Saturday, February 28, 2015

If I had a dream closet......

....it would be filled with shoes.  My Pinterest shoe board is filled with items I will never be able to afford nor wear comfortably.  Admit it-we would all like some Louboutin's or Manolo's. But who could wear them in their everyday life?  Not me. I have stood too long on concrete floors, had two children that made me go up a half size, and am carrying about 40 pounds too much on my frame.

However, my favorite shoes are Kitten heels.  A cute heel which gives a little height but is comfortable to wear all day-just not on concrete floors.

I scored a great haul at my most recent thrift store adventure. I was a little disappointed in the shoes though.  Maybe people with 9-1/2 regular width shoes don't donate a lot. Maybe there were tons, and since I didn't get there until an hour after they opened-they were all gone.

But I did find these beauties.


Hello my lovelies




I don't know this brand, but I'm not brand conscious



If they were worn, it must have been on carpet. You can see the price written on the bottom




They fit like a glove. They look like they haven't been worn.  They will go with so much in my wardrobe.

Sometimes you may not find everything you are looking for, but when you find something like this, it is all okay.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Stripes are in

Stripes seem to be everywhere.  I love it.  They add movement. They add a pattern. And the rule about curvy girls wearing horizontal stripes is bogus.



I usually stick to smaller stripes 


Not very evident in photo, but there is a zipper on the right shoulder




I just got on board the 'bootie' bandwagon last year. I'm hooked.


I need to work on my 'modeling' skills. And maybe learn how to use my remote for the camera instead of the 10 shot continuous setting.


Dress-$8.00 Target Merona-Clearance
Tights-$2.40 Target Merona-Clearance
Boots-$38 Kohl's Vera Wang-Sale + 30% Coupon

Monday, February 23, 2015

The Answer my Friend, is Blowing in the Wind...

Actually, the wind is just blowing. A lot.

We live in the country so we have a lot of open space surrounding us. It is ALWAYS windy here, but this is ridiculous. The windows are humming because of the wind.  I'm thankful we don't have snow to go with this wind like out East (we had that last year-don't miss it).

I was going through some of my folders of pictures and deleting ones that are in one or more folders. Why does the computer recognize that these photos have already been downloaded sometimes. but not others? I digress. Looking through photos of last summer are helping to ease the winter blues. Maybe not, but it did take my mind off the howling right next to my computer.




                                                     Me and my girls on Mother's Day



                                                                      Me and my BFF in Portland, OR

At the Great Minnesota Get Together (the State Fair)



And of course the best part of last summer was the arrival of our grand daughter CoCo




Ahhh, memories.  

With this darn cold weather, I haven't been able to take any photos in my thrift store finds.  It is hard to take good photos in the house as we have good Southern exposure in the living room, but there isn't a great spot to take photos, since the walls either have a couch, a fireplace or stairs-not great backdrops. The fireplace would be okay, except for the big TV sitting in front of it. 

So I wait. Until it is at least above 30 degrees and the wind is lest than 30 MPH!


I had a great thrifting trip on Sunday. I found so much stuff and I can't wait to get it cleaned and ready to wear.

Happy Monday everyone!

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Black and White.

I was so excited.

 I have been using a homemade "dress form"-a pillow case stuffed with batting on a broomstick. It isn't great, as you can probably imagine.

I had been looking for a dress form for quite awhile.  There are the expandable ones from several places-JoAnn Fabrics, Amazon, Overstock.  I wanted something nice to put clothes on to photograph and also use for sewing, but I wasn't sold on the adjustable kind as I had read many reviews and decided it wasn't really what I wanted.

I found a place that sells ones that are fiberglass and have padding and a nice jersey type cloth cover.  They have nice bases and a plug that goes in the neck.  It was cheaper than the adjustable ones, and looked much nicer.




I apparently didn't measure myself properly as it is way too big.  I have contacted the company twice and haven't heard back about how I can return it.  It is very nice, but my clothes won't fit on it.

Sigh.

Since my clothes don't fit, I had to use my old method for photographing my thrifty finds.

I found this dress at Goodwill for $5.99.  I love the graphic print and slight retro vibe.


It is one of my favorite thrift store finds yet!

Here's hoping I can get the dress form issue resolved and have one that works!

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Good Times with Great People

About 16 months ago, I got laid off from a job I was sure I was going to retire from. 120 of us were told that Monday morning that we no longer had jobs. It was a scary day. This was the third lay off that had happened to our family in 8 years.  This is not what we had planned. This was messing up our future we have been planning since we got married. This just sucks.

The day I lost my job, I posted it on Facebook, hoping that I may get some support from my friends, but it led to much more.

The next day I received a phone call from the daughter of one of my friends.  She had just been promoted in her company and her position was open. Did I want to come in and interview? Um, yeah!

One week later I was in a new desk at a new company and planning my new future. I loved that job.  I looked forward to going to work every day. I had wonderful co-workers, worked in a beautiful environment and laughed all the time.  Fast forward to this past October. I was asked by the CFO if I would interested in taking on more responsibility. They had an opening at the "Mothership" of the company I worked for. It is so close to my house and I was happy to show them I was up for the challenge. The hard part was leaving the job that I loved and people I cared about.

Last evening was the Holiday party for the former part of the company I work for.  My youngest daughter took my job when I moved to the new location, so I went as her "date".  I had so much fun catching up, laughing and eating wonderful food.  



 Me and my baby






Fun, fantastic people



Big, happy smiles



Old Navy dress: $6.99
Merona Pumps: $7.58
Green Bracelet: $2.99




Thanks you so much for including me in your night of celebration of a great company and the friendship of so many wonderful people.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Mad about Plaid

I had an awesome thrift shopping excursion last weekend.  I hit up 5 different stores and walked out with dresses, skirts, tops, sweaters, purses, scarves and some books.

While I am waiting for the weather to turn a little nicer so I have room to take photos outside, I will continue to show just the items I picked up.  Our house isn't big, and with 4 adults and a baby here, there isn't much space that isn't taken up with toys, playpens, laundry and outerwear!

I love wearing skirts almost as much as wearing dresses, but I sometimes run into an issue with what to pair them with. I never seem to have luck thrifting for outfits, but occasionally I will unknowingly find separates that will go together.

I posted a black sweater last Sunday that I bought at one store and here is the skirt I found at the third store I visited. They went together really well and is the perfect work outfit. 




This is a Chaps buffalo plaid skirt that I found at Goodwill for $4.99. It is the correct size so I didn't need to make any adjustments and it doesn't appear to have been worn very often.

I wore the black sweater, some black tights and my tall black leather boots and some simple earrings.  It was easy to change out of when I had about 3 minutes to change into my workout clothes for Zumba.  My legs still hurt.


Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend and are headed to their couches soon to watch the Superbowl.  Go Seahawks!!