thrifty

I'm not much of a shopper, seriously.  Jeremy bought almost all my clothes when we lived in NYC (it helped that he had a huge discount at Bergdorf Goodman and I often got sample size stuff).  I would rather do anything else than go to the mall, especially take a nap.  My side of the closet is small, yet I consider myself fashionable (thanks to 11 years in Manhattan) but since I hate to shop my wardrobe suffers a bit.  So, last month when we were bridesmaid shopping I saw this little number,

I loved it instantly!  The best part is it was marked down to $42.00 at Macy's . The shoes were $15.99 at Ross.  The way I feel in it...priceless!


Then the other day I bought a crazy yellow shirt at the Goodwill for $3.  My sister in law was more than a bit frightened by it, but I had the vision and luckily it was good! Those are my $.50 skinny jeans and my $15.99 shoes again, voila, I heart yellow!

The point of this post, both outfits combined were less than $100 bucks but I feel way better in them than some of my more expensive items, it's great to be thrifty!

Ralph Laurenish?

Inspired by my new deal breaking riding boots and a text conversation about fashion with my ridiculously pretty cousin Collette (who has the coolest name) I decided to try to dress a little more hip today. The results...Ralph Lauren, on the cheap of course!

riding boots: $239 but on clearance for $139 with an extra 30% off, add a $15 off DSW rewards coupon, and a $5 off black Friday coupon and a $5 off birthday coupon and voila $72!

same ol' Old Navy skinny jeans that I got for $9.99 tucked into lovely new boots

one white camisole that is almost a billion years old

striped button up shirt also at old Navy for $9.99 from a summer sale

pretty gold necklace bought with a gift card from Fireworks (free!)

funky bolero type sweater hand me down from my friend Kendra (also free!)

also sporting my "when in doubt, belt it!" look (cheap belt taken from a cheap dress)

the results?  a slightly less boring outfit than usual, I heart fashion and sales!


*pics taken while at work, which explains the background and the big mirror, working hard people, working hard!

whooping it up, cheesy pictures and all!

funky posing all around, why on earth the bending down in the front?
it must be a holiday party with an open bar, cheers!

We can cleanup it up if we need too!
 (vintage dress, Capitol Hill, $8, no joke, love it!)
I am also sporting the classic Carissa smirk/pre-smile what-not.

did someone say "smile"  Jeremy takes the cake on the cheese factor in this pic!

Thankful

Today, I am super thankful for financial stability.  I just got done reading a few blogs and most of them were about job loss, empty bank accounts and straight up hard times.  We may not drive a fancy car, wear lots of designer clothes or even eat gourmet meals but we are secure.  My husband is a financial genius. We will never be without.  We have a safety net.  We know the value of money and hard work, we don't spend money that we don't have.  We don't rely on others for our bread and butter, we do it on our own. We are frugal but we also have fun and dress nice and eat out (occasionally).  We are blessed, I am thankful.

Snappy

I am so very thankful for a little online company called snapfish.  I made our family Christmas cards in less than 10 minutes and I also got 50% off,  80 cards for way under $40 is something to be thankful for! I love the picture this year, it's of our whole family in a beautiful setting.  I am a bit notorious for sending pics out that don't show my kids faces, I prefer action shots instead of the super posed family pics but this year we got a somewhat posed shot but it's fantastic.  I can't wait to get them in a few days and get addressing, yay to Christmas cards!