'Tis the season

For constantly being sick, apparently. Or at least, that seems to be the case for me lately.






t-shirt: Old Navy
cardigan: thrifted
skinnies: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
boots: Target
necklace: Express via DFWh
I wound up leaving work after just a couple of hours today; I developed a nasty cold at the end of last week that left me with what feels like a face full of cotton. Congestion and stopped-up ears, hurrah! I thought an ear infection was settling in too, but apparently it's not quite that bad yet. Just in case, I've been wrapped up on my couch all day with Star Trek and some wedding crafts to keep me company.

I always feel like my posts have too much blabbering about random stuff and not enough about the actual outfits I'm posting. This outfit was an unusual choice for me; I don't usually like to layer like colors, like I did with this top and cardigan. But I think I like it here; it's hard to see, but the darker stripes in the t-shirt almost perfectly match the cardi, without being too overt.

Welp, I'm also using today to catch up on start my Christmas shopping. Usually I'm pretty on top of it, but this year I've gotten an unfortunately late start. All I can say is, thank god for Amazon Prime, amiright?

Flashback and forward

t-shirt: The Limited
maxi skirt: Target
sandals: BCBG via TJ Maxx
necklace: Cassiopeia by Corinne on Etsy
Howdy hey, folks! It looks like things might finally be slowing down for me. After eight photo shoots, two weddings, a few Halloween festivities, some much-appreciated family time and a killer cough that I'm still trying to recover from, I'm finally trying to get back into the blogging routine.

Fortunately, I've been making a point to shoot a couple of outfit photos here and there during my hiatus; this one is from early September, back when the weather was warm and sunny. I miss you already, summer. Buuuuut the past few days have been a little warmer, so I thought it wouldn't be too bizarre to post this before it's too late.

This necklace, by the way? My friend Corinne made it. I'm loving it lately and have been wearing it a lot...it just goes so well with everything! You should definitely check out Corinne's Etsy shop if you're looking for a cute, vintage-y new necklace or other jewelry.

Phew. I feel like getting back into the swing of just knocking out a post off the top of my head might be harder than I thought. Ah, well. Looks like you guys are stuck with some awkward banter for a while :) #storyofmylife

Goal-setting and staying busy

blouse and cami: secondhand
capris: Target
sandals: BCBG via TJ Maxx
necklace, bracelet: Etsy
Photo-taking is weird. I am at a complete loss as to why the first photo is so crisp, but the third one is so grainy. They were taken at the same time, with the same settings, same focal points, everything. What's up with that? Any speculation?

I'll be honest; I'm racking my brain for something interesting to say about this outfit, but I've got nothing except that it was stupid-comfortable and I probably need more patterned and/or lace-edged camis in my life. Especially now that layering weather is here!

Anyway.

I've been thinking lately about goal-setting and keeping busy. As I said in my last post, winter's imminent arrival means I have to make a plan for things that will help stave off my SAD/winter depression. I've been brainstorming some home-improvement projects that, aside from helping me complete a 26-in-26 item, will also help keep me busy. And a busy Emma is much less likely to be a depressed Emma. Lethargy, man. It's my mortal enemy.

I'm also meeting with a trainer today, for the first time ever. I probably won't have the budget wiggle room to do regular personal training sessions, but a friend of a friend has her own personal training business, so I figured it would be worth my time/money to sit down for a little coaching session. We're going to talk about my goals and how I can best achieve them. I don't think my goals are all that difficult (increase flexibility, increase upper body strength without getting bulky linebacker shoulders, get a slimmer waist/flatter stomach)...my issue is that every time I come up with a new workout regimen, I inevitably stop doing it after just a week or two. It's really frustrating, and I'm not sure how to change that habit. How do you guys change habits/convince yourselves to stick with a workout plan?

Suggestions?

So I sign in to Flickr this morning to upload the photos I was gonna post for today, and I see this:


I've put up with the weird and frankly inconvenient formatting changes on the site itself. (What used to take one click to grab the HTML code for each picture now takes four or five. Really?) I managed to avoid the data storage caps. (Though who knows how long I'll be grandfathered in?) And I've put up with intermittent non-Pin-ability for some photos. But this is just annoying the heck out of me. I don't use Yahoo, and that's with good reason. I'm not signing up for a stupid Yahoo account. So congrats Flickr, you're about to lose a customer.

So that said, what photo sharing site do you guys use to host your blog pics? I used to use Imgur, but stopped for some reason a year or two ago. Can't really remember why, to be honest. Space limitations, maybe? Anyway, if you use something else, please let me know!

Ok, rant over. Here's what I really wanted to post about today.








blouse: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
skinnies: Forever 21
boots: Target
necklace: Express via DFWh
bracelet: Etsy
In other news, it looks like I might finally get to start going outside for outfit photos again soon! Can I get a woop woop? I'm sure y'all are bored to tears of these Ikea curtains. I know I am. (Not in a life sense, just in a blog sense.) I hate talking about weather on the blog, as it just seems like lazy writing, but lately it seems like weather is all I can think about. I need window-opening temperatures! I need shorts-friendly evenings! I need fresh air and sundresses! And while I did edit these photos a little on the cool side (d'oh!), the color of my skin is definitely telling me that I need some sun in my life! Le sigh.

Exciting things

sweater: The Limited via Discount Fashion Warehouse
khakis: Old Navy
Boots: Target
necklace: Etsy
Given the stupid-cold temperatures lately and the fact that "business casual" generally tends to frown upon sweatpants, I've been re-wearing a lot of the same warm outfits lately. So while this sweater/khaki/boots combo was shot nearly a month ago, I've worn it at least three times since then. Honestly? I'm not even going to pretend that I care. Comfort > new outfits.

Matt and I went to go see American Hustle last night, thanks to a BOGO movie ticket deal we got in the mail. (Also: Free popcorn and parking, woot!) It was pretty good, but not in the way I expected it to be. I also had a hard time seeing J.Law as anyone other than J.Law with a Jersey accent, which was pretty unfortunate. She had some good moments, though. Matt said he had a hard time seeing anything other than Amy Adams' sideboob, which was abundant. Hey, who can blame him?

And tomorrow we're doing another sort-of-cheap date night: Dinner at the Refectory (that awesome restaurant where we went for our five-year anniversary), thanks to a gift card Matt's sister and brother-in-law got us for Christmas. I'm pretty stoked.

But tonight? Tonight is even more exciting, kind of. We're going to sign a contract with our wedding venue! I'll share more details in a post next week, along with a little catch-up on where we are in the planning process. (I'm thinking I'll do some sporadic "Wedding Wednesdays" posts. Man, I love me some alliteration.)

Wild wedding weekend

sweater: thrifted
t-shirt: The Limited
skinnies: Forever 21
boots: Target
Er. Mah. Gerd you guys. This weekend was so ridiculously crazy and wonderful. Matt and I went to Pittsburgh for my friend Hayley's wedding, in which I was a bridesmaid. In a true break of my usual character, I put my phone down and actually took in every moment instead of snapping pics constantly. (Except for the rehearsal dinner and the morning of, because there was no professional photographer, so Hayley asked me to step in.) But for the most part, I wasn't really snapping away. I'll try to dig up some pics from Facebook and scan in the photobooth shots to share, though. All in all, it was crazy-fun. Congrats, Hayley and Ernie :)

I wound up with a four-day weekend, since I had to be there early on Friday (Matt met me in town on Saturday) and yesterday was Veterans Day. So in between the crazy partying Saturday, the doing-nothing-and-recovering Sunday and the chore-filled Monday, this weekend was pretty jam-packed.

I always feel like it's rough going back to work after a long weekend, but this morning has been a particular struggle thanks to the first real snowfall of the season. It's only two inches, but it's slowly crushing my spirit. So here's an outfit from slightly warmer, significantly less snowy days. I'm almost certain it's a near- (or exact) repeat of an outfit from last year, but eh. Who's keeping track, right? (Also, I've only just noticed that my necklace was inside my sweater for every single shot that day. Wompwomp.)

Did you guys have exciting weekends?

Punk rock princess

shirt: secondhand
jeans: Target
necklace: The Limited
bracelets: old
shoes: super old...from high school (eep) and they're definitely not real Converses
So I just wrote an entire post, and I realized that I did four paragraphs about a topic that had absolutely nothing to do with this post. Oh well...at least now I have a post pre-written for later :)

I got this t-shirt in a giant hand-me-down pile from the girls who live upstairs. It's from Old Navy, I have no idea how recently (or not) it was purchased, but I. Love. This. T-shirt. It is seriously the perfect weight and cut and fit. It is the perfect T.

This outfit was pretty fun. I wore it to work on casual Friday (minus the fauxhawk, of course), and loved it so much that I wore it out with friends later. That's my favorite part of my office (and, for that matter, my group of friends): a lot of my casual Friday outfits translate to night-out outfits pretty easily. Not having to change = huge perk for me!

Good choices

vest: thrifted
cami: Old Navy
jeans: Target
heels: Franco Sarto via Marshall's
necklace: old, don't remember
bracelet: H&M
I wore this for a night out on the town with my friend from work a few weeks ago, back when weather was warmer and less rainy. It was her birthday, so she and I, and a few others, all raged appropriately. Or inappropriately, depending on how you look at it.

Just before I walked out the door, I took off those 4-inch heels and threw on my leopard-print flats. In retrospect, it was the best decision I made all night. I am a bit awkward in these heels when I'm sober, and I knew there'd be a good deal of walking involved. I was right.

Hey, so did you enter my giveaway yet?

Achievement earned!

shirt, skirt: thrifted
boots: Target
necklace: gifted
Yes, I just pretty much compared my life to a video game. And I'll explain. But first, a few things about these photos:
- They are crazy old. Hence the bare legs. And the reddish, not-yet-re-dyed hair.
- My friend Chasity shot these, only we used my camera instead of hers. So while the pics are still better than my self-shot images, my camera can't compare to the awesomeness that is hers. See for yourself, here and here.
- I apparently can't resist getting "the butt shot" in pencil skirts. Proof.

But as for this achievement. Yesterday, as you may or may not know, was Cyber Monday. Basically a more humane version of Black Friday, in which we can get all the deals from the comfort of our couches, without waiting for hours in line, freezing our butts off, missing Thanksgiving or, you know,getting trampled half to death. Anyway, I decided to do all of my Christmas shopping last night. I already had my entire list ready to go, thanks to Pinterest-secret-board method, so I grabbed my credit card and my laptop and got to it. Two hours, $300 and 15 transactions later, I entered my card number for my second-to-last purchase. And it didn't work. I retyped it and tried it on a different site. Still no dice. That's right, I used my credit card to death. Had to put the rest on my debit. ULTIMATE SHOPPING WIN!

For any of you who follow my Fiscal Fridays and the whole path-to-being-debt-free thing I'm doing (hi Dad!), don't worry. I only charged the gifts out of convenience; I'm paying the whole thing off (every cent of every purchase!) when I get paid on Friday. Savvy shopper right here! Except for the whole credit-card-being-declined-from-overuse thing. That's not so savvy.

EBEW and another guest photo shoot

This photo shoot with my friend Chasity was taken at the park down at the end of our street. I know, I know. The scenery is gorgeous and it's a sin that I don't take photos here more often. But it was awkward enough being in a park full of people, letting my friend take snap pics like a crazy person (or maybe I was the crazy person). It would be even weirder for me to be taking pics of myself with a tripod in a park full of people. Still haven't quite worked up that nerve.

Anyway, there were so many great shots that I couldn't stick to my usual three or four shots. So here's a bunch, and if you want some more (including the outtakes and other tomfoolery like the second-to-last shot here), you can find them on my Facebook page. Because nothing says "modest" like an entire album of pictures of yourself, right?














sweater: thrifted
cami: Old Navy
jeans, boots: Target
necklace: Tiffany & Co

Aimless and wandering

Wearing: Minted by Revlon and Mink Muffs by Essie
I don't usually do posts that are just about my nails, because I rarely do more than just a solid color or a solid color with another solid color party nail...but I got a lot of compliments on this mani, and I didn't have another outfit post lined up, so here you go. I guess I was kind of craving mint chocolate chip ice cream when I did this style :)

In other news, I've been feeling kind of restless and weird lately, with a healthy dose of "life is awesome" thrown in to keep things from getting too depressing boring. It's been unseasonably cool around here lately, which is a welcome break from the hottest summer on record for our area, but it also kind of bums me out because that means fall, and then winter, is approaching. Winter is just the worst, if you ask me.


Anyway. I got off on a weird tangent today. I think it's because I shared a much-needed bottle of wine and some equally-needed tough love with my friend Allory tonight. Those three things — wine, tough love, Allory — in combination tend ot put me in weird, but good, introspective funks.

Firsts and lasts

So Sunday night, I go to write and schedule a post to go up this morning. Because I'm starting my new job today (eep!) and don't want to risk missing my bus because I'm busy blogging. Which is totally something I would do. Anyway, I was completely startled to see Blogger's new format. It's very...interesting. Other Blogger users out there, what do you think?




shirt: Old Navy
vest, necklace: thrifted
jeans: Guess via Macy's
flats: Target
bracelets: gifted and don't remember
So this is my last long-hair photo. It's also the outfit I wore to my last day of work at the magazine. Not gonna lie, smiling for these photos was pretty rough...I only had these two out of about a dozen that turned out decent. It was a really great job, and I'm going to miss it and my coworkers (especially them) very much. But at the same time, I'm so excited for my first day at the new job, too! It's going to be great :)

In other news, I just started reading The Bloggess' book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened. It is so. Freaking. Hysterical. Thank you, Jenny Lawson, for existing. You are a true entertainer.

Creepy crawlies

If you know anything about me, it should be that I'm terrified of bugs. Anything with more than four legs pretty much freaks me the heck out. Spiders, centipedes, nameless insects that creep into your kitchen and startle you by sitting menacingly on the wall above the fridge when you're trying to unwind with a good ep of How I Met Your Mother. Needless to say, the latter manifested itself last night.

I just happened to glance into the kitchen when I saw it. Not 20 feet from where I sat was this disgusting little thing with a flat, half-inch long body. Just chilling on my wall like it belonged there. Like it knew I'd be cool with an extra roommate. No. Thank. You. So after a cool shriek (I'm so laid back, I know), I tiptoed into the kitchen to find the spider spray. You know the kind, it has a spray with a range of five feet so you don't have to get too close to the abomination that's invading your space.

First shot. I missed by about six inches, underestimating the force of the spray itself. Second shot, nailed it. And the damn thing fell, still wiggling, behind the fridge.






shirt, khakis: Old Navy
vest: thrifted
shoes: Target
Not entirely sure how I feel about this vest. I liked it a lot when I bought it for 50 cents at the thrift store, but the front panel is made from a semi-itchy wool blend that stretches up behind my neck. And after seeing it in photos, I don't think I like the color combinations that much either. What do you think?

But wait! The bug story isn't over. I won't go into the agonizing detail of the next 15 minutes, but they definitely involved me crouching in the kitchen with a flashlight, trying to peer behind the fridge and spray a bug that just would not die. It had to be some mutant thing that was half-immune to poison. I got the little creeper eventually, though. Then I had to wash my wall, because you know something? Spider-poison stains paint.

A self pep talk

Not much to say today, folks. I'm feeling kinda blah/anxious this week (thanks, hormones) and am having a hard time keeping positive. Still, I'm getting by all right, by reminding myself that freaking out when there's nothing I can do about a situation doesn't help anything and that my current low self-esteem is pretty much unfounded. I've gotten quite good at talking myself out of these funks. You know what helps? Looking at bright, cheery photos from last week when I was in a super good mood.




shirt: thrifted
cami: Marshall's
jeans: Guess via Macy's
flats: Target
necklace, brown bracelet: don't remember
beaded bracelet: gifted from my mom
You know what else will probably help my funk? Watching New Girl with the girls upstairs and a glass (or two) of wine tonight. It's all about appreciating the little things and making sure that the big things don't overwhelm you.

Hope I didn't bum anyone out with this post today. With any luck, we'll be back to our regular randomness and goofiness soon.

Oh, and one more thing before I forget. Thanks to those who linked up to Bloggers Take the Town yesterday! If you missed it, don't fret. We'll be back again on Monday, April 30. Mark your calendars!