Wow all that only cost how much!?

Now that you all know I got a job and will be starting in less than two weeks (from when I started shopping) I have a LOT to share with you all about my thrift store finds! Once I got the job I realized I did not have very many clothes for work. One reason being when we moved to Arizona I only brought summer clothes and now I am moving straight from Arizona to Virginia where most of my summer dresses will not be the best work attire. Also, at the end of last fall/winter I consigned some clothes to buy some new spring clothes. Usually every 3 or so years I notice I need to replace some items in my closet and make room for new things! That brings me to now, a week prior to starting a full time position and needing clothes... bad!

I knew it was not in our budget to go out and buy a bunch of new stuff from the usual stores, J.Crew, Banana Republic, Gap, Target, Ann Taylor, you know... SO I took to the thrift stores. I grew up going to thrift stores with my family and my stepmom Deidre really taught me how to get the bargains. I hit the town, 4 thrift stores and 2 consignment stores in total. I had been to the thrift stores before a few times looking for household items for our hotel so I was familiar with the store policies and discount days. Each had a different day for military discount (10-20 percent) and they all had 50% off week for items that had been there for a certain amount of time.

First, I had started pinning outfits I liked so I had an idea of what kind of pieces I was looking for. I wanted to buy pieces that I would know how to wear or know what to piece them with. This helped me a lot to know what to look for in terms of style, fit, and color. I would reference my pinterest board multiple times to see what kind of items I still needed or new ideas for cute looks.

Once I knew what I needed I set out. Thus far I have been to each thrift and consignment store 2-3 times because their inventory changes daily. I am SO PROUD of all the deals I got. Below I am going to post all the pictures and brands I have found so far and then at the end I will post how much I spend total.

Disclaimer: I did go to Ross one day and found a few cute pieces that were still good deals but not AS good. I also consigned a few of my summer dresses and 2 pairs of shoes I was no longer wearing and used the consignment credit toward my new clothes.

Merona Dress and Nude Wedges

Merona Dress

Dress from Dillards, originally like $80

Some target designer- brand new

Adorable top- no tags but super soft, more for home than work

Ann Taylor top- like new

J crew top- like new

J.Crew top- like new

new- Gap top

J.Crew top- so soft

Merona Dress and belt (found separately)

Target-like new

The Limited- Brand new $90 originally (I did put a few dollars in alterations)

Merona (I know I love target clothes)

Forever 21 New with tags

Gap- like new

Forever 21

Target

H&M Like new

Okay so that is 22 items (if you include the belt and shoes and one not pictured)

For these items I paid a whopping $102.97!

That is $4.68 an item!!

No lie. I wanted to prove it to you so I took pictures of my receipts below.

Now that does include about $30 in credits from selling 4 dresses and 2 pairs of shoes to the consignment. However, there is also one shirt not pictured so its really 22 items! I am just SO excited about all my purchases and what I was able to get for that amount. I mean these are not shabby clothes, these are my favorite brands, some of them still with tags! 

Now I realize these receipts add up to 133.29 for any of you who did the math, however there were a couple things belonging to my husband on the receipts and one store did not properly credit my trade-in and had to fix it, thats how I got to $102.97!

I also did cave and purchased a few things brand new from Ross. Those deals are not as good but they are decent and the pieces are classics:

I love this skirt, right at the knee but pleated, a change from the traditional pencil

Did make sure to get a traditional pencil too and this cute shirt

I loved this flowy soft skirt, it has pleating on the right side so its just makes you feel like you can twirl!

All of these clothes ended up being $77.15. Like I said, not as good but also not too shabby. 

All in all I ended up with a TON of outfits for less than $200. I hope everyone is now inspired to run out to their Goodwill, I will say, it take patience but in the end it is totally worth it!

Happy shopping!

Oopsie!

Well as you all can tell I completely disregarded my blog for two weeks! I have so many things to post about but somehow I got so wrapped up into life I forgot, in fact I even forgot how to get to my blog... cue the oopsie. BUT I am here now and have done a lot over the last few weeks!

The biggest few happenings are what I am going to update you all on today...

• One Year Anniversary!!
• Starting our budget
• My dad coming to Arizona
• My job interview

First and foremost: our anniversary! It was such a fun experience. We had been looking forward to the day for some time now. Our anniversary was Sunday, August 4th but Sunday is usually our low key day so we decided to do most of our celebrating on Saturday. From the beginning of talking about what we wanted to do for this special day we had thrown out all sorts of ideas like going to San Diego, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Phoenix, or the Ritz Carlton in Tucson. Although we would have LOVED to do any of these things, all of them came with a price tag of AT LEAST $450. At first we said, "Oh well its just a one time thing, it is our anniversary!" but then we realized what was really most important and that was our future goals. As you will hear about in a bit, we started a strict budget on August 1st and we really felt strongly about sticking to it. At one point we actually had a reservation at the Ritz (which really wasn't that expensive) but we decided to cancel it and save the money. So, once those decisions were made we were back to square one. I told David that what was most important to me was that he planned our day and took the lead on that. A lot of the time I am the planner, mainly because I love to plan things, and also I know our schedules a lot better sometimes. But for our anniversary I really wanted him to lead us and make plans, just as he is the leader of our family. It was also a good learning experience for me and a time to show my trust in his abilities. 

So come Saturday, August 3rd we had a whole day of anniversary celebrations planned! First, we went hiking at this really pretty area that had trees!! I haven't seen real looking trees in such a long time. Then to my surprise THERE WAS A RIVER!!! A real body of water! (it is pretty pathetic to get this excited about a body of water but we are in the desert for goodness sake) So after the wonderful river hike we went on a drive (kind of one of those drives you see on the movies through long windy roads that don't lead to anywhere. It was such a simple thing but so fun, windows down singing my favorite Christian songs and talking. Then next thing I know we are in this old Wild Wild West town called Tombstone. We walked around the town and saw some of the shops, old western costumes, and art. We plan to go back to Tombstone and maybe see one of the gun fights or go in the gold mine! After Tombstone we drove back home and played some games, and relaxed until our big event of the evening. I wanted to get ready in separate areas so I could make a big reveal of my cute outfit that I traded my sister for. I had no idea where we were going to dinner, all I knew was it was the "nicest restaurant within 45 miles" which in this area you don't have too many choices. Ta-da big reveal, David loved my dress, now let's head to dinner! David drove us to Bisbee, this really neat artsy mountain town about 30 minutes from here, and we ate at a famous restaurant called "Cafe Roka". It was a four course meal with seasonal specials that are changed weekly. I loved it. We had the best food and a really memorable night. 

The next day we just had a really great relaxing Sunday filled with church, Yahtzee, watching Scrubs, and some cake eating! When I flew home from Alicia and Clay's wedding I brought our wedding cake with me on the airplane. I really wanted to take some cute anniversary pictures so our friend Rebecca in David's class said she would take them for us. Around sunset we went up to our favorite place, "The Lookout" and had fun take pictures, eating our wedding cake (which actually was really moist and descent), and then chucking our wedding cake off the side of the mountain.  You can see all the pictures from the weekend below (because I know you have been dying to):

Well it seems that I have practically written a novel so maybe I will save the rest for later this week, and actually post it :) 

Until next time... 

A month overdue!

Today I start my blog, about a month and a half after leaving the beautiful East Coast for Fort Huachuca, AZ. I have been wanting to start blogging ever since we left however it wasn't until one of my best friends, Dixie, decided to start her blog today that I decided to follow in her footsteps. (You can read her new blog here:  A Tiger in Gator Country )

I guess I should start off my saying, my name is Nicole. I am an Army wife to an amazing man in the military intelligence field. In 2012 I got married, graduated from Clemson, and started preparing for our temporary move to Arizona. Currently, my husband is attending MI BOLC (the officer leadership course where they learn really neat top secret stuff) until October of this year. I originally wanted to start blogging so our friends and family could keep up with us during this time but now I have even more aspirations!

Being at MI BOLC is a whirlwind from before you even get here until the day you leave (I don't know that for sure but I have a hunch). My husband, David, and I thought it would be really helpful for future Lieutenants to know what to expect and what life is like at Fort Huachuca.

Secondly, I am an avid blog reader and have been able to connect with so many Godly women and families through reading about their daily triumphs and struggles in their blogs. I have never thought of blogging as a form of missions however now that I have seen it in my own life I think it is such an excellent opportunity. SO with that being said, I will share our ups and downs, blessings, challenges, and all the ways the Lord is touching our lives.

Finally, while we are here I am not working, so I have a LOT of free time. I have found some good ways to put this free time to use, like volunteering and helping our families with little projects, however this blog will be good for me because it will encourage me to do the things I love (and some things I don't love as much) either way I will be able to share them with you all, even if its just the people I force to read this :)

Anyway, as you can tell I am a talker, a long winded talker, so hopefully I will not bore you all to death (well I guess in that case you would simply stop reading). But I will again follow in Dixie's footsteps and post something I have planned to blog about:

• My cooking adventures (in a hotel room this can be interesting to say the least)
• Our travels to Fort Huachuca from Virginia
• My looming fitness goals
• Our budgeting (this should be a good one- Day 1 of budgeting is already hard)
• What new LTs coming to Fort Huachuca can expect
• Anything and everything else! (especially future plans because that is one of my favorite topics)

Goodbye for now!