The Crickets, the crickets!

Top: gap similar

Boyfriend Jeans: Target

Hat: h&m similar

Oxfords: Bass similar

Purse: h&m 

Whelp, folks, it's my last post for the month of February. This month sure did fly by, and it was a poopy one at that. Don't get me wrong, I was all sorts of crazy happy this month (especially this week, kinda weird considering I'm riding the crimson tide this week and that usually causes the opposite effect) but in general it was just poop poop poopy. Sorry for over using that word. I know it's some people's "icky, I can't hear it without cringing" word so I'll control my use of it. Poopy. There, it's out of my system. Hopefully. Anyway, I figured since we've reached another end of the month I should probably do another update on my "Closet Challenge". As you'll all remember I totally killed it last month. I went 100% without shopping. This month, though? ...Cue the crickets...I went a little haywire. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. Either way, though? I shopped. Anyway, if you remember my rules you'll also remember that I gave myself safety guidelines should I slip up. Click here to read the full post in which I declare my year long shopping hiatus. Following those rules I now need to place the exact amount of money I spent on shopping into my savings account, which has been slowing accumulating more dough, as I've also been placing a 1/4 of my monthly income into it as money I would've otherwise spent on shopping. Let's get to this then. This is what I bought this month:

H&M

t-strap pumps: $34.95

knit skirt: $29.95 

(I actually ended up returning this because although it was marked a small it fit more like a medium. I couldn't get a refund, however, because I didn't have the receipt so I got $32 in store credit.)

basic black loafers: $14.95 

(I bought these with some of the store credit I got from the skirt. I actually ended up only paying $4 for them because I had a $10 off coupon. SCORE!)

shoulder bag in brown: $9.95

(I actually bought this on sale for $6.95 on President's Day)

F21

floral bodysuit: $8.80

basic pink cardigan: $8.80

London t-shirt: $8.80

TOTAL SPENT: $97.95

Well, that's all the stuff I bought. The amount I spent is actually pretty shocking. I hadn't thought it would be quite that much, especially since I felt like I was snagging some pretty good deals, but things add up quickly. Whelp, that's that then. Now all that's left is to deposit $97.95 into my savings account and move on. Here's to a clean slate for March and a renewed commitment to NOT SHOP. 

Much love!

31 Day Chip

If I were in alcoholics anonymous, I'd be getting a one month chip right about now. That's right folks, I have now gone a complete 31 days without shopping! Whoop, whoop! Are you all proud of me? I'm proud of me! 31 days down, 334 to go! And hey, why not call my "Closet Challenge" my own personal form of "Shopaholics Anonymous"? I'm personally awarding myself my own 31 day S.A. chip! Anyway, now that I've gone a complete month without shopping, I thought it'd be a good idea to do an end of the month review. Outfit wise, I think I did pretty dang well if I do say so myself. Pinterest was a huge help, a HUGE help. Without all the daily inspiration I don't know if I would have made it! I have to admit, there were "tear my hair out" moments when I just wanted to really, really give in and buy a butt load of new clothes, BUT...I didn't. Eh, eh? That's pretty huge. The online browsing, though? That was tougher. Much, much, tougher. Admittedly, I online browsed a leetle too much. A couple of pluses, though? I actually wore a lot of the things that I used to just let lie around in the back of my closet! And, every time I went to campus to make a tuition payment, it felt so good. So. Good. It felt better than wearing any new item of clothes would have. Who knows, maybe I might even cure myself of my shopping ways and never shop again! Haha. Ha. Ha. Just kidding, but my "Closet Challenge" is definitely helping me get my priorities straight and realign my perspective on needs and wants. Now, onto the fun stuff! My top four favorite looks of the month! Drum roll please...

1//2//3//4

My top two favorites where my 'sweatshirt with a skirt' looks. I'm just really, really digging that combo right now, and forgive me, but you'll all probably be seeing variations of it a lot more! :) My third favorite was my leather jacket and plain white tee combo! There's nothing better than revamping classics! Although, my favorite thing about this look, are the cuffed jeans. I'm so glad cuffed jeans are making a come back because now the fact that I have to cuff most of my jeans anyway isn't so bad, never mind that the jeans pictured above are petite. ;) Also, baggy boyfriend shorts and a chunky cardigan? Comfy combo made in heaven, am I right? Need I say more? ;) Also, I have an emoticon problem. I add winky faces into my posts way too much. It's almost like I'm a sleezy mustache man. ;) Drat. Did it again. Just call me the winky face perv. ;) Gosh, I just can't stop, I'll just enroll myself in Emoticons Anonymous too while I'm at it. 

Much love!

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. 

The Closet Challenge

Hello dears! Remember how last post was a complete snooze fest and I promised I'd have something exponentially more entertaining for you all today? Well, I've got an announcement of sorts for you all! After giving this a lot of thought, and I mean A LOT of thought, I've decided to challenge myself (and my closet for that matter) to a year long shopping hiatus. That's right, I'm challenging myself to commit to no shopping for a WHOLE year. I know that seems completely insane, especially for a shopping addict like me, but frankly, that's precisely why I wanted to do it. I was starting to see how the amount of shopping I did was becoming an issue. I was spending too much of my funds on clothing and less and less of it on the things that actually needed to be paid and none of it on helping others. That fact started to get under my skin like an incurable itch. The itch of discomfort with my shopping habits started to fester like an open wound. I could see how much time I spent in stores, malls, and websites perusing and perusing clothes and it really started to bother me. Was this the person I wanted to be? That person that spent money carelessly on things that don't last longer than a season or two? That person that prioritized buying herself shoes, cardigans, and hats over paying for her own actual needs or using her money to help another? No. Not at all. I felt like the lines between wants and needs started to get too blurred. I think the moment I finally committed to the idea of going a whole year without shopping was an evening when I was attempting to put away some clothing and I realized that I had a walk in closet AND a full sized dresser and yet I still didn't have enough room for my clothes. It was that moment that made me really step back and realize that there were some people in the world that had only the t-shirt on their backs and here I was struggling to fit another item of clothing into my already overflowing walk in closet. It was honestly kind of a shameful moment for me. Anyway, the decision was made that I needed a cleanse to refocus myself. I also decided that a simple month long cleanse wasn't going to cut it this time around, either. Thus, my Closet Challenge was born. I decided to call it "The Closet Challenge" because on top of serving the purpose of getting my shopping habits and priorities under control it would also serve the purpose of putting my closet to the test. It would test whether or not I own enough timeless/versatile pieces to last me a whole year sans shopping without making me look like Granny West from the 1920's. ;)

Now that I've pitched my intentions, I might as well declare my rules and guidelines for the challenge while I'm at it, because what's a challenge without rules, right? :)

The Closet Challenge Guidelines

• No shopping from January 1st 2014 to January 1st 2015
• If I should ever happen to fall off the band wagon and make a purchase, I have to place the same amount of money I spent on clothing into my savings account. (I figure this will double the amount of money that will be leaving my pocket and therefore dissuade me from wanting to shop.)
• Anytime I'm feeling tempted to go shopping, or I catch myself spending more than 5 minutes browsing online, I have to put another ten dollars into my savings account.
• Anytime I say the phrase "I totally need" and follow it up with the name of an item of clothing another ten dollars must go into savings. 
• Put a fourth of my monthly income into savings as money I would've otherwise spent on clothing.
• Log my progress throughout the year on this here blog of mine by doing an end of the month analysis of all the different uses my money was put to without having it under the burden of my poor shopping habits. ;)
• At the end of the year, I must calculate all the money that's been put into my savings due to the Closet Challenge and then find a charity or good cause to donate half of it to.

{h&m: striped cotton shirt; Space 46 Boutique: tulle skirt; F21: studded loafers, reader glasses similar, pearl hairband worn as bracelet}

Well my dears, the challenge hast been proclaimed, the rules have been set, and now all that's left is for me to follow through on my master cleanse from shopping! I know this will be good for me, and will definitely be a humbling experience but I still can't help but question whether or not I've lost my sanity. ;) I've made a cute little sidebar button for "The Closet Challenge" as well, just as a daily reminder but also as a way to let you all join in on the quote unquote fun. ;) If any of you lovely blogger friends or readers are interested in loosing your sanity and joining me in a year long hiatus from shopping (or however long  you can commit to) feel free to grab the button and add it to your page! Let's see where this takes us!

Much love!