Sunday, May 23, 2010
Okay, so don’t judge or hate me before you read the whole blog!
If you know me, you know that I am BY NO MEANS a stick. I am on the shorter side at 5’2”, and have never been “skinny”. More on the rounder side of average, I would say.
For some reason, I am TOTALLY unable to find flattering, trendy jeans that aren’t three feet past my toes, or worse – the “short” length makes it look like I’m expecting rain. Not cute.
So, I saw my sister in a nice looking pair of jeans that are dressy enough to wear to work on Casual Friday, but easily transferrable for casual t-shirts and tennis shoes. I decided to take a chance and try some on for myself. Here is the part where you don’t judge…
The jeans are Charlotte Russe’s Refuge denim line. WAIT WAIT WAIT! They are so cute and flattering, and they are inexpensive at $30 per pair. Charlotte Russe carries a wide array of sizes, and their jeans come in short, regular, and long lengths. The pair that I purchased are dark wash denim, with no “wear” or “holes,” low rise (but not so low that you see crack) and they have a wide hem at the bottom which allows me to wear them cuffed if I want to wear flip flops without them dragging on the ground. They are not teenie-bopper pants that scream, “Why do you have your kid’s jeans on?” and I am interested in purchasing another pair so that I don’t wear my first pair out prematurely.
I like the dark wash in particular because I think they look more expensive and are more easily dressed up. To keep them this way, I wash them inside out and I do not dry them. This prevents the fading and preserves the “new” look of my jeans.
So…if you simply cannot bear to walk into Charlotte Russe to purchase your jeans, or maybe you’re looking for something a bit different, try JC Penney!
With the availability of Macy’s and Dillard’s in the same shopping centers, I usually bypass JC Penney for some unknown reason. However, I went into JC Penney on a whim when I was desperate for some cute jeans. I found mine in the juniors section (which goes up to a size 15) and I couldn’t love them more than I do. They are Arizona brand (don’t judge me!) and they are worn looking with several faux holes and purposeful tears.
“Holey Jeans” will run you $100+ at Abercrombie or Hollister, and I can’t bring myself to spend that kind of money on something that I may, or may not like next month! They have flap-style back pockets, which I especially like, and the best part….THEY WERE ONLY $25! They are truly my favorite pair of jeans and I wish I had two of them, too!
If you struggle to find jeans that fit you properly, I urge you to at least give these two styles a try. All it takes is 5 minutes in a dressing room to decide if you like what you see. What’s not to love?!
Showing posts with label inexpensive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inexpensive. Show all posts
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
10-Bean-Soup...delicious and nearly free!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
I am always looking for ways to save at the grocery store and still feed my family nutritious, tasty dinners.
Dinners that cost me less than $1 per person are always a bonus! I have been shopping at Sprouts more frequently lately, and found something I wanted to try on a recommendation from my Mom. Ten-bean soup is something that you purchase dry by the scoop at Sprouts. It costs about $1.75 per pound, and you’d be STUNNED at how much soup you can get for a pound!
After purchasing the soup, I began searching for recipes in Google and stumbled upon a recipe that looked SO delicious. My recipe came from HERE by Meenakshi Matai. She was very gracious and willing to let me blog about my experience using her recipe.
There were a few things that I found to be attractive about her recipe. #1 – I already had most of the ingredients needed to make the soup. #2 – You can soak the beans while you are sleeping, and begin preparing the soup in the morning. One of my favorite things to do is, after lunches are packed, beds are made, and breakfast is served, I like to have SOME idea of what is for dinner, and prepare what I can ahead of time. With this recipe, you have already soaked the beans the night before, and you add all of the ingredients to your Crockpot or slow cooker, and you are done with dinner! How sweet is that?! #3 – this meal is quite low in calories because it contains only beans, vegetables, water and spices. You can feel completely guiltless after eating dinner!
My recipe varied slightly from Meenakshi’s because I did not have a green pepper to add to my 10-bean soup. I also didn’t have any fresh tomatoes, but I DID have a can of whole tomatoes seasoned with basil. I added these to my soup. It smelled absolutely delicious in the house all day long, and I couldn’t WAIT to try my new, nearly free soup! The soup was very flavorful and tasty. I made 1.5 of her recipes because I bought 1.5 cups of 10-beans, and WHOA did it make a lot of soup! I didn’t buy NEARLY a pound of beans, so I only spent pennies on our dinner. I froze the leftovers, and we will have them again next week – so that cuts in HALF what I spent because we will be eating it TWICE! I served a small salad with our soup, and it was a delicious dinner, indeed!
Speaking of Sprouts – I purchase something exclusively from Sprouts that I MUST tell you about! Organic lollipops! My Mom first purchased these lollipops for my daughter when she was around 6 months old. We were going to get brave and cut her hair, but we needed something to distract her and keep her still for long enough to trim! My Mom is a huge Sprouts shopper, and she stumbled upon them during one of her shopping trips. The flavors are so intense and delicious that you feel like you have the authentic fruit in your mouth. Emily loves them and they have saved my butt numerous times on long phone conversations, plane rides, and salon haircuts! You can purchase them in a small bag, or individually (6 suckers for $1) at the register. Sprouts is also running a special for Easter and a GIANT bag of assorted flavors of these organic lollipops is $4.99 right now.
I am always looking for ways to save at the grocery store and still feed my family nutritious, tasty dinners.
Dinners that cost me less than $1 per person are always a bonus! I have been shopping at Sprouts more frequently lately, and found something I wanted to try on a recommendation from my Mom. Ten-bean soup is something that you purchase dry by the scoop at Sprouts. It costs about $1.75 per pound, and you’d be STUNNED at how much soup you can get for a pound!
After purchasing the soup, I began searching for recipes in Google and stumbled upon a recipe that looked SO delicious. My recipe came from HERE by Meenakshi Matai. She was very gracious and willing to let me blog about my experience using her recipe.
There were a few things that I found to be attractive about her recipe. #1 – I already had most of the ingredients needed to make the soup. #2 – You can soak the beans while you are sleeping, and begin preparing the soup in the morning. One of my favorite things to do is, after lunches are packed, beds are made, and breakfast is served, I like to have SOME idea of what is for dinner, and prepare what I can ahead of time. With this recipe, you have already soaked the beans the night before, and you add all of the ingredients to your Crockpot or slow cooker, and you are done with dinner! How sweet is that?! #3 – this meal is quite low in calories because it contains only beans, vegetables, water and spices. You can feel completely guiltless after eating dinner!
My recipe varied slightly from Meenakshi’s because I did not have a green pepper to add to my 10-bean soup. I also didn’t have any fresh tomatoes, but I DID have a can of whole tomatoes seasoned with basil. I added these to my soup. It smelled absolutely delicious in the house all day long, and I couldn’t WAIT to try my new, nearly free soup! The soup was very flavorful and tasty. I made 1.5 of her recipes because I bought 1.5 cups of 10-beans, and WHOA did it make a lot of soup! I didn’t buy NEARLY a pound of beans, so I only spent pennies on our dinner. I froze the leftovers, and we will have them again next week – so that cuts in HALF what I spent because we will be eating it TWICE! I served a small salad with our soup, and it was a delicious dinner, indeed!
Speaking of Sprouts – I purchase something exclusively from Sprouts that I MUST tell you about! Organic lollipops! My Mom first purchased these lollipops for my daughter when she was around 6 months old. We were going to get brave and cut her hair, but we needed something to distract her and keep her still for long enough to trim! My Mom is a huge Sprouts shopper, and she stumbled upon them during one of her shopping trips. The flavors are so intense and delicious that you feel like you have the authentic fruit in your mouth. Emily loves them and they have saved my butt numerous times on long phone conversations, plane rides, and salon haircuts! You can purchase them in a small bag, or individually (6 suckers for $1) at the register. Sprouts is also running a special for Easter and a GIANT bag of assorted flavors of these organic lollipops is $4.99 right now.
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