Things I Bought to Make Myself Feel Better, Part 2

I am maybe, kind of, a little, COMPLETELY in love with Alex and Ani bracelets. I'd picked up a few a couple of years ago, including a lucky shamrock bangle that I'd given to my sister for Christmas, and apparently, she's worn it enough over the years that my mom decided to get her one with her new sorority's Greek letters on it for this past Christmas. And because my mom is a little technologically challenged, she had me order it for her.
And, well, I'm really bad at shopping for other people without also shopping for myself.

So...
Let's just say I now jingle a lot when I walk, and leave it at that.

(I got the original idea for the initial bracelets from this Style Lush post, but when that post went up, I had no idea that Caitlin was going to be a Caitlin, and I didn't want to order one to represent Brigid without also ordering one for her sister, and then I forgot that I wanted to order them at all. Until my mom asked for my help. Thanks, mom!)

Back to Work

I kind of consider today to be my first official day back to work, even though I came into the office on Friday, because Fridays are for jeans, and what's the only silver lining of leaving your babies at home for the day (*sob*) if not the opportunity to finally pull the fancy clothes out of the closet?

Or, in my case, the fancy shoes and jewelry out of the closet, since most of my fancy clothes still don't fit me (*double sob*), yet?

Please don't judge me when I tell you that these heels from the Nine West outlet were one of FOUR pairs of shoes that I bought while I was out on leave, just to make myself feel better about the fact that my leave would end eventually, ok?
Or when I tell you that I ALSO bought myself a new work bag, while I was at it?
What can I say? I'm on a diet.

Eating my feelings just wasn't an option this time...

Vacation Shopping

Well, it was a lighter than normal haul for me this year, seeing as how NOTHING IN THE WORLD WILL EVER FIT ME AGAIN (sorry...pregnancy dramatics tend to be my new normal these days), but I still managed to snag a few things for myself while we were on vacation last week. The best part about our end-of-summer vacation is that all of the little shops around town are having their end-of-summer sales, so I was able to add to my already-too-large flip-flop and bracelet collections at 50% off.

(Notice that I focused on the two things...shoes and jewelry...that fit no matter how much weight you gain? Well, shoes, jewelry, and household knick-knacks, I guess. But you don't really want to see pictures of the new lantern or creepy ceramic skull I bought for the house, do you?)

(Well, even if you do, it's too bad, because I didn't take pictures of those. Maybe tomorrow...)

When Kate Calls...

It is absolutely, 100% impossible for me to ignore the sale call of Kate Spade, especially when they send out the emails announcing an additional 25% off of all sale items. And not only is it impossible to do, it's also no fun to even try.

So, I don't anymore.

(Those engravings read 'Sink or Swim' and 'In The Spotlight'. Both of those make me smile...and isn't that what jewelry is SUPPOSED to do?)

Shoe Shopping!

So, since I'm officially all pregnant and whatnot (Thank you guys so much for all of the sweet thoughts and congratulations, by the way!!), this means that even when I do get the urge to lift my shopping ban for something fun like the Memorial Day sales at the outlet mall, there's not much I can buy at this point in time.

But, do you know what fits, even as my stomach gets bigger?

Shoes!

Especially $14.99 clearance rack shoes at the Nine West outlet...













(Ok, that last pair wasn't on the clearance rack. But I love them anyway. Plus, at $70 for three pairs of shoes, I'm not going to argue with that...)

Hope you all are enjoying this lovely holiday weekend with your families and friends!

PS: Don't forget to enter my eShakti giveaway by 5/31!

A break in the ban...

I have been ridiculously good in my self-imposed no shopping initiative this year, to the point that I can walk into Target, and I can walk out WITHOUT BUYING ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT I WENT IN FOR!!!

And that, my friends, is what we call a break through.
But, one of the reasons I started this ban, besides realizing that my closet was getting much more full than any one closet needed to be, was because I had thoughts about trying to work out a single income budget for my household, so that I could maybe start staying home with little Miss B full-time. And now that I'm in my first week of a recently accepted new job, that doesn't seem like it's something that's going to happen any time soon.

And I'm fine with that.

For now, anyway.

However, I think this also means that I'm going to relax my restrictions on myself, at least a bit. I've really been enjoying having extra money to set aside for future fun, and I am a budget nerd who gets an enormous kick out of seeing my savings balance rise each month, but I also like something new and shiny every so often. So, I'm not going to beat myself up when I do treat myself to that new and shiny something.

Or, new and shiny somethings, as it were...


Gorjana leather and chain wrap bracelets, purchased on Hautelook.com. I have a real obsession with wrap bracelets these days, because I love the way they multiply as you wear them. A double and triple wrap? It's like two or three bracelets in one!

See? It's like I'm SAVING money for myself...


And then I also picked up these token necklaces from Fab.com...where T stands for Tara and Trenton, NJ transportation. But, mostly, in my mind, Tara. And, obviously, I couldn't say no to the little Indianapolis Raceway token, because I will always be a Hoosier at heart, and I haven't really come across a lot of Indiana related jewelry in all of my shopping escapades.

So, necessary shopping...it makes sense to me!


(If you're interested in either HauteLook or Fab invites because you've not already sold your soul to every discount membership site on the Internet (like I have, sadly), let me know, and I'll flip an email your way...)