A new link-up!

So if you read Take Me For A Twirl, you already know about Bloggers Take the Town. But if you don't, read on for more details about this new link-up! (Then go read Sydney's blog. Cause it's schweet.)

So what is Bloggers Take the Town (aka BTTT)? Well, you can read more about it here or by clicking the Bloggers Take the Town page above. But basically, it's a chance for all of us to show off the night-out outfits that we don't always post on the blog. Because hey, sober people should see your cute bar-hopping outfits too ;)

So this month, make sure you take pics of your weekend outfits! Then post them to your blog so you can link up during the first BTTT at the end of the month.



In other words, I'm off to knock out some more freelance writing. I promise guys, I'll be back next week with a good excuse for why I've been so silent here this week... *cue mysterious/anticipatory music*

I swear, I'm not bald

...but sometimes when I wear my hair up, it looks like I am. And I usually don't even notice it until I edit and post my blog pics from that day. Oops.






shirt: Old Navy
cardi, shoes, belt: Target
slacks: New York & Company
necklace: DIYed
I can't believe it's Monday already. I hardly had a weekend at all, I was so busy. Friday night I went down to OU, which was great because I got to see some old college friends and my sister. Saturday I spent the whole day speaking on panels and listening to lectures for Senior Saturday, which is a program that the journalism school at my alma mater does for seniors who are about to graduate. It was really great, actually; I got to talk about my professional life for the year and a half since I graduated, which has been interesting to say the least.

Then Sunday I spent the whole day catching up (or trying to) on freelance work. Gotta love procrastination.

Speaking of, don't be surprised if I'm a little quiet on the blog this week. It's deadline week for my freelance stuff, and my day job is sure to be unbelievably hectic. Oh, well. At least when you're busy, time flies fast; this stress will be over before I know it, I bet.

Fiscal Fridays: Random budgeting tips

Well, no one wrote in with questions about taxes. And since I don't really consider myself an "expert," I'm not going to sit here and walk you through the huge process of filing them. I will say this: if you just have simple return (regular W2, even if it's more than one of them), use TurboTax's online filing system. It's super easy, and it's free. But don't use them for state taxes; it costs extra and if you do it online through your state's website, that's free as well. It's a little more complicated, but I was still able to do it last year without any problems. And if I can do it, well, anyone can :)

Since I didn't have anything else else prepared for today, I'm just gonna throw you a random link. Apartment Therapy posted this pretty cool piece a while back about 100% realistic budgeting. Honestly, I've covered a lot of this stuff before, but I'm so wordy, and this version is so concise, I thought it'd be fun to share.

January sponsor post: Raych of Marriage by Design

Wow, is it the end of January already? I suppose time flies when you're having fun so busy that you sometimes forget to eat. Anyway, it's time for my monthly sponsor feature. Today I present to you, Raych of Marriage by Design. I love Raych's writing style—a little random, a little flow-of-consciousness, a little silly—remind me of me, haha. And girl has some serious style, of course!


Toldja. That dress! Those tights! I seriously want to steal this whole outfit.
Tell us a little about yourself.
Hi! I’m Rachel but everyone calls me Raych. I have a Husband who travels to crazy parts of the world for work and two puppies that won’t leave my side. We just moved from a Texas sized house in Houston to a closet sized apartment in Manhattan. Best decision ever.

When did you start blogging? What inspired you to start a personal style blog?
I started blogging when we put an offer in on our first house. The blog first started as a home décor blog but morphed into an “everything” blog pretty quickly. There was more I wanted to talk about. So now I blog about whatever floats my boat! The blog name was a struggle. I wanted something that didn’t pigeon hole me into a particular topic (I have no attention span). Husband mentioned ___ by design. I liked the by design part but couldn’t think of anything to fill the blank. I think marriage ended up in the blank because there was already a ‘Rachel by Design’ out there. Pretty boring story actually.

Favorite thing about the blogosphere?
I love all the inspiration and ideas that come from reading blogs. Especially now with Pinterest, I can just pin all the great ideas instead of accumulating a billion bookmarks. I also like how easy it is to communicate with other bloggers and make bloggy friends.

Least favorite?
People can get catty really quickly. Thankfully, I haven’t been the victim of the drive by snarky comment, but I’ve seen other bloggers get torn down. It makes me sad when I see crap like that. There’s enough room on the Internet for all of us.

What are your favorite stores to shop at?
My favorite stores for clothes are mostly vintage shops in Omaha: Scout Dry Goods, Flying Worm, and Second Chance. The larger chain stores I love are H&M, J. Crew, and Target. I also buy a lot online mostly from Etsy, Gilt, and Rue La La.

Say your closet was being made over, What-Not-To-Wear-Style, and you only got to keep one item of clothing. What would you pick and why?
the one thing I would keep in my closet would be the vintage white dress [pictured below]. Its my absolute favorite thrifting find.



Any advice to new bloggers out there?
Blog because you want to blog not because you want to become super well known or make it a career. People can smell lack of passion a mile away. Do what you want to do, write about what you want to write about and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Thanks, Raych! If you want to be featured in my monthly sponsor post, check out the "Sponsors" tab above for details!

I heart stripes

If there is one fashion trend (can you call something so timeless a "trend"?) that I've always loved, it's stripes. Horizontal stripes. I don't know why, but I've always been drawn to them. So when I went to H&M to use the gift card that Matt's sister gave me for Christmas, it's no wonder that I came home with this little beauty. I'm a little bit obsessed with this shirt.




(This is my "high fashion" face. It's ridiculous. And I kinda love it, haha.)




shirt and bracelet: H&M
skinnies: Forever 21
necklace: The Limited
boots: Old Navy (gift from my mom)
lipstick: Cover Girl in Rich
I've talked about these boots before too, right? When I first got them, I was a little stumped on how to wear them. I've never had boots this tall before, and the color wasn't quite what I was expecting (they're a little lighter of a gray than how they look in these pics). But honestly, they're now my favorite pair of boots. I wear them more than all my others combined!

And you know, I never used to like gold, either. It's making a bit of a comeback, and while I still definitely prefer silver-toned jewelry, a little gold once in a while is a nice way to mix things up.

In fact, I'd even go so far as to say this outfit might just become my new winter fall-back. It's crazy comfortable, warm, and not to mention it's pretty dang stylish. A win-win-win, if you ask me.

Do you have any items (or general trends) that you were initially unsure about, that are now a major part of your working wardrobe?

Appreciating the little things

Last week seemed to drag on forever, between the million different things that were (are) stressing me out. But Friday night, when Matt came home from work, we went out for dinner. And as we were driving, I happened to see into someone's front window, a blanket fort. So of course I started going on and on about how much fun they were when I was a kid, and wouldn't it be fun to build a fort that night? And Matt said, why not? So we did. We built a dang fort out of couch cushions and pillows and blankets and watched movies in it all Friday night. And for one evening, I forgot about everything that was bothering me. I couldn't stop smiling. Best boyfriend ever? I think so.






polo: Target
sweater: Aeropostale, years ago
jeans: Guess via Macy's
shoes: Buckle
Apparently, this is what my face looks like at the end of the work day, when all the makeup's rubbed off. Note to self: touch up makeup before any other evening photo shoots.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was a bit crazy, I think. Saturday we cleaned all morning, then I hosted a Pampered Chef party with my cousin. (Thanks everyone who came! It was so fun!) And Saturday night, I had my first-ever victory at Trivial Pursuit, haha. Want an instant ego boost to your brain? Win Trivial Pursuit. Sunday night I met my mom halfway between Columbus and my family's town, to get a space heater they weren't using anymore. Because this house is freezing cold, but Matt is mysteriously unaffected. Hello, lower gas bill!

What did you do all weekend?

Fiscal Fridays: Taxes (duhn duhn duuuuuuhnnnnn!)

Ah, tis the season for taxes. At least, it is if you live in America. Canadian friends...do you guys have an annual tax season? Is it lame enough to make you want to quit working forever and live off the land so you don't have to worry about whether you owe the government money? Cause we do. And I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.


(Those are supposed to be devil horns. Cut me some slack, I made this in like two minutes, haha.)
Anyway, some years the IRS has been my friend. My senior year, I got a student tax credit that resulted in my receiving nearly two grand back. This year, I'll probably owe Uncle Sam at least $1,500, if not more. Thank god I worked all those extra hours in my third job last fall, right? I can pay it, but it'll take all my savings. The Financial Diet is about to get a whole lot stricter, unfortunately.

Last year, I learned how to do my own taxes, thanks to some help from TurboTax and my dad. And I had a slightly complicated situation: something like three or four W2s, plus two 1099-MISCs for freelance jobs. Plus a partial-year student credit. This year will be just as bad: two W2s, a 1099-MISC, plus some itemized deductions and separate forms for 401(k) and HSA stuff. My head's spinning already.

Now, I'm no tax professional, but I consider myself to be pretty good with the basics. I even helped Matt file his taxes last year! So I'm opening up the floor. If you have any questions about your W2, or even your freelance stuff and the 1099-MISC, ask away and I'll answer next week. You can ask in the comments below, or email me.

Official disclaimer: I am not a CPA or a professional tax preparer. If you have serious or complicated questions, check with someone who makes their living doing this. I'm just here to share what I've learned through preparing my own taxes and through some basic research.