Thrift Is A Virtue

Good morning! I am enjoying one of my last weekdays where I can be at home at 11 a.m. in my cozy clothes doing nothing, since in two weeks I will be in an office at this time! Yay! But in the meantime, I am going to brew myself another cup of coffee and chillax until I have to go wipe some noses and plop bottoms onto chairs (since standing on them is kids' favorite but quickest-regretted pastime).

Being a young newlywed, I know how it goes trying to get the most bang for your puny buck. By puny, I mean lower middle class -- definitely not claiming poverty, since we have been blessed way too much with education, jobs, wedding gift money, etc. However, it's hard to see magazines and TV shows and get ideas for what you want your clothes and house to look like, only to remember that you need to be saving for a new car sans Detroit bullet holes (Darin's gift from old neighbors lol), not buying stuff from Pottery Barn or Sephora. Luckily, I am finding that if you budget right and look around, you would be surprised by the kinds of good deals you can find!

Home Decor

I wanted to decorate our house for fall somewhat, and saw these really cute mercury glass pumpkins on Pinterest (my vice), from Pottery Barn. But the small one alone is $24.50! Sheesh! However, on my once-in-a-while trip to Michael's craft store, I found a super thrifty solution. They had styrofoam pumpkins painted silver already, no DIY needed. And the day I was in, they happened to be 40% off that brand! What what! I paid $8 for three pumpkins for our coffee table. If we wrap them nicely, they will last a while, even if a way cheaper material than the PB version. Check out craft stores, they have some house decor that isn't too cheesy and crafty looking.

Beauty

I have been loving the idea of darker lip color for a while now, and haven't really bought any colors in that family before. Darin prefers more natural peaches and pinks, and I usually like focusing on my eyes more in my makeup routine, so lips that are too colorful would be kind of overkill. But I wanted to try something new! I was at the store five below and saw a bunch of Wet n Wild brand makeup for super cheap. Perfect for trying something out before plunking down even $7 for a Revlon or other nicer brand. As it turns out, I like their lipstick a lot more than I thought, and I'll stick with this one until it runs out!

Haha no other makeup on today! But it's such a pretty color. It's called Sugar Plum Fairy and it's a matte shade, in case anyone was wondering. (Put on a layer of lipstick, blot it, dust some powder over it, and then smudge on a little more lipstick to make it last!)

Fashion

Darin has made fun of my glasses for a while now. Actually, it was on Valentine's Day when he told me over Skype that he thinks they're ugly. Great timing, right? Obviously it didn't mess up our relationship since we are married, but I still have those glasses, since I think they are fine. However, I noticed a friend on Facebook mention that with Coastal.com you get your first pair of glasses free, and that hers actually came in the mail and that it was not a scam. Not a bad deal at all! I investigated myself, and they really are free! I paid about $20 for shipping and handling since I ordered the cheapest lenses, which is not bad for a $100 pair of Derek Cardigan wayfarer-style glasses.

Aren't they so cute? The style name is "Black Rootbeer" in case you want to see for yourself. I can't wait till they arrive! The nice thing is that they have a 366 day return guarantee with free return shipping, so if your prescription somehow doesn't come out quite right or the fit is off, send 'em back! Woohoo! Thanks, Facebook, for doing something for me rather than waste my life.

In short, don't give up on cute stuff on a budget! You'll find great deals in the most interesting of places! Now, to find a loophole to score a cheap Michael Kors bag... nah, that'll have to wait a few years.

Love, Lara

Another Boring Clothes Post... Or, So You Think

Excited for Easter tomorrow? I sure am! Although I had to buy myself my Easter candy this year --- chocolate-dipped Peeps, what divinities will they think of next? -- I am really pumped for my plans this year. I am going to church in the morning with a fine body of believers to celebrate Christ's resurrection together with worship and learning. Aletheia Tampa has such awesome, scriptural, and relevant teaching, and a great community to boot. I know they do Easter right!

Easter is one of the weirdest holidays for most of the world. A lot of people I know aren't really believers in the basic meaning of why we celebrate it, which is that Jesus died but rose again, conquering death and proving He is the Son of God, who is able to save us too from the grave and take us to be with the Father for eternity. But they sure freaked out at my brother and I for not going home for Easter! I guess they even have a lot of traditions, like a big ham lunch and such, but I guess our family did not make that a regular part of Easter; going to church was the main point. I do want to incorporate some traditions for my future family with Easter, especially hot cross buns. I do NOT know what they taste like but they sound good!

I didn't even mean to buy an Easter outfit this year, but it just happened. I found some amazing cherry red pumps at Target on sale for $8.99 yesterday, and today came across a beautiful white and navy blue dress at Ross for just $12.99 that would look great anytime. They make for a pretty fabulous combo, don't you think? ;)

Again, I could not for the life of me find the actual pieces I got, but they look an awful lot like this. The dress has more of a ripply wave effect but the same colors in the same pattern. I am thinking curling my hair vintage Hollywood-style to go with it! I think I will be rocking this look more than one day this year!

My hope for y'all is a day full of celebration with your families, dwelling on the real reason for Easter and letting the love shown on the cross sink into your heart as you pig out on those Robin Egg Whoppers, aka crispy nuggets of fairy kisses and angel music. I am nuts about those things.

Love, Lara

Life Is Crazy, Wear a Scarf

Hello, again. I can't wait to have more interesting things to share with people that are actually pertinent to the point of this blog, which involve getting married and jumping into a new stage of life in the Mitten. There are a lot of things that are underway to make this reality, but at this moment in time, it feels like there's nothing meaty to talk about!

I am almost a month away from graduation, which is insane. I am almost three months away from my wedding, which is also insane. Where did all this time go!? Really though, I am not feeling all that reminiscent at the moment. There may come a time when I look back at my senior year and my engagement and think, Oh, that was a special time in my life that I let fly by so quickly. I am saying to future Lara: too bad! I am ready for some big and fantastic things on the horizon and there is no looking back!

This is all coming from a girl who needs to study for an African History test and pick out her wedding flower arrangements; there is a special perspective. I hate to wish away any time of my life, but I am just saying I'm excited for what the future holds and trying to enjoy this busy time as much as possible.

Well, instead of something really important to discuss, I am posting my outfit today. Oh well.

Minus the fact that the earrings and scarf I have were purchased in Sarajevo, this is pretty much exactly what I had on today! I love all the little bits of color (and nail polish, in my opinion, is an important part of that). Almost any day of the week, you can find me in a tank top with a cardigan. They are the coziest cute clothes on earth, and you can't have enough. And New York & Co. jeans are now the only ones I wear. Darin asks all the time when we are together, "Hey! Did you get new pants?" because he knows I wear, like, 2 pairs of jeans ever. Disgusting? Your call.

Sometimes, the smaller pleasures in life -- including making sweet outfits for yourself to wear to all the crazy places you have to go -- are worth finding. :)

Love, Lara

Sunday Funday Crafts!

You know what I love about Sundays? That I am able to rest. No one expects you to be incredibly productive on Sundays, so you have the freedom to do so if you are all revved up to get something done, or you can lay back and relax until the next day. I usually like a balance between the two -- doing something that I enjoy energetically but not things that are stressful or unpleasant when possible.

Today I took on a project that I have held onto for quite a while that sounded so much fun. I saw these awesome sandals on Etsy where you can change out the colors of the straps and tie them up differently to create infinite look possibilities. Being curious more than stingy, I wanted to find out if there was a way to hack some ordinary sandals to make them more like the base model for these magical, customizable ones. Let me show you how they turned out!

I bought sandals that were essentially set up like this to begin with:

by Billabong

Mine at the toe had a strap that obviously looked like it was a loop, so that if you cut the strap that goes lengthwise down the longest part of the sandal, it could be pulled out and leave a little loop at the top of the sandal. Having loops on the sides, or a piece that could be glued down to make loops on the sides, is the other thing you need to make your own customizable sandals. Take a look at the real deal on the Etsy shop and see how you need at least one pair of loops on the sides of the sandal to put ribbons or cloth through to make it work. I'd also recommend getting ones of good quality that have comfortable soles so you aren't in pain walking around in them. Got it?

Mine ended up like this after cutting out the parts of the sandal that I will replace with ribbon and gluing down part of the sides to make my own loops:

Those pieces of leather on the sides are secured down with glue specifically designed for durability and able to be used with leather. It was about $6 at JoAnn fabrics. (Use a coupon, they have tons!)

This is what it looks like with ribbon pulled through the loops. Also purchased at JoAnn. I determined that you are best off getting about 3-4 feet of ribbon per sandal, depending on how much you want to be able to wrap it around wherever and however many times you want. You wanna keep them from falling off, you know?

And the end result... (drumroll!)

They are so cute!!! I think you'd have even more leeway to be creative if you had two sets of loops on the sides, one closer to the base of your toes and one back by the ball of your foot. (Again, the Etsy shop has the design down perfectly and is what you want to emulate. Or just buy. For the quality and versatility, those sandals are a pretty good deal!)

I can't wait to buy some lace and other, more colorful ribbons to use, or some thin cloth strips to try out, too! These will be so much fun to change around depending on your outfit. And even better, if you want to make it match something new, just pick up a little more ribbon on your way and slide it through, almost making a whole new pair of shoes for just a couple bucks!

On, and in case you were wondering, my toes are painted with my FAVORITE polish: Kim-pletely In Love, Nicole by OPI. Yes, it is a Kardashian Kolor. (Yes, I spelled those right.) But it is so smooth and the perfect shade of pink, and has the best teeny-tiny blue glitter in it that makes it different. I'll be running out soon -- gotta go get more sometime! I live in a pitiful, girly world. But at least I have pretty toes! ;)

I hope you had a Sunday as relaxing and fun as mine, or some other day of the week to enjoy!

Love, Lara

Sweet Threads

One of my goals for my last year as a college student, approaching my first year as a real grown-up, is only buying clothes that I really like, and that mix and match with my other clothes, and that can be worn in settings more appropriate than walking around a college campus in Florida. That is a lot of goals for a huge aficionado of comfy tank tops and shorts. It is high time I only spend my money on pieces that can make an appearance in an office or in the mall.

I'm also really bad about buying things that look great but that I don't often feel like wearing. If a requirement for a shirt is feeling completely not bloated and thin and free, the odds are that it will only get worn once in a while, haha. I need to focus more on things that I am okay with being seen in no matter what kind of mood or physical state I am in.

Thus began the beginning of the purchase party of the century! For months now, I have been keeping my eye open for things going on sale that tend to be solid colors or tops that are fun and can be dressed up or down. I have many sweaters in neutral colors, tights that match the dresses I have, and shirts that go with the skirts I've had for a while, and jeans that I don't get tired of wearing. (Exclusively from New York & Company, as it turns out!)

Pinterest inspired me to want the color combination of navy blue and mustard yellow. And I now bring you... one of my favorite outfits!

I really do own all these clothes, although my mustard tights are originally from Target and the earrings were $1 at the Body Shop. But it's just so cozy! I've gotten a lot of compliments on the yellow tights -- they really are colorful without being too crazy and can go with a lot of things, if you dare. And I seriously can't figure out how I bought that nail polish, since apparently it isn't supposed to go on sale till April... I was at Ulta and there it was! Oh well. It is a great nude color for my olive skin tone, and I highly recommend it. :)

The act of putting together outfits on the computer really encourages me to dig through what I have and think of more ways I can get my money's worth with my current wardrobe, so you'll be seeing more of this soon!

Love, Lara