Sunday Social–Shopping

 

It’s Sunday. AND the first of July. Really? How did June end? I can’t believe it’s the 7th month of 2012. I’m still writing 2010 on my checks… oops. I don’t know where time is going and why it’s flying away so fast. I never believed that as we got older the faster time went by, but I feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day, or days in the week to really get things done.

 

I’ve been up since 7 AM today, Lilly really doesn’t care how late we stay up or the fact that it’s the weekend. She needs to get up at the crack of down to go and pee. Then whine a bit and get me fully awake before she passes back out on the couch. As I was reading blogs with my morning coffee, I cam across Neely’s link up, and since I never really post on Sundays, I figured this would be the perfect way to kill some time before hubs is up.  OH and the questions are shopping, questions, how could I not answer them?!

  This Weeks Questions are:

What is your favorite store to shop at?

I love Zara, Forever21, Victoria Secret, Express, Bebe, Guess, and several others. I’m currently obsessing with H&M and their affordable prices.

If you could afford anything and everything, which designer brand would you covet?

My closet would be filled with little red soles! I love Christian Louboutin shoes, and believe that every single woman out there should have at least one pair of red soles!

Must have closet staple?

 

Favorite kind of shoes? (brand or type)

 

I LOVE the Guess Carries. Sadly, Guess only makes them in black now and has stopped making all the other colors. I lived in these shoes, and have gone through at least 3 pairs of the black. They are the most comfortable pump in the world. I used to spend over 12 hours in these on my feet for most of the day and felt like I was wearing flats.

Best clothing deal you've ever gotten? (sale or amazing find)

The dress above. I got it from The Limited for $16.00 a few years ago, and love it. It’s easy to dress up or down. The colors are fun, and I’ve made it work in every season, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Maybe I should do another post about that.

Style you'd love to try?

There isn’t anything in particular that I’m dying to try since I love to stick to classic styles that are versatile. However, I do need to pick it up with the casual chic a bit more since my current style consists of yoga pants and tank tops. Really, living in the middle of nowhere and working from home doesn’t really require a fancy wardrobe.

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So what are your staples and what are you dying to try this summer? Go link up with Neely and let us know.

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Today, we’re going to BBQ and celebrate the 4th a little early. We’ll go to the pool and walk the dog when it gets a little cooler. Maybe we’ll get some painting done, and finish cleaning the kitchen. I should probably do some laundry as well.

So happy early 4th to you all! Hope you have a great Sunday!

Piggy Bank Budget Week 2

 

 

WANT:

 

Price: 19.80

Price: 22.80

 

Price: 34.80

Price: 24.80

 

REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT:

Original Price: 120.00 Current Price: 59.00

Original Price: 129 Current Price: 64.99

Original Price: 210 Current Price 104.99

NEED:

Original Price: 9.99 current price 6.00

 

As you can see from the above, there are lots of things that I want, but I truly just need a new pair of beater flip flops as I’ve almost literally worn a hole in mine. $6 sounds like a good deal to me, and I may order a few of these to keep around. Granted, I wont be ordering anything until July.

The first four items are things that I would have bought just because they are cute, it’s hot here in AZ (so dresses and skirts are welcomed) and because as single items they don’t really have a heavy price tag. The blue shoes from Nine West are one’s I’ve been drooling over for month. Literally, I’ve been waiting for them to go on sale so I could get them. Same goes for the Vince Camutos. I’ve had my eye on these guys for months.

NOW… if I had purchased all these items, which before this challenge I totally would have. I would have spent a total of $331.18.

I wouldn’t have really put the numbers together and look at them, and realized that that’s a plain ticket back to Denver to visit my family plus a $100.00 of spending money. Or a trip for one to San Diego for 4 nights (flight and air – on Travelzoo today from Tucson).

Sooo this week I’m putting $330.00 into my virtual piggy bank towards a vacation that the hubs and I are desperately in need of.

The total so far $465.00 ($135+$330).

That’s a good chunk of change.

What are you saving on this week?

Lots of things to Love

As I stated last week, there’s a lot of things in my life that I’m loving, and I most likely sound like one of those overwhelmingly happy-all-the-time people who are just having the perfect life. Please know that my life is no where near perfect, and there are lots of things I could complain about, I just choose not to right now. If I did choose to complain, I feel that I may go down a path of depression and really… that’s just not a good place to be. So, it’s Wednesday, and I’m linking up with Jamie over at this kind of love!

I’m loving …

… that the hubs let me sleep in a little today and took Lilly out for her morning bathroom break

… that we have amazing neighbors who have the cutiest little boy and so many of the same interests as us. It sure makes moving to a place where we known no one a lot easier.

… that I get to go get my nails done with said amazing neighbor

… that I am having Nutella for breakfast

by the spoonful and right out of the jar

… the fan/light that is now installed in our bedroom.

Thanks to the amazing husband who can pretty much do anything. However, I’m NOT loving that all the breakers are labeled wrong, and that we have to flip the “kitchen island” switch to shut off power in the master bedroom… FAIL electrician FAIL

I am absolutely loving these two…

Kristin and Ki… Kristin blogs over here, and I don’t know what I’d do without our almost daily Skype sessions.

I am loving that my parents birthdays are a day apart. Literally… born the same year and all. And that I have a big surprise for them… since this is the first birthday that I wont get to celebrate with them.

Speaking of parents… I could love mine more.

I’m also loving these impulse purchases that I shouldn’t have really made:

Forever21 – $11.80

Forever21 – $22.80

Forever21 – $20.00 (no longer available)

AE – $39.99

Can you blame me? With these kinds of prices, I just couldn’t pass them up.

I’m ALSO LOVING the new photography gear I got… with the husband’s blessing of course:

Some color gels to go with this little flash:

I decided to go with the Canon one, just because I like to keep things in brand. It is a bit more pricey to go with a brand flash, but the quality and durability is worth it to me. If you are looking for an external flash and don’t want to spend a lot, here is a great one that you can try out:

It gets great reviews and the only thing that it doesn’t have is the auto-set with the camera, so you have to manually set the power of the flash… which is usually better anyways. This baby is going for about $70.00 right now. I plan on getting one to have as a second.

 

A tripod… I have an amazing monopod, but not a very good tripod, so I invested a little bit into getting a nice one that will last me a few years. And of course, I needed a new ball-head for the above tripod:

 

My monopod and the ball-head are both Manfrotto and I LOVE THEM. So I figured this is a pretty good choice. It also has the quick release, which will save you a ton of time taking the camera off the tripod.

I also got these guys:

An external shutter control and a reflector. These were cheap, and I learned the hard way that it’s best to have them around, then to need them and not have them. The shutter remote is about $20 and the reflector is under that.

Finally… I am Loving these two:

and this one:

Photo taken by my amazing friend Lena. You can find her here and here.

 

Hope you all are having a great Wednesday!

 

Fall Traditions

Two lovely ladies are running a Fall challenge, and since it’s my favorite season of all I’m going to play along.

  Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Bliss Bars     New boots and trench coats

Anniversary Trip

We also celebrate every single Halloween, cook up lots of things in the crock pot and start Christmas Shopping. Fall is the best time of the year, and there is nothing that can beat it.   What are your Fall traditions? Head over to Neely and Amber to join in.  

Let’s talk skirts

 

I love skirts. The fact that they are easy to put on, all you have to do is lift them up to pee, and the fact that husbands hands always find my thigh, makes life a lot easier and happier.

As I dump clothing out of my closet to organize, refresh and so on, I realize that I don’t have as many skirts as I use to, and the ones I do have seem to be a little funny on my larger then usual thighs and hips. So I am now on a mission to find skirts. Specifically, knee length, flowy, feminine and at the same time sexy skirts.

I literally created this outfit around the amazing yellow skirt! Beautiful isn’t she?! And of course the rest of the items that go in this outfit. I think if I could located all of these within the boarders of Colorado I would spend the obnoxious amount just to own it.

BUT I had a brighter idea. I use to sew skirts for myself. So guess what I’m going to do?! … Yes you are correct, I am going to try and recreate this skirt. I think I will head to JoAnns tomorrow to find some yellow fabric, a zipper and some thread. And maybe, just maybe… by the end of the week I will have this beauty hanging in my closet.

 

These are some of the others that I am loving!

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How do you feel about skirts? Do you like them? Do you hate them? Would you attempt to make them or have you? If so what are your tips?