Looking good on the cheap

I'm so excited about my outfit today. It looks good and it was reasonably priced. Half of my outfit came from the thrift store. And it was nice enough to wear to a weekend shift at work -- reporting outside for some Earth Day events on a beautiful spring day. :) Sorry the belt was a little crooked in the pic.

Outfit: Cardigan - H&M, Top - Thrifted for $1.50, Skirt - Thrifted and Rehabbed for $4, Belt - from another skirt, sunglasses - vintage from Mom's junk drawer, flats (not pictured) Toms, a Christmas gift.

My inspiration came from a couple places. First, I've kind of had a polka dot addiction. I stumbled upon this skirt from Modcloth. Love it. But then again, I've been spending way, way too much money on that website lately. So it was a sacrifice I had to make.

Luckily, while Mark and I were in Pittsburgh last weekend, we did some thrifting at our favorite shops. Found a maxi dress with similar polka dots. There was a huge hole on the bottom, but knew it had potential. Just snipped off the excess fabric and hemmed it in about 15 minutes. The result is what you see above. :)

I think I got the motivation through a few blogs I've been paging through: Refashionista and Fashionplate Cheapskate. Both very cool girls that look good on the cheap. Refashionista does rehab projects with thrift store finds, and the latter simply pairs awesome pieces together at reasonable prices. Need to be taking notes instead of dropping a zillion dollars I don't really have on clothes.

OK. That's all I got for now. Going to enjoy my one day off tomorrow. The life of a reporter. Ugh.

Floral child

Not gonna lie. Last week was a very rough work week. Luckily, a difficult week evolved into a great weekend. Mark and I had plans to go home to Pittsburgh over the weekend -- always a sign it's going to be good. But on Friday, at the office, my boss was asking around to see who'd be interested in free Bob Dylan tickets. Me. Duh. Only problem was, he was playing in Bowling Green, and I wasn't planning on coming back from Pittsburgh until Monday. But we made it work. We were also able to catch a baseball game and shop at H&M before having to drive back. So now I'm lazing it up on the vacation day I scheduled. :) And cleaning. Hopefully. :)

This is the outfit I ended up wearing on the drive back and to the Bob Dylan show. Very comfy and functional! BTW, these tights are amazing. I've had them for a year and a half (and knock on wood) are still without a snag.

And for the record, the dress was worth the buy! I've already worn it to work, too, with a cardigan and ballet flats. Unfortunately, I'll be shipping the top back I bought in the same order. (See previous post) It was too short and too boxy.

In other news, Mark shaved his beard. I love the beard, but honestly, this is a refreshing change. He'll have the beard back soon enough, anyway.

Oh, so didn't realize it until now, but I legit look a little preggo in the pic with Mark, and kindaaaa have my hand on my belly. Just a weird angle, with the wind blowing after I ate. So no, no upcoming children. I love our faces in it so it's staying up. :)

See? A normal looking tummy again!

Outfit: Slouchy Hat, H&M; Dress, tights and shoes (similar)... all Modcloth. (This might be showing my slight Modcloth addiction...)

ModCloth.com: A love-hate relationship

Hi, yinz. Sorry for the lack of updates. Here's all you need to know:

Fashion wise, as of late, I've been a little frustrated. I have been pinning tons of outfits on Pinterest, trying to figure out what kinds of outfits I'd like and aspire to wear. Unfortunately, with my income, and my student loan debt, most of those purchases will have to wait. I've been doing a fair amount of thrift shopping, but haven't found too much. (Except for a wedding dress; I guess that's a whole other story.)

Anyway, despite me attempting to hold back, I did put in a ModCloth order, aka, that website is NOT cheap. I tried to be careful with my selection, as I kind of love everything on there and have gone a little overboard on there a few times. I think versatility was what I had in mind this time around. When three items cost more than $100, it makes me a little sad. But there are some things you just can't find in thrift and consignment stores.

I think I've been somewhat uninspired because I lot of the clothes I have are similar and I wear the same things a lot. I work a lot of hours and I'm always on the move -- sometimes it's just easier to have something that's easily functional and fashionable.

Anyway, here are my ModCloth purchases: A floral dress at 50 bucks. I thought it was something that was timeless and can be dressed for any season. I'm thinking that with a black cardigan, black tights and brown boots, it'll be cute and functional. And then there's the collared top. It's super cute, I love chevron stripes and the pointed collar, but not sure if it's worth 40 bucks. It looks like something that can be both work appropriate, perhaps tucked into a skirt, and casual, maybe with some brightly colored skinny jeans. Boozy Baker is part of a wedding gift I'm giving someone, so I'm not allll about just buying for me!

Another note: for the past few weeks, I've felt kind of vain doing this, searching for clothes, trying to figure out my style. But it's something I enjoy doing. Also, it's a good distraction. My job can be stressful, and depressing some days. Tomorrow night, I'm covering a candlelight vigil of a young, pregnant woman who was murdered last weekend. That's just one snippet into the kinds of assignments I cover. It's definitely the saddest events I've had to cover in awhile. All the murders here seem to be domestic violence related. It's awful. I think having hobbies that are light like fashion bring a little more balance in my life. And perspective.

So back to being pleasant: I'm hoping to get the shipment in the next couple of days, so I'll style something cute, just for you!