It's New Year's Eve. Last NYE was a blast and in case you've forgotten; here's a reminder



I can't even begin to tell you how much my life, and Karen's life have changed in the last year. But as she so eloquently posted on my Facebook, "2011 kicked 2010's ass!! "

I do not have a New Year's Eve dress yet.

AND I'M FREAKING OUT!!

It's girl scout cookie time. I love cookies. I love my kids. I hate selling cookies.

I have 2 daughter's selling and they both want to sell 200 boxes -- each!

Right.

So, that Kindle Fire I want or the new ipod (cause my 6 year old lost mine)? Not gonna happen. Instead, I'll be buying 395 boxes of Samoas at 4 bucks a pop.

$1580 on cookies.

Looks like I won't be making February's rent either. Sorry, Mr. Landlord -- blame the girl scouts and this little cutie:

Wow. WTH? Holy crap, it's been a long time.

Well, I'd like to brag and say that my time has been spent with a new guy and we've been *ahem* busy.... but...

Yea, it's true.

Brag brag brag.

Now, that doesn't mean I've stopped shopping, or drinking. Good lord, I could never stop that. Let's see, what's happened in the last 10 months? I can't possibly go through all the great shopping finds, BUT, I can tell you about a few changes.

In the last 10 months I've gotten 3 new tattoos:

This one is a sunflower. Not a daisy, look, it may resemble a daisy, but it is not. I'm 'artsy', I go for unique and different. It's a sunflower. Anyway, it represents Clytie and Apollo. If you do not know the story, it is quite tragic, like most Greek myths. However, the sunflower is my favorite flower due to this myth. You read about it and find your own moral.

This is a tribal Sagittarius tattoo. Uh, cause I'm a Sagittarius.



And this is dedicated to my job and my daughter, who has Asperger's. Autism Awareness puzzle piece.

I'm sorry I've been MIA. I'll try to do a better job of keeping you abreast of my shopping, tattooing and drinking extravaganzas. OH!!! What am I thinking?

I HAD A BIRTHDAY ---- AND IT DIDN'T SUCK!!


(Lindsey, Jennifer, Jamie and ME!)


AND CHRISTMAS!!!(Sadie, Camille, Me, Mara)

And the gifts my girls got for me:

Hmmm... I don't think there's anything else to tell. Until next time (soon, I promise!)

What can I say, really?

I like going to resale shops. An acquaintance of mine recently opened an upscale consignment shop. I have perused it a few times and have found various things like wrought iron wall hangings and planters (for my rooftop patio).
On my latest trip inside, I decided to check out the coats. What I found was glorious, As I slipped the coat on and took a gander at myself, I heard the shop owner say, "It's you. So you in fact, it's as if you walked in with it on."

SOLD!!

It's faux fur - because I don't wear real. Fur is dead, ya'll. And it cost me $60. I am absolutely in love with it.

It is me, right? So me!

No explanation needed. $1.50 at Bath and Body Works.

I love these little lipsticks. they fit perfectly into a little purse or in your pocket when you go out - or when I go out, as the case may be. They were $1.00 each at Sally's Beauty Supply. They have a great selection of colors and they wear well. I'm very pleased with this VERY affordable purchase.

Goodwill. $5.

Awesome, right?

On my recent mall trip, (mentioned in a previous post) I bought my "Dexter" shoes. But that was not all. I also bought these:


Patent leather Oxfords - 2 inch heel, by Covington (bought at Sears - on clearance!) $20.


I can't remember the brand - but these beauties - also bought at Sears, cost me $15!! So cute - and I have a super cute purse that matches. Look for it in a future post.

I watch Dexter. I love Dexter. Michael C. Hall is easy on the eyes. Though, I've never ben a fan of blood and gore - I do have a pretty strong sense of justice - um, not like that!

Anyway, I saw these shoes online and put them on my "I want list". Online - even on Ebay - I couldn't find them for less than $45. And I try not to spend more than $30. I coined them the "Dexter" shoes. You'll soon see why.

While at the mall this past weekend, I took a detour into Hot Topic and my shock and awe the "Dexter" shoes were there. One pair. My size. 50% off.

Ta-da!

Rawrr... wait. These are zebra shoes. What kind of noise do zebra's make? I dunno, but these shoes are so hott they deserve a "rawrr!"
I got them on clearance for $20.00. They are by Rampage and bought at Steinmart.

Lovely, yes?

I'm not addicted.

I think Chicago winters have bummed my feet out a bit. There's really nothing less appealing to your feet than having them prance around in fabulous, yet, wet shoes. At the beginning of winter, I try. I fight the urge to wear ugly warm boots or comfy casual tennis shoes. I wear the 3 inch heels, the open toe flats, the sling back kitten heels. Of course, my feet are always wet and I continuously fall on my ass. So...

Come January, my feet rebel. And I pull out these:

Don't be a hater. They are comfortable, warm and waterproof, snow proof, slush proof. they are glorious. But ugly. Ok, fine.. they are fugly. I'm ashamed. In an attempt to let go of my shame and put my feet into fabulous winter boots, I spent a good two hours online searching, searching, searching.

I'm usually not very picky about my footwear - fabulous is fabulous. who cares if they are pinchy? Pinchy I can live with for a few hours. But winter boots? I'd wear them nearly every day (mostly to work) and that means they need to be just right.


I think, that the Chicago winters have also frozen my brain, because while spending hours searching for new boots I realized that there are a lot of rubber boots being used as snow boots and.... I HAVE RUBBER RAIN BOOTS!

Look at that - I saved myself some cash AND I have a "new" pair of shoes that I had forgotten I had. This could be the first sign that I have a shoe problem.

Dare to be daring.

I don't go crazy on my clothing. I am a jeans kind of girl. And, truly, any shoe goes with jeans. I don't care what the experts say...you can rock ANY pair of shoes with capri jeans, cut off jeans, skinny jeans, boot cut, wide leg.. you name it.

And I realize that there are women out there that have a hard time coming out of their 'comfort zone' to try something daring. I hear it all the time, and from many of my friends. I wear heels mostly.. and that's due to the fact that I have really high arches, so heels just feel better. (which is kind of a cruel joke that a tall girl feels better in heels, right?)

But for those of you who feel most comfortable in flats, you can still find some amazing and daring shoes.

If it's the only daring thing you ever own, it will be well worth it. Half the battle is just having confidence. So which one of these will you dare to slip your feet into?

I found all of these shoes on ebay (under $30!!) - a tip: always buy NEW - in original box.

If they were in my size, I'd buy the pastel ankle boots. But, alas, they are not. Sadness.

This weekend was spent with my girls. I didn't wear anything fabulous but I did hang out with a fabulous friend and her sons. And we spent time with some other fabulous women, drank wine and played pictionary.

So, while I have no fabulous photos of shoes to show you, I do have a pretty fantastic picture I drew of Canada:

My teammate actually guessed it. Pictionary on booze - Goodtimes!

And I would be absolutely remiss if I failed to mention that my 5 year old asked me to paint her and my nails before going to the gathering. She picked the color and the pattern - Whalla!

"I ask myself more questions than Hamlet as I ponder which shoes to wear."

-Eva Gabor

Even fabulous girls like to be comfortable. On days when I've got nothing much to do and no one special to impress (as if there's anyone that special, really!) I like to lounge around in my favorite pj's and a tank.

Feast your eyes on these babies -

A friend of mine suggested that a pair of yellow or blue heels would make these pj's go from comfortable to amazing and comfortable. I agree. Here's what I found - what say you?

I found both pair on http://www.amazon.com/ and they are aprox. $20 and $26 consequtively. I'm diggin' the yellow ones. Can't wait till next pay day!

It's PAY DAY!!

Know what that means? It means NEW shoes - so long as I've been a good girl, paid all my bills, gone grocery shopping and budgetted correctly - I reward myself with a new pair of (affordable) fabulous shoes.

I can't decide...

Both are found at www.GoJane.com the heels: $35 and the flats: $17. Decisions, decisions. Oh heck, how about both?! Even with both, I still have plenty saved for a new outfit.

I love to buy shoes on Ebay. You can find new and interesting, sexy, quirky, unique shoes for very little cost.

A confession - I buy at least 2 new pairs of shoes a month, and many of them are from Ebay. My latest purchase: $13. Made from cork!

I'm only slightly behind on this weekend update post. I spent the weekend dancing, drinking and not sleeping (so much for that resolution. Shoot!) a special shout out to Theresa, Sibi and Stephanie for coming out and making the night as fun as it was. You girls rock!

Moving right along... I wore these shoes:

I bought them at TJ Maxx and they were $34. They are really comfortable and they make my size 9 feet look smaller. Win-win!

My birthday was December 17th. I turned 33. I'm not going to lie - my 32nd birthday was awful. Horrible. It was the day that my whole entire world came crashing down around me.

I promised myself that I would have the best 33nd birthday ever. And thanks to some truly great friends - (Who have spent many days before and everyday since, describing it as my 25th birthday!) it was the best birthday ever.

and here are just a few pictures to prove it.

Sunday Say What - about Shoes!

"I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty."
- Imelda Marcos

The Weekend Want:

I have 2 wants this weekend. No, that isn't true. I have many more than that but I have two 'purchasing' wants to share with you this weekend. And this weekend, I bring you two pair of shoe wants:



These can be found at Hot Topic or several places online. They are by Iron Fist and cost about $58.00. Moonshine Zombie Stomper glows in the dark! Yeaaa! I'd wear these with jeans, little black dress or just about any dress - a red dress would be hot!





These cuties, I found on Amazon.com. They are by ALDO "Quincy" and are aprox. $20. Very affordable and goes with just about anything. And they are FLAT! Love them.