Seeing Red - Red with Black - Taking Care of Our Hearts

We don’t often think of pairing red and black for Valentine’s Day. More often we style red with white or some version of red and pink. There are also many of us who don’t even visit the red or pink idea for Valentine’s because we either don’t celebrate that special day, we don’t like traditional holiday color schemes in our outfits or maybe are more into blues and greens than reds and pinks.

For these February posts, I’ve chosen to focus on red or darker versions of red like burgundy. I also wanted to make each of these outfits, not be so much about Valentine’s Day, although you could use them for a Valentine’s or Galentine’s outing, but more about the color red.

February is Heart Disease awareness month, and the color red certainly represents the age old idea of what a Valentine’s heart looks like, but it also represents that most important muscle in our bodies. This major fireball, which is about the size of your fist, works hard, pumping blood to keep us alive. Try to envision the heart as the UPS hub, where everything comes to and goes out that our bodies need to survive. Heart disease, like cancer, drug addictions and infectious diseases can be life threatening. It can manifest itself with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hardening of the arteries and many other complications. Take a look at some of these statistics that I got off the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) website:

“Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States.1
One person dies every 37 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease.1
About 647,000 Americans die from heart disease each year—that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.2,3
Heart disease costs the United States about $219 billion each year from 2014 to 2015.3 This includes the cost of health care services, medicines, and lost productivity due to death.”

— Centers for Disease Control Website

As you look at the pictures of this outfit I put together, I’m sure you can think of at least one person you know that has been affected by heart disease. This past fall at the college my husband teaches at, a 24 year old student died from a massive heart attack. It was a tragedy.

The Heart Association, formed in 1924, is the major force behind raising awareness about heart disease in the United States. Their website has a bucket load of information. You can see some interesting historical facts on their history page here. I am not getting paid to mention this, but merely want to raise awareness of a disease that affects so many people. You would think in our world where we have so much awareness about health, good eating, exercise and so on, that heart disease would be a thing of the past, but it’s not. We all struggle to make good choices and taking care of our hearts should be no exception.

I have not touched my camera for months, but this is what you get when schedules for taking pictures don’t coincide. Ha, ha. I just did not want to stand outside and try to get my settings figured out, so I tried to stand by the windows to get enough natural light. The skies were gray, as usual, thus the shadows on my face. Oh well, I tired and the pictures are good enough that you get the idea.

For this outfit I wanted to showcase this cute black Croft and Barrow tunic that I found a few weeks ago thrifting. It is probably meant to be more of a summer piece, and when I saw it, I thought it would look cute with cropped jeans and a tee or tank top in the warmer weather, but I also thought it would be the perfect topper for a winter look, thus this red and black combo.

My red cropped pants, I have styled on the blog before. You can see them with a black kimono and with a navy blazer. I found these a while ago at Meijer on the clearance rack and they are a brand called Stitch Star.

The lace 3/4 sleeve, Lauren Conrad top was a thrift find. Typically I would wear a cami underneath, but because I knew the black tunic was going over the top, I didn’t bother. The idea was to create a monochrome layer underneath and even though the pants and top are not the exact same shade of red, it works fine because they are not right next to each other.

To keep the look fairly stream lined I chose my thrifted black and gray houndstooth, Thirty One purse and my Aerosole black suede heels.

The jewelry I am wearing I bought for my oldest daughter’s wedding, so I am often looking for other reasons to wear the necklace and bracelet. I thought this was the perfect finishing touch. You can also see the fun metal rings on the tunic.

Would you wear red and black? What sort of occasion would you wear it for? I could see wearing this outfit for a date night with my hubs where we go somewhere more fancy than Five Guys. Ha, ha.

Do you take care of your heart? I need too. My cholesterol is borderline high, so I have started eating oatmeal more. Exercise is very important, especially cardiovascular. I try to walk a few days a week, but I know I need to be more purposeful in that area as well. I want to do better and my heart needs me to. I hope you all are taking care of your hearts. What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than to give the gift of health to our hearts.

Have a great Tuesday!

I’ve included a few shopping links for black tunics. These would be great to pair with red pants, pencil skirts or shorts. They could go with all sorts of colors. Feel free to peruse at your leisure. These are affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

Texture Talk - Part 2 - Embellishments and Fabrics

Last week I took a look at how adding texture to our outfits can change and elevate our same old, same old looks, to a new level. Texture is all around us in nature and in the homes we live in. Take a look at your living room or bedroom. There is texture on the couch in the form of upholstery, pillows, and throw blankets. Your bed probably has a thick cushy comforter or mattress pad that adds comfort for a better night's sleep. We fill our homes with pictures, decorations and nick nacks to add depth and interest to the environment we live in. Why would we not do the same thing to our outfits?

Last week I looked specifically at adding texture in the form of our accessories, such as bags, shoes, jewelry and scarves. You can see that post here. This week I want to look at fabrics and embellishments and what choices there are to add texture in this regard. 

Embellishments:

This would include anything added to a clothing piece that gives it texture that is not specifically fabric related. Fabrics like lace could be an embellishment, but I am going to leave that for the fabrics section. 

Things like beads, jewels, sequins, fringe and special buttons, are all embellishments. Certain types of stitching, like the embroidery above, as well as things like gathering or ruching also add texture to an outfit. 

Fabrics:

Lace

I love lace and I think it can add an element of elegance to any outfit. It obviously adds beautiful texture when it is worn. Combining lace with leather or lace with some other embellishment makes for an even more interesting outfit. 

Knits

My pictures all revolve around open weave knits. Things like crochet or knitted pieces are great for boosting the texture factor. However, even regular knits made in a factory add dimension to a look, especially if they are ribbed or manufactured in a way that builds texture. You'll see an example of ribbed knits a little further below. 

Fabrics made with special textures:

Pleats

Quilting

Ribbing

Texture is a wonderful thing to add to our outfits. As you begin thinking about fall in particular you will be naturally reaching for things like cozy knit sweaters and fun boots. Coats and jackets will also add an element of texture to your outfit. 

I am going to stretch this into one more post, because I think there is one more area of texture we need to discuss. Look for another post next Thursday. Until then, have a great weekend!

Photo credit Rebecca Trumbull. Make up Rachel Christensen.

Ordinary Amy - Lace Hoodie

It is time for another Ordinary Amy post. When I started thinking about this column, I thought it would be fun to let you see a little bit more of who the regular, normal, Amy is. Sometimes, bloggers look as though they have it all together and life seems like a continuous stream of happy thoughts, great outfits, travel, meet ups and food. However, I am an actual woman and I live real life. I like clothes that are easy and comfortable, have always been a jeans sort of girl and don't usually take pictures of my food. If I had done so this morning, you would have seen a small bowl of dry Cheerios! Ha, ha. This virus, has my appetite a bit wonky as well. Oh well, this too shall pass!

I found this lace hoodie a while back at a thrift store and fell in love. After all, what is better than the comfort of zip up hoodie made with a soft lace fabric that makes it look elegant and classy. I've styled this lace hoodie on the blog before. Check out that original post here. 

When I was growing up my mom and a number of her sisters used to crochet doilies, and other lace decorative items like toppers for dressers and lovely table clothes. Maybe it was those pretty pieces that fueled my fascination with lace, but for some reason I have always loved lace. Maybe it is my inner romantic or my writer's mind that associates lace with epic tales of love, magic and danger. I have always liked the look of a wedding gown that has lace, at least in some form or other on it, as well as curtains or shears made with lace designs. While we have long associate lace with women's underwear and bridal veils, I like that lace is now taking front and center stage on the fashion scene as a functional, wearable clothing piece. 

You can see the all over lace design on this piece has a floral pattern. While lace can come in many patterns and be made today from many different materials, all of them have the quality of being woven or sewn in an open web-like fashion. That is part of what makes lace so beautiful. To me, lace is like art work for the body. Here is a Wikipedia article that gives a bit more information on the different ways of making lace and its early origins. 

For this look, I wore the jacket over my Greenery Merona popover blouse. Remember, Greenery was the Pantone 2017 color of the year. I like this green color as it is more of a true green rather than a yellow green or a blue green. I also wore my Rock & Republic jeans from Kohl's. 

This particular day from a number of weeks ago, we were just running some errands. I still like to try to look put together, so I threw on the silver and bead necklace and the green bracelet.

Since I was going for ultra casual I chose my SO ankle boots and my green velvet bag. Even though the weather is warming up, I think this pretty green bag with its blue flowers is perfect for spring. If I can wear lace as clothing, more than just underwear, then I can also carry a velvet bag all year round!

Do you have any lace pieces like that, that you love to wear? I'd love to hear your comments. 

I've included a few shopping links below to pretty lace items that would be perfect for spring or summer. Take time to click on a few. Each of your clicks earns me a few pennies. This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own. 

Have a great weekend!