Summary of January's capsule wardrobe

This is a summary of my first attempt at a capsule wardrobe. 

What I worked with - 

• Rather, what I didn't have to work with - my StyleBook App =(
• Clothes that I was debating whether or not to keep or let go
• Items I wanted to wear a few more times before taking them to the dry cleaners

(As this is my first try,  I didn't try to constrain myself too much by limiting my shoes, accessories, and outerwear.)

What I discovered - 

For work I frequently present offers and meet with clients - I didn't realize that I tend to choose an item in black or white until I found myself with nothing to wear in my capsule and there was nothing I felt comfortable with. I added my recently purchased white tunic from the GAP. For each capsule moving forward, I will make sure to include more black and white items. 

I didn't include enough casual/weekend clothing and ended up adding a simple gray J Crew sweatshirt - at first I tried to just use what I had but mentally it just made me feel like I was at work. Moving forward I will make sure to add a few more casual/weekend only items. 

I can easily get away with one pair of jeans for the entire month but I did miss my broken-in GAP jeans - I will just wear these whenever I want and not count that as part of my capsules since it has a tear in it and can't be used for work or dressier occasions.  

I didn't include enough tops that could be worn on their own - most of the items I used this month, I wore with a sweater or cardigan. I added a jewel toned sleeveless top that I had worn on New Years Eve into the mix.

These are the outfits that I was able to make from my January capsule wardrobe: 

(Since I don't have my StyleBook App with me, you'll have to bear with me with these horrible outfit photos)

I did discover a few outfits from this capsule that look REALLY good. I unfortunately don't have my app so can't show you the complete look but I have highlighted them in green squares. I will added them to my app in a couple of weeks when I visit my husband and will post these at a later date.

February will be interesting as I will have two small capsules - work and my trip. Looking forward to it! =) And I can't wait to see my husband again! This is the longest time we've been apart.  

Rocky Mountain Soap Company - a step towards my lifestyle goal for healthier skin!

A major lifestyle goal I am trying to achieve is to take better care of my skin. All my life I have lived with extremely dry skin and eczema, and a few years ago, experienced the worst eczema outbreak I have ever had, lasting a year and even landing me in emergency a couple of times. 

My skin is under control again, and thankfully do not have any scarring, but that experience really scared the s*it out of me. I was miserable, my self-esteem took a hit, I had open wounds that would not heal, it was ugly and uncomfortable. After I recovered, I REALLY wanted to make an effort to keep my skin healthy - I switched to products made for sensitive skin and tried to keep my skin hydrated as much as possible by drinking water, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, and constantly moisturizing. The products I used worked well, but I was also wanting to lead a healthier and 'cleaner' lifestyle, thus began my search for toxin free products, and especially those that were easily accessible - locally available, and not insanely expensive. 

Enter, the Rocky Mountain Soap Company - this little boutique store opened near my work in Downtown Vancouver near the end of 2014. They have a full range of items such as soaps, lip balms, deodorant, and body butters. I was most curious and impressed by their deodorant and body butters (especially their body butters as I loooooved their packaging - such easy application!). I tested their body butter in store and it left my skin very soft and lasted quite a long time without feeling greasy; their scents were lovely but not too over-powering. My favourite is the apricot.

I purchased the Apricot Body Butter, Hand Butter (Avocado), un-scented Body Butter (specifically for dry skin), Lemongrass deodorant, and was gifted an Apricot hand-cream during their promotion (buy $35 of product before tax and receive a free hand cream). 

I'm extremely excited to start with these products =) Best of all, they're made in Canada, and I love their saying - "Tested on owners, not animals".  

Splurge! - Burberry Brit "Blackwell" coat in camel

One of my wardrobe and minimalism goals is to get my coat and jacket numbers down to approximately 10. I currently have almost triple that, and have been slowly wearing them through, letting them go, upgrading them, and not replacing any styles that I don't consider to be a staple in my wardrobe. 

I am aiming for 10 really classic and high-quality coats that are diverse, and want them to last me many many years - I found THIS beauty over the weekend during a team retreat to Bellevue, WA where a Nordstrom was attached to our hotel. 

I love the neutral color and warmth, but most importantly, I love that it looks like a casual coat but can be worn in a professional setting due to its clean lines. I currently don't even have a casual wool coat (that fits me) and this will do double-duty in my work and weekend wardrobe. 

I am already wearing her!

Lifestyle changes I'm striving for

In school we used to be asked to write down some yearly resolutions and that idea just stuck with me for much of my adult life. Unfortunately, I never achieved any of them =( Last year, I really wanted to work on making solid and steady changes in my life that I could maintain so I focused on my lifestyle changes, rather than resolutions. 

I started an excel spreadsheet of all the things I wanted to do and it expanded into other lists like 'things I don't need', or 'things I want to only have X amount of', etc. and by writing each and every little thing (some were as little as owning 3 perfumes at any given time), it really helped me to focus on my goals.

I won't bore you with all the little details, but some major ones are:

• to travel more - I have a list of places and will have begun to find ways to fly for free, cut down on travel expenses, and also start a travel fund
• feeling beautiful every day - and I just mean feeling beautiful to myself so that I can focus more on the goals I want to achieve that day than be distracted by how I look; this aligns with perfecting my wardrobe
• taking better care of my skin - I've lived all my life with eczema and had a terrible our break a few years ago that just killed my self esteem; I have already begun to discard or use up products that may not be the best for me and replaced them with fragrant free items, or skin friendly products. This also means drinking a lot of water and avoiding or decreasing some foods that may not be good for me
• eating healthier - I have stopped saying I want to lose weight, because I know that the healthier I eat, the weight loss will follow, and I want to get into a better habit of eating smaller portions and putting more nutrients in me. I have begun to juice so that I can get more veggies and frutis in me that I otherwise would not.
• feel physically strong - this is a big one because I don't think skinny is what I want. I want to be fit, which I think is a big difference. Last year I began boxing again and loving it and can feel some changes already. 
• try to spread more joy to people each day - I sent out Christmas cards this last holiday and that may seen standard to some people, it's a new thing for me. I'm starting small =)

Each time I achieve something, or began something that would help me achieve this change, I update it in my excel sheet for motivation. It helps me a lot and I can't wait to see when more things begin to have an accomplished date next to them. 

There are many more but I think these may be ones that a lot of people share so it would be great to get your support and make sure I'm staying focused =) I'd love to hear some of your changes and how your working towards them!

Side note: I dropped off my bag of donations on the weekend, with the help of my cousin, re-fashioned a t-shirt into a tote bag, and decided to give my Gucci money clip to my best guy bff (I bought it back in my univ days for clubbing and only used it a few times).

Mid-month update for January capsule wardrobe

I hope everyone has been having a fantastic January! - January is always an exciting time for me as I can hit the re-start button, and pursue new goals with a new energy; that's the first week - then it always seems to drag on a bit and I can't wait for February to arrive haha.

I have however been staying true to my capsule wardrobe and now that we are mid-month, just wanted to let you all know how I'm doing at my first attempt at a capsule.

As mentioned before, I will not be including outerwear, shoes, bags or accessories, or pieces for layering in my capsules - I may try that as I get better with capsules, but for now, I'm baby-steppin' it.

As you can see, I've already decided to donate one sweater, and have added 2 pieces to the capsule. I've also noted in red squares, which items I have still yet to wear. (You'll have to bare with me on the horrible photos for a few months - I don't have my StyleBook App with me, and am working off a screen shot I had my husband send me).

The sweater I donated was something I originally purchased because I loved the style and it was something I had wanted to try. It was a great price so I didn't mind if it was 2 sizes too big and decided to shrink it in the dryer - I figured no matter how it turned out, I would be fine with it given the style of the sweater and how versatile the look was supposed to be. I did shrink it, I did wear it, and I did enjoy it for a while but now have decided that it's a bit too chunky for my liking; I can't really wear it under any coats, or without a coat (even with layering) given the seasons where I live (I'm becoming a wuss, and get cold quite easily).

The two pieces I added were items that I purchased in December. I added the white tunic because I realized that when I present offers or go for 'serious' meetings, I like to wear a solid item of black or white - I didn't realize this before until I found myself without either, one morning and was quite adamant about not making any substitutions. New Lesson! - I will be making sure to have a few black and white pieces in my future capsules. The plaid shirt I just added for a casual Friday because I miss my husband and he just loves plaid, so I was channeling his wardrobe haha. Plus, this one is thicker and pretty cozy.

Side note: On Wednesday, I purchased 3 pairs of tights to replace my old ones.