Rachel, Please

Now, I'm not one to make excuses. I just don't care for them - unless I have a really good one, or one of those really annoying friends who you have to make an elaborate excuse for just to get out of hanging out with them. So I'm going to tell it all to you straight - my 8:30 - 5:00 job is kicking my ass. Running around an office all day trying to please the un-please-able and also trying to get back into the groove of something is stressful and tiring. So the first thing to fall to the wayside was this blog. It started as a fun summer project because I didn't have a job to fill my day and I was getting sick of reading. But now with this job, money in the bank to have fun with (which I've been doing a lot of also) and currently looking for a place to live next year for school, its just gotten so busy that there seems to be no time to get someone to take pictures of what I'm wearing.

This doesn't mean I'm letting this go altogether - to "all my loyal fans" (ha!).

This just means that the posts will probably be less frequent. Which is okay because honestly, if I'm living up to the blog and living on a budget, I really can't have that many outfits to show on this thing.

Body:

$6.00 V-neck tee from Target

$2.00 Skirt from the Salvation Army in East Lansing which I modified by bringing it up about one foot.

$2.00 Tights on clearance from Kroger which I modified by purposefully putting runs in (after I got a run in it right after I bought them) and cutting off the feet.

This is just a night full of confessions. I'm not really happy with the way my distressed tights look anymore. I didn't intend for them to get crazy huge holes in them, which is what happened because I was fairly inexperienced when I decided to run them. Also, I've washed them 4 or 5 times and each time the runs get fuzzier and full of piles that I have to cut off. I think its time I take some of my old tights I can't wear because of a run or two and make some new ones.

R.

Meadowlark, fly away down

Now that I have a job - yes before I started this blog because I sincerely have wanted to blog for a long time and it was convenient that I didn't have a job for the summer so it gave me something to look forward to - but now that I have a job working 9 to 5 all week, its becoming more difficult for me to find time to take pictures of my outfits. That said, bear with me people!

This dress has been so good to me over the past 3 years. I've worn it everywhere - on dates, to concerts that were really sweaty, to spread my late grandmother's ashes, and one time I was cleaning my car in Ann Arbor and some guy at a stop light took a picture of me in it and then winked. And I was really freaked out to say the least. I think its a testament to the simplicity of style that this dress is still in style, and my care for my clothes.

"I love them all, like my children." - Quote from some bratty girl on the Bravo television show "NYC Prep."

The purpose of that quote is this: I care for my clothing not like they were my children but with respect - which means I keep them happily folded and ironed or hanging politely and comfortably in my closet not thrown around my room. And in the fall I pack them away neatly in a tub. I take care not to stain them and if I do I soak them and lightly brush out the stains with stain remover. I think I treat my clothes with such esteem because I love the way that they make me feel.

Head: $6.00 hat from Target

Body: $20.00 dress from Forever 21

Hand: $2.50 bag from Target

[Find my shoes here.]

R.

De la plage ensoleillée

I want to wish everyone a fun and happy Fourth of July! Today I spent some fun in the sun at Kensington Metro Park. It was packed.

Head: $2.00 on clearance hat from Target
Body: $80.00 bathing suit from J.Crew

I think its important to note I purchased this bathing suit 2 years ago from J.Crew and it looks as if I just purchased it. A wonderful investment.

Happy Fireworks!

Blow Out That Cherry Bomb

One of my favourite things about living in the middle of the country is the over abundance of orchards. There are 4 orchards within a 5 mile radius of my house. Every summer I pick and pick and pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and apples. I went to pick strawberries and I've never been a fan of cherries but I could help thinking how beautiful the cherries lit up the trees. I was so mesmerized by their vibrant red colour that I took the plunge, I tried a cherry.

Now being from Michigan, home of the Traverse City Cherry Festival (which by the way is going on this weekend and is super fun and I recommend everyone go to it at least once), its very bizarre that not only have I never tried a real cherry, but decided that I just don't like them. Well, not anymore. I was spitting pits faster than you can say cherry pit spitter.

Body: $13.00 Old Navy dress on clearance

[Find shoes and belt here and here]

R