New Shoe Day

It's New Shoe Day again {{YAY!!}} J says he feels like its NSD once a week {{To which I can only change the subject or whistle innocently}}.

I was going to post a picture of my whole outfit but when I saw the pictures I felt like mooing... Or maybe blowing like an elephant. Maybe in another ten pounds.

So here are my cute new shoes :-)

Step One: A Wardrobe Reno

Since I have nothing entirely pressing to discuss today I think I'll talk about one of my favorite subjects: Clothes. I have been doing a ton of googling recently for Fashion Fabulousness inspiration. It has been helpful and a little annoying. It has helped me decide on what I want to do for a monthly fashion feature {{more to come on that later}}, but its also annoying how people with loads of money just throw out, "Go buy, this, this and this and you'll be fabulous!" Ummm... yea. I'm a SAHM and a military spouse. Can a girl get some coupons or something?

Almost every search I have done for redoing a wardrobe has started by cleaning out your closet. One list said to throw out/donate any clothes that hasn't fit or hasn't fit well, you haven't worn, or touched in the last 6 months {{since I *was* pregnant and all, I'm going to count the six months prior to the conception of 2.0}}. Another List said to throw out any stained or holey clothing {{that's not meant to be that way}}. Another said to get rid of anything you've had since high school...Well, there goes almost every thing in my closet {{except for the shoes}}.

In lieu of going about the world nekked {{but with fabulous shoes!}}, I decided to get rid of the following things:

~ Anything stained and or ripped. I have enough t-shirts {{thanks to J's stint as a DS I have a lot of unit shirts with his name on them}} and pj/yoga-ish pants that I don't have to worry about not having clothes for painting, gardening or any other dirty activity. All those torn and stained clothes can be tossed.

~ Clothes that I have had for longer than my marriage {{not including jeans}}. Out of style and haven't fit in awhile and none of them weren't replaceable. Goodbye.

~ Some, I repeat SOME, of my maternity clothes. I had told my friend that I was getting rid of all things maternity, lest they curse bless me after we've decided we are done. She said that was a bad idea and told me about how surely getting rid of maternity clothes will equal to another baby. Perplexed by both sides, I met myself in the middle and got rid of the things I never wore, were also torn or stained and gave away what I could.

~ I also went through my top drawer {{yes, that one}}. I think a lot of people forget to clean that one out when they are sifting through old clothes. After two babies and a cumulative total of a hundred pounds gained {{and hopefully that much plus some will be lost}} its pretty necessary to clean out that drawer. Besides what better way to thank yourself for pushing out two babies & losing weight and toning up than new lacies? {{I've checked, there isn't one!}}

~ What's left: Some nice shirts that {{hopefully}} will fit soon, some timeless professional clothes, all of my dresses and all of my jeans.

If you've made it this far and your closet is a little barren {{like mine. Sad, sad, closet.}} now you're wondering, what next?

Yay! Now to the fun part filling it back up!! But with whaaaat...?

Stay tuned for step two in Fashion Fabulousness.

Fashion Lesson #1

While on my quest for fashion fabulousness and how to find it, I have become OBSESSED with the clothing selections on Pinterest. Those wonderful little windows with outfits prebuilt for you? They are awesome! I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you can follow the link and see other outfits made with an item so you can see how different people used it. It really shows each items diversity and how one piece can do so much in one wardrobe.

So, yesterday while I was wasting spending time on Pinterest going through different outfits, I. Fell. In. Love. You know those moments when you see something and you know it was MEANT for you to have it? Could be anything. A book, an accessory, something for your kids? Those moments when you see something and it sends you on a prompt and immediate search to purchase said item? I had one of those moments with a navy blue dress I saw. I loved everything in the set. I even happen to have a pair of shoes that look almost exactly like the shoes shown with the dress, which just made me LOVE it even more. I knew that it was meant to be and I HAD to have that dress.

I was SO excited to have found something that was classy and work appropriate but good for date night, too. Squealing like a thirteen year old at a Bieber concert, I clicked the picture to follow the link so I could find out where it came from. The link took me to a page on polyvore.com {{another VERY cool website}}. When the page finished loading I was crushed.

It was Valentino $495.00

{{Womp, Womp, Womp}}

Fashion Lesson #1: Don't fall in love until you know you can afford it.

I Need A Stylist

A free one. With a huge fabulous wardrobe {{*cough, cough* That ALSO needs to be free.}}

{{First, I'd like to say thanks for all the thoughts yesterday. I just needed to process and I feel much better about everything today. It's how I dealt with the last one and I have found that quiet a few people handle deployments the same way: Ignore it when you can, process it when you have to. And, now, Back to our regularly scheduled program}}

Remember earlier when I said I wanted to do a regular feature post about fashion? I have been really excited thinking about all the posts I could will do. All the fun times I'll have and all the {{deployment}} time it will take up. Yay! Fashion! Style!

Then this morning, I woke up and remembered that I have none. Style, that is. For the majority of the last three years I have been wearing maternity clothes {{yes even after I lost the baby weight from bug}} and barn-safe-wear. Any style I may have had prior to having children is getting {{gulp}} old {{I just threw up in my throat a little bit}}.

In the 'olden' days {{aka before I had kids}} I used to shop at BEBE, Arden B, and Buckle - before they sold out {{and yes, they did}}. All of the style that I had came from my friends and the people around me. Now, I throw on jeans, any shirt that will hide a muffin top {{and/or spit up, if I'm lucky}}, throw on some tennis shoes {{my 21 year old self just gasped in my head}} and go. If I went off of environmental cues now, I would live in yoga pants and baggy t-shirts. I REFUSE {{Reapeat, REFUSE}} to fall into that category of house wife. There are too many wicked adorable pairs of shoes in my closet for me to give up on life and start living in elastic wasted pants and tennis shoes.

And, so, I have identified the problem. Now it's time to figure out the solution. While I try and figure out where to start on that, I can at least share this months super awesome New Shoe Day pick: