freestyle FRIDAY

Even at a younger age I can remember noticing style. I've always been intrigued, but I would say it wasn't until my early twenties that I really began taking notice of fashion magazines and trends. All of a sudden I was more interested than ever in making sure what I wore reflected my own evolving style. Although I'm not a professional in the fashion industry and I didn't study any aspect of fashion in school, I still believe my passion is strong and I could do well in the industry. The problem - it's almost necessary to be living in NYC or LA to get started, and I'm in a tiny town in Alabama.

If I could have any job in the fashion industry it would hands-down by a stylist. I think there are plenty of people out there already designing gorgeous clothes, but definitely not enough people out there showing consumers how to wear those clothes. It's an outlet to share my own creativity; additionally, it's a great way to help others.

Anyway, I could rant and rave all day about how much I enjoy fashion and styling, but let's just get to the point. I thought a great way for me to fill this void is to start a weekly post on here where I can style away!

While I could easily style whatever I wanted I thought it would be more fun for you all to send me your requests! Maybe you have an item you bought last month and are still stuck on how to style it or you have a date or event coming up and you have no idea what to wear - I want to help you!

I want you to email me {dwellingandtelling at gmail dot com} and let me know the details - anything you feel you should share. Colors, styles, trends, pieces that you love or hate, the event that's going on, your budget, what you already have that you want to use - anything you think is necessary for me to know.

I definitely need your help to get started with this so please email me with any request you have! Be sure to put Freestyle Friday in the subject line!

To get things started I thought I would share with you a look I put together last week for a JC Penney contest on Good Life For Less. The contest was to put an Easter look together using an item from JC Penney. Since coral is huge right now I went in that direction. Gold looks amazing with coral so that's where the jewelry comes in and, well, storms have been all over the place so a trench is important as well. Hope you like it! (P.S. - I won the contest! Can't wait to use my giftcard!)