spring 30x30...30 pieces reveal except not really

modern camelot is hosting another round of 30x30. before i did my first 30x30 challenge, i thought the idea sounded pretty impossible. take 30 pieces of clothing (including shoes if you want) and wear only those 30 pieces for 30 days without repeating an outfit. sounds kind of hard right? wrong! it is so much easier than it sounds. it makes getting dressed and packing for trips so much easier. i find myself sticking with those 30 pieces even after the month is over. #spring30x30 starts today, but it's not too late to jump in. email, tweet, FB, or whatever and let me know you want in. i'll get you all the info. as much as i love traditional 30x30, i am changing things up a little this time around. april is autism awareness month. for the past couple of years i decided to wear blue every day all month in support and to spread awareness of autism. so instead of 30x30, i'm really doing bluex30.  a few of my blue outfits from last year
maybe you're wondering why blue and why autism.  autism speaks uses the month of april to increase awareness about autism with the campaign to light it up blue. visit their website for more info.
autism has been a part of my life for as long as i can remember. i have a cousin with autism. because of him i started doing private in home therapy for children with autism in college. that therapy led me to my current job as a child development specialist. i work with many children on the autism spectrum. autism is part of my life nearly every single day. the rate of incidence (currently 1/68 as released last week) continues to rise dramatically. although no one ever wants to hear that their child is showing signs of autism, there is so much hope. there are so many treatment options. although they are very expensive and often funded out of pocket, there are things that can be done. i see that hope, and that is why i'll be wearing blue all month. i would love it if you would join me for at least one day this month. make sure to let me know if you're wearing blue, and i'll give you a shout out on social media. along with wearing blue all month, i have a few other things planned to light it up blue. back in october, alacia hosted a pink polish swap for breast cancer awareness. i loved the idea so much i decided to do the same for autism awareness month this month. it's mostly on instagram so head on over for details.

all of my 30x30 friends are revealing their 30 pieces today. i can't wait to see their picks.

An InLinkz Link-up

may 30x30 {days 19-24}

are you sick of reading about what i've been wearing this month yet?!? ok good because there are a couple more posts to go. if you make it to the end of this post, there's a fun little surprise at the end. although i am finally back home after all my travels, days 19-24 were mostly spent in the tropics. i did put on clothes a few more times than last week...yay for me! day 19...another day at the pool

day 20...we took the ferry to st john and i was once again in my swim suit all day

day 21...i actually put on real clothes (gap melon stripe and black maxi..remember when it was a dress a couple weeks ago?!?) and makeup. ignore my hair. it hates humidity

day 22... i took this picture in the morning not really sure if i would end up putting on clothes, but i actually did. i decided to post it anyway since i spent the majority of the day at the pool.

and then we decided to go to a nicer restaurant for dinner so we actually got ready again. denim pencil, teal tank. again my hair is a disast. i should have brought better products, but you can't pack everything.

day 23...another travel day. i was sick of my hair hence the messy top knot. target stripe v, big star jeans rolled to capris

day 24...back in the states. i almost forgot what my hair looks like straight. this might be one of my favorite outfits of the whole thing. blue stripe old navy, white banana shorts

karlee wanted in on the action. please note the hip pop. this girl loves pictures.

we went mini golfing so i took a few more pictures. since this was my favorite outfit i'm posting more pics:)

i told you there would be a surprise at the end. with this 30x30 challenge coming to an end this week, i've teamed up with these lovely ladies to bring you a giveaway. most of us stopped shopping for the month so we thought it would be fun to give you a giftcard to do a little shopping for yourself. you can select from gap, loft, target, old navy, or forever 21. enter with rafflecopter below. good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open from 5/27/2013- 6/2/2013 and the winner will be announced on 6/3/2013. Entries will be validated. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected.

special thanks to kellyhttp://www.mrsintraining.com/2013/05/30x30-days-19-24.html for hosting this whole thing

jacquelyn for putting together the giveaway

kimberly for creating the image

as always, check out what everyone else has been wearing this week.

may 30x30 week 3 {days 13-18}

since i've been soaking up the sun (and having the worst cell coverage ever) i'm way behind on this post. when i initially picked my 30 pieces i actually only picked 29 in case of an emergency or something. i packed clothes to wear on my trip, but i quickly realized most of my daily outfits were a swimsuit and cover up. so, maybe it's cheating, but my piece number 30 is a swimsuit and cover up. it's been so great living in my swimsuit and soaking up the sun. day 13. it was hot as blazes but i had to wear something i wasn't taking. red target cardi, cream tank, black skinnies

 day 14. i look awful after traveling for almost 18 hours including a red eye and 2 layovers. stripe old navy v, old navy charcoal hoodie, big star jeans. i put this outfit on monday night before the airport and was more than ready to get out of it by tuesday afternoon.

 day 15. spent all day in my swim suit until i showered and put on my pjs. it was wonderful.

day 16. we took a bit of an island tour so i actually wore real clothes. too bad this is the only picture i took and the camera lens was foggy...oops. target stripe v, big star cut off shorts

day 17. another day spent at the pool=heaven if you ask me

 day 18. another travel day (st kitts to st thomas). it's so hot and humid=i look like a wreck. target stripe v, big star jeans.

i was a little nervous doing this challenge while traveling, but since i barely got dressed it's been great. check out what my other friends have been wearing. i'll be back in a couple days with the rest of my vacation outfits/swimsuits.

may30x30 week 2 {days 7-12}

if you're new around here, welcome! so happy to have you. i hopped a plane to the virgin islands last night. i'll be gone for 2 weeks. i have some scheduled posts to keep you entertained while i'm gone, but things might be a little more quiet than usual. i'll be back just in time for memorial day and all things summer (my fave). i was really apprehensive about signing up for the may30x30 challenge, but so far i completely love it. my favorite thing is my new blog friends, and my least favorite thing is definitely the picture taking. i feel like such a dork getting pictures of myself taken. because i hate the pictures so much i started getting a little silly. i also took a few this week at work.
day 7. neon cardi, coral striped v, navy skirt...on the playground at my work

 day 8. teal cardi, black maxi that will be a skirt after i cut it short enough (wore as a dress)...inside my office. this elevator is so scary and people get stuck=firemen come so i'm not usually mad about that

 day 9. red cardi, navy stripe, big star long jeans...after the blogger roundtable at the end of the day in bad lighting.

 day 10. target stripe v, cream cardi, melon jeans...inside my office

 day 11. neon cardi (i never ever ever wear the same cardi 2x in a week so this challenge is really pushing me), melon stripe, black skinnies...before lunch with friends. kind of loving this brick wall.

day 11. blue stripe, gray cardi, black skinnies(again 2 days in a row is a bit of a killer, but they were washed in between)...girls night. if you follow on instagram or twitter you saw my post. last time i was with these girls there was a little crazy talk about cuteness. we're pretty casual, but after that convo i had to up my game=heels and lipstick

day 12. cream cardi(more repeating), navy/white tank, army skirt...picture taking after church was a complete DISASTER! my camera wigged out big time. it wouldn't take pictures of anything but the concrete. i just had to put some of these in because they are just funny. i was getting so fed up with the whole thing.

thank you fave friend celsey for sticking with it until the camera finally worked

next week's post will likely be from my phone if i even have internet to get it up. i'm not taking a computer so i won't be able to load my camera pics until later. i'm sure you understand:)

may30x30 week 1

edit...i wrote this post super late last night. i am running my crazy busy head off and am completely exhausted. i thought about coming back to edit the post to make it a little better, but i decided to keep it real. so here you have it...a very exhausted blogger attempting to document what i'm wearing this month. may30x30 is well underway.  so far it's going pretty well. the weather played a little trick when it snowed the first day, but other than that, it's pretty fun. i am loving my new bloggy friends. i am definitely no fashion blogger, and i don't love pictures of myself, but here we go with the first 6 days.

day 1...it snowed. still trying to figure out what to do about pictures. teal tank, red cardi, black jeans

day 2...target stripe V, gray cardi, big star jeans

day 3...struggling with the pics today. melon stripe, teal cardi, melon skinnies

day 4...spent most of the day in workout clothes. finally got ready for the day around 4:30. old navy stripe, big star long rolled up to make long capris. got chilly during the soccer game so the pants came unrolled

day 5...sinking into the ground while taking pics. cream tank, mint cardi, denim skirt

i'm excited to see what all the other girls have been wearing.

spring 30x30

over the past year or so i have seen the 30x30 clothes challenge all over blogland. i have thought about doing it a few times but always had enough excuses to talk me out of it.  when kelly posted a spring challenge that included linking up with other bloggers, i thought more about it. after wearing blue everyday in april (more to come on that very soon), i was really nervous about taking on another clothes goal. i'm a sucker for a challenge and also meeting other bloggers. kelly is seriously the nicest and set up the whole thing to convince encourage us. basically you pick 30 pieces of clothing...tops, bottoms, dresses, etc. (i'm not counting shoes or accessories but some do) and mix and match pieces for 30 days. some people also choose not to shop as part of the challenge. unless i really NEED something for my trip, i'm not shopping this month. i have already picked up a few new things for spring so it will be good for me to have a shopping freeze. i really hope to follow kelly's posting schedule, but i am nervous how that's going to work out with being gone for 2 weeks. here's the plan...

• Wednesday, May 1st:  My 30 selected items 
• Wednesday, May 8th:  Days 1-6
• Tuesday, May 14th:  Days 7-12
• Monday, May 20th:  Days 13-18
• Monday, May 27th:  Days 19-24
• Monday, June 3rd:  Days 25-30

picking out my 30 pieces was so STRESSFUL! the weather here is bi-polar as evidenced by the snow we had today, and i will be spending 2 weeks at the beach. i hope i didn't make any mistakes.

cardis...1. red target 2. neon gap 3. mint gap 4. teal nordstrom bp 5. olive target 6. gray h&m 7. cream shade 8. charcoal hoodie old navy

 tops...9. blue/white tank old navy 10. teal tank wal mart 11. cream tank from who knows 12. royal blue old navy 13. stripe bella bird walmart 14. baseball tee old navy 15. melon stripe gap 16. navy stripe gap 17. purple/teal v target 18. yellow stripe v target 19. coral stripe v old navy

 bottoms...shorts and pants...20. white shorts banana republic 21. big star cut offs 22. big star cuffed jeans 23. melon skinnies gap 24. black skinnies kohls

skirts...25. denim bella bird walmart 26. army bella bird walmart 27. navy skirt/shirt modbe 28. yellow dress/skirt bella bird walmart 29. black maxi skirt that better get sewn pronto 30. undecided..saving for an emergency
and because it's funny...here is a little sneak peek at my attempts to photograph day #1