it's here!!

finally, the world's most perfect floral dress just arrived in the mail today! to give you the back story, i've been looking for a vintage-inspired navy blue dress with lavender and pink flowers for a long time. does that sound random or what? i've seriously scoured the internet (and every thrift store) for one for about a year. and then lo and behold, i finally found it.... where else? forever 21! weird....

bah! i can't get over how perfect it is. don't you love it when you finally find the perfect piece your wardrobe has been missing? i'm such a sucker for floral dresses with sleeves that have flouncy, knee-length skirts. that shape is great for my petite shape.

in case you wanna know, i found a couple other navy with purple and pink floral options. i seriously thought about buying this skirt, but i'm so glad i waited for the f21 dress (which was even cheaper!):

skirt, express, $29.90

shorts, express, $34.90

new acquisition: huge green cocktail ring

 

just bought this monstrosity at forever 21 this week. i actually braved the crowd of miniskirt-clad fourteen-year-olds looking for this:

....but of course i couldn't find it because the way they organize forever 21 stores makes zero sense to me. plus, call me stubborn, but i hate asking sales people for help locating something.

anyways, back to the ring. what i love about it is that the stone is the perfect color of pale green, and it's kind of shimmery and cloudy at the same time. also, the band is stretchy so i can wear it on any frickin finger i want! any of them!

did i mention it was $3.80??? 

new acquisitions: christmas edition!

some fashion-y things i got for christmas this year....

isn't it beautiful?? this thing is deceptive large. my parents-in-law totally surprised me with this for christmas. oh my goodness. i can't WAIT to wear a floral sundress and skip through the park lugging this baby. speaking of babies, i'm pretty sure i could fit one (or 3) in here. and i'm talking about the chubby ones, too.

i wish i could say my brother also surprised me with this gift, but actually i told him exactly what i wanted. if you haven't read the blog.... well, just read the blog. it's incredible. 

roll-up flats from my cuz! pretty sweet. actually, i don't know if they're street-worthy, because they feel more like slippers, but that's cool because i don't have any slippers! plus i really like anything that can be made smaller and fit inside a tiny bag. neat!

new acquisition: canvas backpack

i never thought i'd be lusting after.... a backpack. especially since i've finally just now finished my schooling career. i should not be wanting corduroys, new clicky pens, pretty agendas, and backpacks! i'm getting too old for silly things like that.... ha :).

regardless, i still have been wanting one ever since i saw the one in the urban outfitters' summer catalog:

kimchi blue backpack, $68

but $68? for something as trendy as a backpack? definitely not. i usually don't spend more than $30 on anything, much less on something that may be totally dorky in a couple months. 

so what i ended up doing was typing in "canvas backpack" on ebay, and found this amazing bag!

you can wear it as a messenger bag, which is pretty darn cute:

or you can fasten the straps at different places and wear it as a backpack!

isn't that a perfect solution? so when the whole military thing gets passe, i can just wear it as a cute, functional messenger bag! or i can wear it to go hiking, camping, whatever! i'm so glad i bought this for right at $30 on ebay, instead of $68 from uo! yikes.

so when i get sick of the whole utilitarian look, i'm thinking about pinning on tons of sparkly brooches. fun, right?

estate sale finds

last weekend i worked at another estate sale and totally hit the jackpot. this 80-year-old lady had the most awesome collection of some 50+ pairs of shoes. these wrap sandals looked like they'd never been worn, with a price sticker still on the inside. My cousin called them fancy Jesus sandals, but I'm not sure that's entirely appropriate :P....

thrifted, via payless

western belt.... which is awesome because i don't have a non-skinny belt that i can actually wear with pants!

gold & ruby ring- $5!

new acquisition: bright cobalt bag

oh, you thought those new york inspiration pics were colorless and drab? well i didn't mention the best part: my new awesome cross-body bag! (thanks, honey!)

forever 21, $34.80

my husband bought this for me for our 2nd anniversary! awwwww..... i think i'm gonna wait until our trip to bust it out, though, so it'll be even that much more exciting :). i'll always think of it as my new york bag. silly, i know.

so i wanted this bag sooo much because i thought it would be easy to wear neutral (but interesting) pieces in nyc and use the same bag every day for a pop of color. wanna know my inspiration for this color scheme?

roxy olin from "the city"

did you see that episode? i know there was a lot of drama going on (when is there not??), but all i could think about was her awesome blueness against her black clothes. and check it out, she's even in a very picturesque new york scene- in front of a yellow taxi cab! how appropriate.

oh, and did i mention that it's a cross-body bag? perfect for traipsing around town. and for keeping my junk from getting stolen :S....

new acquisition: floppy hat!!

ok, so i didn't end up buying the wine-colored floppy hat that i've had my eye on for weeks. i think i like mine much better though, because it's not wool, which means i can wear it whenever. summer or winter. maybe. i don't know about the winter part, but my hat has a much better chance since it's not straw. i'm not really feeling the straw.

cute, right? target, $14.99

the flower is my favorite part!

lucky me, my parents (and my friend eleni- thanks eleni!) got me a target gift card for my birthday, and there are just so many possibilities! clothes, jewelry, shoes, makeup, house goods, electronics..... ahhh! what to choose, what to choose. the first $14.99 was easy to spend, though.

oh, just for good measure, here's yet another inspiration picture of a girl in an awesome floppy hat. this is the last one, i promise.

 this hat makes me want to sing, "doe, a deer, a female deer...."

photo: luckymag.com

i hit the forever 21 jackpot

some things i purchased online recently.... who knew forever 21 had such posh pieces?

 i've been looking for these pieces forever. they're basically my dream clothes. isn't it uncanny that i found them all in one place at one time? weird.

new acquisition: medium blue dress!

soooo excited! i've been looking for the perfect medium blue dress for a while now. my criteria:

1. medium blue- in between navy and light blue. more like a subdued cobalt.

2. has sleeves! spaghetti straps are too impractical for me. when would i wear it? to the beach? tennessee is land-locked!

3. pretty close to knee length.

4. affordable!

here it is, in all its medium marvelousness:

great, right? and guess how much.... no really, just guess. $12.99!! at ross! wow, i love that store. that's 2 awesome finds in one month.

bingo.

new acquisition: ditsy floral cardigan

as i mentioned a couple of days ago, i had that beautiful yellow cardigan with dainty red flowers in my clutches (down from $29.99 to $9.99, no less!), when urban outfitters crapped out on me.  boo. it's ok, maybe i'll still try and purchase something from their website someday.

well, i think what i purchased i like even better! it's from ruche, and this was the first time i'd ever bought from them before. but i seriously love their vintage feel. it's great. and pretty affordable too, if i'm careful with my spending.

just to review, here's what i almost bought:

 

and here's what i really did buy:

 

open cardigan: ruche ($26.99 + s/h)

t-shirt: target circa 2006

pants: gap circa.... 2002?? (clearly i haven't changed sizes or grown any since i was 12)

boots: charlotte russe

i really like the tiny flower pattern.... and i like that it has green in it, so i can wear it with my favorite color. plus i think i can mix this with a lot of my patterned and floral clothes. sweet.

this is what i wore to play practice the other night. it was great because it's rayon and therefore very comfortable. i'm looking forward to being an old lady, because i wanna be known as the crazy lady who only wears 100% rayon. seriously, it feels great.

oh, and if you wanna see how i did my hair, click here.

new acquisition: brown oxfords

after a serious day of studying last week, i wandered over to ross (which is dangerously close to the coffee stop i frequent) just to clear my head. and earlier that day, i had been looking at the new issue of lucky, which included pictures of brown leather oxfords.... again. i've been wanting a vintage-looking pair for a long time.... so imagine my surprise when i found these steve maddens for $16.99.... umm what?? at first i could only find a size 6, which i definitely am not, then a size 7, which i could barely stuff my feet into. at last, a size 7.5! usually i'm an 8, but these fit pretty well! sooo excited.

these are great because my go-to pair of gold flats don't really cover a lot of my foot.... and i think they look stupid with socks, especially since none of my socks match anymore. sigh. i need to purchase some new ones, but really, who wants to go sock shopping??

 

cute, right? i kinda surprised myself by liking these shoes.... kind of preppy for me. i usually gravitate towards hippie/ethnic things (even though i hate the word "ethnic".... what does that even mean?? isn't everything ethnic?). 

                        

to celebrate, my very first outfit post! this is what i wore to class this morning. my college has a very strict dress code- knee-length skirts or dresses and dress shoes. at first i hated it, now.... not so much! my closet thanks me. i have seriously accumulated tons of beautiful dresses and skirts. and i think i will continue to wear and buy them, even after i graduate in 2 months!!

dress: old navy (thrifted)

jacket: jordache from walmart like 5 years ago....

shoes: steve madden from ross- $16.99!

new acquisition: perfect green bag

dear jessica simpson,

thank you for designing the most perfect green bag i have ever seen. i'm sorry i ever doubted your styling abilities.

love,

lemon chiffon

isn't it great?? i found it at marshall's a couple weeks ago marked down from $108 to $39.99.... well i also had a $25 gift card! so i really got this for only $15.... or at least that's what i told my husband. this really is great, though, because pale green is my favorite color, and it is so hard finding a bag that's the exact right shade. plus it's such a unique design. 

good job, jessica.

this was my inspiration, by the way- mary kate olsen. what a lovely pastel green.