Complete lack of style

Oh to be young, thin, have days filled with nothing to do, and stylish. Instead, I'm in my 30s, 5 months pregnant and continuing to expand, and studying for the bar exam day in and day out. And my "style" is now limited to sundresses, flip flops, and all of my hair pulled into a knot.

My hair is what pisses me off the most. It's coarse, greying, curly, and thick. I can't straighten on my own, even though the Instyler infomercial almost had me. It's too hot and humid to wear down. My forehead is big, so I need bangs, that must be straightened. I'm not supposed to color it because I'm pregnant. So, I get up early to wash and condition it only to pull it up in a bun which I could have done WITHOUT washing it, saving me precious minutes of sleep. And so far, every stylist I've been do does the same thing to it, and I hate it all. I can't cut it short, look weird with it long, so it hangs out in halfway town bugging the hell out of me.

As for pregnancy fashion in a Boston heat wave. Ha. First off, pregnancy clothes are too expensive because the stores know you need them, so they overcharge. Luckily, I picked up some baggy sundresses in the regular section that suffice. Granted, everyone's wearing them, so I don't feel out of place, but I long for the days where I used to actually think about my clothes instead of saying "which of my 5 dresses haven't I worn yet this week?"

Here's hoping Avery (the baby) turns out to be an uber-stylish gay man, a la Kurt from Glee who can fix his mom!

I'm like the Indiana Jones of fashion

So, after reading my friend Lisa's BLOG and making a lunch date with my good friend Katie, I decided to mix lunch with Lisa's inspirational clothing finds and drag Katie shopping in the vintage stores. Little did I know that Katie knew more stores than I did and ended up dragging me!

I definitely spent more than Lisa, but I got some sweet things:

First, Katie introduced me to the world of Buffalo Exchange, a consignment/vintage/used clothing store that my credit card wishes didn't exist, cause I'll be back. There I scored:


First, this super cute little dress. For some reason, I went straight to the dresses. What can I say? Dresses are pretty! Anyway, this is a knit gray on top and a bright purple on the bottom. The fabric on the bottom is kinda stiff, so it can create a nice shape to balance out the close-to-the-body top. I will wear this anywhere casual, and likely with bright colored flats. Price was $16.







Next I picked up this big chunky sweater. When I explained it to Jon, he was flabbergasted that women allow their clothes to be called chunky. We he suggested it's because they look chunky in the sweater, he got a death stare from yours truly. This sweater needs a tank under it, cause it's baggy, but it's got these cool big shoulders and would look cute with tight jeans and flats or with leggings and boots. Price was $30 - eek. More than I wanted to pay, but it was pretty awesome.





Finally at Buffalo, I found this AMAZINGLY adorable strapless polka dot dress from Betsey Johnson. Nowhere to wear it, of course, but it looked so cute on, and Katie promised to either get married and or throw a formal party so I didn't feel bad dropping $50 on it. But, I look really good in it, and I've always wanted to own a Betsey Johnson. So there.








We moved down the street, after me almost hitting the $100 mark and Katie buying NOTHING to the Somerville Goodwill. Now, just last week, Jon noticed my nice black peacoat has a big tear in it. It's just simply worn out. So, I was pretty psyched to get this navy blue shorter peacoat with purple buttons from Express for only $13. $13! The picture makes it look huge, but it actually does NOT make me look like an elephant.







I also picked up this cute sundress. In the summer, I hate wearing shorts. I don't like how my legs look in them, so I usually rock jeans year-round or find long capris. But, I really dig cute sundresses that are long enough to not make me look like a teenager, but are still cute. This one fit the bill for $13, and I especially like the back detail.









Moving on, we went to Poor Little Rich Girl, which I adore. I just love vintage stores. They had these great little jumpsuits that Zoey Deschanel is wearing these days, but each one went for $98 and I'm not sure how I'd wear that and not look ridiculous. I did pick up these great pants from the GAP. They are wool, but lined with pink satin or something, so very comfy. I need to dress business/casual for work, and this will look great with a black top or sweater.







And just when I thought we were done, Katie said "What about Artifactori?" Yikes. This is an adorable vintage store filled with all kinds of stuff. It's a bit out of the main Davis area, and most people don't know it's there. In fact, the owners were talking about how no one knows it's there to someone when we walked in. I picked up my favorite find of the day there, this awesome vintage yellow travel bag. Now I'll be tossing a bunch of crap purses that I hate so I can look all awesome and vintagey carrying this baby around. Price - $26.



So, that was my fashion dig for today. Thanks to Lisa for the inspiration and Kate for the company as I slowly and gradually replace my worn out law-student wardrobe with great pieces that stand out!!

Yay for beauty products!

So, I read this makeup blog that introduced me to My Pretty Pink Box (http://myprettypinkbox.com) which is a site/company that sends out a little pink box full of trial size or sometimes full size beauty products each month for $15. I signed up for their email list so I can be reminded each month of when the box goes on sale. I've gotten some really great stuff so I thought I would share what I got this month and encourage you all to sign up and give it a try. Plus, it's just really fun to open a box filled with surprises each month.

In this month's box:
1 - Revlon press on nails in "Starlet" Umm..ok, probably won't use these, because A)I don't do well with long nails B)they are square and C)they are covered in sparkles. BUT, you never know. There's always Halloween...which I hate. But, girly and sparkly, so I like!

2 - Scrubz all natural sugar body scrub in the "citrus zest" scent. I love exfoliation! It smells super lemony!

3 - Appellation Grapeseed Moisturizer and Muscle Soak. Unfortunately, our bathtub sucks, but I might stick in in a suitcase and use the muscle soak in a hotel. The moisturizer says it's for the whole body, so I'll give that a try after a shower. Stay tuned!

4 - YBF's Boost your best face. I'm assuming this is a moisturizer of some sort. It says it's "powerful anti-aging skincare" so slathering it on my face can't hurt anything....right?

5 - Seikisho's Mask White and Perfect Clear Gel. I'm VERY excited about the mask, cause it's a peeloff mask, which I love love love. Ironically, the directions say the mask is black. The directions for teh perfect clear gel say you should put it on, let it dry, "message" the skin (I think I'll "massage" instead), then the gel will become flaky and peel off, and when fingers can no longer glide along skin, rinse well with warm water. That's complicated.

6 - Polaris Cosmetic antioxidant lip plumping tint in burgandy. Lipstick always looks brighter on my lips than in the tube, since my lips are pink anyway, so I'm glad this is dark because it comes off on my lips as a nice berry. It's pretty decent.

7 - Organice Apoteke's Active Face Hydrating Gel and Rejuvenating Face Cream. No directions. I'll just put in on my face and hope for no allergies.

8 - Eyeshadow samples! I guess this was "brownish color" month, because I got "Stealth" from Mineraliscious, which is a goldish color, "Confident" from Adorned with Grace, which is a light gold color, and "Sagacious" (is that a word?) also from Adorned with Grace which is a bronze color. Oh well, free eyeshadow!

So, how fun is it to get stuff in the mail? Very. Go to http://www.myprettypinkbox.com to sign up for a notification so you won't miss out on a box next month!!!

Why this is the best product ever

I love makeup - it's like coloring...ON YOUR FACE! Anyway, I regularly buy makeup products. Some that work, some that don't work. The funny thing is, I really like looking natural with my makeup, yet I buy all kinds of crazy things. But, that's neither here nor there.

The point of this entry is to talk about my new favorite product, Cover Girl Outlast Lip Stain. I first saw this, I think, on America's Next Top Model. It's the episode where they do the Cover Girl commercial, except in the footage where they show the girls getting their makeup done, the makeup artists are all "Cover Girl Outlast Lip Stain is the best! It goes on so smooth and stays on for hours!" Um...we get the whole episode is one big commercial, no need to lay it on. BUT, and I hate to admit this, those makeup artists are right on this one. Here's why this product is awesome.

1 - It looks like a magic marker, so I feel like I'm literally coloring on my face. And who doesn't like coloring? It soothes my inner child.

2 - It doesn't cake on your lips, which the primary reason I never wear lipstick as opposed for lip gloss. Plus, lipstick makes you look older and lip gloss makes you look young, fresh, and dewy (I read that on Mindy Kaling's old blog). Anyway, this is the best of both.

3 - It stays on for a long time. It's so light, I thought it was like a lip gloss until I reapplied it a lot and probably walked around looking like a red-lipped freak all day.

4 - It smells pretty nice, and tastes ok, too! I thought it would smell like dry erase maker, because that's what it feels like, but it smells fine and the taste (yes, I realize I'm not supposed to be eating my makeup) doesn't make you want to barf.

5 - They are buy-1-get-1-free at CVS this week. RUN!