The Winner of the Sheyna Earrings

 Thanks ladies for entering! I really appreciate the sweet comments on my maternity photos! :-) Sorry this post is so late in day!! ...It's been a LONG day. : \ I will not bore you with the details...besides...my eyes are wayyy too tired.

And the winner of the Sheyna earrings is Taylor Bartik! Congratulations girlie! Send me an email at exthriftstoresnob (at) yahoo (dot) com.

*Note: The winner was selected by Random.org*

-K.D.

Maternity Photos + Sheyna Giveaway!

Hey everyone! I'm back w/ some of my maternity photos. This was supposed to be posted at the end of March/beginning of April, but if you've read this post you already know I gave birth to the Munchkin...a whole 6 weeks early! So I'm a little late in getting this out due to me recovering, etc. I took these photos at 31 weeks. I settled on 3 different outfits (actually I wore the same jeans for 2 of the fits).

I bought this at Ross literally the day before the shoot. It's a Vans dress which is crazy because I've never owned Vans anything! The dress was $6.99. It ties in the back with a black bow.

Then, I changed into my Burlington Coat Factory shirt. :D :D I found this a few days before the shoot. It was about $5. Score!!! I've been wanting a cute preggie shirt since I found out I was preggie. I wore these stretch skinny jeans because....they're the only ones that fit, lol. Flower was purchased at Michael's for $1.

Okay, so in my last outfit, I kept the same jeans on & put on this scarf/sarong type shirt so I could show off my stomach. My sis bought this for me years ago. I remember making it into a cute wrap around shirt when I was in college. You've even seen it on ETSS here. The orange flower was $1 at Michael's.

Notice the earrings??? That's what I'm giving away!

  A while ago, I was online & I came across this online store called Sheyna. I peeked in & let me ya'll...I was floored with their beautiful jewelry. I reached out to them & they were happy to send me a pair to review and a pair to give away! The ones I was sent are called Cleopatra Chic. They're very beautiful & light. Please check out their website when you have a moment. You can even design your own jewelry!



Thank you all for continuing to support & check my blog (even though I've been post slipping). My one year anniversary was recently & I wanted to do something special for you guys. Hence, the giveaway. Here's how you can win the Sheyna "Cleopatra Chic" Earrings!

Enter to Win:
What are your fave items to buy from thrift stores? Let me know in the comments section. :-)

The winner will be announced June 3rd. Good luck everyone!

*This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents*

TV Style Icon: Whitley Gilbert!

I've always been a HUGE fan of A Different World. Probably the #1 fan. I've been looking at it since in premiered (5th grade?) when I was in grade school & I'm still watching it on some weekday nights, lol. I wish all of the episodes were on dvd so I could just watch it whenever I wanted. A Different World was the reason I chose to go to an HBCU (historically black colleges and universities). ;-) Their experiences & friendships all inspired me to go to an HBCU. It's no secret that my favorite character was Whitley!

Let's get to the fashion now. Another thing that also inspired me was Whitley's sophisticated style! She had the best style on the show. The woman wore business suits to class ya'll. While preparing for this posts, I was scouring the web trying to find photos of her outfits. Almost nada. : \ I don't understand why there aren't more photos online of the outfits she wore. Sometimes I would be looking at the show & would say, "Whitley is doing it in that outfit!" If they were giving out a Best Dressed award, she would've won. :-)

The cast! In the beginning that is...

Whitley & Dwayne. :D I loved their relationship.

Jasmine Guy & Debbie Allen

Jasmine Guy & her father.

lol, I remember this episode!

Since I couldn't find many of her outfits, I went on YouTube. There I found some of my favorite outfits she wore...

Oh and yesterday was my 1 year blogiversary!!! :D Thank you to all who read The Ex-Thrift Store Snob! I have a special surprise for you. ;-)

-K.D.

Photos from Essence

Battle: LA on a Saturday Night

The earrings I won over at Clarabelle! A big thank you to Beso and the sweet letter they sent me. :-)

This past Saturday (went thrift store shopping & came up empty!) the hubs and I went out with one of his co-workers & his wife. This is what I wore. We checked out the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. It's a place where you can eat dinner while you watch the movie. It was a nice change from just going to see a movie. We saw Battle L.A. I actually begin to feel sick as we were watching the movie. I just thought it was the baby, but the hubs thinks it could've been motion sickness. The movie provided a lot of action scenes so he could be right. All I know is that I felt like throwing up mid way through the movie. Not a good feeling. : \ Aside from all of that we had a good time and my bbq pulled pork sandwich was good! Not as good as the ones in Memphis though. ;-) Battle: LA was a great movie. It reminded me a lot of Independence Day.

So here's the cheap breakdown of the outfit:

Shirt- I love this shirt!!! So free and flowy. From an earlier post: $2.99, 579

Skirt- from here F21, $11

Necklace- Bijoux Terner, $10

Sandals- These are like the only shoes I've been wearing! Ya'll have seen them SEVERAL times on here! lol I really need to buy some more sandals....They were $10 at Charlotte Russe

Another cheap outfit!- K.D.

Get Excited! Bloggers/Blog Readers Meet & Greet!

Have I ever told you guys how much I HATE the phrase "get excited"?? Well, I do. It's just so annoying to me. I just wanted to be funny and include it in the post title, lol. Anyway...Come & hang out with Reiko & I at the Yard House on March 26th! You guys already know that I'm new to the city so I'm definitely trying to meet some people. Hope to see you there!

Feel free to repost, tweet, or facebook the flier! And check out the Yard House

menu here. :-)- K.D.

Editing On the Blog

Hey people,

I'm up late doing a little editing on the ETSS. I noticed from some of my posts over the last few months that there has been some horrible blurriness in the photos so I basically reposted the posts with clearer photos. I don't know how the blurriness happened....when I initially uploaded the pics I didn't notice it at all. As I've been looking at the site, the photos looked horrible. : \ I apologize in advance if you're subscribing & you get the posts twice. At least you'll get to see clearer pics now. I'm currently looking for somewhere else online that I can host my photos. I'm noticing too many probs with Tinypic.....just an update. Since I'm up, I'm off to check out some blogs! Night ya'll- K.D.

Dinner at Yard House

We went out to the Yard House restaurant last night. One of the hubs co-workers is moving away & we wanted to hang out with them before they left. I couldn't wait to get there & eat! lol Here's the outfit I wore.

 

The J.Crew dress has been featured here and here. It was free so you no money out of my pocket. I paired it with my thrifted Liz Claiborne belt. The vest is one of 3. I got 3 of them for $15 at Walmart in '06. I'm so glad my sis talked me into getting all of the colors, lol. I bought those sandals for around $10 in D.C. in '07. The F21 bangle is making another debut on the blog....it's been on here several times.

I hope everyone has a great night! I'm currently starving as usual...off to feed the Munchkin.

-K.D.

Mardi Gras Weekend

So here's my outfit that I wore for Mardi Gras. We went to Galveston Island in Texas & the hubs and I had so much fun! I'd never celebrated Mardi Gras so it was definitely fun. I really underestimated my pregginess....I was soooo tired by the end of Saturday. I woke up Sunday morning still tired! Look at that preggie face...

I can't remember how much this dress cost but it was around $10 at Ross. I have no idea where that scarf came from...maybe from my mother? And ya'll will recognize the flats from here. Oh and that flower clip is from J.Crew. It was $10 as well.

That jean jacket is another favorite of mine. I only have 2 jean jackets, both from my sis and I love them because they're both so cute and unique. My sister has the best taste in clothes. :-) I will get a better shot of the detail of this jacket later on...Good night everyone! :-)-K.D.

What to Wear for Maternity Shoot?

My maternity photo shoot is coming up and I don't know what to wear! Well, usually I tend to gravitate towards dresses. That's what I initially wanted to wear (and still do), but I'm think about showing off my stomach a little too...maybe. I don't know. I saw this in Forever 21 and thought it would be perfect for the shoot....This print just spoke to me!

It's retailing for $27.80. I went to F21 last weekend and tried on 2 dresses. This wasn't one of them. I remember seeing it, but I didn't want to try it on. I tried on the other dresses because they were cheaper and the fabric was stretchier (word?). Unfortunately, I couldn't find those dresses on the site. : \ I loved the dresses I tried on, but I wasn't quite sure I wanted to get them. PREGGIE BRAIN. lol!

So I've got a dilemna because I do not want to take photos in 2 different outfits. I wanna get something to wear and stick w/ that for the entire shoot. I'll either get a dress or something that will show my stomach off like a one of those cute preggie crop tops. What to do? I think I'm gonna check out Ross for some of their dress deals. It's also time to raid my closet to see if I have something that can be used as a pretty top that shows my bare stomach. Gotta make a decision quick. It's 2:00am. Off to bed I go. Night ya'll. :-)-K.D.

Burlington Coat Factory Suit

I was browsing through some old pics and found this one from May '07 while visiting Memphis. I bought this linen suit from a Burlington Coat Factory in VA. I remember finding it and thinking it was so cute with it's little belt (even though it's twisted in the pic!) & all. It was $40. I still wear the pieces every now and then, but I haven't worn the suit as a whole in forever. I wonder will the skirt fit after I give birth. It was already starting to get a little tight....we'll see.

Style Feature on Baby Shopaholic!

Yes, it's true! I'm featured on a very cute blog called Baby Shopaholic today as a Hot Mama to Be. :D This announcement truly deserved it's own post. A big thanks goes to Trina from Baby Shopaholic for reaching out to me! I'm going to be blasting this on all of my networks and blogs today! Other blogs have posted my hair styles on their sites, but this is the 1st time someone's done an actual post on me. *blushing*

Click here for the link.

Buying a Stylish Diaper Bag

I've decided I won't be buying a traditional diaper bag. Not my taste at all. I've decided to just buy a big stylish bag. ;-) The bag I buy has to be fly like these....

Unfortunately, these Parazul bags retail for $340. 0_O Aren't they so cute though?!

So I'm gonna be checking out some sites for the perfect diaper bag. I'll let you know what I find. :-)

-K.D.

Summer Dress in January

I've been going back and forth on whether or not to discontinue ETSS. Truth is, I don't really have as many outfits to post as I did before. Also, I'm not working full-time so sometimes I'm at home all day wearing nothing that is post worthy, lol. And since I'm pregnant, I've been spending a boatload of time researching carseats, strollers, breastfeeding, etc. I haven't really been allotting myself any free to do some of the things I enjoy like blogging here. (Remember I still blog here and here too) So....I've decided to continue ETSS! As a matter of fact, I'm going to re-dedicate myself to it. I love to post my cheap outfits so I'm gonna continue to do just that. I will sprinkle in baby stuff with it of course. ;-) The main focus will still be on cheap, thrifty deals though. Ya'll are not getting rid of me that easily. :-)

So without further ado, here's some photos of me taken this weekend after the hubs and I came back from Frenchy's.

Everytime I wear this dress, I have to always pick up the bottom half! lol!

I love this dress! This is a 4 year old F21 dress I bought. I don't remember how much it was, but it's very comfortable! That's what I look for these days as the Munchkin grows inside of me. The weather was so pretty this past weekend that I had to wear it. We're supposed to be getting snow today and tommorrow, but hopefully we won't. *fingers crossed*

Later. :-) -K.D.

My Romper Fever Continues

I spotted this romper over at Fashion Bomb Daily and I HAD to post it here. Had to. Ya'll already know how much I love rompers! Don't believe me? Check out the romper posts. ;-)I LOVE THIS!!...and I don't care if it is January. This romper just reminds me of my fave season: Summer!

P.S. I don't know how much it is, but it's probably too much for me!

-K.D.

New Year's Night

Happy New Year!! So on New Year's night, the hubs and I went out to Uptown Tapas in Houston for the PlayDate event. We had a lot of fun and he beat me too many times to count in Connect 4, lol. I'm the official champion in Monopoly though!

I love this jean jacket! My sister bought it for me in college for Christmas years ago.

These holes have appeared because I wear it so much...I don't care though. It gives it an edgy feel.

I just washed this jacket a few weeks ago-judging from these pics maybe I need to wash it again... : \

This skirt is actually a dress! Can't believe I can even wear this at 5months preggie.

The top is just an old red tank...

Breakdown:

Shirt: Tank bought for a few dollars
Dress: F21 dress around $20
Jacket: Target jacket, $8
Shoes: Nine West (I know ya'll are tired of seeing these shoes, but I love them, lol!) $20
Bag: F21 (can't remember the price)