Cozy 80's sweater and a shopping ban

It's been so cold here lately, so I've been wearing a lot of bulky, cozy sweaters. I love this gray sweater that my aunt gave me. She found it when she was cleaning out her apartment. I think it's from the 80's. It was more obviously 80's before I cut out the shoulder pads, but now I think it looks quite cute. One of my other aunts gave me this necklace. I get so much free stuff from my three aunts, it's ridiculous. Right now I especially appreciate their hand-me-downs, because I'm banned from buying clothes. Josh and I are trying to kill off the rest of our non-student loan debt, so for the next few months I have a clothing budget of $0. So far I've gone a month and a half without buying any clothes, and it's been rough. I don't think I've gone that long without buying clothes for years. I think my no shopping challenge will be good for both our budget, and my frame of mind when it comes to shopping. I don't need to be constantly buying things in order to have a good wardrobe.

Sweater: free from my aunt

Coat: Marks and Spencer

Jeans: Levi's

Boots: Jessica Simpson from Macy's

Hat: H&M

Necklace: free from my aunt

Bracelet: gift

No bun in my oven

This is a maternity dress, but I'm not pregnant. There's no real distinct line separating normal clothes from maternity clothes at Target, so one day I wandered into the maternity section, picked up this dress because it was cute, and didn't realize until I was wearing it in the fitting room that it was maternity. I don't mind too much. The stretchy panel at the waist is nice for those days when I eat just a bit too much :)

And because it was too ridiculous not to share, here is what happened right before we took the first photo in this post...

Dress: Target

Turtleneck: Old Navy

Tights: American Apparel

Boots: Steve Madden from Zappos

Coat: purchased in China

Hat: gift from my aunt

Bracelet: In Pink

Jeans and boots

I've been feeling uninspired lately as far as outfits go. That's not a bad thing - it's not like creating interesting outfits is my job, or a crucial part of my existence. These jeans and boots have been worn a lot, and some of those jeans-and-boots outfits have been more interesting than others. Like this one - the women in my family went nuts when they saw this outfit a few weeks ago. I thought it was fairly simple, but they thought it was awesome, so I figured that meant it was worth posting on this blog.

Since I would feel weird only having one photo in this post (the top one is the only one that turned out), I thought I'd throw in these two below. The first one is my cousin Summer's awesome perfume collection, which I saw at a brunch on Sunday, and the second is my favorite of those perfume bottles, by Nicki Minaj...

Turtleneck: Kohl's

Crocheted vest: Forever 21

Jeans: Levi's

Boots: Jessica Simpson from Macy's

Hat: Albertus Swanepoel for Target

Necklace: Forever 21

Belt: thrifted

Bracelet: In Pink

Perception

This was one of those outfits where I felt like I looked about a hundred times cooler than I actually do in these photos. I like my curvy hips, but this sweater made them look comically large. And to think - I would have been convinced this was an awesome outfit all day long if it weren't for these photos. Sometimes having this blog ruins my perception of my outfits :)

White sweater: thrifted

Jeans: Levi's

Beige boots: Jeffrey Campbell (Rumble boots) from Urban Outfitters

Leopard print hat: Albertus Swanepoel for Target

Pink scarf: Fred Meyer

Necklace: free from my aunt