Day One - All About Me

And so it's the first day of blogging every day.  I decided to go against the grain and rather than blog about Halloween or or Sandy (both of which I will definitely blog about soon) I'm going to blog about me... or more specifically about my style (don't laugh... there is something to this).

You see, I recently read an article about professional blogging.  And while I know I'm not a professional blogger (the lack of funds from this blog kind of makes its own point) I still think I can take some of the advice they offered.  One piece of advice was to vary what you write about as long as it works within the framework of the blog.  So, even though this blog is mostly about my children I believe that I'm still within the framework of this blog and since I have to fill 30 days with content you get a blog about me.

And, tomorrow is my birthday so I'm a little egocentric today.  So there.

Anywho... when my husband first met me I was an Ann Taylor Loft and Anthropologie girl (in case you don't know those are names of clothing stores).  I wore mostly skirts and high heels.  I was smoking.  Then we got married and moved to Texas and two things happened, 1) I gained weight (probably from the stress of moving and the complacency of being married), and 2) I embraced the more laid back style of Austin, TX.  And maybe even a third thing happened - moving away from my family and where I had spent most of my childhood and adult life freed me to find parts of myself that had long disappeared. So, my style changed.  I wore more flowing clothes, fewer "dressy" clothes, and got rid of the high heels.

I fell in love with layering, patterns, and cardigans.  I mean, I fell head-over-heels-heart-beating-in-chest-can't-control-yourself in love with cardigans.  My husband coined my new-found fashion to be "homeless chic".  And while I really wanted to be offended... he was right on.  I embraced homeless chic which I think of as a more grown-up and sophisticated version of grunge. 

Then I had kids and moved about 4 more times.  My "style" kind of devolved into whatever was clean, available, and comfortable.  Slowly... little by little... I'm falling in love again with homeless chic.  The best part about homeless chic is that I don't have to replace my mom wardrobe I just have to rethink how to put it together.

I actually thought about all of this today as I was at The Little Gym (look it up... if you have kids go there... if you don't, stay far far away).  Evan had his class and I had to entertain the little girl so we went in to an empty room to run around.  And I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and thought today I was the epitome of homeless chic (my next thought was I need to blog about this since, as I may have said once or twice, I have to write 30 blogs this month so I'm always looking for blog topics).

So, you may be asking yourself, "Well Ellen, all of these words are well and good but what does homeless chic truly look like?" (because I think all of my readers talk like characters in Jane Austen novels).  Well readers, take a gander at this:

Here is the evolution of homeless chic (or how it all happens):

• I need to get dressed to take Evan to his class and I have about 10 minutes.  It's freezing outside so I know I'm going to wear my gray sweater / cardigan since I hate coats unless they are absolutely necessary.
• I then decide I'm going to wear my Ugg boots because they are the warmest shoes I have (and socks are optional).
• I open my closet and my flannel shirt that I just bought to wear when I was getting my make-up done from my friend's wedding stares me in the face.
• I know I can't wear the flannel shirt alone because it's just a tad too short so I look for a tank top to wear underneath and I have to choose between skin tight or super long.  Super long wins
• I don't feel like wearing jeans so I pull these leggings out of a drawer.  They are capri.  At first I decide to try and button up my boots on the side like I've seen others do.  I look ridiculous so that idea disappears.  Now what?
• I remember the knee high socks I recently bought at Target because they were $1 and I think I'm still in my 20s and decide they will work.
• Glasses are a daily event so nothing new there.

And that my friends is homeless chic.  It's about comfort, problem solving, and some laziness thrown in.  It also helps when I tent to buy from the same palette so most of my clothes go together. 

You now have my permission to copy my style and make this a trend throughout the US that will become so popular it will hit Hollywood and then travel across the world starting in Europe and moving it's way to Asia (it won't work in the really hot climates because layering doesn't work so well there).  That's all.