It seems natural I'm going to follow Becky because I'm also 5'0," summer coloring, and an hourglass, and I was born in the midwest with family still in KS!
But I'm 10 years older - nearing 43. Not so muscular these days, though I do still run and do yoga occasionally. Kids are teens - two daughters 13 and 15. I am on my second marriage; we've been together over 6 years but only made it official 2-1/2 years ago.
I have been a telecommuter in high-tech marketing for about 5 years now. I love the flexibility and work/family balance (even if the hours seem endless - hence why you will see me posting at all hours of the day, as I take a break between conference calls). But that was a big change for me, fashion-wise!!!
Prior, I was the one who *never* wore jeans for biz-casual fridays, and always overdressed compared to everyone else. It's the baby face/short thing. You want to be taken seriously in business, so you can say that I overcompensated.
As a result, I never wore jeans. If I wasn't in dress pants and high heels and dressed up, I was in khakis and a tee shirt. Or, worse, sweatpants. It's funny, I spent a few years there thinking I could find "fancy" sweatpants. Hee hee. (my DH says I need to really need to retire my velour sweatsuits now - even for home-wear!)
About a year or so ago, I decided it was time to search for the perfect jeans. Having tried on jeans and done numerous searches in the past, I never thought I would find them. But I did. And that started everything. From there, I found YLF and the smart-casual formula.
So you will see that I am most often wearing jeans in my photos, because that fits my telecommuting lifestyle. When I am not working, we enjoy doing all sorts of fun things around our city (Boston) including going to theaters, art gallery openings, comedy clubs, etc. Smart casual works great for all of these.
Where I shop: with the exception of jeans, it pretty much has to be petites, which limits me to AT, ATL, BR, Gap and a few department store brands. I can occasionally find an XS regular that works.
For a long time, I bemoaned this limiting factor (I *could* afford designer clothes - IF they would only just FIT), but since following YLF I've taken on the more positive philosophy that style is all about how you combine things. So that's what I've been trying to do.
But I still have a secret fantasy wish of being able to have a completely custom, one-of-a-kind wardrobe created just for me... hee hee...
To conclude, I'm afraid I'm a total shop-a-holic, and will appear that way to everyone!!!! It is true I will sometimes shop just for the "therapy" benefits. But rest assured, my DH and I live otherwise quite frugally and believe in fiscal responsibility. Long ago, we sat down and made a budget. My clothing "hobby" is actually a line item in that budget. We both have hobbies that may seem totally frivolous to others, but that we'd rather spend money on than things other people might spend on!!
