Chocolate is the Best Medicine

K, so I'm still sick.
I have been for like, 2 weeks now, so I'm not a happy camper.
But the plus side is that I have accumulated butt loads of Lindt Lindor Truffles, many Reese's products, and a bag full of red Skittles, all courtesy of Ry.
I typically don't eat candy that much, so it has been a growing collection.

But now that I'm sick, I need those little sugar rushes.
I think I'm going to turn into a giant, walking, Reese's cup.
As long as people don't try to eat me, I guess that's ok:P

I would give you guys a fashion post, but my style has consisted of sweatpants and hoodies for the past two weeks.  So that probably isn't very helpful to any of ya'll.

Once I am feeling like myself again, I promise I'll blow you all away with my outfits, but for now, this is what I am. A walking Reese's cup.

Hope ya'll have a good, and healthy, weekend!

Live, Love, and Let it Sparkle,
Stephanie<3

Ear Fear.

I have taken a brief break from blogging.
I have been very sick for the past week or so.
The only people that have seen me are my family, Ry, and his family.
And Shyenne, once last week, to go thrifting and to lunch.
But I BARELY made it.

I finally made it to the doctor today and he told me that I have an ear infection and a sinus infection.
I am on antibiotics for 10 days.
Hopefully, it'll get better.

The worse part of this is that I didn't get to see a lot of my friends that I wanted to see over spring break because I just didn't feel like doing anything but laying on a couch and watching tv.

Another bad part is that I have a fear of ears.
I FREAK out when people touch my ears, when I clean my ears, when I get water in my ears, when my ears are dirty, pretty much anything to do with my ears.

I almost puked at the doctor's office when he had to probe that large shiny thing inside my ear.
Not fun.

Anyway, hope ya'll are not nearly as sick as I am right now and that your ears are far away from the big shiny thing that went in mine.

Live, Love, and Let it Sparkle,
Stephanie<3

The Addiction Grows.

Ok, so a couple of posts ago I mentioned that I am addicted to thrift shopping.
Yesterday, I decided that I am going to become a professional thrifter.
I am going to learn how to do the whole Ebay thing so I can turn some profit on the great thrift finds that don't fit me, have tons of fun thrift shopping, and maybe even fund more shopping trips:)

Last week, I happened to find an old pair of flip-flops that I donated to Goodwill on the shelf, and I found myself wondering why ANYONE would want to buy these suckers.
They are pretty hideous. I made them to wear during down time at dance competitions when I was like, 10. So bad.

Also, last night I dragged Ryan to the Salvation Army and told him that I wouldn't look at the clothes. I think I was lying to both of us when I said that. I so badly wanted it to be true, but I just couldn't help myself!
These are all of my finds! The striped dress is great for summer, or even a swimsuit coverup, and was $1.25 because it was half off. The nightgown is beautiful and so incredibly comfortable and was $1.50 with half off.
The shoes are gray Gap flats with cut-outs and a peeptoe, but they are a size 10 which is WAY too big for me. So I got them for Shyenne. They were only $.50!!! Such a wonderful deal!

 Ryan got these American Eagle khakis for $1.75, and they look great on him!
We also scored this huge teddy bear. But see, when we look for stuffed animals, we look for the things that will be fun/hilarious to shoot with a bow and arrow;)
I think this guy will be pretty fun to shoot!

Thankfully, I am feeling slightly better than yesterday, but still not feeling great. Today is going to consist of laundry, dishes, homework, and reading. Maybe watching some tv.
The fun stuff:P

Oh! Can't forget to show you guys what I wore last night. I was feeling pretty blah, so it isn't fussy, but it was still pretty cute! I wore my favorite jeans, a white tank from Target that desperately need to be replaced, gray boots that I borrowed from my mom, an ancient scarf, and a beautiful, soft, comfy Gap sweater that I scored at Goodwill for $1.23. And my new-ish haircut too!

Anyway, I hope ya'll have a great day, and are enjoying my posts!

Live, Love, and Let it Sparkle,
Stephanie<3

Mah nose is a wittle stuffy...

I feel so incredibly sick.
It started slow last week, and I was just feeling a little under the weather, but now it is full blown, head stuffy, stomach fussy, just wanna sleep sick.

The worst part of this whole being sick thing is that my spring break just started.
I have so many things that I want to do and that NEED to get done, but I just feel like sleeping.

So I decided that I am going to rest up today, but after today I am going full force with all of my plans, and I am not  going to let this ick-ness stop me.

Day-quil is going to be my best friend this week (sorry Ry, you've been booted:P)

So, now I'm off to go shower (finally) and maybe do some reading. I might trudge myself into a cute outfit to go out to dinner tonight just so I can maybe feel a little better.

Is that just me, or do you guys instantly feel better when you get dressed up too?

Anyway, I hope ya'll are feeling WAY better than I am.
Love ya'll!

Live, Love, and Let it Sparkle,
Stephanie<3

Hello. My name is Stephanie, and I am addicted to thrift shopping.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I just got back from the local Goodwill on N. 2nd Street, and I am ecstatic!
I got such great deals!!!
And my mamaw (grandma for those of you who have never heard the southern term before) got a butt load of Easter decorations that she did NOT need.

I will have pictures later, but I got this adorable navy canvas vest from Ruff Hewn for $3.99, brand new hot pink skinny jeans that fit like a glove for $3.99, a wallet and amazing make-up bag for $.99 a piece, and 3 awesome almost-new Victoria's Secret bras for $1.99 a piece (sorry if that grosses you out for me to a get a bra at Goodwill, but how gross could it really be?:P)

Anyway, they had lots of belts that I might go back and look at since they're $1.99 a piece and are brand new and totally cute.
I will definitely be going to the Easy as 123 sale next Friday at the Rockford Goodwill and then the next Friday at the Machesney Park Goodwill.

I am on the hunt for a nice pair of jeans, but don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money. So Goodwill and Salvation Army on my list of go-to stores.

I am now on spring break, so blogging will happen much more often in the next week or so.
I have this blogging project that I'm going to work on over break, so hopefully it'll help make it easier for me to blog.
I often forget to take pictures of my outfits, so I am going to go through my entire closet and take pictures of each piece to keep on file so I can just plop files onto my posts and go if I happen to forget pics!

I think I may be biting off more than I can chew, but we shall see if it happens by the end of next week.

Well, that is all my loves.
Hope your lives are going wonderfully and this spring fever is inspiring your fashion as much as it is mine!:)

Live, Love, and Let it Sparkle,
Stephanie<3

True Friends

When you're in high school, everyone tells you to cherish your friendships for those four years because, after that, most of them end.
I disagree with that.
I have found that the friendships don't end after you graduate, you just found out which ones were truly there to begin with.
All of the friendships I have lost after high school started disintegrating before we even graduated.
I feel closer to some of my friends from high school now than I even did before.

Most people say that the friends that matter will stick around, but that's not necessarily true either.
Some of those people that you thought mattered will surprise you, in good ways and bad.

I don't really think that the friendships end.
I think that they begin.

I've known one of my best friends for about 11-12 years now, and we have definitely had our ups and downs, but we have been there for each other through everything.
Throughout our friendship, we didn't talk all the time.
We were both really involved in different activities, and we would catch up when we could, but we were never those inseparable friends.
Yet, when we talk, it doesn't feel different at all no matter how long it has been, which is nice.

Actually, I have a few friends like this.

I recently started catching up with one of my old friends, and I feel like we have always gotten along really well and had a lot in common. I feel like I'm almost getting a new friendship out of it because we're talking more now than we did before!

I feel like all of the friends I've had throughout the years are going to be lifelong friends, whether we talk once a day, week, month, or year.
And the point of this post was to tell ya'll that I miss you!!!

I've realized just how much all of you guys mean to me, and I want to give all of my true friends a big "I love you, be happy" shout-out!

 Live, Love, and Let it Sparkle,
Stephanie<3

City Lights

This past weekend was quite an adventure.
I have needed a mini-vacation for quite some time now.
I've needed to just get away from everything.

And last weekend, I got that.

My parents, Ry, and I went up to Milwaukee on Saturday morning.
Actually, we first went to Cedarburg, which is a small town just outside of Milwaukee that houses tons of quirky little shops and my parents' favorite winery.
We explored the shops, ate some wonderful popcorn that we get every time we go there, and took a picture with a really cute panda:)

Cute, right?:)

 After our time in Cedarburg, we made our way to our hotel in Milwaukee, the Hilton Garden Inn. I have to say this is one of the nicest hotels I've stayed in, and Ry was absolutely amazed with how nice it was. Our curtains were controlled with buttons on the opposite side of the room. Pretty nifty I would say.

Ry was hiding behind the curtains:)

We ate dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery, as we always do in Milwaukee, and then Ry and I headed to the mall.
I have never been more disappointed by a mall in my life. The only store worth visiting was the huge TJ Maxx.
We did, however, stop by the Culver's in the food court and downed a pint of chocolate custard with Reese's mixed in. Definitely wonderful.

There was an absolutely beautiful view as we were walking back to the hotel. It felt really nice to walk hand-in-hand through the city lights. 

Later that night, we ventured to a bookstore that was across the street, and it was so fun. The bookstore had shelves that went all the up to the ceiling, filled to the brim with books. There were two cats wandering around that lived in the bookstore, and I think I would just live there and read all day every day if I could.

When we got back to the room, we ordered take-out, which was delicious, and then we all passed out before 10 p.m.
It was the first good night of sleep I have gotten in about 2 weeks.

met a new beau at the musem! he's irish;)

The next morning, we went to the wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel and then headed off to the Milwaukee Public Museum. We had such fun there, and it was pretty educational too.

Here are the rest of the pictures I took:

Our walk back to the hotel.

View from the hotel

Another view.

They had lots of gross bugs and spiders.

Aargh matey!

My favorite animal:)

The butterfly exhibit was beautiful.

One landed on my daddy:)

Live, Love, and Let it Sparkle,

Stephanie<3