Cobbler Friday

This outfit is from two Fridays ago... I'm keeping track I promise.

If I had know how my day was going to go after taking these pictures in the morning I might not have been as happy. Instead I would have had a look of fierce determination. Why? Well, if you follow me on Instagram and/or Twitter (like you should) you would have gotten the blow by blow of those lovely shoes I was wearing completely falling apart as I tried to make it from the train station to my office and go about my day as regularly as possible. I'm glad that, against all odds, I was able to find these shoes but, I am sad that apparently they are not built to last. Hubby has performed his at home cobbler magic and hopefully it works so that I can use them but, we shall see.

• Top: beige/metallic striped sweater, Ella Moss via Ashby
• Bottom: skinny jeans, Forever 21
• Shoes & Accessories: silver gladiator sandals, Isaac Mizrahi via Buffalo Exchange; coin pearl necklace, V'ta jewelry; coin pearl earrings, gift from Mom

I most recently wore this shirt here.

Friday Already?

Is it really Friday? Excellent! This (short) week has (seemingly) flown by and even though we are coming off of a (hypothetically) relaxing long weekend I am more than ready to have another little break. Having a long weekend can be extremely productive if you stay home but, if you go away all of your "fun" weekend chores spill over into the week which is what I have been contending with. Grocery? Nope. Laundry? Barely. Tidying up? Hahaha, you're funny but, I digress...

Today I gave up on my attempts to avoid jeans, which are normally allowable, on casual Friday. I had my reasons, at the beginning of the week when I put all these fabulous outfits together it was supposed to be cooler... thanks for lying, the weather. Also, it has been a crazy week (see aforementioned) and I am embracing the laid back attitude of casual Friday. Overall, I wanted to and is there any better reason that that?

• Top: coral embellished tank top, LOFT; khaki green blazer, GAP
• Bottom: skinny jeans, BDG via Goodwill
• Shoes & Accessories: tan gladiator sandals, Christian Siriano for Payless; chantilly lace chandelier earrings, Stella & Dot 

I'm linking up with Fab Favorites, Favorite Fashion Friday, Passion 4 Fashion, and Casual Friday

TGIF and another things

So here we are again! I am loving it aren't you? Well, you will be. Why? Because, I said so. Now that we got that awkward turtle moment out of the way we can talk about other things like my face... One thing that you might notice if you have been clicking through pictures here on 260 Days, No Repeats is my general appearance. If you have taken time to compare it to my general appearance on (the now defunct) 260 Day Redux you might notice something (substantially?) different.

That's right, there is a bit less face as of late and you would be correct in assuming that there is a bit less of all of me. I have been going to the gym in an attempt to be a healthier, happier me. There have been some positive side effects (less of me) and some less happy side effects (fewer clothing options.) My weight loss has been substantial enough that there are lots of items I can't wear anymore because they are falling off, swimming on me, allowing too much skin to show, etc. It has been truly bitter sweet to say goodbye to old clothing favorites while shopping for new clothes out of sheer necessity. It has also been challenging for me to come to terms with this new body. I am happy, don't get me wrong but, I can't remember a time when I was ever this small in my entire tween/young adult life and I am experiencing a disconnect (at times) to say the least.

Enough about my face let's talk about my clothes. It's Friday (yay) and, unlike my old company, my current company practices Casual Friday as a regular thing (thank goodness!) I have heard/read that flared jeans are the way for spring and that skinnys are a thing of the past. That's great for everyone who isn't a (physically) hippy person but, not for those of us that are. I don't mind giving the skinny jeans a rest every now and then but, I won't be trading them in for flared jeans anytime soon. Then again maybe my new body would look good in flared jeans... I might need to explore that option the next time I go shopping. What is your take on the new 70's denim vibe? Are you already in flares or are you holding on to your skinny jeans?

• Top: pink ruffle embellished t-shirt, Merona for Target; black pinstripe blazer, Calvin Klein
• Bottom: wide leg jeans, Michael Kors via Ashby
• Shoes & Accessories: silver cap toe ballet flats, Guiseppe Zanotti via Buffalo Exchange; silver bead earrings, Tiffany & Co. 

Remember when I used to post links to where wardrobe items were previously seen in an ensemble? No? Well, look at most previous posts. I'm not going to be pulling everything up from the archives but, moving forward I would like to highlight when I utilize an item more than once. Perhaps not the same way, it was extremely laborious. We'll see what I come up with when we get to that point... next week. What? Blazers don't grow on trees.

(F)Unemployment Files: The First Day

One of the things that I was initially most excited about regarding my (f)unemployment was the amount of free time that I anticipated I would have. I didn't really have time to see my friends or do the things that I wanted to do as much as I would have liked while working in that position. Naturally, the first thing I decided to do was meet some former co-workers for lunch and catch up. Effectively taking advantage of the seemingly unlimited amount free time is one of the important things about (f)unemployment. While you need to be an effective job seeker (if that's what you're looking for) you also need to break up the monotony of the search by doing nice things for yourself like grabbing a coffee with friends, heading to a museum, or getting a mani/pedi if you can manage the expense. I was also in the midst of holiday shopping so this outfit had dual purposes as I ran all over the area hunting down the best gifts/deals for family and friends after lunch.

• Top: gray tunic, Frazier Lawrence via Mom
• Bottom: peach skinny jeans, Demin Licious via Torrid/gift from BF
• Shoes & Accessories: black and white ruffled snake print flats, Coconuts via DSW; coin pearl necklace, V'ta jewelry; coin pearl earrings, borrowed from Mom then altered by me; black tote bag, Coach (not pictured)

Night Out: Blaze

Even though work was crazy I did manage to have some fun! One of the things that I did during that Fall was attend a festive event called the Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze. It's north of NYC in the Hudson Valley and features thousands of hand carved pumpkins set up in intricate scenes while you walk through and take in the slightly creepy but, utterly amazing spectacle. It's a fun thing to do around Halloween if you are looking for something festive but, want to avoid the creepy haunted houses/trick or treating. Check it out... 

Luckily for me, the date that we acquired tickets happened to coincide with a casual Friday. There was no need to rush home and change or pack an extra outfit which was convenient. It ended up being an extremely tepid night and the blazer was all I needed. It was also extremely humid because of earlier precipitation and my previously styled hair (thanks to Salon Caru in Hoboken) formed loose curls which I totally loved. All in all it was a fantastic (and stylish) night! 

• Top: yellow floral patterned sweater, Dana Buchman for Kohl's; black and white pinstripe blazer, Calvin Klein via SYMS (part of this suit)
• Bottom: skinny jeans, Forever21
• Shoes & Accessories: black Madison Heights Tall Boots, Timberland via Zappos; coin pearl necklace, V'ta jewelry; coin pearl earrings, borrowed from Mom then altered by me; Neverfull GM, Louis Vuitton/gift from BF

Purchases and Acquisitions: April 2012

­­­­This month I went shopping with a vengeance! Also, my Mom got me some stuff but, I digress... I had a goal in mind (suits) but, tragedy stuck and in the short span of two days I was down one pair of skinny jeans and one pair of skinny pants. While neither of those items are work necessities they are some of the things I wear most on the weekends. The universe was telling me to go shopping.

I went shopping for replacement jeans with one of my close friends (who stuck with me the whole time, love ya!) the weekend after tragedy struck twice. While I wasn’t 100% on board with the idea of going shopping I knew I needed to replace my broken pants. We went to a ton of stores, trying on lots of different types/brands of jeans. Naturally, the ones that I was most comfortable in were at the last store that we went to, Forever 21. I know, I know… it isn’t where I would have thought either but, I’m glad I checked it out because I’m happy with what I got in the end. They had a great pair of dark wash skinny jeans for only $13.50! I bought two with a Visa gift card I had been holding on to. I also hit the GAP and bought another pair of pants to replace my ripped ones. Ouch, 'nuff said.

Next weekend the next stop on my shopping extravaganza was the Unique Thrift Store near my house. While I had every intention of going there to pick out more suits it ended up being a total bust on that front. I did, however, end up finding two lovely vintage dresses that fit perfectly for $4.99 each! I had no doubts or reservations in my mind as I headed to the register to check out, the shopping bug had caught me! I tried to pay for the total with some Unique Thrift Store gift cards that I had received for placing in their costume contest this past October but, they didn’t work… thanks? Fortunately I had another Visa gift card that I have been holding on to and there were no issues with that.

Then I took a short trip down the block to my local Loehmanns to check out their suit selection. I have had great success finding suits there in the past so, it was a  no brainer! After sifting through the racks of suits I found a Tahari suit that really worked for me (high stance, shorter jacket, etc.). I had a coupon so the $99.99 price tag (down from $280.00 MSRP) was whittled down a little more to $79.99 total. WIN? Either way my Mom took pity on my situation and helped me out with that one, thanks Mom!

Unfortunately, the jeans that I bought at Forever 21 ended up being too big even after I washed them. They were a little loose at the store but, I figured one go around in the washing machine and they would be perfect. Wrong, they were still falling off. So I had to go exchange/return them for a different pair. Thankfully, I ended up finding something that worked even better: jeans with an elastic waistband. Yes, they are a hop, skip, and jump away from being pajama jeans. Yes, I’m ok with that. They fit well and are super comfortable! Even better they were only $11.50!! So, I exchanged one pair of the larger jeans for two pairs of the smaller ones. In the same trip I also returned the GAP pants since I was able to patch up my broken pair, more on that later.

Since I had a coupon for Old Navy and some dresses that I had pinned on Pinterest in my mind I decided to stop by and see if I could find them. I used to shop for EVERYTHING at Old Navy but, my tastes (and their quality) have shifted so, I normally don’t give them alot of thought. They didn’t have what I wanted but, I did find a different dress that I liked on sale. When it fit I decided to go for it since the coupon and a gift card made it an easy purchase.

While at the mall I also decided to try Macy’s for a suit since they were having one of their sales and I had yet another coupon. I ended up finding another suit with a fantastic pattern that I’m sure you will be seeing soon! Don’t get too excited it’s still very work appropriate but, I digress… I had some gift cards and merchandise credits on top of the coupon so with all of the discounts combined the $69.99 suit (down from $260.00) ended up coming out to $10.27 which I paid for with the balance on one of my Visa gift cards.

Shopping Overview:

• Unique Thrift Store
• $9.98  Gift Card - $0
• Loehmanns
• $79.99 after coupon  Mom - $0
• Forever 21
• $36.50  Gift Card - $0
• Gap
• $62.10 Return
• Old Navy
• $9.75 after coupon  Gift Card - $0
• Macy’s
• $10.27 after coupon  Gift Card -$0

In the end I ended up getting a whole bunch of new needed stuff for no money out of my normal income. That was partly due to the fact that I returned the replacement skinny pants from the GAP since I was able to find away to make it work and my gift card hoarding tendencies. I don’t think I will be shopping like this again for a while. That’s not to say that I am done beefing up my suit selection, I just need to replenish my gift card reserves…