I got on a kick lately to update my summer sandal collection, after doing some closet editing, which sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole. As I mentioned in another thread, I sometimes get caught up in a search only to get overwhelmed and buy two or three new *somethings* that scratch an itch but don’t turn out to be actual useful pieces for me.

This year I am trying to be more mindful of what I buy and it’s usefulness for me. I don’t want to take all the fun out of fashion and shopping, but I just want to be smarter with my purchases.

It turns out that a season filled with trends and colors that don’t work well for me provides me a good opportunity to focus on neutrals and basics, and what DOES work for me. I refreshed some cool-weather basics (jeans and knitwear below) as I found great new jeans that are already workhorses, and two new lightweight white/light tops that will work well alone or layer nicely, and are classics I will definitely wear next fall/winter/early spring (I’ll probably get in a few wears this spring as well). I’ve had very good success with the fit and durability of Rag & Bone knitwear so finding these on sale was a solid score.

Also, this weekend I ended up in a shoe boutique in which I’ve had good success in the past, and tried on a few sandals (espadrilles, platforms, and gladiators), but the ones that sang to me are these Free People sandals in rose gold. They’re basically the open-toe version of the hot pink metallic FP shoes I already have. So they came home with me, even though they are not the style I set out to find. Pics 1-2.

I also came home with some fun experiments — but in the form of earrings, an area in which I was feeling I could up my game with a bit of boldness and trendiness for summer, at a good price point — see pic three.

I’m appreciating clothes that work for me easily, without fussing or fighting or experimenting. I’ve had some fun experimenting in the past, and I expect I will again, but right now, I’m keeping those experiments relatively small and inexpensive.