Neglected Dress

Dress: H&M, old

Blazer: H&M, $30

Purse: H&M, $28

Shoes: Old Navy, $17

Necklace: Forever 21, $2

Belt: Forever 21

This dress is one that's been hanging in my closet since my senior year in high school and has probably not been worn in at least 3 or 4 years. I bought it when I was a few pounds heavier, and it didn't fit great then, but I figured if I ever lost weight one day, I'd love the dress. Fast forward 4 years, and I've lost weight, and the dress still doesn't fit. BOO! Hand me those french fries.

Either way, I think this dress might just have to end up in the give away pile. I think it's quite visible (in the above photo) what the dress was doing all day long: riding up in the back because my butt is too big for it. So all day long at work (my last day as a receptionist before I become a big scary showing agent!), I was backing into corners to try and tug my dress back to a work-appropriate length and keep it from clinging to me. To no avail. Oh well. I know when to give up. 

Little Black Dress.

Blazer: H&M, $30

Dress: Cynthia Rowley via TJ Maxx, $30

Necklace: Forever 21, $2

Belt: Love Culture, $6

Shoes: Fergalicious via Famous Footwear, $10

Glasses: c/o Firmoo

Meet my first real "little black dress". This is the dress photographed at the end of this post in case you were wondering so, yes, it's the dress I got at TJ Maxx recently. I've had other black dresses before, but generally just ones that are primarily "just casual" or "just dressy". While this one looks best all on it's own in my opinion, I think I really will be able to dress it up or down!

This was my first quick attempt to make this outfit appropriate for the office. Looking back, I think I would've swapped out the wedge for a regular nude pump, just to make it look a touch classier. I just can hardly stand to leave the house in anything other than this super comfy wedge.

Also, I visited CynthiaRowley.com to see if there were other dresses similar to mine (and was ready to buy a few, because I can't say no to a well-fitting dress!) and was shocked to see the average price for a dress around $400. The tag on my dress said the original price of the dress was $50. I know the tags at TJ Maxx often aren't right and sometimes have original tags attached reflecting a much higher price than TJ Maxx said the item originally sold for but jeez, am I missing something? Does CR have a ready-to-wear line that's much more affordable or is she pumping out copies of her designer line in a lower-quality material? This dress I'm wearing feels so expensive and crisp and of a quality material, I would easily believe it was originally several hundred dollars, but I guess I'm just a little confused. Anyone have insight into this?

Either way, my husband is taking me out on a pretty little date tomorrow night, and I plan on figuring out a way to make this new dress date appropriate. Should I succeed (and not spill frozen yogurt down the front of it, because there's no such thing as date night without frozen yogurt), I may be sharing that look on the blog soon!

Channeling Britney.

Jean Jacket: Forever 21, $30

Dress: Marshalls, $17

Hat: Wet Seal, $11

Shoes: Fergalicious via Famous Footwear, $10

Necklace: Forever 21, old

Purse: Love Culture, $20

 So I've not actually worn this outfit yet, but it's been the outfit in the back of my head since I purchased this dress a few weeks ago, and I couldn't keep it in the confines of my closet anymore! I've been wanting a simple, black maxi dress for the spring and summer that I could dress up or dress down. I only have one other maxi dress and I really love the comfort and look of it, so this dress is a purchase I do not regret! The fedora is a newer purchase as well; one that I was not sure I really wanted to make, because there's something about a fedora that makes me think of Britney Spears circa the Kevin Federline years (which we all know was not a good look), but I like the look and fun touch of a fedora! So upon my head it will stay. Until I start shaving my head or marrying old friends in Vegas, anyway. Should those things start happening, I would stop taking advice from me.

This outfit was a little inspired by pretty little Danielle, so go check her out! I can't help but shamelessly brag about another blonde. You know blonde's have more fun, don't you?

Also, after the tornado watches floating around southeast Michigan yesterday, I felt the need to post photos featuring a happy, sunny outfit I plan to wear sometime this spring, probably on a day date out with the husband. And the good news is, the end of chilly weather is quickly approaching! I mean, there's no way Michigan could give us snow at the end of April, right...?

Spring is confusing to my wardrobe.

Top: H&M, $12

Skirt: Marshalls, $17

Necklace: Forever 21, $6

Heels: Target, $15

Purse: H&M, $28

I forgot to mention it in yesterday's post, but I also purchased this patterned black and white skirt at TJ Maxx on my little excursion. I was pretty dang proud of this little outfit when I stepped out in it this morning. There's something about a new clothing piece that makes an outfit relatively exciting, huh? But after a day of wearing this outfit, I can see the potential of the problems I ended up encountering this day in these photographs.

For one, this black shirt that used to be quite tight is now kind of baggy. I'm not saying I need things to be skin tight, but I didn't anticipate it looking so loose around my shoulders, and the capability of so many wrinkles in the fabric around my stomach. The skirt is already about a half size too big, which I figured meant it would be more comfortable, but it actually just means it rides up when I walk and looks a little frumpy around my waist. Which was exceptionally uncomfortable as I walked around at work, tugging at my skirt to keep it down at my hip bones as opposed to cutting me off mid-torso and looking extra weird. Eep. Not the funnest outfit to wear. I think I'm going to have to stick with wearing a blazer or sweater or un-tucked shirt with this skirt!

I feel like I've been nit-picking all of my outfits lately! I don't mean to be such a fashion drag. I just don't know what's up with my clothing choices lately. I also realized I've done a lot of returning this month. This dress, this blazer (don't be mad, I know you all loved it, just wasn't working for me!), the patterned skirt I just showed you all (the pattern alignment in the front is off). And today, had I still had the tags on this skirt, it might've gone back as well. I feel like spring and summer clothes and outfits are a confusing subject for me, and I feel this ridiculous pressure (self-imposed, of course) to GET ALL THE SPRING THINGS. Part of me wants to impose a little shopping ban so I get in control of my weird and spastic spending, but part of me knows that fashion is just not something that comes naturally to me most of the time. SURPRISE! Yes, I run a style blog and I don't think I'm the greatest dresser in the world. But this blog is less about show and tell and more about "Hey, let's talk about my clothes and help each other try current trends & not look stupid while doing it." with an occasional cameo of "this outfit is just cute and I know it, admire with me, friends."

Yeah, I think I like that.

Come to the Fitting Room Party.

So I don't have an outfit to post today. This is because instead of going home after church today to take outfit pictures, Matt and I wasted a few hours at Marshalls & TJ Maxx (the two stores where great clothes go to end up in Lynette's closet). I often take photos of clothing pieces that I'm not sure of so that I can go home and look at them and try to figure out what my go with that piece in my closet, or if it just won't fit into my closet well at all. So who wants to see a few things that I tried on? All of you?! GREAT! Proceed.

I've been seeing eyelet skirts and tops everywhere this spring, and I remembered spotting a bright orange-y red one at Marshalls recently. Thankfully, it was still there when I stopped by. But unthankfully, it ran small and didn't have the next size up. As you can see, it fits in the waist without causing "overspill" (ew), but if you stand with your feet kind of apart and you see the material of the skirt stretching across your thighs like that, size up. And if you can't size up because the store doesn't have it in stock, frown about it.

I have a decent amount of skirts, but I've been itching for a few patterned skirts this spring to kind of liven up my wardrobe a bit, especially since I wear skirts at least 3-4 days a week. The skirt is navy blue and light blue, if you can't tell, and fits very nicely. I almost passed it up because it has a seam running down the middle in the front and little slit pockets in the back, but despite those facts, I bought it. It was only 16.99! I'm kinda nervous about it (patterned? NAVY? we're talking scary stuff here, my friends), but hey, that's what receipts are for. 

The top is so cute. I've been wanting a peplum top AND a mint top, and I thought I'd killed two birds with one stone when I found this top. Except here's the thing. Sleeveless tops make my armpits very nervous. I am one of those lucky girls that has "armpit fat", and it is visible when I wear tank tops. It's wayyy better than it used to be when I was heavier, and you probably can't notice much in this picture (see the left shoulder), but it just made me too nervous to buy it, knowing that it wouldn't look great with a blazer over it and so I'd have to wear it on it's own. It is sooo darn cute though, so I may go back and buy it and just let the world judge my armpits. YOLO.

Another scary subject: shorts. I'm pretty sure I developed some serious thighs by the time I was, oh, eleven. And have not really worn shorts ever since. Seriously. I don't own a single pair. Last summer after finally losing the last of the 50 pounds I intended on losing, I thought I'd have awesome blossom thighs, but guess what? This girl is just built like an athlete, and these thighs are just beefy. These shorts were almost a winner though! They're Calvin Klein, and they weren't ultra short (the angle makes them look short but they weren't too short), they were super comfy, and I almost didn't feel huge in them. I think if I'd had a few good coats of self-tanner on my legs, I might've walked out with these shorts. I'm still possibly considering going back for them. Again, I don't want to avoid shorts my whole life because I'm afraid someone's going to notice that my thighs aren't super skinny. I mean, duh. I'm sure I'm not fooling anyone in my skinny jeans, so what's the difference? Yeah?

If anyone of you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my frustration last week when I tried on 3 beautiful dresses at TJ Maxx, all of which were Cynthia Rowley, and all of which were too big. They were all size Smalls, and I was praying that when I walked into TJ Maxx this week that there'd be an XS waiting around a corner for me (I'm only an XS up top due to lack of a chest, guys... my bottom half is a generous size 4/6 or medium. Thanks, thighs.). Anyway, there was not. But another type of Cynthia Rowley dress was there, in a size small, and it looks like it ran a tiny bit smaller, so I tried it on, and BAM. I don't think a dress has ever fit me this well since my wedding dress. It's like it was literally made for me. I tried it on in green first, but then remembered it came in black too, and had to grab that as well. Part of me wanted to buy both, but at $30 a pop (I know, so expensive, right?), I only wanted to walk out with one. The black ended up winning me over because of it's versatility, and though the green was so interesting, it was definitely "green screen" green, which is sorta unflattering. So say hello to my newest little black dress! It's a structured and incredibly well-made dress that I'm sure you'll see on the blog soon.

That's all I have for you guys today! Hope you all had a lovely weekend. :)