Remix: Polka dot dress

Remix: Polka dot coat

So, the other day, I was in car rider line (I'm a teacher, I was opening doors, doing my bit), and the school's literacy facilitator said she liked my coat and I was like "Thanks! I bought it when I dropped my son off at daycare for the first time because I had major anxiety!" It was a car rider line overshare. These things happen. The literacy facilitator nodded awkwardly and then we said zero other things to each other. 

It's true, though, this is the coat I bought when I was flipping the flippity floppity (that's my new non-swear word I'm trying to use) out. I dropped Thomas off at daycare for two hours. I went to Target. I saw a polka-dotted coat. I did not NEED this coat and yet I DID! So I bought it. And it made me feel better for like 30 seconds. This coat is the equivalent of brownie-filled cookies. 

But, really, it's better than brownie-filled cookies because while it only offered fleeting emotional comfort, it has offered physical comfort for more than a year! This coat is warm! It's cute! It has polka dots!

This is the second year it's been my go-to winter coat. It matches everything. According to me. 

I was at dinner once talking about stripes and polka dots and how I love them, and my friend was like "But you don't wear them together, do you?!" and when I said I did, she was totally horrified. Horrified, I say!

Truth be told, I think I look a little crazier when I match polka-dots with polka-dots. I don't think I look bad, I just always ask "Do these polka dots match these other polka dots?"...

And the answer is always "YES!" So I say: Yay to polka dots. Yay to statement coats. Yay to anxiety purchases, awkward overshares and matching circles and stripes!

Remix - Denim jacket

Oh the jean jacket. So clean. So classic. So American. So easily remixed. 

I know the jacket was thrifted. I know I found it years ago for about $5 or so. I don't remember what I thought when I found it, but it was probably something like "Everyone needs a jean jacket. I don't have a jean jacket. I am lacking something everyone needs! I will buy this now."

Ever since, whenever I needed a jean jacket, I had one. Going to a Super Bowl party? Throw on your jean jacket! Shopping for a maternity bathing suit? Might as well do that in a jean jacket! Going to a matinee play? Put on that jean jacket, it might get chilly! Hanging out with giant a sculpture by Nikki de Saint Phalle? That sculpture would look really good with a jean jacket! And so on.

Remix: Purple Maxi Dress

I thrifted this dress so many years ago, and I've gotten so much use out of it. Here's the thing: Maxi dresses are ridiculously comfortable. They are mumus, people. Good-looking mumus.

And despite the fact that this dress is a mumu, people seem to think I'm dressing "fancy" when I wear it. And I'm all like "It's a blanket! It's a large, loose swath of fabric! It does not get more comfortable!"

And holy moly is it roomy. Above: I am pregnant. It's that cute phase of pregnancy where you look adorable in everything.

And then there's that phase of pregnancy where you are all stomach and people can't believe you're not having twins/due tomorrow. This dress is also great for that phase! Look how much baby belly this dress can handle!

And you look good while feeling enormously physically uncomfortable. So thanks for that purple maxi dress!

Here I am obviously post-baby. In this photo, I have been thrown up on several times in the last 24 hours and am about to be thrown up on several more. (My poor baby. He was okay, just sick and vomit-y.) Love that in-between-vomit pattern mixing I made happen!

And there's that baby I've been talking so much about! So cute. The cutest.

Second cutest (or more likely 164th cutest) is the dress. It is a staple. It is a basic. It is a favorite. You know how magazine articles are always like "You must own a crisp, white shirt and a trench coat" or whatever? I think it's imperative that we all own a statement-making, voluminous purple maxi dress! And Thomas agrees.

Remix - Dansko sandals

I've talked about my Dansko clogs on this blog as they are the best, but now I must put the spotlight on my Dansko sandals, which are also the best and in fact better than the best if the weather is hot. My toes need freedom in the summer! Pictured above: Toes enjoying freedom.

These shoes have seen me through walking-heavy days of fun travel, being a schoolteacher and being a pregnant schoolteacher. Let me tell you what, that last one is a true test, and these shoes 100 percent did their job. How are they both so cute and so comfortable?

I don't really think of myself as being a person who is loyal to a brand or even cares about brands, but Dansko shoes are my exception. How do they make me feel both like a professional teacher of the children and like a fabulous '70s siren? I don't know, but that's what they do!

Remix - Heart dress

Oh sweet, sweet heart dress, how I do heart you. What is not to love? You are flouncy and graphic and comfy and fun.

I wear a lot of dresses with cardigans. It's just what I do. It's my thang. And since my thang is wearing dresses with cardigans, I've combined this one with several. Then I add some boots. Or sandals. Or occasionally a cornfield. This dress looks really stellar when combined with a cornfield.

It is often my "date day" dress. When me and my husband go out to do something romantic, I like to wear it. It makes me feel pretty and attractive and, despite its flouncy sweetness, I think it's just a wee bit slinky too. Heck, I even felt like a babe when I wore it super pregnant (and when I was super pregnant, I did not always feel babe-like). This dress, I tell you what, it has some positive powers!

Remix - Blue cardigan

This thrifted cardigan has always reminded me of my Grandma's china. You've seen the type -- it has the pretty, intricate blue pattern, and it's all fancy and saved for special occasions. This is a fancy cardigan, but I don't save it for special occasions. Nope. Not at all. 

Don't get me wrong. It's well suited for fancy occasions and looks quite nice next to the good china, but it also works with a pregnant-lady polka-dot tank top and jeans. It's just a pretty cardigan, it goes with almost anything. I mostly wear it with dresses to work. I pair it a lot with black, but I really like it best with some color. 

Some color or perhaps some faux fur.

Oh this cardigan, it's so cut, so colorful, so pretty and ladylike! I have never looked so ladylike in combat boots as I do when wearing this cardigan. True story. It has an inherent class that just takes over an outfit, don't you think?

Remix - Word Dress

I love this dress so much. So very, very much. I refer to it as my "word dress," but the only word super obvious on it is "JAM." (Can you spot it?) Really, it's a letter dress A dress full of letters. I love letters! Of course I do! I'm an elementary-school literacy teacher! And so I love this dress.

It looks good from the front and it has a fun back.

It fits a surprisingly large number of body types (all body types belonging to this one body at one time and another). Look at that wordy baby belly!

It just begs for layers and can handle almost all North Carolina weather.

The only time my dress was not absolutely 100 percent fabulous and perfect was when I wore it in a snowstorm Um, put on some pants, girl. It's cold out. Save the dress for another day! But, yeah, you must admit it looks good against the snow. So really, still 100 percent fabulous! Word dress remixing for the win!

Remix - Blue maxi dress

This maxi-dress isn't a neutral shapeshifter. It's pretty much always a big ol' swath of blue patterned cloth, and that blue patterned cloth is fabulous. 

I love the color and the pattern so much. I can't even remember when I first bought it, but I know I thrifted it back when I was a small-town reporter. It's adorable on its own, but I love it the most paired with blue. Blue on blue! That's some monochrome I can get behind!

A magenta-flowered cardigan and baby bump also work with it well. And flip flops! Well, it's a maxi-dress. Maxi-dresses were made to be worn with flip flops. 

It also looks great with a baby! I feel like the looks don't change dramatically when pairing the maxi-dress with different things (including adorable, tiny people!), but that's fine and dandy. It is always a fabulously-patterned, blue-on-blue dress that's the perfect length and ridiculously comfortable. All hail the maxi dress!

Remix - Red coat

Hello to you, red coat.

Before this coat, I was a neutral coat kind of girl. I bought a coat that would go with everything. My coats were always gray or black. That was it. It wasn't the coat's job to put on a show! It needed to match a lot of stuff and keep me warm, that's it!

Then I met this ruffly beauty, and my world view changed. Okay, maybe not my world view, but my coat view. I no longer thought the coat needed to be a muted neutral. Oh no! Sometimes all you ever see is the coat! Let your coat have something to say!

What does my coat say? Well, it says "I am a coat. I am very red and very orange. I am reddish-orange, and I am ruffly. My owner is looking fabulous thanks in large part to me. You are welcome, owner. You are welcome." To which I say, thanks coat. Thanks.

Remix - Wide-leg jeans

My favorite jeans are my largest jeans. Sure, I own skinny jeans too and not-skinny-but-not-wide-leg-just-sort-of-in-the-middle jeans as well. But my favorite jeans? Yep. My wide-leg jeans.

I just feel so free in them, perhaps because of the lack of circulation restriction. I just feel so '70s and hip and relaxed. Plus they're great for dog walking!

And they're jeans -- America's number one neutral! They go with everything, and so I wear them with everything. It's almost like I'm being patriotic! God bless America, God bless wide-leg jeans.

Remix - Pink cardigan

Happy Wednesday! Let's Remix!

Like the black and white maxi-skirt before it, I wasn't 100 percent sure about this pink cardigan when I first thrifted it. Then, I wore it all the time. I wasn't sure about it because it has some seams that look like the cardigan is inside out even though it's not, and I was like "What is that about?" Turns out, I don't really care, and I find this little pink number to be an excellent addition to my wardrobe.

When we had "Dress like your favorite teacher day" at school, the little girls who dressed like me wore cardigans and dresses. Totally my look! So, yes, this cardigan gets paired with dresses all the time.

It also works well with jeans and a polka-dotted pregnant belly. Really, it's so sweet and neutral, I probably haven't explored its full potential yet. (On life goal list: Explore the full potential of the $4 thrifted, pink cardigan. The full potential.)

Pictured above is my favorite pink-cardigan look. Do I love the look because of the pink cardigan? Nope. I love the boots and the dress, but the pink cardigan ties it all together! It's a great unifier of things, that pink cardigan. It makes the outfit work without being all braggy about it.