How We Wore It

It’s been over a year since my last attempt at being a style blogger, and it has been two years since my no-pants-for-a-month experiment. I am soooo awkward in front of a camera, and frankly I tend to wear pretty boring outfits, but you know what? I like clothes. I like wearing things that make me feel pulled together and comfortable in my skin. It’s easier for me to be happy inside when my outside looks good. Not fancy by any stretch of the imagination. Just dressed with intention. And maybe with a little lipstick on. And sometimes I need extra motivation to get me out of my style rut.

So I threw my name in the hat for the latest round of How We Wore It. Why the heck not?

When Deidre emailed all of us with details, she told us, “This month’s photo is to get us ready for casual summer days. I have become a big fan of the styled graphic tees – that look trendy and are still so comfy. So I decided to go with something a little more summer comfy – ya dig?”

And I got all excited because I can do comfy. But then I looked at the inspiration photo:

source: Gentri Lee

My immediate reaction was, “Aw, Deidre! You’re killing me, Smalls!”

Because, as you may recall, I live on the surface of the sun. “Summer comfy” in my neck of the woods is definitely not head-to-toe black with extra fabric tied around one’s waist. That’s what we wear in December. If I wore this outfit right now I would die of heat exhaustion. It was 118° outside this weekend. Literally, I would be dead. Cute, probably, but very sweaty and also dead.

However, the point of How We Wore It isn’t to recreate an outfit so much as to take inspiration from it and make it your own.

When I stepped back and look at some of the elements of the outfit, I realized this challenge wasn’t going to be as impossible as I thought. A comfy graphic tee; a mostly neutral pallet; easy shoes, hair, and accessories. That I could do.

Funny enough, this is one of only two graphic tees I own. Gotta represent my state, y’know. (The other, in case you were wondering, is a Mouse Rat shirt. Parks & Rec 4-eva.)

Much as I complain about the heat, and much as I try to branch out and wear skirts and things, I’m still just a jeans every day kinda girl at heart. Nothing dark or heavy, though. Lightweight light-colored jeans are a summer staple for me. (Insert obligatory backside shot here.)

One of these days I’ll be less weird when people take my photo. It might help if we weren’t doing this in our back alley (which smelled like ripe garbage) while the kids entertained each other in the house and my mama radar was beeping like crazy. I tried asking David to direct me a little bit, but since he thinks I’m cute no matter what weird face I’m making or crazy hand jive I’ve got going on, he’s pretty much useless. How dare he be attracted to me in all my awkwardness.

Still, he did capture this:

It’s out of focus and I don’t often edit my photos in black and white these days, but I couldn’t help it. It feels more realistic than any of the others. That’s what I look like, slouch, belly, messy hair and all. And somehow, I look super cool. I mean, I am decidedly NOT cool, and yet this pic? I’m a little intimidated by myself. Just me?

Cool or not, I would wear this outfit every day…except then I would smell like a boys’ locker room, which is hardly attractive. Maybe just once a week. Or maybe I need to get more comfy graphic tees and rotate through them. I’m thinking this one would be just about perfect, even if it is a lie.

I totally didn’t shower today. Hashtag mom life.

outfit sources: tee | jeans | sandals (old) | watch (same source, different color) | belt (old) | sunglasses

Wanna know how everyone else wore it? Click on over and see!

Deidre at Deidre Emme
Madeline at CaseyLand
Riley at Riley Jo Blog
Jessica at Mason Jars and Lemon Bars
Kelsi at Lovestrong
Samantha at The Samantha Show
Emily at Emmy Jake
Rachel at Rachel Sayumi
Robin at Penn & Quill
Ruth at My Little Nest
Britt at My Little Sunshines
Autumn at Stay Gold Autumn
Alyssa at Pinsent Life
Emma at Ever Emma

Want to participate in How We Wore It next month? Sign up here!

You may also enjoy:

The Bloom of the Week || 17 AZ Blogger Meetup: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Say Hi Society + AZ Blogger Meetup