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.

Hello and Welcome

Hi there. I'm Kate. From a young age, I've been a fashion prodigy.

Don't lie. You're jealous of the Minnie Mouse sunglasses.

KIDDING. Although I'd love to dig up those sunglasses and wear them if they still fit on my face.

I am a 20-something living as writer in Lima, Ohio. I was born and raised near Pittsburgh. The town where I currently live, (Lima, pronounced like the bean, not the Peruvian capital), is without any major college population or even a Target nearby, and it's a pretty drastic change for me.

This is more what I look like now:

FYI: I have a scarf addiction.

I can't say small town living the worst possible thing ever for a 20-something, but it's difficult at times. The vast majority of my friends are spread throughout the country. Even the closest ones are at home, nearly 250 miles away. However, I do have some great things going to for me. My fiance, Mark, lives with me. He's my rock and my best friend that gets me through tough days. And of course, I have a killer job, writing general assignment and health stories for the local newspaper. Despite deadline pressure, I meet awesome new people everyday and talk to them and write about them for a living. It's a pretty sweet gig. Oh yeah. I'm also planning a wedding for this fall. :)

So here, I want to expand those positive attributes in my life. With my free time, I want to dedicate this blog to making lemonade from lemons. (In this case, making an awesome project happen, Limanade, despite living in Lima, Ohio. Catchy, right?)

Here's to doing all the things I put off doing because I told myself I didn't have time: scanning old photos for a digital scrapbooking project, getting more inspirational with my cooking (which I already do sometimes via The Pittsburgh Kitchen), and being more creative with my style (something I've been trying to do on and off since high school). My biggest fashion inspirations probably come from Modcloth and thrift stores.

As I progress, I'll post stories and photos to keep myself motivated, and maybe even inspire others, too.