Nice to "Meet and Greet" Jess.

Hello on this Hump Day and thank you for visiting another "Meet and Greet". Today I have a College Advisor on my Blog, who has such a Beautiful, Humble Profession and from reading her blog, I can tell that she loves it. Her name is Jess and she blogs over at J's Style. Jess does Business Casual so well. She rocks Cropped Pants and Pencil Skirts with the best of them and you will often see her in some Great Blazers & Vests, too. You would never guess either that most of her finds are either from Target or a thrift store. And she looks great wearing her Glasses too, which in my opinion add more to her Style as well as her Career/Job. And Jess, I have only told my husband about my blog, too. OK, read on her interview and head over to her blog to see what she is about. Thanks.

(And tomorrow + Friday I will be traveling/flying to USA. However I have 2 Special Posts for you Girls so stay tuned for those. Thank You.)

1. Introduce yourself in 2 sentences. Introduce your blog in 2 sentences.

Hi - I'm Jess! I live in Columbus, Ohio with my husband and work as an academic advisor at a local university. I blog over at J’s Style where I post mostly about the outfits I wear to work, trying to find a good balance between showing some style and individuality while still maintaining a sense of professionalism. Occasionally you’ll see a weekend look - as long as I made it out of the house and my sweatpants, because as much as I love to step it up during the week, I’m pretty casual once the weekend hits!

2. Why did you start your blog & when did you start it?

I started my blog back in January 2012. I truly think it started because I was bored! I started reading different style blogs when I finally had free time again after finishing grad school in August 2011. From there I had the same thought I think a lot of us have had, that it would be fun to try to do that too!

3. What is your Every day Work Dress Code?

I would describe it as a little bit laid back business casual. Lately I've been attracted to blazers, which I think is an easy way to up the professionalism, but I could just as easily get away with a pair of khaki pants and an appropriate top.

4. What Colors do you incorporate more in your wardrobe & which ones do you stay away from and why?

I think I rely on black or white pretty often, maybe more often than I should.  I like wearing items that are colorful, and pairing them with either of those two colors feels to me like it grounds the outfit a little bit more, since I do need to remember sometimes that I work in a professional setting.  While I don’t do it on purpose, I’ve realized that I stay away from yellow for some reason.  I don’t have strong feelings against it, I just realize it’s a color I’m missing when I look through my closet!

5. What are some of your favorite accessories & how do you use/wear them?

I love accessories with special meaning or a story behind them, so although I mix in a statement necklace from time to time, you'll most often see me in my favorite necklace that has a button from my grandma's button collection as the charm, paired with a watch and bracelet from my husband layered with a bracelet with "give more than a damn" hand stamped on it - a saying I believe is important to remember!

6. What is currently missing from your closet or what do you like to add to your closet & why?

The perfect black tee (see, once again I’m going for black). In the summer, I tend to incorporate a lot of plain v-neck tees, so each year I’m on the search for a new favorite to stock up on. This year it’s Old Navy’s vintage tee, so I’ll probably end up ordering the black one since I haven’t seen it in stores.

7. Do you have a Monthly Budget, if so, how much is it?

Within the past few month's I've started linking up for Fran's Budgeting Bloggers series and have targeted a $75 monthly clothing budget. Each time I've gone a little bit over budget, but it's encouraged me to cut out some of the impulse buys and learn to tell myself no more often (which I need!).

8. What are some of your most favorite stores or brands, including shoes?

Target has always been my favorite store and that's where a lot of my shoes come from, but recently a lot of my favorite finds have been from Old Navy. I really enjoy visiting the thrift stores as well, but have been doing that a little bit less lately, although not because of any particular reason.

9. What have you yet not done in your blog but you want to?

I think it would be fun to do some collaborating with other bloggers and would be interested in doing a fun link up of some kind! Although this may not really fit this question, I also would like to someday be comfortable admitting to my friends and family that I even have a style blog. My husband and sister-in-law know about it, but have never seen it. I don't know what I'm so scared of, but maybe it's just because my blog feels so personal to me and it can be hard to open that up for judgement from people who know you in real life! It's easier to share within the blogging community because we're all putting ourselves out there and so I feel that you're much more likely to get supportive feedback from like-minded people.

10. How do you work into growing your blog?

Link ups and taking the time to really read and comment on the blogs that I'm interested in and I feel like I have something in common with the writer are really how I try to grow my blog and its' readership. While I can't deny it would get me down if I never gained any new readers or lost a lot of the ones I have, I'm just happy with blogging giving me the opportunity to try to be a little more creative than I usually am and an opportunity to connect with people.

11. Below include 7-8 different outfits you have worn so far that you have loved & give some quick explanations for each.

 

A classic pencil skirt with some trendiness from the lace. I paired teal wedges with the outfit to balance out the casual t-shirt.

This outfit is something I would've paired together in a heartbeat last year when I was at my previous job with a really laid back dress code, but it felt a little scary wearing it to my current job! I loved it though and it really made me feel like my old self again.

This outfit just felt so fresh to me. It probably helped that it was probably the first outfit (and weather) of the season that really felt like spring had finally arrived!

I think at this point I pretty much consider leopard print a neutral, but these shoes kept the outfit from feeling boring to me.

A statement necklace and top in colors that contrast is my favorite subtle way.

The more layers you have, the more complete an outfit feels in my opinion!

I had to buy this sweater dress when I saw how the color contrast of it has such a slimming effect! This is also the perfect example of me using a pop of color to spice up a neutral outfit.

12. What is one last thing you want to say to anyone who reads this?

Thanks to Ada for having me and to everyone for taking the time to get to know me and my blog and a little bit.  Head on over and visit - I'd love to get to know you!



P.S. Let me know through the comments if you want to be part of this series where I will have you introduce yourself and your blog through a Guest Post. The questions are the same for everyone. All you got to do is 1) follow my blog and 2) your blog should be fairly new, from 2012 and forth. So if you have been blogging since January 2012 or later, this is a great opportunity for you to showcase your blog and perhaps gain some new readers & followers along the way. If you decide YES, we will talk via E-Mail. Thanks. =)