Tears aren't for sissies!

{Top//Belt: Love Culture, Skirt: F21, Shoes: Charlotte Russe}

Hello Friends! So it would seem that posting on Sundays is becoming a sort of trend for me. It's completely unintentional, but Sunday clothes are just so dang cute! Not to mention that I have a lot of spare time that I don't usually have during the week. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago on a spontaneous shopping trip with one of my best gals I came across this lovely peplum top at a store in City Creek called Love Culture. I had never even heard of the store prior to that shopping trip...but I completely fell in love with it! They have a huge variety of items at pretty amazing prices. I've been dying to go back, but with school starting on Thursday I have to save up every dime I can. After all, tuition and textbook prices these days are whack. The skirt...well, what can I say? Forever 21 is one of my staple places. They carry cute stuff for inexpensive prices for the average broke college student such as myself. Oh and the shoes...I swear I buy shoes from other places besides Charlotte Russe. They just usually have buy one get one 50% off deals so I buy them in pairs, and it just so happens that for the past few outfit posts the shoes I bought there happened to match. Plus, these were borrowed from my sister.

Well, it'll be New Year's Eve tomorrow! I seriously cannot believe the year went by this fast! I know everybody says that about every year but, really this year just flew by. I have to admit this year was a particularly hard one. I feel like for the first 7 months of this year my spiritual/physical/mental growth was at a stand still. I wasn't in the greatest of places. I managed to pull myself together, though, with the help of my amazing family and friends and get back to a place where I'm happy with my health, and spirituality, and with the fact that I'll be heading to school once more. My family has been facing some pretty trying times, but instead of being resentful of the things we're having to face, I'm grateful. Although, the situations we're facing have been difficult and will continue to be difficult they've brought us together in ways I would've never imagined. Although, I must also admit I've never cried so much in my life. The ache of knowing that loved ones might soon pass on, and the ache from missing loved ones that have been, through unlucky circumstances, kept at a distance. I've always thought that crying was a weakness, and I always tried to keep the few tears I shed private. I think mostly because I can count the times I've seen my mom cry on one hand, and she's the strongest woman I know. So I associated strength with not crying. I've only now come to realize that crying doesn't mean I'm weak, and further than that, letting others see my tears doesn't make me weak. It simply means that I'm strong enough and brave enough to share those tears and the raw emotion that they sprung from with others. I have a good feeling about 2013, though, and my intuition is rarely wrong! I really think it'll be my year and that despite the trials things will turn out splendidly! I hope you all had a lovely 2012! Happy Sunday (well, what's left of it anyways)!

The Cat is Out of the Bag!

Well, the cat is out of the bag! I have finally announced to all of you dear friends that I started this blog. Now from here I guess all there's left to do is see where it might go and hope for success!

So tonight I had originally planned on going to a New Years Eve party with three of my main chicas but unfortunately two of them were feeling under the weather and the third had to go into work. So what does one do when plans fall through? Go to a Jazz game instead! My dad came home with two killer tickets to the Jazz vs Clippers game. SIXTH ROW. Pretty incredible right?! Anyway, my little broski, Nery, had never been to a basketball game before. I know, pretty strange considering he's 15 right? But in the Gonzalez clan, soccer is more of our thing. Anyway, the clear choice to be my date for the evening was my little homie G. We went, and had a blast! We were so impressed and excited by how close our seats were! It was kind of a bummer that the Jazz ended up loosing but it was an intense and fun game nonetheless.

{Sweater//knit hat: F21, Scarf: gift from a best friend, Leggings: Ross, Boots: Tilly's}

When your plans change on the fly, how do you switch from a party look to a casual look? Simple, put on a comfy sweater, scarf, knitted hat, and voila! Recipe for success, you've got yourself a quick but cute basketball outfit! I apologize for the quality of the photos, but it was already dark out and we were running late.

twas the Sunday before Christmas

{Denim shirt//skirt: Ross, Shoes: Charlotte Russe, Bird Necklace: F21}

Hello friends! (I haven't actually told any of you dear friends about my blog yet -fear I guess- so its still private. But I want to greet you formally anyway for when I finally tell you and you all see this.) The Sunday before Christmas is always my favorite Sunday in December, and possibly the whole year. The lessons are always incredible and I absolutely adore singing all of the Christmas hymns! "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains" is one of my favorites. It's so upbeat, spirited, and fun! It strangely always makes me want to cry, though. I guess for me it just reverberates the pure joy I feel about the birth of Christ so strongly that it overwhelms me. I went double duty this Sunday. My parents were asked to speak at sacrament this Sunday at their Spanish ward, and I went to hear them -in addition to going to my singles ward. All in all it was an incredible Sunday!

I guess it's time for a few words on the outfit! For this ENTIRE year I had been hunting for a good and affordable denim shirt. My search never yielded any results, though. I would either find really adorable ones that were out of my price range or I would find ones in my price range that were just lacking in the fab factor. Most of the really cute and just plain old perfect ones ranged from $20-$40. Call me cheap, but between tuition and all of my other bills I just wasn't willing to lay down $20 for a denim shirt. Then finally, on a shopping trip at Ross with my sweet sister, Allison, I came across The One! This little baby cost me a total of $13! Not bad, eh? I fell in love with the shade of the denim, and just its overall look. But here's the catch, it's a large. I tried to see if I would be lucky enough to find one in a small, but no luck. I decided it wouldn't matter if I styled it right so the baggy oversize look could look cute! Plus, tucked into this AMAZEballs skirt (which, coincidentally I found on the same shopping trip for the amazing price of $7) you can't even tell it's a large!  The funny part about it all is that I had gone to Ross on the hunt for a black pencil skirt and I ended up leaving the store with two completely different items! 

playing Christmas tunes and a retro look

{Shirt//glasses: F21, Skirt: White House Black Market, Shoes: Charlotte Russe}

So I'm one of the Relief Society pianists in my ward. We rotate each week between 4 girls, and today was my day to play. I was asked to play, "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem", and "With Wondering Awe". Two awesome Christmas tunes. It being so close to Christmas the stakes were high and the pressure was on to play well this Sunday. I had practiced the songs pretty thoroughly, not to mention the fact that I have 12 years of piano experience under my belt, so I figured I would be pretty bomb come Relief Society. But alas it was not so. You see, every time I sit down to play, my nerves get out of control and my legs and hands go haywire with shaking. So needless to say, it did not go well. I mean, it wasn't awful...but it wasn't good. 

Now, on to the outfit! I came across this adorable little top at none other than Forever21. I loved the studded little collar and hey, for $14 I figured it wasn't bad! To me, the collar was a little reminiscent of the 50's so I decided I wanted to style it in a more retro way. With the retro theme in mind I paired my new find with a flowy a-line skirt and my classic white kitten heels! Since I went with a black and white color theme I infused the look with a little color by going with a red lip and bright red nails. Oh, and I almost forgot! What retro look would be complete without a pair of fun glasses?

First Post!

Alright, so I guess it's time for my first post! Ya know, blogging is quite the nerve racking experience. Especially if you've created a blog with the intention of having a large amount of followers. There's always the  fear of, "what if not one single soul reads this bloody thing". What if I'm posting all of these pictures of my outfits and where I got them and no one cares? I mean, if this was meant to be purely a blog about my own personal thoughts and feelings then I don't think there would be as much self imposed pressure to have it read. But, hey, this is me we're talking about so of course I had to go and make my blog goals as big as possible. Oh, and, yes, I realize that this first post will likely be read by no one. Who knows how long it'll take to get any consistent readers if I ever even get any. There's also the fact that I'm still figuring out this whole blog thing. Anyway, I realize that this post has nothing to do with clothing but don't fret for there will be my first ever outfit post in the next couple of days!