Oh man you guys, I was bad this month. My clothes budget is $100; I spent $186.30. And I spent it all in one place: At REI's Garage Sale on January 2. I mean, I guess it could have been worse; I managed not to spend any more on clothes the rest of the month (despite several Target excursion). And I did score some sweet gear!
1. REI Co-Op down jacket. I've been wanting a midweight down for a while, and something like this is perfect for a trip to Europe that Matt and I are planning for later this fall. We'll be flying in to Reykjavik, Iceland, and eventually making our way down to Italy and Barcelona, so I needed something that would be both warm and easily packable for when it's not needed. Bam. | $60 {exact}
2 & 3. REI Merino wool socks. These were a total impulse snag as I was waiting in the 20-plus-minute checkout line. (Garage Sales get CRAZY.) But I only have one pair of Merino wool socks for hiking/camping, so they weren't an unwarranted purchase. I got one of the long pair and two of the short. | $9 long, $7 short {exact long, exact short}
4. Mammut Traleika soft-shell pants. So the whole reason I braved the Garage Sale was to find a good pair of winter-weight soft-shell pants. These babies are PERFECTION. They're windproof but breathable (with vents in the sides in case you get too warm on a tough hike) and they're super comfortable. They're great on their own when the temps are near freezing, and layered with a pair of leggings (fleece-lined or regular), they're indomitable in colder temps. They've been a lifesaver at the dog park and on walks when the thermometer is in the teens. Best purchase ever, and they're still on sale! | $70 {exact}
Not pictured: A light purple Columbia down vest that was in the Garage Sale simply because it hadn't been sold first round. Most Garage Sale mega-discounts are on items that have been returned, but not this one. It was such a sick find. And it was only $20! {similar}
(It's worth noting that in addition to sale prices, I got an additional 10% discount on my purchases because Matt works at REI and spouses get to share employee discounts. I hope Matt never quits this job, haha.)
So there you go. Way overbudget, so I probably won't spend much (if anything) on clothes in February. #worthit
How did you do on your clothes budget this month?
I'm caught up on projects for the moment (literally for the moment; I have to delve back into things later this week) so I thought I'd share my first few weeks of the 52 Week Challenge I'm doing this year. You might remember that in the past I've attempted a photo-a-day 365 challenge, and it was hard. I missed a lot of days. I'm hoping that this one-a-week format might be a little easier for me to adhere to; I plan to shoot mostly on the weekends when I have a little more wiggle room in my schedule.
Each week, I'll take either a portrait, landscape or artistic shot, with each category featuring a smaller set of guidelines to follow. I'm the most confident about the portraits, because that's 90% of my paid work, and I'm least confident about the artistic shots because that's about 1% of the work I've done since getting a DSLR.
Week 1 (portrait). Theme: Selfie.
Verdict: Not a bad shot overall, and I achieved most of the look I wanted with the natural light coming through my glass storm door. Could have used more fill on the right side of my face via a reflector, but somehow I managed to nail the focus (which is hard to do with a remote).
Week 2 (landscape). Theme: Traditional landscape.
Verdict: Great sky and reflection, though I wish I'd had a wider lens on me to avoid cutting off the bridge on the left and the reflection at the bottom. Also, I could have made the grass a touch greener in post-processing. Shadows are a bit harsh, but my only chance to shoot this scene that week was on a lunch break during a work day.
Week 3 (artistic). Theme: Red.
Verdict: My first-ever attempt at light trail photography. I loved making this photo, though the limitations of the bridge I was on were pretty frustrating. I wound up having to kind of dangle my camera on the tripod out over the freeway, which was terrifying. I could do without those headlight artifacts in the red lane, and I really wish I had been able to stand directly over the tail light section of road instead of off to the side.
Week 4 (portrait). Theme: Headshot.
Verdict: My favorite one so far. This is my awesome friend Emily, who obliged when I surprised her with a photo shoot at lunch. I added the steam in post-processing, which was another first, and I think I got the angle a little too harsh in an attempt to avoid covering her eyes. I kept the rule of thirds but intentionally had her looking out of the frame to prevent the photo from being too rule-following. Overall, a really nice shot.
This week is landscape/black and white. I shot a few frames this weekend, but I'm not 100% sure I love them. We'll see how they turn out, I guess :) Have you ever done a photo challenge like this? Any words of wisdom to share?
(P.S. You can follow along in real-time via my photography Instagram account, @elfiephotos. That's also where you'll find highlights from all my paid photo shoots!)
Hello out there in blogland! I hope everyone's been doing well since the last time I popped in with a post. Did you have a lovely holiday season and a sparkly New Year's Eve?
I wanted to take a moment to type up some thoughts I've been having lately about Verbal Mélange and blogging in general. I started this blog in April 2011, when I was not-quite-23 years old and about six months in to my first Real-World, Big-Girl job. I had practically zero sense of style and almost zero budget to expand said style. (True story: When I got my first RWBG job, I opened a New York & Company credit card and frantically threw $200 of semi-professional clothing on it...clothing that I ended up barely wearing because I had no idea what I was doing.) My point is, I needed to figure myself out, sartorially.
Now, I'm nearly four years in to my second RWBG job. I have a semi-carefully curated closet of easily mixable business casual basics. I have a decent clothing budget, but over the last few months I've been using it on a few high-quality "investment" type pieces instead of trendy flash-in-the-pan statement pieces. I started this blog, in part, to help define my style, and I think I've done that. (Not that I could put it into words for you, but I know what it is and I like it, so that's all that matters to me.)
The other reason I started this blog is because for the first time in my adult life (really, since I was about 15 years old), I had a lot of free time to fill. I was working full-time and doing a small amount of technical freelance writing on the side. I needed a hobby.
When I changed jobs in 2012, my main hobby became freelance writing for the magazine I had just left. And I loved it. Then I took up photography as well the following year, and I loved it even more. Now, when I'm not at work, doing housewifey things like cleaning, taking Cam for a walk or to the dog park, or cooking (another hobby of mine), I'm usually working on a magazine article or taking and editing photos, either for my portrait business or just for funsies. Blogging has very much taken a backseat for me, particularly style blogging.
So where does that leave Verbal Mélange? I'm really not sure. I don't want to let it go just yet, mostly because of the fantastic people I've met (virtually or IRL) because of this blog. And if I'm being honest, I also just like talking about myself. #sorrynotsorry
I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you come here just for the outfits, you might be disappointed. That, I am sorry for. But if you come here for my rambling, and for weird little peeks into my life like what I made for dinner or how I redecorated my living room or the weekend trip I took with Matt and Cam, then I guess you're still in luck. Because I'm always down to ramble. (And who knows. From time to time I might get really excited about a random outfit and decide to photograph/post it.)
That said, I feel that I'm freeing myself up quite a bit here to showcase my photography. Yes, I have a blog over at my professional site, but I think I'd like to keep that less personal for now. So you can expect to see more of my funsies photos around here, from trips to the local botanical gardens to the 52 week photography challenge I started this year. (More on that in a future post.) And if there's anything in particular that you think would make a nice addition here, let me know! I like knowing what you guys like reading.
So...that's it, I guess. Thanks for reading this rant all the way through to the end, and thanks for sticking around as I figure out what I'm going to do with my little corner of the internet.
