Versatile Style by Tracey

I was feeling like I really needed a pick me up as these cold winter days are not my thing!
I always turn to my closet to boost my mood and thought pink in Winter would be fun.
Of course I realized that not everyone could relate to this outfit, lol

The outfit formula , however could be useful ,

so that prompted this post.
My pink jeans are like most of my immense jean collection                        by Diane Gilman.
I have to say, I am loving that skinny jeans are getting some competition these days with wider bottoms like these boot-cuts.

The poncho is one I have on inventory,but never really got off the ground with the boutique I attempted to get started when my sister passed. I posted the four I have left on eBay.

My snakeskin booties were bought this season from DSW.

Now onto the formula : Light and dark top & Completer piece of the same shade, neutral top, print booties.

I wanted to show this same formula in Olive, and hate the photo because my pants are actually a bit loose and look awful… Will use my trick if washing in hot water to shrink and extend the ability to wear them during this weight loss journey. If that wasn’t enough the wind was whipping a part of my hair for a complete blooper photo.

I am being brave and posting it anyway, lol

Dark and Light shades of Olive, Neutral top, printed booties.

Here is Diane Gilman’s selection of Olive Jeans 

The Olive Honey Comb Sweater and Grey one in the final look are both from Target
In both Women’s and Plus Sizes.

Last up I wanted to show the outfit with all neutrals beginning with black bottoms and a light gray cardigan. For the neutral top, I chose camel. I Closed the sweater with my grandmother’s pin, pictured below

Gratitude 

I am grateful to have my grandmother’s jewelry pieces and I feel privileged to be the third generation to wear them. 

I am grateful for my patient photographer who supports me.

I am grateful for my dear friend who so wisely questioned whether I needed to go out and meet her tonight since I was going to see her this weekend.  She knows I needed a day at home!   

As my regular readers know, I gained weight due to menopause and before I could conquer that, my sister passed and I gained   

more during this three years of intense mourning.
In September I turned 54 and had a really tough downhill spiral as , it was the birthday my sister never reached. She passed 6 weeks prior to hers.

The top photo was right before Christmas and my wake up call,

as I saw how chubby my face was.

Don’t get me wrong, I still felt pretty, just not healthy.

While the second photo was a few weeks into doing Intermittent  Fasting My downward spiral lasted all the way through the holidays at which point, I snapped out of it and began doing Intermittent Fasting. 

Dr. Jason Fung is all over YouTube with lengthy explanations of Intermittent Fasting, 

Here is the shortest one I could find,

He also wrote a book Obesity Code that I m listening to on Amazon Audible. 

Facebook as Intermittent Fasting Groups for more information as well. 

You can do anywhere from 16 hours or more. I vary from 16 to 24 hours a day, with my preferred fasting time of 20 hours. I fast daily and do a 24 hour fast every Saturday. The most important thing to understand is that this is not about starvation , but about eating your calories in a shorter time frame to allow body to get into fat burning mode. I have to say it was easier than I ever imagined it would be. 

This Article on how much water we need and why is great! 

 I drink between 80-100 ounces of water.
Best of all my results have been that the afternoon brain fog is gone and I have so much more energy! I have lost some inches , but the scale has stayed the same.  I am not worried about the scale and hardly ever think of weighing myself.

I am 30 days into the journey and have just started working out three days a week on my Pilates machine with Resistance bands. It truly is a full body work out in 20 minutes. I will bump things up after a month on this schedule.

Next Wednesday I will describe my daily food intake.

I bought several lightweight sweaters like the one I am wearing here 

from  Loft Outlet this season.   

I also highly recommend Loft Ponte Leggings. 

I still love wearing two necklaces, lol 

The long tassel is by Joan Rivers via QVC 

It is on sale for $38.16 and comes in gold, silver or rose gold.  

My Ruby Pendant is by Samuel B and no longer available,

Here is the current collection of pendants 

Gratitude 

I am grateful for my silly rabbit who is current licking my foot while I type, every day 

she does something new and entertaining and delights me! 

I am grateful for my Full Spectrum Happy Light therapy, using it now 

I am grateful for dear friends and morning text chats.  

I am grateful for Intermittent Fasting and what I see as a new life long journey!  

Please comment, ask questions, your feedback keeps me motivated

I recently heard about this app called Cladwell for

generating outfits with items you have in your closet.

I balked at the idea of inputting my wardrobe as let’s

face it, is maximal!

But this week I was sitting watching my Sophie

Bunny like a hawk after her surgery to get spayed .

Day 3 and she is fully back to herself,

a sigh of relief that last night she ate her hay!

Watching her every move gave me an opportunity

to spend a day playing with the Cladwell App.

Check this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jw1ePE2xRi4out for video on the app

These are all custom photos from items I bought this season

and were easy to load from online sites where I purchased them .

It is great to have both the ability to add your actual pieces, but also

a real time saver to add in similar styles from their pre loaded options.

 I wore this look yesterday,but didn’t get photos as I really was

having sinus pressure issues.

These are all preloaded options similar to items I have.

You can get outfits generated for you or create

your own looks, but this is one I put together myself.

This was the look in action,

I like the pop of yellow in the purse, but once again,

my fondness for tone on tone looks is going strong.

I am having fun with this app and will play with it a bunch

more in the future.

This 

This is one Cladwell generated for me and I liked , so I added

it to my Favorites to wear later.

The app is linked to your area weather so chooses

appropriate looks for the day.

Ypu can also choose items for Capsules to remix and wear.

Typically we wear 20% of our items most often and the app

Keeps track of that.

Another look I favorited.

Not all outfits generated work to get the right

proportions , but it offers the opportunity to change pieces in the look.

All in all I like this more than I thought I would.

The biggest issue that I found is that pullover sweaters

are stored in the layers section so they offer looks with tops

underneath a lot!  The solution is to just custom add sweaters into

the Tops Section which will allow you to add layers like vests,

kimonos, jackets or cardigans over top of them.

I actually messed up and stayed in PJ’s then wore an outfit fitting this 

and had such a busy active day in the house that I forgot to take photos, 

went to watch a dress rehearsal and got home at 10pm….

So, I went to Pinterest and looked for some grey outfits and 

screenshot them on my Ipad for ease and a quick way of posting….

I thought this charcoal grey with stripes and the on-trend mustard cardigan

was one I would love to imitate in the future.  

There were a lot of examples of neutral themes, 

two shades of grey with a brown jacket is a nice option. 

Brown is another color that is on trend this season,

and I for one am happy about that! 

A floral top and burgundy color paired with

grey is right up my alley!  

I might not have thought of pairing grey with navy 

and a touch of cognac in the belt and boots, but I like it.

I think this is too minimal for me,

and a patterned scarf would change that. 

I chose this to show because most likely we all have ways 

 to make this one work!  

Chambray shirts are still everywhere and note this half tuck 

styling that is a new thing, that I have not tried, yet.  

The accessories really take this outfit up a notch!  

You could add leopard shoes to this as well. 

Yet another neutral look that was so common in my search! 

I like the addition of the scarf in this one. 

Another way to incorporate it with Olive.  

An olive utility jacket or vest would be a good option too! 

I love wearing white jeans year round, 

so definitely felt I had to include this one. 

I also found several ways I have worn grey in the past. 

I have always loved Pinks and burgundy with grey. 

Purple and grey is something I have worn together most of my 

life and a flashback of a grey plaid skirt and purple sweater outfit 

I wore in high school came rushing forth as I typed this! 

I felt so darn spunky when I wore this look, lol 

I still like it, lol 

Charcoal with mint works well. 

Light grey with a bright green also works, lol 

I actually think a cobalt blue scarf if I had one, would do well here! 

This is a more neutral look that I tried out. 

Of course, the patterned cardigan and punch of orange handbag

and the leopard takes this one to a new level…

I had to end with a Pittsburgh Steelers look, lol 

High low shades of grey and a bit of lace work really well. 

So, how do you like to wear grey, do you prefer light grey or dark charcoal?  

Has this inspired you, comment and let me know? 

Gratitude

I am grateful that my youngest son 18, registered to vote today!! 

I am grateful my oldest son dropped by and was part of celebrating my son’s voting registration! 

I also love that my oldest 32 was telling my youngest how lucky he is to know that he is good at something at this age and to hold onto it (he was referring to bowling) 

I am grateful that my husband didn’t have an appointment until late afternoon. 

I am grateful that I got to go see the dress rehearsal of my best friends daughter’s play, Annie as I was going to miss the play this weekend!  

Since I didn’t post yesterday, 

Today you get a TWO-FER, lol 

Loft Crop Pants 

First up is my look for the Black & White prompt, but 

the real topic of conversation is wide leg crop pants. 

After years of skinny, it is so nice to have more variety and 

let’s face it , a curvy girl’s friend is wider leg options now available. 

Simple outfit formula : Wide Leg Cropped Pants with ankle booties and 

one you will see me wear a few times this season.   

Joan Rivers Tassle Necklace 

My tassle necklace is new as I really needed one in silver. 

This Joan River’s one is such great quality and I adore it as 

much as my gold one by her line in a different style.  

Iman Fringe Poncho

The next prompt for October Style was Fringe and I may have 

over done it as I am wearing 3 pieces with fringe, lol. 

I think I would have preferred this with a

slightly longer pant leg, but I don’t hate it, lol!  

My Marc Fisher boots are new this season, as nothing is more fun than adding a fun color ankle boot into your style! 

My other two fringe pieces are the scarf and purse. 

I have added a couple of scarves for the season by Ann Taylor 

and Loft and am loving the quality.  Unfortunately, 

I find they sell out rather quickly, especially with sales like the recent Labor Day one in which I purchased this one.  

I FINALLY added a fringe purse into my style, 

something my boho loving self-has sorely neglected.  

I scooped this one up as it was on clearance for $20.94 

Be Sure to Stop by Tomorrow for Shades of Grey  

Pop on over to the Turning Heads blog link up to see several other bloggers and this one with lots of 50 plus bloggers! 

Gratitude 

I am so grateful for answered prayers and signs from my sister, just when I need them!  

I am grateful that my son is having so much fun with bowling right now and is doing so well.  He got a clean game meaning he got all Strikes and Spares recently that netted him a spot in Top 5 competition this weekend.  

I am so grateful for the boost to my son’s self-esteem with the bowling success, as the damage from his 6 years in school before I homeschooled him, still lingers.   

I am grateful to my friend for our movie days, as it is getting me out of the house more!