New Year...Old Clothes!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to start doing more things that make me happy- spending time with friends, reading, going to the beach, running and most importantly- being creative. Shana (of Colorblind) was my first inspiration. For a long time I would see her in really great clothes and I would say, "I wish I could afford that" or "How do you have all this money to shop with?" The typical answer out of her mouth was, "Oh, I paid $2.00 for this." This chick had tapped into a world of thrifting that I never knew existed! Sure thrift stores are great when you and your friends decide to dress up as all of the characters from 90210...but no one actually finds GOOD clothes there. So I started trying to check out these thrift stores she raved about. I found that I still wasn't finding what she was finding. Was I in the wrong store? Wrong section? That's when Shana showed me Kendi! Between Shana and Kendi, I started realizing that my approach to this was all wrong. I'd look at a flowery skirt and think "I can only wear that during the summer with flip-flops." Or I'd look at a strapless dress and think, "I can only wear that to a cocktail party." I was assigning rules to every single piece of clothing I came in contact with! And this wasn't just at thrift stores. I was doing this in my own closet. I have always said how I don't have clothes or I need more clothes. I really don't. I have tons of clothes...clothes I never wear because they have each been assigned a rule. If my particular occasion didn't fall in line with that rule, then I had "nothing to wear".
So here we are. Over the past couple weeks, I have been teaching myself- for lack of a better term- how to dress. I get so inspired when I visit Shana's site or Kendi's site and it makes me excited to tackle my closet! 
So..here is what I came up with today. And sorry about the "mirror shots". I didn't have anyone home to take pictures of me!  :) Until I buy myself a little tripod so I can get outdoor pics, this will have to do.

 

So here I am...trying to get in some decent pictures before I have to RACE to work. 

Dress: Hand-me-down from my fashionable sister (Thanks, Amber!), Belt: Thrifted-Savers ($1.50), Cardigan: Hand-me-down from my friend with awesome clothes (Thanks, Jenny!)

Tights: Target (on Clearance for $5), Boots: Rapsidioelle ($24)

This is a closeup of the ring I'm wearing today. Savers: $3.00

Earrings: Street stand in San Francisco- yeeears ago. I think they were around $4.00.

That's it for today! I'll try to come up with better pictures for tomorrow. Hope you like it!