TBMD

There's something about this polo and shorts combo that makes me feel like I'm about to go to work at a country club. Perhaps it's the crest emblem? Maybe it's the cream color with navy? I wish I had an amusing backstory to tie the outfit to a particular experience, but since I don't, I'll throw out a random thought instead. One of these days, I will cross driving a golf cart off my bucket list. I hope it doesn't involve playing golf because I can't hit a ball off the tee to save my life.

I don't actually have any thoughts to share. I just really like puns because they're so clever. Have a great weekend, everyone!

I'm going to ramble a bit today...

I've never been low on confidence when it comes to dressing myself, even in my pre-blogging days where I mostly walked around in a combination of tshirts, sweatshirts, jeans, Uggs, and the like. Sure, I own nicer things, but I've just been lazy about putting together outfits in the mornings, so it's easier to fall back on what's routine. I've always felt that if need be, I'm capable of making myself presentable.

This self-confidence is twofold. The first part is believing in yourself. The other is being comfortable in your own skin and not caring what others think (as much as possible anyway because we're human after all). I'm speaking about life in general, but it translates over to the fashion side too. Enjoy the hobbies you like, even if it's not "cool" in society's eyes. I get surprised looks whenever I mention that I eat at restaurants and watch movies by myself. It's not because I don't have friends (though I am an introvert) but if it's something I want to do, I'll do it. Other people coming along is a bonus.

On the fashion side, I'm still a bit surprised when people in real life offer a compliment. I remember when DH and I took my parents' friends out to dinner to celebrate our marriage, one of my mom's friends wanted to know every detail about my outfit (Zac Posen for Target dress, Valentino shoes, and gold jewelry). After the initial surprise, we chatted about where I bought the items, how much they cost, etc. She then turned to my mom, nodding her head and said, "C really has an eye for fashion." Her reaction stayed with me, but when I think about all the other times she's seen me in ragged jeans and a shirt, I can see how dressing nicer is a huge improvement. I may not have cared what others thought, but that won't stop them from noticing and judging.

When I started blogging, life was simple. I blogged about what I liked without a care in the world. Once I started getting followers, I kind of freaked out. Do I need to buy what everyone else is buying? Do I need to share outfits, fitting room reviews, and everything else under the sun? For a short time, I did it all (or tried to). It was during that time when I realized, what the hell am I doing. Whatever happened to being yourself even if it's not what everyone else is doing? This whole blogging experience has been an adventure, of self discovery, having fun, and spending money. If interested, I'd be happy to talk about personal finance. I lead a rather boring and simple life, so probably can't offer helpful advice.

After three years, I still haven't fully wrapped my head around blogging... and probably never will. What I have realized is that I may have finally found my niche. Constantly buying new things isn't me (though I can see how compared to an average person, I buy a lot). Neither is high fashion. I also still have lots to learn about fit and proportions. But what I am decently good at is mixing and matching items from my relatively normal-sized wardrobe (see examples). Re-wearing the same red turtleneck in consecutive blog posts? You bet. In a way I've come full circle. The self-confidence I've always felt I had is now just documented on a public blog.

Now on to more vain pursuits...

Use code GOODNEWS for an extra 30% off final sale items at J.Crew until 3/15. Items I've worn recently that have popped back in various sizes are:
- lustre lace mockneck tee (worn here, here, here) is now $69.99 with code
- collection circle skirt (worn here, here) is now $97.99 with code
- perfect shirt in ivory tartan (worn here, here, here, here) is now $48.99 with code
- tissue turtleneck tee (worn here, here) is now $6.99-$13.99 with code

I usually don't think twice when pairing warm with cool colors. Perhaps due to the similar tan and gray shades I'm wearing today, I felt they don't exactly clash, but yet doesn't look quite right together either. So I broke up this almost-monochromatic color scheme by accessorizing with other colors from both sides of the spectrum. Reds and browns (warm) from one and black and silver (cool) from the other.

The girly side of me has been wanting a tweed jacket for awhile and I can now happily cross that item off my list. Jacket #2 from the last month is this season's UniQUEEN Malang tweed jacket. The jacket gained popularity last year after Jean blogged about it in both pink and blue, the latter of which I realized I wanted after it had sold out. None of this spring's colors really spoke to me, so I'm glad I waited to see what this fall had to offer. I chose the black version over the white because the colors were the most similar to last fall's blue. Patience has finally paid off!

Every once in awhile a meeting at work calls for dressier attire. I almost always turn to my one pair of dress slacks before changing up the top for different looks. For today, it's a plain black top accessorized with a colorful scarf. A tad boring, but it gets the job done.

Have a good week ahead!

I thought I had expertly hidden the belt tied around my skirt into the folds of the scarf. Ummm, not even close. Not.even.close. Bf was too busy snapping away* while I was on the lookout for oncoming cars, so neither of us paid any attention to details. Oh, if only life's problems were so trivial.

Hope your week's off to a good one!

The one day I decide to plan my outfit around my shoes, they're nowhere to be found. Black patent pumps would've finished off today's outfit nicely. Instead, it was a toss-up between these snakeskin pumps, booties, or too-tall pumps. Familiarity won, so here's another outfit featuring distressed jeans paired with light-colored shoes.

Have a great Tuesday!

A big thanks to everyone who shared their opinions to my Sperry dilemma. In the end, practicality won out and I chose to keep the linen/oat pair. The colors are neutral enough to be worn year-round and I won't be mistaken for a big kid (even though I act like one). If I ever decide to go for a second pair, you bet I'll be picking out something bright and colorful :)

I've been taking self photos with a tripod for awhile now and I still get somewhat embarrassed. I usually try to pick secluded areas because the occasional passerby do not bother me. My eyes give me away, but no one would be able to see them behind my sunglasses. In an open environment like today's is a different story. There's just that feeling of being watched, which leads to a brain freeze, then of course the camera capturing the awkwardness at that mid-pose, hahaha. I have a feeling this is like public speaking, where the nervousness will never go away. Only time will tell I suppose.

Have a great weekend!

I dug up a few outfit pictures from last year that were lost in the shuffle (aka passed over for better ones at the time). Upon further inspection, some sure do look repetitive. Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things soon with appropriate seasonal outfits. In the meantime, I'll be counting down the days to spring.

Move over, blue and black chain scarf. This red and black version is currently on my list of favorite items. I was in such a hurry to wear it the first time that I forgot to take off the tags, hahaha.

Bf (in a loud voice): What is that thing hanging off your neck?!
Me: Oh. I must've forgot to cut the tags off. Can you rip it off?
Me (in a louder voice to no one in particular while looking for the store's security camera): I didn't steal this!

Lesson learned.

I've been toying with upgrading my little point-and-shoot for awhile now. DSLRs seemed like the next logical step because point-and-shoots just aren't equipped to take those cool blurry background type of pictures. So what was holding me back from taking the plunge? The daunting task of learning all the manual controls and photography lingo while lugging around a heavy camera.

Enter mirrorless cameras. If a point-and-shoot and DSLR ever made a baby, this neat little gadget would be it, with a combination of traits from both parents. The selling points for me were:
- Size: The body is bigger than a point-and shoot, but still much smaller than a DSLR, which allows me to continue carrying a camera with me everywhere I go.
- Picture quality: The ability to use interchangeable lenses allows for DSLR-type pictures, but I suppose this depends on the lens quality.
- Ease of use: There are automatic settings like point-and-shoots but also manual ones like DSLRs (for when I stop being a scaredy-cat).

After I've determined that mirrorless cameras have what I'm looking for, the next step is to find the exact one that best suits my needs. There are currently five brands on the market, but I found this article to be the most comprehensive at the time of publication (excludes the new Nikon). If you only have a few minutes, this article gave a nice summary.

In the end, I decided to go with the Sony Alpha NEX-3. The picture and lens quality is supposedly among the best in its class. The user interface is better suited for people upgrading from a point-and-shoot (like myself), as opposed to downgrading from DSLRs. The tradeoff I did make was the camera size. Sony has the smallest body but with the stock lens attached (biggest of all the brands), it's hard to pass for a compact camera.

I've been having so much fun playing with my new toy the last few days. Learning the camera setup hasn't been too difficult. The automatic setting "dumbs" things down for me nicely ("bkground defocus"?!), cool features like the sweep panoramic mode, but most of all, the picture quality is crisper than my point-and-shoot (with my skills, it's hard to tell unless I put photos side-by-side, lol).

Two goals for me in the near future are:
1) Figure out how to use the self-timer properly to focus. It's all fun and games when I'm behind the camera, but frustrating when the self-timer is set. If I had known how troublesome it is to take self-portraits, I would've paid more for the NEX-5, which at least could be used with a remote.
2) Slowly learn the manual controls and push the limits of what this camera is capable of. For now, outfit pictures using the automatic setting on a self-timer with wayward focus: