Say No to Tobacoo; Yes to Ciagarette... Pants

Cigarette pants have a silly name but they sure are cute. I feel like a little French girl who should be eating at an outdoor cafe in mine. I got mine at Forever 21 and wear them to work and my internship whenever I don't feel like wearing a dress or skirt. The shirt is from Goodwill but it is Gap brand so it is great quality and fit. The necklace is from Plato's and I tied it in the back to make it hang higher up on me. I wore this to dinner after work at an outdoor cafe in Indianapolis, so I realized my dream, or at least partially.

Tonight I am going to Indy's Irish Fest. What are you guys doing?

Unpaid Intern? No problem!

 Mint green makes another appearance today! I wore this to my internship, which has a business casual dress code. This outfit was actually inspired by an outfit I pinned on Pinterest (right). I had actually seen this skirt at Goodwill and left it, then saw the inspiration photo, and went back and bought the skirt. A lot of old lady suits come in fun colors. This skirt, I believe, was once a part of a suit. The skirt is not quite my size, but with the belt it worked out just fine. I really love mint and navy together. How about you?

The navy sweater was a clearance find from Old Navy. Long weekends, like Labor Day and Martin Luther King Day, usually bring GREAT clearances to stores. This particular sale was on MLK weekend and made the clearance an extra 30% off. I don't think I paid more than 6 dollars for the sweater. The belt and shoes have made appearances before on the blog.

I've bought tons of skirts for my internships that were previously owned. As an unpaid intern, it's hard to look professional when you aren't making any money! I look for skirts at Goodwill that are either at or below the knee and that fit but are not too tight. If there is a slit in the back, make sure it doesn't go up too high!
Here are my favorite internship finds from consignment stores:

There really is a skirt for every occasion there, right?

Barbecue Birthday

Today is my best friend's 24th birthday! She is the one who suggested I start blogging. She herself runs an awesome blog about the DIY projects she does and then sells at an antique / artisan mall. Check it out here!

For her birthday party, I found some darling yellow gingham shorts at Goodwill in the 50% off section! I love Goodwill more than any other consignment store for a multitude of reasons, which I may post on another blog. I felt like the gingham gave the right picnic vibe.

I colorblocked with a mint green shirt also from Goodwill. I have been obsessed with mint green lately. If you go on Pinterest, you will discover the rest of the world is as well. I paired the shirt with my mint green loafers and the navy scarf from the last post, both from Target. I put a yellow bow on my head, which was purchased at Dollar Tree. I love getting hair accessories there.

Much better than the last picture, right?

The party was lots of fun.

Soon, I hope to post how to turn a frumpy lady dress from consignment into a contemporary dress you'd see at any chic boutique.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog, everyone. On this blog, I plan on posting my outfits that I have created from my small graduate student budget. I hope to share some awesome budget style tips I've picked up along the way. My wardrobe is about 60% clearance items, 30% thrift and consignment, and 10% bargain store merchandise I've paid full price for. I love to style things you would expect to be hideous into cute outfits!

Today I started a new job. I also started playing around with how to take good full-body pictures of myself. I hope to get better at both of these :)For the first day of my new job, I decided to go business casual with a creative twist. I love the color green, so I made sure my skirt and shoes said as much about me as possible. Here's the first, somewhat sad, attempt at a self-picture.

WOOPS FLASH.