First Day of Work (and a <$50 outfit post)

I had trouble falling asleep last night. And this morning TOTALLY felt like the first day of school. 

"What should I wear?" 

"Will these shoes give off a good first impression?" 

"Pants or skirt for the first day?" 

"I wonder how they feel about open toes..."

For my first day at the new (business casual) job, I finally settled on a new-ish black dress, low-heeled Mary Janes and black tights with a barely-visible argyle pattern. I intended to put on my shapes chain necklace but forgot (whoops). Maybe I was too distracted by how the torrential rain was going to ruin my rarely flat-ironed hair? (FYI: I am aware that this photo is terrible — I ran out of time for re-dos.)

I'm already itching to wear something a little more funky (but still totally appropriate and within dress code). Part of this feeling comes from seeing my new colleague Peggy's workplace attire for the second time. When I visited the office two weeks ago, she had on a totally approp bohemian-style dress with creams, teals and browns and fabulous costume jewelry. Today she had on a tiered black dress, black kitten heels with roses on the toes (they were much cuter/less kitsch then they sound) and a cluster of metal, lucite and faux gemstone costume jewelry. Business casual can be fun and professional, right?

Dress: Evan Picone via Ross ($17.99 on clearance)

Tights: Anne Klein ($7.99 for a pack of two - Ross)

Shoes: Kenneth Cole Reaction (gifted from sister because they were too small for her)

Total: $25.98 (would have been $39.98 if I hadn't forgotten the necklace...)

Now that I have a reason to get dressed every morning, I hope to be back to posting outfits semi-regularly.

Note to self: get a better camera. Either the user or the camera sucks with indoor photos. Question to self: why so shiny? ALL THE TIME?