Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Kaboodle A-list!

I'm gonna toot my own horn a little bit here, so if that sort of stuff bugs you, sorry. I guess you'll just have to look through my archives. ;)


Photobucket

Anyway, just found out I've been made an "A-lister" on my favorite website, Kaboodle.com. If you've yet to discover Kaboodle, you're missing out. A lot. I promise. 

Being on the Kaboodle A-list just thrills me because I adore this website. So thanks to the Kaboodle team! I ♥ you!

Photobucket


Congrats to the other recent A-listers: nefarious_cupcake, katystardust, janecool, rubyslippers, and gimmiebackmybrain. I agree, those members definitely deserve A-list status!

Song of the day - Lightness

Haven't done one of these in a while, but recently I've been re-falling in love with my favortie Death Cab For Cutie album, Transatlanticism. I think every song on this album is fantastic, but today I've especially been loving the song "Lightness".

Look:
Lightness - Death Cab For Cutie
There's a tear in the fabric of your favorite dress
And i'm sneaking glances.
Looking for the patterns in static
They start to make sense the longer i'm at it.

Ivory lines lead
Oo wha-ho, oo wha-ho

Your heart is a river that flows from your chest
Through every organ
Your brain is the dam
And i am the fish who can't reach the cord.

Ivory lines lead
Oo wha-ho, oo wha-ho

Oh, instincts are misleading
You shouldn't think what you're feeling
They don't tell you what you know you should want.

Ivory lines lead
Oo wha-ho, oo wha-ho
[x2]

Oh, instincts are misleading
You shouldn't think what you're feeling
They don't tell you want you know you should want.

Ivory lines lead
Oo wha-ho.
[x2]

Lyrics from http://www.lyrics007.com/

Listen:
Lightness - Death Cab For Cutie

Love.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Can't get enough...

It's no secret, I've definitely subscribed to the fall trend of plaid. It's an obsession that probably won't go away for a while. I've decided that I don't much care for abstract or random prints. However, more patterned prints such as plaid, stripes, polka dots, houndstooth, etc., I really like. My bet is that whatever in my brain that makes me like such planned prints is the same thing that makes me love to be matchy-matchy. 

This is a shirt you've seen before in a very different way. You may remember I thrifted this shirt a few months back. Since then, I've altered it a bit. I took in the sides and the sleeves to fit me a little better and I think I like it this way.

I can tell these boots are going to be a big part of my wardrobe this fall, so get used to seeing them!

Plaid pairing

Friday, September 26, 2008

Makeup Cheer Up

Yesterday wasn't the greatest days as far as moods go. To cheer myself up, I did something I haven't done in a long time. I went down to Walgreens at lunch, because it's really close to work, and I browsed the makeup there. I ended up with just three items.

Makeup Cheer up
Loreal Endless in 730 Saucy Sangria, Loreal Bare Naturale Mineral Powder in 416 Natural Beige, Covergirl Lash Blast in Very Black

I decided the powder would be my purse backup for the Jane Iredale powder that I normally use. I figured it would be great for that considering there is a mirror on the back and a mini brush inside. I've tried Lash Blast before, but since I've been wearing mascara from the Lash Stash lately, I had forgotten how much I love it. The lipstick was just shouting "Wear me! I'm a great Autumn color!" as I walked by so I had to grab it.

Ultimately, it did cheer me up, so the plan was successful!

Another outfit geared towards the fall. These tights caused some stir, but definitely not as much as the floral tights.

Outfit
Plaid top - American Eagle, Cardigan - Old Navy, Skirt - F21, Tights - ???, Shoes - eBay

Thursday, September 25, 2008

I'm too "sexy" for these tights...

Ha! Not.
In my mind, tights are not something I think of as sexy.

I've been excited about wearing tights this fall so I've been stocking up, no pun intended, on tights and socks. I've got a pretty good base collection started and I'm looking forward to adding more.

Now that fall is officially here, I've allowed myself to really start wearing tights. At the top of my list were these floral patterned tights I picked up at Payless when checking out some of their shoes in person. 

Wearing this outfit to work has made me doubt the tights thing. Apparently men find tights sexy, who knew? I'm pretty sure 75% of the men that saw me commented on my tights. All the extra attention made me a little self-conscious.

I'm not giving them up yet though, I've got several more pairs to try out!

Outfit

Top - Target, Bandage Mini - Target, Floral Tights - Payless, Shoes - eBay

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Hello Autumn!

Well I've been hearing around the blogosphere as often as I've been thinking it. We've all been waiting for Autumn to arrive to texturize and layer out wardrobe. 

As of yesterday, Autumn is here. 

This is what I wore to ring in the new season.

First day of autumn

Cardigan - Old Navy, Shirt - Aeropostale, Jeans - Seven7, Boots - Gojane.com, Necklace - Made by me

I'm not feeling particularly wordy today, except I did want to mention that I'm going to be playing with posting collages rather than individual photos. 
Let me know what you think.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Lagoon

My company's Lagoon day was this past weekend. Despite the fact that it was organized in the strangest fashion that I've ever seen, and despite the fact that the weather reports were calling for 50% chance of a thunderstorm, I decided to go. 

We arrived at the park just in time for the lunch part of the day. Marrdy's son took a picture of the two of us in our company t-shirts, but we both look so terrible in that picture due to lighting and angle, I decided to spare us the humiliation. My new skimmer shoes were digging at the back of my ankles so I had to hunt down some band-aids, but as soon as the band-aids were in place, all was well. 

After lunch, Sean and I took off to go on some rides. Despite being easily prone to motion sickness, I love rollercoasters.
Park Shot
View from Wicked

In the waiting line
In the waiting line...

The Spider
The Spider

Sky Ride
On the sky ride

Sky ride
View from the Sky Ride

Swings & Train Station

Swings

After riding most of the roller coasters, we went walking through Pioneer Village. Despite the many, many times that I've been to Lagoon and Pioneer Village before, there were a couple of places that I had never seen before.
Phone Booth
In the phone museum

Railroad crossing
In the model train museum

Semaphore
The semaphore outside the model train museum

Sean & Adiel
Sean and I

Shortly after this last photo was taken, it started pouring rain. Sean and I took shelter inside the "Rock Church" while we waited for the worst of it to pass. After the rain let up, we decided to take off.

I am pretty bugged though because I lost my O-gloss, again! I guess I should just stick to the cheap lip glosses because those stick around in my purse for a long time. As soon as I spend $22 on a lip gloss, it's gone forever.

Friday, September 19, 2008

$7

I had some time to kill one day and I happened to drive by a Ross. I hadn't been to one in a while so I thought, "Hey, lets check it out!" I wandered around and ended up getting a lot of great deals.

I found a rather simple black dress that seems like there are endless way to accessorize. It's got a scoop neck, half sleeves, an empire waist and the length is a few inches above the knees. Pretty basic. $10

I found a drape-y purple cardigan. I've got some ideas on how I want to wear it, so now for the weather to call for a cardigan. $10

I found a pair of satin ballet flats in, again, purple. It's going to be so hard not to be matchy-matchy and wear them with the purple cardigan. The color is the same in both. $6

Lastly, I found this dress that I am wearing in these photos. The color and the ruffles made it a no-brainer for me, but when I saw the price, it sealed the deal even more. $7

Navy ruffle dress
navy ruffle dress
ruffles
Detail on the ruffles
Shiny red shoes
Detail on the shoes
navy ruffle dress

I decided to keep the dress simple and pair it up with these shiny shoes I bought from Target after Cristina featured them on the Kaboodle blog. They remind me of wet nail polish.

It won't be long now before this sleeveless dress will need tights and cardigans and coats to keep it weather appropriate.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Baby Bump

baby bump2
You may have noticed this already, but my little sister Stephanie is pregnant. She entered her cute little baby bump into a contest that a local radio station is having here. This is where you come in, click over to the contest and vote for #75.
75
All you need is a valid email address to vote and you can only vote once from each computer. You will have to verify your vote though so make sure you use an email that you can check. No need to look at the other contestants, I guarantee that my sister has the cutest bump on there. Voting ends on September 26th at 11:59 so make sure to vote using every computer you see until then. :)

Clothing Swap

I've been wanting to do a clothing swap for ages, but I've never been able to generate much interest with people that I know. I get jealous when I see them happening all over the place, everywhere but near me.

So clothing swap-less I've lived my life.
Until today.

Today, Ali announced on her blog that she is planning an internet clothing swap. I absolutely love that idea.

If you love that idea too, head over to find out more about it and express your interest right away!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Early morning, lunchtime and a bad habit

First off, I woke up at 3AM this morning.
Try as I might, I couldn't go back to sleep. My brain automatically starting running through the routine that I had to teach this morning to get ready for homecoming.
I had to be up at 4 anyway to get ready for practice, but I was still bugged. I so could've used that extra hour of sleep.

Despite the early morning, my day has ended up being splendid. The boots that I ordered from Gojane.com arrived today. It made me actually excited for the cooler weather that we're scheduled to have this weekend. Troy brought in these delicious cookies that his sweet wife made. Also, Marrdy stopped by today so we got to chat before I left for lunch.

At lunch, I went to the office where my sister and one of my brothers work. I visited with the two of them for a bit before heading back to work.

Steph took this photo and I really liked the composition of it. Go Steph!
Plaid Target Dress - Tree

Here, Adam and I are posing like a bunch of fools!
Siblings Posing
Siblings Posing

Here is Steph sporting the skirt that I made her. Look at her cute pregnant belly.
Handmade plaid skirt

Today I am wearing a dress I picked up from Target a few weeks ago. Their current Go International collection is super cute!
Plaid Target Dress
Plaid Target Dress
Plaid Target Dress
Plaid Target Dress - Close up
Plaid Target Dress
Plaid Target Dress
Plaid Target Dress - Back View

I got these shoes back when I hosted a shoe party. I got all kinds of discounts on top of the already low prices so they were super cheap!
Navy Peep Toe Shoes

Now lets talk about a bad habit I've picked up sometime over the last few months.
Plaid Target Dress - I have a bad habit
Take a peak in the upper left hand corner at my finger nails.
Ugly, right?
Every time I paint my nails, the next day I start to pick at the polish. It is not something that I conciously do, I just look down and notice I've chipped off half the polish. I really hate that I do this because I'm constantly having to repaint my nails.
Any suggestions on how to quit this bad habit?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Weekend recap

I know I'm late and at this point, most people probably don't care what I did this weekend, but for Marrdy's sake I'm gonna update you anyway.

Friday, I had to get off work early to ride the bus down to that night's football game with the squad. I tell you, forty-five minutes on a school bus in rush hour traffic can sure make a person sick. It wasn't too bad though because I had Gossip Girl on my iPod to occupy the time.

When we got to the school, we were walking onto the field and the first thing we see is a gigantic blow up tunnel for the team to go from the building to the field on. When they did finally come on to the field, there was smoke coming out of the entrance and dozens and dozens of balloons let go.

Next, we notice the have an AstroTurf field.

Then, we see a few of their cheerleaders walking down the track dragging big black boxes behind them. I could not for the life of me imagine what they were for. Once the game started, we had the answer.


Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they were cheering on top of the boxes. Wendy made a great point when she asked, "Isn't the point of going to a football game to watch the football game? The cheerleaders are just an added bonus that are there to support. Shouldn't the cheerleaders not be blocking the crowd's view of the game?" Those probably aren't her exact words, but I think I summed up her point pretty well.

The entire game my mind was struggling to come up with how this idea was conceived and how anyone could possibly think it was a good idea. The most movement they could do with their feet was the basic step-touch. When they got off the boxes to dance, they struggled with the choreography. Wendy made the observation that they probably aren't used to using their feet when they cheer so maybe that is why they couldn't dance.

To confuse my brain even further, Wendy's sister who is also a high school cheer coach told her that she knew of a school that cheered standing on top of bar stools. I don't know about you, but that just sounds outright dangerous to me.

I think Wendy, in her infinite wisdom, summed it up best when she told me that she was glad that she coached at a school that didn't have much money so that they didn't forget what a football game is really about. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Saturday, I spent some time with my sister at our father's house while I made a necklace.

That evening, Sean and I went to the state fair. As we were walking up to the ticket booth, out of nowhere, this girl handed me two passes to get in. Talk about right place at the right time. We browsed the booths and displays, sampled the array of carnival food and decided against going on any of the rides. I had a great time people watching, state fairs bring out all kinds of people. I had an awesome time there.

After the fair, we browsed up the mall for a bit. I ended up with some cute knee socks and a pair of tights. Can't wait for the weather to cool down now so I can start wearing them

Sunday, Sean and I went out to breakfast. Later, we had Sunday dinner at his house.

I was kind of a slacker with the camera this weekend and have no other pictures to show you. I'm gonna have to try to be better with the photos this week. Also, I picked up my laptop from my brother. We wiped the hard drive, I kind of welcome the clean slate. However, no one can quite remember the password for the internet at my house, so until someone does, I'm still not really able to connect at home. Sadly, this means posts will be scarce from me.

I'll be back soon though, so stick around!
XOXO Adiel

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Updates

...or the lack thereof

I figured, since I have a few down moments at work, I'll let you all in on why I've not had many updates lately.

Life has suddenly hit me all at once so here are the things keeping me away:
  • First and foremost, my laptop got sick. All my programs were acting like they were gone and it wouldn't connect to the internet. My brother tried to explain what was wrong with it to me and at the time I thought I understood, but as I am trying to explain it here, I've realized that I no longer remember what he told me. So being the lovely brother and the genius that he is, he's fixing it for me. Basically we saved all the important stuff on my external hard drive and wiped the laptop's hard drive clean. Hopefully this will be fixed in the next day or two.
  • I'm trying to soak up the last of my favorite season. I love the warmth and sunlight and I want to take advantage of every last bit of it before the cold and snow take it's place. This means trying to get out and about as often as possible.
  • Work. You probably don't need to know much more than that, but I've been given a lot more responsibilities at work and hardly even have time to break for lunch, let alone any random down time.
  • Coaching cheer. The school year is well underway by now and cheer is taking up a lot of my time. We're having a fall tryout to add number to the squad and that has been taking up time. Getting these girls up to speed will take more time. Not to mention Wendy and I have to choreograph a homecoming routine as well as a competition routine. It all takes time.
  • DIY/hobbies. I've been picking up on some new hobbies lately, some of which you've seen the fruits of on here. I've been sewing and altering a lot lately. After seeing the plaid skirt I made for myself, my sister requested that I make her one. So I did. It turned out so much better than the one that I did for me. I definitely want to be creating garments more often to further my knowledge and ability. I've also been dabbling in jewelry making. I don't have anything to show yet, but once I do, I'll share it.
So that about sums up the big stuff. Please bear with me until my laptop is fixed, I'll definitely have more regular stuff once it is fixed. In the mean time, please feel free to browse my archives located in the right hand column. With nearly 350 posts, there is bound to be something that you've missed. There is also a search box in the column if you're looking for something specific to read about.

Also, right now with my limited time, the quickest way for me to get to your blog is to comment. Commenters are always the first people I visit when I'm blog stalking.

Hope you all are well!
XOXO Adiel!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Want + Can't afford = DIY?

I want these.
Bad.

Can't afford these. ($159)
Not even a little bit.

Wouldn't pay that much for these.
No sir.


Perhaps a DIY?
I've got some ideas...

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Buyer beware


I just wanted to share a little story with you all about my recent experience with the J crew website.

While browsing the web, as I have been known to do, I came across some cute flamenco bikinis clearance out on jcrew.com. I usually like to buy at least one swimsuit at the end of the season to take advantage of the end of season prices. All of the colors were so cute, I couldn't decide which to get. I let the availability choose for me. The first color choice that I found both the top and the bottom in my size was the "rich aqua". I purchased the set right away.

A week later, a package from J Crew was on my doorstep. When I opened it, the only thing I could find was the top. Confused, I checked the packaging again. No bottom. I pulled out the invoice/packing slip. No mention of the bottom. I started to doubt myself, maybe I hadn't actually purchased the set. I went online to check my purchase. I wasn't crazy, I had indeed ordered both items. Knowing shopping online can get a little nuts sometimes, I just assumed that they shipped the items separately for some reason. I let the matter go.

Two days later, I get an email telling me that my order had been "inventory cancelled". Are you kidding me?! Any moron should be able to realize that sending me a top without the matching bottoms makes the top useless to me. Seriously, why not at least contact me to see if I still wanted the top before they charged me and shipped it to me? I would've even taken another color just to get the matching set. These items are "final sale", I was stuck with the top and no bottom. I quickly went online to find an alternative bottom to order. However, when I got there, I realized that the item I had ordered was still available on the website.

Confused, I called jcrew's customer service line. The rep kindly explained to me that their website has had problems updating the stock of merchandise, especially when it's clearanced merchandise. She was very helpful and was able to order an alternative size for me. She then told me that should my order get cancelled again, she had made a note on my order that I should be allowed to return the "final sale" item. She was also kind enough to waive the shipping fee. However, I was absolutely stunned that even a real live person working for the company couldn't tell me whether or not the item was actually in inventory. How does a business operate like that? I fail to understand. However I was hopeful that this order would work out in my favor so I thanked the helpful woman and went about my day.

The next morning, sure enough, another email showed up telling me that my order had been cancelled.
At that point, I was just fed up with the whole matter.

I love the top, so I'm keeping it. Therefore, I'm now on a mission to find cute bottoms to wear with it. However, I will not be scoping out jcrew.com for these bottoms.

Keep your eyes open for me. I'm not counting on finding any plain bottoms in that exact blue color so I'm guess that I'll have to go with something in white. If you see anything that might work for me, send it my way!

Two things I hope you take away from my experience are that J Crew has very helpful customer service reps that tried to make things right for me, but their inventory tracking system needs some work so be aware that "item in stock" isn't always what it seems when shopping online.

Reminders

I wanted to make the suggestion that if you want to be notified when my computer is fixed and my regular posts resume, perhaps you should subscribe to my blog either through email notifications or through a feed reader.

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This also seems to be a good time to remind people that my URL has changed in case you missed it when it happened. If you are still being forwarded here from the old URL, make sure you're updating your blogroll and bookmarks with the new URL. Take a peek at your URL bar, http://www.itsbecauseithinktoomuch.com.


Monday, September 8, 2008

Sickness

On top of everything else keeping me away from the computer these days, I've now got one more thing stopping me from updating regularly. My laptop appears to have gotten sick and it gets worse with every day. Until my brother has time to look at it and hopefully fix it for me, I probably won't be updating much. For that matter, I probably won't have time to visit the blogs I normally visit or return any comments. Just wanted to give you all a heads up. Hope you all had a great weekend! Hope to see you soon! 

In the mean time, If you need a new blog to read, I want to recommend one to you.
Ida over at Rougemarie is probably one of the biggest sweethearts that I know. Her style is always flawless, she has gorgeous hair, the photography is breathtaking and she always leaves the nicest comments. Definitely check her out while my computer is sick!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Feeling crafty

I woke up last Saturday with the urge to make something. I found myself at the fabric store. After wander for probably half an hour, I ended up with a couple different fabrics. By the end of the day on Saturday, I ended up with this skirt. After wearing it all day, I have decided that I might unstitch it and make some adjustments to it.

Handmade Plaid Skirt
Handmade Plaid Skirt
Handmade Plaid Skirt
Handmade Plaid Skirt
shoes - Forever 21, top - Go International at Target, skirt - handmade

Also, how do you feel about the new hair cut? It's the biggest change that I've made in quite some time.

M.S.D.M.S.M.P.M.C.R.A.P.A.F.R.R.F.T.C.

10 points if you can tell me what I'm talking about based on the title alone.

No cheating!

Need a hint?

Okay. "Take bat bites seriously. Don't get bit."

Give up?

I'm talking about Season Four of The Office on DVD!

I stopped by Best Buy at lunch and picked up my copy today. Fun surprise, they had a limited edition "Dunder-Mifflin Fun Run Kit." Not only does this kit include the Season Four DVD, but it also has a "Support the Rabid" T-shirt, a "Support the Rabid" Bracelet and a water bottle.


Uh, yeah, that pretty much made my day.



If you're still confused, it's probably because you aren't in love with The Office yet.
Watch it once, John Krasinski will win you over.

*The abbreviations in the title stand for Michael Scott's Dunder-Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Fun Run Race for the Cure

Click here to see me with John Krasinski aka Jim from The Office.