WIWW 41

Today completes my first week of the Fashion 30. My self inflicted shopping hiatus. For 30 days I am requiring myself to shop the closet, avoid the sales, and get creative restyling what I already own. Not too complicated when I avoid the mall. Sunday we were at the movie at the mall theater. The girls saw Frozen (loved it!) and the boys saw a Hobbit sequel. We were out before the boys with an hour to spare. Nothing else to do but window shop. Luckily I had my daughter who acts like the angel on my shoulder. You aren't made of money is what she likes to tell me. Which is what I tell her when she is begging for a $50 cat sweatshirt at Abercrombie or a fourth pair of Vans shoes. She finds it quite entertaining to turn tables on her mama!

Back to the 30 day Fashion project. These are the outfits I wore this week. The purple scarf and cardigan are going in the donation bin. I noticed the last time I wore the scarf was in 2013 during the first Fashion 30. The purple cardigan is a tad to small for my liking. Off they go to a new home!

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Thank You Obama.

I won't be the first to step up and hate on Obama. First, I am a military wife and I wouldn't think for a second to use a public format to bash my husband's boss. I would hope any spouse regardless of career choice would have the good sense to speak privately about those matters. If you like incomes and jobs and things like that. However, I think one huge misconception of military and military spouses is that we fully support every decision the president/government makes. I think it's fair to say its not true. We are people with individual opinions and values. With as much as parties and agenda changes, I cannot imagine military people agree with every political decision made. Doesn't happen.

I do my fair share of grumbling and nit picking of public figures. With every piece of criticism, we should give an equal amount of energy to good decision making. Like pay raises. Wouldn't anyone praise a boss who gives a pay raise? I think so. And Obama did just sign a 1 percent pay raise for the military for 2014. Yes, it was proposed to be a little higher--1.8 percent--but he shot that down. Win some lose some. At first, 1 percent doesn't seem like a lot but when you do the math (x times .01) it adds up.

On average, military families are going to receive an extra $2000 to $4000 this year. Not a bad increase, right? Sometimes it's easy to forget how much a percent can add up to be over time. I suppose that goes for credit and taxes as well. Those I don't like as well! It would nicer if we got a bonus check on Jan.1 instead of sprinkled over 12 months. On second thought, lump sums would be more dangerous than good. I can think of a few ways to spend a few grand.

I've been wanting to getaway this year. A spa sounds so good right now. Something in the middle of the desert. I hear a lot of good things about Arizona!

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Or a shopping spree? Guilt free shopping spree.

Maybe I could finally get that upgrade???

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Or a down payment on an upgrade?

Much more fun than say... groceries. Or new tires. Or security lighting on the garage. The things which the extra money typically goes to. A girl can dream! 

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Winter Break is Oh-ver

Today I'm back to work. *Insert big ole sad face*. I am so so very lucky to be on a student calendar (for the most part). I will have long breaks here and there. And when those breaks come along I am boycotting all forms of a schedule! All my big plans for enjoying life and going to my favorite restaurants for lunch on winter break went right out the window. I traded those things in for late nights, too many Target trips, and trying to get my house in order. Wee-ha! 

Now I am back to work and tomorrow I will finally have kids. The first kid day at our site. This is big! I am going to predict this week is going to be cray-zee. Send positives thoughts my way please. While we wait to see how this goes down, I thought I would give you an update on the site. Updated pictures of what I have done with two months of preparations.

My most favorite room at our site--the library.

Our main classroom which is where my desk is located.

Imaginative play area

 Manipulatives area

 Homework room. I've added a large Welcome sign across the back upper wall.

This is our science and rainy day room. This isn't the most up to date photo of this space. I'll have to share more recent pics soon.

I've added a little winter flare. We aren't so lucky to come by winter weather naturally. I must create a winter wonderland.

That is our space. Eek! I'm so nervous about tomorrow. I really want things to go smoothly. I've got a new position, a new site, new staff, and new kids all on one day. 

How do you think this is going to go? 

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Fashion 30 Redo

Yesterday I mentioned the Fashion 30 challenge. Today I thought I would go a little more in detail. The whole of the challenge is to stop shopping. Last year, I thought it would be a good idea because my husband was deployed, I was bored, and trying to save money. Yet, these darn after Christmas sales were luring me in. So I just put the kabosh on the whole buying clothes thing. I knew in the dark corners of my closet were clothes I never wore. I get stuck on my tried and true combos and forget everything else. I imagine most of us are like that.

I decided to put a fun spin on the whole no-new-clothes ban. I would see what new outfits I could create with what I already owned. Surprising I created a few new combos that worked. You can get the whole 30 day recap HERE and HERE.

I even had a few revelations regarding my shopping habits. Revelations that made me a but uncomfortable to realize and admit to. Ultimately, those life lessons changed the way I shop. I am more conscious of what I buy and how it fits into my current wardrobe. Another helpful resource I use often is Pinterest. It is the best thing for getting ideas to re-style old favorites. I love love love Pinterest! Never gets old to me.

I can't take complete credit for this fashion project. I received many comments last year regarding others' experience or knowledge of the 30 day shopping hiatus. Neither here nor there I guess.  Last year turned out to be more about kicking some bad habits. This year will be more about creativity. So much came from last year's Fashion 30, I'm excited to see what happens this month.

Here is what you can look forward to. I will be working through my wardrobe day by day. My only rule is to not wear an outfit more than once. I will take daily pictures of my outfits. On Wednesday I will share them. At the end of the month I will be sure to recap. 

February 1st: I will go shopping.

Hello 2014.

We made it! We successfully and safely welcomed a new year. Last night we had big plans to ring in the new year with our friends' families. Before leaving the house Zac informed me he wasn't feeling well. Sure enough he had a fever. Off came the sparkly sweater and pumps and on came the sweatshirt and pajama bottoms. It was a valiant effort. Maybe next year!

Not before I snapped some WIWW headless selfies. So it wasn't a complete waste!

The beginning of a new year always brings out the optimist in me. A new year is full of possibilities and hope. New beginnings. Renewed commitments. All things good. I'm excited! Are you excited?
I am a chronic new year resolution maker. I may fail at every single one. But I have no problem with trying. I usually create a long list of the must do's and by the spring I am not carrying through with a one. Oh well. I learned a valuable lesson in 2013... stop making long lists. A long list is a guaranteed failure for me.

This year I have three resolutions. In 2014, I resolve to:

* Focus on leading a healthier lifestyle
* Paying off our debt
* More adventures

These are biggies but things that have been on my mind for quite some time. I have already made a head start on the top two. This year I turn 35. Wow. I have no desire to compete (physically) with those who are younger than me. I just want to make sure I am doing what I can to be healthy. Starbucks lattes and excessive computer time are not helping. In regards to debt, I think it would be really cool to pay off our car loan and possibly my student loans this year. It won't happen without a little sacrifice but it would be so awesome. More adventures are pretty self explanatory.

One more short term goal I'm looking forward to is the Fashion 30. Something I forced myself to do in January 2013. I took a clothes shopping hiatus for 30 days to test the limits of my wardrobe. Not only did I learn how large my wardrobe is but I learned what drives my shopping habit. Not the most pleasant lesson. Last year's Fashion 30 project completely changed the way I shop. This year I'm looking for less life lesson and more creativity. I can't wait to see how that turns out!


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