Alive and Kicking

Hey ya'll!

My Pinterest pins have been generating some hits to this site recently, so I thought I had better post something a little more uplifting than what I last wrote!

I have almost completely recovered from my shoulder injury after 8 weeks of intense PT.  Sadly...I still haven't kicked the "sitting on the couch" habit I developed while injured and recovering.  As a result...no outfit pictures to share.  I did just recently re-wear the above pinkalicious look though..and since I didn't post it the first time around....ta da!

In other news...still working at GFS, still spending most of my earnings on clothes...have had to trade up in size on some of my things due to above sitting on the couch habit...and I still have a shoe addiction that won't quit.

All in all, things here are good.  I am not sure I will ever get back to doing outfit photos for the blog but sometimes I really miss the push to be creative.  We shall see.

I just wanted to say thank you for stopping by if you just found the site, and look to my daily reads for some other ladies to inspire you!  Feel free to email me any time if you have questions on shopping, it's what I do best!

XO,
Alyssa

A Last Hurrah

If you come here on a fairly regular basis, I hope you noticed that in the past few posts, I have been working to upgrade the type of outfits I have been showing so that my readers didn't get bored seeing me in jeans every installment.  None of the outfits were too fancy, all still perfectly affordable options, but none had denim anywhere in them.  That's not to say I actually wore any of them in real life...just that I actually do OWN items that would work for other situations my readers might find themselves in.  I was trying to better the blog, and expand my reach.  I was motivated.

All of the images in the skirt series were taken on the same afternoon...more than a month ago now, and I hadn't been inspired to take a photo since then.  And THEN, on Easter Sunday no less, the Universe said "oh really?" and gave me a nice little injury to prevent even the possibility of taking photos.

I have acute calcific tendonitis with complete shoulder contracture--which is the fancy way of saying a frozen shoulder.  I have very limited range of motion in the shoulder of my dominant hand.  Can't work, can't cook, can't clean, can't photograph, can only type with the computer down on my lap and with a whole lot of pain.  I'm down for a minimum of 6 weeks with intensive physical therapy to get back my ROM.  Super, super fun.

ANYWAY, Universe, I hear you.  Loud and clear.  I'm done. It's been fun.  If I come back again, it will be a new and better incarnation (God willing).  If I don't then I don't and I'll figure something else out.  I just wanted to let you guys know...those handful of people who keep coming by to check if there is anything new here.  I love you guys.

Until then and as always,

XO
Alyssa

Link Collision

What is one to do when a weekly link party and a monthly link party happen to coincide?  Combine them of course!!

Reading a book, any book really, is my favorite thing to do.  If I have had a crappy day and seek some solace, there will always be a book involved to take me away from the world for a while.  If I am putting off some chore I know I SHOULD be doing, like cleaning, you can bet I am instead reading a book.  Going somewhere in a plane, train or automobile? Then I've got a book (or several) to take along for the ride.  When I was a little girl I would climb the tree behind my house with a backpack full of books and snacks and spend entire afternoons nestled in perfect contentment.  Suffice it to say that my love of the written word goes way back.  So what a perfect combination of blog hops/and linky parties than Thursday Favorite Things and Thoughtful Third Thursday?!

Pam @ Over 50 Feeling 40
Katherine @ Katherine's Corner 
Nina @ Vintage Mama's Cottage

I read several books this month...one leading into the next, but I was struck by some works of Virginia Wolfe.  I read A Room of One's Own and am in the middle of reading Mrs. Dalloway.  I have quotes from both that struck a chord with me.

The first, from A Room of One's Own, which is an essay/speech she gave on the topic women and fiction:

"for fiction, imaginative work that is, is not dropped like a pebble upon the ground, as science may be, fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners."

The second, from Mrs. Dalloway early on in the book when she is walking up the road and looking into shop windows and thinking to herself:

"She had the oddest sense of being herself invisible; unseen; unknown; there being no more marrying, no more having of children now, but only this astonishing and rather solemn progress with the rest of them, up Bond Street, this being Mrs. Dalloway; not even Clarissa any more; this being Mrs. Richard Dalloway."

I wanted my outfit to be a more modern day take on classic "strolling up Bond Street" outfit.  The brocade in the skirt reminiscent of the gowns of the day, the flower broach an adornment nodding back to the finery of the gentility, and yet still imaginative and "attached to life".  I think it was successful?!

On this blog, if no where else in life, I remain Alyssa.

Go see what everyone else is reading!

Stylish Sweatshirts

Hi there!  It's been a while, huh?  Sorry about that.  I haven't been taking any outfit photos recently because I have been dressing in my most casual duds for work.  We did a major overhaul of our back stock room which required a whole lot of kneeling and sitting and sweating and climbing around in dust and dirt.  Needless to say, this outfit is NOT an example of that kind of look!

I found this super-cute printed sweatshirt at Old Navy when I was last there and couldn't resist scooping it up for around $9!  I had planned to just wear it with my yoga pants to update my lounging look, but then I tried to come up with some different ways to wear it as well.  I have seen a few other ladies dressing up their sweats and thought I would give it a shot.  

Sweatshirt:  Old Navy (you are not getting it at $9 online, maybe in store)

Skirt: Forever 21

Heels:  TJ Maxx

Lanyard Necklace: Dress Barn (you heard me)

To dress up my printed sweatshirt, I chose to add in a textured skirt and some mixed metallics with my heels and jewelry.  Even though the sweatshirt is pretty loose, I still felt the total look came out much cooler than I had expected...I just need an occasion to wear it!  

Don't forget, it's Manic Monday linkup time...click the button on my sidebar to join us!!

mixed metals for my necklaces

As an aside,  let me ask you something...seriously...should I go back to taking my pictures inside?  Is it really that much better of a background, this outside shot of my vines?  Tell me your opinion, please!!  Thanks!

XO,
Alyssa

I Know What I Like

I know what I like, and this is all of it.  I like navy, I like hot coral, I like seersucker.  BAM, outfit done.  I am not too sure that I like the layered necklaces, but I wanted to do something a little bigger than one or the other.

Know what else I'm NOT sure about?  How to take photos in the sunshine...because this is what happens.

It's a light zebra. 

Jeans:  Gap Factory Store

Top:  Gap Factory Store

Blazer:  Banana Republic Factory Store

Necklaces:  Target

Shoes:  Last Chance 

Since I totally missed this week's Visible Monday, AND Manic Monday link parties, I will for sure be at the Favorite Things Thursday link hosted by the lovely:

Pam @ Over 50 Feeling 40
Katherine @ Katherine's Corner 
Nina @ Vintage Mama's Cottage