march in review (another blogger meet up, an outfit post + weeklywishes)

is it just me, or did march TOTALLY fly by? i feel like we were SO busy ALL month i didnt even notice that it was almost april! since this month has been somewhat of a blur, im especially grateful that i had already to committed to this whole "month in review" thing to recap everything we did, otherwise i might have forgotten that march even happened!

seriously, SO much happened in march:

we got a really bad start to the month when we spent a whole week without hot water and i almost forgot to go to my friends bachelorette party. but then i remembered and everything was ok! 

plus, since my dear friend shannon got married, i got to do some embroidery:

which i really, really love doing but for some reason can only find the time when somebodys about to get married. (conveniently, about eight thousand people i know are getting married right now, so it looks like the future will hold a lot more embroidery! yay!). 

also, poverty luxe turned one year old! this is totally insane because i never thought id be doing this for a whole year. but still awesome. 

we took alice to the zoo for the very first time.

and we welcomed a new member to the meyers family. meet B:

(obviously alice is totally obsessed) remember that time my sister rescued a kitten and named it gaston? well, it turns out gaston is a lady, and one of my moms cats (a fat, lazy, potato of a cat named ronald) apparently CAN NOT handle sharing his litter box with a girl, and despite living in a one bedroom apartment, ive been getting antsy to have more cats. so B lives with us now. its great. 

and in big, exciting, life-changing news: i started college this week AND dove into a new business adventure as a consultant for jamberry nails. 

i really wish i had something more profound to say about starting college again after so many years, but, i dont know, im taking two one unit classes for eight weeks. it doesnt even really feel like im in college right now. come back in september and im sure ill have more to say about it. 

jamberry, on the other hand, i just cant keep my mouth shut about that. dont worry though, poverty luxe (the blog, or the etsy shop) isnt going anywhere. the only thing that might be going somewhere sometime soon though is my job at joanns. i wont say yet that im quitting, but i will say that my first week with jamberry had a rocky, underwhelming start and i still made about what id bring home on a good week at joanns. so...

oh! saturday i got to go to another awesome blogger meet up hosted by melyssa and the bloggers giving back crew! this event was called well boxed: 

 and we had pizza and wine and put together care packages for the troops stationed overseas:

it was an awesome time getting to do something nice for someone that probably really needs it, while also getting to spend some quality time getting to know some other blogger ladies better (AND even meeting some new friends!). 

now, i noticed that amidst all of the crazy busyness of march, i havent been doing much in the way of outfit posts. even though thats totally my favorite kind of post and i swore that id do more of them they just havent been happening. so as of right now, im stepping up my game. heres what i wore to the well boxed event:

                                       

outfit details:

top/bandeau: diy (tutorial coming next month!)

skirt: poverty luxe.

shoes: shoemint

bracelet: vintage (james bought it for me when he was a scrap gold buyer)

glasses: zenni optical

nails: jamberry in diamond dust and cup of tea

i dont really have a whole lot to say about this outfit, other than i did make most of it (and the shoes i won from another bloggers giveaway), so i didnt really pay for any of it, which i guess is neat. also, lately ive really been working on finding different ways to style my poverty luxe skirt, since, you know, actually wearing the things i make is basically the cheapest marketing there is. at the blogger meet up i got a lot of compliments on my top, which was actually a really simple diy project, so stay tuned, because in a couple weeks I'm going to show you how to make one too!

so there you have our highlights for the month of march. 

well, that and yesterday james did that thing we do now and again where we dress up as dr. who characters for no reason and it becomes glaringly obvious why exactly we dont have any adult friends:

(but, i mean, if i was someone else, id totally want to be friends with us)

now dont think i forgot about weekly wishes!

last week i wanted to get a good start on my classes and order my textbooks, and i did both! in fact, i was SO excited about having homework to do that i did ALL of my homework for both classes on thursday. plus i saved like $80 bucks by buying my textbooks used (and ill probably get almost as much as i paid for them when i sell them in a couple months, so stay tuned for a post about how to work the textbook system!)

whats up for this week? not much, really. obviously I want to keep doing my homework early, but my big projects for the week are finishing Aprils editorial calendar (and deciding if Friday posts are coming back or not....) and starting a big list of all the home projects that need done/things that need to be replaced (with James working full time and me NOT working three jobs, we totally have the time and money for projects for the first time in over a year so its already a long, overwhelming list...)

what was your favorite part of march?

the time we went to a wedding (an outfit post + my new business venture + weekly wishes).

we had a busy weekend over here. friday night we had the privilege of attending the wedding of my dear friend shannon to her new husband jacob, saturday we went to the zoo, and then yesterday there was potluck lunch after church. needless to say, im really surprised that i did anything today, let alone all the chores + errands + shoe shopping (which ended up turning into an extended visit to the mall) PLUS getting a bomb diggity dinner on the table at a somewhat decent hour (seriously guys, this pizza will make you never want to eat a different pizza ever again. i just wish i could have a chance to try it on real bread). 

its been a pretty exciting and productive day, to say the least. although my work work, like writing blog posts and sewing the pile of the soon-to-be-announced new product for the shop... well, lets just say alice just went to bed and im just now getting started. but, better late than never, right? i hope so. 

anyway, heres what i wore to shannons wedding:

outfit details:

dress: vintage

shoes: aldo (thrifted, originally purchased for my wedding)

necklace: macys

glasses: zenni optical

purse: voz collective (from back in the old days when jackie made purses)

nails: jamberry in diamond dust sparkle and cup of tea

first off, i just want to clarify that even though this dress totally looks like a bridesmaids dress (and just so happens to be the exact color of the wedding theme) i was not in the wedding. 

the bride did pick my dress though. 

for real. a few weeks ago shannon texted me saying "hey i got you this green silk saks fifth avenue dress from the last chance goodwill. it needs some repair on the zipper but it looks like your size and its just too nice to get shipped to africa and its only $2". so obviously i was like "heck yes". 

and then i actually saw the dress and i was like "HOLY MOLY ARE YOU KIDDING ME THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DRESS IVE EVER LAID EYES ON WHY ARE YOU GIVING IT TO ME FOR FREE AND NOT SELLING IT ON ETSY FOR THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS" and then i was like "i know its probably too fancy and the exact color of your wedding but can i still wear it to the wedding anyway", and being the absolute doll that she is, she said "of course"

but seriously. its the most beautiful dress ive ever seen, from the shimmery, swishy silk fabric to the impeccable construction (the fashion nerd in me just about DIED when i saw that the lining was HAND SEWN into the bodice so the stitching wouldnt show, you just dont see that in dresses these days). oh, and did i mention it actually fits? vintage dresses NEVER fit me right. ive got broad shoulders and a deceptively large ribcage and no matter how hard i try, vintage dresses just will not zip for me. but this one did. perfectly. 

obviously with such an amazing dress i didnt want any accessories to distract from it, so i just paired it with some plainish pumps and pearls and a simple hairdo. oh and this really awesome clutch that i got at a craft fair back when i used to do lots of cool craft fairs that i thought was lost for like two years but then i found it in a suitcase while i was cleaning a couple weeks ago and it was the best day ever. 

now, if youre really observant, you probably noticed that i included my nails in the outfit details, which ive never, ever done before. this is going to become a regular thing. and theres a reason for this. its because i just started on a new business adventure (i just decided right now that i like that word better) as a consultant for jamberry nails! obviously im going to tell you more about this later (spoiler alert: theres going to be a giveaway involved in my launch party thats happening next week), but for now ill just say that these are BY FAR the BEST nail wrap product that has EVER existed and you need to check them out RIGHT NOW (and also take this enthusiasm seriously because im literally never this excited about a product ever). you can learn more about them here (and obviously stay tuned for my launch party next week!)

oh! and remember how theres nothing new in the shop right now because i was too busy making bow ties and pocket squares for a wedding? well this was the wedding. i thought i should have something to show for this prolonged absence, so heres the adorable groom sporting his poverty luxe accouterments:

and as for weekly wishes? well i definitely made good on last weeks wishes: i filled out and turned in my financial aid appeal form (now im anxiously awaiting the verdict...) PLUS i updated my name change AND checked out the book lists for my classes. also, today i tried on running shoes (i havent made a decision yet though, these were lightweight and comfortable, but these were even better, though i dont know if they were fifty dollars better). also also, i got a big pot of cream of asparagus soup in the freezer AND we took alice to the zoo (and those werent even on the list for this week!), so marchs monthly wishes just may be completed after all!

this weeks goals are to get one more batch of beans in the freezer, decide on and order/buy my running shoes, and go get my student id (i couldnt do it last week because the name change takes a few days to process). should be a fun week. 

what are your goals for this week?

sponsor spotlight: gipsy dharma footwear

today i am super excited to introduce you to this months in-post sponsor, gipsy dharma. 

gipsy dharma is a company based in the uk that makes beautiful handmade leather boots:

now, youve probably noticed from my outfit posts that im just about always wearing flats. in fact, if the situation doesnt absolutely require shoes, im barefoot.  honestly, im really not that into fancy shoes unless theyre SUPER comfortable. id rather wear moccasins. 

but sometimes you need something more attractive than moccasins. these boots seem like the perfect happy medium between attractive and comfortable (seriously, they look SO soft and comfy!) and they come in SO.MANY.COLORS. my favorite is this purple suede pair:

what i really like about gipsy dharma (besides the super cute boots, obviously), is that they have a VERY thourough faq page with EVERYTHING you could possibly need to know about their sizing so that you can be sure to get the right fit (as well as anything else you want to know), because for me, buying shoes online is always kind of scary. gipsy dharma goes out of their way to make sure its not. 

like i said, gipsy dharma is located in the uk, so all of their prices are in gbp. HOWEVER, they do ship worldwide AND have a handy-dandy currency converter right in the site so you dont have to look up the exchange rate, which makes international shipping a whole lot simpler. 

oh, and one more great thing, they give away a COMPLETELY FREE PAIR OF BOOTS EVERY WEEK on their Facebook page. free boots! every week! how awesome!

be sure to check out the gipsy dharma shop, and dont forget like them on Facebook (especially if you want to get in on the free boots giveaway!). 

seriously though, i wish we had room in out budget for the purple pair. which pair is your favorite?

the time i tried to wear my wedding dress to disneyland (+ what we did this year for dapper day)

so, this past sunday was dapper day at disneyland. but before i tell you about this years spring dapper day, i thought id take a few minutes to tell a rather hilarious story from last years dapper day that i just remembered that i never actually told here:

see, at the beginning of last year was when i first found out about dapper day (which, if youre not familiar with it, is an unofficial disneyland event where people go to disneyland in formal/vintage attire and its amazing), and obviously WE HAD TO GO. my mom even offered to watch alice so that james and i (plus my sister and one of her friends) could chill out and go on big rides and stuff. awesome. 

then i got to thinking about vintagey formal wear. and you know what i had in a giant ziploc bag in my closet that probably still fit and needed to be put to some kind of use? my wedding dress. (oh, come on, im really supposed to just wear it once and just begrudgingly store it for the rest of my life, oh please) so my mom and i spent an afternoon sewing a bustle into it (since it wasnt a wedding wedding dress it didnt have one in there already) so it wouldnt drag and it was decided that i was going to wear it to dapper day. 

then when the day came we got all fancy and snapped a quick family photo before dropping alice off (please notice how she is NOT amused that we were going to disneyland without her):

but unfortunately thats the only photo we got while i was still wearing my wedding dress. 

because as soon as we got inside the park, i was made VERY aware that wedding dresses are NOT allowed inside disneyland. like, at all. as in, a security guard escorted my sister and i out of the park to the outside bathrooms so that i could change, to the locker room to be SURE that it was locked in a locker, and back inside the park. 

so obviously we made a big fuss about how they totally ruined our wedding day (a lie) and that it was totally illogical that ALL OF THE OTHER CAST MEMBERS that saw me outside of the park didnt say anything (that part was true). and then they gave us two eight-person fast passes for any ride we wanted. (and then we got to ride the cars ride without waiting in line which should be a lessons as to why its always a good idea to lie to disneyland cast members)

and since i totally anticipated something of this sort happening, i did bring a back up dress:

and really everything after that was awesome. obviously we were SUPER stoked for when dapper day rolled around again (and, this time i planned an outfit that would not get me sternly escorted out of the park). 

so we got all fancied up and went to disneyland. unfortunately though, i was still EXTREMELY drained from the previous days blogger brunch, so instead of a super exciting do-all-the-things disneyland day, it was more of a relaxed lets-just-people-watch-and-have-a-nice-lunch disneyland day. and those are nice too. 

actually, I'm really glad we decided our intentions for the day ahead of time, because sunday was seriously THE crowdedest that I've EVER seen disneyland, EVER. it took us about a half hour to park, IN THE MOST PERFECT, EFFICIENT, WELL DESIGNED PARKING STRUCTURE EVER. it was insane. 

anyway, once we FINALLY got into the park (and a nice gentleman gave us his fast passes for indiana jones), we decided to take pictures. they're doing a bunch of construction in new orleans square right now so my normal photo spot wasnt accessible, so we decided the next best place would be the mark twain. 

here we are separately:

 

and then together:

next we tried to do a proper outfit shoot, but it turns out thats a difficult thing to do when youre on a steam powered riverboat, but we did our best (also, a stranger lady was TOTALLY taking pictures of me too, which was totally weird):

outfit details:

top, skirt, stole, and bag: vintage

tights: target

shoes: urban outfitters

glasses: zenni optical

so, it was about 80 degrees out on sunday, and i was wearing a fox fur stole it got uncomfortable a couple times, but, i mean, how often do i get to wear, as alice calls it, my "puppy scarf" (no joke, when she woke up sunday morning and saw my outfit the first thing out of her mouth was "mommy! i like your puppy scarf!". the stole has a funny story: one day a friend of mine sent me a facebook message asking me if i wanted some old furs his friend was getting rid of, and i answered (somewhat facetiously) "only if they're the kinds with the heads and legs still attached", to which he answered "even better, the glass eyes dont even match", and i was like "sold!". and now alice calls it my "puppy scarf" which is equal parts adorable and observant and sad and gross all at the same time and i love it. 

now as SOON as i saw these pictures i realized something: i should NOT have been wearing black tights. i TOTALLY needed nude or white stockings but i didnt have any and now i feel really self conscious. 

but otherwise i really loved this outfit (and that i managed to get my hair looking nice), and apparently lots of other people did too, because seriously SO MANY people stopped us to take our picture. like, the only other time id been photographed that much was at my wedding. 

then after pictures we had lunch at cafe orleans, which i cant believe that id never been to before because HOLY CRAP THEY HAVE MY TWO FAVORITE FOODS EVER. garlic fries (with an AMAZING remoulade sauce) and a mixed green salad with raspberry vinaigrette and goat cheese:

 remember how i said it was super crowded? well there was a 45 minute wait for a table. 45 minutes. for lunch. i mean, its not like we had anywhere we needed to be and it was totally worth it, but still. thats forever in waiting for lunch time. 

as we were eating we noticed that the mark twain meet up was starting (and by that i mean, entire boatloads of adorable dapper day folks were on the mark twain waving and shouting), so james and i decided to join them, since last year we missed all the official dapper day activities.

now remember yesterday when i said i made a new friend at the brunch that was going to dapper day too? nikki and i totally hit it off at the blogger brunch and had been tweeting each other about trying to meet up at some point sunday, and we were able to find each other in the line for the mark twain line!:

 and had a grand old time during the meet up itself:

(photo stolen from nikkis instagram)

after the mark twain, we used our star tours fast passes (i think id go so far as to say thats my current favorite "big ride") and james asked my how i was feeling (since he know that two big outings in a row is something that usually doesnt go well for me), i said "im not feeling bad yet, but i definitely dont feel good anymore" and being the gentleman that he is, he suggested that we get going before i actually started to feel bad, and me being me, i replied "ok, but can we get ice cream first?". so we got ice cream. and then went home. 

it was a nice day. 

i really hope we can make it to the fall dapper day too!

a job interview and an outfit post.

so you probably know by now that on tuesday i had to do something that makes me very uncomfortable and that i havent done in a very, very long time. 

i had a job interview. at anthropologie. 

meaning i had to not only look cute, i had to look anthropologie cute. mom cute wasnt going to cut it. thankfully i scored some fantastic pieces at the knitted dove sample sale at the silverlake art craft and vintage market and felt very well prepared (at least, wardrobe wise). heres what i wore:

sweater and skirt: knitted dove, cami: cotton on, tights: target, shoes, bag, and pin: vintage, glasses: zenni optical

 today im linking up with penniless socialite for look what i got because this outfit is chock full of all kinds of bargainy goodness. first off, right now cotton on has TONS of camis for $2. really. two dollars. this is awesome because literally ALL of my camis are super worn out and saggy because i refused to buy maternity clothes (p.s. im wearing this one, but i think i might brave the mall again soon to pick up some more). 

also my sweater and skirt are both knitted dove. i couldnt find the exact cardigan anywhere online, but most of their sweaters (im a big fan of this one) retail for around $80. i got mine for $15. and the skirt? you can get a black and white one on modcloth for $72.99, but i got an even better red one for $10. obviously youre so totally jealous, right? well if youre in the LA area, from what i hear knitted dove WILL be back at the silverlake market next month, on november 9th. if i can scrape up some spending money by then i know ill be back. 

once i put this outfit together i knew it was the perfect fall outfit, i mean, look at those colors and textures (and the cute little bows on the skirts welt pockets):

now, please notice my vintage whale brooch:

because honestly, i dont think there is any single item that screams "I CAN TOTALLY WORK AT ANTHROPOLOGIE" more than a vintage whale brooch, right?

oh, maybe silver dancing shoes?

or a kodak camera case bag?

because ive totally got those bases covered too. 

i really loved how this outfit came together, its just unfortunate that were having an exceptionally warm fall (i guess to make up for the exceptionally cold and gloomy summer?) and i probably wont be able to wear it again till like, january. 

as for the interview, honestly it was probably the weirdest interview ive ever been to. but well know by monday if i get a second interview....

little treats. new shoes.

happy saturday! hows your summer going? doing anything fun?

now that its august ive got some SERIOUS summer laziness going on. a BIG chunk of this week was spent at the beach and pool. this weeks main goal was to get alice and i back into our normal routine after the apartment fiasco (who knew temporarily moving was so traumatic for a one year old? it was nearly a week before she would even play with toys like her normal self). id say i was mostly successful, most the house is almost ready for the "after" pictures of our organization quest, and my weekly chore rotation is back in full swing, but theres one thing that i just cant bring myself to tackle. 

the laundry. the entire time weve been married i have been VERY on top of our laundry situation. see, once right after our honeymoon ALL of our clothes were dirty and we had to spend what felt like an eternity at the laundromat, and then go home to fold and put away a mountain of clothes (which i believe took days) and after that i swore that i would never do that again. and i didnt. i have a very tidy little system where all the clothes are carefully sorted and i do ONE load start-to-finish every few days. it works great, we never run out of anything and im never overwhelmed with laundry. 

except for right now. im pretty sure i havent done any laundry in almost a month. i have literally spent this entire week hemming and hawing over how to get started on tackling this because the giant mountain of dirty clothes is really getting in the way of getting the bedroom organization finished. i dont even know where to start. do i spend a day at the laundromat and get it all done? no, i dont want to do that. do i just start pushing through one load at a time until i catch up? that sounds a lot better, but where do i even start? which load is more important? its not even like laundry is hard, and i like doing it most of the time. its just really overwhelming me right now. 

so im going to keep ignoring it for a little longer and tell you about these super cute new shoes i just got:

i got them at h&m, for, get this, $3.50 (!!!). i hardly ever go to the mall anymore, but when we were shopping for my sisters birthday present i couldnt help but notice that h&m had all their clearance an additional half off. i went to check it out because i really need some new shorts, but unfortunately all the clothes they had left were pretty terrible. i was kind of bummed out about that so i went to see if they had any cute shoes, because i also need to work on improving my shoe selection (read more about that here). and i was SO glad i did, because im pretty much in love with these. 

ive only worn them once so far, but theyre definitely one of the more comfortable pairs of heels i own, so i cant wait to start putting together new outfits with them!