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

American Red Cross Gala: Wrapped in Red

I'm such a girlie girl! Nothing makes me happier than getting all dressed up for a night on the town. So when my friend Kristina invited my husband and I to the Wrapped in Red: American Red Cross Gala, my mind started wondering with all the possibilities.
There was just one hiccup in my master plan. The invitation stated that red attire was highly encouraged, and red is not my color. I just feel like I look as if I'm trying too hard. I didn't want to be the odd one out and not go within the theme, so I had to become creative.
I decided to do a long black dress and then make all of my accessories red. That way the accessories are the focus point and I'm still "wrapped in red" with my jewelry. The best part is that I found a form fitting long dress with a sheer bottom at Dillards.com for $40.69 with shipping and handling. My shoes are from DSW.com for $35.00 with free shipping. (gotta love that). The red clutch was from TJ Maxx for $16.99. And the statement necklace and earrings are from a custom made jewelry store in Louisville, KY called Koi Gallery. The necklace is called Gypsy Rose. She allowed me to model the necklace and earrings for the evening.

So for an head to toe evening look, I spent $92.68. I love bargain shopping!

Until Next Time,
B

Operation: Bring Sexy Back

It's a new year, and like most of us, I am determined to lose and/or tone up this extra cushion that I have aquired over the past year. I found a great new way of eating that will not only boost my metabolism, but won't make me feel like I'm starving. I even dusted off my old workout clothes and suprising, they still fit. (Gotta love material that streches! LOL!) So I think I'm ready to get my sexy back until I look down and notice that I don't have any proper tennis shoes. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a boot/flip-flop/heel type of girl. The land of athletic shoes is a mystical place that I never had the desire to visit. But in order to truly commit to my new fitness lifestyle, I had to take a journey to the Nike Store. I walk into the store and I feel as if I have landed in Oz full of life, color, and every type of fitness apparel that I can think of. I wander to the back of the store and proceed to go up and down the aisles to find the perfect shoes. I didn't not realize that there were so many choices, everything from running shoes to cross training shoes to just everyday shoes. And each kind feels differently and impacts your workout differently. I must have looked as overwhelmed as I felt, because one of the salespeople as me if I needed any help. I quickly told them what I was looking for, and magically they found me the perfect shoes. Not only are they light weight, but they are very comfortable. They are a little bright for my taste, but with how amazing they felt, I decided to over look that. I was even more amazed when I went to the cash register and the salesperson told me that they were $25! I felt as if I just won the lottery! LOL! After having them for a couple months and doing my zumba excerises and running in them, I can honestly say that that was the best $25 that I have spent in a long time.

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

Happy Halloween

I know its almost Christmas, but I just couldn't let this year come to a close without sharing my awesome Halloween costume with you. I pieced together my outfit from different places because I like to reuse my creations and not just wear them on Halloween. So I purchased a corset from Fredrick's of Hollywood on sale for $29.99 and bought some black boy shorts from Adam and Eve on clearance for $5.99. The biggest this I splurged on was the floor length velvet cloak that I found on Amazon.com for $60. I already had the fishnets and tall boots in my closet and thus, my version of Red Riding Hood was born. I love this costume so much, that I might have to wear it again next year. We shall see...