But I do love the color and these  pants that Bear found me at Sears. And because we bought our appliances from there and had signed up for the rewards program these were $12 free! I love when I find great staples or things I’ll wear a bunch (things that would have been worth splurging on) at great prices.

Top: Cotton On
Pants: Sears
Shoes: Nine West, thrifted
Purse: Michael Kors, gift
Bangle and Watch: India

I’ve also recently been obsessed with this super comfy skirt and top:

Top: Maurice’s
Pants: Old Navy, thrifted
Shoes: India
Watch: Citizen
Sunglasses: Kate Spade

And this leopard print jacket with fun structured shoulders:

Dress: H&M
Shoes: YSL, thrifted
Purse: Michael Kors, gift
Bracelets, Belt and Necklace: Thrifted
Jacket: Thrifted

Sandhya

I have a closet the size of most dorm rooms and I’m out of hangers and almost out of space. Yet sometimes I walk in there and can’t find a damn thing to wear. As my friend Amy would say, #firstworldproblems.

I was late for date night last week and ran in and decided to just go with something super simple and this is what I came out wearing. Surprisingly I was happy – usually I feel the need to make every outfit unique. But I like the shape and comfort of this one and love my new-to-me necklace and cuff.

Top: Thrifted
Skirt: Kenneth Cole Outlet
Shoes: Aldo Outlet
Necklace: Garage or Estate Sale
Purse: Gifted from Mom from Michael Kors Outlet

My darling friend Andrea and I had an eye-opening discussion recently. I already knew how much I love to shop (surprise!) and hunt for treasures. But the realization was that I wear the things once or twice and in some extra-awful cases, never, and then donate them or hold onto them for years thinking ‘one day I’ll be invited to a 60′s costume party’. Seriously.

Case in point: I’ve had the cuff and necklace worn in these pictures for months at least. And yes this is the first time I’m wearing them.

So I’m going to continue my thrifting habit (which is not to be confused with my book and magazine hoarding obsession) and wear the items a few times until the thrill is gone and then sell them online for another lucky treasure hunter to find…when I stop being lazy. Want to guess how lazy? I’ve had the Etsy store without anything in it for over a YEAR now. I have the shopping part down, it’s the uploading and pictures taking part that I’m struggling with. Go figure.

Sandhya

Since I work with furbabies all day and get covered in everything by the end of the day, my uniform is basically old shorts and tank tops. Add the fact that for over a month the temperature here has been 100+ degrees and there’s really no motivation to get dressed up.

Yesterday, something miraculous happened. We watched movies. In the afternoon. Y’all, we haven’t done that all year! We finally got to a point where the house is pretty much done. Seriously. Furnished, decorated, the whole bit. There are a ton of medium to long-term projects but at this point, we would be OK with folks coming over. And we’ll be even more ready in a couple weeks when we have our Housewarming.

So we celebrated with drinks and movies and then went out for a dinner party at our friends’, so I finally got a chance to get dressed up….nothing too fancy. Perfect end to the weekend!

Top: Thrifted, $3  -  Jeans: AG, $100  -  Shoes: Kenneth Cole Outlet, $14  -  Watch: Citizen, $60  -  Bracelet: Le Tigre, $5  -  Necklace: Garage Sale, $2

My girls and I are headed to Miami this weekend! And since we spent the rest of this weekend eating cake balls (I promise we were taste testing for the reception) I’ve given up on dieting and have determined I shall just wear a cover-up over my swimsuit during my Bachelorette Party trip. Can’t wait and hopefully I’ll find some time later this week to show off some of the fun things I’ve decided I need for the weekend. Need I tell you.

Sandhya

I’m not the biggest fan of tights. Because, well…they’re tight. I’m not a big fan of anything restricting my legs (dirty!).

No seriously, I change into pajamas the instant I get home and according to the masses on Facebook, I’m not alone.

As for tights or pantyhose…I have always found them incredibly uncomfortable. So much so that when I try them on to decide if it goes with an outfit, I’ll put only one leg on and another pair of tights on the other leg to minimize the amount of time I must wear them.

So while I find tights very versatile, cute and fun, let’s be honest: I wear them because then I don’t have to shave.

Saturday, before my birthday dinner, I went through my one-leg ritual and finally decided to just give up and shave.

Clearly I’m not a fan of shaving either. And while growing up, I was unlucky enough to have chicken legs for which I was mocked…it just meant I always wore jeans. Until college when I kicboxed and unearthed my calves.

But now, the fiance is regretting the day he told me he didn’t mind if I didn’t always shave. Muahaha…man captured…shaving ceased.

Long story short…here’s what I ended up wearing Saturday night (with my lovely new purse that I forgot to hold in these shots):

Dress – Random Store in Sydney, Australia, $14

Shoes – Bakers bought from Savers, $10

Jacket – H&M, $15

Belt – Thrifted or Garage Sale or Estate Sale, $?

I have the greatest friends. I received so many great presents that night (who knew 27 was such a special age?) including some very thoughtful clothes and books from Andrea and an adorable mug from Cathy, tons of candy and cute wallets/clutches.

And in unrelated news, I wore my new beaded tunic on a date night and was way overdressed. It happens a lot to me. I do not mind whatsoever.

Tunic – Thrifted, $8

Purse – Thrifted, $?

Jeans – AG, $100 or so?

Shoes – Aldo Outlet, $14

In even more unrelated news, how cute are these pillowcases my friend brought me from Japan? Seriously, the greatest friends!:

Hope you have a stress-free week!

Sandhya

If you’re a follower of the blog or a friend, you know I’m not a malicious or unfair person. That being said, my patience and emotions were severely tested by Brilliant Earth and I want to make sure no one ever has the same experience on their special day.

Here is my review from Yelp:

If you want to make sure your proposal day and your ring are special and perfect, this is not the company for you. We had the most awful experience with Brilliant Earth and while we were patient and willing to walk away or forgive for adequate compensation…they did neither!

My fiance communicated with Brilliant Earth about my custom ring with birthstones for months before the proposal date. Every time he checked in they assure him things were fine but 3 days before the proposal they called him and told him they wouldn’t be able to have it ready in time and they had been trying to get the birthstones to fit but couldn’t . THREE DAYS. They sent us a temporary ring that I couldn’t even wear because it was too large!

We were assured a quick turnaround and a gift to compensate. Lies.

They then proceeded to take forever to “fix” the ring and make it the correct size and we didn’t get it until WEEKS later. We had told them we were out of the country and that we wouldn’t get the ring before a certain date anyway but instead of taking their time and double-checking, Danielle sent my fiance an email saying “The ring is beautiful!” and shipped it. When we got home the ring had aquamarines where diamonds should have been! When we called Danielle she confessed that she had had them send it without looking at it because we were in such a rush to get it. We weren’t even in the country!!

Then we had a very wrong ring on our hands and offered to just return and let us go our separate ways. They wouldn’t let us do this because it wasn’t their typical policy. But they over and over told us that our experience wasn’t typical. They couldn’t have made an exception? Obviously not and we waited AGAIN for weeks before I got my correct ring.

I was ringless the first MONTH of my engagement.

The worst part was the “compensation”. We asked for the wedding bands for free or a discount/refund and the best they offered to do was upgrade the diamond .1 carat for $700. We refused because we didn’t want to give them any more money. So instead we choose the most expensive piece out of a “custom” catalog they sent us…which was basically ten pieces and some worth less than $100. The necklace we got (useless because we told them repeatedly that I don’t wear necklaces or earrings) was about $300…and we won’t even get that much when we sell it. $300 as compensation for screwing up a ring worth more than $4,000 three different times and ruining our proposal. That’s not even 10%!

They never got back to us when they said they would, lied to us, promised things they didn’t deliver and gave us a compensation less than what we would get at McDonald’s. Save yourself the heartache and money and purchase from one of the many other conflict-free providers.

Phew.

Now that that’s out there into the world I can move on and enjoy my engagement and weekend. Happy Friday!

Sandhya

My birthday is a couple days away and instead of presents (Bear wanted to get me an espresso machine to support my recent Starbucks addiction…thanks to my recent Gilmore Girls obsession. Thanks Andrea!) I asked for a morning of garage sales and thrifting. We found some amazing things including great clothes, a desk for Bear and children’s books. But my favorite was this beaded tunic (only $8 or so):

Then my parents gave me something in this pretty bag….

It was this pretty bag!

I am so incredibly spoiled. Speaking of beautiful things and being spoiled, here’s my engagement ring:

The sides aren’t diamonds – the four leaves are my birthstone (Aquamarine) and the ends are Bear’s birthstone (Alexandrite). The Alexandrite changes from light to dark green/red depending on the light…just like Bear’s personality. Damn Gemini.

My ring is gorgeous but I wouldn’t ever recommend Brilliant Earth to anyone. Stay tuned for my bitchfest on their horrible customer service and the awful experience we had.

But that’s for another entry. For now, let’s all just enjoy my birthday week.

Whee!

Sandhya

Last week I wore a lot of sweatpants. In fact, there were days when i didn’t even change out of my sweatpants. In my defense it was very cold and rainy. Between Bear and I we have like 16 pairs of sweatpants. OK, more like 5. And fine, they are his. But they are just the right amount of comfy and what are boyfriends good for if you can’t wear all their comfy clothes?

So when I finally got dressed I chose something bright and cheerful. And I painted my nails to match:

Old Navy Jacket – $1 – Thrift Store; Pearls – $12 – Boutique in Houston; Zara Sweater – stolen from boyfriend after it magically shrunk; Hat – $20? – vendor at Shecky’s Girls Night Out; Jeans – $30 – Levi’s Outlet; Boots – $70 – Piperlime

How gorgeous is this knot ring?? Many thanks to Elia and her boyfriend for such a beautiful piece – I love it! Oh and my nails are painted with one of those glitter colors from the OPI Burlesque collection.

Also spent my time indoors making more bath bombs since I got a whole lot of new supplies: glitter, dried peels and flowers, new essential oils, molds and new jojoba and almond oils. But the recipe isn’t perfected yet, so I’m still tweaking and will post it soon.

I made some ducks that were a sweet orange + ginger blend, with jojoba oil, orange peel and yellow glitter for the bills. Also made some lemongrass + sandalwood ones with lemon peel and a diamond glitter and some ylang ylang + myrrh truffle shaped ones with dried lavender and purple mica glitter. Oh and Bear helped.

Happy (finally sunshiney) Monday!

Sandhya