a little party with madewell

If you were reading this in the same room as me, I would not be making eye contact with you, because I totally swore off outfit posts. NEVER FEAR! This is actually just me being desperate to put a post up/laugh at the snow because the windows are totally open right now in this 65 degree weather/shamelessly plug the Madewell shopping event I am hosting tomorrow night. 

Because these jeans. These jeans complete me. I have many a-pair of Madewell jeans, but THESE. I try to wear them every day but my husband is in the fashion industry & holds me accountable to things like diversity & hygiene. Every lady should have a pair of holey, blue denim, in my personal opinion. My father would disagree, & probably offer to make the holes for you himself for cheaper, but I digress.

Come shop with me tomorrow night at the Madewell in Georgetown from 6-8pm & let the macarons we'll have out be an added incentive to come, if even just to peruse & see my smiling face. 

See you there!!! (?) !!!

minus & plus - my year as a style blogger

- When I looked back at this year's blog entries & photos, it was mostly outfits. & liiiiike, what?? No. Just no. My intention for this blog has always been more of the scrapbooking nature. A capturing of moments, a retelling of stories, a future laugh or sigh (depending on the topic) when we re-read these posts years from now -- & outfit posts don't really play into that.

+ However! Just like I love looking at my mom's trendy oufits from the 70s & 80s, I imagine that even 5 years from now, there will be a bit of "WHY WOULD I WEAR THAT?!" already happening, & in 20 years from now, I'd hope to have a teenager who enjoys revisiting these old photos from waaaay back in 2014. To be fair, I'm sure these outfits will play a part in the future laughs or sighs.

- Finding & taking time to do outfit photos required way more commitment than I could ever hope to sustain, & it also required coordinating schedules & times with Jared or Kelsie, or whoever I could grab to stand behind the camera.

+ It did force me to get the real camera out (vs. my iphone) & upload whatever images I had sitting on the memory card. I'm also really proud to look back & know that I stuck to a year-long blogging commitment.

- Although the point was always to make do with what I had in my closet, I definitely pressured myself into more than a couple purchases that were strictly because I knew I needed an outfit post that week. Quite frankly, I don't have the budget to keep up with trends.

+ My goal was to never shy from re-wearing shoes or jeans, because that's REAL LIFE. Too many style bloggers share gorgeous outfits but rarely reuse pieces, & I just think that's impractical. These posts really made me put some effort into using the clothes I (or Jared, teeheeee) owned in new ways, on top of sometimes just really causing me to put some effort into wearing clothes that weren't a sweatshirt & leggings.

- I sort of assumed that if you consistently post outfits & throw in some mildly laugh-worthy humor, you will accrue a following. This did not happen.

+ I did get to connect with some great ladies in the style blogging community, & even if it was only for a year, it was a fun community to be a part of. As someone that had been in the bleachers of style blogging, cheering, for years, just getting to sit on the team's bench was an experience.

- I won't lie... Standing on a sidewalk, or in a parking lot, or in the middle of an alley striking poses & having my picture taken was embarrassing. Additionally, I am assuming that taking & sharing photos of me! me! me! in my own clothing came off as pretty brazenly vain to some, especially since I didn't even really have a claim on being fashionable.

+ But! I learned a lot about posing, which has already been useful when I'm working with models for photoshoots. I learned a lot about making trends work for my shape, which has already been useful when I'm working my retail job as a stylist. I also (& this is perhaps the most important lessons of all) learned a lot about my body - What looks flattering & how to stand, contrasted by a lot of photos the world will never see that taught me what to never wear again & how to absolutely never, ever, ever stand. My year as a style blogger taught me so very much about my body type & how to stand with confidence, even in the middle of a city sidewalk. 

____________________________

Iiiiiiin conclusion... No, I won't be posting outfit photos anymore. I am happy to say I tried it, & stuck with it, but at the end of it all? Fashion is not the reason Sitting in Our Tree exists. I will be sharing the occasional outfit photo + details on my Instagram, & I have every intention of bringing the DSLR out with us more often as we continue to get to know DC in 2015. Style-in-action posts, if you will.

So, if you made it through a year of my face & crossed ankles (right leg over left leg is apparently me favorite, as illustrated in the above image), congrats! & thanks for hanging in there. It was a fun little ride.

wearing - 50/50

cardigan - Target // socks & jeans - H&M // button down - Madewell // boots - Old Navy

That's it! Outfit #50! Taken on New Year's Eve, with puffy eyes (it's still a little sad around here, re: my last post) & polka dot socks. I thought it was fitting to end with what has become my staple outfit this year, which is half-purposefully an updated version of Outfit #1. (Please appreciate that I wore the same socks, because I had to wash those puppies last night just to make sure I had them on for these pictures this morning.)

I won't wax poetic too much, because I have a recap post in the works that will allow me to reflect on "what was the point of all this" & lol at some of the ridiculousness that these posts have produced. But we can go ahead & lol at my PEACE OUT, OUTFIT POSTS! portrait ^^ up there & high five that it's the first & only peace sign that made it into this series.

In the meantime! We are heading back down to VA (again) for our real Christmas(ish) vacation -- The one we had planned on taking before we decided to drive down for Christmas day. We'll be there for five whole days, which should be a perfect amount of R&R after we both spent the holidays working our booties off in good ol' Georgetown. *gag* It's definitely a well-earned break.

I'm off to finish packing bags & straightening up an apartment. Have the happiest (& safest) of New Year's, everyone! Cheers to 2015!

wearing - 49/50

^^ what is wrong with me. ^^

cardigan & booties - TJ Maxx // dress - Madewell //  tights - Target // necklace - Edith Marie

I'm wearing a belt & a necklace in this outfit that didn't get proper photo coverage in retrospect. But, ya know, that happens when you do outfit photos at 8:30am on the 38 degree walk into work with your husband, who has to wear your purse & coat over his shoulder as you attempt to pose without shivering, while your Hunter boots & coffee travel mug are hopefully left untouched around the corner of the church you stopped at. Because Lord help the person who steals a girl's coffee on a Monday morning.

At this point in the week, I can say (90% ironically) that I am soooooo ready for 2015. There isn't enough coffee in the world for all the things going on right now.

But hey! 2nd to last outfit post! WHOOOO!!!

wearing - 48/50

denim jacket - Madewell // dress- H&M // opaque tights - American Eagle (they're nearly 6 years old & still going strong!) // booties - Urban Oufitters

In case you haven't caught on, I'm in Chesapeake, VA whenever the background is suburban or woodsy ;) Because getting these last outfits in has taken over my life before December 31st, we snapped these between visits to parents' houses, & that mild, southern Virginia breeze was so, so welcome.

As a parting I'm-writing-this-at-12:30am thought: I started hosting my images on Photobucket this year because I was sick of Blogger eating the quality of my images... & I just had the horrible realization that if I ever stop paying for my account (which, let's not kid ourselves...), the images on the posts from this year will disappear. UGHHHH. Blogging, why are you such a complicated thing, when the whole reason I'm here is simple documentation?

I'm letting my lack of sleep do all the writing here. OKAY BYE!

wearing - 47/50

blazer - Forever 21 // t-shirt - Jared's (what in the worrrld) // jeans - Madewell High Risers // pumps - H&M

Merry day after Christmas! This isn't exactly what I'd hoped to be posting, but I have to knock these outfit posts out. At least this is showcasing a red shirt, & 'tis always the season for Star Wars.

wearing - 46/50

sweater - Forever21 // coated denim leggings + blanket scarf - Madewell //  suede booties - TJ Maxx

Happy, rainy, Christmas Eve Eve! 

This holiday season has been so different & bizarre from what I've been used to my whole life that I'm sort of in denial that Christmas could possibly be coming to a close. In college, even if I found myself working my part time job on the days leading up to Christmas, I was still at least a short drive from my & Jared's parents homes, & just popping in to either was an instant surge of family & holiday spirit. When I was at the zoo, I worked so many hours during the event season that I was usually able to take a solid 1.5 weeks off work around Christmas/New Years. & last year, I managed to avoid picking up a part time job until January. Sooooo, working tomorrow night & the day after Christmas at my part time job in a family-less city will be a little bit jarring.

I probably sound like a spoiled brat. I have Jared here. We have our wee little Christmas tree & plans to go ice-skating in Georgetown on Christmas Day. We will make the most of it & it could, in fact, be the most fun Christmas yet. We've never done Christmas sans extended family, so it's all a mystery. But hey! This year has been crazy, anyway. Why not add a crazy Christmas to the mix?

As a final note, this sweater was a dream come true. In a season that short, wide sweaters have been THE thing (& in a body that short & wide are big fat no-nos), this form-fitting turtleneck was exactly what I was looking for. Bonus: I can't really tell if it's navy blue or black, so I just pick which one I want it to be, depending on the day. That's how colors work, right?

wearing - 45/50

ruffled button down - American Eagle // cardigan - H&M (men's department) // cropped jeans - Madewell // over-the-knee socks - Urban Outfitters // Hunter boots 

This week in "Clothes from Your Husband's Side of a Very Tiny Closet," we bring you the elusive grey cardigan that he may have been looking for all over so that he could wear it before he realized that you have it on. WHOOPS. It wasn't until I went to look back at my last post to see what outfit number this was that I realized I was repping one of Jared's sweaters for the second time... in a row. 

While this could mean that I've depleted my wardrobe options with this crazy outfit challenge, or that I am very much feeling as though I've put on my extra layer of warmth for the winter *WIIIINK* & thus, the bigger the sweater the better... It actually means that at 26, I am still waiting for the maid whose sole purpose in life is to clean up my clothes. I have been praying & waiting for this person to show up my entire life. You can ask my mother. Alas, no dice.

Thus concludes this week's episode of "You Should Really Just Do Your Laundry, Kelsey."

wearing - 44/50

button down - J. Crew // sweater - Banana Republic (but it's actually Jared's) // jeans - Madewell High Riser // wedge loafers - Old Navy

Goodness gracious. Every year, about this time, I realize that there won't be any time for breathing between now & mid-January. This year, this is especially true, but I'll talk about that more in another has-yet-to-be-written post.

For now, just know that:

• We are fully aware that this sweater could definitely double as a Star Trek Halloween costume
• It was really cold & about to rain when we took these pictures, but I spared you the ones Jared took of me trying to stay warm
• If you bring your hair straightener to Europe, the outlets there might kill said straightener & you'll be in bangs purgatory for the following month
• The alley where we take these pictures has an office building that overlooks it, & I can't decide if I'd love or hate to hear what goes on when we show up with the camera/my antics

TOO MUCH TO DO. CIAO, LOVES!