The Blonde Diaries

For the longest time I considered myself a lost soul from the mid to late 1800s. Sometimes from the 1950s as well.  The idea of being a frilly lady of leisure appealed to me.  I already suffer wearing such contraptions as bras, spanx, and 4 inch heels so how much worse would a hoop skirt and corset be? I’d do it for an 18 inch waist like Ms. Scarlett O’Hara.  Or what about cleaning house in a fun A-line skirt like back in the 1950s.  I appreciate the fight the women before me have fought but sometimes it would be nice to just be a woman who stays home to cook and keep house.  Sometimes I just don’t want it all – you know those days where work sucks and you have to come home and still do your share of the chores. Bleh!

Today I have decided I’m a European trapped in America.  Why? Well it is quite simple.  The Europeans recognize bra sizes above DD.  Not a huge deal until you get a true bra fitting and find out that Victoria’s Secret has been lying to you your whole life in order to sell you expensive and inferior bras.  When you are finally put in the right bra you learn that the rest of your fashion life will quickly go to hell.  Perky, supported boobs often mean your clothes won’t fit.  So you are left with the choice between (a) wearing a bra that fits, no back pain, and perky boobs but clothes that pull and gape all over or (b) clothes that fit and boobs that hang, sag, pull, etc.  Both options suck.

I’m super excited because I have found 2 new-to-me clothing websites.  Both sell clothes according to how busty you are.  I just can’t wait to place an order but I’m going to have to wait a couple of months because I just ordered more LSU shirts and some Forever21 pieces. Since one website is a UK site charging in British Pounds and the other is a  Polish site charging in Euros I will need a little extra money for the exchange rate and then the shipping charges.  That and I need to find my measuring tape since everything over there is measured in centimeters not inches so I have no clue what size I am. I need another trip to Europe soon.

So the t-shirt saga continues as I am still scrutinizing my choices.  So I have temporarily given up.  Instead of shopping at Forever21 today, I stopped at the LastCall by Neiman Marcus website and threw a few things in my bag. Now before you roll your eyes and shake your head at me, I have put in a few extra hours online these past few weeks over at SocialSpark and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and earned a little shopping money.  So in reality more than half of my shopping today is paid for and the other part will hopefully be paid for before the credit card bill comes in next month. So that is my justification and I’m sticking to it.

Now for the good part – what I bought.

First up was the G.E.T Ruffled Trench Coat in Berry.  I have been looking for something similar to the Burberry trench that is now sold out after Kate Middleton wore it.  The main difference though is that I don’t need anything made of wool since I live in Houston.  So I went with this berry colored trench with a ruffle hem and a more Texas-friendly material, polyester. Also a more budget friendly price of $57!

My next item was a totally frivolous choice. It is not work appropriate nor is it something I can really wear often. But… For $52 I just needed to give it a try. I just think it will work well for a few special dates with Mike as well as on the cruise ship. There was no real inspiration for this dress except that I imagined it being fairly sexy and also cheap without looking too cheap.  So here is the Michael Kors Faux Leather Distressed Dress. If it fails to meet expectations I’ll just return it. No big deal.

Next up is the Laundry Sleeveless Ponte Dress with Pockets. It breaks Mike’s plea not to buy any more dresses but this is work appropriate, a more subtle shade of red, and a little mod looking. All things I love so I gave in to temptation. Luckily this is another one around $60 so it isn’t too bad. Plus I’m hoping to have a new job this summer so I will get lots of wear out of it.

To round out my shopping bag I decided I needed yet another black shirt to wear out on a Friday night. Black tops are my favorite because they go with any color accessories. But I needed this one because it has sequins on it. I don’t have anything in my closet with sequins so it is filling a need/hole in my wardrobe.  Weak argument I know but it was $35 and it is a Neimen Marcus label so the quality will be good and it is much cheaper than my usual black tops at White House | Black Market where shirts like this start at $80. So it was a bargain. LOL

So that is it. All the damage I’ve done for the day. I’m not expecting any other shopping or breakdowns as I head out to Baton Rouge for the rest of the week. It isn’t exactly a fashion capital. Plus I’ll be watching 3 dogs so I won’t have time to get online too much. See more justification but it makes sense.

I can’t believe how much pressure I have managed to put myself under in just a couple of days.  It is absolutely insane and ridiculous. Why do I feel pressure? What is causing it?  Shopping. Yes the shopaholic is buckling under the pressure my husband is putting on me to shop.

You see, his number one complaint about my closet is that I don’t have enough t-shirts.  The problem is that he and I have two different ideas of what a t-shirt looks like.

This is my idea of a t-shirt:

This is my husband’s idea of a t-shirt:

To me, both of these are t-shirts but my husband thinks shirt #1 is too fancy.  Whatever. I will shop if it makes him happy. So now I’m scouring the Forever21 website trying to maximize my budget as much as possible since I haven’t shopped in forever (we’ll forget about the Valentino shoes and the Dolce & Gabbana tank) but I don’t really  know what my budget is.  So every top, dress, hat, etc is being scrutinized over and over.  Is it worth spending money on it?  Will I wear it more than once? When will I wear it? How will I wear it?  You get the idea.

So this is my dilemma. What do I pick? Final shopping cart will be posted once I hit the checkout button.

Tomorrow is the First Saturday in May which means it is time for the Kentucky Derby. This year the Derby is featuring 19 of the best three year old thoroughbred horses and should be an exciting kick off to race season. While I’m not going to the derby, I am planning on watching it on television as I do every year. To keep in the spirit of things I am going to wear this virtual hat as I think it is just beautiful and will fit with the day. I love the black, white, and red colors together.

If you are in need of a hat, visit Lady Diane’s Hats.

I am just amazed by the people who contribute to the Etsy marketplace. If you’ve never stopped by, Etsy is similar to Ebay but everything is homemade/handmade and it is more of an ordering process rather than an auction site. I have found some gorgeous headbands and hair clips in my visits over there. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my sorority t-shirt blanket that a fabulous Etsy seller (KristaLawhon) put together for me for under $200! Talk about awesome.

I am green with envy. I so wish I had an aptitude to create items. Every time I stop by Hobby Lobby to pick up new scrapbook supplies I usually pass by the fabric section and the beading supplies to imagine what could be made – puppy clothes, earrings, bracelets, endless possibilities. All you need is that creative spark that just didn’t flow my way. But luckily I have the ladies at Etsy to take advantage of all the supplies and create beautiful accessories for my daily use. I hoping to find a few fascinators a la Kate Middleton to play with this summer. I think it would be fun if fascinators and hats came into fashion here in the States.