Llama, Llama, Run From Mama

In case you missed it, two llamas got loose today in Sun City, Arizona. No, I'm not kidding. The hashtag #llamasontheloose was trending and people were watching the whole thing unfold on TV. If you did miss it, Deadspin has condensed the entire chase and put it to some entertaining music. You can view that video (and see some hilarious gifs) here. 

It's pretty entertaining, I'm not gonna lie. 

In fact, it's been a nice distraction since we are AGAIN snowed in. 

We missed the entire week last week thanks to President's Day/Snow and we missed yesterday, today, and will miss tomorrow because of the same evil white stuff. 

Yes, I know up north they function with, like, 3 feet of snow and we shut down for 3 inches, but that's also because we don't have the equipment to take care of said snow. I think we have 50 plows for three cities to share, and that's including some privately owned ones. So streets don't get clear very quickly. 

I did shovel my driveway today. That was a great workout, and I felt productive as well. 

And after that, my family could get out of our house for a bit. Not for anything important, mind you, just to get dollar drinks (tea and soda) from Hardees and chicken nuggets for my notoriously picky father's lunch.

I kid you not. 

Since I've been home, I like to think I've been productive, but I haven't. I did do my budget for March and started working a bit on April and travel plans for the summer. I read. A lot. A whole lot. I researched. I was on Pinterest. I was on Pinterest. I was on Pinterest. 

Yeah...might have been on Pinterest a whole, whole lot. 

While on pinterest/twitter/online shopping, I came across the new swimsuit ads for ModCloth. 

Let me just derail for a second and explain just how much I love ModCloth. They have absolutely ADORABLE clothing that is, for the most part, reasonably priced. It's all vintage inspired and indie so no one is going to have the same dress as you. (I'm serious, the only time I've ever seen anything I own on someone else was one time a lady on jeopardy was wearing a dress I bought on ModCloth and the next day she had on another ModCloth piece, so she became the person I was cheering for). I digress. Anyway, here are some of the items from my most recent order (I NEED spring so I can wear these!)

 

Cute, yes?

They sell lots of things, but I'm a big dress wearer when it comes to clothes for work so...yeah. Also, losing weight is great but when a new season rolls around and you're smaller than you were the last time that season was here...not so good.

Again, digressing.

But that's not my #1 reason for loving ModCloth. It's also because they are using their own employees (REAL WOMEN) in their swimsuit ad and have taking the Brave Girls Alliance Heroes Pledge for Advertisers. (read more here) This is the pledge:

Basically, it states that the pictures in an ad need to reflect what the person ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE. 

It's a little scary how much is photoshopped in/out of photos these days. There was a leaked photo from Victoria's Secret where they had changed the color of the suits, taken away straps, eliminated any rolls and expression lines, and enhanced the women's cleavage. So, basically, not humanly possible. 

No cool, Vicky, not cool. 

But they're not alone. Lots of advertisers, magazines, and others do this. All. The. Time. 

But we're starting to see a shift. We're starting to see more companies take the stance against photoshopping, mostly from online retailers, but still, it's happening. Just take a look at the ad for ModCloth's bathing suits: 

Personally, I LOVE it. I hate body shaming, and while I am in the process of becoming healthier and losing weight, I also don't think anyone should be shamed because of the shape they are in. 

In my experience, you can't really effectively lose weight until you start to love yourself for who you are. So when I finally said "Okay, I'm 180 lbs, which is big for my frame. I have to accept that and rock that" things started to turn around. I ditched any clothes that were too small, except for a few "goal outfits", and rocked the body I had. Then I decided that if I really loved myself, I would take care of my body. It's a mind shift from the "I'm fat, I have to lose weight" idea. Soon I began to look at myself and say "I'm okay with this, but I can be better". And I am. I'm down quite a few pounds since then, and I even fit in two of my four goal outfits (yay!). And I'm not done. But I look in the mirror now and I know that I look good. And when I lose ten more pounds because I am taking care of my body, feeding it the right things, working out, getting regular sleep, etc., I'll still look good. But it's all about that acceptance. And these ridiculously skinny girls who are 7 feet tall and photoshopped and made-up and properly lit should not be the standard of beauty. 

This mentality is one of the main reasons I love ModCloth, because they are more about the individual and her style than cookie cutter "you must look like this and wear this" that you see at chain stores. And they have a cook feature where each product that is reviewed might come with the measurements of the reviewer or even a picture of said person in the dress/shirt/pants/etc. 

This means I can find a girl who is close to my size and see her/read what she has to say about an outfit. It's nice, because sometimes I'll read a comment and go "good, I won't buy this because everyone says it's not good for short girls with large chests..." Or "everyone says that it's short, but those people are all tall, so this should be the perfect length on my short frame." Or I look at the pictures and go "That looks so good on her! It would look good on me too!" 

You won't believe how much this improves shopping for me. It helps me make decisions, helps me not overlook fabulous finds, and generally lets me know if I'm getting a good product for my money. I highly recommend it. 

That's all for now, I'm going to get back to reading and enjoying my snow days :D 

Shopping Secrets and #RE2PECT

As a Red Sox fan, I hate all things Yankee. Seriously. Hate it. With one exception: Derek Jeter. 

Jeter, you will be missed. As much as it hurts me to say that, you will be missed. Quick...I have to compensate for leading off this blog with a picture of a YANKEE...

okay. I feel better. phew. 

Sorry. It's hard for a die hahd Sawx girl to talk about anyone who plays in pinstripes, even if he is completely respectable and an asset to the game. 

Speaking of baseball, despite my opinion that the All-Star game (hereafter abbreviated ASG) is completely overrated and ridiculous, it's still baseball and I'm still gonna watch. Also speaking of baseball, I'm finally going to a game this season! Yay! 

No, the Red Sox aren't playing. I'm going to see the Nats and Brewers. I have never seen the Brewers play before so this should be fun. I like Nat's Park too. You can take the metro right to it and there is something fun about riding on public transportation when everyone is going to same place and it's a fun place. It gives you a sense of camaraderie. 

Moving on from sports to my other love, shoes. I have a secret for you ladies, especially if you have a size 7.5 or smaller foot. The BEST place to get cute shoes at a low price is Dress Barn Women. Some Dress Barns are combined, misses sizes and women's sizes, but some are separate. So Dress Barn Women sells the plus size clothes. Most of the women who shop there , many of them are very tall, which means their foot size is larger. So that means all their clearance shoes are size 6, 6.5, 7, and 7.5 with a handful of larger sizes. When my mom said she was thinking about going there today because she had a coupon my response was this:

And good thing too. Ten minutes later, I was walking out of the store with a pair of green flats studded with gold squares and a pair of subtle cowboy booties. My total? $16.00.

That's right. TWO pairs of shoes for $16.00. That's $8.00 a pair. You can't really beat that. And to top it off, Dress Barn actually sells nice, fairly comfortable shoes. So remember this ladies: if you have tiny feet, check the clearance shoes at the plus size stores. And I'm actually pretty sure the opposite works too. 

So if I don't blog again until I get back, sorry. I'm just...

I really need to lay off the coffee. And the gifs. :/ 

Peace :)