Finds Under Fifty: Staycation

If you've been reading for awhile, you may remember the short-lived Finds Under 50 posts I did where I put together an outfit that costed less than $50 total. For fun, I've decided to bring a version of that back, but instead I'll pick a theme and include items I either have or with I had that are less than $50 each. I can't promise any kind of regularity to this, just sounded fun to do whenever I feel like it. :) 

Today's theme: Staycation! As of today I'm officially off work until Thursday (then off work again on Friday - woohoo!) No fun vacations planned this year thanks to baby on the way and my husband doing some serious training for a triathlon in September, so I'm using some vacation time to enjoy a few days to myself and to get some things done around the house before my cousin visits from out of state next week. There's no real agenda in place, but in addition to tackling my to-do list I'm hoping for some back patio sitting, a pedicure, some shopping in neighborhoods I don't usually make it to, and maybe I'll even start to learn that sewing machine I've had for a year and a half! 

1: sunglasses / 2: tank / 3: striped tee /4: shorts / 5: tote / 6: palazzo pants (I keep hoping I work up the nerve to try these!) / 7: tshirt dress / 8: sandals / 9: converse

Old & New Favorites

top: Forever 21: similar

pants: Old Navy: exact / similar (non-maternity)

shoes: Target: similar / but I want these - love the print on the heel!

I wore my black jeggings so much over the winter and early spring that I knew a maternity pair would get lots of use. This pair from Old Navy definitely have more of a skinny jean fit than a jegging fit, but they're been perfect - and I even got them on sale! This top has been one that I've had for a long time and it used to be a favorite. I had forgotten about it somehow, but fell in love with it again when I realized the fit really works well with my growing belly. :) 

We're Having A....

dress: Target: exact / similar (non-maternity maxi length)

blazer: Target: exact (these ponte blazers are my favorite!)

shoes: Target: exact (and they're even on sale)

necklace: gift: similar

To start off on a really fun note, I had my 20 week ultrasound yesterday and we found out we're having a boy!! I had been so excited to find out, and then starting on Sunday afternoon I had the anxiousness kick in - that ultrasound isn't simply to tell if you're having a boy or girl, obviously it's to check and make sure things are happening developmentally as they should be and I was so anxious just to hear that everything looked good. I feel like it's such a cliche when you say you just want a healthy baby and don't care if it's a boy or girl, but by the time my anxiety was at its peak yesterday I completely understood why people say that! But everything looks great, baby boy is currently in the 85th percentile for size, and I've started to feel the little nugget move around. So fun!

T-Shirt Dress

dress: Target: exact/similar (with some structure to it)

sandals: Target: exact/similar (love this wedge pair!) 
jean jacket: Old Navy: similar/similar (on sale) 

I'll be sharing my non-maternity items purchased in April/May next week sometime, but didn't want to miss out on the chance to join in on the dress week link up with Andi and Heidi. This is a dress that isn't maternity, but the fit should allow me to wear it for awhile longer this summer. If I want to accentuate the bump a little bit more I can add a belt, but I wore this outfit last weekend to a mini beer/community festival we went to with friends and loose and comfortable was what I was going for. This thing feels just like wearing an over-sized tshirt, just much cuter!

April/May Maternity Purchases

Because I purchased a lot of things during the time things were silent on here, I’ll be doing one post that details the maternity purchases I made during April and May, then a separate post about the non-maternity purchases I made during those months. Then hopefully I’ll be all caught up and ready at the end of the month to post about all of June’s additions!

So back to my maternity purchases – I think the theme here was basics. I knew that I would need a pair of blank pants for work and jeans so those were my highest priority. For the black pants, I just bought the first pair I liked at Target without doing much searching and so far they’ve been really great. Both jeans were found in the same trip to Goodwill and the dark wash pair is hands down my favorite. I really wish I could buy the same pair in non-maternity for later! Thrifting for maternity jeans was so much easier than thrifting for non-maternity jeans because I could scan through all the racks and just look out for the stretchy waistbands that were pretty easy to spot.

After finding black pants and jeans, my next priority was to find tops to layer under cardigans, blazers, and vests that I already have. My goal really is to maximize my current closet as much as possible! Target was clearly where I focused my energy, finding some items in the store and those really flowy black and gray t-shirts online. Not going to lie, I’m anticipating those flowy tees in constant rotation with leggings for maternity leave days!

A few comfortable dresses were next on the list. The black dress and the navy and white striped dress from Target are my favorites. Between the length and the fact that they have sleeves, I can dress these up with heels and a blazer for work, or I can pair them with sandals (or sneakers!) and a jean jacket for weekends too. Hands down my favorite find so far!

As you can see from my total spent just on maternity clothes during those two months, you can imagine my yearly budget of $900 is almost done at this point and will need some adjusting. Although I went on a bit of a shopping spree, I feel like I have options now and haven’t felt the need to shop as much the past few weeks. Instead I’ve been able to rely on some old favorites I rediscovered in my closet refresh my options, which I’ll talk about in a future post!

Target:

- White pants $28: exact

- Black dress pants $33.24: exact

- Black t-shirt dress $22.99: exact

- Blue striped t-shirt dress $19.99: exact

- Maroon sweatshirt $11.98

- Black tee/gray tee $18.39 each: exact

- Black layering tank $10.39: exact

- Plain tees: blue $9.49, coral $6.63, white $9.49: exact

- Striped long sleeve $11.38: exact 

Old Navy:

- Blue maxi dress $12.75: exact 

Thrifted:

- Dark wash cropped skinnies $4.99: seen in this post 

- Light wash skinnies $4.99

- Gray dress $6.99: similar 

- Maroon tee $3.99: layered up in this post

April/May maternity purchases total = $234.07
$705.5 spent out of $900 yearly budget = $194.50 remaining

New Challenges

sweater: Discount Fashion Warehouse - Express brand: similar

pants: Discount Fashion Warehouse - Express brand: similar

tee: H&M: similar

shoes: thrifted: similar

necklace: Discount Fashion Warehouse - Express brand

bracelet: gift shop in South Carolina

Pregnancy has brought on some new wardrobe challenges, which I expected. I truly didn't enjoy putting together outfits much through the first trimester because everything was focused on whatever options would hide my stomach but still be comfortable, and even though I don't have a closet full of tight fitting clothing, I found that limiting my options pretty significantly. Blazers and sweaters truly were my best friends. Layer it up, add a scarf sometimes, and hope that was distracting enough. Add in the nausea that accompanied weeks probably 7 through 11 and what I was wearing was typically the last thing I was concerned about! 

So this is an example of one of those outfits I wore in the weeks before telling co-workers - I actually did take some outfit pictures, I just never got the energy to post about them! Over the next 21-ish weeks I'm sure you'll see me try to be really thoughtful about what I add to my closet, allowing myself to purchase enough options that I enjoy getting dressed each day for as long as possible without completely forgetting about the yearly budget I originally determined on maternity clothes that I do not intend to wear long term after the pregnancy! 

Some News

tee/pants/shoes: Target, sweater: Kohl's, bracelet: souvenir from trip to S.C.

I have some news - I'm pregnant! I'm in week 19 now and so thankful I can finally mention it on here. It was hard for me to be present here and not be able to be honest with you (I felt like a big huge liar!), but now that everyone we wanted to hear personally from us has been told, I'm free to open up about it here on the internet. :) So there you go, you now know the real reason I couldn't keep up with blogging! While work is still mentally taking what feels like all I've got, I'm at least feeling physically better after some seriously miserable times of nausea. To be fair though, my tolerance of feeling awful is pretty low!

We started telling people outside of our immediate family around week 14, so since then I haven't felt the need to hide my weight gain and I've been so much more excited to get dressed in the morning! I probably jumped into maternity pants sooner than I needed to because, well, I think they're amazing (why can't everything have elastic waistbands!) but am really trying to be financially responsible and pace myself with the shopping. We'll see what that does to my yearly budget (see those details here) but I'm already accepting the fact that my total for the year will need to be adjusted upward!