Feeling Girly

I was feeling extra girly today. I curled my hair, spent a little extra time on my makeup, put on my fake pearl earrings and even busted out my Fall/Winter boots.

Outfit of the day!
Shirt: American Eagle
Skinny Jeans: Target
Boots: ALDO
Baby: Our undying love (hehe)

 Putting the extra time into my appearance then made me want to get out of the house. No sense in being all dressed up with no place to go! I finished my usual morning routine,

Picture for David on our walk.
I LOVE how he is looking at me.  It totally melted my heart when I saw that!

had lunch after Ayden woke from his morning nap (during which I painted my nails my favorite Fall color, You Don't Know Jacques by OPI) then headed to the mall.

"helping" me push the stroller

We had a store credit at Gymboree, from returns I made when Ayden was a newborn, and a gift card for Bath and Body Works. Here is what I got:

Gymboree
long sleeve airplane onsie: $1.59
long sleeve, collard wrecking ball shirt: $4.79
short sleeve tie tee: $7.99
footed airplane PJs: $4.80
Total with tax: $20.33 (and I still have a little left on my store credit!)
If you have ever shopped full price at Gymboree you know that I got a STEAL!!!

Bath and Body Works
Fall scented soap for our downstairs bathroom: $5.50
Fall scented mini candles: 2 for $5
Total with tax: $20.33
Still have $7.66 left on my gift card (Christmas scented hand soap perhaps?)

Now it was time to treat myself. I have been drawn to the women's fashion category on Pinterest lately and there were a couple of outfits that I wanted to piece together.  I had been planning on spending my personal money from this pay period on my haircut that I got on Friday; but it was cheaper than I had planned so I had some money left.  Not much, though, so I headed where everyone heads to buy cheap but cute stuff.  Forever 21!

belt: $5.80
tights: $9.80

I purchased this skirt on sale at Fossil 2 seasons ago:

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I had seen this picture either in the Fossil catalog or online just after purchasing the skirt and wanted to get a belt and tights to wear with it and my cowboy boots during the Fall.  I never did it that season, then I was pregnant last year and couldn't wear a high waisted skirt, so I was excited to get to wear it this year!  I went with off white tights because they will go with more of my tops.  Hopefully they will be as cute as I have been picturing them.  Perhaps I'll actually wear the skirt that's been living in my closet with the tags still on...

Next up were my Pinterest inspired outfits:

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Blazer with striped cuffs

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denim button down, scarf, leggings, boots

All I needed to complete these looks were the blazer and the denim shirt.  Forever 21 has both but the shirt was $20 and the blazer was $30.  I realize that is relatively cheap, as far as clothes are concerned, but still more than my personal money would allow so I was off to The Goodwill to treasure hunt.  Here is what I found:

black blazer: The Limited - $5.00
denim button down: LL Bean - $3.00

According to the return policy at The Goodwill, I have 10 days to decide if I can turn these items into what I am looking for.  The blazer is in my size but does not have the striped fabric inside the cuff, which is the only reason that I would want to wear the blazer.  I'll need to see if that is something my mom can help me with.  The denim shirt above is longer and blousier than the shirt from the Pinterest inspired outfit and also doesn't have a collar.  It does have some small ruffle detailing down the buttons and around the bottom that doesn't really come through in the picture though.  I was thinking that since I'll be pairing it with leggings, it might be nice to have it a bit longer and the fact that it doesn't have a collar won't matter since I'll be wearing a scarf.  We shall see...

Whether it is a craft, DIY project or an outfit, it is alway fun to actually do/make/use the things that you pin on Pinterest.  Otherwise it is just electronic hoarding, right?  With how we are trying to downsize and minimize our lives, it will be a challenge to still be the girly girl that I like to be when I'm not an over-exhausted new mom.  I don't want to loose that part of myself because I do enjoy looking nice but I do want to challenge myself to purge some of the old clothes that I don't wear anymore (which I have already started doing since half of my old Fall/Winter clothes are in the Goodwill pile in our garage) and to get creative in finding cheaper versions of the clothes that I find in the mall or outfits that I find on Pinterest.  If you had told the highschool me that I'd become a thrift store shopper, I'd have called you crazy!  Waste not, want not, purchasing used just makes sense!  It also gets your creative juices flowing.

Ayden was a great little shopping buddy, as always.  He took a late afternoon nap for about a half hour while we were at The Goodwill and was in an excellent mood until he went to bed.  We started his bedtime routine at 7:00 in an effort to get him to bed earlier but he was ready to party for some reason He didn't get to sleep until 9:30 which is the latest he's ever gone to bed on a normal day without vacation or some event to disrupt the usual routine.  If it becomes a new "thing" I suppose we'll have to make some nap adjustments.  At least he was cute and happy while we were waiting for him to get tired.  We want to keep an early bedtime for him, though, because it is nice to have a couple of evening hours together as a couple while Ayden sleeps.  Our nights have also gotten rough again which is a bummer.  We are going to give it a little time to see if it might be a phase but if it's not, we're going to have to do something to help Ayden improve his ability to stay asleep for longer stretches.  Just when you get used to things working one way, it's time to change them again and it sure keeps us on our toes!

Since I got a good dose of civilization today, I plan to stay home tomorrow and knock out some To Do's!

~Sarah