Style

An Outfit and a Flood

- Melody


scarf: Old Navy, shirt: pacsun, skirt: f21, tights: target, boots: thrifted

Probably the comfiest outfit I’ve ever worn. That $6.50 skirt was really worth the splurge. 🙂

We’ve had a little bit of a ridiculous few days! Wednesday night Jason noticed the washing machine was cutting off and on. When I walked back to see what he was doing this is what I saw:

Oh. So that’s what the inside of a washing machine looks like. Apparently, that little magic switch that’s supposed to turn the washer on when you close the lid wasn’t working. So magic Jason fixed it.
While he did that Little Bit decided to explore.
So yay! It worked that night.

Thursday morning I heard water running but I shrugged it off. Partly because I knew Jason had started another load before he left but mostly because I was still asleep. A little later I still heard it so I decided to check it out. As soon as I looked towards the door I saw a black puddle in our carpet. All of my clothes that were waiting to be put away were soaked and stained. Our laundry room and butler’s pantry were FULL of water. I went to get the phone from the butler’s pantry and stepped in a half an inch of water. I was still in such a sleepy daze I didn’t know if I should scream or go back to bed. I was home alone and Jason was 35 minutes away in meetings. I frantically called him. He didn’t answer because of the meetings. So he texted me and I typed as fast as I could “EMERGENCY!” But coming from me, he probably didn’t believe me so much. I cry wolf a lot! Example:
Me: “EMERGENCY!”
Jason: “What’s up?”
Me: “We have no chocolate.”
See what I mean? So he calmly called me back after I told him there actually was an emergency. All he could really say was, “…sorry baby. I guess just start sopping it up.”

So I did. I grabbed EVERY available towel, only after strapping on my rainboots. They were immediately soaked. I grabbed the shop-vac. It worked for about 15 seconds then started shooting water out of the other end. Great. I opened the door in the butler’s pantry to aim the shop-vac outside and then it just quit working altogether. Even greater. I finally got all the water up and left for class.

Later that night, I realized that even more of my clothes than I thought were soaked and the water reached the edge of the bathroom. When Jason and I were drying it up he asked me, “You just wanna rip up the carpet?” Ok, sure. Why not? So we have a half wood, half carpeted room. I caught him tonight ripping up our bathroom floor.

All I Want for Christmas

- Melody

I can’t believe it’s already that time of year again. I love it. This weekend hub hub and I are going to pick up our real tree (why in the world are fake trees so expensive!? IT’S A FAKE TREE!) and decorate our house! Fires, coffee/hot chocolate and Christmas music will be had. 🙂 I can’t wait.

Meanwhile, I’m going to be like my 12 year old sister and make a booklet to give to my loved ones filled with my Christmas wishes… if money was no object 🙂

NUMBER ONE:

First up the iPad 2 ($500). I know what you’re thinking. “Melody, that is ridiculously expensive and there is no purpose for it.” And I’d like to say to you, old person who obviously isn’t into technology, “You’re so right.” However!, Jason miraculously got the school he works for a grant to buy iPads for the teachers and we ended up with one to play around with until someone needs it. I’ve fallen in love.. It’s only a first generation but I can see a “need” for one. (Just like someone needs a jetplane.) It’s easier to lug around than a laptop and does all of the same things. But for the price? $500? Really? I could buy two and a half Kindle Fire’s for that much money. For the record, I’m totally okay with the Kindle Fire if that’s what you’d like to get me. 😛

NUMBER TWO:
The Canon Rebel T1i. ($579). My sister owns this camera and I loooove it. It snaps quicker than our Nikon D40 and the lighting is so much more natural and clear. The only thing that annoys me about it is not being able to hold the flash down when it wants to come up. On a lot of the settings the flash can’t be turned off and if you try holding it down it says to turn the camera off and back on before being able to use it again. But still…

NUMBER THREE:


JCrew’s Double-cloth Townhouse Trench ($250 on sale). Since my mishap with Old Navy I’m still in the market for a new coat. I bought a Zara coat a year or so ago on Etsy but when I got it the lining was hanging out of the sleeves and there were several holes inside the pockets and the lining. (Something the seller failed to mention…) It’s a nice enough coat but lint finds a home on it and I’d like one that wasn’t so black. This is way out of my price range for a coat, but thanks to the Look 4 Less I found a similar one for $45. (in olive please 🙂

NUMBER FOUR:

The iPhone 4s. (from $199). Seeing how I have the iPhone 3 (not even the 3s!) I think I’m due for an upgrade. I’d even settle for the 4. 🙂 I’m super jealous now that my dad AND my sister both got the iPhone 4 and I’m stuck waiting 30 seconds for my camera app to open. Life is so unfair. Jason, being the frugal tech-dude he is, thinks we should wait until Apple releases their long-awaited iPhone 5. I agree, but I’m also really anxious to get a new scratch-free (I mean, anyone wanna buy an iPhone 3?) phone. In this case, I’ll forgive you if this isn’t in my stocking this year.

What’s on your wishlist? Any suggestions on (inexpensive! useful!) stocking stuffers for a guy?

New Dress and Sourpusses

- Melody 2 Comments


dress: Old Navy, shoes: Target-sister’s, necklace: sister’s, cardy: JCrew-sister’s

Yes. I did it. I braved the INSANE crowds at Old Navy for Black Friday in hopes of getting my dream coat for 60% off. (They didn’t have it. Disappointed ensued.) Sisters and I stood in the cold for over an hour waiting for the doors to open. When they did open the doors we could see people scooping up things they didn’t even need only because they were $1. Running around like chickens with their heads cut off, they grabbed all that they could. It. Was. RIDICULOUS.

We only actually shopped for 45 minutes but because of the lines we weren’t out of there until 2.30. (AM!) My two sisters checked out and I was up next. The woman scanned all of my merch and then a coupon. Then it happened. The computer froze. No movement. No sign of it responding. I knew it wasn’t her fault! No one can help a technology issue. I reassured her when she apologized that everything was fine! And it really was!
However, this group of grown women didn’t have my patience. One of them walked up to my cashier, and said, “Um, are you going to move us to another line? Everyone is moving and we’re just standing here!” She kept insisting that the cashier do something about it though she and the manager were doing all they could with 100+ people in the store to help. A couple of minutes later when the manager was shutting down the register to reboot it, a woman from another line came to gripe him out for something she thought he should have done. Shortly after the same group of women starting demanding $5 off coupons for the trouble they were put through. THE NERVE!
The manager moved me to the register behind the one I was on to be rechecked out and that cashier sympathized with my intense frustration aimed at the grown women acting like children. I made sure to genuinely thank the people who did their best to amend the situation.

I had a really hard time not going back into the store and giving that group a piece of my mind. I was shaking I was so angry. On Thanksgiving? Demanding you deserve something because you think you were wronged? IN.SANE.

Needless to say, there was a great deal of humility and gratefulness that morning. Not to mention an eye-opening experience on how the world truly is. It’s ugly. But only because sin made it that way. Thank God he has saved us and loves us despite our hideousness.

So! Thank you Old Navy for putting on a great GobblePalooza and staying up all hours of the night to do your job even though some may be unappreciative.

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

PS. I got that ON dress on sale from $45 to $13! Thanks, GobblePalooza. 🙂

My Favorite Color

- Melody


dress: Old Navy, shoes: Buffalo Exchange, necklace: f21, watch: found

I love this color but I rarely ever find it. Considering how well blues and greens go with red hair I don’t have a lot of navy or hunter green in my closet!

As you read this I’m probably singing/about to sing in my student recital. When I finish singing I can finally start work on my paper and presentation due next Tuesday, ha!

Is it really almost Thanksgiving?

Comfort Zone

- Melody


shirt: JCrew via my aunt, jeans: f21, shoes: Cole Haan via goodwill, watch: found, necklace: f21

Hey oh! Today was probably the most I’ve been out of my “comfort zone” in a while. When I’m in school, I set a routine for myself and I rarely waiver from it. I volunteered to drive a few people to this performance we were doing today. We got out about 30 minutes late and it was 15 minutes back to the school. We stopped at Taco Bell to get lunch since we didn’t have much time so I had to eat in the school instead of in my car (yeah, I’m lame) like I normally do. It was weird, I felt anxious the whole time, and will probably never do it again.

Saturday Swoons: Two Days Later

- Melody

This weekend was positively too short. Chock full of rehearsals, my first choir concert of the semester, and lots of family time, it felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day. It was still a good weekend!

Now that it’s Monday (ew) I thought I’d think about some neat stuff to make myself feel better.
-How cool is that? Not sure how much or if it’s even real but that’s super awesome.
-Sitting and thinking about what I still want to do to this house. It makes me feel so good knowing I can do whatever I want!
-Hitting up our goodwill three times in the past two weeks and hitting the jackpot every time.

-These browned butter chocolate chip cookies. SO. GOOD. (I also made homemade oatmeal cream pies. Also super delicious!)
-Getting a free chair, toaster, and JCrew shirt from my Aunt Jenn today. Wee!

I hope you’re having a good Monday so far!

(Happy Halloween! Today I’m going as bacon to school. I’ll be posting pictures soon!)