dresses as skirts

Row 1: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Row 2: 5 / 6 / 7 / 8
Row 3: 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

One of my favorite tricks of utilizing my closet in the most efficient way is to use dresses as skirts. Especially when a dress is strapless or spaghetti strap, it helps to have another option other than just wearing it with a cardigan. Instead I'll employ a lace blouse, a button-up, or a sweater to layer over the top of the dress, sometimes belting it to add some definition. It doubles my opportunities to wear my favorite dress patterns in varied ways, keeping things fresh and fun.

this time last year

spider lady of shalott

Looking back on my style posts around this time last year has brought on a very acute sadness for the lack of changing leaves here in AZ. Part of me absolutely loves the gorgeous Fall weather here (gorgeous meaning sunny: a tad nippy in the evenings but bright and almost warm during the days). The other part misses my collection of boots and tights and scarves and gloves and hats. I've kept them in boxes, more content to keep them out of my sight than to remind myself how beautiful they all are.

This morning I did break open one box labeled "Caitlin Winter" (can that be my alter ego? because I dig it) and clutched all of the beautiful sweaters to my chest. Oh, how I have missed them. It felt like an early Christmas gift.

In looking back on last year's style, I grabbed a few photos of my favorite looks from the end of October through November for this wintry recollection post. More for me than you, but even so, I hope you enjoy.
This was around the time I started getting restless with my hair, and began curling it every day and going rogue by parting it down the center. I then dyed the tips red in an act of uncharacteristic edginess. It was also a rather glorious time of friendship, afternoon dates, road trip adventures, sleeping in, discovering new things, and loving life. Great memories swirling among those Autumn leaves.

frocktober: the end

afternoon dates

the tapestry bag

the vintage slip

remix: bright tights

 original posts:

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10

Now that it's officially Fall, I thought a nice little cool-weather remix was in order. (Despite the 90-degree days we're still living in here in AZ).
Last year I had so much fun during the Fall and Winter months swapping out my tights. The brighter, the better. I haven't really employed any patterned tights at this point, since most of my clothing is pretty pattern-heavy, but I do love playing around with colorful tights!
Tights are my key to making my dresses last all year round. I don't quarantine my skirts or dresses or any particular colors to only one season - I think there are ways to remix and utilize my favorites no matter what the weather is!
At this point I would have to say my favorites are orange and purple. I'm excited to pull them out and start remixing them again - even if I have to wait until Thanksgiving for cooler temps!

archives: jimmy jons

Happy Friday!

I decided that today would be a good day to reach back into my blogging history and pull out one of my favorite posts from my first blog, Once Upon a Wife Life. My first blog was dedicated to my friends and family while we were away in Virginia for law school. I posted a lot of personal posts, mostly to keep them updated on our lives in Lynchburg. 

Now that we're back, I've let OUAWL go, although I do need to write a few more posts there to wrap up our time in Lynchburg. All that to say: this was one of my silliest posts. It still makes me laugh. 

I first posted it on June 7th, 2012. Enjoy!

This is from our engagement session with our friend Mike. circa 2010.
He told me to be sexy. I had no idea how.
He said that the key to being sexy is to pretend you're about to say the F word.

Sometimes, I laugh out loud at myself.
It's not because I think I'm really funny (I occasionally think I'm pretty funny) but I'm just really easily entertained, and sometimes when that perfect thing comes to mind, I can hardly contain my glee at my own cleverness.

When we were in Charlotte last weekend, we went into a very high-end department store, Neiman Marcus.
They carry all of the fanciest brand names. I mean, the store name is in cursive, and it's just really obvious that it's not a place where Dusty and I regularly shop. Or ever shop.
We went around admiring the merchandise, and I could have sworn a few hefty men came cautiously in our direction just to make sure we weren't trying to steal anything.

Back off my wal-mart cardigan, dude, it's a fun color and it fits nice.

As we made our way back to the fancy menswear, Dusty began to drool over a ridiculously gorgeous pinstripe suit. It was divine. I nodded my approval, sneaking a peak at the $4,000 price tag on just the jacket. Maybe that's normal for people like Leonardo DiCaprio...or maybe that's just the kind of suit he would buy for his dog, I really don't know. For little ones like us it's a lot of money.
A well-dressed (duh) grey-haired man approached us, asking if we needed any assistance. He had a bit of an arch to his eyebrow that said he was up to no good. We told him we were just looking.

He proceeded to nod and walk back across the glistening tile to another store worker, and whispered, "Eh, just a couple of Jimmy Jons."

Now.

I don't know what that's supposed to mean. My fancy-pants radar was going off, signaling that I should be offended. But that radar is broken (I bought it at a discount) and all that resulted was a fit of giggles. Offended giggles, obviously, but it had us both cracking up, trying to imagine what they must think of us.

We then developed a string of Jimmy Jon scenarios.

Me: "Most of my pants I bought for less than $10...and that's why I'm a Jimmy Jon."
Dusty: "9 of my socks have holes in them, and that's why I'm a Jimmy Jon!"
Me: "Well, I use safety pins to keep my dress intact. Pretty sure that makes me a Jimmy Jon."
Dusty: "Our favorite restaurant is Olive Garden. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why we're Jimmy Jons."
Me: "Ha! I use my panty-hose as a pasta drainer...and that's why I'm a Jimmy Jon."
Dusty: "I buy all my groceries from the bum next door...and that's why I'm a Jimmy Jon!"
Me: "Gee whiz, our entire downstairs is courtesy of thrift stores and Craigslist. We are so Jimmy Jons."

For the record, some of these are true, and some of them are not. I won't say which are which.
I wish I could remember some of the ones we actually said that day, because we were in stitches, we were so pleased with ourselves. Suffice it to say, we're not too upset about being Jimmy Jons.

Then yesterday, I was having a conversation with my friend Becky about fitness. We were talking about getting in shape, and how important it is to keep a tight core, and feel the burn, and bladda yadda work-out jargon.

One of the items of conversation became arms. I think it's especially important to women to have toned arms. The last thing you want is for your under-arm to do a flash-dance in the middle of you waving to the next-door neighbor.
We all want sexy-toned arms.
So I said, "Oh ya. It's a must. Especially in the summertime...I mean...when I put on my new bridesmaid's dress last night, I just kept my arms spread-eagle so there wouldn't be any unwanted skin gathering."
We had a good laugh.
I told Dusty about this conversation, because I thought it was really funny.

After work that night, we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some things for a barbecue we were going to. We grabbed some beans, hamburger/hot dog buns, and then headed down the chip aisle.
A very dangerous place!
I immediately spotted the Puff Cheetos, because I love those, and have been craving them since...the last time I ate them, and realized I never wanted to stop.

This was last year. Proof of our long-standing affair.

After we checked out, I asked Dusty if I could go ahead and open the Cheetos for a pre-barbecue snack.
He said no!
I was upset.

Dusty: "You need to have self control."
Me: Rolling my eyes, "I don't want any of that."
He looks at me critically. We start to walk out the sliding doors.
Dusty: "Oh really? So, what? You just wanna be spread-eagle for the rest of your life?"

Funniest thing he's ever said to me. Except for one other thing, which I can't blog about, because it's super inappropriate.
But I thought I might pee my pants. I had to pause in the parking lot and compose myself.

The moral of the story is, when I think something is really funny, I can't. stop. laughing.
And going on a rant of hilarity is one of my favorite things to do, and I absolutely love that I have so many people in my life that allow me to be ridiculous.
Love you guys :)

Dusty, ya Jimmy Jon, I love ya.

(original post)

remix: floral dress

collection of old posts: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 

If I could pick out one dress in my closet that I couldn't live without, it would probably be this one.
By far the most worn item in my wardrobe, it was my first purchase from Ruche and remains my go-to when I want something pretty, comfortable and easy to remix.
I think having a floral dress is one of the best staples! This one is short enough to wear as a tunic (I often pair it with skinny denim or my pineapple yellow jeans), and also works great with tights in the winter. I've worn it in every season. I look forward to finding new ways to wear and remix this favorite.

my style addiction

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I think it's safe to say that my style addiction is mixing prints and patterns!

I love accidentally finding bold ensembles that somehow seem meant to be. I know it's risky and it's a style choice not everyone would make -- but I love mixing things up and seeing the way stripes compliment florals, and the way polka dots love being absolutely everywhere.
There are rules, of course -- but mostly I think they're meant to be bent.
I generally like to stick with:

1. Two prints only -- unless you're feeling super crazy.
2. Treat polka dots like neutrals because they should always be invited to the party.
3. Choose prints within the same color scheme.
4. Mix big patterns with little patterns.

These are not all-inclusive, of course -- each pattern-mixing outfit I wear usually sticks to one or two of these rules, not all of them at once. I'd also say that I often treat stripes as a neutral as well, and basically any black and white pattern. I love the way a black and white striped sweater looks with a loud, colorful print.

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I think it's the experimenting that I love the most, and the way my eyes are drawn to ensembles while scrolling through my closet. It makes me wish I had a closet like Cher from Clueless. 

I think patterns were meant to be mixed, colors to be scrambled and worn and paraded.

What do you think about pattern mixing? Would you do it? And if so, what rules would you stand by?

If not -- what is your style addiction?

#mystyleaddiction