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’m taking a break from the rain and gloom of today by sharing with you an outfit that I wore last week when we still had some beautiful sunshine. I picked up this faux wrap dress from Target as the Mossimo brand is being fizzled out. It has a satin weave and a breezy silhouette, giving it a style that is perfect to take me from a casual day or the office to fancy formal events. If it were the weekend, I would’ve kept it simple by pairing it with sandals, but since I wore it to the office, I decided to dress it up by slipping on my new open-toe booties.

I love the pink and olive colors. For some reason, the colors, pattern and style of this dress reminds me of Miami. I’ve only been there once and I wasn’t really paying much attention to what folks were wearing, but it’s definitely what I picture Miami ladies wearing. Maybe I’m just imagining things!

Real talk: I had this dress altered for a better fit. I asked to shorten both the shoulders and the bottom hem of the dress and I think it turned out pretty well. However, there is a snap in the front that allows you to choose how deep you want the front V to go. I love this feature but since having the shoulders altered, it’s very easy to snap open with even the slightest pull so I have to be careful, especially while at work! Next time I’ll wear a thin cami underneath, just in case.

Dress: Target | Cardigan: Banana Republic (old) | Shoes: via Rack Room | Necklace: Old Navy | Watch: Target

NCsquared at the Food Truck Rodeo

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! We celebrated the unofficial end of summer by eating delicious food at Durham’s Food Truck Rodeo and having a night in with our neighbors on Sunday and by watching a lot of Netflix on Monday. It was pretty awesome. Luckily the weather was great all weekend because we had to turn off our air conditioner yesterday due to a possible freon leak — the house started to smell like band-aids every time the air would kick on, so weird — and the techs are coming out this afternoon to check things out. Other than that, we had a pretty uneventful weekend.

But this is my end-of-summer outfit. Warm enough for a sleeveless blouse and close enough to Fall for cute open-toe booties. Wearing boots in the summer can be super stylish, but I’m just now getting comfortable wearing them in warm weather. It actually took me a while to come around to wearing booties at all, which is silly because they *are* so stylish. They’ve become one of my go-to shoe choices.

On Monday morning, while Nick and Sebastian slept, I drank my coffee on our back deck. The air was crisp and the morning dew lightly coated the patio table and chairs. The birds chirped and playfully hopped through the branches in the trees. The sun peered through the clouds, creating a sweet halo of light around the yard, and it was pure bliss. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but this is my favorite time of year. While I am very ready for Autumn, I’m glad we still have several weeks of warm weather here in NC. I don’t have to put up my tanks and tees just yet, but I can break out the comfy sweater cardis. I really love those things! And I love those beautiful, cool mornings!

Coffee on the deck, enjoying the beautifully cool morning

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed your four-day work week. I know I’ve already started counting down for this weekend when I can relax all over again 🙂

Blouse: Old Navy | Jeans: Gap | Shoes: Madden Girl | Jewelry: Old Navy | Watch: Target

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