my days off

working in retail, my days off are random and scattered, which is kind of how i like them. usually, i have two mini work weeks, while everyone else has a long one. this is how i spent my last couple of days off:

1. i went shopping with my grandma and my aunt cindy, who was visiting from colorado. we were at the mall for about 3 hours, so i made sure to find some time to sit. down. haha. shopping trips are exhausting!!
2. i babysat my girl for a little bit. she started climbing into my laundry basket, which was adorable.. then she wouldn't stop, so i had to move it. but obviously i had to snap some pictures first.
3. austin and i celebrated halloween last night, since i have to close on actual halloween night. we carved our giant pumpkin, roasted a million pumpkin seeds, and watched trick r treat (our fave).
4. austin got this weird card with a working plastic lightbulb in it awhile ago, and avery LOVED it. she was dying over it.
5. i bought the new taylor swift cd (from target for the six extra songs!!) and read all of the lyrics. ;) she's perfect. i'm scheming a way to see her in concert now.
6. i wore a really silly outfit. i actually only wore it to the doctor's office and then changed into leggings and socks, buuuut whatever. i took a picture for becca's approval before leaving the house.

i like to think that since my days off are sort of scattered, i use them more thoughtfully than i would if i had weekends off like everyone else. <3

feeling like a grown up

today i signed up for my own car insurance (!!!!). i don't know if i'm too old to be doing this for the first time (probably), but i'm not embarrassed. i think i handled it like a champ. to be honest, it was nooooowhere near as dramatic as i was expecting it to be, but i'm used to spending hours at a time dealing with health insurance issues, so i guess expecting the worst is my m.o. these days.

this is what i wore to the insurance office. ;)

one nice thing was that the agent i was speaking to and i were basically the same age, and she didn't make fun of me for my cluelessness. i stick to the rule that there are no dumb questions when it comes to dealing with things that i just. don't. understand (like health insurance and, i thought, car insurance). unfortunately, sometimes the people who i'm asking do not agree with that stance. luckily, she did, and was awesome, and i feel really good about the whole thing. my dad made a comment about how everything seems to go better than i think it will, and in this situation, it totally did. i've been putting this off for WEEKS (if you follow me on twitter, you know this already)! this is pretty silly, but i'm all about celebrating the small victories.. especially since i know for the rest of the afternoon, i'm going to be battling my health insurance situation and it's going to s u c k, haha.

barrette: pacsun (high school)
scarf: american eagle (similar)
chambray shirt: american eagle (high school, but similar)
belt: thrifted in high school (and found by austin in my grandma's basement [similar])
shorts: american eagle (high school - they're actually a size too big so i had to extra roll them up and belt them, but i love it [similar])
shoes: minnetonka

if you couldn't tell, i'm sort of obsessed with how many of these things i've had since high school. sort of.

<3

stay awake through summer like we own the heat

it has been sooo hooooot this week that i haven't even wanted to get dressed. i read that weather across the country has been above the 90s all week.. but of course everyone probably thinks it's worse where they are. ;) at one point this weekend i was actually grateful that i was going to work inside the well-air conditioned mall for most of the day. i turn into such a toddler when it comes to being overheated. luckily, i have this easy to wear, thin linen dress. full disclosure: i wore the scarf because my hair was looking a little silly at the ends, haha.

ok, boots probably seem like a ridiculous thing to wear while complaining about stifling heat, but i swear these are incredible. i don't have to wear socks with them, and they're pretty baggy, so they breathe really well. honestly i will probably praise these boots until they fall apart on my feet. i'm so obsessed. i'm about to buy another pair of minnetonkas.. they'll be pair four, and i can't get enough!

sunglasses: some random mall cart.. they always sucker me in with their 2 for $10 sales.
scarf: american eagle
dress: aerie (this is a similar style & it's on sale)
belt: american eagle (similar)
boots: minnetonka (they're restocked!)

since we've been taking these pictures in front of our house, we get kinda jumpy and giggly when neighbors come outside. thankfully, we have friendly, hysterical neighbors and they'd probably take it in stride. the other day, austin was outside reading, and overheard a woman talking to her toddler daughter: "get back here! you gotta cheek hangin' out of your pants! you wearin' a baby thong!" ahhhhh, hilarious.

<3

"if you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one."

yesterday i had an interview. it's for a similar position with a bigger company, working with products that i'm a little bit more passionate about. i'm really excited for what it could (hopefully!) mean for my future, and for what i could possibly learn from it to continue on in my hopeful career path of the button factory. if i scored well, i will have a final interview tomorrow! fingers crossed. phone interviews are scary stuff.. i never knew until today just how much i rely on people's body language in conversations. i need to know if you're smiling! all they (there were FOUR PEOPLE!! asking me questions) said in response to me was "awesome" or "ok, next question?" or "could you expand on that?" eep. frustrating stuff. i'm excited though, i think i'd be a better fit with this company.. i hope they did, too!

even though it's late, i wanted to share pictures of the outfit i wore so that i would feel confident and comfortable today (i took advantage of the whole they-can't-see-me thing). so, i used my webcam to document it.. i kind of love grainy webcam photos, to be honest. it may be that i hadn't owned my own webcam until a couple of weeks ago. ;)

without further ado, this is what i wore to have a serious talk on the phone. it's an outfit of most of my favorite things.

i really like wearing shorts in the summertime, which is totally weird because i'm not a huge fan of pants. today is shipment day at my current job, so skirts and dresses are absolutely out of the question, and i'm glad that i now have the option of shorts. :)

these are my FAVORITE favorite favorite favorite boots, of all time. this picture is awful but i feel like you can probably appreciate how perfect they are. anddd, since i know you're wondering who is on my cute tshirt (quite possibly my favorite thing that i own):

it's dolly parton! my post title is a sweet quote by her that i tend to repeat to myself.. i think i heard her say it on a late night tv show or read it in a book by her when i was really young. i LOVED (and continue to love) her, and my pop encouraged my love for her because she's obviously the coolest. it seems like the older that i get, the cooler she gets and the more i learn from her as a person.

can you tell how threadbare my yellow sweater is? eep. it's my favorite (this WAS an outfit of my favorites, i wasn't exaggerating!), and i need to replace it soon. any yellow cardigan suggestions? :)

necklace: CM via local honey
tshirt: curator via modcloth (i kind of want to buy a second one..)
sweater: american eagle, a million years ago
shorts: roxy via pacsun in the winter (they're corduroy)
boots: minnetonka via journeys

i'm going to spend the rest of my night planning my outfit for my (hopeful!!) in-person interview on thursday. :) <3