Holi-Daze: My Won-Won

Whew! After about 6 hours of sewing and fabric-gluing, I finally finished our costumes last night. We don't need them until Saturday, which is probably for the best because I'm sure I'll need to re-attach something. I did use more glue than thread toward the end.

As a reminder, we're going as Ron and Hermione at the Yule Ball. Here's Mr. Weasley now to jog your memory:

I'm not gonna lie, I TOTALLY bit off more than I could chew with this one. Have you ever tried to make a ruffly... chest warmer? It's hard. Neigh on impossible--especially for someone like me who doesn't have a sewing machine. (I KNOW. What. Was. I. Thinking?)

So after I wasted about a yard of fabric trying to re-create the ruffles, I decided to alter my plan. This was going to be an interpretation of Ron's dress robes. If my gown was going to be an interpretation (or, a correction of the movie's mistakes), then so would this. So without further ado, the modernization of Won-Won:

Even though it's considerably different looking, all three of The Dress Robes Criterion are met: we have lace, we have multiple patterns, and we have a suit that doesn't fit. Let's take a closer look at the fabrics:

Black pinstriped suit, navy and orange plaid shirt, brown floral tie, lacy collar made of doilies, and a tan plaid pocket square. Very unfortunate indeed. Oh! And we can't forget the wands!

These were a great deal. I wasn't going to make Hubsey carry one, so I just picked a cheap-o $7 option for myself from Etsy. And because of a shipping delay, the seller included another one for free! Score!

I'll show you the Hermione costume on Monday, post-party, so you can get the full effect with the updo.

How are your costumes coming? Are you done? Did you end up doing an interpretation, too? Do tell.

On the Cheap: Red Rover

I know I inerited my same-color shopping tendencies from my mom. I wear grey, black, and blue while she dresses like Cruella DeVille. Well, if Cruella was willing to give up the puppy fur. And wear turquoise.

Either way, we're predictable. Mom has been branching out into purple lately, and I think I've decided on my own path to colors unknown:

Go big or go home, right? (Fun fact: that was the theme of one weekend I spent with my sister. I suggested we each eat an entire box of cookies, but she was all, "That's gross." Whatev.) Also big is the price. Deep breath... $156.99.

This is also a pretty red dress--and for half the price!--but it just doesn't pack the same punch. My brain is telling me that I don't need to spend $160 on the first option , but my heart is telling me that I if I don't, I won't have anything to wear.

SIGH.

Do you have a red dress? Do you love it? (I bet you do.)

On the Cheap: Pants on the Ground

I might be a little Tardy for the Party with this one, but did you know Target sold jeans in multiple lengths?!?

I did NOT! For all of the years I've been shopping at Target, I've had the same they-only-cater-to-people-who-are-5'4" lament. But no more! Shorties and tallies can now get their pantsy needs taken care of in the land of the red bullseye.

Which is great timing because I'm a little tired of buying $70 jeans at Express, only to have them shrink after a handful of washes and then be too short to wear with heels. But I can totally stomach $19.99:

They've also started sorting things by fit, and the variety is pretty impressive. Unfortunately for me, the fancy new denim section is over by the juniors department at my Target, and things get messy REALLY FAST when teenagers are afoot. So I found some stuff I liked, but not in the right color. Looks like my upcoming pants-a-thon will be an online venture.

Where do you get your jeans? Were you already aware of Target's "new" denim situation?

Go Retro: Pretty in Purple

WHOA.

This is currently on the front page of Etsy--which means it will probably sell in three minutes--but I thought I'd share anyway.

Happy Wednesday!

On the Cheap: Cardi to the Parti

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have heard that I have a new day job. That itself is pretty awesome, but what's also exciting is that I get to buy some new clothes. The old job at the radio station was WAY casual (as you might imagine), and even though the new place lets me wear jeans everyday, I still think it's time to graduate from wearing t-shirts 85% of the time. As we saw from the 30 for 30 challenge, I even wear t-shirts with pencil skirts. Let's try being a grownup.

If you're allergic to cardigans, now is the time to avert your eyes.

I can't totally abandon my impressive t-shirt collection, but I CAN make them look a little more chic. This cardigan would do a nice job, but it's $118. Womp, womp.

Banana has their version of the same thing. The grey option (pictured above) is $89.50, which is still more than I'd like to shell out, BUT there are "new stone" and "purple" options for only $44.99. Interesting color names, because the stone looks like blush, and the purple just looks like another shade of grey. Which is fine with me.

What do you wear to work? Are you in a casual environment, too, or do you have to get all fancy-like to sit at your desk? Or maybe you're one of the lucky few who gets to work from home and you do your thing in a ball gown for all we know. Do tell.

Miscellaneous: Boris the Spider

So I had this other post all written and ready to go--complete with video!--but when I went to publish everything, the video had no sound AND it was way dark. And that was kind of the meat and potatoes of everything, so I'll have to see if Hubsey can fix it later.

What's all the fuss about?

We have a new neighbor. Not a neighbor of the human variety, but one that has 8 legs and looks poisonous. It lives outside one of our windows, and considering the freaky bug incidents I've had over the last couple of years, I could do without another one. (Have I told you guys about those? First, I was up late reading and I thought a strand of hair was sliding down my shoulder. Turned out to be a centipede. GREAT! Then, last year, there was a monster spider that we kept seeing around the condo. Hubsey finally killed it, but then I went to the far side of my closet and found its web. On a jacket... that I was intending to wear. SUPER!)

Anyhoodle, I'll see if I can get that working. Because you guys need to see this. In the meantime, I found some spidery things for those of you who are in the market for more Halloween stuff:

Interestingly, our spider looks pretty similar to that. The description says Black Widow Salad Plates, so maybe we have a black widow on our hands. I've heard stories about them killing dogs before, so that's not exactly reassuring. But the plates are cool! $40 for the set.

Cute! Nothing to be afraid of here. Mini gift tags/labels, $2.20 for 12.

Do you have any freaky bug/spider stories? I know we're not alone with this.

Wedding$: Gorgeous Green

You ever come across a company and wish you'd heard of them a few years before?

Brilliant Earth is one of those companies. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my wedding rings, but had I known there were stylish options made from conflict-free Canadian diamonds and recycled gold, I would've at least looked into it. I don't like a lot of eco-friendly jewelry (unless it's antique) because it tends to have that hand-hammered look, but this is more my speed:

The site has a lot of options. You can design your own ring by picking the setting and diamond, you can get a pre-set sapphire ring (for those who don't want a diamond), you can check out their estate collection, or you can work with one of their jewelers to make a totally custom piece.

Now, what about the price? That depends. There are some super affordable items--ring settings start at $425--but if you've ever bought a diamond, you know things can add up pretty quickly. How pricey you go will really depend on the center stone you pick. Luckily, they have a HUGE database of diamonds to search through (3,322 as of today) with prices starting at $570.

Snaps for Brilliant Earth! It's not often that you stumble upon something affordable AND eco-friendly. If we ever decide to upgrade my rings, I know where I'm looking.

Do you have a green ring?

Miscellaneous: Jeans + Leggings

Jeggings. Jeans + leggings. Very similar to skinny jeans, except (seemingly) stretchier and therefore comfier for all of that Food Network watching that keeps a girl so busy. I actually can't be any more concrete than that because I've never tried a pair on. But I see them everywhere:

My sister bought herself a pair of jeggings last week. This might not seem significant, but my sister is the one who's spent the last three years sneering at my skinny pants. And now she has jeggings.

I won't say I told her so (until I call her later), but I will ask why. What changed her mind? And why jeggings? In fact, I'll ask you guys the same thing. Why jeggings? If you read this blog with any sort of regularity, you know that I love me some skinny jeans. LOVE. I think everybody, including my dear sister, should give skinny jeans a try. But I find jeggings kinda weird. Maybe because I touched a pair and they felt like a t-shirt? I don't want a t-shirt on my butt! I need PANTS.

What are your thoughts? If you have a pair, I'd love to know what you think of them. And if you don't, tell us why. (Maybe you also feel the need, the need for for speed pants!)

[Edit: I know the butt-shirt thing sounds weird, especially since I wear regular leggings under tunics and stuff, but isn't one supposed to wear jeggings AS pants? Like, with a normal-length shirt? I'm so confused!]

[Edit#2: I totally forgot about this post! I wrote about jeggings over the summer, but since then I've discovered that a lot of different items fall under the jeggings umbrella. Some are actually just way narrow jeans--like the ones I own, while others are made of spandex-y cotton and wear like tights. THOSE are what I'm talking about today. Okay. Now I'm done.]

Holi-daze: Affordable Audry

So. I saw this costume yesterday:

It's cute, it's very Audry--fine. The style isn't the problem. My beef is that it's pre-packaged.

Seriously. Is there a woman out there who doesn't already have a black dress? Or even a black skirt/shirt combination? I want somebody to call Mythbusters so they can find out. It would be a great episode! They could also test Stephen Hawking's theory that the heat and movement in a dryer actually cause socks to vanish into wormholes. I smell an Emmy.

I also smell the stench of a rip-off. The above costume, 5th Avenue Girl, is $54.99 and only comes in medium(!). It includes the dress, hat, and gloves. I'll do the same thing I did for the Olive Oyl costume last week and show you that this can be done with actual clothing for less money. It won't be much of a stretch.

Even if you DO need to buy the dress (which, again, I find highly unlikely), here's one that's more versatile and only $29.99:

And it doesn't have to be black. I'd argue that it's the accessories that make this costume, so the color of the dress is really not that important. The hat is probably the clincher.

Perfect. There are a lot of vintage black hats hangin' around, so even if this one from Etsy ($10) sells, there are plenty of other fish in the sea.

Gloves are also pretty easy to find. These are only $6.95.

So let's add this up. If you need to buy the dress, you're looking at $46.94. If you don't, it's a super affordable $16.95. You'll save money AND look better! And wear the clothing again (well, maybe not the gloves)! It's a win-win-win!

How are your costumes coming along?

On the Cheap: Terrific Tanks

We've having an indian summer here in Chicago. I always knew that an indian summer was a streak of warm weather after it had been "cold," but apparently the actual definition is warm weather coming back after a frost.

Either way, it's really nice. Still wearing tank tops nice. I've had a run of bad luck with getting food on my shirt lately (the stuffed mushrooms at Olive Garden are especially treacherous) so I'm in the market for a couple of new tanks for wearing under cardigans at work.

And wouldn't ya know it, Old Navy is having an online sale.

It's hard to go wrong with a ruffle. And for 10 bucks, I could get them in several colors.

This tank varies in price a little depending on the color you want. Black and purple are $10.99, turquoise and floral are $8.99, and grey is $4.99. (Must. Resist. Grey. Clothing.)

I know this one isn't very fall-y, but it's too cute not to mention. Plus it's only $10.99.

Are you enjoying any bonus tank top weather?

On the Cheap: Tickle Your Funny Bone

Occasionally I come across stuff on the interwebs that makes me snort with laughter. Every once in a great while it's the very attractive guffaw/snort combination, so you can guess what I was doing yesterday afternoon. The hilarious item is (sadly) not something we can purchase, but is instead a stroke of genius from the folks at New York Magazine. Let's ponder for a moment what it would be like if Harry Potter joined Facebook...

OF COURSE, I can't really make it big enough here, so click the link for screencaps of Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's Facebook pages, Bellatrix's Etsy shop, and Malfoy's Twitter feed. Seriously. Snorting laughter. And I don't think I've ever loved Dobby more. Unfortunately, they're JUST screencaps and not actual things for us to stalk. (Because I looked.)

However, I did find some funny stuff on Etsy this morning that CAN be had:

Haaaaaa! I love puns! And the best part is that each pin is only $1. Not to spill the holiday beans, but everybody on my Christmas list can expect to get one.

And can somebody please devote their workday to running those aforementioned Facebook pages? I need them in my life. What did you think? Snorting laughter?

On the Cheap: Blush or Bust

The dangerous thing about grocery shopping at Target is that other, non-food items mysteriously find their way into my cart. This, for example:

Hubsey thinks it looks like a nightgown, but he's also the person who thought he could cut drywall with a knife, so let's take his judgment with a grain of salt. It does look a little flouncy for fall, I'll give him that, but that's why I paired it with lots of black. Problem solved.

And conveniently, its $21.99 price tag is way lower than this similar dress at ModCloth I had been eyeballing:

Precious as it is, it's $69.99, which is too much for such a memorable piece.

Are you jumping on the blush bandwagon this fall? Where did you shop? Are you also a victim of seriously-I-came-here-for-an-onion-and-now-I'm-spending-$30?