Work Style-edition (while waiting for my oats), #ootd

I am in love with style & fashion. Growing up, I remember saying I wanted to be a pediatrician and make my patients clothes, haha!  I took a sewing class in high school and learned the basics of sewing. I remember making my own bathing suit for our swim class (and I still cannot swim- but my little stick, flat-chested body was happy in my lavender two-piece)! I joined tennis in high school because the skirts and bloomers were cute (#truestory), and quickly learned it required way more talent than a cute outfit- but I did learn, haha! 

I am guilty of my own fad styles. I went through a phase of wearing whatever Gwen Stefani (front woman of the amazing No Doubt wore- even rocked some form of hot pink hair for 5 years straight)! My freshman year in college, I would only wear clothes I made, upcycled or recreated. I would go with my amazing roomie, Ally to hit up our local Goodwills and secondhand stores and imagine what how I could change it into the creation in my head. I was cutting up my then-boyfriends (now husband and baby daddy's) t-shirts before there were tutorials everywhere on how to do it. My college friends would bring stack of theirs and I had it down to a science- in 5-6 minutes I could transform it all! Instead of a computer/laptop, I had a sewing machine on my desk (thank you, Ally for your awesome desktop Mac, or else I would have failed every class)! 

I would go shopping and tell myself I could make what I wanted instead (probably a result of growing up so poor)! Half of the time, I could, while the other half were such epic fails that I could put Pinterest fails to shame! haha!

In 2005, I started Cinnamon Clothing Co. My first baby! I loved it! But I couldn't keep up with orders on my own and needed to outsource which I was not ready to do because in 2010, Geoff was diagnosed with Cancer. So I put it in hiatus. Since then, life has just gotten in the way (and Cancer again), plus a baby (#odcm), and a career change. So in the midst of all of this I found that I haven't sewed in over a year but have so many projects and fabrics just dying to be cut! I sold my old machine that my beloved high school best friend bought me for my 17th birthday and Geoff found me the most amazing machine. I finally opened it three weeks ago and it is not working. I cannot figure it out as I am not a pro, as I really self-taught myself, and the cheapest estimate to fix it is $70- which I do not want to pay...Wah! 

So while I am drawing up new ideas to relaunch Cinnamon Clothing Co., I decided to focus on my own style for inspiration. I love to mix and match and dress up. I love to dress down. I love style! I am inspired by everything and everyone around me. I have a closet that still has most of my wardrobe from high school and college and reallllly need to clear out! I went two school years (minus my maternity leave) without repeating a single outfit at work, haha!

Anyway, because I'm sad that I can't sew, I have been taking pictures of my outfits while I wait for my daily overnight oats to heat up. So excuse the horrid lighting and my awesome teacher's lounge background but this girl gets a couple minutes of a break while I wait for my daily dose of oats (which by the way, needs a post of its own, haha)!

Also, someone PLEASE teach me how to selfie! Seriously, tip me away with selfie dos & don'ts because I am not good at these at all!

My sister-student did my hair here- how amazing is it!? Wish I could do it myself!

oh, hey, dirty rag that matched my chiffon blouse!

I, obviously, matched the tile on purpose!