My 5 Wardrobe Essentials

For someone who loves clothes and dressing up, I feel like my day-to-day uniform is fairly repetitive. When Emma told me about a filler-type post on her 'wardrobe essentials' she was working on for her blog, and how she wanted to start a back-and-forth tag-type series, I took a look through my own closet and tried to narrow down my list.
 I used to look at all the photos from fashion blogs on my Pinterest board and wished that I dressed like that more often. I came to realize though, that their style was just not practical for me. I don't think I would feel like myself dressing like that. So that is kind of the criteria I used when narrowing down this list: what do I feel comfortable and confident in and what do I tend to wear on an everyday basis?

Cardigans

A total 'teacher staple'. I love me a good cardigan and most definitely prefer them to pullover sweaters. I like that you can wear them to work over a blouse and with nice slacks or a skirt, or you can wear them more casually with jeans and a t-shirt. They are dressy looking but still comfortable to wear. 

Dark Wash Skinny Jeans

When I am not dressing for work, I stick to skinny jeans. I prefer a darker wash, simply because I find them more flattering on my figure. They look great with flats, sandals, and heels (although I don't really wear heels too often, as you'll see with my next item).

Flats

Like I said at the top of the post: I used to wish I could dress like all the fashion bloggers you see floating around the internet: skinny jeans and sky-high heels. I never felt truly confident walking in heels though. I much prefer to slip on a comfy pair of flats. They are just much more comfortable and still can look dressed-up. As you can see, I am not super picky when i comes to a style of flats: smoking flats, rounded toes, pointed toes, patterns, TOMS. You get the picture. 

Arm Candy

I have gotten so accustomed to wearing some sort of bracelet or arm candy, that now if I leave the house without it, my wrist feels naked. This watch, is probably the thing I reach for 98% of the time. I feel like it adds a nice masculine element to my usually-girly outfits and since my style is rather simple, it just amps it up a bit. 

Cross-body Bags

My first really expensive handbag purchase, was actually a bucket-style tote. Even though I love that bag, and still break it out for special occasions, I find those style of purses annoying to carry on an everyday basis. I much prefer something with a cross-body strap. Not only are these more comfortable for me to carry (noticing a theme here?), but I find that they are often the perfect size for holding all my junk and you can convert them to clutches or satchels, if need be.