Extreme Makeover: Wardrobe Edition

I've been frustrated with my wardrobe for quite a while now. It's outdated, the few nice things I own have been worn so much they aren't nice anymore, some stuff doesn't even fit correctly, and truth be told, nothing matches. At all. This all became even more obvious when I started creating my packing list for Italy. After a few attempts at sorting through my clothes trying to figure out what could mix-and-match, what was appropriate for a European country (obviously not all my OU t-shirts!), and what was versatile enough to work from September through November- that's a really wide range of weather possibilities!- I just gave up.

I gutted my ENTIRE clothing collection.

Mom took a few things to keep and a few to babysit since she's likely to wear them while I'm gone (Steelers jerseys being the most obvious example), and I tried unsuccessfully to get a few dollars by selling some things to Plato's Closet. I ended up with four garbage bags stuffed full of clothes that I gave away through Freecycle. Hopefully the ladies who took them will get some use of of them!

What did I keep? My semiformal dresses, all of my t-shirts that are from some specific event or organization (which is, admittedly, over 60 shirts), a couple of summer dresses, my absolute favourite long skirts, my best-fitting workout clothes, and a few (probably less than ten) nice tops that I wear too often to part with. That's it. I was able to clear out an ENTIRE cabinet in my room that had previously been devoted to clothes, and over half of both my dresser and closet.

To rebuild my wardrobe from zero, I started by utilizing this business casual "capsule" wardrobe from Outfit Posts.

Everyone knows I am incapable of matching things, so I stuck as close to her suggestions as possible- even the colours of each item. Here is my recreation! Note: I spent a long time looking for an online photo collage maker. I hated every single one, so I just went with the easiest to use. They cropped all my pictures awkwardly and I don't like it.

A few differences:

I ended up finding a teal dress that I really liked, but it was a sheath dress instead of a wrap. I figured it was no big deal, and I could just switch the two styles. However, I never found a grey dress in ANY style, so that's actually a skirt I found that I really, really like. It's a great skirt, and it is long enough that I can pull it up and belt it to wear as a dress! Neither my black and white nor my black skirts are pencil skirts- those two are things I already had in my clothing collection, so I decided to stick with them and save some money. Plus, that makes them slightly more casual than business-y, but still look nice!

Hopefully, I am going to sew a little piece of elastic into the back of the pink T-shirt to make it a little more fitted around the waist.

Now for a couple accessories:

I've been wanting a purse like that for a long time, so I decided to get it while I was already spending money! Plus a belt, and both a black and white camisole to round everything out.

And, of course, some extras:

Mom found these for me at Plato's Closet, and I decided to get them because the colours go with everything else in the capsule!

Last but not least...

I've been needing new tennis shoes for quite a while. I think I got these during spring break of 2012, which means they have been through QUITE a bit: two semesters of walking to the Ridges every day, a bunch of starts and stops of getting myself to run, walking the dog every day that I'm home, one Ohio winter, and most significantly, an entire 110 season... not to mention everyday wear! They have definitely seen their fair share of pavement and turf! I decided to go with Nike's, because I have heard so many good things about them from fitness bloggers and other runners I know. They're so comfortable!

This is the part that makes me cry a little. I don't think I've ever spent so much money on clothes in my life- I'm usually a thrift store-or-nothing type of shopper, and I have NEVER bought this many things at once.

Yellow cardigan $15 Target
Grey skirt $22 Cato
Black jacket $40 Macy's
Teal dress $40 JC Penny's
Purple cardigan $49 Sears
Black blouse $22 Sears
White blouse $25 H&M
Black and white skirt $0 (already owned!)
Black skirt $0 (already owned!)
White button-up $23 Target
Jeans $0 (already owned!)
Pink T-shirt $15 Sears
Black pants $25 Macy's
Striped shirt $32 Express

Black belt $8 Wal*Mart
Purple purse $19 Wal*Mart
Black and white camisoles $3 each JC Penny's

Teal and black knit sweater $8 Plato's Closet
Polka dot blouse $7 Plato's Closet

Nike's $50 JC Penny's

Ouch. But I really do think it's well worth it. I spent my money wisely. I bought new clothes for once, from good stores. These ALL match, rather than me just picking up random things I like without knowing how they fit into my wardrobe. I will get a lot of use out of them. And it is a fantastic starter wardrobe to build from in the future.

Milan, Darling. Milan.

I finally know what I'm doing with my life! Or, at least, the next few months of it. Today, the family I have been in contact with through Workaway called and said they would like to host me! I booked the ticket right then and there. On September 7th, just around noon, I will be landing in MILAN! (That is, assuming I make my connections through JFK and Heathrow, which I'm sure will make for a wonderfully adventurous, dramatic story in about a month.) From there, it is only an hour's drive to Cremona, where I will be living for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time.

via Google Maps

Next week, I will talk to them again via Skype, but finally with video! I am really looking forward to getting to know the family, especially the two kids I will be helping to take care of in exchange for the accommodations they are providing for me.

I'm sure I will cycle through all SORTS of emotions on the coming couple of weeks while I get ready. I'm already a little sad about missing my first homecoming as an alumna. I'm already nervous about moving to a country where I speak a grand total of four words in their language. (please, excuse me/sorry, thank you, and "where"). But for the moment, I am ECSTATIC! Everyone talks about dropping everything and moving to [insert exotic location], but how many people actually DO it? I'm more than willing to admit that reading both Eat, Pray, Love and Tales of a Female Nomad this summer was probably a catalyst, but I can definitely accept that if it means I get the experience of a lifetime.

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Soft Pretzels & Cupcake Decoration

This afternoon, my mother asked me if I would make cupcakes! The sentence wasn't even completely out of her mouth by time time I has gotten on Pinterest, looking for a recipe. Unfortunately, the END of her sentence was tell me there was a box mix and icing on the counter in the kitchen. A box! I didn't get to play with flour, I had to use eggs, and I don't think she fully understands my need to lick the bowl and eat every other spoonful of raw batter! I decided to do SOMETHING creative since all the baking was basically already done for me, and dug through my (vast collection of) cookie cutters until I found one that I liked. I tried painting inside it with food colouring first, but the icing was moving around too much. I finally switched to painting the cookie cutter and stamping the outline on the icing. I think I like the modified version even better!

Our neighbor made dinner for us tonight because she had too many vegetables for just one person. It was SO delicious- chicken, rice, and a vegetable dish with zucchini, summer squash, and onion. Of course, we can't send the plate back empty, and since I had been deprived of baking earlier today, I jumped at the chance to make something. It didn't take very long to pick this pretzel recipe, and I immediately got to work. I was a little worried about the yeast since both packets we had in the house were expired- one in 2012 and one few months ago- but they ended up working out just fine! My biggest difficulties were keeping the dough in a rope after it was dipped in the baking soda solution- it kept tearing apart! I finally started making the pretzel shape and putting it on the tray, then painting the baking soda on. It seemed to work pretty well!

"I'm about 97% sure that I want to drop out of school."

Well, not anymore. Now I'm 100% sure. But that exact sentence was the first time I said it out loud (okay, via text message). And as soon as I said it, I knew I was sure.

I was always a good student through grade school. I was involved in everything, got good grades (even managed a 4.0 every quarter my senior year of high school!), I took tests for fun, nailed the ACT and squeezed by on the SAT. There was never a doubt that I would go to college- it was just the next thing on the list. A natural progression of events. I found a career path that I was really interested in, and it was supposed to be smooth sailing through four years of college, a six month internship, getting my certification, and then immediately landing a job. Easy, right? For someone who loves learning, always thrived on studying, and knew exactly what she wanted to do for the rest of her life when she was only 18 years old? Easy.

Or, rather, not so easy after all.

It was great for a while. I found a group of friends, I loved my classes, I was shocked that college was easier than Decathlon. I just read through my journal from freshman year. It's full of recounted dining hall conversations, printouts of AIM chats, excitement about classes and projects, and wondering if my crush liked me. Seriously- THAT'S what I was worried about. Anyone who knows me now is probably currently gasping for breath from laughing so hard at that phrase.

I could go on for a while about specific things that happened to change my mindset over the next few years- believe me, I just deleted several paragraphs to that end. The writing of them was very therapeutic for me, but you don't need to read that. It's too depressing.

What you do need to know is this: Eventually, I discovered that I haven't the foggiest idea what I want to do with my life. I switched my major the first day of my fifth year of college, and the entire year went downhill, academically- and future planning...ly?... speaking. The only things I enjoyed at all were playing my horn, marching band, and african ensemble. I was thinking in the very back of my mind that school wasn't really the place for me anymore, but never thought I could actually leave. Two things happened to make that mental shift.

1. The Cuba trip was cancelled. I was supposed to study abroad this coming winter break with some of my favourite professors, but the logistics didn't end up working out. I really lost my biggest motivation for going back after that.
2. I wasn't able to register for a class I needed to take over the summer at a community college at home. This would have added yet ANOTHER semester on to the now six years I already had going into my undergrad.

After all this happened, I knew I wanted to leave school. I just didn't yet believe that I COULD. I started looking for alternative careers that didn't need degrees, various jobs, places to move, and eventually stumbled across the website Workaway. The minute I registered for this site, I sent the text message that makes up the title of this post to my best friend. I just needed someone's reaction to give me some validation. But the second I said it (and the world miraculously continued turning), I realized that this wasn't an entirely inconceivable idea. Over the last two or so weeks I've spent way too much time on the phone worrying, being insecure, and once or twice just crying (sincere apologies - you know who you are - especially for the crying part.) I've chewed my fingers to mincemeat due to nerves. But the world still hasn't ended, and I still haven't looked back. Not once.

So what am I doing now? I have no idea. I have plans A, B, C, and D. I'm really, really hoping for plan A. Hopefully I'll have news soon!