what not to wear

"Style" has been a topic of conversation lately with many of my friends.  To top it all off, my friend Ashley did a post yesterday about her Style Resolution.  I'm similar to her in that I just get lazy about it.  My routine to 'get ready' consists of brushing my teeth, washing my face, throwing my hair up, and putting on a t-shirt and jeans.  Not too glamorous.  Sure, I'm a stay-at-home mom, so I can do that.  However, there's more to this than just laziness for me.  I feel like I've forgotten how to dress myself.

All of 2011 consisted of being pregnant (January-October) and dealing with post-pregnancy body/exhaustion (October-December).  Now that my body is back to normal, I have no idea what to wear.  It's like I don't know what goes with what.  I look at my over-stuffed closet and can't put an outfit together.  It's weird.

Honestly, I love living in sweat pants, t-shirts, ponytails, and no makeup.  I could do it every day for the rest of my life.  The problem comes in when I actually need to get dressed for something.  If I have to actually look cute, I'm in trouble. 

I think there are a couple of things that need to happen in order to fix this:

1.  I need to clean out my closet.  I need to get rid of things that I don't ever wear.  I do this every year, but this year, I will not be doing it alone.  I am going to enlist my very fashion-forward friend, Reese, to help me.  (She will basically assist me in my own personal "What Not to Wear" episode.)  I need someone to say, "No, Claire.  That's not cute," or, "Claire, you're never going to wear that."  My weakness is that I justify keeping everything for fake 'theme nights' that exist in my head.  But what if I have to dress up like Scary Spice one day and need these crazy camo pants?  Yes, I have those kinds of thoughts.  But, this year those thoughts will be no more.  We're buckling down.

2.  I need inspiration.  In layman's terms, I need pictures of cute outfits that I can recreate.  I need ideas.  Most of my clothes are from thrift stores; so if I had a few outfits in mind, I could search for those specific pieces there or maybe find them hidden in the depths of my closet.

Once I schedule this Closet Cleanout Day, I'll be sure to snap a few pictures of some of the memorable (ridiculous) clothing items I come across.  In the meantime, I'll be checking Ashley's blog and stealing all of her ideas.