But Lia, what if you never post a “week-ish of outfits” again? What if it’s weird to put “#2” because the first week of outfits didn’t have a number in the title? What if one day you gain the power of consistency and it actually is a week of outfits rather than sort of a week?

These are the types of things that go through my head simply from titling a blog post.(Deciding what tags to put is another story. What if one day you gain the power of consistency and you wish you’d categorized things better?!) But, really, I just have to push all that aside because otherwise I won’t write any posts. (See: the large gaps in posts that this blog already has and which I am trying to fight off with my new year’s resolution.)

Anyway, I took a week-ish worth of photos of what I wore around the first week of April, which makes them spring-ish outfits. I just wanted to share to slightly greater success than I did here. Movin’ on up! Just think, one day I’ll move all the shit that’s next to and in front of the mirror!

I’ll link the stuff that still exists.

#1: Madewell jacket, Old Navy shirt, Gap jeans, Forever 21 bag, ASOS boots (Am I doing this right?? I’m rusty.)

#2 Random-brand-on-Amazon-because-I-had-a-gift-card-several-years-ago trench coat, Old Navy jeans, Rebecca Minkoff bag, Dolce Vita (via Poshmark) boots

#3 Madewell jacket, Gap T-shirt, Gap jeans, thrifted belt, ASOS boots, Alexander Wang bag

(A note on the Madewell jacket: I LOVE IT. I had never shopped at Madewell before and this was a splurge for me, but I wear it all the time. It’s one of those things where you don’t realize right away how versatile it is. It’s sold out, but just did a quick search and there are a few on Poshmark.)

These two were the same day, which is one of the reasons this is “week-ish”.

#4 H&M shirt, Old Navy jacket, Gap jeans, Forever 21 bag, Vans

#5 H&M sweatshirt, Old Navy jeans, Old Navy jacket, Forever 21 bag, Steve Madden boots

Did I do it?

I just recently had to get rid of two of my favorite pairs of shoes, both of which were around four or five years old. (I think.)

My H&M leopard boots were, for me, the best example of leopard print really going with everything. I wore ’em with plain stuff. I wore ’em with stripes. Recently, I wore them with camo and was like, yes, this works, too. There were so many times I put these on and thought, “I really feel like myself right now,” which is the best feeling to have when you get dressed. So, what happened? They really stretched out — the elastic and the shoe material itself — to where they stopped being comfortable to walk around. I’ve been looking around on Poshmark a lot for new (well, used) leopard boots, but now I think my standards are too high because I loved these so much. (I also really like these ones, so I’ve been doing some eBaying/Tradesying/The Real Realing, as well.)

Second, we have my checkerboard Vans, which were my first pair of checkerboard Vans, but almost certainly not the last. These were a revelation in that, like the leopard boots, they also, surprisingly, went with anything. I wore them hard. Before they met their bitter end, they already had rips in them and the soles were worn down, but in that state they’d become my go-to dog walking/running to the deli shoes. But alas, I stepped in dog poop the other day that really embedded itself in there, and the effort that would have to have gone into un-pooping them wouldn’t be worth it for shoes that were already in the condition you can see above.

RIP, leopard boots and checkerboard Vans. You served me so, so well.

Going off of what I wrote last time, I wanted to talk about the things that I did purchase over the past couple of months. Going into this (and inspired by TThe Anna Edit videos on capsule wardrobing), I made a list of items that I was interested in, all of which I knew I would use regularly and would keep for a while. (But not in that “poofy free tutu skirt keep-for-a-while” way that I talked about in the other post.) Here’s what my list looked like:

As for where I wanted to get these, I knew that some of them I would probably end up getting new because of trendiness or specificity (checked blazer, “nice black blouse/top”) and some that I wanted to buy secondhand because of them being more generic (“sort of oversized navy sweatshirt”) or specific in another way (like the navy wool coat, the style of which I wanted I could find easier by doing it secondhand and a wool coat is cheaper used).

The items with the checks next to them are the ones I’ve purchased; the ones without, I’ve decided not to buy unless I can get them secondhand. There have also been a couple things I’ve gotten in recent months that are not listed: a pair of black Gap jeans that were on sale because I wear black jeans constantly and a pair of mine were falling apart, and also this Madewell camo jacket just because I LOVE it. I’m wearing it all the time and love that it’s cotton.)

Here are the things from the list I did get:

Checked Blazer — Gap

If you’re interested in this, I found that it runs kind of big (and I have fairly broad shoulders). Worked out for me, though, because the only size they had left in store was one that I originally thought would definitely be too small for me.

Gray Sweater — Gap

Navy Dotted Dress — Well, I got one at Uniqlo, which you’ll have to take my word for because it is no longer available and also I can’t find a photo of it anywhere online. Weird.

Pleather Jacket — New Look (from Rainbow. I don’t think the one below from ASOS is the exact one, but it’s very similar)

I had one of these previously, wore it for a few years, and it disintegrated. (OK, disintegrated might be a little extreme, but it was doing that peel-y thing.)

Black Top — Zara

Navy Coat — Tradesy

Other than the coat (because it’s not quite cold enough yet), I’ve worn all of these already and can see how they’ll easily continue to come in handy. As for the other items on the list, I probably wouldn’t get a jean jacket at this point because it’s too cold, but that’ll be a good thing to thrift in the spring if I’m still interested. I was really into this leopard Topshop bag but was on the fence about buying it new, so that’s how that ended up on there. (Also, ughhh, I just found out through doing this that it’s on sale on the Nordstrom site…) I would still be interested in a leopard bag, as well as still interested in the sweatshirt, if I find it secondhand. Brown ankle boots are probably a no-go (these are the ones that inspired that list item), but I did just buy a used pair of red boots off Poshmark that didn’t arrive yet.

I’ve definitely had an easier time getting dressed recently — not just because of the new things, but because of there being less. It’s not even that I was wearing all of it (or that there was really that much) so it’s not like I had to actively decide not to wear so many things, but I think it’s just easier on the brain to not see many options. I don’t want this to come off like I’m going to stick to a certain schedule with buying any new stuff (I don’t have a schedule… at least not yet… for starters) or that I’m an expert on anything, including by not limited to being more green with shopping. I really just want to be doing more thrifting and being sure to fully think things out when I do buy new things. I want to share some pics of these items in action (prooobably with mirror pictures because I am me and not a fancy lady) and also some stuff about shopping secondhand online, so hopefully that’ll be coming up. (I say hopefully like it’s not totally in my control… I know how I can get with posting.)