#25 - Try, Try Again

After my first attempt at styling this striped dress, I was worried it was a little too juvenile for me.  My second try is much better (partially helped by outdoor photos)!  I think adding the color with a cardigan instead of crazy tights is a better idea.

I'm so far behind on posting my outfits.  I'm officially done with the wearing portion of the 30X30, but I'll be finishing up the blogging portion next week. 

Dress, Cardigan, Tights: Old Navy
Necklace: InPink
Belt: TJ Maxx
Boots: Steve Madden

January Budget

Well, I got a lot of new things in January, but I only paid for about half of them!  Thanks to some delayed Christmas celebrations, I got some really fun new items.  And then I apparently shopped quite a bit.  Like $32 more than I should have.  Here are the details:

Gifts:
*Denim Jacket
Green/Mint colorblock sweater
Floral bracelet
Black fringe infinity scarf

Old Navy (gift card
Black/Gray Dress
Black/White striped dress (worn here)
Pink blouse (worn here)
*Green jeans
Gray cardigan
Pink bracelet (worn here)
Rhinestone leaf necklace (worn here)

Gap:
Pink Shirtdress: $7 (originally $60)
*Light Denim jeans (similar): $15 (originally $60)
Orange/White bow-print blouse:  $10 (originally $40)
Striped workout tank (similar):  $11 (originally $23)
*Leopard print flats:  $18 (originally $50)

Target:
Cognac wedges:  $11 (originally $22)
*Leopard Pumps:  $15 (originally $30) (worn here)
*Nude pumps:  $15 (originally $30) (UPDATE - I returned these. The color wasn't quite right and they weren't very comfortable!)
*Black moto jacket:  $22 (originally $40) (worn here)

Piperlime:
Patterned blouse: $8 (originally $54)

 Total spent: $117 (originally $379)

I'm not super excited about starting off the year by spending so much, but I'm still on the fence about a couple items that I might return, which would bring my total down to less than $100.  I did get quite a few more items from my Wish List (those with an *), so I'm happy about that, but there are several random impulse buys in there as well. There were just a lot of good sales going on and I found cute stuff!

I really (really) need to clean out my closet and make myself get rid of more items.  I'm kicking myself, because I missed the window where my consignment shop will accept winter items.  I need to hurry up and gather my springy stuff, because she starts taking that in February.  Anyway, I need to clean out my closet, make a new wish list, and then keep working toward the goal of buying better/smarter and not just cheaper/more.

As always, I'm linking up with Franish for Budgeting Bloggers.

#24 - Winter Must Haves

Today, I'm linking up with Laura and Ada for their Winter Must Haves!  They've been showing different way to style winter staples over the last few weeks, and I've enjoyed seeing their take on all the important winter pieces!  I've got several in today's outfit!

Sweater - I have 2 very full drawers full of sweaters.  It's important when you live in the 5th coldest city in the US! 
Bold Coat - I'm using this blazer as an example.  I mean, I still wore my big puffer coat over it, but I think it counts as a fun layer! 
Long Necklace - I kind of went a little "WEAR ALL THE NECKLACES" on this day.  I usually wear my 2 short gold necklaces together, but I think the long one adds some interest, too.
Fun tights - these tights are gray, but they kind of look black in the pictures.  I wear black tights or leggings a lot in the winter, but I like having other color/pattern options, to keep things interesting. 
Boots - Did I mention I live in a very cold city?  And we generally get quite a bit of snow, but so far, this year has been pretty dry.  Either way, I wear boots almost every day from about December-March.  I love my boots, but I'm always extra excited when there is warmer day and I can get away with flats or pumps.

Anyway, what are your winter essentials?  Go check out the linkup to see everyone's looks!

I'm also linking up for Tres Chic Thursday, What I Wore to Work, and What I Wore.

Blazer, Sweater, Skirt: Gap
Tights: Old Navy
Boots: Steve Madden
Short Necklaces: gifts
Long necklace: F21

#23 - Kansas Day

 

Happy Kansas Day, everyone!  I may live in Nebraska now, but I am a Kansas girl at heart, so I like to be obnoxious and celebrate Kansas things.  Here are some tips on how you can celebrate my home state's birthday!

• Make sure to sing "Home on the Range" as often as possible throughout the day. 
• Dress up like a prairie girl - don't forget the bonnet! (this definitely happened in elementary school, but I didn't have a prairie dress or bonnet, so I was always the prairie tomboy, in jeans and plaid)
• Create a tornado in a bottle. 
• Watch the Wizard of Oz.  And then NEVER EVER say "You're not in Kansas anymore" to a Kansan who is out of state. 
• If you are more into sports, watch the Jayhawks play basketball.  Rock Chalk!
• For dinner, enjoy a buffalo burger, some sunflower seeds, and anything made of wheat.  That's pretty much what Kansas is known for, right?  Amber waves of grain! 

For the record, I probably won't do any of these things, except eating something made of wheat.  And I might sing the state song a little bit.      


Shirt, Cardigan, Jeans: Gap
Scarf: H&M
Shoes: Old Navy

#22 - Social Media

I'm not as good at social media as I probably should be.  Most of my tweets and Facebook posts are just Instagrams.  Half the time I don't even #hashtag anything.  I do spend more time than I should scanning through everyone else's posts on the various sites.  The other day, John was looking over my shoulder as I checked Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.  His perspective made me laugh.  A few highlights:

• Why is there an old picture on Instagram?  It's "INSTA" gram.  Like Instant!  
• Why do people use hashtags on Instagram?  Isn't that a Twitter thing?  
• WHOA, that's a long Facebook status!  Shouldn't she just have a blog for stuff like that?  
• Wait, wasn't that on Instagram?  Why is it on Facebook, too?
• What is a picture doing on Twitter?!  Isn't that why people have Instagram?
• That's the same picture we saw on Instagram and Facebook!  Why is it on all three?

I was trying to explain the logic, but he has a point.  This is all ridiculous!  I mean, I'm still going to do it, but it is kind of strange!  

Also, I like this outfit.  I'll probably Instagram and Tweet about it.  

Shirt & Skirt: J.Crew Factory
Sweater: Gap
Tights: Old Navy
Boots: Steve Madden

#21 - Forever Young

This is an outfit I created on Polyvore, and it looked like a good idea on the collage.  Then I put it on, and decided the polka dot scarf was too much.  Then I felt like I was trying to look younger than I am.  Each of these items is somewhat "junior-ish," so combining them all just didn't quite work out.  But I had to get to work, so I just went with it.  Not my favorite look, but hopefully no one judged me too harshly.  Be honest, do I look like a 29-year-old pretending to be 19?  Because if you can't trust strangers on the internet to give reliable feedback, who can you trust?

Jacket: Target
Dress & Tights: Old Navy
Belt: Limited
Boots: Steve Madden

Book Review - Ready Player One

Ready Player One is an awesome book!  I heard about it from RA, who has excellent taste in books!  I didn't read the synopsis, because I wanted to go into it without any expectations.  I thought it would be a book that John might like, so I got the audiobook for our drive out to Indiana over Christmas.  We got about halfway through it, and then I got the book from the library to finish it.  When I finished it, I thought "that might be my favorite book of the year!" and then I realized that since I finished it in January, it was technically my first book of 2014.  So, it might still be my favorite book of the year, but there is time for it to be dethroned!

What to say about it?  It's set in 2044, and the world is in pretty bad shape, but many people spend the majority of their time hooked into a virtual reality (even for school and work).  Unlike some "dystopian future" novels, this actually seems pretty realistic.  The eccentric billionaire creator of this virtual universe dies, and leaves all of his money to whoever can find the easter egg he has hidden within the virtual universe.  Wow, this sounds really dorky.  Trust me, it's good!

Anyway, I loved the characters, and I loved Cline's writing style.  There were a lot of references to 1980's pop culture.  I didn't get all of them, but he explains it enough that I wasn't confused at all.  If you are about 10 years older than me and somewhat into nerdy stuff, you will probably be in pop culture reference heaven! 

It was weird to listen to half and then read the other half.  I'm sure I would have pronounced some of the names and places differently.  I'll add that Wil Wheaton is an excellent audiobook reader!

I think this would make a really cool movie, but I'm not sure how they would handle all the copyright issues.

Have you read this book?  What did you think?