Shelbee on the Edge Turns One and My Evolution of Style

August 23, 2016 / 50 Comments

August 24 marks the first blogiversary of Shelbee on the Edge! And I could not have made it this long without all of the wonderful support I have received from my friends and family as well as members of this fabulous blogging community!

A special thanks goes out to my sister as this whole blogging idea was her brainchild not mine. And it took much prompting on her part and some actual yelling at me to “Just do it!” So thank you, sis, your encouragement and continuous support means the world to me!

I must thank my husband and children who have been so patient and tolerant of the hours I spend glued to my laptop (well, not always so patient and tolerant, but we are making progress!). But even with a million and one interruptions on a daily basis, I still have managed to trudge on through, get dressed, take photos, write posts, and visit other amazing blogs.

My friend Amy deserves a very special thank you as well. She is always there to offer and discuss new ideas. She is my forever reliant photographer. And she is an amazing editor as well…right down to catching weird techie glitches that she sees on her end as a reader. So thank you so much. Your attention to detail is very much appreciated! And the endless hours we spend discussing blogging stuff have created wonderful memories for me that I will always cherish.

And through this process I have even managed to forge wonderful blogging friendships that I hold very dear and near to my heart. You are all such amazing and empowering women who offer so much creativity and inspiration to your readers. Without your support, I would never have kept with this so long! I have been so inspired by so many of you and I have been moved to tears of gratitude by others!

Here is where I give a huge heartfelt thank you to the amazing and talented Anne M. Bray of Spy Girl (and other blogs) who surprised me with a sketch of myself a few weeks ago (the featured image on this post). But here it is without the text…

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Isn’t it magnificent?! Thank you so very much, Anne, for this very special surprise. I am so honored and flattered and I really have no words to express how moved I was by this gesture! I had planned to use the sketch for my 100th post but then decided to save it for my blogiversary. And I have been so excited to share it! (And just in case there are any snarky folks reading this post, Anne did give me permission to use this sketch in whatever way I choose.)

And I am so excited to say that this sketch is part of an art show that Anne will be displaying at the Over-40 Blogger Meetup in Los Angeles this December. You can read more about that here as well as view more of Anne’s masterpieces! I do recognize the images of some other amazing bloggers!

To celebrate this blogging milestone, I thought I would take you all for a little walk down memory lane and offer you some glimpses of the many styles of Shelbee/Michelle/Micki through the past 42 years. Brace yourself, for many of these photos include fashion and/or hair disasters. Laugh if you must as I did as I dug through old photos. I do not have many old photos so I came up with the best compilation that I could. So with no more stalling…welcome to Shelbee’s Evolution of Style.

evolution

1975

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1976

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I still have my grandmother’s shawl that she is wearing in the photo below. I have been planning to style it for a blog post one of these days. But I usually just throw it on over jammies when I catch a chill.

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1978

This photo is clearly before hygiene was important to me.

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1979

In Kindergarten, I was often mistaken for a boy…

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That’s me in the too small argyle vest…the one who looks like a boy. The other is my dear friend Stacey.

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However, when I wore my favorite dress ever, you knew I was a girl. Or maybe a boy who liked to dress like a girl. I’m not sure.

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1981

I loved plaids very early on…and still do.

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1982

And graphic tees…

(That’s my sis sitting in the wagon.)

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And I still love distressed jeans…look at what a pioneer I was in trendsetting!

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1983

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1984

A Made With Love By Mom Original

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1986

Why did no one help me?!

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1987

My love/hate affair with very short hair has begun…

[This photo has appeared on my blog before in my post Old Friends are the Best Friends about my lifelong friendship with Beth (the other girl in the photo! I’m in pink. She is in blue.)]

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1992

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This is the prom dress that my mom and I designed and she created for me…and I wore it to two proms. First to my friend Rachel’s prom at her school…

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Then to my own prom.

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1994

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Sporty Shelbee (my hair is just growing back from completely shaving it). This is my favorite picture of me and my dad!

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1995

My fascination with menswear inspired looks has begun…

(That’s my mom with her back to the camera.)

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1996

I started going really preppy at this point.

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And then there is a gigantic gap where there are simply no photos to be found of me over the next 12 years! I only started enjoying having photos taken and taking photos after I met my husband in 2008. So here are is a compilation of photos from the past 8 years.

2008

This is very early in 2008 (maybe even 2007) when I was still overloaded on a crazy concoction of psych meds. Can you see the bloat? How can you miss it?!

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6 months med-free and 70 pounds shed. I would love to get back to that, but alas, children and middle age have entered my life!

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That’s my BFF Jane on the left, the one with the gorgeous red locks! I am on the far right.

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2009

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200910

2010

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20102

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2011

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20114

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2012

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2013

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2014

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2015

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2016

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And there you have it. I hope you all enjoyed that little photo essay of the evolution of my style. And I hope you got some good, great belly laughs as well!

Who knows what my next year of blogging will bring. But I’m sure it will be a roller coaster of some sort! Thank you all so very much!

Celebrating on the edge,

Shelbee

Linking up with These Fabulous Link Ups Where I Link Up

I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

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