Tag Archives: clarks

My California Dress

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Personally, I’m not a big fan of knick-knack souvenirs.  They usually end up gathering dust on a shelf, only to be taken to Goodwill after a few years.  When I travel, I like to buy an article of clothing to remind me of where I went.  Then you actually get to use it!  In California, it seemed like a surfer-chic dress was the perfect thing.  I’d never really noticed Element brand clothes before, but when stopping in a shop in Oceanside (the items weren’t second-hand, but they were name brands severely discounted) I discovered that every item I liked there was Element.  I’ll have to keep my eyes out for more items from this brand.


This jersey dress is super comfortable.  The green tie on the side help to cinch in the waist, and I love the print!  I’ve been trying to add more kelly green items to my wardrobe, so this was perfect.


And check out the new sunglasses!  I got these beautes with my store credit at Revolve.   It truly does pay to clean out your closet – these Roberto Cavalli’s can retail for over $100, but I got mine for a mere $40 in store credit.  Awesome!

Dress: Element
Leggings: Target
Sandals: Clarks (via 6pm)
Necklace: Wendy Brandes Little Woolf
Earrings: Wear-thou
Sunglasses: Roberto Cavalli (via Revolve Clothing Exchange)

“Live in the moment”

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I’ve noticed some changes in my style lately.  I think these changes have mostly evolved over the past year, as a result of working at a middle school and from deepening my practice of yoga.

I have no tolerance for uncomfortable clothes anymore.  Shoes that kill my feet after eight hours, restricting and tight button downs, clothes that fit too tight or constrict in the wrong places.  These things didn’t bother me so much when I worked a desk job, but in education, you’re on your feet for a majority of the day.  Yoga has given me a deeper awareness of my body and how things affect it, so it just doesn’t make sense to wear things that are uncomfortable.

These changes have led to a greater simplicity in my look.  I don’t like to wear a ton of accessories anymore – usually just two or three is fine.  I do mix patterns and colors somewhat, but I don’t like to go for loud or outrageous combinations.  The only change I am a little sad about is the fact that I hardly ever wear heels anymore.  I still wear them sometimes – but only for special occasions, and very rarely, for work.

Tee: Ann Taylor Loft
Necklace: Etsy (don’t know the seller)
Capris: Levis (thrifted)
Purse: Morelle
Sandals: Clarks

Quote: Amit Ray

 

“I love rock and roll”

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Sorry for the extended absence there.  Between working long hours at my bookfair, taking Saturday classes for my teaching certification, computer slowness issues, etc, there just wasn’t any time for blogging these past couple weeks.  Any free time I actually managed to find was mostly spent napping, reading, and de-compressing.  I’ve been a bit frazzled lately, and things are slowly coming together.  I think it’s like this for every first year teacher (or teacher-librarian).  I know I’ll get the hang of things eventually.

To be honest, I’ve also been a bit frustrated with my wardrobe lately.  I gained a little weight over the summer, and I still haven’t managed to lose it, so some of my favorite items either don’t fit at all or look very unflattering on me.  I’m trying to get back into regular running and yoga again, because I know that it will help me deal with all the stress I’ve been experiencing.  I’ve also been doing some shopping (with b-day money) to purchase some pieces that work with me body the way it is now, not the way I’m hoping it will be in a few months.  Oh right, my birthday was Friday, and I’m such a bad blogger that I didn’t even write a birthday post.  You all forgive me, right ;) ?

On a different note, these are some freshly altered thrifted jeans!  My Gap Curvy jeans bit the dust this month in the form of a lovely little hole on the thighs that could not be patched up.  I thifted these a few weeks ago, so yesterday I altered them into skinnies.  They’re now my new favorite (and only) blue jeans.  (Oh, and this awesome tee was a Christmas gift from my awesome boyfriend.  I just saw Joan Jett in concert last week and it was OMG amazing)

Well, dear readers, if you’ve read this far, then thank you for putting up with my scatter-brained catch up post.  I’ll try to get back into a regular rhythm of posting again, but bear with me, as I try not to go insane from everything I have going on right now.

Tee: gift (via Amazon)
Jeans: Old Navy (thrifted and altered)
Sandals: Clarks (via 6pm)

Quote: Joan Jett

“We did nothing at all”

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On my last few days of summer, I’m craving simplicity.  Short, t-shirts and sandals are pretty much all I want to wear.   I wore this outfit this past weekend, and today I go back to work.  I guess I wanted to get as much mileage out of my summer casual clothes as possible, since this week it’s time to go back to professional wear.  It’s been a great summer, but I’m looking forward to having structure to my days again, as well as a reason to get dressed up.

Tee: Outlooks (via Revolve)
Shorts: Ann Taylor LOFT (thrifted)
Sandals: Clarks Rime (6pm)
Purse: Morelle Charlotte
Bangle: Garage sale
Earrings: Wish by Felicity

Quote: The Cat in the Hat, by Dr Seuss

“Tweetily-tweet”

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I think it’s true what they say about haircuts, that they usually look better about two weeks after you get them.  I was feeling a bit frustrated with my new hair cut when I first got it, but now it’s really starting to grow on me (no pun intended).

My jewelry was quasi bird-themed with this outfit.  The cuff has engravings of birds on it, and the earrings are shaped somewhat like feathers.  And I even found a blue jay feather on the ground while taking these pictures.  I used to love collecting feathers like this when I was a kid, and I fancied myself quite the birdwatcher.  I even made a “camouflage” cover out of an old green wool blanket, thinking that the birds wouldn’t notice me if I cut holes in it and watched them from underneath.  Needless to say, that idea didn’t work very well, especially in the Florida heat.

Tank: Soma (thrifted)
Cardigan: J Crew (via eBay)
Shorts: Ann Taylor LOFT (thrifted)
Sandals: Clarks Rime
Earrings: wear+thou
Cuff: Vintage via Sherry’s Yesterdaze
Purse: Morelle Charlotte

Quote: Jazzmatazz! by Stephanie Calmenson

“We never catch butterflies”

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(my camera battery died in the middle of this shoot, so I only got two photos)

This outfit may look familiar.  That’s because I wore a variation of it just a few weeks ago.  There have been a lot of repeat outfits this summer, and I’m okay with that.  If I had a larger space for storing clothing, I might have a greater variety of outfits.  I have a small closet, and the heat limits what I can wear even more, so there are repeats, and that’s fine.

With blogging, I’ve become a lot more conscious of where items of clothing come from, and I’ve begun to happily notice that a majority of my wardrobe is second-hand and/or handmade.  When I had my shopping ban (as opposed to shopping plan)  I was only allowed to shop at non-second hand/handmade locations once a month.  I got rid of that restriction with the shopping plan, but honestly I still haven’t bought much that was new and mass-produced.  Most of the times when I go to the mall, I end up not finding anything that I really love, even when I’m more than ready and willing to spend money.

All of this fits in with my sustainability focus, because when you buy second-hand, you’re keeping clothes from going to the landfill, and reducing the amount of new clothing that needs to be produced.  When you buy hand-made, you’re supporting small businesses and helping artists to earn a living.  Being green can be a beautiful and stylish thing.

Shirt: St John’s Bay (thrifted)
Shorts: Ann Taylor LOFT (thrifted)
Sandals: Clarks Rime (via 6pm)
Scarf: Vera (vintage via garage sale)
Cuff: via Classy Consignment
Earrings: The Peach Tree
Purse: Morelle Charlotte

Quote: Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire, by Jane O’Connor

“Now let’s go for a ride”

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After having a few weeks of not really feeling “me”, this outfit was absolutely perfect.  The drapey top, the slim jeans, the simple, casual vibe.  I loved it.  It was also perfect for riding – so I wore this while trekking out to pick up a few things from the grocery store.

Since this top has a super deep v, I wore a black bandeau underneath it.  Some may see this as sloppy, but I think that it adds to the casual vibe and keeps things modest.

Top: Coda? (via Revolve)
Capris: Express (altered by me)
Sandals: Clarks Rime (via 6pm)
Purse: Timbuk2
Necklace: Pixisette

Quote: Good Boy, Fergus! By David Shannon

“The rain on the window woke me up”

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We had a very rainy few days last week here in Tampa.  As in raining on and off all day, for three days.  It was dreary and grey and dull.  So to counteract the weather, I decided to wear some of my brightest colors in a nice, summery combination.

I generally prefer vibrant and saturated colors over dull ones, but in the summer, I like colors like this even more so.  Something about the hot weather, the sun (when we have it), the humidity.  I just can’t stand wearing dark or dull colors when it’s hot out.  Plus, bright colors always seem to be a good mood booster, and with the dreary weather we were having, I needed all the boosting I could get.

Do you ever wear certain colors or items to improve your mood?

Tank: Target (via Revolve)
Cardigan: J Crew (via eBay)
Shorts: Ann Taylor LOFT (thrifted)
Sandals: Clarks Rime
Necklace: Kira Ferrer
Purse: Morelle Charlotte
Bangles: Jill Popowich

Quote: Daughter’s Day Blues, by Laura Pegram

“If you go on vacation”

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Well, today is Day One of my nine week long summer vacation.  I have mixed feelings about this break.  I really love my job, and the prospect of not going to it for nine weeks gives me a bit of anxiety.  I like having structure to my weekdays, and having a completely open schedule everyday makes me worried that I won’t make the best use of my time.  That’s why I’m working on putting together a plan for my summer.  I’ll go into greater detail tomorrow, but it involves several elements: getting organized, catching up on crafting, making my life more green, keeping my mind sharp, and working on preparations for the next school year.

Most of my plans also involve spending as little money as possible.  I have to really minimize my extraneous spending this summer, so having a lot of projects planned that don’t involve extra money is good for me.  I may be buying a little fabric for some projects, I may buy a few new plants and supplies for my garden, but I want to keep my spending to a minimum.  Between groceries, rent, bills and student loan payments, I’m not going to have much in the way of discretionary funds.  Still, I’m excited to see what I can get done when I discipline my free time!

What do you do with long stretches of free time?  Or what would you do if you suddenly had some?

Tunic: Hilo’s (via Triage)
Jeans: Express (re-conned by me)
Sandals: Clarks Rime
Earrings: Wear-thou
Cuff: via Classy Consignment

Don’t Take Your Snake for a Stroll, by Karin Ireland

“I have my own heart”

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Hello folks!  My week off was wonderful and refreshing, and I feel like I’ve got a lot of great new ideas for Smiles Go With Everything.  As you may have noticed, I spent part of my time last week re-vamping the look of the blog, and I am so incredibly happy with it!  It feels great to actually be able to apply what I learned in my web design class last year, and I have to say that I felt quite pleasantly nerdy spending two hours last week playing with CSS, HTML and Photoshop.

You may have also noticed that my blog’s tagline has changed to read “style and sustainability for the optimistic soul”.  As I mentioned last week, I want to shift my focus slightly.  Sustainability is an issue that is near and dear to my heart, and I am fascinated by the way that it intersects with personal style.  I want to spend more time digging into that issue, and in particular I want to talk even more than before about shopping second-hand, hand-made and local.  As always, I will be talking about these issues with an optimistic perspective.  It can be easy to get depressed when talking about how much humans have screwed up the environment, but I would rather focus on the positive side of what we can do to make things better, as opposed to dwelling on the negative side.

This is still a style blog, and I will continue to post Daily Outfits, Etsy Love posts and tell you about how I shop in my weekly Shopping Plan posts.  I’ll still talk about how I alter clothes to work for my figure.

For now though, there probably will be fewer outfit posts than before.  With my current schedule at my job (which I love!), it’s hard to get four outfit photos every week.  It was getting to the point where it was becoming a chore for me, as opposed to something I enjoyed doing.  For right now, I’m only going to post outfits twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays.  If I can get to a point where I can take more outfit photos every week without it feeling like an obligation, then I may increase the number of outfit posts.  At this time, it’s just about figuring out what kind of a schedule works best for me.

Outfit posts will definitely always be around, though.  I think that they are a vital part of this blog, and they fit in perfectly with my new focus on sustainability.  I put a great emphasis of shopping second-hand and hand-made in my personal life, and outfit posts are a a great way to demonstrate that it is completely possible to be stylish in a way that is not detrimental to the environment.

I’m very excited about all the great new things to come, and I hope that you are too!

Cardigan: J Crew (via eBay)
Blouse: Ann Taylor LOFT (thrifted)
Skirt: Semantiks
Shoes: Clarks Apple Sky
Necklace: Coryell Design
Earrings: Wear-thou
Watch: Target

Quote: It’s Hard to Be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel, Jamie Lee Curtis & Laura Cornell

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