Merry.

For the first time in my life, I am taller than a Christmas tree:



Merry Christmas, blog land!

"Sexy": Forbidden vocabulary explored through pencil skirts

Okay, so I'm going to go way out of my comfort zone for this post.

Those of you who've been following me for awhile probably know that my style is best described with words like "cute," "adorable," "silly," "conservative," and "feminine." Not words like "sexy," "alluring," and "body conscious." It was hard for me to even type those words, actually. I think I'm cute (hence the blog title), but sexy was never an adjective I was comfortable with or one that I felt described me at all. Accordingly, I'm more into the flowy, full skirt look than more fitted items on my lower half. Or my upper half, really, although I seem to be slightly more capable of wearing form-fitting tops. (To clarify, I think it is awesome if other people want to dress this way! I just don't tend to do it myself because it feels awkward for me and not my style, and I don't feel like myself.) I'd rather pretend I'm a princess in my flowy skirts than wear tight jeans any day, so it's really not typical for me to step out of the house in something that might be edging into hotness-territory. And then I got this skirt from Ruche, thinking that I don't have any pencil skirts, and it sure is adorable, and the price is right, and I maybe need it. And I do love it, and it sure is adorable, but oh my, to quote Maria is "my butt some serious business" in this skirt.



Okay, so maybe it's not as bad in the photos as it is in my head, and I'm sure this is considered tame by typical standards. But. It's a pencil skirt. A pretty darn form fitting one, too. And I'm wearing it. Surely the universe will fold in, right? Also, although I'm totally fine wearing this in public and posting it on the blog, I'm pretty sure it is not work appropriate (weigh in if you feel otherwise, though!). Do I really want to keep something I can't wear to work? And yet, it does seem to look good on me (again, weigh in if you feel otherwise!). I do work very, very hard to stay in shape, and it seems a shame to hide that shape all the time. As you probably know, I've felt awkward about myself and about my body/shape for a good portion of my life -- something I've tried to remedy with this blog -- and wouldn't this be a good step to being more proud of myself?




(Yeah, that's the tag that I was too afraid to remove because this was taken during the "try it on and decide" phase.)

So this was my dilemma. Finally, I was leaning towards "It's unlike anything else you own, and it looks good on you, and you should wear it out even if you can't wear it to work." Then I asked my boyfriend what he thought, just to have a final vote. It might not surprise you that he approves of this outfit and thinks I should keep the darn skirt.

In the end, I decided, keep it I shall. Posting these pictures is a big change for me as-is and very out of my comfort zone, so I hope I haven't blinded you all and that my blog doesn't implode. But 2011 has been the Year of Being True to Myself, and accordingly I'm going to keep sexy skirts that look good on me, post pictures of myself wearing them, and not be afraid of using words like "sexy" to describe my style. Sometimes. On occasion. And definitely not in the office.

Baby steps, right?

And the "Worst Blogger Ever" award goes to...

(Drumroll please.)

... Katie!

Yeah, I'm sorry for being away. A lot has been happening, notably holiday fever and work burnout and some potential big life changes, but mostly the problem is that I've kind of hated my outfits and thus just never felt like posting them. And since I never felt like posting them, I didn't feel like taking more pictures, which led to more not posting, and... You see how this game is played. I'm going to attempt to clear out this frustration by just putting up the last two outfits in my current backlog and hopefully moving on to some less frustrating options.

We kick things off with a dose of your friendly neighborhood ridiculous-poofy-dress-with-planes-on-it:





And continue with an absolutely-cold-weather-appropriate ensemble:



... Oh wait, no it wasn't:



... It really, really wasn't:



I've got one more day to kind of fail at writing my thesis, and then I'm free to do "important" things like:

- Paint my nails
- Put on pumpkin/honey face masks
- Read Mockingjay
- Train for my half marathon
- Watch Christmas movies
- Bake all the things
- Sleep
- Play Sims 3 all day
- Watch a whole mess of Gundam
- Do ridiculous face moisturizing routines
- Wash my hair
- Dance to Taylor Swift at 2AM while doing cartwheels around the room

Yeah. It's going to be all business this holiday season.

Hi, I'm sick.

I don't have anything much to say about this outfit, mostly because I am sick. I've been home in a daze all morning but need to drag myself to a meeting now, so most of my attention is stuck on "NOOOO I DON'T WANNA." This was a rainy day outfit, though, and I thought it was rather seasonally inappropriate given the pink and white color scheme. I swapped out the tights and boots for dinner with the boyfriend that evening, and that is pretty much all I remember because this outfit is old! I really, really need to push through my outfit backlog. Difficult when your head is foggy from sickness, but I'll do my best.

Same song, second verse

I've had this outfit in my archives for a couple of days now, but I didn't want to post it so soon after the last time I wore this skirt. But today I realized that if I make one more post, the Lingering Rays skirt will no longer be visible on the front page of my blog. Unacceptable in my book.




Anthro Lengthening Rays Skirt
JCrew warehouse shirt
Anthro flower clip
Necklace: gift from Ria from a local shop in Charleston

I love this skirt, and I love brown and pink together, so this outfit was pretty much a win for me. The only bad thing about the skirt is getting used to lifting it up to climb stairs. I've definitely had a few experiences where my face almost got up close and personal with pavement because I wasn't paying attention. Dangers notwithstanding, I'm really glad I bought it.

And now Ria wants one for her birthday. You know what this means, readers. A-searchin' I will go at Anthropologie this weekend.

Cascading foliage on my dress, but not the trees

I guess I'd better get this outfit up before I'm totally unable to call it a "fall" outfit, huh? This dress is quintessential fall to me, so much so that I have a hard time wearing it in other seasons. I'm glad I got it for such a good deal, since I seem to have trouble styling it in creative ways. But several people have told me that it looks good on me, so I continue to wear it. Unfortunately, as you can see over my shoulder, there is no more "foliage" on the trees behind me in this photo, but maybe the foliage on my dress will make up for it. The weather has been unseasonably hot lately, so this totally counts as fall. Right?

I'm off to continue working on my fifty-seventh (not really, but it feels like it) version of my thesis proposal, sigh. I do not enjoy the endless reading of papers, but having a cat on me does make it easier.


Anthropologie Cascading Foliage Dress
JCrew warehouse cardigan
Anthropologie Luminous Boots

Ho, hum.

I think this outfit is pretty boring -- and pretty casual, and not particularly "pretty," come to think of it -- but I thought I'd post it anyway. I don't wear this cardigan enough. It's kind of nuts, and it's also too big. Every time I think of selling it, though, I put it on and am reminded how comfy it is.

I had a pretty "meh" evening last night, so this outfit kind of reflects my mood. I was going to go to happy hour with my coworkers, but that ended up not happening, which I was depressed about. Then I had really terrible nightmares last night and woke myself up way too early. Ugh. Today should be better, since I have a dance class on the schedule with one of my friends and I get to watch videos for part of work today (long story). I think I need to go put on something really cute to make sure I have a better day. I have an idea of what to wear, but unfortunately I am saving it for tomorrow when I get to see my boyfriend. You'll just have to wait to find out what that outfit is!

Did you get anything awesome at the sale this morning?


Anthro Plaza Cardigan
Kohl's tank
Macy's leggings
DSW boots

Another season? No, I'm not ready!

First: I have 90 followers! Sweet! :D Hello, followers! I'm gonna have to come up with a giveaway when I get to 100. Nope, that's not an invitation to follow me. Okay, yes. Yes, it is.

I wore this outfit to travel to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. I thought this holiday wouldn't be complete without this cardigan, since it screams Thanksgiving to me (and fall in general). On another note, I think we're officially saying goodbye to fall, and that makes me sad. Summer is my favorite season for many reasons, but I do love the crisp change in the air that comes around every September. Winter is just a lot of cold and darkness, neither of which I'm fond of, so I'm reluctant to wave goodbye to fall. But this means we're just one step closer to another summer, right? In any case, I have a lot to be thankful for this winter, and I have a feeling it'll be a good one, frostbite and dark bus rides home from work notwithstanding.


Anthro Maryam Tank
Anthro La Dominante Caridgan
UO skirt
Macy's tights

My favorite lesson.

Oh man, readers. I did NOT have a good night.

So my smoke detector decided to beep at me. All night. Ugh. I didn't get a lot of sleep, and I woke up way too early and have been a zombie ever since. I think the battery needs changing, but far be it from me to change it. I think I'm going to head to work early so I can leave early and (hopefully) take a nap when I get home.

I just hope maintenance can fix this thing because I am made of fail and cannot figure out how to do so myself. Yeah, I tried last night, at 1AM. That did not work. All I got for my trouble was the complete inability to put the cover back on my still-beeping smoke detector. Sigh. Just when I think I've got a handle on this Being An Adult Game, something happens to convince me otherwise. I now appreciate even more Taylor Swift's words at her concert: "Of all the lessons that I've learned in life, I think my favorite is that I know absolutely nothing now compared to what I'm gonna know someday." There is wisdom there that even zombie-Katie can see. Just when we think we've got it all figured out, life throws us something that reminds us, no, we don't. But that's the wonderful thing about life, really. We're never going to have it all figured out. Accepting that -- and seeing the positive side of it -- is part of the Being An Adult Game to me and a big mark of maturity. I know my life would be really boring if I didn't lose at this game on a regular basis. I look forward to seeing what life will teach me next.

... I just wish I'd gotten more sleep before this lesson though. Dear Classroom Of Life: I need my beauty rest to absorb your teachings!


Anthro Asters Everywhere Dress (holy crap I remembered the name when I'm a zombie -- this bodes well for my proposal-writing at work today)
Anthro Looping Lanes Belt
JCrew warehouse cardigan
Macy's tights
DSW shoes

Weird it up.

Okay, so here is another episode of "Katie thought this outfit was super, super cute. Everyone else probably thought this outfit was super, super weird." We play that game a lot over here in Katie Land. I don't know what it is about me that compels me to take a perfectly normal outfit and add things like ruffles, crazy tights, and weird color combinations, but I think I need a twelve-step program. Hi. I'm Katie. It has been zero days since the last time I wore something weird, and I regret nothing.

But even though this outfit is crazy, my boyfriend said it was pretty when I wore it, and that counts for something, right? (Yeah. There is now a boyfriend in Katie Land. This is a good thing.)


Dress: Kohl's
Tights: Dillard's, I think
Slip: Anthro Chantilly Chemise
Shoes: Softwalk