take one, pass it on challenge: day 5

Velvet Heart tunic and skinnies, Ross

necklace, eBay

         I normally think of myself as someone with a decent amount of self-discipline. But it turns out that there are some things that just don't work for me. Such as mandating that I spend a set amount of time a day preparing for my oral comprehensive exam.

        I'm using the Pomodoro method of time management and I figured that five 25-minute stints, or about 2 hours of study a day, would be good. 
          First day: Accomplish the goal and proudly mark 5 xs in my calendar.

          Second day: 4 xs. Feel guilty about not getting 5 done, but just don't want to.

          Third day: Make up for second day but only get 3 xs marked for the day. Rather grumpy because motivation is down and stress and pressure is up.
           So, today is the fourth day and I'm not sure whether I should power through with this until I get used to it, or decide it's not working for me and go back to my usual (less organized) ways.
 

   And since Katie was wondering wht the necklace looked like up close: 

     Just realized that I messed up my TOPIO challenge since I wore this necklace on day 3, but didn't carry over anything from day 4 .... oops! 

Try-it-out Tuesday: take one, pass it on: day 2

Lucky Brand linen buttondown, Macy's, old

striped dress, Gap

belt in neon azalea, J. Crew Factory, $6.99

       
       My "pass it on" item is this dress, which I wore yesterday with a scarf.

      One of the great lessons I've learned from blogging so far is to look at my clothes from a playful and experimental viewpoint. I would have never bought a bright pink belt before (in fact, I hated belts in general!) and I would have never considered that a buttondown could be worn any other way than as is. Knotting the ends makes it look like a cropped jacket, which is exciting because I feel like I've added to my closet without buying anything new. 
     So far, we've learned that J. Crew Factory's neon coral translates to "traffic cone orange," and neon azalea translates to "Pepto-Bismol pink." These are colors I definitely wouldn't have chosen in the first place, but I think they will add some diversity to my closet, which is always welcome.

      Random news: something's in the air ... and while, based on the calendar, it would be fitting for me to say it's love, it's sadly an irritant of the plant-based variety.  All Monday I suffered from a perpetually itchy nose, slightly achy ear and throat, and propulsive sneezes. Fuuuun. I've been coddling my allergy with cups of chai tea with almond milk and sugar, extra doses of brownie double deckers, and dress-up time.  (Can I say that I'm already excited about next week's Try-it-out Tuesday's post? It may be completely age-inappropriate, but I enjoyed it anyhow.)

take one, pass it on: day 1

     This is my second year doing February Freeze, and I was thinking about ways to mix it up. Then Sarah of Sarah's Real Life shared her Take One, Pass it On challenge, and bingo! New approach, no effort on my part. ;) So this week I'll be posting 5 outfits that carry on one item from the previous outfit.

striped dress, Gap

scarf, Ross

Dansko "Calliope" sandals, 6pm.com

     I keep meaning to belt this shift, but it's so comfortable as is. I did decide to add a bow, though! Both the scarf and sandals qualify as February Freeze items.