How I Really Dressed for My Day – 12/11/20-12/17-20

Christmas is coming! Well, I guess it’s already Christmas as far as the season goes. I’m a big proponent of the 12 days of Christmas mindset. What about you? Today I’m sharing how I’ve really been dressing for my days recently. I was surprised that more of my looks don’t reflect the season. I’m going to have to fix that this next week!

Sizing Information

Just for reference, I’m 5’8″ and weigh about 155. I generally wear a size 8 or medium in dresses, tops, jackets and pants (or 29 or 30 in jeans), so that’s what I’m wearing in these looks unless I tell you otherwise. That way you can assume everything I show you is true to size unless I alert you to sizing up or down. I wear a size 9.5 shoe and, again, I’ll just let you know if I sized up or down in a shoe, otherwise it’s true to size.

How This Works

I’m going to try to streamline these weekly posts a little. Plus I want to focus more on styling tips and less on the products. So please assume everything I’m wearing is true to size and fits and feels great unless I tell you otherwise. After all these are the things I’m choosing to wear in real life.

I’ll be building shopping “looks” for each outfit. That way you can easily return to them through the link in the top menu of this website if you ever want to buy something that I’ve shown you. Just click on the SHOP link and then on the Shop My Looks link.

Let’s get started!

Work from Home

I wore this first outfit simply to work from my home office on Friday. At this time of year I frequently gravitate toward jeans and sweaters, so this day was no exception.

I’ll admit I really built this outfit around these darling dog embroidered flannel loafers. (I frequently start outfits by selecting my shoes first. Do you do that, too?) They’re black, so they’re quite versatile, but I love how they pulled together a simple outfit of black wash jeans and a camel cashmere turtleneck while adding a festive touch.

I think the key to the above outfit is the gentle front tuck. It camouflages any tummy issues, but also creates the most pleasing proportions. A gentle tuck also makes your outfit look more polished and chic.

You can also shop this look HERE.

Saturday Outing

In yesterday’s post I shared all about this “ready for anything” outfit that I wore Saturday. James and I took a little daytrip to explore part of Ohio. And since the adventure included dining in a pub, hiking a gentle trail to view a waterfall and then sipping lattes in a darling coffee shop, I was glad I looked pulled together but my outfit was functional, too.

Get more details about this outfit and our daytrip in this post. You can also shop the look HERE.

Church on Sunday

I guess I was still in a black and camel kind of mood because I wore those colors again to church on Sunday. I do love me some chic neutrals!

Surprisingly I reached for a different pair of black pants this Sunday. I usually wear my Nic+Zoe wonderstretch black pants, but I decided to shake things up a bit (aren’t I a wild thing?!?) and wear my black Hampshire ankle pants from Talbots. Actually, mine are in the curvy fit.

Knowing that most people would only see me with my coat on, I thought this would be a good day to create this outfit that I’ve seen dozens of times in some of my favorite collected Pinterest pins. I love, love, love a column of black surrounded by a camel coat. This very outfit is one of the main reasons I wanted this coat. And I was not disappointed.

Of course, the above photos are how I envisioned myself. Ha! The photo below is how people at church really encountered me.

Let’s talk jewelry just a minute. I intentionally chose not to wear a necklace that day whereas I probably normally would have. I didn’t want anything to interrupt the column of black at all. So I wore my jewelry on the borders of my outfit instead. I wore double earrings, a bracelet and a pin (no longer available) on my coat lapel. I thought these were all festive but elevated choices.

Oh, and I love how my cap toe shoes pulled this outfit together.

You can also shop this look HERE.

Monday work from home

Hi ho, hi ho, back to work we go! On Monday I got in an early morning workout and then hit the computer most of the day. We did get in an afternoon photo session that day, too. So I needed to put on makeup. That little impetus is often my saving grace when it comes to getting dressed for my day.

I loved the way this simple outfit pulled together. I’ve learned so much in just recent months about contrast in intensity and how it affects an outfit. Have you? If you missed that post, catch it HERE That little lesson has been a game changer for me.

Anyhow, the bottom line is that because I don’t have a lot of contrast in intensity in my coloring (hair, eyes, skin), it works best for me when my outfits also don’t have too much contrast in intensity. That’s why this outfit of medium to light wash jeans (wearing size 30) , ivory cableknit sweater and soft golden brown loafers looks effortlessly chic.

You can also shop the look HERE.

Tuesday glued to my desk chair!

Tuesday I was glued to my desk chair for 16 hours and never really got dressed. I did manage to get out for a walk, so it’s a good thing I was wearing this outfit. But I didn’t take a photo that day because, well, no one needed to see me that day!

Yeah, that’s not what I looked like Tuesday! Ha!

This look can only be shopped through the links above or through this previous post. I wasn’t able to make a shopping widget or “look” for it.

Wednesday Work from Home

Wednesday I changed gears and mostly caught up on stuff outside of my office. I even managed to grab a little nap. But I did get dressed for my day. I just operate better that way. Plus it forced me to get my workout in early rather than putting it off…and putting it off and putting it off.

I love the combination of all the softness in this look. My espresso brown ponte knit pants play so nicely with the light rosewood heather sweater. And once again the fringe python print loafers really pull the look together. I think the theme for this week’s outfits is “shoes can pull a look together.” What do you think?

There will be no shoppable look for this outfit either. You’ll need to shop it only through the links above.

Thursday Work from Home/Out to Lunch with Friends/Light Show Date Night

I think from here on out through at least Christmas I’m going to be wearing holiday inspired looks. If not now, when? Especially since I was having my final lunch with my friends until after the holidays and going to a drive thru light show with James in the evening, I decided to wear my Christmas red Fair Isle sweater (this year’s version) and jeans (wearing size 30).

I’m learning to love the straight leg jeans trend. Now that I’ve found some that fit closer to the body, I’m really enjoying them. I think they create a very pleasing silhouette. These are my new AG Mari high waist ankle length slim fit straight leg jeans. Boy! That’s a mouthful. These jeans are price-EE. But I ordered about 8 pair of different similar jeans a while back and decided to take the plunge and keep these and send the others packing because they were by far the best fitting and most comfortable. I’ll get a much better price-per-wear if I purchase something I can enjoy wearing rather than something that is cheaper but doesn’t feel or look good on me. And since this silhouette is here to stay, I needed a good pair to wear.

You can also shop this look HERE.

That’s a Wrap!

Well that’s how I really dressed for my day this week. I hope you’re enjoying this weekly series. Did you like the way I formatted it this time? With more styling notes and less product notes? Or is it more helpful to share product notes? Let me know if you have an opinion.

Don’t forget you can come back to my blog and go straight to the Shop My Looks Page (under the SHOP category in my main menu) to shop most of these outfits. Also, if you’re a subscriber to my email, I often put a direct link to the Shop My Looks Page in those emails. Click through there and you can shop most of the outfits I show here on the blog…and sometimes looks I never even show here.

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Blessed for My Day

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” That is definitely one of my favorite verses in the Christmas story as told by Luke. I bet many of you favor this short verse, too. Theologians tell us that Luke, a gentile physician who never spent time with Jesus personally, probably did spend time with Mary after Jesus’ ascension. It’s assumed that his narrative of the Savior’s birth is based on interviewing Jesus’ mother.

So I think it’s interesting that he included this poignant and heart-tugging statement in his historical account. I wonder if he saw Mary get a little misty-eyed as she recounted to him the events of the first Christmas. And I wonder if she looked at the doctor and told him, “I treasured up every moment of those amazing days. Some nights I couldn’t sleep after putting that holy babe, Emmanuel, to bed. I just stared at him and tried to comprehend what was happening.” Hmm…

It’s a beautiful thing to be still and quiet with our thoughts. Our worries? Not so much. But when we ponder the things that God is doing, that’s a place of mysterious and beautiful contemplation. I encourage you to spend some time this Christmas pondering what God is doing in you, around you and through you. He’s still at work you know.

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.  ~ Luke 2:19