A reason to smile: Online Inspiration

My time over the weekend was (mostly) well spent with lots of eating out with Husby, shopping and chatting with one of my good friends, watching movies (I got to see Mirror Mirror!), and of course, video games.  So stylish outfits kind of went to the wayside, but stylish inspiration kept going strong.

I love style and fashion blogs, and I read them daily.  But I have many other sources online for smiles, inspiration and reflection.  So I don't have a picture from the weekend or today, but hopefully some links to other blogs will make up for it.

Julie Zickefoose's journal  She is an author, artist, naturalist, mother, musician and...I basically want to BE her.

Remembered Heroes makes me laugh aloud every day.

Orangette gives me so much cooking and life inspiration.

Pure Florida features more natural science, which I really can't get enough of.  Also, he is another fan of Julie Zickefoose, so he has excellent taste.

Becoming Minimalist usually has great advice and tips for living a more simple, mindful life.

What are your favorite blogs?

a little bit country, not so much rock n roll

So this outfit is from like, a week ago, which basically feels like forever.  I haven't taken too many outfit pictures this week because I've been super busy with roller derby and playing my new character in SKYRIM.  Priorities.

Anyway, I won't be playing any derby tonight, which is good, since during scrimmage yesterday I managed to give myself my very first bruise on my butt from my own wheel.  That takes talent, friends.

Necklace: restrung from a thrifted necklace
Cardigan and Dress: Target

Ridiculous bejeweled purple cowboy boots: regifted from my mom, who got them from her cousin (the brand is ariat)
Bespotted carpet: Previous owners of my house (thanks!)

I was pretty happy with this outfit.  It made my day brighter.  Though that may have partially been from the rhinestone sparkles from my boots.  Also, comfortable and functional.  Win!

Pattern mixing, yo

I'll be the first to admit that pattern mixing isn't really my specialty, and pants aren't really in my specialties list either.  But here I am, tackling both.  Perhaps not the boldest attempt at pattern mixing ever, but it'll do for a noob like myself.  

Shirt: Forever 21
Bracelet: Forever 21
Jeans: Ann Taylor Loft
Shoes: Doc Martins via Ross

See my shoes down there?  THREE patterns.  I feel like such a pro.

Office comfortable and functional.  But the shoes came off right after work.  It feels wrong to be at a normal height!

Wicked

Last weekend, I mentioned that my inlaws took me and Husby to see the stage version of Wicked as a birthday present for me.  I really enjoyed it!  But uh...it was not like the book.  Nope.  But that's okay!

I decided to match with Elphaba. 

Necklace: self made
Cami: Gap
Cardigan: Old Navy
Skirt: Forever 21
Sandals: Naturalizer

This outfit was functional and comfortable till it started raining during the walk to dinner.  It was COLD!  And cold/wet feet make me sad.

unexpected and welcome

A rare and wonderful thing happened today.  My meeting for after work got cancelled AND Husby already had another set of plans after work, so I sit here listening to my guilty pleasure music (Hellloooo Pantera and Smash Mouth!) without ridicule and with no plans for the night.  LOVE IT.  Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Cardigan: Banana Republic Outlet
Necklace and Shirt: Ann Taylor Loft
Skirt: Thrifted
Shoes: Tsubo

Comfy, office functional, and BRIGHT COLORS!

A Reason to Smile: stylish meetings

Today, I skipped lunch because I had over 3.5 hours of straight meetings.  And after 9 hours of work, I came home to do more work.  So today I need to be grateful that 1. I have a job, 2. I enjoy being in the Denver Roller Dolls enough that I'm actually okay with all of the extra work on top of my work, and 3. I had an awesome outfit today, so at least I was ...enjoying...my meetings in style.

Sadly, that is not the outfit I'm posting today.  This is from last week.  But I'll post today's pictures eventually.

Momo in the kitchen.  He's probably just admiring my new shoes.  They make me want to roll all over the ground too.

Picture courtesy Husby, while we were beer making in the kitchen.  I swear its not usually this messy.  My expression is pretty standard though.
Cardigan: Target
Cami: Old Navy
Skirt: via Ross
Shoes: Rialto Comfort, via Ross

This outfit was very comfortable.  Not so functional.  These are good office shoes, but I'd probably lose them if I need to get somewhere quickly.

Casual

I am really spoiled.  This weekend, I went to see Cabin in the Woods, which was a pretty fun and ridiculous horror movie, AND my inlaws took Husby and I to see Wicked, which was totally amazing.  The costumes and the set were so mesmerizing and bright...

Anyway, this is a super casual outfit that I enjoyed about a week ago, when it was still warm.  Bright colors, skulls and my comfiest jeans make me happy.  

Sandals: Thrifted Bandolino 

Cardigan: Ross
Skull Shirt: H&M
Jeans: Anne Taylor Loft

I will say that this outfit is really comfy, but the shoes are probably not very functional.  I'm still not very good at the walking in tall shoes thing.  One day.

Power tools! Beer! Lace!

Guys!  I got to drill holes today!  I get excited when I get to use power tools, it really isn't often enough for my liking.  So Husby and I are the proud new owners of a kegerator that we made ourselves.  A kegerator that contains a keg that contains beer that we (erm...mostly Husby) made.  It's a pretty proud day.  And this is no ordinary beer- it is a bell pepper and chili beer.  It is spicy, and it is DELICIOUS!

You  can see the habaneros floating in the beer, pre kegging.

Oh right, and I wore clothes!
Shirt: Target
(too long)Pants: New York and Company
Shoes: Tsubo
Necklace: Thrifted

It is the details that make this shirt awesome.  I love the lace on the shoulders!

My outfit was comfortable and functional (I was able to run up a few flights of stairs without incident!), and I liked it for the most part.  The pockets on these pants annoy me and look ridiculous the way they stick out, so I wear longer shirts to disguise them.  The disguise went fairly well today.

A Reason to Smile: A Good Book

Friends, you see before you the face of obsession.  A couple of weeks ago, I saw the hunger games movie without reading the book beforehand.  I enjoyed the movie, and picked up the first book a few days later.  Fast forward to today- I finished the second book on my phone over my lunch break, bought the third, and well...I just finished the final book about 20 minutes ago.

No regrets.

Shirt: Rue 21
Skirt: Papaya
Sandals: Clarks via Ross
Necklace: Anne Taylor Loft

Lovin' on my poor, attention starved little man

This outfit was HIGHLY comfortable, and it was functional until it started to rain as I left work today.  Who should have thought twice about wearing sandals to work?  THIS girl.  I did love this outfit though.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but my necklace is A. Hella sparkly, and B. blue, so it was subtly matchy with my shoes.


Now I need to rest my eyes!

Road trip!

Last weekend, I went on a road trip to gorgeous Durango, Colorado.  My brother in law is a voice major down at the college there, and we went to watch his junior recital.  His voice is beautiful!!! and overall, I had a great weekend.  Sadly, I didn't really get any pictures.  Oh well.  I'll just have to go back again soon!

Anyway, the weather got rather yucky again on the way back to Denver, but it made for some really interesting light and colors for the trip home.  This picture doesn't represent what I saw super well, but the ground was golden, there was some snow in the air that made the sky gray (for part of the trip, at least), and there were these deep red and maroon looking bushes dotting the countryside. 

my view from the back of the car

 I really dug the color combo, so I decided to recreate it.  Also, I wanted to wear my sweater tights again.  And it snowed rather heavily that day, so it was appropriate.

Infinity scarf: Old Navy
Sweater: thrifted (Pink Rose)
Dress: Target
Sweater tights: Ross

Shoes: Soft Spots via Ross
I swear the shoes are purple.

My view really was spectacular the whole way home.  I love Colorado!

I felt that this outfit was both comfortable and functional (it didn't snow enough to make the shoes impractical. Yesss!) and I liked it.  So yay!

rambling at the end of a not so long challenge

Hello, friends!  Easter has come and gone, and my self imposed clothes shopping ban has ended.  Sorry I have been such an absentee blogger!

So my ban really wasn't a long one, and I can't really say that I've made any huge, pressing realizations.  But I have learned a bit, and in the end I think it was a good exercise for me.  It's not an uncommon phenomenon, but I want to shop when I'm stressed.  I've had quite a few occasions in the last few weeks when I tried to make excuses to myself about why shopping would have been acceptable, but I was mostly successful.  My rule was that I was able to buy things I needed for roller derby, and I stuck to that, though I did stretch the meaning of the word "need."  I didn't need a green shirt for the St. Patrick's Day parade, but I bought it so I would match with everyone else.  So I feel like I broke the rules there.  At least a little.  But other than that, I did stick to actual "needs."  I was told to buy a scrimmage shirt with my team's logo, so I did that.  And I have actually used it for scrimmaging, so it was a good purchase.  I bought uniform socks for a team photo.  But other than that, I didn't purchase other clothes.

But I did buy things.

I noticed that I tried to make up for my lack of clothes shopping subconsciously.  I ate out a bit more than usual.  I bought some new nail polish and lipstick.  I bought new wheels for my skates, though I bought them with birthday money.  I thought I did rather well on limiting myself until I bought a new cell phone.  Honestly, I don't feel bad about that.  I've needed (OK, well..."needed.") a new phone for ages- I couldn't really even make phone calls on the old one anymore.  But could I have waited a week for my challenge to end?  Probably, but I wanted to buy something.  I tempted myself on a few occasions..I took a stroll through H&M, I walked into Ross once.  I think shopping means many things to me.  It is comforting, even when I don't purchase stuff.  Some part of me enjoys the solitude of walking around in a store, looking at the pretty new things.  I like watching people, and I like the smell of stores.  How do I change that?  I'm not sure I want to.  It is debatable whether it is a good thing or not, but it is part of my culture.  My mom, my grandmother and I used to shop together almost every month, sometimes even every weekend.  We didn't always buy things, but we bonded, and I dare say we got really good at shopping.  I haven't lost the skill.

Anyway, I will continue to think about this.  And I'm really happy that the challenge is done.  I did a bit of shopping today, though I tried not to go too crazy.  I really want to make sure that I will use the heck out of the things I buy going forward.  I bought two pairs of shoes that should get lots of use, a pretty black blouse with interesting, lacy details (it also helps that it was on clearance...) and some tights in colors that I know will be useful when it gets cold again (clearance again! Yeah!).  So, no outfit again today, but check out my new shoes!

New shoes with a bonus cat foot!  From Ross.

New Clarks!  Also from Ross, with another bonus cat foot!

I want to continue to work on cultivating gratitude for the things I have in my life.  Thanks for the help in that area, guys!  I really appreciate your kind comments.  You continue to be awesome, even when I'm terrible about posting things :)

How is your relationship with shopping?  I think it's fascinating stuff!

A Reason to Smile: Gifts from la Familia!

People!  I am alive!  And super late in posting ANYTHING!
So I'm sorry about that.

I don't have an outfit picture to post that is handy, but I DO have the amazing infinity scarf my mother in law made me for my birthday.  Check this out, it is a thing of beauty-

It is somewhat hard to see here, but this scarf has a ton of beautiful pinks and purples and maroons.

Excuse the crappy cell phone pictures, it is the best I could do from work.  But this scarf ROCKS!

I really am very spoiled.  I have a great family that makes me scarves and sends me makeup and all kinds of goodies when I'm on a shopping ban.