10x10 Capsule Wardrobe

Stressful mornings are still a thing for me. I am so done with being stressed and cranky in the mornings because I don't know what to wear. A few weeks ago I decided to try my hand at doing a capsule wardrobe again. Inspired by the capsule wardrobes of Style This Life and The Garment Life, I felt like I could do it.

If you're not familiar with a capsule wardrobe, it's where you pick out a select number of clothing items and wear them for a certain amount of time. Some popular capsules are seasonal (like SimplyLiv&Co's Spring Wardrobe), and month long mini capsules (like Paige's 21 Day Capsule &
Karen Rambo's mini capsule). Recently I have seen "10x10 challenges" pop up on my Instagram feed, where you select 10 items and wear those for 10 days. Something small like this seemed a perfect for me right now.

My previous attempts weren't perfect, so I took the time to really get it set up right. I tried on all my clothes and got rid of the items I wasn't 100% satisfied with. And by "got rid of" I mean I gave away the clothes I didn't like and put everything else away in my closet. My capsule, along with all my layering tops, went into my tshirt drawer so everything I needed is in one location. I didn't have to look at any of my other clothes. I didn't have to think about my other clothes. This was key for me because there was nothing else to distract me from my 10 selected items.


Included in my capsule were: pants x2, long sleeve tops x3, tanks/tees x5. When picking out the tops I made sure that each top was paired up with at least two of the long sleeves, that way I had more than enough options and variety. Also, I didn't put a limit on my under shirts for layering or shoes, which helped keep my outfits from getting boring.

I can say, hands down, this was a success. Every day I felt great, confident, and my mornings were significantly less stressful, more streamlined, and less rushed. This in turn helped my attitude throughout the day because my mornings were good. My outfits felt fresh everyday, even towards the end, and I felt I have a new appreciation for every single one of these items.

Once my ten days were up I found my mornings getting slightly stressful again, so I have gathered up another set of 10 items like and this morning I started another 10x10 capsule (which you can check out on my Instagram). The clothes I picked out for this new capsule are more casual and less fancy. It all fits my uniform perfectly so I think this one will go as well as the first 10x10 capsule. Although... I did at white tshirts which I don't typically like wearing because I don't think they look flattering on me. But this is a challenge right? I'm going to either find way to wear them, or find confidence to wear them.

Have you ever tried doing a capsule wardrobe? Did you enjoy it? Do you have any tips on how you keep your outfits fresh and exciting? ♥

What's In My Purse

Living simply and with less has been a topic of conversation recently between my husband and myself. We're looking to move this summer and with that we will be forcing ourselves to let go and to live, and be content, with less. We are collectors so it's hard at times to let things go.

My biggest inspirations for living with a more simple (but amazing and beautiful) home is New Darlings and Taylor Golden [1] [2] [3]. Serious house goals for me right there! Getting rid of stuff for the move is going to be so great! That's not going to be for a while, though, so in the mean time I can focus on something more relevant- my purse.

Isn't it terrible? The eye-opener was when I opened my purse and papers came flying out. What is in there?! How did it become so full? Why do I have all this stuff? In fact, most days I don't use 90% of the items in my purse, so why is it there?

The moment those papers were in the air I knew something must be done. Like, asap. But what though? What do I do when I carry a bag of stuff I'm sure I need. Maybe. At some point. Possibly. This is a perfect example of not living simply. Do I need my planner, deodorant, dry shampoo, hair spray, 6 lip glosses/balms, tissues, a months worth of receipts, food pouches, and who knows what else in my purse?

I don't NEED these items at all. They are there for me to fall back on. If I rush doing my hair or make up in the morning, it's ok because I have products with me. If my makeup isn't finished or perfect that's ok because I have spares with me.

I have come to realize that instead of focusing on getting fully ready in the morning I am actually burdening myself. If I just took a few extra minutes in the morning really focusing on getting myself fully ready, I don't need to bring extra anything with me in my bag. If I planned and timed my errands better I wouldn't need to bring food to tide my son over.

For Mother's Day my husband bought me the Kate Spade clutch I have been pining over. It is exactly what I needed to help me get down to the bare bones and only carry around the necessities. ID, debit card, money pouch, and lip balm. There's room for my phone and a shopping list, and really these are the only items I NEED.

There are moments when I'm slightly panicking in the morning about the necessity of certain items I used to carry in my purse, but ultimately I set them down and walk away. Later on I'm glad I didn't add extra weight to tote around. Using this clutch has been a great experience is doing with less, and one I'm going lean on later when I start letting things go in regards to the house.

Do you carry around a lot of extra stuff or is it just the necessities? Do you have a way to keep the contents of your bag organized so they don't fly out?

My Uniform

Before the work day starts, before the incredibly energetic child gets on his feet, before running errands and everything in between, there is MORNING. Mornings are awfully challenging for me. My mind takes so long to get into focus that it prevents me from doing anything in a timely manner. Especially getting dressed.

One way I have been working on fixing this issue is by purging my closet and only keeping items I love and wear regularly. When I attempted a mini capsule wardrobe two years ago I was able to find what works for me and my post-baby body, and what doesn't. Since then I have built up a happy closet full of clothes in a style I feel confident in. So full that I have a hard time putting an outfit together.

Most days you will find me wearing a variation of: layered tank-on-tank or tee-on-tank, cardigan or button up, jeans/jean shorts, and flats. This is my uniform. It has become a signature look for me in the last year and a half. It is easy to mix up, dress up, make casual, and most of all it is comfy.

It wasn't until I read Karin's post about uniforms that it really got me thinking and inspired to write about it. Karin is one of my favorite fashion bloggers because of her posts on capsule wardrobes and simplified living. It seems that my day to day life is getting more full and her posts help me get my mind sorted out on how I want to tackle things.

For the third or forth time this year I am inspired to go through my closet and purge a bunch of clothes. This time since I have such a clear idea of my style is and what I feel best wearing, it will be easier for me to part with some items that I've been hanging on to. My goal is by summer to be at the point where getting dressed isn't as time consuming or stressful as it is currently. By keeping only items that fit into my uniform I should be able to make this happen. There will be a few exceptions to this, of course, but I aim to have 90% of my closet be made up of pieces for my uniform.

Do you have a uniform or particular style that you wear regularly? Does it help you get dressed quickly in the mornings?

What's In My Bag?

Purses have always been a weakness for me. Chunky handbags, chic clutches, sleek cross body bags... I love them all. Over the course of the last decade or so I have collected so many different purses. Some gals collected shoes, I collected bags. One type of bag that I kept coming back was the cross body. I love having my hands and arms free, and not having to worry about my stuff.

I've always been on the look out for the perfect purse. Currently I have the perfect clutch, tote bag, mini travel purse, and special occasion purse. The special occasion purse is actually the perfect purse ever made, but since having Dean I've been hard on it and I don't want to ruin it, so it's now the special occasion purse instead of my every day purse. The purse I am using right now is one I found on a whim at Target a week ago. It was in the clearance section with no price tag on it, and it was the only one. So of course I grabbed it and bought it. And I love it. It's big enough for my essentials and little more but not too big it gets in my way getting in and out of the car, and carrying Dean around.

My essentials:
1| Kate Spade planner. 2| diary. 3| binky wipes.
4| mini pouch- anti nausea wrist bands, military coin from my Dad's Green Beret unit,
and good luck charm form my Mom, a little key that says "compassion".
5| my favorite lip gloss and lip balm. 6| coffee cup cozy. 7| tissues. 8| wallet.
Funny little story about this military coin. My sisters and I all received one on the day my dad retired from the Army. I was a senior in high school at the time. After the ceremony my dad told me to walk over to where a bunch of the "younger" guys in my dad's unit were chatting (and by younger, I mean younger than my dad- I'm sure the youngest was in his 30's), and drop my coin on to the floor by all of them. Me being me and totally niave, I did just that and I looked up at them and smiled big like I was in on something cool, not knowing I really was a butt of a (playful) joke. All the guys looked shocked and slightly embarrassed, looked from me to my Dad and just started laughing. Hard. Quickly I realized this wasn't just a cute thing I did. I had essentially just told them they were all buying me drinks. It's a thing in the Army, I guess, that in a group of people whoever drops their coin last buys drinks. So I had initiated something that I wasn't even able to do and with all the dudes who worked under my dad. Hahaha, I was so embarrassed at the time but I look back on it fondly now. It really was funny!

1| Sailor Moon keychains. 2| Sailor Moon pocket watch.
Anyways, that's all that's currently in my purse. I have a feeling pretty soon here I'll be dropping the diaper bag and adding a few of Dean's necessities in there as well.

Do you have have anything special you carry around in your purse?

Outfits

One of my favorite Christmas gifts is this WWE Fit Series: Stephanie McMahon workout video. I'm a cheesy big wrestling fan so when I heard this was being made I just had to have it. Aaron surprised me with it after going on and on about how he couldn't find it. Great surprise is great! It came with a monthly work out guide which Aaron and I have been sticking to so far. We started on the first and my thigh are still a bit sore from that workout!

Flannel - Target | Black tank - RedBubble | White tank - Target | Pants - Target |
Shoes - Amazon | Necklace - Bead'all Bug Beads
Working out has been making me feel pretty good about myself and thought I'd start taking outfit pictures again. (Gotta love those good endorphins!) I went through my closet and got rid of 75% of my wardrobe and paired down to minimum. Now I only have clothes that fit me right now and clothes that will fit me great when I lose weight. No more putting clothes on and then feeling bad about how I look. Everything I own fits me in a way that I'm completely happy with.

Cardi - Old Navy | Black tank - WWE Shop | Red tank - Target | Pants - Target |
Shoes - Target | Necklace - Bead'all Bug Beads

Typically I use PicFrame for my outfit pictures but I recently started dabbling with Petapic and I like it a lot. It has a ton of cute backgrounds and styles which is really fun to play around with. Since the collages are rectangles it won't work for Instagram but I think it'll work perfect for the blog.

Cardi - Forever 21 | White tank - RedBubble | Black tank - Target | Pants - Target |
Shoes - Toms Shoes | Necklace - Bead'all Bug Beads
Right now I'm really liking black and white tanks layered with colored tanks and cardis or flannels. While I've always loved wearing layers, I think seeing all the cute pics of Kkarmalove on her IG account brought it to a whole new level. Since I started following her account I've purchased five or six black and white tanks. To be honest, I really should buy some of her white and black shirts from her shop!

Cardi - Ebay | White tank - Target | Green tank - Target | Infinity scarf - Target
Pants - Target | Shoes - Target
In addition to Kkarmalove, Kayla from Love.Sparkle.Pretty is easily one of the pretties ladies I've ever seen and her style is so effortless looking and elegant. Even when she's dressed casually, it's stunning.

What styles to you like? Is there one type of style that defines how you dress? Are there bloggers who inspire you? If not bloggers, who else inspires your fashion?