Aug 17th - Outfit #18 - Casual Friday in Silk

Another hot day...but it's Friday, so weeee! 

Despite how this long-sleeved outfit may look, I was actually cool and non-sweaty all day.

This is my vintage 90s red silk shirt (last seen here, with my polka dotted silk pants) with my fitted denim vest (last worn here,with yesterday's skirt).I really like the contrast of the rich drapiness of the silk with the stiff faded denim. And gosh, you've got to love how well silk breathes! And yet it keeps you warm. Silk is just magic, that's all there is to it.

On the bottom is my "splatter" skirt (last worn here). This is just the perfect skirt. It swooshes nicely (Swoosh Factor: 8/10) and is so perfectly shaped. The only thing that would make it better would be pockets.

My red wedges finish it off (last seen here, 2nd outfit, also with my polka dotted silk pants). I walked all over downtown today and they felt great.

Hey, all my clothes today are second-hand! Go, me!

Shirt (Elite International, vintage 90s, thrifted), vest (InWear, consignment), skirt (no label/handmade, thrifted), shoes (Miz Mooz, consignment).

I'm taking a couple of days' break from the blog this weekend and am taking Monday off; Land I are off to see his folks (road trip!). I've put together a 5 item mini-capsule for travel, so watch for that on Monday.

Have an awesome weekend, everyone!

Cheers,
Sheila

Aug 16th - Outfit #17 - Olive and Pink (and Lime)

Oh, it's a hot one today. I am dying here. And what did I do today? I wore a freakin' sweater. 

So I was slightly inaccurate yesterday when I said I'd worn the last "fresh" capsule item - I forgot about this sweater. This is really the 30th item. Really!

I've had this sweater since last September (worn here, 2nd outfit, with my silk polka dot pants!), when I bought it on consignment for $16.00. I last wore it here in January, and here in December.

My awesome olive parachute skirt makes another appearance (last worn here), as do my lime kitten heels (last seen here).

I thought the scarf tied it all together. I wore it draped down the back so that I could protect my tattoo if I went out into the scorching sun.

I like wearing scarves this way.

Believe it or not, I also wore a piece of outerwear: my jean jacket. It's not part of the capsule.

Just in case I'm out in the sun, it fully sunblocks the back of my neck.

For jewelry, I'm wearing a bronze leather wrist-wrap and brass link bracelet, and my bronze leaf earrings. Pretty simple stuff. I tend to ease up on accessories when it's 30-odd degrees out (and yes, that is Celsius).

Jacket (Ann Taylor Loft), sweater (Reitman's, consignment), skirt (Cute Options), shoes (Circa Joan & David, thrifted), bracelets (Club Monaco), earrings (Plum).

After work, I took one of my coworkers shopping at Dots. It was hard - no air conditioning! She did quite well. I didn't shop for myself, but I did find these two things:

They're both by Noa Noa: knee socks and a pair of thick tights (gawd, I can't even think about tights right now), both in "hyacinth." The socks were $5.99 and the tights were $9.99.

Aug 15th - Outfit #16 - Shiny Pink and Spinning Wheels

Whew, it's a hot day out here on the west coast! It's currently 31 degrees and I'm melting. 

Thank goodness for shiny ice cream colours, in the form of the last "fresh" item this month: this lovely shiny pink satin jacket. I purchased it at the same time as this dress, back in May (here) for $18.98 on consignment.

It's by La Fee (the fairy, en Francais). I had an issue with the fit in the boobular region as I wore my strapless bra today (things were smushed and not in the right place on my chest), due to my healing tattoo. It's nearly done sloughing off the skin (ew, sorry), and will be all healed up soon.

So, did I fool you again? I'm wearing the yellow strapless dress (last seen here, 2nd outfit)! I love stretching the wearability of my dresses by layering them.

I'm also wearing my gold Coach sandals again (just wore them here on Monday). A metallic neutral in my capsules is essential, I'm finding.

Here's a close-up of the jacket fabric:

I love the swirls of orange and the gold floral design on the soft pink. The gold cicada earrings continue to freak people out (heh). That's my Mom's bracelet.

Jacket (La Fee, consignment), dress (Jacob, consignment), shoes (Coach), earrings (Erica Weiner), cuff (vintage 70s, Mom's).

Vizzini is a bit of a compulsive animal with some of his behaviours. One of the things he likes to do is spin the wheels on this suitcase,.

La la la la la...spin spin spin

 He also has the back wheel going there. L or I will be sitting at the computer and we'll hear this "rrr...rrr...rrr" sound. Sure enough, Vizzini is spinning his wheel.

Once I started taking pictures of him, he began to ham it up for the camera.

And I can stretch and spin! 

 A few paws at the wheel and he needs to bite it.

Bite all the things!

Then he went back to his usual position. I think he likes this because he can hold the other wheel with his back foot.

What are you looking at, woman?

What a silly kitty.

Aug 14th - Outfit #15 - Dress Cheat

I can't believe it's been 15 outfits already - right about now in the month is when I feel like the "easy" outfits are done, and the more challenging ones start to appear. Like this one:

I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. This is my floral blouse (last seen here). It has such a nice shape, and I love the subtle ruffles down the V-neck and the loose bow. Being gifted in the boobular region, I have to be careful with ruffles (but I do love them).

That's not a skirt I'm wearing - did you guess? This is actually my pink linen dress (last worn here, 2nd outfit).

I know, pretty sneaky, eh? I'm also wearing my Chie Mihara ballet flats again (last worn here, and they are SO much more comfortable this time!), and a blue belt that I thrifted ages ago. The blouse has little bits of blue in the pattern, so it all goes together. 

For bling, I'm wearing silver bird earrings and my silver filigree cuff that I bought at the gift shop in St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

Blouse (Esprit, consignment), dress (Ann Taylor, thrifted), shoes (Chie Mihara), belt (Landes, thrifted), earrings (Lavishy), cuff (St. Paul's Cathedral gift shop).

Aug 13th - Outfit #14 - Lock & Load

The week I get a tattoo is always entertaining: all my outfits need to work to hold gravity at bay.

Wrangle those girls!

A "fresh" item for this month is this olive jacket. It's by Bianca Nygard Weekend, and I thrifted it in June 2011 (first worn here, 2nd outfit) for $9.50. I haven't worn it much - the last and only other time was here in September 2011 when I was trying to avoid jury duty.

I like all the studs on it.

This is the same purple dress I wore here on Saturday.

It has a nice swingy skirt. The sandals were last worn here.

I'm linking up to Visible Monday over at Patti's "Not Dead Yet Style" - get over there and check out the awesome bloggers! (I'm posting my tattoo picture - that's about as visible as I can get!)

Jacket (Bianca Nygard Weekend, thrifted), dress (Lady Dutch, consignment), shoes (Coach), bangle (Matt & Nat, thrifted).

Aug 11th & 12th - Outfits #12 & 13 - New Tattoo!

I had a very intense weekend - I got one of my tattoos redone! 

I wore this purple dress that I wore when I got my last tattoo:

I last wore these shoes here (last outfit).

I've only had the dress since April 2011 (first worn here) and wore it only one other time here (when I got my crow tattoo). I paid $11.50 for it on consignment.

I got up early on Saturday morning, and was down at the tattoo shop by 9am. Leroy and I worked for just over 3 hours on redoing my salamander tattoo (go here to see my original tattoo). I'd realized since I first got it that I shouldn't have been so prescriptive in how it should look; I should have trusted Leroy to make it badass from the start.

Yeah, that "deer in headlights" look that says, "You are about to be in a world of hurt."

This is a super comfy dress. Very easy to slide around for a tattoo.

It's been lovely and hot all weekend, so I knew I would need to cover up to keep out of the sun. Enter another "fresh" item in the capsule!

This new-to-me (purchased here) poncho is a cotton/silk blend and makes an excellent physical sunblock. I got it for $16.95 thrifted.

Dress (Lady Dutch, consignment), shoes (La Canadienne, consignment), obi (Smoking Lily), earrings (Le Chateau), poncho (BCBGMax Azria).

But I know you're dying to see the new ink!

Yow! That's just spectacular! I'm so happy to have my salamander looking so cool, and I love all the ivy. Don't get me wrong, though, that HURT. Over 3 hours...I was pretty wiped all day yesterday.

Today, I walked down to get groceries, and then head over to an ocean-front restaurant to sit on the sunny patio with my gals.

Due to the location of the tattoo, I deliberately planned this month's outfits to accommodate weird bra placements. I have to wear either a strapless or my regular bra with one strap off for at least a week, until I'm all healed up. I need forgiving clothing and lots of natural fibres.

Hence the yellow strapless dress (last worn here, 2nd outfit).

And the return of the yellow poncho! I also wore a big ol' straw hat that I've had for a while, and my white sandals (last seen here, 2nd outfit). Of course, my fruit bag went along.

I only took the poncho off to show off my tattoo, but this is what it looked like.

I have to wear the dress really low on the bodice - good thing I have a cover-up.

The back - yay! Matching ink!

I am so happy with my fixed up salamander. I really love my tattoos.

Dress (Jacob, consignment), poncho (BCBGMax Azria, consignment), shoes (Wild Diva, swap from Caro), earrings (gift from Megan), hat (Facinie).

I popped into a couple of thrift shops while I waited for my bus this afternoon. I found this incredible cotton J. Peterman Company blouse for $8.00.

I don't know about you guys, but that always makes me think of "Seinfeld."

It'll be awesome for a steampunk outfit.

I also grabbed a couple of fabric belts and a new Matt & Nat bangle for $8.50.

The blue belt is reversible navy and is by Roxy ($4.50) and the striped belt is by Esprit and was $3.00.

And how was your weekend?

Aug 10th - Outfits #10 & 11 - Plaid-erific and Dots on the Town

Happy Friday! This is a busy week, and tonight is no exception.

Let's get down to business. Here is an outfit:

Plaid-tastic! I love that new-to-me jacket. I bought it back in early June for $20.00 on consignment. It's Tommy Hilfiger, and the quality is superb. It has a lot of the colours for August in it, so I think I'll be wearing it a fair bit.

Underneath it is a sweater tank that I've had for a long time, at least 5 years. It's by Planet and I bought it new, although deeply discounted, at The Bay for under $30.00. It has a row of tiny buttons that go right up the back. It's dressier than a camisole (being sweater-weight cotton knit) so it's counted in the capsule.

However, I'm sure I've worn it about a kazillion times, so I am not going to link back to all the previous wears of it. Here's the oldest wearing of it I could find, from July 2008!

The skirt is also an old favourite. My dear friend Caro owned this; I got it in an organized clothing swap a bunch of us went to in the summer of 2009 - I laughed when I found out later that this was her skirt! The earliest wearing of it I can find it from July 2009, here.

Here's a close-up of the plaid in the jacket:

Burgundy, red, pink, white, mint green, baby blue, lavender! All lovely pastels.

Jacket (Tommy Hilfiger, consignment), top (Planet), skirt (Bebe Sport, swap), shoes (Chie Mihara).

You'll note that I'm wearing the Chie Mihara ballet flats that killed my feet last Friday (worn here). I couldn't bear the thought of a) destroyed feet and b) wasting my good money on shoes that hurt, so I got out my hobby exact-o blade. Take that, evil shoes!

I cut through one layer of the leather on the inside, pulled it up, gently pulled the very thick elastic (you can see a bit of it in the background, in the corner), and cut it out. I pushed the leather back down - it was sticky, so it's stayed nicely. I had to do this on both sides of each shoe.

I don't recommend doing this yourself - I am an experienced hobbyist! - but it was better than not having these to wear. They were about a thousand times better today! I did have a couple of slight rubbing spots, but no blisters. Yay!

Tonight, we're headed to an evening event at the Art Gallery. The artist being featured is William Kurelek (article here, from the Globe and Mail) - as one of "the most bizarre painters this country has produced" and described as a "Prairie Hieronymus Bosch," I am excited to see some of his work!

I would have liked to have created a wack-a-doo outfit for this, but I'm limited by the capsule and having already used up my Wild Card outfit last weekend, so I thought polka dot pants would do the trick.

I last wore them here. The top is the same as today's outfit, but I pinned this lovely heart that Steph sent me onto it.

My red platforms round it out (last worn here). All ready to do some art appreciation and people-watching!

Top (Planet), pants (Noa Noa), shoes (Miz Mooz, consignment). 

I have such awesome co-workers! Look what Kara gave me:

The colour is not as orange as it looks there - it's dark red, and the neckline is all beaded. It's by Spencer Jeremy. Thank you, Kara! I am really excited to work this into a fall capsule!

Happy weekend, everyone!

Aug 9th - Outfit #9 - Cosmic Swirl

Late again tonight; first a haircut, then a strata meeting, now dinner - and it's nearly 9pm!

Simple outfit today:

New-to-me little yellow cardigan (purchased back in March for $16.98 at My Sister's Closet). It's by Peter Nygard.

The dress is by Planet - I thrifted it back in June 2011 (first worn here, 2nd outfit - lots of close-ups of the swirly dotted pattern) for $20.50.

I've also worn it here, in September 2011, 2nd outfit. Noting a theme? I like to wear it with yellow!

The shoes are my lovely gold Coach ones, last seen here. 

I'm just wearing simple gold hoop earrings, and a long gold chain that belonged to my Grandma J, wrapped as a bracelet. 

Cardigan (Peter Nygard, consignment), dress (Planet, thrifted), shoes (Coach).

Aug 8th - Outfit #8 - Beige and Chaircat of the Board

I slept very poorly last night and only got about 2.5 hours' sleep. I've just gotten up from a nap and am making dinner (mental note: don't burn the stuffed peppers).

Today, I wore this:

It's beige! and probably one of the more boring things I own in my closet. Or, at least I would have said that, until I did my neutral month in June and then discovered that this is called a "basic neutral." Yup.

I bought this dress in Vancouver at a little consignment shop on West 4th Ave on one our anniversary trips in March. It was $21.00 and is by Reitman's (a mall shop, same place as where I got the teal pedal pushers from last month).

I've also worn it here (Aug 2011, 3rd outfit; it's been packed away for winter), here (Jun 2011) and here (Mar 2011, just after I got it).

I think my challenge this month is going to be to add more colour to it! This is an okay start with the red, turquoise and blue.

The stuff:

The Miz Mooz shoes make a second appearance (first worn here). My Shi Studio cowboy belt buckle got a lot of attention today. the turquoise cuff is also by them.

I didn't burn the peppers! They were delicious.

Dress (Reitman's, consignment), belt/buckle/cuff (Shi Studios), bracelet (Plum), necklace (swap with Leslie), ring (Wendy Brandes).

All the cats we've ever had do this pose:

I'd like to thank you all for coming. Please bring me a cigar and a scotch.

I call it "Chairman of the Board" (after Frank Sinatra). Doesn't he look so hip and ultra-lounge-y?

But then a seagull flew by.

You bore me, woman.

Aug 7th - Outfit #7 - A Lot of Lime

It's so tough to get back into the swing of things after a long weekend. But oh well. Here we go, another week.

This is a new-to-me thrifted top (bought here for $5.00 in June), and these are my new-to-me consignment linen Smoking Lily pants (bought here in April for $28.99). I love the abstract dragonflies on the top.

The shoes are fantastic: I love the colour, the fit and the soft lime green suede. I thrifted them back in June 2010 for $6.00. I've also worn them  here (July 2010), here (2nd outfit, July 2010), here (Sept 2010, in possibly my worst outfit ever!), here (May 2011), here (2nd outfit, July 2011), here (3rd outfit, Aug 2011), and here (Sept 2011).

I'm now at 9 wears, so that's less than $1.00 per wear! Woo!

I was a little leery of linen pants, but they've held up well all day.

They have a really loose D-ring closure (and they don't have a fly, so I have to pull them over my hips...eee...tight), and they sit quite low. I didn't have much choice about wearing this shirt loose overtop.

I focused on the accessories:

I look like a major dork there

Steampunk cuff, vintage amber/sandalwood choker, wood hoop earrings, and a Megan Mae buttonflower.

Blouse (Song, thrifted), pants (Smoking Lily, consignment), shoes (Circa Joan & David, thrifted), earrings (Le Chateau), necklace (Mom's, vintage 70s), buttonflower (gift from Megan), cuff (SkinzNHydez).

Bonus: I got photobombed by my neighbour this morning.

I don't think he saw the camera, just me sitting there. Awkward! But what great shoes he has...

30 For 30 Challenge - July Recap

Wow, six months down...6 to go! I'm halfway there - that's so bizarre. Here's my recap of the 30 For 30 For 12 challenge for July.

[Warning: this is a big post]
Summary of Items with Links to Pictures

Shoes/Boots: 8 pairs

• Orange/yellow strappy sandals (Portia)
• "Stained glass" vintage 80s shoes (Gabrieli, thrifted)/Red shiny kitten heels (Predictions, consignment)
• Black sandals (Jones New York, consignment)
• Grey ombre sandals (Qupid)
• Orange/teal platform sandals (Poetic Licence)
• Woven gold kitten heels (Aldo, consignment)
• Gold flat sandals (Naturalizer, consignment)
• Bronze "Listen Up Ivanna" sandals (Fluevog)

The "stained glass" shoes disintegrated on their second wear and were replaced by the red kitten heels.

Skirts: 4

• Faded denim long pencil skirt (Stockerpoint, thrifted)
• Orange suede skirt (Co and Eddy, thrifted)
• Swirly navy skirt (Tobias, thrifted)
• Paisley midi skirt (Dex, thrifted)

Tops: 5

• Black tank w/beading (Freebird, consignment)
• Turquoise silk tank (Armani Exchange, consignment)
• Grey striped button-down shirt (Club Monaco, consignment)
• Orange tank w/beading (Jana, thrifted)
• Silk turquoise dragon top (Le Chateau, thrifted)

Sweaters/Cardigans: 5

• Teal leopard sweater (Precis, consignment)
• Zig-zag wrap sweater (Le Chateau, thrifted)
• Orange short-sleeved sweater (Liz Claiborne, consignment)
• Grey "Periodic Table of Awesome" cardigan (Smoking Lily on American Apparel)
• Grey striped cardigan (Express, thrifted)

Jackets/Blazers: 1

• Black boyfriend blazer (Banana Republic, thrifted)

Pants: 2

• Teal pedal pushers (Reitman's)
• Black cropped pants (Focus 2000)

Dresses: 5

• Yellow dress (Calvin Klein)
• Short floral (Smoking Lily, thrifted)
• Polka dot wrap dress (Smoking Lily, consignment)
• Turquoise dress (no label, thrifted)
• Grey dress w/ruffled neck (Gap, consignment)

Other: 0

General Observations at the Halfway Mark
This really has been a fun challenge so far - I definitely feel like my "style muscle" is getting stretched and is growing stronger! Funny how putting something into a capsule will very rapidly tell me whether it is a workable item worth keeping in my wardrobe. The duds reveal themselves very quickly.

Shoes have been my biggest surprise in the past 6 months. I realized I've been using quantity to make up for quality. Who cares if a pair of shoes kills my feet, when I'm only wearing them once a year? Well...I do! At least, NOW I do. Shoes of poor quality are being looked at very closely (those that I really love I'm keeping, but they will eventually go), and if they kill my feet, they're gone.

I'm also being a lot more judicious in my shopping choices. There are not many impulse buys when I have to consider, "When am I going to wear this? What month's capsule is this going into?" If I don't have answers for those questions, I put the item back.

My wardrobe lacks basics. I don't require a white button-down shirt and black trousers on a day-to-day basis, but I do need grounding pieces for some of the more "out there" items in my closet. Not utilizing the basics I've got (like July's cropped black pants) means that I'm not wearing special pieces as often. I need a better range of good quality solid skirts, pants (to the extent that I wear pants, i.e. not much), jackets, tops, etc. I've been much more aware of this while shopping this past month, particularly since June's neutrals-only capsule.

I'm excited to be nearing the end of my summer capsules (end of September) and to start planning my October-January capsules. I'm also beginning to wonder what I'm going to do when this year-long challenge is over.

General Observations on July's Capsule

• I loved this month's colour palette! Orange, teal and yellow sprang into being with the purchase of the floral Smoking Lily top, and pulling in the orange/teal Poetic Licence sandals. From there, it was easy to pull together "like" items and build the capsule.
• I did more shoes and dresses than any previous month. I also did less tops and skirts than before. I deliberately considered that I prefer dresses in hotter weather, and worked to be able to layer dresses with cardigans and skirts to make them appear to be a top or skirt, instead of a dress. 
• 22 of the 30 items in this month's capsule were either thrifted or consignment pieces - not all of these were new-to-me recent purchases either. I pulled out some of my older classics and rediscovered how much I liked them. 
• I really appreciated basic, classic items this month, like the boyfriend blazer, the black cropped pants and the navy skirt. Classics don't have to be boring, either - my turquoise dress was also a great basic.
• At 8 pairs of shoes, it felt like too many. I didn't have enough flats, and none of the heels were that comfortable, especially as the weather warmed up.
• Some of the new-to-me items that I'd purchased early in the year and saved for a summer capsule weren't actually all that great. Fit and quality were issues. Saddest of all was the disintegration of the 80s "stained glass" shoes. 

What Got Worn the Most/Least

Shoes: And again - surprise, surprise - the most comfortable flats got worn the most. The Naturalizer gold sandals were worn to death, a total of 8 times. Runners up were the Jones New York black sandals and the Qupid grey ombre wedge sandals, at 5 times each. Trailing the pack (can you tell I've been watching a lot of Olympics coverage?) were the Poetic Licence platforms and the red kitten heels (3 times each) and the 80s "stained glass" shoes and the Fluevogs, at 2 times apiece. Sadly, and this was a surprise to me until I just tallied it up, the orange/yellow strappy sandals were only worn once! 

Skirts: Every skirt was worn three times, except for the denim one, which was only worn twice.

Pants: My black cropped pants were worn 5 times, more than any other bottom, including skirts! The teal pedal pushers were worn 4 times. Combined, this is the most I've worn pants as a category since starting this challenge.

Tops: I can see where the duds were: right here in the top category. I wore the Armani top only once, as well as the orange tank with the beading at the neckline. The black tank was also only worn twice, but the shiny turquoise dragon top and the grey striped cuffed shirt were each worn 3 times. 

Sweaters/Cardigans: Again, as in other months, cardigans and sweaters really pulled their weight. Each one was worn a minimum of twice, with the striped cardi and the Smoking Lily "Periodic Table of Awesome" cardi getting worn 3 times each.

Jackets/Blazers: At 7 wears, the black boyfriend jacket is hands-down the most worn single item (not including shoes) since I started this challenge! What a versatile piece! 

Dresses: As mentioned, I really made my dresses work this month. From layering my Smoking Lily floral under a skirt, to wearing a sweater over the yellow dress, I worked these dresses hard. The Smoking Lily dress and the turquoise dress were the gold medal standard here, at 5 times each, followed by the yellow dress (silver medal at 3 wears) and the two less versatile dresses - the Smoking Lily dotted dress and the grey dress - bringing in the bronze at two wears each.

Other: Didn't have any "other" items this month.

What I Would Do Differently Next Month

• Well, as I'm nearly a week into my capsule, you can see that I reduced my shoes to 6. Eight was just too many - I would have liked another top instead, or at least some better walking shoes. Also, two pairs of shoes that were very similar (the yellow/orange and the teal/orange) meant that one got left by the wayside.
• I missed having a few more unexpected colours to play off my rather rigid colour scheme. Being able to do a "non-theme" outfit is important to me. I hate being bored, and all that teal and orange got a little tiresome. 
• I purchased both the orange tank and the black tank pre-challenge, and realized that I didn't really like them that much. A case of quantity over quality - these tops weren't that special. I also will be steering clear of cheaply made clothing from mall stores! While the teal pedal pushers were indeed awesome looking, they washed poorly, didn't fit well and overall felt cheap. Ugh.
• This was a LOT of outfits! I did 34 outfits, more than I've ever done in a month. I don't know that I'll try to reduce my outfits...maybe I'll even repeat an outfit or two this month. It's not a crime! It doesn't always have to be different each day.

What is Leaving My Closet

• The red kitten heels (which replaced the destroyed 80s shoes) were given to my coworker. Bad quality, although a cute style.
• The Qupid grey ombre sandals. Much as I love these, they were starting to fall apart.
• The Naturalizer gold flat sandals. I did say I wore them to death, right? They were falling apart. I need to keep an eye out for a replacement for them for next summer!
• The faded denim pencil skirt. Yes, cool buttons, but it didn't really ring my bell. I have other, better denim skirts.
• The orange t-shirt-y tank with beading at the neck. Just didn't like it.

What's on the Fence

• The yellow/orange shoes. Yes, they're cool, and they are good quality, but they aren't super comfortable. Besides, if I can only manage to wear them once in a full month, how am I supposed to wear them when I have unlimited options?
• The zig-zag sweater. I feel like I've gotten all the wear I can out of it. It's a limiting piece due to all that colour - but it's so fun.
• The teal pedal pushers. I might relegate them to "wear around the house" status (i.e. I don't wear them in public). Just not good quality.
• The grey dress with the ruffles at the neck. Yeah, it's cute, but it doesn't layer well, and it's a tad short.

These are back in my wardrobe for now, and may be removed after I've "rested" from them.

Looking Forward to Wearing Again

• The Poetic Licence platforms. None of my shoes really range my bell this month, sadly. These are such awesome shoes - they're the best of the bunch. I think this has been my weakest month for shoe choices so far.
• The navy swirly skirt. My own "re-bought" skirt (probably). Such a classic. I want to wear it in the autumn/winter with boots!
• The Smoking Lily floral dress. The most comfortable dress ever. Love it.

How I'm Feeling About the Year-Long Challenge So Far

I've said this many times now, but I'm still having a lot of fun with this challenge, which is a good thing. There is no lack of clothing choices, and I really enjoy the intellectual exercise of looking forward to the upcoming month and putting together unexpected items. I can easily spend an hour in my closet, playing with what's in it.

As I near the end of the spring/summer capsules, I do find myself looking at the shoes and clothing that I haven't picked out (for September) and wondering what will make the cut beyond that. I still have summery-type items that aren't going to make it into a capsule, I can see that.

I am also starting to see that my emotional attachments to clothing and shoes (especially my Fluevogs) are holding me back from having a fully functional wardrobe. The Ivannas that I had in the capsule this month are not my favourite Fluevogs...but I keep them because they are Fluevogs. Is that something I want to do? Get rid of some Fluevogs (there, I said it!)? Because I might do that. Why do I have them if I don't wear them?

Also as mentioned, my shopping is getting very refined. I am much more focused on what is going to work in a future capsule and what is just a fun item that I like a lot. Looking past January (when the challenge ends), I wonder how my future shopping is going to be affected. Will I go back to my old habits?

And what will happen beyond this challenge? The last time I did a year-long challenge, things just carried on naturally and I went back to being able to shop new (even though I did cut back quite a bit on that). Will I miss the push that a restricted wardrobe gives me when I have my choice of everything again?

Questions to ponder...six months down, and six to go.

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Now...To refresh your memory, here are all the outfits together. You can click to embiggen them, and click on the captioned dates to go to the original posts for more pictures.

Jul 1st	Jul 2nd	Jul 3rd	Jul 4th
Jul 5th	Jul 6th	Jul 7th	Jul 8th
Jul 9th	Jul 10th	Jul 11th - Pt 1	Jul 11th - Pt 2
Jul 12th	Jul 13th - Pt 1	Jul 13th - Pt 2	Jul 14th - Pt 1
Jul 14th - Pt 2	Jul 16th	Jul 17th	Jul 18th
Jul 19th	Jul 20th	Jul 21st - Pt 1	Jul 21st - Pt 2
Jul 22nd	Jul 23rd	Jul 24th	Jul 25th
Jul 26th	Jul 27th	Jul 28th	Jul 29th
Jul 30th	Jul 31st

Vote! You can vote for your favourite outfits here (you can select more than one outfit, it's okay!):
Note: I've broken the poll into two to accommodate the extra outfits this month.

Jul 1st to Jul 16th
	Jul 1st
	Jul 2nd
	Jul 3rd
	Jul 4th
	Jul 5th
	Jul 6th
	Jul 7th
	Jul 8th
	Jul 9th
	Jul 10th
	Jul 11th - Pt 1
	Jul 11th - Pt 2
	Jul 12th
	Jul 13th - Pt 1
	Jul 13th - Pt 2
	Jul 14th
	Jul 16th
pollcode.com free polls

Jul 17th to Jul 31st
	Jul 17th
	Jul 18th
	Jul 19th
	Jul 20th
	Jul 21st - Pt 1
	Jul 21st - Pt 2
	Jul 22nd
	Jul 23rd
	Jul 24th
	Jul 25th
	Jul 26th
	Jul 27th
	Jul 28th
	Jul 29th
	Jul 30th
	Jul 31st
pollcode.com free polls

What About the Wild Card Outfit?

I used my July Wild Card for this outfit here (2nd outfit), for a friend's house party. I knew I'd wear those aqua Fluevogs again!

At the end of the challenge year (next January), there will be a vote for Best Wild Card.

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I hope you enjoyed seeing my capsule and reading the recap! Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Cheers,

Sheila