Summer Lazy

I don't know what it is about summer that leaves blogging looking a little lackluster, but i imagine it's hitting everyone since my favorite reads are a little sparse these days. This ban on talking about work related anything is getting to me. I see a lot of policy breaking in my future...

What does rear it's ugly head in the summer however, is shopping! I've been logging some serious hours on Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, and Mod Cloth's websites. 

Here's my latest find. I'm loooving this dress from Mod Cloth!

I'm also falling for this cute little tee. I found it on Delias, not a website I normally check out but I made an exception. How cute would this look under a blazer with the sleeves scrunched up or a pretty colored cardigan??

Break Me Off a Piece of that Kit-Kat Bar

Just when I'm celebrating Love 21, I see this. 

Know what that means? I didn't. So I looked it up. It means everything (waist, bust, inseam, etc) is on average two inches larger. 

Come. On. Give. Me. A. Break. 

It's not more modest if it falls off of you, fyi. 

You can't convince me those girls in the pictures are two inches larger... That's for sure. Where can I get their clothes?

Love 21

Forever 21 has launched yet another line, Love 21. And I love it. 

Lately F21 has been lagging a bit to me. With student teaching on the horizon I need to make some better decisions about clothing options, less short-shorts and more button ups. : (

Love 21 is a great grown up option to F21, and is a little less fashion forward than Twelve by Twelve (another F21 line...). It's full of pieces that I can easily throw a cardigan over to teach in, and then still wear it out that night with friends. And I am soo excited that it will be available in Chi-Town! Yet another excuse to grab the train this summer : )

Here are some of my favorite pieces. 

The best part is the prices are still way reasonable and every time I've checked the website today there have been new additions! I love it!

Substitute Teaching and Spring Break

Oooooh I want this purse. There's something about it that screams preppy-day-in-the-horse-barn to me...

So substitute teaching. Not bad at all. My first day (Monday) wasn't great, but it wasn't because of the kids. I didn't really like that assistant teacher very much and the actual teacher was in and out because she was doing some curriculum stuff and together they just made me very nervous. I felt like they were a little judgey... But who could blame them, no one likes to know that their sub is a first-timer... Day two was with a problem class but I actually enjoyed that more. The lesson plan seemed simple and the assistant was super nice and helpful but not so helpful as to make me feel uncomfortable. 

So my SB was not at all as planned. I wanted lots of free time to read Portrait of a Lady and play with flickr and my blog. Instead I subbed Monday and Friday. I went to visit the BF Tues and left Wednesday. He followed me home and left Thursday evening. And it wasn't like a reaxing 3 days, we were busy the whole time! Later that night I went out with Hermione and an old HS friend (blog on that later). 

And now tomorrow is my cousin's bachelorette party in Chi-Town and I feel that as a reward for my very hectic spring break I deserve to ride in on the train early and jaunt over to F21 and buy my purse... 

Well Hello Mr. Spring

Welcome back dear friend. F21 has been suggesting your arrival for some time now. I have yet to feel completely assured in your staying, I need to fulfill some things first, however I'm starting to feel more comfortable. Please don't let me down. And please bring me all of these dresses in my size, for free. Please and thank you. 

Forever 21 Stirs Up Deep Questions...

So I have this biiiig hang up on buying things online. I'm not scared someone is going to steal my identity or anything, I think what really gets me is the shipping and handling. It just seems so expensive sometimes! Like, I wanted these earrings, they were $3.80, what a deal! Well S&H was $6.50! Not worth it! Well, while browsing my favorite website (www.forever21.com...) I noticed their side banner: Free Shipping With Purchase Over $75. What? Yes!! So for the last 4 days I have been pouring over what my $75 purchase will include. It took me ages, you have no idea. My family is sooo tired of me asking them which shirt they like better, or if they think blue or purple will look better on me. They are so over it. Which is why this evening when I was sitting in the living room with my mom and had my pretty lil PowerBook on my lap she was just as excited as I was when I announced that I was done and that I was about to start the buying process. (FYI for $82 I was getting 5 shirts, 1 pair of shorts, 2 sets of earrings, 1 necklace, and 1 cardigan... I KNOW!) So just as I was about to hit enter it hit me, the one topic I hate more than any other: Money. Ugh I don't even like that word, it's so gruesome. I felt like before I made a decently large purchase I needed to sit down and get my money in order. Now if this was an ordinary summer I would be set, but it's not. There are two important parts of this summer. Number 1: I have a roommate this year and since my second semester will include 18 credts, a presidential position on RHA, and a coveted job as being my fav Professors student assistant, I really want to save up to have my own room for that spring. Well that's $700. Number 2: My parents are allowing me to fulfill my dream of going to Europe and allowing me to go to Germany for Jan-Term (yay!!). Luckily most of it's being paid by student loans, however I still need to get a passport, luggage, and all sorts of other things. Plus since the payments already started and as I can't get the loan money until August 20-something I have to shell out the occasional $150 check. Hmmm... Now the guilt starts setting in. I should not make these lovely Forever 21 purchases. I should not. But it's not that much... No! You should not!... Yeah you're right! I'm strong, I can do it! Biggest problem here however is that I actually have zero willpower. I was thinking about that earlier today as I watched some TV show where the main character went to these extreme lengths to lose weight, she wouldn't even go near chocolate! I couldn't do that. Nope. I hope my metabolism always stays as fast as it is now. Or that at least my husband digs a little extra junk in the trunk because I refuse to give up chocolate cake and bacon! But anyway, I will learn a few things this week and after I get them straightened out I think I will be able to make my purchase, but for now it's on pause. Ugh I'm lusting after these earrings so hard...

BTW If anyones looking for some extra help let me know! All I can really do is teach you how to use a Mac or do a pirouette or chase 5 year olds, but I'm willing!

Mondays I Covet

So this past Saturday I got to go to my favorite store (Forever 21) with my favorite girls! It should have been fabulous, but no, instead it was full of frustration- Not with my friends, they were so great and I was so happy to get to see them! But with my store! I spent an hour trying to figure out what size I was in European sizes (26 I think but I can't be sure) and when I finally figured it out I realized they didn't carry "shorts" (as in "26 short" for us fun size people). Sucked. See when I go shopping I normally prepare. I scan every page on the targeted stores website and I plan my attack, but I didn't this time and it resulted in chaos. So today I went to the website and I meant to find clothes that I wanted, but I have this obsession with charms so I decided to share my current love- charm necklaces. I absolutely love the way those itsy bitsy charms look on those thin long or short chains. It's one of those fads that I plan on holding onto and making a staple in my wardrobe! I think the root of this obsession is that I absolutely love meaningful and personalized jewelry, and little charms picked out just for you is pretty much the epitome of both. Anyway these were just really cute!

So number one. I am not contagious. Number two. I am not gross. Number three. I have feelings so don't run away from me. I have a rash. Ugh I hate that word. It's so disgusting. When I went to the doctor the receptionist asked what I had and I whispered "I have a rash". I was positive that it would turn into a Friends episode and she's say, "What did you say" "A rash" "What?" "A rash" "What's that dear? I can't hear you." "I HAVE A RASH!" Luckily this didn't happen, but she did give me a look and that look said, "You are a dirty person and I bet you have syphilis!" Anyway, I have digressed so far away from where I was going. So yes I have a rash. I have Pityriasis Rosea. You may google it if you like, but the pictures they show are really bad cases. Anyway like I said, it's completely not contagious. No one knows for sure how you get it either, it's kind of a mystery. But anyway this is what happened. First I got this big splotch on my back, two weeks later I had little splotches all over my stomach, chest, and back. Turns out I'm stuck with it for at least another two weeks and it probably won't go away for about a month so that should be a blast... Anyway, I'm so terribly self conscious about this whole thing, you have no idea, and I've been having dreams about going to Forever 21 with my friends and when the employees see I have a rash they kick me out and put my picture on the wall and ban me for life and my friends just laugh at me. What is with the obsession with Forever 21? I should be getting paid for this! Anyway, so it super sucks and I felt like maybe blogging about it would make me feel better... 

Rock It

I would say 90% of the time I hate hate talk shows. Dr. Phil? How about Dr. Cocky-Self Righteous-Butthead. Opera? How about Oh-No-Pera (yeah that's a stretch...). But anyway, I fully admit to LOVING Tyra Banks. She is amazing, and I love how she shows all of her body flaws and how when she does it she uses a phrase that totally escapes me at the moment to express her love for her flaws and how everyone else can just bug off. I don't remember what it is, but it's powerful. For realz. Anyway, when it came to Spring Formal (whole blog about that later) and the thought of dresses and what not, I couldn't help but think of all of my body flaws and how finding the right dress would be stressful beyond words, just like always, and more than likely involve tears at some point because my under average chest wouldn't be able to hold it up or the perfect dress would only come in a 5 or something. Luckily, thanks to Forever 21, all of my worries of finding a dress were completely availed because somehow they ALWAYS have my size and dresses that fit my body. But anyway, back to the flaws. So last year, I tanned like crazy, curled my hair, etc. This year I decided to take a leaf out of Tyra's book and rock my flaws. ("Rock It" is a trademark of C. Glassley Industries and you can not use it). So pale skin? Rock it! I wore dark fuchsia, it makes your skin look all creamy and glowy a la Nicole Kidman and now I can laugh when the tanners are wrinkled and bacon-y (inside joke) when they're old. Besides, pale skin was all the rage in the 1800s... Small chest? Who cares! Rock it with confidence! Us small chested women can wear just about anything without looking slutty, take advantage of it! Ginormous forehead? Rock it! Pull the hair back completely, no bangs, they're just a crutch! Short legs? Rock it! Empire waist dress and you'll have legs for days!

 So this blog is getting a little too peppy, I've totally overdone the exclamation points and I think it's time to end this one. But I think I got my point across. Why bend our bodies to fit some other ideal. I have a big forehead, nothing will change that, even if I try to hide it you can tell. I'd rather rock it and make all the little forheaded girls wish they had big foreheads. 

Forever 21

It's ridiculously amazing, ludicrously cheap, stocked with the hottest trends from New York and Chicago (ok maybe just NY but I'm too loyal to Chicago to not include it), it has glitter in the floors, and an atmosphere that makes you willing to steal lunch money from little kids to support the aching need to buy cute things... Ok well maybe not the lunch money part, but the rest is true. F21 is the best thing that's happened to me since the day I met Hollister Co in middle school. I've outgrown Hollister in favor of developing my own personal style and not showing my midriff at every available moment... But F21 is the perfect replacement, not a thing is over $30 and most of it's $20, if they carried more jeans then just the skinny leg fit I'd completely abandon all other stores... Well my best friend and I took a shopping trip to Ft Wayne on saturday and I made four wonderful purchases at F21. 

First was this wonderful trench. I feel love at first sight is better left to Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks on most occasions but in this case I was a goner from the beginning...

Then came this little summer dress. I just looked at it (and it's $13 price tag!!!) and knew it was meant to be worn on a warm summer day traipsing about Chicago... Perhaps the Taste of Chicago? Or maybe strolling along the Magnificent Mile?

And finally, the perfect shoes to complement the perfect dress for Spring Formal (how I convinced Austin to do that again I'll never know...). And if you hadn't guessed, the dress is from F21 as well...