Cooperative

I can't gush enough about this dress. I've been in love with this dress ever since I first spotted it, in multiple colors, at Urban ages ago. They must have started stocking it at least a couple of years ago, because I can't even remember how many times I've tried it on, only to pass it up due to the price. It's a simple piece, really, but for some reason I've just always been enamored the flattering shape and the simplicity of it. Imagine my delight when someone in the swap group I'm in agreed to send me this in exchange for a dress that's been sitting in my closet for forever. The funny thing is, the brand of the dress is Cooperative, and the same exact day this dress came in the mail, I nabbed these Cooperative sandals at a thrift store for a few bucks. Being dressed by Urban for close to nothing is a talent of mine, I guess.

I'm not sure how obvious it is, but I'm actually wearing lipstick in these photos. I usually despise having anything on my lips, but I've been wanting to step outside my comfort zone and try a red lip for a while. I borrowed this one from my mom, and I figured a photo shoot was the perfect time to see if I liked it. Turns out, I really like how it looks. I may become a full-on lipstick convert soon, watch out.

Easy Living

Ah, summer. Getting dresses has never been so easy. As much as I love my fall layers, I can't deny that I've been enjoying just throwing on dresses with minimal styling lately. I've referred to this dress as my no-fail dress before, and it's still true. It's always the perfect piece to grab when I'm in a hurry or I'm too lazy to think of something creative. I started working at my dad's restaurant again on the weekends, where I have to wear a T-shirt and tennis shoes, and I felt the need to change into something particularly feminine when I got home, despite the fact that I had no plans. As usual, this dress did the trick.

Although things have been fairly uneventful lately, it's been nice. I'm soaking up relaxing while I can, with a few fun things sprinkled throughout. I finished the new season of Arrested Development already, saw Star Trek with my friend Adam, welcomed home my friend Whitney who I hadn't seen in months, and even wound up seeing a really great ACDC cover band. Life is pretty good right now.

Inspired

Whenever I loan something out to the Flock Together girls, two thoughts always cross my mind. The first is that it's a little sad that I'll be without an item for a while; the second is that I can't wait to get ideas of how to style it from the other girls. I've always kind of struggled with this slip dress, but after seeing some of them expertly style it, I was pretty excited to get it back. Those girls know how to endlessly inspire me. I don't know why I always pair this dress with blacks, but I really liked it with this polka dot top. Ever since I realized that I could knot half of my tops over dresses, I feel like my closet has doubled. Also, it was an unbearably bright day when I took these so excuse the photos.

Speaking of Flock Together, have you entered our $75 Modcloth giveaway yet? I'm so excited that we're giving away something so awesome to thank our readers. Good luck!

Also, the incredibly sweet Emma of Little Motley interviewed me on her blog today! She's also hosting a great giveaway of her own featuring the work of some talented Etsy shop owners that you should enter. I'm all about promoting the free stuff here. 

Busy Bee

I know I say this every time, but this really IS going to be a quick post. It helps that I honestly don't have much to say about this outfit, although I do really love this dress. These photos are a couple weeks old, but I'm still back to wearing tights just about every other day. Mother Nature can't seem to ever make up her mind.

I'm keeping busy with end-of-semester projects and tests, plus a big feature I'm writing for the paper, but I"m glad that I still keep finding time to blog. I will have internship information to share soon, but as I said before, I'm just waiting for everything to be set in stone. I got offered one that I'm really excited about, but I still have a couple interviews lined up with places a little closer to my house. If I do take the one I want though, I'll be traveling into LA a few times a week, which is why I'm really trying to sell some of my clothes so I can pay for gas. I'm going to add more things soon, but if you feel like helping me out, you can shop my closet here. I appreciate all the help I can get!

Interview

I don't normally do outfit posts on Sundays, but since I did so little of them last week, I figured I would make an exception. I cannot get over how much I love this skirt or the fact that I found it at a Salvation Army. This was one my find last weekend and I got it without even trying it on. It was gorgeous, $4, and a different color than any other skirt I owned. It would have been a crime not to get it.

I wore this on Thursday when I had to re-interview for my job as editor-in-chief. A board chooses the editor-in-chief each year and even though I'm returning, I still had to re-apply. It's a pretty laid-back process, but I still wanted to make an effort. I wore this to class and slipped on a gray cardigan and black flats before the actual interview. Fortunately, I can now safely say that I'm officially keeping my job. One more year of editing for me!

Winter Mint

You wouldn't be able to tell from these photos that were just taken yesterday, but the snow today is insane. So insane, in fact, that my university declared it a snow day and canceled class. For as much as I hate Midwest winter and snow, I couldn't be more grateful for a day off to just do nothing but catch up on TV and blogs. And by catch up on TV, I mean continue re-watching all of The West Wing. Speaking of entertainment (when am I not?), I completely forgot to mention the Academy Awards yesterday. I despise Seth MacFarlane so I wasn't too excited about the show itself, but I'm really happy with all of the winners. Christoph Waltz won and Jennifer Lawrence looked adorable tripping up the stairs. What more could I ask for? Also, does anyone else remember how we all hated Ben Affleck and thought he was a terrible actor until he started directing and turned out to be really good at it? Memories...

Even though I love the top of this dress, I can't stop wearing it as a skirt. I love it even more against blacks and grays which is why I was so happy in this outfit. By the way, if I haven't declared my love for fleece lined tights yet, let it be known that I am utterly obsessed. Where have these things been all my life? Also, let's just ignore the fact that one of my buttons was undone for most of these pictures. Let's also ignore the fact that I wouldn't have brought it up if I really wanted to ignore it.

No-fail

I like to think of this as my no-fail dress. It's one of those pieces that never really needs much styling, but it always works. I probably wear it too often, but I feel good in it every time it's on so I see no harm in over-wearing it. Even if I've been over-wearing it for two years now.

Stripes and old boots

Time is not on my side. These photos are a little bright (which is in NO way Jennifer/my photographer slave's fault) and it's really because of my lack of free time. See, when you take pictures in the middle of work (while you're trying to write a recap of Walking Dead last minute and your photographer has 9879870 stories to edit), you don't really get to be picky about where you take them or where the best light is. Then when you have classes until 1:00, a lab until 3:30, club meeting until 6:00, and a ridiculous amount of people to email/other work to do, it's a little difficult to find time to edit pictures. It's even harder when you don't really have a great grasp on how to do so correctly, nor the time to learn. So, voila, bright photos.

This outfit came together kind of randomly, I really just kept putting things on and hoped for the best. I picked up this sweater at a thrift store for either $1 or $2 and it's one of those pieces that I ended up loving even more when I got home. It's also one of those items that's way too big, but I'm finding ways for it to work anyway. That's how much I love striped sweaters. As for the boots, they're actually not new, despite showing up here for the first time. I bought them a year ago and wore them all last fall, however, when I pulled them out this year, I decided that I hated them. They felt cheap and I started looking for a new tall black pair (because why wouldn't I need a new pair?), but then decided I try these again before I coughed up the big bucks that all boots cost. They still feel a little cheap, but I decided I like them again. Who knows how I'll feel next week. Or tomorrow.

Sweater: Thrifted

Button down: Madewell (sale!)

Skirt: Darling, via Hautelook

Boots: Endless

Necklace: Gift

Ring: L.A. boutique

Junkyards and peter pan collars

Meet Jennifer: 

I don't even think I need to explain why this is my favorite set of photos I've posted on this blog (thus explaining the photo overload), but I'll tell you why anyway:

• My friend, Jennifer (photographer-extraordinaire) took them.
• This junkyard behind her apartment complex was almost too good to be true.
• The light was perfect.
• We took them as the dough for these cookies was chilling in the fridge. 
• Everything about this outfit just screams, "me." Peter Pan collar, cropped sweater, riding boots, kitty ring, utility jacket, colored tights, my favorite thrifted bag.... Everything I love.
• I managed not to get any dirt on my white dress. I did however get plenty of cookie crumbs on there later that night at a friend's apartment. 

Enjoy this while it lasts, because after today, I'll back with lower-quality photos behind the newspaper office. For now, though, let me bask in the glory of this beautiful post. 

Also, while I have you, don't forget to check Flock Together for more intro posts this week!

Lastly, if you're interested in swapping buttons (since I finally decided that was a thing I should do), just email me at elanakat@gmail.com!

Dress: Nordstrom Rack

Sweater: ASOS

Jacket: From a swap

Boots: Modcloth

Tights: Target

Bag: Thrifted

Ring: Ebay

Thigh-high tights and heels

You should know that this is probably the only time you'll see these tights.

Going to school in nowhere-land means a couple of things: no mall, no Chipotle, no Starbucks, and, most importantly, no Target (though let's be honest, Starbucks is actually the most important). The nearest Target is at least half an hour away, which means I do most of my shopping at Wal-Mart. Meaning when I can't wait until I'm in Galesburg, Quincy, or back home, I  have to buy my tights from there. Now, I don't actually have anything against Wal-Mart, it really does satisfy all of my college-student-on-a-budget needs, but it will never compare to Target for me. I also just really love Target tights. So when the weather turned cold and I only had one pair of black tights without holes, I went to Wal-Mart. After picking up an opaque black pair, I was excited to see a polka dot pair on clearance for $3, which I quickly snapped up and bought. Unfortunately, they turned out to be thigh-highs and extremely thin. I have absolutely zero experience with thigh-high tights and in the midst of frustratingly attempting to pull them up on the way to a club meeting, they ripped all the way down the back of one leg. I kept them on for the meeting and these photos, but I think my first experience with thigh-highs shall be my last.

Despite my bad experience with Wal-Mart tights, I actually had a great experience with K-Mart shoes. Because, yes, the town I live in has a Wal-Mart, a K-Mart, and not one, but TWO McDonalds, but no Target or Starbucks. I actually didn't believe my friend Jessica when she told me that K-Mart had cute shoes, but I was proved wrong. I never buy heels because I hardly ever wear them, but when I saw these were only $5 (50% off the clearance price), I had to have them. I really do never have an excuse to wear heels, but I like that I can get away with anything at my VAMO club meetings considering it's a room full of fashion majors. I'm not exactly sure how much use I'll get out of them, but for $5, who cares?

As if the post wasn't long enough already, I also just have to say how glad I am that this dress (that I'm wearing as a skirt) has finally made an appearance. It's one of my favorite items I own, but it's so thin (it's not a slip, I swear) and the cut of it was made for someone with less curves than me. Luckily, layering and sweaters solve any problem.

Make sure to keep checking out the style collective blog I'm apart of, Flock Together, for all of the bloggers' intro posts this week and next week! Also, if you feel so inclined, follow along on Facebook and Twitter!

Dress (worn as skirt): Buffalo Exchange

Sweater: Thrifted

Cardigan: Francesca's Collections

Belt: Thrifted

Tights: Wal-Mart

Shoes: K-Mart

Chunky sweaters and an announcement

There isn't much to say about this outfit, other than I'm wearing one of my favorite dresses and a new thrifted sweater (last week, before it got unbearably cold), so I'll just get to the good stuff. As you all know, a little while ago, I decided I wanted to start a blogger's clothing swap group. It's up and running, but we're having a little trouble getting it started, partly due to the fact that I'm too lazy to take photos of my things, but mostly because I got caught up with a different project. The day I wrote the post about wanting to start it, Jessica of Midwest Muse emailed me with an idea. A fantastic idea. She wanted to start a collective blog, similar to the Delightful Dozen, where us bloggers could swap clothes and remix them to fit our own personal style. Needless to say, I was on board. With that, we contacted some of our favorite bloggers, the talented Katherine of Of Corgis and Cocktails handled the design, we got to swapping, and we officially have a blog!

Today is our official launch date, so may I present: Flock Together!

You can find our intro post today, but keep checking back for each individual blogger's intro post. We've been working on this for a little while now and we're all extremely proud and pleased with the results. We're also looking to add a few more bloggers, so if you're interested, feel free to apply on the blog. From now on, I'll be be posting on Flock Together every so often, but I'll be sure to let you know when I do.

Hope you enjoy!

Dress: Buffalo Exchange

Sweater: Thrifted

Shoes: Threadsence

Belt: Thrifted

Bracelet: ASOS