Show & Tell: Another Shopping Haul

I wanted to share this video with you last week but it was such a short one with the holiday and all so I saved it for today.

I mentioned in a previous post a night wedding we went to so I went on a little shopping spree to spruce up the black shift dress from my last video.  I picked up several cute things  from Charlotte Russe, Wet Seal and Kohls but didn’t do too much damage :)  Nothing was over $40.

I’m excited to share what all I picked up so I hope you enjoy!  I also added pictures from that night at the end of the video so you could see how it all went together. 

Links to the items I purchased:

Satin Bow Pumps $24.50

Houndstooth Scarf $10.50

Leopard Fur Coat $36.99

Chandelier Earrings $4.00

Filigree Pearl Ring $4.00

Vera Wang Fishnets $7.99 (I got them on sale for $5.99)

The lace shrug and wristlet I wasn’t able to find online anymore.

Disclaimer: I added these links as a courtesy, I don’t earn anything from you clicking the links and purchasing.

Happy Weekend Ya’ll!

PS Today is the last day to vote for me in the 1 Dress, 4 Ways contest.  I hope you’ll go support me!  Thanks :D

DIY Skinny Jeans

What to do when…

…your daughter outgrows the length of her jeans, but not the waist

…your daughter likes her brown boots so much she insists on tucking her flared leg jeans into them (whereby creating a ugly bunching effect)

…your daughter has nothing clean to wear but black leggings and insists on wearing them with her brown boots

Answer: Skinny jeans.

I had her put on the too-short jeans inside out and I pinned down the sides.

I sewed a straight line down both sides with a straight stitch, trimmed the excess, then followed with a zig zag to prevent raveling.  (You know how denim loves to ravel.)

That’s it!  Done in under 30mins.

 

Notice her right leg is jacked up.  That was the first side I did and didn’t realize I had not lined up the hem on the bottom but was too lazy and time crunched to rip it out and redo it.  And I figured since they would be tucked into boots anyway it wouldn’t matter.  Trial and Error.  The left leg looks MUCH better. 

Notice she HAD to go with a black tunic.  I shoulda just let her wear the black leggings after all. LOL

But she loves her new skinny jeans and wore them for 2 1/2 days until I finally made her take them off so I could wash them.

This is something you could do for yourself as well.  A great way to repurpose an old pair of jeans that fit well in the waist but are maybe too short.

Just get someone to pin them for you and make sure they line up the hems at the bottom ;)

PS I still desperately need your votes for the contest I’m in!  I fell to 3rd place last night and I haven’t checked it today.  I obsessed about it too much yesterday and I can’t do it again today.  lol  Turns out one of the contestants is a very well known fashion blogger and she took 2nd place from me last night.  So please go vote for me (and maybe tweet about it, blog about it, lol)  if you don’t mind.  It means alot to me!  Thank you so much!

I Need You!

Hey ya’ll, its voting time!  Remember the 1 Dress, 4 Ways Contest I blogged about?

Well, I entered along with 9 other people and the competition is on.  There are some great entries so I’m gonna need your help to win the Lulu’s dress of my choice.

Will you pretty please take a minute to go vote for me?  Voting is super easy.  Just click the dot by my name and hit submit, that’s all.  No logging in or registering for anything.

I’m #5, this is my entry photo:

My foundation dress is one that I’ve had for about 12 years purchased from Express. Its such a classic staple I thought it would be the perfect dress for this contest. Most people have a LBD (little black dress) that they can transform with different shoes & accessories.

I had a hard time narrowing down my selections though. But I had to incorporate the shoe jewelry (my latest obsession) into one of the outfits! Hope you like!

Cocktail Party: LBD, fur coat, wristlet, nude fishnets, satin bow pumps, black and gold jewelry=Super Glam

Date night: LBD, grey kimono, silk sash, peacock bangle, black pumps & the ultimate sexy shoe accessory:shoe chains= Smokin’ Hot

Chillaxin’: LBD, magenta banded bottom top, houndstooth scarf, black scrunch boots = Cute & Comfy

Workin’ 9 to 5: LBD, black tights, black & cream ruffled top, black belt, black cardigan, black pumps = Sexy Sophisticate

My Fav Lulu*s Dress: Botticelli Dress by Collective Concepts

Thank you so much!  I truly appreciate each and every one of you!

I’d love to know what you think about these looks also.  Are they your style?  What would you do differently?

PS:  Look #1 (Cocktail Party) will be featured in a Show & Tell video I have to share possibly on Friday.

Ruffled Scarf Giveaway Winner

We have a winner!

This is the most successful giveaway I’ve done yet with 155 entries.  How fun is that?!

Makes me want to do giveaways more often :)

I know so many of you really wanted this scarf and I wish I could give you all one! 

I plugged in the numbers on Random.org and got….

#33 Michelle Pendergrass!

Congrats Michelle!  I’ve sent you an email to get your address.  I hope you enjoy your scarf as much as I love mine.

  Me wearing my scarf in a sneak peek from our family pics.

I Caved: My First Black Friday Experience

As I was sitting at my mom’s on Thanksgiving Day I started mindlessly looking through the Black Friday ads.

I had always protested against it, telling my friends they were crazy for getting in that mess every year.

I hang my head in shame as I admit to you:  I got sucked in.

But I’m a girl who loves a great sale and the fabulous deals had me planning to be at Kohl’s at 4am.

I remember saying to my mom, “I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this.”

Hubby jumped on the bandwagon real quick when he figured this was his chance to finally talk me into getting a new TV.  

Friday morning at 3:30AM when my alarm clock went off, I shot up out of bed and headed out the door.  (Why can’t I get up that quick during a regular work week?) 

Kohl’s had a massive crowd waiting to get in when I pulled up.  I braced myself and got in line.  I was armed with a sheet of paper I had taped pictures cut out of the Black Friday ad to it.  Once inside I discovered all the carts were taken.  Luckily I managed and I also was able to find everything on my list and carried it to the check out. 

I was out by 4:40am and I headed to meet hubby at Sam’s, which opened at 5am.  It was freezing out and we stood in line for about 15mins before the doors opened.  We immediately found the TV and then hubby spent the next 45 mins trying to decide if he wanted that model or a similar one.  Of course there was only one of each left so he had me stand by one to “claim it” while he made up his mind.

Finally at 6am we walked out of Sam’s just in time to see the sun rising.  It was beautiful!

But I wasn’t through yet.  Rack Room had some super cute black boots I wanted to get Rayna for $17.48 but no where on their ad did they say what time they opened.  Nor was it on the website. 

I called when we left Sam’s and they were open so I headed over there, got the boots and figured since Old Navy was next door I’d head there too.  They had little boy’s jeans for $10 so I got Xander some for next year and Rayna a pair of slippers that she asked for last time we were there.

On my way home, I got a text from the boys (hubby and brother). They wanted Chick Fil A for breakfast so I swung in there got breakfast and headed home.

About 9:30am the boys were on the couch in front of the new TV, the kids were playing a game and I was fading fast.  I realized I had been up for 6 hours on about 4 hours of sleep so I allowed myself to nap for the next 5 hours. LOL

I was messed up the rest of the day.  After getting up so early, not having enough sleep, then napping for that long, once bedtime finally rolled around it felt like two days had passed.

So how did I like the experience?  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  I did get some great deals, but I wasn’t able to finish all my shopping in one day.  (Does anyone really do that?)  I still have two more gifts for the kids to get and the gifts for our parents.

I’d definitely do it again next year if the deals are good enough.

Did you go shopping Friday?  What awesome deals did you score?

Just Call Him Sir Clicksalot

Friday night while we attended a rehearsal dinner, my mom kept the kids for us.  She had this funny story to tell me when I picked them up the next day.

Xander has really gotten into computers lately.  Playing games on Noggin (now NickJr, but will always be Noggin to me) or Highlights.  He’s also really interested in watching my mom feed her fish in her Facebook aquarium.

Friday night she had walked away from the computer but had left open the aquarium not thinking anything about it.  Later on when she went to check on her fish she noticed there was a log, a rock and a crawler in the aquarium and she only had a mere 10 coins left in her account! 

Xander had watched her and learned how to go to the “fish store” to purchase things and took it upon himself to spiffy up her digs!

But it didn’t end there. 

She had also done some Christmas shopping on Amazon but didn’t close the browser when she left the computer.  Xander seized the opportunity to add all the toys he wanted to my mom’s cart and when he was through had racked up a whopping $300+ worth of stuff. 

Good thing he doesn’t know how to check out.

We’re gonna have to watch that boy because apparently he inherited an online shopping addiction from his momma.

My e.l.f. Experience, Part 2

I'm over at Chic Critique today sharing part 2 of my e.l.f. experience.  This is a great line, so click over and see what I liked and what I didn't.

Some shots of a look a did with the black and grey mineral eyeshadow:

Giveaway: Ruffled Scarf

*This giveaway is now CLOSED*


I went shopping with my friend Lindsey on Saturday to find something to jazz up my black shift dress for a wedding we were attending that night.  (More on that later this week…)
We stopped in at Charlotte Russe and my little eye spotted this:


Remember this ruffled scarf from my Scarf Show & Tell video?

I had so many people email me or comment to ask me about it or to tell me that they couldn’t find it online or in their Charlotte Russe store.   So when I saw it I got giddy because I knew it would make a great giveaway for you lovely people that may have missed out in finding one :)

I’ll give you a few ways to enter your name in the hat.  However, please please please make sure I have a way to contact you.  If you have a blogger account and your email is listed on your profile, we’re good to go.  But if you don’t I can’t email you if you win.  If you’re not sure, just leave your email address in your first comment to be on the safe side.

1. REQUIRED 1st entry:  Leave me a comment on this post that says “Enter me!”
2. Optional 2nd entry:  Tweet about it & include my Twitter name (xoxo_trina), then come tell me you did.  You may copy and paste this as your tweet:  “Ruffled Scarf #Giveaway! Enter for a chance to win a fabulous scarf from @CharlotteRusse at @xoxo_trina’s blog!  http://bit.ly/5epxmf“  (You may do this more than once, but make sure you leave a separate comment each time you do.)
3. Optional 3rd entry:  Blog about it and include the picture above then come tell me you did.  Don’t forget to leave me a link to your post.

Please leave a comment for each entry separately to make things easier for me :)
Deadline is Monday November 30th at 11:59pm CST.  This giveaway is open to US residents in the 48 contiguous states.

Fun fact:  I actually ended up wearing this scarf in our family pictures this year.  I can’t wait to show them to you!


 

1 Dress, 4 Ways Contest

My friends over at The Looks for Less are having a contest inspired by this Free People image:

The idea (obviously) is to take one dress and wear it 4 unique ways.

One of my favorite things to do is take a few hours at night or on the weekend and play in my closet.  I try to look at items I’ve had for years and either reinvent them or wear them with something I’ve not paired with them before. 

I’ve got my “foundation” dress picked out, and it happens to be a dress I’ve had in my closet for about 15 years from Express.

Needless to say, I’m super excited about this contest.  It will get me thinking outside the box and I’ll discover new outfits to wear.  I’m also going to try and put all my looks together with things I already own, aside from maybe a new pair of tights (which I really need anyway).

The winner will be voted on by the readers so I’ll be asking for your votes between Dec 2-4.  The one with the most votes will win the dress of her choice from Lulu’s! 

Wordless Wednesday: What’s Fun About Fall?

Head over to 5 Minutes for Mom to check out more Wordless Wednesdays!