Why I Quit Blogging

I had hoped that one day I would feel comfortable sharing the reason behind why I abruptly dropped off the face of the blogging earth.

Summed up in one word (& gif), that reason is...

via GIPHY And no, I don't mean I quit blogging because of my husband. As many of you may know, my dad passed away quite suddenly in March of 2016. Michael and I already had baby fever, but were planning on waiting for another year or more to start trying. However, there's nothing like losing someone important to you to make you realize how short life is. I had an OBGYN appointment coming up anyway (that I actually set up to get a new prescription for birth control), and I decided to forego the prescription and just tell them we were going to start trying. I had a 45-ish day cycle, and the next cycle was up to day 60 with nothing, so I called my OB. She ordered bloodwork, and my testosterone levels came back high, indicating that I had PCOS. I won't go into full detail about PCOS, but basically, if you have it, you don't ovulate (you may ovulate sporadically, but not monthly like clockwork). It is often characterized by being overweight and having excess body hair (and can sometimes be helped by losing weight), but obviously, that's not the case for everyone (so if you have messed up cycles but no outward symptoms, asking to get tested can't hurt!). I started taking fertility drugs to try and spur ovulation. Clomid was a dud (and my normal cycles were 35 days, plus add in extra days taking Provera to force my cycle to restart) so three cycles of that took about four months. It was really hard for me to read blogs about new babies, pregnancy updates, or, the worst of all, pregnancy announcements. I actually unfollowed a few people on Instagram after their pregnancy announcements/updates during my lowest point. Even bloggers talking about how they don't want kids and that's okay was hard (I 100% agree with this sentiment, but it just reminded me that I did want it and it wasn't happening). Eventually, it was easier to cut back on my blog reading. But writing was also hard. This was the most present thing on my mind at all times, but I couldn't blog about it. (To be fair, I could've, but I've always wanted my pregnancy announcement to be a surprise, so I was holding out hope for that.) Everything else I could blog about started to feel trivial and pointless. And now, after that depressing look into a tough year of my life, I can tell you that after Clomid didn't work for me, I tried Letrozole and started tracking my basal body temperature (the temp right when you wake up each morning) and two cycles later, I got my positive test on April 21st!

You may have already seen this on Instagram, but here it is! I'm due December 30th, so at the time that this post goes live, I'll be 13 weeks + 4 days. I also can't guarantee that I'll come back to blogging. I thought a flip would switch and I'd be excited to come back, but you really realize how much work blogging is after you quit cold turkey for a few months. I have so much more free time! Plus, I don't want to be all pregnancy updates/eventually mommy blog status.
Also, feel free to contact me if you have any questions! I reached out to Alexandra from My Urban Family after my diagnosis and it was helpful to talk to someone going through it.

Show Us Your Books [March 2017]

It's time again to link up with Steph & Jana to talk about one of my favorite things--books!

Read...

The Girl Before - J.P. Delaney ****
I really loved the bulk of this book. It had my attention and kept me guessing. I just wasn't crazy about the ending.

Picture Perfect - Jodi Picoult ***
Based on my reviews of this book and Second Glance, I'm thinking I'm just not a huge fan of Picoult's earlier work. My Goodreads review: I liked the story and the characters, but at times it was slow and felt really long.

One Plus One - Jojo Moyes ****
I found the first half to be pretty boring, but loved the second half!

The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland - Rebekah Crane ****1/2
I loved this book. I had pretty low expectations because it was a Kindle first book. I also thought it would be more on the younger side of young adult (I mean, it's about teenagers at summer camp) but I thought it was on the older side, and it was totally enjoyable as an adult.

The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd ****
I found this book to be really endearing. I loved all the characters and the whole "coming of age" aspect. I feel like the whole 'I was prejudiced and didn't know it' is so prevalent today--maybe more people need to go live with people of different backgrounds for a while and realize it...

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey ****
I'd say this was a four through most of the book, but the ending was more like 4.5-5. I don't want to say more because I don't want to give anything away. I actually read this for Erin's Book Challenge Bonus Round (book set in my state) and I'm so glad the challenge made me do it, because I wasn't very interested in it before. Along with the story itself, I loved the name-dropping of all the places around where I live!

Currently reading...

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Next up...

In no particular order, I intend to read a mix of books I own (they're accumulating quickly--I've never had this problem before!), popular books that are going to become movies soon (because books are always better!), and the oldest books on my TBR (from 2011) since I seem to always add more and then read the newly added ones first. If I still want to read a book more than five years later, I figure it's about time I read it.
Owned: The Butterfly Garden, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl, The Mutual Admiration Society, Only the Truth, Sisters One, Two, Three, Water for Elephants, Everything We Keep, Can You Keep A Secret?, Let Me Explain, The Practice House, Boy Meets Depression
Soon-to-be movies: Everything, Everything & Before I Fall, Thirteen Reasons Why (which is becoming a Netflix series, not a movie)
Oldest on my TBR: The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes & The Things We Do For Love

Want more? Follow on Bloglovin' - Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - Pinterest

February Budget [2017]

2017 Budget

$1,291.79 - Annual budget remaining

$234.21 - Nordstrom gift cards
$20 - Old Navy Rewards

$1,546 - Maximum budget amount available

Extra income
$35.21 - Ebates
$101.25 - blogging income
$100 - Super Bowl Squares

Last month, I was going to add miscellaneous purchases (not included in my budget) but I got lazy and didn't do that. So I'm going to include some of our recent miscellaneous purchases, whether they're necessities or fun things. I want to start doing this because I'm trying to cut back on buying clothes, as I feel like I have plenty right now. I have a box of stuff I want to take to Plato's Closet (I was going to send them to ThredUp, but since they now deduct shipping from your earnings, I refuse) and I still use eBates and Splender, but I've decided that that money is now going to be used to pay off credit card debt, or student loans, or just added to my bank account for whatever. I will list my 'extra income' after my clothing budget from now on. That blogging income is from affiliate links (aka when you click on some of my links, I get like $0.03). You don't get paid until you reach $100 and it took like a year and a half for me to get there. So will I ever get rich from doing this? No. I know some people don't want to click on affiliate links or like to reassure everyone that none of their links are affiliate links, but they really don't do much (unless you're a fashion blogger who has a bajillion views and thousands of people click your links every day).

I'm more and more into buying things for our house (whether it's cute decor or practical stuff), so more money will be going to that, though it won't come out of this budget.

Kept

elaxed Graphic Curved-Hem Tee - $15 - 30% off = $10.50
I decided to be 'good' and only get one of these. I wanted the "Rose All Day" one too, but I don't drink rose all that often, white is probably my least favorite t-shirt color, and prosecco is one of my favorites. Bonus points that the tee also shouts out coffee along with prosecco.

Relaxed Lace-Up Tee - $19.94 - 30% off = $13.96
I wanted both the red and navy blue stripes, but I realized I have sooo many navy blue striped tops (plus I bought the dress below which is navy and white striped), so I limited myself to red.

Striped Lace-Front Swing Dress - $34.94, on sale for $27 - 30% off = $18.90
I love ON's swing dresses. This one is perfect for spring! Not pictured in collage

Go-Dry Compression Mesh-Panel Crops - $29.94, on sale for $26 - 30% off = $18.20
I've been wanting fun workout leggings for a long time, and I'm a sucker for mesh panels, so I got me some hot pink leggings.

minus $20 for Old Navy rewards used on the order of the previous four items...

Paige Cropped Jeans - $189, Nordstrom Rack price $69.97 - gift card = $0
I bought Paige jeans at Nordstrom Rack a while back, but I realized after a while that the inside of the jeans was so dark it looked weird to cuff them. I think they were straight leg too, which also made cuffing them weird. But they fit really well in the waist. Another issue is the knees kind of bagged, so even tucking them into tall boots didn't work well. So when I found these Paiges that are pre-cuffed I snagged them. Saves me the trouble of having to cuff them! (I'm getting rid of the other Paige jeans, and possibly my pair of Joe's jeans because the waist is a bit too big.)

Marc by Marc Jacobs Mini Leather Crossbody - $298, Nordstrom Rack price $149.97 - $109.93 gift card = $40.04
I really thought I would be paying $0 for this, but the Nordstrom Rack website only lets you use one Nordstrom gift card at a time. Oh well!

Nike Cortez Leather Sneakers (navy) - $65ish - gift from Michael = $0
We went shopping with my mom and Michael said that the leather version of these was no longer available. I found them on Amazon and couldn't decide if I was going to buy them, so I texted Michael. He said he would buy them, and that he was planning on buying them as a surprise, which is why he knew the leather ones were disappearing. (Yes, we're married and we have a joint account, but we also have separate accounts and this did not come from my clothing budget!)

Stripe Midi Wrap Dress - $59 - gift from Mom = $0
The main purpose of the shopping trip with my mom was to find a dress for my sister's wedding reception, and she offered to buy it for me. I love this dress. I also tried on the floral print version.

Bar Lariat Necklace - $19 - gift from Mom = $0
The sales girl brought me some jewelry to try with the dress and I loved this necklace with the v-neck. The necklace is adjustable, and I wore it with the bead all the way down, but I definitely want to try wearing it different ways. Not pictured in collage

Floral Mosaic Henley Tunic - $59.50, on sale for $54.99 - 50% off - store credit = $1.49
I've had this credit since returning a 2015 Christmas gift. I thought this print was super fun and it was casual enough for me (lots of Loft stuff I think is so cute but more business casual/business professional which I don't need at this point). Not pictured in collage

I forgot to include last month that my mom bought me these heeled sandals from Target! I can't wait for it to warm up so I can wear them. We got to see my mother-in-law over the weekend and she bought Michael some $100 shoes he wanted, and then she bought me a $100 Nordstrom gift card to match, so that added to my remaining gift card balance at the end of this month!

Returned

I ended up returning the boots from January's budget post. My normal size was too small, the bigger size was too big. And no half sizes. Wah.

Miscellaneous

Sonix 'Agave' Phone Case
I am obsessed with my phone case! Sonix cases are kind of expensive, but they're so pretty. And I pretty much always have a phone case for as long as I have my phone (I don't switch it unless it's necessary), so I'll get plenty of use out of it.

Batiste Dry Shampoo - Blush, 3-pack
This is a new subscription order, after my Target subscription sucked (it was out of stock two months in a row). I've only gotten this once so far, but I'm signed up for it every two months.

Pre-lit Artificial Christmas Tree
Photos included with reviews of this show it looking super full. The reviewers say they had to 'fluff' it a bit to get it that way. When I put it together after we got it just to check it out, it's just gaping holes between each section, basically. I have absolutely no idea how one 'fluffs' an artificial tree to be super full with no holes. Anyone have any advice?

Dog Food
We always order our thirty pound bags of dog food on Amazon. We were ordering Taste of the Wild for years, but their price has increased (by a few dollars) so I decided to try out Blue Buffalo since I've heard good things and it was just barely cheaper. I'm not sure if it's just the new-ness of the food, but the dogs love this food.

Adjustable Raised Dog Food Feeders
Our dogs aren't old yet, but I remember when our family Beagle got older that we had to get him raised food and water bowls. I figured I should be preemptive about it, especially since it doesn't look comfortable to lean down like they do to eat. Plus, we were using two matching bowls for food and water, then one other not at all matching bowl for food. The matching makes me happy (I know, I'm weird).

Gilmore Girls Coffee Print
I've wanted this for a while to go on the coffee bar, and I finally realized there was no reason for me to wait any more (not like it was super expensive or anything)!

Woven Cube Storage Bins
Our TV upstairs is on one of those four-cube organizers from IKEA. The bottom two cubes are empty, and Michael doesn't have enough clothes storage (and it drives me absolutely insane because his clothes are EVERYWHERE) so I bought two of these to try to make more room for his stuff.

Eyelash Curler
I've needed a new eyelash curler for quite some time, but recently realized it's gotten really bad.

2017 Budget

$1,208.70 - Annual budget remaining

$131.77 - Nordstrom gift cards
$50 - Old Navy Rewards

$1,390.47 - Maximum budget amount available

Linking up with Franish's Budgeting Bloggers, as usual!

Want more? Follow on Bloglovin' - Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - Pinterest

Coffee Date [2.24.17]

I figured it's time for another coffee date.

Let's start off with the obvious: I'm kind of MIA in the blog world lately. The reason for that is I simply don't feel like blogging much. I prefer to spend my free time doing other things. I don't want to completely give up blogging (I at least want to continue participating in SUYB and monthly budget posts, with a few sporadic posts like this thrown in, probably) but I'm not going to promise even one post every week.

Along with that, I'm not reading blogs as much as I used to, and commenting even less than I am reading. So don't think that I hate your blog if I've always been a commenter.

Moving right along. If we were having coffee, I'd be drinking mine out of this amazing mug that Ashley got me as part of the Galentine's Blogger Exchange that Olya and I hosted (link up your posts below!). She also got me Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella because I mentioned at one point that I've never read anything by her. I think it's so great that Ashley remembered that little detail, plus my love of Harry Potter. I felt like she really knew me, even though we've never met! (For future reference: coffee mugs and bookish things are pretty much foolproof gifts for me!)

Speaking of books, I won my second Goodreads giveaway! So exciting. I won Boy Meets Depression: Or Life Sucks and Then You Live.

We got our thermostat to work! It only took Michael climbing up into our crawlspace (using a ladder we borrowed from my mom) and scaring the crap out of me because of how high it is (and he had to step on the top of the ladder, which I don't think you're supposed to do) and a ladder on carpet doesn't feel quite as secure as a ladder on solid ground. Add all that to the fact that I was the one holding the ladder and I have the arm strength of a 6-year-old...queue my anxiety. But it works! It's so much prettier than our old thermostat.

I know I can be kind of a cheapskate when it comes to clothes, but seriously, I can't handle how expensive Gap is compared to Old Navy when they're owned by the same company. I am so in love with this t-shirt dress, but $70?! (Okay, so as I'm writing this it's on sale and with the extra promo it's like $36; I guess I could swing that...at least if my Old Navy credit card rewards work towards Gap too.) I mean, I know it has a little something extra over a plain t-shirt dress, but seriously. A t-shirt dress from Old Navy is $27 (exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C) and it's almost impossible to pay full price at Old Navy. (As I was writing this, all three of those dresses were 50% off.)

I'm not much of a flats person, but I adore these lace-up flats! Cognac would be my first choice, but I kind of love both!

Michael takes way better pictures than I do. Why is he so good and mine always look super amateur? Oh well, at least I can force him to send them to me.

I haven't been taking many pictures of my outfits lately, so I didn't want to do a full post on them. But here's one of my new favorite shirts in action:

And my new Nikes! I've wanted cute, sporty sneakers for a while and I just got them on Wednesday! I'll admit, I was kind of nervous that a) I wouldn't be able to pull them off, or b) they'd make my feet look enormous but I got dressed and loved the look.

*Yes my mirror is still dirty. I cleaned that entire bathroom like crazy and totally forgot about this mirror. Oh well!

I'm also super loving my new crazy bright workout crops! I really wanted these burgundy leggings (I'm a sucker for the sheer panels, I guess) but they disappeared and I fell in love with the hot pink. Now that the burgundy is back, I want those too!

Are any of you watching Big Little Lies on HBO? I loved the book, and lucky for us, we have HBO free for a few months because (unlucky for us) our provider and ABC are not getting along right now. I don't think it's as good as the book (no surprise there) but I liked the first episode!

I got my hands on some Girl Scout cookies. I don't know any Girl Scouts here, and when I was in Seattle I just bought them from my boss's daughter. I tried using the contact for via the GS website, but it didn't work. So then I found the Facebook page for Girl Scouts in this region and messaged them. Then the auto-response prompted me to email them. And they responded to both. Seriously, I was determined to get my cookies. And in case anyone was wondering, the new s'mores ones are good.

Want more? Follow on Bloglovin' - Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - Pinterest

Show Us Your Books [February 2017]

It's time again to link up with Steph & Jana to talk about one of my favorite things--books!

Read...

If I Stay - Gayle Forman **1/2
I really wanted to love this, but there were some parts that were so cheesy I would cringe. And I found myself disliking Mia pretty often. Also, at first, the references to Oregon were cool, but eventually they got to be really annoying because they were so over the top or stereotypical (i.e. "We had steaks and tofu pups, this being Oregon." I've never had a tofu pup and don't plan to). I am also a big crier in books and this didn't make me cry once. I just never got invested. Maybe it's because I saw the movie already when it came out?
+1 for Erin's Book Challenge - set in my state (25 points)

Winter Storms - Elin Hilderbrand *
I wasn't going to read this (since I didn't like the first two), but I had it from the library and basically decided to hate-read it. I found Ava slightly less annoying this time, but this still managed to be my least favorite of the series. I felt like the purpose of this book was to give every single character a shiny happy ending and I thought that was boring. I didn't notice it in the other two books, but in this one, the writing was so undescriptive. (Example: "He did this." "She went there." Basically just saying what happened, and then dialogue.) I did think it was nice that Elin name-dropped a couple of other authors in her genre (a character was reading Jane Green and another author). And then she name dropped her own book and I had to roll my eyes at that.

Small Great Things - Jodi Picoult *****
I just love JP. I was worried when I saw reviews calling the ending unrealistic or over the top, but I enjoyed it. Picoult has been my favorite author for years, and her endings are always big. I love that she tackles tough topics. If you read this, make sure to read the author's note at the end.
+1 for Erin's Book Challenge - favorite author (20 points)

Wonder - R.J. Palacio *****
I absolutely loved the message of this book--to be kind to everyone, no matter how different we all are. I had tears of sadness and of joy in my eyes at different times in this book. It was just so cute.
+1 for Erin's Book Challenge - starts with 'w' (10 points)

Rain Reign - Ann M. Martin ****
I did not expect this book to be so heavy! It was really hard to read at times (emotionally). But Rose was such a heartwarming narrator.
+1 for Erin's Book Challenge - homonym in the title (20 points)

All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr ****
This was a beautiful story, and so well written. I loved how the different stories were woven together, and in a lot of cases, unexpectedly. I don't think I was in the right mindset for it when I was reading it, or I was just too distracted, so I kept having to reread passages and I wasn't absorbing it well. In other circumstances, I may have rated it five stars.
+1 for Erin's Book Challenge - six-word title (10 points)

Difficult Women - Roxane Gay *****
This was my first Roxane Gay read and it won't be my last! Her writing is incredible. The short stories range between two minutes and thirty-five minutes (at least, based on my Kindle's analysis of my reading speed) and they're all different but have many similar themes.

Goodnight, Beautiful - Dorothy Koomson *****
I loved the character development. The points of view varied and it switched between past and present, so you got to know the characters bit by bit. I loved that the characters and relationships between characters were so complex. I'm also glad it ended the way it did. (Also, my feminist self is always glad to see a love triangle where it isn't simply, "this woman is a major bitch and this woman is great" and also to see a woman who doesn't need a man to be happy.) (Guys, I think this is my very first book that I've blogged about that I haven't seen in anyone else's posts. Probably because this was one of the three oldest books on my TBR, added in 2011. No idea where I heard about it, since I didn't read blogs then!)

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger ***
I have some complicated feelings on this one. For one, the first portion of the book (quarter? third? I don't recall) creeeeeped me out. It was supposed to be romantic, I think...but I found it creepy. And the creepiness came back later for short visits. The writing was good, and I enjoyed reading it during the non-creepy parts (and after I tried thinking the time travel thing to death (it's really confusing to think about the past/present/future all happening at once etc...once I stopped trying to comprehend it it was more enjoyable)).
+1 for Erin's Book Challenge - time travel (35 points)

Britt-Marie Was Here - Fredrik Backman ***
I thought this was a very cute story. The last 40ish percent wasn't as good as the first 60, and the last 10ish was pretty boring.
+1 for Erin's Book Challenge - green cover (15 points)

Dark Matter - Blake Crouch *****
This book grabbed my attention from the first page. It was suspenseful, fast-paced, and full of twists.

Erin's Book Challenge progress...

10/10 books
200/200 points
See my full list here and my Goodreads shelf for the challenge here.
I'm done! I can't decide if I'm going to do the bonus round or not. I go back and forth constantly. You'd think this is a life or death decision based on how indecisive I'm being...

Currently reading...

The Girl Before - J.P. Delaney

Next up...

In no particular order, I intend to read a mix of books I own (they're accumulating quickly--I've never had this problem before!), popular books that are going to become movies soon (because books are always better!), and the oldest books on my TBR (from 2011) since I seem to always add more and then read the newly added ones first. If I still want to read a book more than five years later, I figure it's about time I read it.
Owned: The Butterfly Garden, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl, The Mutual Admiration Society, Only the Truth, Sisters One, Two, Three, Water for Elephants (I've owned the Kindle version forever, started it like five years ago and abandoned it; I don't think it's actually on my TBR, but I own it and feel the need to read it--yes, I have seen the movie), What She Knew, Everything We Keep, The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland, Can You Keep A Secret?, Let Me Explain
Soon-to-be movies: Everything, Everything & Before I Fall (Really thought there were more of these...)
Oldest on my TBR: The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes & The Things We Do For Love

Want more? Follow on Bloglovin' - Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - Pinterest

Confessions [2.1.17]

It's been a while, so I'm excited to link up with Nadine & Kathy for Confessions!

These things are amazing. They're made in Oregon, so I don't know if they're distributed around the country, but if they are you should try them! They also come in plain peanut butter and dark chocolate peanut butter, but I haven't tried those yet.

We've been wanting a bookshelf for quite some time now. Our books filled half of our storage coffee table and then we had some that were just sitting around. So on Saturday we found a bookshelf for only $28 at Target and used a $25 gift card on it. I set it up while Michael played basketball and when it was all done and I stood it up...it looked like this. :(

See the raw edge on the bottom sides of the shelf? *Sigh* We're just going to get black paint and paint that part. It was a cheap bookshelf and it serves its purpose (and it's just in a guest room). Side note: those are all Harry Potter Funko Pops. Michael is obsessed with collecting them and has accumulated those in about six months.

Also on Saturday, we bought the Ecobee Lite thermostat that I wanted. We bought it at Home Depot because we had $100 worth of gift cards from Christmas and Michael's birthday...and then we got home and realized you have to actually do something with the furnace itself. Our furnace is in an attic crawlspace and we only have a four foot ladder, which isn't tall enough. We opened the thermostat, so I'm not sure if we can return it. I'd prefer to get a full-size ladder and get it done, but we also don't know if we're savvy enough to even figure out how to do it once we can reach the furnace. Does anyone else have experience changing out their thermostat for a "smart" one and having to mess with the furnace? Is it difficult?

This Muslim ban crap has me so angry. In November, I decided I would start a monthly donation to some sort of social justice organization. I ended up going with the ACLU, and I'm so happy with that decision now based on all that's happening and how they're fighting. I was also super happy to see the below message in my Bloglovin' feed, to see Starbucks planning on hiring refugees, and to see companies like Lyft pledge large donations. I'm also proud to see Nike (founded and headquartered here in Oregon) making a statement (okay, technically it was an email to all employees, but it has since been published online) against the ban. (Obviously, the happiness over these things doesn't overpower my burning rage, but it's nice to see like-minded businesses and individuals fighting for what's right.)

Michael is a Twitter fiend, and he saw a tweet where someone suggested volunteering at your local mosque. He found our local mosque and saw that they do have volunteer opportunities as well as interfaith meetings. He contacted them and we've been added to the volunteer list. I'm excited to meet people who are different from me and to support a group that is being marginalized unfairly. I never would've thought to do this, so I wanted to include it as a PSA to anyone out there who isn't sure what they can do! Obviously, it's not an action that will change political policy, but it's a way to stand in solidarity with your fellow human beings.

Want more? Follow on Bloglovin' - Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - Pinterest

January Budget [2017]

2017 Budget

$1,200 - Annual budget remaining

$234.21 - Nordstrom gift cards
$55 - Old Navy Rewards

$1,489.21 - Maximum budget amount available

What I Kept & Returned

Workout Tanks (in Carbon & Purple Rain) - $12.94 each - 25% off = $11 each

Herringbone Compression Jacket - $39.94 - 25% off = $32
In my order of the above three items, I bought two sizes of the jacket, and three sizes of the cardi coat you'll see in the returned section. I used my $55 in Old Navy rewards. I can't really figure out how to do the math on how they paid me back (I got some rewards back and some money back when I returned the extras, but I didn't get my full $55 back or my full out of pocket money back) so I spent $28.23 out of pocket on those three items.

Textured Crew-Neck Sweater - $34.94

Graphic Crew-Neck Sweatshirt - $24.94
The two items above will go down in history as the first items I ever bought full price from Old Navy. Neither were available on the website at the time. The sweatshirt I bought isn't pictured in the collage, because I've never seen that one online, but it's featured in this post. (I also bought the same sweatshirt for my mom, but since it's a gift, it's not counted toward my budget.)

Mockneck Lace Shoulder Tunic - $19.99 - 5% REDcard discount - paid with gift card = $0
Haven't received this yet. I just love it online, but calling it 'mockneck' kind of confuses me because on the model it doesn't look that way. We'll see when it arrives...

I feel like I went a little crazy this month for not really wanting anything for a while... And there are a few more things I want from Old Navy, but I'm waiting to get my rewards money back/possibly use some super cash I earned, so I'll probably be buying that stuff after this post goes live.

Twill Cardi-Coat - $64.94 - 25% off - rewards = ??? returned

I was expecting this to be more cardi than coat. I should've looked at the material, but anyway, it was wooly and itchy and very much coat-like. I also didn't feel like it was totally my style when I put it on.

Riding Boots - $239.95, on sale for $179.90 - gift cards = $0 returned

I loved these boots. Reviewers say they can stand/walk all day in them and be comfortable. My current cognac boots are not on that level. I was considering replacing my current boots with these. My normal size was too tight, but it looks like a size up is now available again, so I may just end up re-buying these (thank goodness for gift cards!). I went ahead and ordered the bigger size last night. I may not end up keeping them, but we'll see!

Total spent: $88.11
That's actually a significant chunk of money for me when you compare it to the past few months. Oops!

2017 Budget

$1,111.89 - Annual budget remaining

$54.31 - Nordstrom gift cards
$20 - Old Navy Rewards (I have a ton of points that they haven't converted to rewards $$ yet)

$1,186.20 - Maximum budget amount available

Linking up with Franish's Budgeting Bloggers!

Want more? Follow on Bloglovin' - Facebook - Instagram - Twitter - Pinterest