Legally Charming Style

I'm thrilled to announce I was nominated for the Liebster Award, which highlights bloggers with 1,000 Instagram followers or fewer! I honestly think this is the greatest award because it's not awarded by some far off committee, but by a fellow blogger who notices your hard work and chooses you. For instance, I was nominated by my fellow IGer and awesome blogger Alli of Absolutely Alli (that's a link to her blog. Her Instagram account is here, and you should check out both because she's fantastic). How awesome is that? It gives bloggers the opportunity to recognize each other's hard work, make connections, and get more attention to our blogs. 






So it became a twofold mission: one, to show that it was possible to dress on a (very) low budget; and two, to talk about body confidence, self-esteem, and loving yourself no matter your body type--and doing that through fashion. 






I have so many plans for this blog! But if I'm going to narrow down to one goal, my sincere wish is to buy a real camera for this blog so that I will have better quality photos. It's going to cost me a fair chunk of change, but it'll be worth it.



7. If you could travel to only one place this year where would it be and why?

 

I'd say it's a masculine-feminine balance with a vintage vibe. I love both dresses and jeans; leather and lace. I'm never quite sure what I'm going to come up with next! ;)

9. Spring or Fall fashion?

It's been so cold lately that my heart is screaming for spring clothes. Normally I prefer fall.

I am so excited about this!!!

Today I'm presenting my very first blog collaboration (how great is that?!). Before we get down to the outfits you're here for, let me give my partner in crime an introduction.

Kaila is the genius blogger behind The Peach Peony, a fashion and lifestyle blog showcasing her trendy Southern style. She is a wife and momma to two freaking adorable fur babies. She and I met three or four years ago via a mutual friend. I remember this meeting for two reasons: 1) there was painting and wine; and 2) Kaila had the most incredible patent Coach bag that I couldn't stop drooling over the entire night. Needless to say, Kaila has always had great style and I'm so glad she's a blogger too! :) If you're here from my blog, please, please, PLEASE check out her blog via the link at the bottom of this post as well as her Instagram account. You won't regret it!

So a few months ago Kaila emailed me and suggested that we do a collaboration, an idea that I was very much on board with! Doing a collaboration, in my mind, is a great way to both meet and promote other bloggers, as well as make new friends. It also gives me the opportunity to see how other people style their wardrobe--taking something that I probably own and wearing it in a way that's totally different from me.

We decided to take something that's very much on trend right now--buffalo check--and style it two different ways. It was so interesting to talk with Kaila about her fashion choices and to compare them with my own. It just goes to show you how diverse fashion can be!

I'm back!!

It's getting harder and harder to get outfit posts. Between bad weather and long days I am barely getting to this, and that makes me really sad.

But thankfully, I have photos for today for another reason entirely!

Almost two weeks ago, I was sworn into the Maryland bar as a student attorney for the semester. This means I'll be practicing family law (under careful supervision!) for the next four months. I get to go to meet real clients, file pleadings, and go to court over this semester and I couldn't be more thrilled! It's a big deal, especially being a second year student.

So for the swearing in ceremony, our requirement was to be business professional. I'm all about dressing professionally. I love wearing nice clothes, being put-together, and generally feeling like an adult (even if I'm not always quite an adult in nature, lol). But at the same time, I find that business attire in the legal field can be a bit, well, stuffy. We stick to dark colors and neutral palettes. White, gray, black. Maybe navy. If you're a risk-taker, it's tan. I know I've said it before (a lot). But real talk: I get bored just thinking about the color choices we have for professional wear.

So sometimes I want to try out something a little risky. I want to stand out from the crowd, but still look like a damn professional. I want to show off my personality while being worthy of a client's trust (and money).

So I decided to take inspiration from that one woman I saw in court years ago in Texas...and wear a burgundy dress. I know. Crazy town, right?

It seems burgundy is my go-to color for professional events where I want to have a little fun. See Exhibit A with this burgundy skirt:


And last week's look:

OMG y'all. How did it get to be the Tuesday after MLK???? I don't get it.

We're a week out from New Year's now (wow! already?) and last week I told you about what my resolution was for the year 2015--to get shit done. I've been doing the best I can so far in 2015 to follow it, but of course life has ways of throwing us curve balls (like malfunctioning products, the flu, late financial aid checks, and piles of snow, for example). But this resolution reminds me of one I've made many times over the years, and I think 99.99% of the women I know have made the same resolution at least once in their life, which is:

I will lose weight in the New Year.

Seriously. Aren't we all a little guilty of this? We want to "be healthier," "go to the gym more," or generally "just stop being fat." I have literally said ALL of the aforementioned phrases. So today I want to talk a little bit more about that. My own history with weight loss, my struggles with self-confidence because of it, and where I'm at today. I know this is a fashion blog, but I think that our bodies and how we feel about them is the perfect place to talk about that. Because I know that I have said to myself at least once that I would look better in fashionable clothes if I was just a little bit skinnier.

I can tell you that as a young girl, the subject of my weight was something I thought very little about. I wasn't a girl who wished she was skinnier, or thought she could stand to lose a few. Like I've said before, I was pretty confident and sassy. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was constantly buried in books and had little time for pop culture. I didn't want to watch television; I don't think I watched any movies that weren't Disney movies. I was mostly alone in my room, eating up the Little House on the Prairie series or creating plays with my Barbie dolls where Barbie or Skipper got abducted by terrorists. (Yes, seriously. I was weird.)


The only thing that I did notice was that the adult women in my life DID talk about their weight. A lot. My sister and mother, who are both stunningly beautiful women to this day, constantly talked to each other about "eating less" and being thinner. I remember distinctly from childhood when my mom would go on Weight Watchers, because her breakfast would always be a cup of Cheerios mixed into low-fat Yoplait. This is not to critique them in any way. I think that their response was normal for the culture we lived in, and the pressures we face to constantly be thinner and look prettier, because it will somehow make our lives better than when we enjoyed more than two Oreos. And they never pressured me to be thin or go on diets. We loved food, and we loved it together.

No, the first time I became conscious of my weight was when I was trying out for the basketball team in eighth grade. (Again, yes. Seriously.) I went to the doctor with my mom to get a physical. I'd already done a lot of working out because I was placed in the athletics section prior to tryouts, and was pretty healthy in my mind. At age 28, I still remember that doctor looking at my mom and me and telling me that I needed to lose more weight, because I was too big for my height.

Yes, a doctor told a thirteen year old she was too fat.

Me, right around "fat" time (far right).

I remember sobbing in that doctor's office with my mom holding me. No one had ever told me that in my life. The nurse apologized, but the "fat" moniker stuck in my brain. My older brother picked up on how much it hurt and started calling me a "whale" at every turn. I became obsessed with losing weight and lost about ten pounds during my eighth grade year. A friend's mom told me I looked good and "skinny" on graduation awards day. Well-intentioned, I'm sure, but probably not the words you say to a fourteen year old.

The "skinny day"

Since that age, I've yo-yo'ed up and down the weight scale. I've gone from 110 (at that age) to 130 back down to 120 and back up to 135 and back down to 130 and back up to 140 and down to 135 and up to...you get the idea.




In 2013, a few months before law school, I went through some serious trauma, and ended up putting on about fifteen pounds to my frame. I tipped up over 150 pounds. I'm a short girl and it wasn't something I liked looking at the mirror. I'd been stripped of my confidence, everything that felt like had given me power before everything transpired. I hated myself. I was excited about law school, but I hated looking in the mirror. I didn't believe I could do anything. I felt weak, like a victim. I tried to smile on the outside, but on the inside I felt disgusting.



I got to Baltimore and found things that made me feel good: city walking and hiking. Pounds came off and I felt better. But then a friend suggested we do something I'd never thought I could do: a Tough Mudder. If you're not familiar, a Tough Mudder is essentially twelve miles of running mixed with obstacles of varying difficulties to test your muscles and mental wherewithal. I'd heard of it before, if only vaguely, but never thought it'd be something I wanted to do. She said she was doing it, and I don't know why, but it made me want to try it. Another friend from school made me a training guide, which was five days a week of weight training and a minimum of three days of cardio (more if possible).

The first month I struggled. The second month got better. The third month, I felt like a bad ass. And by the time I walked out onto the course that day, I felt different. I had muscles I didn't know existed. I completed the course in about two hours, with some shock, some cuts, and a lot of bruises. But I also came out empowered. I'd never felt so strong in my life. It was fitting that the event was in April, a little over a year after the trauma that had set me down the path of powerlessness. I was strong again. I felt healthy, in control of my life and my own world. It wasn't even about being skinny, even if I was the thinnest I'd been since high school. It was about my inner strength.



But gradually, I got lazy again. Quit working out. Got wrapped up in other things. Made excuses. Forgot why it felt so good to be so strong. Gained a lot of weight. A LOT of weight.

Physically, that's where I am at today: about fifteen pounds heavier than I was last April. But where am I at emotionally? Well, it depends on the day. Some days I still hate looking in the mirror and seeing the weight I've gained. But do I truly hate my body any more? No. Do I let my figure define my success, or how I do in life? No. Does it make me feel like less of a person? Hell no.

Obviously, I'd like to be healthier. I'd like to get back to the gym, I'd like to feel strong again. I'd like to run a couple miles (okay, ONE mile) without being totally winded. But the difference between teenage me up to me two years ago and me today is that I no longer think of my weight as the thing that defines my self-worth. I don't hide my body behind boxy tee shirts and jeans so no one can see the weight I've gained. I don't obsess over whether I eat a cookie.

I think that's the lesson about weight and health that I'd like to carry into the New Year: that taking care of me is important, but it isn't about being skinny or fat. It's letting me define myself by the work I do, the person I am to others, not the size of the waistband of my jeans.

I hope it's the lesson you'll take, too: you are more than your size, your clothes, your hair, or any other physical feature. You are the soul you develop and the way you work to change the world around you. You are the love you give to family, the laughs you share with friends, and the grace you give yourself when you're not perfect. Self-confidence, after all, is the most fashionable thing there is.


xoxo

Carisa

I'm back!

I was so excited to get rarin', y'all. I really was. I was plugging and chugging through my daily "Get Sh!t Done" lists like there was no tomorrow. Life was wonderful.

And then good ol' Mr. Flu decided it was time to pay a visit to me.

Now guys, I haven't had the flu since college (UNDERGRAD college) and I got it after getting a flu shot. This was over five years ago. I think it was six, because I got a free one when I worked for the university in 2008. So needless to say, despite all my bronchial infections, allergy illness, and other types of crap, I was not prepared to get the flu. I was a whiny baby, alone in my apartment, sleeping for most of the last two and a half days. Not conducive to getting shit done.

But now, I am back. I am out of the bed, still coughing, but I'm alive, eating a bagel and ready to share some fashion!

This was the last outfit I wore before the influenza struck me down. Literally, I was wearing this the day the cough started and right before I devolved into full scale body aches and fever. Perfect outfit, really, to keep me warm and cozy against my own body's rebellion.

I've never been much of a faux-fur person. I don't own much of (really, any) of it, I usually don't like it on me, and I feel uncomfortable and weird. I am probably not the girl you will see running around in a giant faux-fur coat. The most I've ever done is my faux-fur trimmed black coat that was a hand me down from my ex-roommate, and it's black-on-black so you can't really tell.

So this was my first venture into wearing faux fur as an outfit accessory. I'll tell you a little secret about this piece: it came off of a knit shrug that I bought at a thrift store a few years ago, but barely wore. Something about the two together just didn't work after that initial impulse buy. But then I had a thought: what if I took the trim off the jacket and made a collar? So last weekend, I used a pair of small scissors and cut the collar off, then sewed the ends together with embroidery floss. And I admit it-I love the result.

So what's my advice about wearing faux fur?

1) One piece at a time.


I'm sorry, but there is no natural creature on this earth that is hot pink or navy blue. And fur should look like something that's natural, not something from a factory-even if it's the fake stuff, like I wear. Go for the neutrals, brown and black families. (Besides, hot pink fur speaks more to novelty handcuffs than it does to high fashion, anyway. ;) )

3) If you're nervous, start small.






A small, short collar is manageable and still looks chic. You don't have to pull out the long, Cruella deVille fur coat in order to be stylish. If that is you, then go do it, boo. But maybe not one made from 101 dalmatians, I'm just suggesting.

4) Play with both hard and soft textures.

I like the faux fur with leather jacket look. Something about it is chic and functional. Adding a cashmere sweater brings the softness back up, then the denim brings it tough again. Play around with what you wear with it. Whether it's a silk dress, a chambray shirt, both, or somewhere in between, not limiting your fabric choices to go with the softness of fur makes the edge factor go up a bit.

5) Have fun.



Seriously, enjoy it. It's just another way of expanding yourself and your little fashion personality. There's not a damn thing wrong with being fabulous.

xoxo

Carisa

Welcome to 2015!