Monday, February 29, 2016

This Weekend...


This weekend I...

...Spent a whole lot of time volunteering. I've mentioned it a couple of times before, but I volunteer with Destination Imagination every year (realized that this is the 20th year I've been involved, gahh!!) and this weekend was our local competition. We had a lot of laughs watching the kids' performances and I somehow managed to stay away from all of the candy, so all in all it was a win ;)
...Celebrated my birthday first with Jeff at Appellation where we consumed all of the wine and cheese, and then with my family up at my parents' house. The most important guest at the party, of course, was my adorable little niece - she's such a show-stealer!
...Enjoyed the beautiful weather by trying out our new grill for the first time!! We had a charcoal grill at our old place, but those are illegal on wood balconies in Chicago (because of, you know, fires), so we went to Abt a couple of weeks ago to pick one out and had it delivered on Wednesday (ahem, during a blizzard. Sorry delivery men!). If you're in Chicagoland and shopping for any sort of appliance, definitely check out Abt! Their customer service is amazing and the sales guys really know what they're doing. One of my coworkers was actually in town from San Fran and went to Abt while he was here to buy all of the appliances for his new house!

I hope you had a good one!



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Friday, February 26, 2016

February 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

Oh hello, it's somehow time for another budget post! This month I managed to stay a little more season-appropriate than January (well, besides the cover-up ;) and apparently I'm no longer like colors. I did pick up a few things that I've been wanting for months, like the lace-up flats and the skirt, and filled some holes in my closet with the black denim and booties. The booties may be my favorite purchase of the month. While I love the flats, I've been searching for black booties for over a year at this point (picky, much?) and these are perfect. I can't believe they're Toms because they're so cute, and they're comfy enough (even with the heel!) to walk around all day in. I even hiked up the hills in San Francisco in these bad boys and accidentally took a wander into the Tenderloin and they worked equally well for climbing hills as running back in the direction I came from.


J. Crew Factory Tunic - originally $69.50, on sale $31.05. I can't wait to wear this on all of our summer vacays!!
TOMs Booties - $138.95. I seriously love these, and wore them earlier this week.
LOFT Denim Leggings - originally $69.50, on sale $41.70. When these came I couldn't remember if they were supposed to be jeans or leggings. Oh, denim leggings! Both of me were right.
BP Lace-up Flats - $59.95. I've already sung my praises for these (here and here), they're so fun. Although now that I think of it, one of my male co-workers did refer to them as my "witch shoes" last week...
J. Crew Skirt - originally $128, on sale $96, used giftcard $0. I think this has been on my wishlist since over the summer, but it was so much more than I'd usually pay for a skirt that I didn't really consider it. Usually I'd just take an item off the wishlist after writing it off, but I couldn't get my eye off of this little cutie, plus it never went out of stock, so since I got a giftcard for Christmas I decided to finally bite the bullet.
Lou & Grey Cardigan - originally $69.50, on sale $21.95. I never buy anything on final sale when I'm online shopping, because, you know, then I'm stuck with it. This was such a good deal, plus it got me free shipping, so I decided to just go for it, and I'm so glad I did - it's so comfy and goes with everything!

Total spent: $293.60
Total saved: $113.80

I somehow came in right under budget, despite at one point having about $500 worth of stuff on my budget Pinterest board for the month. A lot of things didn't work out, like this tee (weirdly oversized), this blouse (too hospital scrubs-y), and this dress (just meh).

For March, I'm on the hunt for a new pair of denim and a fancy work tote. And probably one million other things that I won't be able to wear for months, because Chicago.

Did you budget this month? How did you do?


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Thursday, February 25, 2016

Birthday Bloopers

Oh hey, today I'm turning the big 2-9 - eek!! As usual I thought I'd do a fun birthday post but then neglected to plan ahead, so instead of confetti and cake here's a bunch of pictures of me acting a fool in front of the camera - enjoy! Oh and p.s., you can click each picture to go back to the original post.

There are the ones where I seem to have forgotten what's happening...




The ones where I just get a little too excited...





The ones where for some reason, this is happening...




The ones where I just can't...






And of course, the one where I likely spotted a bunny running through our yard and am telling it I'm going to eat it for dinner...


Want to see more bloopers? Check out my last post here.



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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Back in Blazers


Blazer (similar) - J. Crew / Tee (similar) - Target / Denim - Gap / Booties - Toms / Bag (similar) - Coach Factory / Bracelet - BaubleBar / Necklace - Madewell







I don't know what happened, but I think I forgot I owned any blazers. Which was clearly a mistake - they're so classic & flattering, plus they can take a simple tee shirt like this one feel like an outfit. Blazers can get expensive, but now is a good time to start looking for them. They tend to get super marked down as summer items come into stores. I bought mine on clearance a few springs back marked down to 75% off! I found a couple of similar blazers that are currently on sale and linked them below.


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Previously on KDTI - more blazers!

 

Linking up with Friday Fab FavoritesWhat I Wore to WorkStyle Me WednesdayHow I FallStyle SessionsConfident Twosday.

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Monday, February 22, 2016

This Weekend...


This weekend I...

...Got super delayed flying back into Chicago on Friday night because of all of the wind! Did you hear about it? It was crazy walking around Saturday morning, it looked like a tornado had come through some neighborhoods. Let's just say, the plane landing was exciting...
...Visited my girl Janette at J. Gordon Designs for a little trim, and for the first time in a long time took it as an excuse to stop by Molly's for some cupcakes - the cookie dough is my favorite, but my b-day is coming up this week so I had to snag a birthday cake one too. So freaking good.
...Walked around Lincoln Square with Jeff trying to find our favorite sandwich delivery place - turns out it closed last weekend! Major sad face. Things turned out okay though because we realized we were right next to Fork - one of my favorites for brunch.
...Went to a friend's engagement party (yay Josh & Ali!!) and subsequently drank all of the Moscow Mules ;) We missed the bandwagon for Dry January, but I think Jeff and I will try for a Dry March instead - wish us luck!
...Met up with Jeff's dad for a pre-birthday brunch at Summer House Santa Monica. I'd never been before, and holy cuteness overload!!
...Nearly forgot we had Bulls tickets for Sunday night, but managed to make it down there with a couple of friends to see Kobe's last game in Chicago.

I feel like I need a weekend to recover from my weekend haha. Hope you had a good one!



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Friday, February 19, 2016

Our Wedding: Cocktails & Reception

And now we've come to the last of the posts on our wedding - the cocktail hour and the reception. In case you missed them, here are the rehearsal, getting ready, our first look, photos around town, the ceremony, and some of our decor details.











Photos by Cristina G



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Thursday, February 18, 2016

Ruffled Rental


Shirt - Trina Turk (via Rent the Runway) / Denim - Gap / Flats - BP / Belt (similar) - Old Navy / Bag (similar) - Coach Factory / Bracelet - unknown (gift from the hubs!) 








I was randomly browsing through Rent the Runway last week, trying to decide if I wanted to rent something for Valentine's Day, when I realized two things. One, I had a bunch of credits, and two, they were having a 3 for 1 deal for Valentine's weekend. So why not rent a couple of things? I ended up snagging a pretty blouse for our Valentine's Day date, a warm sweater for a Saturday of volunteering and hanging out with the husband, and this pretty ruffled shirt to wear to work on Friday. I was going to take pictures of all of the things I got, but you know, weather got in the way. This shirt was a bit too bit, but nothing tucking it in and adding a belt couldn't solve.

Getting rentals for everyday activities was surprisingly fun - it was nice to have something different to wear without filling every spare inch of my closet, and I had way less laundry to do. It was also nice to wear things that are normally out of my price point - this shirt is regularly $268, which is almost my whole monthly budget! This weekend actually has me seriously considering Rent the Runway's Unlimited subscription, where you can always have three items out for rental and switch them out for different items whenever you want. The only thing is the price - it's $139 a month, which seems a bit steep. I suppose I would also be buying fewer things, but it still feels like a lot. Have you tried rental services like Unlimited? Do you think they're worth it?


P.S. This post isn't sponsored - I just really like Rent the Runway!

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