Thriftanista in the City

Birthday morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed. She loves Daddy - of course, he's still the rock star and she goes bananas when he walks through the door. dancing - she's so excited about standing and moving. She wildly wave her arms around and bounces up and down to the beat of her own drum. books - Petting Farm  is still her favorite book. hugs - she is very free with the hugs. She hugs us and all her toys. Kisses? Not so much. She sleeps We started a new routine about 4 weeks ago that has been working pretty well (except for last night). I dreamfeed her before I go to bed between 10:30 and 11p and then no feedings again until 5a which has really turned out to be around 4:30a. I can live with that. She did have 2 or 3 rough nights of crying. We just comforted her and offered her water. So she basically sleeps from 7p to 4:30a. Most of the time she will go back for another hour of sleep. Next step is to get her to 6a and maybe even 7a! Her naps have...

I'm not really into floral patterns but this one was ok. The print is more jungle then garden flower (make sense?). I was really drawn to the tunic style of the collar and the elastic waist. It's a little bit long and a little bit big though. It didn't seem so big in Unique's mirror. I should have left it behind but since I have it...I belted it. Maybe one day I'll get around to chopping off some of the length and/or divide it into 2 pieces. The envelop clutch is also thrifted. I really wanted to show the pretty shell closure but alas my hand is covering it. Next time. Note to self: fix clothing after breast-feeding. Do you wear floral prints? Jungle, garden, neither?

As you may or may not know, I love free sh*t. One of my favorite ways to obtain free stuff is to enter blog contests and giveaways. I've been very lucky the past few weeks to win 2 books! Yay!! Book #1: Substitute Me by Lori Tharps I've been a subscriber to Ms. Tharp's blog My American Melting Pot since reading her book Kinky Gazpacho . I love travel memoirs and her Spain adventure is one of my favorites. I've had the new book on my Goodreads list for a while and I'm so happy that I'll have the opportunity to read it. I can take as long as I want too! I'm such a slow reader now. image borrowed from Goodreads Book #2: Simplicity's Fabric Guide: The Ultimate Fiber Resource from Sixth & Spring Books I entered a contest from Stacy Sews . I follow her on Twitter and picked up the blog from her bio. I'm so glad to add this one to my sewing library. A fabric guide was my one missing collection essential. Now if I can just get some sewin...

China Glaze Spontaneous Found this in my nail polish grave yard and I love it! I should wear this one more often. It's really creamy and easy to apply. Sinful Colors Cloud 9 and Let's Meet mixed together Still searching for that right shade of yellow orange. I experimented with the colors I had on hand. I like the color pictured. It's less yellow and more orange in real life. I'll have to get a pic in the sunlight. Sally Hansen polish that I can not find, Sinful Colors Mint Apple or LA Colors with an unknown name as V ate the sticker with the name on it. What ever it is, it's cute. I hope it's not the one I lost. I normally switch to darker colors or classic reds in the colder months. I really like all the experimentation I did this summer though. Maybe I'll keep it going. Do you paint your nails according to the seasons?

The tunic is from the epic thrift haul. There's really nothing special about it except for the fact that it was $0.45. I would have probably left it behind but at that price...why not bring it home? The jeans are from a recent thrift date I had at Goodwill with GirlGetALife*, Latiffany, Laila, and goldhoneebee. They were $7.99. Goodwill has really nice well organized items and the thrift store smell isn't quite as potent. I guess you have to pay extra for that. The fit is perfect and they are super stretchy. I like dark colored denim and these are practically black.  FACT: They are the only pair of jeans I own that don't have that huge gaposis in the back or some other fitting issue. The jeans are originally from Akira. They aren't that expensive so I may splurge and buy a couple of BRAND NEW pairs. I need more jeans that fit well. I'm a dress and heels kinda girl but that doesn't really fit into my lifestyle right now. This outfit is perfect as an every...

I bought this romper during the epic thrift haul event with BFF. I love rompers and I'm glad they've made a small comeback this summer. This one features lovely coconut shell buttons and a paisley pattern that reminds me of my  South African  fabric. It has pockets too! True story: I've been unknowingly wearing it backwards. I put it on this morning and a noticed the pocket on my back. How did I miss that? So now that I know the buttons are in the back this makes it a little bit more difficult to wear and it's definitely not breast-feeding friendly. I could continue to wear it the other way too. I would have to remove the button and wear my hair down so it's not so noticeable. Romper - $2.80 The shoes are also from the haul. Ooooweee! I love shoes with a wedge. I love ankle straps. These were meant for me. The red patent with gold buckles look so good together. Good way to add a little POW to your outfit! WOA: To clean your new to you thrift store sho...

Asleep holding her bestie.

We finally had our first date sans V over the weekend. I had a great time. We went to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes. SN: any fans out there? I love the movies and tv show. After, we had a leisurely lunch at Zapatista. We don't normally have too many problems dining out with V, it still felt good to just relax, have some drinks, talk to each other and not have to entertain La Baby. We will have to add a "no babies allowed" day to our regular schedule. We'll also need to recruit some more day sitters. She wore my sister out with her crying. Now I know I'm not overreacting when I say this girl can keep the water works going.  When we dropped her off she started to get clingy. I think she could smell our escape plan. We took an extra long time saying goodbye. When we returned about 5 hours later, she had tears in her eyes. Sucky sucks. She was also very excited to see us. She talked all the way home even though we had a long drive so close to her bedtime....

I have been searching for a mango/papaya color polish. Sinful Colors' Let's Meet (love that name, you know I love a meetup) was pretty close. The color wasn't as deep as I thought it would be. It kind of blends with my skin tone and looks more like a neutral shade on me. There are some beautiful shimmery bits in it too. It looks great in the sun.  If you spot a good yellow orange-y color, let me know. After reading Ellen's comment about using a bonder, I went out and purchased Orly's Bonder. My polish did last a bit longer and chipped less. The polish looked pretty good around day 4. Day 5 I washed my hair so it looked a mess after. I'm going to cut my nails even shorter and see if I can get a little bit more wear out of the next polish. Happy Friday!

I bought this top at Village Discount Outlet on a recent thrift binge with BFF. We had so much stuff. I spent $36 (15 items) which is $16 over my normal limit but I liked everything and couldn't leave anything behind. This was an epic thrift adventure! I love the colors of the psychedelic print. It was also flattering when I tried it on. It can be a a vest or a shirt. Even though my arms are fully exposed (no likey), I loved the look. It's part Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and part Jem (shout out to the mamas born in the 70s). I hesitate a bit when I buy the older rags because I don't want to look like a complete throwback. Pairing it with the maxi dress makes it look more current. I like it. When thrifting, do you look for more modern pieces or venture into previous decades?

I definitely know what I'm getting her for her birthday.

UPDATE: More  pics  from our day at the beach.

Always looking for bewb. After lugging the breast pump kit on our road trip and not using it, I asked myself why am I still doing this? Most days I only pump once a day so that V is given a bottle at night. In the beginning, I was doing it so that He could be involved in the bedtime routine.  I later got it in my head that she wasn't getting a nice full tummy before bed as she "snacks" (short and frequent nursing sessions) throughout the day thereby leading to frequent waking at night. Doesn't it always come back to sleep? I'm obsessed with it. Now I've just come to accept the sleep is bananas and her all day nursing is bananas. So I've bid adieu to the milking machine. If I'm not around He gives her formula. Two nights ago she had formula before bedtime and slept from 7pm to 4:30am. Amen! Last night she got bewb and woke up twice. I may just start giving her formula before bed for the next 4 weeks. I've been cashing in the for...