Starting this month I'm no longer doing the traditional French Wardrobe Challenge. I made it through one year, which is pretty darn good! So now I think I have learned quality over quantity and basics over crazy pieces. From now on I'll just be mindful of my purchases and try to stick to buying mostly basics.

I did a pretty good job this month with a few exceptions.  I splurged on two rings from Lumo that I've had my eye on, but I used advertising money I had in PayPal so they were 'free.' I also scored a few deals that I couldn't pass up. One was a pair of silk pants from The Outnet that will be perfect for my trip to Greece (I also had to buy a navy tee to go with them.) The second was another pair of pants - faux suede and super soft!

From now until my vacation starts on April 11th I'm going to try not to buy ANYTHING (no clothes, no movies, nada!) And then during my trip I have a list of a few things I want to buy. When I get home I'm going to attempt a few months of no-shopping to get myself back on track after a rough tax season. In that way, freelancing sucks! Three huge chunks of money will be leaving my bank account within 3 months, thanks to 2014 taxes and 2015 quarterly taxes.



THE RULES

1. Be mindful of purchases
2. Quality over quantity
3. Basics are best

MY PROGRESS

Clothes:

1. *NEW!* Blank Vegan 5 Pocket Olive Jeans ($23 via South Moon Under, retail $98)
2. *NEW!* Sea printed silk tapered pants ($56 via The Outnet Clearance Sale, used advertising money)

Basics:

1. *NEW!* Zenana Outfitters navy tee ($5.99 via Marshalls)

Shoes:

1. *NEW!* Diane von Furstenberg 'Emma' pointed toe flats ($18 via Marshalls, retail $250)

Accessories:

1. *NEW!* Ray-Ban 'Erika' Sunglasses ($15 via Ditto, with coupon code)
2. *NEW!* LUMO 'Violet' Ring with Australian Opal ($85, used advertising money)
3. *NEW!* LUMO 'Rope' Ring ($40, used advertising money)

Gifted:

1. *NEW!* Orox Leather laptop sleeve
2. *NEW!* Orox Leather 'Merces Petite' bag

Once again my outfit plans were foiled by the weather! This weekend I went to South Moon Under's 1st Anniversary event with Lydia. I was hoping the weather would be nice (aka not raining or snowing) so I could wear my fun printed Carven skirt (seen here) with a tee, suede jacket, tights and sandals to show off my second Orox Leather Co. handbag! Unfortunately, it was flurrying/raining all day and really cold, so I had to resort to wearing a dress with an over-sized sweater and I look a little dumpy...not pleased.  On the plus side, I had gotten my hair done on Thursday night at a party and was amazed to find that it wasn't totally ruined by Saturday morning, so I let it have one more day before taking it out and washing my hair, ha ha.

Other than that, the day was great! I broke a promise to myself and bought a pair of pants (only $23!), had some Chinese food for lunch and finished reading The Cuckoo's Calling.

Back to the bag. How adorable is this Merces Petite purse Orox Leather sent? It's made of the same leather as the laptop sleeve I shared on Friday. It has an adjustable double knot shoulder strap so you can wear it short or as a crossbody. There is even a little sleeve compartment inside perfect for storing a cell phone (my iPhone 6 fit great!)

Dress: Diane von Furstenerg (Coco's on the Green), Sweater: Inis Crafts (Marshalls), Boots: Grandma's, Rings: old, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Lumo 'Violet, Lumo 'Rope', Bag c/o Orox Leather

Today I'm featuring a beautiful piece from Orox Leather Co., based in Portland, Oregon. Orox sells a full line of American made bags, belts and small leather goods, crafted by hand in their Portland workshop. They use only the highest quality, American­ sourced leather and other sustainable materials. Orox is a proud leader in sustainable consumerism, standing by their low­ impact production process and quality US made products that will last a lifetime.

We love handcrafting exceptional leather goods that last just about forever. Perhaps the only thing that makes us happier is seeing our products well used, cherished, and passed on to the next generation. As a fourth generation family business, we’re in it for the long haul. We’re very excited about 2015: creating new products, discovering new materials, and sharing our vision and craft with more people around the world.

Orox kindly sent me their Macbook sleeve in tan to style for the blog! I chose it because it can do double duty as a clutch, which is how I will use it most of the time! You can tell the piece is skillfully handmade, the quality is excellent. I can just picture this a few years from now, beautifully worn in and weathered from lots of love.

The leather was giving me a Ralph Lauren-esque feeling, so I decided to style it with a Lauren Ralph Lauren dress. Unfortunately it was REALLY cold when Lydia and I met up to take these pictures so I improvised and turned the dress into a top and wore it with jeans.

Make sure to come back next week when I'll be featuring another bag from Orox!

Sweater: Ami Dans La Rue (Shopbop), Dress (worn as shirt): Lauren by Ralph Lauren (Lord & Taylor), Jeans: J Brand 'Maria High Rise Skinny' in Supreme (Gilt), Necklace: BubuRuby,  Rings: old, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Lumo 'Violet, Lumo 'Rope', Sunglasses: Ray-Ban 'Erika' (Ditto), Bag c/o Orox Leather

After yesterday's outfit it was back to cold weather again! Mother Nature clearly cannot make up her mind. At least I'm getting to wear my chunkier sweaters more.  Like this one, super warm and one of my favorite splurges. I don't wear it as much as I should, will have to rectify that next year and wear it at least once a week! I'm also wearing my newest bargain - a pair of Diane von Furstenberg flats that I scored for $18 at Marshalls, regular price: $250!

Cardigan: Burberry Brit (Net-a-Porter Sale), Sweater: Marc by Marc Jacobs 'Pyo' (Saks Off 5th), Jeans: Free People (eBay), Flats: Diane von Furstenberg 'Emma' (Marshalls)

I wore this last week on a slightly warmer day when having holes in my pants wasn't an insane idea. Sadly the next day it was cold again and the following day we had snow. On the first day of Spring. When will the madness stop?!  This is one of my favorite sweaters, I've worn it so much that the sleeves are permanently bent at my elbow and the sleeves have shrunk a bit because I stupidly put it in the dryer once.

Sweater: Madewell, Jeans: Current/Elliott, Flats c/o Joie

I've been getting rather tired of the snow so it was a nice change to have some rain a couple weekends ago. Surely that means Spring and flowers are not far off! On this day I did some grocery shopping in the morning, read a book by the fire and then did some "fun" shopping with my mom! Woohoo!

Sweater: Cocogio, Tee: Banana Republic, Jeans: Current/Elliott (The Outnet), Boots c/o Joules, Umbrella: Totes (Kohl's)

Another sweater and jeans outfit. What can I say: if it's not broke, don't fix it. I wanted to wear a necklace but couldn't decide on one until I saw this necklace I grabbed from work last year.  The color matches perfectly and you get a hint of sparkle from the CZ stones. Because of the neckline of the sweater it looks more like a choker, which I like!

Sweater: from Lydia, Jeans: Michael Kors (Marshalls), Boots: vintage (eBay)

I posted some looks from Valentino's Fall 2015 collection last month and decided to recreate one of the looks. It just so happened that I had jeans EXACTLY like a pair they had, so how could I not try and replicate it? The only difference with my jeans is they're longer, so I took one photo with them pulled up so you could see how it looked! I had a hard time deciding between blazers but in the end went for my blue Marc by Marc Jacobs one, but I took a couple photos with my Etro blazer just to see how it would look. Which do you prefer?

Blazer: Marc Jacobs (eBay), Top: DKNY Jeans,  Jeans: Free People (Marshalls), Shoes: Marc by Marc Jacobs (Net-a-Porter End of Season Sale)

(stupidly I bent my leg in the picture with my jeans shortened so they look uneven! GAH!)

And here's the other jacket by Etro (from Roundabout Resale)

I was just reading an article earlier in the month about the trend of no longer tucking in your jeans/pants to boots. While I will still happily be tucking my jeans into boots, for this particular outfit I decided to roll up my jeans to show off the boots better! These aren't the best boots for tucking in anyway.

Also, let's hope my snowy backgrounds are coming to an end! Time for the Spring thaw!

Cardigan: Tory Burch (TJ Maxx), Sweater: Merona (Target), Jeans: Free People, Boots c/o Duo Boots, Necklaces: mom's and BubuRuby