Fashion - Pocketful of Joules

Twice IS pretty nice

First off, I want to STRESS that this is not a paid promotion or advertisement in any way. I know that I make it pretty darn clear when I am compensated in some way for doing a review or giveaway (and only give good reviews to products that I actually really like), but I get a little gushy in this post. Okay, I get a lot gushy… but it’s just because I’m super excited about this website and I think you, my awesome readers, might like it too. In fact, the company doesn’t even know that I tried their service and decided to blog about it.

Ok…let’s move on to the awesomeness.

In the past I’ve shared my seasonal switchover process of packing up all my off-season clothes to make way for the next season. I do this partially because I don’t have a lot of closet space, partially because I like the space I have to be super organized so I can actually find what I’m looking for, and partially because it makes me furious to pull out something to wear that doesn’t fit.

Wow, that’s a lot of partially.

Anywho, at the end of every summer I pack away my summery dresses and skirts and bring out my heavier sweaters and tights. I usually end up with one bag of clothes that due to various reasons ends up being donated to the thrift store so someone else can pop some tags.

In the past, I had thought about consigning some of my nicer items. However, I never really felt like dealing with the hassle of taking clothes to a consignment shop and waiting to be paid a percentage of their sale. I was creeping on My Year of Fabulous one day and a reader suggested that Holly try out Twice clothing, an online consignment store.

When I clicked around the Twice site, I saw that they would send you a FREE bag so that you can send in your brand-name clothes to be consigned. Once they receive your clothes, they check them out and make you an offer. You can accept the offer, or decline and pay $5 to have your clothes returned. The reason I liked this more than your typical consignment store is that you don’t have to wait to find out if someone buys your item to get paid; they pay you and then deal with selling your clothes.

I decided to try it out for myself and when I switched from winter to spring I came up with 7 items to consign. There was nothing really wrong with the clothes; I had just bought some larger sizes to wear when I was in the early phases of my pregnancy. Everything was in great shape and the brands were all on Twice’s approved brand list. So I gathered them up, stuck them in the bag that Twice sent me (for FREE!) and dropped them off at the post office.

Within a couple weeks, I received an email offer of $25.00 for my clothes and chose to be paid in store credit since it gave me a little extra money. I then started stalking the site on a daily basis to decide how to spend my “found” money… and came across this shirt and dress:

I placed my order and within a couple days the clothes were delivered to my house. While I LOVED the dress and wore it one night at BlogHer, the shirt wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. So I printed out a free return form, repackaged it and stuck it back in the mail. For FREE!

twice 3 — Here’s my Ann Taylor dress from Twice… I LOVED it, especially for only $24.95!

It was incredibly easy and I was really impressed at how quickly my money was refunded to my account. I’m definitely going to start including Twice when I sort through my clothes that I want to get rid of at the end of the season. While $25 doesn’t sound like a lot of money, it is nice to “find” some fun money to spend on myself. Also, I’m still donating a small bag of clothes to the thrift store… so everyone wins (and yes, I write off the donation on my taxes).

With the Fall coming so quickly, I think this is a great chance for you to try them out too. Right now they’re running a referral bonus where you can get $10 off your first purchase (for new sign ups that use my special link) AND if you decide to sell your clothes you can get an additional bonus payout of $10 in store credit. Here is my special code: liketwice.com/Ddm2y

Disclosure: I was not rewarded by Twice for reviewing their company on my blog. I reviewed their service because I feel like you guys might benefit from having an easy consignment option for getting rid of your old clothes. Or buying other people’s consigned clothes. If you decided that you want to click through on my special link, I will receive credits on my account (click here to access my special link) and you will receive money off of your order!

So what do you think, is this a company that you would use? Is there a website that you found that you’re totally in love with and gush about to all of your friends? If so, please share it in the comments!

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I wish I was a Fashion Blogger

I love reading other people’s blogs. I guess that’s what inspired me to start my own blog. Well that and the fact that every time I’d tell a random story with arms flailing around, someone would inevitably say “you should have a blog!” Well, I’m nothing if not accommodating.

Actually, I’m not really that accommodating. I’m just kind of an attention ho and checking the stats on this little blog of mine is good for my ego.

Anyways, I love reading blogs about motherhood craziness, stories about clumsiness, DIY home décor projects, reviews of books that I never have the chance to read, and so on and so forth. I have a bunch of my favorite blogs saved on my gmail reader and visit them whenever I have a chance.

I also have a couple of those other blogs. You know, the fashion blogs. I wrote that in italics because you totally need to say it with whispered reverence in your voice. Kind of like how those hyenas said Mufasa in The Lion King. Try it: fashion blogs. See, that’s totally what I mean.

Fashion bloggers are WAY cooler than me. I’m sure that many of them are as sweet as pie, but I met a couple at last year’s BlogHer conference that caused me to immediately regress to feeling like that dork in middle school with the perm and braces. And yes, I totally had a spiral perm and braces at the same time because it was the late eighties/early nineties and I didn’t know any better.

I have two favorite fashion blogger’s that I visit on a regular basis. I’m not going to post them here because I kind of don’t want them to click back through and point and laugh at me. They are both impossibly cool and obviously have much, much better wardrobes than me. And better cameras. And they’re skinnier. I love reading their blogs though, because they always put together these amazing outfits from everyday pieces that look FANTASTIC on them.

Well, I wish I was cool like them.

I have what I’ll call a “lazy” wardrobe. I pretty much wear the same thing to work each day – black pants, a shirt or tank top and a sweater. Every single day. I mean, I look presentable… just not COOL. Frankly, it’s easy but pretty boring. In the summer I have a few cute work dresses, but when it’s cold outside I dress more for comfort and warmth.

I was going to include a picture of my in my normal "uniform" but couldn't find a recent full body picture. I did find this picture from 2010 though... — I was going to include a picture of my in my normal “uniform” but couldn’t find a recent full body shot. I did find this picture of me sitting on an egg from 2010 though…

When I’m not at work I’m either in my “I might leave the house” outfit of jeans (Gap), a t-shirt (Lucky), a hoodie/fleece (Under Armour or North Face) and boots (No idea, they’re super old and I love them). If I’m not leaving the house I live in the exact same outfit but switch out the jeans with yoga pants. That’s pretty much it. I do have a couple really pretty scarves that I throw on over everything, so maybe I’m like 1/18 cool.

I really WANT to be one of those saucy chicks that wear the adorable fitted skinny jeans, knee boots, three layered flowy tops that somehow make them look both busty and skinny and an artfully draped scarf… but I’m not.

Half the time I don’t give a darn that I’m not one of the fashionably dressed and the other half I’m totally jealous that somehow other working mom’s out there look so much more put together than me.

So, what’s your trick? Are you one of those ladies who always look adorable? If so, give me some tips! If not, what is your ‘go to’ outfit that you keep wearing again and again and again?

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Hair Issues

side view 2 — The side view. Ugh, I didn’t realize it was this BAD!

You know that thing where you’re totally fine with your hair week after week after week… and then all of a sudden you just HATE everything about it and can’t stand it until you finally get an appointment at the salon for a change? I’m so there right now.

For about 10-ish years I did different shades of red, occasionally spicing things up by adding streaks of purple, blond, blue, green or pink. Of course, now that I’m a “grown up” I can’t really do that any more. I DID sneak in some blue feathers over the summer, but took them out in early September.

My roots. And yes, I totally took these pictures while waiting in line at the drive-thru Starbucks.

I loved being a redhead, but my husband is not a fan. I typically ignore him on most things concerning fashion, but he truly hated the red so much that I decided to be a nice little wifey and stay away from that color. So for the past 6 years or so I’ve kept my natural medium brown color and just added professionally done light brown/blond highlights.

Well, Jack was born 7 1/2 months ago and I’ve only had one haircut since then and NO highlights appointments. So now my hair is kind of half highlighted and half natural. Which sort of worked for the summer time where I can pretend to myself that I was rocking the ombre look. But now that it’s fall I need a change!

This is a proof pic from our family photo shoot done by the fabulous Kathleen Hertel Photography. I will be posting actual GOOD pictures from the shoot (with a link to her work), but for today’s purposes this shows the ombre look I’ve been rocking.

This is where you come in — let’s vote on hair color!

Since I can’t make up my mind on what to do, I want to know what you think. Also, if you have any salon colorist recommendations in the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area please let me know! My old colorist changed salons and I feel like it would be creepy if I showed up for an appointment at her new place when she didn’t bother to tell me where she was going…

9/28 Update: The votes said “go darker” and I did! I had about 2ish inches cut off the bottom and went “Deeply Brown”. Here is the in progress picture and here is the finished result.

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