Weekend Recap.

I realize I am much overdue for a legitimate blog entry. This weekend was a bit busy though and I've made it a priority to go to the gym every. single. day! Liz and I normally go every Mon-Thurs at 8 but I stepped up my game with myself a bit and went Fri, Sat AND Sunday! Huzzah! Friday was spent working (but getting off a bit early), Saturday was spent shopping around Herald Square and grocery shopping at Whole Foods, and today was spent with Liz as we rummaged around Canal Street and then popped over to Red Hook, Brooklyn to journey into the endless abyss of Ikea! Man oh man! It was heaven!

But first things first. I have several days' worth of outfit iPhone photos so I'll just throw things in where they fit. Yeah? Yeah!

Friday I ventured to Forever 21 in Times Square after work for a bit. I had to take back a dress and then had a Store Credit card that was aching to be spent. Sadly the store was wiped out of cute dresses that I didn't already own. I did try to dive into the jeans area (for $11.50 a pair!). I needed a pair to wear at the bar when I get back to my bartending gig in Tennessee. Seeing as I currently do not own a single pair of pants or shorts, something was needed for work! I don't want to ruin all of my pretty dresses and tights. The largest size they even had was a 29 (which, as a usually-size-12, won't cut it). I have never bought plus size clothing in my life (some of you are probably rolling your eyes at me right now). But as a friends suggestions went, I ventured into the Faith 21 section of the store to see what was going on. There was a really cute pair of cuffed-and-torn denim shorts, but the smallest size was a 14 and when I tried them on, I could easily fit another person inside. I grabbed a pair of the skinny jeans in a 12 regular and tried them on as well. They were a bit too roomy but I opted for a pair of acid wash jeggings (I know! I bought jeggings! Mike about had a heartattack.) It's frustrating that I'm too big for the regular line of jeans, but I'm too small for the "plus" size line of jeans. I will commend Forever 21 for attempting to cater to a larger audience (no pun intended!), I just wish they'd remember those of us who fall inbetween! But, maybe this is why I stick to dresses. I can wear much much smaller sizes and it's not nearly as frustrating to shop for! Either way, I'm excited about my jeggings. Mike even changed his opinion on them! Thumbs up all the way! (Also, they had some CUTE dresses in the Faith 21 line that they definitely should carry in the regular-sized lines! I was a wee bit jealous, not gonna lie!) Just looks like I'll have to maybe buy a pair of jeans from Charlotte Russe for work purposes. Or just continue to hold out. I spent the rest of the evening at the gym on the lovely little elliptical bike! [PS, this wasn't meant to be a "woe is me! i hate myself because i had to buy plus size" post or anything! My point with this was to point out the flaw in Forever 21's sizing as I couldn't wear either jeans. Faith 21 isn't carried in all stores so even if the 12s had fit, I would have had to bought them online when back in Tennessee, only to have them delivered to my house and realize they were too big. This was my first attempt at ever buying something plus size, and I was genuinely disappointed. The comment made about wearing smaller sizes in dresses was simply to showcase that I can walk into any store and buy a dress that fits because my upper body isn't "plus size"... however the act of purchasing a lot of plus size clothing [jeans in my case] is usually reserved for online (such as what AE does with extended sizes, etc) and I refuse to buy clothing that way because it rarely ever fits. If I need to buy something in plus sizes to make sure that it fits properly, I absolutely will. In the past, I always felt so defeated when I realized I couldn't purchase denim from Forever 21. With the Faith21 line, my spirits were a bit lifted when I realized that I finally could. Of course it all came crashing back down again upon realizing that it didn't fit either, but this time it was just too big. It's almost as though I can't win for losing with F21 denim. It's a very very frustrating thing. This amendment was made after a comment in my FormSpring about how I say I'm proud of myself and I'm not the number on my tag, but yet I seem to complain about having to buy plus size this weekend. I just wanted to clear the air that that was definitely not the point of this and I hope others were able to see it from the get-go. Sorry for any confusion :)]

(Excuse the awkward squat... I was trying to show the wash in really awful lighting!)

For Friday's outfit, I opted for my nautical dress and some blue tights! I wish the lighting had been better because these tights are SO perfect for this dress! They look so much better than when I pair it with black!

♥[Dress: Charlotte Russe ($25), Tights: c/o We Love Colors, Flats: KMart ($13)]♥

Saturday came and boy did I want to sleep in! I can't even begin to explain what got me out of the house but I had a plan! I loaded up my computer and headed down to Union Square to try and find a nice place to camp for a while. It was supposed to rain and I just wanted to veg out with some tunes, make playlists, album art, and write some penpals. I ended up at Starbucks for a bit but after an hour or so I had to pee so bad I had to forfeit my table. I headed into Barnes and Nobel for a bit, followed by Sephora and a trip to the grocery store at Whole Foods. I headed home, packed up and went to the gym for an hour and a half and then realized I needed to go to H&M. I went to H&M in Herald Square and followed it up with Forever 21. I came home with lots of beautiful nail polish, a new makeup bag, a few headbands, a pair of sunglasses, etc. All of this from that unused card still! Woo! After coming home and making some dinner, I vegged out to a few episodes of Pushing Daisies and then fell asleep.

Saturday's Outfit:

♥[Dress: Cooperative for UO ($68), Tights: Walmart ($6), Flats: KMart ($13)]♥

Today/Sunday was spent sleeping in (again! I need to go to bed earlier!) and replying to emails at first. Liz texted me and we met downstairs at 1pm. We had Canal Street on our minds! I was hoping to teach Liz the wonderful art of haggling. After it was all said and done, she and I both walked away two bags richer (for basically a steal!) She snagged a black and gold Chanel (exactly like the one I have) and a cute coral bag while I bought the exact same bags but my Chanel was bright red patent leather and rather than coral, I bought white. (The photos I'm going to post won't even remotely do them justice!) How do you feel about buying/owning/using knockoff bags? I remember when I did a report on it in Speech class my sophomore year of college. There is actual research to prove that knockoff designer bags actually helps the fashion industry. (You might scoff outloud at this but it's true! Turns out fashion is the thing that people are still willing to pay top dollar for authenticity! It was a very eye-opening project but regardless of what your stance is, I'm not afraid to admit that they're fake.) As someone who has owned several authentic bags (two Chanels to add to the loot), I just can't justify spending that sort of money anymore. Maybe I've grown up a bit but I don't get enough pleasure out of it personally. However! I would spend top dollar on a Miu Miu bag and do hope that it is in my not-so-distant future). ANYWAY!

** Edited to add: An anonymous commenter left this incredibly eye-opening link just a few minutes ago and WOW! is all I can say! I suppose I was a bit too preoccupied with cute bags to even begin to think about the people on the other side of it all! Now I just feel like a jerk, ya know! I wanted to share the article with you (CLICK HERE!) so you can all take notice and maybe rethink future purchases. I know I will! As Nicole stated in the comments, too, NYC has majorly cracked down on counterfeit handbags and they're almost impossible to find in the city! I applaud their efforts and hope you will all follow suit!)

After that, we decided we were already close enough to Brooklyn to justify the quick train ride over to Borough Hall and we caught the Ikea Shuttle to the Promiseland (I offically deem Ikea the Promiseland... Oh joy!). I was in heaven! I'm very familiar with Ikea but this was my first actual in-store experience! I think Mike and I are going to venture down to Atlanta once I get back to furnish our new place on the cheap. I'm glad I went first because it would have overwhelmed us both and there would have been NO stopping us. Now at least I can try to have a sane mind about things without going overboard! I found several things that will without a doubt be coming home with us but for now I'll just post a few photos! We also grabbed lunch at the Ikea restaurant upstairs! I didn't even know they HAD a restaurant! Kelli had to inform me! After that we headed back to Manhattan! We grabbed some Red Mango in St. Mark's as Liz had never tried it. She wasn't disappointed! Then we hopped on the 6, ran into Walgreens and came home. I quickly changed and went to the gym for an hour and a half. Burned 700+ calories! Woo! I love the feeling after a good workout. I'm going to try to go in the morning, too! 

On the Ikea Shuttle Bus

The anticipation builds...

Welcome to the Promiseland

The view from inside...

I'm in LOVE with this chair cover! Mike likes it too. The great thing is that they're $10 a pop so we can change them with the seasons. I don't like the light oak wood of the chairs so I think we may opt for the dark cherry!

Lovely little side lamps... $10!

Matching standing lamps for only $20!

Gorgeous! I really wish the base were brown or a woodgrain, but its still beautiful!

Lunch!

Upon coming home, Mom sent me some photos of Georgia. She had been playing in the mud after a big rain storm back in Tennessee! Awww! And then two screenshots of my favorites just for good measure!

And today's outfit...

Don't worry, I didn't actually wear those ridiculous floral print sunglasses! I wanted to, but I think they may be a bit TOO out of my comfort zone. For now at least.

♥[Dress: Forever 21 ($25), Tights: Walmart ($6), Bike Shorts (under!): H&M ($6), Flats: KMart ($13), Cat Bag: Ebay ($45)]♥

Also, I finally got my MacBook Shark Decal in from Etsy! Eeeeep!

Okay... this was WAY too long! Back to business! (BTW, go follow Liz by CLICKING HERE so she will be motivated to update more! She's going on a semester abroad to London in a few months so go read her adventures! She's such a fun lady and I'm glad we're friends! :D)

xoxo

PS; NO! This is NOT me on MyYearbook.com! Thanks to Jasmine for sending me these! And NO, this is ALSO not me on Tumblr! (My tumblr is kaelahbee.tumblr.com!)