Shoe # 1: Reebok RunTones

I waited soooo long to get these shoes. If you don't know this about me, I am very cheap frugal. I really don't like paying more than $30 for well... anything. If I have to spend more than $30 on a single item I really have to think about it. $50, I usually will leave the store and come back the next day if I still want it. $100... forget about it. I usually just hope I get those items for Christmas or Birthday and don't buy them otherwise. So when I saw the ads for the Reebok EasyTones and then for the Reebok RunTones, it pained me to not buy them right away. Not that I thought by putting on these shoes that I was immediately going to lose 10 lbs, but I really liked the way they looked and if they helped my butt look better while I was running.. well that was just great! So I asked for Visa gift cards and gift cards to Foot Locker for my birthday last year and then set out to find a pair that I liked. Normally I'm a pink/purple shoe kind of girl but this time I went with my childhood favorite color "Cerulean". I also looooove that they are grey because my adult favorite "color" is grey. Love these! The outfit I wore with these was running clothes as I just finished running 6.5 miles with Andi - whoo hoo! I was really proud of myself and it made me feel better about the half marathon that I talked myself into signing up for in April so yeah! We ran on the George Mitchell Nature Preserve trail and it was really nice. It made me feel like I wasn't in the middle of Suburbia, even though I was. Here are my babies!

Shoe Project 365

Have you heard of Project 365? That's when you take a picture every day and blog about it. Taking a picture, uploading, and posting daily is not an option for me (although it would be super fun!), but as I stared at my closet and finally counted the ridiculous amount of shoes I have (who needs 86 pairs of shoes?!?) I decided that in a quest to purge the shoes that I never wear/never will wear as well as get use out of more than just the 10 pairs I normally circulate, I will catalog each time I wear a different pair of shoes over the next year. Obviously I don't have 365 pairs of shoes so that will give me a little leeway in when I will post, but hopefully this will be a fun project for a shoe lover like myself. Here we go!

Singin' in the rain

Here is my first attempt at a fashion centered blog entry. I have been wanting to blog some of my outfits because I am really passionate about fashion and want to be able see some of the things I wore during the "2010s". It's also nice to see how one's style can evolve. I am giving credit to Alyson for inspiring me - she has been blogging about fashion for a while now and I love her blog. Keep up the good work!

First things first - I found my bridal shoes! Here they are in all their glory. After spending a rainy day scouring eBay and the sale racks at the Galleria for a pair of expensive designer shoes (I really wanted this pair of Louboutins), I walked into Baker's on a whim and found these:



Hallelujah! I thought I would never find shoes that I was happy enough with to wear on my wedding day, but alas - here they are. Casey appreciated the price tag of these beauties- they were on sale for $59.99, which is much better than $595+ for a pair of designer shoes.

Now, back to my original post. I got up this morning to more rain. It has been raining or threatening rain non stop this week because of Hurricane Alex and while I usually love rain, the grayness is starting to get to me. When I wake up to rain, it makes me want to lay around in my pajamas all day and watch movies. I have a bajillion things to do so this is not an option. I went into my closet to find an outfit that was practical, but would also cheer me up. I planned my outfit around my trusty pink rainboots and I did my hair in a messy braid with my bangs pulled back which is perfect for a rainy day.




And here's a synopsis of my outfit:

Grey striped shirt: purchased my sophomore year of college from Goody's
Jeans: Simply Vera by Vera Wang (Kohls) - purchased for $15 (I love a good sale!)
Rainboots: Claire's - circa 2002
Pink Sports bra: Fruit of the Loom
Pink belt: Forever 21
Leopard umbrella: Target

Also - you will notice that I belt EVERYTHING. I am a serial belter.

Now off to play (run errands) in the rain!

College Day, Pumpkins, and more!

Okay so I have been a bad blogger lately. Things have been so busy and now that I have an iPhone I hardly ever get on my actual computer at home. So here are a few updates:

2 weeks ago my school had College Day and we got to wear College Tshirts and bring stuff from college to show the students. I think this is a great thing because it introduces the idea of college to so many students, some of whom may not even know what college is because their
parents didn't go. So of course I wore an SFA Alumni shirt and I even brought my cap, gown, and a picture from graduation. The kids loved hearing about "Essefay" and learning how to do the "Axe 'Em Jacks" sign! Luckily my librarian, next door teacher, and all 3 principals went to SFA so I wasn't the only one trying to indoctrinate them. Here are a few pictures from that day:




Yeah so maybe I brainwashed them, but so what?













Okay so on to Pumpkins!

Jessica, Chris, Casey, and I had our 3rd annual Chagla-Page/Wood pumpkin carving get together last Saturday and it was a blast as usual. Since Chris had to work from 3:00-5:00 we went to the pumpkin patch around noon and picked out our pumpkins. This year it was slim pickins at the pumpkin patch and Case and I were very upset that they didn't have hay bails and corn stalks for decorating. Here are some pics from the pumpkin patch:


After getting our pumpkins we headed back home and Jess and I went to get pedicures and did a little shopping. I found a really cute pair of winter boots at Kohls and even though I was trying to stay away from stilleto heels, these were too pretty to pass up.


After shopping and pedis, Jess and I picked up stuff for tacos and some southwestern eggrolls from Chilis- one of my biggest weaknesses. I am obsessed with those things! After getting home and devouring chips & salsa/queso and the eggrolls I cooked up some taco meat and we had dinner. I love taco night - it never gets old to me. After eating we started carving the pumpkins and put on some "scary" movies. Jessica doesn't like horror films so we watched Young Frankenstein & Shaun of the Dead- if you haven't checked these out you really need to they are both hilarious! Casey and I chose a Nightmare Before Christmas theme and I carved Jack Skellington and he carved the Oogie-Boogie. They turned out really cute!



Chris did a Scarecrow and Jess did a really awesome and complicated Haunted House scene- yet again she won for most difficult pumpkin pattern! I got done with my Jack-O-Lantern first so I took all of our pumpkin guts and separated the seeds from the goop and made some roasted pumpkin seeds with a twist. Jess and I had read an article in Redbook about making gourmet pumpkin seeds so I decided to experiment. I made three different kinds: Mexican inspired, Italian inspired, and Indian inspired. They were all pretty good except the curry ones were a little bitter.

To make a long story even longer - pumpkin night was a success! More later!