It was a big shopping month in terms of items added to my closet. Luckily the out of pocket cost wasn't large. As I shared earlier this month, I finally took the leap and replaced my Ray Ban Erika sunglasses with part of my Shopbop partnership credit. I also bought a few new things for the warmer weather during their Spring Event.

Long story about another purchase below:

I ran some errands with my mom earlier in the month and we stopped at DSW. I tried on a few pairs of breathable, thin sneakers (because I don't own any) and liked a pair by Sperry but they were $65. It's really hard for me to find sneakers I like because they all feel too bulky. I don't mind that in the case of my crazy custom Nike ID's but those aren't really athletic wear, more of a fashion statement. There's also my purple Puma's but those aren't exactly versatile either.

When I got home I added them to my cart and searched for some coupon codes and found a 20% off plus a $10 reward I had. Then my mom offered me the rest of a gift card she had so they came out to under $15! I'd say that's worth a purchase! I was hoping to wear them to Disney in May (one of the activities we're doing requires closed toe, walk-able shoes) but I fear that trip will be cancelled due to COVID-19. 

April will definitely be very light on the shopping because of our stay safe at home orders. I am trying not to buy anything unnecessary that will put more pressure on postal/package workers.

THE (modified) RULES

1. Be mindful of purchases 
2. Quality over quantity
3. Basics are best

MY PROGRESS 

Clothes:

1. *NEW!* FARM Rio Amazonian Ombre Mini Wrap Dress c/o Shopbop ($127.50, retail $170)
   

Basics:

1. J Brand 811 Mid Rise Skinny Leg Jean in Moral ($0 after $25 credit & ad money, retail $228)

Shoes:

1. *NEW!* Ancient Greek Sandals 'Clara' Sandal c/o Shopbop ($221.25, retail $295)
2. *NEW!* Sperry Rio Aqua Slip-On Sneaker ($14.83 via DSW, retail $64.99)

Accessories:

1. *NEW!* Ray Ban 'Erika' Sunglasses in Havana c/o Shopbop (retail $163)
2. *NEW!* Madewell Medium Slim Saddle Bag c/o Shopbop ($118.50, retail $158)

Gifted from Brands:

1. none yet

Total spent in March: $14.83

Total spent in 2020: $14.83

In light of COVID-19 its a bit hard to share outfits on the blog so I thought I would share some of my favorite things to cook!  I'm by no means a food blogger so these won't be full on professional recipes, but I hope they will still be helpful!

We only buy our meat on sale, so when we can get something for $1.99 a pound or less we pounce! This means we eat a lot of chicken, pork and sausages.

First up, I'll share one of our favorite easy meals: suasages and orzo!

Instead of just cooking the sausages whole and serving over rice I started to take them out of their casings and break them into pieces.  I like orzo because it cooks quick and you can flavor it with pretty much anything you like. To finish it off I usually use onions and peppers but sometimes we'll opt for roasted broccoli if we don't have the other items on hand.

I'll try to get Christian to take some in-progress photos next time we make this, but I wanted to get a blog post up since I haven't in a while so these will have to do! 

Sausage & Orzo with Peppers and Onions

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Servings: 4+ depending on your appetite

Ingredients:

• 4 Italian Sausage Links (hot or sweet)
• 1 cup Orzo
• 1 Onion (any kind)
• 3-4 Small Sweet Peppers (or more if you want)
• optional: bouillon

Supplies:

• Large Skillet (I use: Rachael Ray Hard Porcelain Enamel Nonstick 12.5-In Skillet in Marine Blue)
• Small Pot (for orzo)

Instructions:

1. Cut up onion and peppers into small dices
2. Remove sausage from casing and break up into smaller pieces, place into a bowl
3. Pre-cook onions and peppers and place to the side
4. Boil some water in a small pot and cook the orzo according to box (I add chicken flavored Better than Bouillon to the water to add a little extra flavor)
5. Heat pan on medium high and cook sausages until browned and mostly cooked through, breaking them up a little more.
6. Add onions and peppers and continue to cook on a lower heat
7. Once orzo has cooked add it to the skillet and mix together

Optional: You can add any other seasoning you like. Occasionally I'll add minced garlic and some random herbs but I usually keep this super simple and don't add anything. There is already a lot of flavor in the sausages so I find it doesn't need much else.

Broccoli Option: Roast broccoli in 425 degree oven with olive oil, salt and pepper until browned  (we like ours REALLY dark)

Here are some examples where I just chopped up sausages. This was how I started making this dish, then I realized you get more bang - or bites - for your buck by breaking up the sausages into smaller pieces.

How to Freeze Peppers & Onions

Before all this virus stuff got really crazy Christian and I bought a little more than our usual amount of onions and sweet peppers. Normally I just buy what we need for a week or two so they don't go bad.  Since we got our extra freezer I decided to start freezing them so we would have them ready at the drop of a hat and would last longer.

The process is pretty simple:

1. Cut onions and peppers to your desired shapes (I did small chunks as well as thin slices)
2. Place on a cookie tray and flash freeze for about an hour until fully frozen
3. Move into plastic bags or reusable containers - I used old Talenti ice cream jars that we cleaned since they're plastic and have a nice twist on cover.
4. Mark the storage container with the date you froze them on

Since Christian and I didn't get out to take photos this weekend I thought I'd bring back my How I Wore It series. We're headed into Spring so I'm focusing on florals and bright colors.

Hopefully we'll go for a walk this weekend so I can take some outfit pictures for next week. I'm not a huge fan of taking pictures in front of our house (don't want the neighbors to think I'm a weirdo) so not sure I'll want to take them at home. But we'll see how desperate I become!

I hope everyone is staying as safe as possible during all this Coronavirus craziness. Christian has been on high alert since January so luckily we were stocked up on food before the national freakout the past couple weeks.  At this point all anyone can do is stay away from people as much as possible. Luckily I already work from home so I will be trying not to leave the house, except perhaps for walks, for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately Christian still has to go to the office, even though they have the ability to work from home. Hopefully his boss allows that soon.

It's been a couple years since this sweater was on the blog, kind of weird since I still wear it. It used to be in heavy rotation back in the day but I wear it slightly less now so it will last longer. I bought it during LuckyFabb way back in 2012 with a gift card.

These jeans on the other hand are rarely worn. Mostly because they attract anything that floats and I constantly have to lint roll them. They're also a little too low rise and I always have to pull them up, haha! But I LOOOOVE how super skinny they are so sometimes I'll deal with the annoyance. Plus, the back zipper detail is fun.

Purple Blazer: Evan Picone (shop blazers), Green Snakeskin Print Sweater: T. Babaton (Aritzia), Jeans: J Brand Ankle Zip Skinny Jean c/o Marshalls (shop more J Brand), Shoes: BCBGeneration Yerra slip on sneaker (DSW), Bag: Emm Kuo 'Calle Bahia' (Roundabout), Sunglasses: Chanel (shop oversized sunglasses)

It was a Burberry day a couple weekends ago when I wore this cardigan coat and animal print loafers. Both pieces are from Net-a-Porter's End of Season Sale almost a year apart. I bought the sweater near the end of their 2012 Winter sale (in January 2013) and the loafers on the first day of the 2013 Winter sale in November.  I knew the shoes would sell out so I snatched them up before that would happen, good thing too because I'm pretty sure they sold out that weekend.

The cardigan is actually a size or two too big for me but I loved it when I saw it and all other sizes were sold out so I took a risk and bought the large. I'm glad I did because it allows me to double layer thick sweaters and acts as a coat on colder days. To offset the chunkiness of the sweater I paired it with skinny jeans.

Cardigan Coat: Burberry Brit (Net-a-Porter), Turtleneck: J.Crew 'Tissue' Turtleneck (shop more turtleneck sweaters), Jeans: rag & bone high rise ankle skinny jean in burgundy (shop more rag & bone), Loafer: Burberry Prorsum (Net-a-Porter), Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Erika' c/o Shopbop

Welp, I finally did it. I upgraded my Ray-Bans. I first got a pair of Ray-Ban Erika's in March 2015. My original pair had rubberized lenses which I thought I liked. Fast forward 5 years and they somehow became sticky and gross. In trying to clean them this Fall we ended up scratching/ruining the lenses with the cleaner - SO WEIRD! Luckily I got that pair for free so I don't feel too horrible about them getting ruined.

For my new pair I upgraded to plastic, non-rubberized frames and polarized lenses. The polarized version was $16 more than non, but if you're going to go Ray-Ban, might as well go big! I used my Shopbop gift card to get them so that made it a lot easier to stomach! Free is always good, right?

I actually started this outfit with my abecrombie corduroy pants, then paired with Burberry loafers and added the turtleneck shown here. I tried a few different jacket options but none were speaking to me so I chose this chevron vest. Then I had to change to different pants because the cords looked funny. Since I changed to jeans I swapped out the flats for heeled boots too. Funny how this turned out totally different than where I started. 

Chevron Vest: Romeo & Juliet Couture 'Colorblock Faux-Fur Vest' (gift from Lydia), Cashmere Turtleneck: Vince (Marshalls), Jeans: Everlane high-rise skinny jean in mid-blue, Boots: Cordani (Roundabout, shop winter boots), Bag: Emm Kuo 'Calle Bahia' (Roundabout), Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Erika' c/o Shopbop

Spring is approaching and, to help get you ready for the season, Shopbop is having a Spring Event where you can save up to 25% on new pieces for Spring! There is a sneak peek today for Shopbop members, and the sale opens to the general public tomorrow.


 
I always have a Shopbop wishlist going so it was super easy to know pieces I wanted to check out during the sale! Sales are the perfect time to get deals on designer pieces!

I don't have much going on this Spring but I wouldn't say no to a new Easter outfit or some pieces to wear on my upcoming trip to Disney.  A few items on my personal shopping list are a tissue thin gray cardigan, a new pair of denim shorts, khaki or dress shorts, light rain jacket and maybe a couple fun printed pieces. Perhaps I'll splurge on a gorgeous printed dress by Camilla.  Or possibly a 9th pair of Ancient Greek Sandals, my warm weather shoe addiction.


Here are some of my picks and a bunch of pieces under $100 (even before the discounts.)