What I've been wearing for church and teaching this fall

A while back, I discovered that if I only see people once a week (like at church), I only need 3 outfits that I can wear on repeat.  It's just enough variety that no one notices that you are wearing the same thing, and easy enough that you don't have to think about what to wear.  Also, since I started teaching on Monday mornings, it is super easy to wear the same outfit I wore to church the day before.  I don't see any of the same people, and the dress code is similar enough to make it work.  I didn't follow these principles exactly, but pretty close.  You will also see that I didn't plan outfits for anything else.  Pretty much the rest of the time I live in comfy clothes around the house, or t-shirt and jeans if I'm going somewhere.

My basic plan was to rotate my green dress, brown ankle-length skirt, and brown dress pants, adding in different shirts, sweaters, and scarves.  I didn't really plan much in advance, and I made more than 3 outfits using different shirts and accessories.

Here are the shirts, sweaters, and scarves I added in:

I only wore these accessories and shoes:

I wore the pearl earrings and watch with every outfit.  The earrings are both dressy and conservative, plus the baby doesn't pull on them (too much).  I added in the necklace instead of a scarf with the floral shirt, to fill in the negative space without taking away from the shirt.  I wore the flats with the skirt and dress, and I wore the boots with jeans and dress pants.  I *love* these pointy toe nude flats I bought recently.  The boots are older, and they only look good with pants, but they are comfortable and dressy enough.

This is what I wore:

Week 1:

I really like this one.  I'm considering adding more leopard print accessories to my wardrobe.

Week 2:

This was my favorite out of all the outfits.  I don't remember where I found this shirt, but it is the perfect floral print for me.  I can wear it in the fall with my orange sweater, but it looks just as good in the spring with my coral sweater.  And the cap sleeves are perfect for wearing it by itself.

Week 3:

 The third week, I just felt like wearing something a bit more casual to church than I can wear to teach, so I wore something different.  I broke my color palette rules with this red shirt, but it is still within the whole autumn color palette.  I liked the cut of the shirt so much, that I bought it anyway at an outlet mall a few years ago.  It looks good tucked in or left out.  But, I can't wear it to teach in without a sweater/blazer, because it is sleeveless.  Unfortunately, the brown skirt didn't work very well with the red shirt, because it is so slippery that the skirt kept falling down.

Week 4:

I repeated the green dress with a different sweater/scarf combo.  It's interesting how different it looks, even just with a different scarf length.

Week 5:

For church, I repeated my outfit from the previous Monday, except changing to jeans to be a bit more casual and prevent the skirt falling down problem.  Then I had to come up with something else for Monday.  I used to think dressing in all neutrals was too boring, but I'm liking it more now that I've found my neutrals.  This cream top is a great basic I found at an outlet mall a few years ago.  It looks great on its own, and the sleeves slip easily into blazer, too.

Week 6: I repeated the outfit from week 2.

Week 7: I repeated the outfit from week 1.

Week 8:

This is next weekend, so no outfit picture yet.  I'm hoping to almost repeat the red shirt outfit from weeks 3 and 5, but switching to the brown dress pants.  I may still wear the jeans to church, though.

So overall, it wasn't a perfect 3 outfits on repeat, but a pretty decent church/teaching 2-month capsule wardrobe.  Obviously, it would look a lot different if I taught more than once a week, but this was perfect for my life right now.

Clothing Rec's for Autumns, Pears, & Postpartum

Literally the best dress EVER

Ever since I started limiting my color palette, I found shopping for clothes much more difficult.  I also started shopping online (mostly on Amazon) much more than shopping in person.  The main reason for this was that I could search for the colors I wanted, which were sometimes difficult to find in stores.  I've been lucky that olive green is so popular these days, but cream/ivory and brown have been more difficult to find.  I thought it would be fun to share some of the items I've found that have been really useful in my wardrobe, in the hopes that it might be helpful to someone else.  Most of the items are available in multiple colors, so a person of another color seasonal palette could likely find something at the same link.

I'll put my color palette here again for reference:

There could of course be other colors in the autumn seasonal palette, but these are the ones that I have chosen.

Being a pear shape, I'm looking for A-line dresses and skirts, wearing lighter colors on top and darker colors on the bottom.  I aim to wear only cream, teal, olive green, coral, or burnt orange on top and only brown, dark denim, and olive green on the bottom.  Olive green can be used as a color with a dark neutral on the bottom or as a pseudo-neutral with a lighter color on top, so that is the only color I wear on the top and bottom.

Dressing my postpartum body has been the most difficult part of my clothing journey.  Typically pear shapes have small waist, so we would draw attention away from our lower half to accentuate our waist.  Since my waist isn't so small these days, it's a lot harder.  Most postpartum dressing advice (like the link I posted above) focuses on wearing leggings and loose tops.  It's just not a good look for me to draw attention to my legs.  I definitely wear leggings around the house for comfort, but usually not out of the house.  I think the hardest thing for me is that, this time around, it's taken me longer to lose the baby weight.  So I'm still looking for easy access for breastfeeding and hiding the belly, but my baby is almost a year old.

1. Olive green faux wrap dress

Hands down the absolute best thing I've found for right now is the olive green faux wrap dress from the picture above.  I found it on Amazon looking for breastfeeding friendly dresses, and it's from one of those random Chinese brands that you wonder if the quality will be ok.  The faux wrap is incredible both for nursing and covering the belly.  It's more of a jersey material, so not quite as elegant as it looks in the picture, but so comfortable and flattering.  It hits just below the knee, which I know is not the best length for me (just above the knee or maxi would be better), but it's so practical for wrangling a baby.  I don't have to worry about keeping my legs together or tripping over it when I walk up the stairs.  I think maybe the best thing about the dress is that it requires zero adjustments while I'm wearing it. I've thrown it on to run to the grocery store (both alone and with a baby in a carrier).  I wear it to the park, to church, to teach in, and I've even worn it to a wedding.  I can wear it by itself when the weather is warm or add a sweater/scarf when it's cold.  I can wear it with sandals, flats, ankle boots, or even tall boots (if I can ever find some to fit me).  I also bought the same dress in a smaller size in teal from another brand.  I've worn it some, but I think it will look better after I lose a little bit of weight.

2. Yoga shorts with pockets

The second most amazing clothing item I've found lately are these Yoga shorts with pockets.  I bought them because I wanted something with pockets to wear around the house in the summer.  I used to always wear gaucho pants, but I kept getting annoyed, because without pockets I could never remember where I put my phone.  I needed them to be long enough so that my legs wouldn't rub together, but still not be too hot.  However, I've also discovered that they are also the absolute best shorts I've ever worn under a skirt or dress.  For the first time in my life, I actually feel more comfortable wearing a skirt/dress than jeans!  The best part is that not only do they not ride up, they also don't slip down (at least not too much) at the waist.  The high waist is perfect for holding in the postpartum belly, and they don't show anything in the back if I bend over or sit on the floor.  I also tried another brand of these, but they slipped down at the waist.  This brand is perfect.  

3. Brown ankle-length skirt with pockets

I bought this brown ankle-length skirt with pockets mostly for the pockets.  I used to have a navy maxi skirt, but since I decided to wear just brown instead of navy, I hadn't found a good replacement.  I wasn't sure whether to buy the ankle length or the maxi length, but I opted for the ankle length since I'm only 5'3" tall.  It turns out that the waistband is only flattering if you fold it over, so the maxi length would've been better.  But like how the olive green dress is more practical below the knee, this length is more practical because I don't have to hold it up walking up the stairs, while also holding a baby.  One downside though is that I have to adjust it a lot, because it only looks good if the waistband is in the perfect spot, not too high or too low.  Wrangling a baby and a toddler tends to make it move around where it doesn't look as good, so I have to adjust it.  Also, the pockets are big enough to hold a phone, but it pulls the skirt down a bit.

4. "White" t-shirt

Now for the most basic of all: the "white" t-shirt.  I had an extremely difficult time finding an ivory/cream colored basic t-shirt that wasn't see-through.  I finally found this oatmeal fleck t-shirt (sold as a 2-pack), which I absolutely love.  The color is perfect for me, and it is so versatile.  It isn't see through, and it is fitted but not too tight.  It really is an incredible find for an autumn.  I've started looking for more pieces in this oatmeal color.  



5. Dolman shirt with side shirring

Left: 20 weeks pregnant, Center: Coming home from the hospital,  Right: Recently discovered I can overcome the belly problem by tucking it into a skirt

 I first bought this dolman shirt with side shirring when I was pregnant in my first trimester with our daughter, three years ago.  Reading the comments, it seemed it would be the perfect shirt to cover a first trimester/postpartum belly.  I'm not sure why, but for me it seemed to accentuate my belly instead of hide it.  But it turned out to be the perfect shirt for my entire pregnancy (long enough even when I was huge) and to pull down to breastfeed.  I wore the teal and brown ones throughout both pregnancies, breastfeeding my daughter for 4 months or so (had to stop for medical reasons) and now breastfeeding my son for almost a year.  I bought the olive green ones last year when I was updating my maternity clothes to reflect my color palette.  The shirts are *just now* getting stretched out at the neckline.  Even though they aren't the best at hiding a belly, they are so easy to breastfeed in that it is worth it.  I'm thinking about buying a new set that will hopefully last for the rest of breastfeeding my son.  



6. Cropped cardigan

I love this cropped cardigan.  I have it in ivory (though it looks white), coral (no longer available), and burnt orange. When I was looking for colors, I also bought from another brand.  There doesn't seem to be any difference between the brands.  I wear it all the time.  It is just a great basic piece, looks nice, and so comfortable.

7.Leggings

Although I don't often wear them out of the house, I practically live in these leggings in the fall/winter/early spring.  I have them in brown and olive green.  They are high waisted and incredibly soft.  They are very similar to a pair on Lularoes I received as a gift a while back, but they are solid colors and easy to find on Amazon.  I also love these fleece leggings for when it's really cold outside.  However, I'm considering trading them in if I can find some leggings with pockets like the yoga shorts.  The tricky part is finding the right colors.

8. Swimsuit

This is possibly the best swimsuit I've ever owned.  It is two separate pieces that I wear together, this olive green tankini and olive green high waisted swim bottoms.  It is so flattering, easy to breastfeed in (I just slide the strap off my shoulder and pull it down), and I don't have to adjust anything while wrangling kiddos.  I love it.  

So, those are some of my favorite pieces.  Maybe some of them will be helpful for you!  :)

Fashion Therapy

I've realized lately (again) how important it is for me to have a hobby.  I've been feeling stressed, depressed, and even getting angry easily at the kids sometimes.  We are in a pretty stressful period as a family.  The other night I sat down after finally putting the baby to bed (he usually goes to sleep around 10-11PM) and decided to work on this blog.  It was incredible how just doing something fun, just for me - even a little bit frivolous some might say - made me feel so much better.  That was a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting back to it.  My husband graciously encouraged me to take a few hours to get out of the house to work on this, because he knows I need to do something besides feed a baby and entertain a toddler to feel like a whole person.  So anyway, this post is not really about clothes, but about being emotionally balanced.  That said, here is a post about what I wore to a conference almost 4 months ago...

We went to Amsterdam in August, so I knew I needed to dress well for the weather.  We would be in meetings a lot, but it could be rainy outside.  Of course, being a conference, I needed to look put together and at least slightly dressed up.  I also needed everything to be breastfeeding friendly and cover my postpartum belly, which feels like it will never disappear.  We've just been too busy for me to focus on my health, but hopefully in January I will be able to do that.  But that's another post for another day.

I'll start with what I packed:

 I only packed 3 shirts, which may seem a bit crazy for a 9-day trip.  But I did pack a few extra in case of baby messes, which I didn't put in the collage.  I had intended to pack more shirts, but when I started making outfits in the Stylebook app, I realized that I didn't need them.  I packed 2 skirts, 2 pairs of pants, a dress, and a jumpsuit.  It was easy to make outfits, because the jumpsuit is an outfit on its own, and I also used the green dress as a "shirt" with a skirt over it.  My accessories were pretty minimal, since I can't wear dangly earrings or necklaces with the baby.  I packed the sandals mostly to wear inside at meetings and the ankle boots for outside/rain.

Here are the outfits I wore: (I forgot to take a mirror picture with the last two)

I've become somewhat of an expert at packing for approximately a one-week trip.  I wear the same outfit to and from on the airplane.  I plan my outfits in advance on a calendar, so that I can repeat clothes without wearing something two days in a row.

Here is my calendar:

You can see that I wore the jumpsuit on 3 out of the 9 days - travel to and from, and then again on a meeting day.  I'm still not sold on how it looks on me, but it's incredibly versatile, and the reality is that nothing is going to make me look skinny except for diet and exercise.  So it works pretty well for now.

I wore the teal shirt with brown dress pants twice, on Sunday when most people were just arriving, and then again on a meeting day.

I wore the green dress twice, but I added the pink skirt over it the second time to make it look like a completely different outfit.

I wore the floral top and brown skirt only once, but they also could've easily been mix and matched if something had gotten dirty.  I had originally put the pink skirt with the floral top, but when I put all the outfits on the calendar, I realized it looked better to spread out the pink to different days.

The second Saturday was our day to walk around the city, so I wore jeans and ankle boots.  I had originally planned to wear a different t-shirt that day, but I bought the graphic tee at the conference.  I also wore my trench raincoat, but I ended up taking it off because it was too warm.

It's interesting how, with a little pre-planning, you can pack a lot less than you think.