Budgeting: April Budget

So the question is, did I stick to my April shopping ban for clothing and shoes, etc? And the answer is... yes! Haha. I think this might have been the first time I stuck to an intentional shopping ban. The first of the month was the hardest especially the part where I was in Goodwill helping the boy pick out shirts and pants and I REALLY wanted to go look at the skirts and see if they had any nice maxi skirts. But I stuck to my ban with help from Justin who I think found pleasure in reminding me not shop. Haha.

I did spend a bit of money on beauty stuff, but that was ok because I wasn’t banned from that. Here’s what I bought.

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I ran out of my Juice Beauty moisturizer that is ridiculously expensive and was just assuming I wasn't going to be able to buy it again for awhile when I saw this special kit on Ulta.com with a full size of the moisturizer and samples of some other things in that line for $15 less than the full sized moisturizer alone costs... so that was a no brainer for me. 

OOTD: Hat Time & Pattern Mixing

I'm happy to be sporting bare legs and a breezy dress. I took an accidental blogging break because I have been focusing hardcore on my eating and exercising habits. I started the Tone it Up Bikini Series two weeks ago, and I've been making some great progress. Much better than I ever have before on a health/fitness challenge. Basically just trying to make exercise part of my daily routine and eat more clean, lean, and green. It has definitely helped me to feel better and have more energy.







Dress: Banana Republic
Belt: Goodwill
Scarf: LOFT
Hat: Target
Shoes: Mix No.6, via DSW (similar)
Bracelet: Little Black Bag
Glasses: Coastal.com

Window Shopping: J. Crew Sale

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(it seems a people went actual shopping for a few of my favorites... they're not even on the site anymore!)

So being on a shopping ban hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I have been really good. I mean seriously we are 19 days in and I haven't caved. So even though I can't buy anything... which let's be honest I really couldn't anyways because WHOA the prices even on sale... it was still a lot of fun to look at the J. Crew sale section which is an additional 30% off right now. I think my favorites thing is that tomato striped dress and the mint arrow printed shorts.

Do you do any window shopping during this sale? Or actual shopping? I love see what other people love and buy. 

This is not a sponsored post.

OOTD: Art Deco School Teacher

Some told me I looked like a school teacher today. Not sure how one looks like a school teacher... my mom was a school teacher for 33 years and she never wore anything like this. But anyways, I told Justin this and his response was "Maybe an art deco school teacher." Yeah I REALLY don't know what that's supposed to mean. But this skirt is fun to twirl in! And this is straight up third day DIRTY hair. Yep, keepin' it real on the blog.

I'm linking up for What I Wore Wednesday with Transatlantic Blonde & The Pleated Poppy. Check out what everyone else wore! 

Top: Sanctuary Clothing

Skirt: Thrifted, Goodwill (similar)

Tank Top: Kohls

Belt: Modcloth

Shoes: DKNYC 

Necklace: Vintage, Sarah Coventry

OOTD: Denim Vest, Maxi Dress, Field of Wheat

I have been eyeing this field for about a month just waiting for the right day and light to take pictures here. So when I realized that it was the perfect day on my way home I quickly rounded up my equipment and my lovely boyfriend who humors me, and headed to this field. About halfway through taking pictures a professional photographer showed up with an arm chair, a client, and whole much of random large equipment. Justin laughed because I glared at them and said under my breath "Back off! I was here first!" Haha. I was not going to have somebody ruining my perfect day of perfect light in the perfect field! But we co-existed just fine and I love how these turned out!

There's a behind the scenes photos on my facebook page that Justin took. He also took the close up picture of my earring... which I promptly lost in the midst of this GOLDEN WHEAT!







Dress: Target (similar)
Vest: Forever21 (here)
Necklace: Kohl's (similar)
Earrings: Target (similar) (similar)
Watch: Phosphor (here)
Shoes: Vintage, via Etsy

Also, here's my handsome fella, who makes faces at me pretty much every time I take his picture.

Life Lately: March

This month I had a mini staycation with Justin, got to see a bunch of my out of town friends, did a fair amount of spring cleaning, and saw one of my college friends marry the love of her life. It was a pretty great March. Oh and I turned 27.

You can see more photos from the month and follow my 365 photo challenge on Instagram: @lolainred

I had fun participating in Fran & Whitney's 5 Days, 5 Ways Link-up: Tops, Pants, Accessories, Dresses, Casual Friday

And I kicked off my goal of getting back to working out with a few easy, but effective arm exercises: Tone Your Arms in 6 Weeks

OOTD: Conference Wear - Social Slam

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed a fair amount of tweets with the hashtag #SoSlam. Well, Friday was the much anticipated Social Slam. It's an amazing Social Media conference in Knoxville, TN that I have been lucky enough to attend two years in a row. Last year I went on my own for my blog, but this year my company sent me for my job, though of course there was a lot there that was very insightful for blogging too. I have pages of notes I that I took throughout the day, but I don't want to bog you down with all of it at once, so if you're interested in hearing more about the conference and what I took away from it, I'd be happy to do a separate post about it. Just let me know if that's something you'd be interested in seeing.

A FEW THINGS I LEARNED AT SOCIAL SLAM

"Vision without action is hallucination." - @HowellMarketing

• Headlines are very important. 5 times as many people read the headline as read the actual article/blog post.
• Keep it simple, structure your content, and make it easy for people to read quickly. 
• Vary your content. Different people respond to different mediums. Test out different mediums until you find what works for your audience.
• Don't let the quest for perfection keep you from starting.
• It has to start with passion. Passion is what enables you to get up early and stay up late. Passionate people are more effective content creators.
• Inform, educate, inspire, and entertain.

- @jeffbullas

"Community is at the heart of everything we do." - @GabrielleNYC

Dress: LOFT

Blazer: Lilly Pulitzer (here) (similar)

Shoes: Mix No. 6 (similar)

Necklace: c/o Charmaine Parker (similar)

Watch: Phosphor (here)

P.S. Anyone recognize this location? I was in Knoxville, so I figured I might as well stop at an old blog photo haunt for pictures! (Lots of pictures taken here)