Weekend Recap.

I realize I am much overdue for a legitimate blog entry. This weekend was a bit busy though and I've made it a priority to go to the gym every. single. day! Liz and I normally go every Mon-Thurs at 8 but I stepped up my game with myself a bit and went Fri, Sat AND Sunday! Huzzah! Friday was spent working (but getting off a bit early), Saturday was spent shopping around Herald Square and grocery shopping at Whole Foods, and today was spent with Liz as we rummaged around Canal Street and then popped over to Red Hook, Brooklyn to journey into the endless abyss of Ikea! Man oh man! It was heaven!

But first things first. I have several days' worth of outfit iPhone photos so I'll just throw things in where they fit. Yeah? Yeah!

Friday I ventured to Forever 21 in Times Square after work for a bit. I had to take back a dress and then had a Store Credit card that was aching to be spent. Sadly the store was wiped out of cute dresses that I didn't already own. I did try to dive into the jeans area (for $11.50 a pair!). I needed a pair to wear at the bar when I get back to my bartending gig in Tennessee. Seeing as I currently do not own a single pair of pants or shorts, something was needed for work! I don't want to ruin all of my pretty dresses and tights. The largest size they even had was a 29 (which, as a usually-size-12, won't cut it). I have never bought plus size clothing in my life (some of you are probably rolling your eyes at me right now). But as a friends suggestions went, I ventured into the Faith 21 section of the store to see what was going on. There was a really cute pair of cuffed-and-torn denim shorts, but the smallest size was a 14 and when I tried them on, I could easily fit another person inside. I grabbed a pair of the skinny jeans in a 12 regular and tried them on as well. They were a bit too roomy but I opted for a pair of acid wash jeggings (I know! I bought jeggings! Mike about had a heartattack.) It's frustrating that I'm too big for the regular line of jeans, but I'm too small for the "plus" size line of jeans. I will commend Forever 21 for attempting to cater to a larger audience (no pun intended!), I just wish they'd remember those of us who fall inbetween! But, maybe this is why I stick to dresses. I can wear much much smaller sizes and it's not nearly as frustrating to shop for! Either way, I'm excited about my jeggings. Mike even changed his opinion on them! Thumbs up all the way! (Also, they had some CUTE dresses in the Faith 21 line that they definitely should carry in the regular-sized lines! I was a wee bit jealous, not gonna lie!) Just looks like I'll have to maybe buy a pair of jeans from Charlotte Russe for work purposes. Or just continue to hold out. I spent the rest of the evening at the gym on the lovely little elliptical bike! [PS, this wasn't meant to be a "woe is me! i hate myself because i had to buy plus size" post or anything! My point with this was to point out the flaw in Forever 21's sizing as I couldn't wear either jeans. Faith 21 isn't carried in all stores so even if the 12s had fit, I would have had to bought them online when back in Tennessee, only to have them delivered to my house and realize they were too big. This was my first attempt at ever buying something plus size, and I was genuinely disappointed. The comment made about wearing smaller sizes in dresses was simply to showcase that I can walk into any store and buy a dress that fits because my upper body isn't "plus size"... however the act of purchasing a lot of plus size clothing [jeans in my case] is usually reserved for online (such as what AE does with extended sizes, etc) and I refuse to buy clothing that way because it rarely ever fits. If I need to buy something in plus sizes to make sure that it fits properly, I absolutely will. In the past, I always felt so defeated when I realized I couldn't purchase denim from Forever 21. With the Faith21 line, my spirits were a bit lifted when I realized that I finally could. Of course it all came crashing back down again upon realizing that it didn't fit either, but this time it was just too big. It's almost as though I can't win for losing with F21 denim. It's a very very frustrating thing. This amendment was made after a comment in my FormSpring about how I say I'm proud of myself and I'm not the number on my tag, but yet I seem to complain about having to buy plus size this weekend. I just wanted to clear the air that that was definitely not the point of this and I hope others were able to see it from the get-go. Sorry for any confusion :)]

(Excuse the awkward squat... I was trying to show the wash in really awful lighting!)

For Friday's outfit, I opted for my nautical dress and some blue tights! I wish the lighting had been better because these tights are SO perfect for this dress! They look so much better than when I pair it with black!
♥[Dress: Charlotte Russe ($25), Tights: c/o We Love Colors, Flats: KMart ($13)]♥

Saturday came and boy did I want to sleep in! I can't even begin to explain what got me out of the house but I had a plan! I loaded up my computer and headed down to Union Square to try and find a nice place to camp for a while. It was supposed to rain and I just wanted to veg out with some tunes, make playlists, album art, and write some penpals. I ended up at Starbucks for a bit but after an hour or so I had to pee so bad I had to forfeit my table. I headed into Barnes and Nobel for a bit, followed by Sephora and a trip to the grocery store at Whole Foods. I headed home, packed up and went to the gym for an hour and a half and then realized I needed to go to H&M. I went to H&M in Herald Square and followed it up with Forever 21. I came home with lots of beautiful nail polish, a new makeup bag, a few headbands, a pair of sunglasses, etc. All of this from that unused card still! Woo! After coming home and making some dinner, I vegged out to a few episodes of Pushing Daisies and then fell asleep.

Saturday's Outfit:
♥[Dress: Cooperative for UO ($68), Tights: Walmart ($6), Flats: KMart ($13)]♥

Today/Sunday was spent sleeping in (again! I need to go to bed earlier!) and replying to emails at first. Liz texted me and we met downstairs at 1pm. We had Canal Street on our minds! I was hoping to teach Liz the wonderful art of haggling. After it was all said and done, she and I both walked away two bags richer (for basically a steal!) She snagged a black and gold Chanel (exactly like the one I have) and a cute coral bag while I bought the exact same bags but my Chanel was bright red patent leather and rather than coral, I bought white. (The photos I'm going to post won't even remotely do them justice!) How do you feel about buying/owning/using knockoff bags? I remember when I did a report on it in Speech class my sophomore year of college. There is actual research to prove that knockoff designer bags actually helps the fashion industry. (You might scoff outloud at this but it's true! Turns out fashion is the thing that people are still willing to pay top dollar for authenticity! It was a very eye-opening project but regardless of what your stance is, I'm not afraid to admit that they're fake.) As someone who has owned several authentic bags (two Chanels to add to the loot), I just can't justify spending that sort of money anymore. Maybe I've grown up a bit but I don't get enough pleasure out of it personally. However! I would spend top dollar on a Miu Miu bag and do hope that it is in my not-so-distant future). ANYWAY!

** Edited to add: An anonymous commenter left this incredibly eye-opening link just a few minutes ago and WOW! is all I can say! I suppose I was a bit too preoccupied with cute bags to even begin to think about the people on the other side of it all! Now I just feel like a jerk, ya know! I wanted to share the article with you (CLICK HERE!) so you can all take notice and maybe rethink future purchases. I know I will! As Nicole stated in the comments, too, NYC has majorly cracked down on counterfeit handbags and they're almost impossible to find in the city! I applaud their efforts and hope you will all follow suit!)



After that, we decided we were already close enough to Brooklyn to justify the quick train ride over to Borough Hall and we caught the Ikea Shuttle to the Promiseland (I offically deem Ikea the Promiseland... Oh joy!). I was in heaven! I'm very familiar with Ikea but this was my first actual in-store experience! I think Mike and I are going to venture down to Atlanta once I get back to furnish our new place on the cheap. I'm glad I went first because it would have overwhelmed us both and there would have been NO stopping us. Now at least I can try to have a sane mind about things without going overboard! I found several things that will without a doubt be coming home with us but for now I'll just post a few photos! We also grabbed lunch at the Ikea restaurant upstairs! I didn't even know they HAD a restaurant! Kelli had to inform me! After that we headed back to Manhattan! We grabbed some Red Mango in St. Mark's as Liz had never tried it. She wasn't disappointed! Then we hopped on the 6, ran into Walgreens and came home. I quickly changed and went to the gym for an hour and a half. Burned 700+ calories! Woo! I love the feeling after a good workout. I'm going to try to go in the morning, too! 

On the Ikea Shuttle Bus
The anticipation builds...
Welcome to the Promiseland
The view from inside...

I'm in LOVE with this chair cover! Mike likes it too. The great thing is that they're $10 a pop so we can change them with the seasons. I don't like the light oak wood of the chairs so I think we may opt for the dark cherry!
Lovely little side lamps... $10!
Matching standing lamps for only $20!
Gorgeous! I really wish the base were brown or a woodgrain, but its still beautiful!
Lunch!

Upon coming home, Mom sent me some photos of Georgia. She had been playing in the mud after a big rain storm back in Tennessee! Awww! And then two screenshots of my favorites just for good measure!


And today's outfit...
Don't worry, I didn't actually wear those ridiculous floral print sunglasses! I wanted to, but I think they may be a bit TOO out of my comfort zone. For now at least.
♥[Dress: Forever 21 ($25), Tights: Walmart ($6), Bike Shorts (under!): H&M ($6), Flats: KMart ($13), Cat Bag: Ebay ($45)]♥

Also, I finally got my MacBook Shark Decal in from Etsy! Eeeeep!

Okay... this was WAY too long! Back to business! (BTW, go follow Liz by CLICKING HERE so she will be motivated to update more! She's going on a semester abroad to London in a few months so go read her adventures! She's such a fun lady and I'm glad we're friends! :D)

xoxo

PS; NO! This is NOT me on MyYearbook.com! Thanks to Jasmine for sending me these! And NO, this is ALSO not me on Tumblr! (My tumblr is kaelahbee.tumblr.com!)

21 comments:

  1. Girl, your weekend sounds like it was heaven! Love, love, love the outfits and those jeggings look amazing on you. Oh my x, I have always loved Ikea, everything they have is just fabulous. The bags are so cute. Love them! Your lunch, I haven't stopped drooling yet! And the ice cream (right?) & fruit is exactly what I want right now! Okay the shark, it's so freaking perfect, love it. Ew awkwardsauce.com, people who do that, make fake accounts that are supposed to be you, need major help. Someone did that to me on twitter, I freaked and made it private after taking it up with Twitter and deleting it.

    XoXo
    -Kinsey

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  2. Forever 21 sizes are SO CONFUSING!! I also agree that some of the Faith21 dresses need to be carried over, there is some gorgeous stuff in that line. You also may have convinced me to try on some jeggings. Just sayin.

    And high fives for good workouts. :)

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  3. i love knock off bags, i would love the real thing more but i too can't make myself spend that much on them right now. i heard they are cracking down on the people selling knock offs in china town and they're harder to find. i haven't been to ny in a while was it easy to find yours?? my dream bag is the the red chanel one you got!!

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  4. buying fake bags is NOT harmless!

    i encourage you to read this article and STOP buying counterfeit bags!

    http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28571321

    A terrifying excerpt:

    "No one utters a word, not a sound, as I recall the raid I went on with Chinese police in a tenement in Guangzhou and what we discovered when we walked in: two dozen sad, tired, dirty children, ages 8 to 14, making fake Dunhill, Versace and Hugo Boss handbags on old, rusty sewing machines. It was like something out of Dickens, “Oliver Twist” in the 21st century.

    Then I read the following passage from my book, “Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster.” ‘I remember walking into an assembly plant in Thailand a couple of years ago and seeing six or seven little children, all under 10 years old, sitting on the floor assembling counterfeit leather handbags,’ an investigator told me … ‘The owners had broken the children’s legs and tied the lower leg to the thigh so the bones wouldn’t mend. [They] did it because the children said they wanted to go outside and play.’

    The audience gasps. From time to time, I see tears too. And afterward, I always hear the same response: “I had no idea.” Always. Most consumers believe that buying fake goods is harmless, that it’s a victimless crime. But it’s not. It’s not at all."

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  5. Nicole: yes! its almost impossible to find them! they definitely HAVE cracked down, but after reading the comment below yours, I actually applaud the NYPD for doing that!

    Anon: oh my gosh! wow, thank you so much for that link, seriously! I guess it didnt even occur to me to think like that! this definitely opens my eyes and i will absolutely rethink my decision to purchase like that again! thank you! (i'm goign to edit my post to add the link if thats okay!)

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  6. ssooo wish there was an ikea here!!!!

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  7. girl you are rocking those jeggings!! seriously!!! i thought about getting some black skinny jeans...i dunno i love my dresses and rompers (and one pair of shorts) lol we need to go shopping one day!!!!! eeeeep!:)

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  8. buying pants is a huge pain in the behind.
    glad to see IKEA looks the same everywhere in the world :D

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  9. I LOVE Pushing Daisies! And your nautical dresses are gorgeous, pretty girl.

    And oh my, I wish we had Ikea in New Zealand. Whenever I go to Sydney I want to spend like a week in Ikea, it's so flipping amazing. And their food is awesome.

    X

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  10. I love so much your blog and it's always making me smile when you post pics of your lovely english bulldog :))) <3 she's so adorable and funny!

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  11. hey,
    I love reading your blog and I just want say that as a plus size girl, you were no way offensive about plus sizes! I have similar issues RE sizing, and I struggle with clothes too. Don't worry, you didn't need to explain what you said, it wasn't insulting :)
    xxx
    L

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  12. aww i love your blog. and look at georgia with her whole head in the mud! that made me lol, for real. :) you're adorable. that's all <3

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  13. I've been a long time lurker of your blog (we're actually lj friends, my lj name is - biphu but I'm rarely on lj anymore) And I just wanted to say I have the same issue as you! my upper body is smaller, I have a small waist & bust line but I have wider hips and bigger thighs so I am a size 12/13 depending on what store and I've always had issues wirh pants/jeans and your blog has encouraged me to wear dresses! I know it's weird but for years I've always been a tomboy and wore jeans and Im 22 now and I feel like I should be more girly, hahaha. I'm in cosmetology school so I've come to the realization that I need to present myself more like a woman, if that makes sense. But all in all I just wanted to say what an absolute inspiration you are, and how gorgeous you are too! Reading some of the posts you have made about body issues has made me come to terms with my own issues as well and to realize that it's okay that I'm a bit bigger and wider than most girls and to flaunt it rather than hide it. So thank you! :)

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  14. Lucy: phew! thank you! I didnt want to come across in anyyyy condescending way so i'm glad i didnt! <3

    Amy: isn't she adorable?!?!

    Alicia: thank you so much for that comment! it seriously made me smile! :D as a former tomboy myself, i can sympathize! after i started wearing dresses and flaunting my body, i became so much more happier and then it was just like an obsession! haha :P <3

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  15. If those glasses are from Target I have them! I had to get used to them too! The shape more than the print. They are cute! They look great on you.

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  17. Not to be a downer or anything, but just so you know, forever 21 clothes, urban outfitter clothes, target clothes, whatever, they're all made in sweatshops as well. So yeah, you shouldn't buy counterfeit bags and shit and that's good you're avoiding them but all of these other places you shop are also using essentially slave labor. Mostly women and children work in these shops and get paid close to nothing for their labor, and they're stuck in terrible living and working conditions.

    Just thought you should know..

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  18. I have kinda that issue though.

    I try on Size UK14 jeans and they are too small. I put on a UK16 and I have to wear a belt to hold them up ALL THE TIME lol.

    I tried wearing dresses but the ones that in fashion at the moment are too short (I mean like really really short) or are maxi dresses and are therefore too long and I trip over them lol. I bought a dress yesterday and am wearing it with trousers today because I realised how short it was lol. So I'm going to try with leggings around the house and see if it's okay before venturing out of the house in the dress with leggings rather than trousers.

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  19. P.S. I buy tops from the plus sizes so that they fit - t-shirts are often too short and ride up around my tummy rather than covering it lol.

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  20. THAT BAG. it is amazing. can you link me to that ebay user if they have other versions? thank you my dear <3

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  21. @catbird: i looked around on ebay (i don't remember the actual seller since this is so old!) but i didn't see any more! if you just search 'tapestry bag' every so often you might come across something! good luck!

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HEY! Thanks for dropping by. xo KB