We have officially entered day two of ice world here in Floyd. Ice is weird, unlike snow, you have absolutely no choice but to stay inside. With snow and a lot of determination you can at least go outside or plow your way out, but with ice simply stepping out on your welcome mat requires ice skates.

I'd be lying if I said I was upset about any of this. I'm a homebody through and through and have hours of projects to work on to occupy my time. As long as I have josh, food and the internet, I'm set. Yesterday I spent most of the morning making jewelry! I have a jewelry open house the weekend after next, hosted by my mom (yay!) and I've been busy trying to prepare for that. Want to see?

I love these necklaces so much! I really want to keep the green one.

Later on in the afternoon I started working on some freelance projects as well as a portfolio site. I feel good when I'm productive even though I ended up watching four episodes of LOST last night. That show is addictive! I curse the day I ever started watching it.

As far as exercise, I'm so excited about my GoWear fit. I'm not even kidding. I had to perform surgery on the arm band at the beginning of the week to make it bigger. I left the original band intact for future smaller arms, but needed to extend it by about two inches. Now, I never take it off except for showering. I will post a picture of my funny little extender in case anyone else is having the same issue.

We went for a walk in the woods behind our house on Tuesday and found a pond, a little waterfalls. It's like a  whole other world back there. I tracked my calories on the trip and noticed that the walk back up burned major calories. I set a target calorie burn and it's fun to push myself to match the calories.

I also tried out Dancing with the Stars workout DVD. I don't watch the show, but the DVD was a great workout although very hard to keep up with dance moves. Have you guys tried it? I was very sore!

Also, my February 1st weigh-in is approaching! My start weight for January was 290 and my goal for the end of the month is 278. I am over half-way there.

Here are a couple of outfits that I came up with today using some of the inspiration from yesterday's post. I received a lovely necklace in the mail that I ordered off of etsy a couple of weeks ago and wore that all day today and based my outfit around it.

My hair is looking crazay in this picture.

I love pencil skirts! They are definitely a staple in my closet. Why? They are comfortable, flattering and I enjoy tucking shirts into them. I got this one from old navy (of course) and love it because of the wide waste band, dark denim and two button closure. I'm wearing a size 22 in this skirt and find it to be fitted, but also roomy in the waste which I like. It seems to be a little stretchy too. You can find it here.

This shirt I got recently  from avenue.com which is very hit or miss store for me. Sometimes I love their clothes and sometimes I hate them. I love this shirt though. I ordered it online and really enjoy the small gold rose buttons and somewhat fringed fabric in the ruffles and sleeves. I love the collar too. It has an old romantic feel to me which I like. This shirt is a size 18/20 and could stand to be a bit looser on me,especially in the bust. Nothing Jillian's 30 day shred can't help with. You can find it here. (ps: if you ever order from avenue.com, google "avenue coupon codes" and you can get 20% off of every item you order)

Here is a close-up of my necklace. Disregard my creepy eyes here

This is definitely a "statement" necklace, to say the least. This would go in the category of things that I think are awesome. I bought this off of etsy from a lady in canada. Her website is here. I've got my eye on her bird cameo too! If you can't tell from the photo, it is an illustration of a fox. The original sale page is here.

Here is another outfit that I put together using a new-to-me accessory: a belt! I never wear belts. ever. Actually I could make a public stance against belts. They are silly to me. Well, jeans with belts and tucked in shirts are silly to me. Or wearing a belt with jeans and your shirt tucked out seems silly as well. Then again, wearing a belt over a tank top could certainly go in the category of weird as well. Anywho, I'm liking this look a lot!

It does for me what the pencil skirt does- accentuates the waste. This tank top was purchased at old navy a couple of summers back and its very loose and flowy. I think this belt brings it in and makes it look more polished in strange way. This is a size xxl. And the belt came with a skirt that I bought about three years ago. You can see the pants, but I am wearing these skinny jeans in a size 20. They fit and are comfortable and don't look bad with this outfit, however I would think they would look just a bit better with a 10-15 lb weight loss. My camera died before I could get a better full length photo, but will take another tomorrow.

I got this sweater in Chicago at Filene's Basement. I love the mustard color and big buttons. It is a size xl and fits pretty good. I like fitted clothes, what can i say?

I'm still working on a lot of my fall fashion ideas this week so bear with me, they're a comin'! I will keep posting them as I get them done and will post ideas if I have any. If you guys are trying out new outfits, please feel free to send me an email and I will post it here.

PS: I've started the Jillian Michael's 30-day shred with my sister in law and we are heading into day three tomorrow morning. I am so sore, but it feels really good to have someone to be accountable with. She is good at sticking to things and I don't want to let her down, so it pushes me to keep with it.

I also wanted to start posting my food, I did take a couple of pictures, but will probably post them tomorrow. Today I ate: a small salad (lettuce, eggs, broccoli, tomatoes) with light ranch dressing, banana, rice , beans, salad with guacamole, salsa and about 10 tortilla chips, for dinner I made homemade pizza (the crust) with sauce, fresh mozzarella and lots of onions. I had three small slices of that.

Tomorrow is local thursday's!

I'm not sure why I call these my cabbage shoes, but every time I wear them I say "these are my cabAGE shoes from Turget!" like the Target lady from SNL. It cracks me up. I wore these yesterday and have another pair in a dark purple/pink color.  I've been wearing them with pencil skirts and jeans. Do you have a favorite pair of shoes for fall?

This is a loaded question, one that I am still figuring out for myself. It's hard for me to think that I have true personal style when a good portion of my clothes come from Old Navy or Target. Sure, I add accessories to the mix, but overall I sometimes feel that my style is dictated by what is available in my size and the amount of money I'm willing to spend rather than what I truly choose to wear to represent my personality.

That aside, I'm still working on expressing my style at any size. I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. Dressing my barbies and wishing her clothes would magically morph into my kid sizes so that I could look just like her. Good thing for me that didn't actually happen, my barbie was kind of slutty. What I have been doing for a very long time is experimenting with my clothes. This pursuit has not always been without flaws, embarrassment or misguided direction. But, bless my adolescent and adult soul, I sure have tried.

I remember in Jr. High dressing like the boys I had crushes on. What did this mean? Band t-shirts, dickies uniforms, ball chains, and airwalks. I figured that in order for them to like me, I had to dress like them. Needless to say that did not work out. In high school I got a little better with personal style, but the plus size clothing of almost ten years ago does not compare to what we have today, not even close.

Internet shopping was still catching on and I was still way too embarrassed to shop at the fat girl stores in the mall. I would end up wearing the same outfits over and over and planned on buying new clothes when I lost weight.

I don't think it was until college or even my short stint in nyc that I really started to figure out how to dress myself in a way that represesnted who I am, and made me feel proud. This was and still is not easy as often times plus size clothing tends to be like finding a needle in a haystack filled with polyester blend tops with slits in the sleeves or glitter thread running through the woven plaid button ups or the excessive details and the, well, you get it. And its not just plus sizes, its short gals and tall gals and those who gain more in the middle or those who gain more in the hips. Its really, all of us.

Where did I start? A few years back, around my junior year in college I bought a small bright fushia spiral notebook with blank pages (my favorite kind) to fill with all of the images that inspired me. Delia's catalog and glamour magazine cutouts filedl out the first few pages, later on I added images from jcrew, anthropologie, lucky magazine and toast. Every look was an idea or inspiration. What did I like about these outfits? Was there a common thread between them? Had my tastes changed over the years?

There was and still is a common thread between what is and is not my style. What isn't my style? Anything mod (1960's go-go, bold colors etc.), logos or obvious branding on clothing/accessories, sorority style (demin cut-off skirts, a polo or american eagle/abercrombie/holister tee), holiday/seasonal themed clothing, or pieces that look like the accessories should have stopped five or ten steps ago. Figuring out what I don't like has always been much easier. And there are things that I certainly wear that someone else would go out of the house wearing, and that is how it goes.

Today's challenge (or tomorrow's, or whenever you have time) is to get a notebook, a stack of magazines, scissors and a glue stick and set some time aside to sit down and find inspiration. Try to tear down your comfort zone and outfits that you normally wouldn't wear and think outside of the box. Don't worry about "it won't fit" , "it won't look good on me", or "I can't afford it" and just really pick things that speak to you.

Maybe you like the way an outfit it styled, but maybe you would change the patterns or colors. Maybe you like a scarf, or the way they wear leggings with a short dress, anything. If it speaks to you, cut it out and paste it in your "dream outfit" notebook. Maybe you like one aspect of an outfit, but not another, or maybe you find outfit ideas in unexpected places like kids clothing catalogs, advertisements or even movies and tv shows. Stay open to were you find inspiration. It can be at an art gallery, in your garden, or simply people watching at your local museum.

You can also do this online. I have folders online under topics such as "art", "home", "food", "clothing", "makeup/hair" etc. and when I see an imagine online that I really like, I save it for future ideas and looks. There are so many fashion blogs and daily wear websites that you are bound to find looks that really appeal to you.

Once you've gathered several outfits in your style journal start looking to see if you notice a theme in your choices. Can you see a similarity or divide between your dream outfits and current attire? Are there gaps between the clothes that you dream of wearing and the outifits that currently fill your closet?

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday assignment:

Look through your style journal and see if you can replicate an outfit with the clothes you already have. Don't worry about an exact match, the colors may be off, the fabric may be different, but start thinking about your dream outfit in terms like "fitted blazer, jeans, white t-shirt" etc. Start looking through you blazers, see anything similar in shape? What about jeans? Do you have shoes that could transform this outfit into your own? Do you have accessories or a new twist that will make this outfit feel special to you?

I'm participating as well and will pick out an outfit tonight in my "inspiration" folder and recreate it tomorrow for work with a photo. If you do this, feel free to email your inspirational outfit and your translation. I will include a link to your blog and an entry in a chance to win a one year subscription to Lucky Magazine.

In need of some inspiration? Here are some of my favorite places to look online for ideas:

coquelicot on flickr

wardrobe remix

darling dexter

some girls wander

what i wore

the hidden seed

melissa loves

I created a tentative schedule for this week, but there will be a lot more going on around here. I still plan to discuss food+exercise this week and will tend to things as normal (will be doing local Thursday's too!), but wanted to create a basic outline of what I've been working on for this week.
I will be doing giveaways and contests throughout the week as well as my old wardrobe remixes, daily outfit challenges etc.

Today's challenge is to clean out your closet, which can be done all week in your spare time. My plan is to empty out all of my drawers, closet caddies and other places where I've stashed clothes away over the past few months. I'm stacking them into sections: skirts, jeans, t-shirt, tank tops etc. and then sectioning off those sections into "definantly will not wear", "doesn't fit", "love", "has potential" etc. and will move on through the week from there.

I am excited about the "has potential" pile because these are items that I have, but I don't know how to wear. Maybe they need some little detail sewn on or a new way of wearing it. I will be back throughout the day and will update via twitter when I have a blog post up.

This is the last day in February and exactly one month until my Bridal Shower, what does that have to do with anything? Well, I've talked about getting in shape for the wedding and I consider the Bridal Shower to be a milestone date on the road to June 6th.

Anyway, I've been inspired lately by Fat Bridesmaids Lenten goal of exercise everyday and have decided to join in on the challenge. This will be my Bridal Shower challenge and like her its all or nothing and will exercise every single day for at least 30 minutes starting today and going until March 28th.

My goal is to weigh at least 10 lbs. less by the bridal shower anything over that will be a bonus! I got on the scale this morning and I am at 278.5. I don't know why or how or what, but it feels so good! So my March 28th goal is 268.

To celebrate the Bridal Shower countdown, I made an inspired fashion remix for it. I want to put something cute together to wear by then and making these layouts to give me some ideas and inspiration. I love making these! I was talking to my mom this morning and she has been enjoying them too, but didn't care for some of the prices of the items. I have no intention of paying over $100 for shoes, but I make these as concepts and ideas. A lot of us already have variations of these outfits in our closets. Its all about wearing something in new ways and mixing and matching, you know?

(click photo to enlarge)

charcoal tights

white ruffled sweater

red ruffle shoes

polka dot swing dress

feathered headband

inseparable necklace

Necklace Description: "Once in a great long while, you find another soul that complements yours so perfectly, it’s as if you are two halves of the same whole. You’re inexplicably drawn to them, to the unexpected comfort their presence in your life creates. And at some point you realize that you’ll always be Inseparable."

(click to enlarge)

Denim Light Bootcut Jeans

Your Boyfriend's Striped shirt

Belt

(optional, over shirt under breasts)

white tank top

moccasins

clutch

headband

earrings

{Click To Enlarge}

Straight Leg Jeans

Belted Trench

Classic Black Umbrella

Diego di Lucca Flat

Fringe Scarf in Seal

Gray Freshwater Pearl Earrings