this is the end. Part I. day three-hundred-sixty-three

Woah. 

Cannot believe this is the end.
A whole YEAR of blogging!!! 

Of attempting this challenge of slowing my wardrobe. It has been an amazing experience and something I will never forget. It has given me so many opportunities and also taught me so much about myself. It may not have turned out exactly as I thought it would but I still did it. The project has inspired me to continue forth. I will never buy differently from how I have the past year. Living consciously is such a wonderful way to go about life and being aware of what happens before the clothes are on my body is very important to me now. 

The past few days I have been racking my brain trying to come up with the "perfect" way to wrap up the year and I just didn't have that spark or zazzle of an idea. So instead I am just winging it. For this and the next two posts (THREE TOTAL PARTS TO "THE END") I am going to take a little trip back in time and reflect a bit on the year and get myself amped for the new project. 

Remember this guy? My first banner :) Creating this outfit last June was an aspect of the inspiration for the year of slow fashion. I thought heck, I have had these shorts, this shirt and these shoes in my closet for quite some time and i never wear them. Why is that? I was inspired to try and create different combinations in my closet and then that's what I did. The challenge allowed me really discover my style and embrace what it is.
The first blog post! I still own and wear everything in this photo! (still haven't fixed those shoes...that's on the SYS list I promise!). I quickly learned that there is a lot of work that goes into a blog outfit post.

 Here is my basic formula: (for kicks)
1. Pick out outfit (this can take anywhere from 7 seconds to 7 days and was kind of the whole point of the blog)
2. style outfit
3. chose photo location
4. get to said location. hike your ass through a field, or drive into some random 'posted' area
5. take photos. You have more time if you chose not to park in an unwelcome spot. but is that fun?
6. Take MORE PHOTOS THAN YOU NEED. seriously.
7. hike/drive your ass back
8. upload and edit photos (i always did a MINIMAL amount of this...)
9. Upload photos to flickr
10. write html for post and insert images
11. publish
12. share on social media and repeat steps 1-12 for 365 days or more.

Fashion blogging, unless you are a street style blogger or someone who is strictly behind the lens also forces you to have your photo taken like. ALL THE TIME. In my case every stinking day. I quickly embraced being "THAT FRIEND" who quickly taught EVERYONE how to use the Digital SLR, frame a photo and use light. The people I recruited to do my photos are some of the most wonderful people in my life; family, friends, lovers and fellow bloggers. Every day became a journey with everyone. Finding the best locations to shoot photos. Unless of course I am shooting them by myself......Which happened A LOT. I use a tripod and a timer for the majority of my posts now. I find that I know what I like and can do it very quickly. However i never pass up a chance to take advantage of my beloved former photographers amazing skills. I hope in the future I can meet and have my picture taken by even more people for the blog. And also take some great pictures of others. I would love to have a street style aspect where I find thrifted styles on the streets. I will talk a bit more about selfies in tomorrows post. 

One of the greatest discoveries of the year has been that I love being a blogger and blogging. This community is so overwhelming and large it can seem EXHAUSTING to "break in" but I quickly realized that is not what it is about! I just started interacting with people and have found some wonderful blogs to follow and even cultivated some friendships both online and off! I am having so much freaking fun regardless of my readership I enjoy the challenge of putting together posts and the fun of learning new things to make the blog better.

I have also discovered that i want to continue to grow myself by spending more time on content of posts and by delivering materials on the entire slow community, not just fashion. Slow Your Style will be a Style Blog as apposed to YOSF's fashion blog style. I will cover those topics I promised to cover on the first day that I didn't get to. I will create more page content to help people interested in "slowing their life down" do it in a fun and easy way. I also will be starting a consulting aspect of my blog where I can work with you personally to help you slow our closet, your plate and your entire life. I am so excited to roll out the new site but It is going to take quite a bit of work. I will continue using the YOSF platform to keep you up to date on the Slow Your Style developments. Are you excited? Because I am freaking amped.


Again. Thanks to all my readers. I reached 100 facebook likes yesterday and just felt SO THANKFUL for all the people who support and like my project. I hope you will chose to stick with me through the next one!