Green for Saint Patrick's Day.

• Blue t-shirt: Maurices
• Green t-shirt: Maurices
• Trouser Jeans: Maurices (previously)
• Oxfords: Payless (previously)

This was my casual outfit for Saint Patrick's Day. I know it's nothing particularly exciting, but I had some errands to run around town, and I went with something a little more subtle. While it was actually a beautiful day out, it was still enough on the chilly side that I went for layered t-shirts. Tomorrow I have a pretty full day, and my wife and I are going out with friends in the evening, and I will hopefully have a post about that next week. And of course, my adorable wife took the pictures for today's post.

An outfit for driving.

• Hoodie: Maurices (buy)
• T-shirt: Old Navy
• Jeans: Maurices (previously)
• Boots: Clarks via Craigslist
• Socks: Hanes

Since the beginning of the year one of our ongoing projects has been to get rid of some excess stuff, either by taking it to consignment and thrift stores, or by selling it on Craigslist. This plan has a flaw I have recently discovered: other people on Craigslist have things I want, and so I end up "window shopping" the other listings. And that is the genesis of this outfit. I found a listing for a formal dress on the cheap, and while I have no "reason" to own one, I found myself realizing that it would be really nice to try one on, and own one "just in case", and the seller was offering an excellent deal, and really, this is all just rationalization for the fact that I want to make up for wearing a tux to my HS prom. So I sent an email, and scheduled a time and place to try on the dresses to make sure they fit. I realized that since I would mostly be driving and trying on dresses, I might as well dress how I wanted. And so after a pleasant and chilly afternoon drive, I am now the proud owner of a formal dress, and pleased with my outfit for the day. Even though this outfit spent more time in the vehicle than it did outside.

And of course today's pictures were taken by my wonderful wife. And I am slowly getting back into the swing of things with blogging and commenting, it only took the first two months of 2011 to do that. Thanks everyone for your comments and reading my blog!

What we actually wore: Valentine's part 2.

My Outfit

• Button down: JC Penney (previously)
• Pants: JC Penney (previously)
• Tie: JC Penney
• Oxfords: ? (previously)
• Belt: JC Penney

My Wife's Outfit

• Dress: Maurices
• Belt: Maurices
• Pumps: Maurices

I'm a little later than I meant posting this. (Wow, take a day off and the rest of the week goes nuts.) But I wanted to post what we actually wore for the big date. And some of the pictures from the evening. The evening started when my wife got home from work about 10 minutes after my previous post.

I was afraid my wife might be forced to work late, so our reservations were late enough to provide some extra time which we didn't need. So instead, I took back roads that my wife is less familiar with, and slowly drove by a lot of restaurants which also would have been suitable for the day. (Okay, and I also drove past a few fast food restaurants too, just to add more suspense...). The good news is that when she finally saw the restaurant sign, she was too confused to guess if it was our destination or not.

Neither of us had been to a Brazilian steakhouse before. But I have to say if your budget can afford it, I highly recommend the experience at least once. Unless you're a vegetarian: while they did have a pretty cool salad bar, the meats are what makes it awesome, and its not exactly a vegetarian/vegan friendly sort of place. For those who don't know, the staff is constantly circulating through the restaurant with skewers of steaks, and they constantly stop at your table and cut off whatever you want in whatever quantity you want. And it's all you can eat. I had the funny idea I wanted to sample one of each thing on the menu, but I couldn't make it. We did save room for dessert though. I'm not sure how. So after the restaurant, I suggested coffee at a Starbucks near the hotel, which my wife agreed to, still in shock over the pleasant surprise of the restaurant. After coffee, I feigned getting lost only to pull into the hotel parking garage a few minutes later. My wife was speechless at this point. I later showed her the previous blog post and everyone's comments, which she thoroughly enjoyed reading. The only real downside is that I have no clue how to top this next year.

And of course, my very surprised wife took some of the pictures in today's post, and I took the rest for once. I hope everyone has a wonderful (and possibly long) weekend, and maybe someday I'll get caught up on everything I'm behind on (including your wonderful blogs...)

Play it again, again.

• Top: Maurices (previously)
• Blazer: Maurices (previously)
• Pants: Torrid (previously)
• Pumps: Payless (previously)
• Bracelet: Torrid (previously)

So this marks the end of this weeks remix challenge, and this outfit is also a complete remix of previously worn pieces. Its certainly been fun to force myself to remix pieces. However, I do want to continue to go through everything in my closet by posting it on the blog, and just cut back on my shopping in general. This blog has helped me feel less of a need to shop, and I really enjoy sharing my love of fashion with everyone.

On yesterday's post, Lesa of Always Summer left a question: Hey, I have a question from my daughter (she's 15 and really just wondering (please don't get offended) She said" Mom, his clothes are so cool, does his wife get to wear them too?" First, I love answering questions, and I don't get offended easily at all. Questions are always welcome, and I will do my best to answer them. I'm really flattered that your daughter thinks my clothes are cool. My wife and I are very differently sized, so unfortunately, my clothes don't fit her, and hers don't fit me. It would definitely help on closet space if we could though, and it would make it a lot easier for me to rationalize buying more shoes if we wore the same shoe size. We do share on some accessories though, mostly things like purses that aren't really sized. I have some more I could say on this topic so I may write a longer post on this topic in the future. Although with all the well dressed style bloggers out there, I think it would be interesting to hear what others have to say. Does anyone have someone they share clothes and shoes with? What are your feelings on sharing clothes and shoes?

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am really looking forward to seeing what other style bloggers do for Halloween next week, and I'm pretty excited about our own plans here. And of course today's pictures were taken by my fabulous wife.

Remixed.

• Top: Maurices (previously)
• Cardigan: Old Navy (previously)
• Pants: Torrid (previously)
• Pumps: Isaac Mizrahi for Target (previously)

I'm pretty sure this is the first outfit I have worn on this blog that is completely remixed, and I am slightly embarrassed to realize how many outfit posts there are prior to this one. *sigh*. Also this top really is more of a green, but it always seems to photograph more of a blue. In other news, the last pieces of my halloween costume arrived today, so yay! Yesterday evening I got my order of tights from We Love Colors, which I ordered after reading a review by Louise of the awesome blog Coffee and a Cardigan, one part of that order was Halloween related, but the rest was because how awesome is a place that stocks 51 colors of tights in every size? And of course today's pictures were taken by my beautiful wife!

Start wearing purple.

• Top: Maurices
• Blazer: Maurices (previously)
• Pants: Maurices (previously)
• Bracelet: Torrid (previously)
• Pumps: Payless

I'm a little late with my post today, and for that, I apologize. Busy days will get you every time, and I'm keeping it short to not delay the post any longer. Today's outfit is still not a 100% remix, but tomorrow's outfit will be, I think, probably. I think the next time I do a remix challenge I need to include a dress or at least a skirt. I avoided a dress this time, because I was trying to stop myself from picking a pair of shoes for every day of the challenge, and a dress seemed like a way to get in an extra pair of shoes. Oh, I also have to add that Ashley, of the awesome blog Ashley Getting Dressed, posted an outfit yesterday inspired by one of my previous outfits. How cool is that? :) And of course, today's pictures were taken by my lovely wife!

Bold black and brown.

• Top: Maurices
• Cardigan: Old Navy
• Belt: Torrid (previously)
• Pants: Maurices (previously)
• Pumps: Isaac Mizrahi for Target

Since I already had my outfits picked out for the week, I am still remixing, and I will be remixing the first week of November again, since that is when Meli22 has rescheduled her challenge. Of course, this isn't a remix yet, since several of these pieces are new to the blog, but they will be by the end of the week! I really enjoy pairing brown and black, but I'm not always convinced they work, this outfit might be on the other side of the line, and I also feel like I might have gone overboard with the belt in this one, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the outfit. I also really like these pumps, and other than my own attempt to go through most of my shoe collection, I would wear them more often. They are from Isaac Mizrahi's collaboration with Target a couple of years ago. I have several other pairs from this collection too, and I love them all, and the best part is that they usually had my size in this line too, which Target's other brands usually don't.

In other news, it looks like almost everything is taken care of for Halloween. Maybe all the anticipation and build up on my part will just make things anticlimactic once it actually gets here. We also recently moved so we have no idea if we will get any trick-or-treaters here either. I have several plans made for next week, now I just hope they all work out. And of course, today's pictures were taken by my adorable wife!

New camera!

• Top: Maurices
• Blazer: Maurices (previously)
• Pants: Maurices
• Pumps: Torrid (previously)
• Necklace: Maurices (previously)
• Bracelet: Torrid (previously)

First, I just want to say, new camera! After an even more unexpected than normal trip to Best Buy, and everyone's advice, we are now the proud owners of a new Canon PowerShot SX130 IS. My wife took an unplanned day off on Friday. So after a late morning we decided to take a trip to the nearest city, and check out the cameras. In addition to the camera, we also took the opportunity this weekend to take care of a significant portion of our Halloween costume shopping. Actually, all of its taken care, but there are a couple of things that had to be ordered, so hopefully they will get here in time. I would love to tell everyone what our costumes are... but that would spoil the fun right?

This week, I'm also joining Meli22 in a Wardrobe Challenge. In the last shot you can see my 10 pieces of clothing and shoes, and 5 accessories for the week. Unfortunately, both the top and shoes in this outfit seem to shift colors when photographed, the top is greener and the pumps are more purple than they appear. I ended up choosing 3 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of pants, 3 tops, a cardigan, and a blazer. For my accessories I have 3 belts, and a bracelet and a necklace. I thought about including a skirt or a dress, but 10 items counting shoes is... less than I thought it would be. On the other hand, the outfits I'll be making are new to me, and some of these pieces have not been on the blog before, so it should be a fun week.

And of course, my awesome wife took today's pictures on a brand new camera.

Fun with cameras.

• Top: Maurices
• Cardigan: Old Navy (previously)
• Skinny Jeans: Z. Cavaricci via Torrid (previously)
• Red Flats: Payless (same style, different color)
• Bracelet: Torrid

The unexpected surprise in this post is that my camera flaked out yesterday (and by flaked out, I mean the last picture it took is the one not like the others), so we decided to experiment with taking the rest of the pictures with my cell phone camera. I turned my old camera on this morning, and it seemed to be working again, but since the camera is getting some age on it, I figure it's time to look for a replacement. We probably can't afford a DSLR (And we would have to learn how to use it anyway...), especially since we want to replace it this weekend, so we'll probably be looking for a "nice" point-and-shoot model. And of course, thoughts on cameras are completely welcome in the comments. :)

The top in today's post does have some peach in the print (which you probably can't see), but I'm not sure if that counts as pink so I decided to "fall off the wagon" and not claim this as part of Melissa's Blogging for Breast Cancer aWEARness challenge. Also, I don't normally wear flats with skinny jeans, but I wanted to give it a try, because I think it's a really good look on other people. I also feel like I was inspired at least a little by Ashley of Ashley Getting Dressed. Oh, and while the pictures weren't the best, I actually wore this for most of the day yesterday, including a quick trip through the drive thru with my wife for our dinner (she was driving, for the record). And of course, today's pictures were taken by my fabulous wife.

BBCA 4: Warm colors versus cold day.

• Top: Maurices (previously)
• Cardigan: Old Navy (here)
• Pants: Maurices
• Shoes: Payless (previously)

This outfit is part of Melissa's Blogging for Breast Cancer aWEARness challenge. This is also the first time I have remixed a pair of shoes on this blog, and I'm embarrassed to admit that it won't be a regular occurrence anytime soon since one of my goals for this blog is to go through many of the items in my closet rather than repeating the same pieces and outfits over and over again, and especially to go through most of my shoes. Remixing is definitely a lot of fun though, and I really do need to rethink some of the things I have, and having this blog has been extremely helpful for that too. Everyone in Melissa's challenge has been putting together some really awesome outfits, so if you haven't been to Melissa's blog and checked out how the other participants are doing, you totally should. As for me, I realized how little pink I have in my closet, and this cardigan on yesterday's outfit is brand new. A cardigan in every color is always a handy thing though, right? Right? I hope everyone is having an excellent week! (And less busy than mine...)

As always, I love to write posts to answer questions from the comments! So ask away and I will try to respond! And of course, my amazing and awesome wife took the pictures today.