Every month on the blog I would start with a post called “Hello”. It was a great way to share some of my favorite things like clothes, deals, home decor and recent Netflix recommendations. The last few months, my personal life has gotten in the way of my Hello Series. I thought I would start it back up in January since it is the start of the new year and all. Today I am sharing my favorite closet additions of 2016. I made a goal in early 2016 to better invest in my closet. I had a lot of clothes, but they were low quality and would not last more than a season. I started the year by purging my closet of all of my clothes from high school (we all have that shirt we can’t part with!) For years I picked out clothes because they were cheap, but then I found that they would look worn or fall apart after a year. So in 2016, I started to invest in nicer pieces to add to my closet. I might have gotten a little carried away!
I thought I would share some of my favorite closet additions of 2016 and why I chose to invest in them. If you have any questions about any of them, just ask in the comments
1. In December, my family and I purged our coat closet because it was literally over flowing with coats. We went through the coats and I personally donated 5 to Goodwill. I highly encourage everyone to do this. Now that I have all of this free space in the coat closet, I decided it was time to splurge on a coat. I recently bought a new winter coat the last two winters, but realized that most of my coats were from high school or early college. I decided it was time to purge and it was definitely time to buy a new coat! While it may not be as warm as my big puffy coat I bought last winter, it is definitely a lot prettier. I came home with
the red coat from J. Crew Factory and luckily my parents bought it from me so it could count as a birthday present.
2. One thing I have a lot of (besides shoes) are vests. I own a lot of vests in different colors and I like to find ways to wear them while grocery shopping or at work. I hate when I go shopping and I start to sweat as soon as I walk into the store because of my bulky coat. With the right layers I can be comfortably warm while running errands. Or at work I like to wear a button down or a nice sweater with a matching vest. I bought two new vests this fall while working at J. Crew. I bought a
hot pink vest that was on clearance so of course I needed it. I also purchased the classic
Herringbone J. Crew vest that I wear twice a week to work. I love the J. Crew vests because they are lightweight, but still keep me warm.
3. The last few years I have been trying to buy a new pair of black boots, but found the task impossible. My only pair of black boots are from Sophomore Year of college and are in horrible condition. I can’t wear them when it rains because there are holes in the soles! It took me six hours of shopping at different stores to find the perfect boots the first time, so I knew finding a replacement would be tricky. During Cyber Monday, I found
Tory Burch boots for less than $200. Score! I don’t mind spending money on things I know that will last and are made well. I was skeptical about buying boots online, but this was an amazing purchase! You can tell they are good boots because when I take them off they don’t get flimsy or fall over, but keep their shape.
4. At work I prefer to wear dresses or skirts instead of pants because pants never fit me correctly. I had a pencil skirt, but I just did not like the corporate look to it. My other black skirt was like a Taylor Swift style short skirt and tricky to pull off at work. Luckily I found a
black sidewalk skirt on the clearance rack at J Crew Factory and now I wear it every week with a different button down or sweater look. With some tights and boots I can dress it up and make it work appropriate. This is a great investment and the best part is that the skirt comes in different colors and patterns.
5. Booties were very in this past year and while I wanted to buy a dozen pairs, my budget only allowed me to buy one pair. After some research and browsing online, I found the best deal for my budget was purchasing the
Trolley booties from BP at Nordstrom. They are a well made shoe, so I can stand on my feet for hours without my feet hurting at the end of the day. Right now they are on sale because it is the end of the season, so be sure to buy them for the rest of the season.
6. Fun fact, I had difficult time learning how to tell time and I still struggle with it. It’s actually really embarrassing! After graduating from college, I really wanted to purchase a nice watch to wear. After working in the adult world, I found that I couldn’t just take out my phone and check the time. I think us Millennials are so used to having our phones to tell us the time and tell us the weather. When I started to work in an office, I had a hard time dealing with this separation of my phone. It sounds silly, but try not using your phone for a day. It feels weird! I like to constantly know the time, so having a watch was a nice fashion accessory, but also a necessity. Last winter, my parents gave me the gold Kate Spade watch and this Christmas I gave myself a silver Kate Spade watch. I personally am not a fan of the Michael Kors watches because I feel like everyone has one. Kate Spade watches are unique and fit my preppy personality.
7. My style has started to become more and more preppy, especially after working at J. Crew. I needed new earrings for work and fell in love with a
bigger pearl earring look while shopping at Nordstrom one day. It is a subtle change from my usual small pearl earring look, but I like doing something different once in a while.
8. For months I have had my eyes on the
Kate Spade initial necklace. On Cyber Monday, it was on major sale and after eating some pumpkin pie I bought it online from Nordstrom. I wear it every day and I love that it is tiny, but adds a little sparkle to my look. I have a lot of large necklaces, but only a few small, dainty necklaces. I own a small diamond necklace from Tiffany, so now I like that I have another option that is just as cute.
9. On television, you see girls wearing heels to work everyday. However, I will never be the girl who can rock a stiletto in the workplace. I started to buy a lot of flats last year to wear to work, but I loved the classic
Tory Burch Minnie Travel Ballet Flat. I got a part time job and saved up my pennies to purchase the flats during the summer. Totally worth it! It is a shoe I will wear for years and I chose the black on black look since it will go with everything.
10. I felt like every blogger I saw had the nude Tory Burch Miller sandal and I neeeeded them. I grew up living at the beach, so I live in flip flops in the summer. But as I am getting older I realized I needed a nicer sandal. Again, I saved up my pennies and bought myself a present! I like that the
Tory Burch Miller Sandal can be worn for every occasion making my purchase worth the splurge.
11. I purchased the Brewster T-Shirt Lilly Pulitzer Dress during the summer and fell in love with the fit. I purchased a few more
T Shirt dresses from Lilly because I love how comfortable they are, but they look super cute. If you are going to buy a Lilly dress anytime soon, I suggest purchasing a T Shirt dress because they are easy to throw on and can be worn to multiple occasions.
12. I am one of those girls who do not lose sunglasses. With that talent I like to splurge on a nice pair of sunglasses. Luckily Costco had some pretty Kate Spade sunglasses so I scored on a good find! If you are going to buy new glasses or sunglasses, I suggest you go to Costco to get brand name frames for cheap!
Okay, someone take my American Express away from me in 2017. I am not allowed to do anymore shopping for a long time!
When I was growing up, I was a feminist before I even knew what a feminist was. I grew up in a household where my parents were even partners in everything. However, my mom made more money than my dad and my dad was the one who would cook and do the weekly grocery shop. I thought this was normal, until I started spending time at my friends houses and saw their family structure. I have to point out that feminism is about having the choice between being a stay at home mom or being a doctor. My mom actually was able to do both when my brother and I were growing up. When my mom decided to be a stay at home mom to spend more time with the kids, my dad immediately took on the financial responsibilities. When my mom wanted to go back to work, my dad stepped aside to allow my mom make the big bucks again. I have to give my dad a lot of credit for not letting social norms affecting how they created their family structure.
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