'Cuz Being Dead Isn't Cute

The result of me taking a picture through the window. It's enough to make you cry.

As you may or may not know, a huge snow storm crapped all over Minnesota today. In light of this event, I thought I would take a break from nattering about my clothes to discuss Winter Driving. Now, you would think Minnesotans would have this down. You would be wrong-o. Here are a few tips from me, possibly the worst driver ever:

1. Brush the snow off your car. Do ALL of the windows, even that pesky back one, just in case you, you know, need to see what is behind you for some reason. If you are feeling really motivated, brush as much snow off the top of the car as you can so it doesn't slide off and block your view.

2. Scrape off any ice that may be under the snow. Do not make a tiny porthole in the driver's side of the windshield and pretend you can see, because we all know you can't.

3. Turn your lights on. This cannot be over-emphasized. Dirty grayish car on a dirty grayish road against a dirty grayish sky equals nobody can see your dumbass.

4. Slow down. I'm talking to you, Mr. Escalade driver. That enormous hunk of iron you drive does not make you Superman. While you're at it, save the aggressive tailgating for a nice, dry, sunny day, m'kay?

5. A snowstorm is not the time to practice automotive multi-tasking. Cease and desist eating, scratching, cell phone chatting, texting and nose-picking. Both hands on the wheel, both eyes on the road is the motto here. (Unless Nickleback comes on the radio. Then changing the station is totally worth the risk of death.)

6. If your car should happen to stall, say in the middle of France Avenue, please turn on your emergency flashers. Geez.

Those are my most important ones. Always remember, better late than dead!

Thrift Store Scores from Sunday

So Sunday morning, I decided to run to Savers and Arc to look around. Unfortunately, I left way too early, so I ended up skipping Savers and going to Arc after grocery shopping. I'm glad I did- on Sunday, whatever color ticket was on sale that week (pink, in this case) is only $.99! The clothes, anyway. I got a dark-wash Gap jean jacket, a vintage-y looking slip with lace on the bottom, a little black dress with what looks like rick-rack trim on the neckline, and a leather skirt-- for a total of $3.96. So. Much. Fun. The skirt is a little snug right now, so if I don't shrink a bit, I will probably have to sell it, but for a dollar, I'm willing to risk it. Or I was willing to risk it-- I just found out today I need about $500 worth of dental work, so I need to cut way back on the discretionary spending. Even thrift store spending! I need to come up with an allowance or something, because if I try to buy nothing, I always end up binging. I have to think about it...

Is It Spring Yet?

I'm not sure what is going on with my hair and aggressive head tilt. Perhaps gravity is out-of-whack in Minnesota? This is another uninspired outfit, but it is still so cold! I just don't feel like wearing dresses or skirts. This is me in a blue Express sweater from about 2 years ago, black Old Navy camisole with lace around the neckline, and the ill-fitting gray trousers (unseen, for a good reason.) I am wearing a necklace, a gold claddagh that my husband bought me back when he was still my boyfriend... it has the claddagh symbol, but then what looks a little like wings out to the sides. I tried and TRIED to get a decent photo, but I can't figure out how to turn off the flash on my camera! So trust me, it is pretty. And I wore earrings this morning, but they were bugging me so I threw them away. (They were old and the shiny fake metal was worn off, anyway.) I need new earrings! I'm also wearing my new Revlon "Nude Attitude" matte lipstick, and I think I don't really like it in the picture. It kind of washes me out, although it looked fine in the mirror... Hmm. I guess I'll call that the free one!

At What Point Is This Considered a Mental Illness?

Here's the scenario: it's Saturday night, and I'm sitting around in my pajamas* perusing the ads from the previous Sunday paper**. I get to the Walgreens ad, and ohmigod, [fill in the blank] is buy-one-get-one! (Henceforth known as a "BOGO.") So, I get up, put on some regular pants,*** tramp through the snow to my car, spend 10 minutes brushing and chipping off snow and ice****and drive to Walgreens to bag this deal before the new sale is posted on Sunday. This happens at least once a month, usually more often. It is a sickness, y'all.*****

Today, it was Revlon lipstick. As you can see, I was desperately in need of more lipstick:

The thing is, I don't even wear lipstick on a regular basis. I want to be a woman who wears lipstick, because I think it looks polished and put-together. Unfortunately, I am not a woman who wears lipstick, at least not naturally. I worry too much that the color is wrong, or that is is all over my teeth, or that it makes me look like Ronald McDonald(tm). But I still compulsively buy it any time there is a sale or I have a coupon. I am trying to get in the habit of wearing it daily, but it is a high-maintenance beauty product. Besides constantly reapplying lip balm, I also eat pretty much non-stop all day long, so I need to touch it up a lot, and I forget. The above photo has convinced me that I must keep trying! All this lipstick will not be thrown in the trash in vain.

______________________________________________
*Did I just reveal what strange, anti-social little homebody I am? Oops.

**Yes, they do just sit around the apartment all week.
***An adult should never go to the store in her pajama pants. Pajama top, fine, as long as you have your coat on.
****I like to call this "the Minnesota Workout."
*****Last footnote, I swear. I really wish I was Southern so I could get away with using y'all on a regular basis.

A Minor Setback and a Minor Victory

The setback: my outfit today was very boring. I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon and I didn't want to have to take off tights so the doctor could look at my ankle. Yes, I am that lazy. I didn't bother showing my lower half because I really don't think the ill-fitting, charcoal-gray trousers and black Vans added anything to the outfit. The purple v neck tee shirt is from H & M (12.99) and the multi-strand "topaz" necklace was a gift from my MIL. I am proud that I at least put on the necklace! I'm trying to accessorize more. I even put up a cork board in my bedroom so I can SEE all the necklaces I have, and thus be inspired to actually WEAR them.

The minor victory is that I figured out how to use the timer on my camera! Now I just need to figure out where to set it so I can get a head-to-toe shot. It really wasn't that difficult to figure out, but I couldn't find the manual, so I just had to play around with it.

Also, I got a much needed haircut this afternoon-- i.e., the reason my hair is actually styled in these photos. I am ambivalent about it. I think she cut off too much and over-texturized it. My regular stylist wasn't available for over a month, so I just went to some random girl. I've been trying to grow my hair out for two years, at least, and it just isn't working. My hair grows at a glacial pace, and every time I make progress, someone butchers it and I have to start all over. Oy, the drama. Anyhoo, we will see how this shakes out once it has been washed and air-dried-- the true test!

Welcome to the Jungle... Or Maybe the Savannah?

As promised, here is the photo of my Walmart loot, as well as my first outfit post. And yes, I do leave the house with my hair looking like that, thanks for asking. My husband was kind enough to snap this photo, which unfortunately cuts off at the knees. I'll have to be more specific next time.

The sunglasses are from Walmart-- I like them because they are not big bug eye ones. The tote bag is also from Walmart, and I think it is adorable. Right now I carry around a dirty bag with the name of my apartment complex on it, so this could even be considered an upgrade. (Sad but true.) On the other hand, the other tote is perfectly serviceable and I have at least 2 others around the house that I could use, so this really isn't a necessary purchase, and therefore not green at all.

I'm wearing a BB (before blog) tank from Target, a BB sweater from Old Navy, a crazy zebra-print dress from Marshalls, black tights, black sequin Oh Deer! ballet flats, and my new lion clip from Arc. It's not a pin, so I sort of clamped it at my neckline. I think it helps break up the black and white. The dress on it's own is too bare to wear to work, but with the sweater, it looks like a zebra pencil skirt.

This out fit sort of pushed the edge of my comfort zone. I was self-conscious all day about it, but I felt like I looked good. I need to stop worrying what other people think about my clothes! As long as I don't get fired, who cares? Repeat 50 times.

This is Daria, my blogging buddy. (Did I not warn you there would be cat pictures?) She approves of all animal prints, but prefers classic black for herself.

The Walmart confession

So today I went to Walmart, which, politically and environmentally, is pretty much the anti-thrift. But! I needed red thread and those heel liner things that go in the back of shoes so your feet don't slip out. You know. And then I found some decent, not ginormous, sunglasses for $10.00, and a tote bag for $3.00, and a blazer for $20.00. And the next thing you know... fifty-odd dollars spent on crap. To be fair, the same thing happens to me at Target. I am probably keeping the blazer, because it is half the cost of the one I bought at H & M two weeks ago, and I haven't worn that one, so I can return it. I am returning the black sweater I bought because it ALREADY looks cheap and horrible, so God only knows how it will look after a couple of washings. I will try to get my husband to take my picture with my tote bag tomorrow, because I can't find an image of it, and I think I have to keep it because it's cute/cool/funny. (To me.)

*Walmart phot courtesy of Craig Chen via Flickr. This is the exact Walmart I was at! Behold, the power of the internet.

My President's Day finds...

I took the day off from work today, in part because I knew that Savers was having a half-off sale on EVERYTHING. (And in part because I really, really needed a day off.) Anyway, I got there bright and early today, and got a whole bag of stuff for $32.00. Then I went to Arcs and got another big ol' bag of stuff. This is the picture of my shopping trip. You also get to see my boring beige bedroom and part of Shoe Mountain. (And no, those are not real Louboutins on the top there. They are total knockoffs, but still awesome.) Here are some pictures of what I bought, and probably the formatting will be really wacky. Sorry in advance!









So, this is one pair of Gap boot cut jeans (6.50) one gray pencil skirt (2.50), one navy pencil skirt (2.50), one travel iron (2.00), a pin (1.50), a necklace (1.50), and a houndstooth wrap skirt with the original price tag attached (7.50). I'm especially proud of the last one because.... It was originally 89.99! I even tried to take a picture of the price tag, but I couldn't get it to come out clearly. You will just have to take my word for it. I also got this brooch and this necklace, which I probably should have taken out of the plastic bags before photographing. Hmm. Note to self for next time.The pin is gold with a big "amber" oval, and the necklace is gold with fake pearls. (They aren't "faux," they are plain ol' FAKE.)

Lastly, I got these three tops- a gray wool vintage-y shrunken cardigan, a raspberry button up secretary/grandma blouse (I loathe the word blouse, but there is no getting around it, that is what this thing is.) and my personal favorite, the black sweater with the strawberries embroidered on it! So cute. I know these pics aren't that good, but hopefully, I will be wearing these at some point, and I'll try to get better detail.

Those were all from Savers. I then went to Arcs in Richfield, which was a zoo full of screaming monster children from hell. I almost offered one guy five bucks to get his brat the hell out of there. Ah, well. I thought they were having a half-off sale too, but it turns out it was on Saturday. Bummer. Pink tags were half off, but the only pink tag item I bought was a .99 bangle, so the savings weren't really spectacular. But I still got another pair of Gap jeans (6.00), an Ann Taylor camel-color cardigan (6.00), an vintage-look skirt that I think is from Anthropologie (6.00), a bangle (.50!), a skeleton key pin (1.69), a leaf pin (.99) and a lion clip (.99). I like the skirt, but the color is sort of weird, so I have to see if I can make it work. If not, I may have to eBay it. Here is a better shot of the pins and bangle:





All in all, a pretty good day. Now, I just need to get all this stuff washed and put it together...

Me and Thrift Store Shopping.

I've been shopping at thrift stores since I was in high school, but compared to some of the bloggers I've seen around the interwebs, I am definitely a rookie. I'm looking to sort of jazz up my wardrobe, and maybe push my own boundaries a little. I mean, I'm 27 years old and I still spend an inordinate amount of time worrying what people think of my outfit! Time to get over it, right?

There was a time, when I was thirteen or so, that I wouldn't set foot in a thrift store for fear that someone I knew would see me and think that I was POOR. It never occured to me that if they saw me, then they, by default, were at the thrift store too! I lived in a pretty small town, too, so there was also the worry that you would buy somebody's old dress and they would recognize it when you wore it. The mortification! I've totally gotten past the poverty connotations-- there was a Mercedes parked outside Savers when I was there today, for God's sake. And the Metro area is big enough that nobody should recognize my "new" sweater. (I hope.)

Anyway, I've been reading tons of blogs recently, and I'm inspired to get back into thrifting. Sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes it's awesome, sometimes it's... meh. But at least you aren't wearing the same thing as everyone else, and if you buy something weird, at least it was cheap! The boyscout shirt above was purchase at the Wisconsin Rapids Goodwill circa 1999 for $2.00! And four years later, I saw Drea de Matteo from The Sopranos wearing one EXACTLY like it on Vh1. I bet hers was more than $2.00.

The Rather Uninspiring Beginning...

I promise (I hope) this gets better from here on out, but this is the first thing I thrifted after I decided to write this blog. It looks sort of... let's say peculiar sitting on my bed*, but it is a cookie press to make spritz cookies! I have been looking for one on and off for a couple years, and finally found one cheap enough- Bloomington Savers, $2.99!

* I know you are thinking, "nice mint green comforter, what is this, 1985?" To which I reply, "Shaddup, my great-grandma made it for me. And you should see the other side-- it's polyester pastel patchwork!"