Stepping outside my comfort zone

Today, I'm rocking a red lip. Earth shattering  news, right? For me, it is! Red is bold, it says notice me. I'm more of a nude lip kind of gal if I remember to apply any lip gloss. It says, "I blend." But I don't want to blend, I want to say here I am. So yesterday I walked up to the make up counter and asked for red. Daytime red (my nights aren't exactly glamorous,  let's work on bold daytime). I stood there looking like a dear in the headlights as the cosmetic consultant (see, I don't even know the proper name!) showed varying shades of red. After trying a couple, I settled on "Cherry Pop" and made my purchase totally thinking,  "I can totally return this next week." But instead,  I threw caution to the wind and hesitantly applied it this morning as I finished my make up.  I feel sassy. And I kind of like it!

Xoxo
Angie

Gimme

I've been struggling with a serious case of the wants. I want this and that, convincing myself I NEED the coveted item. Yet, my closet is over flowing and I have no space for the new purchases. 

The next few days I'll be unsubscribing myself from retail emails and unfollowing shops on INSTAGRAM. Out of sight, out of mind?

Leave me tips in the comments how you combat a series case of the gimmes.  This girl needs some help!

Angie

Warby Parker Holiday 2014

When I first started wearing glasses as a teenager, glasses were not cool. Once I needed glasses full time, I immediately went to contacts. Fast forward a decade (or perhaps two), glasses are suddenly hip with people preferring glasses to contact lenses. Makes me miss my glasses just a tiny bit (no fear...I've been assured I'll eventually be reacquainted in the form of readers- also not hip). Lucky for me Warby Parker is also launching a great sunglass collection for Holiday 2014. I'm loving Reilly Sparrow Grey and Laural Oak Barrel. 

What are your favorites?

Reilly Sparrow Grey (photo credit Warby Parker)

Laurel sunglasses (photo credit: Warby Parker)

May style recap

If you follow me on Instagram, you know how I love participating in style challenges with @hilaryrushford being a favorite. But as fun as the challenges are, I wanted to see if I could find my personal style without using a daily prompt. Would I be inspired without resorting to frantic changes as I was rushing out the door?

Overall, I did mostly okay. My style- classic prep. And stripes. Yes, I have a small obsession wearing stripes. I wore stripes twelve of the last twenty-one work days (the month of May had 21 work days).

Here's a recap by week:

Week One

Week Two. Stripes four out of five days!

Week Three. More stripes!

Week Four. Stripes only made an appearance once this week.

Look at those stripes! And also my favorite outfits for the month.

 

Do you find yourself gravitating to one particular color or style of clothing? I torn between embracing the pieces that I love and work with my shape- cropped pants, pencil skirts, stripes (!) and experimenting to find new styles. I'm a little of afraid of waking up one day in a closet full of beige (or in my case stripes) like Susan Sarandon's character Lavinia Kingsley in The Banger Sisters.

XOXO

Angie

Pattern mixing

I feel like pattern mixing takes my wardrobe up ten notches. And as I work in a mildly conservative office with a dress code (no casual Fridays for this girl), I try to keep it office appropriate. 

So here are my mostly made up pattern mixing rules:

1. Keep the patterns similar in scale.
2. Keep the colors cohesive.
3. Keep other accessories in check. Save the statement necklaces for another day. Keep shoes neutral.

Happy mixing! 

Angie

Road runner? Not so much....

Yesterday I skipped the gym and took my run outdoors. Once a week I briefly turn into a dance mom giving me an hour of solo time. The gym is near the dance studio but I lose time in the car and then there is the stress of finding an empty treadmill and then rushing back before class ends. Rather than race around, I decided why not give the path near the studio a try. And so I did. I hit a few snags--neither app I use would sync up to GPS so I did most of my run blind. I had no idea how far I'd run or at what pace. And when the GPS did start working, the pace wasn't accurate because of the time elapsed. Note to self: check distances before setting out. I turned around at what ended up being about a mile because it felt like I'd gone a long distance. I did enjoy the change in scenery but the constant hum of road noise meant I had to turn up my music a bit louder and as I was running with the road to my right and mostly undeveloped land to my left, I was nervous. The parts that were developed were housing developments with lots of cars turning in during rush hour.

Post run selfie

I'd like to run it again for the goal of running the full distance (about 4 miles total) and while it was nice to run off the treadmill, the cars and wooded areas make me uneasy. I can't seem to get into a running zone when I'm constantly checking my surroundings. 

How do you get used to running outdoors? 

Angie 

Run like you're being chased... a running update.

I am going to apologize in advance for this post. My thoughts are a little jumbled so this post will likely reflect that. My routine was thrown off and my workouts are reflection. I talk about a big game about getting up at 5am for the gym, but that snooze button has been getting a lot of use making for shorter and shorter workouts. One of my fitness goals is 10K steps daily and the last two weeks I've been averaging 8K at best. Another goal for April was 30 miles in 30 days and I missed it by 1.46 miles. Less than 2 miles!! Rather than pat my myself on the back and congratulate myself for almost making it, I took some time to reflect what my goals were and why I wasn't meeting them. Sabotage! I self sabotage over and over again. I can't pinpoint the exact reasoning but not allowing myself to succeed is probably pretty close. I know that sounds vague, but I'm thinking you know exactly what I mean!

No more phoning it in. Focus on meal planning (I am not counting calories or avoiding foods; the goal is to plan ahead to avoid hitting the candy jar so frequently. I'm bored with my food). Organize workout gear so I stop wearing the same four pieces. I don't need new, I need to rotate what I own. 

Firm goals:

30 miles in 30 days.
Adding core in 3-4 days a week.

Reward:

Shopping at lululemon. I'm in between sizes on the skirt...I'd like to fit comfortably in the smaller size.

 

Thanks for stopping by.. Angie