Thrifted & Altered: Black and Purple Lace Shoes

My first official thrifted and altered post is finally here!

I bought these white satin shoes at Salvation Army a while back with the intention of dying them a pale lavender, but the purple dye took a little too well to the satin and I was left with bright orchid pumps.

With no intention of being defeated by dye, I decided to wrap them in lace instead! Just a few pins and drops of super glue held  the lace perfectly and I'm super happy with the way they turned out!

Thanks for reading!

Come back Wednesday for another brand new Thrifted and Altered post!

Because Life Isn't Challenging Enough....

 Oh hi there. My name is Trish and I used to be really good at writing blogs here all the time but then life was like, "Trish you have time to blog? You could be using that time for homework instead! MORE HOMEWORK HEADIN YOUR WAY DOLLFACE!"

But I have breifly escaped the clutches of my homework dictator to announce that I will be participating in another one of Shoeperwoman's Shoe challenges! Starting today I will be saving shoes for the next full year and if I don't wear them all I have to get rid of the ones I didn't wear. Last year was a great experience, meeting a few new bloggers and realizing how hard it is to let go of shoes I know I don't wear. I'm starting this year with 62 pairs of shoes, of which you can see every pair on the Adventures of a Vintage Hippo Official Facebook Page.

As if that isn't enough to grasp, I'm also starting a few personal challenges of my own, the biggest being my $4.68 budget challenge. You see, I am severely bad with money. Well, not completely bad. I get financial aid because I'm a full time student so I get a lump some of money at the beginning and middle of every semester. I take that money and buget out the important things: enough gas for each month, my car insurance, money for school etc. But then I have all this extra after that, for food and shopping and whatever. That second part is what I suck at. Spending all my "extra" money in the first few months on shoes then not being able to hang out with my friends later because I'm broke. Lame right?
Well I did the math, my "extra" money will last me as long as I need it to if I spend only $4.68 a day. Sounds impossible right? Well I've been at it for a while now (about a month) and I've been able to stick to it! Some days I dont spend any money so I add that day's $4.68 to the next day and if I save up enough I can allow myself to shop a little and whatnot.

I admit, it sounds a little crazy, but it's really been working! I question my shopaholic ways now and I feel like because I have a "challenge" to adhere to, I hold myself more accountable. I'm not going to be sharing that challenge here on the blog, just wanted to share just in case I bring it up someday.
Anyway, that's what I've been up to!

I hear the homework calling me once more.. wish me luck!

Sole Expressions

Such a deep sounding post title...
 ...until you realize I'm talking about the soles of my feet.
:D ha!

Basically I have been awful to my feet lately. In and out of heels, constantly on my toes in ballet and scrunching them into my flats. I'm pretty sure one of my toes is either broken or some other awful level of pain because it's been swollen for like, months now. Yea, I basically suck.

BUT! Before you start to make your "Trish, I'm judging you" face, I DID take it upon myself to treat my poor little feet with some Dr. Scholl's For Her Sole Expressions Insoles.

Ok, in all honesty the patterned ones were what caught my attention and the fact that they served a purpose besides being super cute was just a plus.
I LOVE them. They're super comfy and if I wasn't so broke I would probably buy enough for all of my heels. Did I mention they were super cute?

Hope you are all having lovely Tuesdays!!

No.17 A Hippo Never Forgets

In the madness that is my 35 in 31 challenge, I keep forgetting to post my saved shoes!

This is pair 17! Oh man it's more than halfway through the year and I still have dozens of shoes to save. I need to get on that!

I wore these lace flats to hang out with my family, thus the awkward posing on my grandma's couch. haha.
Well I'm off to get back to my challenge, in the meantime, I'm thinking of doing a whole week's worth of summer concert posts, which also have saved shoes! :)

35 in 31 Challenge: Day 1-3

Day 1: Project 1

The Floral Romper

I actually bought this as a really long matronly dress from Goodwill YEARS ago, because the fabric matched these shoes almost perfectly. At first I figured I'd make it into a different type of dress, but once I got started I knew it'd have to be a romper. I actually started this project about a year or two ago and had done a little bit of it here and there, but I knew it was time I finally finished it and let it become an important staple in my summer wardrobe.
See?? Practically identical...

 Day 2: Project 2

The Wonky-Sleeved Violet Blouse 

This is most likely the least interesting project on the list. I thought I finished this months ago but the sleeves were still all crazy weird and I had to do a little altering for them to fit right. I can't wait to wear this in the winter (the fabric is SO warm) with maybe a black high-waisted circle skirt and tights. Plus I love the color!

Day 3: Project 3

The Wonky Padding-Pink Lace Dress

Ok so this one isn't that exciting either. Haha. I got this from a cousin's yard sale for an 80's dance in high school. (I was full on Pat Benatar, and probably the only one who dressed up for that dumb dance haha) Anyway! After I washed it the light padding in the top got all crazy scrunched and basically it looked like I was smuggling hamsters in my dress. So I figured I'd finally take the top apart and sew the padding in correctly. (I would have just left it out altogether, I'm not a huge fan of padding in dress tops, but the dress wouldn't stay up otherwise haha)

Today is Day 4 so I am off to figure out which projects are next! Hope you're all having lovely weekends!
(Also, don't forget to go "like" Adventures of a Vintage Hippo on facebook to get all the behind the scenes info on the challenge!)

A Hippo's Home Haul

I feel like after all of the adventures I had this past weekend I have a TON of things to blog about, but I just don't have the time to talk about it all at this very moment. It really deserves a well written post and I know if I write it now it won't do it much justice. However! I am WAAAY too excited about some of the things I purchased, I HAVE to share them with you.

First of all, I went out of town for a car show/mini-family vacation, but I went on a very tight budget.

The only things I was letting myself purchase were:

*Cuffed Denim High Waisted Shorts.

*Santa Maria License Plates

*Vinyl.

Well, I mostly stuck to my list, but because we were on vacation dad let me spend a little more than I had planned. First thing I had to try were these sodas we found at a booth at the car show. The small company was family owned and the two daughters of the man who makes them were running the booth, it was like buying from a bad-ass lemonade stand. haha.

While we were at the car show I was becoming frustrated, I thought surely with all of this vintage repro clothing I could find the perfect high waisted shorts... but no luck. I actually almost bought this gorgeous sailor dress at the last minute because everything was 50% off, but I stuck to my guns and thought, the shorts will be worth it!! We decided to hit up the mall after the show and look in a vintage repro store they had there called Lady Luck. Except, they had moved locations and I had no idea where they were now. Sadness consumed me.

So I bought a top, a makeup brush and black liner to make me feel better. (only spent $17 on those three things, even when I'm shopping for therapy I'm cheap)

My dad called around and found out that the store had moved to the Pier-side mall at Pismo Beach, which we were headed to the very next day! Excitement consumed me.

Dad knew how much I wanted new plates so the next day we drove to the town's auto mall but couldn't find the Ford dealership. :/ booooo. So we went to Pep Boys and they couldn't help either so I just bought Hildy some pinup air freshener. (Hildy is my car by the way, named after the journalist in "His Girl Friday", one of my favorite movies of all time)

On our way to the beach we saw a billboard for the Ford Dealership, it wasn't in the auto mall, but about a block or two from where our old apartment had been. Whoops. :P

Well there I was, feeling slightly defeated that nothing on my list had been mine yet, when we finally got to the beach. I walked into the store and there was no denim in sight. I asked a sales woman, she knew exactly the type of shorts I was looking for, but they didn't sell them. However, she did point out these sailor shorts by Rocksteady that I quickly fell in love with. They were the perfect shade of Navy, and once I tried them on I knew there was no way I would be leaving without them. I really just want to wear them every day for the rest of my life, but that would make my outfit posts really boring I think...

After that I was really excited, I could get my plates next time (now that I knew were to get them,) I got my shorts, and now it was onto the next town to get my records! If you are ever in San Luis Obispo California and love records, or music or collectibles in general, you HAVE to go to Cheap Thrills on Higuera street.
I got a Big Band collection with 6(!!!) records inside, in perfect condition, as well as a ballet record for when I practice at home :)

I'm really proud of myself for pretty much sticking to my budget and not going crazy over the vacation.

That being said I bought more shoes when I was back in town went I went shopping with a friend. :P
Embarrassment has consumed me.
These were only $25 and they're 6 inches of absolute fantasticness. Because sometimes you just got to live a little...

Last Weekend

I'm going to be far far away from a computer this weekend, so I thought I'd share some random pictures (and a video) from last weekend. I went to a ska show one night, then the next day went to a free concert at the park, and the next, snackin on cherries, you know just chillin out, enjoying having survived the rapture and all. :)

 (http://www.myspace.com/kkckska)

 A lipstick for every occasion...

 

:)

No. 9 Hippos DO Go Outside

(Shirt and Necklace-Gifts, Flower clip-made by me, Skirt-thrifted and altered, Belt-Charlotte Russe, it came on a shirt, Shoes- Forever 21)

Look I'm outside again! My sister probably hates how much I pest her to take pictures for me, but I'm so sick of my mirror pics!

Then again you can never really predict what's gonna happen outside:

With Sephora and Hot Topic both having huge sales this week, my sister and I HAD to make a mall run, and so I decided to wear my handy dandy floral flats. I actually got a compliment from one of the Macy's perfume ladies on the outfit and then another from a sales woman at Bakers on the shoes. I really like them, they pull my toes up because they scrunch that way, and so I'm constantly pressing them forward with my toe muscles and I feel like every time I wear them it's a mini toe-workout. Haha.

Speaking of Bakers, I bought more shoes:

I just COULDN'T. HELP. MYSELF.

I had already spent too much money at Sephora but they were on sale! And the last pair in my size! And BOTH of the sales girls talked me into them! (Haha, yea like I really needed convincing... :P)

This brings me to a grand total of 56 pairs of shoes, but I really think I'm going to be getting rid of some soon, I know some of them won't make it to the end of the challenge, and I need the space.

I think I'm going to wear these to a friend's wedding in July, but they're just so pretty I don't even want to wear them, just stare at them for hours. :)