Well, all the cool kids are doing it, so I felt obligated to do it too. Don't worry, I won't show you every.single.outfit of the year because if you cared that much, you know where the archives are ;) I only started blogging this year, and spent a good 2 months of that time as a "hiding in the bathroom faceless blogger" (my first real world post is here! such a baby) so it's really only a "best of the last 6 months" kind of roundup. Either way, here's a list of the best, worst, and wtf was I thinking of the year:
Favorite Outfit of the Year: This outfit is my favorite for several reasons. It has my new favorite purse in it, I really like this (new to me) color combination, and it has the perfect feminine/masculine vibe going on that I've realized is what I tend to gravitate towards. Plus the photography gods were on my side that day so overall, favorite.
Biggest WTF of the Year: This pattern-on-pattern monstrosity. In theory, not too bad since pattern mixing is all about staying in the same color family. Unfortunately, this is just too much, too bright, too overwhelming. You live, you learn. I'll stick to little pattern mixing instead.
Biggest Regret Purchase: Although these pants were only $20, I've only worn them one time. I don't really love drawing that much attention to my legs so bright green pants weren't the smartest purchase for me. I think this was one of those "everyone has colored jeans, I NEED THEM TOO" purchases. I've definitely learned my lesson.
Favorite Manicure of the Year: Although extremely simple in design and execution, I love this manicure and hold myself back from recreating it every week.
Biggest Learning Experience: I'm a huge fan of and participant on GOMI. There are some really smart and sassy ladies on there, and I love going to place that allows me to feel sane when looking at some of the more out there blogs. I've met some of my favorite bloggers on there as well. That being said, being on an anonymous site doesn't always mean you're anonymous. I've learned that as unoffensive as you try to be on the internet in general, you aren't going to please everyone but for every 1 person who dislikes you, there are in general 10 that do like you. My face and thighs aren't those of a supermodel, but I think I can add a little bit of value to "fashion" blogging as a whole in a normal girl kind of way.
Most Pageviews of the Year: This post about a little trick Bri taught me has 3 times as many views as the next highest viewed post. I hope all of the repins on pinterest have helped a lot of other women with the art of layering ;)
Favorite Thrifted Item: I'm pretty new to thrifting. My mother, literally the most stylish woman I know, is a huge thrift store person, so it's almost embarrassing to admit that reading blogs motivated me to finally go to a thrift store. I haven't purchased that much, but this mustard cardigan is my favorite. I'm unsure what the original brand is, or how old it is, but I love the color and fit, so I don't even care.
Favorite DIY of the Year: My tube bracelets are my favorite thing I've made this year, with my flannel scarf coming in as a close second. I made them in gold and silver, and reach for them almost every single day. Plus the materials cost less than $10 and are super easy to make - cheap and easy: sounds good to me!
Most Worn/Favorite Purchase: My favorite purchase of the year is also my most worn (makes sense, huh?). My J. Crew Schoolboy blazer, which was a birthday present to myself, is the most expensive piece of clothing I own, but I know the cost per wear will eventually be less than a lot of my cheaper pieces of clothing.
So that's it! I hope 2013 brings me the foresight to make smarter purchases to fill the holes in my closet, to still expirement with my clothes, and to continue to have fun with this little hobby.
