It's Christmastime!

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I hope you have all had a very happy day! Below you will find pictures of my Christmas Festivities! 

 My family before heading out on our Christmas Eve Service marathon. This year we only went to three, in years past we've been to four. I got sparkly tights for Christmas, so I decided to wear them right away! :)

This is what I wore to the Christmas service. It was the third outfit I tried on this morning! I'm wearing my zebra print skirt, black boots, red tights (which you could see when I walked), and my red scarf.

And finally, the Christmas tree we made out of mormon hymnals at the Chapel on post! We used them because they were green! :) I love Pinterest Ideas! Merry Christmas guys!

OOTD-Fashion or Crashin'?

I'll let you decide. Keep in mind, I've already worn this out, so if you decide it's Crashin' I'll be pretty embarrassed.

I'm wearing black skinny jeans from my Grandma Sharon, a sweater that I originally bought for an ugly sweater party, but I found a better one (pictures of that to come soon) so I decided I would try to make this one cute (thrifted), snowflake earrings, purple wedges from my Grandma Sharon, socks (it's COLD!), and a snowflake barrette (I fixed it yesterday!). Is this outfit wearable in the future? Maybe, maybe not, I'm not quite sure yet.

OOTD-Something Thrifted and Kinda Big News

Hey Guys! This past week my family (my sister is home!!) and I went to the Biltmore Estates for Christmas. We had just gone to two garage sales a couple days before where I got this adorable gold belt that I'm wearing in the picture below. I was a little hesitant about it at first, but then I was like "heck, for $3 I can wear it once and it'll be worth it" and I thus talked myself into it. And then my mom paid! I love decisions like that. But anyway, back to the outfit. :) 

I'm wearing black skinny jeans (free), black wedges from my aunt, a red long-sleeved shirt (thrifted), the gold belt (thrifted), a black scarf belted so it's kind of like a vest (thrifted), and gold Christmas tree earrings (thrifted). PLUS...did you notice something a little strange about the above picture? Ding ding ding! I dyed my hair red! I absolutely love it! It's only supposed to last about a month, so we'll see if I'm going to do it again in January. I really like it now, but I'm not sure if I'll be tired of it by then. What do you think?

OOTD-Christmas Ball

Merry Christmas! Yesterday I went to my church's annual Christmas Ball and had a BLAST! Seriously, I think I had the most fun at the one yesterday than I have at all the others I've been to combined. I went with my friend Abi and she did my hair before we went. I wish I had a picture of it before I danced all night (anyone who was there: did you get any pictures of me? If so, shoot them my way!). I wore my mom's black formal, my Handpicked necklace, silver bangles, the Traveling Earrings, and black heels which I'm not wearing in the picture.

Full length of us both.

My hair was HUGE when we got there. Unfortunately, the humidity combined with dancing and my hair's complete straightness made it wave out a little.

OOTD-Gray and Black

So, you might be wondering what OOTD stands for. I did too when I saw it on another blog and googled it... To save you the trouble of going to google, I'll tell you what it means. It stands for Outfit of the Day, and now I'll share mine with you!

I actually wore this a while ago, and I've just been lazy about posting lately. It's been super cold lately, so this outfit was picked for warmth. That and I have had that gray sweater for probably a year and this was the first time I've worn it. I'm wearing my black sweater from Old Navy, a gray sweater (thrifted), over the knee boots (thrifted), a black belt from TJ Maxx, jeans, my pocket watch necklace from my grandpa (well, the watch was from him, I added the chain to make it a necklace), a necklace from Handpicked, a black beanie from a friend, and silver earrings. I was pretty excited to wear this sweater, because at first it had a ridiculous thin tie that just didn't work, so I had avoided wearing it for a while. Now that I have a thick belt I can wear it all the time! What do you think?

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Nice Strangers

So here we are at the last day of November. First of all, today I am thankful for nice people. I know a lot of nice people, but today I am specifically thankful for nice strangers. When I'm coming home from an after-school program I help with on Fridays I have to sit at an intersection in a not-so-great part of town. There isn't a light and it's a pretty busy street. I often have to wait there for several minutes. But today a really nice guy let me out in front of him and I didn't have to wait at all! Simple kindnesses (is that a word?) from strangers are often the most influential of all. Secondly, what did I learn this month? I've learned that it's a lot easier to be thankful when you're seeking out things to be thankful for. I've learned that I need to work on getting things done on time! And finally, I've learned that when I'm thanking God for things that I have, it's much harder to complain about things I don't have.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: The Season of my Life

I am thankful for the season of life I'm in right now (read as "I'm thankful I don't have kids and real responsibilities yet!") Don't get me wrong, I love kids, I want a family, and I know I will be blessed in my adult life as well, I'm just glad I'm not there yet! I'm thankful that I don't have real bills. I'm thankful I don't have children yet. I can basically do whatever I want right now, and I am so thankful for that freedom. I absolutely love babysitting, but I also love coming home and sleeping afterwards! I'm so glad God created the teenage years.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: My Car

I am SO thankful for my car. I love her! Her name is Pond, so I can say "come along Pond" when I get in to go somewhere. My one year anniversary with her is coming up in January. It's amazing how the time has flown by; it's hard to believe I've had my car for almost an entire year! I've plastered the back with bumper stickers. I'm so thankful that my parents let me buy my own car and drive it (pretty much) wherever I want to go. I'm so blessed to have such abundance in my life!

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Music

I love music. Not just in the "I listen to music all the time, I can't go a day without it" kind of way, but also in the "I can play four instruments" kind of way. I'm especially thankful for music this time of year, because I LOVE Christmas music. I love playing Christmas music in band, I love listening to Christmas music in the car, I love going to Christmas concerts, and I love playing Christmas records on my record player. Today, I get to do all four things. I've been playing Christmas records all morning, I'm about to go to band when I get to listen in the car, and I'm going to the Story Tour tonight with my bestest friends (The Clarinets). I'm super excited!

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Plans

It would be an understatement to say that I am a social butterfly. I often (maybe once a month) have to schedule "stay at home" days in my calendar so I don't plan something on every single day. I cannot imagine how different my life would be without socialization. I believe it would be very, very boring. I always laugh when people ask me if I get to socialize because I'm homeschooled. You sit in school eight hours a day and I'm the one with no life? Right. So today I am thankful for plans: plans made months in advance and plans made minutes in advance. Any kind, with any friends, on any day. :)

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Deals

Today I am thankful for deals. We (my mom, sister, and I) went to the Goodwill clearance store today (they sell by the POUND!!) and it just so happened the whole store was half off! I went in not intending to buy anything as I was already over budget from Black Friday, but when the store is half off what can you do? I picked out several records and two pairs of shoes that I'm going to try to cover in fabric (tutorial courtesy of Pinterest). My total was two dollars. And then my amazing mom who is the best in the entire world paid for it for me. I love her to death, and I'm very thankful for deals.

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Sleep

On Saturday I was incredibly grateful for sleep. I had gotten less than eight hours of sleep in a forty-eight hour window and I was ready to crash. I slept until noon. It was glorious. I believe (not, but kind of, seriously) heaven on earth can be defined as not setting an alarm. Thank God for lots of sleep.

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Christmas Shopping

I love having fun. I know there's a line between having fun and getting things accomplished, so I especially love having fun while getting things accomplished. Like...Christmas Shopping!! I love giving presents, and I love shopping, so putting the two together is especially fun. I'm super excited now because I got almost all my shopping done in one day! There's only a few more things to make/buy and I'll be all ready to wrap!

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Pie

So I am officially four days behind. Sorry guys! On Thanksgiving day I was thankful for a lot of things, food, friends, family, pie, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the list could go on and on. I am thankful that America has set aside a day to focus on these things, and I'm thankful that it's important to my family. :)

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Tradition

As we close in on Thanksgiving, my family beings our traditions. We (the royal we, aka my dad) always smoke our turkey, which means we have to stay up all night on Wednesday night to make sure the temperature is right. We always start the night with British Comedy shows (they seem to get funnier the older I get), but I usually fall asleep before we get any farther. I think I've seen the first episode of Mulberry about ten times and I still don't know how it ends. Hopefully I'll finally see the end of it tonight! When I was little my dad would pause whatever movie we were watching as soon as my sister and I feel asleep and started it again right before we woke up. I was convinced for years that I had stayed up all night. Although I now know that I fall asleep at night, I'll still take a nap tomorrow morning in between the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Thanksgiving dinner. What are y'all's Thanksgiving traditions?

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Laughter

My post for yesterday: Today I am thankful for laughter. It's quite amazing how specific each person's laugh is to themselves. I often find my mom in the store (yes, I still loose her in the store, you never really grow out if it...) by her laugh. I love that part of the night when you're so tired everything is funny and you laugh until your heart hurts. I almost only watch funny shows, because what's the point in watching tv if you're not going to laugh? I love laughing, and I am so thankful that God gave us laughter.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Color

Can you imagine a world completely in black and white? And I'm not talking about just the TV, I mean the whole world. I am known to wear the occasional black and white t-shirt, but I cannot imagine only having black and white to wear. What an imagination God must have to have created all the different colors. Seriously, just think about all the different shades of blue or purple there are! Thousands, I'm sure. I am so thankful God didn't place us in a black and white world.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Shopping

Late once again, but here's my post for yesterday: It might sound a little spoiled to say I'm thankful for shopping, but I really am. I am more thankful for the time spent shopping with family or friends than the time actually shopping, but I do REALLY enjoy shopping. To clarify, I don't usually shop at real stores, I only shop at resale shops. I could probably shop every day. I don't particularly have to buy anything, just the experience of going, trying things on, looking for the best deal, and so on. So today I am thankful for shopping.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Food

I love food. I could seriously eat all day long. It's one of the reasons I started running: so that I could eat more. Today I had a LOT of good food. It was holiday tasting day at Sams, I got a cupcake after the run, and my mom made a delicious dinner. I am so blessed to have so much food to choose from on any given day. Thank you, God, for delicious food.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Motivation

Today I ran twenty-four minutes. At the beginning of September I could barely run two minutes. I will be running in my second 5k tomorrow. I never thought this would be possible. If someone had told me this summer that before I moved to New York I would have completed two 5k's I would have called them crazy. I am so thankful for the motivation (and the encouragement from many, many people) it took to carry me this far.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: The Moon

Last night I was thankful for the beauty of the sky. The moon was incredibly beautiful. It was just a sliver of pale light against the cloudy midnight blue sky. It was gorgeous, and I was thankful.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Love

Here I am again, I haven't forgotten about this! Here's my post for Wednesday. Wednesday I was thankful for love. Love from my family, friends, and God. Even if I don't feel it, I know that it's there. It is hard to remember it sometimes, but I hope and pray I can grow to remember and return God's love.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Technology

Today I am thankful for technology! I honestly don't know what I would do without it. Three-way skyping with The Clarinets and then a surprise conversation with my sister lasting until twelve thirty made my night super awesome. Being able to connect with people that I haven't seen in five (or more!) years through Facebook is amazing. Plus being able to post to a blog online for anyone to see is crazy cool. I love seeing the countries that my blog was viewed in: Finland, China, Sweden, Korea, and Germany to name a few. It's so neat to know that people in a completely different country are reading what I write in my quiet little house in the United States. Not to mention "smaller" technology such as phones, texting, and email. I have become so accustomed to having internet twenty-four seven, but today I will stop and remember how lucky I am to have it. It would be much harder to live without technology.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Sweats and Slippers

Today I am thankful for lazy days. The kind of day you can wear sweats and slippers. The kind of day you can watch a movie and almost fall asleep on the couch. Life is so busy, it's wonderful to have a sweats and slippers kind of day.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Abundance

My post for yesterday: Today I am thankful for abundance. Abundance not only in material things, but also in love, faith, encouragement, and laughter. I have so much; it's hard to believe how incredibly blessed I am with all God has given me. I strive to constantly remember the abundance I have received and to be thankful.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: The Clarinets

You might think this is the same thing as being thankful for my friends. However, The Clarinets are more than friends. We might even be more than sisters. Whatever we are, I am so thankful for it! This group of girls has changed my life. I am so thankful God brought me to Columbia, SC so I could form bonds with these AMAZING women! Thank you, God for The Clarinets!!

From Left to Right: Rachel, Lindsay, Me, Ms. Cindy, DeVendra

My favorite memories with The Clarinets:
1) Craziness at band (especially in clarinet ensemble, Ms. Cindy puts up with a lot!!)
2) Making our "Clarinets of 2012" shirts
3) Flea market shopping (we got turtles!)
4) Vintage dress shopping/wearing/taking pictures
5) Trying pear salad (it has mayonnaise and cheese on top of a canned pear...)
5) Trying out each other's churches (mine is next!)
6) Three-way calling
This list could go on for pages and pages, but you might get tired of hearing how awesome they are, so I'll stop at just six. I am so thankful for The Clarinets! I love you guys!!!

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Fall

I love fall. Mainly, I love food, and lots of good food comes with fall. For example: Pumpkin!!! I absolutely adore pumpkin flavored things. Today I had a pumpkin spice latte, a pumpkin scone, and pumpkin waffles. Also with fall comes sweaters and tights and boots. All of which are lovely! Colorful leaves, hats and scarves, pie, and chilly air describe fall to me. Fall is probably my favorite season, and I am so thankful that God chose to add fall to the seasons.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Children

Once again, I am one day late. It seems to be the story of my life, lateness. However, I am thankful for friends and family who forgive that lateness. And I am also thankful for children. Specifically the children in the picture below. Yesterday was Thursday, which is Classical Conversations day for me. I teach the three and four year old class. They are the most adorable children you will ever see. There are nine of them. It is incredibly hard to get them all looking at the camera at once. And I love them. They draw me pictures. I tell them stories and play the alligator game with them. Because of this class, Wesley is no longer afraid of fire trucks and Nate knows that his name starts with N. I am incredibly sad that I won't be able to teach them second semester. I will miss these children dearly, and a little selfish part of me hopes that they will miss me too. I am so very thankful for these children.

From Left to Right: Kyle, Wesley, Nate, Mary Pinckney, Solveig, Elizabeth, Eliot, Rebekah, Lily, me

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Youth Group

Today I am thankful for my amazing youth group. I honestly would not be the same person without them! I LOVE you guys!!! We can laugh or be serious, talk a lot or a little, mourn or rejoice, and we have done all these things together. We love each other. We care about what's going on in each other's lives, and we want to be part of each other's lives. It's the best youth group I've ever been a part of. I wouldn't trade it for the world! I'm so thankful that God put me in South Carolina for my high school years so I could be a part of this group.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Beauty

From the title of this post you might think I was talking about physical beauty. However, I'm talking about the beauty of a heart. I watched Sweetpea Beauty (Veggietales) with my mom today (yes I'm homeschooled...) and I honestly think that every girl should watch it. I had started watching it while babysitting but the kids had to go to bed before it was over, so I finished it this morning. It's amazing!! My favorite quote: Larry: "Sweatpea, how do you see beauty in everything?" Sweetpea: "It's God who sees beauty in everything, I just choose to agree with Him." How often am I blind to beauty in everyday things like the laugh of a little kid or a freshly baked pie? Or even unconventional things like having to do homework? I truly am thankful for beauty, and I will strive to see the beauty in everything this coming week.

After deciding to go to bed I browsed Pinterest and found this lovely picture. Who needs sleep? 

P.S. Go watch Sweetpea Beauty. 

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Tea

I love tea. I don't drink it very often, because I really like coffee, but when I do I always wonder why I don't drink it more. Today I had two lovely cups of tea with my mother at lunch. Just sitting and chatting and drinking tea. It was blissful. I also had a tea party with my babies tonight. (note to grandmothers: these babies are not mine, I've just been babysitting them since they were born. You don't have to have a heart attack and call my mother. She already knows.) I have fabulous memories of tea parties with my sister when we were kids. She usually says they weren't tea parties because I threw the dishes over the railing of our stairs, but that's beside the point. Today I am thankful for tea.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Forgiveness

This evening was rough. Letting people down is the worst feeling ever. So today I am thankful for forgiveness. I was incredibly blessed that it was freely given today. I am thankful for the learning moments that come out of forgiveness.

Romans 5:3-5

(ESV)

³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Friends

It was really hard to decided what I'm thankful for today. Not because I have nothing to be thankful for, but because I have so much. I'm thankful that the SAT is over. I'm thankful for great deals on nude heels. I'm thankful for comfy pants and movies with family. But I'm also really thankful for my friends. So it's kind of cliche to say I was thankful for family yesterday and friends today, but I don't mind being cliche. Friends are awesome. The best kind of friend is the friend who can go shopping, watch movies, eat chocolate, and have deep conversations til the small hours of the morning. The friend who can listen to you vent, or mourn, or cry. I am blessed to have many friends that fit this description, so today I am thankful for friends.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Family

Well, once again I'm behind. Surprise, surprise. Also, this post won't have a picture in it because I forgot to take one, sorry! But yesterday I was thankful for family. First of all, my family rocks. In my completely unbiased opinion, it's the best family ever. But it's not just that we love each other, which we do, but my mom doesn't allow fighting, complaining, whining, and so forth. We can work on the yard all day without a single complaint. And it's fabulous. So I'm thankful for my family, cause they're amazing.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Jeans

Well I'm off to an unsatisfactory start! I'm participating in a project this month called 30 Days of Thanksgiving, where I post something every day that I'm thankful for. I think this is super important because I  am almost never grateful for things throughout the day. I heard of this through a fellow ODPer, and I'm super excited! It's also similar to something a very dear and amazing friend of mine suggested, called a gratitude journal. Hopefully this project of thankfulness will spur on a continual habit of a thankful life. So here's yesterday's picture of what I'm thankful for!

Being the first day I could wear "normal clothes," yesterday I was thankful for jeans. I never knew how amazing it would feel to just wear jeans and a sweater. 

And here's yet another gem from Pinterest. This is so true, and I hope that repeatedly being thankful this month will create in me a thankful heart. See y'all later today for what I'm thankful for today!

October Dress Project: Day Thirty-One

It's the last day!! I get to wear normal clothes tomorrow! I can't tell you how excited I am to wear jeans and a sweater. But, I went out with a bang, wearing TWO outfits with the dress today. One for the day time, and one as my Halloween costume.

 The first is me with fellow ODPer Melanie. I'm wearing the dress, a black sweater over top, a pink scarf, black boots, and black cat earrings.

The second is me with my sister, both in our Halloween costumes. She's Woody (from Toy Story), and I'm Amelia Pond (from Doctor Who). I'm wearing the dress pinned up to be a mini skirt, black tights, a gray cami, a red shirt, a brown jacket, and cowboy boots. Happy Halloween and last day of the October Dress Project everyone!

October Dress Project: Day Thirty

I can't believe how cold it is outside!! I'm freezing to death and I'm wearing three layers! I can't wait to wear jeans and sweaters again! One more day, just one more!

Today I wore the dress, a long-sleeved red shirt under it, a plaid shirt over it, a silver bracelet, and the traveling earrings. (in the picture I'm wearing red earrings, but I had forgotten about the traveling earrings, so now I've changed.) When I go out I'll be wearing black boots. See y'all tomorrow for the last day of the October Dress Project!

October Dress Project: Day Twenty-Nine

It is FREEZING! Well, I'm not sure how cold it is outside, but my house is cold. Therefore, today's outfit is for warmth, rather than style! You should have seen the first picture of this outfit. I was pretending to curtsy and the whole wideness effect made me look quite large... I found that putting my hands on my hips is a much better pose when wearing a poncho.

Today I'm wearing the dress and a poncho my grandma made me when I was nine. It was more like a dress back then, I think. That's all I did today though, because if I go anywhere it will be to the library to get "The Book Thief," which is waiting for me. Hurray for lazy days!

October Dress Project: Day Twenty-Eight

Hello Everyone! Today was super busy (driving home from Charlotte, babysitting, church, then babysitting again, now I'm doing school!), so my outfit was pretty simple. I can't believe there's only three days left! The month has FLOWN past.

Today I wore the dress, a black and white striped shirt/dress over, purple shoes, a purple scarf, and a black headband. I didn't end up wearing the scarf all day because most of the day was spent either driving or babysitting.

October Dress Project: Day Twenty-Seven

Hello Everyone! Here I am again, still at my sister's school which is why I'm typing this post at one in the morning. I had forgotten to take this picture until midnight, and we were about to go play wiffle ball. My sister (who was taking the picture) says "just make your 'I'm about to go play wiffle ball at midnight for the first time ever' face," and this is the face I came up with. Therefore, this is the face you get...

Today I wore the dress, a red and gray (and a little bit of sparkly silver and pink) striped sweater, silver sparkly TOMS, the traveling earrings, and a black headband. I seriously did look cute before it was the middle of the night, I promise. See y'all tomorrow (or today, rather...)!

October Dress Project: Day Twenty-Six

Hello Everyone! Sorry I'm late for yesterday, but I'm visiting my sister in college and we were a little busy. I'm doing this post while all the college kids are asleep! :) Here's what I wore yesterday.

I wore the dress, an orange/nude/gray striped top over, the traveling earrings (see day twenty-five), and my nude flats (see my post about these shoes here). I'll be back later today to tell y'all what I'm wearing. Until then!

October Dress Project: Day Twenty-Five

As of today there are only six days left! I'm excited and sad at the same time. But, I think it's super easy to be sad before you have access to your entire closet again. Come next Thursday, I think I'll be celebrating!

Today I wore the dress, a white skirt over top (fun fact about this skirt: the first time I wore it my dad said "the next time you wear that slip wear a skirt over top." then my mother told him it was a skirt... He still doesn't like it!), a white tank top underneath, a black scarf, black slipons, and the same black headband from yesterday. Also, this is the first time I have the traveling earrings!! My friends Rachel and Lindsay and I decided that we were going to start traveling earrings (inspired by "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"), and so this week and next week I have them! I'm super excited that I get to wear them with my dress! Two things I love together. :)

October Dress Project: Day Twenty-Four

Just one week left! It's crazy how fast the time has gone! I've actually already worn this outfit outside of October, but I liked it so I'm wearing it again!

I'm wearing the dress, a red and black plaid dress over top, silver/black earrings, a black headband, and when I was out I wore my red TOMS. The red and black dress is too short to wear by itself, so something always has to go under it. Usually I wear jeans or leggings under it, but recently I thought, why not a dress? So anyways, that's what I wore for day twenty-four. :) See y'all tomorrow!

October Dress Project: Day Twenty-Three

Patterns, patterns, patterns!! Y'all already know I love zebra print, but here's another fun fact: I love England! I've been there twice and it's one of my dreams to open a bakery/bookshop in downtown London. Oh, and marry a ginger Englishman so I can have adorable ginger English babies. But anyway...

Today was pattern day. I LOVE putting patterns on top of each other! So I'm wearing the dress, my union jack scarf, a zebra print sweater (fun fact about this sweater: I picked it out in the resale shop and my mom thought it was going to be awful, but when I tried it on she really liked it!), zebra print sequin shoes, zebra print white earrings, and a black bow headband. So that's all for day twenty-three, see you guys tomorrow! :)

October Dress Project: Day Twenty-Two

There are only nine days left! It makes me a little sad that I won't be wearing my dress in a little over a week. I've really enjoyed putting outfits together! Anyways, enough with the sappy stuff. Here's what I wore for day twenty-two.

Today I wore the dress, a yellow, gray and black top over, a black headband, and bright yellow heels. I thought the yellows were more similar to one another, but looking at the picture my heels look super bright!

I'm super excited today because my friend Meg is taking pictures of me for her photography class. It's going to be super fun! :) See y'all tomorrow!

October Dress Project: Day Twenty-One

Lots to talk about today! First is what I wore to church today:

I wore the dress, a super long gray and pink skirt that was an absolute steal at Old Navy. I seriously got about $100 worth of stuff for $10 with coupons, gift cards, and clearance. I also wore a pink undershirt, gray sweater (free!), silver hoop earrings, and a giant pink flower in my hair. Also shown is my awesome grandma (I kept asking her if she wanted to be in the picture, I guess she got tired of my pestering her...). Oh, also I'm wearing black heels, but you can't see them because the skirt is too long.

Alright, next topic: shopping! I went shopping with my family today (mom, grandma, and sister). Both my sister and I got black shoes. "Aw," you say, "y'all are so similar!" Um, let's evaluate what shoes each of us bought...

Maybe you can guess whose are whose?

On another note, I bedazzled my Color Me Rad sunglasses today with my grandma's help! I took the rhinestones from a shirt my sister bought (she obviously didn't want them on her shirt and was going to throw them away!! Well I couldn't let that happen! I had to save those poor rhinestones!) Anyways, that's all I did today, I love lazy Sundays, you get the most done.

October Dress Project: Day Twenty

There's only eleven days left!!! I can hardly believe it! Today I ran the Color Me Rad Race and went to the fair with my family. It was a super fun (but exhausting) day. Here's what I wore for day twenty!

 I didn't wear the dress to run the race because I didn't want color on it for the last eleven days, but I did wear it to the fair! I added the Color Me Rad t-shirt (I ordered an adult medium, it's a little smaller than I thought it would be...), colorful heart earrings, tons of bangles, and a colorful flower headband. Also my RAD temporary tattoo! :)

My sister's going to kill me for putting this on the internet, but this is my favorite picture ever. I had SO MUCH FUN at the race!!!

October Dress Project: Day Nineteen

Hello Everyone! My sister's home from college! Plus my grandmother is in town and my dad's on a retreat so we celebrated by making pumpkin donuts! Anyways, we were going to go to the fair today, but unfortunately all the parking was full so we couldn't go.

 So today I wore the dress, a teal top over, teal and black knee high socks (I love socks!!) and black flats. I ended up taking it off early though because I didn't want to get grease on it from the donuts, which were delicious.

And tomorrow I run the Color Me Rad 5k! I'm super duper excited!! :)

October Dress Project: Day Eighteen

Hello all! Today's day eighteen, I'm getting close to the end! Lots of exciting stuff happened today! I took my final for English so I'm finally done with that horrible class, I've caved in to peer pressure and got a twitter, and my grandma's in town so I get to hang out with her! :)

So today I'm wearing the dress, a gray top from my grandma (fun fact about this top: I wore it on the plane to London and set off every metal detector because of the buttons and buckles), silver sparkly TOMS, a black scarf (originally $28, I got it a thrift store for $3) and silver jingly earrings. Plus my adorable dog Hank. :) See y'all tomorrow!

October Dress Project: Day Seventeen

Hello Everyone! Here's what I wore for day seventeen. Photo credit to my awesome grandma who flew in this morning! :)

So I'm wearing the dress with a teal tank top under it and a black printed top over. I'm also wearing blue circle earrings and black wedge flip flops. So that's all, see y'all tomorrow!

October Dress Project: Day Sixteen

So I thought it was freezing today, so I wore a scarf and a sweater, only to find out when I went out that it was actually a decent temperature outside. I ended up only wearing the scarf because it was just too warm to wear the sweater!

 So I'm wearing the dress with a purple sweater (when I got this sweater my sister looked at it like "oh my word, you're really going to try that on?" but now she likes it), a purple scarf my mom made for me yesterday, purple earrings from my aunt and uncle, and super old purple wedges. I also have a little purple flower in my hair, but you can't see it. So that's day sixteen, only fifteen days left!!

And here's yet another gem found on Pinterest. I totally agree, wear what you think looks good, not what some random person says looks good!

October Dress Project: Day Fifteen

So, I wasn't doing anything today, just staying home and doing school. So day fifteen was pretty boring. On a happy note, I'm halfway through! Just fifteen and a half days left! 

 Here I am with the dress and a red Belmont Abbey shirt on. If I go out I'll wear my red TOMS.

On another note, I thought I'd make a confession. Last year when I was doing the October Dress Project, I got really jealous about halfway through of the people that "got" to wear other things. I thought they looked cuter than me, and that made me pretty mad. On Pinterest today, I saw this and realized how true it is. If I stopped comparing myself to people I could stop being jealous! See, Pinterest isn't all bad!

October Dress Project: Day Fourteen

I call today Color Bomb! I absolutely love this combination, probably because I'm in general a loud and colorful person.

I'm wearing the dress as a shirt with a thrifted skirt over top (probably $6). A free fuzzy blue sweater, a yellow necklace from my sister's trip to Rwanda, green earrings from my Uncle Jon, a pink cami, pink tights, and thrifted blue heels complete the look!

Also, as a side note, I was browsing Pinterest today (I'm addicted, I should be in Pinterest Rehab...) and I saw this picture. Basically, this is the best definition of style! It should be who YOU are, not who random famous people think you should be.

October Dress Project: Day Thirteen

I didn't have much to do today, so the dress was pretty simple! 

 Just a white undershirt, polka-dot hoop earrings, and the dress tucked into a "skirt" that's actually shorts.

See? It's really shorts! Nobody believes me without proof!

October Dress Project: Day Twelve

One day late, sorry guys! I went to the fair yesterday with the dress. You can tell from the picture that I got a little sunburned, it didn't occur to me that just because it was cold didn't mean that it wouldn't still be sunny! Many thanks to my fabulous photographer of the day, Sarah!

I'm wearing the dress, even though I was going to the fair to ride rides, including upside down ones... I decided leggings would definitely be in order. Gray sweater, white undershirt, gray leggings, white knee-high converse, gray knee-high socks (with buttons!) under the shoes, and silver hoop earrings. It was so fun! I love the fair!

October Dress Project: Day Eleven

So I was away from my normal photographers (mom, dad, and sister), so my amazing friend Carolanne took my picture today. She's much more into taking pictures, so this one was posed. (as if that's not obvious...) 

Anyways, today was another babysitting day, so I wanted to be functional but fun. I also didn't have very much time to get ready so it doesn't go very well together... I'm wearing The Dress, my TeenPact shirt (yes, I'm a proud convert), a necklace my sister got me in Rwanda, mismatched knee-high socks (see my post about socks here), converse from my Grandma Sharon, and earrings that I actually bought full price (shock and awe, I know)! What are your thoughts on Day Eleven?

October Dress Project: Day Ten

Today it was FREEZING in the morning, but it warmed up in the afternoon so I was glad I wore layers!

I'm wearing: the dress, a gray tank top, red tights (on sale for $3), a gray and red sweater (free!), gray owl earrings, black boots from my Grandma Sharon, and a black hat from my Grandma Deb. (I LOVE my Grandmas!!) So there you have it, day ten!

October Dress Project: Day Nine

Is anyone up North missing some weather? Come take it back, I'm tired of being freezing!! I had to wear fur boots and a jacket today! Anyways, here's day nine!

Who says you can't wear brown and black together? Not me! I've actually loved the combination ever since I saw someone pair them at a funeral, but this is my first attempt! I'm wearing my fur boots which I scored at a yard sale for less than ten bucks, a brown Loft jacked I recently got at a thrift store for fifteen dollars, an ear warmer made by my darling Grandma Sharon, black tights for warmth, brown earrings, and the dress. 

October Dress Project: Day Eight

I had a little unexpected inspiration today: The rain! And rain means umbrellas and rain boots! :)

I tucked the dress into some skinny jeans, pulled my rain boots on added some jewelry (pink necklace, pink bracelet, pink earrings), and donned my rain hat courtesy of Amy. The umbrella (kind of courtesy of Amy, the first one was, but then the mean airport people from the Dominican Republic took it and my mom bought me a new one) completes the look! I love the rain! :) See Melanie? An umbrella is definitely a valid accessory! Photo credit goes to my lovely sister who surprised my by coming home today!

October Dress Project: Day Seven

Today was the first day I wore the dress to church, so I wanted to make it special! :)

As many of you know, I LOVE Zebra Print! So I wore my Zebra skirt with the dress tucked in so it looks like a shirt. I also wore polka dotted tights, a cross necklace, a black beanie with a pink flower pinned on, and my glasses. (No, they're not real. They're just for fashion!) Oh, and also my classic black heels! Thoughts?

October Dress Project: Day Six

So here we are at day six: the dress, and nothing but the dress! I'm not going anywhere today so I didn't want to waste a cute outfit if no one was going to see me!

You can't see it very well, but the necklace I'm wearing matches the colors of the rest of my accessories. Out come the orange shoes again! (I promise I have more shoes than this... they've just matched two outfits) Blue earrings and a purple tank top underneath. Tomorrow's my first church day with the dress, tune in to see what I came up with! :)

October Dress Project: Day Five

Hello Everyone! Here's what I wore for day five!

It was going to be an active day playing with kids so I didn't want to just wear the dress. So I wore jeans and pink accessories! Feather earrings, a pink bracelet from Uganda courtesy of my lovely friend Amy, a necklace that I've had for about three years and I've never worn, a pink tank-top, and pink flats. See you tomorrow! :)