ThredUp Kensie Dress + Old Navy Cardigan

As an avid secondhand shopper, it's no surprise that I wanted to work with ThredUp. I'm adamant about the fact that most of the best pieces in my wardrobe come from thrift and consignment stores, and while I'll always love the hunt of thrifting in stores, I'm constantly looking for new ways that my lazy self can do so from the comfort of home as well. Naturally, this means that I'm in love with browsing through ThredUp, an online consignment store. As I've said countless times on here, not only is shopping secondhand a great form of recycling, it's also a great way to get unique pieces on a budget. 

This time around, I got three piecs for about $30, which goes a long way on ThredUp. In addition to a skirt that I'll feature in Wednesday's post, I picked out this Kensie eyelet dress and Old Navy cardigan. I've been trying to do a better job of shopping smarter and getting clothes that I won't want to give away in three months (as I'm known to do), and I'm proud to say that I feel confident that I succeeded. This cardigan is such a perfect, comfy staple piece, and I've honestly worn in three times since I got it last week. My wildcard pick was this dress though. I was not sure how this dress would be in person, and once it came in a bit brighter than I expected, I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Once I put it on, though, it was love at first sight. It fit like a glove and ended up being such a fun addition to my closet. What I love most is how surprisingly versatile it is. It's fantastic for layering and easy to dress down, but it also would be my go-to piece to pair with heels for a wedding. I really cannot wait to style this dress a million more ways. 

I love when I give rave reviews with all honesty, so I'm excited to let you know that my readers can head to ThredUp and use the code HANDM50 for 50% off first-time orders up to $50 on H&M pieces. My next post will feature a new staple H&M item from ThredUp, and trust me, you'll want to get one for yourself. 

Monteau Dress + Yellow Cardigan

I'm going to be completely honest with you; this dress doesn't exactly fit over my bust. And by that, I mean that it doesn't fit at all. I picked this up at the Melrose Flea Market with Erica last weekend, and in true flea market fashion, I didn't try it on. It fits most places, but my boobs just aren't having it. So in a fit of desperation to make this adorable dress work, I improvised. A cardigan is key to covering up unzipped dresses, and a safety pin here and there gets the job done. Viola! If I hadn't felt the need to be completely transparent, you would no idea. At least that's what I'm hoping for in real, non-Internet life.

Life right now is pretty grand. Jon and I are settling in quite nicely to the new apartment, and we're slowly having our closest friends over to visit. After living in such unstable places for so long, I'm incredibly happy to be able to host people and, most importantly, learn how to cook. I have never, ever been a cook, nor have I really had the desire to be one. Maybe moving in with my boyfriend has domesticated me, but I'm finally motivated enough to learn. I'm starting with easy dishes, but so far, it's going pretty well. If anyone has any simple recipes or tips, throw them my way!

Yellow Cardigan + Plaid Collared Dress

Hello again from the west coast! My impromptu business trip eventually came to an end, and I'm back to the real world. My trip was truly wonderful, though, and a nice change of pace. I was in Connecticut most of the week, where I worked out of our office there and bonded with my co-workers. I also got to go into New York City a couple of times, which was a real treat. I went in once on "business," which meant visiting the boutiques of the stores I do customer service for and feeling the clothes in person. I then went in on my own over the weekend, where I met up with my friend Callie. Callie came in from Washington DC, and we spent the weekend wandering around without a plan. It turned out to be perfect, as we had a blast walking the Highline, visiting an SNL exhibit full of costumes and props from the show, and eating delicious Italian food. Callie and I only get to see each other every few months or so, and it was wonderful getting to spend the weekend catching up. I also had the pleasure of meeting up with Jen of JennifHsieh, who was seriously the best. I've never had a bad experience meeting a blogging friend in person, and this was no exception. If I lived in New York, I would force her to hang out with me all the time. She's that cool.

Sunflower Top + Black Skirt

I'm going to be honest with you. I had a whole post planned that was going to be serious and delve into my emotions, but as usual, I got busy and didn't get around to writing this until late at night. Thus, I have no energy for emotions, or lack thereof (the post was going to be about how terrible at dealing with emotions or even admitting that I have them). I'm going to write it soon because I want to start using this blog as more a platform for my writing and a way to organize my thoughts, but for now, I'm tired and stuffed. I ate a big dinner, complete with fries, beer, and a milkshake. There's a downtown area of sorts by me that's filled with restaurants and antique stores, and it's been going through a lot of changes lately. As lovers of all things old, it's always my best friend and my favorite place for digging through antiques and old people watching. Now, though, it's become quite hip. Many of the stores and restaurants are being replaced, while others are just being renovated. It's a revitalization, and I suppose I should have seen it coming. One of our favorite places to eat was Watson's, a half diner, half pharmacy, which opened in 1899 and has kept a '50s aesthetic for as along as I've been alive to see it. It just underwent a huge renovation, and my friends and I finally checked it out last night. It still has a retro theme, but instead of being retro on accident, now it's to be hip. I have pretty mixed feelings about it because I hate change, but I have to admit, it was a pretty cool experience and the food was way better than it was before. Is this what being a millennial is about? Thinking it's cool to like things that were around before they were born and then hating yourself for liking new things? God, we're just the worst, aren't we?

What isn't the worst, though, is this outfit post. I thrifted this sunflower crop top recently (which is how all of my posts start), and it's my new spring go-to. I wore it to go to IKEA with Jon on Saturday, just for the hell of it. We're not looking (yet), but I live right down the street from one, so we thought it would be fun to get Swedish Meatballs and wander around. It was. I may have bought these flowers for my room and for pictures, plus a set of Popsicle art prints. I'm weak.

Cutout Top + Red and Blue Skirt

As per usual in Southern California, it's February, which means that it's basically summer. I've regretfully become re-acclimated to the idea of west coast "winters" since I moved back from the Midwest, so I can't say that I'm sorry to see those 40 degree mornings go. I know, I'm weak. But warm weather means finally getting to break out this fun skirt that I thrifted last fall as tights weather was nearing and becoming reacquainted with this black top. I'm never quite sure about it, but every few months or so I decide that I like it enough to keep it. This outfit isn't my absolute favorite, but hey, it'll do.

This past weekend was so jam-packed that I didn't get a chance to write this post until now even though I took these photos last week. I spent Saturday in LA with Erica and my friend Julia, who I met from the newspaper in college and was in town visiting. Erica suggested we meet at Grand Central Market, and we braved the ridiculously long line for Eggslut. I must say, I get why it was so crowded. It was delicious, and it was totally worth the wait to enjoy breakfast sandwiches outside on a beautiful day with great company. That night, I braved the 91 shutdown (freeway shutdowns are a living hell) to go watch Kiefer Sutherland play in his band. I know. It's a weird thing that I did, but Jon and our best friend Adam are slightly obsessed with Sutherland. I got us tickets for an anniversary present, and even though I'm not nearly as big of a fan as they are, I had a ton of fun seeing Kiefer Sutherland rock out. I was even willing to ignore the fact that he was three and a half hours late to the show. Like I said, freeway shutdowns are the worst.

Floral Dresses and Yellow Cardigans

Remember last week when it was Christmas, everyone was celebrating, and there was ample time to sleep in? Yeah, I do too. The long weekend was much appreciated, but as with every Christmas, I wanted it to last forever. I had a wonderful Christmas Eve at my brother's house and then stayed with my parents until Sunday. It was partly because I'm having issues with roommates (living with two aggressive people is no fun for someone extremely non-confrontational), but it was also a nice way to extend the holiday. Jon came to my aunt's house for Christmas dinner, and it's exciting to be taking these steps toward having a real "adult" relationship. Who knew that it actually wouldn't be scary at all?

This is what I wore on Christmas Eve, but with tights and boots. It's actually gotten quite cold here, to the point that my mom didn't want to take pictures outside. I took advantage of the indoor setting and decided to leave the tights behind just because. This dress is by far one of the best things I've purchased this year (thanks to a good year of gift card money), and I've also been wearing this yellow cardigan with pretty much everything. 

Ballerina

Could this skirt be any dreamier? I've been eyeing it online for too long, and I finally got it with a discount from work a month or so ago. Kling has become one of my absolute favorite brands, which I've spent far too much time stalking when I'm supposed to be working. I spend all day drooling over expensive clothes at my job so it's always nice to distract myself with brands that are at least a little more in price range. Of course, my price range is nonexistent now that it's essentially the holiday season. With my family (including three brothers, two sister-in-laws, parents, and five nieces and nephews), plus best friends, Jon, and gift exchanges, I have too many people to buy for. Add in that I'm paying more bills this year than ever before, and I may just be in deeper than I can handle. The worst part? I still insist on buying everyone thoughtful gifts. I can't break the habit. I even signed up for the Reddit Secret Santa because I love the idea of buying a random person a gift they'll love, even though I can't afford it.

...would it be weird to crowdfund my Christmas presents? I think people would donate to Kickstarter devoted to buying my nieces and nephews awesome toys, right? 

Margot

I don't have too much time to write, but here's one of my new favorite outfits that I wore to work yesterday. I don't think I've owned anything with a turtleneck since I was a kid, but I couldn't resist this sweet lavender dress. I love that it fits right in with my wardrobe, but is still a tad different from anything I own. My favorite part of this outfit, though, is the Margot Tenenbaum pin from Andsmile Studio. I've been wanting to buy a pin from this shop for a while now, ever since I discovered it on Etsy, and I finally caved and let my love for Wes Anderson dictate my purchases. I got this one and a Steve Zissou one, and I'm probably going to have to buy the X-Files ones soon as well. They're too perfect.

There's a lot of exciting stuff going on right now at work and outside of work, and I can't wait to tell you more when I have more time. I'm finally starting to feel like my post-college funk is going away a little (a year and a half later), and I couldn't be happier.

Aggie Again

This outfit is pretty typical for me, which is probably why I love it so much. I'm assuming that most of my readers and people in my life are probably a bit tired of seeing this Fleet Collection Aggie skirt all the time, but I can't help it. There's never a time when I don't want to wear it. I picked up this collared top from Buffalo Exchange a little while ago when I sold some clothes there, and it felt like something that belonged in my wardrobe. Like most shirts, it works perfectly with this skirt. The outfit also paired well against my favorite backdrop: this ridiculously beautiful house down the street from me. I hope the owners don't mind that I like to post photos of their home all over the Internet sometimes. Can they blame me?

Everything has been busy and lovely lately. The CEO of my tiny company (who is wonderful) was in town last week, and she took my office out for dinner and drinks after work one night. She's the best. I started taking calls (if you don't remember, I work in customer service) for one of my favorite designers last week, so that's also exciting. Other than that, I've been hanging out my best friends, spending time with my boyfriend (which I'm still getting used to saying), and catching up on TV. I only kind of was so exhausted that I feel asleep during Game of Thrones last night. 

Lake House

This whole blogging while working a full-time job thing is not easy, is it? I really love blogging and have no intentions of giving it up anytime soon, but it has been a real struggle to take outfit pictures and get posts up. Luckily, I had a really fun weekend that included taking not one, but two sets of photos. It's the true definition of success.

Oh Saturday, I met up with my friend Caitlin in Venice. Caitlin and I were in the same major in college, and she recently move out to Southern California after living in Illinois her entire life. We finally got a chance to hang out, and we had delicious coffee and food before walking around Abbot Kinney to look at all of the too-expensive shops. I hadn't seen Caitlin since last May, so it was wonderful to get to catch up and show her a part of California that she hadn't seen yet. I already can't want to hang out with her more now that she's here. 

I do have some photos from that day, but this set is from yesterday. While I ended up at my brother's house when my parents decided to sell their house, they moved to a lake, about an hour away. I hadn't been to their place since the official move, so I made the drive yesterday afternoon. I've still seen them a bunch, but it was nice to have dinner with them, and of course, to take advantage of their laundry machine and fancy shower. I also convinced my mom to help me with these photos, and I'm really loving getting to use their balcony and lake view as a backdrop. 

Louie

If there's any outfit that's a good example of my uniform over the past couple of months, it's this. This jacket and top have become the true MVP's of my closet. The collared top has proven to work with just about anything, and the jacket has been my go-to piece for those California "winter" days. It's not too heavy, it looks good with most things, and the hood makes it perfect the rainy days we've been having lately. The most special part of this outfit, however, is the ring. As you probably know, I recently spent four years in Illinois for college and have had a hard time being so far away from my friends and family there ever since I moved back to California. For Christmas, my brother and sister-in-law (who were visiting from there) surprised me with this adorable Illinois ring, with heart over the town I lived in, to remind me of my time there. It's thoughtful and perfect, and I can't thank them enough for it.

But enough of the sentimental junk. This is what I wore to see Louis CK perform last Sunday, which was just as amazing as I had hoped it would be. I consider Louis CK to be the best current comedian and a true genius, but he doesn't tour very often. I was fortunate to see him headline at Oddball Comedy Fest in the fall, but when my friends and I saw that Los Angeles was on his list of three cities he was performing in this month, we jumped at the chance. He actually came straight from the Golden Globes to the show, which was kind of a fun thing to figure out when I got a text that said "Louis CK is definitely at the Globes" from a friend who was watching while I was already at the theater. He made one joke about it at the end of his set about how he lost at the awards and then immediately changed out of his tux into a T-shirt before he went onstage. Everything about him is perfect. It's normal to have to wait for a comedian to leave an awards show before the show you're at can start, right?

Rad in Plaid

I'm tired, so I'm actually going to make this post short. And I actually mean it this time. I've always loved Fleet Collection, but I usually never have the money to afford the gorgeous pieces. Fortunately, everything on the Fleet Collection site was 40% off on Cyber Monday, and I took a break from buying a massive amount of Christmas presents to grab this plaid crop top and a matching skirt. They look wonderful together as a two piece set (that looks like a dress) and just as great paired with items. The possibilities are endless, and I already plan on wearing the skirt for a post next week. I can't lie, I felt quite classy in this outfit. Fleet Collection, I love you.

Also, I'm seeing Jenny Lewis again tonight. I actually got these tickets a while ago (long before I bought the tickets for her show a few weeks ago), and I'm so pumped to see her do a longer set and open for Ryan Adams. This year has just been the best for music.

Peter Pan Collars Forever

Last month, Lisa of Lala Faux Bois wore this dress on her blog, and I immediately fell in love with it. Even more than the dress, however, I really took interest what she wrote about dressing your age and following fashion rules. As someone who always gets mistaken for someone younger (I'm 22, but I've been told that I look like I'm 16), her words resonated with me. I sometimes wonder if people would mistake me for someone younger if I didn't wear so many Peter Pan collars and florals, Of course, that way of thinking is ridiculous, as Lisa pointed out her post. While it's difficult not to get a little upset whenever someone makes a comment about how young I look (if only because I fear that it'll hurt me in my professional and romantic lives), I try to remind myself that it's more important to embrace my personal style and wear things that make me feel good. If those things happen to be collared dresses and cardigans every day, then so be it. So even though there was a new girl at work on Saturday who chose not to hide the fact that she was shocked when she found out that I wasn't 15 and had graduated from college already, and even though that made me feel like crap, I still came home and put on this outfit. Because this dress is great, and the collar is darling. Take that, insecurities!

As for the diary portion of this post, there's not much new going on with me. I had some fun with friends last week, like getting coffee with my friend Jon and getting a group of us together to grab drinks with our old high school drama teacher, and I did go to a Harmontown taping with Whitney on Sunday. Other than that, it's been too much TV as usual. I'm starting to get antsy without a full-time job, and I can't help but feel pretty down as I keep getting rejected from jobs I know I would succeed at. It's all a matter of time, I suppose.

Working Girl

Last week, I had the pleasure of working a blogging event for my internship with FAB Counsel. As I've mentioned before, I've been interning with FAB Counsel — a digital marketing firm — since the beginning of summer, and we've been gearing up for this event pretty much the entire time. The event, or the FABDILab, was a day-long blogging conference aimed toward helping new and aspiring bloggers find their niche, monetize their blogs, and network with each other and brands in attendance. There were 10 different bloggers and blogging experts who led workshops/seminars, and the day ended with a networking reception. Since my internship mostly consists of doing social media, I've spent the past month or so heavily working on promoting the event, and I was excited for the day to finally arrive after working toward it for so long. Unsurprisingly, the event went extremely well, and I absolutely loved having the responsibility of being in charge of the volunteers, live Tweeting and Instagramming the event, taking photos, and being on hand for anything else needed. The best part was that since I was in charge of the social media, I actually got to sit in on all of the workshops, and hearing some big name bloggers like Sazan and Jackie (both of whom were much funnier than I could have ever imagined) speak. I came away from it with some great advice and some new connections in the blogging world. The event also marked the end of my internship hours, which means that I'm pretty much done being an intern and working for free (hopefully). We'll see what I'll be doing next, but I'm looking forward to speaking with my boss about continuing my work with FAB Counsel this week because I really love what I've been doing. If I could create a job for myself, it would involve writing, social media, and working with bloggers, so it's basically perfect.

As you might have guessed, this is what I wore to the event. I found this dress a little while ago, and I had been saving it for the occasion. We all know that I have a weakness for white dresses, and I think I might have found the perfect LWD in this one. I also felt like an event like this called for a J. Crew statement necklace and some Hasbeens. You understand.

Two Headed Boy

I apologize ahead of time if this post ends up not making any sense since I'm writing it late at night and half asleep, but this is what I wore to see Neutral Milk Hotel yesterday. In case I haven't said it enough times, Neutral Milk Hotel is one of my favorite bands of all time, and my best friends, Adam and Whitney, bought me a ticket to see them at the Hollywood Bowl for my birthday earlier this summer. I've been in love with Neutral Milk Hotel since I was about 14 or 15, and it's one of those bands that got me through high school and that I have a huge emotional attachment to. Since the band officially broke up in 1999 (after only putting out two albums, including one of the greatest albums of all time, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea), I've spent most of my life under the impression that I would never get to see them perform live. Fortunately, the band surprised everyone by announcing a reunion tour last year, and I knew I had to see them. Of course, when I missed the chance to see them in Illinois last year, I went back to assuming I had missed them forever, so getting to see them yesterday was an actual dream come true. I can't even put the concert into words since it was so incredible. It was surreal seeing a band I'm so attached to and have spent years listening to through headphones and in my car, especially on particularly bad days, live. Jeff Mangum, the band's creator and lead singer, is one of my musical heroes and hearing him sing "Two Headed Boy," one of my favorite songs of all time, solo on stage was one of the best experiences of my life. I have no shame in admitting that I got pretty emotional. I think it's pretty understandable though.

Enough of the emotional rants about Jeff Mangum, though. Let's talk about this dress. I had contemplated getting this Dahlia lace dress for my birthday from my parents, but as you know, I settled on the Swedish Hasbeens instead. I'm obviously happy with my decision, but I never really stopped thinking about this dress. So, of course, when Dahlia had a huge sale recently, I had to snatch this beauty up for a steal. It's a little tricky to wear since it has an open back, and I can't exactly get away with going bra-less. Instead, it just gives me another good excuse to throw on  a cardigan. Not that I need one.

Reunited

I've made a huge mistake. At the beginning of summer, I put some of my favorite items up for swap in the Flock Together group to be borrowed by the other girls, and I don't think I realized how much I would miss them. Of course, I say this at a time when I've been hit with a lack of inspiration, so these items missing from my closet surely doesn't help. I lent this one out to Sammi, and I honestly kind of forgot about for a little while. However, when it came back to me a couple of days ago, it was like falling in love all over again. And okay, if you've seen how adorable Sammi looked in it (or how Jessica and Ashley looked in my cat dress), you know that I don't actually regret lending out these items, but I certainly am happy to be reacquainted with old pieces.

After being pretty bored the past couple of weeks, this weekend turned out to be more fun than expected. I worked a couple of early morning shifts at my restaurant job, but I also spent a good amount of time with my family, hung out with my best friends, and made a couple of new friends. I keep feeling sorry for myself for being bored or lonely at this awkward time in my life, but then I'm reminded that things really aren't bad at all. Plus, I have an endless supply of Netflix and really, what more could I ask for?

Cherry Bomb

I'm writing this at 2:30 a.m., so there's a very good chance that at some point while writing, I'll just stop making sense. I should definitely go to bed, but I had far too much caffeine today in an effort to stay up, and I'm too distracted being on movie cloud nine to fall asleep. That said, I know that I should probably try, so I'm going to do my best to keep this short. I went to the "midnight" screening of "Guardians of the Galaxy," and I could not be any happier. I say "midnight" because I was actually able to see it at 10 p.m. (at Downtown Disney for only $6 with assigned seating thanks to Whitney. Basically a midnight screening dream come true.). Whitney, Adam, and I had been waiting for "Guardians" to come out for what seems like forever, and it was probably my most anticipated film of the year after "Boyhood." If you couldn't tell yet, it did not disappoint. I'll save all of my thoughts on it for my next pop culture post, but for now, let me say this: it was everything I wanted it to be and more. It was expertly directed, perfectly cast, had one of the best soundtracks ever, and is seriously funny. I do have one huge piece of advice for anyone going to see it though: if you can help it, avoid any and all spoilers regarding the after the credits scene. It's amazing, but partly because of the reveal. The payoff is worth waiting until you actually see it, I promise.

But like I said, we'll talk about it more in-depth another time. In outfit related news, I got this dress at the beginning of summer from Buffalo Exchange, and it's been in heavy rotation in my closet despite seeing zero blog time. It's a little bit too ruffle-y for my taste, and I've often worn it with a cardigan to hide that fact, but it just fits me so well and has such a great print that I'll forgive it for its ruffles. I also kind of wish I hadn't gone so matchy-matchy with the necklace, but what can you do? I'm wearing a pretty dress, and that's really all I can ask for.

Back to Classics

And so, just like that, the festivities are over and it's officially time to return to the real world. Fortunately, the "real world" I live in is still pretty laid-back considering I work from home, make my own hours for my internship, and it feels like I'm on summer break. Nonetheless, it's always a little disappointing when a birthday is over and you have to resume paying for yourself when you want food. I know I already talked about my Disneyland in yesterday's post, but I do just want to say again how grateful I am to my friends for always making birthdays so special. Other than Disneyland, they took me out to dinner, took me out for drinks, took me to breakfast, and gave me Amazon gift cards to feed my online shopping addiction. Sometimes it gets a little exhausting being friends with a bunch of dudes who constantly yell at me to make more girl friends and quote Tim & Eric constantly, but then they're really awesome like last week and I remember why I hang out with those losers. Plus, I'm eternally grateful to my best friend Whitney for always doing more for me on my birthday than I ever deserve. Okay, enough gushing about my friends. Don't tell any of them that I said these things, and let's just move on to the outfit.

I would like to give a big warm welcome to my new Swedish Hasbeens, a pair of beautiful shoes that will most likely never leave my feet. I've known all month that my parents were going to give me money for my birthday, so I've had some time to think about what I wanted to put it toward. I contemplated getting multiple things with the money, but I finally decided that I wanted to make one big purchase and get something that I would never buy myself. After much debate, and with the help of my mom, I finally settled on getting a pair of Hasbeens. I've always wanted a pair, and thanks to the Swedish Hasbeens store on Amazon, I was finally able to make these mine. There were more than I few that I wanted, but I decided that the Lacy sandals fit my style the best. but are still different than anything I own. I like that they have a little bit of a heel, and while I went back and forth on color, I figured that I should just stick with black since I'll get the most use out of them. They are by far the most expensive shoes that I own, but they're also by far the best quality and will no doubt be my longest lasting pair.