Swim Start Practice

I know this doesn't have alot to do with wardrobe, however it does have something to do with looking good (kindof the same right?).  Last night we did our last long swim followed by some practice swim starts from the beach into the water (6 times).  We swam close together to simulate the Ironman swim start. I got belted in the head a few times, kicked and swam overtop of.  If anyone of you is wondering what I will be experiencing next Sunday morning to begin my race, take a look (and I am not sponsored by Cliff Bar :)

Daily Outfit: Cow Print

First thing FIANCE said this morning was " that's your turtle shirt".  WTF?  Turtle? Anyone clearly knows this is cow print.  This is a reminder that you should only listen to men's fashion advice when you like what they say!!  And can you believe my hairdresser is on holidays?  What am I supposed to do in a time of need?  From this picture I am also deducing that capri's are not the best for my body  type. Don't get me wrong ladies, I didn't wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.. just a little groggy from Naan filled Indian dinner last night... ohhhh carb hangover.

Eye Makeup 101

Another way to ramp up the transformation is through makeup.  I typically always only wore mascara, no eye liner or color or anything.  Why bother when all I am doing is going from the pool to a run to a bike ride? Well, step aside plain girls!  Spicing it up with eye makeup is easy and even fun.  Heck, I am even experimenting with new colors.

Here's some 2 basic resources I like from a couple of blogs:

How to apply eye makeup (Already Pretty)
Everyday classic makeup (Workchic.com)
How to do a purple smokey eye  
How to do Cat eye (MAC)
False eyelashes (MAC)
Makeup Geek (tutorials)
Lauren Luke (tutorials)

Daily Outfit: Denim and Camel

 

Jodi does Zoolander.  Well, lets just say I have a knack for cutting my feet off in photos!! Camel and Denim is hot right now, a  trend for Fall 2010.  For a few ideas check out WorkChic.com and for other ideas check out HarpersBazaar (although some of the stuff might not be too practical!!).

I must admit, this whole outfit: dress, belt and shoes costs about a total of $13 and is from 2 amazing thrift stores that I discovered recently.  If you ask me I scored!!  I have also found it more fun shopping now after looking at other peoples ideas and then have a vision of different outfits I want to put together, or when I see something on the rack I think of outfit ideas I have seen on others.  Thanks all you generous fashion  bloggers, I am having more and more fun with this each day!! Happy Friday!!

Using the Color Wheel

Some of you are artistic and already know this stuff, and others don't but have a natural knack for color combining.  For anyone who's looking for new ideas for mixing your colors and shaking up the ol reliable black wardrobe, here's some helpful tips I found at Fashionbombdaily :

You can make the following combos using the color wheel as your guide:
1. Colors directly next to each other (i.e. yellow and yellow-orange; yellow and yellow-green; violet and blue-violet, etc.)
2. Colors that form right (90 degree) angles with each other (i.e. yellow and red-orange; blue and violet-red; green and orange, etc.)
3. Colors directly across from each other (i.e. yellow and violet; blue and orange; red and green, etc.)
4. Colors that form a T (i.e. blue, orange, and violet-red; yellow, violet, and red-orange; yellow, blue-green, and red-orange, etc.)
5. Colors that form an X (i.e. blue, orange, violet-red, and yellow, violet, blue-green, and red-orange, etc.)
Since brown is a neutral, it will go with virtually any color on the color wheel. I love to pair a chocolate brown with cobalt blue or fuchsia or bright red—such a fun and bold combo. Of course white, black, and the hues of blue found in denim are also neutrals that go with just about anything.

Colors that are a part of a “color family” also apply. So for instance, you can substitute pink with red and still be able to pull off the combos based on the color wheel.


As for accessories, I’m definitely not a fan of colored jewelry or belts, but go crazy with colored hats, bags, shoes, or scarves. When choosing jewelry, pair gold (or gold-toned) jewelry with your warm colored outfits. Warm colors have a yellow, gold, or orange undertone to them. Wear silver (or silver-toned) jewelry with your cool colored outfits. Cool colors have a blue, pink, or red undertone to them. Since colors are broken down by hue, temperature, intensity, and tone any single hue can be either warm or cool. Just look at the undertones.
You can also use the color wheel when coming up with color combinations for your makeup. It can help you decide which makeup color to wear so that you don’t match your eyeshadow with your outfit.

Daily Outfit: Sir DJ Mixalot

In the name of having fun, I thought I would try a trial run of pattern mixing.  This is a result of having nothing but a plain pink t-shirt to wear with this skirt so I began playing around with other options.  The first word that popped into my head was Sir DJ Mixalot.   Now, I didn't listen to this DJ, but for some reason I know his name and it seems appropriate given the attempt at mixed patterns.  If you ask me, Kasmira of What I Wore Today is the queen of pattern mixing.  She rocks it out like no other.  YouLook Fab also has some great tips on Pattern mixing for beginners  ( I think I did it right!!).  And Audi at Fashion for Nerds also has endless mix ideas.  I felt like dork when I first left the house (and imagined that people would be pointing me out like in the picture above), but instead something very cool happened.  The first person I saw this morning (my Chiropractor) said " Wow Jodi, you look GREAT".. and then when I stopped to get an Earl Grey tea on the way in to work a guy said "Do you ever have fashion sense-- I see dots"- (side note: I think that guy wasn't all  there).  But at any rate.. I did get 2 unsolicited compliments.  Stay tuned for more adventures of Pattern Mixing in the coming months.  (Rita: do you recognize this location????)

Daily Outfit: Some leg

Home from swimming, breakfast and head down to the old industrial area for some photos. I got the scarf/belt idea from Sal, who always has great scarves.  I am realizing that the key to Funk is accessories.  I also just saw a post by YouLookFab about summers big messy scarf so time to pull out my bag of scarves and get busy coming up with ideas- just like a magician or something. If you happen to be wondering how to tie all these scarfs check out the tutorial on Fashion for Nerds.  So many fashion ideas, such little time.

Daily Outfit: Run Lola Run

I had fun taking these pics this morning at 7:30am before work, except that some drunk guy insisted on helping me take the photos and couldnt understand why I was taking pictures of myself when he could do it for me.  I just said it was part of my 'photography homework' and so he went back to his car and grabbed a beer.  At any rate, I realized today how much I don't allow myself to be fully self expressed through my wardrobe.  I was writing out my top 100 list (some people call it the bucket list) and one thing I wrote down was having a fun, creative wardrobe.  I was asking myself, "how would I dress if I really didn't care what other people thought of me?".  I got inspired actually.  So lets see what I can cook up over the next while.
Off to my bike workout. Toodle doo.

Daily Outfit: Chain and Stripe

I just got back from my coached swim.  Our coach is amazing, he is a 3x Olympic swimmer and I have never seen longer arms in my life. Kindof alien if you ask me...
Following through on the water theme I am wearing my striped tank and white pants.. I went down by the ocean to take some pics but this is the one I like the most so here it is today. I must admit I am having more fun with the photography aspect than the outfit ideas.

Off for a Ride

Off for our 5 hour ride.  There's about 7 of the 25 of us who are training for Ironman Canada. Here's me and my riding partner.  My fiance designed our team outfits this year and they were an absolute hit. We are practicing being catalog models here :)

Daily Outfit: Bat Girl

So the neighbours must think I am really self absorbed as they see me walk around the neighbourhood in the morning with my tripod and camera and then take multiple photos of myself.   I am  thinking of different things I can tell them: " Oh, I'm working on a photography assignment", as if I am some fancy-smanchy art student.. I think they wouldnt believe me...
It's so cool to get comments from people in other places like Texas.  That is WAY cool actually- that blogs can connect people all over the world.  Thanks for you comment Diya and all I can say is WOW do you ever dress up and wear cool clothes!!!  We are so casual here on the west coast that I  think I would be laughed at if I dressed so stylish around here.  It really gets me thinking about what other kinds of clothes to wear that can take it up a notch.   The journey to funk it up is exactly that- a journey.  I am writing out my wish list for my trip to San Francisco so will for sure include some visits to funky shops.  YES, I will visit Macys (Rita, let me know if you want anything!!).  Off to work and then a 2km swim at the lake tonight.  Happy Friday from Bat Girl.  Up Up and AWAAAAAAYYYY.

Daily Outfit: It's green back there

16 days until Ironman.  I was thinking about that as I walked to work this morning, listening to the seagulls fly about.  We are lucky enough to live 1 block from the ocean.  I'm not smiley in photos, that I am clear about and I don't seem to have a natural smile. That is, if someone says "smile" I breakout with something that comes across more as a scowl.  If someone catches me off guard, then my photos seem better.  I guess I need to try to replicate the "off guard" look.  This skirt was in the bag of stuff labeled "take to thrift store" and I pulled it out and decided to alter it so I spent last night sewing. I shortened it and took it from being an on-the-hip skirt to an-around-the-waist one.  I even got fancy enough to take out the zipper and put it back in. Bravo for me.  Thats one of the best things my mom taught me, was to sew.

San Francisco Bound

I am so excited. I have my ticket booked and am heading to San Francisco in September.  I haven't been there for about a year.  There are several places I always hit when I'm there:

Number 1 Favorite and MUST go if you haven't: Cafe Gratitude
Its the best raw food cafe ever and you can spend the whole day in there, I LOVE it!!

Number 2 : DSW
Shoe shopping here is awesome and I always come home with several new pairs of shoes. The challenge for me is that I buy fancy shoes that are too fancy for work and then I don't end up wearing them that much

Number 3: Anthropologie
We don't have some of these great stores in Canada, at least not where I live, so its always fun to go to this store.  Even more than the clothes I love the collectibles they have.

I also saw this site on San Francisco Street Fashion.. some wild outfits if you ask me.. and so great!!!

I will add more to this list later, but for now:
 
What are YOUR favorite places to shop or visit in San Fran??

Daily Outfit: Coral kinda day

Sun today!! I love the color of this dress- it's coral. Everytime I wear it someone comments on the color.  It comes with its own belt but I like the pop of a wider dark colored belt instead.  I feel abit matronly in shirt dresses so this style is not top on my list- I prefer flowing movement, or straight and fitted.

This wall was painted by the kids at the elementary school and I am beginning to get more adventurous with locations for pictures and opportunities for playing with the camera.

I'm thinking about organizing a clothing swap sometime in the fall and having a girls get-together where we can drink some bevvies (read WINE) and swap out clothes.  Am off for a run and then back for a nice BBQ Salmon dinner.  Later Gaters.

Daily Outfit: Blue jeans

What is with the weather in Victoria? It was cold and like fall this morning so I had to pull out some long pants. 18 days until my big Ironman race. Part of my fashion dilemma is that my quads are getting too big and my skinny jeans are getting too tight in the upper leg.  The waist of most of my pants and shorts are too big and the butt is all saggy.  A good problem to have, I guess, but not when I comes to pant-wearing.

We canned about 50lbs of peaches this weekend so here I am modeling the peaches and a  random black bird...

Daily Outfit: Blending in

Today I wore this really comfy dress which I thought looked good in until I saw myself in these photos. My inside voice is saying " this looks like a dull green sack".  At lunchtime, in the rain, I went to the park with  my tripod so I could play around with whitebalance and other settings on the camera.  I am posting my outfit despite what I think about it.  I was wondering if it were the color, but even at that, I dont think it would be much different.  I am not creative enough at this point in my fashion journey to see what could enhance it.  Any comments?  Team Keep-it or  Team Chuck-it?

This is my little buddy.  He knows how to wear color well!  I asked for some fashion advice and he just ran away from me saying something about 'frumpy'...

How to determine your body type

Taken from thechicfashionista:This is a very generic approach, and is meant to have you focus on your overall frame.  It is best to do this with no clothes on and use a full-length mirror.

1. Step a few feet away from a full-length mirror and blur out your boobs, neck, the length of your legs and arms, and observe your overall body shape. Do this naked as underwear can also disguise what's really there. For example: Wearing boy shorts can emphasize your hips and make you look more bottom heavy ;-)

2. Now, focus on the shape of your torso. And visualize a dress form -- shoulders to hips.

It's the contours of your silhouette that will determine the line and the clothing shapes that are best for your body.

Note: If you gain weight, pay attention to where the pounds get stored, because that's often a clue to what type of body shape you have.  And now let's look at which category your body falls into:

The Body Shapes -- there are 5 main combinations of torso proportions:

• Pear: Torso and upper body smaller than your hips -- with waist definition
• Inverted triangle: Torso and upper body wider than your ships -- with little waist definition
• Rectangle: Torso and upper body are the same width as your hips -- little waist definition
• Hourglass: Torso and hips are approximately the same width -- with waist definition
• Apple: Torso and upper body wider than your hips -- with little or no waist definition. You might have weight surrounding your waist.

Me personally would consider myself an hourglass shape since I know I look better in belted waists, fitted clothing etc.

Daily Outfit: It's a pink thang

Casual Friday.  I felt like I was wearing pj's to work today, oh so comfy.  I really love these pants actually.  I bought them last year and only wore them once- I never knew what to wear them with.  Here's me and my beloved kitty, the one I have to hold real tight while getting photo's taken :) or as my fiancé says " it looks like you're holding her hostage".

Saturday we have a big ride and run- 5 hours on the bike and followed by a 50 minute run. Can you say LEGS!

Daily Outfit : I match my bike

Today I had to ride my race bike up to the bike shop to get some adjustments to it.  I must mention that I LOVE my bike-- it is the bestest bike in the world, and following Rita's love of pink, my bike has pink on it as well!!

 

I had to wear something I could ride my bike in and the easiest option was walking shorts. While I should have been excited, I was rather frustrated this morning- let me tell you why.  I have about 4 pairs of cute walking shorts and when I tried them all on, they were WAY too baggy in the hips and butt.  Losing weight means that pants and shorts don't fit the same.  I ended up going with the black ones and using a belt that is even too big and grabbing my pair of Shoppers Drug Mart flip flops.  So girls, beware- this one is nothin fancy- but in the end, I actually match my bike (shear coincidence).

Look at MS Grouchy-face.  A bit of an aggressive model 'pout'...good thing I am my own photographer!!

Lovely Ladies: Rita

My favorite colour in the whole world (besides black) is pink.  All shades of pink, all contrasts having to do with pink.  I have pink sweaters, pink t-shirts, pink socks, pink scarves, pink undies (tee hee) and even pink shoes.  5 pairs to be exact.  I don't tend to wear them all the time, and sometimes I can go days without wearing the colour pink at all...but I love it.

My sister asked me awhile back, "why pink?" and I think because it is such a girly colour.  It has a "softness" in any shade.  It speaks "girl" to me.  I spent so much of my early adult life hiding behind big sweats and dark colours that when I finally emerged as this "butterfly" I found I actually liked being a girl.  I wanted people to see me as soft and strong at the same time.  That might be why I started wearing pink..but it's not why I continue to wear it.  The sweater in this photo is one of my new favorites.  It looks great on me, and works well with my skin tone.  It's bright and it makes me smile when I see myself in the mirror.  The more I smile at myself, the more I smile at the world and the more the world
 smiles back.  That's reason enough for me.

As for the necklace..it is one of my favorites.  I bought it on a flight from London to Vancouver, somewhere over Greenland to be specific from the duty free.  It spoke to me like only one other necklace has.  The fact that it says "dreams come true, forever" on it, that's my slogan for life.  And I figured if "they" put it on a necklace, I could certainly wear it proudly...although I think that slogan would look pretty darn great on a pink t-shirt too.

Daily Outfit: Skirt makes my eyes hurt

I wore my new skirt today and I love it!! Can't wait to wear it with pink.  When it comes right down to it, I do love black and white.  Not much to write tonight as I have to get into my grubbies and get busy canning peaches with the fiance.  Sounds fun doesn't it?

Daily Outfit: Red wrap take 1

Blue-Red is one of my favorite colors and so are wrap dresses.
What I Wore Today has some awesome tips on her blog. She has 2 posts in particular on wrap dresses:

• Multiple looks with one wrap dress
• Accessorizing a wrap dress

I am going to have to try some of her tips.  My other fav is a Zebra stripe wrap that I picked up in San Francisco.

 

This is my naughty closet-organizer look :)