Swappin' them Clothes

It's that time of year again.....for a clothing swap! I'm so happy that they have been holding these swaps almost quarterly, rather than twice a year. Since I'm a girl on a budget, these swaps really help me expand my wardrobe for only $5.00. (It also helps me keep my closet clear of items that I'm not wearing). 

This past swap was a little bit different as they changed the venue to a high school's cafeteria, and had enough room for 300 swappers. (Yup, that's right, 300....there were so many clothes). This swap also had a $5.00 entrance fee....which let's face it, is a steal of a deal for clothes. Half of the money went towards the school's debate team and the other half went towards making the group a non-profit. If you are in the DMV area, (DC, Maryland, Northern VA), then check out Frugal Fashionista's clothing swaps! I won't be able to attend the next swap (June 15th), because of a family vacation, but I encourage you to look into it. If you aren't in the DMV area, I still suggest that you check out Meetup.com and look for clothing swaps in your area. I love this site because while it can be a dating website, it is more of a social site that connects people with similar interests. 

This is the outfit that I wore to the latest clothing swap. The dress that I'm wearing actually came from my very first swap. Under the dress, I'm wearing a black tank top and black leggings...to make trying on clothes in a room full of people easier. There were some girls who were stripping down to their "small clothes", but I'm just not comfortable doing that in a room with 300 people. 

 I had this white belt on at first, but I wasn't loving the look. My original plan was to wear gray leggings, but I felt like they were too see-through to wear once the dress came off. 

I went to the swap with two friends, and this is our haul. I was halfway to the swap, and realized that I forgot to bring my beach bag for carrying all of my clothes! (Hence the garbage bag).  I was being proactive for this swap, and I had all of the clothes pre-sorted into small bags according to size. I won't forget my bag on the next round!

I was able to get two pairs of shoes from the swap....however I didn't take any out of my closet before the swap. Oops, now I'm short on space! Lol. The gold glitter pair of flats are brand new!

Here is my pile of clothing from the swap. It entails 2 pairs of shoes, 1 dress, one short dress/long shirt, 1 skirt, 3 shirts, 2 cardigans, 1 summer vest, 1 bracelet, and 1 necklace.

I forgot to mention that there were raffle prizes at this swap too! Multiple businesses donated items and gifte cards to the swap. Since my crew and myself were there early, we each scored two gift cards (one to a local jewelry store and the other to JustFab.com). All three of us actually won a prize from the raffle tickets as well. 

This is the necklace that I won from the raffle. One of my friends won a necklace and a bracelet, and my other friend won a loose ruby valued at $600. Yes, you did read that correctly....and she was so excited.

The beautiful bracelet that I picked up at the swap. I couldn't believe that someone gave this up. It had a pink "sister" bracelet, but I gave it to one of my friends as I already have a pink bracelet and she didn't have any yet.

I have been wanting a long turquoise necklace for some time now. The man bought me a beautiful short turquoise necklace while we were in Jamaica, and now I have a longer version.

You might be wondering how in the world I can gather a minimum of 5 pieces of clothing and 2 accessories from my own closet for each swap. Well I'll share my little secret. Sometimes the items that I get from a swap don't work in my closet, no matter how hard I try. These items go back into my "swap pile". 

Another way that I get items together is by helping others clean out their closets. Is it cheating? Maybe....but it's for a good cause. Any time that I hear of someone who is getting ready to clean out their closet, or already has done the deed, but hasn't donated their clothes yet, I try to get them to give me their clothes. Most people don't have a problem doing this since they were planning on already giving their clothes away. 

I typically roll into the swaps with multiple bags of clothing and accessories by doing these things, and I usually walk out with less than I brought. However, since the clothes haven't all come straight from my own closet, it works out. The more clothing that we all bring in, the more clothing there is to go around!

Earlier I said that I did not take any shoes out of my own closet for the swap, so I didn't have any room in my closet for the new pairs of shoes. You may think, "That's not fair, you shouldn't take shoes if you didn't put any into the pile"....except that I did. I put shoes into the shoes pile for the swap...they just so happened to come from some else's closet. LOL.

I also try to look for items for the individuals that donate their clothes to me. I figure that getting them one item in return for the BAG of clothes that they gave me is the least that I can do. 

If you live in the DMV area, please sign up for the next clothing swap! I'd love to meet up with you! (After the June swap that is). And there are also plus size clothing swaps for those that are XXL and over.

Color-blocked

So a week ago I got dressed to go to work, and felt really good about my outfit choices. Then I went to start my car and it was not running like it is suppose to. Now my commute to work is not a short one, so luckily the man came to my rescue and drove me to work (and picked me up), but it was not the day that I had imagined as I got dressed that morning.

As I was rummaging through my closet that morning, I was drawn to my color-block blue/green shirt. I honestly wasn't sure which of my pants were clean though, so I had to go through my pants in my dresser, and I pulled these babies out from the bottom of the stack. Now I love these pants, as they are extremely comfortable. I also love that these pants were on the sale rack for a cool $8.00 at Target last fall. 

I'm going to try harder to remember that they exist. Really, I will.

Color block shirt: Dress Barn (Fall 2012)

Black cardigan: Charolette Russe

Pants: Target (Fall 2012)

Shoes: Dress Barn (recent)

Necklace: Express 

Earrings: Francesca's Collections (Winter 2012)

Break it up

I got this sweater from Target during the fall season on sale. I was in a relaxed mood when I got dressed, hence the baggy, comfortable sweater. I added the long white tank to break up the outfit a little bit. Otherwise the whole look is a little too dark for me. 

Okay, so now that I made a post about how my enthusiasm to shop has been curbed.....I have the urge to shop. I blame the fun spring lines that are out everywhere. And the Target catalog that was mailed to my house with a coupon in it specifically for clothes. 

Sweater: Target

Pants: Target

White Tank: Express

Boots: Khol's

Earrings: from Jamaica

Feather ring: Clementine boutique 

Don't remember where the necklace is from

Fighting crime

I can't tell you how happy I am to have found this lavender cardigan at the latest clothing swap. I had been wanting this exact color for some time, but I really haven't been shopping (for myself) lately. (Online doesn't count, lol). Since I started going to these clothing swaps, I don't have the want to go shopping as much as I use to. Since I've been able to come home with a load of "new" clothes, I've been having fun styling these items instead of focusing on what is in the stores. Now, that being said, I do like looking at the catalogs that I receive either via e-mail or snail mail. Hence a recent post about Dress Barn and their new spring line. 

This is the outfit that I wore over the weekend when my cousin and I went to the Crime and Punishment museum in D.C. While we had a blast at the museum, we were not there nearly long enough to really see everything. We also did a "lab", which I highly recommend! We had planned on being there for a while, but were limited to 4 hours because of the stinking metro. I understand that it is easier to do the work on the rail system on the weekends instead of during the work week (aka rush hour). But I'm not really cool with it taking us 3 hours to get from point A to point B, including bus transfers. I guess it was an "experience", and it was good bonding time with my cousin. I would rather have spent that time in the museum. :) Okay now my non fashion rant is finished!

I wish that I owned a dark purple cardigan, but I am happy that I had this lavender cardigan to work with!

Cardigan: Clothing swap

Tank: Express

Pants: Old Navy

Boots: Express

Necklace: Express

Earrings: Gifted

Polka Dots with a Pop of color

So this past weekend I got to spend some time with my family...and they got me a bit sick. I have a lovely little cough and sore throat. My job consists of constantly talking, so work is not the most fun right now. I'm almost hoping for some snow right now so that we can officially close for tomorrow. (It might be a staff only kind of day, but I'd rather curl up on my couch with a warm cup of tea).

So I've had this blazer in my closet for a few months now. (I picked it up at the first clothing swap that I attended. )However it is dry clean only, and I didn't have a need to go to the cleaner's for anything else for a while, so it just sat next to my laundry hamper for a while. (Because the floor next to the hamper is the designated dry cleaning spot). 

I was determined to wear flats this day, even though my ankles weren't too happy about that. This is my way of channeling spring. (It may not be working since it is suppose to snow this week).

Blazer: from the clothing swap

Green Shirt: Dress Barn

Pants: Old Navy

Shoes: Old Navy

Spring on the mind

I don't know what it feels like at your house, but it is COLD here. I would like it to feel warmer outside, so therefore I decided to dress in spring colors. The cardigan that I'm wearing in these photos is one of the items that I got from the clothing swap. I had just decided that I wanted a light purple cardigan right before I went to the swap, so when I saw this on one of the tables, I knew that I had to have it. 

OOTD

Cardigan: From clothing swap (Daisy Fuentes @ Khols)

Floral Tank: Express

Pants: Old Navy

Boots: Candies @ Khols 

Necklace: Express

Earrings: gifted from Alaska 

Polka Dots and Green

Last weekend I went to a Stella and Dot party hosted by one of my friends. I don't own anything by Stella and Dot, but I have seen many of their items throughout the blogging world. I am getting this bracelet in pink and in white. I was loving just about everything in the catalog and wanted it all.  However, like most women I know, I'm on a limited clothing budget so  had to take a step back and think about what I'm lacking in my jewelry. I realized that I own one pink item of jewelry: pink earrings. I really liked these little bangles so I decided that they would be mine!

This is the outfit that I wore the the Stella and Dot party. If I were to ever sell jewelry, I think this would be the stuff that I would want to sell!

Polka Dot Sweater: The Limited

Green Shirt: Express  

Pants: Target

Boots: Expres

Necklace, Bracelet, Earrings: Francesca's Collection

*This shirt is really an Emerald green color, but the lovely lighting in my bathroom turns it into this color.

Polka Dots and Coral

For once I'm actually posting an outfit while I'm still wearing it! I got this sweater right before Christmas, while I was shopping for the man's mom. The Limited was having a 50% off store wide sale, so I knew that I had to check out the racks. I saw this sweater and knew that it had to be mine as I have been looking for a polka dot sweater for some time. I had not planned on buying myself anything, but I just could not pass this sweater up.I ended up getting the man's mom this sweater for (one of her many) Christmas presents. (He wanted to give her clothes for Christmas, but he didn't know what to get for her. Instead he gave me some cash and said have fun shopping...which of course I did!)

The man and I have been running errands all day, and are going to look at a condo this afternoon. I wanted to be comfortable, but still look grown up for the condo showing (lol). I was going to pair my purple pants with this outfit, but it was way to bright for January. However, once spring starts to roll around...I'm totally wearing it.

Sweater: The Limited (recent)

Shirt: J. Crew Factory

Pants: Old Navy

Boots: Express

Necklace: Charming Charlies

Bracelets: Express, Old Navy, and Francesca's Collections

Earrings: My black diamond earrings that the man gave to me for Christmas

Rings: same as always

Jacket: New York & Co

Horse head pin: Silpada

Snow Leopard Dress

Happy New Year! 

This outfit was not what I wore on NYE, but the outfit that I did done was very similar to yesterday's post, so I felt that I should post another outfit instead. The outfit in today's post is from a date night with the man. I almost wore this dress to the man's work Christmas party, but it just didn't have a "Christmas feel".

Dress: Express (on sale, may still be in stores)

Leggings: Target

Boots: JcPenny

Gold Feather Bracelet: Francesca's Collections

Earrings: Francesca's Collections

Nails: OPI Jade is the New Black

Rings: Silpada and vendor from the Maryland Renaissance Festival

Necklace: I think it either came from Express or Target, but I cannot remember 

Belt: It came with a sweater 

I've been thinking about what I want from life in this coming year. I want to try to be the best person that I can be, and to get the most out of life. 

Some of the resolutions are the same as years before, and some are new to me this year. I won't go into detail with them all, but I have decided to share a few on my blog with you today.

1. Learn something new everyday. Know this one has actually been something that I have tried to do since the summer after my freshman year in college. The way that I will be adding to this resolution compared to years past is that I plan on writing down what I learn everyday. The world has so much to offer, it is a crime to not even attempt to learn about it everyday.

2. Read a minimum of 25 books for the year. Now this is actually a decrease in the number that I've had in the past two years. My old job required that I be physically at the work place, but many a day I would have two to three hours to kill where I had absolutely nothing to do. I use to read at least two books a week with that kind of time, but now since I switch jobs, I no longer have that amount of time to read. 

3. No Soft Drinks. Okay, this has been a resolution since my freshman year of college. Last year I changed it a bit and allowed myself to drink sodas as a mixer in drinks, but I'm not going to do that this year. I have found that I don't crave sodas and have learned how harmful they are to the human body. When you dive into the facts about sodas, you realize that they are just not worth it to consume. However I will admit that occasionally it is hard to have a strict "no soda rule". One of my old jobs in college was working at a catering company. They had a soda machine for the worker's to use whenever they wanted, but the machine did not have a water button on it. The water that they gave the customers was always in plastic water bottles, so we could not drink them because it cost too much for the employees to drink them. The only way that you could drink water was from the sink that you washed dishes in, which was not always clean. I usually would just end up drinking unsweetened tea or would just bring my own water from home. 

Now this is not my entire list of resolutions, but I thought that it was a good list to share.

Purple and Black

Please excuse my absence over the past week. I spent the week with my family in Virginia, and never got around to unpacking my computer to post any new blog entries. In fact, I didn't even take any pictures of my outfits while I was there. (WHAT?!?) The lack of pictures was not because I did not have any cute clothes to wear. It was because I just didn't feel like going through the motions while my whole family was there. I enjoyed spending time with them, and forgot about my computer altogether for a few days.

So the pictures that I do have are from over a week ago. I actually got the same sweater that I am wearing in this post for Christmas, but in royal blue. I've already worn it, but I suppose that I get to wear it again since there is no photographic proof. :)

Many of my Christmas presents were clothes, so you can expect to see them make an appearance on this blog in the near future!

I'm still not sure what I'm wearing tonight (New Year's Eve). The man and I are going over to his brother's house for a small get-together, so I have no need to dress fancy-like. I still have a few hours to decide what I am actually going to wear. haha.

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

Sweater: Express (recent)

Pants: Target

Boots: JcPenny

Necklace: Charming Charlies

Earrings: Francesca's Collections

Old outfit new location

So I know that I have already worn this outfit before and blogged about it. However we are in the lovely state of South Carolina visiting some friends and the weather here is amazing. I was so excited to be able to wear short sleeves and flats again, so I decided that I'd just show you a nice repeat. Hope you have a great weekend!