Monday, November 30, 2015

This Weekend...


This weekend I...

...Spent a few days out in the suburbs with my family for Thanksgiving, and stuffed myself silly with truffle mashed potatoes. Oh, and creeped on my grandma's Christmas decorations - she always goes all out. Out on her back patio there's currently an army of light up Santas guarding the place ;)
...Went out to dinner with Jeff's family at Fork, and now need to go back so I can try all of the wine, meat, and cheese flights ;)
...Did lots of furniture shopping online and in the stores, but only managed to actually buy a few things. It's hard to commit, especially on rugs! If you have any tips for furniture shopping I'd love to hear. The only shopping I did for me over the weekend was this pair of distressed denim from Gap I snagged online, here's hoping they're cute!
...Met up with my extended family for lunch and (many) drinks at Rock Bottom, our annual Black Friday tradition, and managed to avoid all of the protesters on the Mag Mile.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and long weekend!



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Thursday, November 26, 2015

Black Friday Sales

Oh hey everyone! It turns out I was motivated enough to post a few sales! I get overwhelmed just seeing all of the stores and discount codes, so instead here are a few picks from my favorite places. I hope you score some good deals! Oh, and more importantly, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

LOFT - 50% off everything with code CORNY

Banana Republic - Half off sweaters and 40% off everything else with code BRFRIDAY


Ann Taylor - 50% off everything with code CELEBRATE


J. Crew Factory - 50% off everything plus free shipping on orders over $50 with code SHIPGIFTS


BaubleBar - 30% off everything with code THX



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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Festive Casual


Shirt - J. Crew Factory / Denim - Gap / Booties (similar) - Sole Society / Necklace - Stella & Dot / Bracelet and Earrings - BaubleBar / Belt - Old Navy






Am I making up new terms for holiday dressing? You know it! If I had to classify this outfit, I would definitely call it Festive Casual. Or maybe Holiday Casual? Either way, it's holiday appropriate while still being comfy and laid-back. I wore this last week to a Friendsgiving dinner, and let me tell you, boyfriend jeans are an excellent idea for Thanksgiving dinner consumption ;)

What are your plans for this week? Since both of our extended families live nearby, usually Jeff and I try to fit in a couple Thanksgiving dinners in one day plus all of the activities over the weekend. This year we decided to keep things more chill and are just hitting one dinner on Turkey day, plus a lunch on Friday and a dinner on Saturday. Oh, and maybe with a little (or a lot ;) of online shopping sprinkled in there. I never hit the mall on Black Friday (here's why) but I do love to do a little shopping in my pajamas. I'm going to be taking tomorrow off from the bloggy for family time, but if I'm feeling particularly motivated on Friday morning I'll share a few deals with you!

So what are your plans for Thanksgiving?


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Previously on KDTI - cropped boyfriend jeans:

 

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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

November Budget

Every month I post about my clothing budget. My budget per month is $300, which to some may seem like a lot and to others a little, but feels just right for me. You can read my thoughts on my 2014 budget here

I knew it was coming. An overbudget month. That being said, I'm very pleased that I'm only a few dollars over budget and not, say, $200, because if I hadn't returned a number of things (including these faux leather pants, so sad they didn't work out!) I definitely would have been. 

Usually most of my purchases seem to be fairly practical, but in November there were a lot of impulse "but I love it!" purchases. Like these bow back heels from Ann Taylor. I saw them, I needed them, and into the shopping cart they went. Do I need another pair of black heels? Absolutely not. But, um, now I have them and they are so adorable.   

Weirdly, the more practical purchase was this fun lacy dress. I was looking at Rent the Runway for a wedding and a couple of parties coming up in December, but then I realized that there wouldn't be guest overlap at any of the events so why not buy something instead of paying to rent three different dresses? I actually already got some use out of it for a rehearsal dinner at our last wedding that turned out to have a fancier dress code than the groom originally told us (never listen to them when they say, "oh it'll be pretty casual"...) and it was so fun to wear thanks to the ruffled skirt. 

Anyway, here is the damage for November: 


Jessica Simpson Dress - originally $148, on sale $104.99 (I found it at a couple of stores on even better sale now!). 
Ann Taylor Heels - originally $148, on sale $88.80. These also come in red, which is so cute, but I already have a pair of red strappy suede heels that I never find a reason to wear. I thought I'd go with the black since they're more versatile. 
Hinge Striped Scarf - $48. Another item I just needed. I've gotten a lot of use out of it already though so it's one of those impulse purchases that worked out. 
J. Crew Factory Beaded Popover - originally $79.50, on sale $55.50, price adjusted to $38.29. I rarely think to ask for price adjustments, but in this case an even better sale came along less than 12 hours after I had placed an order at J. Crew Factory. I went online and live chatted their customer service to see if I could get the price adjusted, and bing bang boom they gave it to me. Never hurts to ask! 
J. Crew Factory Flannel Popover - originally $69.50, on sale $49.50, price adjusted to $34.15. You'd better believe I'll be wearing this all holiday season! 

Total Spent: $314.23
Total Saved: $178.77

So $14.23 over budget, but considering that last month I was $200 under budget I'm not feeling particularly bad about it. To finish out the year, in December I'm hoping to add some new denim and a pair of black flat ankle boots (maybe this pair!) to my (shiny new) closet. Oh, and depending what our NYE plans end up being, probably something covered in sequins ;)

Did you budget in November? How did you do?


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Friday, November 20, 2015

Condo Tour

This weekend we're finally moving into our new condo (!!!) and as promised, here's a little video tour of our place. I hope you enjoy, especially the ending ;)





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Thursday, November 19, 2015

Holiday Dressing

Have invites to holiday parties started rolling in? So far we've got a gift exchange with friends, a big family party, and a dressy work party on the horizon. I guess going crazy on the holiday clothes maybe wasn't such a bad idea. Of course, the first thing I do when I get a party invite is start thinking about what I'll wear. What makes a good holiday party look? I look for a couple of elements: sequins, metallics, leather, faux fur, bows, plaid, or anything in red. Here are a couple of outfit ideas for different holiday parties this season:




Dress / Bag / Necklace / Shoes
I may have gotten over-excited while looking for holiday styles and pinned 4.8 million things, so here are the extras, broken down into categories that sort of make sense:

Dresses and Skirts:
Pants and Tops:
Accessories:
Jewelry:
Shoes:
So tell me, do you have any holiday parties on the horizon? Are they on the casual side, or do you get to dress up? 


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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Casual Holiday Look


Shirt - J. Crew Factory / Pants (similar) - Gap / Boots (similar) - Enzo Angiolini / Bag (similar) - Old Navy




I was going to tell you this really long story, but instead I've decided to go with the short version: last year I saw Carly wearing this adorable holiday outfit, and I thought, "Why don't I have any adorable holiday outfits?!"

And then this year I maybe went a little overboard (considering I'm currently only invited to two holiday parties) and picked up a lot of holiday items, including this fun beaded popover. Whoops.

Well, not really whoops about this shirt. While I was thinking of it as a holiday piece when I put it in the ole shopping cart, turns out it's much more versatile than that, which is how I ended up wearing it out for a little date night last week. We went to Cantina 1910 up in Andersonville to celebrate our move - apparently Andersonville is a restaurant mecca that I have never before explored - hellooooo new restaurant options!! According to our realtor, Andersonville actually has more restaurants than Lakeview or Lincoln Park - who knew?! 

So anyway, I'm actually not that big of a fan of going out for Mexican food unless we hit up a little hole in the wall. Like, trendy tacos are not my jam. This place may have just changed my mind. We started off with what may have been the spiciest bread I've ever encountered, then went on to try their take on ceviche (which was kind of like Mexican sashimi and SO good) and then finished things off with some of the most flavorful tacos I've ever had. So so good. Thank you, new neighborhood, for welcoming us so nicely. 


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Previously on KDTI - black skinny pants (these have been in my closet a loooooong time):

 

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Monday, November 16, 2015

This Weekend...


This weekend I...

...Checked out the Art Institute After Dark with a bunch of friends. It's an event in the modern wing at the Art Institute with a DJ, live art, cocktails, and access to their current special exhibit. It was a fun change-up from our normal friend routine of dinner + drinks (+ usually more drinks) and a great excuse to dress up a little.
...Packed and packed and packed. We're moving next weekend, and oh my gosh do we have a lot of stuff. My mom and mother in law came by Saturday to help and it seems like we still barely made a dent in everything. Fingers crossed that we make it through the next week.
...After packing and packing and packing, we took our moms out to dinner at Mercat a la Planxa, our favorite tapas place. We ate all of the things, including some amazing braised rabbit pasta and our favorite, the padron peppers.
...Went to a big Friendsgiving party on Sunday afternoon. I made my mashed cauliflower again (the secret ingredient is TURNIP) and then proceeded to eat all of the things. I guess that's the theme of this weekend. Also, there are kids at our parties now. Adult life is weird.

Also, unrelated, but have you seen the new little badge in my sidebar for Dealspotr? I'm an ambassador for them, and post all of the sale codes I see around the web (mainly for the stores I love like Ann Taylor, LOFT, J. Crew Factory, Banana Republic, etc.). If you ever want to see what sales are going on, be sure to check out my page on the site: https://dealspotr.com/@kristinadoes.



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Friday, November 13, 2015

All That Glitters

So I was trying to pin gifts for some gift guides and thought I had pinned tons of great ideas. Then I went back and looked at my gift Pinterest board and realized I had pinned all gold stuff. Apparently I'm a magpie. And terrible at picking gifts for people who aren't me. Here are the few pretty pretties I found:



Also I couldn't help myself and ordered that jewelry stand. And a smaller matching jewelry stand. And no presents for anyone else. At this rate, it's going to be a rough holiday season on my bank account ;) 



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Thursday, November 12, 2015

Herringbone + Chambray


Vest - J. Crew Factory / Shirt - LOFT / Denim - Gap / Boots - Bandolino / Bag (similar) - Old Navy / Necklace - Stella & Dot / Earrings - BaubleBar / Bracelet - Michael Kors







Can you believe that the chambray trend is still going strong? I remember writing one of my very first blog posts back in 2012 about how I wanted/needed a chambray shirt. I'm not linking to it because #embarrassing, but you know, you could probably find it if you put a little effort in. I've owned several chambray shirts along the way, but this little number is my favorite. The material is thinner and softer than a lot of chambray shirts out there, making it super comfortable and easy to layer. Here's hoping this trend lasts a long time! Of course, according to my dad, it's always been in style ;)


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Previously on KDTI - all of the chambray:

 
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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

We bought a house!

Well condo, to be more exact ;)


We actually put in our offer on the place way back at the beginning of September. I was convinced something was going to fall through so I held off on posting about it, but yesterday we signed all of the papers and got the keys and now it's ours! We ran over yesterday to pop a bottle of champagne and do a little celebrating.


The condo is on the north side of Chicago and is on the top two floors of a building, plus we have the whole roof which we plan to deck out come spring. It's a bit of a funny layout, I've been describing it like a split-level house because there are half levels and stairs all over the place. I actually tried to do a little video tour of the place last night to share with you guys, but looked at the video this morning and it is terrible (haha whoops) so I'll have to try again.

I can't believe we really got it! Move in is next week - eeeee!!!



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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Striped Blanket Scarf


Scarf - Hinge / Jacket (similar) - Loft / Tee (similar) - J. Crew Factory / Denim - Gap / Booties (similar) - Target / Watch - Wristology




We had a string of really warm and sunny (ahem - according to these photos, a little too sunny) days last week, and I celebrated by taking lots of walks, ignoring my coat closet, and breaking out my new favorite accessory instead - this striped blanket scarf. I had it in my cart for weeks until it went out of stock, and then obsessively checked it until it was back in stock and made my move. I love the colors and pattern, and have been wearing it nonstop since it showed up on my doorstep. How many blanket scarves does one person need? Looks like I haven't hit my limit quite yet.


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Previously on KDTI - more blanket scarves:

 

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