Hello and Goodbye...For Now!

Hey friends! 
  As the title says, this is my hello and goodbye for a little while, about a month and a half to be exact!  These past few days have been crazy busy because I'm packing up to leave the country for 6 weeks.  I will be heading off to Guatemala to work at a malnutrition center roughly an hour outside of the beautiful city of Antigua.  Fashion won't be my highest priority while I'm there, however most of my wardrobe will be goodwill finds.  Because I will be working with kids all day every day, I purchased a variety of cheap tees and functional scrubs that will dry fast and be comfy to hang out in all day.  If you would like to keep up to date on my Guatemala adventures, you can check out my other blog to stay informed. 
  Like I said before, I will be back on the fashion wagon when I get back from my trip.  Until then, I leave all you lovely people with my a picture of my travel outfit

(ENTIRELY from the GW, minus the shoes from Walgreens and my yard sale coat, I'm so proud of myself.)
As always,
Happy Bargaining!

Packing Realization

Afternoon everyone!
  I was just packing for a little weekend getaway to visit family when I realized, 75% of what I had was from the GW.  Check it out

No.  I don't like to make my bed.

Did not realized this picture was blurry until I uploaded it. Not cool.

My amazing retro backpack that will be serving as my purse this weekend!

The inside of my amazing backpack I will be using as my purse this weekend!

 Both bags are from goodwill, so less than $10 each. My clothes are all from goodwill minus my workout clothes and tank tops.  Shoes, also from goodwill. Even the pillow my bag is sitting on top of is from GW!  Crazy right?  One other exception is my military style jacket. 

I actually found this bad boy at a yard sale.  I cannot stress how much I ADORE  this sturdy jacket.  I'm not one who enjoys standing outside in the heat and digging through other peoples (sometimes junky) stuff, but in the case of this yard sale, it was worth it.  I also bought a heavy coat and a cute purse from that stop.  Moral of the story: Don't totally rule out yard sales.
  Thank you all for reading and I'll write again in a couple of days,
  Happy Bargaining!

Lace Bootie Line Up

Hello my lovelies,
  I am so happy to show you all these beautiful bootie combinations today but first, a little preview.  I have been on a grunge kick lately and my mom found a great tutorial for distressing jeans at home.  Needless to say, I have been quite busy popping threads on my favorite true blues and once they are finished, I will post a tutorial that will walk you through getting the glam-grunge look.
  Now to the main event! The lacy bootie (one of) my all time favorite styles of shoe.  The ankle height boot is the most versatile of the boot family because you can wear them with anything.  With pants, they look like regular boots.  With shorts, they don't look... a-hem, trashy as long as they don't sport a high heel.  With dresses and skirts, they are just plain adorable.  So with no further babble about my love of this style, here are the outfits.

  Outfit number 1 is still pretty edgy like my last few styles.  The jean + plaid combo gives it a young almost rebel look.  In contrast, the second outfit has a more girlie feel because of the frilly dress and the soft pink fabric.  The dress is borderline summer, but with the boots and black cardigan, it ends up being fall worthy.  I hope all of you are enjoying this boot series!
Until next time,
Happy Bargaining!

Dr. Martens Wearable?

Good Evening everybody!

  As I said in my last post I have decided to tackle the Dr. Martens boots that are so very popular this fall.  Before I get into the outfits, I want to clarify that Dr. Martens is the brand, not the style of shoe, I was confused about this until I did a little digging.  I did some research last night and found that this brand has a wide variety of shoes, check it out:

 

  While these punk rock shoes still might not be up your alley, you cannot help but appreciate the history of these iconic boots.  They started out in England as industrial shoes for factory workers and others who needed an extremely durable pair of boots.  As time progressed, they evolved into the ultimate symbol of the rebellious movement in the late 60's up to the 80's.  Dr. Martens finally went mainstream in the 90's and according to Kate Lanphere (Fashion Director of ELLE Magazine), Doc's became a classic during this decade thanks to teen and young adult television.  

    With my geeky history lesson aside, here is how I would wear these statement boots:

  Both of these outfits have serious rocker quality because, in my humble opinion, there is no way to tone down the edgy style of these shoes.  The first, I stuck with the classic skinny jean, but in part two, I decided on a teal skater skirt to try and glam the look up just a little.  In both examples, I used the classic black, shiny version of the boots paired with brightly colored outfit pieces.  Keep in mind, there are countless patterns and colors of Dr. Martens to choose from, so you could reverse the outift an go with all black or neutral clothing and throw on some neon boots.
  While I have never seen a genuine pair of Dr. Martens at the GW, there are very few times I shop that I don't see a similar pair of lace up, punk style boots for a fraction of the cost of doc's.  I don't know if I will ever buy my own pair of rocker boots, but these 80's reminiscent looks are exactly how I would wear them. 
  Be sure and check out the inspiration page! I have added a few more pics I think you all will enjoy.  Tune in next time to check out the lace bootie outfits.
Until next time,
Happy Bargaining!

The Western Boot + GWF Friday

Good evening everyone,
  As promised! Here is boot number one from my lovely diagram paired with exactly what I would wear.

  Because it's a western boot, I went with the traditional plaid shirt and jeans.  However I did choose a more modern style plaid and I brought out the green portions of the pattern with the forest green backpack.  Now don't be alarmed by the distressed style of jeans, as long as there is no major skin showing, anybody can pull of the worn look.  If bare threads is too grunge for your style, this look will look just as great with a crisp pair of jeans. 
  Look number two:

  This look goes to show that you can wear a western style boot and not look like Ellie-Mae Clampett.  In this outfit, I paired a graphic sweater with a plain, black denim skirt. Avoiding the typical true blue denim will always tone down the country vibe of an outfit.  The bag and fedora are bonuses because, well, I love bags and fedoras...
  Next time, I will be tackling the Dr. Martens pictured in my previous post.  As I said before, they are by no means my favorite style of boot, but they do have a certain "glam rock" quality that can scarcely be found elsewhere.
  Before I sign off tonight, I have to tell you all about my GWF this week.  A few Goodwill trips ago, I found the most beautiful tribal tube top.  It was orange and red and brown and just perfect in every way.  I tried it on and it fit just fine and with a cute jean vest, I knew it would be perfect.  Fast forward a few days and I found myself at the beach with my family, what better outfit to slip into after the beach than a simple tube top right? So I wore it and I felt like hot stuff, for a little while.  About a half hour later, we were out shopping and I couldn't help but notice my top sliding farther and farther down my front.  Before I knew it, I was in the midst of a full fledged wardrobe malfunction that left me buttoning up my vest all the way to the top and praying  my top would not become a belt.  Thankfully I made it home without publicly exposing myself.  One week later, I walked into Charlotte Russe and saw a different version of my shirt on a manican, only it was a skirt...Goodwill fail? I think yes.
  Moral of the story: Don't always trust the sorting skills of Goodwill employees.
I hope you had a laugh tonight,
Happy Bargaining!

Shoe Fetish...

Good evening fellow fashionistas!
  Tonight, I want to talk a little bit about my favorite subject: SHOES.  I don't know about you, but last time I checked I had more shoes than I could count.  In fact, I can't even fit every pair on my shoe rack!  So they end up on the floor, in the closet, in the bathroom, in my trunk, under my bed, and pretty much anywhere else they can hide...can I get an amen?  All joking aside, check out this insightful visual dictionary of every woman's weakness:

 Of course, there are many names and nicknames that our favorite footwear go by, but this is a basic index of formal heels.  That lobster claw looks ridiculous to me, but to each her own right?  Sadly, this chart does not cover one of my favorite types of shoes: boots!  Therefore, I took it upon myself to create this lovely board for your viewing pleasure:

There are umpteen dozen variations of the boot, as shown in this diagram, and to be frank, I don't like some of them.  For example, I could live my entire life and never put on a pair of Dr. Martens (number 2) or Uggs (number 8) and I would be happy as a lark.  However, these boots are engrained in our fashion culture so I cannot in good conscience leave them out of my little boot discussion.  Over the next few posts, I will be discussing each boot type in detail and showing how I would style them into an outfit and where you can buy them without breaking the bank.  Boots are huge this fall, literally, take a look at some of the boots gracing the runways this season:

These boots are so tall, they need an extra strap behind the knee.

These are borderline pants, with shoes attached to the hem.

Robin hood maybe?

I'm just wondering if these are Velcro...because that would be convenient

I hope you enjoy this little series on my favorite staple piece of my shoe wardrobe! Check back tomorrow for boot number 1: The western style boot.
Until next time,
Happy Bargaining!
 

I'm Back!

Good Evening everyone!
  Well, I have suffered greatly the past two days because I had no internet! *gasp* But I did survive and made a HUGE goodwill haul yesterday.  Before I talk about my finds, I wanted to get a little housekeeping out of the way.  Concerning the coupons for the Manasota branch of Goodwill, I could not successfully print them.  I contacted GW and they reloaded the coupons but the weekly special coupon still printed out blank.  Sadness, I'm not sure how to get it fixed, but if you live outside of the Manasota area, they would be useless anyway.  No matter what Goodwill you frequent, they should have some kind of promotional deal like punch cards, coupons, or any number of other money saving helps so before you buy that fabulous new outfit, check and make sure you are saving as much money as you possibly can!
  As I have been saying for a while now, I had a major shopping day planned for yesterday and my finds were not disappointing!  Here are my two most fab finds!

  I am using my Coach bag now and I still can't believe it's mine.  No really, I keep looking down at it sitting next to me thinking to myself "Wow. That's mine."  Here is why it's mine: IT COST ME $5!  Yes it's true. I was about to check out yesterday and I heard it calling my name from the purse section.  I checked the price and it was $18.99.  I have been on the look out for a faux leather backpack for a while now but there was no way was I going to pay that much for a bag no matter who made it or whether or not it was real leather.  Nonetheless, I loved the bag and checked out its condition despite the price.  It was in perfect condition but I put it back anyway until my mom suggested I get it to bump my total up to $60 so I could use the $15 off $60 or more coupon.  We figured it out and with out the bag my total was $43.  If I bought the bag and used the coupon, my total was $48.  It was a no brainer.  By the way, a leather coach bag like mine cost $258 new...just thought I'd throw that out there.
  My second favorite purchase yesterday was my new pair of deck shoes.  So I might be a little bit behind the trend curve with these shoes, but adorable never goes out of style right?  These were well loved by their previous owner but other than some wear on the inside label and tread on the bottoms, they're in perfect condition.  Another plus with buying second-hand shoes: they are already broken in! Double win.  I checked out how much these shoes would cost me new and I found a gloriously suprising price: $55 new from RackRoom Shoes.  'How much did I pay for mine?' You might ask.  Survey says: $4.99.  And that is why nobody beats the bargains at the GW.
Until tomorrow,
Happy Bargaining!