Week 26: Cheaper Investments

This week, I rekindled my love of shopping at thrift stores. This love affair began many, many years ago, but several years ago I gained a lot of weight and kept it on for a while, so shopping for clothes at thrift stores became a much less exciting experience. And so, I basically gave up.

I've since lost that weight and am so excited about that for lots of reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that clothes shopping is fun again. (*Bathing suits...still not fun). I found so much great stuff on my shopping excursion that I am excited to incorporate into my wardrobe. It was a perfect way to spend a day off and I look forward to making this a more-regularly scheduled event in my life.

Week 25: Investing

I like to spend money.

Like, a lot.

And my manner of shopping has always been to buy a lot of cheap stuff (and replace it with more cheap stuff in the future).

This year of my life, I've been much more conscious of my spending. And, I've been trying hard to not buy as much junk, but to instead think of purchases in terms of their investment value- how long will this last, will I LOVE it for a long time and how often will I use it? And, if I'm not buying lots of junk- I will (and have) save money to make bigger splurges on non-junk.

It's certainly been a learning experience as I think about spending more money on items than I historically have. Part of me definitely still cringes when I think about how much further (though, more than likely, not long-lasting) I could take that money. But, I'm trying to look at the big picture.

Case in point: This week I bought a Chi Flat Iron. I've wanted one of these for a long while, but got by with what I had as I have been letting my hair grow out. This weekend, I decided it was time to make this investment. My hair is getting long and weirdly kinky and it takes a while to do anything with each morning (and it is HARD to get my hair kink-free!). I've done lots of research on these irons and know just how much I can do with them (both straightening AND curling!) and believe that this will be a purchase I'm happy I made for a long time to come. (And it will speed up my morning routine!) Even though I scored a GREAT deal on my iron, part of me is still in disbelief that I spent that much money on a flat iron (or earlier this week, on nail polish). But, I know this is for my best just like the camelbak water bottle I bought last year and the North Face jacket I got over the winter. Both- really expensive. Both- used nearly every day (except in the summer for the jacket). Here's to being financially responsible and buying smart things!

Week 24: A New Way to Curl

I lovvvvve hair. I mean, I really love it. I love that I'm finally entering the territory of having long hair again in life. I went through a several year phase where my hair was short (and cute!) and then medium-length repeated not so cute haircuts because I was always teetering between the desire to have long hair and the frustration of letting it grow.

But, alas, here we are again. My 29th year thus far has been full of curls. While I love my hair getting longer, I feel like it needs either curled or straightened to look "finished" in the morning. I've gotten pretty quick at both, but this week I got pretty interested in ways to wake up with my hair curly. Pinterest was helpful in this endeavor!

I tried a weird "tuck your hair into an elastic headband" way that kinda worked. (My husband took a very unflattering photo, so I have photo evidence but think it's not in my best interest to have it in too many forms across the internet). When I woke up, the front looked cute but it ended up suuuuper frizzy and the back was kind of a nightmare. But, I tried. If I can figure out how to twist my hair for rag curls, that is next!

Week 23: Play Volleyball?

This one was 1000% completely unplanned and completely unexpected, which is something I wanted more of in my life in general this year. So, I'll take it.

Short story even shorter: a friend of mine plays on a league and randomly needed someone to fill in. I was available, so I did. I haven't played volleyball in a REALLY long time and even when I played a lot, that was only a brief part of my history. So I had no idea how it would go, but I knew it would be fun. And it was.

Our team lost by ...a lot. But I was impressed with myself to find I still have an ounce of athleticism in me and I sure have a lot of competitive spirit in me as well. I hope to play again soon- I had a blast.

Week 22: Homemade Pasta Salad

So pasta salad has to be one of the easiest things on the planet to make. However, I only recently became really fond of pasta salad and to date have only made it out of the box (shame, I know). So this morning I decided I was going to make homemade pasta salad for the cookouts we are attending this weekend. It was ridiculously easy but time-intensive. It's still marinating for a few more hours but is pretty tasty. Another recipe for my repertoire. :) And everything is made better with a photo!