Lint, Lint, Lint

Forgive my inability to lint roll my coat. I was just too lazy to do it and I figured that some minor photo editing would render my lint buried jacket unnoticeable. I was wrong. Just pretend it's lint free ok? Ok. In other news, my arms are complete jelly right now. Com. Plete. Jelly. Oh, and guys, my bench pressing abilities are abysmal. It's sad really, how bad they are. In fact, they're so embarrassing I don't even want to mention how little I can bench. But let's just say I'm basically benching a six year old...and I struggle with it. Please don't mock. I don't know why this fact is so embarrassing to me, but it is. I seriously left the gym wanting to cry from how embarrassed I was of my bench pressing. I just hate seeming weak in any way, except in this case, I actually am just plain old weak. Boohoohoo. ;( Why is my upper body strength such rubbish? I mean cardio comes easily to me and when it comes to endurance I can endure ten straight minutes wall squating, but ask me to bench press and it's basically like asking a puppy to carry a cow.

 Coat: h&m kids similar

Top: h&m

Beanie: h&m similar

Necklace: h&m similar

Leggings: h&m 

Booties: h&m similar

Guess what? This whole outfit is from h&m. I'm obviously a little obsessed with that place. If stores could cry, the h&m at The Fashion Place Mall would be crying buckets right now from the fact that I will no longer be gracing it with my paychecks for an entire year. Don't worry h&m, I miss you too. I miss you too. This coat, though, is the first winter coat I've ever bought myself. I picked it up from the kids section at h&m a little before Christmas for $20 and it has served me well! It keeps me warm and I love the fact that it looks a little more put together and blazer-y. This morning I actually did have a harder time thinking of something to wear, probably because I went and bragged about how easy my Closet Challenge had been so far. I probably shouldn't have done that. All I wanted to do this morning was head to a mall and get myself something new. I resisted, though. I actually would have had an easier time getting dressed this morning if I had been able to wear a skirt or a dress, but since I was going to ride the train today I figured it'd be safer if I didn't risk riding public transportation in a skirt. So sad. I hate pants. 

Much love!

My Hair is Full of Secrets...just sayin'

Top of the mornin' to you all loves. Guess what? My hair is full secrets. Nah, just kidding. It's just that the other day, when I wore this outfit, my sister asked me how I got my hair so big. Of course we couldn't then resist quoting mean girls and said, "Gretchen Wieners knows everybody's business, she knows everything about everyone. That's why her hair is so big, it's full of secrets." Therefore, by that logic, my hair is also full of secrets. ;) Just kidding, the only secret this hair is holding is sweat. I'm not even kidding. That's the secret to my big hair. Sweat. When I style it, I usually like to do it at night, when I have more time to burn, rather than in the morning. Anyway, then when I go into the gym early in the morning I just throw it up into a ponytail at the very tippy top of my head and get started sweating like a flying hog monkey. By the time I'm done, about 45 minutes later, and I let my hair down it just comes down full of insane amounts of volume. Now, I know most people already know the ponytail on the top of your head trick, and it's awesome, but for long lasting big hair the key really is sweat. It's kind of gross but true. That's my trick to long lasting volume, anyway. I don't know if it'll work for everyone, but if you've got thick hair that's on the textured side, like me, then it'll work for sure, if not, give it a shot anyway and see if it works for ya!

In other news, The Closet Challenge is going pretty well. (Don't know what I'm talking about? I've committed to a year without shopping! That's right, a year. Click here for more info!) I've been holding strong thus far, though, despite many temptations. I haven't bought a single thing. Are you guys proud? I'm proud. Also, I'm amazed at how easily getting dressed in the morning has been. Going into this, I was so sure that coming up with outfits on a day to day basis without any new clothes would be a lot harder than it has been. I was so sure that I'd just go into each day thinking that I had absolutely nothing to wear and immediately turn back to my shopping addiction. Happily, that has not been the case. I've got a million and one outfit ideas running through my mind every morning, and I have yet to get bored of the things in my closet. Let's see how long this lasts. Hopefully it'll last me many months more and not just be a one month thing. Fingers crossed. Knock on wood. Although, I have to admit, h&m has been killing me. I have a list of about seven things from their new Spring collection that I'm simply dying to have. My skin is itching to get them. Especially since a couple of them are now half off. Waaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Knit Cardigan: Abercombie Kids similar

t-shirt: h&m

Boyfriend Shorts: h&m similar

Loafers: F21

Necklace: h&m similar

Tights: h&m

Have I mentioned how unseasonably warm it's been here in Utah lately? Well, it's felt gloriously Springy! Mid forties! SO toasty! Anyway, in the spirit of it feeling so springy I decided to break out my baggy boyfriend shorts! I luuuuuuuurve them. I actually got them at the end of December (pre the shopping ban) for ten buckeroos! What a steal. I also love that they're not itty bitty. That's also a major plus. Anyway, I decided to try out the whole "shorts with tights" trend, and I have to say I actually loved it. Especially with my handy dandy cozy/chunky knit cardigan! Very "Weird Girl Next Door". ;)

Much love! 

I'm Chocolate Wasted

Happy Monday dearies! How were all of your weekends? Good I hope! My weekend was pretty fantabulous. Friday night I had the pleasure of having a little game night with the Graham girls, my favorite little girlies around! The eldest is twelve years old now. TWELVE! That's the age I was when I first met the little sweet hearts and started babysitting for their sweet family. My, oh my, has the time flown by. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was a shy little twelve year old! Where has the time gone? I actually asked my sister that exact question yesterday morning. I asked her where the time had gone and when we had gotten so grown up. You know what the little snob and a half told me? That I wasn't grown up! Pfft. Pfft. The impudence of the woman! (Just kidding, Allison, I love you! Don't kill me for calling you impudent, I was just quoting P&P;) Anyway, one of her reasons for saying that I didn't qualify as a grown up was the fact that when I asked her the question I was sitting across from her slurping away at the smoothie I had made myself for lunch. She claims grown ups don't slurp. Or drink smoothies for lunch for that matter. In fact, as the day progressed she kept pointing out little things that I do that disqualified me from being a grown up. I eventually joined in on pointing out the non "grown up" things I do because, well, she was kind of right, I'm not really much of a grown up.

Here is a small list of the reasons we came up with,  just, during church of why I'm not a grown up. :)

Reasons Why I'm Not a Grown Up

• I slurp my drinks
• I play with my candy wrappers
• I poke my sister with said candy wrappers during Sacrament
• I fidget like I've got a monkey in my skirt
• I occasionally giggle to myself for no apparent reason
• I like to doodle on the program
• I need to pee urgently every 15 minutes. (Well, that might actually just mean that I have a bladder infection. Whatevs. ;)

Oh! Oh! And the reason why I'm not a grown up that takes the cake: I play with stranger's jackets. Yep. During sacrament I started playing with the jacket of the girl sitting next to me. During the entire meeting. I didn't notice what I had been playing around with, or that I was even doing it, until the closing hymn. We were sitting pretty close to each other because our bench was pretty crammed. She had her jacket off and resting around her, and at some point early in the meeting I surreptitiously picked up a corner of it and started running my thumb up and down it's fleece lining. Honestly, I don't even know why I did it. Maybe it felt like a baby's blankie and I felt like feeling like a baby? Who knows. I'm kind of crazy. Anyway, the only reason I finally noticed I was doing it was because by the last hymn, I had started running the edge of my nail along the zipper and I thought to myself, "heehee I like the sound of zippers with this hymn, heehee, I like the feel of zippers...wait. When did I get a zipper?" and that's when I noticed that I was holding the corner of a stranger's jacket. I wonder if she noticed. I hope she didn't. If she did, she was nice for letting me play with a corner of her jacket. Bless her. ;)

Sweatshirt: Hollister Co similar

Maxi Skirt: Forever 21 similar

Heels: Charlotte Russe similar

Necklace: h&m similar

Well, now that the story telling is done and we've established that I don't qualify for the grown ups club let's talk about the outfit. First, I realize that it isn't quite spring yet, but it's been feeling so deliciously warm the past couple of days, (43 degrees guys! It's basically summer!;) that I decided to just bring out a pop of spring colors anyway. I just love bright happy colors, and the color of this maxi is exactly that. I thought a fun and slightly different way to style it, that wouldn't make it seem too summery/springy, would be to pair it with this cropped sweatshirt I got a couple of years ago at Hollister! I love how dressed up and yet simple this look was! It will definitely be on repeat. 

Much love!

P.S. take a look at these outtakes. Mr. Roku was behaving like a little demon child for photos, and decided that it would just be so grand to runaway from us and pee on all of our neighbors trees. Little punk. Naturally I had to chase him down, in heels mind you, and I ended up picking him up butt up and head down. 

DeeDa

'Ello, 'ello. How art all of you? Mmmmm? Good? Good. Today's one of those days in which I find myself having absolutely nothing to say. Nothing. Well, I guess that's a lie, because I do have things to say I'm just saving them for another day, another post. How's abouts a recap on the weekend eh? My weekend was pretty dang good. This whole week was pretty dang good actually. I'm hoping that's a good omen for the whole year. First, NYE celebrations with my girls were pretty dang fantastic. We ate some cheesy cake and then hit the dance floor like a group of maniacs. Twas the best. No hottie pattotie sightings/encounters, though. Sad. Sad. Oh wells, there's still another 359 days left for that right? ;)

Thursday was me mum's birfday. She turned 47! FORTY. SEVEN. Guys! That is just so mind blowing to me! Mostly because I see her and I feel like I'm looking at a 37 year old not a 47 year old. It's just like my brain can't compute because my eyes aren't looking at someone who looks 47. Life is wild y'all. Life. Is. Wild. Excuse my "y'all" there, I've just been feeling real country folk lately and feeling like y'allin it up left and right. ;) Anyway, on me mum's birfday we also got the pleasure of opening up my little sister's mission call! ...annnnnnd she's been called to serve in the Montreal Canada mission Spanish/French speaking for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I'm so insanely excited and proud! I just know she'll do so
splendidly! I know I'm going to miss her like crazy, though, so I'm trying to keep my mind off of the fact that she'll be gone for 18 months and focus on the people she'll be serving and the lives she'll be changing.

 {h&m: plain white tee; Bohme: super flare jeans similar; GoJane: booties similar; American Eagle: turquoise necklace similar; Knit Scarf: handmade by my sister}

Anyway, after a fun bowling sesh with some pretty awesome homies we all settled in on Saturday for a sibling game night with a couple of our best friends and their sister. It was such a blast! Man, dem Larson's make us wee lil' Gonzalez's laugh like a bunch of crazy pants. It seriously feels like this whole week was spent staying up till at least midnight laughing like certifiably insane people with at least one Larson. Twas the best. Friendship you guys. Friendship.  Whelp. That's all I have for you all. I'm sorry it was so boring. I promise I have something better in the works for guys on Wednesday! It'll be big. Like I might die from how huge the next post is going to be. Ok, maybe that's a lie. I shouldn't build it up that much. Anyway, y'all will see. ;) 

Much love!

The Stuff of Nightmares

My dudes, I'm sick. I've been trying to pretend I wasn't sick since Christmas Eve, but it has now become inevitably apparent. Scratchy throat, congested lungs, runny nose, and sneezy. The works. Delicious. At least I've got a TV to watch as I snuggle in bed now. Silver linings right? Which, speaking of, I read the book "The Silver Linings Playbook" last night, per recommendation of my bff. May I say, it was aaaaaaaaaamazing!!! More on that later, though. You know what happened to me today? I was confronted by, not one, but TWO of my all time worst fears today! I know. I know. Pffft. A pffft. How is that even possible right? Well, it's possible.

First, remember how I mentioned a little while ago that it seemed like all birds in the state of Utah had migrated to within a quarter of a mile of my house? Yeah, well, today they all decided to migrate directly to my house. AHHHHHHHHHH!! This morning, they were all smacking into my window like a bunch of wackos as if to mock me and my terror. Buttheads. Anyway, when I went with my sister to run some errands, they were all perched on my neighbors bush staring at me as I backed out of the drive way. I just know they were all thinking, "We'll be here when you get back, Allexis. We'll be waitingggggggg." Ughhhhhhh, I could cry. Luckily they were gone by the time I got back. Phew. Anyway, now onto the next fear that smacked me in the face today (I should've known the birds were a bad omen). Escalators. Yupp, you read that right, escalators. I'm afraid of escalators. I know it's stupid, but they terrify me. I'm constantly afraid that I'll fall down and get my face torn open by all of those sharp, rugged, ruffle chip shaped edges. OR. OR. My shoe lace will get stuck in one of those creepy little cracks and then I'll get stuck and chopped up to death all Final Destination style. They. Are. Terrifying.  I mean, what if I get one foot on a step but the other foot stays on solid ground, and then my legs start getting pulled away from each other and since I can't do the splits my legs get torn in half??? Again I say, terrifying. For the most part, even though I'm deathly afraid of stupid escalators, I can still manage to get on them and swallow my fears. Every now and then, though, on days like today, I find myself completely unable to get my foot to take that first step onto the escalator. Today, when I faced the escalators at F21, I found myself starting to sweat and completely unable to get my feet onto the stupid escalator. All of my completely irrational fears about escalators started seeming a whole lot more rational. My sister was pretty much halfway down the escalator by the time I managed to hop on and hold on for dear life. Needless to say, I survived. Anyway, all that was missing in my day of nightmares was for Shamu to show up and bight my arm off. Yupp. I'm also afraid of Shamu, more specifically, killer whales in general. Demon spawn.

 {h&m: sweater dress, socks; F21: key necklace, readers similar; GoJane: booties similar}

Anyway, these reader glasses, little booty socks, and over sized sweater dress are a few more of the items I got for Christmas. I luuuuurve them. This sweater dress is seriously so, so cozy. It's like wearing a blanket. Yumm. I also love the idea of pairing something so relaxed and cozy as this sweater with something as girly as these frilly pink socks and heeled booties. :) I'm sensing a go to outfit being born. ;)

Much love!