creativity.

Day 9:

Red and white shift dress - gifted

Red and white full skirt - Joe Fresh

Black tights - thrifted

Black boots - Alfred Sung

Beaded red necklace - The Black Market (local shop)

Today, I want to talk about creativity. I've always considered myself a creative person. Through grade school, I adored drawing - I even considered a career as an animator. I've dabbled in art, painting, claymation, filmmaking, nature photography, jewelry-making, sewing, and knitting. I took ballet classes for 12 years, and I've also studied jazz, modern dance, hip hop, contemporary, tango, bellydance, and pole dancing. I met my husband through a songwriting website and while I don't play any instruments (except maracas), I enjoy mixing instrumental pieces on GarageBand and occasionally recording demos.

However, most of my creative hobbies have fallen by the wayside. It's hard to find the time to paint a landscape or sew a dress when you're taking 4 or 5 classes a semester, working part-time, and trying to fit in a social life. Though my university career is over (for the moment, at least), life hasn't seemed to slow down.

Since high school, though, I've been making up for some of this loss with the way I dress. I've come to take great pride is dressing in a way I find appealing. I love saving money and nabbing dresses for a song at the thrift store. There is a certain thrill that comes with filling a niche in your wardrobe, especially at a bargain price. As result, I've accumulated my fair share of clothes over the years and have garnered somewhat of a reputation for being "stylish".

I've gotta say, though - the 30 for 30 challenge has really changed that in a way I didn't expect. I used to be excited whenever I got to wear something new, or I'd come up with a particularly good outfit combination. Though I usually felt pretty, I didn't always feel spectacular. Lately, though, I've been so excited about the possibilities in my closet. I've spent my lunch breaks at work sketching out outfit possibilities for my 30, and it is SO. MUCH. FUN. By being limited to 30 items, I have to combine things in ways I wouldn't have tried before. I'm coming up with great ideas for accessory DIYs. I've dropped one item from my 30, and lately I've been sketching outfits so I can choose between my "candidates". One of the candidates is a homemade dress that would require to get me off my lazy butt to use the adorable jersey fabric that's been sitting in my closet for at least a year.

I expected 30 for 30 to be interesting, but fulfilling? Didn't see that one coming. You rock, Kendi.

Kisses,
Meg

P.S.: Since I sketch at work, I've been going from memory to figure out what to combine. I was worried that this dress and skirt combo was going to make me look insane, but thank goodness the stripes in my skirt are more subtle than I'd remembered. None of the cardigans from my 30 really matched, though, so I had to sub in my scarf. Luckily, I think the scarf might be more fetching anyway. The shoes might be a bit on the heavy side, but it's getting cold around these parts...