working for the weekend

Remember when this was a fashion blog? Yeah, me either. That was its original intent, however I rarely wear anything besides sweatpants and leggings, so needless to say, the blog has strayed from the path. But hey, I wore real pants Saturday! I went to work, then for food+drinks at The Continental with Ryan and some work friends, and then to see The Envy Corps at Wooly's. It was the most excitement I've had on a Saturday in awhile! If you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of a homebody. Also, don't mind my terrible modeling skills. Like I said before, I'm not photogenic.

Cardigan: Raygun. Gray tank: American Eagle. Pants: Target. Shoes: Minnetonka.

You can barely see it in the other picture, but this is the bracelet I was wearing. I made it out of strips of t-shirts braided & then sewn together. Got the idea from Pinterest & the ever fashionable Lucy Shay.

I've been searching for the perfect peachy color forever, & I finally found it! Essie's A Crewed Interest & Milani's Gold Glitz.



And last but certainly not least, The Envy Corps! 

do you twitter?

I Twitter. I Twitter a lot. If you are a creepy stalker, sorry, but my account is private. Don't despair though, I've made some screen shots of some of my favorite/accurate-depiction-of-my-life tweets! Please, enjoy these jewels of wisdom :)

*Note the hipster confirmation tweet. That was tweeted the day I wore the fedora, as seen in the post below.

My life is knitting, Harry Potter, The Office, Parks & Rec (basically all tv), and cats. And Ryan.

some things that might make me a hipster

fedora. diy off the shoulder t-shirt.

tons of bracelets. (Voz bangles, via Raygun,) *photo cred: Lucy Shay

triangles. (Voz bangles, via Raygun) *photo cred: Lucy Shay

cheap-ish beer

pinterest. minnetonka moccasins.

mo' money, mo' problems

 
I think someone wise and famous said that once, but I don't believe them. I currently have no money, and I have tons of problems! I can't imagine what it's like to have extra money, and to not be living paycheck to paycheck. This is mostly my fault; stupid credit card spending when I was younger and not being able to save anything, ever. Right now I have 1 1/2 jobs (half, because one job is currently only temporary), which is enabling me to pay for things I have to pay for, like rent, utility bills, and car insurance. I'm going to throw gasoline in that category too. Whatever is leftover is divvied up between groceries and other necessities (soap, toilet paper, etc.). There is usually a little leftover after that, because I'm a very frugal (see: cheap) grocery shopper...but instead of saving it I go out to eat, or buy a new shirt. I justify buying that shirt by telling myself that I haven't had any discretionary income for so long that I deserve to treat myself to something (don't get me wrong, it's still cheap Target/F21 stuff). Then I immediately get buyer's remorse after I leave the store, not because I don't like the item, but because I know that I have such limited funds and I should be saving. Budgeting is so hard for me! I'm going to try and get better at it, though. I need to physically write down how much money I'm going to allocate to each category. And then make sure I actually stick to that budget.

How do you guys budget your money? Any tips for someone who makes too many impulse purchases? Travel-sized/purse-sized products are my weakness. Help me save money so I can make real, adult purchases someday!

nature is neat

On this glorious day there were record highs in Iowa (78degrees!). I had to work, but thankfully it was my morning shift and not my afternoon one. I got off at 1pm, and shortly after, Ryan and I headed out to Ledges State Park to enjoy some nature! We saw a dead raccoon (RIP Rocky) and spied on people from a scenic lookout (they were going to a "secret place", but they didn't divulge the specifics). Then I ranted about how crazy/different/kind of awesome it would be if we had never forced the Native Americans off their lands. Also, if I ever have a daughter I'm going to teach her how to sew and change her own oil and cook everything ever! By the age of 6! Things I wish I knew how to do! Also, what if people pooped in the wild and had to clean up after themselves with those little baggies that they have for dogs? I don't know, my mind went off into a lot of avenues while on our hike. Anyways, it was a pretty day and I had a nice time with my fella. Here are 2 pictures to show you my story is not made up:

Ryan's back side.

The Secret

The Secret. Have you heard of it? It's a book/DVD about, well, the Secret. Last summer I had an internship, and along with that internship came a 3 hour class once a week from June to August. Every week we watched a chapter from The Secret. I thought it was kind of silly at the time.....things don't happen to you just because you think/pray/wish every day about them. They happen because you're good, or qualified, or just plain lucky. While I like to think I'm a good person, a lot of times I don't feel very qualified for things, and I certainly don't consider myself to have any sort of luck. But that summer, after learning about The Secret, a few things happened that I like to attribute to my wishing/hoping/praying/thinking about them.

Jump to the present. I've been kind of down and out lately (see: can't get no motivation). I was having trouble finding a job and having trouble figuring out what I even want to do with my life. My roommates were making other living arrangements for the fall, my boyfriend landed an awesome job in a different state, and I was feeling sorry for myself because I had no clue where to go/what to do. I'm speaking in past tense, but most of that stuff just happened last week. I managed to find myself a part-time job (again, last week), but I still had no idea what I should do when my lease here is up. I've been trying to be positive and proactive; looking at apartment and job listings in a few different towns and preparing for the possibility that I may be living alone and/or in a town where I have few friends. I've also been missing my former job/internship quite a bit. I've been talking to people about how much I missed it/how I wished there was a place for me there, and how I missed my coworkers there.

Jump to today. I was perusing Craigslist and found a great apartment at a great price in a downtown location that is pretty close the aforementioned job/internship. I immediately text my boyfriend to tell him about it, to which he replied "Are you going to get it?!". To which I replied, "Well, I'd have to find a job down there first". About 5 minutes later I got a call from a coworker at my old job asking if I could work Saturdays this month. What?! What is this voodoo?!  Of course I said yes! Now, obviously this isn't a full-time or even part-time gig, but it could always lead to one down the road. IT'S THE POWER OF THE SECRET, I TELL YOU!

So if I haven't already Googled it out of curiosity, I will now suggest that you read up on The Secret. That voodoo just might change your life.

i'm too old to wake up feeling like p. diddy

Yes, there was a time when I practiced my legal right to drink an adult beverage or two (or six). I even successfully shotgunned a beer once, as seen above (I don't recommend it. My stomach felt like a balloon afterward). But now I'm older and wiser [see: nauseous after a few beers, unable to function if even the least bit hungover], and going out and getting ~totally wasted~ just isn't appealing to me anymore. This generally wouldn't be a problem, except I live in a college town, with people who are younger than me and have less....life experience, I guess (and by that I just mean that I've been alive longer). They enjoy drinking copious amounts of alcohol and going out to the bars (bars I've been patronizing since I turned 21...so for awhile, now) and since that's not really my scene anymore, I get left out. They don't understand why I don't want to go out or get drunk all the time, because they are young and still have a few years left before they'll get tired of it too. They don't understand why I'd rather stay home in my sweatpants watching Netflix instead of getting all dressed up to go grind on people in dingy bar basements. Dingy bar basements full of fresh 21 year olds [see: the most obnoxious type of drunks].

To show you I'm not biased, here I am, being one of those obnoxious 21 year old drunks. 

....and again, here.

I don't blame my youthful friends for wanting to go out and enjoy their college experience, but I wish they'd understand why it's just not my cup of tea anymore. And then maybe join me for a round of shuffleboard at the community center.