Reader Request!

Over on the TOTC Facebook Page, Katie was looking for some ideas on how to wear these cute crops from Old Navy. Since she works in retail, she has to wear flat shoes, but still look stylish. She wanted to keep her rocker/edgy look...which I think I totally missed the boat on. Shoot. The tank hidden beneath the white jean jacket is kind of edgy, and white denim is kind of rocker-ish, right? But boat shoes? Scarves? I may have struck out. Anywho, I think I need to get myself to the ol' O.N. and buy those earrings. LOVE!

It's all from Old Navy today...
Earrings
Tote
Scarf
Jacket
Tiered Tank
Boat Shoes
Cropped Trousers

Anyone out there in blogland have a request? Hopefully I can nail your style better than Katie's! (No guarantee though, I am currently living in my husband's thermal long sleeve shirt and ultra stretchy pregnancy jeans. Fashion has left the building).

Before and After...

Our new house was built in 1963. It has popcorn ceilings and a carpeted formal dining room. It also has a patio that has been converted to a huge bonus room, which would be cool if I was a teenager and it was, say, 1975. The point? We're going to have lots of remodel and decor challenges in our new pad. Which thrills me to no end, because I love painting and demolition as much as a great Craigslist or garage sale find. PLUS...I'm hoping to showcase more cheap home related projects on this here blog. Which brings me to today's post. I'd always wanted to do a before and after of our old house, but felt weird putting my home on the internet. Now I can! 

Here's the before of our formal living room. The whole house was like a time capsule from 1966. The couches behind those rockin' marble tables were covered in plastic. Awesome.

The living room after. We made the best of the mint carpet by pairing it with a purple couch ($200 on Craigslist!) .  Purple brocade curtains were $10 at Big Lots, and the chairs and ottoman were another Craigslist find. 

Hello, ugly kitchen! From the chiffon curtains to the ornate hardware,  this kitchen screamed old lady, which makes sense because the previous owner was a 97 year old lady who had built the house as her retirement home. In 1966. The fridge was full of white wine and ice cream. My kind of woman!  

The stove that burnt everything we tried to cook. Wouldn't you love to have a built in convection oven?

After. We didn't change much (new hardware, bye bye wallpaper, new paint) because I wanted it to still have that 60's charm. 

More kitchen after. Containers courtesy Grocery Outlet, and art from Big Lots.  Oh, and the curtains were on clearance at Walmart. 

The den before. The indoor/outdoor brown floral carpet was particularly charming. I loved ripping that stuff up (as well as removing those iron banisters). 

The den (or the "step down lounge" as I liked to call it) after. Red couch, another great $300 Craigslist find. You can't really see it, but the table on the left is repurposed as an entertainment center. My husband scored that for $10 from the Catholic church rummage sale and attached half of an old coffee table to the bottom to hold our dvd player, etc. 

Master bedroom before. Notice how there is no carpet? There's a reason they had to tear it out...be glad I didn't include the photo of the patched hole in the floor where the previous owner "expired" (what can I say? The house was a GREAT deal!)

Master bedroom after. Never one ghostly experience. 

2nd bedroom before. People who stayed in this room did claim to have some vivid nightmares and hear strange sounds. 

So that's where we put our kid. She never complained. (Of course, she couldn't talk yet, either). 

Dining room before (that's me holding the previous owner's circa 1960 wedding dress. That I did NOT get to keep. Shoot). 

Dining area after new flooring, paint, etc. Once again, furniture from Big Lots. That place is a treasure trove of bargain finds!

So that's the tour of the old casa. I hope you're up for some fun new projects in the future, because I'm all about branching out (while still staying in the realm of cheapness) and sharing the transformation of our new house with you guys!

Red Dress Love

My friend (the one who is getting married in July) and I found this dress on Modcloth the other day while looking for bridesmaid's dresses. Our conversation via email went something like this...
Her: "Do you see that red dress?"
Me: "Good lord, that's a GORGEOUS dress! I would so wear that"
Her: "Why can't that come in my colors?"
Me: "Red works for me!" (I'm such a bad bridesmaid...)

Anywho, it's quite a stunner, don't ya think? It's the perfect type of dress to wear to a summer wedding, a fancy Valentine's date, a Christmas party, or perhaps...

dressed as a pin up girl to go bar hopping on Halloween with your husband dressed in drag.
(Many years ago, before kids, before shame).

The scoop:
Clutch, Payless
Peep Toes, Forever 21
Mod Hoops, Forever 21
Frankly I Don't Give A Dress, Modcloth
Ring, Target

There's a Bun in the Oven

Around about the time we decided to try and sell our house, we also made the decision to put off having another baby. We figured the responsible thing to do was wait until we knew what our housing situation was going to be before bringing another little Cheapster into the world. Because you usually can't buy another house for at least 2 years after a short sale, the wait could have been pretty long. Both my husband and I were bummed, but felt we were being really grown up about the whole thing. It's always nice to feel grown up, isn't it?
We put the house in the market July 8. August 1st I found out I was pregnant. I'm due in late April.
"Ha ha!" said Karma.
We'll be moving in to our new house right before the baby is born. I think he must have known it would all work out. (Yep, it's a boy).

Everything today comes from Old Navy. I have a non-maternity Old Navy striped shirt that I am wearing the heck out of. Surprisingly, horizontal stripes while pregnant help to say, "Hey look, I'm not getting fat, it's actually a baby!"

Bridesmaid Dress Re-Do

I'm currently bridesmaid dress shopping, along with some other fine gals, for the wedding of a dear friend in July. I shared this quest for dresses with the EG bloggers while we waited for dinner the other night, and was regaled with the stories that so many of us 20 to 30 somethings have in common. Heather described her after childbirth, 2 sizes too big dress that fastened in back (perfect for nursing a newborn!). Hutch (of Be Awesome Instead) told us of her bag full of bridesmaid dresses that need to go to the cleaners, and also of her reluctance to do so because they will never get worn again.
Which begged the question...what could we, as a group of fun having, young-ish women, do to give these dresses the second chance they deserve? (Well, some of them...I'm sure some of them are just plain ugly). A cocktail party? Fun. A cocktail party followed by a game of mud football? Even MORE fun.
Then as I was looking for pictures of ugly bridesmaid dresses, I found this. Now, for reasons that I haven't shared yet, I'm not exactly up for a pub crawl (or a satin dress, for that matter) at the moment, but once summer hits, I'm totally rounding up the girls for some bridesmaid-y fun.
Have any of you done anything fun with old bridesmaid dresses? Any other ideas to throw in the mix? Who else want to join in? Anyone else regretting that they donated their bridesmaid dresses to Goodwill? (What was I thinking?) I'm sure Hutch has one I can borrow...

Where I've been...

I'm going to try for the short version.
In 2005 we bought our first house. We were 25, newly married, and wanted to start a family. We needed a nest before we had babies. We bought the cheapest house to sell in our town in months, a 2 bedroom ranch that we absolutely loved. I was 25, self employed, yet able to qualify for a nearly $300K loan (first red flag!). The bank couldn't understand why I didn't want to borrow more (second red flag!). Since my husband didn't have a long credit history, I was the only one of us one the loan. This would end up being our saving grace. Our mortgage payments were high, but we were assured that we would be able to refinance to a lower, fixed rate within a year. Should we have just rented? Maybe. Should we have waited until the market went down? To that I say, Who knew it was going to go down? Hindsight is 20/20.
Fast forward 3 years. Our house was worth $100K less than we paid for it. Our adjustable rate mortgage was set to re-adjust with no chance of refinance in sight. With the tanking economy had gone not only the equity in our home, but 2/3 of my freelance work, and my teacher husband was facing furloughs. We were still paying our outrageous mortgage, but after 3 years of simply maintaining, it was clear that we soon would be in trouble.
This was about the point where I stopped blogging. I realized that I needed to do something to save my family from what would ultimately be our financial ruin. I looked at our hand. What cards did we have? How would we play them? I started researching for hours a day. We agreed that a short sale was our best option. If we were able to short sell our house, with no missed payments (practically impossible), there was a small, itsy bitsy chance that my husband might be able to qualify for a loan after all was said and done. It was a long shot, but it really was our only hope. The Obi Wan Kenobi to our Princess Leia.
We hired the best short sale real estate agent in Sacramento. I spent hours on the phone with the bank, oftentimes followed up with more hours of research to see what to expect next. I haunted real estate forums. I Googled and Bing-ed until my eyes hurt. It was easily the most stressful period of my life. Banks are NOT your friends. Our bank (which rhymes with mace) is staffed by life sucking zombies from hell. We were current on our payments throughout the whole process, yet made to feel like schmucks for even trying to sell our house. They were beyond terrible at every turn. You know that "I love my bank" commercial? I hate my bank.
We listed our house in July, got an offer a week later, and closed escrow November 24th. It sold for $110,000 less than we paid for it. After childbirth, that day ranks as the biggest accomplishment of my life.
The end result? We now have an offer on a new house, are in escrow, and close in early March. It's one block away from our old house. Our new mortgage payment will be approximately 1/3 of what we were previously paying, for a house that's twice as big.
I know that not everyone in this situation is as lucky as we were. It took hours and hours of hard work, research, pleading, patience, and dedication. Not everyone starts out with the same set of circumstances. BUT, if you are in a tight spot, please know that there are options. Do your research. Don't think you have to stop paying your mortgage. And feel free to ask me any questions. I am by no means an expert, but I learned a thing or two throughout the process.
And now that the dust has settled, my family is soon to be in a new home, and life is calm again, I can BLOG!

The Blog is BACK!

The blog is BACK, for good this time! Having been inspired by the hometown bloggers I so luckily joined for dinner last night, I'm back to blogging. See a really great write up of our evening, here, at Heather's blog (still one of my fav's). Getting to know these girls through their blogs has been fun, but in person they are ten times better. I was actually kind of nervous to meet them all again, but through the common thread of blogging we discovered we have a ton in common (and all can make each other laugh!)
Instead of bore you with a long story of where I've been on this first post, I thought I'd just put together an outfit. I'll wait until later this week to tell the story of what I've been up to since August 27th, which was the last time I posted. The horror!
I have all sorts of things to write about, including how this little ol' blog will be different going forward, new additions, and big life changes, but in the meantime, enjoy some spring inspired cheapness on this rainy, rainy day.

Sweater, Modcloth
Haute Pink Top, Modcloth
Jeans, Overstock
Bag, Forever 21
Flats, Target
Bracelet, Old Navy
Sunglasses, Forever 21

FYI-Does anyone know how to make links in blogger just show the words you typed, not the HTML? For some reason all my links make big lines of HTML in my posts since my return...grr...

Frugal Friday...Wedding Edition!

Via Design Sponge

Check out Design Sponge (another of my favorite blogs!) today, and feast your eyes on this AMAZING $5 wedding dress and gorgeous vintage inspired wedding. (And I thought my $20 wedding dress was cheap!)
If I had it to do all over again, I'd borrow lots of these ideas. What's your favorite part? Was your wedding dress a frugal find or a special splurge? Do tell!

Bachelorette with Class

Loyal TOTC blog reader Tonja said, "I have a request! So I am a typical pear-shaped lady, about 5'5 and average size... bachelorette party in South Lake Tahoe on Labor Day weekend. Apparently the cute black dress I'd like to wear is too fancy for the late 20-something er's I'll be partying with (me being almost 33 and all). What the heck do I wear? I can't wear super high heels (bad feet) and want to be comfy, but still look like I am out to party.. any ideas?"
Tonja, I'm with you...I would have totally opted for the cute black dress. But apparently the trend is towards something a little more, um...trampy. Have you seen some of those bachelorette party photos on Facebook? Skkkaaanky. I don't want you to dress like a tramp, so I hope this outfit fits the bill. I think it's casual, but still put together and chic enough for dinner and drinks out with the girls. Do you agree bloggy readers? Or have I missed the boat on bachelorette fashion?
Here's the scoop about today, everything comes from Old Navy because there's a 30% off coupon! that you can use through Sunday! What up!

Fall Fashion Picks...

For those of you in need of a cheap fashion fix while I whip up the next blog post, head on over to Lily Jane. She's one of my favorite bloggers.
I want one of everything she's posted today...especially the mustard sweater and floral dress. Swoon! And check out those $25 jeans!
Enjoy!

By the Side of the Road, Dressed to Kill

I am just so excited about today's post...When Katie wrote me, asking for advice on what to wear to a Jackie Greene concert, I knew I'd have a blast creating a look. Why? Because we're major Jackie Greene fans in my house. Right after we were married five years ago, my husband and I took a road trip and listened to all the CD's we'd burned for our wedding. Somehow Rusty Nails, Jackie's first album, was in the mix. We must have listened to that CD 20 times. We were certain he was an old black guy from the south, with his blues meets rock meets folk vibe. WRONG! He's a skinny white kid from Sacramento. Who had a concert coming up. The American Myth album release concert at Empire is still the BEST concert I've ever been to. Fast forward to now, and we've been to more Jackie concerts than I can count. Really, I tried the other night and lost track.
Just so you know, there are two kinds of people at a Jackie Greene concert: Regular folks, and crazy dancing cougars. You have to watch out for them, with their flailing arms, empty drinks, and jungle print skimpy attire. They go nuts for "Mexican Girl". If Jackie was a man whore, he could have his pick of 50 year old divorcées every night. But I'm pretty sure he's an upstanding guy (and can probably get a gal his own age just as easily). Too bad for the cougars. Katie has a boyfriend, and is nowhere near cougar territory, so she'll be just fine rocking an indie inspired, folk/blues/rock worthy getup.
In summary, Katie, please have a blast for me at the concert. If you find at the last minute you have an extra ticket, I know someone who'd make the trek to Santa Cruz with you. (Wink wink!)
Oh yeah, everything today comes from Tilly's. Word!

Stay at Home Moms...Put DOWN the Sweatpants!

Yesterday I got an email from Becky, who said, "I'm so glad that you're back! Any ideas for a business woman turned new stay at home mommy? I'm lost!"
Hi Becky! First off, kudos to you for being a stay at home mom. It's my humble opinion that spending at least part of the workweek home with your kids is extremely important. Watching your kids grow, getting to take part in their day, being there when they wake up from their naps, feeding them lunch, playing with them outside...that's all stuff a parent would miss if that kiddo was in day care. Luckily for me I'm able to work part time from home and be here with my little one. I know there are mom's who probably don't agree with me or who would get bored (or go crazy) home with their kids all day. To each her own.
Moving on, this is a request that I'm actually an expert on. When I quit my corporate job to work from home, I went from heels and dresses to a limited wardrobe of yoga pants and hoodies. And sweatpants. Oh, the sweatpants. Did you know you can wear them all day and they then transition into pajamas? Therein lies the problem. Wearing the same thing for a couple days in a row can really make you feel frumpy. After my daughter was born (and I stared this blog) I began to realize that the way I dressed directly affected the way I went about my day. Sweatpants and hair in a pony tail? I'm probably not leaving the house. An accessorized outfit and my hair-did? I'm most likely to get the heck out of here today! And as any stay at home mom can tell you, getting out of the house is muy importante.
So, my prescription for the stay at home mom. Start with the basics. (See below). We've all got some form of these in our closets. Think cardigans, tank tops, long sleeve shirts, jeans, khakis, jean jacket. Start there. (These all come from Old Navy).



But don't stop at the basics! Now the fun begins. Get thee to Target, Old Navy, and Payless, and blow a hundred bucks. For a Benjamin, you'll get enough fun accessories and shoes to make it easily through next Spring. Here's my accessory trifecta: Scarves, earrings, and flats. I LOVE scarfs. From about September through April I'll wear a scarf almost every day. Usually one with a loud print. I pair it with some cha cha earrings and colorful flats, and I'm good to go.



Hope this helps, Becky! What do you other stay at home mom's think? Anything you'd add to the list of must-haves?