30 for 30 Fashion Remix Challenge: Can I Do This?

I'm not sure where I first read about the 30 for 30 fashion remix challenge, but off and on for a year or more it has been in the back of my mind. Could I really create 30 outfits out of only 30 pieces of my wardrobe? I pride myself on NOT wearing the same outfit more than once in 30 days.

But I always marvelled at the stylish outfits 30 for 30's creator, Kendi Everyday, and others created from 30 pieces of clothing (including shoes!).

Although I really do not have any style (click here to hear my startling revelation), I'm always up for a challenge.

I've been talking to my friends about feeling the need to curtail my shopping and wear what I have. And to fill in the gaps in my wardrobe. I also needed to get out of my style rut and at least start trying to incorporate the style secrets of my favorite bloggers. I know I have an inner fashionista lurking inside. Through the 30 for 30 fashion remix challenge, I hope to bring her out of hiding.

The "rules" for the 30 for 30 are pretty simple

1. Choose 30 pieces of clothing
2. Create 30 (or more) outfits from using only those 30 pieces of clothing
3. Do not shop during the challenge

The last one will not be a hard one for me. For one, my wallet won't allow it. Two, I really did not want to shop between now and Black Friday. So this challenge is the perfect excuse to not make purchases before Black Friday.

There will be one exception to the "no purchase" rule, and that will be for shoes. I donated or sold all my shoes (well not all, but it certainly feels like all) late last year and earlier this year. I have NO FALL/WINTER SHOES!!!!!!! So I do need to make a few strategic purchases along those lines. But I'm having such a challenge finding work-appropriate (translation shoes that do not make me look like I just climed down off the pole) yet stylish shoes. But that's a whole other blog post.

My reasons for doing this challenge are:

1. Learn how to wear what I have without always buying something new
2. Find the gaps in my closet
3. Get a better idea of my style and what really flatters my figure (or sometimes lack thereof)
4. Learn the power of accessories for creating new looks

So like some other things I've done (like BC my hair), I decided to do this at the last minute. I looked at the calendar for 30 days from Black Friday and realized it was Tuesday, October 25. So Monday night I stayed up until about 2 AM pulling my things together for this challenge. I realized one of my key elements is missing, so I will have to make a purchase to replace that.

Before I show you some my 30 for 30 pieces, I have to be transparent. It's more like 34 items LOL Don't judge me, I couldn't pick just one denim jacket! I had to choose 3. :) Same for the tan jackets (except I only chose 2). I also forgot to include my jeans in the picture, so add those on too :) Lastly, I did not include shoes in my 30 for 30 either. Mostly because I do not really have any, but also because I consider shoes an accessory just like earrings or belts. So my 30 for 30 is all clothes.

One last note, this weekend is my alma mater's Homecoming. So I'm basically giving my reprieve this weekend as well. I will wear some elements of my 30 for 30 this weekend, but not strictly 30 for 30. Can't wait to see how these outfits turn out, it will be literally down to the LAST MINUTE!

Guess I've stalled long enough...here are my 30ish for 30 pieces!

(Jeans not shown in pants pics)

 

Let the challenge begin!

 

Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize–Winning Novel The Color Purple and Two Other Walker Titles Now Available as Ebooks from Open Road Integrated Media

“The Color Purple is an American novel of permanent importance.” —Newsweek

I think so many of us can quote parts (and for some all) of the movie The Color Purple. Someone will inevitably start a line...and we all finish it. But we may not fully grasp the importance of the work of Alice Walker in the framework of our literary culture. For all of you that ebook readers, now is the opportunity to read not only The Color Purple, but other novels by acclaimed author, Alice Walker. Please see the press release below for further details.

Open Road Integrated Media announces the ebook publication of three titles by celebrated author Alice Walker, including her novel The Color Purple, which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and was subsequently adapted into an Academy Award­–winning film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover. Walker is known for her deep and unflinching explorations of black life in America, particularly the experiences of black women. In her public life, Walker has worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.

In The Color Purple Walker writes about the life of Celie, a young black woman living in the segregated South who undergoes a sexual and spiritual awakening. The 1983 novel represented a major breakthrough for mainstream African-American fiction, inviting favorable comparisons to the work of William Faulkner and prompting the New York Times Book Review to declare Walker a “lavishly gifted writer.”

Joining The Color Purple in this release is its follow-up, The Temple of My Familiar, in which characters Celie and Shug from The Color Purple subtly shadow the lives of dozens of characters, all dealing in some way with the legacy of the African experience in America. Also included in the release is Possessing the Secret of Joy, in which Walker exposes the abhorrent practice of female genital mutilation, as the protagonist must come to terms with the circumcision she endured as a child in Africa. On November 22, 2011, eight more titles will join the Alice Walker ebook collection from Open Road Media. They will include novels The Third Life of Grange Copeland and Meridian; poetry collections Revolutionary Petunias, Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful, and Once; short story collections YouCan’t Keep a Good Woman Down and In Love & Trouble; and essay collection Living by the Word.

Extra content includes:

• Behind-the-scenes author commentary & videos at www.openroadmedia.com/authors/alice-walker.aspx
• Illustrated biography in each ebook, including unseen photographs and documents from Walker’s personal life and distinguished career        

Available September 20, 2011, from Amazon.com, Apple iBookstore, Barnesandnoble.com,Kobo Books, Sony Reader Store, and OverDrive:

The Color Purple

Possessing the Secret of Joy

The Temple of My Familiar

Eight more titles to join the Alice Walker ebook collection on November 22, 2011:

Novels: The Third Life of Grange Copeland, Meridian

Poetry: Revolutionary Petunias, Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful, Once

Short Stories: You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down, In Love & Trouble

Essays: Living by the Word

Slaves to Curl Definition?

As I was blog surfing this morning (I am soooooooooo behind on reading blogs), I saw this post by Natural Belle: Slaves to Curl Definition? And I started thinking...yeah, sometimes I am. I, and many other naturals, talk about our curls "poppin" or achieving "maximum curl definition." There are so many YouTube videos on the subject. And I don't really know a natural around that isn't on the search for their "holy grail" product that will help them achieve maximum curl definition.

 

This summer, I have struggled (internally) with the humidity undoing my style that I usually worked hard to achieve literally on the walk from my car to my office building. And as a result, I've resorted to wearing protective styles or wearing my hair up most of the summer (plus someone set the heat on HELL in NC LOL). But as I read this post, I said to myself (and myself said, "huh?"), "FULLY embrace your natural hair. Even the frizzy, undefined, humidified (made that up) hair that you encounter this summer."

Right now I'm in a sew-in (because I was tired of the humidity), but I think I'm about to take this joint out and just rock my hair in all it's undefined glory! This is was probably one of my better hair days this summer, but I thought it was great big ol' pile of nothing LOL

Thanks to Natural Belle...I'm going back to this 'do sooner, rather than later!

What say you? Do you feel you have become overly concerned with achieving curl definition? Did Natural Belle's blogpost change your way of thinking at all?

Day #4 of Happy Black Woman 31 Day Reset: Top Ten Reset Values

Today's assignment (I'm behind :)) is to identify our top ten "reset" values. We began this exercise by identifying all of the values that hold near and dear. From that list, we were then to narrow it down to our top ten "reset" values...the top ten things we value most in life.

Here is my Top Ten Reset Values. Outside of Number 1, they are in random order:

1. Relationship with Christ
2. Having a family (husband and children)
3. Personal and professional Success
4. Influence
5. Ministry
6. Intimacy
7. Companionship
8. Public Service & Philanthropy.
9. Leadership
10. Living a Purposeful Life

Honestly, I did not include things like honesty and fidelity because I think those are character traits. It is definitely something I value, but I guess it's just a given for anything I do. I do try to be honest and have integrity in my dealings, personally, professionally, socially and emotionally.

The next exercise is to envision these values in action...