8 tips to keep you from going broke on maternity clothes.

im going to be completely real here, i HATE maternity clothes. a strong, powerful, oddly disproportionate hate like the hate i have for morissey and wil wheaton and things that are orange-flavored. i hate having to buy special, single purpose garments for a very specific, very temporary transitional period in life that lasts approximately five months. when you add the fact that the majority of traditional maternity clothes are expensive, unflattering, uncomfortable, and inexplicably geared to the over-40 set style-wise, well, there are a whole lot of layers to that hate-cake. 

but being pregnant doesnt have to mean dropping hundreds of dollars on clothes that you hate. i mean, theres not a whole lot you can do to change whats already out there in the world of maternity clothes, it turns out there are actually quite a few things you can do to make things easier in the money department. 

and now that i have (almost) two whole pregnancies under my (currently very large) belt, i herby present to you my top eight tips for saving money on maternity clothes: 

1. re-evaluate your "normal" clothes. so the idea that youre going to need an ENTIRE new wardrobe as soon as you find out youre pregnant is a total lie, because 1. its probably going to be a while before you actually need different clothes (especially if its your first pregnancy) and 2. you probably have a LOT of regular clothes that will serve you well through pregnancy. things like: long/loose tops, sweaters, jackets, empire waist/fit and flare dresses, stretchy skirts, leggings, etc.. so before you rush out and buy anything, move all of THAT stuff to the front of your closet and see how far you can go. 

2. splurge on a belly band. these range anywhere from $15 to upwards of $60, which is an absolutely stupid price for whats basically just a circle of stretchy fabric that really isnt all that comfortable (personally i find it very itchy and constricting). but, it does have two key benefits (especially for the first half of pregnancy/postpartum): 1. it lets you wear your normal pants unbuttoned without them falling down/everyone being able to see your open pants, and 2. it fills in the gap when your shirts start getting too short (but not necessarily too small). 

3. dont get ahead of yourself. i know the idea of a single, big maternity shopping spree to outfit yourself for your entire pregnancy might sound super fun and efficient. but honestly thats a surefire way to end up wasting a TON of money on clothes that wont get worn. why? because, like most things involving babies, you really CAN NOT anticipate what youre going to need until you actually need it (or dont need it). there is literally NO way to predict how big you are going to get at what stage, how youre going to carry, or what kind of clothes you are going to want to wear/feel comfortable in once you get bigger. so when you run out of pants or shirts or underwear or whatever that fit, go get that one thing you KNOW you need, and hold off on everything else. 

4. look for non-maternity alternatives. heres the thing with anything labeled "maternity": much like anything labeled "wedding", whatever it is is going to cost about three-four times as much as its normal counterpart. but the thing is (just like with weddings) sometimes there is literally no difference. take extra-long tank tops for layering: theyre a good $20 + in the maternity section (even at cheap places like h&m), but you can get them at forever 21 for like $4. another great trick (especially for skirts and dresses) is to find a flattering cut thats loose around the belly area, and buying it in a larger than normal size. in addition to saving you tons of money, it will not have the belly-accentuating gathers and panels that maternity clothes tend to have, so you can continue to wear them postpartum without still looking pregnant (trust me on this, you do NOT want to be wearing belly-emphasizing maternity clothes after the baby is born). 

5. invest in versatile basics. as with clothing in general, youll get a LOT more mileage out of your maternity budget if you stick to higher quality, mix and match pieces in neutral colors. one really great dress or pair or pants can be dressed up or down in a variety of combinations and no one will really notice, but loud, trendy tops will only last you a few wears. also, great basics are less likely to go out of style, and a LOT more likely to be useful to save for your next pregnancy/hand down to another expecting mom. 

6. always look check the clearance sales. there is one plus side to the fact that maternity clothes tend to be horribly dated: the stuff on clearance is exactly the same as the stuff thats regular price. wherever youre shopping, whether its an an actual maternity store like motherhood or somewhere less expected like h&m or amazon, check the clearance, because there is probably something fantastic/necessary for a fraction of the price. actual real-life clearance scores so far: $6 and $12 nursing bras, a $12 bathing suit, $5 tshirts, and a very, very versatile black and white striped dress (because we all know how i love those) for $25. all because i checked the clearance. 

7. thrift/consignment stores, thredup, and your other mom friends. so far ive only talked about buying new maternity clothes. but, of course, theres also the option of not buying new maternity clothes. since theyre typically worn for such a short time, most used pieces are still in fabulous condition, and if you have the patience/free time for it (but if you dont, thredup is a wonderful online substitute) you can find deals way better than the clearance racks. also, hand me downs. if you have other friends that are new moms, pregnancy is not a time to be too proud for hand me downs. 

8. consider your postpartum needs when youre shopping. i really, really hate to break it to you, but you are probably not going straight back to your pre-pregnancy shape immediately after giving birth. youll need transitional clothes. also, if youre planning on nursing, youll need tops and dresses that will work for that too. BUT, if you carefully select your maternity purchases so that theyre also useful postpartum, then you can really stretch your clothing budget. 

so yeah, long story short, maternity clothes kind of suck. but at least they dont have to eat all your money. 

how to fake your way to being a "cute mom". (sponsored by yogaoutlet.com)

outfit details: 

dress: c/o yogaoutlet.com

cardigan: target

 moccasins: minnetonka (purchased used)

glasses: zenni optical

every so often someone will make a comment about how im such a "cute mom". now, i try my best to take this as a compliment, but if were being honest here, this is usually said in a condescending tone, as if to say "oh victoria, thats so cute that you have all that extra time and money to invest in looking nice all the time, you must have such an easy life to have everything together like that", to which i say: BAHAHAHAHAAAAA. 

no. 

i do not have an easy life. i do not have ANYTHING even remotely together. i do not have time for shopping. i do not have money for shopping. and unless it is a very, very special occasion, i do not have the energy to spend more than three minutes a day caring about what i look like. 

im just really good at faking like im a cute mom. and today im going to share a few tips on how you can do it too. (also, im sorry for laughing at you, that probably wasnt very nice of me). 

1. find some comfy dresses. dresses are for SO MUCH MORE than just dressing up. most of the time, if im home doing chores/out running a billion errands, im wearing a dress. why? because the right dress (like this super soft organic cotton shift from yogaoutlet.com) feels like pajamas, but looks like you tried. all with the added bonus of being a whole outfit in one and not having to wear pants. 

2. cardigans and moccasins. cardigans are basically the same thing as sweatshirts. moccasins are basically the same thing as slippers. however, in both cases, one option says "why yes, i am handling things today" and the other says "i have lost all control over my life". and i dont know about you, but for me clothing has a profound psychological effect, and dressing like the former even when i feel like the latter actually helps.

3. less is more. you know all those clothes in your closet that dont fit/dont match anything/make you feel unattractive that (dont lie) are totally in your closet? just get rid of them. you cant ever look frumpy if you dont let yourself have the option of looking frumpy. thats logic. 

4. limit your color palette. generally speaking, i can pull any top and any bottom out of my closet and they will at least sort of coordinate. why? because if you were to look inside my closet, you'd see that (almost) everything is black, white, or grey, with the occasional pop of pink, red, and orange. sure this may sound boring, but do you have any idea how fast i can get dressed in the morning?

5. perfect the two-minute makeup routine. yes, most days i leave the house i wear makeup. no, this does not take any time at all. i wear my makeup the exact same way every day (blush, eyeshadow, winged liner, and mascara) and can get it done in about a minute and a half. i also have a teeny tiny makeup bag with just those things in my bathroom separate from the rest of my makeup so that i never have to waste time looking for things. i promise that if you can boil your makeup routine down to just the essentials, youll be able to go from sleepy to done up before anyone realizes you closed the bathroom door. 

6. memorize some lightning fast hairstyles. some women are blessed with hair that just naturally looks great all the time. i am not one of those women. thankfully, the internet has a LOT of resources for almost zero-effort hairstyles. i mean, we all know about topknots and ponytails, but what about a messy fishtail, rope braid, or scarf roll? honestly, until a few months ago, i had no idea there were so many easy thinks you can do with your hair to look like you tried. (my new favorite thing is this thing where i dont wash or brush my hair and pin up the front part and pretend like im fancy). 

7. most importantly, just own it. look, even if i did have the time/energy for beachy waves and cuffed white jeans or perfectly coordinating a necklace and hat with my top, that would look ridiculous. because thats not me and i cant pull that off. the #1 secret to being a "cute mom"? confidence. whatever your "look" is, as long as you own it, nobody will know that you cant do the normal "cute mom" things. 

so now that ive spilled all my secrets, steal them and go be cute. nobody has to know that youre not actually a "cute mom" cute mom...

(disclaimer: this post was sponsored by yogaoutlet.com and they provided the dress free for review. all other content and opinions are my own. p.s. be sure to check out their holiday gift guide for gift ideas for the yoga-inclined on your list)

a frustrating season and a reminder that we need this.

outfit details: 

top: jc penney (very old)

shorts: vintage

shoes: elorie (purchased from gilt)

glasses: zenni optical

if i were to describe how life is going right now, id say were in a frustrating season. and i dont just mean that because im still wearing shorts and its freaking NOVEMBER, its just that (as ive mentioned before) its that were in this prolonged season of transition. there are just so many things changing and they just wont quit moving around. have i mentioned lately how much i hate change? even though i do realize that all of these changes are moving our family forward into the kind of life that we want to have, its still frustrating. 

so, so frustrating. here are a few of the things im struggling with: 

school. this semester im in three classes. i know that doesnt sound like a lot but theyre all COMPLETELY different and have completely separate supplies and commitments. all three classes are only one day a week, so theyre LONG. im gone a lot. way more than id like to be, and when i am home, i have homework to do, or maybe i just want to sleep. its thrown a huge wrench in our weekly routines and takes so much out of me that i often feel like i cant give my best to james and alice (my priority), and honestly, i just dont have any energy left for any other family and friends. i feel like im failing everybody right now. also, i finally sat down with a fall and spring schedule to figure out what order i need to take the rest of my classes in, and the way things are set up at my school (assuming nothing gets cancelled or messed up), i wont graduate until the spring of 2017. 

work. not working at joanns anymore has been a HUGE relief, and so far, jamberry has been even more of a blessing than i could have imagined. but im starting a whole new job from scratch. everything is a learning experience, and since my time and energy are severely limited, its nearly impossible for me to stay on top of running parties, booking more parties, promoting on social media, pursuing consultant leafs, managing my team (were 12 strong now!), ordering supplies, and all the other things that being a consultant entails (no, that was NOT an exhaustive list of things i do). because of this, my workload tends to flip-flop from tons of work to none and back the other way every couple of weeks. and the fact that I'm just not naturally great at being my own boss? not helping. 

my health. honestly, my health hasnt been particularly bad lately, its just that its never all that good. i acknowledge and take full responsibility for taking on WAY more than my frail body can realistically handle, but at the same time, i kind of need it to cooperate. 

jamess job. since this spring, james has been working a ton. i mean, his schedule is only just now slowing down for winter. but hes still gone a lot, and i dont usually have the help that i need/am used to having. also, a variety of (not having anything to do with us) circumstances have put him about six months behind where he should be in his apprenticeship program. meaning, we have at least another two years before he journeys out and we dont have to deal with school week anymore. were probably going to graduate around the same time at this rate. 

but through all of this, as frustrating and seemingly endless as it feels, we need this. all of it. i need to do well in school, not only because ivee dreamt of having my own independent label since i was a little girl, but also because when i graduate, ill be able to freelance as a designer or pattern maker. and i need that long-term flexibility if were going to homeschool (which we are). i need to be optimistic and persistent with jamberry because it IS suiting our needs for a second income right now, and not having to work outside of the home is whats made going back to school even possible. i need to be patient and have a good attitude about my health because well, we all know by now that thats not changing anytime soon. and all of us need to be patient with jamess job and learn to go with the flow, because, yes, eventually he will journey out, he will make that journeyman money, and those quarterly school letters will stop coming. 

but most of all, i have to remind myself to be thankful (ha, i didnt realize when i was planning this post that it would be so seasonally appropriate). i need to be thankful that i AM in school studying my passion and im able to work from home while i do it. i need to be thankful that even though my health sucks most of the time, at least i know how to deal with it. i need to be thankful that james not only has a job, but a job with excellent benefits and a career track that will be pretty great in a few years. 

i have to be thankful that as difficult and exhausting and frustrating as things are right now, they are nowhere near as crappy as they used to be. weve spent the last two years or so deciding what kind of life we wanted for our family, and planting the sets we needed to make that happen. and now those seeds have all been planted and were waist-deep in the hard work part. a lot of the time it sucks, but we need this. we have goals, we have dreams, and they arent going to happen without all the work that were doing now. 

so instead of begrudgingly tolerating long hours, stupid homework, and shorts in november, i will be thankful. because we need this. all of it. except maybe the shorts in november part but i suppose thats just what we get for living in los angeles. 

accidental high-low dressing. an outfit post.

outfit details: 

jacket: free people

necklace: gift (similar)

dress: hand-me-down (handmade by a friend)

shoes: shoemint (old)

glasses: zenni optical

youre familiar with the term "high-low" dressing, right? its that thing where you pair really expensive things with really cheap things to make a unique outfit, like, an h&m top tucked into a chanel skirt or whatever. its like, a really popular thing to do. it can be fun, but with my wardrobe being in the sad, sorry state of needing new everything in recent years, my closet really didnt have much "high" to it. it was more like "low, lower, and lowest". 

but things have changed. ive gotten older and wiser and a prolonged lack of shopping money forced me to really examine my feelings about clothes. and through all of this, i learned a few things: 

1. my style really doesnt change much over time. lots of my old favorites, are still my favorites. and most of the more recent purchases i bought during my new mom identity crisis, i really really hate. 

2. i prefer a more minimal wardrobe. generally speaking, i dont typically wear that many different kind of outfits, and id rather only have things that mix and match with each other. both to save time getting ready in the morning and also to maximize my options for looking put together without always wearing the same thing. 

3. im the quality-over-quantity type. dont get me wrong, i do LOVE a bargain. but at the same time, theres a HUGE difference between something thats a great value, and something thats just cheap. and i dont know if its because of what ive learned through sewing, or if im just a snob, but i can definitely tell the difference. and maybe its just me, but id rather have one high quality shirt that will last for years than three cheap, disposable shirts. 

4. im just not that into shopping. despite the fact that i really love clothes and the visual stimulation and inspiration that comes from shopping (or sewing, or reading blogs, or people watching, or really anything for that matter), going to the mall (or thrift store, or target) to go buy clothes tends to do one of two things: either i get super stressed out and overwhelmed and cant make up my mind, or i end up impulsively buying things that really arent me because im out shopping and feel like i need to buy something. 

so even though now, thanks to jamberry and james working full-time again, i have disposable income for the first time in my entire adult life and i totally could go clothes shopping, just for fun. i havent. 

ive actually been working really hard to clean out my closet, this battle has been going on for several months and my "to get rid of" pile now reaches the ceiling. and since i (obviously, given the pile-to-the-ceiling) had WAY too many clothes to begin with, i really dont need anything. and the rare times i do shop, im looking for specific, high-quality pieces that can replace several of my old, worn out, or ill-fitting things. i usually know exactly what it is im looking for, and am just trying to find the right piece at the right price, rather than browsing to see what strikes my fancy. its not the most exciting place to be in wardrobe-wise, but its fun. 

and sometimes outfits like this one happen and its really really funny. see, every single piece of this outfit was free, except for the jacket. the dress was an old, old hand-me-down from my sister (handmade by one of our friends), the shoes i won in a blog giveaway, the pearls were a wedding present. 

but then theres the jacket. james took me out shopping for my birthday and we went to free people and he pointed out this jacket and i just HAD to have it: it was totally me, fit like a dream, was the right balance of warm-but-not-too-restrictive, and owning it would mean getting rid of like six old jackets and hoodies that i wasnt a huge fan of. but it was expensive. like, i want to barf expensive. but james insisted because it was my birthday and it was his treat. 

put the two parts together, and boom. high-low dressing. i guess this is a thing i do now. 

finding my real life grown up adult style (an eshakti review + an outfit post)

outfit details: 

dress: c/o eshakti 

shoes: target (old, thrifted)

necklace: gift (originally from macys

glasses: zenni opical

its been a long time since ive done a proper outfit post. and judging by the quality of these photos and how long it took me to edit them, james and i have gotten a little rusty when it comes to outfit post procedures. 

but were just going to ignore that and move on because thats not what were here today to talk about. 

see, i didnt want you guys to think that just because ive been gone all summer and ive had a big fat case of the lazies, that i havent been dressing cute and have just been flopping around in yoga pants and a stained sweatshirt all summer. oh heck no. (actually, i threw away all my old stained sweatshirts so they wouldnt even be an option, but thats a discussion for an entirely different day). 

in fact, id like to think that ive been dressing (and by extension, feeling) nicer and more attractive than ever before. because.... drumroll please.... SOMETHING CLICKED AND I FINALLY FOUND MY REAL LIFE GROWN UP ADULT STYLE AND ITS THE MOST AWESOME THING THATS EVER HAPPENED. 

ok maybe im exaggerating. but if youre going to hang around with me, you better get used to hyperbole. if you cant, we cant be friends. im sorry. 

but seriously, ive come a long, long way from where i was when i first wrote about my style struggles, and my early outfit posts just make me want to barf. but after purging my closet no less than THREE (!) times over the last couple years (and not really buying much to replace what i took out), and taking a step back to look at my wardrobe choices objectively and pragmatically, rather than potentially or theoretically, i can confidently say, ive figured out this whole "personal style" thing:

black, white, stripes, nipped waists, flared skirts, plain tops, skinny pants, bold pops of color and dainty, feminine accessories are here to stay, while novelty tshirts, empire waists, florals, sneakers, drapey knits and anything beachy/bohemian are definitely out. 

i wont say im 100% there yet with my wardrobe, seeing as i still frequently pull things out to get rid of, but im to the point where it takes me no time at all to get dressed in the morning, and nine times out of ten i feel really good about my outfit. which, coming from where i was not even a year and a half ago is a freaking miracle. 

especially considering what happened a few weeks ago, when eshakti offered to send me a dress to review. if this had happened back when i wrote those other posts, theres a pretty good chance i would have picked something awful because "i liked the idea of it" or "maybe this will work", just like every freaking time i went shopping for like two years. BUT NOT THIS TIME. 

i knew EXACTLY what i was looking for. 

and when the AMAZING airplane print dress that i wanted had a neckline i wasnt thrilled with, it wasnt a problem at all because eshakti lets you customize the necklines, hemlines, and sleeve treatments of whatever dress you pick. (unfortunately since this whole exchange happened while james was out of town i didnt have anyone to measure me so i could take advantage of the custom tailoring, but since everythings buy one get one free right now, maybe ill try it sometime soon and get a dress thats NOT super tight in the shoulders). 

ordering from eshakti was totally easy (and i love how you can browse the site by style!), shipping was exceptionally fast, and overall im really pleased with the quality (both fabric and construction) of the dress. definitely on the nicer side of what youd expect for the (retail) price point (im used to buying my higher end stuff used/on sale though so the price seemed high to me, but you really get what you pay for). 

the only thing i didnt like was the red fabric belt that came with it, but as you can clearly see, its plenty cute without it. 

so yeah, eshakti is a pretty great place to get dresses. especially right now. because, buy one get one free. 

*disclaimer, eshakti DID provide the dress sample for me to review, however i did not receive any additional compensation and all photos, views, and opinions are my own*

i finally quit my job! (an outfit post + april monthly wishes)

outfit details:

top: h & m

skirt: vintage

shoes: vintage

necklace: macys

hair clip: etsy

glasses: zenni optical

nails: jamberry in imperial (matte)

everybody please ignore the stupid face im making in the first picture, and instead notice that my shirt has cats on it. for a long time now ive been wanting to get a cat shirt, but my sister is pretty much queen of the cat shirts, and i didnt want to look like i was copying her, so when i found this crop top at h&m with japanese lucky cats on it (which are one of my favorite things ever), i knew i HAD to have it. even though it was regular price and im probably way to old to be wearing crop tops with cats on them. but, cats. maybe it wasnt the most practical $10 ive ever spent. but again, cats. and when i wanted to wear the wrap skirt i wore to dapper day to church without looking all vintage-costumey, my new cat shirt was there to make everything better. so heres to you, cat shirt. also, i FINALLY just had to put new jamberries on my nails (after THREE WEEKS the old set was STILL going strong), and this imperial print is definitely a win (and the matte finish, im in love!). 

but enough about cat shirts. its monthly wishes time!

last month my goals were all about getting ready for my fashion classes to start: i wanted to finish my financial aid appeal, change my name on my school records, get a new student id, research/buy running shoes, get a bunch of meals in the freezer, take alice to the zoo, and decide what i wanted to do about my job situation. 

and im very proud to announce that i did everything except getting a student id! (which, honestly, was probably the least important of all of the goals i had). 

most notably, i took the plunge and quit my job at joanns! which is totally the opposite of what i thought was going to happen, but even though school is only two nights a week, my classes are turning out to be a LOT more involved than id anticipated, so, taking back the cut counter position did not sound appealing. obviously i was concerned about losing the (albeit, pretty pathetic) income, so i figured id just skate by on just my teaching position. but then something completely unexpected happened: my jamberry launch party, despite having a ton of issues in the beginning (because facebook totally rewrote the notification stuff), and taking FOREVER to get any orders, and feeling like it was just going NOWHERE, totally made what id make in a normal paycheck at joanns working both positions. 

so, this weekend, i was basically faced with this choice: keep the job that causes all kinds of stress and problems and scheduling difficulties that pays hardly anything and has NO opportunity for anything better than what im doing right now, OR, quit and have more hours to put into this new work-at-home opportunity that has already proved to be more profitable AND has a basically unlimited income potential (provided that i keep up with networking and booking more parties). 

if youve been reading for a while, you know that this has been a long, drawn out, complicated, and emotionally difficult situation (i mean, im terrible at being employed so the nearly three years i spent with joanns is roughly three times as long as i had my next-longest job). but, once i looked at things objectively, it was pretty clear that working at joanns was NOT worth it. 

so, saturday, i finally quit. i may have to go back next saturday to teach one last class that has one student enrolled (meaning, its already in danger of being cancelled), but other than that, im done. and its great. because really, that silly little poorly paid part time job was starting to REALLY get in the way of our serious long-term goals (not to mention my health and sanity). 

and now, we can move on to aprils monthly wishes (because its the first monday of the month and thats how we roll here):

for obvious, just went back to college reasons, aprils them is LEARN. 

honestly, with this month being a weird transitional time with school, and also containing jamess birthday (and requisite trip to san diego), aprils goals are a little looser and less structured:

my big goal for the month is to soak up as MUCH information as i can in my classes and immediately apply it to my blog/business where appropriate. one of my classes is all about building a professional portfolio, and SO much of it is relevant to where my etsy shop is struggling right now, so my number one priority this month is to focus and excel in my classes (which shouldnt be difficult, since so far im the only one thats even doing all my homework). 

my smaller goals are to finish all the online training for jamberry (their consultant resources are fantastic, and i have SO much to learn if this is going to be a sustainable business), put together an awesome birthday surprise for james, and to write out a BIG list of EVERY house project/purchase thats been waiting so that we can take care of them on days off. 

those are my goals for april, what are your plans this month?

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?