Finances
We started off the weekend on a good note. Justin's credit score had jumped quite a bit, so we applied for two credit cards; both of which were accepted. We are now the proud owners of the CapitalOne Venture visa card with free foreign transaction fees (hoping this will help with our travel to Europe) and Chase Slate (which will provide a free transfer of what we owe from the one credit card to this one as well as no interest for 15 months making it easier to pay off credit card debt faster). Along with the two new credit cards, Justin's credit score will more than likely jump due to all the extra credit he was offered. YAY!
So to recap from this summer:
- received a $50 Travelocity gift card towards future vacations after price matching for our trip to Charleston in which we received $130 back. (If you count the gift card as cash, we netted $180 total.)
- dropped our internet bill from $72 down to $39 with AT&T for the next year saving us $396 total for the year which will save us $120 more than we paid last year (when we were paying $50 per month).
- Justin received a raise upping his total income by approximately $200 a month. :)
- changed car insurance providers which didn't save any money, but our coverage was upped. Instead of paying X amount for liability only, both cars are now fully covered in case of an accident.
- received a $25 coupon for Airbnb for a follow up trip after reviewing our last trip on the Airbnb website.
Anthropologie
Saturday I decided to take advantage of my birthday weekend. Justin took me to get my hair done and then my nails done (30% off! Woot!). Finally we made a stop by Anthropologie for me to spend my lovely 15% off birthday code. (We left the card at home, so many thanks to the sales associates who made it possible for me to still use the code!)
Anthro had a HUGE sale during the month of July which I didn't really take part in. With so many vacations, it was hard to go shopping. Plus, you can only use your birthday code once during your birth month, so I thought it would be best to wait until the very end anyway. Despite the long wait, I still had plenty to choose from on the sale racks; I didn't hesitate to take any of it back in the room to try on.
One of the first dresses I tried on was the Dandelion Wish Dress. No longer online, I knew I would love this dress, but I can't buy without first trying on. At first glance, the skirt of the dress looks very vintage 1950s. In fact, it is very reminiscent of the poodle skirt. In real life, however, the skirt has almost a fit and flare factor to it whereby it flares out just the tinsiest bit more in the bottom 1/3 of the dress.
Maybe that look is cute for some people, but for me (and my shortness) it just did not work.
Then, on top of that, the bust is huge! And it looks it! If you have a tiny bust and your want a fuller look, then the top is perfect. As for me ... no.
I was huge fan of all of the lace detailing. As you can imagine, vintage styling definitely had an effect on fabric choice and the dress itself is a bit heavy. It's not heavy in an I'm-about-to-fall-over way, but moreso in a sturdy vintage fabric kind of way. The dress fit TTS and fell between my knee and ankle. It was a gorgeous dress, but even at a sale price of $99, it wasn't the best dress for me.
I followed up with the Embroidered Elysian Dress. Justin had picked it out for me, and I wanted to appease him. I don't have a whole lot to say about this dress since I didn't pick it out. It very much reminded me of the Overwhelmed Aster Dress which I already owned. The colors were lovely, the lace was beautiful, and who doesn't like ribbon ties? Nevertheless, even with the TTS fit, I decided that the dress was much too similar to another I already owned and that I would always choose the other over this one. Back to the rack it went.
I was completely uncertain with the Windward Halter Dress. The colors were cute and the style was cute, but I wasn't sure I was a nautical kind of person. The boat wheel and anchor pattern at the bottom of the dress really threw me off. Banding at the knee? Who does that?! While the online reviews suggest that this dress run large, I did not find this to be the case. There was only a size 2 available at my store (and a few much larger of course), and I found that the 2, despite being a size larger than I normally wear worked out fine.
I'm a bit in love with the top. The material crosses over the chest in an x pattern, but it is super nice that they have the bit of fabric right in the middle to make the dress more conservative. (I could see this being a great dress for an elementary school teacher. Justin compared it to one that Ms. Frazzle wore in the children's book series The Magic Schoolbus.) The fabric also goes across the waist giving the dress something similar to a belt. (Can you see my black line?) It nicely pulls in the waist and is very figure flattering. I also love the nice thick strap that goes across your shoulders and around the neck. Unlike other straps of this nature, this one doesn't pull or hurt the neck during a day of wearing. It's actually pretty comfortable.
Finally, I should mention that the fabric for this dress is quite a bit unusual. I wish I knew more about fabric, but the best I can say is that the fabric is similar to fabric you'd find on dining room chairs or curtains. It's thick, but it's not too thick. It definitely has an interesting texture.
This dress is one that I bought and would highly recommend. Having been marked down twice in Anthropologie and costing approximately 1/3 of it's original price, it is a steal. I wore it all day yesterday out in the hot Atlanta summer weather and did not break (much of) a sweat. In fact, some girl saw me and sought me down to find out where she could get the dress. If that's not a statement on how lovely this dress is in real life, I'm not sure what it.
The last combination I tried was the Waverly A-Line Skirt and the Stubby Pocket Tee in black. This was a really fun vintagey combo to try. In fact, now that I see the cute sandals on the model, I think it would be fun to obtain those as well.
The shirt is definitely baggy and loose, but I'm not a big fan of tight fitting tops on hot summer days. I knew Justin would hate it on me, but he actually didn't. The neckline on me was more of a round shape than the v-neck it shows. With the skirt, I definitely tucked the shirt in. I think this skirt would probably look really cute with a button up fitted top as well for wearing to work.
The skirt was huge. It looked huge, it felt huge, and it acted huge, but it seemed small with a crinoline underneath to help the skirt keep it's shape. The crinoline was well fitted which made the skirt TTS without any real ability to size up or down based on hip or waist size. Usually with skirts like this, the hip size doesn't much matter because of the width of the hip area in the skirt. With the crinoline underneath this skirt, hip size does matter.
The skirt was put together in much the same way as a quilt with layers upon layers upon layers. Don't buy this skirt thinking it will be light and airy. It acts and feels like a vintage skirt. I did in fact buy it and considering the type and amount of fabric, it probably is a good deal on sale. In any other situation, I may have held off until it was at a deeper discount. I think a price of $50 is good for this type of skirt.
After a Saturday full of shopping, Justin and I spent the rest of our weekend roaming Atlanta.
How did you spend your weekend?
