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!  

Closet Staple are those basic pieces that you build Outfits from,

those pieces that get a lot of use.

It doesn’t get more basic than a striped top.

This is one I picked up at Burlington several years ago

I love the button details which are perfect for my more maximal style

On that note, my jeans embroidery nods to that too.

This entire look is pieces I have had for a while.

Just a note, my dear readers,

I will be doing just my photos by my favorite tree because

I am so outside my comfort zone with my current weight.

I am heading back to Weight Watchers meetings tomorrow!

Today is Shirtdress day and I will be styling it two ways

There are definitely more than two ways, but alas 

more will have to wait for our temps to become cooler, lol 

My Gratitude for Today is this sweet, Mini-Lop, who I got for 

Mother’s Day and who has definitely brought me joy 

and helped me stop my daily crying over the loss of my sister! 

Introducing the best therapy pet, ever!

My Sophie, Mini-lop!

I may have to do an entire post on this precious baby.

She is 6.5 months old and today I made her vet appointment

to be spayed for October 15.

This date ensures she will be healed when I go in for eye surgery to remove these

spots from my genetic rarity of Cornea Dystrophy in November!

How about browsing some other bloggers Here! 

I was playing around on Pinterest and came across these two looks 

as trends for Fall 2018. 

I had recently purchased a floral print maxi dress to style for the season 

ran to my closet to play around with it and find ways to style it. 

I have to say the buffalo plaid with floral is very appealing!

It hits that ying/yang vibe of masculinity and femininity perfectly!

You can find my dress Here, I read that it ran small, 

so I ordered a small instead of a medium and it was the right call. 

I have lost inches from doing Intermittent fasting

and my bustline went from 42 inches to 38.5! 

The inspiration look with 3 patterns was a bit much for me, 

and I don’t think I would have tried it with leopard print on my own.

Definitely will give this a shot.

A break from pattern mixing,

but with the fabulous element of texture!

A floral bomber jacket

in a larger scale print works well.

Add of course we cannot forget a classic jean jacket.

Last up, spicing it up with zebra print, lol

There are other ways I could wear this as well,

because like most floral prints

there is green to play off of with an olive

jacket or cardigan.

This is my outfit for the day.

Using 2-3 shades of one color is on trend and an easy outfit formula 

These Plum shade Jeans are by Diane Gilman, found here. 

Available in Petite, Regular and Tall. 

Please note that the color looks red or burgundy on HSN Site. 

Next week I vow to be more consistent with blogging, 

my sleep patterns are horrendous lately, but I think I have it 

under control now,  

So crazy a time recently!

First of all my youngest turned 18 and there is so much joy at getting all my children to adulthood with none of them making and bad decisions and with goals for themselves!   Of course the ying/yang of life means there is also a bit of sorrow that this venture is over , yet not really because he will be home continuing what he began this last year of homeschooling by studying and taking Clep tests for college credit.

Just getting use to this life change , when I went for a routine eye exam for new glasses, only to be diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder of Cornea Dystrophy. A dye test showed it has gone beyond the top layer of my cornea and I now have an appointment with a specialist on May 14th, to get more tests and a treatment plan.

Of course I see another side to this not good news because since this is a rare condition, it presents an opportunity for my 22year old who is still finishing up his Bachelor’s Degree , but has plans to become an eye surgeon.  I am hoping the specialist will humor me and allow him to see my eye with their magnifying equipment.

Naturally this has been a tough thing to take in and accept, two days of tears really missing my mother and my sister. Mom would have been my soft place to fall, my sister would have been researching DRs and been championing for me. It really hit me hard being the only female left in my family. Thank God , I do have a daughter,lol.

The Day before my life changing eye appointment, I had ventured into a new business of these fabulous completer pieces and was so excited! I am renergized after the Products arrived and they are fabulous. I ordered just one of most items and have priced them between $22 to $28.

The first way I am going to introduce them is a Live Sale in a Private Facebook Group on Tuesday , May 8th at 8:30pm EST.  You can request to join the group by following this link and please share with any friends you think may love these.

K&T Stylists – Fabulous Completer Pieces

If you are a blogger who would like a free item to review for me , please let me know and we can make arrangements!

Have a Fabulous Weekend!