Shop Your Closet: Return of the Jedi

I was awakened from a pleasant dream by my husband's excitement. He woke me up like a child does his parents on Christmas morning. "Look outside!" He kept repeating over and over again. Slowly, I get out of bed and go to the window in hopes of seeing a mermaid riding a unicorn or something on that level of coolness. What I found was even better...fog. And tons of it! It was so thick that you could only see about ten feet in front of you. I looked at my husband and with saying a word we both had the same thought....Impromptu Photo Shoot!!
My husband is a huge Star Wars fan. He came up with the idea of me wearing my Red Riding hood
costume from last Halloween and taking some pictures outside. And like most hardcore Star War fans, he has a collection of replica lightsabers to complete the look. Since sunrise was upon us, I had approximately ten minutes to get into my costume, fix my hair and makeup, and be Jedi ready. Instead of wearing the shorts and fishnets I wore on Halloween, I just used some black leggings and tall flat boots. It was the fastest that I ever got ready for the photo shoot. We walked around our apartment complex to find the perfect location to start shooting. This was so unplanned, but it turned out to be some best photos that I have ever taken. Between playing in the fog and all the weird looks we got from neighbors walking their dogs in the morning, it was an awesome start to my day.

Until Next Time,
B

Shop Your Closet: Downtown Career Fair

Finding a job in 2013 is tough. Countless applications completed, phone calls made, and follow ups inquired all in hopes of getting in the door for an interview. And after all that, you still have to impress the company to hire you within fifteen minutes or less. Its exhausting! I'm more of an old school type of person when it comes to job hunting. I prefer to meet people in person, fill out applications in person, and build a relationship with a company that doesn't involve me staring at a computer screen for hours on end. So when I found that a career fair was being held, I jumped at the chance.
I strongly believe that first impressions are essential in creating any type of positive relationship. So when, it comes to job hunting, what you wear is very critical in the hiring process. Unfortunately, I don't wear a lot of profession clothing nor did I have the money to run to the mall and find something new. So I had to become creative. Since I have my new workout shoes, I have been losing weight and I can fit back into pants that I couldn't fit before. So I searched my closet and found some camel colored pants and a cream snaked skinned fabric tank. I also found a coral colored asymmetrical suit jacket. To complete the look, I dusted off my flower printed Guess pumps. Accented my gold earrings and tan tote bag and my look was complete!
I absolutely love color! Needless to say, I was the brightest thing walking around the career fair. Everyone was in your traditional office black, grey, and blues. Is that an unwritten rule that you have to wear those type of drab colors to be considered professional? If so, that's definitely one rule that will never apply to me. :)

Until Next Time,
B

Shop Your Closet: NYE 2013

Well, its the end of the year and I thought I would share with you all another Shop Your Closet experiment. Everyone knows that New Years Eve is one holiday where it is all about the glam. This is where you can get wild and crazy with the sparkles and glitter and nobody can call you out for it. This year I decided to tame my sparkle and pair with a little inspiration of a bad girl. I put together some black and deep gold coated skinny jeans with a low cut cow neck shirt. I didn't have a tank to go under my shirt, so I just wore a nice black bra and put my trusty black blazer ( the one you have seen about a thousand times LOL!) over it to give it a layered type look. I decided to have a muted outfit so that my over the top sparkle gold shoes have their time to shine. And thus, I created my interpretation of my bad girl inspired ensemble.

Until next time,

B

PS- The hot chick next to me in the picture is my girl Tanesha. I usually take pictures by myself to showcase my clothes, but the night was so hectic that this was the only picture I took. You know how it is...LOL!

Shop Your Closet (With a little help): Christmas 2012

 Better late than never...

Its Christmas time again and I had to make sure that I looked presentable enough to share the holidays with my family and friends. I don't know about you, but after spending for everyone's Christmas gift, my budget is about to kill me if I spent another dollar. So instead of getting a complete new look for Christmas (like I always do) I decided to do a another installment of shop your closet. I happened to be browsing on line and I absolutely fell in love with these pale pink pearl coated jeans sold at New York and Company. They were regular priced $64 but I waited until they were on sale and got them for $35 (which includes shipping and handling because you know they did not have them in my size in stores...typical). So since that was my one splurge item (which technically wasn't a splurge) I had to shop my closet for everything else. I decided to pair them with a sequin tank top and black blazer. Originally I had some black pumps to go with this, but decided day of to swap them out with black booties due to the weather. Top it off with some light pink jewelry and there you have it...an outfit perfect for any holiday gathering.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!

Until Next Time...

B

Shop Your Closet: Networking Event

Last week, I went to a networking event and I had absolutely no idea what to wear. Anyone who knows me, knows that when it comes to anything concerning business attire, I'm totally clueless. To me, business attire always look kind of dull and boring with your button down shirts and you basic colors of blue,black, or grey. None of which I had in my closet, and I was not about to go out and buy something new to have it rot in my closet after this event was over. So this is where I got creative. I dug deep into my closet and pulled a fuchsia pencil dress with a skinny black belt and some black rose laced Betsy Johnson heels (one that I will blog about later in my one cent wonders segment).  Now, if I did have a career to where I had to dress business professional, this would definitely be the look that I would go for.

Until Next Time...
B

Shop Your Closet: Little Black Dress Club

I am apart of a fabulous club called The Little Black Dress Club. It is a great social club for professional women of all ages and backgrounds to come together and bond as women. Anyways, for this particular event that we went to, we had to wear our "little black dress", hence the name of the club. Unfortunately, due to my weight going up and down, I can no longer fit any of my black dresses, and I can't buy anymore. So this is where I have to become creative. I decided to piece together my long sleeve black lace shirt (the one I wore on NY) with a high wasted black pencil skirt and a chunky waist belt. Instead of wearing a bra under the lace, I just layered a spaghetti strapped tank top. And since I love color and couldn't possible wear just all black, I decided to place a red rose in my hair and red earrings with black shoes. I must say I was happy with how it all turned out.
                                                                       

Shop Your Closet: New York Fashion Week

So here I am, in New York, at Fashion Week no less, so I needed an outfit that was dying to impress. To reach this task, I decided to go with my long sleeve black lace shirt, with tuxedo jacket, and shiny black dress slacks. For a pop of color, I decided to top it off with my red fedora style hat. And since the shirt is lace, I placed a black bra up under it, just for that extra spice of sexiness. I must say, that I was very pleased with my choice. What do you think?

Shop Your Closet: Dinner and a Movie (Date Night)

My husband and I did our monthly dinner and a movie date night, and I really didn't know what to wear. Normally, I would go and at least get a new pair of jeans, but I still sticking with my journey. So I dug in my closet and this is what I came up with. (Side note: We went to see The Devil Inside and I must say it was an awesome movie. Especially if you are into horror and demon possession movies; I give it two thumbs up!)

I just pulled out a sequined front ribbed tank top and threw a crochet sweater and jeans with it. I love to layer and I am really the tank top queen (which you will find out during all these post). I love throwing a tank top under any sweater or shirt just to give it an extra pop of color. Its also very functional during these cold winter months.
 
What I have learned so far with this process is that accessories are key to magically transform any outfit. You can have something plain, whether it be jeans and a tank top or a solid color dress, and add some accessories to it and just like that you have a completely different look. I'm a huge girlie girl and I love bling, so I paired my outfit with this huge pink and metallic stretch bracelet that I got from Versona Accessories (only $14.99!!) and earrings with pink and gold earrings that a friend of a friend made for me. As far as the shoes, I pulled out my open toe tan military boot to give it that extra kick of fashion. Not only are these heels cute but they are comfy too. (Yes, open toe in January, but it was unusually warm that night) So cute!!

                                    

So this is me ready for a night on the town with the love of my life. And to think, this cute look didn't cost me a penny...I think I can get used to this. :)

Shop Your Closet: NYE 2012

Happy New Year! It's the first day of my shopping fast and I have already gotten off to a great start. In the past, I used to buy a new outfit for every occasion. So, when my husband and I decided to go out for New Years Eve last night, I decided that instead of buying something new, I was just going to shop my closet and see what I can come up with. Here is what I came up with…

The first thing that I came across was a black and gold sequin tunic that I purchased at Arden B (one of my favorite stores) a few months ago. It is spaghetti strapped and sequined on the front and back, so I decided to thrown on a black blazer over it to tone it down some. It’s amazing how a simple blazer can compliment any outfit. I also threw some black leggings on under it to add the extra added sex appeal.

 Next, I had to find the perfect shoes. You know, the ones that compliment my outfit perfectly but not kill my feet by the end of the night. LOL! So I came up with these Vince Camuto metallic gold peak toe pumps that I bought at one of those awesome Dillards shoe sales during the summer. They worked well with my outfit, but I ended up taking them off by the end of the night. So much for comfort…

I must say that this first adventure of shopping my closet turned out to be a success! I felt great in what I was wearing and the best part is that I saved some money.  If this is what 2012 has in store for me, then I know that this will be a great year!