How to Have an AWESOME Summer

Bonjour!

So you want to have a fabulous vacation. The first things that may come to mind are your friends' pictures of beachcombing in the Bahamas, shopping in Paris, or hiking in the Grand Canyon, and suddenly your summer seems like a walk in the park. Literally.
     While you may not be able to travel the world during this time of academic freedom, you can still have a ball right where you are. That's right folks- your city may not be as hole-in-the-wall boring as you think! Continue reading to find out how YOU can have the time of your life without a passport.

HOW TO GET STARTED

 - First, you're gonna need a jar (I recycled an Apple Sauce jar), a little container/box (e.g. recycled cream cheese container), washi tape, and sticky notes. Use the washi tape to decorate (yay!) the containers however you want. For the activity container, you can cut a slot into the lid to make depositing sticky notes easier and more fun.

HOW IT WORKS

 - For every day of rigorous (or whatever you're able to do) physical exertion you complete, you get to add a sticky note of an activity to a jar. At the end of the week, providing that you have completed at least 5 weekdays of workout, you get to pick an activity from the jar and enjoy your well-deserved and much-earned funness.
 - Need some workout inspiration? My Fitness Pal is a great resource to track calories, record workout progress, and connect with a community of fellow fitness enthusiasts. Best of all, membership is free.

 - To find a workout, simply click blog near the top of the screen and then click "Move". It's all incline from there!


HOW TO FIND ACTIVITIES 

 - This is perhaps the best part of the whole program: activity shopping. While some ideas may automatically start flowing from brain to pen, finding great cheap activities can also be a struggle. Here are some places to look if things to do become hard to find:

• Local Park Districts- May offer boating, hiking trails, volleyball/tennis courts, baseball diamonds, or just an open area to throw a frisbee/football around.
• Local University/Community College events that are open to the public: Can include art exhibits, musical concerts, sports areas or facilities, ice-skating rinks, rock-climbing facilities, etc. for minimal prices (most under $10).

Run out of things to do in town?

• 50 States.com/Travel- Select your state to find out what landmarks are worth visiting OR 
• Locate your state destination website for a free (usually) travel guide. I went to Enjoy Illinois, ordered my free travel guide, and can simply choose by region or city to find landmarks/activities that interest me (State parks are a favorite and the parking fees run under $10).

HOW TO FUND ACTIVITIES

 - Throughout the week you can add loose change, found dollar bills, etc. to a FUNds jar, or you can add a dollar for every day you complete your exercise/ accomplish a goal, to help meet the cost of fun.

 - Or you can budget extra money earned from lemonade stands, selling hand-made crafts on Etsy, mowing lawns/gardening, etc. My favorite way to make quick cash is to participate as a subject in research studies at the University. There are a lot of opportunities for making a little summer profit, so just be creative and do a little investigating to see what work people need done.

Fun is out there waiting!

xoxo,
Sara

Off To Summerland + Plum-Picking

Bonjour Beauties!

Today I am over the moon excited because (apart from being out of school and enjoying newfound freedom...) I just got in on one of my favorite deals over at Pick Your Plum!

So in case you aren't familiar with it yet, Pick Your Plum is a fabulous company that sells the products of many different vendors, including Etsy businesses. In fact, it's very easy to become a Plum vendor. This being said, there are tons of great products for sale, including clothes, crafts supplies, decor, etc. etc. And the best part of Pick Your Plum? Their grab boxes.

It's amazing how willing people are to invest their money in a completely random, unknown box of things. And yet here I am, every month, anxiously awaiting the news that grab boxes have arrived. I'm not the only one either. The second Pick Your Plum announces that grab boxes are up for grabs, your Internet suddenly becomes this sluggish goop that moves about as fast as a turtle with a limp. And three legs.

Is the stress and anxiety worth it, you may ask? Let's just say, I have almost cried in frustration when my cart informed me that someone took my Plum. It's that worth it. And they are a HUGE steal considering you are getting 4 or 5 items for $15 or $20 that would normally be worth like $10+  EACH!!!

Here is what I got in my last clothing grab box:

Grey Maxi Skirt: http://theladyhood.blogspot.com/2015/01/highs-and-lows.html
White Lacy Tank Top: http://theladyhood.blogspot.com/2015/02/valentines-day.html
Navy Blue Wide-Legged Pants: In the process of refashioning into a sailor suit
Grey Striped Cardi: Gifted to my baby sister
Black Striped Maxi Dress:

Plus, see what I got in my latest grab box!

And now you know my secret. I'm a major Plum-picker.

Top: Forever 21 | Skirt: Thrifted | Leggings: Old

xoxo, Sara

Fabulous $50 Forever 21 Giveaway!!!

Bonjour!

As promised, here is the giveaway to (drumroll please)... Forever 21! Forever 21 is a fabulous place for women of all ages to find style and quality for a good price. They are also a family-operated business, and from what I hear, a Christian business (just look on the underside of their bags).

You have the opportunity to win a $50 gift card to one of my all-time favorite stores, as well as 2 free prints from my all-time favorite Etsy shop, CraftyCollaborations. All you have to do to enter is follow the directions below a Rafflecopter giveaway and get started!

Can't take the chance of not being chosen? Shop now at Forever 21 and CraftyCollaborations on Etsy!

Fine print: You must be 16 years of age or older to enter. The winner will have the option of a physical gift card (sent by mail) or an e-gift card for the Forever 21 prize. If the winner resides outside of the U.S., it will be sent online. The Etsy prize will be sent after further directions by email. If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, many tears will be shed and a new winner will be randomly selected.

Get ready to celebrate!

xoxo, Sara

Confessions of a Catty Consumer

  Bonjour!

Today's post finds itself in an outdoor shopping mall in Florida, and it is the story of how I discovered that department stores are 10 times better when they have a second floor.

Barnes and Noble. It had an escalator. Forever 21? Elevator. Icing only had one floor, but that's a lot of awesomeness in one story. This being said, I should probably note that I do not come from the outskirts of a small farming community (as it might sound). I've been in dozens of malls that had escalators and elevators. But when you suddenly find that your favorite stores have a whole other dimension... you find the gold at the end of the rainbow. :)

Top/Skirt/Handbag: Thrifted | Shoes/ Sunnies: Old | Umbrella: Gift

xoxo, Sara

From Forest to Phonebooth (in One Outfit)

 Love this shirt! Found it at a last-minute thrift run before our big trip to Florida and thought it would pair nicely with a breezy summer midi.

I couldn't resist stepping into this little phonebooth when we stopped at the Superman museum... I only regret that I didn't have a superhero costume hidden underneath my outfit. THAT would have been an epic experience!!  (I wonder where I can find a supergirl costume that covers a little more than just my rear...)

xoxo, Lady S.

Malls, Flats, and Messy Buns

It's so good to be back to virtual civilization! The trip went well and it was fun visiting the Galleria and another mall in St. Louis. I bought an adorable tote bag and drawstring bag from Bath and Body Works for under $5 all together. 75% off is a deal I can never pass up.

Unfortunately I was unable to do complete outfit pics, but I did manage to get a couple halfsies. Hopefully I can make up for it later.

From one busy lady to another, it was definitely a comfy flats-messy bun week!

Top outfit: Skirt- Gordman's, Shoes- Walmart
Bottom outfit: Skirt- Walmart, Top- Deb (Cape not part of outfit ;) )

xoxo, Lady S.

One Dollar Delirium

So you know that feeling you get when you're shopping and you find the perfect accessory? And then you look at the price tag and nearly choke to death wondering how such a tiny thing could cost so humanly much? It's a common experience these days. Until you find that perfect store at the mall where practically everything is $1.  Then you want to pull out your happy dance and scrub the store floor with it, you're so excited. And then you go and buy everything that your wallet can handle and feel this perfect sense of accomplishment, just like I did when I discovered Glitter, the perfect store. As you can see from the items above, this place has good quality accessories for an even better quantity of money. $1 each. It just doesn't get any better than that. Except for, say, a gumball machine chock full of eye-candy for only a quarter. Now THAT would be something. They should start marketing those. My wallet tingles just thinking about the possibilities.

From one cheapskate lady to another, quality $1 boutiques really do exist!!!

Flowers, clip, and leopard scrunchy-tie (is there a name for this thing?!)-Glitter, $1 (!!!)

xoxo, Lady S.

Seeing Stripes and Sketchy Thrifting

I'm not usually a stripe person, but ever since I found an article that told me that people my size should wear more stripes and less dots... yeah, I'm gonna start hunting for stripes. Because after all, what woman wants to look shorter than her age? Not this one. I've come to accept that I haven't hit my growth spurt (and probably never will at this point), but hey, you find some tips to look taller, and who isn't going to pay just a teensy bit of attention? And I really like this top. The story behind getting it, well, is another story.

It all  started in a little town which is now affectionately known by my sisters and I as "Wat-sketch-ka". The   youngest goes to braces appointments there, and my other younger sister goes for retainer visits. It takes a WHOLE HOUR and a half to get there, but the prices are UBER cheap. And thus we set out, me coming along only because I knew there would be shopping afterwards. After their appointments, we drove down one of the town's quaint little storefront streets, and, seeing a thrift shop we hadn't yet explored, we parked and went in. The owner (or apparently the caretaker), was not in the store, but was instead sitting outside of the store next door. He told us to go on in though, so we did. This store had room after room of clothes, some hanging on racks, and others just piled on the floor. That was clue #1 that the store was, in the words of my odd sister, "sketch" ( definition: suspicious).

So la-di-da, we look around, I find this shirt and another one (which was, tragically, polka-dotted), my sister finds the navy and white striped cardi (as seen in the first image), and such. Then the owner/caretaker/person comes in and leads us to the further back portion of the store which was previously dark and through which we had not ventured for the aforementioned reason (clue #2 this place was totally "sketch"). He takes us to the very back room... and shuts the door behind us. Because the other owner "Has the air-conditioner on."

At this point we're all thinking, "THIS PLACE IS CRAZY SKETCH!!!" as well as, "If we make it out of here alive..." etc, etc. So we look around (though I'm sure it was just to humor the man), and, finding nothing (I mean, come on, this stuff looked like it was from the '80s!! And even then, it's a wonder it wasn't burned back then. Seriously.), we return to the front (and safer part) of the store. Only we had to go to the store next door because that was where the owner/caretaker guy was. And then he wanted us to look around that store too. Finally we got around to checking out and it cost us $4 per shirt. At a sketch/po-dunky/slightly dirty resale store where there was a partially full ketchup bottle in a bathroom trash can. New clothes at Walmart tend to be cheaper than that. And he sure made us think he was giving us a deal, too. It cost us $20 (!!!) for just five tops which were USED anyway. What part of THRIFTY don't they understand?! Needless to say, I think we'll be sticking to our usual thrift store stops from here on out.

From one lady to another, watch out for those stores that scream "WE ARE SKETCHY! COME LOOK AROUND!" You might never come out of there again... with a decent-sized wallet, at least.....

Image 1 and 2: Cardi- Thrifted (at our own risk), Blouse- Deb, Skirt- Thrifted, Sunnies- Walmart
Images 3-7: Top- Thrifted (at our own risk), Skirt- Gifted, Belt- Icing, Sandals- Walmart, Hairbow- Handmade (yay crochet!)

xoxo, Lady S.