Take 2! and 3! and 4!

One of my favorite parts of In Style magazine or Lucky is when they take one article of clothing and show you different ways to style it. The cheapskate and artist in me loves that! Making the most of my wardrobe while exercising my creativity. So, here's my take on my lovely vintage dress I wore yesterday. What surprised me was that the look that I thought I'd like the most (the long ivory vest) was actually the look I like the least. I just think it might be a bit heavy for the dress...but I'm willing to play with it some more. I wear a pair of black lace up boots in one of the looks that I used to think had to be worn with an ankle length skirt or pants. When I put it on with this dress, I got my second surprise: I really like it with shorter length dresses! Serendiptiy!!

I think I may have stumbled upon a weekly series: Taking one garment and styling it multiple ways. It's great to withdraw all rules and take some of the most dissimilar styles and blending them for fabulous results. I can't wait to come up with more surprising combinations. That way I get to say "Serendipity" all the time!

10 Random Things About Me

Katy of Modly Chic is so kind to have started Fashion Friend Friday where she asks participants five questions to answer. This week, to switch it up, she asks everyone to tell 10 random things about ourselves. So here goes and with this post I'm initiated into my first FBFF post!

1. I spent alot of time alone when I was a little girl and had an imaginary friend/nemesis named Marsha Day Kellan. She was extremely jealous of me and everything I did! But I, nonplussed by her attempts to foil my fabulousness, stayed the everkindly favorite of the other unnamed imaginary friends.

2. If I could choose to be Scarlett or Melanie, I'd choose Melanie everytime!

3. I would have loved to be the Asian girl on Soul Train!

4. Before I die, I would love to learn to play the drums.

5. I CAN'T STAND when celebrities try to get political.

6. I rarely get so mad that I don't worry about hurting the other person's feelings.

7. I've often wondered what it would feel like to be a really small petite woman.....you know, one of those wisp'o women.

8. I have a French grandfather that I've never met and my mother never met....the only thing I know about him is that he was in the French Surete in 1949 and his name is Ettienne Monet.

9. I redo people's outfits and give them makeovers in my head.

10. I'm so curious about random irrelevant things about people. People's lives are fascinating to me.

So there are 10 random things about me. If you have any other questions or want to tell me I'm strange, just email me at serenemcentyre@yahoo.com. As always, thanks for stopping by little blog. Stop by again and we'll have coffee and a goodie!

Vintage Vulture!

There is alot to be said to "going with your gut". That's what I did with this dress. I got it last weekend at a great thrift store in my town. My daughter and I were in such a hurry..she was rushing me to the register because we had somewhere we HAD to be and I'm getting distracted at every rack. I rushed by the dresses, looked at this one sideways and like any good bird o' prey, swooped it up in my voracious jaw and dragged it to my nest! I barely looked at the size. I figured if push came to shove, I'd cut off the top and use the bottome for a skirt. Imagine my delight when I got home and it fit me perfectly!

I am bursting with ideas for this dress! I'm picturing a wide black belt and black boots. I've got a fabulous ivory scarf style sweater vest that will look great with this belted. I also tried something pretty radical (for me) but looks just adorable! I put a belt right below the elastic waist band. Then I bloused the fabric over the belt, completely hiding said belt and creating a tiered top. Add a small belt over the natural elastic waist band and I've transformed my dress into a cute little top to be worn over skinny jeans!

Dress......Vintage ($3)

Belt...... Thrifted ($.50)

Shoes......Thrifted ($8?)

Dancing Queen - That's what I feel like in this dress!

Old Pretty vs New Ugly

As marketing director for a gym, I work alot of health fairs, festivals and different types of shows. I end up getting to know alot of people who represent their companies at these shows as well. Some of them give out free t-shirts with their company logo on it. It's so funny to me that these t-shirts fly off the tables! There's a store here called Medicine Box and they are great about giving away hundreds of t-shirts and people swarm to get them. It's like the idea of free clothes is just too enticing to pass up, even if it's a funky color t-shirt with a company logo on it. In some ways, I can be a clothing snob, but I'm also a clothing enigma. I'll wear just about anything secondhand (only really excluding underwear). I mean socks, tights, shoes, slips, you name it, I'll wear it. I also have no real repulsion to eating food I've dropped on the floor. Over Christmas last year, I was sitting on the couch eating a cookie and felt a crumb drop. I couldn't find it anywhere. Myeah, whatever, I'll just vacuum later. Then a couple of hours later, I'm walking through my living room with my daughter and I see a cookie crumb on the floor. I proceed to pick it up and pop it in my mouth strictly within the guidelines of the 24 hour rule, right? My daughter was aghast and couldn't believe that I was eating off the floor. As I started chewing, I realized that it tasted NOTHING like the cookie I had earlier and I gotta tell you, I have no idea what I ended up eating....but I'm still here and doing fine. And that third arm growing out my back over the last year (which I'm sure has nothing to do with the mystery crumb from the floor) has REALLY come in handy bringing in the groceries!

Oh, but I digress...where was I? Enigma, that's right. Of all the secondhand crap I'll put on my body, even straight from the thrift store, I have a total aversion to t-shirts. I'm not talking the cute JCrew tissue t's, I'm talking anything that has any kind of writing on it. And I see people around here almost wanting to fight over these freebie teebies! It's almost as if we're a third world country and we have to take our clothes where we can get them! I'm planning on running a 5K with my youngest son in December (I don't really have a runner's body, but I'm going to give it my best shot) and we get a free t-shirt. Anybody want it?

Dress...... Juicy Couture via Consignment shop ($20)

Boots......Vintage Thrifted ($3!! YES! You read that right!)

Jacket......Bisou Bisou ($30? Somewhere along those lines.

Necklace......Gift from my awesome sistaaaah!

How about a little Blue Oyster Cult?

Simple Pleasures

There must be something wrong with me to get this happy about clothes. Seriously...this can't be natural. I put on something, look in the mirror and just go nuts over how great I feel in it and then it's like walking on sunshine for the rest of the day. Shallow? Maybe to some, but what can I say? It's the little things that make me happy! I like that about me!

I put this outfit together last night and did not even try it on first. I wanted to get my clothes out of the room so Sweet Baby could sleep in. He's been working some ridiculous hours since he got off vacation. So I just grabbed the pieces believing and trusting that they would all work together and I love the result. It's crazy that I don't think that there's more than $25 in the whole outfit. You know, it really isn't about the money. It just continues to surprise me how little it costs to find things that just make you feel good and look great!

Mine is a simple but happy life! My husband, my kids, sweet family, wonderful friends and doing things that I love....what else is there really? Every now and then I just get overly sentimental about things and just feel overwhelmed with gratitude. I guess today's just one of those days!

Skirt, Top and Cardigan...... Thrifted ($3.69 each)

Boots......New in box via Ebay ($12)

I had this Archies album and used to go to my room, put this on, and dance endlessly! It's just good ol' happy music!

Wearing the Colors of Autumn

This is completely being inspired by the season's colors. After a HUGE haul this weekend, I found myself on Sunday morning getting ready for church thinking, "Oh my goodness, what the heck am I gonna wear?" It's one of the things I love about dresses, it's always a pulled together look.

These are a pair of the boots that I got this weekend for just $3! They are Gianni Binni and all leather. You can't even buy PLEATHER for $3. That's gotten to be a pet peeve of mine - faux leather shoes and purses for LEATHER prices. I just can't get excited paying that much for leather's country cousin.

Another pet peeve of mine is wrinkled clothing and low and behold, that's what I'm sporting! This fabric just wrinkles easily and then when I took the dress off, I realized that the entire side was still unzipped! Sunday mornings rarely go smoothly, but I still felt fabulous in the dress and boots and for anyone who knows me...It's all about the feeling!

Dress...... Belks(gift from my sweet baby)

Belt......Michael Kors via TJ Maxx($15?)

Booties.......Gianni Binni via Thrifted($3)

Jacket.......Thrifted ($2)

Bracelet.......Inherited from my very stylish mom

Happy feelings this Monday!

Wardrobe Change Weekend!

What a weekend?! I woke up Saturday and it just never stopped. I was asked (very unexpectedly) to model in a fashion show on Saturday for the Cleveland County Women's Show. It was the first time I've ever done anything like that. To be honest, modeling was just "myeh?", but the styling....now THAT'S something I can sink my teeth into!

The start of my day yesterday was running my kids hither and yon and hitting a thrift store I had not been to in years. At the first one, I got 5 vintage dresses for 25 cents each!!!! RIDICULOUS! At the last one, I spent $20 and got 3 pair of leather boots, 3 pair of shoes and 1 gorgeous vintage dress! I can't wait to post pictures of everything. From there, it was straight to the fashion show. I told my daughter that I was more excited about my boot score than the fashion show! From the fashion show, it was running by the grocery store and then making havarti cheese and pecans quesadillas for the costume party I went to Saturday night. I dressed up in an traditional Indian sari and sang karaoke all night long! Had a blast!! So here are the pics for my whole day Saturday. I know you won't enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them, but just know this....I had a REALLY GREAT DAY!

So there you have it! Next weekend is another busy one....my sweet baby and I are going on an excursion train. 4 days, 4 outfits! Can't wait!

American Girl....International Soul

I'm going to a costume party Saturday evening. I have wonderful friends and I love getting together with them, and what's cool about this time is that it's families also. It's going to be costumes, pumpkin carving, food, wine and a fabulous time! I don't want to spend alot of money on a costume, so a good friend of mine is from India and she has some BEAUTIFUL saris. She came over this evening with a few for me to choose from. I decided to borrow a beautiful turquoise one with gold beading and stitching. It's STUNNING!

You know what is so great about the sari? How fantastic to just get up and wrap yourself in luxurious fabric?! No worrying about size, bloating, "does this make my butt look big?". Just beautiful draping silk in the most beautiful colors. Who wouldn't look great in one? My friend, Sumy, and I talked a little about body image and cultures. Honestly, wearing a sari certainly takes away the angst over gaining a pound or two. Nothing like here in the US! We tend to think the skinnier the better. Women's figures have disappeared. Well, mine certainly hasn't! Today, in this bright skirt, I felt curvy and pretty and very feminine!

This was also my first time mixing a print with a plaid! Ridiculous, I know. But, I pulled out this skirt last night and just started putting on everything with it. No rules. When I came to this....VOILA! Love it! Of course, I'm having a hard time finding ANYTHING that my 50cents silver belt doesn't improve. The skirt was thrifted and about a foot longer than in the picture. I went crazy for the color and the fit....so rare that I put on something and the waist and the hips fit so perfectly, but all the planets were aligned, ergo....the perfect fit. Amidst all this fabulousness are these horrible shiny tights which are never to resurface again. Looking for matte tights first (maybe second or third) thing tomorrow!

Top...... Macy's (?)

Skirt......Thrifted and refabuloussed!($1.50)

Shoes.......REBA via thrifted ($7)

Belt.......Thrifted (50 cents)

Shiny Tights.......Shiny ugly tights are us ($more than I'm willing to pay again!)

The Gypsy Kings for my gypsy heart!

Laverne, Shirley and my creative moment

If you were a fly on the wall in my house this morning, you'd see me in my big warm bathrobe sitting on my couch, feet perched up on my homemade coffee table, coffee in one hand and computer in lap. And you know what you'd catch me watching? LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY! Except, unlike when I was in third grade watching them rooting for Carmine and Shirley and laughing at the ever present L on Laverne's chest...now I'm coveting these gorgeous cardigans and pencil skirts!!! I never realized how stylish these girls were. And their little basement apartment? How ADORABLE was that?!

Now fast forward to 7:30pm and I'm home, in the kitchen with Will and Grace on TV sitting at my table with coffee (now decaf...did I mention I love coffee?) and uploading my pictures from today. I love home. I love being home, the smell of home. I love looking around and seeing our things and how my husband and I combined our homes, families and lives. I'm making myself so sentimental just typing this. Oh crap, I'm pmsing! Anyhoo, I feel so clever with my outfit today. 2 weeks ago it was a long,80s left over, shoulder padded, balloony blousy top blousing over the accorion pleated skirt DRESS. I just loved the pattern, the smallest of animal prints. So I took it in my arms, whispered in it's ear, "Come with me baby. I can make you bettah!" and wisked it off to my casbah! I cut it in half, now having a great top AND skirt. Then I took off about 8 inches from the skirt, folded over part of the top that was not pleated and put in an elastic waist band. I wore the two pieces together this morning with the black belt and then was looking for a sweater to throw on over. I put this on and loved it so much, I decided to just belt it and "Houston, we have an outfit!" I'm WILD about it and I do love feeling clever! Would love to hear about some other clever creations!

Top/Skirt=Dress...... Thrifted ($3.50?)

Sweater......Coldwater Creek Outlet($ can't remember)

Shoes.......Gifted

Necklace.......Inherited from my wonderfully stylish and fabulous mother

Belt.......DonCaster Tanner ($10?)

Because I got to use the word "casbah" in my post!

Hello Summer, meet Fall!

Personal style isn't a stagnant state. It's in constant change and motion...certainly my style is. It's constantly evolving and changing. As I peruse an ever growing number of style blogs, I'm completely captivated by the personal style of these women. Some are eclectic, some are daring, some are bohemian, while others are creative. As I look at all these different styles (basically eleventy millions ways to wear the same 5 basic pieces of clothing - pants, skirt, dress, tops and shoes), I'm inspired. I'm inspired to rethink how I wear pieces that I have in my closet and make them fresh and most of all, keep them ME! With this outfit, which, by the way, is almost one of my favorites thus far; I was a little uncertain if I could pull off black tights with a light summer skirt. But I have to tell you, even though I'm throwing out my shoulder giving myself a pat on the back, I think I nailed it!!!

This skirt just refuses to be tossed aside! I thrifted it over a year ago, because I really was taken by the pattern. It's like a vintage handkerchief. But it was tight in the waist (NO MORE thank you very much! Benefit of eating better and staying consistent with my workouts) and I had no idea what to do with it. I've put it on ebay so many times, I'm surprised someone didn't pay me to take it off! But since blogging and seeing skirts used as strapless tops, I took it out of my ebay pile with plans to try it as a top. But then I came up with this today and I'm just totally feelin' it! Also, I'm all about layering on the bracelets. Can you possibly wear too many? I'm thinking you probably can't! I think this is an entire thrifted outfit with the exception of the shoes. My best friend gave them to me 2 years ago. They are Kenneth Cole and they had two big funky elastic straps that went across the top. Hated them! So like an successful vasectomy, snip snip.....them babies are GONE!

Top...... Thrifted (1?)

Skirt......Thrifted($ 2.50)

Shoes.......Gifted

Sweater.......TJ MAXX ($12?) It was FREEZING this morning...so I opted for another gray sweater!

Belt.......Thrifted (.25 cents - I think) It was FREEZING this morning...so I opted for another gray sweater!

A little Sweet Love 'cause that's what I'm feeling for my perty lil outfit!