For Becky. With A Twist.

After neglecting my bloggy duty to post photos of my booty ( it's a jingle!) I'm trying to make up for it here. And I don't mean my caboose, my rump, or the junk in my trunk. (Honest, it's just pouring out of me!) I mean what I snagged during my recent transformative shopping trip.
So I had this fun idea to post photos of myself in different outfits, some of them from the shopping trip and some of them from scratch, and then everyone could guess which was which.
What actually happened was 3 consecutive nights of Open House from 7pm to 9pm. I forgot to get photos of the first part of the week, balled up the dirty clothes, and haven't washed those yet. I realized that what I actually bought on that shopping trip was 3 cardigans, 2 black and 1 fuschia, 2 blouses, and a necklace. Not exactly a new wardrobe. OK, I also bought a bra (trusty Playtex nude,) some pantyhose (grossssss! and I didn't wear them. Gross. Just couldn't bring myself to do it. Wore black tights instead,) a little black dress (to be worn with the pantyhose but it didn't happen,) and a cheap pair of black comfortable heels. Still not a new wardrobe.
But! Fact of the matter is, I still looked way more put together and presentable with those little additions than I would have without.
I learned from this that I am hopelessly not a shopper. But I also was inspired to take another look at the clothes I already had. Try to juice them up a bit, you know. Give them another chance. (Because who has high fashion expectations of an insurance agent?)
So the point of the photos, since I didn't get the guessing game together, is to show you my cheap stuff. It gets me by really well. Walmart top $11, handmedown skirt from my sister, shoes on clearance for like $15 (give or take, I got both pair on clearance plus one pair was also 50% off. Score.)
My working theory on shoes is, while I totally follow the belief that you shouldn't wear cheap shoes, I feel that as long as they don't look cheap when they're new you can wear them until they start looking crappy. Which is obviously going to happen a lot sooner with cheap shoes, but you still got by spending less money even if you have to replace them sooner.

Shirt by Target. Meh. My Daisy Fuentes trousers. Eh. The other pair of cheap shoes. Weh. And! My $15 Banana Republic necklace which I'm wearing with nearly everything because it reminds me of the beaded chains that hold eyeglasses, like my grade school librarian wore, and therefore I feel smarter and bookish. Super professional. So is my mussed up hair. I actually sneaked in a jog, took a quick sponge off and then put these clothes back on to go to Open House. So a little extra "dewiness." Is that a word? Dewy-ness? Dew-iness? Sweaty.
Which reminds me- I was totally stressing prior to that trip to Home Office that my naturally curly hair was not professional. (I'm serious, google it. I'm not the only one thinking it.) It looks icky in these photos, but anyone else have an opinion on curly hair and professional? I ended up deciding "Too bad. I'll do the best I can with it." And of course I was the bell of the ball. ;)
Since we're talking clothes and shoes. Mark's grandfather so generously gave these to Sam. Because what almost 13 year old young man doesn't long to wear his great grandfathers pleather loafers?
This isn't about the outfit, it's about the booboo. Right leg. Check it out.This (and some road rash on my shoulder. actually "tree rash" would be more accurate.) is what you get when you're practicing swinging up from the ground onto the horse's bare back (and I'm getting pretty good at it BTW, from the ground!) and it takes off (brideless of course because you're just out pissin' around in the field) and unstoppable through the trees. Yes, I'm sort of proud of it. And I was just about healed up from two separate bouts of nettle stings and welts, too. Don't worry, it wasn't as dramatic as it sounds. And! I didn't fall off or have to bail. So, it's all good. The Great Pumpkin made his delivery today! Pretty pumpkins.
Freaky pumpkins. And the best part about the pumpkin delivery, The Pumpkin Bin Village that the kids construct on the porch from the empty pumpkin bins. These will be modified, decorated, YoYo the cat approved, and possibly camped out in. Good times.
But first you have to do your "work" as noted here in Lily's notebook.

All along I could've been learning about scheduling and priority management from Lily. Who knew.