Same Dress. 30 Days. Day 6 or "The Day I Took My Dress to the Kings Game"!

Today I took my Dress to do something that I have never done before! I went to an LA Kings hockey game! I watch LOTS of live-action sporting events, but for some reason professional sports from the view at the 14th row at the Staples Center are just somehow better than say, a Warren High football game! :) Don't get me wrong, I LOVE high school sports---watching my students win and be so excited is priceless, but professional athletics is exhilarating in a whole other way!!! So the way I got to go to this sporting event (LA Kings vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets) is because my life-long friend Matt Crane's dad has Kings season tickets (awesome), 14th row from the ice (even awesomer), and Matt asked me--along with our other friend, Jeremy--to go with him today (the awesomest!) Plus, it was a really cool experience to get to sit in the season ticket holder area, because the fans are legit and knowledgeable and I was able to eavesdrop of their commentary of the game so that, thank goodness, I had some idea of what was going on!

We had a great time! Although, I had to fight back the urge to yell "Quack, Quack, Quack" and "Go for the 'Flying V'" (hello, Mighty Ducks, anyone???) and also from shouting out "Toe Pick!!!" ("Cutting Edge" reference, duh!) during the entire game. And although the Kings lost (0-1) it was still a really fun time.

So here's what I wore (and check out how close we were to the ice....my layering strategy was CLUTCH!)....



I was SO nervous that I was going to freeze my little Dress-wearing-self to death, so I got my "layer on"! I wore tights under my leggings, socks over THOSE, my tall black and tan Etienne Aigner boots (my best purchase of the Fall), with my maroon sweater over my dress, tied with my brown belt (thanks Dad!), and topped off with my cute little hat from Forever 21. Adorbs! A quick story about these boots---my friend Bianca Arceo Farina bought a pair of these boots for a bargain deal at Marshall's early in the school year. I fell in LOVE with them and began coveting them in the worst way. Sooooooo, after going to EVERY Marshall's in a 15 mile radius of Downey, I broke down and bought them for full price (yikes!) online. And believe me, they have been worth every penny that I spent on them! They go with freaking EVERYTHING!!!!! Love, adore, and would marry these shoes if I could :)

So happy to be here!


HEY JEREMY!!!!


HOLA MATTEO!!!!


The Three Amigos!


Row 14!!!! AWESOME! Thanks Matt!


Good times, good friends, great way to start off the first official weekend of 2012!!!!

Same Dress. 30 Days. Day 5 or "Don't Be Afraid to Try New Things"

I tried something new today....it is called "tucking in my shirt" (or my Dress in this case). I have this fear of tucking anything in because of a little thing that happened whilst I was in middle school. Allow me to take you back in time; back to a time when Downey Unified was still trying to make kids wear uniforms; back to a time when I was 13, had braces all up in my grill, and was just figuring out how to wrangle my curly hair; back to a time that I like to call the "Tuck it! Don't Roll It!" Era. (please see Exhibit A)

Exhibit A:



Back in the late 1990's I attended a middle school called South Middle School in Downey, California. I'm not going to lie to you my friends, middle school (you know, grades 6,7, and 8) were not pretty years for Ali Davis. For any of you who are acquainted with, or ever were, a preteen/early teenaged girl then perhaps you experienced the same issues as I did. The body of a middle school girl is awkward. VERY awkward. Baby fat is sort of starting to melt away (unless you're like me and didn't have your "growth spurt" until you were in your mid-twenties!), you probably had braces, and most likely were experiencing some type of acne. Well, during this time at South Middle School, some evil person decided that the best way to regulate dress-code was to make everyone--no ifs, ands, or buts--tuck in their shirts. Now, for a preteen girl whose body is not stellar, this was probably the WORST thing anyone could ever ask of her to do. Seriously...THE WORST. So, my friends and I began "rolling" our shirts up so that they appeared to be tucked in, with the hopes that no teachers would notice and we would be able to "fly under" the tucking radar. NO such luck. As you can imagine, there was one teacher--who shall remain nameless (Bless Her Heart---as my mom would say) who decided that it was her personal mission to make sure that everyone was "tucking" and not "rolling". Ugh. Fast forward 15 years and you cannot pay me enough money in the world to tuck in a shirt (fashionably---my Outback uniform had to be tucked in and THAT's a whole other blog post!)

Well, today I decided to go ahead and face one of my fears. Yesterday I encouraged you all to not be afraid to include some POPS! of color in your wardrobe. Today, I TUCKED IN MY DRESS! Yikes! I am always worried that I look bad with my shirt tucked in, and maybe I do, but this challenge is all about overcoming stuff. So, I will overcome my fear of tucking my shirt in so that I can tuck this dress in---at least for today!

Besides my tucked in dress, I wore:

1. My HIGH HIGH HIGH black Guess platform heels. These are my "kicking-ass and taking names" heels. I feel on top of the world when I wear these babies because I am literally about 4 inches taller when I wear them, and also because I feel like a higher heel makes everyone look better. A high heel has the power to change my perspective---literally and figuratively!

2. I wore my brown-ish "boyfriend" cut pants from Forever 21. These pants are so comfortable. The fabric is SO soft. Also they are not too tight, so they make tucking something in not look too horrible! I generally shy away from buying pants from Forever 21, but these were an exception because of their awesome-ness :)

3. Also, per what is cool with the high school students, I have started painting my nails 2 different colors. I paint the nail of my ring finger a different color than the rest of my nails. Weird, but awesome....duh!






All in all, it was a good "fashion" day...on another note, for those of you (all 5 of my readers! It's 5 now, right?) who were wondering about my interaction with that student who told me I was wearing the same thing again yesterday, my answer was "Yes. Yes I am", and she didn't follow that up with a question like, hmmm, perhaps "Why?"! So, I didn't elaborate---when they choose to ask me why i am wearing this over and over, I will divulge! My student aide who is also one of my cheerleaders was getting really upset because she could not figure out what has been going on with my outfits. She finally figured it out (duh!) and now she has become my fashion consultant (herself-appointed, of course) and is all about telling me what I should wear next. How was I able to dress myself before I had her guidance? I may never know!

Stay tuned....tomorrow I'm going with my friend Matt (hey Matt!) to the Kings hockey game. I am excited to take this dress places! Here we come, weekend! Watch out!

Same Dress. 30 Days. Day 4 or "The Day They FINALLY Figured It Out!"

The day has finally come, my friends. One girl in my 3rd period class told me "I like your shoes", then another girl said "I like your tights", and then yet ANOTHER girl said "She's been wearing the same dress every day"...hahahahaha! I guess that fact discounts all of the other cute things about my outfit. :)





And let me tell YOU, there are a few REALLY cute things about this outfit. Let's work our way from the bottom to the top:

1. My ADORABLE High Heel Oxfords! For those of you who followed my "51 Days of Shoes" Blog last spring, you will recall that I went through an obsessive period during which I purchased 4 different pairs of Oxford shoes. And they are all justifiably different than one another (See Blog posts Days 28, 32, and 50) because they are flat, high heeled, dark brown, light brown with purple laces, and light brown with cute little eyelet cutouts. These high heeled ones (from Forever 21, thank you, very much!) are hands down my favorite pair. I wear them weekly. :)



2. Moving on up...check out my awesome PURPLE TIGHTS! I love a nice POP! of color, and these tights provide this experience for me. I bought and wore these tights while I was in Europe 2 summers ago with my sister. I have a distinct memory of running around Paris, drinking wine from the bottle, and eating chocolate under the Eiffel Tower with my sister. IT WAS THE BEST TIME EVER!!!! Paris may be the city of love, but I would argue that it is the city of making memories with my sister--while wearing bright purple tights, of course!

3. My Fall colored scarf is a must-have accessory with this look. The purple undertones in the scarf tie in with the purple of my tights and make for a nice pairing. This scarf is from....FOREVER 21 (imagine THAT!).



4. Lastly, I chose to wear this RANDOM black Forever 21 vest that I purchased SO LONG AGO and I literally (I promise I'm not telling Tall Tales) have worn probably one time. That's right, ONE SINGULAR TIME! That is ridiculous, right? How is it possible that I have something in my closet (that is not a prom, wedding, or bridesmaids dress) that I have only worn ONE TIME! I'm embarrassed.



Today's Challenge taught me a couple of things that I feel I need to pass on to you, my loyal readership (haha...allllll 4 of you!)

1. Less is more. I am realizing more and more that I absolutely DO NOT need all of the stuff that I have. Really and truly. Now, this does not mean that I am going to get rid of EVERYTHING and only have a total of 100 possessions like someone (who shall remain anonymous---let's see if he's even reading my blog, shall we?? hah) suggested. But however, I DO think that I can downsize just a wee bit.

2. Accessories from Forever 21 are LEGIT! The majority of the "icing" that I own (ie. the things that I decorate my outfits with) are from places like Forever 21 and H&M because I can buy trendy pieces inexpensively and then it doesn't matter if they go out of style after one season, because I didn't spend hundreds of dollars on them. Ya dig? Spend wisely---if I'm going to wear a pair of jeans once a week for 52 weeks, then I am willing to spend some more money on a nice pair. If I'm only going to wear a scarf once every couple months, then I am going to continue to buy it from a trendier, cheaper place.

3. ACCESSORIES MAKE THE OUTFIT! This is so clear now that I am doing this challenge. It is amazing what a pair of tights, or a scarf, or any other accessory can do to change the entire look of an outfit. I challenge all of you (this might be more difficult for you men) to try and use a new kind of accessory. Don't be afraid of color! SO many people look SO drab and just generally "blah" every day. Getting dressed should be fun. It should be an outer expression of how you feel inside. So, if you feel drab and "blah", then I bet your outfits are drab and "blah"....BUT if you are happy and you know it....LET YOUR CLOTHES SHOW IT!!!! STOP BEING BORING! It sucks. And I'm pretty sure that if you're reading this, then there's no way you suck, right? :)

Same Dress. 30 Days. Day 3 or "How I Tricked All My Students"

My students don't even realize they've been duped!

Twirling is fun.....

Twirling is great.....

Twirling is dangerous in heels and on uneven ground!


Maybe THAT's why Twirling is reserved for sneaker-wearing-five year old children :)

So I am choosing to call this day "How I Tricked All My Students" because NOT ONE OF THEM even noticed (or was brave enough to point out!) that I am wearing my Dress again! Woohoo! I am sure this has a lot to do with how I chose to style it, but either way, no one said anything! In fact, in every single period I was complimented on how nice I look today! Which is just so funny, because I AM WEARING THE SAME THING AS YESTERDAY AND NO ONE SAID ANYTHING!!!! Haha...this is so fun!

Here's what I did today...

1. Over the top half of my "fashion foundation" (ie. my Dress) I put on my awesome long sleeve blue button-up which I purchased from WALMART!!!!! LOVE IT!!!! I adore a bargain! And Walmart is definitely full of them! So I buttoned it up halfway, tied the bottom part up and rolled up the sleeves. Basically creating a shirt and skirt effect with my Dress serving as the skirt part.

2. My gray, t-strap, Old Navy heels (I love these shoes!) that I purchased about 4 years ago. They were essentially a "steal" from the Old Navy clearance rack and I think that they pretty much go with every outift I try to wear!

3. I kept my outfit classy by adding my faux pearl jewelry. My necklace is from Forever 21 and my earrings were from H&M as a part of the same deal that my gold studs were on Day 1.

4. A messy bun on top of my head completed my look!

Honestly people, the BEST part of this outfit is that I got complimented on how "nice" I looked pretty much all day long. Hilarious! I was readying myself for lots of people asking me why I was wearing the same thing as yesterday....this leads me to think a few of things....

A. People REALLY don't care what I wear
B. My students will compliment me on anything that I wear because they have figured out the "Unwritten Currliculum" (ie. They have realized that being on my good side is always a good thing....)

OR (and I'm really hoping it's this one....)

C. I did such a great job of disguising my Dress that no one could really notice unless they knew what they were looking for. It's like "Where's Waldo"! :)

All in all...a good outfit, a good day, and I am still excited for the next 27 days to come!

P.S. Lori and Dave had their baby last night! Nathaniel Houston Pryor made his Grand Entrance at 9:33PM....he is gorgeous, mom is doing great, and dad is over the moon! Yay! Can't wait to squeeze his adorable little cheeks!

xoxo

Same Dress. 30 Days. Day 2 or "Welcome Back to Paradise"

Welcome BAAAAAAACKKKKKKK STUDENTS!!!!!!!!

Yay? The following photo montage might lead you to believe that I am having a happy, go-lucky day with the kiddos, but in actuality today was kind of brutal! I think that Winter Vacation goes hand in hand with a very common sickness....it's called "I can't remember anything that I learned during the last month of 2011." Watch out! It's "catching"! :)Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE my job, but it is hard to come back from a peaceful vacation (I know how ridiculous I sound, all you "non-teachers" out there....bear with me!) and have to re-train everyone in proper classroom/human etiquette. Yikes! But, I must say....those same vacations in which everyone forgets everything, are so worth it!

So, on to more important things...like....my outfit!



Frolicking in the forest outside of my classroom...



I love leaves!


6:45AM anyone?


My friend Erin said, "Oh, so this is an accessories blog?" And, here's my disclaimer: this is not solely an accessories blog, as much as it is a blog about the power of WHO wears WHAT and HOW they wear it. You know? This was easy today, because none of my work people (bosses, co-workers, students etc.) have seen me in this dress before---so I very well could have just worn it exactly the same as I did yesterday to Brunch. BUT HOWEVER, a brunch outfit is different than a WORK outfit, people! Therefore, I needed (for my own sanity) to mix things up a bit!

1. I wore my "go-to" brown boots (holla! Does anyone else have a pair of "go-to" shoes out there???) These boots are amazing. They were actually a purchase that I made probably about 5 years ago (they really have lasted quite a while!) and I wear them about once a week. I love to mix brown and black. I think it just looks really cool.

2. I accessoried further with my rust colored decorative scarf. You might be thinking to yourself..."Hmmmm, what exactly IS a decorative scarf Ali?" Well, allow me to explain! A decorative scarf is a scarf that really serves no functional purpose, which means that it is not meant to keep me warm or to really protect me from the elements (rain, snow---snow? who am I kidding here in SoCal???) A decorative scarf can be worn at all times of the year---this particular one is good for the Fall because of it's decidedly "Fall Color" ie. being in the Brown Family. I love nothing more than a pretty Summer Scarf, worn with a cute sundress and a nice pair of flip flops. Ahhhh....can you tell I am longing for the warm weather months already???? (And it's barely January! Yikes!)

3. I am wearing my ever-present, ever-necessary, and ever-fabulous "I Love WHS" lanyard with my work keys on it. These keys allow me to get into the gym, my classroom, gates, and most importantly, THE BATHROOM while I am at work. Monday-Friday from 7-5(ish) this lanyard is my most important accessory---I never take them off, because if I do, I inevitably LOSE my keys! Yikes!

I am loving this challenge and I can't wait for tomorrow to come and to see how long it takes for one kid in each period to kindly let me know that I am wearing the same thing that I did on the previous day! Ahhhh the youth of America, how I love thee!

Sidenote: My friend LORI WENT INTO LABOR! (remember, I mentioned her yesterday????) Well, early this AM she was admitted to labor and delivery and we are expecting a little bundle of joy any hour! I can hardly contain my excitement for this! Push hard, Lori!

Same Dress. 30 Days. Official Day 1 or "How I Wore This Dress to Brunch"

I love, no ADORE, a challenge....that's right, I like to try and do something that seems impossible (or at least daunting) in my life. This is coming from the girl who once got stuck at the top of the chain link fence at work, after school, all because a student told her that there was no way that she would be able to scale said fence. And let me tell you I WOULD have made it over the fence if the crotch of my workout pants had not gotten tangled up in the chain link! But the fact that I did not make it over is neither here nor there. Now, wearing the same dress for 30 days might not be the equivalent of, say, climbing Mt. Everest---or even scaling a 9 foot fence--- but it IS a challenge all the same.


Soooooo, let's get down to business....Here is how I wore my Dress to Brunch with my dear and sweet high school girlfriends (and their husbands, babies, etc...)



I styled my Dress with a few different things:

1. I wore my black, pointy Target flats---which are SO OLD, but I don't think will go out of style, because they are so basic. They go perfectly with the basic and simple look I was hoping to create today.

2. A gold, multi-chain necklace that I purchased from Nordstrom Rack during the holidays with every intention of gifting to someone, but ended up not being able to resist keeping it for myself! (How many times have YOU done the same thing????? Come on, I know you have!) Plus, I didn't feel too guilty keeping it, because it was in the clearance bin (which means that the price was EVEN lower---it was ALREADY at The Rack, remember?). It is a perfect layering piece and a very basic accessory that pretty much goes with every outfit, which makes it perfect for the look I was after today.

3. No outfit is complete without my amazing BEETLE RING (also from H&M---cousin of my dress AND earrings which are coming up). Even the security guard at my friends condo complex commented on it. "Wow, that's some ring"....this could either be interpreted as a positive comment (wow, cool ring!) or as a negative comment (wow, that's a bug on your finger). Either way, there's no such thing as bad publicity :)

4. Lastly, I wore my large gold stud earrings. I know that you can't see them in the picture, but they are there and they are SO CUTE. I bought them from H&M also (which I guess makes them like the "cousin" of my Dress---since they come from the same place!). They are part of one of those packs of earrings (come on ladies, you know the ones I'm talking about....) that have a whole bunch of different pairs. I think I paid something like $6.95 for them, so they are totally a STEAL. Plus, I don't feel guilty when I inevitably lose one. (I'm still holding out for my diamond earrings---one day, I know, they WILL come to me!)

This outfit was SO SIMPLE and SO BASIC, but at the same time, SO CHIC. (I felt like the female version of Johnny Cash LOL) I think that wearing all black is such a great foundation for adding pops of color. It is awesome because a LBD (that's girl lingo for "Little Black Dress") offers the opportunity to either A) totally blend in, not stand out, not draw attention to oneself, or B) add crazy accessories, shoes, scarves, jackets, hair styles, etc and really stand out in the crowd. A LBD is timeless and a definite necessity in any woman's closet. This particular dress is classy, yet casual; transitional in the sense that it can be worn from 10AM til 10PM and still be appropriate. I just love it.

Well, school starts back up again tomorrow and I am already anticipating all of the interesting things that my 9th graders (the dear angels) are going to have to say about my Dress. I think I am going to see how long it takes one of the brave souls to ever so sweetly (as they tend to do) point out that I am wearing the same thing more than one day in a row. Being a teacher offers the unique opportunity to have 180 pairs of eyes critiquing my outfits every day---and believe you me, they have NO problem whatsoever telling me how they feel about my outfit choices. Yay! (can you sense the sarcastic undertones?)

Here we go! One day down---only 29 more to go!

Sidenote: While my outfit was great today, the best part of the day was getting to spend time with some of my favorite people in the world. I got to meet the newest little princess to join the ranks (watch out Mia and Scarlet---Alyissa is some tough competition!), and hang out with Lori and Dave---probably for the last time before their Baby Boy graces us with his presence. Thank God for good friends---and for fantastic clothes to wear while hanging out with them! :)

Same Dress. 30 Days. The Challenge!

Happy New Year My Friends!

It is a new year and that means a new random challenge that I have dreamed up for myself. Now I know, I know....this particular type of challenge has definitely been done before, but not by me! Are you ready for what it is??? (not like the title of today's BLOG gave it away or anything like that!)

I AM GOING TO WEAR THE SAME DRESS FOR 30 DAYS STRAIGHT. That's right, Same Dress. 30 Days. As you might remember from my previous posts, I have a LOT of clothing, accessories, and yes, my dear dear friends, SHOES. But however, I was inspired to a new challenge after 2 events occurred over this Winter Break.

#1. I saw the movie "Iron Lady" (the story of Margaret Thatcher) and after I had finished sobbing hysterically (me? emotional? nooooo! haha) I realized that the one scene that really touched me in the whole movie was the scene in which the Iron Lady Herself is cleaning out/getting rid of all of her deceased husbands clothing, shoes, accessories, toiletries, etc. I. Was. A. Mess. This inspired me to.........

#2. Clean out my own closet at home. Now, you might recall a certain "Shoe Funeral" that took place after I finished my 51 Days of Shoes Challenge, in which I said "adios/sayonara/aloha/BYE-BYE" to all of the horrible shoes that I was holding onto and needed to get rid of. Well, after my "Iron Lady" experience, I decided that I needed to get rid of a lot of clothes as well. I actually ended up getting rid of about 30 shirts, 35 pairs of pants/jeans/shorts, 10 dresses, 8 more pairs of shoes, one suitcase (and partridge in a pear tree! LOL)I felt so accomplished as I bagged everything up and dropped it off at The Salvation Army (hello Tax write-off!!!!), but felt a little guilty as I noticed that my closet, drawers, shelves, etc....are still FULL! I have a ridiculous amount of clothes, shoes, accessories---which I can totally find ways to justify and won't bother to do right now (I am sure we can ALL justify our ridiculous amounts of "stuff" one way or another...right?). So, I thought to myself, how many people actually REALLY AND TRULY care what I wear every single day? NOT my 9th graders, that's for dang sure. I'm pretty sure that I am dressing for, well, me. And, I am beginning to feel a bit guilty over the amount of STUFF that I have. (After all, just as Margaret Thatcher had to do for her husband, one day some poor soul is going to have to clean out my stuff and boy do I feel sorry for them....)

So, I began hatching a plan in my weird weird brain and decided that I am going to practice what I preach. Which means that I strongly believe that fashion is not about WHAT a person is wearing, but instead about WHO is wearing it. I believe that I can wear this black dress (which I purchased for $17.95 from H&M today)

every day for 30 days and I will be able to make it look cute, different, fashionable, and stylish---in a new way each day. Much like my previous challenge, I must set some guidelines for myself:

1. I must wear the same dress as my "Fashion Foundation" every day for 30 straight days. Starting tomorrow (January 2nd) and ending on January 31st.

2. I can accessorize with whatever I ALREADY OWN. I will not be buying anything new (shoes, scarves, jewelry, etc) with which to style my Dress.

3. I will take a picture of my outfit and BLOG each day of this challenge.

4. I will show everyone (and most importantly, myself) that true Style comes from within and that even if I am wearing the same dress day after day, I can and will look Fabulous. (because FABULOUS is, after all, a state of mind, right?)

Here we go people, Here's to the Same Dress. 30 Days. I am SO EXCITED!!!!!