Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

On A Shoestring: Transition Summer Clothes

Okay, I don’t know about y’all, but I don’t really dress seasonally appropriate. I don’t put summer clothes in storage and bring out the winter stuff. I like to have it all at my fingertips (sometimes to the detriment of my schedule in the morning), but sometimes that leaves me looking really not right for the season. And cold. I’m a person who likes to be warm. Oh, and save my money.

Enter a new series: On a Shoestring. I’m collaborating with Amy over at Amy and Angie on a series of posts to re-imagine fashion, food, decor (sorry, there’s no f-word for that) and more all on a shoestring budget. It doesn’t take a Rockefeller-sized closet (or house) and budget to look good.

It's so easy to take your summer outfits and make them fall-ready and fabulous, even on a budget!

Today’s mission: transition summer clothes. I love my summer dresses, but they don’t always scream autumn. And I’m like, I paid for it, I’mma wear it as much as I can! Gotta keep that cost-per-wear low.

I took this adorable summer dress (from Rosewood Boutique in Sewickley – they’re currently having a going-out-of-business-25%-off sale) and added three really budget friendly elements to make it jewel toned and weather-friendly.

Take any summer dress and easily transition it to a fall-ready outfit.

It already started out with a fall color, navy, so the transformation process was pretty simple.

First thing’s first: add in structure, especially with a flow-y dress like this. Nothing screams structure more than a good leather jacket (yeah, yeah, yeah, leather jackets aren’t cheap, but find one that fits within your budget and buy it. Take care of your clothes and it’s great investment.)

After the leather comes some tights. Stay warm, right? I buy most of my tights on clearance at Target. They have amazing patterned tights and beauties like the ruby-hued ones I’m rocking.

Finally, a dark vampy lip. Hell, even a berry lip will do.

Transition Your Cloest To Fall -- add leather! Love this jacket!

Transition Your Cloest To Fall -- add tights

Transition Your Cloest To Fall -- add tights

Transition Your Cloest To Fall--add dark lipstick.

You absolutely have to check out how Amy refashioned a white lace dress into a cute skirt and totally nailed a cozy fall look. For $3. Three stinkin’ dollars! Killin’ it.

Here’s the details on what I’m wearing. Everything was already in my closet. I just had to mix it together.

Dress: ETWO (from Rosewood Boutique)

Jacket: BB Dakota (from No. 14 Boutique – see it here another way)

Tights: Merona, Target

Booties: Old Navy

Lips: Notion, Ultra Matte Lip from ColourPop Cosmetics

Transition Your Cloest To Fall-Three Easy and Budget Friendly Steps

How do you transition your summer clothes?

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Can you hear you?

“I wanted to make sure you could hear you.”

Colleen Donaghy, played by Elaine Stritch, spits out this line in the “Hiatus” episode of 30 Rock. Let me set the scene… She’s at dinner with Jack and his fiancee, Phoebe. Phoebe says that she wants to get married in the spring as the petunias start to bloom. Colleen asks what she said and Phoebe repeats herself. Again, Colleen says, “What?” and Phoebe turns to Jack and asks if she’s hard of hearing.

That’s when this line comes out: “No, no, no. I can hear you. I just wanted to make sure you could hear you.”

Brilliant. How many times do we speak without really hearing what we’re saying? We’ve all been there. We think what we say is the funniest, most intelligent, most supportive, most whatever thing we’ve ever said…and it’s hot garbage.

This is your reminder to listen more than you speak, ask questions, and make sure you can hear you.

Can you hear you? Awesome reminder to think more than you speak.

(And if you’re interested, here’s a Google search for the episode. Find a YouTube video that looks good and go to town.)

 

Sunday Lately, 90

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

 

I feel like I’m really good at Sunday Lately for a week or two and then I skip a week, then I come back. Bad Blogger Tribe Leader.

Completing

Today I’m completing the NOCC (National Ovarian Cancer Coalition) 5k walk at a park here in Pittsburgh. I’ve done it for the past few years in honor of my grandmother.

Visiting

In an effort not to mention Pilates classes for 3 out of the 5 prompts…. Seriously, though, all I do is drive to Shadyside. I did get to meet up with Amanda from North Ave Candles at The Vandal the other day and that was definitely fun to connect. It’s great when you find someone that has a similar flavor and energy.

Yes, we ate all these fries. And it was glorious.

Amazing fries and mac and cheese at The Vandal in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, PA

Repeating

Pilates classes. I’m doing a Fall30 Challenge with the studio I go to (Dragonfly Pilates – it’s wonderful!). For 25 days, we’re challenged to attend 30 classes. It runs from September 6 to September 30, though I didn’t start my classes until September 8th. I have everything scheduled out until the end of the month and in my 23 days, I will have attended 35 classes and only missed 3 days. Most days, I’m there for 2 classes (AKA: 2 hours), but the time goes by so fast, you don’t really notice.

I can feel muscles develop, but they’re still being protected by a layer of fat. Of course.

Morning sun coming through the window at Dragonfly Pilates in Shadyside, Pittsburgh, PA

Writing

I’m trying to write some blog posts for my content marketing site, AngelicaRoss.co. I’m definitely falling into the Pinterest trap of “all the topics I want to discuss are already covered.” Does that happen to anyone else? Anyway, I’m thinking short bites that are easy to take action on (not long, verbose posts that take forever + a day to read) that slightly expand on the emails that I’m sending out.

Scheduling

Pilates classes! Ooh a two-fer.

What have you been up to lately? Link up with us and share!


Five things to be happy about

Many experts say that practicing gratitude is a sure-fire way to boost your happiness, highlight your abundance, and generally be a more positive person. When you’re a positive person, it’s easier to be happy. (And happy people don’t shoot their husbands.) It’s a circle, you see. Here are five things to be happy about — even if you aren’t particularly happy today.

Changing of the seasons

Even though I’m a hardXcore summer person and I’m not ready for fall (and subsequently winter), I love when the seasons change. It feels like a fresh start — and anything is possible. Clean slate, yo. It feels good.

Doing at least one thing a day that makes you feel good

Speaking of feeling good… call it self-care or a guilty pleasure, but doing something just because it makes you feel damn good is a great thing. Today, for me, that included cooking myself a good meal, cleaning the counters until they were shiny and not grimy anymore, and treating myself to a glass of wine at a cool bar while I write this. (Spoiler alert: I wrote and scheduled this baby ahead of time.)

Child-like obsession for anything

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a kid person. I am pretty much the un-kidliest person around. But damn if their happiness isn’t infectious. Now, I’m not saying be a creeper at a park or a daycare. But you can harness that happiness.

Have you ever seen Under the Tuscan Sun? Remember when Katherine is drunk and she says, “Never lose your childish enthusiasm”? Kids are all in for whatever occupies their mind at the moment. And they don’t let it go until they get it or figure it out.

Find something akin to that wonder in a child’s eyes, something that is endlessly fascinating to you. Even if it’s just a small tickle deep down. Hold on to that and keep coming back to it. It gets easier to find the more you do it. Learning and growing, or even just laughing, is a wonderful part of the human condition.

Target

Okay, this is kind of a fluffy, give-away point. But Target it the shit. I don’t think I’ve ever walked out of Target unhappy in my grumble-grumble years of going to Target. What is your Target? In other words, what is your “happy place”? That is my point here. Find your happy place and go there often. Be grateful for it.

The fact that you are reading this

You have your eyesight, an internet or cellular connection (and the ability to pay for said connection), and breath to breathe to make it all happen. Trust me, I’m not a “just be thankful you’re alive” kind of person. But I mean…it is something to be grateful for. You woke up today, hopefully in a bed. Or in someone you love’s bed. Or on their couch. Or anywhere that affords eyesight and an internet connection. And you have the ability to choose what you want to read/do/consume.

And really, if things were that bad, reading this post would be the least of your concerns. #perspective

What are you happy for today?

Get to know me tag

I usually don’t do this butttt…… I figured it would be helpful for new readers to get to know me a little bit since I’ve been bitching so much about feeling blah (and therefore not really writing like I have been). I stumbled across this post from Thirteen Thoughts and figured I’d throw in my own two cents so y’all can get to know me a bit better. Yup. This one is going to be allllll about me. Deal with it.

I found a Get to Know Me tag and decided to re-introduce myself because it's been a while and we have some new faces around! Today's post is all about me, Angelica from Gardening In High Heels.

1. Are you named after someone?
Not that I know of, but my paternal great-grandmother’s name was Angelina. So maybe that counts? The story I always heard was that I’d be Rebecca or Antoinette, but I looked like an angel when I was a baby. My, how times have changed..

2. When was the last time you cried?
A ha. Ahahaha. Have you seen my recent posts? Actually, it was Sunday when I just wanted to get the cold water to turn on and the pliers I had to use to get the knob to turn were slipping and I. just. couldn’t. make. it. work. It was very un-Tim Gunn of me.

3. Do you have kids?
Nope.

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself?
I’d be all, “Who is this whiny bitch and why doesn’t she just get over it already?” Kidding. I would. Especially if I also liked Gilmore Girls, beer, and being sarcastically awesome at all times.

5. Do you have a guilty pleasure?
I am behind Nicole Antoinette and her insistence that pleasure shouldn’t be guilty. That said…. I was on a kick of eating Chocolate Special K with almond milk and reading Yes Please in bed.

6. Do you like handwriting?
Yes! I am obsessed with all the hand-lettering Instagram accounts. As a result, I want to re-teach myself how to do proper calligraphy.

7. What is your favorite cereal?
I just bought a box of Reese’s Puffs. It’s probably the furthest thing from cereal (and nutrition) one can get, but it’s damn good. I usually always have Cheerios in my cabinet. It isn’t my favorite, but I always have it just in case I need a midnight snack and my Special K is gone. Guilty pleasures aside, I really don’t buy cereal. It’s expensive, man!

8. What is the first thing you notice about people?
I know there’s this thing about noticing bad eyebrows first and how some people don’t trust other people with bad eyebrows, but that’s just mean. I am that person walking around with bad eyebrows because I go from perfectly fine to cave-woman overnight. I will gladly have monthly gynecological exams if it means I never have to tweeze my eyebrows ever again. That sure took a turn. I’d say their nails.

9. What color are your eyes?
Green. To varying degrees depending on what I’m wearing.

10. Scary movies or happy endings?
Happy endings. Life is scary enough, yo.

11. Favorite TV show?
Gilmore Girls. Parks & Rec. Sex & the City. The Office. HIMYM. I Love Lucy. See — sticking with that happy ending thing.

12. Summer or winter?
Summer.

13. Hugs or kisses?
Both, please. Physical touch is my top “love language.” (Wondering what that is? Here ya go.)

14. What’s the furthest you’ve been from home?
Vegas, baby.

15. Do you have special talents?
Endless sarcasm.

16. Where were you born.
Pittsburgh.

17. What are your hobbies?
Currently: eating everything that isn’t nailed down. Crying. Binging on Netflix. What it normally is: scrapbooking/paper crafting. Writing. Reading. Baking.

18. Do you have any pets?
Not currently. Unless you count plants. Sadface.

19. Favorite movie?
I stop and watch Goodfellas anytime I see it on TV. I can watch Moonrise Kingdom over and over. I can quote Anchorman front to back.

20. What color is your car?
They tell me it’s white, but it’s usually always streaked with dirt so who’s to say.

21. What did you want to be when you grow up?
A writer. Seriously.

Since this is a tag…I guess I have to tag someone now? Anyone who wants to do this…you’re it.

Now I want to know…pick something and answer it in the comments!

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We Belong in the Garden Together