Re-fashioned Denim, Fun Fashion Finds, and Confidence

My mother-in-law went through her closet recently and pulled out a lot of stuff she wanted to get rid of.  She asked my daughter if she'd like to come over to see if there was anything she wanted.  My daughter and I both found several things that we brought home.  We've been busy re-making them into different, more current, fashionable clothing.

The first one I worked on was a long denim skirt.  It went almost down to my ankles.  I think it must have been from the 80's or 90's.  It's a high quality skirt and the top of it fit great.  So, I shortened it for a more current and stylish look.  It has nice deep pockets on the sides too.  I love that!  I even had thread that was the perfect color to match the faded yellow on the other parts.  Cool!

I wasn't quite sure about this dress.  It was a little funny.  But, I love denim so much!  And, I have a memory of a super cool denim dress I bought in the 90's that I ended up returning because I wasn't sure I'd be brave enough to wear the very fitted style that it was.  This dress is different but there was something about it that reminded me of that one.  So, I had to go for it.  Oh, and a cool side note...not only is it great to be up-cycling old clothing but this dress was made in the USA!

Oh that ruffle!  And, the raw, frayed edge!  Oy!  lol

I removed the ruffle.  It turned out that the edge that was left was already surged.  That was nice.  All I had to do was fold it over and stitch it down.  I wasn't quite sure if the tapered look would work or if a hem on the thick denim would even hang right.  But, I think it works.  As far as the top goes, I opted to just cover it up.  It fits funny at the top and there's a tiny hole in the middle that looks like it might have had a flower or something attached at one time.  I have plenty of scarves and shawls and several of them looked great.  I went with a more summery one for the pics.

Oh, and pics!  Yikes!  I've been working at being braver to post pics of myself.  I've gotten better.  It's still weird though and uncomfortable even having my daughter take pics of me.  But, I went for it and got a few I'm fairly happy with it.  I'm not going to let myself wimp out on posting these!  So, here it is....my new, up-cycled, re-fashioned dress...

I've been working on being braver with fashion.  There are looks that I love but I tend to go safe.  My usual way of dressing is jeans and casual shirts.  I'm doing better.  So, now, I'm trying to be even braver and trying not to worry about parts of my body showing....like my legs.  I've been wearing shorts all summer and even some skirts!

I found these awesome boots a few weeks ago at a thrift shop.  I love them!  So, I got them and I'm determined to be brave enough to wear them.  And, now I have an outfit that goes with them.  So, no excuses, right?!  Gulp!

I hit the shoe jackpot the day I found these!  They were only $5!  They're leather and in great shape.  I looked up the brand online and found out that these boots were over $100 when they were brand new!  These look like they've barely been worn.  And, for heels, they're actually pretty comfortable.

I found two other pairs of shoes that day for just $4 for each pair.  They're in great shape and look like they've barely been worn too.  Those who've seen them think they're high dollar too.  I'm still working on finding outfits for them.  

They're definitely beyond what I normally wear but I love them.  So, that's a perfect reason to be braver and bolder to get to a place where I can wear things like this that I love!

How do you all feel about fashion?  Do you stay in a safe zone with what you normally wear?  Do you see things you love but aren't sure you could do it?  Do you worry about an imperfect body like I do?  Are you nervous about trying to be more stylish or letting parts of you show?   I'd love to hear how others feel about this.

I've always been SO self conscious about my skinny bird legs.  As I've been working lately on being OK with me, I've noticed that there are beautiful people out there with skinny legs.  The difference seems to be confidence.  That's what I'm attempting to have!  I'm trying to love what I've been given and make the best of it.  And, besides, I'll never be as young as I am today!  So, why keep waiting?!  Watch out world, here I come!  Gulp!

Busy, Happy Life!

Life has been full and busy and wonderful around here!  I'd love to blog more about it but much of what's been going on has been busy-ness and preparations.  That's not always blog worthy.

However, some of the things we've been working on are definitely blog worthy.

One of those things occurred last weekend...my daughter's junior harp recital.

She's been working for over a year on some of the pieces she performed.

And, we've been working for months on the details.

It took place on Saturday evening in a recital hall of the university she attends.

She did a spectacular job!  Her many, many hours of hard work and practice made her shine.

I was so happy for her about how it turned out and so proud of her.

She's never performed better or looked more beautiful!

The event was recorded and she's hoping to post it on YouTube

for everyone to see who wasn't able to attend.  I'll be sure to post a link when it's up.

I've been keeping up on my minimum five days per week workouts of running.

It gets tough sometimes and I've thought about figuring out another short term incentive

but my pace time improved this week and that feels really good.

I'm trying to keep with regular weight workouts too of at least once or twice a week.

And, whenever possible, I like to break it up with something different and extra fun like a hike or

bike ride.  Hubby and I went mountain biking on Valentine's Day morning.  :-)

Speaking of Valentine's Day....look what my sweet hubby gave me....

I was so excited when I opened the box!  I fell in love with this belt at Boot Barn last November.

Hubby and I were doing some boot shopping there a few weeks ago and I showed it to him and oogled over it.  He went back a couple days later and got the very last one...

which happened to be my size.  I'm normally not a glitzy type of person but I love this!

I think it's so pretty!  Hubby and I go line dancing sometimes and I think it'll be perfect for that.

I can't wait to wear it out on the town!  :-D

For those of you who've been following my blog and wondering how my husband's grandparents are doing....they're doing great!  Grandpa was moved to a place that could assist in his care around the clock.  He celebrated his 94th birthday while he was there.  He told us that he had a gift for all of us...that he was going to walk.  And, he did!  Here he is walking down the hall to his party...

He had lost so much weight that his pants weren't staying up.

So, my father-in-law held them up for him and stayed close by in case he needed assistance.

Amazing!  He hadn't walked in at least a month and we almost lost him weeks earlier.

He hadn't been eating much for weeks and weeks.  It was amazing that he survived that!

He literally lived off very little bits of juice and "Muscle Milk".  He had refused to eat.

But, just before his party, he had started eating a little bit of real food.

Some of his favorite foods were brought to the party and he couldn't wait to dig in.

He had a piece of shrimp cocktail in his hand before he was completely scooted up to the table!

He had some of my mother-in-law/his daughter's famous marinated mushrooms too.

And, of course, he had to have a beer!  He was one happy Grandpa!

Here's Grandpa and Grandma together that day.

Such an inspiring couple.  Married about 72 years and still very much in love.

They decided they needed to move closer to the family and bought a house here.

We got grandma moved in and that inspired grandpa so much that within a week he improved enough to go home!  Since then, he's gained over 20 pounds back and is feeling better and better.

I accomplished something this week that's been on my to-do list for a while.

I studied the California handgun safety booklet on Monday and took the test.

I got every single answer right...100%...and now have my handgun safety certificate!  Woot!

I've shot rifles before...even did some biathlons years ago.  That was SO much fun!

They weren't the cross country skiing type...they were run, shoot, run shoot, run.

We live in Southern California and there's not a lot of snow around here.

I wish they still had those races!  Anyway, I've been thinking it's time to get a handgun.

So, now I'm legal to buy one.  I plan to learn a lot about it and start going to a local shooting range.

I've been doing more knitting and crocheting lately.  Yay!  I finally found some patterns that I like.

I posted the mohair shawl last week.  I started knitting a hat too.  I'll post more about it when it's big enough to get a good look at it (it's made with sock yarn and size 2 needles...so, it takes a while).

I've been working on some other exciting stuff and I'll post about it when I can.

Just one more week to enter my Grow Your Blog Party give-away.  How's the party been going for you?  My blog following grew a lot last year from the party but has hardly grown at all this year.

But, it's been fun to visit lots of blogs and hear from lots of new people.  :-)  The give-away is still on...every comment posted on my blog (comments left on Facebook don't count) for the month of February and every follower will be entered to win.  There's about a week left.

I'll pick a winner on March first!  :-)

Wardrobe Enhancement

I love jeans!  They're my favorite part of my wardrobe!  I wear them in the winter with pull-over sweaters.  And, I wear them or denim shorts in the summer with short sleeved tops.  I have started wearing some skirts in the summer.  But, I've been trying to stretch beyond that and add some new things and more style to my wardrobe.  I've been watching episodes of "What Not to Wear" and learning a lot.  I love that show!  One of the biggest things I've taken from that show is to try things I wouldn't normally try.  

My daughter and I played around with that idea a few weeks ago.  We went to Macy's and picked clothes for each other.  We tried to think outside of what the other would normally wear.  We got a big dressing room and put together outfits for one another.  We had a ton of fun and found some styles we really liked that we never would have considered before.  Unfortunately, we didn't find anything we HAD to have that day and most of the things we liked were not on sale and were beyond our budget.  But, we'll definitely be shopping differently after that.

We were on a mission that weekend to find some things.  One thing I've been looking for is a nice, thick, warm sweater.  They're all so thin these days and I hadn't found any I liked until I found this...

I think Penelope likes it too!  My daughter fell in love and bought one for herself too.

It's thick, warm, comfy and I love the neutral colors, the designs and the style.
It's not a standard cardigan...it's much more up to date, stylish and fun.

It looks great with another find from that weekend.  Boots!

My daughter and I scored on these all leather boots!  She got brown ones and I got black.

They're flat, comfy, and I like the buckle details on them (top and at the ankle).

They look great with my black skinny jeans, a rust colored top, and my new sweater.

On a really cold night, it looks good with one of my chunky hand knit cowls too.

I also bought a pair of tan pants/jeans...a color I never would have gotten in the past.

I like colored pants on other people but always felt weird when I put them on.

After our little "What Not to Wear" experiment, I think I've changed my mind.
I even considered some red ones but they didn't have my size.

I'm on the lookout for some skirts and dresses that I can wear with tights and my new boots.

It's a look I've liked for a long time.  I'm determined now to find it and be brave enough to wear it.

This isn't much but clothes shopping is hard.  Especially with a tight budget.

But, another thing I learned from the show is that to look good you have to put in the effort/work.

It's not terrible that it takes so much time...it's just part of the process.

Knowing that makes it less frustrating and a lot more fun!

Feelin' Fancy

I've been working on trying to find new clothes to update and spruce up my wardrobe.  It's not an easy task.  I often shop for hours and leave with nothing.  So many of the styles in the stores are awful!  The prints, the looks, the colors...ugly!  And, often, when I do find something, they don't have it in my size.  I'm remaining hopeful though.  I keep believing that somewhere out there is a store that has things I'll love, in my size, and in my budget.  It may be unrealistic but it's my only hope!

I have a special event coming up...my daughter will be performing at the Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.  Very exciting!  But...what to wear?!  I'm a casual, jeans kind of girl.  I have very little in the way of fancy, special event type of clothing.  And, my one pair of fancy shoes died at the last event.  The heal broke on one of them.  Not bad, considering I had them for over 12 years.  That meant I needed clothes AND shoes!

I couldn't let the difficulty I have with finding clothes and shoes get to me.  I was on a mission and I had a deadline!  Believe it or not....I got lucky!  I hit our local Ross store at just the right time...they must have just gotten a new shipment of dresses.  I found about a dozen possibilities to try on and ended up bringing two of them home.  One is perfect for the upcoming night at the symphony.  It's a nice little black dress.  The color is perfect for a night time event.  The length is just right...the bottom of my knee.  And, it's comfortable.  Oh...and, it was only $15! 

Next...shoes!  I'm amazed that I had luck with that too!  It's a miracle!  It's also a little weird...I bought heels!  I haven't done that in soooo long!  But, they fit perfect and they're sooooo cute!  Luckily, I won't have to walk or stand very much so they should be fine. 

This outfit is very different from what I wear day to day.  I'm going to be feelin' quite fancy tomorrow night!

My daughter recently hit the jackpot too.  Being a harpist means she's always on the lookout for gowns to perform in.  They need to be both beautiful and affordable.  And, for orchestra, they also need to be black, long and have 3/4 length sleeves!  That's not easy!  We went shopping a couple of weeks ago to see if we could find something for this special event.  We popped into a David's Bridal store to see if they had something.  Well, they not only had something...they had several possibilities and they were on the clearance rack.  Three dresses went with her to the fitting room.  Two of them looked great!  Then, the sales lady told us that not only were they on clearance but the sale would take another 40% off!  What?!  Really?!  We bought two!  So, she'll be feelin' quite fancy tomorrow night too. 

I love the luck we've had with these fancy clothes....now...if I could just find some great new jeans and cute tops to go with them!  Oh...and some new casual shoes!

No Saddlebags!

I did it! I finally found the time to finish sewing a skirt I started weeks ago. And, it's just in time for the warm spring weather we're having. I just need to un-whiten my legs a bit and I'll be good to go!

My desire to sew clothes has lead to the purchase of lots of patterns and fabric over this past year.
One of the patterns I bought was Simplicity 2224. 
 I like the look of the skirt and the pockets put it over the top for me.  I love pockets!  
I love this fabric too.  The colors and pattern are so pretty.  It seemed perfect for a skirt.

After sewing the skirt, I realized why the model has her hands in her pockets....

it was to conceal the giant saddlebags!  I wondered if I had just sewn it wrong

but I saw that other people had the same results and complaint that I did when I Googled it.  Ugh! 

The pockets were one of the main reasons for choosing the pattern but they HAD to go!

One gone and one to go.

MUCH better!

I bought a new shirt a couple of months ago that just happens to match the greens in the skirt.  I think it looks ok.

What do you think?  Would you wear this shirt with this skirt?

I bought this cute pair of flip flops recently and I think they might look kind of cute with this too. 

This outfit is looking quite festive and summery.

I just realized that this outfit was pretty inexpensive too.  The skirt and pattern cost less than $10. 

The top was about $10.  And, the shoes were only $6.  That's $26 for everything.  Not bad.

I better get working on my tan so I can wear it.