First Time Floral, Second Time Coral, Plus Verdicts and a Closet Changeover

Ah, last day of a long weekend. I can't help it - I spend half the day being anxious about it being the last day! So silly.

Anyway, aside from going out to get my hair cut today, I didn't do much of anything. Well, I did clean out my closet. I guess that counts.

But clothes come first.

I walked to and from the hairdresser - it's only 25 minutes each way, and it felt wonderful to get outside and enjoy the sunny weather. Finally! Sun!

This is a new-to-me floral cardigan by Mexx, bought on consignment a couple of weeks ago (here) for $19.98.

I like the interesting pattern of leaves and flowers, and the unusual colour combination (which is probably why someone got rid of it!). I think it'll work well in my wardrobe.

What do you think?

Floral Cardigan (Mexx): Outfit #1

Floral Cardigan (Mexx)
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The skirt is on its second time 'round. I'm not usually down for t-shirt cotton skirts, but I like how this one fits, even over tights (yes, I have tights on - it wasn't that warm).

I layered a teal-y blue cami underneath to hide the skirt's waistband, then did the purple-y grey Chie Mihara flats for walking (last seen here with my pink velvet jacket).

I last wore the skirt twice on the Anniversary Weekend of Adventure (here).

Coral Pencil Skirt (Floating Gold Iceberg): Outfit #2

Coral Pencil Skirt (Floating Gold Iceberg)
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I added my white leather jacket over it, and carried my red Danier Leather purse.

Simple teal and silver earrings and voila! All done. And my hair is now nice and short again!

Jacket (Le Chateau, consignment), cardigan (Mexx, consignment), cami (Ricki's), skirt (Floating Gold Iceberg, consignment), shoes (Chie Mihara), bag (Danier Leather), earrings (Oscar & Libby's).

And now, on to the voting verdicts! So exciting.

First up, the burgundy suede pencil skirt by Danier Leather.

I wore it three times: as in the picture above (here, my personal favourite of the 3), in the crazy pirate-y outfit here, and with my new-to-me Etro jacket here.

And the votes are...

• Like it: 102
• Lose it: 24

Whoa, it's a landslide! And my verdict is: I'm keeping it. It's an excellent colour, a great shape and fit and it cost me a whopping $14.50. I've worn it 6 times total so far, so my cost per wear is under $3.00. Not that cost is a major factor, but that feels good. This skirt is a good basic. 

Done - no more shopping for burgundy pencil skirts, Sheila! I packed it away with my fall/winter items today. Ha!

Next up, this lovely grey suede skirt.

But what's that, you say? I only wore it twice? Yes, indeed, your powers of observance are very keen. I wore it with black and white striped and yellow accents (here) and in the corseted rocker outfit (shown above, here).

Well, let's see what the voters said:

• Like it: 53
• Lose it: 14

And it's another blow-out! However, my verdict is: I gave it away. Don't get me wrong; I adored this skirt. Love the colour, the cut, the suede is to die for...but it was a size too big. I knew that it would look amazing on one of my coworkers so I gave it to her last Thursday.

Someone commented (forgive me, I don't recall who) that I seem to make up my mind about my items completely independently of the voting. Yes, I do. I see things that the camera doesn't pick up (good and bad), and I'm the one wearing it - so I know pretty quickly whether it's going to work or not.

Someone else (again, memory like a sieve here) mentioned that most of the items are getting "like it" votes. I think that's entirely to be expected - I don't buy stuff I don't like, and I know how to put together adequate outfits to show off items. Why I'm doing this is because I like to see how people vote when it's anonymous (you guys are honest!), and see what you REALLY think.

It's also an interesting experiment to see if I can turn something I'm not terribly fired up about into something worth keeping, and ideally into something that I love.

Anyway, enough of my babble. Last item: this rusty-orange blouse:

I didn't actually wear this three times either, but the two times I did were enough for me to make up my mind (plus it's in the wash, and I don't do laundry all that frequently, heh). 

I wore it as pictured above, here (in a pinch, I guess you could say that was two outfits - I did change my shoes for boots), and here, layered under a leather dress with turquoise accents.

And the voting is:

• Like it: 41
• Lose it: 22

Ooh, pretty close! My verdict is: I'm keeping it. I love the colour and the fit and it's an excellent colour in my wardrobe.

I hope you enjoyed voting for these items as much as I enjoyed wearing them. 

And now onto the closet portion of my day. I had to stop partway through my clean-out to go to the hairdresser, and then I napped when I got home, and then L and I went to the gym, so there was a large gap between when I started and when I finished. 

I pull everything out, vacuum and dust, and then decide what's staying and what's going. I cleaned out a bunch of things that I'd forgotten about, that I didn't love or that just didn't work for me anymore. I also pulled out heavier-weight items, winterish and autumnal clothing, and most of my boots. I'll do the reverse at the end of September.

I have the most fun looking at my shoes. These are the ones I pulled out as being the most spring-summer:

I count 33 pairs there. I do have a couple of pairs of booties for colder times (September can be cranky, weather-wise), and even there, I see 6 pairs of shoes that I still haven't worn in over a year. I promise, they will be worn! Some of them are party shoes, so not good for my feet for a whole day's work.

And on the other side of the room, we have the more winter-fall shoes. A lot of these go back into the closet (it holds a lot), but I did pack up about 2 dozen pairs to go into storage. It's always so fun to pull them out again. "Oh yeah, I forgot about these!"

Not including my two pairs of walking runners in the upper left corner, there are 22 pairs of shoes here. There are 4 pairs that didn't get worn, so I'll see if I can work them into a party outfits at some point.

Although I didn't get rid of any shoes, I am debating a few pairs that I don't completely love. I'm more likely to keep shoes, especially really cool ones or Fluevogs!

Pile o' boots (10 in total):

I did pull out two pairs of boots to donate: the brown suede ones that don't go over the knee, and the black ones. I was really annoyed that the brown boots didn't stay up (and I already have two pairs of great brown boots), and the black ones are too big in the calf on me, plus I have two good pairs of black boots already. There is one pair of boots that I didn't wear in capsules - a pair of Fluevogs! - but I'll be wearing them soon. 

That's 66 pairs of shoes/boots, and I didn't even include the 16 pairs of summer shoes that I unpacked. Ulp, my total is 82 pairs of shoes. Move over, Imelda! In case you were wondering, I have 21 pairs of Fluevogs, easily the most of any brand. I'm a Fluevogaholic, I admit it.

Vizzini helped me clean by supervising from below:

I kept an eye on him - no more chewing on my shoes!

Thank goodness this is a short week - so looking forward to another long weekend, although I don't get Easter Monday off (it's not actually a statutory holiday in my province, boo).