OOTD: Part of the Skyline

On Saturday, I took a trip to the East River State Park in Williamsburg to see what Smorgasburg was all about. Here are the Cliff notes: it's expensive, crowded, and just as cool as it was in "Master of None".

Since summer's been in New York, I've been struggling a little more to get dressed in the morning. I need to be work-appropriate during the week, which can be difficult in 90 F heat. Yeah, I know that's not actually that bad, but I'm from the Pacific North West! 90 feels like death.

On the weekend, though, I want to take advantage of not having to wear appropriate clothing. I try not to buy a lot of clothes that I can't wear to the office; it doesn't make sense to only own clothing that I can wear 2/7ths of the time. My office has a pretty lax dress code, so all of my week-wear is really cute and totally wearable outside the office. This isn't too dissimilar from my time in college, when I could basically wear anything I wanted to class. Now that I work in a professional environment, the few things I can't wear stick out like a sore thumb, and I often think about how badly I want to wear my ripped jeans or crop tops during the week.

I definitely can't wear this shirt to work, for example, so I wanted to wear it this weekend because I haven't worn it since I bought it. The only problem is that I didn't want to wear it with ANYTHING in my closet. It usually takes me 15 minutes to get dressed and ready in the morning, but I took a full 45 minutes to sort through everything I own trying to figure out how to best take advantage of not having to adhere to a dress code.

So... A little silly, right? I'm working on finding a balance between being happy with what I wear and getting out of the house in a reasonable amount of time. One of my goals is to stop putting pressure on myself to look picture perfect every day. What really matters is the experience I have on my days off, not what I look like on these adventures. Plus, I can definitely put a cute outfit like this together in a couple minutes if I don't push myself for perfection.

How do you dress for the weekend/your days off? Let me know in the comments below!

OOTD: Parks

My final big Seattle bucket list outing took me to two locations: Kerry Park and Gasworks Park. It was so windy at both locations that my hair was all over the place. I tried my hardest to make it part of the ~aesthetic~. Kerry Park has one of the best views of Seattle I've ever seen: it's way up on the top of the hill that makes up Queen Anne, so it has an ideal vantage point that overlooks the cityscape.

Gasworks Park also had a beautiful view of the city, with these beautiful old machines overgrown with ivy. My mom and I got so cold with our single outer layers that we had to leave after fifteen minutes!

OOTD: Golden Afternoon

Next stop on my Seattle Bucket List tour: Golden Gardens park. Sure, it's a little late in the season for a beach day, but I grew up on the Oregon coast and have spent most of my days at the beach in pants and a jacket. Hence, the leggings and long-sleeves. I've worn this outfit a number of times: it's exceptionally comfortable and makes it look like I put more effort into my look than I actually did. This dress is such a fantastic multi-purpose piece, and I've worn it everywhere from class to work to, now, the beach.

OOTD: Leaf It to Me

This was the outfit I wore the day after I fell down a hill and scraped up my knee really badly and twisted my ankle. Dang these stupid Seattle hills! As you know (if you've read even, like, one other blog post of mine), I really value being comfortable in what I wear, so I wasn't about to wear heels or some tight-fitting pants when I was in so much pain. Hence, my trusty Steve Madden Chelsea boots to make walking a little easier and this long, flowy skirt to hide my still-healing knee without constricting it. I based the rest of my outfit around these essential pieces. Fun fact: I actually made this choker in the true Broke & Fabulous way!

OOTD: Greenhouse

After three years of living in Seattle, I finally got my act together and visited Volunteer Park. I can't believe I've lived thirty minutes away and never been! It was a beautiful walk (if a little hot in the 90 F weather) and a beautiful park. My favorite feature was the Volunteer Park Conservatory. With only a $4 entry fee, it was totally worth it, if even for the Instagram pictures.
These booties are my essential Seattle footwear. They're simple, cute, and super comfortable, which is totally necessary considering I walk everywhere. The platform is tall enough to efficiently avoid puddles, another Seattle necessity. I wear them all year long with every possible kind of outfit.

OOTD: Olive in the Garden

I've been looking for a pair of wooden-soled clogs for months now, and I finally found a pair at Goodwill selling for less than a third of their original price. Don't worry, I understand that they're super impractical, but all of my shoes are made for walking up and down the hills of Seattle, so I figured it was time to treat myself to a wild pair of heels. I bought this dress because it has a similar cut as the dress I wore to my sister's graduation. I love the way it hangs and it's super comfortable. I've worn it to work, on dates, and just lounging around the house.

OOTD: Too Hot

I love going home for the weekend because I make my photographer sister take pictures of me. It was so unbearably hot in Bend the weekend I was home that I couldn't even stand to wear this lace kimono for the longer than the length of this shoot! I usually feel self-conscious in this color (maybe I have witch undertones?), but it matches this top so I decided to put aside my self-judgements and rock it anyway.