More of a Birthday Weekend

I love any occasion to dress up, even if I'm not leaving the house. These photos were from Sunday when we continued my big sisters birthday celebration.
That was the day we actually had cake and bummed around the house - just like a birthday should be celebrated. :)

Outfit details - Maxi dress, Seventh Avenue - White button up, $3 (thrifted) - Shoes, $2 (thrifted, these are the same perfect ones I found a couple weeks ago) - Earrings, ?? (Wal-Mart old) - Ring, $2 (K-Mart old) - Lipcolor, Avon Glazewear in "Real Red"

A Birthday Weekend

On August 27, 1988 - my big sister came into the world. Yesterday we celebrated her 23rd birthday by going to the movie theater to see Winnie the Pooh, eating at her favorite restaurant, playing Mario Kart on a Wii, and were invited to a bonfire by some friends.
Oh and I can't forget the Friday night activity which included seeing her favorite local band at the middle school and I had sleepover with her. I need another weekend to happen just so I can sleep!

Since my sister, Rachael, is a newer reader to my blog, I know she will be obsessively checking to see if I made this post. Well, yes I did. Happy Birthday, Rachael! (as if you haven't heard that enough from me this weekend. lol)

Outfit details - Dress, $2 (garage sale) - Scarf, >$5 (Wal-Mart old) - Belt, $1.25 (thrifted) - Leggings, >$5 (Wal-Mart old) - Leopard print flats, $7 (K-Mart old) Key necklace, $1 (Bargain Depot)

Nail Tutorial: Rainbow Stripes

Today I'd like to share with you something different than usual - a nail tutorial! It's so stinkin' easy, trust me. I'm sure this whole thing could be made even easier with nail pens, but I make it work with what I got. All you need is a rainbow of your favorite colors, a steady hand, and patience (it took me about 30 minutes for both hands - which includes watching the paint dry.)

(instructions are below the pictures. but I like just looking at pictures and then try to figure things out for myself.)

1. Start with using your base coat of choice and then paint a single coat of white. The white helps all the colors to pop!
2. Carefully with the tip of your brush start painting random lines and dashes on the nails.
3. Continue filling in the entire nail and alternating colors.
That's it! You can finish it up with some top coat to help it stay longer if you'd like.

For every time you do it and every person that does it; it will be unique. I think that's something really fun about this particular design. Good luck!

(If you attempt this and put it on your blog - leave a link, I'd love to see how others interpret this pattern.)

Treasure Hunting

Thursday - Girls Day
I heard about yet another thrift store that's been off my radar for who knows how long, so my mom, sister, and a neighbor friend all got together to seek this faraway place. Not that far away. 25 minutes, top. But you know who got to drive there because they were the only one in the car with clear directions? This girl! I got to drive over the state border and everything. So yeah, that counts as my first out-of-state road trip.
Enough about my driving, you just wanna know about the thrift store. It was surprisingly good! The prices were very cheap and at the moment they're having a 50% End of Summer clothing sale. How lucky are we?! Now, while we didn't walk out of there with bag fulls, we each got a few small treasures. My best treasure was a pair of nude open toe heels for $2. Second hand shoes are hard to come by with my size 11 feet that would make Bigfoot jealous. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect pair of shoes, except well, maybe if they were a bit comfier. But I'm not complaining! No ma'am.

Outfit details - Tee, free (second hand place) - Shorts, $2 (thrifted) - Blazer, $0 (someone thrifted for me) - Leopard print flats, $7 (K-Mart verrrry old) - Hat, $0 (found in my basement) - Black hoops probably from Wal-Mart and a the key is from an old journal

DIY: The Almost Perfect Striped Tee

I've got a super simple DIY project for today. I was inspired by my search for the perfect striped tee shirt. I then looked around and found a white tank I picked up at a garage sale for a quarter and figured I would make it my almost-perfect striped tee.

• I started with a plain top and laid out it flat and slipped some cardboard in between for stability and so the paint wouldn't stain through.
• I then used a ruler to measure out the stripes and a marker to remember it.
• Then I merrily painted over the marker lines. Voila!

Outfit details - Newly DIY tank - Plaid vest, .75 cents (garage sale) - Shorts, $3 (thrifted) - Key necklace, $1 (Bargain Depot) - Sandals, $10 (Wal-Mart) - Headband, won in Kirstin's giveaway!

At The End of The Day

I wore this little number before the weekend even had a chance to hit. My mom was cool enough to take me back to the thrift store I mentioned, and wouldn't you know, the .79 cent clothing was no longer a special! Hopefully they'll bring that special back at the end of the month (or so I overheard) so maybe then I'll get a chance at cheap clothes!
My weekend was pretty good. My sister rented a Wii from the library (they do that kind of thing!) so we had a blast with that. In all honesty, my arms are still sore from playing.

Last night (Monday) was probably the coolest extra weekend day. My sister and I went night driving with our "instructor" (aka family friend) and got to drive all over the country, speeding over hills and taking sharp turns. All while telling ghost stories! It's easily one of the funnest nights of my summer.

Outfit details - Skirt as dress, free (thrifted) - Chambray shirt, $12 (Amazon) - Belt, $1.25 (thrifted) - Camera necklace, $5 (Wal-Mart) - Earrings, re-purposed from old pair (Deb's in 2004?! it's been sooo long.)

Parks, Play Dough, and Bronzed Children

I've never had a chance to say this until now, but this post will be photo heavy!

Yesterday I made some last minute plans with a friend of mine to head to an ice-cream place that's been around forever and raved about by everyone. If you're from northern IL/southern WI, you certainly know about the Union Dairy! I made the mistake of getting Play Dough ice-cream and it was crazy fruity, which is not at all what I usually eat. But I was feeling risky!

My original purpose was of the day was to go and check out the thrift store that just moved to a new building. It was still fairly in "remodel" mode but I got to look around at a few racks of clothing. I almost died when I saw they were .79 cents a piece. Sadly my friend is not a "thrifter person" like me, so I was completely rushed through. Sad day! I'm pretty sure that price was a grand opening deal and probably won't last until my next visit.

Last but not least, we headed out to a park to sit around and take pictures. I haven't officially gotten to break out my camera and play with a friend. My friend has a small interest in photography and gladly wanted to take over using my camera. I gladly let her take my picture! haha

All in all it was a pretty good day!!

Outfit details - Striped sweatshirt, from $5 bag sale (thrifted) - Jeans, $12.50 (F21 old) - Sneakers that I wore for some of the day, $10 (Wal-Mart)

A view from the top!

Summer Breeze Makes Me Feel Fine

It was such a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Well, almost. There's a whole load of construction happening behind me, but this weather was gorgeous!
I picked up this stripe top at a garage sale the other for $1 and I reeeeeally wanted to wear it. Lucky for me, it had a pattern and today was pattern mixing for Everybody, Everywear. I went with one of my old favorite mixing tricks - adding a scarf with a cool design!

One big important thing about this blog - I (finally) changed the URL of it today. I'm pretty sure that means my Bloglovin' got reset so if you were following through it, then you probably need to re-follow. To all others who have the link elsewhere, it is now - http://anoldstoryblog.blogspot.com

Outfit details - Shirt, $1 (garage sale) - Vest, $1 (thrifted) - Scarf, 75 cents (thrifted) -Shorts, $2 (thrifted) - Sea foam green jewerly (thrifted) - Owl ring, $1.50 (F21 old) - Sandals, $10 (Wal-Mart)

At my mothers request, I took some photos of her hibiscus flowers. They're very few but still have lots of beauty to them!

What My Heart Desires

My heart desired to wear some leopard print and colors today and then this outfit was born.

If you had peeked on me during my day you would see me sitting in my sisters apartment stealing her free internet and eating out with her and my mom. And that is how my day went down.

Outfit details - Top (Seventh Avenue) - Shorts, $1.25 (thrifted) - Necklace, $1 (Claire's, quite old) - Sandals, $10 (Wal-Mart) - Feather, DIY