It has rained every day this week in Durham and I’m over it. But I figured the rain + casual Friday at the office is a good chance to wear my favorite ankle boots and an army vest that hasn’t gotten much love lately. When I put this outfit on, I realized that it is extremely similar to one I wore four+ years ago, so I decided that this was a recreation/update of that outfit.

Hey, look at me, back with some pictures of the clothes I put on my body!

So, how many of you, like me, have new year’s resolutions to clean up your space and are KonMari-ing? If you have Netflix, you’ve probably seen the show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo or you’ve at least heard of it. I bought the book a few years ago so I was already familiar with the KonMari method of tidying when the show came out. If you’re not familiar with KonMari, you organize by room instead of my stuff. Then, you take EVERYTHING out of your closet, drawers, etc. and hold each item to determine whether it “sparks joy.” If it does, you keep it, and if it doesn’t, you get rid of it.

The idea of taking every single piece of clothing out of my closet at once is still too daunting, but as I’ve mentioned a few times on the blog, I’ve been taking pieces out a little at a time to ensure my style reflects who I am now, and to help me achieve my goal of living a somewhat minimalist lifestyle. Freshly inspired by Marie Kondo and her show, I’ve taken even MORE pieces out of my closet in the past few weeks and I’m still feeling great about the pieces that remain, as evidenced by the return of my office-bathroom mirror selfies!

Anyway, on to the outfits!

Apologies for being a little MIA for a few weeks. We have a board of directors meeting coming up and planning/coordinating it is, like, half of my job so I’ve been really busy. Then Daylight Savings Time ended and made me really tired, but I’m back with an outfit round up. I wish I could tell you that the photo quality is going to get better soon but I just don’t know when that will happen. And these outfits are a little old — I wore them when it was still warm outside — but they’re good ones, so I wanted to share!

Here’s a closer look at each outfit.

I loved this pattern so much that I got it in a shirt AND a dress! I’m actually seeing this a lot lately, where companies are making different articles of clothing out of the same pattern/fabric, and I like it. You get more options for your lifestyle, or if you’re like me, you just add several different pieces in the pattern. I think it works pretty well. I just have to remember now to wear the both in the same week 😉

As part of my attempt to update my closet so that it reflects my current life and the person I am now instead the person I was four+ years ago, I’m wearing certain pieces one last time to determine if they have a place in my new lifestyle. This navy and white polka dot skirt is one of those pieces that I liked but I wasn’t wearing; it hung in my closet for several years, every day getting passed over. So, it’s on the chopping block; I’m wearing it today to decide whether I keep it or donate it, and I decided to recreate/update an outfit I’ve worn before with this skirt.