I put my new shoes on today

Hey, I put some new shoes on,
And suddenly everything is right,
I said, hey, I put some new shoes on and everybody's smiling,
It's so inviting,

Oh, short on money,
But long on time,
Slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine,
And I'm running late,
And I don't need an excuse,
'cause I'm wearing my brand new shoes.

I cleaned out my closet since yesterday I bought 2 new pairs of shoes.  Long story short I had to go to DSW to get some cash back so I had to buy something to get cash back...punch line, I forgot to ask for cash back.  Bryce didn't think that joke was very funny.

When I go through clothes I tell myself if I haven't worn it in the last year I have to get rid of it.  You know you always put those shirts on or try those pants and say, "there's potential in these.  They're not what I always picture them as..." you put it back in its place until next year...

I do a bit of the same thing with shoes.  Shoes that I've had since high school need to go and I discovered some gems.

When you have so much dust on your shoes that your finger prints show you need to throw them out.  I bought these specifically for the senior group pictures for my dance teacher.  We had to wear a black shirt and I didn't have any black flipflops.  These were cheap and on the way to the pictures.  Think I've worn these since?  What's sad is that I've packed them up and made major, state to state moves with them 3 times since high school.  Really?

These were cute when I bought them and super comfy.  They've been through puddles and rain storms, are so worn (the brand name is about gone and the yellow's not so yellow anymore) that they almost don't stay on my feet now.  Time for them to go.

These will go to a lucky YW. It must be awesome to have me as a leader. :)  These are still good - but I replaced with something better...

I love them.

Bought these as a bonus.  I'm super excited about these for work.  I have so many heels for church and fun nights out, but work shoes are a different animal.  These are super comfy and super cute with my new work pants and capris.

The motivation to go through my shoes and cut out 5 or 6 pairs stemmed from more than buying a couple new pairs - I'm in style/life transition.  I guess I really have been for the last year, but now I'm taking it seriously and handling it instead of letting it handle me.

I decided that my khakis from high school ($6 on sale and finally gave out earlier this year) weren't good enough, my cheap clearance Old Navy pants were no good, and that my wardrobe was lacking.  I had mostly tees from what I wore to High School.  My Sunday clothes were much better than anything I had back then and I would never wear those to school.  I was not fashionable in any sense. (I'll spare you the sob story as we all think we have one from high school.)  So take those clothes from 16  year old Cecily and try to work them into a 20-something's work wardrobe.  Kinda hard to do.

So, as I throw stuff out and as I add things in I'm slowly building a wardrobe I'll be excited to wear.  I'm tired of the mornings before work where I realize that I have 4 shirts I can wear to work alone -without layering them (you do not want to layer them in the summer down here) so I finally just grab something and go because if you don't you'll be late and blah, instead of just blah.

I've got a list of things I need replaced - either because I already threw them out (yellow cardigan from H&M with pit stains already) or need to -and things I would like added to my wardrobe.  I have learned that I like the orangey-brown leathers, patterns, fun prints and bright colors - saturated colors.  I seem to have a bit of "country/hippie" in me that comes out in my choices sometimes.  I'm in love with nude shoes and pale pink right now and I see this lasting for a while.  I now have a whole shelf of nude and cream shoes.  I love it. I get excited when I put them on.

I love blazers, jackets, and cardigans. 

I'm also looking to trade in my cheap fashion jewelry for fewer quality pieces that I love.  I have a wish list for this. :)  Bryce is covered for the next 5 years with present ideas.

A few pieces I really want will be posted to give you an idea.

So the point is that the trasition is necessary and needed.  It's begun, and I'm trying to define my style so I have a cohesive wardrobe I love.  Now I'm not going to play hopeless and struggling - I do have some pieces I love but I can't wear the same thing every day.  But when you wear the same shirts 2 times each week you get the hankering for something more. :) 

I said I would post pictures of future outfits.  Yeah, not gonna happen.  One, I'm not photogenic and there's pressure to take a cute picture of a cute outfit.  Two, it's not worth the bribes sometimes for Bryce to take two pictures - he doesn't have the patience and I don't have the modeling skills. :) Three, I thought of maybe just posting the outfit's pieces so youcould imagine them, but I haven't done that yet either.