Chels Wears: Something Simple

Shoes, Shirt, Jeans: WalMart | Headband: Gabe's

You guys. I have a lot to talk about. Like, I've made lists. I realize that I've taken a lot of random blogging breaks recently and I am certain that it is because so much is changing in my life right now and I didn't feel like my blog was making that change with me. So if there is some different content around these parts, don't be alarmed. I am literally the happiest I have ever been right now in my life and I'm sure some of the topics I discuss will help you understand where I'm coming from. There will still be fashion related posts, because that makes sense to me always. But stay tuned, I'm excited.

In other news, yes this outfit is super simple but it was perfect for a little Sunday funday action with MJ this past weekend. We went out to lunch and got to eat on the patio! (Yay, nice weather!) And then we went for a walk around a nearby park. Since I haven't really been blogging recently, I don't plan to go out to take outfit photos, so I'm pretty happy with how easy these were and love the look of them. Seriously, I could go on little nature walks everyday and never be bored. How awesome is this little area? When we came up to this little clearing I just stopped MJ and asked, "doesn't this look great right here?" And of course that led to these pictures. I like when he plays along with my need to see myself in pictures, ha!

Chels Wears: Puffer Vest

Cardigan: Target | Vest: Peebles | Jeans, Scarf, Boots, Headband, Shirt: Walmart

Oh man have I been awful at blogging recently! My apologizes. I actually took these photos almost three weeks ago and just never felt inspired enough to post them. To be honest, my mind has just been pre-occupied, but real life has to trump blogging at some point and every time I would go to blog, I just didn't want to. I know some people will say to write through a writer's block, but I hate seeing bloggers who clearly don't care about what they're writing. I don't think that's fair for blogger or reader, so I don't do it.

Since these pictures have been taken, a lot has changed with me personally. I no longer work for Family Video, which is allowing me to focus on my business, and has put me back to bartending a few nights a week. I actually really like being behind the bar and cannot say that I mind this change. It was just very much time for me to move on from Family Video. After two years and constantly trying to out-do myself for overall company sales rankings, I had enough and needed a breather. I'm now focusing on custom projects from clients (mostly wedding invites!!) and looking for where my next move is career-wise. I feel like a big move is on the horizon and I'm excited/nervous about that but letting God lead in me figuring that out.

I have also lost about 10 pounds since these pictures were taken, 25 total since the beginning of the year. I have basically been living at the gym and really focusing on what I eat, pretty much to the point of obsession. I don't think that I look different, you'll be able to judge for yourself with tomorrow's outfit photos that were taken on Sunday, but I feel so much better. As you guys know, I am a very confident person so my weight has never really been an issue, I know I'm a big girl and I'm fine with it. But I just really felt like garbage which is why I knew I needed to change what I was doing and I will never go back at this point. It's a lot of work and pre-planning, but I cannot imagine going back to how I was eating. Plus now I can do squats like a beast, so there's that.

What have you been up to!?

Chels Wears: Skirts in the Snow

Skirt: Thrift Shop | Shoes: Kmart | Shirt: JCPenney | Jacket: Deb | Scarf: WalMart

Oh look, guys, I'm not properly dressed for the temperature again. Imagine that. I just hate snow too much to let it ruin my fashion plans, though I wish my legs weren't so white, holy cow. It was actually fairly "warm" when we took these photos. Like 25 degrees or something that felt decently warm. Erie is a confusing place to live around this time.

This is the first time this skirt has ever made an appearance. Well, that's not totally true. I got it at a thrift shop back home over a year ago and it (along with one other) have been hanging in my closet waiting to be worn by me since. I'm just not normally a midi skirt kind of person. I'm usually maxi or mini so this length has been a weird one for me to decide to wear. But I'm thinking I like it! I'll have to pull out that other thrift shop skirt that I got with this one because I'm really liking this look and I really am surprised by that. I wore this on Sunday to church. I really only decided to go with this skirt at the last minute because I didn't feel like wearing tights and didn't want to wear a maxi. (I always wear a skirt or dress to church, I feel weird when I don't.) So this skirt was the winner...long enough to not really need tights and short enough to not be considered a maxi. Maybe it's time to embrace the midi?

What's your favorite skirt length?

Chelsea Lately: So This Is The New Year

I really dropped the ball on blogging in December and I'm trying not to let that roll into the new year, so let's get all caught up! I have a lot of big plans for my business and this blog this year and there is no time like the present, right?

Listening: 1000 forms of fear by Sia on vinyl! Because my brother is awesome and got it for me for Christmas!

Eating: Leftovers. Yuck, I'm over having leftovers from the holidays in our fridge. Someone please come over and eat the rest of this ham.

Wanting to buy: At the moment, I'm all shopped out. Holidays do that to you!

Reading: Nothing at the moment, which is weird, but I've just been in a funk recently with getting into books. Recommend me a good one so I can get back in the grove!

Watching: The Walking Dead. I am obsessed. I said that I would never watch this show because I'm not a fan of zombies but so many friends have talked me into watching it. Around Thanksgiving I started (thanks to Family Video having seasons 1-4 on DVD) and just finished up watching the first half of season five online so I am all caught up and pumped for it to be back on TV in February. I have a total crush on Daryl Dixon (mostly because I love Norman Reedus already) he's such a badass and if he even gets killed off, I quit.

Drinking: No pop! (Or soda for those of you who are reading from somewhere other than Pittsburgh.) Eric and I gave up drinking pop and we've been doing pretty good at it since the beginning of November.

Wearing: Christmas presents! I love getting gift cards for presents. I know a lot of people hate it because they think it's a cop-out gift, but there is no greater gift to me than a shopping trip.

Losing Sleep Over: What my next step needs to be. I've been in Erie for a year now and I feel like it's time to either strive for something really great here or move again (which I actually don't feel like doing just yet). But I've been trying to leave it up to God, not stress about it and just roll with the opportunities in front of me. We'll see what happens!

Loving: Life. Even when it's not ideal.

Excited About: The possibilities that 2015 brings.

Thankful For: Memories of a sweet friend. Wishing she knew how precious she was.

What have you been up to recently?

Fashion Forward Fridays: Wearing Colored Tights

I cannot even talk about how much I love wearing tights in the winter. I don't understand why, but tights with socks and boots is just my favorite trend. And I say winter, because it has arrived in Erie. I just realized yesterday that I guess I didn't really let the general public know that I moved. After posting about the snow yesterday on Instagram and Twitter, a lot of people asked where I was that there was so much snow. So, hey everyone, I live in Erie, in case you missed that memo, I move here in January. And we have plenty of snow already.

Moving on, I love wearing tights in the winter and I currently am obsessing over colored tights. So for Fashion Forward Fridays today, I put together three looks together on Polyvore inspired by colored tights that can be worn for winter.

The casual look is my favorite and is basically what I wore to work at Family Video on Wednesday night. I love the dressy look as well because it seems so sweet and romantic with pink tights, but the work outfit would be the hardest to pull off. I think that if you hair was up and you looked polished enough, it could happen and it'd be work appropriate.

Which look is your favorite? How do you style colored tights?

Memorial Day Happenings

Top: The view from our seats | Left: Eric eating | Right: Selfie with my new flag scarf

So, Eric and I had a pretty uneventful Memorial Day planned until one of the regulars at the bar I work at told me about the Erie SeaWolves game. Mondays are dollar days, meaning everything is only a dollar and since it was Memorial Day, what else did we have to do? Since we've never been we thought it'd be a great first trip and it was! We enjoyed watching the SeaWolves play against the Altoona Curve (a Pittsburgh Pirates double-A affiliate team), drank some crazy cheap beer, ate hot dogs and soaked in the sun. 

It was a great way to spend our first Memorial Day away from the traditional Ellwood City parade and picnic that we are used to. Maybe a new tradition? At least it will become a frequent stop during the summer. I didn't take many pictures because I'm horrible at remembering that I'm a blogger apparently. Hope you all had a great day. And of course, thank you to those who have and are serving. A special shout out to my blogger friend, Jess, who is in the Navy and who is an amazing young woman. I hope you had a wonderful day, sweet girl. Thank you.

Five Things I've Learned Since Graduation

It has been one year since I finished my Master's degree. Technically, one year and two days. I am certainly not where I thought I would be when I was thinking about this point in my life last year. And to be honest, so many things have gone wrong this past year, but so many things have been sweet little blessings in disguise. Spoiler alert, this post gets a bit heavy. You are allowed to stop reading it if you only come to this space for the flowery and fashionable. Though I hope you keep reading. Here are the top five things I've learned since graduation.

Jeremiah 29:11 Chalkboard Print by Lily & Val.

1) Where you want to be is not always where you should be.
If I had it my way, I would still be living in downtown Pittsburgh. When my lease was up last summer, I cried. Literally. Downtown Pittsburgh might be the pits for some people and others don't understand why I loved it so much, but it was my own little slice of Heaven. However, if I was there now, I wouldn't get to have this experience of living with my brother. If you haven't caught on to this yet, Eric is seriously my best friend. We should have been twins, if only so he wouldn't have had to spend that first year without me. I wouldn't have the freedom to not be paying a ridiculously high rent payment every month on top of my student loan payments. I'm sure for those two reasons alone, I would have started to resent that location eventually and because I'm not there, it's still a little Heaven in my eyes. Do I want to move back? Of course. But now isn't the time.

2) No job is below you.
I recently took on another job of bartending just to be able to make a bit more money with tips and another little paycheck. Why? Because who doesn't want a little wiggle room when bills start rolling in? And while bartending is great, this job also has a waitressing aspect to it, which I have never done before. Do you know how awful people treat waitresses? Yeah, that's why I never waitressed before. Not like retail is much more glamorous, but at least there isn't half-eaten food involved. But not taking a job that most people would say is "below" me is stupid. Does it give me money? Do I technically get a workout in while at work because of how much running around I do? Am I physically able to do this job? Yes. So while I don't need a Master's degree to figure out how to put in an order for Chicken Alfredo and then sweetly hand it to someone, everyone could do with having a job that teaches you how to serve someone. Serving someone else and expecting little to nothing in return is honestly what everyone in this country should have to do for at least a year in my own opinion. I might as well get my year in now.

3) MJ is greater than the man of my dreams.
If you know MJ personally, then you know that he has three things in mind. Career. Family. God. Not necessarily in that order, but that's about it. From the beginning of our relationship, he has made it clear that he wants to be married and have a boat load of children, and I have made it clear that I don't want either of those things until I feel totally set and complete on my own and then after that, I'm all in. If you remember my 25 before 25 list, I wanted to get engaged this year. However, that was with the ideal in mind that I would have a steady full-time job and I would be living on my own before he proposed. Obviously he was on board for this, and we were on this track up until I was no longer employed by Dress for Success because of some unforeseen financial difficulties on their part. MJ told me on Valentine's Day about how he had planned to propose. Way to lay it on thick, right? And to make you love him more, it was going to be at the party for his parent's 40th wedding anniversary, which is the exact same way my dad proposed to my mom. Yeah. That would have been last month. But this man. THIS. MAN. My man has put me and my desires first, yet again. He knows I would not be happy being engaged without feeling complete on my own, so his dreams of a wedding and little family are set aside for my dream of a career. I am selfish and I do not deserve him. But I thank God for him everyday and always will.

4) I have the skills and power to make my dreams come true.
You guys, I am so excited to finally announce what I've been working so hard on! This Thursday, be sure to check back because everything will be explained, I will need your input, and I really hope that you are as excited as I am.

5) God has perfect timing and a plan greater than any of my own.
Thursday's announcement is a big deal for me and I don't think it would be happening if the mess of this year didn't happen. This has been a seriously rough road since graduation. From the high of graduating, to the low of leaving Pittsburgh, high of being employed by one of my favorite non-profits, to losing that job for reasons that I had no control over, to the mess of moving again to Erie, and struggling on the job hunt train, this past year has had it's great moments, but overall, it has just been rough. But through it all, I know God knows what he's doing. He has a plan for my life and while I choose my daily steps, he is guiding them and working in and in spite of them to make things happen. I trust in him to get it right when I am certainly messing it up. Is Thursday's announcement the end all, be all of God's plan? Probably not, but it is certainly his doing. I had this in mind for much, much further down the road in life and it has made it's way to the present. I also want to make clear that other ventures are not being let go because of Thursday's announcement, but they are on the back burner. This has made it's way to the front of my mind and for good reason and I'm putting my trust in God that it will work out.

If I Become A Hipster, Blame My Brother: 2014 Edition

This is what you wear when you wake up at 8am to go buy records.

Little bit chilly while waiting outside of Graham's before it opened!

Inside Graham's - great crowd!

As some of you may or may not know, Saturday was Record Store Day. And although my brother, Eric, and I are currently living near Erie and not the vinyl-loving city of Pittsburgh, we knew we had to still celebrate.

Eric looked up where to find some goods and we took an early morning trip into Erie. This year we were serious, too. We printed out the list of all the exclusive releases, highlighted the ones we wanted and hoped for the best. We went to a family owned place, Graham's Records, first (supporting the local economy is what it's all about, right?), and found a couple things we wanted and then headed to The Exchange in Erie on the way home. Although we both brought home a lot less than last year, it was a good experience for our first time doing Record Store Day outside of Pittsburgh. Graham's had a ton of old stuff that I would love to browse through again soon, like on a day where we're not looking for specific things, and The Exchange had some great new things and surprisingly still had a good bit of Record Store Day exclusives by the time we got there around noon. Although, if you know of any other places around Erie, please let us know! We're always up for exploring music stores and local businesses.

I also realized this weekend that Eric and I have four record players, we each have two. He has an awesome turntable that is in perfect condition from a rummage sale and one from our dad. And I have a cute little green portable one that Eric got for me at that rummage sale and the one I "inherited" from our grandma...aka, the one I stole from our aunt's house during Christmas time because she wasn't using it and said I could take it. Hipsters.

Bad Things Happen When You Wear Sweatpants In Public

If you guys know one thing about me, you know that I think wearing sweatpants in public is a sin. I don't care if you're not wearing makeup, your hair is looking a hot mess or there is a stain on your shirt, but if you are wearing sweats in public (or GOD FORBID pajama pants) I will be secretly judging you. I have come to terms with the ideas of wanting to be comfortable and that sometimes jeans are just a tough decision to make, I get it, I wear leggings in public which I realize makes some people judge me. So while I understand why you would wear them in public, I cannot bring myself to do so.

You can blame Stacy and Clinton. Or the strict dress code that Ellwood City school district established during my freshman year of high school. But honestly the last time I remember wearing sweats in public was on the way to the WPIAL Fastpitch Softball Championship in my sophomore year, and we lost. See, bad things happen. So I should have thought of all these things on Monday.

Monday morning, my brother needed me to follow him to the mechanic to get his car fixed so he would have a ride home and not have to wait there while they worked on it. No big deal, and since it was early when we had to leave the house, I thought to myself, "It's okay just wear the sweatpants because no one is going to see you and we're coming right back home after dropping his car off, you can just get ready for the day when you get home." However, Eric and I decided to go through the drive-thru of McDonald's on our way home for breakfast. Still thinking, no big deal, it's a drive-thru, the only person seeing me in sweatpants is my brother and I wear these around the house, no problem.

Problem...bad things happen when you wear sweatpants in public. If you're around Erie during this time of the year, you know that no one cares about plowing the roads until there's some "serious snow" on them, meaning apparently at least eight inches. Well, on our way to McDonald's I started to break early for a red light, knowing that the roads were getting snowy, but got caught on some ice and hit the car in front of me which was already stopped at the light. Don't be worried, everyone is fine, the accident was more of a love tap between our cars. I happened to be driving a Suburban though so there was less damage on my end, considering Suburbans are ridiculously large vehicles, made for inclement weather. Way to suck in this incident though, Chevy.

Anyway, if you've ever been in any kind of minor traffic incident you (should) know that you have to get out of your vehicle, make sure the other car's passengers are okay, take pictures of the cars and area, get local police to report it and swap insurance info. The woman I hit kept saying she didn't know what to do because she was never in an accident before, yet, I have never been in an accident either and still knew what to do. Isn't this part of driver's ed? Anyway, multiple people saw the pants of shame. I guess this is karma for spreading hate for public displays of sweatpants for the past ten years, but let this be a lesson to you all. Wearing sweatpants in public leads to bad things, even if they're the "nice" sweatpants you got from your graduate school.

Don't forget today is the final day to enter the Firmoo glasses giveaway!

I'm picking 5 random winners at midnight so be sure to enter while you still can.

Chels Wears: Puppies In The Snow!

Chambray, tights, scarf & tee: WalMart | Skirt: Target | Wedges: Kmart

I took a break this past week because...I moved! If it looks like there is a lot of snow in these pictures, you just wait until my next outfit post. I'm now near Erie and I cannot even talk about how much snow is on the ground and how cold it is outside. I hate winter. Don't ask why I decided to move north in January, it still isn't making sense yet to me either.

This outfit is possibly one of my all-time favorites. When I bought this skirt, I thought I might where it a few times, but I probably wear it at least three times a month, I am in love with it and it's surprising versatility. And when I bought these tights I could have sworn they were grey, but I think I like them better in this blue shade, at least for this outfit! I also think my favorite trend right now is wearing dresses and skirts in winter, even though that sounds dumb, there are so many cute ways to dress them up and still be warm. Hopefully it won't be too cold and I can keep up with this cute look.

Also, because I cannot help but make a PSA for the ASPCA with a post title like this one, please don't leave your pets outside if you are in a severely cold (or hot) area. Just because they have a fur coat, does not mean they are safe outside for any longer than you'd like to be! Bring those puppies inside!