Playing Catch Up!!

So remember that little issue I have of not enjoying shopping? Well I was supposed to be on a mission to learn how to shop by starting with simply $30 a week, since I am a woman and that is apparently what I am "supposed" to enjoy doing. Needless to say I fell off of that mission a bit due to being distracted with other things that are important to me.

Well, I'm back now and trying to play catch up so here are a few purchases that I made after Chris forced me out of the house with the debit card:

In this photo I am wearing a new black tank from Target, a really comfy sweater-ma-giggy from Target and a silver necklace from Kohls that sounds like the bells from santa's sleigh when I walk...I love that!!

In the next photo I am wearing a gray sweater from Marshalls. Well, actually it just might be a dress because I can pull it down to my mid thigh. I guess if I want to wear leggings I could do the dress thing, but I'm thinking not. Though leggings may look okay on some people, I firmly believe that when they were in style in the 90's, thats where they should have stayed. So, take a look at my sexy, sexy sweater!!

So there you have it, I'm back on the move. Stay tuned for more updates because I am several weeks behind!!

Tatum

2 Weeks = $60

In case you didn't notice, I didn't shop two weeks ago; I just wasn't feeling it. Well actually I went to Kohls on my lunch break to see what they had that might interest me, but I was so unmotivated by their clothing selection that I just decided to stop looking. That visit was definitely better suited for their home goods section and that is exactly where I moseyed to!

I absolutely love the housewares section of Kohls! There are so many things that I need from there, like throw pillows, vases, artwork, frames!!! Only that's not what I'm supposed to get. I know it's hard to believe but I actually walked away from a beautiful striped green vase that was $11.99, 70% off!!! I know striped green sounds ugly but it was sooo pretty! I stood there and stared at that vase for about 15 minutes trying to convince myself that it's okay to get the vase. What's the big deal? Who cares that I need other things for myself?

Finally I walked away. My mission was set, $30 FOR YOURSELF! So I left. By the next weekend I knew exactly what I needed to get, a purse! More specifically a black purse... Is it just me or doesn't the word purse sound old!? It does sound old! I'll use pocketbook. I have been walking around with a very cute blue purse pocketbook ...oh no that can't be right either! Okay, from this point forward I will use the term handbag. I have been walking around with a really cute blue handbag and at times a very cute orange handbag. The problem with this is that I've been carrying these colored handbags with clothing that didn't quite match. I had told myself, a handbag is a handbag, it serves a purpose. I also told myself the same thing about scarves. They serve a purpose to keep you warm. Only, I didn't realize just how wrong I was until I saw my reflection two winters ago. I was wearing a pink and black skirt, with a black sweater, but I had a scarf on that was striped with blue, brown and cream colors AND matching gloves; and I was holding an orange handbag! I was absolutely shocked! I mean, I look completely stylish and together on most occasions when I'm not wearing these extras, but the moment I get ready to leave the house or the office I look like Rainbow Bright, only the slightly warped version! This is the picture that I had taken of me to send my sister as I was telling her that I truly needed a fashion intervention.

 I blurred the background because this was shortly after we moved into our new house before we made changes. Then again, I don't know why I blurred it, I look just as bad as the background! And look at my shoes! What THE HECK was I thinking!!

Back to present day, long story short...I needed a black handbag, neutrals are very necessary. Enter Kohls for round 2:

 A new black handbag and earrings to boot... $60.48!



Tatum

P.S. note to self, you will never ever look like a deranged Rainbow Bright again no matter what season it is!

Lapis Girl

So this week I'm a Lapis Girl. Not sure what that means? Well me neither. All I know is that it said Lapis Girl on the tag and that I get to wear this cute dress. Take a look!

Now this is where it gets interesting. This dress is rather versatile because though it looks like a comfy summer dress right now, it can also be considered office appropriate just by covering your arms.

And if that look doesn't float your boat, you can go extremely conservative like in this photo:

So there you have it. After purchasing another workout shirt, a new bottle Mr. Sandman fingernail polish by Milani and this Lapis dress, that is another $30 well spent. I later found out Lapis means a bright blue metamorphic rock consisting largely of lazurite, used for decoration and in jewelry. My guess is that since there are no rocks involved here, they are simply trying to convey that the dress still goes through some sort of metamorphosis; and it does so rather lovely if I do say so myself!

Tatum

$30 A Week

Have you ever met a girl who didn't like to shop, for herself that is? Well... my name is Tatum and I'm that girl, it's a pleasure to meet you. Seriously, unlike most women I'm not really good when it comes to shopping for myself. I can spend money on anyone else at anytime but when it comes to me, I'm much better at standing in my closet for 10 minutes looking at the same stuff that I looked at the day before and then finally pulling out yet another 10 year old outfit. What's more, as I'm standing in there I'm repeating to my poor Chris the same sad song that I just sang to him the day before! The lyrics go something like this: UGH, I have nothing to wear, my clothes are so old I really need to shop, but I don't follow through and then I wonder why I don't look "current". I cannot tell you how many times he has said to me, if you need to shop then shop.

Only now, I battle with buying for myself when I want to buy for the house. Let me re-phrase that, I only want to buy for other people or the house. So needless to say Chris is convinced that I'm not normal. One day he said you should take baby steps. Starting on Friday take $30 and go out and buy something FOR YOURSELF, not for the house, not for anyone else, FOR YOURSELF. That next day on Saturday I got in the car and I went to Marshalls. Well actually I went to the HomeGoods store because again my priorities are screwed up. Just so happens this particular HomeGoods store had a Marshalls attached to it and as hard as it was I re-focused and purchased something for myself! I got a casual shirt and a workout shirt. He was really proud of me when I got home and I felt good too.

Here's a picture of one of the shirts that I purchased:

It's super comfy and flirty, and I got several compliments on it the day that I wore it...which was a day that I looked much cuter than this goofy looking picture of me. But who cares about what I look like? It's all about the shirt! Anyway it was so rewarding and I repeated the same process on the following Saturday. Here's what I got then:

What made this purchase so great is that it was only $19.99, not even $30.00!! So naturally I begin to think that I can use the difference for the house but I stopped myself because I new what my assignment was. Therefore, I made an effort to use the difference on myself by looking for earrings, but didn't see any that I liked. After that I went to Bath and Body Works but it just so happened that they were working on their floor layout for the holidays and were not taking any shoppers at the time. To get me to come back they gave me a coupon. Now here is my logic...I made two attempts to use the remaining $10.00 on me but the universe was not allowing that to happen. It only made sense that I used that money to buy something for the house and I did, I bought vase fillers for $10 baby!

 So each week I will try to keep you up to speed on how I conquer my "shop for yourself" issue $30 at a time.


Tatum