Ha-ha-ha-halloween!

Happy Halloween friends! Before we get started on anything else I just want to quickly remind you all that today is the last day to enter the Fall Essentials Giveaway so be sure to click away here and enter before time runs out! Also, remember my previous Halloween post about Halloween grinches? Well, be sure to check that out here as well, because, if I weren't trying to be less grinchey that would be how I would be electing to spend my Halloween this year and every year to come. BUT, since being a hermit grinch isn't very conducive to being a...being a...I lost my train of thought. Boo. Let's just call that sentence finished then shall we? Anyway, this year I will be following step 5 of said list, and you will be able to find me "mackin' on all dat" at a couple of local partayyys. Heehee!! I say that like I'll be off to some wild party, when in reality I'll just be off to a couple of institute parties which by definition are the opposite of wild. To each their own right? I don't like wild parties so to non wild parties I'll go! At least I'm electing to not watch Hocus Pocus and go on a sugar high this year, right? Right-o. ;) Anyway, I will be attempting this makeup tutorial and dressing up as a fox. Pictures will come, hopefully the results aren't ghastly! We shall see. :) Oh, and don't I just positutely look like a total Jamba Juice ad up there? I think so.

{h&m: vest similar, basic top, flare pants, tube scarf, leaf ear cuff similar; GoJane: pistol booties; AE: turquoise necklace} 

Does anyone else feel like Halloween snuck up behind your bum this year? Does Halloween sort of feel like a non-event this year? It sure does to me! Then again, though, this whole year has felt like its gone by crazy fast. In other news, I finally found the turquoise necklace my little heart had been longing for! I went into the actual American Eagle store with my aunt the other day, and lo and behold, there was this perfect little gem of a necklace! For 40% off too! The necklace fairies smiled down upon me that day. Oh and don't mind my extremely messy bun. It was just one of those lazy hair days today for me, especially since I'll be styling my hair later in the evening for my costume. Well, I'm off to get into safe shenanigans this evening so toodle oo! Stay safe yerselves as well! 

Much love! 

OJ for the Soul

I had a very different post and different outfit planned for you all today but it required more story telling and thought than I'm willing to commit to at this particular moment. So, instead posting what I had planned I decided to post this outfit that I wore last week to pick my Aunt and cousin up from the airport. Why am I so keen on a simple, easy, thoughtless post you ask? Because I'm currently lying sick in bed, horizontally mind you, with a tiny wad of toilet paper very unattractively stuck up my nose. -Ya know, to keep the incessant boogies from running down my face. And, yes, I'm sure you were all dying to hear the particulars of why I have toilet paper crammed up my nostrils.-  I think the last time I washed my hair was Saturday, don't tell anyone, and the only thing I have any sort of inclination to do is to continue lying on my bed in this state of dirty unttractiveness while I ferociously tear through the Avatar: the Last Airbender -The Promise graphic novels. Yes, on top of all of the icky sickyness I've shared with you all, you all now know that I'm a also a bit of a cartoon/comic geek. And, ya know, I'm surprisingly ok with that. Judge my geekiness if you must, friends. My current state of gross ickness, though, abstain from judging please. I mean, it is 10 o'clock at night, and I do plan on washing my dirty dirty hair first thing tomorrow morning! You know what else, though? The only food I ever have a desire for whilst I'm sick is a nice cool glass of OJ. Does that even technically constitute as food? No? Oh well. Anyway, my OJ cravings suck flying hog monkeys because orange juice is probably the worst drink in the world to try and chug down with a sore throat. Tastes so yummy, but feels more like holy water going down a vampire's throat. Hurts so good. Ooo baby, it hurts so good. What are your sick day cravings?

 {h&m: white blazer, faux suede booties similar; Ross: chiffon top similar; AE: flare jeans; F21: knit hat similar; Aldo's: bag}

Now that all that sick talk is over, which, sick talk is really uncharacteristic of me because I'm more of the suck it up and quietly soldier on types, let's get to talking about the logistics of this outfit. I ordered these jeans from the American Eagle website a couple of weeks ago, they arrived not too long ago and I'm in love with them. I can't remember the last time I shopped at American Eagle. It must have been years ago, but by some odd happening I stumbled across their webpage. I decided to search their jean selection for a pair of wide leg jeans, because I had been HUNTING for a good pair of wide leg jeans for months and months. Lo and behold I found this pair, they weren't the dark wash that I was looking for but they were 30% off and shipping was free! Yippee! I was super excited by the fact that when I tried them on they were just the right length. Not too long, and not too short. The perfect length to wear with low heeled booties! I decided the perfect way to style these jeans was with a white on white look and bold pop of color. Oh, and this bracelet? My little sister bought it when she visited Guatemala and she was ever so gracious enough to lend it to me. Hooray for little sisters. Well, I'm off to swallow some ginormous cold pills with a swig of OJ and hopefully drift off to a nice rest that will imbue me with the proper amounts of strength to go to my morning workout and head off to work.

Much love!

Realizations

I've given up on not posting pictures in which I'm not making a derp face. I've realized it happens far too often for me to be able to only post pictures in which I actually look normal. I guess I just have a derpy face. ;) So, for the sake of making me feel better, lets just pretend that my eyes are open in the picture above. Ok? Ok. Anyway, I wore this little number the first day of my aunt being here in the states. We went out shopping to City Creek, and then stopped at lunch at Brio. The day's activities made me realize two things. First, I hate eating out at restaurants. I'm the pickiest eater so it's hard for me to find anything on the menu that I might actually like, and then, for the most part, most restaurants disappoint. Also, my family is big on Italian food, which I don't hate, but I'm not a big pasta person and I hate most sauces, which basically eliminates half the menu for me at most Italian restaurants. I don't know, call me crazy, but I'm the type of person that would honestly just be happier cooking something for myself at home. Home cooked meals are the yummiest. :) One thing's for sure, I'm the cheapest date around. I will a million times over rather go to a park and climb trees and swing on swing sets while we have awesome conversation, than go out to eat on a date. The simple things right? Anyway, the second thing I realized was that I think I may genuinely have some sort of shopping addiction. It's not something I can kid about anymore. I mean, it's like I have no self control. Well, I do have some self control (I'm not putting myself in debt, here, guys) but the percentage of each paycheck that I spend on clothes is far too great. I need to get myself in check, and get my priorities straight. Haha, that last phrase made me think of the scene in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone movie where Ron goes, in reference to Hermione, "she needs to get priorities straight". If any of you are fellow Harry Potter nerds, chuckle along with me. If you're not a Harry Potter nerd then just pretend you didn't read that completely unnecessary side track. Anyway, I've been really thinking about how I'm choosing to spend my money and if it's benefiting anyone other than myself. If I'm being honest the answer would be no. With that in mind, I'm trying to come up with ways to better focus at least a portion of my funds to helping others.

{h&m: dress similar, tube scarf; Osh Kosh: denim jacket similar; GoJane: pistol booties; F21: knit hat similar}

I've been considering maybe going on a year long shopping hiatus. I think it would really teach me to value the things I already have, and hopefully teach me to bridle my lust for silly items of clothes that I honestly, probably don't even really need. I don't know if I have the inner resolve to go for it, though. We shall see. With all of this in mind, though, there is something I would like to share with you all. A couple of weeks ago, Jalynn from The Red Closet Diary contacted me about an event coming up in about a month that is just incredible. This event is called Blogger's Give Back. It's essentially a way for all of us bloggers, and readers too, to be able to help two little boys in need this Christmas. Any sort of donation, even if it's just a dollar, helps. Donations for these two cute little fellas will be open from October 28th to December 6th, so if you're willing and able, tomorrow is the day to start getting things going for these boys. There will also be another event coming up in which you will be able to shop from your favorite blogger's closets to help raise funds for these little guys! I'll give you all more details as the date approaches. In the meantime, though, don't forget to stop by the Bloggers Give Back web page, here, to read these boy's stories and donate any amount you're able to. Or, to make things easier, I've included a  little donate button at the bottom of this page that you can click on to get you started. :)

Much Love!

P.S. I spy with my little a eye, an adorable little cousin photo bombing a couple of these pictures, do you? ;)

Random Random

'Ello, ello everyone! My AUNT IS HERE!!!! I'm so excited! It's been so beyond great having her here. I will post many, many details about her stay and all that jazz in the next couple of days. Let's get straight to business here, though, and lets get to chatting about this outfit. First, this skirt is WAY too short. I realized it about halfway to the DMV to get the plates for the dealership I work at. Of course, by then it was much too late to really do anything about it. After finishing up at the DMV, at which point I'm pretty sure I had aged and died a couple of lifetimes, my lil' sis took these photos for me. I hate how my hair and face looks in about half of them but the lighting and colors looked way too cool to not use the photos for an outfit post. I was "trying" to go for a sporty/girly look, ya know, kinda like a modern day stylish Sporty Spice. I actually ended up hating the entire look and couldn't wait to get home to rip it off, but despite my hating it, it turns out that the outfit actually photographed quite well. Go figure. You guys will have to give me your thoughts on the matter.

{F21: skirt similar; Hollister: sweatshirt similar; h&m: sneakers}

Now, before I get to the topic on hand for today, let me just gripe and complain about on last thing. THERE IS VISIBLE BOOB CRACK in one of those photos up there!! Boob crack never happens to me. I mean, NEVER. I just simply do not have enough boobage for boob crack to exist, so the fact that boob crack happened is just insane. I blame it on two things. First, that they where being crushed together into oblivion by my arms. Second, the fact that I was wearing this dingy, ratchety, supportless, strapless bra that I have, no joke, owned since I was twelve. I honestly don't know why I still keep the stupid thing. Maybe it's just because it's so dang comfy, but I'm now realizing that it's basically useless. It's my garbage bra. Do any of you guys (I mean ladies. This is one of those instances where it becomes odd and confusing to call a group of women guys.) do that? Do you keep a hold of ancient dingy garbage bras just for old times sake? I think I've finally accepted the fact that this garbage bra of mine has to go. While it does a nice job of still fitting my boobage and making me feel all excited about the fact that maybe I haven't gained any body fat since the age of twelve since it still fits. Ha, I know, I know, as if. ;) I've realized that it's been worn to it's utter capacity and is now so loose round my back that it falls down repeatedly throughout the day in attempts to find itself a new purpose as a belt rather than a bra. I'm sorry garbage bra, but you cannot find new purpose in life by trying to become a belt. It just won't work, and I'm sorry but you will have to find yourself a new home...in, well, the garbage. Sigh...

Anyways! Halloween is next Thursday! Now, I've never been much of a Halloween gal. I think it has to do with my being foreign and all, because it's just one of those things that was considered kind of odd with my family. My mom never bought us a single Halloween costume, so if we ever felt so inclined to dress up we had to get creative. She didn't not buy us costumes to be mean or anything, she just didn't get the point in the whole thing. She'd always just say, "why don't I just buy you guys a big old bag of candy and be done with it? Why do you have to dress up and go ask the neighbors for it?" So, growing up like that, Halloween was never one of those big deal holidays and was never anything that I got super in to. Anyway, last year was the first time in my career as a legal adult that I decided to actually dress up. My sister's and I dressed up as character's from Alice in Wonderland. We went out to parties with friends, and Halloween turned out to be actually kind of fun. Who knew? ;) Anyway, this year I actually decided to get the jump on the whole thing, and I bought myself a killer gypsy costume. Of course the one year I finally decide to get excited about the whole stupid holiday is the one year I have heard absolutely NOTHING about any Halloween parties to go to. Sad, sad. Poor lonely me. Maybe I'll just go put on my garbage bra and tell it my woes. ;)

Much love!

100&100 Celebration + a Giveaway!

Hello dearies! I did it again! I called you all dears, or some variant of it. Maybe I will just have dears be my new greeting thing. Anyway, I have another giveaway for you all today! I know, I know, from no giveaways ever, to my first giveaway ever, to two giveaways within the week? Crazy, right? Well, Life of a Coy Fish reached two milestones very recently that I forgot to commemorate. First, that I have now published 100 posts! Eek, where has the time gone, am I right? Second, we reached 100 followers and are well on our way to 200! I know everybody says that blogging isn't about the numbers and that it isn't a numbers game, but come on, if we're being honest we'd all admit that there's a little sense of love and satisfaction that comes from the fact that there are growing numbers of people out there in the world that are interested in what you have to say. It's a nice warm fuzzy feeling. Kind of akin to eating a nice perfectly baked Halloween sugar cookie paired with a steamy cup of frothy white hot chocolate. :) Amen, hallelu? Amen hallelu! Anyway, let's just say that this Halloween giveaway is our little 100&100 commemoration celebration! :) On that note I'd like to quickly thank all of you lovely readers, new or old, for following along thus far! :) So, without further ado...

Today I'm teaming up with 17 other lovely bloggers to give one lucky winner a $225 VISA gift card! What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a chance for some free cash, right?

Enter below and take some time to check out each of these ladies' blogs!

NC Grown  |  Auteur Ariel

Kelsey Bang  |  Haircut & General Attitude  |  Love & Such  |  Thrift & Shout

The Style Storm  |  Breezy Days  |  Livy Love Designs  |  Love, The Skinnys

Cella Jane  |  Fashion Love & Lauren  |  The Fashion Canvas  |  Helene in Between

Golden Swank  |  Jody Beth  |  Life of a Coy Fish  |  Love, Lo
The more you enter, the higher chance you have at winning this sweet prize! Good luck everyone!
 a Rafflecopter giveaway

I Whip My Hair Back and Forth

Mornin' everybody. I hope all of your weekends where nice! I meant to post this yesterday for you all but I forgot what day of the week it was so posting this slipped my mind. Whoops. Kind of crazy that I forgot what day of the week it was seeing as Monday is one of the most memorable days of the week, what with it's drudgery and all. ;) Either way, the wrong has been righted, and I'm here. I'd been wanting and wanting to wear this look all summer, and yet I never seemed to actually go through with putting it on. It was just one of those outfit ideas that I had swirling around my brain for ages and ages, just begging to be worn but always being beaten by the newer things in my closet. Does that ever happen to you? Anyway, I've been trying to control myself and go on a bit of a shopping hiatus, so this look finally got to see the light of day. Oh, and can you really call it a shopping hiatus if the only reason you're not really buying anything is because you don't really have money to buy anything with? ;)

See that middle photo up there? Yeah, that's the inspiration for the title of this post. It was just one of those accidental photos, but I kind of liked how sassy and "whip my hair back and forth" it looked so I kept it. Anyway, this look ended up being a favorite. I liked how it looked a little more dressed up and profesh with the blazer, but more dressed down and relaxed without it. And, can I get an "Amen, Hallelu" for these shoes? I mean, they're completely awesome! I love the crap out of their color. Yeah...that statement just kind of rubs a person the wrong way, right? Maybe I should've just said I'm obsessed with their color. Anyway, they were one of my great summer purchases over at h&m.

 {h&m: letter t-shirt cute option here, blazer, neon blue heels similar; Target: boyfriend jeans; Birch Box: green striped hair pins borrowed from my sister similar}

I know, I know, this has been one of my most boring posts to date. I can see my older sister just inwardly cringing at how boring this post has been, but my aunt is flying in from Guatemala tonight and I'm just crazy butt head excited!! I can't seem to manage to think of much else, which is why this post is so lame in the entertainment area. All I can keep envisioning is me giving my aunt and my little cousin a HUGE hug and then stuffing my face chuck full of all the snacks they're bringing over for us. I seriously just LOVE when family comes in to visit; it's like having a little slice of home. Mixed in with all of the excitement there's this little sense of ache tugging at the back of my mind. This will be the first time I'll be seeing my aunt since my grandma passed away, and I can't help but feel that being at the airport picking her up will bring back too many memories of when I last said goodbye to my grandma at the same airport. Either way, it's been 5 years since my aunt last visited and I'm just over the moon happy to be able to see her again!

Much love!