Fresh Friday

In the search for simplicity and paring down my possessions into what I really love/need/use, I discovered Kendi’s 30×30 challenge and fell in love.  If I’m right, this will be my 4th round?

The basis of the challenge is to pick 30 items and make 30 different outfits with them over the course of 30 days.  I’m also refraining from any shopping during this month – I feel like it’s important for me to focus on being grateful for what I have and make the most of it!  So if you follow me on twitter or instagram (@bellatheball), you’ll likely be seeing daily updates, but every Friday I’ll post that past week’s outfits.  If you want to see how a previous challenge I did turned out, see my winter challenge recap here.

If you count, you will notice that I left one wild card open – it’s a little bit of a safety (you never know what will come up!) but once the spot is filled, that item stays in the mix for the rest of the 30 days!

Anyone interested in joining me?  I know it sounds kind of crazy, but a lot of us have more than 30 things in our closets and hardly come close to wearing everything that’s in there.  When I picked my items, I included a few closet orphans that I want to find ways to actually wear (or they’ll go to someone who will wear them after the challenge), a few things I’m loving lately but may be a little bit crazy or hard to style, and a few basics that are easy to remix.  My goal is to look at my closet more creatively and get some inspiration for the pieces I do have, instead of getting caught up in what I don’t have or wish I had.

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Also, just want to give a shout-out to the awesome Go Chic or Go Home community – if you’re not a member and you like fashion/clothes, you should definitely check them out.  It’s like Cher’s closet from Clueless – you can upload pictures of your clothes, organize them into outfits – and it makes this 30×30 Challenge way easier to keep track of.  Plus everyone I’ve met on there is super sweet and full of good ideas.  You don’t even have to be a fashion blogger (I certainly don’t consider myself one by any stretch).  Let me know if you request an invite!

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The breakdown:

4 dresses: Grey floral (American Eagle) / Pink ruffles (Madewell) / Red Tribal (American Eagle) / Chambray (Old Navy)

2 skirts: Striped (Shop Kempt) / Green (somewhere in Australia)

6 pants: Cargo skinnies (JCrew Factory) / Skinny jeans (Ross) / “The weekend jeans” (Buckle) / Leopard jeans (Target) / Red jeans (Forever 21), Jean Shorts (Old Navy)

7 tops: Grey tank (Target) / Lace tank (JCrew) / Bird tank (H&M) / Pink Tee (Target) / Striped Tee (Gap) / White Tee (H&M) / Gingham Shirt (JCrew Factory)

5 layers: Navy vest (Target) / Orange cardigan (JCrew) / Dolman sweater (Target) / Moto Jacket (Shop Kempt) / White Blazer (JCrew Factory)

5 shoes: Gladiators (Madden Girl via DSW) / Pink oxfords (Zara) / Red Converse / Leopard flats (Target) / Floral Flats (Rocket Dog via DSW)