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Hello everyone,

This outfit is a compilation of different pieces from different places. The shirt is from Maurices and it is a plus size shirt. I love it because it is not tight but not too big either. It is really soft too which helps a lot. The green scarf I have had for a while so it would be hard to tell where to buy it. The black pants are fairly new and I got them at Target. It is somewhat a newer brand they are selling and I absolutely love it. The shoes are my favorite brand from Brazil – Melissa. I love them because they are great for the rainy weather of Portland and the best part is that they smell like candy inside no matter how long I wear them. The best part is that they can be bought in different places in the US. Melissa Women’s Space Love Flats, Pink/Black, 9 B(M) US. 

 

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This gray dress is from Maurices and it is a great piece to have in the wardrobe, it dresses up and down fairly easy depending on the shoes and accessories you use with it. The sweater is old enough that where I bought it does not even sell clothes anymore. The boots are quite a show stopper though. They are still around I believe…
Not Rated Women’s Cocktail Queen Riding Boot,Cream,7.5 M US

They are fun, full of bling and sure to give a pop to any outfit.

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Hello everyone,

This is a very colorful fall outfit. As you may know by now, a lot of my clothes come from Maurices and the denim shirt is no different. I like it because it is long enough to be worn almost as a dress with leggings and and it is nice and soft and not stiff like many denim shirts can be. The leggings are from LulaRoe and super soft. The scarf is older and I know I got it at TJMax a long time ago. I think there are still some similar ones out there but not sure if the exact same. – Sorry  🙁

The booties(Rampage Verna Ankle Boot Bootie with Wraparounds 8.5 Black) are a great addition to any wardrobe since it is a neutral color and very comfortable. I like the beige because it literally matches any of my outfits even though I have way too many shoes and probably wouldn’t need to have one pair that matches everything… hehehehe

 

This outfit was a new combination for me. I mixed and matched some older pieces with newer ones. The pants are the same as the ones I wore with the denim tunic but here I am wearing them with a Columbia Quilted dark gray skirt and a Maurices burnout shirt and the new gray vest I just got a week ago at Marshalls. It worked and if I say so myself, it looked really nice with the colors of the tree leaves.

I have to say that while we were taking these pictures a university student approached us because he is working on a photography project for a class and needed people for portraits. I let him take as many pictures as he wanted… Not sure what they look like so hoping for the best at this point.

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These shoes are also Melissa and great for rainy weather.
Melissa Shoes Women’s Space Love III Pale Pink Shoe

 

Hello everyone,

Today I chose a more classic outfit. It was a rainy day and the dark color pants seem appropriate. They are actually denim trousers and look professional. I took a big risk when I bought them since I did it online. They are from Maurices so I had a good guess they would fit me but you just never know with pants and buying them without trying them on.

The boots are the most comfortable ones I have, they are my first Sorel pair and a bit more expensive than I would like to admit but I see the appeal now. I can wear them all day and no pain at all. I have to say I like wearing a tank that has some detail to offset the plain color sweater. I think it seals the deal and goes with the scarf.

Here is the part where I am vulnerable… you will notice my hair changes quite a bit from one picture to another. One of the things that makes me very self-conscious is my thinning hair on top of my head. So I have found a few solutions for it now and I am totally enjoying and having fun experimenting. I have come to the conclusion that life is too short to feel so self-conscious to the point of embarrassment. So if I can find creative solutions I will and this blog is a creative solution to feel better about myself and overcome my issues with being overweight. I guess, I might as well embrace my curves and show the world that I can look good regardless of my size.

I hope you guys enjoy reading my blog and about my experiences with clothing and shopping. I am hoping to share even more in the next few days.

Thanks,

Juliana

I know the look on my face seems a bit distressed but I think it is just that it was too early in the morning for pictures…lol… Also, notice I have my lanyard from my school hanging on my neck, that was a total miss on my part… rough morning, I guess. (I work at Concordia University at the College of Education and our offices are inside a public k-12 school so we need to wear our name tags all the time to show we are cleared to be in the building and if I don’t put it on in the morning I run the risk of forgetting it.)

So, I was so tired of designers and stores thinking that if we are fat we need to wear shapeless tops and usually only dark or clothes that are no fun. So I am glad to say that Maurices and some other brands are starting to cater to us, finally!!! This top is from Maurices and even though you cannot see it, the back is sheer and really cute. Believe it or not, the skirt is from Columbia and it is one of the hiking skirts they make. The leggings are LulaRoe again (I do have a collection of them because they are so soft and fun). One of the things I love to play with in the winter are the boot cuffs, again this is an accessory that is independent of your weight. I have one of each color and some that are knitted and some lace ones. I have so many because some are repurposed sweater sleeves. I got some of my husband’s old sweaters and some of mine and cut their sleeves and ‘voila’, boot cuffs are made.

It took me a while to get used to the look of leggings with skirts. I used to wear them with long tunics but now that I have some basic skirts that go with my leggings it has gotten a lot easier to put outfits together. But to be honest, it has not been easy finding the right kind of skirts to wear with leggings. I think there are some that are better than others, and it is hard to explain what makes them better. I like these hiking ones because they are not too long or wide so it seems to work well with leggings. I have some that are just too loose and long and they work with boots but not with leggings.

This weekend I am hoping to get some more pictures taken of different outfits so I can start a gallery here. Stay tuned!!!

Thanks for reading,

Juliana

So I am sure you all have heard that black is slimming. I would have to disagree to a certain extent. Black is slimming if the cut is right, then for that matter, any color could be slimming as long as the cut is right. Nonetheless, here I am wearing a black dress with an embroidered light weight black cover up. I added red leggings and scarf to bring a pop of color to the outfit. The leggings are hiding under the dress on the picture but they are LulaRoe and super comfy… The cover up was a good find at Burlington about a month ago. It was super cheap and will go with a couple of dresses I have since I have the same dress is black and burgundy.  The fun thing was the sparkle that the scarf brought to the outfit. Anyone who knows me, knows I like some sparkle when possible.

This was a very comfortable outfit and since the boots have some heels it looked pretty dressy.

As I was saying earlier, black is only really slimming when it is done right. I guess I have figured out that I never look slim so now I don’t even go for that but I do try to find pieces that make me feel good.  Trust me, many times when I look in the mirror I think I look awful and then every once in a while I find that one piece that makes me feel good about myself. The black dress I have on here was one of those pieces and that is why I bought two of the same just in different colors. (Plus, they were on sale 😉 )

Choosing outfits are not always easy for me because I tend to doubt myself. I usually ask my husband or father (who comes in the morning to help with things in the house) for their opinion on how I look. It is great when I get compliments at work or just out and about though.

Thank you for reading,

Juliana

Happy Monday!

So today I start this idea of blogging on a regular basis with each outfit I wear for work. I am very fortunate that I don’t have a very strict dress code and can play with my outfits pretty freely. I can have fun with the outfits as long as I look professional and I am not wearing jeans. I am also lucky I live in Portland, OR and everything goes here.

Today I decided to start with a green and blue dress that I got at Ross for about $12 and went from there. Because it has navy blue on it I paired with the navy blue leggings (these ones are the nice Zella brand, they are not the cheapest but they fit so nicely and make me feel better about myself). These leggings I found at Nordstrom Rack and at least they were a bit cheaper than they would normally be at other stores. Now findings these navy blue boots were a bit harder. All the years I had wearing high heels made my calves bigger so some of my boots have to be wider. Now navy blue boots are not easy to find anyway, so when you add the wide calf thing it makes it even harder. I found these at the JustFab site. (Be aware that this site requires a membership that is free and the first time you shop you get a great price but then you have to remember to opt out every month so your card does not get charged. The good news is that even if it gets charged you can use that amount of money to buy something. What I did is put a reminder on my phone every month so I am good to go.)

The boot cuff is only for one leg since it is a pretty busy one. It looks handmade and it was a total find while I was visiting North Carolina this last summer. The normal price had been $19.95 and I paid only $2, needless to say I bought all of the ones they had.

I tend to wear a lot of scarves on an attempt to hide my big belly. I think sometimes it works better than others. The difficult part for me has been to find scarves that are long enough.

Thank you for taking time to read my post….

Juliana Smith

 

Hello everyone,

I am not going to lie, I have a huge wardrobe. I mean, I have a lot of clothes and never enough room to put them away. I actually switch off my closet when winter comes around and then again in the summer. It frankly drives my husband crazy the amount of clothes and shoes I have but he has come to the point where he just helps me find more room and be more creative about storage.

Because of my weight, I love shoes in particular. No matter what size I am, the shoes always fit so it makes me happy. I have so many pairs of shoes that my former high school students wrote an article about me and my shoes in the school newspaper. Throughout the years, my style has changed because of the different jobs and places I worked. The changes happened because of the situation and the demands of the job. Once, I had a job where I had to wear nylons everyday and that is when I found out I am allergic to nylons and had to change jobs. Since then I have found many ways around wearing nylons. I will share them here when the time comes.

My clothes are a true expression of who I am, most people totally see me when they see all the colors and compositions I wear. I don’t own a lot of black other than just some key pieces, but I always wear something colorful with the black. Brown is still a work in progress… my grandma used to say I looked like a cup of chocolate milk when I wore brown so I always avoided it. I do get my style from my grandma, she was very stylish till the day she died.

I am hoping to add a few pictures each week with a little blurb about the brands and where I got them. By the way, even though I own a lot of clothes, I buy them all on sale or with coupons. I don’t like paying full price for anything.

I hope you enjoy joining me on this new journey!

Thank you for reading,

Juliana

This is me with my boys last year at the cruise we took to Mexico. This is a nice gray dress from Maurices and the little mint green sweater is from Gap. I love the dress for winter but it is sleeveless so I had to get creative.