Friday Finds: Nordstrom Anniversary Edition

Okay Nordstrom, you win. I swore up and down that I wasn't going to do a post on the #nsale. But then it came time to put together my finds for this week, and I realized every. single. thing. I had pinned was from Nordstrom. Le sigh. So, here you go:

Outerwear:

Clothes:

Accessories:

What are you up to this weekend? Somehow this summer has flown by and my brother and sister-in-law are already heading back to South Korea (they came to visit for six weeks but teach in Korea during the year), so we're sending them off with a family Cubs game (and a little imbibing) on Saturday, and then since we're finally in town trying to get some stuff done around the house on Sunday. I smell a fancy new closet organizer in my future ;)

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July 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 2015 budget here. 

July is almost over, can you believe it?! I bought kind of a lot at the end of the month (ahem #nsale) but it all hasn't arrived yet, so I'm only counting the stuff I definitely decided to keep. It's funny to see the shift in my purchasing habits this month. Basically from January to June I was buying mostly summer items, and now it looks like I've moved on to fall/winter. 

I've been needing a new pair of jeans, so I was excited to find another pair from Madewell in a tall and on sale (which seems to never happen!). Unlike the last pair I bought from there, which I said seemed a touch too big in the knees and calves, this pair fits like a glove. Done and done. 

I shared a bunch of stuff on Snapchat (Missed out? Follow me @kristinadoes) on Tuesday that came in the mail this week. While I kept everything I found at J.Crew Factory, there were a couple of purchases from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale that are going back. First are these faux-leather leggings - the fit was fine in the waist, super baggy in the crotch, and incredibly tight in the knees. No thanks! I also am sadly returning the Halogen lace-up flats that seemingly everyone bought - the nude color is oh so pretty but the toebox was just too narrow for me, they pinched my toes in a way that other lace-up flats haven't. 

So anyway, here's what I bought in July: 

LOFT Chambray Blouse - originally $54.50, on sale $22.50
J.Crew Factory Drapey Tee - originally $59.50, on sale $39.50
Madewell Jeans - originally $128, on sale $89.60
Zella Leggings - originally $52.00, on sale $33.90
Sole Society Tote - originally $59.95, on sale $39.90
J.Crew Factory Striped Tee - originally $26.50, on sale $19.50
LOFT Lace-up Dress - originally $79.50, on sale $39.75

Total Spent: $284.65
Total Saved: $175.30

Yay under budget! Next month expect to see a straggler or two from the #nsale, and probably a pair of boots or two ;)

Did you budget in July? How did you do?

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Linking up with Fran.

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Summer Stripes

Shirt (similar) and Shorts (on sale for less than $30!) - J. Crew Factory / Bag - Sole Society / Watch - Wristology / Sandals - Dolce Vita / Necklace - Stella & Dot

My button downs are something I tend to ignore every summer, since they seem like a cooler-weather option. But with the sleeves rolled, an airy button down feels perfectly summery when paired with a pair of shorts. Of course, wearing this outfit on a 95 degree day with 90% humidity probably wasn't a great choice, but you know, you live and you learn. Jeff and I left the house this weekend with the intention of wandering the neighborhood and going to a cute little bar for a drink, and instead made it about two blocks and decided to go home and lay on the couch instead. Homebodies for life.

Do you wear button-downs in the summer?

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Previously on KDTI - wedge sandals:

 

Linking up with Mix It Monday, Flashback Friday, Friday Fab Favorites, Summer Style, Style Me Wednesday.

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Banana Republic New Arrivals

I know that every blogger is basically losing their mind right now over the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, but I'm more excited about the new arrivals from Banana Republic! BR strayed from their brand for a while and got a little too crazy, but they are definitely back and one of my favorite brands at the moment. Their pieces are all classics but with a twist that can be fun for work or the weekend. Here are a few of my picks:

one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten

Do you shop at Banana Republic? What's your favorite piece?

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Last Week

Oh hey guys, I'm back! I spent last week up in northern Wisconsin with my family, catching a few fish, swimming, learning to paddle board and then bragging about my paddle board skills until my family members knocked me off of said paddle board, kayaking, drinking more Bud Light than any person ever should in one week, boating and saying over and over "I'm de captain now", playing board games, and pretending my sister's daughter was my own. Oh, and on our drive home a little BEAR ran in front of our car! Since it didn't attack us and instead basically skipped across the road I'm allowed to think it was cute. So, all in all, the perfect week. I also managed to spend one morning snagging a few sale items, including this oh-so-cute layered striped sweatshirt from J.Crew Factory (currently 30% off and free shipping with code SETSALE), and these adorable booties and another pair of my favorite leggings from Nordstrom.

We got home Saturday night after driving through some crazy storms, only to remember that we had turned our a/c off while we were gone, meaning that when we got home it was 90+ degrees inside. Needless to say we spent the rest of the weekend being pretty lethargic and laying on the couch and catching up on The Challenge, our guilty pleasure show ;)

I'll hopefully be back in full-swing this week here on the blog, but I'm feeling a little weird - hopefully it's just post-vacation blues and not me getting sick!

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Friday Finds

Happy Friday!! Jeff and I are heading up to northern Wisconsin for vacation with my family tomorrow, so tonight we're mostly just packing and trying to eat all of the food in the fridge that might spoil. I was going to plan out content for all of next week, but my brother is in town and I frankly ran out of time - looks like it's blog vacation time too. So have a great week and I'll see you here after I get back (but follow along on Snapchat and Instagram to see what I'm up to - both @kristinadoes)!!

one / two / three / four / five

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Lace-Up Dress

Dress - LOFT / Sandals - Dolce Vita / Bag - Sole Society / Earrings - Charming Charlie / Bracelet - Baublebar 

Every summer I hit a point where all I want to wear is dresses. Unfortunately when I reached that point last week, I looked in my closet and realized that just about all of my dresses are on the fancy side - appropriate for a work event or a wedding, but not really something I'd pull out for a casual day of wandering the city. I quickly rectified that problem over the weekend with a stop in at LOFT, and now have worn this dress multiple times this week. I maaaaay have a problem. I just love the swingy cut, and the fun lace-up detail means I don't need many accessories. Perfect for those hot summer days when it's too hot to plan an outfit!

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Previously on KDTI - tassel bag:

 

Linking up with Flashback Friday, Friday Fab Favorites, Summer Style.

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I Bought a Rashguard?!

As a fair skinned gal, sun protection comes up a lot. It's actually kind of funny to me, but when I was a brunette no one ever said anything about skin protection to me, and instead joked about how I needed a tan. Now that my hair is red, other people look at me when I'm in the sun and literally shout "GET THAT GIRL IN THE SHADE!" Okay, not literally, but no joke other people are seriously concerned about my skin, and it's making me more concerned too!

I rarely get burned anymore, but because of the extra attention from other people I'm always worried that it's going to happen. It gets to the point that if we're spending all day outside I stop having fun because I'm so concerned about whether I've reapplied as much and if there's anywhere nearby I could go hide from the sun. In Lake Tahoe we spent a couple of days at the pool, and while Jeff's family was hanging out and having fun and taking a billion Snapchats of Melissa Joan Hart (who was also hanging at the pool), I was several rows back all by myself in the shade. Lame sauce.

While we were in Tahoe, I noticed that almost every woman over the age of 30 out on the beach or at the pool was wearing a rash guard! I knew that J.Crew and other stores started selling rash guards, but I hadn't previously considered them before. All the sudden they just made sense - why worry about skin damage all day when I could just wear a long-sleeved swim shirt and call it a day?! Since we're going on another family trip this weekend that will involve a lot of sun time, it was really a no-brainer for me.

I looked at the expensive versions from J.Crew, but ended up going with this swim tee from Land's End (plus a matching bikini top and bottoms!) that was less than twenty bucks!! I also found a super cute inexpensive option from Target here. Sun protection here I come!!

So tell me, do you wear a rash guard? Or would you? Am I going to look like a super nerd at the beach next week? Let me know!

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Flutter Sleeves from Rosegal

Dress - c/o RoseGal / Bag (extremely similar version) - Kate Spade / Sandals - Dolce Vita / Necklace  (similar) - Amrita Singh / Bracelet - Baublebar (gift)

I love all of the fun sleeves that are floating around right now, between bell sleeves and flutter sleeves like these. I'm all about the trend right now, but whenever I love a trend and want to buy a million pieces with it, I think back to my sophomore year of high school. Peasant tops were huge that year and I had a ton that I rotated through constantly for a solid six months. Then all the sudden the trend disappeared, and I was left with this closet full of clothes that I never wore again.

To avoid that happening again, whenever a new trend comes along that I'd like to try, I first try an inexpensive version, like this fun dress from RoseGal that was less than twenty dollars! It's the perfect way to try out the flutter sleeve, and the dress is so easy to dress up or down. Win, win, win.

Just a tip on sizing - whenever I order from stores based in Asia I make sure to check out the size guide, and then still size up. This dress is a size 2X, and I probably could have gone with a 3X! I know it sounds crazy to buy something that sounds so big, but sizing is different here in the US. Just pay attention to fit and not to what the tag says and you'll be good to go.

Do you like to try out new trends for less?

Linking up with Style Me Wednesday, Confident Twosday.

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This Weekend...

This weekend I...

...Flew back from San Fran late on Friday afternoon (which, by the way, ended up being super fun! On Thursday after work I rented a car to drive around and see some of the sights, including the Golden Gate Bridge which I have somehow never seen before! After sightseeing I drove across the bridge to Sausalito to meet up with a friend for dinner on the water at Barrel House Tavern. We were sitting outside above the water and a sea lion came over to say hello!! I've never seen one before so I was a bit overly excited haha. Okay, long enough parenthesis?) and basically ran straight into the shower and then hopped on the el to meet up with a bunch of friends for a White Sox game. Every year Jeff's friend celebrates his birthday by inviting everyone he knows (seriously everyone, there were 80 people in our group) for tailgating and a game, and it was so fun. I still never have any idea what's happening in baseball, but I love going to games - the food, the beer, the sitting outside, the fireworks... I love it all! Then when we left we ended up getting stuck underground on the red line going home for about 45 minutes!! It was hilarious for about the first 20 minutes and then slowly got less and less funny - I think it took me over two hours to get home.
...Felt an urge to drop a little cash, so under the guise of returning things I ran to Loft and ended up coming home with this adorable lace-up dress - definitely wearing this for the rest of summer and into the fall!
...Met up with a bunch of friends at Gene's Sausage Shop in Lincoln Square, and holy crap, how did I not know this rooftop was in my neighborhood?! The downstairs is a grocery store, but on the roof they had a ton of picnic tables and umbrellas, plus a bar with a bunch of different kinds of sausage and other German food. The food was so good, plus it was so nice to be outside on a beautiful Chicago summer day!
...Had a movie night at home with Jeff because he's been sick all week, the poor guy somehow got pneumonia in 90 degree weather!! Don't worry guys, he's not dying - the doctor said it's "just a little bit" of pneumonia whatever that means. Unfortunately movie night did nothing to make him better because we decided to watch Sisters which was terrible. Seriously, so bad. I didn't know that Amy Poehler and Tina Fey could touch anything and not have it turn to gold.

I hope you had a good one!

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Friday Finds

Happy Friday!! I'm currently headed home from San Francisco! Tonight we're headed to a White Sox game for a friend's birthday, but besides that I'm hoping to do a whole lot of nothing ;) Hope you have a good one!

one / two / three / four / five

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Carry On Makeup

You guys, I don't know what happened to me. I used to be able to carry just the bare minimal number of beauty items onto a plane with me, and now whenever I travel I bring a giant overflowing bag of makeup with me, plus a giant Naked eyeshadow palette or two taped closed floating around inside of my suitcase.

This weekend, after heaving my 45 pound suitcase up the three and a half flights of stairs to my bedroom (oh, who am I kidding, Jeff and I traded bags because I couldn't handle mine), I decided enough was enough. For my trip to San Francisco this week, I decided to go with the bare minimum - or, at least, my version of the bare minimum. One extra top besides my work shirts, two pairs of pants, gym clothes, three pairs of shoes including my running shoes, and just a couple of makeup items. Oh, and both my work and personal laptops, which probably defeated the whole purpose of packing light. Le sigh.

I posted a couple of months ago about my bare minimum makeup routine, but for a work trip where I'm meeting a lot of new people I didn't want to go super light. So here it is, what's in my travel makeup bag:

Naked Basics Palette - everything I need for day and night looks. With an angled brush the darkest color also works as eyeliner, and the second darkest is perfect for filling in my brows.
CARGO Blush in Los Cabos - the perfect coral peachy pink
Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream Eyes - perfect for covering my dark circles (and any other problems that hopefully won't arise!)
Maybelline Fit Me Powder in Porcelain - my go-to powder for years
Benefit Roller Lash Mascara - a new favorite ever since Ulta tricked me into going their store to pick up my "free birthday sample" and ended up walking out with $100 of items I didn't need. It's great because it's super layerable so you can go from day to night, plus the brush combs through lashes so well that you don't need a separate brush
Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler - the holy grail eyelash curler for a reason, perfect for making me look awake even though I've been up since 4am thanks to jetlag.

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Wedges in the Woods

Shirt and Shorts - J. Crew Factory / Shoes (currently less than $100!) - Dolce Vita / Bag (similar) - Coach Factory / Bracelet - BaubleBar / Necklace - Stella & Dot

Like I mentioned in last week's budget post, these wedges are my new favorite thing. They're super comfy, they go with everything, and they're perfect for dressing up when you also may spend some time wandering through the woods. What, you don't put on heels and then go for a nature walk? Okay, neither do I ;) But these pictures were taken last week in Incline Village at Lake Tahoe, where just going out to dinner meant wandering over rocky hills and up and down steep inclines. Most of our dinners were cooked at home, but we did manage to go out one night to Bite, where we had some freaking incredible homemade gnocchi. I basically wanted to lick the plate. 

I always hear that there are two types of vacationers - mountain people and beach people. I tend to think of myself, however, as a woods person. I don't care if we're near a mountain or a beach as long as I get quiet, peaceful nights away from civilization. Lake Tahoe was beautiful with all of the mountains, but really it wasn't all that different from vacations I've spent in northern Minnesota and Michigan. Well, basically the same except with decidedly less mosquitos ;) I know that we just got back from vacation, but we're actually heading up to northern Wisconsin with my family in less than two weeks for another week in the woods, and I can't wait! Bring on more sun, boats, and campfires. 

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Previously on KDTI - white shorts:

 

Linking up with Flashback Friday, Summer Style, Style Sessions, Confident Twosday, Style Me Wednesday.

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