for date night.

Well, I had my outfit all picked out for tonight, until our cooking class was cancelled. My casual Saturday night outfit (read: skinny cargos and 4 inch heels) was suddenly not cute enough for date night at a new restaurant. Luckily, I have limited items to choose from- so I landed on the green sweater dress previously worn this week, dressed up with jewelry and heels. Oh, and I curled my hair and put on eyeliner. Big doings.

#7: J.Crew sweater dress

#15: black tights

#16: Tablots heels

#17: Kate Spade necklace (similar)

worn with

#1: BR coat (not pictured)

with plaited locks.

Freaky Friday + 40-day challenge = a conundrum. I purposely picked pretty basic stuff for my Lent project, so there aren't a ton of pieces I would consider out-of-the-box enough for Freaky Friday. I started thinking about new hair and make-up ideas I could try, and I landed on the French braid. Haven't seen a whole lot of this look since the mid-90's (with stretchy pants and a turtleneck...is this reminding anyone else of The Babysitter's Club??), but I have to say I really liked that my hair was completely off my face and out of the way for the whole day. I would have tried to make it a little neater if I was ever on time in the morning.

#11: J.Crew striped dress

#12: J.Crew chambray shirt dress (worn underneath)

#13: J.Crew necklace (similar)

#14: J.Crew belt

worn with

#9: MICHAEL Michael Kors boots

#8: J.Crew textured tights

for basic comfort (day 2).

Well, someone was very excited to get home and into her pj's tonight. So excited, in fact, that she forgot to take pictures of her outfit. Oops.

It was supposed to be snowy and gross today, so I chose a basic sweater dress, tights and my flat brown boots. I jazzed it up a little bit with my favorite bib necklace. Hello to numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10!

It's still not snowing, by the way. Silly weather.

#7: J.Crew sweater dress

#8: J.Crew textured tights

#9: MICHAEL Michael Kors (via Piperlime)

#10: BR necklace (old)

worn with

#1: BR coat (not pictured)

#6: Louis Vuitton bag (not pictured)

for flower power (day 1).

Day 1 of my no shopping, 42 items/40 days of outfits challenge COMPLETE. I'm in love with these printed pants I snagged on sale pre-shopping boycott. They were a pretty aggressive choice for my challenge, but I figured they'd be great for my FL trip.

In other news, I unsubscribed myself from all of my shopping and deal sites today. Removing all temptation from my life. Go me.

Lastly, I decided not to post pictures of all 42 items, but I will number them in order of wear so we can all keep track. Welcome numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5!

#1: BR coat (old) 

#2: J.Crew white sweater

#3: Tropica Crops pants (via Anthropologie)

#4: Talbots heels

#5: Pearl stud earrings

#6: Louis Vuitton bag (not pictured)

to accept the challenge.

Whoa, Lent snuck up on me! I had an idea to do a 40-day, no shopping challenge this year. As if no shopping isn't hard enough for me, I also wanted to choose 40 items from my wardrobe and wear only those in different combinations for the entirety of Lent. To throw another wrench in my plan, I'm going to be in Florida for a long weekend during this time, so I need warm-weather AND cold-weather options. Yeesh.

My goal is to show myself how versatile great, quality clothing can be (in hopes to stop impulse buying) and to see if I have some self-control hiding inside somewhere...

The items I picked are below. There's actually 42, but I will be adhering to my challenge on Sundays, so I'm technically below the limit :)

• 3 jackets
• 2 blazers
• 3 sweater dresses
• 2 skirts
• 4 sweaters
• 4 pairs of pants
• 2 dresses
• 1 pair of leggings
• 2 t-shirts
• 7 pairs of shoes
• 4 bags/purses
• 3 necklaces
• 1 belt
• 1 pair of earrings
• 3 pairs of tights

I'll have pictures of all of the pieces tomorrow, including my first outfit. I'm excited to update you guys on my progress every day- wish me luck!

in her bell bottoms.

I bought these jeans a year or two ago, got them hemmed, stuck them in the back of my closet and promptly forgot about them. I'm so glad I pulled them out to be a part of my "lost & forgotten" project, because they fit like a glove and are the perfect amount of flare for this girl.

Pictures were taken by that husband of mine, who happens to have a very short attention span, hence the funny/awkward faces.

jeans: J.Brand. shirt: Zara. jacket: Land's End. belt: J.Crew. wedges: Calvin Klein. watch: Marc by Marc Jacobs. bracelets: DY.

and goes for comfort.

My second so rudely ignored item is a strapless Susana Monaco dress, last worn to my sorority's semi-formal, circa 2006. I believe this was the night my then boyfriend/now husband fell asleep in our stairwell. This was also the night I made him he so graciously offered to walk home in his socks through ice and slush because I couldn't possibly take one more step in my heels. COLLEGE!

This dress is very clingy and I'm pretty sure people look down upon tube tops sans bras in the office, so I decided to try it as a longer skirt instead. I really liked the look and was super comfortable all day, except you could totally see my t-shirt line and such things bother me to no end. Next time I shall have to invest in a bodysuit.

t-shirt: Gap. necklace: BR. dress worn as a skirt: Susana Monaco. bracelets: DY and J.Crew.

to reminisce.

The first outfit of my "lost & forgotten" challenge is with this adorable blazer I bought from J.Crew when I lived in San Francisco. Let me just tell you how much I LOVED the mall in SF- it was so quiet and nice and it smelled good and it had a movie theater on the top floor (I really liked going to movies there, particularly before I had any friends/social life). Best of all, the J.Crew was awesome! It wasn't huge, but it always had the best sale section. I bought some of favorite wardrobe items from that store and wearing one of them always reminds me of strolling about the serene mall, hunting for deals. Memories, memories.

Anyway, this blazer is super cute and I don't know why it's been playing hide and seek from me.

dress: Kate Spade. blazer: J.Crew. belt: Kate Spade. necklace: Kate Spade. shoes that you can't see: Cole Haan. bracelets: DY.

to present the top contenders.

The lucky 5 were pulled from the depths of my closet last night, and I'm so excited to introduce them to daylight! All of them are either brand-new or haven't been worn in a year...I even took the jeans to the tailor and still never wore them! For shame. Stay tuned for 10 different outfits featuring these guys:

dress: More of Me (Yes, it's a maternity dress. No, I don't have something to tell you). top: Target. jeans: J.Brand. tube dress: Susana Monaco. blazer: J.Crew.

for the lost and forgotten.

This blog project has done me a lot of good so far. If you can believe it, I actually haven't been shopping as much as usual and I've worn the things I've bought many more times than I normally would. That being said, my shopping levels still might not be considered "normal" or "acceptable" to people I choose not to associate with for that very reason, so I'm going to try something different this month. Instead of going shopping in a store, I'm going shopping in my closet (ahem, I mean my dressing room. We moved and I have a whole room for my clothes and accessories now. Happy, indulged girl). I'm going to choose 5 different items that I either haven't worn in 3+ months or haven't worn EVER, and make myself wear each thing at least twice in the next two weeks, starting Monday, August 29. I am allowed to pair them with anything else from my closet, must be somewhat reasonable about these things.

Pictures of the chosen ones to come in the next post.

P.S. My blog shopping budget that I'm "saving" this month will end up in J.Crew's bank. I know it will. I'm just putting it out there so I don't feel so bad about it when it happens.