sweater: Forever 21
khakis: Old Navy
boots: Madden Girl via Famous Footwear
necklace: gifted
I had intended to make today's post my January clothes budget recap (to link up to Fran's Budgeting Bloggers series, but this week month kind of got away from me. Spoiler alert: This sweater is in the recap. Spoiler alert #2: I spent every penny of my clothes budget, and then some, at Forever 21 this month. I'm a little embarrassed about that fact, but also not at all embarrassed because I needed a lot of sweaters and now I have them :)
Anyway, I guess I'm adding "write a January budget recap post" to my already miles-long to-do list for this weekend. I'm doing two interviews for a Columbus Bride story, writing another story that I've finished interviewing for, going to the climbing gym with Matt and his aunt to show her the ropes (AAAAHH I'm sorry, I'm sorry, terrible puns are my kryptonite). I also have to start my taxes, work on some photos for said Columbus Bride stories, do some general wedding prep and go to a meeting on a photography project I'm involved in. And finally, I have plans to hang out with my friends Chasity and Kate; the three of us (and Matt) are going to a show on Saturday, and then just us girls are getting together Sunday to watch Super Bowl commercials and do some wedding crafting. Sheesh. It's gonna be one of those "I need a weekend after my weekend" situations, I think.
How are your weekend plans shaping up? Hopefully you'll have a little more downtime than I do!
P.S. I totally forgot to talk about my new backdrop! Here it is :) I love it. It's been such a boon to both my blog photography and my budding semi-professional shoots as well. This was my second outfit shoot with it, and clearly it's a lot harder to figure out if my feet will be cut off when I don't have a point of reference at the bottom of the frame. I wound up repositioning the camera to get my feet in the shots, but I ended up not liking any of them anyway. Womp womp.
sweater, slacks: thrifted
short-sleeve button-down: New York & Company
flats: Target
necklace: gifted (Kate Spade)
Welp, you're looking at a pretty close approximation of my outfits all this week: sweater, a layer under it, warm dress pants and flats that are easy to throw in my bag while I wear my heavier winter boots. Because all week, temps have been in the teens or single digits, with negative-degree wind chills. Yesterday morning, the actual temp was -6 Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of -22! It's not okay, guys. I'm too delicate for this bitter winter clime.
But I haven't been letting the chill get me down too much. I layer fleece-lined leggings under my pants for the walk home from the bus stop. (Matt, who works second shift during the week, is a saint who drives me to work every morning in his well-warmed-up car.) I have my rated-to-20-degree boots that perform well enough even when the temps are below 20. And I have a killer long down jacket I got at the end of last winter from Burlington Coat Factory. I'm even managing to make it to the gym most evenings! If you know anything about me, you know that's a feat even in nicer weather. So I guess I can't complain too much.
In other news (cue abrupt subject change), our wedding is exactly four months from today! I still have so much to do...cutting wine bottles for our centerpiece vases, making the flower-petal candle holders for our other centerpieces, assembling all the flowers we made, making my veil, doing my dress fitting(s), designing and printing our invitations and other miscellaneous stationery, doing final meetings with the few pros we did hire to confirm all the details...eesh. It's gonna be a very busy four months. I can't think about the big picture too much, or I get super stressed out and panicky. I just have to take things in baby steps: This weekend is devoted to bottle-cutting and editing some photos from a newborn session I had the other weekend. Keep it small and manageable, that's my motto :)
How do you deal with massive projects? And while we're doing the whole ask-questions-at-the-end-of-the-post-to-encourage-feedback thing, are the temps abysmally cold where you are, too? How do you even handle that? (I'm thinking of you, Sydney, up in what I can only assume is the frozen tundra of Canada. I'm shivering just thinking about it.)
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?
t-shirt: Old Navy
capris: Target (belt came with them)
flats/boat shoes: Famous Footwear
necklace: Express via Discount Fashion Warehouse
Guys, our house was without internet for the entire weekend! I don't know how that would really affect you, but I seriously just typed "Guys, our internet was without internet." Suffice to say I experienced some serious withdrawal. And of course, no internet means no Netflix/Hulu, and I had a whole weekend of Matt-working-so-I'm-home-alone to fill. Fortunately, the lovely Ally serendipitously came to the rescue! She recently finished watching Wonderfalls, a 2004 show that was cancelled before its time, and thought I'd enjoy it as well. So she sent me the DVD box set! It arrived late last week, just in time to entertain me through this difficult time. I blasted through all 13 episodes in three days. Thank goodness for good friends, amiright?
I also got a lot of wedding crafting done this weekend. I'm handmaking all the flowers for the ceremony reception--that's my bouquet and tossing bouquet; eight bridesmaid bouquets; nine boutineers for Matt/his groomsmen; various corsages/boutineers for parents, grandparents, readers and ushers; plus approximately 30-or-so bouquets for the centerpieces. I'm not gonna lie, the whole thing was really overwhelming and kind of had me in cold sweats at first, but I've since narrowed down the styles of flowers I'm making (some are on my Pinterest board, others I learned from my cousin, who did the same thing for her wedding next month) and the materials I'm using. I'll probably do a full tutorial on each of the bud styles I'm using and how I stemmed/arranged them once I'm done.
I've also been using the string-and-fire method (a la this) to cut the tops off of wine bottles to make vases. I've ruined several of my first attempts, but after a little trial and error I think I have the process almost down. Which means I just have to keep drinking lots and lots of wine, I guess. Tutorial to come on that one as well, though the video I linked is pretty entertaining in its own right.
Oof, I didn't mean for this whole post to go wedding-centric, but lately I can't help myself. We'll be at the 11-month mark as of Monday, which is unreal, and I'm going dress shopping this weekend, so my brain is on semi-permanent wedding mode for the time being. Sorrynotsorry. Here's a pic of me making a weird face to make it up to you.
t-shirt: Old Navy
cardi: Target
skinnies: Forever 21
boots: gifted (but they're also from Old Navy)
necklace: Etsy
I'm feeling list-y, so here's what's happening in my world lately/in my head today:
1. It's migraine week! Hooray! Not.
2. It's also "newsletter that takes a huge amount of my energy during the workday" week. As you can guess, numbers 1 and 2 do not mix well.
3. I recently decided to quit one of my regular freelance gigs. It was a really tough decision, as it's my longest-running partnership; I've been with this website for more than four years. I'm still kind of second-guessing myself about the decision, to be honest, but I keep telling myself that I need to stop stretching myself to thin and focus on the things I enjoy most: writing about fashion, shopping, weddings and the occasional "random" topic for a regional magazine, and this blog of course. Priorities! Learning to say no! These are important things.
4. I'm not very good at quitting things.
5. Matt and I are going to see Phantom of the Opera tomorrow! Sorry to bury the first non-complain-y thing so far down on this list. Anyway, we used gift certificates his parents got us for Christmas, so we snagged a couple of awesome orchestra-level seats. I'm stoked!
6. We're also planning a sweet bouldering trip! I don't like to discuss out-of-town trips on the blog before we go on them because safety, obviously, but there will be a recap coming up at some point...
7. Speaking of climbing, I took a massive lead fall at the gym last night and I can't stop thinking about it. (If you're not familiar with terms, here's a quick breakdown of bouldering vs. top-roping vs. leading.) I was demonstrating my lead-climbing ability to the rock wall manager (so I can do it with any staff person belaying me later). I was about 30 or 35 feet up, ready to clip in to a quickdraw at my chest level, about five or six feet above the last draw I had clipped in to...and the manager told me to take a practice fall. This means letting go. On purpose. And falling. On purpose. Given my position, I was guaranteed to fall at least 10-12 feet. I've taken practice falls before, but never with that much distance. And letting go is always a scary and difficult thing. You basically have to override your survival instinct (because falling from a decent height is very anti-survival, I'm told) and trust that the person belaying you will catch you. As it happens, the person belaying me had a bit of slack on the line, so I wound up falling something like 15 feet. It doesn't sound like much, but when you're freefalling and being caught just by a harness around your waist/thighs, it's really freaking scary. I may or may not have screamed loud enough to distract the basketball players on the court next to the wall. It may or may not have echoed in the resulting dead silence for a moment. Still...I kind of want to do it again.
8. I feel like I should say something about this outfit. Er...I like stripes. And comfy cardigans. And skinny jeans. And tall boots. I think I need more tall boots. (Then again, who doesn't?)
shirt: The Limited
skirt: Old Navy
heels: Target
necklace, bracelet: Etsy
Forgive my lack of enthusiasm this morning; I'm still kind of exhausted after yesterday's sick day. I slept till 11, napped all afternoon and was passing out on the couch by 9 pm...and yet I still struggled — physically struggled — to get out of bed this morning. Can we all just sign a petition to switch to a 10-5 workday? This 8-5 thing isn't working for me right now...
Eh, I guess I can't complain. I'll be fine once I get a cup of coffee or two in me. Now if only there were a way to get it into my system 20 minutes before my alarm goes off, so I'd wake up energized. One can dream, right?
In other news of note, I finally replaced the nude Franco Sarto shoes that got stolen with my other stuff back in June! I mean, I guess you probably realized that with my August clothes budget post, if you had any inclination to care, but I'm just excited to have a nude pair of heels again. And these have a lower heel height, so they're a bit more comfortable/easier to walk in than my last pair. Great success!
t-shirt: Old Navy
capris: Target
belt: came with the capris
sandals: Walmart
necklace: gifted
Well, these are the last of my outfit photos shot at the new house. I used the alley between our garage and our neighbor's as a backdrop. I've used it before, but only rarely. We were really close to a heavily trafficked road and I had this dumb (but given the events of the summer, totally understandable) fear of my camera being snatched while I was shooting.
All in all, these shots didn't even turn out 100% as great as I had hoped. The t-shirt isn't plain white; it's speckled with tiny, bright neon splotches. (You can see a close-up of it here.) I avoided the neon trend for a long, loooong time, but I've finally jumped on the bandwagon, albeit in a tiny way. I'm way more comfortable with small accents like flat shoes or a skinny belt than I am with big, flashy pieces.
So tomorrow I have to go in to work an hour early, meaning I'll be out my front door before 7 a.m. I'll try to have a post ready, and I want to post a little before-and-after of how the new house is coming along this weekend...but life, as usual, may have other plans. Gotta love deadlines and taking on more projects than really is wise, right? Story of my life.
dress: thrifted
blazer: secondhand
heels: Target
belt: came with capris from Target
bracelet: Etsy
So I started writing this post last night and completely forgot to finish it. D'oh!
In my book, the perfect weekend means I have enough time for stuff I wanna do and stuff I wanna get done. As far as I'm concerned, this weekend was a textbook example of just that.
Friday nights are usually reserved for a few glasses of wine and some episodes of whatever Matt and I are currently plowing through (we're on Dexter season 2 right now). But this past Friday, my friend was helping out at a fundraiser for her friend, who was recently re-admitted to the hospital because he has cancer. So I was more than happy to be able to help her with that. We raised a great amount for the cause, and I'm pretty sure I even won a silent auction bid on a gift certificate to my favorite local tattoo shop! Fingers are crossed, as I'm still waiting for confirmation on that :)
Saturday Matt and I had a much-needed sleep-in/lay-in-bed-half-the-morning-for-no-reason sesh, and it was freaking glorious. Then I headed down to meet a friend for a little pre-game drink (Go Bucks!) before running off to another fundraiser — this time for a climbing co-op that some of Matt's friends are trying to get going. So after grabbing an awesome burger at Columbus' Audubon park, we did a little climbing ourselves...for like three hours. It. Was. Epic. I'm so out of practice, but I still managed to surprise myself by tackling a final route that I thought would be beyond my ability. By the time we got home and ate dinner, it was nearly nine...just enough time to shower and head over to our friend Chasity's house (aka our old house) to help her celebrate her birthday.
After sleeping in a little on Sunday again (OMG TWO DAYS IN A ROW WTF), I turned into a whirlwind. Laundry, sweeping/mopping, more laundry, hanging curtains, running errands, hanging art...all while Matt rewired my closet so I could stop stretching an extension cord from the bathroom. Yeah, we're pretty awesome lessors, we know. Or at least, Matt is. Because he can do electrical stuff. Me, I just punch a billion nail holes in the walls and hang shelves everywhere.
I know this is a long post already, but can we just talk about this outfit for like a second? As I was wearing it, I was struck by another of those "blogging really has helped me develop a sense of style!" moments. I've always loved blazers and dresses, but the little pop of neon is so far beyond anything I would have worn a few years ago. It just wouldn't even have occurred to me. Ditto the faux snake-print heels, and probably the rose gold spike bracelet too. And old me probably would have wanted to throw a necklace on with this too, instead of realizing that the belt and blazer add enough detail on their own. Thanks, blogging world, for introducing me to trends and styles I probably never would have worn otherwise!
white shirt: thrifted
pink shirt, necklace: The Limited
cropped pants: New York & Company
flats: Target
I'm at a point in my life where time and finance have finally balanced out. For the first time in my life, I have nearly complete freedom to do what I want, even at the last minute. In college, money issues usually prevented me from affording fun trips or whatnot--and if it wasn't a finance issue, it was a matter of scheduling. And the same went for the first year and a half post-college. But now, I'm discovering this newfound freedom and I'm completely in love with it.
Like this week, a spur-of-the-moment half-plan turned into a full-fledged trip to the New River Gorge in West Virginia. And, like our last two trips to the Red, it was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I kind of wore myself out on routes that were a bit beyond my skill level on the first day, meaning my attempts on the second day were a bit of a letdown. But I always like to have a "project" to return to--some sort of vendetta I want to carry out on a wall, to motivate me to return. So there's the upside.
I also did a bit of deep-water solo climbing. That's where you climb without a harness or a rope over deep water, and when you fall or reach the top, you just jump in. I'm not a very strong swimmer, and I have a pretty healthy fear of heights anyway, but I did do a bit of climbing and even jumped in from a (very, very short) height. Mostly I just swam around in an inner tube, though. Matt jumped off a 25-foot ledge and said it was pretty terrifying.
(For anyone who's wondering, the fear of heights thing is one of the reasons I like to climb in the first place. It's all about getting out of your comfort zone and conquering your fear. Still, doing it in a harness with a rope is very, very different from doing it solo over water. Maybe next time I can conquer that fear a little more. We'll see.)
We got back late Sunday afternoon, and after a quick nap and dinner, I went to the Tegan and Sara/fun. concert. I'm not a big T&S fan--I don't really know any of their music--but fun. put on a pretty sweet show. It was nice to be able to hang toward the edge of the crowd, sit on a blanket and chill or get up and dance around, instead of being squished in the sweaty front-of-the-crowd area the whole time.
And now it's Monday, and I'm exhausted. But it was totally worth it!
t-shirt, necklace: Old Navy
short-sleeve button-down: New York & Company
skirt: thrifted
shoes: Payless
I read somewhere once that our brains are hard-wired to reward us for procrastinating. That must be true, because I always find myself in a tizzy the week before a deadline, scrambling to get everything together at the last second that I refused to do back when there was time.
This week is that week for me. But I've already sent in one project, and I just have one more three-story assignment to get through before July 1 before I'm able to get back to normal. And then I probably won't take on anything new for a while ;) But until then...I have a lot of work to do.
pink shirt: JCPenney
collared sleeveless shirt: New York & Company
skirt: Target
shoes: Payless
necklace: Express
That is a reference to Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, for those of you who didn't know. And if you haven't seen it yet, my God, go do it. Right now. It's only 45 minutes long and I swear it is both hilarious and incredibly well-done. (Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day, directed by Joss Whedon...need I say more?)
Anyway.
That song popped into my head as I was trying to think about what to write tonight. Because I'll be honest, May did not end well for me. Part of it was external issues that were affecting me, but it was mostly a negative attitude on my part that really dragged me down. And that negative attitude was caused, in part, by my inability (or unwillingness) to cope with what was stressing me. It was this awful cycle that took me into two weeks of rollercoaster emotions.
So.
As the song goes, it's a brand new day. I still have a lot on my plate (what in the world possessed me to take on two huge freelance projects simultaneously?!), but I'm going to handle it differently. And that includes being proactive about my stressors--finding ways to beat them before they get out of control.
That means making some real changes in my life. No more skipping out on the gym--I need the endorphins, and all of my shorts from last year didn't simultaneously shrink of their own accord. (I'm not kidding. I have exactly one pair of shorts and no capris left from last year--had to do a mad dash around thrift/consignment stores last weekend.) I'm also going to be more productive in the evenings, freeing up time to work on work and not bloggy stuff. I'm going to get up an hour earlier every morning (aaaahhhhhhhh!) to write posts, take and edit photos, and (on days I'm not posting) to do still more freelance stuff. That part will be the hardest. I'm not a morning person. I'm already dreading my alarm.
So bear with me as I adjust to this new schedule. Posts might become a little more weird and confusing--I often sip a glass of wine when I blog in the evenings, which explains a lot of my candid/stream-of-conscious writing, but obviously I can't do that before work in the morning. And sleepy Emma is a lot weirder than one-glass-of-wine Emma. You'll see.
*cue evil laughter*
cardi: H&M
T-shirt: JCPenney
skirt: Old Navy
heels, necklace: Target
Feeling much better since yesterday evening; thanks to those of you who asked :) Dunno what was up with that, all I really care about is that I'm feeling good, getting psyched and ready to take on the world!
Now, you may or may not have noticed that I'm more excitable than a two-month-old puppy. Only I usually manage not to pee all over the floor. But this week, I am super super crazy pumped for something I thought I'd never do again: see Fall Out Boy in concert. Laugh all you want (believe me, a part of me is laughing right along with you), but this was my absolute favorite band in high school and through a good portion of college. They went "on hiatus" a few years ago, which usually is PR-speak for "broke up forever." BUT NOW THEY'RE BACK AND THEY'RE PLAYING RIGHT HERE IN COLUMBUS ON FRIDAY.
Again, no one my age should be this jazzed over this band. I realize this. But the 16-year-old fangirl in me is still very much alive, and she's temporarily taking over my brain. So, that's been interesting.
And, as usual, I've gone on and on about something completely unrelated to this outfit. That's okay, I guess; I was feeling kind of blah the morning I threw this outfit together and just kept it simple. The texture on the shirt keeps it from being too boring, right?
sweater: The Limited
polo: Target
slacks: thrifted
shoes: Payless
hair flower: H&M
necklaces: gifted
That's the official name I'm giving this slump I'm in. I've hit the wall. Winter is the most dreary time of year in Ohio, where we can go weeks without seeing a blue sky or the sun. And the cold, snow, and general crappy weather conditions are not conducive to cute outfit styling. More often than not, I find myself dragging my butt out of bed and throwing on the warmest combination of clothing I can find...and that combination is rarely flattering, or stylish, or blog-worthy. Usually it's just slacks, flats and a sweater. Today I managed to make that combination work in a blogable way, but that's a rare occurrence. (It's not this outfit. This outfit is my typical, boring winter uniform.)
The same thing happened last winter, too. I hope you'll all bear with my lack of acceptable outfit posts between now and spring. I promise, this ol' blog will get interesting again as soon as the weather perks up.
Do all bloggers go through this? How do you handle the winter blahs? What outfit pieces help pull you out of the cold-weather rut?
So I was all set to write a post for yesterday evening. I edited photos, got them uploaded, and was just about to start writing, when...fondue happened. And some other things, but I'll talk more about that on Fiscal Friday this week. So anyway, blame cheese. Cheese is the reason why I didn't post yesterday.
button-down: old, don't remember
cami, necklace: Target
slacks: secondhand
flats: Payless
bracelet: H&M
So last weekend was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with my bloggy-turned-real-life friend, Kellyn of The Church Mouse, who just moved here from Texas. I showed her a little bit of the city, we got brunch, and we went thrifting. (I scored an AMAZING faux leather moto jacket. Can't wait until the temps are above freezing again to wear it!)
Speaking of warmer temps, Ohio had a nice little "heat wave" last week, with temps in the 40s, 50s and even 60s! It was glorious. I took these photos outside simply because it was warm enough to do so, but I failed to realize the post-work light would be less than ideal for photos. Womp womp.
(P.S. to all you Columbus-ites: Don't forget to enter my giveaway! It ends this week!)
Now, it's back to the dismal 20s and 30s that are more characteristic of Ohio in January. Le sigh. At least it hasn't snowed again (yet).
