I Will Remember a Cupcake Forever

Jewelry: Handmade --- Top, Belt, and Skirt: Thrifted --- Tights: Kohls --- Shoes: John Fluevog --- Purse: Forever21

I got this top at St. Vincent's a while back during a 50% off sale, so it was only $1.64. It's J. Jill, which I know is kind of an old lady brand, but I couldn't resist the awesome stripe detailing on the front, which is actually strips of fabric sewn on the front. Love.

Aquamarine Swarovski Ring, Teal Swarovski Ring

On a more serious note, I'm sure all of you have heard by now that Osama bin Laden was killed yesterday. I'm not a political person at all and like to avoid discussions about politics or watching about politics on the news at all costs. I did watch a live feed online for a while last night, though, because they kept on saying Obama was about to say something about it (I got bored of waiting and turned it off). One of the news anchors, though, said something I found highly amusing:

"American people will always remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard that Osama bin Laden was dead."

While I highly doubt that is true, I did find it funny because right when I turned on MSN and saw the headlines that bin Laden was dead, I was eating a cupcake. So I guess every time someone talks about bin Laden, an image of a cupcake is going to pop into my head. Sweet deal, if you ask me.

So what were you doing when you heard the news?

Outfit: Skippy Doo, Caribou

I saw this belt at St. Vincent dePaul and I said, "I must have that belt". The fact that it is far too big for my waist is a minor technicality. I just pulled it through the loop and tucked the end behind. Looks a little weird, but it's cool to look weird nowadays, right?

Jewelry made with white magnesite and caribou antler.

An Outfit + A Dilemma

Today you get 3 Leannas. Why? Because. That's why.

Well, yesterday was my first day off of work since January. I enjoyed sleeping in until 10, lazing around in bed drinking coffee, and cuddling with my puppy.

My enjoyment of my day off ended when I got to work this morning. I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say that my replacement yesterday made some, uh... changes. Changes I don't like. Changes I don't like one bit at all. So now I'm having a dilemma... do I change things back and risk offending her? Or do I just suck it up and remember that she has just as much right to move things around as I do? I shall ponder this while I eat my cream cheese and bagel sandwich.

PS. I got these shoes for $24.80 at UrbanOg and now I just saw them for $39.99 at ModCloth. It pays to shop around, people!

Outfit + Turquoise Etsy Finds

 Though it's actually quite nice today, I still am not quite brave enough to ditch foot covering just yet. I'm wearing flesh-colored socks. Cheating? Yes. But it's the first time in several months that I've worn a skirt or dress without tights, so I'm making progress!

I got this necklace at the coolest store ever in Corvallis: Many Hands Trading Company. They have all sort of neat stuff, from locally made to overseas. If you ever find yourself in downtown Corvallis with nothing better to do, you should check it out! They even have some Papaya Art stuff, and I got one of my Papaya art panels there. Good stuff.

Anywho, onto some Etsy finds! Today I took some search inspiration from my necklace and used the search term "turquoise bohemian" to find these goodies:

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Hope you are all enjoying your Saturday! Think fond thoughts of me as I sit inside at work, looking out the window at the sunshine all afternoon.

Outfit + Etsy Farm Finds

Before I begin, awkward moment:
I was looking at some vintage skirts on Etsy, found a really cute skirt that is $23, and then realized I already own it. I bought it for $4 at the thrift store. I briefly considering posting about it, but I thought the shop owner might get mad at me. I guess I shouldn't be so cynical... maybe it cost her more at the thrift shop she got it from? Anyways, I felt a little weird.

Anyhow, onto the real blog:
March 31-

Today I feel like a milkmaid. There's just something about the blue and white checkered skirt that make me want to have a hoedown and put my hair back in braids (thankfully I didn't take it quite that far).

In honor of my milkmaid attire, let's take a trip to the farm today, shall we?

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Outfits: Cheap Skirts are the Best Skirts

March 29-

This skirt was one of the many goodies I picked up on my thrifting venture the other day. I know it's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but boy oh boy do I love it. Long, pleated, black... and it even has pockets! I also love skirts that have belt loops on them because it makes it so much easier to get it tight around the waist. And the fact that it cost me a whopping $1.49 doesn't hurt my love for it either.

March 30-

Cutest belt ever, am I right? I'm not sure why it had never crossed my mind to look at the belt section at the thrift store before my most recent trip. There were so many cute ones! I'm lucky to have escaped with only 5...

I was just noticing that you can't even tell I'm wearing white tights and that it just looks like I have super pale legs. Well, I suppose I do have super pale legs, but still. This is not a good sign. I need Mr. Sun to come back to me soon!

Leanna Takes Down the Thrift Store

Yesterday on the way to Costco after church, we drove past St. Vincent de Paul, my favorite thrift store in the whole world. I made a sad remark about how long it's been since I've got to go shopping there. Just as we were driving by, I saw signs out front with every shopaholics favorite words: "HUGE SALE. ALL CLOTHING 50% OFF!". Needless to say, I almost died on the spot. So after getting grapes and candy at Costco, going home for lunch, and changing into a thrifting-appropriate outfit (Jeans, Toms, sweater), it was on to the thrift store for me. I spent about 2 hours poking around and trying on clothes. Glorious, glorious day.

You know you are a hardcore shopper when you are literally sore the next day. My right arm is seriously on fire this morning. I used it is a clothes rack while I was wandering around pulling things to try on, and at one point I literally had 20 items hanging on my arm. I am quite sure I must have looked ridiculous, but hey, if that's what a girl has to do to get good deals on clothes then it's a small price to pay.

In the end, this is what I came home with.
5 Belts:

  
1 Dress: (Don't worry, I'm going to do a bit of tailoring and hemming to make it cuter.) (More cute?)

1 Scarf:

 1 Pair of Shorts:

 5 Skirts:

And 4 Tops: 

So for those playing along at home, that is 17 items. And my total cost?
$32

Roughly $1.88 per item. Thank you thrift store!

Sorry about the erratic lighting in the pics. I was too lazy to fix it. :)

Outfits: Dressing Up

March 15-

If I ever try the 30/30 Challenge, this dress is definitely going in the line-up. It is hands down my favorite item in my closet and I am so happy that my mom talked me into it (when I first tried it on I was on the fence; she was the one that made me decide on it) for my graduation. I am tired of having to layer over and under it, though. Mr. Sun, please come back to me soon!

March 16-

This was my second vintage dress that I bought on Etsy, but for reasons unknown, I've never worn it before. It's super cute and breezy and I can't wait to wear it more this summer.

My wild woman hair is kind of getting out of control. I desperately need a haircut before I turn into Cousin It. That would be no bueno.

Etsy Front Page Feature + Outfit: Alaskan Raven

Yay! My Creamy Magnesite Necklace was on the front page of Etsy today! Unfortunately by the time I saw it the necklace had already sold (I mean, how dare someone buy something from me?!?!) so it wasn't there anymore, but I got a screen shot from CraftCult. It's in the 2nd row, third item.

This is actually my 5th time on the FP, but it's my first time since June 2010, so it was a pretty exciting feeling. It does make me feel a little bad that my Etsy shop is so neglected and barren, though. Maybe I could have made a few more sales from it if I was better stocked... oh well, too late now! Anyways, thank you to octopurse for including me in this treasury!

Since today was so gray and gloomy (it's kinda sorta sunny now, but it will doubtlessly be gray again in a few minutes in classic Oregon style), I opted for my favorite man sweater. No really, it's a man sweater. I also added a new necklace I made for myself last night, using a pendant that my sister got me almost a year ago for my birthday (at least I think it was my birthday... it might possibly have been Christmas 2009. Yikes!). When I came out this morning wearing it:
Mom: "I've never seen you wear a cross before!"
Me: "Silly mom, it's a raven, not a cross. How could you make such an egregious error?"*
*Not actually what I said

 

It's from my sister that is crazy enough to live in Alaska. Apparently it's made out of Musk Ox horn, so that's kind of neat, right? I mean, what's not awesome about getting to wear dead animal parts? Hmm... wait a second...

Outfits: The Lost Look, the White Dress, and the Petri Dish

March 5-
I may have accidentally deleted the picture of this day's outfit, as I can't find it anywhere on my computer. Perhaps I'll come across it in a few days on some deep, dark corner of my pictures folder. I was able to find the picture I took of my new necklace that I made for myself, though, so not all is lost. I used some sweet Amethyst nuggets that I've had kicking around my bead box forever and a day. It's simple, but I really like it.

March 6-

Love love love love love love love love love love love love love love this dress I traded for with ModernMode. Meg (the shop owner) is so sweet and I love doing trades with her. She gets awesome jewelry and I get awesome dresses. Happiness all around!

I'm really looking forward to wearing this one without the cardigan and tights. It'll still probably be another few weeks before the weather allows for that, though.

Just noticed I forgot to list the belt! It was $6.29 at Urban Outfitters.

March 7-

So I finally got around to going to Kohl's yesterday to get myself some new gray tights, since both my dark and light gray pairs had huge holes in them and were no longer wearable. Naturally I found two other pairs I liked, but they were a good price and I had a 15% off coupon so I let myself splurge and get 4 pairs total (2 gray, 1 ivory, and the lavender ones I'm wearing right now).

I also scoped out some sweet Vera Wang tank tops that were only $15 each, and after the additional discount I thought they were a pretty good price so I got two (the other one has a different print). I like this one a lot even though I think it looks like a petri dish.

And I never thought this would happen to me or that I would ever be willing to admit it on the internet, but I fell in love with a pair of Lauren Conrad shoes. I'm not really sure who Lauren Conrad is except that she was on some dumb TV show a while back (maybe she still is? I don't know...) so I automatically want to hate everything she designs. But there was no way I could make myself hate these shoes. So stinking cute. They were also $45, though, and no matter how much I wanted to get them I couldn't make myself spend that much on them. I found them on the Kohl's website and now have them bookmarked, so if they go on sale I will be ready. Check them out HERE and tell me if I'm crazy for loving them or not.

Outfits: Pink and Frilly

March 3-

In yesterday's "Save Money" post, I said you should never skip the sale section just because you think it's gross stuff that a store is trying to get rid of. I think Target was really trying to get rid of this shirt because it was on $3.74 and it was the last one, but I'm not going to complain. I didn't have any light pink shirts like this so I thought it would be good to have at least one in my collection. So yay for cheap, new clothes!

March 4-

I realized I hadn't worn any of the loot I got from my trip to the first ever Oregon H&M yet, so I broke out my frilly cardigan today. I was originally going to wear some heels, but when I put them on and looked in the mirror I just looked so... girly. So out came the flats and, of course, my favorite gray jacket, which both helped to tone down the fancy-pants-ness of it.

Outfits: Cheapy Cheapy

I'm switching to every other day outfit posts, just FYI. I felt bad for junking up everyone's blog rolls. :)

March 1st-

Uhm, super cheap outfit, am I right? When was the last time you saw an 8 piece ensemble for only $20.25? Granted, the dress didn't cost me anything because my mom made it for me, and the jewelry didn't cost me either (well, other than supply costs) because I made it myself, but STILL.

March 2nd-  

I love this skirt I found at St. Vincent's on my last trip there (which was oh so long ago... the first thing I'm going to do when I stop working 6 days a week is dedicate an entire day to thrift shopping). It's kind of like a faux-leather. It is perhaps a little longer than I'd like, but I can deal with it since it's not the type of material that your just hem up in 5 minutes.

Outfit: Amazon --- A Few Notes

 

You may be wondering why I am standing next to an empty clothes rack today. Well, I just wanted to brag about the fact that I carried said empty clothes rack up a flight of stairs today while wearing high-heeled boots. The darn thing was too wide to carry it next to me, too, so I had to hold it out in front of me which made it infinitely harder. But I prevailed in the end and now I'm trying to decide what clothes I'm going to put on it. Me = Amazon. 

And yes, I am aware that I look wholly unfashionable/boring today. I needed a lazy day.

A Few Notes:

-There is seriously a flash flood going on outside my store today. I can hardly even see the buildings across the street because the rain is so thick. If I never blog again, you can assume I have drowned. Cry not, my friends.

- I have not forgotten about the giveaway. I just had a bunch of other, more important stuff to tend to this weekend (like, you know, watching the Oscars for 5 hours). I will try to get everything figured out and get it ready to go next Monday, so keep your eyes open for it!

- My boss is giving birth to twins today, so if you're the praying sort of person, prayers are always appreciated.

- Downton Abbey is awesome. That is all.

-Oh, and Amanda, I though Sandra Bullock's was okay... I thought it was the best red of the night (there were  lot of funky reds out there that clashed hardcore with the carpet), but I wasn't a fan of the top/bustline. 

-For those of you who don't know (which I imagine would be all of you), Amanda and I both love red carpet stuff, and we always disagree on who looked good and who didn't. 

-I may or may not be doing a Music Monday post today. We'll see how it goes.

-I've been playing guitar almost non-stop since I started about 2 weeks ago, and I proud to say that I can finally no longer feel my fingers tips. Typing feels kind of weird, but I suppose I'll get used to it.

- OK, I'm off to try and figure out what I'm going to put on that clothes rack now. Ta!

Outfit: Scarf Surgery

I am officially declaring this jacket my favorite thrift store purchase to date. I wear it every day to and from work, even when I don't show it on my blog. And to think, I was this close to not buying it.

This morning I made myself a cowl. Well, I didn't really make it make it, but I created it from a scarf. Last time you saw this guy, it looked like this:

But I haven't worn it since then because it was really just too bulky to be worn as a scarf. So this morning I whipped out my scissors, cut off the fringe at the ends, and used some of the strands of yarn that I cut off to tie the ends of the scarf together. It's not beautiful, but as long as I keep that part at the back of my neck no one will ever have to know.

So my bulky scarf is now a lovely cowl. All together it took my about 10 minutes. Not bad!

Outfit: What the HECK, Oregon?!?

Dear Oregon, it is almost March. Please stop this nonsense. Thanks. -Leanna

So this is what I woke up to this morning. That, and all my still-in-high-school buddies crying up a storm on facebook because school wasn't canceled. Waa waa. I still had to go to work, quit your blubbering. 

My dear puppy Pippin loves the snow. Don't ask me why, because I would think it was make him cold and uncomfortable to run around and cover himself with snow balls (seriously, I had to blow dry him when he came in this morning because he was covered and it sets into his hair). To torture him, I asked him if he wanted to play ball with me, and promptly starting throwing snow balls for him to chase.

Poop little guy (ETA: I have been informed of the typo, but shall leave it for comedic purposes. Thanks, Allison!). He would run   around trying to find where it had gone, and if he did manage to find it it just fell apart when he tried to pick it up. Also, I'm amazed my lame microphone picked up my dopey dog-voice from all the way across the yard. I don't normally talk like that, I swear. :)

Anyways, this is not what I was planning on wearing at all today, but I hadn't planned on a freaking blizzard rolling through Oregon (not really a blizzard, but annoying nonetheless) so I had to make some last minute adjustments.

Question: Does it look weird to wear a necklace and cowl at the same time? I keep on going back and forth and it and I can't make up my mind. So what say you?