In December of 2010, I did a little experiment at school.  I was becoming pretty lazy when it came to my dress and was wearing lots of khakis, shirts, and Converse sneakers to teach in.  It was quick, easy, and, hopefully, clean.  Plus at the time, I was pregnant and super-tired so clothes were not high on my list of priorities.  Neither was getting up early to get ready (but, truthfully, that never is).

The week before Christmas break in 2010, I embarked on my “week of fancy.”  Paying attention to what I was wearing, dressing up more, doing my hair.  The response from my students and peers was surprising.  I took notes through the day and then, with a picture of my outfit, blogged about their responses.  Some of them were pretty funny.  You can check out the experiment (and really bad pictures) here, here, here, here and here.

I kept the fancy-ness up for the rest of my school year which ended in March when I started my maternity leave.  But when I came back to school in August (okay, we go year-round, so it was technically July), I decided to stick with the dressing up theme.  Being excited about my clothes, paying attention to what I wear, and checking out what other people are wearing on blogs has become fun.  When I have something new or different to wear, it makes getting out of bed a little easier in the mornings.

I’ve gotten lots of encouragement and fun ideas from The Daybook, The Sartorialist, Let’s Talk Trunk, and, recently, Chasing Davies, among others.  I like to see what people wear and see how I can make it work for me.  It’s a different form of creativity than I’m used to.  Some days I take more time than others on my clothes, but my style is evolving and I like what it’s becoming.

Okay.

So all of that was to set up what I’m getting ready to do.  And this is seriously out of my comfort zone. 

But the tipping point for this thought that has been floating around in my head was my friend Becky.  She’s blogging about her lifestyle change and fitness goals and she did something huge.  Huge.

She posted pictures of herself Biggest-Loser-style, shorts and a sports bra for all the world to see.  She did some before pictures to let it all hang out.  And to encourage others in their fitness goals.  It makes me all sweaty and clammy just thinking about what she did.  But I admire her so much.

And she did encourage me (not probably in the way she was thinking. . .) to step out of my comfort zone. 

And so here I am, showing you something I wore this week. . .