Love & Sunshine!

Hip Happy Fun Friday!

Today is the wedding of two good friends of mine, so MEH and I are taking off early today for some fun festivities in the beautiful sunshine!  For those not in the area, we've had around 40 straight days of precipitation and just in the last two days it's become beautiful with blue skies and wispy clouds.  A balmy 72 degrees, even!  Woo!

So many of us (women) know that the attendance of a wedding requires solicits the purchasing of a too cute dress.  This week, with this in mind, I set off shopping for said too cute dress, and my sense of cheap sent me straight to Kohl's.  I was reminded by Ms. Averie that many places are doing Back to School sales, so many items are heavily marked down.  Kohl's had this dress for 70% off!!!  And guess who bought it?  Yep, yours truly! I love it!  And of course, because it's Alaska in August and, due to time constraints, I am wearing this to work, I just had to find a jacket to go with it. 

Do you find reasons to get something new, or are you a just-cuz shopper?

For this, my cheap sense took me to The Clothesline, a store I have claimed to love before, but rarely ever shopped in.  It's a consignment shop in midtown Anchorage with a funky feel, great organization, good service, and awesome selection.  They are one of the few consignment places I've been to here that don't only care "standard" size ranges of 0-10.  They do have clothes for our full figured gals and the skinny minnies alike!  They also have amazing deals on stuff and are always putting out new clothes.  I found this Betsy Johnson dress in the dress section and just guess how much this baby was?:

This baby was $48.00!!  Even Betsy's cheapest on sale dresses are around $150.00 each, and brand new go for $500.00. 

I know some would say "well, it's used, it should only be $48!"  And that's fine, but it sure doesn't look used, and for that price, I'll take it.  Well, I wanted to take it, but it really didn't look great:

And I only buy things that look great.  I don't buy clothes that look okay, or that feel okay, but great.  It improves how I feel about myself and I don't end up self-conscious of myself halfway through the evening.  So no to the Betsy Johnson, but yes to the white jacket I got from Paris Blues!

The jacket was priced at $24.00 and worked perfectly for the dress.  So I went on downstairs to pay for it and was asked if I had an account with them.  Now, I donated/brought in a bunch of clothes when I moved to Kauai about 3 years ago.  I'd never heard from them, so figured nothing came of what I gave them.  I told the girl this, and she said she'd check anyway, and get this, I had $18.00 credit!  My jacket was 6 bucks! Yowza!
Are you a consignment shopper?  Ever been?  Love it?  Hate it?

I've made the decision to not buy anything new for a year (not hard for me, I don't shop all that often).  I'm handing my business over to local shops with an eye on the customer and recycling.  Clothing swaps aren't bad either :)  So I have the dress, the jacket, and here are the accessories:

Hand-carved bracelet from a friend of MEH's, and chocolate boots from Kohl's (had both already).

Coconut shell earrings, also from MEH's friend.

What are some of your favorite accessories?

I'm all set!  And totally stoked.  As I said yesterday, I love weddings!  I love celebrations.  They are full of gratitude, love, and much much fun. 

Are you a wedding person?

Mantra of the Day:  Nothing's Gonna Rain on My Parade.  I'm sending my friends good vibes for continued sunshine on their big day!  Give it a shot!  If there are rain dances, surely, there are sun dances!  And I also believe that if we pursue life in this manner, even when things may not go how you thought they might, you will see how they still turned out to give you something good or something you needed. 

Question of Gratitude: Who, or what, are you thankful for?  I am thankful for the sunshine!  It couldn't have come at a better time!  How serendipitous!  Thank you Mama for all the Vitamin D!