The "winter wall"

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?

I survived!

t-shirt, Old Navy: Old Navy
polo, heels: Target
necklace: InPink
bracelet: don't remember

So the title of today's post applies to several things. First and foremost, I survived my sister's bachelorette party! It was so much fun, and well worth the time and effort I put into making sure it would be a great night for everyone. Fortunately, the bride-to-be survived as well ;)

I also survived that wicked cold that's been plaguing me for the past week or two. Only I found out yesterday that it wasn't a cold, it was my first-ever sinus infection. Let me tell you. Sinus infections are the absolute worst. Give me the flu any day; at least that's usually over with in a day or so.

Anyway, I'm on antibiotics and my way to recovery. Which is fortunate, because from now until the end of August, I have another bachelorette party, three weddings (two of which I'm a bridesmaid/maid of honor in), a sister's 21st birthday (not the one who's getting married, haha!), and a trip to Cedar Point. Bring it on!

Rediscovering old clothes

I've had these slacks in the back of my closet for, I don't know, years. I wore fairly often two summers ago, but kind of forgot about them for most of 2011. They're a weird kind of so-dark-navy-that-they're-almost-black, and it's hard to see in the photos but they have very thin, light blue pinstripes. "They don't go with anything I own," I thought. "They're too hard to match."

False. I just wasn't trying hard enough.






sweater: Aeropostale
polo: Target
slacks: New York & Company
necklace: Tiffany & Co (gifted)
shoes: Franco Sarto via Marshall's
If I think really hard about it, I can kind of remember buying these guys in a frantic shopping spree for "professional" clothes upon getting my first part-time office job. As it turns out, I didn't need to bother, because the office was so incredibly casual.

But the fit is so perfect at the waist and hips, and THEY'RE LONG ENOUGH. (For the record, this is one of only three or four pants I've ever worn in my life that fits both of those criteria. I'm dreaming of the day when I can buy some INDI jeans with my own custom measurements.) Anyway. What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry pants, for neglecting you. I promise to recognize your true worth from now on.

P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway! Tomorrow's your last chance!

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?

Adjustments

I'm running a little behind this morning as I try to adjust to my new, living-with-purpose routine. It involved waking up half an hour earlier (okay, so I only made it 15 minutes today) so I can do some work on the blog or my freelance stuff (this morning it was freelance) and eat breakfast. I haven't eaten breakfast consistently since I was in high school. Early high school. So anyway, that means just one photo today. Which works out, because this was the only good photo of this particular outfit.

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sweater: New York & Company
polo, flats: Target
jeans: Guess via Macy's
necklace: The Limited
watch: Walmart
bracelet: Forever 21
This is actually the outfit I wore for Thanksgiving. It's a pretty casual event with my family and Matt's, so jeans and nice tops are usually good bets. This is also what happens when I don't take the time to straighten my hair properly after I wash it. I have that awful not-quite-curly-but-definitely-not-straight hair. I keep thinking that if I grow it out, it will get heavier and therefore lie flatter. Hasn't been the case so far. I'll probably get frustrated and get it all chopped off to a pixie cut someday, which will be simultaneously horrifying and amazing, I'm sure.

Rain, rain, go away...(have I used that post title yet?)

Ugh, is it me, or is Mother Nature just against us 9-5-ers? I feel like it rained all of last week, was nice over the weekend, and returned to a forecast of rain all this week. Oh, well. At least the weekend was nice, right?

I wore this two Fridays ago, but I wish I were wearing it today. Something about wearing jeans to work just makes my day so much more pleasant! But, I suppose my outfit for today—a midi skirt and flats—is a bit more appropriate for rain. No soggy hems here!







polo: Target
white long sleeve, belt and necklace: don't remember
jeans: Silver via Macy's
shoes: Target or Payless
Sorry for not knowing where half this outfit came from. My wardrobe needs some serious updating. The Financial Diet has been kind of restrictive in that department ($20 a week doesn't allow for much clothes shopping). Fortunately, I've recently bumped myself up to $30 a week. That helps a lot. As does the discovery of Volunteers of America, which I mentioned in this post. Their huge, store-wide half-off sale is tomorrow! I plan to take $10 or $15 and walk out with at least 10 new, awesome items.

Speaking of the FD, I am officially halfway to my goal of saving up $1,000! Tips haven't been quite what I was told to expect at the waitressing job. (They said people tend to make $200 on a game day. I usually just barely clear $100...and non-game shifts average around $30-$50. Ick.) But I just sold some stuff on Craigslist and made a cool $300 from that. I'm saving half of that, used a bit of it to fund a belated housewarming party slash birthday party for Matt and I and our friend who lives upstairs, and am using the rest to work on some home décor projects on my list. So there will be some fun posts on that coming up as well :)

By the way. Don't forget to email your budgeting questions, comments or whatever to verbal.melange{at}gmail{dot}com for this week's Fiscal Fridays post!

Groovy, man

This is my lame attempt at the 70s thing. I'm not normally one to follow trends—I prefer to just wear what I like—but I was bored the other week and thought I'd give it a shot. Plus, it was probably the last chance I'd get to wear these wedges (temps went from 90s to 60s overnight!) and they really complement the 70s feel, so I think this was a good outfit overall.








polo: Target
jeans: random sale at OU
shoes: Old Navy
necklace: Tiffany & Co
When I say I got these jeans at a "random sale at OU," it's only because I have no idea what to call the sale. It wasn't a sample sale, per se, and it wasn't exactly a consignment or thrift situation either. What happened was, one of the on campus groups (rugby team maybe?) somehow acquired all these name brand clothes. Victoria's Secret, American Eagle, Aeropostale, a bunch of random jeans brands, etc. And then they sold them to students for way less than the retail price. It's sounds shady, but I'm guessing they were overstock items or they were somehow not quite up to standards for retail sale.

Either way, it results in a great place to find some nice basics. Like wide-leg flares. Three years before they really came back into style. I like to think I was just ahead of the trend when I bought them, but like I said, I usually just buy/wear what I like. Whether it's in style or not.