That Bag of Grading

The past two weeks have been a blur of painting, packing, and staging the house.  The realtor came on Friday to take pictures for the website and I signed the papers, so it's now official that we are going to be moving.  GAH!

All day yesterday, my throat felt a little sore and then BAM! last night I felt the full-blown cold coming on.  I took medicine and tried to sleep in as best I could--colds tend to keep me up and feeling miserable.  Because of this, I've been eyeing my bag of grading that I brought home.  It needs to get done, but taking a nap sounds so much better!

Here are the outfits from earlier in the week:

Wednesday

Dress: JcPenney
Cardigan: J.Crew
Necklace: Premier Jewelry
Navy Wedges: Anne Klein

 Thursday

Seersucker Dress: JcPenney
Cardigan: Gap
Necklace: Dustee's
Flats: Hushpuppies

 Friday

Sweater: Ann Taylor
Skirt (actually a dress): Target
Necklace: Premier Jewelry
Flats: Hushpuppies

On another note, I have mentioned going to a capsule wardrobe.  I have been really good about not buying any clothing since going to this, but my spring wardrobe has just been…lacking.  I've been frustrated because some of my pieces just don't seem to "go" and others weren't fitting well and I just felt blechh about it.  The point of a capsule wardrobe isn't to make you feel this way at all.  I decided the problem was that I was trying to hold on to some items that I just really didn't like.  I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on new clothes and I am not sure what I will really feel good about wearing once I am in Arizona, so I stopped by Cato Fashions this afternoon to see if I could replace a few items.  Here's what I found and what I replaced:

I replaced the cream sweater on the left with this super-soft (and on clearance!) animal print sweater.
It's neutral enough that it should go with everything in my spring closet.  AND when it warms up
I plan to just roll the sleeves.

I replaced the super-cute pink skirt on the left with a more neutral navy midi skirt on the right.
While I really liked the pink skirt, 1) it was a little short for work and 2) it didn't really pair with
anything I owned except for the cream sweater above that I replaced.

I replaced the denim capris on the left with these navy patterned ankle pants on the right.
There wasn't really anything wrong with the capris but 1) They were too casual for work and
2) they didn't work well with chilly weather

Last, I replaced the black capris on the left with the black and white patterned ankle pants
on the right.  I had similar reasons for replacing the black capris: 1) they were a little
tight and thus I wasn't wanting to wear them and 2) being short, they only
work when the weather is pretty warm.

Well, there you have it.  My replacements for my 40 hanger spring closet.  I spent less than $65 on all four pieces and I feel super excited to wear everything in my closet now!   I almost didn't buy the black and white pants because they look so similar to the navy and white ones, but they are just different enough to make it worth it to me.  I feel I have so many more options for mixing and matching now that I have more neutral and versatile pieces...It just goes to show that you can't just put together a capsule wardrobe with random items you like, but you really have to think about things like versatility, color compatibility, and fit.

Big News

Sorry for the week+ hiatus.  My husband and I got some pretty big news and it sent me into a flurry of late nights and extra work:  we will be moving to Arizona by May.  Moving is always a big deal, and when that move is compressed into less than two months, it is a little frightening!

Thankfully I went to a modified 40 Hanger Closet.  There is much, much less to take with us.  I've taken the idea of simplifying to the rest of the house and we have now brought bags and bags of stuff to Goodwill.  My future plans of having a garage sale have been thwarted once again.

Needless to say, last week I didn't take many pictures.  I was, honestly, an emotional mess.

Here's the photos from the past few days, though:

Monday, February 23 (The pic on the right makes me look like I have a unibrow)

 Tuesday, February 24

From here on out I will be wearing my SPRING WARDROBE!  Also, spring should hurry up because of this.  Just saying.  

Monday, March 2 (I had to give a presentation to the staff)

Tuesday, March 3

I broke my rule about not buying anything.  This sweater is new.  In my defense, I had to get rid of a shirt that was too tight and needed a replacement.  This one was on clearance at Ann Taylor and was just so cute.