As you guys know, I am most definitely NOT a fashion blogger. I wear pretty much the same stuff all the time. In fact, I’ve been wearing the same three pairs of sandals for the past three years because a company sent me a bunch of sandals for free. They are comfy and stylish and I love them. So why mix it up? Well, for one thing, because I think people on Instagram are starting to notice. And secondly, because Comfortiva contacted me to do a sponsored post for their sandals, and I thought— maybe lightening can strike twice!

I selected four pairs of sandals from the Comfortiva website and agreed to take photos with four different outfits. Easy peasy.

Until the day arrived. Allie was over my apartment and I was just not feeling it. I hadn’t even opened the box with all the shoes yet. It’s not that I wasn’t excited about the sandals; it was more that I wasn’t excited about figuring out my outfits. I felt tired and my hair looked stringy. Plus, I haven’t been as on top of working out lately, so I was not feeling summer ready. And lastly, I might have new sandals but I had no new summer clothes. What the hell was I going to wear that would make me look remotely different from last summer?

“Why don’t you take them out of the box and see if they fit,” Allie suggested.

I took all the sandals out and tried them on. They were all stylish, but with a level of comfort that seems to be more and more rare when it comes to women’s shoes. As a 44-year-old woman, comfort is really not something I will compromise on these days. The Comfortiva sandals also all have an organic, handcrafted look to them, which feels both rustic and on trend at the moment.

Okay, so I liked the sandals, but that didn’t solve my summer outfit problem. I needed to put together four different outfits to pair with the shoes. While trying on the Gamora sandals in cork, I remembered that I had just been to Target and purchased a bunch of casual dresses to wear around the house this summer, when I’m by myself out there with the kids. Literally, my thought when purchasing them was that I just wanted a few items I could easily throw on, pick up the girls from camp, and then work from home. Inexpensive dresses that I would be comfortable wearing to a grocery store, but not overdressed at home. Basically like the summer dress version of pajamas. I spent about $10-$15 on each of them and really didn’t expect to wear them for any other occasion.

But, as inconsequential as I was considering these particular items of clothing, they were also my only new summer attire, so I thought maybe, just maybe, I could make them look halfway decent in a photo with a pair of my new cute Comfortiva sandals.

I tried the Gamora sandals on with an elastic waisted blue denim dress. It was cute!

Then I got inspired. You know those women on Instagram who post videos of themselves trying on five different outfits in a one minute video? It’s always sped up or stop motion and they’re constantly walking up to camera to show you their shoes before they put them on and then back to show you their full body and doing annoyingly cutesy things with their handbags? But also somehow looking absolutely perfect with the most random assortment of clothing items? Yeah, I usually unfollow people who make those videos, but in this moment, I was like— what would a Instagram fashion vlogger do? They would put on a belt and a boxy sweater and turn this one pajama-esque dress into like fifteen different outfits, so that by the end, you would think you could wear your $10 dress to both the grocery store and your best friend’s wedding.

Then I realized I didn’t have all the accessories I needed to turn this one dress into 15 different versions, but perhaps I had enough accessories for one ramped up house dress? Did I even own a belt??? I did! I found two belts in my closet, both with the tags still on them. I also found a boxy sweater that I had bought back in the fall and never worn once.

Here’s my house dress, the fashion vlogger version:

Cute, right? And the cork Gamora sandals totally give the whole thing a casual thrown together vibe, like I didn’t just sit there trying to channel a fashion vlogger to figure this look out.

Now I was really inspired. Could I make it happen again??? I took the Alexis sandals in smoke and paired it with another plain elastic waisted $15 dress, this one in black.

Hmmmmm…. I’ll pair it with a hot pink cardigan and a long plastic chainlink necklace, because those are two of the only accessories I own…. Voila!

100%, I would wear this house dress on a Saturday night now. The high heeled Alexis sandals dress up the whole look.

Next up, I took out my third house dress— a jersey striped oversized tank dress and paired it with the Gella thong sandals in sage.

What if I paired this look with a jean jacket, a turquoise necklace and a coral suede fringed bag that strategically matched the inside of the sandal fringe?

I love it!!!! Hmmm. I bet if I were a real fashion vlogger, I would be giving myself a waist with an oversized black belt. Oh, what do you know, I happen to have one of those too. Also never been worn!

I really like how the Gella sandals make the outfit seem more casually trendy, then try hard.

Okay, I had one more pair of sandals to work with and no more new house dresses left. I tried the black Blossom sandals on with a floral top and black pants. It looked fine. A totally acceptable outfit. In fact, it was the outfit I was wearing originally before I had embarked on this whole exercise.

But then I started thinking again— what would a fashion vlogger do to jazz this thing up???? I decided to keep the floral shirt but try it on with dressy black shorts instead of the pants. Then I found a green clutch that I got for free at an event and never used at the back of my closet. Hmmmm… I feel like it needs one more thing. Maybe a cardigan?

Nope. That doesn’t work. I feel like it needs a blazer. But I don’t own any blazers. I have never been a blazer person.

Oh wait, I do have this one really weird black suede cropped blazer that a saleswoman convinced me to spend a ton of money on five years ago (“it’s flattering and classic and you will wear it with everything!”) and then sat in my closet untouched, as a constant reminder of that one time I made a real bad purchase decision.

Oh my god, I really will start wearing this blazer with everything!!!

So. I think the moral of the story is— 1) don’t unfollow all the annoying fashion vloggers that make those videos. And 2) four pairs of new summer sandals can really inspire you to amp up your house clothes!

I was planning on taking all of those dresses straight to my summer house for camp pick-up purposes, and now I am excited to wear all my new outfits in the city! Who wants to go out for drinks? Or maybe invite me to their wedding?

I am ready.

I’m giving away four pairs of Comfortiva sandals! To enter, just put your email in the Comfortiva widget below. This will also subscribe you to the Mommy Shorts weekly newsletter. One winner will be announced on May 28th. Good luck!

Comfortiva: Mommy Shorts Giveaway