Work Outfits

I feel like a short and very girly post so it's a work outfits post!

Last week I spend every evening sewing a skirt with a cool material that I found at JoAnns. It was the end of the bolt so I had to do with whatever material was left but I got like 70% off. Sweet! I used it to sew a pleated skirt completely out of my head and I am very proud of the result. I still don't have a good photo of the skirt but I'll get there. Here is what the material looks like. Did you notice that it's not black?

Now back to the outfirts...

Since I started working my fashion challenge was to incorporate the skirts I've sewn in an office-appropriate look. I enjoy wearing the skirts I've made but they have pretty bold prints and they are 100% cotton, which tends to have more of a casual feel to it. So it was a bit of a challenge.

Here is what I came up with. Sorry for the not so great quality of photos but the last thing I feel like doing in the mornings or after work is put a tripod and try and get that perfect shot. As you can see I "recycle" my clothes but never in the same week.

Top - Forever New
Circle Skirt - me
T.U.K shoes and CUE belt 

Top - Forever New
Skirt - me
Aerosoles pumps and CUE belt

Have a great weekend!

Bandelier National Monument

I finally got to edit the photos from New Mexico!

After leaving Grand Sand Dunes National Park we continued our drive to Santa Fe through Alamosa. This way, turning west from the I-25 to Alamosa is longer then going on the I-25 all the way from Denver to Santa Fe but the road is MUCH more scenic and is definitely worth it if you're not in a rush.

When we finally arrived to Santa Fe (we stayed at Residence Inn - Marriott) it was too late to do anything and we were too tired to bother. At that point we didn't have any plans for the next day (it was a spontaneous trip, did I mention?) but luckily there was a book about New Mexico with some great ideas. There is truly a lot to see in New Mexico but because it's quite a large state I reckon it would take a week of driving around to have a good look around, as long as you plan your road trip well.

I wrote down a few ideas for places to see and mapped then on Google Maps. If you plan on visiting New Mexico, have a look at this map.

View Explore New Mexico in a larger map

We had pretty much one day to explore the area so we couldn't drive far, this is why we chose to go to Bandelier National Monument. It is about one hour drive from Santa Fe and has beautiful scenery and archaeology, both things I like. Currently you have to take a bus to Bandelier from a designated car park in Los Alamos. The bus and the parking are free and the bus leaves every 20 minutes so it's quite convenient. I won't expand much about Bandelier as you can get all the information from their website but shortly speaking, there are a few hikes, the main one is called the Main Loop as it takes you around the pueblo. It is quite easy as it is pretty much designed for the general public. Near the end of the loop you can go on another hiked called the Frijolito Trail. This trail is pretty steep and much harder than the Main Loop. You can do the Frijolito Trail as a loop but we just returned the same way we came. I didn't find the ruins at the top very interesting and wouldn't recommend going up just for the sake of the ruins. The steepness provided a good challenge though and the view to the other side of the hill was beautiful.

Here are some photos. Enjoy!

Overlooking the Kiva

Original carvings

View from the top of the Frijolito Trail

View from the other side of the hill, Frijolito Trail.

After the visit to Bandelier National Monument we had a quick look around Los Alamos, a town near Bandalier. The bus driver that took us to Bandelier suggested going to a look-out and this is what we did. Unfortunately I actually don't remember the name of this lake.

Hope you enjoyed the virtual trip to Bandelier! This pretty much sums our trip to New Mexico. On the way back we drove straight up on the I-25 and the views are all the same... If you have the time, find somewhere to visit on the way and to have a proper break from driving. Unfortunately we were in a rush and didn't have the chance.

The small images look really blurry, which drives me crazy! Please enlarge! 

Smart Shopping

As some of you might know, I started working a couple of weeks ago. It has been great getting out of the house and finally earning some money. It's not a career oriented position but after looking for a job for over 3 months and seeing no light at the end of the tunnel, suddenly landing a reasonably well paid job (in American standard) makes me really happy.

I've moved so much and so many things have changed in my life since pretty much finishing high school that I'm trying not to worry about not having a career oriented job here or not knowing what I'm going to do when I'm back in Australia. Ideally, I'd like to apply for Doctor of Dental Medicine at the University of Sydney. After the army, when it was time to think about university courses, I didn't think I was smart enough to get into dentistry (or medicine but I didn't want to do that). I still don't know if I am smart enough but I guess I'll never find out unless I try.

So anyway, today at work people were talking about saving when grocery shopping. I'll start by saying that Americans love coupons and deals and you can get those for almost anything! This is unlike Australia where people "save" be deciding whether Coles or Woolworths are cheaper and sticking to it. While I got to like coupons for specialty stores (like the sewing store where I shop regularly and save about half of the total bill thanks to coupons) I don't believe in coupon shopping in grocery stores. I think you can save without obsessive coupon collection and regular search for deals. And yes, as someone who wasn't working for 6 months and is about to go to Alaska, I am in a saving mode at the moment and thought I might share my simple techniques of "smart shopping".

Firstly, why I don't like coupons? Coupons and deals actually make you buy more, make you buy stuff you don't need and make you buy it in amounts you don't need. In addition, they often give you discounts on the top brands while the home brands might be the same quality but cost half the price at the first place. That's not saving and definitely not smart shopping.

So how do I smart shop?

• I buy what I need for the week (in my case I shop once a week). This means skip on luxury items, don't buy items that have a history of going to waste and don't buy replacements for items until I actually run out. So before anything is going to my trolley, I think twice whether I actually need it that week. To help this rule, I try and plan meals for the week and have a shopping list.
• Experiment with cheaper brands. Many products are quite generic so no matter what brand you buy, you get the same thing and sometimes even better. Also, these products are quite cheap so if the cheaper brand wasn't good you just wasted a couple of dollars but if it was good, you'll save money long term by sticking to it.

Since I got into my smart shopping routine my grocery bill dropped in about $50 a week. No coupons and no hours looking for deals. I think because my techniques are more about smart shopping rather than about saving like mad and giving up on everything you want to buy, they are easier to implement and will work for both, those that need to save on a regular basis and those who want to save for a short while.  

Cheers!

PS - I know I didn't upload the second part of the photos from Santa Fe. I promise I'll get there. I think I need Adobe Lightroom to hurry things up as Photoshop is taking forever.