(Very Long) Preface: First real outfit post, hooray! (I say "real" because technically speaking, this is not my first outfit post but that was situation-specific.) Part of my 2010 goal for this blog is to incorporate some outfit posts (yes, I am a nerd and I love it, thankyouverymuch). I read approximately 2,387,001 style blogs ranging from food (yes, I think food is style, now leave me alone) to home decor to personal outfit diaries. But most of them are some combination of thoughts-on-style and personal-style-diaries with some omg-lust moments thrown in for good measure. A few things I've either noticed or that influenced my goal for 2010... (this could get lengthy, folks... scroll down for outfit photos)
1) The style blog community is tons o' fun! I love seeing how my favorites put outfits together and am constantly drawing inspiration for future outfits once I am back in the groove of actually getting dressed. (You know, once I am back in the workplace saddle. One positive thing about being a teacher is breaks... Christmas break, especially. I am taking serious advantage of some sleep-in-workout-don't-get-dressed-until-dinnertime opportunities.)
2) A lot of my favorite style bloggers started out without a really defined personal style and over time you can tell that they really got comfortable with their style choices and developed a "uniform" of sorts (more on that another day as if you don't know what I'm talking about) that really works for them. I love that and while I do know where my comfort zone is I'm not sure I have a really defined style that works for me post-baby and as a teacher.
3) Only two of those 2,387,001 style blogs that I read are mothers. And neither one of those is a mother and a high school teacher. Sadly, there is probably a reason for that which I'm sure I don't even need to state... just reminisce a little about your high school teachers, even the young ones. I can think of two with good style but neither of them were mothers at the time. Seriously, though, I see why. I wake up somewhere between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. to leave the house by 6:00. That's basically to be on time. On days when I am early (most of the time unless I carpool) I leave by 5:45. No one else is even stirring at that hour so, except for my shower, I get ready in the dark and often do my make-up in the car at stoplights or in the parking lot before I go in. Do I even need to say how killer that is for motivating yourself to look put together? I suppose that I at least make an effort but I hate not feeling like I look my best in a professional setting. Now, there are days when I know I am conferencing with parents so I put in extra effort the night before and pick out clothes, make sure there aren't any spitballs in my hair or pen marks on my face, Expo on my hands... you know the deal. AN-Y-WAY... even though I am big-time inspired by the blogs I read, I constantly find myself wishing I had a favorite who was similar to me in age, occupation and lifestyle.
4) None of the style blogs I read are written by Southerners. Particularly Deep-South-Get-'Er-Done Southerners. Until college, I never knew that style was at all different between the South, North, Midwest, West Coast, etc. Kinda blew my mind. But I also was never really huge into fashion, beauty, or food (yes, I am still sticking to the food-is-style thing) until late in my college career. I was always a big-time shoe and handbag girl (I'll give you a shoe tour soon, promise) but simply stuck to the basics with my other wardrobe staples.
I guess this is where I mention how this blog came about and it's evolution to what I want it to be now? ... I'd been chatting with a few of my friends about street style blogs in big cities and how we wished there were street style blogs for college towns. Especially "Big South" college towns. But I didn't have time for the street style thing and wanted to get up and running before establishing any further contacts with local businesses. There is just something a little different about the way people dress in Southern college towns. There are the students, for one... and a million different groups of students at that. And then, in a town like Athens, there is the townie/hipster vibe among another group... and so on. Not that this is different from style on the whole - I get it, there are always different classes of style - but I think most would agree that a college town is different in many senses when it comes to style... the daily uniform, professional dress, party attire (especially since, for many, every day is a new party. ha!), weekend brunch, etc. And don't get me started on Game Day style. People I've met or talked to or read about (from one of those 2,387,001 style blogs, no doubt) do not understand the concept of dressing up for football. Yes, gals, it's true... we Southern folk like to put on all but our Sunday best for game days. Some even do dresses, heels, pearls... the whole bit. But I digress... that is another post for another day. My point is that the culture of style here is just different (shocker!).
SO. Whew. In summation, you could say my goals are something along the lines of creating a functional style diary for the Southern working (HS teacher), young lady, wife and mama while establishing some semblance of a personal style ALL while, of course, having a super fun bliggity, bloggity time.
You're still listening to me ramble? Well, alright then, on to the very first outfit post... ;)
Outfit Post, winter break style:
Don't I look like I'm posing? It was just a gorgeous day outside and the sun was in my face. But I kind of like that I'm not looking at the camera. Second Skin recently had some thoughts on To Look or Not to Look at the camera... what do you think?
Detail shot:
But when I'm home I am a creature of comfort so I swapped the belt out for my very favorite accessory:
But when I'm home I am a creature of comfort so I swapped the belt out for my very favorite accessory:
He could make the most ragged sweats look cute, eh?
Sources:
Black thermal: Old Navy?
Half-sleeve open sweater: Charlotte Russe (I know)
Jeans: Old Navy
Cinch belt: Nordstrom
Locket: boutique in downtown Auburn, AL
Sources:
Black thermal: Old Navy?
Half-sleeve open sweater: Charlotte Russe (I know)
Jeans: Old Navy
Cinch belt: Nordstrom
Locket: boutique in downtown Auburn, AL
3 comments:
Love the look! Especially that belt!
I totally feel you about your early mornings. I'm lucky I don't have to leave the house until 6:45 (I get to school an hour early). My student teaching placement in northern Indiana took 1.5-2 hours to drive to because of the snow. I did it for 10 weeks and would never do it again!
I love that look - and I, too, have found that my best (at least, favorite) outfits happen if I plan ahead instead of grabbing something out of my closet when I'm freezing my butt off in the mornings. And Charlotte Russe has some cute stuff (occasionally). I haven't shopped there in awhile but I've seen some decent stuff on various blogs.
Also, I feel awkward as hell when I take self portraits. One of my goals is to get better at taking outfit photos.
-Shannon
Hi! Just found your blog through What I Wore -- and so glad I found it. I look forward to reading more from you!
I'm a mom as well, and a blogger. I blog about beauty products but am also keen on fashion (but still trying to expand my fashion sense. LOL)
Michelle
lipstickrules.com
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