Green!

     Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This outfit is from Tuesday, but since I wore my green sweater vest, I decided to save it until today.  
     Looking in my closet this morning, I realized that I don't have much in the way of green.  Sure I have plenty of turquoise, but anything that most people would call green? not so much.  I'm not entirely sure why either.  I've never been one to shy away from color, but at the same time, I've focused on basics a lot lately.  I think this has resulted in my having tons of black and white and cream and a few other colors, namely turquoise and red, and very little of other colors of the rainbow.  This is going to have to change.  While I'm all for basic colors for suits, its tops and shoes and sweaters that tend to bring more interest, ie color and pattern, into my wardrobe.  Next time I want to get a new top I'll just have to put black, white and cream on the no-go list (unless of course its something spectacular).

From: Here

     So the inspiration for this outfit came from 2 very different sources.  The first is a probation officer that works in our court system.  He dresses beautifully every time I've seen him.  This last time I saw him, he was wearing a suit, and rather than wearing an overcoat to stay warm, he had on a sweater vest.  His outfit was in shades of black, gray and white with a red tie.  It was tailored and just plain put together.  So that got me thinking.  Then I went home and watched part of Love Actually while I rode my stationary bike.  If you've seen the movie, do you remember Hugh Grant's assistant's first outfit?  (pictured above).  While entirely too low cut and tight, I've always liked the idea of it.  In the end, I feel like I combined the two to make my outfit.  Where do you draw inspiration for outfits?

The Details:

Blouse: Zara Similar

Sweater vest: L.L. Bean

Pants: Gap

Heels: Nine West in Brown Croc

Pearls: by me Similar Color

Blazer: Loft (no longer available Similar

Playa

We went to the beach again yesterday.  It was warm and sunny and fantastic!  We took a long 30 minute walk, sat around for a while, then walked back toward the car.  I had a whole long post in my head detailing how I got to picking out this maxi dress, but, well, I'll save it for some other time. 

The Details:

Maxi Dress: Target Same Dress in Purple

and in Blue and yet more!

T-shirt: Old Navy Similar

Cardigan: Target Similar with Frills

Shoes: Target Super Similar

Earrings: gift

Sunglasses: Guess

Jumping for joy at the weather!

Sticking to it

     Since staying home full time to study, I've been working out a lot.  By a lot I mean like every day.  This is *so* out of character for me.  I've pledged plenty of times that I would workout more often or that I would lose a certain amount of weight.  Pledging and doing are two different things, however.  This time around, I'm doing.  I've known for years that I should workout more.  That the health benefits far outweigh the discomfort of getting off my ass and working out.  Its just that there was always something I could blame as being in my way.  If it wasn't studying, then it was working,or I was too tired or there was much more interesting tv to watch, etc.  I just let the excuses add up.  So its no surprise that it was nearly impossible for me to stick to some sort of routine.  

     This time around things are different.  I think its because I'm at home all day long and time isn't such an obstacle.  That and working out ends up being a break from the grind of studying.  I know that working out every day won't last.  Once I take the bar and go back to working, its going to be hard to work out 3 days a week, let alone 6.  Nonetheless, I think this time at home studying will serve as a sort of reset.  By making it a daily activity, I hope that working out will become habit.  A good habit.  One that will not just change the physical appearance of my body, but will change my health for the better.  Speaking of changing my body, I've already lost 2.5 inches around my waist and another 5 pounds from my last weight plateau.  Being able to see these changes already makes it a lot easier to stick to my routine.  I can see my accomplishment taking shape so it makes me want to keep at it.  I want to lose my tummy pooch and lose more weight and just get tone and fit all over.  What's your favorite way to keep to a workout schedule?  What's your favorite way to exercise?     

Closeup of Yoga Pants

     Because of my new found devotion to working out I figured I would need a workout wardrobe.  I invested in a pair of Old Navy Yoga pants to add to my really old black yoga pants that I've had for years.  (I honestly have no idea how long I've had them.)  In addition my little sister got me a long sleeve workout top for Christmas.  (not pictured)  This pink top was also a gift.  My friend Claudia entered a Glamour giveaway and won the top.  It was too big for her, so she offered it to me.  Its a wee bit too big for me around the waist, but fits the boobs just fine.  
      Here I'm also wearing a pseudo-thrifted item.  Some of my sister's friends visited my parents a year or so ago and one of them left this track jacket.  My sister offered it to me and I've been wearing it when I walk outside in the cold.  Its pretty great as I'm able to throw on some thin layers to keep me warm without being bulky.  I also get to add to my slowly growing workout wardrobe.  So that's a plus.  Do you too also use a new activity as an excuse for getting clothes?  (I'm sure I'm not the only one!)


The Details:

Top: Champion Double Dry Seamless Vented Tee Available Here and Similar Here and Here

Yoga Pants: Old Navy Available Here and Disco Pattern Here

Track Jacket: Old Navy Similar and More Here

Sneakers: Reebok Easy Tone Available Here and

Other Colors Here

Air Force A-C

     I put this outfit together and immediately felt like a female Air Force officer out of the 1940s.  I didn't mean it that way, but so much khaki and that collar just sort of made it that way.  I got the dress months ago and just couldn't figure out how to wear it.  I got it at a consignment store over the summer and at that time it was too warm for think 3/4 sleeves.  Then it was fall and I thought there was just too much khaki and I needed to break it up.  Being that fall here is pretty mild, layering a cardigan would have been too much.  Then finally it was winter and cold enough to wear it, but. . .
    The skirt is just too long.  It's been tough to put together an outfit.  I kept wanting to wear it with heels but my legs would be cut off.  Even this iteration of the dress isn't great as my legs look stumpy.  Nonetheless, I prefer the boots look over the heels look.  I think its because while wearing boots + tights, its ok not to see someone's knees.  Anyway, I'm going to see about hemming this dress.  I think it will just be more flattering if it hits me just under the knee rather than mid-upper-calf.  I also think that I would like to add a tulle skirt ala Audi's outfit under this dress to add some floof and interest to the dress.  It would probably fit with the vintage vibe that I get from the dress too.
    If you've been following me on Twitter (@lawfashionista) then you'll know that I've already begun studying for the bar exam again.  As a way to better concentrate on studying, I've stopped working and will only be studying for the next 7 weeks.  This means that I won't be getting dressed to go to work.  I'm not sure what that will mean for the blog.  I have plenty of backdated outfits to put up and I'm sure when I go on errands I'll change out of my sweats, but don't be surprised if I end up writing posts about how awesome sweats and PJ pants are to study in.   As I figure out a good workable schedule while I'm studying I may not be on a predictable posting schedule.  For the meantime, the bar is my #1, 2 and 3 priority, so that comes first.  The advantage of my being home, of course, is that I have more time to work out, so maybe I'll end up posting about how awesome that is.  We'll see.  Just wanted to give you all a head's up.  Any tips or suggestions on how not to get stressed when studying a humongous test?

The Details:
Dress: Consignment
Cardigan: Target
Boots: Target
Tank: Old Navy
         

Dressing up Yoga Pants

    Tuesday I went to my first yoga class in 10 years.  I was really excited about the class and even more so when I discovered that my yoga pants were clean.  yay!  Anyway, I wanted to limit the amount of clothes I had to change into and out of that day, so I decided I would just wear my yoga pants to my bar prep class and figure everything else based on them.  I originally wanted to try to wear this dress, but I forgot how long it is and didn't want to drown in clothes.  So rather than just throwing on a t-shirt and sweatshirt, I got fancy.  I grabbed my dark pink jersey cardigan and light pink tank top and made an outfit!  An outfit that *isn't* solely sweats and has color and is kinda cute.  
    The yoga class itself was amazing!  It was relaxing and a great workout.  I could easily feel my abs being engaged and my muscles stretching in the different positions.  And the ab workout at the end was great too!  I'm really looking forward to continuing to work out in this setting.  The yoga teacher was able to make adjustments to each position based on each person's individual limitations.  When I told her about my recurring chest pain she completely understood and explained that we'll be working on the whole body and to take it easy whenever its too much for me.  
    The only downside to the class is that now, Wednesday morning, I am really really sore.  Part of it is that I did squats 2 days ago and I'm still sore from that.  But most of my back and neck pain and the little of the core soreness that I'm feeling is because of the yoga, while a small part of it is a lack of sleep and relaxation when I got home.  I got home last night, ate, then got on the phone for 2 hours with my mom and aunt to help them set up my aunt's wireless router from afar.  Oh and my mom is in Puerto Rico and my aunt is in Miami.  And my aunt is not the most tech savvy person in the world, in fact, she's pretty damn awful at it.  When I was done with that I got to read for fun (yay!) for 30 mins, jumped in the shower, then off to bed to read.  But I was way too wound up to turn the lights off at 11:30 so I continued reading (on the iphone) with the light off so as not to bug The Fiance.  I finished off my book then managed to have some fitful restless sleep.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to relax and rest tonight because several days of soreness just plain suck.  


P.S. pictures coming later as I forgot to take them last night.