Black Friday Broke

Guess who's baaaaaack. And! With a new camera to boot! Guys, the difference is seriously night and day. Best investment yet. I apologize for the barren desert that has been this space this past week. The radio silence was due mostly to my just plain old giving up on taking any outfit photos until I got this new camera, but it was also partly due to it being the holidays and all. Anyway, as I informed you all last post I decided to participate in Black Friday shopping again after a ten year hiatus. While I'm really happy with my purchases, it was hell guys. No joke. It was crowded, cold, and tiring. I definitely feel cured of ever wanting to do that again, but I'm sure when next year rolls around I'll forget all the discomfort of this year and give it another go. We'll see. I'm so beyond excited to show you all my purchases, though! I snagged some seriously great stuff for seriously great prices! I have now successfully gotten presents for three out of the five members of my family that I have to get gifts for. Holla! I have now only the males left to shop for! To be honest I'm not really looking forward to getting them gifts...I mean, what the heck do you buy for a bratty teenage boy with a video game addiction (we're trying to cure him so I can't buy him anything electronic) and a Dad with a taste for $300 shoes? I will definitely need to brainstorm!

I'm seriously luuuuuuuurving this beanie from American Eagle. It's so insanely soft and fits more perfectly than any other beanie I've tried on before, not to mention the fact that it's color is ludicrously rich! Plus, it does a pretty good job of making my lions mane look a little more put together. Amen, hallelu! Admittedly, the majority of my Black Friday purchases were from American Eagle. I mean, they were 50% off store wide!! SO amazeballs! I can't remember why I stopped shopping there. I mean, can we talk about how awesome as a squirrel this baseball tee is? It's softer than a baby's buttocks and I love how the silver sparkles on the sleeves add a little extra holiday pizazz!

{AE: glittered baseball tee, flare jeans, turquoise necklace similar, hot pink beanie; h&m: faux fur vest similar; GoJane: pistol booties}

I wish I had something ridiculously entertaining to say to you all now that I'm back to posting, but I'm coming up blank. I think we'll have to let my writing humor get warmed up with these next couple of posts and I'll be able to get back to my usual weird vaguely humorous posts! Oh, but as a quick side note, I pretty much spent the entirety of my recovery period after my wisdom teeth removal surgery watching all three seasons of Veronica Mars (As if I could get any geekier. Whelp, I just did.) and can I just say how excited I am for the movie? I'm soooo excited! I'm mega rooting for a Logan/Veronica romantic happy ending. If they don't end up together I will definitely be getting all sorts of crazy fan pissed. Oh, and just as another quick side note let me just say that I'm a little peeved that my face is still a little rounder than normal because the swelling from surgery isn't totally gone yet and I'm getting more and more annoyed by my height, or lack thereof, day by day. Oh well, at least my face will continue to get back to normal even if my poor hobbit legs will only get hobbitier. ;) 

Much Love! 

P.S. Take a look at this photo of my little pup that my sister snapped. Doesn't he just look divine?! I sure do love him. 

Why isn't Approacheth a Word???

Turkey Day approacheth is rapidly approaching friends, and along with it is comin' Black Friday. There are a couple of points of annoyance for me, though, stemming from the rapidity with which the holidays are a comin'. First of which is the fact that since I had my wisdom teeth surgery it is unlikely that I'll be able to do my traditional ten mile run on Thanksgiving morning. Maybe I'll just do it anyway, though, I mean it's been about a week. That should be a good enough recovery period right? Right? I mean, I'm slowing starting to be able to chew again and the swelling in my cheeks is about 80% gone! Yeah, yeah! I digress, though. My second point of annoyance is that there is still no snow on the ground!! Now, I'm no lover of the snow, but it worries me nonetheless that we are now in the final week of November and we haven't had a drop of snow that has stuck. That's freaky guys. THE WORLD IS ENDING!!! ;) Anyway, let's talk Black Friday.

I clearly remember getting up in the early hours of the morning to head on over to a local Target with my mum to go Black Friday Christmas shopping when I was a kid. Back then getting the jump on Black Friday meant waking up at four to be at the stores by 5. None of this midnight madness. Oh, such fond memories of early morning shopping for endless amounts of Barbies with my dear, dear mum! Then of course, we all eventually out grew the joy of unwrapping a Barbie doll for Christmas and the Black Friday shopping traditions came to an end. Oh and I guess there was also the fact that people started dying in attempts to get a good deal on a flat screen. Scary guys. Scary.

 {h&m: graphic tee, blazer; F21: white skirt similar, over the knee faux suede boots similar; AE: turquoise necklace similar}

Anyway, this year my sisters and I are going to have a go at the whole Black Friday shopping thing again. There's a certain Nikon camera at Walmart that my little sister and I have our eyes on. It comes with not one but TWO lenses! EEK! We're going halfsies, of course. There's no way we'd both lay down $500 a pop and still be able to afford gifts for anybody else. Oh, and bonus! It's an 8pm deal! Which means we can just head on over to Walmart on Thursday evening and get it! Ooop ooop!! Oh, and then we're heading over to our local h&m for some major cash burning as well. They're giving gift cards of up to $300 to the first 100 people in line, AND the whole store will be up to 70% off! ACK! I die. Not to mention the major deals that will be going on in the other stores in the mall! I will be broke very, very soon guys. Very, very soon. It's actually kind of disgusting. Wish me luck, though, and let the odds be ever in our favor! Good luck fellow shoppers! I salute you!

Much Love!

P.S. This is the second time in a row that my pictures are uploading SUPER blurry. It's driving me NUTS. I can't figure out what it is. GRRRRR. We'll see if it's just the camera once I get that Nikon on Friday.

Midi-Midi, Bang-Bang

Guyyyyssssss, I got dry sockets. I feel like screaming like a banshee. It sucks major, major, shuck face. Anyway, seeing as how my face is still swollen and now on top of that I have to deal with gross amounts of  dry socket pain, I'm going to stay away from outfit posts for a couple of days. I do have other fun posts for you all, though! Well, at least for today anyways. While I was stuck in a room at the research center for 13 hours, post surgery, on Tuesday I had plenty of time to contemplate the fact that I really, really, want a midi skirt. Nay, I really, really, need a midi skirt. That's pretty much how I spent almost the entirety of my 13 hours of observation, looking up midi skirts. ;) Anyway, I've compiled my list of midi skirt finds for you all and divided it into my splurge group and save group.

Splurge!

1//2//3

That sequined skirt? SO many ways to either dress it up or dress it down, not to mention the fact that it'd make THE perfect holiday party piece. Need I say more? I love how skirt number two is so versatile! You could dress it up all retro while playing around with pattern mixing by pairing it with this polka-dot button up, OR dress it down with an edgy vibe by pairing it with a fun graphic tee like this one and a pair of color popping booties like these. Oh, and skirt number three? That color is just so rich/bold and one of those colors that could work year round. I could completely see it being paired with a leather moto jacket like this one and pointed toe pumps with a pop of gold like these ones from h&m.

SAVE!

1//2//3//4//5

What I love about these items on my save list is that they're just as cute and just as versatile as the splurge items. I mean, skirt number one? That red is gorgeous! I would totally play around with some metal mixing with it and pair it with this gold glittered belt, this silver sparkled baseball tee, these pop of gold pumps, and this chunky gold necklace! Also, I love the store that the skirt is from! I happened across the skirt on Pinterest, which led me to its website and I fell in love! It comes from an online store called "West Fourth Street". I love how all of the items they sell are both modest and reasonably priced! Plus, bonus, they're from Utah! Yay, local shops! They unfortunately don't have a whole lot of items up right now, but the items they do have up are to die for and that red skirt definitely needs to find its way into my closet! If you guys have a minute definitely click on the link for skirt number one and check out "West Fourth Street"!

Much love!

It's Official

*The first portion of this post was written yesterday when I had just come out of surgery and was spacier than an astronaut.*

Wisdom teeth are officially out my friends! And its official, the universe hates me. Why you ask? Because of course the day of surgery mother nature had to come a knockin' with her monthly visit. Uggggggh. Cramps AND chipmunk cheeks? Joy. All things considered, though, I think I'm holding up pretty dang good. But then again, that could just be because I'm majorly whacked out on Scooby Snacks right now. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put a Nook into the hands of a blogger high on laughing gas was a genius. Oh, and quick side note, I got my wisdom teeth out as part of a research study so I'm going to be trapped in a little room for the next 10 hours or so, rating my pain and the effectiveness of their meds. I'd say their meds are pretty dang amazing but then again all I've had so far is laughing gas so I guess that doesn't really count. Want to hear all the nitty gritty details of my surgery? No? Well, you're gettin' 'em anyway because I need something to keep me occupied and I think reading the writings of my high as a kite self will be pretty funny tomorrow. Anyway, a group of kids and I showed up at the research center bright and early at 6am. I made sure to push maneuver my way to the front as soon as the doors opened because I wanted to be one of the first to get the surgery over with.

My maneuvering paid off because I was the second one to be operated on. When it was my turn, I headed into the operating room and just as I was about to lie down, the girl who had gone before me looked at me and gave me a small reassuring smile. What an angel. I wish I had been able to do the same for the unfortunate girl who went after me, but, ha, that so did not happen. Anyway, when I lied down, the surgeon's assistant asked me if I would like some laughing gas. Of course I wanted laughing gas, did she even need to ask? As it started to take effect all I could think was "why is this crap called happy/laughing gas? I'm not happy or laughing at all. I don't think it's working." About .5 seconds after that thought, though, it took its effect and I all but conked out. About 11 minutes after that I was all dooooone. Unlike the girl before me, though, I required help getting up and over to my waiting chair. I could barely keep my eyes open much less smile, so the poor girl that was supposed to go in after me got no reassurance. I did attempt a smile in her general direction, with my eyes closed, but when I opened my eyes to peek at her she looked terrified, so I'm convinced my half a$*ed attempt at a smile came out more like a horrific grimace. Poor girl. It probably didn't help boost her confidence that the nurses kept worriedly asking me if I was ok because I kept dizzyingly reeling in my chair.

I don't think they should give that much laughing gas to smaller humans because I literally felt on the verge of passing out. Anyway, after that, I was wheeled to my room downstairs and I couldn't have gotten a more annoying nurse to push my wheel chair. Whenever we passed anyone she felt it incumbent to announce, "she's VERY loopy". As if it wasn't embarrassing enough that I looked like a squirrel monkey, she had to go announcing to the world that I was loopy? Which, by the way, I was too close to loosing consciousness at that point to be loopy. Oh and then when we passed a few more people, more specifically a tolerably good looking male nurse, she felt the need to say, "she really likes her laughing gas." All I could think was, "Shut up. I do not. I haven't said two words to you this whole time so there's no way you can know if I'm "loopy" or if I "really" like my laughing gas. Which, by the way, I do. I want more."

 {Pacsun: oversize tee similar; Flying Monkey: wide leg jeans similar; h&m: star scarf borrowed from my little sister similar, wide brimmed hat; Charlotte Russe: heels similar}

Whelp, it's the day after surgery now and all things considered, I think I'm feeling pretty good. Pain is very minimal but I'd have to say my discomfort level is a little high. I feel nauseous to the extreme, but that could just be because I swallowed, what feels like, half a pint of my own blood yesterday and the little pain I do feel kind of feels akin to going through the teething process, funnily enough. My swelling isn't so bad and I think I did a pretty good job of hiding it in these photos if I do say so myself. :) Although, when I'm not trying to mask the swelling, this is pretty much an exact representation of what my face looks like.

"But I don't wanna kick the other kid's butts."

Much love!

P.S. for reasons unbeknownst to me these pictures turned fuzzy when I inserted them in the blog post. I couldn't figure out how to fix it, so there ya go. ;)

Linking up with: Unpredictable and Chic

Chocolate

Notice the giant band-aid on my face? Yeah, I know, it looks pretty ridiculous but it beats the alternative which involves slathering makeup on top of a pretty painful scab, which is more raw skin than scab. Beautiful, I know. Anyway, wisdom teeth removal surgery is coming up in t minus 30 hours. AHHHHHHHH. Swollen cheeks here I come and, yes, I mean my face cheeks. Ha, lame joke, I know. I just heard it once on The Fairly Odd Parents about a thousand years ago when I was a kid and I thought it was incredibly hilarious at the time and now I just can't stop myself from using it whenever I get a chance.

You know how they say that once you can't have something it instantly becomes the one and only thing you can think about and/or want? I'm feeling that way about chocolate right about now. I have to be caffeine free 5 days before surgery and 5 days post surgery, which means no chocolate even, though, its levels of caffeine are infinitesimal. Sighhhhhhh. And the thing is, I'm not even a very big chocolate fan. Now all I can seem to think about, though, are Oreos, brownies, hot chocolate, Hershey's chocolate bars, s'mores, my gosh s'moressssss, peanut butter cookies stuffed with Snicker's bars, the list goes on and on. I digress. One thing I'm trying to fully enjoy while I can, though, is popcorn. Which, funny enough, is another thing I'm not a huge fan of but I figure I might as well enjoy it before it's forcibly removed from the menu for 6 weeks. Five day liquid/mushy food diet say hello to your soon to be slave.

 {F21: plaid top similar; h&m: pleated skirt similar, sheer tights, spiked necklace similar; Charlotte Russe: heels similar}

When I got dressed this morning my little sister told  me that I wear this shirt too much. And she's probably right. I mean, if anything, this blog is proof of the fact. But plaid is just one of those fall staples that transitions beautifully for the winter/holidays, am I right? I mean, I was totes ma goats feelin' ready for Christmas in this outfit. Which, speaking of, I have shamelessly started jammin' out to Christmas music. Judge away if you must now. ;) The Christmas season is just my favorite. There isn't a time of year when I feel giddier or warmer in my gooey marshmallow insides. Now that we're on the topic of Christmas, though, I just want to quickly remind you all of the Blogger's Give Back campaign. We're still accepting donations, and every dollar helps! I'll attach the link again at the bottom of this post, so if you're able to it'd be much appreciated. :) Oh, and quick question. Did the stunna shades I stole from my sister do their job of drawing attention away from the giant band-aid on my chin? No, because I pointed out said band-aid the second I started this post? Yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that. ;)

Much love!