Giveaway: Jada's Jewels!

I'm super excited to announce an awesome giveaway! I'm collaborating with Jada's Jewels to give away a $25 gift card for their site. It might not sound like much, but I promise you, on this site $25 will go a long way! They're based here in Columbus, which is awesome, so I got to meet up with Marketing Intern Allison. That was cool because as a blogger, you rarely get to real-world interact with people you work with. It was also cool because she brought a present! It was the jewelry and earring set I'm wearing here:






shirt: Old Navy
cropped pants: The Limited
shoes, belt: Target
necklace, earrings: Jada's Jewels Update: This should say "c/o Jada's Jewels...my bad, guys!
I freaking love the jewelry. It looks really heavy, but it's not. Score. And there's new stuff on the website every day...and there's something new I want just about every day, too, haha! Good thing it's all affordable :)

Ok, so I'm using Rafflecopter for the first time on this giveaway. That means no commenting! I mean, you can comment if you want, but it won't count as an entry. Hopefully this will be easier for everyone :) There are two mandatory entries, 11 extra entries, and an additional option that's worth TWO entries, that you can do every single day of the giveaway. So really, you can enter up to 29 times. Bam.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

First world problems

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Holy cow, a nighttime post!

This might be the first time I ever posted at night, haha. But I need a break from cranking out all my freelance writing...between today and Friday at 7 pm, I have to crank out about 8,000 words. I have about 2,000 down. Not bad. But I wanted to write about something other than Mac external hard drives for a little bit, and I still have New Year's Eve photos to post, so...




dress: New York & Company, last year
tights: Target
pumps, clutch: thrifted
broach: came with a NY&Co shirt
bracelets: don't remember
hoop earrings: gift from Emily


Matt and I, just before midnight.
I look nervous in that first picture because, well, I was. Turquoise tights. TURQUOISE tights, people!! This is unprecedented. I know it's a bit lame, since I've been doing the style blogging thing for nine months now, but I truly never would have worn an outfit like this one in December of 2010. In fact, I bought this dress for NYE 2010, couldn't figure out how I wanted to wear it, and promptly forgot to return it. This dress sat in my closet, tags on, for a full year! The fashion sacrilege. Now, I think it might be one of my favorite dresses. (It's kind of hard to tell, but it's got this chiffon-like fabric ruffled all down the front. Very pretty.)

In fact, this outfit throws into sharp focus just how much has changed for me in the past year. Some of the big things have remained the same, of course—Matt, and my job—but so many other details have changed. We moved into our first house (okay, we're still renting, but it's a house!) and got a spastic kitty. (Who I love dearly.) I went on a Financial Diet, saved more than $1,000, and got on a solid plan to get out of debt. I worked three jobs for a time; something I never thought I'd have the determination or energy to do, but somehow managed anyway. And I started this blog.

I'm not one for resolutions, but I've been trying to improve my life, health and well-being in general these past few months, so I'm going to continue with that. I'd like to go down to just working one job, but I'll do what I have to do, to get where I want to get. And I'm going to keep up with this blog; something I wasn't really sure I'd be able to do when I first started it.

Sorry for the rather long post. I get this way when I start reflecting and whatnot. Anyway, here's to a bright, productive, blessed and happy 2012...for all of us.

Internal debate

I don't often post weekend-wear, simply because on the weekends I'm usually found wearing sweats/workout shorts and an old show t-shirt from my high school days as a thespian. Not really blog-worthy. In fact, I'm not even sure where I wore this last week...might have been at a cookout/drinks to celebrate a friend's birthday. But I suppose the "where" doesn't matter as much as the "wear." (See what I did there? My cleverness astounds me sometimes.)

lacy tank and top tank: Old Navy (?)
shorts: DIY'ed from an old pair of jeans
shoes: Target
bracelet: don't remember
earrings: Leslie's Baubles

So lately I've been thinking a lot about posting frequency. The recent 30x30 challenge (I swear, I'll stop talking about it someday) had me posting every single day, including many weekend days. Before that, I was posting 3-5 times a week.

Now, I'm in the habit posting every single weekday, and I worry that it's too much. Too much time on my part (because I don't already have enough on my plate), and too much of me forcing my photos into your RSS feeds every day. I know a lot of bloggers post every single day, but they also have far better style and photo quality than I do.

So, I turn to you, readers. After all, this is just as much for you as it is for me. What do you think? Should I cut back on the post frequency? Or do you like my random babble every day? (Be honest. I won't be offended, I promise.)

One more, I suppose

I thought I'd give you guys an actual original post today as well, rather than just re-posting stuff that Blogger ate. Hey, I try to be a responsible blogger :)

Dress/tunic thing: Figleaf in Athens, OH
Tank: Walmart, I think?
Tights: No idea
Shoes: Mossimo via Target
Earrings: My friend's shop on Etsy

Sorry for not having the details on most of this outfit. The tank and the tights were both purchased ages ago, as was most of the basic half of my wardrobe...tees, tights, tanks, jeans, etc. But let me tell you all about these earrings. My friend Kree makes jewelry and sells it in her shop on Etsy. She names a lot of her jewelry after women in her life, and guess what she called these earrings? That's right. These are the Emma earrings! She gave them to me as a going-away present when I left Panera for my current job.

Kree's jewelry is always gorgeous and she uses really high quality materials. And she puts a LOT of time and effort into everything she makes. Go on, check out her shop! And if you live here in Columbus, stop by Accent on Nature in Grandview to see some more of her work.

(Thinking about asking Kree if she'd be interested in a giveaway at some point, maybe when I have a few more followers. Would you enter? Let me know!)