May your past be the sound of your feet on the ground.

I bought Fun.'s new album, "Some Nights" last night (that's what the title of this post comes from), and I am so completely in love with it! It's so positive and upbeat, it was great background music as I was getting ready this morning. If you haven't heard of Fun., it's the side project of The Format's lead singer, and it's amazing. There's a commercial floating around out there (for a credit card maybe?) that features a single from the new album. It's the one that goes "Tonight we are young / So we set this world on fire / We go higher than the sun"

Anyway. Enough gushing about semi-obscure indieish music. But seriously...go have a listen if you get a chance.




sweater: old, maybe from Express?
black shirt and orange tights: Target
skinnies: Burlington Coat Factory
boots: Old Navy, gifted from my momma
black shorts: The Limited
If these outfits look familiar, it's because Kelly featured them on her blog, Enter Kelly a while back. It was a post about wearing an outfit from day to night. I wore the top outfit to work on a Friday, then switched it up a bit and restyled my hair for a drinks and a show with some friends that evening.

I talked about this last time, but these tights really are more rust-colored than orange in real life. But because I took the nighttime photos, well, at night...they turned out super orange. Oh, well. Still looks pretty good, if you ask me :)

Belated holiday outfits

So my life is finally starting to resemble something close to normal again. That's good. This weekend seemed a lot longer than last, even though they were both three-day affairs. Maybe because I wasn't travelling across half the state and was actually able to get some things done. Go figure.

This includes re-shooting the holiday outfits that I never took pictures of, out of forgetfulness or sheer exhaustion. You'll know the reshoots because I'm not wearing makeup and my hair is wavy in all its air-dried glory ;)


shirt: old, don't remember; vest: New York & Company; skinnies: Forever 21; belt, boots: Target
#1, worn to a Christmas party thrown by my friend Allory and her boyfriend a few days before the holiday.


credits: see here
#2, worn to dinner with Matt's parents, his sister and her fiancé on Christmas Eve eve. Yes, I pretty much repeated this outfit from early December...only I swapped the necklace for a belt under the cardi. What can I say? I love this outfit.


sweater tunic: old, don't remember; skinnies, bracelet: Forever 21; flats: Target
#3, worn at Christmas Eve with my immediate family, and that evening with Matt's dad's side of the family.


shirt: thrifted; skinnies: Forever 21; boots: Old Navy, Christmas gift from my mom; necklace: The Limited; bracelet: Forever 21
Reshoot of #4, worn Christmas day with Matt's mom's side of the family and that evening with my mom's side of the family. Doesn't my mom have great taste? Loving these boots she got me :)


shirt: Old Navy; skirt: The Limited; necklace: Forever 21; tights: Target; booties: Burlington Coat Factory
Reshoot of #5, worn the Tuesday after Christmas at my dad's family's party, where we talked about my blog for a while and I felt awkward because I always forget that people I know in real life sometimes read this thing. Which is kinda funny. (Hi Luke. Lol.)
So there it is! I have a ton of 2011 outfits left to post, including my stepping-outside-my-fashion-comfort-zone New Year's Eve dress. Kind of excited to show you guys that one. But for now, I'm running a bit late for work. Of course. Ta ta!

Weekend outfit...on a Wednesday

Running a bit behind this morning...two straight days of going to the gym, after not working out at all for months, is a bit exhausting. But it's been a good two days, and I really love the feeling I get after a good sesh. Taking care of yourself is actually kinda nice :)

But, since I still have to make/eat breakfast and pack a lunch, I'm gonna be brief in this post. I rarely post my "going out" outfits here, since they're usually a totally different style from the business casual and casual outfits I typically post. But I do wear these outfits, and they're a part (albeit a small part) of my style, so here ya go.






top and booties: Burlington Coat Factory
skinnies: Forever 21, last year or the year before
necklace: gift from Matt
lipstick: Mary Kay in Red
I kind of have a love/hate relationship with these booties. I love them because they're so cute, but I hate how much my feet hurt when I stand or walk too much in them. If I wear these to a bar, the first thing I do when I get there is scout out for a possible seat. Oh, well. Fashion is sometimes painful, right?

I actually wore this out to the bars on the night before Thanksgiving with my sister. That's why there's blue carpet under me...we were at our parents' house. Saw a few old high school friends that night, as well as some less-than-friends. Thank goodness we're all mature enough to ignore each other now, haha!

I don't copy other bloggers, I channel them.

First off, welcome to my new followers! Noticed there are a couple more of you...thanks for reading about my randomness and the clothes I wear :)

Oh, what a weekend. Between the restaurant, freelancing and the hasn't-been-properly-cleaned-in-weeks state of my house, I practically didn't stop working on one thing or another. And in true procrastinator fashion, I reorganized my closet. I'll probably do a post on that at some point...but you all know how long it took me to doing that curtain tutorial, so we'll see, haha.

The restaurant wound up keeping me until nearly midnight—a full hour later than I am technically available to be there on Sunday nights—so I'm exhausted. But financially, Saturday and Sunday were great nights, so I guess I can't complain. Looks like Matt will get his Christmas present this year after all...and I won't even have to charge it! Hooray!






dress: Artifacts Gallery in Athens
turtleneck: no idea...Target, probably
tights and boots: Target
necklace: New York and Company
ring: Modcloth, giveaway win from Sydney
knot earrings: The Limited
For some reason, I feel very much like Tania in this outfit. I think it's the combination of top knot, colored tights, dress and boots. Either way, I loved channeling my inner nerd in this outfit, haha. By the way...best bun I've ever done. I don't think I could ever recreate this perfect knot. Oh well...at least I got it on camera!

Also, these boots? They're the exact same as the brown boots I recently bought, only in black. Am I going to eventually buy the cognac versions too? You bet! I got a little discount on these because they were the last pair in my size, and they were scuffed just a tiny bit. You really can't see it unless you look for it. Awesome!

This is the outfit I wore to the opening of The Limited's new store at Easton last week. You know, the one where they gave me two $50 gift cards? One of which I get to give away to one of you guys? Giveaway is still open, click here to enter!

Update: Linked this up to the Everybody, Everywear challenge!

Wherein Emma Learns to Live Without Sleep

Ugh. Can we talk for a moment about what a terrible style blogger I've been lately? As of today, it will have been more than a week--a WEEK!--since my last style post. It's true, this blog is a mélange, it's not supposed to be about any one thing. But in the months since I've started it, there has been a definite focus on style on a budget. And food on a budget. And budgeting on a budget. I guess I'm kind of disproving my own point here. Regardless. I'm sad that I haven't been posting as much this week as I would have liked to.

shirt: thrifted
cami: Marshall's
shorts: New York & Company
shoes: Target
necklace: Forever 21

The simple fact is that honestly haven't been able to post that much this week. This post? This one you're reading right now? It was written in multiple sittings, most of them during my lunch break at work. See, I normally write posts in the morning, before I leave for work. But this month has been a whirlwind, and I'm behind on my freelance work, so mornings this week have been devoted to catching up.

So Emma, why don't you just post in the evenings? Ah, dear reader, if only it were that simple. No, my evenings have been taken up with training for my moonlighting gig as a waitress in a corporate restaurant. (Oh God, so many hours of training. I seriously could complete it alone in about three hours, but it's group-style, so we're looking at 20+ hours instead. Lovely.) BUT THAT'S NOT ALL.

Matt and I were supposed to move in to our new place on September 1st. Last week, the landlord mentioned that he wanted us to move in early to deter copper thieves (really!), so we agreed. On Sunday, he called and said we should pick up the keys on Monday. Guess how much we have packed/ready to move? Not. One. Damn. Thing.

So in the evenings (if I'm not sitting through hours of training) I'm packing, cleaning, painting, unpacking and generally losing it. And guess what I'll be doing this weekend? Bingo. Freelance writing, training, moving/cleaning/painting. Sounds exhilarating, no?

I'm sorry. This sounds so much more whiny (whinier?) than I meant for it to. I just feel like you guys deserve an explanation. I'd blog if I had the time! Which I may not for another week, depending on how everything goes. Anyone else want to guest post?

(Don't worry, Fiscal Fridays will persist tomorrow. I promise. The topic? Groceries. Thrilling, I know. Try to contain yourselves till then ;) You can start distracting yourself by entering my giveaway and taking this short, anonymous, 8-question survey about budgeting (to help me with next week's Fiscal Fridays post)!

BDIB: Arm Party

I just love this phrase. Arm party. I think it's hysterical. What I find even more amusing, however, is that this trend is something I used to do back in high school. I even used the DIY friendship bracelet idea to create my arm party, which is what a lot of people are doing now, too. I was going to whip up a few friendship bracelets and wrap some old bangles with string for today's Bloggers Do It Better challenge, but I didn't have the time to run to the store to get embroidery thread, let alone actually make a few of those bad boys. I guess, for now, they'll remain a nostalgic memory for me.

tunic: Artifacts Gallery in Athens, Ohio
tank: Walmart
shorts: New York & Company
shoes: Payless
bracelets: don't remember where I got ANY of them, haha

The only think I don't really like about the arm party? My arm is constantly jingling at my desk as I type at work all day. Boo.

Well, Matt and I board our train to New York City tonight! We're leaving Kitty (who still doesn't have an official name) with a few friends, and our neighbor is keeping an eye on the apartment (so don't try breaking in, creepy people who might read this, haha). I have a few awesome guest posts lined up between now and Monday, so make sure you stop by to check those out!

Also, I dyed my hair last night. I was well overdue for a touchup! But I still have about a week's worth of outfits from pre-hairdye, so expect a few changes in apparent hair color over the next few days ;)

Until next week...stay well, readers!

One more, I suppose

I thought I'd give you guys an actual original post today as well, rather than just re-posting stuff that Blogger ate. Hey, I try to be a responsible blogger :)

Dress/tunic thing: Figleaf in Athens, OH
Tank: Walmart, I think?
Tights: No idea
Shoes: Mossimo via Target
Earrings: My friend's shop on Etsy

Sorry for not having the details on most of this outfit. The tank and the tights were both purchased ages ago, as was most of the basic half of my wardrobe...tees, tights, tanks, jeans, etc. But let me tell you all about these earrings. My friend Kree makes jewelry and sells it in her shop on Etsy. She names a lot of her jewelry after women in her life, and guess what she called these earrings? That's right. These are the Emma earrings! She gave them to me as a going-away present when I left Panera for my current job.

Kree's jewelry is always gorgeous and she uses really high quality materials. And she puts a LOT of time and effort into everything she makes. Go on, check out her shop! And if you live here in Columbus, stop by Accent on Nature in Grandview to see some more of her work.

(Thinking about asking Kree if she'd be interested in a giveaway at some point, maybe when I have a few more followers. Would you enter? Let me know!)

Seeesters!

So last weekend was Sibs & Kids Weekend at BGSU, where my sister, Ellen, is a freshman. So Abby (my other sister) and I decided to drive up to good old Blowing Green, as Ellen calls it, to relive the old days when we all lived under the same roof and shared a room. Only with more alcohol; we weren’t the kind of tweens who get drunk on a regular basis. Or ever.

I asked Abby and Ellen to both shoot an outfit for me, which I will be posting later in the week. I have to say; posing with my sisters as photographers is FAR less awkward than posing with Boyfriend as a photographer. Abby gave me such great direction, I almost hired her as my professional photographer on the spot. But alas, I have no money to pay her and I’m sure she’d rather finish getting her degree in Genius and make far more money than I could ever pay her (or make myself, for that matter).

On Ellen (far left)

Shirt: AX Paris USAJeans: Rue 21Shoes: Payless

One of Ellen’s hallmates shot these pictures for us. She seemed a little surprised at our rate of conversation. Apparently, when the three of us get together and have a drink or two, we converse like the mom and daughter on Gilmore Girls. Pretty funny to listen to, I imagine.

On Abby (far left, this photo):

Shirt: Ellen’s, from Rue 21
Jeans: Forever 21
Shoes: American Eagle via Payless

Of course, we had to do a Charlie’s Angels pose. Those are just the rules.

(Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about my outfit. I’ll blog that in a separate post tomorrow.)