Happy Wednesday!!!

Hi there! Today has been one of those days when lots of things go wrong (#3 poured oj all over himself as we were about to head out the door to preschool drop-off where we WOULD have been on time had he not covered himself in juice and required an entire clothes change), Jamba Juice got dropped and poured out on the bottom of my car, #1 and #3 were admiring themselves in my full-length mirror and somehow ended up shattering it--luckily only a small scratch on #3's arm was the result) but I absolutely refuse to let it ruin my day because it is GORGEOUS outside! Totally spring weather! In fact, the boys even wore shorts this afternoon just to keep cool when they were outside running around. LOVE IT! So on goes my day, bad luck or not...it can (hopefully) only get better right?!!

So I have a few things to chat about with ya today...first up is my visit to Gap yesterday. I was on the hunt for some white wide-leg denim. I tried on a few different styles and the one I liked best was the Curvy Jeans (white wash):



Here they are on (I would obviously wear these with wedges or heels...I didn't have any with me so I'm barefoot here):



I liked the way they fit better than the Long and Lean (white wash) style. I took my regular Gap size 25/0 in the Curvy jeans. They don't have as much stretch to them as the Long and Lean style did but I also found them to be thicker and less-see through. They were plenty long (perfect for my 4" wedge sandals) and hugged at all the right places. As soon as a sale pops up they're mine (oh, just realized Gap is doing 25% off today...hmmm). Just for reference (no pictures though--sorry, my three boys were with me and I was in a hurry!!!) I found the Long and Lean style denim to run really big...we're talking crazy vanity sizing here people. The 0 was too big on me so I tried the 00, and they fit. I don't ever wear a 00 in anything so I thought this was way off. I found the Long and Leans to be more baggy through my thigh area than the curvy fit which I thought was odd...I expected it to be the other way around based on reviews. You just never know how things will fit your body till you try them on. The pair I went in search of to begin with, the Skinny Boot Jeans, were not in stock at this store. Bummer. I read a few reviews online and they were said to be very see-through so that pretty much eliminates them off my list right away anyways I guess. SO if you're in the market for some cute white denim, I recommend the Curvy Jeans...give them a try!

The next thing I wanted to chat about today was Polyvore. I have professed my love of Polyvore countless times on my blog...seriously, such a handy tool! I finally decided that to fully take advantage of the site, I would take pictures of all the items in my closet that I couldn't find product images for online (I have a lot of stuff from many years ago that I would never be able to find pictures of online as I'm sure most of us do) so I could basically create a virtual closet to create outfits from. I've been asked about my process for taking pictures of my closet items, etc and thought I'd just summarize what I've done to get my photos taken and uploaded. It's really a simple process, just very time intensive. When you see product shots online at places like J Crew or Anthropologie you usually see them shot with a clean, sterile backdrop--typically grey or white. I decided to do the same (or come as close to it as I could). I hung an over the door hanger on my linen closet in my bathroom and take all my pictures with my white closet door as my background (for everything except shoes). I have a few small windows in my bathroom so I tried to take the pictures when I had good natural light coming in(this wasn't always the case but it does help). I first tried taking pictures laying the clothes flat on the ground and then shooting with the carpet as the backdrop but it made the pieces look lifeless and obviously, flat. I didn't like the way it looked so I went with hanging them up.

After I uploaded all the pictures onto my computer I used an editing program (I use Photoshop Elements) to crop, brighten, straighten, etc the pictures. When that was done I created a blog (and kept it private so only I can see it) that I uploaded every single picture I had taken. After uploading I used the Polyvore clipper to clip each image into "My Items" on Polyvore. (Now, there very well may be a way to upload the images directly from your computer into Polyvore without having to "clip" each picture into the program but I don't know how to do that). Once the images were in Polyvore I organized them all into the obvious categories..."Tops", "Pants", "Shoes", etc. Now when it came to shoes I again tried to mimic the product shots that Anthropologie takes with their shoes...using my carpet as the backdrop. I set the shoes so that one was at a side-view and one was more of a front-view. I took close-up photos smack-dab in the middle of an area of my carpet where there was nothing else around. I also made sure to angle the camera so that nothing but carpet was in the background. If I happened to shoot something in the background I just cropped it out when editing. Every once in a while I would just slip a pair on and take the picture with them on my feet (I only did that with flats). When using the images in Polyvore to create sets I find that some of the images look fine the way they are when I drag them over but others need to be played with a little...as far as "keeping the background" or not. I can usually figure out a way to make it look decent. So there you have it...I'm not computer savvy at all, and there certainly might be better ways to do this, but this is how I do it and how it works for me. Hope that helps! (See the OOTD set below using some of my pictures I took to see what they look like in a Polyvore set).

Lastly, I have a few OOTD shots for you...the first is from today. I bought this top last summer because it was literally $6 and I figured I could find a way to make it work. First of all, DUMB idea. I try not to make purchases like this anymore (the kind where I buy it just because it's $6) because I've learned that if I'm unsure about something I'm buying most of the time it won't get worn. This was a final sale item so I couldn't return it even if I wanted to. I actually like the top a lot but the problem I've had with it is that it's totally sheer! I'm not sure why it was made like that...it didn't look like that in the product shot. Anyhow, for some reason I was determined to find a way to wear it today. In the past I have just tried putting a tank underneath it to block the sheerness, but it looks ridiculous because you can totally see where the tank ends underneath since the top is so long. Not cute. I happened to realize that I have a longer white short sleeve top in my closet today when I was looking so I thought I'd give it a try. Not bad! The neckline is not as cute since it's layered over another shirt though...all well. It's still a little short, but it comes pretty close. I was in a yellow mood today so I grabbed a lightweight yellow cardigan to layer over it and then threw on some neutral wedge sandals and a belt to finish it off.

Here's the Polyvore set I created (using some of the product images I took myself):

OOTD 3-30-11 by jgj27 featuring gold bangles

Banana Republic dark wash skinny jeans, $60
Steve Madden platform sandal, $80
Gold bangle, $32
With Love From CA filigree ring, $5.50
Forever21 hook earring, $1.50
Forever21 necklace, $1.50
Belt
Jenni's Closet
Jenni's Closet

And in real life:



Details:
-Long Embroidered Tank-Shade Clothing (Summer 2010)
-White undershirt-Ann Taylor Factory store (Summer 2010)
-Cardigan-Gap Outlet (a few years old)
-Cake Decoration Belt-Anthropologie (this totally doesn't match my shoes I'm just realizing...whoops!)
-Ultimate Skinny Jeans, rolled-Banana Republic
-Steve Madden "Fantasik" wedge sandals-Endless
-Necklace-Lisa Leonard Designs
-Earrings-Target
-Ring/Bangles-Forever 21

Since it's feeling like spring I wanted to roll my jeans up a little. I actually tried a pair of cropped jeans on at Gap yesterday because I lack a good pair of cropped jeans (I'm no longer a fan of almost all the pairs I have from last year...they're all a little baggy--just not my favorite look) but the Gap cropped jeans went all the way to my ankles. Nothing cropped about that! I need petite lengths I guess once again. That's the next thing on my list...cropped jeans. For now though, rolling my skinny jeans works.

And here's what I wore yesterday:



Details:
-Tissue Garland Tank-J Crew
-Striped Cardigan-Old Navy
-Skinny Jeans-American Eagle
-Flats-DSW
-Necklace-Tiffany
-Earrings-Express
-Ring-OLD

I hope you enjoyed some sunshine today like we did...it certainly makes everything better!!! =)

Have a great day!