You guys, I’m going to preface this by saying I never win anything. Like, I never win stuff. Not even lame things. I just don’t win things. But I still enter contests for the heck of it.

Well, a couple weeks ago on one of my fave wedding blogs, Green Wedding Shoes, Jen (the editor) was holding a JEWELMINT contest.

Now, I’d drooled over Jewelmint for a while, but through wedding planning and saving money, I couldn’t justify $29.99 to join – even though I REAAAAAAAAAALLY wanted to.

Well, I entered the GWS Jewelmint contest and low and behold… I WON. I was SO EXCITED. I won $150 credit (which is basically the equivalent of five pieces of jewelry) – PLUS there was a promo for a BOGO piece of jewelry if it was your first time. So, BOOM. SIX pieces of jewelry. FREE. No shipping. NOTHING.

I was pumped.

I mean, the MOST money I spend on accessories is like $3 in the Target or Wal-mart clearance section. Seriously.

In short, Jewelmint is a “subscription” service where you join and pay $29.99 a month – and each month you get a new piece of jewelry (of your choice) – free shipping. You can like, skip a month, and whatnot… so it’s not like you’re locked in to a contract or anything. I think you can also buy credits too… OH and you can refer people and get free credits, too.

Now, I’m not being sponsored by Jewelmint or anything – I just figured I’d explain what it is for those who are curious! Cause I had no idea what it was when I first heard about it.

You may have also heard of Stylemint (clothes) or Shoemint (shoes, duh) – and OH MAN, they’re coming out with HOMEMINT. Yeah. HOME GOODS. Designed by JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE. WOOP.

Anyway, my Jewelmint prize / order came in yesterday and I was SO SO SO excited! I felt like it was my birthday, or something. I thought I’d share with you guys what I got. Honestly, even though I got all the pieces for free cause of the GWS contest, I would totally subscribe to this. I don’t think I’d do it EVERY month (cause that’s just not practical) – but for $29.99 and no shipping and REALLY good quality, unique jewelry, I’d do it again.

Just saying.

Sorry I ramble so much.

On to the jewelry:

I love the packaging!

Plume Paradise Earrings

The Shanghai Eclipse Pendant

The Atlantis Pendant

Natural Beauty Bracelets

Maasai Tribal Bangle

Garden Patch Trio Bangles

My Polyvore Board of my Jewelmint Items

You guys, before this past Saturday, I had never been to High Point Furniture Market.

My father-in-law has worked in international sales for Century Furniture for almost 25 years. So, the FIL got hubs and I passes and since High Point is only about an hour or so drive from Chapel Hill, we decided to make a day of it. (I even got to spend time with my sister and the nephew later that day! SCORE!)

Well, even though we only saw the Century and Highland House (Highland House is also owned by Century) showrooms, I was in home decor heaven. Seriously. Oh, and the number of QUATREFOILS was insane. It was like they were taunting me with all their beautiful quatrefoils. SERIOUSLY. AHHH. SO MANY QUATS.

Now, of course 99% of it I could never afford, but hey, a girl can dream.

I also took a TON of pictures. Like, 726 to be exact. I have narrowed them down for you to my FAVORITE rooms. If you are REALLY curious to see other rooms, you can let me know and I’ll post more.

Now, I am not a professional photographer and these were all taken on my cell phone and Nikon point & shoot… so don’t judge.

Also, since I know you’re probably just DYING to know, here’s what I wore on Saturday:

(nothing fancy, I know, but we were doing a TON of walking around so I wanted to make sure I was comfortable)

Here’s my Polyvore inspiration board:

NOW, on to the Home Decor HEAVEN!!

Look at this GORGEOUS quat chair:

I think you can gauge how fancy someone is by how large the magnifying glass on their coffee table is.

I honestly want to know what this is.

This teal and yellow room reminded me of Katelyn James haha!

I love this place setting idea for the fall or Thanksgiving. Heck, even Christmas. I don’t know why I’m seduced by old books all the time, but I am.

More Oscar de la Renta…

This was probably my favorite room in the WHOLE PLACE. Oh my gosh. It’s OSCAR DE LA RENTA. It has a quat mirror. GORGEOUS walls. GORGEOUS bedding. I love it all.

Phew. Okay. You still with me?

I am linking up with SIMPLY SARAH for this one! WOOT! She’s awesome and is doing a “Pinterest Inspired” link-up!

You guys, there’s this website called Pinterest. Have you heard of it?

*sarcasm*

Anywho. So, last fall, I saw a pin of an outfit and immediately FELL IN LOVE with it. I saw the photo and thought, “Oh my gosh I want to wear that. That outfit is probably a million dollars or something.” Well, I did a little click through and BOOM, saw that the skirt that went with the outfit was a cool $10.91. PLUS Free shipping. WHAT?! Call it ORDERED.

I knew the rest of the outfit would be a cinch.

Well, here’s the photo / pin that started it all:

Photo via ASOS. Sadly, the skirt is sold out right now, but they may bring it back in stock soon!

So, I ordered the skirt and I LOVE it. Well, I tried to replicate the outfit. How do you think I did?

you guys, i am not ashamed of this photo at all. i am weird and dang proud of it. HAHA!

Outfit Deets:

• Skirt, ASOS
• Shirt – $12 – Merona / Target (old, but still available)
• Boots – No idea, they’re like, easily 10 years old. The branding is rubbed off the bottom of them.
• Belt – Target (old)
• Necklace – Wal-mart clearance

What do you think? Would you wear this? Did I nail it? Was this a miss? What sweet deals have you found lately? Tell me a story.

xoxox, all for now.

You guys. I’d be lying to you if I said I haven’t been wanting a navy blue and white striped blazer for a while. It’s just one of those pieces I’ve wanted in my closet for what feels like a long, long time. Not sure why, I just have. However, I’ve never wanted to cough up the cash for one. I just don’t buy new clothes very often.

Like, rarely. If ever.

I’m trying to build a little money here or there in MY personal cash budget* to start getting some new stuff because A LOT of what I own is outdated. Now, I can’t do this a lot because when you’re married and you share a budget and finances – you have to think totally about the other person and I don’t want to spend all our money on clothing.

*SIDE NOTE ABOUT THE CASH BUDGET: one thing that has been awesome is hubs and I have built in to our joint budget is a small amount of cash for each of us. Those “John Cash” and “Molly Cash” lines in our budget are literally sums of cash we get to spend however we want during that month. No questions asked. That way, if hubs wants to go to Home Depot and get a new saw or something for the front yard, he can. If I want to go to Marshall’s and spend money on a new blazer, I can. Obviously there are exceptions, but sticking to that system has been good. We’re a couple months into this thing and that’s working out well for us.

Anywho.

Back on track.

But also, this whole “blogging what I’m wearing” thing has been a lot of fun because it has begun to force me to look at the pieces I DO have in my closet and resurrect them, if you will.

You know, think outside the box and gather inspiration from around the web and people I see on the street and see if I can be inspired by that style with things I already have. Now, I don’t mean copy their style – but be inspired to take that style and make it my own.

With ALL that being said… I went to Marshall’s last week and found this AWESOME striped blazer for $19. WOOHOO! Fit perfectly in my cash budget. WIN.

Now, the Dilemma I referenced in the title of this post is WHAT TO WEAR ON BOTTOM. I was seriously struggling. I couldn’t decide what bottom I wanted to wear with the blazer.

Here were my choices:

Outfit Deets (left to right):

• Striped Blazer – Marshall’s ($19) – now, I couldn’t find the EXACT one online, but here’s one that’s close enough for government work from Gap
• Blue Ruffle Shirt – Target ($6 on clearance – OLD)
• Skirt – Banana Republic – (OLD)
• Shoes – Rack Room Shoes (OLD)
• Pink Skirt – Lilly Pulitzer (OLD)
• Steve Madden Sandals (OLD – got them at DSW)
• Necklaces – The Yellow one is Kazuri beads (got them when I was on my mission trip in Kenya) – the teal one I have no idea

Outfit Deets (from left to right):

• Striped Blazer – Marshall’s ($19) – now, I couldn’t find the EXACT one online, but here’s one that’s close enough for government work from Gap
• Blue Ruffle Shirt – Target ($6 on clearance – OLD)
• Necklace – No idea where I got it…
• Navy Shorts – JCrew 5″ Chino – (Old, but they still make them)
• White Shorts – Vineyard Vines – (Old)

Here’s what I ended up wearing:

Outfit Deets:

• Striped Blazer – Marshall’s ($19) – now, I couldn’t find the EXACT one online, but here’s one that’s close enough for government work from Gap
• Blue Ruffle Shirt – Target ($6 on clearance – OLD)
• Skirt – (Really old from JCrew)
• Shoes – Steve Madden (old but I got them from DSW)

Okay, what do you think? Are these good prospects? What would you have worn it with? Do they all work? Do some not work? I want to hear feedback cause, you know, I’m just trying to figure this thing out. That’s why it’s called an ATTEMPT at fashion.

xoxo, All for now.

You know, I keep talking about how lucky I am. Seriously. I just feel super blessed. And there’s a whole lot of random stuff making me happy right now. I try to not forget the little things. The things that we can take for granted. So, I thought you guys might like to know the random whatnot that’s making me happy. Right now.

I painted my nails. “Ballet Slippers” by Essie.

I painted my toes, too. TIFFANY BLUE, y’all. This is the “For Audrey” polish by China Glaze.

My husband snuggling on the couch with our dogs.

Chipotle. Burritos. You know, that thing.

THESE MACHINES. Now, I know not everyone knows how to use them, but I loooooove them. Diet Coke with multiple flavors for EVERYONE!

Husband bringing me a Diet Coke… in a monogrammed “M” coozie… when I’m putting away laundry.

That’s all making me happy and whatnot right now.

What about you? What’s making you happy right now?

xoxo, all for now.

You guys. Thank you for the words of affirmation yesterday. You know my love language all too well. Seriously, I appreciate you when you let me jokingly be self-deprecating. I know self-deprecation is not attractive, but I, you know, do comedy. And make the funnies. So, it’s all a bit.

Anywho.

I also ramble a lot. In case you haven’t noticed. It’s kinda mah thang.

I love cowboy boots. I always have, but it wasn’t cool or socially acceptable to wear them where I lived in Virginia. So when I moved to North Carolina, it was finally okay for me to bust out the boots!

I also love dresses. I love dresses because you look like you’re trying, when in reality you’re more comfortable than you would be if you were wearing jeans. Or a suit. UGH. Suits.

Then I love the combo of a good dress and cowboy boots. I mean, heck, we all wore boots in our wedding.

So, since I’m working on reviving the fashion sense a bit and the temps are getting warmer, I’ve been busting out the dresses + boots.

Whattya think?

Outfit #1

The Outfit Deets:

• Dress: JCrew Factory (really old)
• Cardigan: JCrew Factory (really old)
• Belt: JCRew Factory (yeah, really old)
• Scarf: Pashmina
• Pink Boots: eBay!! I got them for $17 for my wedding! You can get them here for $59, though!
• Jewelry: Rustic Gem (bought for my wedding)

Also, I’ve been playing around on Polyvore (some… I started an account last Summer and wasn’t sure what to do with it… haha) and, although these are OBVIOUSLY not the same items (except for the boots) – it’s just a little inspiration for you. I’m quickly learning that you don’t have to have the EXACT same items to make an outfit work. It’s all about working with what you have! And as you can see by how many “really old” items I have, I’m working with what I got.

my attempt at a model face. i'm not too sure i got it.

my cray cray face

The Outfit Deets:

• Dress: Urban Outfitters (Designer is “Lux” – this dress is like upwards of 6 years old… haha)
• Cardigan: JCrew Jackie Cardigan in Navy (old, but a staple of JCrew)
• Necklace – Kohl’s Jewelry (clearance!)
• Boots: I got them for $10 from a thrift store around here. It looks like the brand is “Rodeo Drive” but who knows…

And here’s your Polyvore inspiration board:

Cobalt Cowgirl by mollystillman featuring knit tops

photography by Katelyn James Photography

Did you have a good weekend? I had a great weekend. Productive weekend. Fun weekend. Relaxing weekend. I love weekends.

For realsies. Okay, enough small talk. Let’s get to it.

There’s a part of me that is somewhat embarrassed that I’m continuing to share these fashion attempts with you guys. But then there’s a part of me that doesn’t give a rip. It seems like you guys like sharing in my learning experiences and risk taking, so for now, I’m gonna continue to post these. K? K.

I’d really love to hear your thoughts, ideas, suggestions. I have a feeling that you guys (the collective of you guys) are much better at this than I am.

++++

How sweet is this truck? There was an old car show going on outside the BBQ place where Hubs and I had dinner last week.

• Shirt – Goodwill
• Blazer – Belk
• Necklace & Bracelet – JCrew Warehouse Sale
• Jeans – Seven for All Mankind (got ‘em on eBay!)
• Shoes – TOMS

I’m kind of obsessed with this $5 shirt I got from Old Navy. It’s neon. It’s comfy. And it was $5. WOOT.

• Shirt – Old Navy – $5 (Similar)
• Jeans – Seven For All Mankind (really old)
• Shoes – Converse All Star (really old)
• Necklace – I made it, yo

• Shirt – Target – $3 (clearance! …a long time ago)
• Skirt – JCrew (old)
• Shoes – Rack Room Shoes (old)
• Belt – Target ($5)
• Necklace and Earrings - Kazuri Beads

I just thought it was hilarious that my dog was judging my clothes picture taking.

• Sequin Shirt – Express (but purchased at Plato’s Closet for $7!)
• Black Sweater – Express (purchased at Plato’s Closet)
• Necklace – Kohl’s Jewelry (clearance section)
• Jeans – Citizens For Humanity (old)
• Shoes – Target (old)
• Dog – Her name is Audrey Hepburn

• Shirt – Ralph Lauren Polo (got it at the outlet – it’s really old though)
• Cardigan – JCrew Factory
• Necklaces – Wal-Mart clearance
• Jeans – Seven for All Mankind
• Shoes – TOMS

What do you guys think? Yay? Nay? What’s your favorite? What do you do when you’re trying to reinvent your wardrobe without buying new stuff? Cause that’s what I’m trying to do… 

Happy Monday!

xoxo, All for now.

Missed a post this week? Never fear. Links are here! 

still being [molly] posts:

• My Attempt at Fashion: It’s Okay to Mix Animal Prints? 
• Date Night & Loretta Lynn
• My Super DIY Teacup Shelf Kitchen Thing
• The Stillman Wedding: Our First Dance and an Easy DIY Craft
• 52 in 52: Cuban Revolution

rAVe Blog Posts (aka: what i’m doing at work):

• rAVeSMB Tip of the Week: Top 5 Ways to Create a Brand
• rAVeSMB: Google+ Got a Redesign Overhaul
• Fuggedaboutit Friday: Inappropriate Woo’ing
• The Power of Innovation and What We Do

my family at MY auntie's tea!

You guys. I am SO happy to have this project completed!

Ever since our wedding, I have been searching and searching and searching and testing and finagling different things to find a solution to my conundrum / problem / desire / whathaveyou: I needed a sweet display and/or shelf for my teacups in our kitchen.

You’re probably thinking, “WHAT? Teacups? You’re not British. Or old.”

You’re correct!

(You’re gonna need to scroll down to see the project and the transformation… you know, if you wanna skip my rambling).

However, here’s the dealio. In my family, the Buckley aunts always throw the bride-to-be a tea party – the “Auntie’s Tea”, if you will, before the wedding. Each aunt, cousin (female), and sister come to this special event for the bride-to-be and we have tea and delicious scones and desserts and giggles and everyone gives the bride-to-be a teacup (and saucer… duh). No two teacups are the same – they are each unique – as unique as the bride and the person from whom it was gifted.

My tea was SO perfect. My AMAZING cousins and aunts threw it for me at the CAROLINA INN. What?! Crazy! That place is wicked nice. They clearly worked SO hard and it was beautiful and I felt so blessed!

The tea is a tradition that’s been in my family as long as I can remember and I love it. It’s such a special, unique, fun time to celebrate with the Buckley gals before a Buckley gal is no longer a Buckley gal. Well, she’ll always be a Buckley gal… but you know what I mean. Before she gets a new name.

Anywho.

I’ve been wanting a cool way to display them because I love them all so much and they mean so much to me. The teacups… not my cousins or aunts.

I tried shelves from Target, Home Goods, Wal-mart… you name it. I searched. No shelves were deep enough for the saucers.

Then I turned to CRAIGSLIST. And with enough will power and enough know-how, I found a BOOKSHELF that was perfect. WOOP!

SO, I present to you… the Great DIY Teacup Kitchen Shelf Redo Project Thing!

(My apologies, in advance, for the less than stellar quality of the photos… my good camera broke so I’m working with my point + shoot and my cell phone… it’s cool. You get the gist).

Check her out… $20 on Craigslist. WHATWHAT! Now, she needed some fixing up. So I spent $20 on the shelf and then $6 on a can of Rustoleum White Satin Spraypaint. I had the sandpaper already laying around our house.

‘Nutha angle. She’s a beaut. I wish that blue matched ANYTHING in our house cause I actually liked it. But oh well.

Hubs helped me sand while I photographed. I did sand some, but I needed to take a picture and he didn’t want to waste time dilly-dallying.

All sanded!

Madam shelf is ready for her closeup:

Now, I, of course, started painting and didn’t get a picture of the painting process. WOOPS. My bad. I was in the painting zone. But it wasn’t difficult. HOWEVER, I did run out of spray paint. UGH. I knew I should have gotten two cans. Now, luckily, I had some extra white paint on hand… it was just in a can and not as easy to spray on. So the last little bit of the painting process was a major frustration for me. Oh well. It got done.

Voila! She’s painted. Now, this is technically a floor bookshelf. So in order to mount it on the wall – we needed to brace it. Again, because we’re a handy household, we happened to have two extra white braces laying around that worked perfectly to mount the shelf.

I traced the holes on the wall with pencil for ONE side to get an idea of where it would fit.

We had to measure the distance equally on each side (5.5″ to be exact) of where the braces were to go. We lightly screwed them into the 2nd shelf BEFORE mounting it to the wall. That way we had some give once we were ready to put it on the wall.

Another brace, yo.

We held up the shelf to get it level and traced the holes of the braces. (I know you don’t see the braces here but we switched things up and this is what I have a picture of… you get the point...:))

Hubs was excited to do this part. Once we got the holes where the anchors were traced, it was time for DRILL BABY, DRILL. I have already messed up too many holes in the walls of our home… so I have banned myself from using the drill… for now. Besides, this is his favorite part.

Then we put the anchors in.

(I love how our wall looks like some alien!)

Obviously it was tough for us to drill, tighten the screws, and take photos at the same time – all while holding up the shelf – so I don’t have pics of that part… but TA-DA! There she is. In her boring plain self (I also know she looks crooked – she’s not.. I promise..) … but wait…

TA-DA! TA-DA! YAY! Look at it! Decorated! Teacups, knick-knacks, books, and all! I LOVE it. It’s fun, quirky, and SO sentimental. I love that it’s not PERFECT. I love that it looks old. I love that it’s different. Every single thing on that shelf has a big meaning to us (and to me, for sure) that it’s the perfect thing to see every day in our kitchen. AND makes a great conversation piece.

Another view.

Some of the teacups on the bottom shelf. (I also put a sticker on the bottom of each cup indicating who in my family it’s from).

AHHHHHH A PHI MU TEACUP! I literally squealed when I opened this one. AND it was from my sister! SO perfect!

I put old cookbooks on one side of the shelf and some of my Audrey Hepburn books on the other – because Audrey Hepburn books certainly belong on a teacup shelf. I mean, I’m just saying.

And… you guys… this is like a quarter of the Audrey books I have. It’s bad. The obsession is bad. Anywho.

And on the top shelf is the 150+ year old Bible that my cousin Grey carried in our wedding as our ring bearer. That Bible means so much to us and I love having it displayed prominently in our house!

Anyway! That’s it! That’s the Great DIY Teacup Kitchen Shelf Redo Project Thing. All in all, the project cost me $26 and some sweat. No too shabby.

What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Anything you would have done differently? What projects are you working on?

Be nice now.

Also, who’s coming over for tea?! WE CAN TALK IN BRITISH ACCENTS AND BE FANCY AND PRETEND WE’RE IN A JANE AUSTEN NOVEL… y’all!

xoxo, All for now.

Hubs and I had a much needed date night last Saturday.

It’s so important, no matter how busy we get, to take the time to be together ALONE and date each other. Even if you’re not married – it’s so important to date your boyfriend, girlfriend, fiancé. Heck, even your best friend. Quality time with our best friends is SO important.

Anywho. I had two tickets to see LORETTA LYNN! Yes. THE country music legend, Loretta Lynn! I had gotten the tickets last summer when I still worked at the radio station and co-hosted a radio show with the folks at the Durham Performing Arts Center – they knew I loved Loretta and so they gave me two tix and a VIP parking pass. WOOT. The show was SUPPOSED to be in October but Loretta got sick (she is almost 77!) And then it got postponed again. And again.

But the show FINALLY happened last Saturday.

I’ll tell you all about where we had dinner on Friday… but in the meantime, here’s some fun DATE NIGHT wear (and a little Loretta).

YOU GUYS. I got this shirt from GOODWILL for $3. WHATWHAT!

Outfit Deets:

• Shirt – Goodwill ($3)
• Necklace – Wal-Mart ($5 – sale rack, whatwhat!)
• Earrings and bracelet – Rustic Gem (jewelry from my wedding)
• Jeans – Seven for All Mankind ($10 on eBay – Similar here)
• Shoes – Nine West (Belk – $59 on Sale)

I can’t tell you how excited I was about finding that shirt. I have learned that when you’re thrift / goodwill shopping – you gotta look deep into the rack and see the potential in a shirt. [i.e. can you dress it up with jewelry? Or a blazer? Or a vest? Who knows? The possibilities are endless!]

What do you think? Love? Hate? Be honest! Any fab finds for you lately?

[Hubs still hates getting pictures taken. It's cool. He'll get used to it eventually.]

+++

Can’t forget to show you a little Loretta!

How bad are ladies restroom lines now that we have to have an entire person DEDICATED to indicating where the line begins?! *le sigh*

You guys. This is Kacey Musgraves. She opened for Loretta. SHE WAS AWESOME. I feel like she could blow up any day. She was amazing. For reals.

Then LORETTA came out. SHE WAS SO FABULOUS. Check out that SWEET teal dress! I feel like Katelyn James would love it. haha.

Loretta’s grandson came out and played some songs he “wrote.” It was hilarious.

How amazing is that dress? Haha (sorry for the crappy photo quality. it was my iPhone in a dark theater. gimme a break).

I took some videos on my iPhone. Image quality isn’t great – but the sound is good. You can hear a twinge of age in her voice, but in general, she’s as good as ever! I hope I’m that fab when I’m 77.

Loretta sings “You Ain’t Woman Enough to take My Man”