I love dressing up as much as the next girl, but there's no item of clothing in the world that can make me happier than a soft tee shirt in a neutral color. One of my blogging goals for 2015 is to do a better job documenting my outfits and personal style, so I thought I might as well start with the basics. This is what I'm wearing most often when out and about in the fall and winter: dark pants, a grey tee (very possibly topped with an over-sized black cardigan, but not this time), tan booties, and my trench coat. Works every time.

Jacket: Banana Republic

Boots: ShoeMint | Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Top: LOFT | Pants: J.Crew

Necklace: J.Crew | Watch (similar): Michael Kors | Bracelet: Banana Republic

Do you have a grown-up uniform? Tell me what you wear almost every day!

My wedding dress and I fell in love immediately (it was my mom's), but I spent some time trying to figure out what shoes I wanted to wear when I got married last year. Our ceremony was going to be outside and Rob is quite a bit taller than me, so I knew I needed high heels that were substantial enough for me not to sink into possibly damp grass. I thought about wedges but never really found any I liked enough, and I kept coming back to a favorite pair of leather pumps I used to wear to work every day. "If only I could find a pair exactly like these, just a little more special," I kept saying.

I had a brown pair and a nude pair of these pumps from J.Crew, and the nude ones had been worn to pieces. I had actually stopped wearing them because they looked so bad, and when I was about to throw them away I decided to try a little craft on them first. So with a bit of Mod Podge and a whole lot of glitter, I managed to create the perfect pair of wedding shoes.

I'm going to show you how I did it because I am really not super crafty, but these were so easy and I absolutely loved making them. (And the supplies only cost me about $15!)

Supplies:

• An old pair of shoes
• Mod Podge Glue, Gloss Finish
• Glitter (I went with a larger glitter in silver)
• A paintbrush
• Masking tape
• Mod Podge Clear Acrylic Sealer

Instructions:

1. Tape the soles with masking tape--you don't really have to do this but if you're worried about getting glue on the bottom, it makes life a little easier for you.
2. In a paper bowl, pour some Mod Podge and mix quite a bit of glitter into it. I didn't measure and just kept adding glitter until I could tell that there was more than just glue in there.
3. Brush the glitter-glue mix onto each shoe. Do two or three coats. Let it dry overnight. Remove tape.
4. The next day I felt like they looked pretty good, but I wasn't completely happy with the amount of sparkle. I added another coat of Mod Podge (glitter-less, this time) and then just poured loose glitter on each shoe. That did the trick.
5. Use the acrylic sealer to spray a coat or two on top of the final layer of glitter. If you're wearing a short dress, you're good to go, but since my dress is long, I added a few extra coats so that the rough glitter wouldn't snag the lining of my gown.

Note: This post was originally published in December of 2013 but I'm reposting it today with some new photos taken by our wedding photographer and a little copy editing. I broke these bad boys out for New Year's Eve last week and got so many compliments and had so much fun saying "Thanks, I made them!" that I wanted to revisit this post. (The formatting of the comments from last year are a little wonky because they were posted before I switched to Squarespace.) If you make a pair of your own, let me know!

Good morning from Charlotte! Rob and I got home last night and it felt so much like a Sunday--I'm excited that we have a full weekend to unwind and do laundry and really relax a bit before we get back to regularly scheduled life on Monday morning.

I can't believe 2015 is upon us. I'm not usually into making very specific New Year's Resolutions, but this year I really want to do my best to prioritize my life and stop making excuses. I want my health and fitness to stop sitting on the back burner when things get busy or stressful. I want to make even more of an effort to see my friends who live in different cities. And I want to make the most of life in Charlotte by exploring more and getting to know the city with the aggressiveness that we had while we were in Minneapolis.

What are some of your New Year's Resolutions?

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I have just a few links to share with you this weekend--there aren't many of them so I didn't categorize them like I usually do. I hope you enjoy them and as always, feel free to leave me a link you loved in the comments below!

• I just updated this post with some new photos: DIY Glitter Pumps (So perfect for a wedding or New Year's Eve!)
• 6 Things I Wish I'd Known About Marriage When I Was 26
• This woman had me laughing out loud. Such a wonderful commentary on what life really looks like when it's inspired by Pinterest: What Happened When I Lived According To The Pinterest Popular Page
• 9 Important Tips for Sometimes Writers--I love the reality of number 9, "You don't have to write every day."
• How fun are these little Kate Spade glitter earrings?
• Leigh Anne Tuohy, Racism, and the White Saviour Complex. We all know Leigh Anne Tuohy has a good heart, but do you think maybe she could scrounge up a little sensitivity and common sense while she's at it? How embarrassing for those two boys just minding their own business.
• We're working hard on the finishing touches of the first volume of The Eighty Twenty Magazine this week, but I wanted to share this post which includes a video with some behind-the-scenes sneak peeks! I'm so excited to see this thing come together and I hope you all love it as much as we do.

Photo: one of my favorites from my bridal shoot, by V.A. Photography (again!)