Anyone home?

It's clearly been a year since I've updated CotC and almost three years since I posted with any regularity. I've been posting outfits on Instagram and got a couple "I miss your blog" comments. I miss it tremendously, but so much has changed in the past few years that it's been hard to keep up with it. I no longer work in a light-filled office, I don't live in a townhouse with a fantastic deck, and I now work from home so most days it's yoga pants and a Skynnard tshirt - super fashionable, right?!

But, I do leave the house a couple times a week, so that's better than nothing!

Dress: Target (from 2009 I think)
Cardigan: Forever 21
Belt: thrifted
Wedges: Nine West

This is what I wore to Weight Watchers. The navy/white dress is my "weigh in dress" so I try to jazz it up differently each week. I have a couple old ways I've worn it I'll post soon.

So what's new, y'all?! Babies? Husbands? Houses? New jobs? Puppies and kittens????

Sunday Best

Inspired by Kimberly, I'm trying to inject more color into my wardrobe. It's so dark and dank that even my husband, who doesn't care what I wear, has taken notice. All I wear is black, grey, and some dark jewel tones. Granted, these colors work for me, but I really do need to jazz it up a little.

So when I saw this dress on crazy clearance at Macy's I had to get it. Seriously. How cute it is??

Dress: Alfani via Macy's (can't find the dress but here's a top in the same pattern)

Shoes: Sofft via Zappos/6pm.com outlet

Necklace: vintage c/o Me-Maw

Bracelets: Old Navy and Me-Maw (the two Me-Maw links go to different posts)

This necklace. Man. I've had it for years and years but never wore it b/c I didn't have anything w/the right neckline. I wear a lot of v-necks and layers so it would get lost. Then I read Tom and Lorenzo's Mad Style review of Mad Men and knew what I had to do. When I saw Megan wearing a similar style necklace (from the same period) I was thrilled.

This pic is from Tom and Lorenzo's site. Please click through to the links above to read their fantastic Mad Men recaps and Mad Style reviews. They're seriously one of the best things on the internet.

My version:

It's hard to tell, but the piece is very textured and super fancy. I loved wearing it. The only thing I'm not 100% sold on is how blousy the top is. I feel like it makes me look puffy but whatever. I suppose the belt pulls things in enough.

The big chop.

Somehow between getting married and life and remodeling a house I sorta forgot to get a hair cut. For 2.5 years...yikes! At about a year in, I realized this and figured, "Hell, if I've gone this long, let's see how long I can go!" So I did.

And here's the hot mess I had on my head:

Is that not the most where's-her-denim-skirt ridiculous hair ever? It was past my waist and was driving. me. crazy. I knew I had to schedule a cut before I cut it myself.

I put out a cry for help on Facebook and learned one of my friend's sisters works for Blades Salon here in Louisville. They do hair donations and make wigs for kids - that's so awesome! After an hour in the chair, here's my after:

Say goodbye to 11-12 inches of hair! I can't believe she cut off A FOOT OF HAIR and I still had long hair. I call that a win-win situation. I get a great new 'do (which was $Free.99, by the way) and got to help out a good cause.

I haven't missed my hair for a second and only wish I had cut it sooner.

Tuesday - Dressing like a grown up

I felt super grown up in this outfit and really liked how it looked. I didn't like when then wind blew up my skirt, but I'm smart and wore giant undies AND petipants AND a slip. You can never be too careful, right?

Pink blouse: Tahari (via TJ Maxx)
Skirt: Jason Wu for Target ($8 on clearance in store)
Cardi: NY&Co
Belt: Target
Necklace: Sarah Balmer
Flats: Target (cheapies I'm wearing into the ground)

Blue & Gold kind of day

Or is this purple and gold?

Dress: Chaps ($9 at Kohl's - 90% off, y'all!)
Shoes: Kate Spade
Watch: Liz Claiborne
Squinty expression: sheer exhaustion

We did some serious work to our house (still remodeling) and HOLY CRAP am I tired. I'll post some pics of what we did later this week. I'll also consider catching up w/the 30-day photo challenge...which I've clearly failed. :-/

Basic black

I wear a lot of black. This we all know. So when given a $20 gift card to Macy's from a coworker, what'd I do? I scoured the sale rack for a black dress. But I already have black dresses. So I had to find one that was special and I think I did :)

Dress: Nine West

Belt: came off another dress

Flats: Stuart Weitzman





























Cute, right? It was originally $118, marked down to $41, and after my gift card and an additional discount at the register, I walked away paying $15 for this dress. I also picked up a pair of dress slacks for $2.99. Can't beat that!!!! All together I saved 75% off retail.

How'd I get an additional discount at the register? I asked for one. Extra 15% for me! It never hurts to just ask the cashier if he or she has any coupons they could use for you. Being extra nice doesn't hurt, but you should be doing that anyway.

The dress is from the petites section and I rarely even darken the door of that section. I'm short, but I'm not petite. This dress has made me a believer and I'll definitely keep my eyes on that section more. The waist and bust are the right length for me and it doesn't bunch up in the back like most dresses do. It's a smidge shorter than I'm used to, but I think the proportions are right. I just think my knees could use some Photoshopping :D

Here's a close up of the adorable inverted pleats on the dress:

Have you scored any great deals lately?

90% off? Yes, please!

Y'all know how I love a sale. I've been eye-balling this sweater at Kohl's since January and it FINALLY went on sale for 90% off. Paying 80% off was clearly just too much for me :)

Sweater: Dana Buchman @ Kohl's 

Jeans: Seven @ DressBarn

Unseen tank: Old Navy

Flats: Kate Spade

Bag: Michael Kors

Sunnies: Target

The light and exposure on this photo is a little off, but that's what I get for taking just one pic and hoping for the best. I really love this sweater and for $7.60, wish it came in every color of the rainbow. The keyhole at the top is crazy low if left unattended. I wore a solid black tank underneath just to err on the safe side. Don't want the boobies hanging out ALL the time, right?

Grey and totally out of my comfort zone

So far, my ploy to get myself to post more often is working! If I was already taking a pic of my shoes, why not the whole outfit, right?

Sequin cardi: Vera Wang for Kohl's
Striped tank: Lands' End
Grey legging? Grey slim pants? Dana Buchman for Kohl's
Pewter pumps: Cole Haan

Okay so these pants? I'd normally never pick them up or even think "Hey, super tight pants would look great on my cellulite!" But at 80% off? I'll give 'em a whirl. These were $8.80 and at that price, if they didn't work for work, they'd be great around-the-house pants. They're a nice, thick fabric and it doesn't cling to my fat - success! They also have some well-placed seams so they're almost slimming. The only thing I can't get out of my head is Michael Kors on Project Runway lamenting how insane the crotch of a pair of pants is. The crotch is super wonky on these. It gives me faux-toe if I'm not standing just right. Classy.

I did buy them two sizes bigger than normal and I'm 100% certain that's why I'm comfortable in them. They're fitted, but they're not too tight and don't pull. Also probably the main reason the crotch is baggy and sketchy. These are similar to what I bought, but not exact.

Have you worn anything out of your comfort zone lately? Details, please!!

30 day photo challenge and some changes

So obviously I don't post here daily, weekly or even monthly sometimes. I need to get back into the habit of snapping daily pics, so I'm going to do this 30 day photo challenge that some of my favorite bloggers are doing. I hope it'll get me back into the habit of taking daily pics. I'm also going to start keeping my camera in my purse. The prospect of GOOD pics has to help, right? :)

I also plan on posting more, in general, on here. My original blogging partners have busy lives and keeping up with this blog is a lot of work for us all. Cute on the Cheap is going to be more of a personal/fashion/food/home remodeling blog now. I hope you'll stick around! Look for a blog redesign soon too! If it looks like crap around here for a while, have faith it'll be cleaned up shortly :)

I felt a little bit like Joan Holloway today.

I didn't look quite as smokin' hot, but I felt great in this dress.

Dress: borrowed from my aunt

Cardi: Kohl's

Belt: Walmart

Shoes: Stuart Weitzman

This is SO not something I'd typically wear to the office (though I totally have a Joanie job now!), but we had a "Go Red for Women" luncheon and were all encouraged to wear red. This is the first time (I think) I've ever work red on this blog as I don't even own anything red.

I didn't want to buy a new dress only to wear it once and didn't find squat at Goodwill. As luck would have it, my aunt walked in to Easter dinner with this on and I about yanked it off her - it was perfect. Fortunately we're the same size!

It has adorable cap sleeves but the weather has been ridiculous here, so I had to wear a sweater to keep from freezing.

Here's a close up of meeeeeeeee from earlier in the day:

I originally had on a necklace but decided to take it off as it was too fussy with the dress. The dress had a super cute ruffled neckline and I wanted it to be the main focus.

Can you believe I've not had a hair cut since I got married (Sept '09)? It's ridiculous. It's so dang long and drives me batshit crazy most days. HOWEVER, I don't want to wack it all off for nothing at this point. Locks of Love requires 10 inches and that's just a little too short for me right now. Guess I'll keep growing it and hope for the best!


Oh and I'd apologize about not ever posting, but that drives me nuts when other bloggers do it. Life's crazy, we're busy, blah blah blah.

Tights for short gals?

Am I missing something? Are there no tights for short ladies? I'm 5'3 and wear a size 14 and I can't find a damn pair of tights to fit me. If they're the right size for my booty, they're WAY too long. It's like they assume all big girls are also tall girls and all short girls are also small girls. This isn't the case, yo!

My patterned tights are SO CUTE yet you can't see the pattern except on the very top of my thighs (that my skirt covers thankyouverymuch). I'm constantly pulling them up all day just so I can see the pattern and justify paying more for them.

Rant over. Bring on the picture:

Top: Dana Buchman via Kohl's

Skirt: Kohl's (another one of Mama's purchases for me)

Tights: George via Walmart

Shoes: Cole Haan

Quick & (not very) Dirty

I hope you're all having a great week! I felt really great in this dress. Super comfortable and pretty flattering. I had a heck of a time trying to find the right necklace to wear with this. I finally just gave up and didn't wear one at all.

Dress: No idea what brand. Mama picked it up for me at Marshall's

Tights: George via Walmart

Belt: Walmart

Flats: Kate Spade

Luck o' the Irish

I'm having zero luck today, kittens. I forgot to put on my slip and I'm having some horrible static cling. UGH. I'm at work w/no hairspray or static spray. I tried rubbing lotion on my thighs but all that did was moisturize my tights. *sigh* Looks like I'm going to Kohl's during lunch!

Dress: Banana Republic

Cardi: gift from Mama

Necklace: Send the Trend

Tights: George via Walmart

Shoes: Kate Spade via Zappos/6pm.com outlet

Bracelets: Old Navy






















I feel a wee bit "costumey" today, but this is as excited as I get for a holiday. I don't get into Halloween or even get up early on Christmas morning (I was, and still am, an odd child), but a holiday involving excessive drinking and short folks? Sign me up!

Remember when I told you Al bought some tights for me? I'm finally wearing the patterned pair and I can't believe it took me so long to get into this. Of course, Spring is just around the corner so I probably won't get too many more wears out of them.

Pretty cute, huh?

Speaking of cute...

I love these shoes so dang much.

This necklace is also on my "favorite things" list!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! Be safe and have fun! Xoxo

TGIF. For real!

In my entire adult life, I've never had a job that didn't require me to work weekends...until now. I *finally* get all that TGIF stuff! It's so nice to KNOW I'll be off work on certain days. I do miss spending Mondays at home, though, and would probably still gladly work a Saturday on occasion. It's nice to have a "me day" where I can lounge on the couch and watch "Mad Men" all day. Don Draper and I enjoy spending time together. Duh.

Cardi: Target

Tank: Lands' End Canvas

Pants: Old Navy

Flats: Kenneth Cole Reaction

Necklace: gift
























Gosh! I really need a better photo spot. Unfortunately, this is the best one and even then, it's iffy.

How cute is this cardigan? I love the fun flowers and soft purple. I've noticed my wardrobe is all black, gray, and purple so get ready to see this color combo a LOT.

These babies are SO CUTE yet this is the first time I've worn them. As you may know, Zappos has a major distribution center in Kentucky. Fortunately for me, it's only about 20 minutes from my house! It's called the 6pm.com Outlet now, but we all still call it the Zappos Outlet :) Anyway, they had a massive Black Friday sale where everything in the store was 70% off the OUTLET PRICE. So those fancy Vera Wang heels that were already 50% off? Take 70% off that!

My buddy Leslie (different than our former favorite blog buddy Leslie) and I met up with Tracey and her cousin, Dawn at 9am when the doors opened. I've never ever gone or done Black Friday before b/c it's just not my bag. But 9am and cheap shoes? That I can handle. Most of the run on shoes seemed to be for mens and kids shoes. It wasn't nearly as crowded as one might expect so it was good. I picked up these for $4 (that's right, $4). They retailed for $42 and are actually kids shoes. They're a size 6 in girls which fits my 7/7.5 feet perfectly. I also snagged some Hunter wellies that I'll post soon!

So...since it's Friday, what are you planning for the weekend? We're going to work in the yard some more and celebrate my grandma's 87th birthday. We've been pruning trees and cleaning/raking our landscaping (or lack there of) in hopes of getting a jump on Spring. I'm hoping to actually have time to have more flowers and a bigger garden this year. Cross your fingers for us!

It's me again, Margaret

I'm having a hell of a time finding a good spot at work to snap a pic. It's too dark in our house in the mornings and it's been too dang cold to go outside. Maybe I'll get this figured out soon 'cause I'm sure you're just DYING out there without me, right? ;)

Sweater: Kohl's

Pencil skirt: Kohl's

Black t-shirt: Old Navy

Tights: George via Walmart

Necklace: gift

Shoes: Calvin Klein

Fake buttons: Dollar Tree




















So since I have to dress up a bit more at the new job, I've had to buy some more clothes. Fortunately, I'm spoiled rotten and my sweet Mama has been going nuts at Kohl's on my behalf. Seriously, they should just rename the store "Mama's." She picked up this sweater and this skirt for me. I don't even have to try this stuff on - it's perfect! I hate shopping (but love to buy) and I can't even begin to tell you how much I've appreciated her picking up sweaters, skirts, and dresses for me and then picking up the tab!

Since I clearly don't shop for myself anymore, I have to fess up that Al even bought these tights. I knew he was stopping by Walmart after work the other night, so I told him to call me when he got there. The poor fella called and said, "Okay. I'm wandering around the lingerie section. Tell me what you want!" Of course they didn't have the plain black (non control top) tights I wanted in stock. So he used his best judgement and picked out these. He also picked out a patterned pair too. I'd have never bought either of these on my own, so I think I should send him out more often!

The only thing that I don't like about this sweater is that it just buttons at the top. I feel kinda smothered sometimes and really needed my neckline open today.

I've lost a few pounds recently so most of my pants have been too big. I was at Dollar Tree (my FAVORITE store) the other day and saw these fake buttons and thought they might be a good solution for my too-big-pants situation. They're made so you can get an extra inch out of your too-small pants, but they do a hell of a job cinching up my pants! Now, that Amazon link doesn't show the same exact buttons I bought, but they're pretty much identical AND they're only $1 for 8 buttons at the Dollar Tree. Seriously - don't buy a thing until you check Dollar Tree first. I get all our allergy medicine, office candy, cleaning supplies, and all sorts of stuff there.

Anyway, back to my sweater situation. It didn't look good unbuttoned and it was smothering me buttoned up top. I kept thinking, "Dang. If only I had buttons HERE." And a light bulb went off. Seriously, it was like one of those infomercials haha. I grabbed the two gray buttons and voila!

Each pack of 8 has 2 black, 2 gray, 2 tan and 2 brown buttons. They're fantastic and totally worth a buck.

I have been snapping pics of partial outfits here and there and may compile them into one big post if I get a chance this week. I've missed you, poodles!!!

Best way to start a new year...

...is with a new job! Without getting into details. let's just say I'm THRILLED to be starting a new job in 2011. I've been with my current company for seven years and was super nervous to interview with a new company. Totally different field, etc. I had to have a professional outfit for the interview and after agonizing for days (and emailing my friends constantly) I found the perfect outfit at Kohl's!

I almost match our shower curtain!!

Dress: Chaps
Blazer: Sag Harbor
Hose: No clue
Shoes: Cole Haan
Pearls: Gift

I'm in love with this dress. It's sooooo comfortable. Note I'm just under 5'3 and it hits just at my knee. If you're taller than me at all, it'll be on the short side. 

It's way dressier than my usual daily outfits and I'm sure I'll be dressing more like this now. We'll see how it affects my blogging. I can't possibly be more absent than I am now so let's hope it inspires me to post more often!

Happy 2011 everyone!!! xoxo

Unseasonably warm

It's 50 in Kentucky today. That's nuts considering it's been in the teens recently. It was so nice to leave my coat at home this morning!!

Cardi: Lands End
Tank: Lands End
Pants: Worthington via JCP
Belt: J. Crew
Shoes: Cole
Necklace: gift

Weekend outfit

I've really fallen off the outfit wagon, haven't I? I've been so obsessed with getting our house done that I can't think of anything other than paint, flooring and an occasional end table.

I wore this to meet up with Tracey for drinks and she asked me if I had taken a picture b/c I looked cute. Of course, I hadn't so I took this when I got home. I clearly need to find a good spot in the house for pics!

Cardi: Target

Top: Old Navy

Jeans:Old Navy (I hate these jeans and they've since been replaced)

Scarf:giveaway from Athena

Flats: Unlisted via 6pm.com Outlet (formerly Zappos Outlet)

I've only worn this scarf once before, but it is one of my favorites.

My beloved Sam Edelman flats are officially dead. I've had them resoled once but they're too worn out for that to even fix them this time :(

I went to the 6pm.com Outlet a couple of weeks ago in search of new black flats as I've had ZERO luck in stores. I found these for $15 and they'll do for now. They're not leather, but they're so darn cute I couldn't resist.

Unfortunately they rub my heel a little, so it'll take some more breaking in to see if they'll be a suitable replacement.



CSN Stores has kindly asked me to do a review for them and is sending me a $75 gift card. I'm awfully pumped and can't wait to share what I find with you all!

Pants!

We are finally having some beautiful fall weather here in Kentucky!!

Cardi: Target
Tank: Banana Republic
Pants: Worthington ($17 @ JCP)
Heels: Cole Haan Fiona
Necklace: gift

It's October? Really??

This weekend it was 91 in Louisville. That's hardly October-like temperatures, y'all. To say I'm not thrilled would be an understatement. I LOVE cooler weather and I'm convinced we're going to go right into winter and skip fall all together. We skipped spring so why not skip fall while we're at it?



Dress and cardi: Target
Shoes: Michael Kors