Fashion Journal Entry #10: Pretty in Paisley (for less than $5)

So as I mentioned in the previous post, on the way home from the gym yesterday, I spotted my new favorite place: Hall's Thrift & Jewelry. That place is a fashionista's playground! I am going to have to go back next week just to snap some photos of Kyrie's (the owner) counter-top: just full of earrings and rings and bracelets and brooches...all for less than $3!! Wait 'til you see! I almost started hyperventilating when I walked in the door...just awesome!

In the back of the store, though, is where she keeps the clothes and shoes. I began digging in immediately! Like I said yesterday, I walked out of there with two dresses, two tops, a pair of pants and five pairs of earrings, all for $19.50! I wore one of the dresses to church today; in fact, it was the first treasure I found while shifting through hangers at Kyrie's. I immediately fell in love with the colors and the pretty paisley print! Check it out:

Sorry for the funky face; was asking Nia if I should remove the purple bracelet!

She said no: "It's not necessary but it doesn't take away from the look either..." :)

I love the shape of the dress as well! It was a perfect fit; not too tight, not too loose; just right for a summer Sunday at church! I especially adore the shape of the sleeves and the sweet little peephole in the front of the dress:

Kyrie picked out a pair of earrings for me to match with the dress; the color is perfect and they were only $1.50:

Wiping the sweat off my lip...it was HOT out there!

I paired it all with my coral pumps from Bershka and made sure my toes coordinated as well! 

Cute right? Here are a few more full-length shots:

And here are a few snaps from my sister's camera:

I showed these photos to my honey and he said I looked like I was an extra on The Color Purple. He was like, "Go 'head then, Shug Avery!" Silly man! The dress does have that kind of old school vibe to it, though; so I kind of took it as a compliment! ;)

I'm currently wearing the pants and one of the tops I bought from Kyrie's as well and as soon as it gets a bit cooler outside, I'm going to see if I can get baby sis to snap a few pics. If so, I'll post them later! 

I know one thing, though...I am only going to shop at thrift stores from now on...with the exception of my shoes...gotta buy top quality shoes...just gotta! I'm also going to post some pics of baby sis later as today she was "head to toe thrift" and she looked just gorgeous. Here's a little sneak peek:

There's more cuteness where that came from. I would post them all now but for some reason, even when I save my photos in their rotated state, they still post sideways here so I have to post them on Facebook first and then rotate them there and add them from the URL here. So extra. I'll do it later!

In the meantime, make some plans to get out and check out your nearest thrift shop. I'm becoming obsessed; to the point now where I seriously don't even feel comfortable shopping in your every day retail store anymore. Secondhand is where it's at. Unless it's shoes. I'm a shoe snob. I admit it. But I am on a mission now to scope out every thrift shop in the Fayetteville area. I'll keep ya posted!

Logging off now...thanks as always for tuning in! More fashion treats coming soon! :)

Love,

K.

Fashion Journal Entry #9: Pretty Skirts and Thangs...Part 2

Okay, so here I am...trying to get everything up to date. I will admit, I have been a bit lazy when it comes to blogging; primarily because I am trying to decrease my time on the internet, so future posts may consist of photos only. We'll see...ya'll know I like to run my mouth! :p

But the following are a few shots of what I wore last Saturday, June 30, 2012. My new honey and I were going on a wee road trip and I wanted to wear something light and comfy. I added a few accessories for the photos...no need for all the extra embellishments if I am just going to be in the car for 8 1/2 hours, right?

My favorite part of this look is the pretty floral skirt I bought while my sister and I went on our thrift store rampage two weeks ago (we plan on doing a photo shoot with all of our finds one of these days...stay tuned!) But this skirt was only like $2, I think. I paired it with a Pull & Bear tank, pearl accessories from Accessorize and my favorite (only) pair of summer flat sandals. Check it:

Lovely skirt from Tammy Stephens' Thrift Shop

Crackling pearl, pretty hearts and elephants! <3

Check my incomplete pedicure; the big toes were supposed to have black tips; couldn't be bothered!

Rose, diamond, pearl...all words to describe me, summed up in a pair of earrings!

So simple, yet so cute!

Another favorite part of my look is my hair! I love how much it has grown! It's taking everything in me not to color it! I want to rock my natural hair color for a while; especially since I haven't done so since I was in the 9th grade!

Anywho, baby sis was able to get some pretty good shots of my "lenf" while I was chatting it up with mommy:

Not bad considering I was bald last summer! :)

To switch it up, we also snapped some photos in sepia; here is a better shot of my elephant bracelet:

Another shot of my $2 skirt:

And this is one of my favorite snaps of the day; not sure why...there is just something kind of vintage about it, I guess. I feel like I may look exactly like one of my great great aunts when she was this age or something. I love it:

So that's all, folks! As I mentioned earlier, my sis and I have gone thriftin' crazy! In fact, on my way home from the gym today, I spotted a new treasure called "Hall's Thrift and Jewelry" where I bought two dresses, two tanks, a pair of pants and 5 pairs of earrings, all for $19.50. Why would I want to shop anywhere else? Photos coming soon!

I'm outta here, kids! Thanks for tuning in! Keep it floral and light!

Love,

K.

Fashion Journal Entry #8: Pretty Skirts and Thangs...Part 1

Hello, my fashionable lovelies! It's been ages since I've posted anything; I've been a bit busy being all boo'd up and such! But I have a little free time at the moment so I want to share a few "What I Wore" pics with you!

Before I start, let me just say that all photos were taken by the baby sis Nia...she's quite the fashion photographer! :)

So let's get into it...this first look was taken Sunday, June 24 after church. You may remember in another post, I mentioned that I'd bought this pretty skirt from Ross that could also be worn as a dress. I've been dying to show it to you as it's super cute! Check me out:

You may recognize this shirt from another post as well. It's the same Miss Tina top I wore while in D.C. for my sister's graduation. I'm really into the whole tied up shirt look right now so I tied this one to give it a cropped effect, and plus, I just love these two colors together.

For my accessories, I wore this gorgeous studded watch that a parent of one of my former Pre-School students gave me as a birthday gift on one arm and a painted wooden bracelet I bought from Australia back in 2007 on the other. 

The watch actually doesn't even work anymore, which is fine because 1) I am not a big fan of watches and 2) it looks more like a pretty bracelet anyway, right? :)

For my earrings, I wore my favorite pearl drop earrings and my makeup was very minimal. By the time these photos were taken, much of the minimal was reduced to smudge but still, the natural face was my aim. I even took a very lax approach to styling my hair. I like the whole "just woke up and threw some clips in" look. I've been rocking it a lot lately!

Here are a few snaps of the full look:

The shoes I'm wearing are yet another birthday gift from my friend Michelle. We were in Zara one day and we both fell in instant love with these shoes. Much to my delight, as my birthday was only a few days away, she was like, "I will buy them for you!" Can you say, "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!" :)

This was last year and this was my first time wearing them. These photos don't really do them any justice. I call them my "grown woman shoes". These jokers are BAD!

Now you know me, I have to give my disclaimers all the time. In the following photos, I will show you what the skirt looks like as a dress. However, because I wore a shirt over the top of it, I wore a bra with straps. So, for the next photos, instead of blessing you all with nipple shots, I just tucked the straps in, hence the awkwardness around the boobie area. Still, isn't the dress just adorbs?

What you all think? Cute, right? It's one of my new favorite pieces. I wore it as a skirt this weekend but unfortunately didn't get any photos of it. Maybe I will recreate the look and have Nia take a few snaps for me to share with you. But seriously, isn't this just the cutest thing? I love the layers and the texture of the skirt; how it flows and moves when I walk. And it's just flirty and girlie enough, but still appropriate for church! I love it! :)

Now, I was planning on sharing another look with you but alas it is already past my bedtime so I will post it tomorrow, God-willing. In the meantime, in between time, keep it flirty and fun!

Love,

K.

Fashion Finds: Souvenir Tee and Rice Bag Backpack

Hello my dear fashionistas!

I know I haven't posted in a while! I just haven't been doing much so I haven't had any cause to post anything! I am currently on holiday in Myrtle Beach with the family! Yesterday was my birthday and ALL I wanted for my birthday was to come to the beach...and my birthday wish came true! And the best part is the fact that the weather man said it was going to rain all week! Ha! Sunny skies, all day, errrrrday! Take that, meteorologist!!

I didn't do much on my birthday...just chillaxed on the beach, got a great tan! Then yesterday evening, my peoples and I took a stroll down to the boardwalk, which yielded some mixed feelings. I hated it because there was nothing but kids down there! I think the age range was from 16-23...and they were EV-E-RY-WHERE!! I couldn't breathe there were so many! I felt so old! :p

But the best part was that I found two super cute fashion finds. The first is the classic souvenir shirt. I knew I wanted something that said Myrtle Beach on it but most souvenir items are so corny. Coffee mugs, ashtrays, picture frames, boring-t-shirts. But I found this adorable tie-dyed half top from one of the shops on the strip; I can't remember the name of the shop, but isn't the shirt just lovely?

Here are a few shots of me wearing it on the beach with my bathing suit:

Isn't it cuuuuuuuuuuuuuute? It was on sale for $9.99 AND it was buy one, get one free so my sister got one as well. She picked out a blank one actually and had a design added to it (there were like about 70 or so to choose from); I picked out a nice one for her:

Nia Fashionista, winner of the Blog Cat Awards, ladies and gentlemen! ;)

 

Next stop was a shop called Good Vibes; it sold things like incense, bongs, Bob Marley posters and t-shirts, lighters, etc. I was only planning to buy some Nag Champa incense as I have been looking for it FOREVER, but I kept finding myself gravitating towards this totally awesome backpack. I learned that it is made of 100% recycled rice bags. It cost $32.99 and at first I questioned if it was worth it. But then I decided that I owed it to myself for my birthday...so I GOT IT!!

I love that the bag matched so perfectly with what I wore last night. It's my new favorite bag; it's just sooooooooooo me! Plus, it made me feel like I was actually somewhere, other than South Carolina. I normally only find unique things like this on my foreign travels so for a brief moment, I was transported. Maybe it will have this same effect every time I wear the bag! We'll see...I certainly hope so!! :)

So yes, that's all I have for you for now! I still have a lot cute things I bought that I can't wait to wear to show you! Hopefully next week, as my sister is in town so we may be setting up some photo ops while she's around!

So stay tuned! Off to enjoy the last few moments of my vacation! Ciao, bellas!!!

Love,

K.

Fashion Tutorials of the Day: Fun with Scarves

This first video is by Shirley B. of Meek-n-Mild.com! I came across this video while looking for different ways to tie my hair. I love her cute accent and she definitely has me wanting to take MY extensions out; and for the same reasons she mentions at the beginning of this vid!

Shirley's video reminded me of a clever video I came across months ago; only this time, the young lady featured (Wendy Nguyen is her name) is showing us different ways to wear scarves around our neck. Yes, it is summer now and I don't imagine we want anything around our necks right now, I still wanted to share it because I think it's awesome!

Check out more of Wendy at Wendy's Lookbook. I love her style; so simple and cute!

Okay, off to bed for real this time! Just wanted to share these videos! We'll chat again soon!

Good night, my lovelies! :)

Love,

K.

Style on My Mind: Random Ramblings

Greetings friends and fashionistas!

I haven't been posting much lately as JCPenney has finally seemed to acknowledge that I work there and as a result have given me proper hours on the schedule. Plus, outside of work, my social life has pretty much been at a standstill...as normal; however this will change over the next week or so.

I have been really excited about my trip to Myrtle Beach next week and am praying to our Heavenly Father that we are blessed with gorgeous weather! The weather reports have been trying to dampen our spirits but we aren't going to let them be victorious! There shall be sunny skies...oh yes...there shall be sunny skies!

In the meantime, I am totally trying to organize my wardrobe. Those who know me know that I like to plan/pack way in advance for my trips. It has been difficult this go round, though because none of my bathing suits fit me anymore. My tops are okay but my bikini bottoms now fit me like thongs (not a good look). So I am on the hunt for the perfect bathing suit...but what kind to buy?

Because I like to tan as much of my body as possible, I have always been a big fan of bikinis. Now, I am more drawn to the vintage bathing suits of the good old days.

How gorgeous is this photo?

Classic, timeless, ultra-feminine! I am just in love with the high-waist swim bottoms that the lovely on the far left is wearing. Plus, as someone who isn't too keen on having all the cheeks out while vacationing with family, the boycut short, skort and swimdress styles are what I am all about right now.

I saw this super-cute suit in TJ Maxx the other day. It is very similar in style to the bikini mentioned above except it's navy blue and the bottom is a skort. But it had a cute bow on the bodice and the around the waist of the skort. Just adorable. It was a size 10, though. I may go back on Thursday when I do my holiday shopping and try it on.

I also see online that Target has a lot of vintage inspired swimdresses in stock, such as this simple little number here:

Merona Women's Shirred 1-piece Swimdress

It's available in a variety of colors and comes with removable straps. I read a few reviews on it, though, and many complain of the torso being too short. As someone with a long torso, I don't imagine this would work for me but I still find it simple and cute enough.

This one is also really cute:

Mossimo Women's 1-Piece Bandeau Swimdress

If you saw the inspiration board I posted the other day, then you would know that I am a big fan of the bandeau top. With my small top and full hips, I can see this suit looking really nice on me; plus it has some great reviews!

Naturally, as I don't have time to order a swimsuit online, I have to consider what is available to me in Fayetteville. I am not particularly impressed with the swimsuits at JCPenney although I did ring up a lady who found a pretty red swimdress for herself. I will also check out my favorite spot for hidden treasures, Ross (Dress for Less) and there may be some reasonably priced suits in Forever 21.

However...if I DID have the time to order online and had the finances to appeal to my expensive taste, then I would order this little beauty:

Teal Knit Bikini by Lover from Bona Drag

I am definitely on the hunt for the high-waist this season. I'm trying to get my pin-up girl on! Plus, how about this for a bomb cover-up:

Mara Hoffman Ibis Sheer Chiffon Cocoon Cover-up

I would wear this daily...

Talk about chillaxing on the beach in style! Arrrrgh, this is only frustrating me! I am ready to go shopping!! I will be sure to have my camera with me so that I can properly share the experience with you. I am trying to replenish my savings so I will definitely be on the hunt for bargains but you already know that I am going to assemble something just darling! Stay tuned!

On the flipside, I am also trying to figure out what to do with my hair. As you know I have these ridiculously long box braids in my hair and they are beginning to annoy the holy crap out of me. I desperately want to take them out but I think that doing so before a trip to the beach would be a bit counterproductive. So instead, I am looking into creative ways I can tie them up and away and out of my damn sight.

Shame I can't remember where I found this photo but I am loving the variety of styles she presents in this collage. Obviously, I am a big fan of all the turban looks but I can imagine the way she has her hair tied in the top left photo would complete my vintage swimwear look. That is, of course, if I don't bend under pressure and remove my braids altogether. 

We'll see. I still have about 10 days before we hit the road and on 7 of those days, I have to work so I may not have time to do anything with my hair but I know I want something fresh and new for my birthday so again, we'll see.

So yea, this was just a random post about nothing to kind of fill the slots until I post a new look or Polyvore set! Oh, and I'd like to give a big welcome to my newest blog member Jersey Girl! Check out her blog at hairsprayandhighheels.blogspot.com! She recently posted this photo of a new look she tried on her nails, one that I shall be copying, thank you:

Two Tone Manicure by Jersey Girl

So summery, so cute! I like!!

Well, my lovelies, it is nearing my bedtime so I am going to sign out! I hope to have some fashionable news for you over the next couple of days!

Until then, keep it cool, keep it retro!

Love,

K.