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I was cleaning out my dorm room today and saw a few books that I had not read (and probably would never really have time to read), so I went to Borders on University Ave. to see if I could get some store credit.  I have been eye-ing one of InStyle’s newest style books titled Instant Style: Your Season-By-Season Guide for Work and Weekend, Pictured here:

But, I did not want to have to pay $29.95 for it.  So… I used my store credit! Since I had $5 left (and I didn’t want to buy  another magazine),  I hit up the bargain books section.  Usually the bargain books selection reflects the reason why the books are actually bargain books (nobody wants them), But! I was pleasantly surprised and overjoyed to find this for $5.99:

Exciting!  I have been meaning to learn how to scrapbook, but all of the other scrapbooking books that I have found at Michael’s, Joann’s, etc have been quite the pretty penny in price.  Since I had the store credit, I only had to dish out $2.12 for both of the books.  It was a great and very successful shopping trip.  Not only did I get rid of some books that I didn’t really need/want, but I was able to get two books that really interest me.  Now that’s what I call some good Spring Cleaning.

Yesterday I was feeling a little bit under the weather, so I decided to get myself some delicious pho soup.  Since I went by myself, I was wondering what to do to entertain myself. So, I whipped out my iPhone and opened up YouTube and searched for style stuff.  I was pleasantly surprised when videos about Audrey Hepburn popped up. I started looking up Audrey Hepburn style pictures and found these cool bicycle pictures.  I have never seen a bicycle look so classy.

I really do think that Audrey Hepburn is the most fabulous style icon.  She truly is the best.

So I saw these pics of BJ on my computer and so I just had to share.  Doesn’t he look great?!

Hehe… sorry for the cheesiness, I just couldn’t resist..

So, when BJ came to visit, he also brought with him a lovely $50 gift card that he had received for being healthy. Okay, so long story short… Intel “rewards” their employees if they take this health test thing and get screened for health problems by giving them a gift certificate to certain participating stores. So… from the fruits of his labors and being healthy, I got these:

Yay for shoes! BJ has been teasing me and saying they were “blood money” because he had to have a blood test for the health screening…. lol…. he is a funny character <3 .

Anyways, these shoes are great. I love to two-toned style with the cream and the black together. And they are so comfortable! Gotta love stylish, yet comfortable, stiletto heals.

So, I have a very large collection of shoes to go with my obsession of pretty footwear. This is a pic of the shoes that I had at home a few years ago.  I have since then given many, many of them to Goodwill or sold them at our garage sales, but this is still a fun picture.

It’s crazy, I know, but my feet haven’t grown since the beginning of high school, and this collection had been growing since then. That is a LONG time.

Ultimately, I hope to have a page on here where I have all of my shoes from here at school in a little catalog format. I think that would be fun.

In a sewing rush, I thought it would be exciting to find some cool tote patterns. Luckily, my friend Melissa is a creative genius, and I found some patterns and tutorials on her website. I found some great fabrics, and sewed together these:

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They are fairly easy to make and the styles can have different variations.  These patterns have been of my friends’ favorites.  Great job, Melissa!

So I was in line at the grocery store and this caught my eye:

I said to myself, “Hm, that looks interesting,” and so I proceeded to thumb through it. Little did I know that I would be hooked. There is EVERYTHING you need to know about style in this book.

In the categories of fashion, beauty, entertaining, and home, it has over 100 useful “how-to’s”, including: how to plan your wardrobe, shop sales, build a SHOE wardrobe (!), WALK IN HEELS (!), care for your skin, create a smoky eye, shape your brows, choose a new haircut, do a salon-like blowout, throw a cocktail party, set a proper table, look better in photos, buy a sofa, and pretty much every thing you would ever imagine you would need to do/be to be stylish.

If you buy the hardcover, the book is $24.95 retail, BUT, if you find a soft-cover one at your local grocery store, Target, etc., it only costs $13.99 (plus soft-cover is much easier to read, use, and store). Like the cover of the book says, it really has “What every stylish woman should know.” Jackpot.

One of my favorite things to do is to go shopping in various vintage stores and see what treasure I can find. Lately, I have been on the hunt for vintage Ferragamo. I have actually been pretty lucky (and my mom has found some for me also), because I have found a number of pretty new Ferragamo flats and pumps. They are all at great prices, too! The patent flats with the gold buckle were $3.99. It’s quite funny because brand new Ferragamo pumps run around $400 retail (depending on the style). So, when I say I got my shoes for “Three ninety nine,” who would need to know that that’s three dollars and ninety nine cents and not three hundred ninety nine.  ~Hehe~

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(Some of these may look a little worn in the insole, but that is because I have been wearing them and didn’t think to snap pics of them when they were newer)

So, I read in this magazine that having a pair of silver shoes and a pair of gold shoes can help almost any “nite-out” outfit. The other day I was wandering through the mall and saw this cute pair of vintage style metallic pewter pumps with a little bow on the side.

Perfect. Silver, stiletto, comfortable… What else could I have wanted?! Oh, AND they were on sale for $29 at Baker’s. I don’t usually buy shoes there, but I was pleasantly surprised.

…………

The second “must have” was a gold shoe, which I actually had in my closet.

I love the detail of the knot on top of the toe. Once again, these shoes are quite comfortable, stiletto, metallic, and definitely were on sale at Nordstrom Rack for $33. They are by BCBGirls, too! Fabulous.

So this weekend I thought it would be fun to put up a booth at the Palo Alto Flea Market. For $20, you get a space that is as big as two parking spots and you can do whatever you like. I brought some of the handbags that I had made and a whole bunch of old clothes and other miscellaneous stuff that I didn’t want in my room. But, unfortunately I forgot to wear sunscreen and definitely got a lovely cap-sleeve “farmer’s tan”. Overall I had some fun, made a little bit of cash and got rid of some stuff that I didn’t want anymore.

The flea market supports the Palo Alto High School Music Boosters and happens the second Saturday of every month. If you want to participate in the flea market, you can call (650) 324-3532 and the recording will tell you everything you need to do to enroll (they only take enrollment by mail, so you should allow time for this). If you have the time and the patience, it’s fun. Just make sure that you bring a chair and something to do while people aren’t at your booth. I had brought some of my jewelry making stuff and so while I was sitting there I made earrings, which was great because people started buying them right while I was making them. Good way to be productive.