Mixing Things Up

I decided to play around with a little bit of pattern mixing today.  I mean, doesn't a Tuesday full of answering phone calls at work just scream out for a day of pattern mixing?? It does - believe me, it does :). 

And not just some pattern mixing, but we've got all types going on here - some leopard/animal print awesome-ness with the shoes, followed with a fun stripey sweater over a floral printed shirt. Fun!!

Really, another title for this post could "All J.Crew on top, all TJMaxx on bottom".  Those jeans, my friends, have a story.  While I was down in Mississippi for the holidays, I was out shopping at TJMaxx with my Gram (it's a generational obsession).  We were perusing the racks, winding down on our treasure hunting mission, when I saw a pair of skinny leg dark MICHAEL KORS jeans on the rack for $35!!!  Of course the pair that I initially found was not in my size.  So I did some more treasure hunting/scanning and lo and behold, there they were.  AND THEN - I broke one of my cardinal rules - I did NOT try them on in the store!! I could tell that my Gram was ready to skedaddle, so I just grabbed these babies and hoped for the best.  Lo and behold they not only fit (!!!) but they are now my new favorite pair of jeans!!!  Be prepared to see these babies all the time (you think I'm joking - just wait)!

On a completely different note, last night as I was watching The Bachelor (which was AMAZING {-ly hilarious}), one of the bachelorettes was billed as a fashion marketer.  I thought "Oh man I wish I could have her job" but then they not only proceeded to show her buying  a huge assortment of things, but she also chose to wear the most horrendous shoes and black dress combo I've ever seen.  They were these bright pink wedge things that I found myself HATING, which SHOCKED me because of all the people on this planet who would support bright pink wedges, I thought I was one of them.  But then when I actually saw them on her person, I was like, oh honey, NO!! And THEN I had an existential crisis, doubting my love of my own shoe collection, wondering to myself, do my crazy shoes actually NOT work??  Do they actually look like a pair of hot pink wedges with a poor fitting black dress?? Oh the horror, the horror of self-doubt!!

But I did choose to wear cheetah/leopard/whatever animal print wedges today.  So maybe my self is more intact than my self-doubt is trying to convince me.

Tell me - Do you naturally go for crazy awesome shoes or do you tend to be more minimalistic and stick with plain black and brown?

Sweater, Shirt, Necklace - J.Crew
Jeans - Michael Kors via TJMaxx (and a miracle)
Animal Print Wedges - Franco Sarto via TJMaxx
Watch - Fossil via gift
Sunnies - Target