All the donuts and fast food of Mother’s Day week caught up with me, and come Monday zipping my jeans was a bit of a problem. Big boxy shift dress to the rescue! Oh, 20-year-old metabolism, why have you left me?!
Wearing: MNG by Mango Single-Pleat Shift Dress (jcpenney clearance, $20); Duro Olowu Tapestry Tote (found in-store for 50% off!); Nine West sandals
I’m having difficulty forming coherent sentences this evening, as we’re on day two of Mother’s Day flowerpalooza and Chad and I just got home. So here are a few random thoughts for today:
1. When standing in your closet completely clueless about what to put together, if you pull items that are different shades of the same color, you’ll probably come out coordinated enough to keep people from thinking you dressed yourself in the dark.
2. I need more hats this summer.
3. I just found out about the Sam & Libby and Target collabo, and I want these sandals in every color because they look exactly like the Sam Edelman Gigi Thongs that sell for $65. Oh, and these snakeskin and turquoise loafers, too, please and thank you.
Lately I’ve been in a mood to stock my closet with all manner of cute creamy tops — soft roomy tees, tunic blouses, and crochet tanks — because I feel like it would make getting dressed so easy every day. Ivory top + just about any bottom = no-brainer and more sleeping time.
When I spotted this lace peplum in the juniors department at Target for $19.99, I thought it fit the bill. By now, I should know better than to shop in the juniors department of any retail establishment.
You see, this little peplum number has a gold zipper up the back {ka-uuute!} which was part of the gotta-get-it charm. It wasn’t until I put it on the first time earlier this month that I realized it didn’t have a hook-and-eye or any other closure to keep it, um, zipped. When I reached into the refrigerator to grab the milk, I unzipped a little. {Ugh, awkwardly zip myself back up.} Later, I stretched my arms over my head to work my unruly hair into a top knot and unzipped a little more. {Roll eyes, rezip}. I bent over to put on my shoes and unzipped all the way. {omigosh.}
A normal person would’ve taken the top off and marched it straight back to Target; but I made a judgement call to “make it work.”
I mean, it was 20 bucks and I could, like, feel the zipper slide down exposing my decency so I could zip it back up and be on my way! And it was 20 bucks. I’d just make a conscious effort to not make any sudden movements, or perform any tasks that required bending over. Plus, I really want to make this lazy cream blouse recipe thing work, and the details are just so charming, and it was 20 bucks.
I spent that entire day zipping myself into this top, ad nauseum. That was a few weeks ago. Then this morning, I put it on again. Hey guess what? The zipper didn’t fix itself while hanging in my closet.
Do normal people alter the activities of their day to accomodate a cheap trendy item of clothing? No, just me?
{zip.}
Wearing:
Target lace peplum top, Ann Taylor skirt, Nine West sandals, Big Buddha clutch, Daniel Wellington watch, and Tom Ford sunglasses
This month marks the start of my fourth year of writing A Pretty Penny. [Note to self: order celebratory cupcakes.]
When I think of how long it’s been, part of me feels a little panicky (where is the time going?!) but a bigger part is impressed that I haven’t thrown in the towel! Besides 8 years spent with a violin glued to my chin — I was first chair in high school; hashtag: humble brag — this is the longest I’ve ever committed to a creative outlet. Considering my short attention span with other artistic ventures (scrapbooking, beading, and guitar, to name a few off the top of my head) it’s surprising that I made it past the first 12 months. But incredibly, I haven’t had a moment yet when I thought, “maybe it’s time to put this thing to bed.”
Over three years and about 650 posts, I’ve documented hundreds of outfits, a several-year-long awkward hair grow-out, lots of DIY projects and recipes, some personal stories of highs and lows, and probably too many photos of my dog.
Blogging is a funny thing. In real life, I’d never stand up and give a speech to thousands of people; but here I am spilling my guts and plastering images of myself all over these pages on a semi-regular basis. Over the years, no matter how “big” the blog gets, I’ve tried to keep things light and stay true to my original intent for A Pretty Penny — a space to share my love of real-life style on a real-life budget, without putting a ton of pressure on myself to post every day or go broke trying to recreate editorial outfits.
I’ve been really lucky to do fun collaborations with huge companies like Target, jcpenney, and HTC, my mug was featured in InStyle magazine, and I’ve worked with lots of great brands and start-ups over the years. I’m so grateful for every opportunity that’s arisen from this blog, and for the friendships I’ve made around the world because of it.
Mostly, I’m thankful for YOU. I remember how exciting it was to hit my first 100 subscribers, and then my first 1000. Now we’re featured in WordPress.com’s Recommended Blogs for fashion. I mean…
Thank you for reading A Pretty Penny. Thank you times a million. Here’s to year four!
{ Wearing: LC Lauren Conrad polka dot skinnies (SIMILAR) | Target high-low top | Seychelles loafers | Romeo & Juliet Couture bag }
