14 pieces - 14 days

Christmas is in TWO days! I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones! I am back in my hometown for a couple of weeks to spend time with family and friends. I brought along the girls, much to my dad's dismay, and Chris tagged along as well due to flight mishaps. (He's now back in his hometown with his family.) I ate nothing but cookies all day until dinner yesterday. Tis the season! When I come home, I tend to pack WAY too much in terms of clothing. I'm a much better packer when I fly and I'm forced to check a bag if I have too much. Driving means that I can bring maybe one or two extra pieces of clothing or an extra pair of shoes and my full-sized shower products. This time, I limited myself to two suitcases--the smaller one with my clothes and the larger one for my shoes, coats/scarves, Chris's extra clothes, cat stuff, and other miscellaneous items I end up needing. I was determined to pack only 14 major clothing pieces to bring with me for 14 days at home. I follow a minimalist style blog called Into Mind in an effort to figure out what I really want out of my wardrobe and what pieces add value to it (or don't add value to it). Now that I'm completely obsessing over my style, I don't just want to buy every single piece of clothing that screams "BUY ME!!" I want to take the time putting together a wardrobe I'm REALLY excited about. It's a work in progress!

Into Mind often writes about creating 20 outfits from 20 pieces and shows how it can be done. I took the same approach with my two week trip. I picked 14 pieces (following the 50/30/20 ratio of tops/bottoms/shoes) for 14 outfits. Accessories (jewelry, tights, etc.) and neutral undershirts didn't count towards my total. Here's what I picked!

7 tops

Clockwise: 1) J.Crew Factory scoopneck tee, 2) J.Crew Factory striped sweater, 3) J.Crew Factory merino sweater, 4) American Eagle scoopneck cardigan (old)

Clockwise: 1) ModCloth Your Fireside of the Story Cardigan in Navy, 2) Old Navy cable knit sweater, 3) J.Crew open cardigan

4 bottoms

L-R: 1) Forever 21 polka dot skinny jeans, 2) American Eagle dark wash skinny jeans

L-R: 1) American Eagle dress, 2) J.Crew Factory skirt

3 pairs of shoes

Clockwise: 1) Delia's tall boots (old), 2) Collection by Carrini combat boots, 3) Wanted booties

My color palette is a little all over the place, though I tend to be drawn to ivory, grey, and black. I added navy, burgundy, pink, and the bright yellow as my fun "accent" colors, though I think burgundy is becoming more of a staple color in my wardrobe. I just love it for this time of year. For accessories, I brought tights (in black, charcoal, and beige just in case), necklaces (white and pink roses and jeweled), and earrings (simple studs to jeweled beauties)! I also want to note that I did pack my snow boots, but I'm not planning outfits around them and only wearing them if absolutely necessary!

Of course, this is going to be challenging to stick to because I asked for clothes for Christmas. If I get anything, I know I will want to wear it immediately! I'm going to do my best to stick to my main 14 pieces and add in extras only if they're not major to the outfit. I'm going to do a recap of what I wore at the end of each week, so stay tuned!