Venetian Red & TOPIO wrap up

So I have to admit that I kinda failed on the last bit of the TOPIO challenge. Thursday and Friday were both such long days at work and I felt as if I was fighting off the virus again that my last two outfits really lacked gusto. So I apologize for the lack of photos and outfit creativity.

Hidden above in this outfit was a cute little necklace that my mom got for me at Forever 21 (Katie is also wearing it here!) and on Thursday I wore this..

Cashmere is amazing, by the way. I'd like to add a few more to my sweater wardrobe but some of the prices are just so expensive. But something that I'd like to start doing is buying quality over quality - and that goes for shoes, jeans, blazers, button downs - really from going forward if I have to pay a bit more for it but it lasts longer then I'm okay with that.

Jeans: Banana Republic
Jacket: J Crew
Sweater: Nordstrom (in Venetian Red)
Button down: Old Navy
Necklace: Forever 21 (similar)

And for Friday... I took my new bracelet (camera hand above) and paired it with a button down and jeans. You'll have to forgive me for only one photo of my accessory because it was just such a long day.

Adorable, yeah? It's mine and DH's initial. :)

After looking at my oxford shirt in Thursday's outfit I'm realizing that I need to replace it with a better button down. If you have a recommendation for a favorite one let me know... I'm always interested in a good blouse!

Stripes and sequins and plaid

Officially a new favorite combo of mine. Lets take a refresher from day one of TOPIO:

And that turned into yesterday's below:

Again, I think this shirt is going to prove to be more useful than I originally thought. And can we stop for a second and can I tell you how much I adore this plaid blazer? It came to me from a fellow J Crew lover who hadn't used it that much.. so I snapped it up. Blazer wardrobe officially completed. I had on a pair of maroon tassel loafers to tie this all together but ouch, they really hurt while trying to break them in.
Top: Loft
Blazer: J Crew
Jeans: Gap

And today... I mixed plaid with a skirt, plain blouse, and bright colored scarf to get this:

I apologize to you for the wrinkles on my skirt but I've been up since 5:45 (blech). I'm not quite sure if the purple in the scarf is too overpowering for this outfit but hey that's what fashion and experimenting is all about, yeah?

And can I also admit that I'm horrible at scarf tying? I really need to learn to do something other than the one style above.

Blazer, skirt: J Crew
Blouse: H&M
Scarf: Hermes

Do you have any tips on tying scarves? If so...let me hear it!

Take One Pass It On (TOPIO) Day 1

I'm always looking for more fun things to do to get myself into pulling out things in my wardrobe that haven't seen the light of day in awhile. While it is always fun to buy new things sometimes rediscovering a favorite or why I purchased a particular item is almost better because well, I've already purchased it.

Over at Sarah's Real Life by way of Franish I saw her post the idea of a wardrobe challenge called take one pass it on, otherwise dubbed as TOPIO. The rules are simple - for however long you want (a week, two weeks, a month) you pull one piece from the outfit you wore the day before into your current one. Sounds good, yeah? So for this week I'm going to give it a try.

I didn't want to overdue it with accessories on this one since the sparkles make it a statement piece. So I added the J Crew desert bloom bracelet to have a bit more fun on my wrist. I'm realizing that I don't have that many bracelets... so I may have to do something to remedy this soon. ;)

I may have found my new favorite nail polish color but alas the nail polish had no name tag at the salon. Eep! But here it is in the bottle, for now it shall be called nameless Essie polish that is really awesome.

Also, bright new shots from the new office bathroom above. Hello light and almost full sized mirror! This will definitely have to do for the days when my camera doesn't want to work (eep, it's almost 5 years old..).

So.. tomorrow I shall use something from my outfit and make something new. Stay tuned!

Are you taking part of the TOPIO challenge?

Scarf: Gift, Sequin stripe top: Loft, Elbow patch cardigan: Gap (similar here), Double serge wool pencil skirt: J Crew