Rate My Look- Nothing to Do Today

I woke up early this morning to get ready for my big interview, only to receive an email stating that the woman I was to meet with had called out sick and could I please reschedule. So, you'll have to wait a little longer to find out how the job search is going. Anyway, I suddenly found myself with absolutely no plans for the day. I decided not to waste it, fashion-wise, that is. Since I'd woken up thinking I was going to put together (and put on) a fabulous knock-em-out-of-the-park interview outfit, my creative juices were flowing. I decided I felt like wearing color and lots of it:

It all started when I pulled out the green dress and realized I haven't worn it in ages. It's a perfect dress for this time of year- the sleeves help keep off the barely-there chill that you can feel in the air now that fall has arrived. Although, I must admit, the last few days have been true Indian summer days- unseasonably warm. I'm not complaining, just observing. Since the dress is a tad low-cut, I always wear it with a cami, normally a beige or brown one, but today I saw my hot pink cami in the drawer and realized what a fun pairing that would be. From there, I couldnt't help but add the royal blue scarf, the turquoise ring and (drum roll, please) my NEW yellow handbag!

Front

Back

Interior

Sometimes the perfect item just magically finds its way into your life. That is what happened with this bag. I stopped in to the local Marshalls superstore (one I have missed a great deal for the last four years I've lived in PA) because they have an amazing shoe department. I happened to check out some of the handbags while I was there. I had no intention of buying one, since I'm meeting up with Beth later this week and one of our goals is to find me the perfect handbag. If you remember, I was looking for a bag that was not too big, not too small, had plenty of pockets- multiple large compartments as well as plenty of interior and hopefully exterior pockets. I wasn't certain about the color I wanted, and some would even say I was all over the board with that- bright yellow, kelly green, pewter/gunmetal, burnt orange, the list goes on. The main thing was that whatever color I ended up with, I didn't want it to look cheap.

This bag meets every requirement:

- Gorgeous, rich color
- 3 Large compartments
- Inside zipper pocket
- 2 Inside slip pockets
- SIX (yes, SIX) outside pockets. Actually, there are 8, since the front pockets have additional zippered pouches in front, but I doubt I'll use them
- Excellent price

There were even two bonus points:
- Free mini-umbrella inside the bag (with its own snap-closure compartment)
- Free key ring included

The "excellent price" bullet point is the best part for me. I only paid $32 for this gem of a bag! For that price, I thought it was surely a synthetic, but I noticed a sign at the store that said, "Franco Sarto Leather Handbags," so I asked the saleslady if all the Franco Sarto bags were leather and she said absolutely, yes, they were ALL leather. For the price I paid, I expected nothing more than a cheap plastic handbag, but apparently my good shopping karma was in abundance yesterday!

The other exciting part of the day was that I got to wear my contacts again for the first time in TWO WEEKS! Can you believe that? My pink eye is finally gone and I got to not only wear my contacts, but I also got to wear eye make-up again! I had to throw out SO much of my eye make-up when I found out about the conjunctivitis and it was very upsetting. It will take me a while to replace it all- make-up is expensive! I started with just a basic neutral palette and some liners this week, figuring they'll tide me over until I can find some new, fun colors. Once again, my shopping karma was doing good because when I went to CVS to look for make-up, I discovered that ALL L'Oreal products were buy-one-get-one-half-off! I saved about $10 on what I bought, which was enough to purchase this briefcase-style bag at a consigment shop down the street:

It's nothing fancy, but that's what I wanted. I realized when I was preparing for my interview that I didn't have a briefcase-style bag for holding my portfolio, resume, etc. I think I lucked out finding this one so cheap. And in the process of buying it, I realized there are several consignment/thrift shops nearby, so I'll have to do New Hampshire version of my consigment shop review post. It may take me a while to get to all of them, but there are enough that I feel it's worth the time.

Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone!