New to Me Overload, Part 1

Some months I blow my shopping budget. October 2013 is one of those months. After seeing the fall collections (and by seeing the fall collections, I am referring to the Vogue September issue), I became obsessed with fur. I know, my last post was about leather. Again, I won't buy new fur, but I will buy vintage fur. Now that the leaves are falling and I've broken out my winter clothes, the quest to find a good vintage fur stole began. I found the perfect (for me) mystery fur stole on Etsy from Flashbax, a Wilmington, NC based shop. I say mystery fur, because even though it looks like fox, it's soft like rabbit, but all one piece. For $30, I was thrilled to get it and even happier to find it didn't have any funky resale odors.

Next up, I have been killing my thrifted vintage Longchamp crossbody bag. Killing it to the point where I started looking for another crossbody. I was super excited to find the same seller who sold me that Longchamp with a gorgeous (the prettiest eggplant color) logo-free Coach crossbody bag (also $30). I arranged a pickup and have been using it ever since. LOVE it! 

Stay tuned, because I have more amazing vintage and thrifted finds to tell y'all about! As in eBay'd leather AND tweed pants and purchases for my apartment from my elementary school's auction this weekend. Out of control. 

Current Obsessions-Tweed Shorts and Leather

I absolutely love fall fashion. Fall itself is okay with falling leaves, pumpkin and apple everything and ample opportunity to watch the best movie with a main character named "Laurie," Halloween. The fashion - boots, wool, tweed, leather, gloves, hats, etc.- is what gets me.

This year, I'm particularly obsessed with tweed and leather. While cleaning out my closet this summer, I found two pair of tweed shorts from Gap (tags still on, apparently purchased for $9.99 each years ago). They fit perfectly and look great with tights and booties/boots. Super excited to have found these shorts, and add them to the countless tweed skirts, pants, blazers and hats already in my closet.

Next up, my problem with leather. I have always loved leather a little too much for somebody who also loves animals. I admittedly have a bad attitude about pleather, and much like anything in my life, I blame my mother for this. Anything less than leather is horrific to her. Period. But animals and stuff, you know? It's a tough call. That's why I decided that I wasn't going to buy any new leather clothing items. I would purchase used. Leather is huge this season, and my plan works great, as buying a new leather skirt would mean spending more than my entire monthly shopping budget. That simply wouldn't work, so used via Etsy or eBay would be the only way to go. 

Now, at the time I made this decision, I already owned two pair of leather pants, a leather skirt and three leather jackets (one I have since sold). I told you it was a problem. For my first used leather goods purchase, I went with social media (I really do shop this way a lot). In April, a girl I follow on Instagram (@zittajohn, who just had the most amazing vintage Vegas wedding ever-she met her husband on IG, too) was selling a gorgeous vintage brown leather pencil skirt for $20. I PayPal'd her the money, and a few days later, it arrived in the mail, fit like a glove and instantly became my favorite work skirt.

RIP long hair. 

Anyway, score one for my recycled leather plan! Fast forward about six months, and I was frantically searching for two things, black leather shorts and a black leather pencil skirt. Finally, I found a pencil skirt with my measurements for $17 on eBay. It arrived (with much confusion and a lot of effort to track it down as it was lost by USPS), but was too big (learn how to use a ruler, people). No problem-I hiked it up a bit and belted it, giving it a more structured look. Sorry for the crappy pictures, but it's a very grey morning here, making my apartment  dark and gloomy. 

The quest for leather shorts is still on, but hooray for the way my fall fashion is shaping up! Also, do not try retro pinup waves on rainy days. Your hair will look sad and fall flat the minute you walk outside.

Grey Jeans for Less

I usually don't aimlessly go to the local mall, but on a night when the Eagles are playing an evening game and traffic is impossible, it's a great way to kill time before heading home from work.

Now, I love to shop, but ironically, I do not like to shop without a purpose, mainly because it has the potential to really throw off my budget. To help keep myself on track, I only let myself go to H&M and Forever 21 (I can kill a lot of time in both). H&M has some killer fall options - I am a big fan of mixing tough basics with softer pieces, and they have a nice mix of both available, but I needed none of it. On to Forever!

My weakness at Forever 21 is their denim. For those of you who don't know me, I used to be a designer denim snob. Major. $300 for Diesel jeans? No problem. My pug is named Diesel. When my entire life changed four years ago, I bought one last pair of jeans as a farewell to designer denim and vowed to not buy them again for a very long time. I was thrilled to find that Forever 21 makes jeans with an amazing fit. They literally work on every body type and last forever. They truly are the sisterhood of the traveling pants. Slowly, I have turned even my most cynical friends from various financial backgrounds into Forever 21 denim devotees. Given my praise for Forever denim, you can imagine how excited I was to see their jeans were on sale for $7.80. I do not need jeans. But the sale included grey jeans - a color I do not have, but have been lusting for. 

Hm. What's a girl to do? If you're me and have about 25 jeans in a variety of colors, you sleep on it. Then you wake up at 4 a.m. and look at images of grey jeans on Pinterest. Then you decide you must go to the mall over lunch and that you can't live without grey jeans, and for $7.80, you should have just bought them on day one. Lesson learned and grey jeans purchased! 

Short Hair=Instant Regret

Hair has never been a big deal to me. In fact, I've had really short hair most of my life. Within recent years, I've worn my hair long, and really like it. Every now and then, I chop it and donate it, and then I grow it long again...only to repeat the chop, donate, grow cycle all over again. 

In June, I had just moved and was in the mood to change everything about my life. The moment my hair length shortened, I instantly regretted it, mainly because my hair takes forever to grow. I have no idea why I didn't embrace my new look this time, but I did not...not even a little bit. 

After doing some research, I decided to start taking Biotin, Fish Oil supplements (something my eye doctor has been telling me to do anyway) and established a firm every other day (at least) hair washing routine in a futile attempt to speed up my hair growth. Now you can go online and research which fish oil supplement works best and what brand Biotin you should use and pay an arm and a leg to get something fancy, but I am cheap and went straight to my local CVS and bought their generic versions. Also, I experimented with about three different types of dry shampoo during this time. Big Sexy Hair Volumizing dry shampoo was by far my favorite, with Tresemme's option leaving my hair smelling okay, but looking worse than before I used their product. 

I started the regimen above in early June. It's late Setember and time to take stock of my efforts. Obviously, I have no idea if any of those things actually helped my hair grow, but trust me, the growth I've experienced over the last three months is highly unusual for me. I am super excited that I have some added length and will definitely think long and hard before chopping it all off again! 

Have you tried any unusual supplements to make your hair grow? Multiple people told me to take pre-natal vitamins, but even my hair stylist debunked that myth (it's pregnancy hormones, not the vitamins that can be credited to pregnancy hair growth). 

My People

For those of you who read my old blog, you'll remember my absolutely love for "my people," or the craft fair vendors I frequent each fall. Fall craft fair season is my absolute favorite, as I simply can't have enough knits and/or leather in my life. 

Enter Bad Kitty Knits! Available on Etsy and central PA craft fairs, Bad Kitty Knits sells a really cool selection of knit cowl neck warmers, fingerless gloves, shawls, really cool knit and woven jewelry and, my favorite - head wraps. Super psyched to have gotten these two beauties for $23 yesterday! 

 

Coated Denim for Less!

I literally can't look at a blog or a September issue right now without seeing coated denim on all of the bloggers/models. Coated denim? Yes, jeans with a resin or wax like coating on them to give the jeans a leathery look. Naturally, the jeans on blogs and in mags are by Habitual, Current/Elliott and J Brand and cost more than $200 a pair. So not happening in my small world. After all, this is a passing trend. My rule of spending money on staples, not on fads stands, so I've not even allowed myself to try on a pair. Then, I found H&M's take on coated jeans for a sensible $29.99. Great fit, awesome gold ankle zip detail and did i mention $200 less than everybody else? Yep, and they're mine. 

Monogram Madness...and a Mystery Animal

Forever 21 is my secret weapon. From $10 skinny jeans to my Kate Spade knockoff black and white polka dot cigarette pants to my sheer chiffon tops and graphic sweaters that instantly make an outfit, I can always count on Forever. Their jewelry selection is also worth perusing, and yesterday, I struck gold. Well, plated, at least. Not only was I able to buy an adorable "L" necklace and ring ($3.80 and $2.80 respectively), but I also bought a really cute ring with a mystery animal on it. What is that thing? A fox? A gazelle? For $3.80, it's cute and cheap, and, now, it is mine.

I actually had to stop myself from buying several other items including House of Harlow starburst knockoffs and a Kate Spade bow necklace/earring set. Too much jewelry, not enough places to wear them to, but I can't pass up monogrammed anything, so voila and ooh la la! Love these new Forever finds!