Crossing the finish line

I have finished the 30 for 30 Winter challenge. It is still quite unbelievable to have my full closet back. I have to admit dressing was a challenge this morning. I had planned to spend the day with a good friend and we wanted to go check out the mall. Yeah, I know, not even one day out of the shopping ban and I am already in the stores. I have to admit, it felt like a sugar rush, just amazing.

I want to recap the challenge and share some of my learning points as well.

I had been following Kendi throughout two prior sets of the 30 for 30 challenge and thought this would be a piece of cake. Selecting some clothes that could be remixed and then going with the flow. Well, I was so wrong there!

A closet full of neutrals can get quite boring. Even with a big range of colorful scarves and accessories, the remix needs a versatile selection of colors, neutrals and patterns. In general, my closet holds too many neutrals and not enough bright colors. When I will go shopping in the next weeks and months, I will need to get more color into my closet.

When you do a remix, then you should definitely remember the season and awaiting temperatures. With my shoe selection, I hit the mark pretty well, but why on earth did I include more skirts and dresses than pants? I am really surprised that I haven’t caught the flu by now!

I did pre-plan 30plus outfits with my remix pieces and even though I still had to check every morning which outfit would fit my mood, the pre-planning saved me lots of time. I used that time for extra sleep and to actually put some more thought into my accessories! Next time, I might actually do the same for my hair styling.

Which one was your favorite of my 30 outfits?

All in all, I feel great after the 30 days and can’t wait for the Spring challenge :) 

The Final Countdown

It’s Friday, the weekend is around the corner and today is my last day of the 30 for 30 challenge! I can’t believe it! I have been looking forward to this day for this past week already and now that the day is finally here, all I can say is: I made it! I want to thank all my friends and family for putting up with my craziness, asking them to take my outfit photos and getting on their nerves about my shopping ban. Also I want to especially thank my two amazing flatmates S. and J. for their constant support and their comments on my outfits prior to the photo shoots. I think, I am hooked now and will continue outfit posts. Not daily anymore maybe, because it was really hard sometimes with my schedule, but there will still be a couple of outfit post per week :)

Thanks to a good friend, we managed to take the photos early today and used the amazing sun to its fullest. The weather has been great, right on time for me to get my Spring wardrobe out of its hiding and maybe add one or two pieces here and there! 

I saved this outfit for last as I wanted to end the challenge with a high note. I adore this skirt, but I have to say, I was very conscious about it in the beginning. Throughout this challenge and with the inspiration from fellow bloggers, I have gotten more confident and will wear this beauty more often from now on.

Ah yes, my old friend, the playground. To celebrate finishing the challenge, I think I will go down the slide today!

What I wore (apart from the 30x30 pieces, find these here)

Necklace: gift from my host family in NYC

Ring: Garnet; bought at the Christmas market

Nail Polish: Catrice Limited Edition ”Urban Baroque”

Tights: Esda

Bag: Thrifted; Kleiderkreisel

Scarf: Thrifted; Kleiderkreisel

I am off to my sister now and will keep her company in the boring hospital.

Daily Delight

Thursdays are weird days. It is already close to the weekend, but not quite there yet. What do you do on a Thursday night? Nobody that has a job is ready to go out and there are not a lot of things happening around town anyways. It will most likely be another movie night in front of the TV. My sister needs to stay in the hospital, so I will visit her tomorrow and spend time with her. One of my highlights has been cooking with my flatmate J. and chatting for a while.

My second last outfit in the challenge (whoop!) came together easily. I have been craving colors and this sweater is one of the two very colorful pieces in my remix. The weather has warmed up and it is quite nice in the sun already. I wore really thin tights that made me look almost bare-legged! Spring feeling is in the air!

I felt especially daring today pairing my colorful sweater with a bright pink lipstick. It’s a first and I actually quite like it. What do you guys think?

What I wore (apart from the 30x30 pieces, find these here)

Necklace: gift from my host family in NYC

Ring: Kalevala Jewelry

Headband: Sepällä; Helsinki

Nail polish: Catrice Limited Edition ”Urban Baroque”

Lipstick: Nivea by Chantal Thomass “Rose so lovely”

Tights: Esda

Of course, Thursdays are not complete without the awkward and awesome round!

Awkward

• Having your new flatmate always meet you in your sweatpants and then when you wear totally normal and average clothes, he asks you why you are so dressed up!
• Searching for your favorite vintage bag – after a long search finding it in your closet, but with stains on it that aren’t removable :(     
• Watching a movie – 2/3 into the film at the most exciting point, the computer breaks down and is heated up too much to continue with the rest of the movie – buzz killer!
• Losing only one of your earrings – what should you do with that lonesome second piece?

Awesome

• Our new flatmate, T. He is really nice, open-minded and already repaired all the stuff that was broken in our apartment! Dude, you can stay for a while :)
• Cooking with the flatmates
• Finishing the 30 for 30 challenge tomorrow!
• Fresh Daffodils on the desk
• Lipstick - my new fashion accessory

When you have a bad day

This day has been hard on me. Not only did I wake up too early, I had too much work that had to be done in too little time and in between my sister had to go to the hospital. I was left trying to contact my parents and notifying them about my sister. It seems to be something with the stomach, not sure if it is food poisoning or something else. Nothing perilous, but of course the rest of my day was filled with worries. 


Even my hair deceived me today. I just couldn't handle it. So today, I put it in a simple side ponytail. Luckily, my best friend is coming by soon and we will have good food and a movie to cheer me up.

Outfit 28 was still a pretty nice combination. With all the stress around here today, I enjoyed putting away all other thoughts and just dressing up and taking photos. The sun was amazing, warm and refreshing at the same time. I also used today to bring out my pumps, which had gotten too little attention during the challenge. 

What I wore (apart from the 30x30 pieces, find these here)

Belt: H&M

Tights: Esda

Bag: Thrifted; Helsinki Flea Market

Ring: Street Vendor, NYC

Necklace: gift from my parents

Painting my life

Today, it was time to paint the room for my future godchild! It was so much fun to play with the colors and spend time with my friend preparing everything for her little girl. It will need a second layer of paint, but I will probably show some pictures of the result soon.

I also learned the hard way, why I should get a flickr account. Suddenly, my photo storage on blogger was full. Urg. Hope, I will manage to keep all the photos up and quickly learn all about flickr. Not the best timing for yet another tool to get to know. I have tons to do for my thesis, but well, multitasking is my middle name :)

The outfit pictures were taken after we finished painting. I was surprised that I had no paint in my hair or anywhere else. The sun was so nice on my friend’s balcony that we decided against walking down the 5 floors and back up later (she is pregnant, so she is allowed to be lazy!).

It’s day 27 of the challenge and I feel kind of weird now that it will end soon. I am a bit tired of my 30 pieces and can’t wait to try all my other clothes, but I am afraid I will get a fashion overload the moment I am allowed to use the rest of my closet. I guess, it will be like a culture shock, just a closet shock. Hopefully it doesn’t last too long, fingers crossed!

What I wore (apart from the 30x30 pieces, find these here)

Ring: local store

Slippers: my friends

Lipstick: Nivea Beauté Color Passion Series “Sepia” 

Flying Splice

During the night from Sunday to Monday, I had planned to watch the Oscars. Well, I fell asleep before it even started, but woke up after half of the show was done. I watched for an hour, only to fall asleep again and then miss the rest. In the morning, some nice neighbor decided at half past 7 to start cutting down a tree in his yard, which left me with little sleep. But, through that I manage to watch the re-run of the Oscars :) My favorites Natalie Portman and Colin Firth made it!!

These past days have been a whirl wind of changes. First S., my flatmate left for half a year, then my good friend A. left for New Zealand and finally yesterday, our new roomie T. moved in. Compared to S., he needed about 1 hour to settle. You know how it is with guys, but I didn’t suspect it to be that quick.

Well, there he is and we already had a nice evening with some sparkling wine and nice chats. Here is the outfit I wore yesterday, Number 26. I really liked it. Purple is one of my favorite colors!

What I wore (apart from the 30x30 pieces, find these here)

Ring: Bijou Brigitte

Clutch: Thrifted; KleiderKreisel

Scarf: H&M

Earrings: from Colombia; gift from a friend

belt: H&M; came with a skirt

Tights: Esda

Makeover Sunday

Sundays with the family are the best. Mom made my favorite food today. Just the best - chicken fricassee and for dessert sweet dumplings with vanilla sauce. I could eat that all day, every day :)

Later, my mother colored my hair. Finally, my roots were already visible. Yes, I am no natural dark haired woman, I have to dye it. I feel much more comfortable with dark hair though. Sometimes I think that I have been born with the wrong hair color.

My sister took my outfit pictures today. While taking the photos, we found the first snowdrops of the year. That is the best sign for the spring. I can’t wait!!

I really liked the colors of the combination. They were so nice and bright and fitted well with my hope for spring.

What I wore (apart from the 30x30 pieces, find these here)

Nail Polish: Catrice “Sea You!” + P2 “Silver Blast” Crackling Top Coat

Ring: gift from my mother

Earrings: SIX

Scarf: H&M

We met some friends while taking these outfit photos. They were curious on what we were doing and we started talking about my blog.  While catching up, we totally forgot to take the accessories close ups. We had to take them later at home :P

Tonight is Academy Awards night, I will try to stay up and watch it on TV. Problematic is the time difference. Who is your favorite nominee? Who will win the coveted trophy?

I am packing my suitcase and I am taking with me ...

Today was a day of packing. My friend (the mother of my soon-to-be-born godchild) is moving into a new apartment with the father of her child. They need to clear out their two separate flats and move it all into their new big place. As my friend is 6 months pregnant, she can’t do it all by herself and I helped her pack a lot of things from her apartment. 

Tomorrow we will then finally move all the furniture to the new place. Luckily her man has lots of big buddies that will help carry the heavy stuff, but of course she will need help with packing and unpacking. That’s a job for the girls. Probably there won’t be any outfit post tomorrow, as I will spend my whole day in some really old clothes, so I won’t ruin any of my closet favorites.

Therefore, I wanted to dress especially nice today. For outfit 24, I wore my really versatile tight-fitted dress and a pretty blouse on top. As the colors were a bit dark and dull, I brightened it up with my lovely turquoise scarf.

What I wore (apart from the 30x30 pieces, find these here)

Nail Polish: Nivea Beauté “Fuchsia Gloss” + P2 “Silver Blast” Crackling Top Coat

Ring: gift from my sister

Scarf: Vero Moda

Tights: Esda

Blue Thursday

My day started with a temperature rise of more than 10 degrees compared to yesterday. Lovely weather, but I woke up with a bad headache. Still, I had a lovely breakfast with flatmate S. Afterwards I tried to distract her form packing so she could not leave town today, I failed :( For S.’s last day, we went to visit the industrial museum in town and saw the photography exhibition of Willy Maywald. He was an amazing Haute Couture photographer after the war and was the first to take couture pictures outside the studio. 

{source myvintagevogue}

I had a great time with the girls, laughing and taking photos. Back at home, S. finished packing and her leaving was indispensable. It’s sad to see a good friend go, especially one you have spend so much time with over the last 2 years. Thanks S. for being such a great flatmate and an amazing friend as well, will miss you!!

 

 

Outfit Nr. 23 suits my current mood. I also tried a bit of pattern mixing. A striped shirt with a dotted cardigan. Actually the dots are sued-on pearls. I love the cardigan, as it enhances every outfit. With my nails, I even wore another pattern, cracked surface to be precise. I tried the new trend of colorful nails with a crackling top coat. What do you guys think?

What I wore (apart from the 30x30 pieces, find these here)

Nail Polish: Nivea Beauté “Fuchsia Gloss” + P2 “Silver Blast” Crackling Top Coat

Earrings: H&M

Ring: Bijou Brigitte

As it is Thursday, of course the day wouldn’t be complete without the awkward and awesome list! Here it goes:

Awkward

• Two people are leaving my life for a while – A. is going to New Zealand for a semester and my lovely flatmate S. is going down south for a half-year internship
• Painting your nails the day the dishes just can’t wait any longer and have to be cleaned
• Feeling warm in a skirt at minus 15, but freezing in pants at plus 4 degrees
• Calling a person over and over again. That person never picks up. Sending an angry text message and later figuring out that you called the wrong person

Awesome

• Making lactose-free potato casserole and sharing it with the whole family
• Having time to go to an art exhibition with friends in the middle of the week
• Getting to know more about the history of your home town
• Watching old classics on DVD – Marilyn and Audrey night
• S. leaving me her favorite art work while she is gone, so I watch out for it until she comes back
• Having time for friends and family
• Lipstick – it brightens up every outfit à got 4 new ones on sale this week (it’s make up, so it shouldn’t count for the 30for30s, right?)
• An unexpected massage from S.