30x30 Week Seven Recap and Finale!

I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!!!! (Can you tell I am a bit excited) Finally after two months of only wearing thirty things in my closet and no shopping I am done! Today is day thirty!

When I first started this adventure the possibilities seemed endless and I thought this would be so nice. No more worrying about what to wear or not having an outfit to choose. Also my money could be spent on home projects and not on clothing like I normally tend to spend it on. However by day fifteen I was done. It started getting hot here in Chucktown around then and I wanted to wear my cute summer dresses. But alas I stuck it out and finally here I am at day thirty! (I swear this past weekend I almost gave up.)

I think the best thing about this challenge is I learned what I have in my closet is enough.  Do I want more things? Well yes, I am female after all. I love shopping. I love imagining what and when I will wear something and I LOVE getting a good deal. The majority of my things now days come from the thrift store and I am immensely proud of that. (I love getting dressed knowing how much I saved on something just by buying it second hand). Also it was so freeing not to spend my free time shopping. I realized that shopping is a crutch for me when I can think of nothing else to do. I can definitely tell you Jose has loved not being dragged to the outlets, Target, or the thrift store for the past two months.

So would I do this again, you might ask? Yes and no. I think I would do this again as a winter challenge or a time when our weather is more consistent for thirty days. However I say no because of my work schedule and the fact that I wear scrubs three days a week, this challenge just took way too long. I mean two months is a long time to cut yourself off from the rest of your closet. Anyway I think I have done enough rambling for one day, so here are the last seven outfits from this challenge:

Day Twenty Four

Day Twenty Five

Day Twenty Six

Day Twenty Seven

Day Twenty Eight

Day Twenty Nine

DAY THIRTY!!!!

What do you guys think? Would you ever do this challenge? If you have already done this what did you learn? Were you over it by the end?

Thanks for sticking in there through this super long post. Just wanted to let you guys know I will not be posting on Thursday so as to spend some time with the hubby before his big internship begins!

Derby Hat Extravaganza

As you know if you have been here before today I went to the Kentucky Derby with my wonderful mother in law! Now for those of you that are fans of the derby or just have generally heard of it, you know its all about the hat. (Seriously, I think you could dress in a feed sack so long as you had a hat on your head!) Well this provided a conundrum for me because I really wanted a fascinator but I had already started this 30x30 challenge. Which if you remember means no shopping! Also fascinators were way to expensive for my tastes. I mean come on lets be realistic its a headband with some tulle and flowers people. So I did what any aspiring Martha Stewart would do and I made one.

As with all other projects I started by trolling pinterest for DIY fascinators. I would love to say that I just knew how to do this right off the bat but alas pinterest came to the rescue. I came across this:

http://atsecondstreet.blogspot.ca/2012/05/tea-attire.html

and this:

http://lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.blogspot.com/2011/05/british-tea-party-part-twothe-hats.html

I then just sort of combined them to make my fascinator. So just in case you are dying to make a fascinator of your own here's how it's done.

Derby Fascinator Tutorial

Materials: 

headband

felt

fabric to create flowers (I just played around with this until it looked like a flower and the way I wanted)

tulle lots of tulle (that may be my beauty pageant roots but you can never have enough tulle)

feathers (no good derby hat is devoid of feathers)

beads 

hot glue gun

any other item you want really

ribbon (optional)

Directions: 

Step 1: Gather your materials and plug in the glue gun. 

Step 2: Take your headband and cover it with ribbon. (this is optional but I did this with mine because I only had a black headband and was going for a gray and coral color scheme.)

Step 3: Now you are going to create the base for your fascinator. Cut two circles out of the felt. One larger and one slightly smaller. (I used a cereal bowl for my template)

Step 4: Glue those circles onto your headband. Smaller circle on top.

Step 5: Now the fun begins. Here's where you decorate your fascinator any ol' way you like. You can copy mine or be super creative and branch out on your own. 

So what do you think? Ever been to the derby? What about a derby party? Well maybe next time you are invited you can just whip up your own fascinator and be super proud when you tell people you made your own hat. (It sounds so much more complicated than it actually is but just don't tell them that.)

30x30 Week Six Recap

So this past week was a short week off for me. Hence only three outfits to show you. I did however make a switch in one of the items. I originally planned to wear my black blazer at some point but thanks to Charleston weather, and the fact that it went from fifty degrees to eighty, I decided to switch out the black blazer for the romper pictured in my third outfit.

I know this is probably cheating but I could not bear to sweat to death in this heat. (Call me a wimp if you will.) Also we were going out downtown with some friends and I really wanted to wear this romper. Anyway I hope you like this weeks edition of 30x30. I would love to hear what you think?

Day Twenty One

Day Twenty Two

Day Twenty Three

How was your weekend? Short like mine? Any new projects? I would love to hear about them. Also come back Thursday to see how I made my Kentucky Derby hat.

30x30 Week Five Recap

My schedule has just been all messed up! I know this week has been off as far as our blog posts go. Most of that is because of me going out of town this past weekend and throwing off my work schedule. (Not that I am complaining.) Anyway onto the fun stuff. My awesome mother in law took me and my niece to the Kentucky Derby this past weekend! Even though it was rainy and a little chilly we had an awesome time. So my outfits this past week were centered around traveling and dressing a little warmer than I was used to recently. 

Day Sixteen

Day Seventeen

Day Eighteen (Derby Day)

Day Nineteen

Day Twenty

Anyone notice my hat for the derby? Well I made that. I was going to just buy a fascinator (the headband hat thingy you see people wear) but those things are expensive! So I decided to do what any Pinterest follower would do and made my hat (tutorial coming next week.) 

Also can I just say I am so glad that I am finally on day twenty! I am so ready to have full access to my closet again. 

What did you guys do this week? Are you good about keeping a schedule when you go out of town? Or are you like me and it takes all week to get back on track? Hope everyone had a fantastic week and are planning an awesome weekend!

Baby Face is Back. . .

Happy Tuesday everyone! Sorry this post is a day late (and double sorry if you checked out our Facebook page yesterday and saw the little teaser about this post.). Before we show you Jose's beardless self I should give you just a bit of background as to why he went beardless now. My wonderful, intelligent, brainiac of a husband applied for a JAG internship with the navy this summer. Well he got it! (as I always knew he would!) So, to show that he can fit the part of a JAG officer he got rid of the beard and cut his hair much shorter than I have ever seen it.

Now some of you may be wondering why JAG? Well he has decided that's really what he would like to do as a career. So this internship is definitely a step in the right direction. 

What do you think about his new do? I know for me I love it either way but it is going to take some getting used to again. Jose has had a beard for the last three years straight, so I had forgotten what he looked like without one. As for Jose's opinion of his beardless self he said that to keep his manliness at the same level without the beard he will only be shaving with a straight razor (picture the Sweeney Todd razor).

Did you guys do anything drastic this weekend? Any new do's? Make sure to come back Thursday to check out my 30x30 outfits and my weekend at the Kentucky Derby!

The Before:

We affectionately call this the Abe Lincoln look

The After: 

The Little Napkin Holder That Could . . .

You may have noticed a few weeks ago when I talked about our new mini chalkboard that there was something else new on the same wall. That new thing was our freshly painted napkin mail holder. This new addition, though tiny, has been a huge help! We are notorious for just laying mail on the nearest available surface and it stays there for weeks.

Well not any more thanks to our 0.65 cent addition. I found this guy at a local thrift store and debated long and hard before buying it. (I know most of you say its only 65 cent just go for it but Jose and I are trying to be more purposeful with what we bring in our home, so as not to clutter it up again.) My main reservation with this find was I wanted something that said "mail" not "napkins". However in my search they cheapest options had been to have a new one handmade on Etsy and that was way over the 0.65 cent price tag on this guy.

In the end my practicality won out and this little guy came home with us to live as our mail holder. Since I procrastinate about everything it stayed its dingy brown color hanging on the wall for quite a while. Then a few weeks ago I had a painting party (just me and a can of white spray paint) to catch up on all the things that needed a quick coat to freshen them up. And now our 0.65 cent mail holder looks like this:

What unconventional ways do you deal with clutter? Is mail a problem area at your house too? What things have you spray painted lately?

Today I am Linking Up With:

http://www.thegirlcreative.com/2013/05/02/the-weekly-creative-link-party-no-5.html

http://www.igottatrythat.com/2013/04/i-gotta-try-that-party-48.html

http://www.ajennuinelife.com/2013/05/thrifty-to-nifty-thursdays-18.html