Category: My Outfits

Being Kind To Yourself

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OKAY ANDIE | Being Kind To Yourselfhow the hell do we do that?

I shot these awhile back, and until recently, I wasn’t really sure why I hadn’t gotten around to sharing them. Aside from me not totally loving all the images I took, I also found myself being hyper-critical about my appearance…which seems to be my way lately. I have come to learn I am so mean to myself. I never find myself thinking horrible things about the people around me, but for whatever reason, when it comes to me, I am downright nasty. I am certain I am not the only person who does this to themselves.

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Is It Crushing Us All?

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OKAY ANDIE | Is It Crushing Us All?OKAY ANDIE | Is It Crushing Us All?Or is it just me?

Hi guys!!! Long time no talk or post or whatever. I am still alive and well. I feel slightly out of practise with this blog…like what do I even write about anymore? That’s probably the reason I haven’t been posting as much…I just don’t have much to say, and if I do, I post it in real time on Instagram. Are blogs dying? What do you guys think? Do we like YouTube more? Is Instagram just more accessible and the speed at which we take in information? Are we just too busy to sit down and read, or really write something? How can I be a blogger when I don’t even take the time to read blogs anymore? These are questions I wonder…stupid questions, really, because in the grand scheme of the world, they don’t even matter. But, in the grand scheme of my life, I am deeply a part of this world. I am supposed to care about what is new or what social medium is the best. I am supposed to be battling my way to the top, to have the most followers and the most success. And honestly, I do care and I do battle, but then I also dislike myself for caring too much and battling too much. Social media seems like it is crushing us all, and we all feel it, but we don’t really try wriggle our way out, and we struggle to see how it truly benefits our lives, but we also love it because it validates a lot of us and it gives us purpose and it influences us and inspires us…but it’s still crushing us and we still don’t really know how it benefits us.

Nobody starts a blog to just do it anymore. Everyone wants to make money from it. Everyone wants to find the quick and easy route to the top. But for a lot of us, we’ve been at it a long time and it’s almost more about luck than anything. I am not at all saying it’s bad to want or make money from social media, afterall, I do, but blogging has become this idealized job that anyone thinks they can do if they have a camera and a computer. It’s not an easy job though. It takes talent and it takes real effort and constant work. It’s a tiring one, that takes away from your real life and the people in your real life.

I am not sure how all of this reading right now? It’s not mean’t to be bitter or misanthropic. I’m more writing this for myself than anything. To just get it out. I love social media, but then I also dislike it. I daydream about disappearing from it some days, but then I also wonder who I would be without it, and that is fucking sad and scary.

Would love to hear all of your thoughts in the comments below. This post is not mean’t to call anyone out or read like I am giving up. I guess I just wanted to start a discussion. To see how we all feel. This space has always been about wanting to connect, so that I don’t feel alone and so you don’t either. To let us all know a lot of our feelings are universal, regardless of all the things that seem to set us apart.

– WHAT I WORE –
Sweater: vintage via CS (similar; found it in blue!) | Jeans: vintage Levi’s (similar) | Boots: Zara via CS (similar)OKAY ANDIE | Is It Crushing Us All?OKAY ANDIE | Is It Crushing Us All?OKAY ANDIE | Is It Crushing Us All?OKAY ANDIE | Is It Crushing Us All?

*photos by Zach

Go Go Gadget

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OKAY ANDIE | Go Go GadgetOKAY ANDIE | Go Go Gadgetshooting with my new camera

It has been awhile since I had shot myself outdoors. I used to be a stickler for having an outfit post every week, but with my new job over the last year (more on that one day), and a desire to just chill out once in awhile, I decided I would do what I could when I felt inspired and stop beating myself up when things didn’t work out as planned. So, I don’t post near as much as I used to here, but I do post to instagram most days since it feels easier, less exhausting and more immediate/raw. Anywaysssss, all this to say, Zach bought me a new camera for Christmas, Nikon D5500, to be exact, and it wasn’t until last week that I even brought it outside to shoot myself for outfit photos.

I’m still getting used to its new features (touch screen and wifi, weeeooo!) and I am now using an app on my phone to connect to my camera and help me shoot my self portraits. It’s not the greatest app and definitely has flaws, but once I get really comfortable with it, I think it’s going to be a great help, it already has been tbh. I used to miss focus a lot when I was shooting myself. It just was never quite there. You don’t know (or maybe you do) how hard it is to focus a camera when there is no subject to focus on other than a purse. Being able to tap on myself on my phone screen to focus has been exponentially helpful. Much of my time was wasted on focusing and missing and refocusing and so on, so I’m hoping with the time saved on that it will feel less daunting to shoot my images, especially on colder days when I want to just get in and out (out and in, in this case), as they say.

How are ya’ll doing? I gained a lot of new followers over the last couple weeks, so hello to all you new friends!  Thanks for following! Please do comment letting me know about yourself. I love getting to know my readers ❤

-WHAT I WORE-
Shirt: Club Monaco (similar) via CS | Sweater: MOTH. (sort of similar) via CS | Jacket: vintage (similar) via CS | Purse: vintage Coach via CS | Socks: Topshop | Hat: Fossil (similar) via CS | Shoes: Dr.Martens
OKAY ANDIE | Go Go GadgetOKAY ANDIE | Go Go GadgetOKAY ANDIE | Go Go Gadget

My Favourite Blue Jeans

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OKAY ANDIE | My favourite blue jeansBlue Jean baby

If you have been reading this blog long enough, you know jeans were a rarity up until last year. It’s strange (but also expected) how time changes your opinion of yourself and then trickles down into the way you decide to dress. I never felt good in jeans, and because of that I really disliked them. To me they were too easy and thus boring. I think working as a clothing buyer and seeing trends and upholding those trends or rejecting them, ends up giving you a whole new perspective on clothing, an appreciation for quality and an open-mind to all sartorial choices. It has certainly changed my style and allowed me to try new things that I would have once scoffed at. All this to say, I have come to love love love jeans, specifically blue jeans. Unfortunately all these jeans are second hand or vintage (which pretty much all my clothes are now thanks to my job), so I am unsure that I can give you direct links, but I’m going to do my best to find something close to each.
OKAY ANDIE | My favourite blue jeansLevi’s 531 mom jeans (similar…i also own this exact pair and love them)

I had been searching for what felt like forever (and by searching I mean waiting until a pair came into my work) for the perfect mom jeans. No mom jean ever looked quite right on me, until I found these ones. I remember doing a little happy dance when I tried them on because it felt like fate that a vintage pair – of Levi’s, no less – would fit me so perfectly. I have worn them all through Summer into Winter, which is sort of the beautiful thing about a good pair of jeans – they are practical for all seasons.
OKAY ANDIE | My favourite blue jeansHigh-waisted American Apparel skinny jeans (same style although I can’t find the same dark wash)

These too I got secondhand, which I am pretty happy about. I hadn’t walked into an AA in years, so I had no idea what I was missing. I am very picky when it comes to high waisted skinnies, mostly because they accentuating what feels like all the wrong parts of me (thiiiighs), but for whatever reason these jeans make me feel amazing. The indigo colour, the perfect high rise, comfortable and slightly stretchy denim, large back pockets…I don’t think I will ever look for another pair (so please don’t go fully out of business AA).
OKAY ANDIE | My favourite blue jeansVintage seafarer jeans (similar…and this brand has quite a few similar styles) (similar)

Ya’ll know about my high waisted, wide leg love. It was the first type of jeans I shared on this blog. I have another pair similar to these from H&M, but I was getting a bit worried that if they ever bit the dust I wouldn’t be able to find something similar (this seafarer style is surprisingly hard to find). Lo and behold, these beauties…and vintage, to boot.
OKAY ANDIE | My favourite blue jeansLevi’s kick flares (similar)

These jeans were brought into my work by a middle aged biker. He said he had loved them, but they no longer fit. He had unstitched the pant hems that give them that worn, frayed look that new jeans are trying to replicate these days and unstitched the Levi’s leather tag off the back. I prayed (metaphorically) they would fit me, and fit me they did (you can’t help but feel that much more lucky when a one-off fits). They are a stiff denim, which makes them not the greatest jeans for moving about, but they have that perfect chilled look that keeps me pulling them from my closet time and again.

A Year In The Life

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OKAY ANDIE | A Year In The LifeHappy New Year M’Loves

I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions, so you won’t be getting any lists like that here. But when a new year comes, how ever man made it is, you can’t really help but feel like it’s a fresh start, a marker of sorts, for acknowledging the past and looking to the future. This year for me has certainly been up and down, as all years are for everyone, really. I went through depression that felt like it would be the end of me. I had days of complete elation where I felt incredibly lucky to be alive. I learned from a dear friend that to be in a lasting relationship you must choose that person everyday and that sometimes is easy to forget. I met some of the most kind and beautiful people on this planet. I’ve learned new skills that I am proud to have and that I am much too hard on myself. I’ve had moments of feeling like the luckiest person in the world, surrounded by love and moments of hating myself so deeply I wasn’t sure if anyone in this world genuinely liked me. I’ve talked about my feelings and bottled them up. I’ve laid in bed all day watching netflix and got painfully sunburnt swimming in the warm and salty sea. I’ve yelled until it hurt. I’ve laughed until it hurt. I’ve lived the only way I know how. As I do, everyday, of every year.

There are big markers, good and bad, for every year. But years are also made up of small moments and details that weave in and out of the big ones that make up most of our lives. They say you can’t see the forest for the trees, but sometimes acknowledging those trees can help to see the forest for what it is. We are mean’t to do things with our life, but just existing and living is doing something too. It’s okay not to be the best or the worst and it’s okay to have no real plan at all. There is a system and societal structure to this life that can make us feel inadequate and exhausted, but realizing that a slow pace is still a pace, afterall, can be a relief like no other.

As always, thank you guys for being here. I didn’t post near as much as I did in previous years. I’ve written and deleted countless posts for the reason why, but in the end, it probably needs no explanation. I am here now, and that’s all that matters.

I love you all and you enrich my life by just stopping by here. I hope my words and images do the same for you.

-WHAT I WORE-
pant suit: Zara via CS | Blouse: Anne Klein via CS | Jacket: Topshop | Socks c/o Tabbisocks | Shoes: Seychelles
OKAY ANDIE | A Year In The LifeOKAY ANDIE | A Year In The Life

photos by Zach