These are a few of my favorite things

For the past 3 years I have spent my winters in the tropical paradise on the North Shore of Oahu. While I have no complaints about missing out on the bitter cold of Texas winters, except for my short visits home for Christmas, I do miss Fall, or Autum if you are fancy. You know what I'm talking about right? The moment when it finally drops below 90 degrees for the first time in months. Or when the leaves start to fall. Let's not even talking about cuddling. Or when it gets chilly enough at night that you can give your air conditioner a break and sleep with your windows open. Don't even get me started on my excitement for football season. That's a whole other story. So all in all I'm just ready to throw my shorts up in the top of my closet and pull on a sweater. Come November I'm sure I will be crying about the cold, but for now I'm elated that Fall is finally upon on. 

I'm so excited that even though it was a whopping 97 degrees last week, I purchased these beauties second hand. Each were about $2 or $3. 

Vintage Dooney & Bourke

Normally I'm not one to swoon over a designer label. But in most cases I am one to appreciate vintage designer pieces. Because really it just goes to show you that if a bag can make it through all these years, it's pretty descent quality. I was thrifting this past weekend and stumbled upon this beauty. It wasn't something I needed, but I carried it around the store for a bit and decided that I had to have it. So for the sky high price of $12.75 I am now the proud owner of this Dooney & Bourke bag. 

Belts and florals

Perhaps I should just rename this blog to hi my name is Carlie and I have a belt obsession. But really it's an issue. This is one of my favorites but I always struggle finding what to wear it with and where to wear it. But today I was ready to put this awesome belt to good use, and I totally love the way it looked with my pleated floral thrift store skirt. So if you have a beautiful piece just sitting in your closet, don't wait until the perfect occasion to wear it. Be confident and make it work!

Belt: $3

Skirt: $5

Aloha

A few weeks after I moved to the mainland from Hawaii, I found this belt buckle in a tiny little thrift store. One of those stores that you have to dig for the good stuff. When I saw it, I knew I had to have it. Then I picked it up to have a closer look and I realized that it was hand pounded, and then I really had to have it. Then I saw the price tag was marked $1 and then I REALLY had to have it. I knew that it might be a challenge to find a belt to go with it, but it was a challenge I was willing to accept. It took me another month to find the belt but it was worth every minute of time it took to find it. I think that's the thing with thrifting, you have to be willing to spend the time to find what you want. When you do spend the time, you come out with one of a kind pieces like my shell belt buckle. I thrifted the dress several years ago. The original length hit at mid calf, which is just not very attractive for me. My saint of a mother hemmed it for me. A friend of mine that is serving a mission for the LDS church loaned me these BCBG shoes, and I might cry when I have to give them back. The earrings are a pair of hand-me-downs from my sister and the necklace was an impulse buy at Forver 21. I've been wanted some gold knuckle rings for awhile now, and when I saw these at Charming Charlie, I couldn't say no. I love this look for church, the length is appropriate and its not too over the top. 

Dress: $5

Belt: $3

Buckle: $1

Shoes: On loan

Necklace: $3

Rings: $6

Total Cost of Outfit: $18

Special thanks to Big Shots Photography! 

Lovely little wristlet.

If you have been around in me in the last week, you would know how obsessed I am with my new purse. I've been showing it off like its my own child. I'm not the type of girl that longs after designer handbags, my attention span is much to short to love a purse for more than a few months. If I carry a purse its normally pretty cheap and trendy. Which works perfect for me because about the time I get bored with it, it starts to fall apart and then I just go buy another and dote over it for the following months. I love this little wristlet purse from Charming Charlie. It's easy to grab and tote wherever and it fits the essentials and that's it! Minimalism here I come! 

Purse: $20

Special Thanks to Big Shots Photography for the photos. 

When it works, it works.

Yesterday I spent the day with one of my favorite photographers, Jenni from Big Shots Photography. In exchange for me being a shopping assistant, lunch date, and back drop constructor, she snapped a few shots of me. I'm so beyond happy with these pictures! If you are in the market for pictures, you should definitely check them out!

So this outfit is nothing to walk the runway in but, I just love it. This shirt has been my go to shirt for far too long, but I just can't let it go, I wear it with everything. It is from Maurices, but it was a hand-me-down from a friend. The shorts are from JC.Penny's, I bought them last summer in multiple colors and I'm still smitten. For anyone that knows me, they understand that after living in Hawaii for a few years, shoes are not my favorite thing to wear. I would rather be bare foot or in flip flops so understand that closed toed shoes are a great accomplishment for me. You can't go wrong with something as simple as basic Ked's. Remember the friend that gave me this shirt, the one that deserves a best friend of the year award? Well one day we were at Earthbound and I pointed out this ring and then she bought it for me. So basically special thanks to Ashley Joy for donating to the cause of me looking cute.

 Shirt: Free

Shorts: $15

Shoes: $10

Jewelry: Free

Total Cost of Outfit: $25

  P.S. Will you remember like I was? With tan legs? And natural highlights from the sun?

A literal peak inside my closet

I wish that this looked neater but this is a style blog not how to properly fold sweatpants 101. After college I moved back in with my parents to save money. As you can imagine living at home has its ups and it's downs. One of the ups is my closet. I always leave the huge doors open and it tends to be the focus of my room. When I do shut the doors, the feng shui just feels off. P.S. in my next life all of my hangers will be the same color.

The inevitable 'talk about yourself' first post

For sometime now I have been wanting to start a style blog. Lets get one thing straight, I don't think I am a fashion genius of any sorts, but I do know how confident I feel when I put together a new outfit, especially if it cost me next to nothing. I loved thrifting before Macklemore made it cool. I began thrifting when I was in high school. At that time I wasn't ready to start shopping in the women's section and I could not find dresses appropriate for church in any juniors sections. So to the thrift stores I went. Once I got past some of the smells and super tacky clothes, I grew to love finding beautiful one of a kind pieces among all the junk. Much to my mothers dismay, many of the finds I would bring home needed mending or a new button, etc. I still use my mothers seamstress skills for my benefit but now that my life is much busier than it was in high school, I tend to lean more towards items that are ready to be worn. Another one of my staple places to shop is Old Navy. I seam to always find clothes that fit and look great! While they are not always the highest quality, if I paid $3 for a shirt and wore it 10 times I'm not going to throw a fit about it getting a hole. Old Navy also has the best clearance rack! And when the stars align they run sales where they take an additional 50% off the sale price. And don't get me started on Old Navy cash. Such good deals. Lastly one of my favorite places to shop is Forever 21. I have 7 more months until I am no longer 21 and you better believe I'm going to ride that train until the 15 year olds kick me out. I really love Forever 21 because even though my finds are not one of a kind at all, they are always super cute and trendy. I'd like to think in the after life there will be a log of how much time you have dedicated to certain things, like amount of time spent doing the electric slide, amount of time spent look for something to eat, and the one I'm most afraid of, amount of time spend in Forever 21.

So now you know all my secrets. In review, I'm not claiming to be a style guru AT ALL. and the more original my outfit the happier I am!

With love,
Carlie