LizzyRae.com

Look for me at LizzyRae.com.
If you didn't know, one of my main purposes for blogging so much and about things that are pretty shallow, is that it is a way to practice my writing without having to constantly think about the content. It's a way to just clear the writer's block that kept me from writing for so long by just blurting out exactly what I am thinking at the time.

With my new job, and everyone around me focusing so much on their blogs, it is research/fun for me to continue upgrading my blog in little ways. Today's way is by adding the domain name lizzyrae.com! I have moved my blog to be hosted through wordpress but you can always find it at lizzyrae.com.


Thanks for reading. If there is anyone reading. Talk to you tomorrow.

19/365

I am a blueberry. I constantly make fun of my dad for constantly "matching" with wearing red and red or blue and blue, but today I am guilty. I look like a blueberry. As my dad has slowly learned, the same is NOT matching, its ugly.

Blue jeans aren't necessarily always blue but today they feel especially blue to match my blue shirt. I love the shirt, I think it fits well and is so comfy to wear in a casual or dressy situation but how do I wear it other than with jeans? Ideas?

Emily and I have concluded that there should be an optional make-up booth at work for halfway through the day after we have spent all day touching our faces and messing up our hair. High maintenance, yes. Necessary, perhaps.

PICS to share.



Enough said.

Tomorrow is the company party. What to wear?

17/365

Today seems to be going a little better for me than yesterday. I actually CHOSE to snooze my alarm this morning instead of it snoozing me. My roommate had just done laundry (mom) so I had a lot of clothing options to choose from, although I am starting to get nervous that I might forget what I have already warn and wear it again on accident. I think I might have to start printing out my outfit pictures so that I can flip through them to make sure I'm not wearing a repeat.

Just a thought.

I was wondering in the Subway line today, whether or not my outfit looked hipster. Am I still preppy? What is my style? What do I want my style to be? I know that I only wear jeans, I tend to wear darker colors, and that I have a large collection of v-necks. I think that all adds up to exactly nothing. Is my answer to "What is my style?", that I have no style?

Oh, the break through.

Today, however gloomy this revelation, I am pretty happy with what I am wearing. I bought this blouse-y t-shirt quite a while ago that ties in the back, and I am always uncomfortable to wear it in a professional setting. I found a solution to this today... the gray vest that I haven't worn in a while! It covers the back and adds a little texture to the outfit! I also am wearing yellow shoes for fun :)

Disclaimer: please pay no attention to my hair. I need a whole separate challenge for that!



The Outfit:
It's obvious

Category:
Work again

Rating:
Confident

Comments:
I love wearing black on black, I am not a gloomy person though. Weird. I love the yellow. Glad I could wear the shirt without feeling exposed. (awkward)

16/365

I am not skipping outfits, or days, but I just don't tend to post on weekends unless I share a good find like yesterday.

So this morning was just one of those mornings... One of my roommates (my dad) knocked on my door at 7 AM and asked what time I was choosing to wake up that day. I rolled over and told him that my alarm was set for 5:30 AM. I was planning on waking up early, I had packed my lunch the night before to be extra prepared and able to get out the door fast.

Its always worse when you prepare for an early morning and then mess up while setting your alarm that if you just make the choice to hit the snooze a million times and are late.

So groggy ol' frustrated me stood at my closet for a good 10-15 minutes doing absolutely nothing. Staring, perhaps sleeping while standing up. Trying so hard to pick out an outfit to go with my new gojane.com shoes. I settled on a below average outfit that combined a vneck boyfriend tee with a spaghetti strap sweater vest thing. Below average work by me.

In the midst of my scattered morning I forgot my phone charger at home and for that reason my phone (my outfit cam) is dead. My boyfriend is probably thinking "I told you so. You should always charge your phone overnight instead of your method of waiting to charge it when it is about to die!" Well I am ignoring his thoughts and going with thoughts of my own... "Good thing it was a day when I am wearing a lame outfit." Can I get an Amen?


The Outfit:
Jeans
Go Jane Grey Suede Flats
Boyfriend Vneck Tee
Grey Button Up Spaghetti Strap Sweater Vest Thing

Category:
Ugly

Rating:
Aweful

Comments:
You have landed on... take three steps back.

Great Find: GoJane.com

A great find while reading my sister's People Style Watch magazine, GoJane.com. This website was featured in the "Get This Look" area, where they show cheap alternatives for designer clothing. Awesome. I am always looking for a good deal. I remembered that my sister had bought cute flats from this website before, so I looked it up.

Just like any store, there were styles that I loved and styles that I hated. There were some shoes that would make my feet look pettite and some that made mine look so gigantic. I knew going into it that I wanted some suede flats. I have leather, I have brown, I have black. I wanted some that were gray and some that were a different type of color. The colorful flats to add some color to my usual dark outfits when I can't find color to wear in my outfits. It was also important that they were CHEAP. Not just because I hate spending money but because I am so hard on my shoes that I have to buy new pairs all the time, whether they are good quality or not. Helps me sleep at night.

I looked around and found two pairs of flats that I love. For a total of $30 (including tax and shipping) I ordered them and received them yesterday. Love them. What do you think?

12/365

A fairy (mom) cleaned my living space (room) for me, and when I came back to my room I found a necklace that I didn't know I had. (It has yet to be confirmed, whether or not this is my sister's necklace). I saw the necklace and thought, "I should wear that". So today I designed my outfit around that certain accessory.

Since I am posting twice today, I decided to make this one super short. For my sake and yours.



The Outfit:
Silver necklace
White speckled tank
Black long-sleeved cardigan
Yellow scarf
Skinny jeans
Brown knee-high boots (outside the pants)

Category:
Dressy casual

Event:
Happy Friday!

Rating:
Something I would usually wear. Not much challenge.

Comments:
I think I want to wear leggings at some point. They are so comfy!

11/365

So, yesterday I made a list of things that I HAD to do before I took my lunch break (my lunch break is when I do my blogging). I made such a list because I had meetings scheduled for after lunch and I wouldn't have time to do anything else productive. Apparently my list was too long because I looked up and saw that (although I had eaten my lunch while working) I no longer had the usual time to blog, I had a meeting to go to.

The lesson I learned... make shorter to do lists. Make smaller demands. Just joking.

So, today I have made it absolute priority to post both outfits (yesterday's and today's).

I LOVE the sweater that I wore yesterday. It is warm and comfortable and can be dressed up with a belt, but is never super casual even when you wear it with jeans and flats. Yesterday I decided to opt no on the belt but yes and the fancy shoes. Partially because of that rain, I wore brown knee high boots with a thick heel. Instead of wearing them over skinny jeans as I am today, I tucked them under my loose around the calves (forget what they're called... flared perhaps) jeans. I added the long sleeve because it is cold and I need it for practical purposes. It was cute though I think.



The Outfit:
Jeans (w/ flare?)
Brown knee high boots
Blue cow? neck short-sleeved sweater
White long-sleeved shirt

Category:
Dressy casual

Event:
Thursday!

Rating:
Could do better

Comments:
Fun to have the boots under the jeans, need a better hair do.

10/365

I have a confession to make. I am a scared-y cat. You probably already know this, if you have known me for more than about 5 seconds but just to give you an idea of exactly HOW much of a scared-y cat... I still sleep with a night light (well my bathroom light on with the door cracked) and I don't like coming home at night when my roommates are not there (aka my parents).

Another element to my scared-y catness is that I HATE driving in the rain. I always promised my mom I would never believe I was invincible, and there is no greater reminder of that than the fear that I feel when I am driving in the rain on a freeway in my Honda bad boy (Accord '93). Now it might have something to do with the fact that bad boy's defrosting system doesn't work fast enough for me to be able to see outside of the car when it's raining, or that bad boy starts to yell at me (make funny noises) and I don't know when he might decide to throw a fit and leave me stranded on a crowded LA freeway during rush hour.

So yesterday, an intense scared-y cat southern California fear built inside of me as the rain continued to pour all day and word of a Tornado and terrible freeway conditions began to spread... My solution to this fear? Call my roommate Dad. His office is halfway home and his car is big and sturdy and although the heater doesn't work I knew I would get home safe.

So I left my car at his office overnight, in hopes no one (someone) would steal it and I got a ride home from my dad. A ride home from Dad means a ride to work from Dad, and he is an early riser.

The worst thing about getting up early is that even in California in the winter or perhaps the summer, it is cold and all I ever want to wear is a sweatshirt.

So what's my point? My point is this. This morning my wardrobe desires were all for sweats. What is a healthy alternative for sweats in an office? A BIG COMFY SWEATER.

See below.



These are probably more useful pictures, although hideous of me and my poofy hair but don't you worry. I put my hair back. Notice: one shot with glasses, one without. Symbolism perhaps? Probably not.

The Outfit:
Once again with the cowboy boots under the jeans
Grey/black houndstooth comfy sweater
Black long sleeve

Category:
Comfy Casual

Event:
Work day number 7

Rating:
BORING!

Comments:
I love the tie on the sweater, but everything else is pretty blah. Wondering how to spice it up.

9/365

Where are 7 & 8 you might ask? Well outfits 7 & 8 occurred this weekend and I made the mistake of taking the pictures with my camera instead of my phone, once again in effort of taking better pictures, and because of this I have yet to upload the pics to my computer in order to share them with you! Perhaps tonight I will hit you with a double whammy of outfits.

My search for POP...

So I like to believe that I have become more and more adventurous with my outfit decisions throughout the past few days, maybe this is due to my continued search for more POP and more texture in my day to day outfits. For me, a self proclaimed non-fashionista, it hasn't been easy, my messy room as proof, it takes me several wardrobe changes every morning before I actually shrug my shoulders and make my exit. I am not a natural that is for sure, but I did read my sister's People Style Watch yesterday, so maybe that means that today is going to be a better wardrobe day. Maybe it already is!

On a side note, after my first official week of work I have come to the conclusion that I LOVE my job and look forward to every day that I come in. Yesterday, being a holiday, I found myself antsy to get back to work. Weird I know but, I am and always have been kind of a nerd in this way. Productivity is my drug. I mention my enthusiasm for every day at work, because I think it just might be what adds to my enthusiasm for my every day outfit and my own "search for POP" as I call it. I hope that my enthusiastic nature and happy heart can someday be shown through creative and unique outfits.

It is becoming more and more evident that because I have started to write about clothes so much I have given them some sort of philosophical meaning. Scary, but for the purpose of this blog I think I will let it slide. I hope you will too.

Onto the outfit!




Okay these are bad again, and once again in the bathroom at work during my lunch break. My apologies!

The Outfit:
Skinny Jeans
White VNeck Long Sleeve
Grey Zipper Pocket Crew Neck Tee (PS. The zipper actually works)
Black Knit 3/4 Sweater
Yellow Scarf
Knee High Black Leather Flat Boots

Category:
Casual

Event:
Start of work week numero dos.

Rating:
Loving the layering, and the texture of the zipper and the scarf. I also ALWAYS love wearing boots. Overall I like it.

Comments:
Wishing my hair was having a better day so that I could get the WHOLE look right, but at least I got my eyebrows done. One of these days I might show my face. More than the goofy look up top!

6/365

{Is this POP-y enough?}

I was told I need to work on my photography. I didn't realize that I was posting all about these outfits I have been wearing and you couldn't even see the pictures. I am making an effort to change that.

I have been talking about needing a little more POP, a little more pizazz in my outfits so in an effort to stop complaining and start doing I once again enlisted the help of my fashion fabulous sister, Stephanie Kae. (Who, by the way, is also doing this same challenge but weekly and better!).

Stephanie helped me first find a piece of my clothing that might add some more texture or a more unique element. We chose a flowy (the descriptive way that I often describe my clothes) beige vest. Now you may ask, why beige if you're looking for POP? Well choosing this texturized, fun, and flowy vest allows me to then choose a more colorful layer underneath, such as this mustard yellow long sleeve that I have been dying to wear (but doesn't exactly fit me right so it's nice to have a layer over it).

To add some more fun and flavor we added a thin braided brown belt that is knotted instead of clipped which I think works for the look but is also just because it is broken and does not clasp anymore! I chose skinny blue jeans to go with some braided dark brown (not light brown which would be too "matchy matchy" with the belt) woven flats with silver hardware. A fun leaf long necklace was also fun to add to the equation... see!

Disclaimer: While I am trying to get better at displaying my pictures, today my only option of getting a closeup was at work... in the bathroom during my lunch break. (Which is when I write all of my posts!)




Maybe two bad pictures are better than one?

The Outfit:
Mustard Colored Long Sleeve
Beige Textured (patterned back) Vest
Skinny Jeans (Regular Denim Colored)
Dark Brown Woven Flats with Silver Hardware

Accessories:
Leaf Long Necklace
Braided Light Brown Thin Belt

Category:
Casual

Event:
Workin Lady

Rating:
Feeling more fashionable than usual.

Comments:
Ready to conquer fashion! Maybe.

What do you think?? Comments of your own??? More POP tomorrow?

5/365

I'm wearing the same jeans as yesterday, still working on stretching them out. So I've got that going for me. Another thing I have going for me is that (and I hope not to jinx this but...) today I have yet to spill anything on myself. Yet.

I feel like my outfits are boring and need a little more POP to them. I don't want to write a blog about wearing boring clothes everyday. I want color and texture and a unique style. How do I get that? I assume it's something that you inherit or that is acquired... maybe I'll ask my sister. She's good at this stuff.

Another boring outfit today, although one of my favorite color combinations, ever since I found out that they go together quite nicely instead of clashing like I thought they did.

Brown and Black.

Thoughts?




The picture, as usual, was taken on my phone right before I left for work so it is not the highest picture quality but it works. And Buddy went well with my color scheme today :)

The Outfit:
Jeans (continuing to stretch)
Frilly VNeck Blouse
Flowy Light Brown Cardigan w/out buttons or ties
Black Short Cowboy Boots (with jeans pulled over)

Accessories:
Long Oval Pearl and Diamond (fake obviously) Pendant
Watch
Ring
Diamond (fake) Stud Earrings

Event:
Work Day almost Friday

Category:
Dressy Cassual

Rating:
Wanting some more POP! Needs some more color.

Comments:
As usual I love wearing my cowboy boots in whatever capacity. I really want to wear purple tomorrow. How will I pull that off? Suggestions?

4/365

Outfit 4 of challenge/Day 3 of work/Day 2 of work that I have spilled something on myself

My alarm was set for 6:30 AM as I was planning on getting an early start, maybe even plucking my eyebrows seeing how I have a uni brow (don't bother looking for it in the pictures). So anyways I set the time on my alarm to 6:30 AM but apparently I was too tired (at 9:30 PM, lame I know) to make sure the alarm was not only set to the right time but also turned ON. Typical.

My phone rang and woke me up at 7:00 AM when my Dad called to inform me that it was raining, that traffic was already bad when he left 30 minutes before, and that I should actually leave earlier than planned. Which was actually perfect because I was still in bed. (Good thing my mom was around to make my PB&J for me). Thanks Mom!

I started getting ready and once again looked at my closet and got anxious.

I put on my outfit and looked in the mirror. Yikes. Either my jeans had shrunk a little in the wash or I had gained major weight since I last wore them because they were not so flattering in the belt section, won't go into details.

I needed some sort of temporary solution until the pants stretched out a little and I wasn't bulging out of them anymore. My solution for this problem is usually a stretchy undershirt to be worn underneath the chosen outfit shirt to act as a sort of middle man between the grossness of the bulge and the cuteness of the shirt... doesn't usually fail me which is why it is also the route that I chose this morning. Satisfied.

My favorite item in this outfit is another adorable sweater that I borrowed from Molly, the Costa Rican Missionary (or Missionary in Costa Rica), the sweater is comfy and printed and for that reason can be dressed up or dressed down while being oh so comfortable the whole time.

Here is the whole outfit...




Obviously I wore shoes eventually... black Target flats.

Outfit:
Jeans (that stretched out eventually)
Black Wife Beater
Printed Sweater
Black High Waisted Belt

Event:
Work Day 3 (I realize that one day I won't be able to count days of work)

Category:
Dressed up casual

Rating:
Undecided

Comments:
I wish I could have added some sort of pizzaz to this outfit. Like orange shoes or something. I added the belt even though I didn't really want to, because I thought it might dress up the casual outfit a little more. I feel like it kindof brings attention to the bulge of the jeans though :). Thoughts?

** Spill is on pants both yesterday and today. Awesome :)

3/365

Third post in one day. But after this I am all caught up to today's outfit.

So through these past three posts, in one day, I have developed a complex about blogging all about the clothes that I wear. I care more about the challenge than about the clothes... phew.

Now that that is on the record. (that that?).

Today was day two of work, day three of 365. I am unbelievably excited to be wearing casual clothes to work. It is however important to me, that while I am wearing jeans I still dress to impress. And by making the effort to pick out an outfit every day I feel like I also put on the attitude that every day matters, NOT the attitude of "this is just a sweat pant kind of day".

So today's outfit included gifts from Stephanie and my Mom from Christmas as well as a sweater of Molly's (one of my best friends that is on a missions trip in Costa Rica) that I am borrowing while she is gone.

Here is the outfit.



Outfit:
Urban Outfitters brown flats (need replaced)
Black skinny jeans
Gold sinched waist flowy top
Black 3/4 length sweater

Accessories:
Black, light blue and silver extra long chunky necklace
Diamon (fake obviously) stud earrings

Event:
Work

Category:
Dressy Casual

Rating:
Would wear it again, next year of course

Comments:
How should I wear these pieces in different ways?


XOXO
Lizzy Rae

2/365

First day of work. Now, I for one, have always been so excited to enter the working world. Call me naive, but I have looked forward to working in an office since I made my pajamas into business suits, carried around a crayon box briefcase and demanded that my family hold frequent family meetings (that I ran of course).

I could not have been more bless to be starting a job at a company that I have come to know and appreciate, in an environment that is both challenging and inspirational. So now that I had built it up for the past 21 years, and had the frequent taunting comments from my dad in the back of my head (Something like "Welcome to the rest of your life")... there was a huge question that I needed to answer...

What should I wear?

Now don't get me wrong. I am not a big fashionista, I am tall and I like clothes, but that is different. I don't sit around thinking about clothes, or new ways to wear them. I am a traditionalist, and as any other little sister I have copied my adorable fashionable big sister's lead for the past 21 years. Can't do that when you have to wear 365 different outfits throughout a year.

So back to my dilemma. What to wear for the first day of work?

This was too big to do on my own. So with the counsel of my amazing sister Stephanie and prima bonita Danielle I decided on this outfit.

What do you think?




Outfit:
Grey dress pants
White textured undershirt
Blue blazer with grey lining
Shiny grey (horribly uncomfortable) half heels

Event:
First day of work

Rating:
Success

Comments:
Shoes were terribly uncomfortable, I was so unbelievably glad after that day that I can actually wear jeans to work from now on. Even though its always fun to get dressed up every once in a while. Love it!

XOXO

Lizzy Rae

1/365

This outfit was fun because of the mix matching of colors I would normally stay away from. Wearing the yellow shoes in winter (even in California) and with an otherwise Purple accented sweater was fun and daring (barely) for my first outfit.

See for yourself.




Wearing:
Dark Skinny Jeans
Grey V-Neck
Purple and Grey Cardigan
Yellow Wedge Shoes

Event:
Sushi for my cousin Christopher's birthday.

Category:
Casual

Rating:
Success

New Year. New Challenge.

As we sat on a plane on our way to Telluride, CO to visit friends, my boyfriend and I decided that we wanted to dedicate some time to our blogs this year. Having recently watched the movie "Julie and Julia" we were inspired to challenge ourselves to blog in a new and interesting way.

So what's my challenge?

365 Days

365 Different Outfits (Never wearing the same outfit twice)

Using ONLY what I have in my closet and current gift cards I have in my wallet

The purpose?

To respond to my most common expression and complaint... "I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!" Or do I? To live on a better budget and be smarter with my resources.

The tools?

Armed with only fashion magazines, the "My Closet" App for my iPhone, my fashion forward sister, and a sewing machine.

What's first?

With my sister's help I have done closet inventory and organized my closet according to style and type of clothing in order to remember everything that I have in my closet. I will detail this process in an upcoming blog post along with detailing the first outfits of the year.

As for now...

Take note of the new blog title. Taking a rest from dramatic as usual...

XOXO

Lizzy Rae