Pinterest Inspired

One of my favorite blogs is J's Everyday Fashion. She usually gets her inspiration from celebrity outfits and sometimes Pinterest. I've never seriously applied this technique to dressing myself, however, until recently. One morning, I was wearing a worse version of this outfit and happened to check Pinterest quickly while eating breakfast. Well, the Pinterest outfit certainly looked better than mine, so I immediately copied it, minus the short skirt.

How often do you copy your whole outfit (or most of it) from Pinterest or magazines?

Pinspiration outfit

 Top: $9 at AEO

Belt: probably about $4 at Uptown Cheapskate

Skirt: free from a friend

Shoes: $12 at AEO (pictured below)

Total: $25

When I worked at American Eagle, I got a couple pairs of these flats in different colors at 60% off and I wear them all the time. Scrunch flats are incredibly comfortable.

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White Lace, Fake Pearls

Oh, hello there, big, daunting, unapproachable world of blogging. I have some great outfits to share with you since I've started GRAD SCHOOL (eek!), but my computer died and I've probably lost all of those pictures. That's the only reason you won't get to see those outfits. It's not like I've been procrastinating starting to blog again or anything like that. Ahem.

Today I found an amazing shirt that I couldn't stand to not share, broken computer or not. Since starting grad school, I told myself I'd only shop at Goodwill, because their shirts are three dollars. But if I can find shirts elsewhere that are cuter and only four dollars, I'm okay with breaking my tacit promise. So here is a shirt not from Goodwill.

Please excuse me while I try to remember how to pose for pictures:

Top: Kenar brand, $4 from a local consignment store

Pants: J.Crew, free from a friend

Shoes: Karen Scott, about $7 from a local pawn shop

Necklace: $12 from Uptown Cheapskate

Total: $22

For some reason, in lace and pearls, I felt like I was going to a State dinner and meeting the first lady. Strangely, this is not the first time I've looked at myself in new clothes and immediately had thoughts of presidency. It happened once before with this dress. Not sure why this happened once, let alone twice. I think the bottom line is that clothes can completely change your perspective about yourself.

I don't have any State dinners coming up, so I'll probably dress it down and wear it to school with jeans, flats, and a bubble necklace:

Have you ever felt like your clothes were Presidential?

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"Mine House is a House of Order"

 

Lately, I've been extremely motivated to organize our house. When you live in a rental, you develop a mindset of: "This place is not permanent. I am only here for a little while. Why bother decorating?" But I think we may stay in this house for a while longer, so I am getting my act together.

As my fellow procrastinators out there may know, if you suddenly feel motivated to do something, you need to act on that motivation immediately before it passes. So this morning as I was struck suddenly and acutely with the inspiration and motivation to primp my laundry sorter, I carried out the revelation and it was completed within the hour.

from walmart.com

I bought a laundry sorter similar to the one above about a year ago. Since then, it has sat with these substandard, makeshift labels:

Time for a makeover! I created these labels in powerpoint, using the Helvetica font of course. The labels were then laminated, cut, and hole-punched. I used zip-ties to attach the labels to the sorter.

How did I ever live without my own laminator?

Handy dandy paper cutter!

Time to hole punch.

Attached with zip-ties.

Here is the finished product! So much better looking. It's a little bit of organization heaven.

If I had another laundry sorter, I would also have labels for reds and pinks, hand wash items, towels, and whites. How do you sort your laundry? Do you or anyone you know dare to sort their laundry in more ways than me?  

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Break from Blogging

If you couldn't tell, I have taken a break from blogging. I no longer work at American Eagle Outfitters, which was the main reason why I began blogging; I wanted to catalog my work outfits so I would not repeat them and I wanted to keep track of how I paired all the new clothes I was buying for work. 

Currently, I am keeping a tight lock on my clothes spending so that I can pay tuition when I begin my graduate studies in the fall. Most likely I will recommence blogging once my classes start. 

I have been doing tons of other crafts, including scrap-booking, designing, and upcycling. Let me show you what I've been up to. 

First, here is a recently completed project, which actually took me over a year to complete out of laziness!

Before I attached the circles together.

Finished: Each circle has the family member's name and date of birth.

Another current creative outlet has been scrap-booking. Here are a couple pages from a new scrapbook:

The white lacy top sheet was actually hand-punched. Each 1-inch square was individually punched out.
Talk about exhausting!

I used wood chips to designate on the map each town we visited and included a map key. 

To finish this post, here are some garage sale finds during my blogging hiatus.

A mannequin for $7 (shirt and necklace not included).

Another mannequin for $3, this one with no legs, but easily transportable and can hang in my closet.

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A Different Kind of Bun

Cardigan: Belks. $11          Top: AE, $8            Skirt: Plato's Closet, $9

I'd like to show you another of my favorite updos. This one is a quick fix. 

I put my hair in a ponytail, twist the whole ponytail so it looks like a rope, and then wrap it around the base of the ponytail in a circle until it forms a bun. Of course, my hair never cooperates; it is very slippery and has lots of layers, so it ends up looking messier than your usual twist bun. After I've formed the bun, I clip it with four little claws to hold it in place. My favorite part? NO BOBBY PINS!

See below for information about the flute earrings I'm wearing.

These flute earrings were a family gift. I took this picture several years ago.

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Headbands

Necklace: $4 from when my friend Corinne had a closet sale
Headband: $2 from A.E.O.

I didn't wear a this headband with this outfit, but I thought it might be a good addition.

I'm not sure though! So, what do you think?

Do you think the headband is a good addition to the outfit?



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Ankle Booties

 

Top: $11 at A.E.O.

Crops: $20 at A.E.O.

Shoes: $11 at Uptown Cheapskate

Sweater: Croft and Barrow, $9 at Hut no. 8
Necklace: $5 at Uptown Cheapskate


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Grey Flower Purse

About a year ago, I saw a purple purse with a giant flower on the front. I didn't buy it because I was trying to save money, but I have regretted it ever since. I found this grey purse at Hut no. 8 recently and knew I couldn't pass up this design twice. It was $20. Read more about my floral pants here.



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Dressing Halfway Like An Old Lady

I think I get old lady points for the jacket. My husband said the tights made me look like a hooker.

Any thoughts?

Jacket: $20 at AEO (Originally $80)

Shoes: ALDO (old)

Dress: BCBG Max Azria, $15 at Plato's Closet (Originally $150-$250??)

Bonus points go to anyone who can explain what BCBG means without having to look it up.

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Wearing Autumn Leaves

This Forever 21 dress was $15 at Plato's Closet. The denim jacket was 60% off for me at AE.

These earrings are a great story, though. I was shopping at World Market and found these beautiful earrings for $15. I was about to buy them, but I decided to buy a giant chunky green jewel necklace instead. Later that day, I saw the exact same earrings for $4 at Uptown Cheapskate. What a fateful find!

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Giving B&W Some Visual Interest

Black and white sometimes makes me feel uninteresting. But I have made this outfit more interesting by adding extra features to catch the eye. The hi-low skirt, the varying sizes of stripes on the shirt, and the scarf all help make this outfit visually engaging. This way I don't feel like I woke up and said, "Oh, black goes with white, so why don't I just put them together because I have nothing else to wear."

The Apostrophe sweater was $3. The scarf was a gift. The shoes were about $7. The AE skirt was $15. The bracelet was $3 at AE, shown in more detail here. 

Total = $28

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Casual Halloween Outfit

It was unseasonably warm on Halloween this year, which is why I was able to wear shorts. This was a simple Halloween costume that I could wear to one of my jobs. (I don't mean American Eagle -- I currently have 3 jobs.) 

The shirt was $5 at Five Below and the earrings were free from attending a camp.

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Fall Decorations

big metal pumpkin: $10 at Michaels       Little pumpkins: $6 for a dozen at Marshalls

 When I was growing up, I don't remember us ever decorating for fall. So I got an "innovative" idea this year to go out and get decorations to make it seem more autumn-like in my home. I know, it's not much, but I'm beyond excited about the humble beginnings of my fall decoration collection ... to be continued for years to come!

leaves: $1 for a pack of 50, at the Dollar tree               real pomegranates: grocery store

string of leaves: $4 at Michaels          little pumpkins: $1 each at Dollar Tree

Putting a spider web up is trickier than I thought! I'm pretty pleased with it, though.

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Birthday Suit ... Jacket

I got this great Apt 9 suit jacket at Hut no. 8 for $8.

This phenomenal red dress of an unknown brand came from my friend Corinne, when she had a closet sale recently. When I saw it, I said, "This dress is presidential!"

These shoes, though? Not so presidential. Just when you think you have enough shoes, you find an outfit who's best match is a $3 pair of Goodwill shoes that you bought when you were a sophomore in high school. 

And this gorgeous sapphire ring was a birthday present from my mother and father in law. 

Am I spoiled? I'll never say so.

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Pink Much?

Pink chambray top: $9 at AEO

Bracelet: $2 at AEO

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