tick tock

 

December is arguably the nation's most favorite month of the year.
It's a month of holidays, winter flavors, cold weather, glitter, comfy sweaters, good cheer, family, magic, gifts, parties, fireworks, well wishes and resolutions.

It's also the month that speeds by the fastest! It all seems to go by in a shimmery blur.
This year is really strange for us. It's the first Christmas ever we'll be spending away from Arizona. Luckily my husband's family is coming to visit us, but we've decided not to exchange presents this year (which has made it a lot easier on us, because we would have to ship them all).
I'm finding myself in a panic because it's so close to Christmas and normally around this time I'm busily shopping and planning and getting ready to fly home.
But this year, it's peaceful. Simple. Strange. 

Dress: Ruche, Jeans: Target, Boots: DSW
Scarf: Gifted, Necklace: Thrifted

We're still stuck in the thick of finals season, but by Friday we'll be home free to enjoy the crispness of holiday festivities. I'm extremely excited! I'm not sure what we'll do when it's finally over -- we only have one semester left here, so it feels like a really big milestone to be done with our very last December finals.
A party is in order, definitely. But whether that "party" means going out for a fancy steak dinner and seeing Frozen again or staying at home in our pajamas for three days straight remains to be seen.

Speaking of pajamas, this dress is basically pajamas.
I bought it on super sale ($10) from Ruche back in September, and it was one of those S/M or M/L sizes that is always a gamble. It's way too big on me, but it feels like going to work on a cloud.
Simultaneously, I feel like a Greek goddess because the sleeves are twice as long as my arms and oh-so-flowy.
A dress with that kind of comfort combo has to be treasured, despite the too-long sleevage.

the leopard cardigan

I think I've mentioned before that I've been consigning a lot of clothes this year.
Slowly cleaning out the excess, trying to be proactive and not lend power to my natural pack-rat tendencies.
For the most part it has been a really positive experience. My closet is lighter, I get a few extra bucks, I feel freer. The possibility of me being an old lady hoarder was slowly ebbing away.

But then something terrible happened. 

It was a few weeks ago.
I saw this Instagram post by another blogger I love, and thought, cute outfit! (See her full outfit post here). Love the green, love the leopard. Fun play on patterns.
Then I realized, bingo! I have a similar ensemble sitting in my closet, waiting to be worn.

You see, leopard is my love. It was a romance that struck early on in life, and that kind of nostalgia seems to last for a lifetime.
Naturally, when my bachelorette party came along, my best friend/maid of honor chose leopard and sequins as the main dress code. It was a fabulous event!
While we were out shopping for the perfect leopard dress, we found a white leopard cardigan and grabbed it as a possible backup in case I wanted a glittery dress with a leopard accent.
I ended up finding a fun leopard dress and one of my other friends wore the white leopard cardigan, and it's been sitting in my closet ever since. I've never actually worn it before, but it has been sitting there, happily reminding me of that fun-filled night surrounded by my best girl friends.
Because I am a pack rat and I'm way too sentimental about everything. That's just the way it is.

I went to my closet to grab the necessary ingredients for this fantastic outfit, and the cardigan was gone. 
I blinked in confusion, knowing exactly where it should be. I knew it by heart. Third in from the right side, right next to that brown cardigan with the rhinestones all over it that I've had since before junior high.
Maybe...could it be in the laundry?
I checked, even though I knew I hadn't worn it ever, so the chances of it being in the laundry were highly doubtful.
The panic was rising in my chest, because I knew what I had done.
I had thrown it into the black hole of consignment. 
I sprinted out to the car, hoping that it would somehow be tucked in the trunk somewhere. That it had magically avoided being in the big bag of giveaways I had taken there days before.
No such luck. I had no one to blame but myself.

Despite this, I went back to the consignment shop, probably looking like a crazed person as I stared shrewdly and expertly thumbed through every rack like a private investigator out to catch a thief. I even imagined some weird lie I could tell, that would persuade the owner to help me find it and take it back.
I found every other sweater and cardigan I had donated, except for the white leopard one.

For some reason this moment made me want to run out into the rain and scream,
"I KNEW IT! I told you all it would be this way! THIS IS WHY I KEEP EVERYTHING!"

Instead, I took a slow walk in the rain, basking in the tragic irony of it all.
I got in my car and told myself to keep it all together, despite my shattered hopes.
It's kind of hard to be that upset when I'm the one who made the mistake.
Or maybe...the fact that I'm to blame made it that much harder!

To put things back in perspective, we are talking about a cardigan here. Not a loved one (well, not a human loved one). And despite the fact that I gave away my back-up bachelorette cardigan, I was able to successfully find a leopard cardigan this weekend at Ross. Faith in humanity was restored. My inner child rejoiced. And my dear husband simply shook his head.

***UPDATE***
When I arrived at work the next day, the girl at the front desk was wearing my cardigan. 
I couldn't even speak.
I went up to her later as I was walking out and said, "Hm. Nice cardigan."
She said, barely even looking at me, "Oh, you too! Have a great day."
I don't know how, but I interpreted this as the most sinister of insults.

I posted my discovery on Facebook and people who don't read my blog just thought this girl had stolen my cardigan -- while that wasn't the case, the non-theft was still quite bitter.
Good thing I love my new cardigan.

Dress/Necklace (shop!)/Shoes (shop!): Ruche, Cardigan: Ross, Bangles: Kate Spade

the end: outfit 15!

This is the end!
15 items to 15 outfits.
Here's a quick review of the past 14 days!

And now, last but not least...outfit 15!
This last outfit features a buttoned-up cardigan underneath a vest, with a floral skirt and wedges.
Sunday ended up bursting into a rainy day in the evening, which was quite fitting since I was holed up in the apartment all day, sick and miserable.
Both my friend and I have a terrible cold/flu virus and have been completely lazy all weekend, which ended up being really great. We watched a lot of TV (I personally slept off and on until 3pm), and even pulled out an old childhood favorite, The Labyrinth. Don't judge.

I threw on the last outfit, what I would have worn if I wasn't dreary and pajama-clad all day long. While it may be cheating a little bit, because I only had it on for 15 minutes, I think it's the thought that counts.
Challenge complete!

My friend was impressed that I was able to un-sickify myself for these photos, but all it really took was a brush through my hair and a lot of blush and some lipstick. I definitely sank right back into my blanket pile on the couch as soon as this shoot was over!

I hope you all had a better weekend than I did, and I definitely can't wait to be back to 100% for the long holiday weekend!!
Thanks for joining me for this fun 15 day challenge. :)

leopard is a lifestyle

Have you ever sat around and thought about which pattern would best describe you?

Mine would be leopard. Hands down.

Not because I'm wild or feisty or because I love the jungle... although I'm not sure I'm not those things.
Mostly it has to do with nostalgia.
I love how trends tend to recycle themselves. Trends like neon, and peter pan collars, and patterned or high-waisted pants.
They feel brand new to us, but definitely not to our parents. My dad can look at the short, fitted swim trunks trend and proudly know that he wore manly short-shorts first.

Dress: Ruche (similar), Cardigan: Banana Republic (similar), 
Tights: Target, Shoes: Thrifted, Necklace: Modcloth

Growing up, I think it's safe to say I had a leopard obsession.
And the saddest and best part of it all was that my mother let me dress myself, and I had absolutely no idea how.
Moderation, balance, accents, statement piece.
These words were like Spanish to me - I knew it was a language, I convinced myself I could kind of speak it, but then I proceeded to botch it up and/or say something really offensive to someone on accident.

Except instead of causing people to slightly gasp! before laughingly correcting the faux paus, I simply beat them over the head with it repeatedly.

Like that one time I wore a velvet leopard (yeah, that existed) long-sleeve shirt, with a leopard pencil skirt, with leopard Mary Jane shoes that were fuzzy like an actual leopard. 

It was bad, guys. Really bad.

I remember anxiously awaiting the boy I liked to see me, because I knew I was smokin'. 

He walked in, looked me up and down, and said, "Wow." 

My 11-year-old self took that to mean, "You are so beautiful, will you marry me?"

But looking back, I owe a heartfelt thanks to that poor boy who held back as much eye-bulging as he possibly could to give me a restrained and semi-sweet "wow".

I think the alternative would have crushed my little soul.

I was overjoyed when leopard came back in style, because I was much older and wiser and knew I might be able to handle it this time.
It isn't for the faint of heart...it's a lifestyle, and it's a fragile one.
I'm pretty confident that you can kill people with too much pattern. It's dangerous.

But I think in the end, it's totally worth it.

Even if you fail, pattern is too precious to live without. It's better to have patterned and been a disaster, then to never have patterned at all.
True story.

My first ever Modcloth purchase!
This necklace arrived in a box with my Valentine's Day dress,
and another cutesie print top - coming soon to the blog!

Weather has been bipolar, so we've had it all this week - freezing cold, warm sunshine, overcast and rain, and even snow. This morning we were blessed with a powdery snow left over from the night, nearly gone by the time we left for school/work. 

But I don't mind the rain. Because I get to wear my leopard umbrella. :)

Happy February, the month of love, and happy Friday!
Cait