15:30

The wardrobe challenge. It's all over the place these days. The first time I heard about it, the challenge was to wear only 6 items of clothing for an entire month. It counted pajamas and work out wear, everything. Pretty extreme. Last week my sister forwarded me an easier challenge that a different blogger gave to her readers: wear only 15 wardrobe items over the course of 30 days. It's a little more relaxed, but not entirely easy. Less puritan, more realistic. So...I'm taking the challenge, and so are Jett and Kai. I'm doing it myself because it's something fun to do long-distance with my sister. I'm making Jett and Kai do it to keep it interesting. Here are the rules:

1. Select 15 items from your closet: These can include shirts, trousers, jeans, cardigans, dresses, etc — in short, clothing. Make your final selections by August 30th.

2. Use unlimited accessories: Remix your outfits relying on all of your jewelry, shoes, scarves, outerwear (blazers/suit jackets do not equal outerwear!), and belts.

3. Captain Obvious: your pajamas and lounge-at-home clothing do not count, undergarments do not count, gym clothes do not count.

4. Make the COMMIT LIST: Document your list on your blog, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, loose-leaf paper, etc. Feel free to snap photographs of the items, list them — get creative! This is your commit list, and you can’t stray from it. Stain on shirt? DEAL WITH IT. Cat ripped your pants? Get a SEWING KIT.

5. Keep a diary: Document your outfits each day, whether it be via an “outfit of the day” photo or a log of what you’ve worn and how you’ve mixed it up.

6. Ask for help!: Call your friends, pen a blog. Don’t be afraid to ask friends for help on creative ideas on keeping your wardrobe fresh!

15 wardrobe items only for 30 days! Can you do it? Yes you can!

I just spent the last 30 minutes picking out my 15 items. I don't really like my wardrobe right now (a symptom of living on Main Street and having no natural fashion sense), so I spent the entire time trying to decide which items of clothing I hated the least. It was kind of depressing, and I'm less excited about this challenge than I was before. On the other hand, I've pretty much cleaned out my closet for the season, so that's something.

To keep it interesting, I am committing Jett and Kai to the challenge. They each get 15 items to wear over the month of September. This will be much harder on me than keeping to my own 15 items, since they are so messy and sweaty and I generally change their clothes at least once a day already. Add to that Jett's new habit of chewing on his shirt until it is sopping wet, and his preference for picking out his own clothes, and you've got yourself a challenge.

Wondering what I picked out? Here are the pictures.

Amy: 2 khaki shorts, 2 jeans, 5 shirts, 1 dress, 1 cardigan, 2 lightweight sweaters = 13 items. I'll add one or two more items once I figure out what I'm wearing to a wedding this coming weekend.

Kai: 2 long sleeve shirts, 6 t-shirts, 2 jeans, 4 shorts, 1 sweatshirt

Jett: 5 shirts for school, 2 shirts for play, 3 shorts for school, 2 shorts for play, 2 jeans, 1 long sleeve shirt. I don't know if he'll make it through September without a sweatshirt, but I can't picture giving any other items up to make room for one.

I'll post a picture of our outfits every day, although now that I write it, blogging about it seems a bit vain....who cares what I wear? What? Oh, yes, that's right, I write a BLOG. About MYSELF.

Ahem.

I also have a handful of stories to share too, so consider this a kick-off to a month of daily blogging. Here we go!