Clichés

dress: The Limited
scarf, boots: gifted (boots via Old Navy)
belt: came with a skirt from JCPenney
tights: Target
You know what they say...when it rains it pours. (Or if you live in the midwest/on the East Coast this week, you could go with "when it snows, it dumps 10 freaking inches on your lawn in March." Somehow, it doesn't roll off the tongue quite as smoothly.)

Uhh...where was I? Oh yeah. Raining and pouring. That's how my workload has been lately. I feel like I simply cannot catch up this week. A series of last-minute tweaks to the fashion article I mentioned last week have been sucking up a lot of my usual blogging time, and I'm trying to get back into a workout routine again. (My ab muscles can at least testify that I've been doing okay on that effort—oof, it hurts.) And of course, there seems to be a million other things going on, too.

I guess I can't complain, really. Maybe by the time things settle down, it'll be warm and springy outside and I'll actually feel inspired to do new outfit pics on a more regular basis!

Monday already?

You know what's super annoying? When you spend all week planning to be productive on the weekend, but exhaustion and other commitments completely prevent you from getting almost anything done. Guess who that happened to this weekend. It's almost tempting enough to consider using a PTO day this week, but I only have so many of them and I have about a billion weddings coming up in the fall, so I want to try to save them for when I will really want to use them!






shirt: thrifted
slacks: New York & Company
scarf: The Limited
pumps: Franco Sarto via Marshall's
You know, I'm actually a firm believer that sometimes, you just have to take care of yourself first. Maybe my history of panic attacks is what makes me really force myself (not that it often takes much convincing) to have at least one day a week in which I don't do anything at all. I really think that's what helps me keep my sanity most of the time. When you're as busy as I am, having one day a week where you're not working from 9 am until 9 pm is really a pretty luxurious and incredible thing.

Oh, who knows. I'll probably be kicking myself tonight after work, when I'm trying to catch up on all the things I should have done this weekend. But that's the other thing that having panic attacks has taught me: There's no use worrying about the future if you can't do anything to change it now. So stop worrying, and cross that bridge when you come to it.

This really isn't the direction I saw this post going today. Oops. And oh well :)

Catching up

Well, I'm definitely starting to pay the toll for taking an entire weekend (and Monday, and part of Tuesday) to do fun things. I'm so behind on my freelance stuff, it would be laughable if I didn't really need the money. Good thing I get Monday off next week. Something tells me I'll have to be ultra-productive. Especially because my friend Emily is coming to town tonight! Very excited to see her, but it also means I won't be getting much work done. Ah, well. Tis the season ;)

I was going to post all four of my holiday outfits (worn to six different gatherings), but I haven't had the time to even edit photos yet! Not to mention I still have to reshoot a few of the outfits first. Somehow, getting home from a one- or two-hour drive at 10 or 11 pm, after running around all dang day, isn't really conducive to good outfit shots. Go figure.






sweater: thrifted
scarf as belt: The Limited
jeggings: Burlington Coat Factory
boots: Target
glasses: Eye Buy Direct
I have a love-hate relationship with this sweater. It's pretty soft, and comfy, and easy to style. But it attracts Spazzy's white hair like the dang cat is going bald. I practically have to carry a lint roller with me when I'm wearing the sweater. And as you may or may not know, I'm generally kinda lazy sometimes, so that doesn't always happen.

Oh, and do you like my new glasses? I bought them a while back when Eye Buy Direct was having their annual buy one, get one half off sale. They were SUPER affordable (I paid $40 for two pairs), but shipping took forever. When I called and asked how much longer it would take to ship them, they refunded my shipping cost and got them in the mail practically the next day. Not bad, when you think about it. Highly recommend :)

(I wasn't paid or perked for content in this post. I just wanted to share my honest opinion about EBD!)

Blogger event!

Today, I'm going to my first-ever blogger event. It's actually pretty exciting; The Limited is opening a new store here in town, and I (along with a bunch of other bloggers) have been invited to the ribbon-cutting ceremony. There's some swag involved, I'm told, and that means you guys will get a chance for a little somethin' somethin' too! (Hint: Giveaway coming up!)

But for now, here are photos of one of the classiest outfits I've ever thrown together.








blazer, belt, purse: Target
dress: H&M, thrifted
scarf: also thrifted
shoes: Buckle
watch: Walmart
So I guess it's true. Even us awkward girls can clean up pretty well when we want to!

I got a few compliments on this scarf, too. One woman even told me she's have to start styling her bag with a scarf. I just wanted a pop of color, and this 25-cent piece of fabric happened to match my shoes/lipstick/belt. I told Matt that you know you're a true slave to style when you have to start accessorizing your accessories.

Boot love

Yesterday, Kendi discussed her possibly-unnatural love for her closet; a discussion sparked by her new boots. I can honestly say I know exactly what she means.

Sure, mine are $30 Target boots, while hers are a much-higher-quality Nine West pair. But you know something? I don't care. These boots are comfy and awesome and I love them. Pretty sure I'm going back to Target at some point to buy them in black, and cognac, and gray if they have them. Because they are that awesome. And for $30 or so a pop, I'll have four pairs of boots for the same price as Kendi's one. That, my friends, is what I call a win.








sweater: hand-me-down from friend
tank: Old Navy
scarf: Arden B
jeggings: Burlington Coat Factory
BOOTS!!: Target
rings: gifted and American Eagle
I think it's about time to retire this sweater. It's cropped, which I don't love, and there's a tiny stain on the front, which I artfully covered with the scarf. But it has stripes. And as we all know, I'm a complete sucker for stripes. I can't help it.

In other news, is anyone interested in that clothes swap I mentioned on Monday? With Joanne? We're discussing the possibility of returning clothes at the end, if you don't have anything you want to get rid of, and we'll definitely consider including you Canada-dwellers, since the shipping wouldn't be too terrible from the States. Let me know!

Happy Father's Day!

To all the dads out there, including my own: thanks for all that you do :)

I love my dad. He's genuinely one of the smartest people I know. Any time I need clear, unbiased advice, he's there. Any time I need financial guidance (or assistance, haha), he's there. My dad gave me the inspiration to go into journalism when I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I can honestly say that without him in my life, I wouldn't be the person I am today. Thanks, Dad :)

And thanks to you, readers, for all the birthday wishes! It was a great night...Matt's and my friends did a three-bar crawl, and we closed down the final one before heading back to our place to chill a bit longer. Great birthday. I cheated on my 30 for the outfit, though, so I won't be posting it. Nothing special, anyway...just some short shorts and a low-cut top ;) haha

But this is the outfit I wore yesterday. Well, let me clarify: this is the outfit I wore for a few hours yesterday evening. Most of yesterday was spent in my PJs, recovering from the festivities of Friday. I missed the Pride parade and festival, which was really disappointing, but it rained the whole time so I can't have missed too much. (That's what I'll keep telling myself, anyway.)

items: 5, 15, 28

lace cami: Aeropostale

scarf: Arden B

necklace: thrifted

I wish this had a bit more color to it. Shame on me for not thinking to include a colored T in addition to the plain white one. But the cami matches the scarf and shoes really well, and my toenails are orange, so that's nice. And I decided to punch up the visual interest a bit with some lipstick, which I never wear. Might be hard to see in the photo, but those were some hot red lips!

Happy birthday to me!

Yep, today is my 23rd birthday. I like birthdays. I mean, that's kind of a dumb thing to say, because most people not having a mid-life crisis enjoy birthdays, but I really like birthdays. What's not to love about a day that's all about me? Haha. I swear, I'm not vain. I just take pictures of the clothes I wear every day and post them on the internet and talk about it. (Not helping, right?)

So anyway, I think I'm going to tweak my 30 items one last time to replace number 3, the teeny black dress, with something else. Not sure what yet, but I only put it in the 30 so I'd have something to wear out tonight. But when I put on this safari/shirt dress thing this morning, I decided this is what I want to wear out tonight. Maybe.

It'd be fun to restyle it from work to play though, right? So I might do that, and update this post with the same dress, going-out-version. We'll see how I feel around 8 tonight, haha.

items: 2, 27
scarf: The Limited
brooch: New York & Company
jewelry: really old bracelet/necklace from Claire's

So this brooch thing came with a great purple shirt I bought from New York & Company when I was shopping for work clothes last summer. I ruined the shirt with bleach (did you know bleach sometimes stays in the washer AFTER the load you use it in?) and had to toss it. Haven't really looked at the brooch since, but I thought it would make a fun hip accent with this scarf-belt. Hooray, remixing!

Old pictures, new camera

As you can probably guess from the title, these pictures are a little old. Several weeks old. Back when it was cool enough to wear a medium-weight scarf during the day and not feel silly. Today it's going to hit 90 degrees, which leaves me wondering why Ohio seems to just skip over spring, which is (in my humble opinion) the prettiest time of year. le sigh.

Shirt: Old NavyScarf: Arden BJeans: Silver via Macy'sShoes: Payless

I realized that even though I wear these shoes about 4 days out of the week, I've never actually
showed
shown a close-up. The stud details tend to get lost in the shadows of my outfit pictures, so here you are: these are the best Payless shoes I've ever purchased. Love them.

In other news, these might be the first outfit shots taken with my new camera. I think. Either way, I love it! The colors are so much more vibrant and the lines are so crisp...and I barely have to edit or color correct them at all. Thanks again, Matt :)