck my t-shirts into my jeans because hello, nerd alert but honestly, the pearls kind of give it more of a ladylike vibe than a dorky one, I think. Plus, leopard print. Speaking of, this is an H&M belt so obviously it is falling apart after like a year of ownership, so I am in desperate need of a replacement. Never thought I'd be saying that about something with leopard print on it, but there you go. So, a call-out: Has anyone seen something like this belt recently, at a reasonable price?
T-shirt: Old Navy
skirt: JCPenney
heels: Target
necklace: Jane.com
Guys, can we just talk a second about how awesome T-shirts are? Seriously though. They're comfortable, versatile and basically the first item on every "closet staples" list ever made. I love T-shirts; I have more than I could count. A lot are stuffed in drawers--those are the shapeless participation shirts from races, the concert tees that cost $40 but somehow seem worth it, the annual show tops from my marching band and theatre and Greek life days. (Don't get any ideas; I wasn't in a sorority but I did join a couple co-ed scholastic fraternities in college.) Those tees are great, and I love them, but they're usually more sentimental than stylish and are worn more often as PJs or workout tops than as blog-worthy outfits. (Though one has made a couple of appearances around these parts; also, you're welcome for the linkback to the hilariously bad three-year-old post from the very early days of VM.)
But where the shapeless, unflattering T-shirts tend to flop, a nice fitted tee almost never fails. I have many 10 or 15 such tops in various colors and basic patterns, and of course I'm always snapping up "just one more." I think my favorite way to wear them is dressed up for work. It feels like of like cheating the dress code, while still looking professional. But seriously...comfort AND classy attire? Ultimate win.
The key to dressing up a tee for work, I think, is to make sure the rest of your outfit is ultra-polished. Find bottoms that you can tuck the tee into and that compliment the form-fitting-ness of the tee. If I were wearing this outfit with pants, I'd go for a wider leg or maybe some dress capris. If you can add a coordinating belt, you're good to go. (I didn't have any such belt for this outfit, unfortunately, but I think it works nonetheless.) Of course, heels and pearls or another classy statement necklace always lend a sophisticated air to an otherwise casual piece.
How do you like to style your T-shirts?
When I first started blogging, I tended to wear a lot of neutral colors. Black, gray, white, beige...that was my comfort zone. Every once in a while, I'd throw in a pop of red or yellow. Now, I'm mixing colors and patterns with the best of them. I might stick more to the "safe" zone of color-/pattern-mixing, but I still do it.
Usually.
sweater: New York & Company
blouse: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
khaki skinnies: Old Navy
boots: Target
necklace: Jane.com
Sometimes, it's kind of nice to go back to my roots, so to speak. Though even this outfit is a far cry from the black shirt/khaki pants combo I would have been wearing three years ago, when I first started brainstorming the idea of a style blog. The pearls! The stars-as-polka-dots sheer blouse! The layering! The khakis-as-skinnies-tucked-into-boots! I would have worn none of it, I tell you.
Except the sweater. That baby was purchased nearly three and a half years ago, when I first entered the professional world and needed a business casual wardrobe, stat. New York & Company, you've done well for me.
Oh, and if that last photo looks different, it's because it is. Slightly. I played around with sharpening the image in Photoshop's RAW editing mode before using the sharpening actions I've mentioned before. (My original post on sharpening photos is pretty poor; it's little more than a link to these three pages. I'm going to do some more research on sharpening in the RAW editor, then I'll come back and do a comprehensive post on the whole shebang. So...stay tuned!
Okay. So for those of you who have been long-time readers (or as long-time as you can get for a blog that's two and a half years old) will recognize this as the post where I apologize profusely yet somehow lackadaisically for the upcoming infrequency of posts. Yup, that pesky thing called "life" is happening again (go figure) and I'll be a bit quiet for the remainder of the month. But instead of the old "freelance work is burying me alive!" excuse, I actually have a fun reason.
Matt and I are moving!
We'll still be in Columbus--in fact, our new house is only about half a mile from our current one--but the new place is a major upgrade. It's a side-by-side duplex, so we have an upstairs for the first time! (Our current place is a one-over-the-other duplex, so our neighbors live above us.) Also, it has air conditioning, about 50% more space, a claw-foot bathtub, and an enormous six-by-nine-and-a-half-foot room that will be my very own closet. Needless to say, we're chomping at the bit.
Fortunately, we find ourselves with a bit of an overlap. Or a lot of an overlap. More than three weeks' worth. We got the keys last week and started painting over some ugly trim, narrowing down paint choices for the rest of the house, and just generally figuring out how much furniture and whatnot we'll need to fill the space. This weekend we'll paint pretty much every room in the place, thanks to some help from friends, and next weekend we officially move in. Then it's just a matter of cleaning up the old place, filling a multitude of nail holes, and all the other little things that will help us get our deposit back.
So what does this mean for Verbal Mélange, you might be wondering? Or not, I mean, I'm sure no one is as deeply interested/invested in this little corner of the internet as I am. But in case you're curious, I'll tell you. It means the aforementioned shortage of posts for now, but also a HUGE FLOOD of house-related posts in the near future. I'll still post outfit photos, of course, along with the occasional recipe. But the DIY- and decor-related stuff around here is gonna be featured in a big way. What can I say? I love to nest. And this house is actually worth nesting in, unlike our current one that features not-up-to-code flooring, teeny tiny spaces and generally sub-par potential.
So for now, I leave you with these unfortunately blurry photos. Sorry, guys...I didn't realize it until I deleted the others from this shoot. Womp womp.
dress: secondhand
button-down: New York & Company
shoes: Buckle
necklace: The Limited
chambray, jacket: thrifted
skinnies, flats: Target
belt, necklace, bracelet: H&M
You guys, I think spring has finally arrived. Today I got to experience a balmy 71 degrees and it. was. glorious. But here's the weird thing about Ohio. The lows on Friday night reached down to 29. Wednesday is looking like it'll see a high of 81...and then Friday, we're back to high 48/low 37. Seriously, Ohio? It's spring. Stop trying to pretend otherwise.
You wanna know how I know what Friday's low temp was? Well, I looked it up, but I also lived it, man. One of our friends' parents has some land outside of town, so Matt and I and about 20 of our friends camped out Friday night. There was a little pond, a campfire and lots of grilling/toasting. (And booze. There was quite a bit of booze as well.) But it was freeeeezing. I'm talking leggings under jeans under sweatpants. Two shirts, hoodie and a down jacket. Gloves and a hat. In other words, way too freakin' cold for April.
Sleeping actually wasn't too bad...for Matt and me. We had a nice, snug little tent, five layers of blankets, and super warm sleeping bags that were actually rated for that kind of weather, thankfully. Others weren't so fortunate...two people in a big four-person tent shivered all night because they only brought one comforter. For once, I was pretty glad to be one of those "just in case" types, haha.
Now that the weather is picking up a bit, our calendars are really filling up. We're planning a few fun trips in the coming weeks/months.(I don't really want to talk about them specifically until after the fact--not trying to broadcast to the world, Hey we're gonna be out of town on X days! Come rob us!) But I can't wait to blog them afterward!
(Like the Grumpy Cat, only unfortunately not as awesome)
shirt, belt: H&M
chambray-style-thingy: Banana Republic
skinnies, flats: Target
necklace: The Limited
Remembering to take outfit photos on vacation is hard. And awkward. You think you can be sneaky about it, throwing the camera at your boyfriend while you're sister and brother-in-law take the dog out for a bathroom break. You frantically pose, hoping the door won't open mid-snap. And then it does, and you're embarrassed for no good reason because everyone you know knows about your blog because you talk about it embarrassingly often. So yeah, that's pretty much what happened here.
If you're thinking to yourself, self, that outfit looks a lot like the one in yesterday's post, well, you're right. And I didn't realize the similarities while packing, so there you go. I wore this to brunch, but apparently in the south, brunch is something you're supposed to wear a dress to, so I was kind of underdressed. But like I said yesterday, that food was so damn good...it was easy to pretend that I was just as fancy as everyone else.
These were the only two outfits I was able to/remembered to get photos of, but the others were kind of repeats. If you're interested, I did a variation of this outfit, only with these skinny jeans and moto-style boots, for the trip down and the first night out. The trip back featured this outfit, again with the same skinny jeans and boots. I can't believe I've never really worn those boots on the blog before (well, I did for Halloween but they were rolled up and not really cute at all). So here's a pic.
Uhh, Walmart. Can you believe it? Because I couldn't.
So fellow bloggers, tell me. Do you take outfit pics on vacation? Or is your vacay a break from blogging, too?
...is pretty much what I need to do with my life.
shirt: thrifted
skirt, tights, necklace: The Limited
heels: Target
belt: came w/ a skirt from JCPenney
I often feel like there's not enough time in the evenings to do all the stuff I want to do. Work out, shower, blog, make a delicious (read: not frozen/takeout) dinner, occasional freelance work, relax...actually, when I list it all out, it really doesn't sound like that much. But it sure feels like it.
The obvious solution would be to do some of those things (work out and/or blog) in the mornings. But I'll be honest: Mornings are NOT my strong suit. I am so anti-mornings that I've turned Matt, who used to be a huge morning person. Now we both just hit the snooze over and over, curling up under the blankets and trying to avoid the inevitable moment when we actually have to (gag) get out of bed.
I would love to get up an hour earlier to head to the gym or even half an hour earlier to write a blog post. But honestly, dragging my sorry butt out of bed at 7 (okay, let's be honest, 7:15) is hard enough as it is. I know. I'm the worst.
shirt, tights: H&M
cardigan, flats, belt: Target
skirt: New York & Company
necklace: VeryJane
Last week I talked about my evolving sense of personal style, and how I find myself wearing things that I normally never would wear. Like purple skirts and lots of tights in various colors (not to mention colored pants), trendy colors like mint, and of course, different animal prints. Now, it's kind of funny to think that I once shied away from all those things. Especially animal print, which is one of my new favorite ways to accessorize.
So that ramble-tastic paragraph is really just my awkward introduction to my new leopard print shoes! I mentioned that my old flats died a noble death as a result of too much love, and I bought these at Target to replace them. Two years ago--hell, one year ago--I would have immediately dismissed these shoes because of the studs. Now? I think the studs are my favorite part about these guys. Prepare to see more studded items around here, as I find them.
So here's the link to the shoe on Target. You can't buy it online right now, but you might still be able to find it in stores. While I really love these guys (yes, apparently my flats are male), I do have a warning: The back of the heel is a bit high, so they take a while to break in. I had to wear bandaids on my heels for a few days, but it's totally worth it.
blouse: thrifted
skirt, tights, heels: Target
necklace: VeryJane
I know I say this every time a three-day weekend rolls around, but America really needs to align itself to a four-day workweek. (Not really, I know how disastrous that would be for business/government, but let me dream.) I had Presidents' Day off yesterday, which was pretty rad for my weekend in general.
Saturday was spent doing some cleaning and whatnot, then that evening Matt and I celebrated Valentine's with a delicious homemade dinner and a movie. If you follow me on Instagram (@elfrankart) you might have noticed pics of the dinner...surf & turf with filets, crab legs, balsamic brown butter asparagus, a delicious salad that our friend makes all the time, and a great bottle of wine. Plus, chocolate coffee meringues for dessert. (I'll post the recipe for the meringues after I perfect it...I kinda made them too big, so they were a little underdone in the middle.) We saw Warm Bodies, which was a pretty good movie, and then met up with Matt's sister and her husband and friends, who were all in town to see a local band play at this great little bar by our house.
Sunday, I did absolutely nothing except watch several hours of Cougar Town. I randomly decided to start watching the show, so natch I had to watch all the old episodes to catch up. That shiz is hilarious.
To make up for such a lazy Sunday, I went to the gym and ran a bunch of errands on Monday. And I finally got a rug to cover the splintery hardwood in our bedroom. My feet are thanking me already.
So, conclusion. Three-day weekends are the absolute best because I can be productive, then super lazy, then productive again. Win, win, win.
shirt, cardi: H&M
jeans, flats, hat: Target
necklace: VeryJane
That last photo there? That's kind of how I feel whenever I talk about my blog IRL. Whether it's with extended family at the holidays or a friend of a friend as we sit and chat over lunch, the second someone brings up my blog, I break out in a major case of the awkwards. It's not that I am embarrassed of VM by any means. It's just...well, it's kind of a weird thing to talk about. "Oh hi! Let me tell you all about the pictures I take of myself and how I talk about my clothes all the time on the internet." All I can ever think is how conceited I must seem, like I'm constantly preening and showing off.
But then I remember that that isn't why I blog. Yes, I have an inherent need to mindlessly spew whatever is currently on my brain. But that's not it, either. It's about the community you get in the blogosphere. I've made amazing connections with so many interesting people over the last 22 months. And it's about personal growth. When I started this blog, I had no idea what I liked. I had no sense of personal style...not in the clothes I wore, or the way I attempted to decorate my apartment, or in the food I was making. I also had a completely screwed-up sense of personal finance. Through blogging, I've grown in all those areas. Both through self-discovery, but also through discovering what works (and doesn't) for others, too.
I know this sounds like a wrap-up, "it's been fun but I'm done" kind of post. And I promise, it's not. I've just been thinking a lot about why I blog, and I wanted to share with y'all that you're part of the reason. And, you know, say thanks for that :)
