STOP EVERYTHING: CHARMING CHARLIE HAS A NEW ONLINE STORE

Charming Charlie has been imperative in my need to accessorize like a Real Housewife of Atlanta while being completely broke, but the struggle of getting to Alexandria or National Harbor (yeah, no) only allows me to make bi-annual trips to the wondrous world of $10 or less jewelry.

So yesterday I received an e-mail that. changed. everything. YEAH YALL CHARMING CHARLIE IS ONLINE! Finally! Check it out here!!! These are the few things that I bought today with zero stress of driving to Alexandria (who are these people living here?) or taking a minute from whatever concert or party I've trekked to freaking National Harbor for.

First of all though, look at this glorious option. We really don't see this in online stores anymore:

Yep. A $0-$10 option that actually has things to choose from.

 Chariot Curved Bangle $13

 

 Good Sport Watch $20

 

Work the Right Angles Dangle Earrings- $3.99 (THAT IS NOT A TYPO- THREE DOLLARS AND NINETY-NINE CENTS!)

Amelie Printed Scarf $15

Winter Wardrobe Essentials: The Leggings

So I feel a certain way about leggings. Thanks to JLo, Kim K, Nikki Minaj, Koko and the rest of the big bootied bunch (whether they're real or not) I feel that it's a lot more socially acceptable for "blessed" people like me to wear tighter clothes and leggings. However, I still feel that me wearing leggings is the same as someone with a large chest wearing a cleavage-baring shirt, so needless to say I feel a strong way about leggings NOT being workplace appropriate but some people seem to disagree with me. Either way you slice it, leggings are here to stay and as long as I'm not at work and my rear is covered I'm happy about it because the right leggings feel like wearing fitted sweat pants.

Last winter in all my broke glory, I wore my running leggings (I spent $50 a pop on those!) as fashion leggings. I know, I know. Sometimes the budget just doesn't permit frivolous buys, and what is the point in wearing crappy $19 super-thin-easily-ripped-see-through leggings from Target? But this year I've discovered jane.com where sub-$10 fleece-lined leggings seem to grow on trees, and today I ordered a pair of maroon fleece lined leggings and black fleece lined leggings and the total came to $19. Two pairs of FLEECE lined leggings, less than $20. Hello Winter!! I also ventured over to the vendors' websites and found some affordable clothes and jewelry. So head over to jane.com and sign up for their daily e-mail so you don't miss a deal!

Sidenote about jane.com: my friend is getting married this summer and our bridesmaids skirts are being specially made by a designer she found on this website. I love stuff like that. And how great is it that I get to wear a SKIRT as a bridesmaid? 

BreeasBoutiqueBargains $6.99 each at Jane.com

BreeasBoutiqueBargains $6.99 each at Jane.com

Cherry Lane Collection fleece lined leggings $7.99 on jane.com

Cherry Lane Collection fleece lined leggings $7.99 on jane.com

Cherry Lane Collection fleece lined leggings $7.99 on jane.com. Sidenote: can someone help me dress like her?

Cheap Glasses

Halloween themed glasses from Zenni

Rum Cherry Marshall from Warby-Parker

Revolver Black Duckworth from Warby Parker

My vision has been deteriorating for quite awhile, but it wasn't until my aunt claimed her knee-deep crows feet come from squinting all the time that I decided it was time for me to take action and get myself a nice pair of glasses. I went off to the eye doctor, got my prescription, and  gasped when the eye doctor pointed me to the "cheap" wall. Apparently in eye doctor world "cheap" means "$250 or Less"- oh and that $250 is BEFORE you pay for the lenses. WHAT. There is no way my other friends manage to pay rent in DC AND pay for glasses so I took a survey and here's what I found:

Free and Cheap Fall Festivities in DC

Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls

It literally smells like fall outside. I can't name the smell, but it's just FALL! Here are my  7 highest priority cheap and free things in DC to do now that the heat has lifted and fall is here!!
{click "read the whole post" for the full list}

Doggie Style- The Dog Tie

My dog is androgynous as it is so I'm skipping out on this deal, but really if someone else could get this for their dog and let me see how adorable it is in person I would diiieeeee. DOGS IN TIES. DOGS. IN. TIES. I just! The deal for $10 doggie business wear is here.

Clean Eating Sunday Brunch

This is going to come as a huge shocker but I love all things brunch, especially brunching with people. So this Sunday we had a brunch party and I only cooked clean! Ok so maybe the drinking wasn't so clean but it was delicious and everyone loved it.

1. Peach Mimosas: Not so clean, but hey I was good all weekend so I gave it to myself. These mimosas are the BEST. Andre Peach Champagne (which has mysteriously changed its name to "muscato") for $6 and the cheapest jug of OJ I could find totaled up to less than $30 to serve everyone plenty of peach mimosas. If it's just one or two people you'll spend less than $9 for your own bottomless mimosas. Livin the broke bougie dream. Oh also how great is that mimosa cup? My mom got me a set of wine glass tumblers from Hallmark which are totally worth the extra money because I break about 14 $3 Ikea wine glasses each year whereas these glasses are UNBREAKABLE. I decided it all evens out by the end of the fiscal year.

2. Grandma's Breakfast Potatoes Cleaned Up:
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 7

Ingredients

• 2 potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 handful of mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic seasoning (again, we love garlic so others may want to tone it down)
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Slice the onions and the potatoes as thin as quarters. Pour the olive oil into a large frying pan. Layer the frying pan with the onion slices and sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon pepper and 1/2 tablespoon garlic seasoning on top. Layer the potatoes on top of the onions and top with the minced garlic and remaining seasonings. Top the potatoes with mushrooms. Heat covered on medium for 20 minutes, or until your taters are nice and soft. Like breakfast potatoes. Then, enjoy the amazingness of the soft breakfast potatoes. It really doesn't get any better than this.

1. Slice the potatoes and onions the thickness of quarters (mine are a little thick because I started my mimosas a little early oopsies)

2. layer the onions and seasoning

3. Layer the potatoes, garlic and seasoning

4. Top with the mushrooms

Cover and heat over medium for 20 minutes or until the taters are nice and soft

3. Clean Egg White Casserole

VMA Fashion: Broke & Bougie Edition- Shaliene Woodley

Ok so who is Shalene Woodley? I don't even know but her VMA outfit was everything. And something I feel like I could actually wear out in public outside of LA (i.e. in Ugly People's Hollywood i.e. DC). I know all of this is Forever 21 but there really isn't anywhere else in DC I can invest $10 in for something I only want this season. And I wash my Forever clothes in the shower with shampoo so they do indeed last...forever. Otherwise they get torn up in the washer after approximately 2.5 washes. And c'mon I figured out this entire look for about $60

1. Forever21 Standout Net Crop Top $12.80 
2. Forever21 Geo Print High-Low Skirt $11.80
3. Forever21 Edgy Star Cuff $8.80
4. Women's Mossimo Pamela Point Black Heels $29.95 (gotta love when your shoes cost more than the whole outfit combined. But it's a necessary investment in DC where the daily obstacle courses include cobbleston, construction sites and uneven sidewalks. My Target heels held up really well in DC)
5. Orange Round Ball Studs from Etsy.com $3.00

WTF Happy Hour at Lime (Columbia Heights)

Last night I met a friend for happy hour at Lime right off the Columbia Heights metro station. Online it appears to be like a Chipotle so I was a little skeptical, but the happy hour is SO REAL at Lime. LOOK what I got for $10!

 I was a little skeptical about frozen sangria, but mama it was some boozy sangria! $2 tacos were much better than I was expecting for, well, tacos that cost $2. They come with some kind of white sauce, cheese, pico and deliciously seasoned meat. And you can top your tacos at the FREE SALSA BAR. FREE. SALSA. ALL YOU CAN EAT. I highly recommend the pineapple salsa, which I may or may not have scooped into a few ramakins, sealed them up and thrown them in my purse. The biggest highlight besides $2 beer was the XM Radio station they had playing- "Greatest Hits of the Early Thousands". Ying Yang Twins, T.I., and yes, 'N Sync serenaded us as we sipped our beers and sangrias. I also felt funky about ordering at the counter, but it was actually much easier to get fast (sangria) refills because I didn't have to wait for a server. So check it out, eat up, and enjoy yourself. So on this Throwback Thursday I'll leave you with a sample of Lime's soundtrack:

 

Charming Charlie- It's a Thing

With a name like Charming Charlie I couldn't help but be judgy and assume it would be cheesy/a place I would never set foot in. But my friend had a big cancer fundraiser there one night and I fell in love. So much jewelry/handbags/shoes/clothes for SO CHEAP. So when I got this email I didn't really rush too fast because I know their sales last until they get rid of everything they need to get rid of (yeah I study my favorite stores' sales ok?): 

 I already had to go out to Alexandria to buy my Wal-Mart jorts, so I went by Charming Charlie and LOOK WHAT I CAME HOME WITH
Half the store was already marked down, and you take 50% OFF OF THAT. So I got some work appropriate jewelry, sparkly gold sandals, a shirt to wear with my new jorts, and a new wallet. I really cannot thank my friend enough for having a fundraiser here to help me overcome my stereotype of places with alliterated names. 

Gators Wear Jean Shorts ...and so do I

Let me start by explaining that I went to the University of Georgia and in the SEC everyone hates Florida Gators.When I think of Gators I think of orange tshirts (ick), cut-off jorts (ick ick), and mullets (really gagging at this point). At tailgates, football games, and generally any time we saw a Gator fan we loved to chant "Gators wear jean shorts!" as this little boy passionately explains:

So that is the history behind my jorts aversion. Last spring when this jorts trend spread outside the Florida state lines I watched in horror as celebrities and normal fashionable people started wearing jorts- cut-off jorts, cuffed jorts, acid wash jorts... I hoped it was something that would pass in a few minutes, like a 24-hour bug or trucker hats, but here we are in August 2013 and the trend is still in full swing and I am in a strange life phase where I feel too old to wear day dresses and too young to wear capris and mom shorts and too sweaty to wear pants in DC summers. And so today, August tenth 2013 I bought my first pair of jorts. At Wal-Mart. For $9.00. What up, L.E.I., it's been awhile! But they actually fit nicely and look fine (for jorts) and I can move around in them! The Wal-Mart trip was really successful as I also found this cardigan for $7.88. What's with the random pricing at Wal-Mart? Everything is $7.88? Is that a thing? My rule with cardigan purchases is if they are under $20 I HAVE to buy them so this was a no-brainer.

I love me a steal on low-quality clothes I only want to wear for one season anyway, but I hate the sizing at Wal-Mart. I have definitely fallen victim to the "OH, this is a size 2? Why yes, Banana Republic, I suddenly feel fine about forking over $70 for this skirt!" So whatever, I have decided I want to spend my life savings on rent in DC so I'm going to just have to cut some tags off, pretend it's sized like Banana Republic and deal with it.Also, not sure how I feel about Ms. Tina Knowles' Wal-Mart Collection but that's something for another day.

Yep, L.E.I. is making a comeback in my life. Thanks for the throwbacks, Wal-Mart.

Good ole NoBo, another throwback. Wal-Mart all day.