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Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

December 17, 2016

What not to give for Christmas: an anti-gift guide

December 17, 2016

You’re probably burned out on gift guides, so this is an anti-gift guide. Why? Because people are sick of your lackluster, no-thought-behind-it half-assed gifts.

Was that mean? I just spent 60+ minutes on hold with the Healthcare Marketplace people only to get kicked off. Twice. So I’m feeling a little Grinchy. What was I saying? Right, anti-gift guide.

I try to shop local when I can, but I’m coming down to the wire with gifts this year, so it has to be online shopping. But I still want to make sure that I’m supporting artists and being as responsible as I can. And I don’t want to give someone yet another corkscrew-and-bottle-of-wine set. Enter: UncommonGoods.

I’m sure you’ve seen them in just about every gift guide ever because even if you’re finding a gift for someone whose interests include “Hiding under a rock,” there’s something you can purchase.

What makes them awesome? Well, they have really unique items (wine-infused coffee, anyone?), but they also make sustainability their number one mission. And not just in a “green” way; they make sure their people are able to sustain themselves, too, so their employees are treated fairly and given living wages. They also feature products that are made with recyclable components, help their artists make their items in responsible ways, and they say no to feathers, leather, and furs – being kind to animals is way more important to me than being kind to people.

The coolest thing to me is when you’re shopping, you can narrow your search based on handmade, recycled, made in the USA, or exclusive to UncommonGoods. It’s like you’re kind of shopping local, but from artists that are in a different zip code.

Onto the anti-gift guide!

Men are possibly the hardest people to shop for. I’m lucky in that my dad is happy with a cookbook and a gift card to the Italian market down the street, but yours may not be so easy to please. Thankfully, there is an entire collection just for dads that you can browse through. I wish there were more jokes in this collection.

Throwback to your days when you’d give dad a poorly made, misshapen mug kinda thing with a (properly-shaped) mug that warms your donuts (#phrasing). And we all know your go-to every few years is a new belt. Get this one made from recycled tires instead. You’ll still have your fall-back, but it’s a responsible fall back.

What about other men? I have one friend who just gets alcohol from me (and I’m sure that isn’t a complaint, but I’ve known him for years and I still have no clue what to buy him aside from shirts and vodka). Stop buying boring alcohol, buy beer soap instead. Or what about magnetic strips you can add to your fridge to stick bottles to (more space for cheese in the fridge now!)

I can’t not include gifts for women, because it’s really fun to shop for your girls. Like for the drunk friend, a tote that dispenses wine. I mean, it’s basically every woman’s dream come true. Or for the chick who won’t get off her freakin’ phone when you’re at dinner, she probably is running low on batteries, so she can put her phone in her new charging bag and let it charge while she talks to you.

What are you giving everyone for Christmas? I’m nebby and I wanna know!

Stop buying that same predictable gift. Here's what not to buy and what to get instead from the rad people at UncommonGoods. Awesome gifts galore!

**This post, pretty obviously, is sponsored by UncommonGoods. I love their mission and I’m picking up a few gifts from them this year, so I wouldn’t recommend them if I didn’t believe that they’re doing something good!

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Leave a Comment · Labels: Reviews Tagged: gift guide, gifts, uncommongoods

November 17, 2016

On A Shoestring: Party Down with an Up-cycle

November 17, 2016

In case you haven’t heard, the holidays are nearing, so Amy and I have dedicated this On A Shoestring to party fashion. Except we’re throwing in the always headache producing fun task of altering clothing that doesn’t quite work. I mean, a lot of times, you’ll find something that’s cute but not quite your style or fit, but you buy it anyway because it’s cheap. Come on, it can’t be just me.

Y’all, this up-cycle was a challenge. I deviated from the “doesn’t quite fit” route to the “doesn’t quite look fresh anymore” route. I wanted to re-purpose a shirt that I have with a stain on it into something I could wear again. Kinda like this.

I was hoping I somehow, possibly through osmosis or genetics, would be able to nail it on the first try. I mean, I only had one shirt and one piece of fabric, so it was more than the first try, it was the only try.

Sadly, if my mom passed along any sewing genes, today wasn’t the day they decided to grace me with their presence. I’mma brag for a sec: my mom is a mad-genius crafter. She sews, quilts (by hand and machine), knits (garments! Stuff you can wear!!), cross-stitches, makes freakin’ lace by hand, and just knows all the craft things. Me? Well, I can spray paint….

My original plan was to remove where the yoke would be on this shirt where the stain appears and replace it with a fun fabric panel. I’m downplaying my skills a little. I can sew and I do own a sewing machine. But when I got to the “sew it on and hack the shirt up” stage, I froze. I didn’t think ahead to just how to do this. I sewed the hem to the patterned fabric. I stabbed myself one too many times with straight pins. And I didn’t thread my sewing machine properly so the top thread had too much tension on it and snapped.

Attempted to up-cycle this shirt and replace the back "yoke" area of this shirt with floral fabric

Attempted to up-cycle this shirt and replace the back "yoke" area of this shirt with floral fabric

At this point, I took it as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be. Too much work for a shirt that has been laying in the laundry room for over a year.

On to Plan B.

I had this dress in the donate pile because I’m not a ruffle person. It’s a cute dress, but I feel like I’m wearing a crumb catcher when ruffles get involved so close to my face. So I thought, “If I were going to a party and I had nothing to wear, but I had scissors and could accessorize, this is what I’d do.”

Up-cycling an old dress with ruffles into something to wear to a holiday party. Making it more modern!

I cut the ruffles off. Both rows of ruffles.

Up-cycling an old dress with ruffles into something to wear to a holiday party. Making it more modern!
Of course, I also added accessories because those are any cheap girl’s best friend, and tada, made this polka dot dress more modern and more me. Like last month’s On A Shoestring, tights make this outfit more than it really is. I’m intentionally mixing patterns – polka dots and plaid – but it works because the colors are in the same family and the prints are varied sizes. Then, I added a belt to coordinate with the tights and bring it all home.

I also LOVE this necklace, so on it goes to add more sparkle, which is a must for a fancy occasion.

dress-after-door

Up-cycling an old dress with ruffles into something to wear to a holiday party. Making it more modern!
Details on this outfit:

Dress: Hue
Belt: Purchased at Ragged Row years ago, label has since rubbed off
Tights: Xhileration at Target
Booties: dv dolce vita at Target
Necklace: Chloe & Isabel
Lack of me in pictures: weird sinus-y headache/cold thing

You’ve gotta see what Amy over at Amy and Angie did. Again, being so clever with this dress-to-skirt thing!

What would you up-cycle from your closet for a party?

I’m collaborating with Amy over at Amy and Angie on a series of posts to re-imagine how we dress, decorate, dine, and more all on a shoestring budget. We’re on a mission to show you that it doesn’t take a Rockefeller-sized closet (or house) and budget to have a good life!

Up-cycling and refashioning an old dress into something you'd wear. Sometimes you just need to take some scissors to it!

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1 Comment · Labels: On A Shoestring, Outfits Tagged: holiday, holiday outfit, ootd, party, party outfit

November 13, 2016

Sunday Lately, 98

November 13, 2016

Sunday Lately is a weekly link up brought to you by the Blogger Tribe. Link up and see what's been happening lately!Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (which is being fearlessly lead by Meghan, Nicole, Katy, and myself). We e-hang out every Sunday, sharing a small glimpse into the last week of life in our own worlds. We’d love if you could join us!
This week’s themes: Creating, Finding, Switching, Forgetting, Craving

Creating

I’m trying my very, very best to create a plan for 2017, or at least the first quarter of 2017. Here’s the thing…I love plans. I love lists. I love knowing what’s going to happen. (In case you’re wondering, I’m not Type A or controlling or anything……..) But I hate mapping things out that far and planning blog posts and such. I know it makes life easier, but I just can’t. It’s such a catch-22 because I know (and preach) the benefits of scheduling and planning, but it feels so limiting for me.

Finding

I am still trying to find my planner for 2017. I guess I have planning on the brain. Hm. Anyway. I have it narrowed down to a few, but I’m so terrified to dive in because in my head, I’m thinking, “What if I pick the wrong one? I want this to be the right one for the whole year. I don’t want to spend a fortune!”

Money is the big one for me. I don’t want to be stuck paying for something if it doesn’t work and I’m worried I can’t make it work if I pick the wrong one. I liked The Happy Planner this year, but a) I felt bad that I didn’t decorate mine as lavishly as you see on Instagram and b) it was just too big to take everywhere. I know I can get a Happy Planner Mini, but I also know that Moleskine worked great for me, but they changed their format. I can always make mine, but I’m not a bullet journal/handlettering artist and I’ll feel bad that mine doesn’t look as pretty (coming full circle to The Happy Planner again). Ugh. Comparison trap like CRAZY.

And then there’s Get to Work Book, Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map Planner (which I really want), the Passion Planner, the Sugar Paper LA planners at Target, Rifle Paper Co, ban.do, and the cute Moleskine Peanuts limited edition one.

And it’s a freakin’ planner. Not something to get worked up about.

Switching

I’ve been trying to switch to a more-meatless diet. I’m trying very hard to clean out the pantry before Thanksgiving, so I’m only using things I already have in the cabinets or freezer and purchasing produce as needed. This lends itself very nicely to meatless meals (no offense, if you store meat in your cabinets, I don’t think we can be friends). I made Emily Levenson’s Buffalo Chickpea Burgers the other night and they were delicious. They won’t replace sinking my teeth into an amazing burger that I’ll undoubtedly have to get a Burgatory now that I’m thinking about it, but they were tasty, filling, and pretty cheap!

Forgetting

I’m trying very hard to forget my planner saga (which seems impossible given how much space I dedicated to it here). I’ll probably end up with three planners this year. Oh well.

Craving

Now all I can think about is the world’ biggest, juiciest, most unhealthy burger and a big pile of fries. Sweet potato preferred, but regular fries with big flakes of salt and pepper would do.

What’s been happening with you lately? Link up with us and share!

An InLinkz Link-up


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5 Comments · Labels: Life, Right Now Tagged: link up, planners, sunday lately, weekly wrap up

November 6, 2016

Sunday Lately, 97

November 6, 2016

Sunday Lately is a weekly link up brought to you by the Blogger Tribe. Link up and see what's been happening lately!Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (which is being fearlessly lead by Meghan, Nicole, Katy, and myself). We e-hang out every Sunday, sharing a small glimpse into the last week of life in our own worlds. We’d love if you could join us!
This week’s themes: Doing, Appreciating, Designing, Humming, Expecting

 

Doing

I have been drinking all the coffee, so I’ve been doing all the things. I have a few spray paint projects that I’ve completed and I’m mostly happy with them. I took an old plant stand that was rusty and gave it a fresh coat of paint so I can use it inside this winter. I also gave a plain cork board a layer of paint, though I’m not totally happy with it. I really wanted something over my desk to tack notes and clipboards to, but it doesn’t quite work. We’ll get there.

Plant stand makeover in progress. Spray paint is a miracle worker!

This is the WIP of the plant stand. I’ll share completed pictures of both projects later!

Appreciating

I have really been appreciating the warmer weather this past week. It was so warm, I was sitting outside with short sleeves on and was actually starting to sweat in the sun. I was also able to pull the plants out of the garden and lay down newspaper to keep the weed growth to a minimum when it was sunny. It’s a nice change from doing it in past years in really cold temps. That is perfectly fine for me in November. Anything to keep the Vitamin D flowing and the heating bill low.

Designing

I’m trying to slice up a shirt to wear for this month’s edition of On a Shoestring. The theme is holiday parties and I have a shirt that fits fine, but it has a weird splotch on it, so I’m trying to refashion it into something holiday-worthy without spending anything. I know Amy is going to come up with something so spectacular for this one!

Humming

I’ve plugged my old iPod in my car again and I’ve been jamming out to a friend’s indie band, Mariage Blanc. So I’ve been alternating between them and that annoying Judah and the Lion song I keep hearing every time I have the actual radio on. It’s like Mumford & Sons to the banjo power. Now, this is just my opinion, but it is the most annoying song ever. I don’t think it’s a alt song, but I keep hearing it on the alt station. It’s like a weird bluegrass/rap combo that just doesn’t make sense to me. Maybe the band has other songs that are less banjo-y. Maybe my tastes will change. Who knows.

Expecting

I’m sadly expecting the weather to get a bit cooler and it’s making me sad. Or maybe it’s just Judah and the Lion stuck in my head.

What’s been happening with you lately? Link up with us and share!

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2 Comments · Labels: Life, Right Now Tagged: link up, sunday lately, weekly wrap up

October 23, 2016

Sunday Lately, 95

October 23, 2016

Sunday Lately is a weekly link up brought to you by the Blogger Tribe. Link up and see what's been happening lately!Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (which is being fearlessly lead by Meghan, Nicole, Katy, and myself). We e-hang out every Sunday, sharing a small glimpse into the last week of life in our own worlds. We’d love if you could join us!
This week’s themes: Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Writing, Scheduling

 

After a few really warm days here in Pittsburgh, I’m finally getting into the fall feel of things. The rain can stop at any time, though…

Fall fashion with Gardening In High Heels

Completing

So the last time I wrote a Sunday Lately post (ahem, wonderful consistency, no?) I mentioned that I was doing a Pilates challenge at Dragonfly Pilates where I was taking 30 classes in 25 days. The official count was 35 classes in 21 days. Next up is a Matwork challenge. People don’t really like Mat, apparently, because there isn’t the help from an apparatus; it’s just you and the mat. It’ll be an awesome challenge.

Visiting

I started to go back to the gym. And I didn’t totally hate it. But it really wasn’t as much fun as a Pilates class nor did the time go by as quickly.

Repeating

It feels like doing the dishes is never-ending. I have a dishwasher, but I tend to just wash everything by hand because it’s usually just a plate and a fork. Or just a spoon if I’m feeling particularly lazy (and I mean, a serving of ice cream is one container, right?)

Writing

I started a new series with Amy from Amy and Angie called On A Shoestring focusing on dressing, decorating, and dining….on a shoestring budget. I’m so excited to get back into writing fashion-y posts. I was hit by a brain wave the other day that just because I don’t want to spend money on new clothing like I see other bloggers doing doesn’t mean that I have to. So I decided to make my own rules. It felt weird to get in front of the camera again, but after a few awkward shots, I’m really happy with this fall look and 3 simple (basically free) things to add to a summer outfit to make it fall-appropriate.

Transition Your Closet To Fall--add dark lipstick.

Scheduling

Some meetings, finally. It feels like I’m finally starting to make some headway with AngelicaRoss.co and I’ve talked to a few great women from the Propelle Rock It group that I belong to. It’s nice to get some collaborations and some brainstorming going again.

What’s been happening with you lately? Link up with us and share!

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3 Comments · Labels: Life, Right Now Tagged: dragonfly pilates, link up, sunday lately, weekly wrap up

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Who’s Angelica?

Life Un-styled Blogger, Gardener, Shoe Lover..among other things

I'm here to encourage and empower you to grow where you're planted and embrace the weeds that sometimes pop up. I'll share inspiration, products I like (and you may too), and stories from the garden.

Gardening In High Heels is for badass babes who aren’t afraid to get a little messy. Want to learn more? Start here.
           

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Just so we can keep everything cool, I wanted to share a few notes on how my blog operates.

I occasionally receive products and/or payment from companies to review and/or give away. Sponsored posts and giveaways will be noted as such.

All images and content are property of myself and Gardening in High Heels unless otherwise stated. You may not use my images or content without express written permission.

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