What I've Been Up To...

So, I haven't posted that many outfits lately due to crummy weather and the loathing of winter. So, I thought I would share what I worked on the other day. Motivation struck and here's the result!

I should have taken before pictures so you could have seen how bad it was before. But, in terms of my dresser... it was really cluttered (not that I cured that habit) but it feels much more organized. I had an old dusty jewelry box that really didn't help when I was looking for earrings or rings. So, I put them all on these vintage plates and dishes and I think it looks really nice! Plus, I have my new print which I got here and I love how it looks. It is printed on an old map and what a great quote! She is super nice and has great customer service so I totally recommend getting one for yourself!

Then, I worked on my closet. I took all of my heavy scarves, sweaters and hoodies and put them in bins. I moved my "wintery" items to the left so the more springy things were front and center. Also, my thicker cardigans are off to the far left more out of reach while the lighter ones are right up front! I think this will really help me when I am getting dressed! Plus, I still have a couple of weeks worth of warm dressing ahead so I didn't want to take them completely out. MN weather is so fickle! My skirts and dresses moved to a more prominent position as you can see with the more wintery ones off to the left. Plus, I tried to put them in order of "fanciness" to help me. Now my t-shirts can be in 2 piles instead of one too. Patterned t-shirts in one stack and plain in the other. You can see that I also sort by color because, I'm me and I need to. I'm not super creative in the morning so when I have brown pants or something I want to know where all my specific shirts are that will go. Lazy is more like it!

Ahhh much better! Come on spring, I'm ready for you!

Inspiration Strikes

So, I was browsing my bloglovin' on Friday and I saw this post from Hannie over at Tea and Biscuits. Well, it goes without saying that she's adorable/British/fashionable. 3 things that I long to be. Well, especially the British part. :) Anywho, she posted this great outfit that she put together on Polyvore. Inspiration struck! I thought, "Hey, I have a denim shirt. I have a olive green skirt. I can do this!"

So, thanks for the inspiration Hannie! Here is my version :)

Everything is thrifted except the tights which are Target (I think).

Tomorrow is Ace's 3rd birthday party. Oh and you know I will post lots of pictures :)

Favorite Finds Friday!

Ugh sorry everyone. I haven't posted in a week! My (lame) excuse is that temperatures plummeted this week and it snowed a ton. Yesterday morning it was 14. 14?! This is the END of MARCH. Mother Nature is a cruel bitch. So, hopefully it warms up and I can wear some of my spring stuff!

Has anyone had a transition in style recently? I feel like all of my spring stuff is not my style anymore and I really need to get rid of most of it. I hate that feeling. I need someone to come in and tell me what pieces would work in my wardrobe and loan me some money. I did head over to Savers the other day thanks to Beth and her awesome post here. I wish I had her eye for what works and what would look too ugly/crazy/old lady. However, I did keep a lot of her tips in mind and I think I did pretty well. The Savers that's closest to me just had a total redesign and is now nice and open and organized. No longer the scary thrift store of my youth :) So, I tried on about 30 things and only came out with about 6. Due to a) not fitting and b) a little overpriced for my taste. I did score a bunch of things that I'm excited about and might go back to get one shirt I'm still thinking about. I will for sure show you my scores in another post. Probably tomorrow :)

Here is a shawl I got a couple of weeks ago. I have NO idea how I will wear it but I really liked it. Even the cashier told me it was pretty. EPIC WIN! I think it will be a nice spring cover up to wear with dresses and skirts. I have to figure out how to wear it and not look like a hippie. Any suggestions?

New hair!

I had the day off today and it was awesome. I slept in, Ace and I went for a run (that went terrible), then I went and got a haircut! Yay! It's been like 6 or more months at least since the last time I went. My hairdresser was super awesome and it was the most fun haircut I've had in a long time. I go to the Aveda Institue so you get students who cut your hair. It is really nice to have a person who is really excited about what they are doing cutting your hair. Plus, they have instructors that have to approve the color and cut and they check the cut before you leave. I've never had a bad cut before and it is so inexpensive. Haircut and all over color was like 50 bucks.

Anywho, this is what I wore today to get my haircut. I had planned on taking pictures by the tracks today but I didn't get home from my haircut until 10 minutes before the dog trainer was supposed to come. So, I snapped some quick pictures in my place before she got there.

Outfit Details:

Dress - Lohemans

Cardigan

Tights - Target

Boots - Thrifted

Necklace - handmade (sort of)

I made this necklace, kind of. It is a charm that I bought on Etsy and then I just put a chain on it. So, it's handmade. :) It's a little stag or something with kind of this jointed blob body. I like it! It came with 2 identical charms so I was thinking of giving the other one away. Why do I need 2 necklaces that are exactly the same? Would anyone be interested? I also am planning on doing a giveaway of one of my own necklaces or rings too.

New hair close up!

Parades and Patty's

In case you live under a rock, I will let you know that today is St. Patrick's day. Being Irish myself (my name means Ireland too) it is one of my favorite holidays. It isn't serious or full of high expectations. You just go out and have fun with friends and wear green. Green being my favorite color... it's a good day.

Today marks a banner day on this blog as well. Not only am I taking pictures outside, I had a photographer. Thanks Shawn!

Shawn and I went downtown to the "other" parade. If you don't live in the Twin Cities, you may not know about this. St. Paul is known for their huge parade on St. Patty's every year. However, it's always at like noon. Needless to say, I've never been. The parade in Minneapolis takes place on our pedestrian mall downtown and it was really fun. Once the sun set it was really cold though! Here is my outfit and a little collage of some highlights of the parade.

(I liked the pose on this but I forgot to change the white balance so it's super blue. Oops!)

*Oh and this is totally not my house. It is this really cool mansion right next to Shawn's apartment. Isn't this door fab?*

Outfit Details:

Coat: Old Navy

Scarf: ?

Dress: The Limited

Tights: Target

Shoes: UO (old)

Necklace/Earring (that you can't see): Ireland

Ring: made by me

Slainte!

PS Take one long look at my hair because it will be totally different tomorrow. Off to the salon I go!!

Dreaming and Doggie Dates

I am not much on the words this week I guess. It was nice and sunny out today but still only about 38. Tomorrow is supposed to be 50 (!) so I think I will head outside for a much needed change in photo scenery. I'm sure you are all sick of my messy condo by now.

This outfit I threw on when I got home from work. It was super bright and sunny like the day but still winter-ized. Spring come soon! I'm sick of tights!

Outfit details:

Cardigan: Loft

Shirt: ?

Skirt: Thrifted and shortened

Tights: Target

headband: Target

Ace and I went to my friend Laura's house for a doggie date tonight. He got to hang out with his friend Retro. The training is going pretty well and he only got angry once or twice. All in all, success!

Aren't they the cutest?! This photo took about a million tries but we got it!

Como Park Conservatory

My parents and I went to the Como Park Conservatory today to see the winter flower show. It changes every season and the winter one ends on the 20th. So, we went out to brunch and then headed over there. You can't tell from the pictures but it smelled fabulous in there! I don't have much to say cause I'm tired (stupid spring forward). So, here are just a couple of pics from today.

Not my favorite outfit of all time but I knew it would be warm in there so I didn't want to wear a ton of stuff.

shirt: Etsy vintage (don't remember)

Jeans: target

shoes: thrifted

blisters: free

They also have a zoo there and this sloth was in the rainforest. He was scratching his butt for like 10 minutes haha!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

30 for 30 items

Black dress: J crew thrifted

Olive green skirt: thrifted

Corduroy skirt: thrifted

Light green maxi skirt: thrifted

Black pleated skirt: thrifted

Black jean type skirt: thrifted (sensing a pattern here?)

Jeans: Salt works Lohemans

Grey skinny jeans: Heritage 1981

Purple cords:

Green cardigan:

Black cardigan: It's Our Time (I want to say Nordstroms or Kohls)

Yellow striped cardigan: Old Navy

Grey cardigan: Old Navy

Cream cardigan: Thrifted

Black blazer: Loft

Striped shirt: H&M

Red longsleeved plaid shirt: Thrifted

Short-sleeved plaid shirt: Vintage thrifted

Lace shirt: Thrifted

Chambray shirt: Gap thrifted

Purple gingham shirt: Old Navy

Purple t-shirt: Target (I found out after I bought it that it's maternity... don't tell anyone)

Black t-shirt: H&M

White t-shirt: H&M (yes they are both the same, I also have teal and grey)

Tan boots: Target

Grey boots: Payless

Black flats: Target

Brown moccasins: Target

AWESOMEST black oxfords! gift from Shawn DSW

You finally get a recap of all the items after the fact. I promised I would do it sometime right? :)

30 for 30 recap and thoughts

Ok to recap my experience with my first 30 for 30...

Pluses:

-I learned what items really worked to remix and what items didn't. This will really help me shop in the future.

-I didn't shop for a month. WOW! Being a thrift store junky, this was really hard.

-I learned to be a little bit braver in some of my pairings. Even though none of my combos looked all that daring, it was a stretch to come up with that many outfits.

-I learned that I suck at accessorizing. This may not seem like a plus but it helped me realize that outfits can look totally different with different accessories. I need to get some more belts, scarves, and jewelry and really learn how to better use them.

Minuses:

-I want to throw my whole wardrobe and start from scratch. Then what would I wear?!

-This was really hard to do in the winter. Especially in MN. I felt like a wore a lot of similar outfits because I wore the same cardigan like 8 times.

-I will still do this but I felt like I compared myself to a lot of other people and realized I didn't like my clothes as much as theirs. "If I had that, my outfit would have been way cuter"

Although, it has made me excited for spring and scouring the thrift stores for some new spring pieces. On the agenda: way more dresses and skirts, maybe some shorts, florals, light/floaty items. Can't wait! Oh and we got more snow today. Oh MN, why do you hate me??

I have a couple of favorites, which were yours?

30 for 30 overload

I am now going to post the rest of my 30 for 30 outfits. In. One. Post. I know. People have always told me I'm a total rebel. :)

The reason I was able to photograph all of these outfits is because of my eye. You will see in all of the shots below that my eyes look all water-y and squint-y. Turns out I have some irritation on my cornea so now it's glasses and drops for a week. Yay. So, just ignore the eyes and look at all my outfit combos! Some, I'm not crazy about but I really ended up liking a couple. Especially #30. Tomorrow (or tonight) I will post all 30 together and give you a run down of where each outfit is from etc. Thanks for sticking with me through all of this!

HERE WE GO!!

I usually wear a belt with this shirt but I wanted to wear my new tassel necklace from F21.

As you can see, I originally had this on sans belt but I think I like it better with one.

Just ignore the fact that I forgot to button the sleeves on this...

Favorite yellow sweater, meet comfy black dress and belt.

I can't wait to wear this shirt without a cardigan and paired with my favorite jean shorts.

This shirt looked weird tucked in to the other skirts I tried on. So, I hiked this up and threw a belt on. Love it!

30 for 30 is in the bag! I will let you know what I think in the recap post tomorrow.

Polka Dot Fun

We are interrupting your regularly scheduled 30 for 30 programming to bring you polka dots for EBEW! Go check out the site to see how everyone else has styled up their different colored and sized polka dots. I'm pretty proud of this thrift store find. It is a lot longer than I normal wear in terms of length but I think it works (plus I don't know how to hem something with a slit). I also ventured into my hallway to break up the montony of my bedroom wall in the past 50 photos :)

I don't want to bore you with my thought process so I will anyway. I really like this belt that I got from the thrift store. It is a Target belt but I only paid like $2 for it. Yay! This skirt has an elastic waist band and while comfortable, I don't think it looks that great. So, I paired it with this bright yellow belt which I think goes great with the teal. I had to pair this with tights since it is still freezing out. I thought, what the hell, wear your polka dot tights! Then I saw my favorite owl with the teal eyes, so I threw that on too. Then I broke the chain taking it off :( Looks like my pliers are going to be busted out.

I will tell you more about in the next post but my eye is freaking out so you get my glasses!

Skirt: Thrifted

T-Shirt: H&M

Tights: Forever 21

Cardigan: Not sure... Nordstrom's maybe?

Shoes: Gift from Shawn, DSW

Necklace: Rewind Vintage

Belt: Thrifted (target)