Solve the Mystery!

Okay, this is what I wore to class today. I look kinda dumpy. This I know. The question is, WHY do I look dumpy? Bad shirt, bad jeans, or bad overall? I'm pretty sure the jeans are bad. They are rather loose on my waist, so they bunch up and I'm constantly fixing them. But is the shirt bad too? I just got it for Christmas from my mom from Old Navy. I'd like to think that it'd look good with better fitting jeans or khakis. So, do I keep the shirt or do both need to go?

EDIT: I didn't get to shower today because I ran out of time. Don't judge the hair and make up!!

First Critiques

Tonight I fell asleep while attempting to read Beowulf for school, so there was no time to go through my wardrobe. However, I do have some honeymoon pictures that I can share. I bought a couple pieces from Target, a few on extreme Walmart clearance because I needed some tank tops, and some capris on eBay because I thought they'd get ruined. (Side note: Lonely Planet drastically exaggerates how hot, dirty, and buggy Costa Rica is.) The results were mixed, at best.

#1 - Vintage Style Dress, Target

I bought this because I thought the poofiness of the skirt would hide my lower body. However, I ended up just looking pregnant, I think because my boobs aren't big enough to carry it off.

#2 - Green Tank Top, Walmart
What happened here?? This is a basic Hanes Perfect Fit Tank Top!! But somehow, it makes my boobs look like man boobs instead of nice boobs, and I look boxy all around. Side note - I need to find a casual hairstyle to replace a ponytail. I look AWFUL in them. Ideas?

#3 - Metro 7 Metallic Scoop Tank, Gray and White, Walmart



















I'm not sure if I order the white in a XL and the gray in the L, or what, but the white one was terrible. I have my swimsuit on underneath in this photo, so that's not helping, but it draped very oddly on me. It seemed... stretched out. The gray one, however, was a pretty good purchase, especially for $4. I think one of my rules, a la What Not to Wear, will be to work on finding tops that have length to them. Short tops will make me look wider, correct?

Rules of the Road

Okay, here's the goal of this exercise:

I want a closet filled with clothes that make me look and feel good. I have learned that I feel better when I look better. Period. This is about me. My husband loves me no matter what, and so do my family and friends. I want a look that expresses my newfound confidence all the time, and professionalism and competence in a work setting. I am especially incompetent in the world of accessories. When do you match? When do you coordinate? When can you throw in bold colors? I haven't the faintest idea.

Because I admit that I know next to nothing about what I am doing, I am leaving myself fairly open to the general public (though I must admit I'll weigh the opinions of those I know IRL a bit more heavily). However, there are a few ground rules that I'd like you to keep in mind when you are helping me make decisions, in order for this to not be completely futile.

1) I'm relatively poor. I'm willing to spend some money on higher quality items, but if I'm going to do so, they need to be versatile items - good jeans, good work pants/jackets/pantsuits, at least one really good bra, etc., not a tank top, or a non-black or -brown pair of shoes, or a purse (I will NEVER understand purses that cost upwards of $50 - sorry. I'm not really looking to change that!).

2) I don't know how to be high maintenance. If it isn't comfortable, it's going to sit in my closet. Shoes are an exception, within reason. I don't expect them to feel like tennis shoes, but I don't want to break my ankle either. I also don't do dry clean only for anything but say, coats. I just can't handle it. Sorry!

So, within the next week, I am going to start going through my clothes. I'm going to try to post pictures of the worst of the worst, for entertainment, and also things that are questionable. Because of the wedding and the honeymoon, I'm not in a position to buy new things right now, so we'll make this the weeding out phase!

Who am I?

Welcome to my blog.

I'd like to tell you all a bit about who I am, what this blog is about, and why I am choosing to write it.

I am overweight. I have always been overweight. I've come to the conclusion that I will always be overweight.

Keep reading. I'm not sad.

I have finally, finally, FINALLY reached a point where I'm happy with the way that I look. I've seen myself a couple sizes smaller and, while it was nice, it just wasn't that big of a deal. Plus, I got that way by being too poor to eat in Italy. Meh to that. Meh to any sort of diet again, ever. No, I'm not going to switch back to non-diet pop. No, I'm not going to go back to the atrocious eating habits that I had as a kid. And no, (hopefully!!) I'm not going to start eating my feelings again, or eating because I'm bored. But I'm also not going to be a calorie counter, or a compulsive food monitor, or an insane exerciser. I've been around those people. My dear, dear grandparents are those people, and while I love them a lot, that's not who I want to be. I think making food and my weight so central to my consciousness was part of what got things so out of control to begin with. When food is a band-aid, focusing on gaining and losing weight is especially dangerous.

And so now? I am what I am. Yeah, it'd be great if I could slim my thighs back down just enough so they don't rub together, or if I could tone up my stomach. Maybe now that I am rediscovering free time, it'll happen. Sweet. But am I going to stress myself out over it? Spend my time thinking about it, and talking about it? No, I'm not. I do enjoy going to the treadmill in my apartment complex, and so I am going to start doing that again. BECAUSE I ENJOY IT.

I can't tell you what a liberating feeling this is to finally have. I finally look in the mirror and feel pretty! I can go out and not worry about what I look like! I love it!

But, I'm aware that, even though I feel like I've caught up now, and most of the things I've bought recently are on the right track, my clothes are not doing me any favors. There are things in my closet that I KNOW need to go, that I just haven't parted with yet, but there are also lots of things that I'm not sure about. I'm also not sure how to rebuild. When you've been living on jeans and t-shirts, it's hard to know what basics you need.

From here, I'm going to follow up with another post, setting some basic ground rules and deciding the format for this little What Not to Wear simulation.

Please help!