a fresh wave.

This time of year, I think for many but particularly for me, it can be easy to get stuck in routines both good and bad.  The nights are long, the winds cold, and I find myself lacking the inspiration to explore different ideas, try new things, and challenge myself in general. I recently turned 30, which could be an opportunity to mourn the loss of being a "twenty-something", but which I am determined instead to use as a good point to push myself to find inspiration around me at a time of year when it might be easier, but less fulfilling, to do otherwise.

One of my favorite "twenty-something" activities was, like many others, shopping.  Before the joys and responsibilities of home (and dog) ownership entered my life, much of my time, energy and income was spent searching for the perfect...anything.  Not so different from most women my age, but now that my time and income is more appropriately spent on maintaining what I have and saving for our future, shopping has fallen several notches on my list of priorities.  But changing my outlook from "constantly adding" to "enjoying what I have" has been a work in progress.

This situation is not unique to me; many women are in the position of taking what they have and using it to its fullest potential.  I think often times when we are examining an item for purchase - an interesting pair of shoes, a brilliantly colored shirt, a well-cut pair of pants - we automatically create a scenario of several outfit options in which to add our new finds.  All well and good; it is rarely wise to buy something without at least an idea of how to wear it, but I find that the options we initially think of become the only options we ever end up utilizing.  And after those options become tired and boring, that fantastic new item ends up discarded, dismissed, and ultimately forgotten, long before its life of potential has ended.

My intention for this blog is to look at these forgotten items in my own wardrobe - those pieces that were meant for several opportunities and pushed to the side once boredom set in - and find new inspiration for them.  Often a fresh look at something can result in new ideas; a fresh wave of options.  My style can probably most accurately be referred to as classic, which is helpful because my pieces rarely go out of style.  I do not often buy trendy pieces; instead I might choose a simple or classic item in a different or unexpected color.  Every piece I feature in this blog will be a piece I already own, or something very similar.  Every array of outfit options I include with each piece will have items I also already own, or only requiring the purchase of one item.

Finally, pieces I include and outfits I feature will reflect my closet and budget.  This means some pieces may have been found this season, and some may be several years old.  Some items might have been coveted from J.Crew, and some discovered at Target (this tends to be my range, high to low price-wise, of retailers).  I will also include general advice regarding how to look at clothing in new and refreshing ways, how to know when it is time to say goodbye to a piece, incorporating trends to maximize their closet life, and other tidbits I learn along the way. 

I am excited to push myself to take what I have and give it a fresh start, a new purpose, an alternate life than what had been imagined.  If others can look inside their own closets and discover ways to give their own "tired" pieces a new set of legs, all the better.

Thanks for stopping by - I can't wait to get started!