Surprising Clearance Dresses

I must be in a shopping mood today, given my earlier post on colorful coats and now this one.

But I saw these two dresses while flipping through the interwebs and just had to share, as both are from places I don't normally look for inexpensive dresses.

via urbanoutfitters.com

I love all the cute, hip clothes at Urban Outfitters but I feel like a lot of their dresses are a wee bit overpriced. At $25 (on clearance), though, this pretty Kimchi Blue Graphica dress is a steal. They show it with tights, but I'd wear it with flat sandals on warm spring/summer days.

via Alloy.com

And while I know Alloy has great clearances, I have always thought that they were a little bit teeny bopper for my taste. Then one of my friends suggested I take a second look, and I found this cute metallic stripe jumper. It has a sexy/girly feel that wouldn't look totally out of place on someone outside of Jr. High- and it's on clearance for less than $20.

Lesson learned: keep your options open. You never know where you'll find things you love.

In-Between Jacket

I don't really have an in-between seasons jacket, so pretty much every morning in March/April consists of me trying to decide if I want to wear a coat and be hot or wear a sweater and be cold. This cute hooded jacket might just solve that problem. Plus, how cute are the green and yellow colors? They make me think of spring!

(via Buckle)

Spending Hiatus Update: Week Ten

Money poster by Howard Sokol via allposters.com

Not to sound repetitive and all, but I really cannot believe how quickly this three months of no-spending is going.

Today is my first day of classes for spring quarter, so I will make this update brief.

My spring break was full of relaxation and catching up with people and fun, so there was (surprisingly) little temptation to shop. I had been worried that boredom would lead to shopping, but it turns out that I can usually find something else to do, even if it's just picking up a good book or magazine. This week, instead of shopping, I...

• Visited Grandma
• Cleaned and organized (am I the only person who actually likes this?) so now my place looks fab
  
• Laid around with my old copies of Glamour and Real Simple (my two fave magazines of the moment)
  
• Celebrated my friend Hilary's birthday (woo!)
• Went to the zoo with Nathan (pictures to come, of course)

I had a great week, to say the least, and am just a tidbit sad to go back to classes and responsible adulthood.

I have also started thinking about the end of the spending hiatus. I only have two weeks left (!!!), and I'm not sure how I am going to make sure I don't go back to my old mindless spending ways. The hiatus has made me more aware of how things that seem essential aren't generally that important, and I know that will help me a lot with future shopping. I am also more aware of my habit of emotional spending (under stress or loneliness) and the fact that it really only makes me feel guilty later. I want to make sure that my new awareness lasts, though, so now I am asking you all for your sage advice...

Dear Readers: How do you think I should "phase out" of the spending hiatus? How do you manage your (unessential) spending?

And, of course, you can read all of the spending hiatus posts here.

It's Compliment a Blogger Day!

via Wikipedia

I originally started One Happy Panda because I wanted a place to share the things that made me happy. Well, one of the things that makes me most happy is giving and receiving compliments (something discussed in this blog post over at Operation NICE). When I was in the 4th grade, my dad suggested that I try and give three compliments out every day to help me make more friends- I'm not sure if it made me much more popular in the end, but it has made me realize I love giving random compliments!

So I thought we should try a Compliment Day here on One Happy Panda. Pick a blogger (or two, or three...) and give them one heartfelt compliment- it can be about their blog, their hair, their writing, whatever you like about them. Drop the compliment in their comments/email/whatever, and if you want (though it's totally optional) direct them back here so they can read what this is all about and pay the compliment forward. And maybe we'll start a chain reaction leading to happy bloggers everywhere. :)

My three compliments for the day:

1) Amber (from Amber Alert): You are an inspirational writer and person, and you make me realize that I need to kick my butt in gear! I think you will be a wonderful journalist in the future.

2) Joanna (from Smitten and A Cup of Jo): You are probably one of the nicest, most upbeat bloggers out there. Reading your blogs always makes me feel more cheerful, even when I am having a really bad day. Plus, you find the BEST things on the web (and I'm not sure how you do it either).

3) Melissa (from Operation NICE): I love that your blog is devoted to niceness, and I think it was incredibly nice of you to think of it. Operation NICE is my go-to destination when I want to read something both inspirational and happy.

Alright, now get out there and start blogger complimenting! (And psst, if you're feeling like a real overachiever, you could even compliment some real-life people as well).

Tank Dresses: Yay or Nay?

via Frances May

Right now I am loving the idea of comfy, sexy tank dresses for the summer. But there's a little voice inside of me that thinks they might make me look a little frumpy or plain. What do you think?

This one by Alexander Wang would look cute with my new sandals and long, beachy waves. Too bad I don't have $226 or wavy hair.

Sleep Makeover Update: Week Four

via Domino

Well it's sleep makeover makeup time. To recap, last week (during finals) was the first week I saw real progress, getting very close to my goal of 7 hours on average. Aaaaand this week...

I did it! I got 7.07 hours of sleep on average.

Of course, I am on spring break, which makes it a lot easier to get sleep. And the bad news is that while I slept more, I still struggled with going to bed any earlier than 1am. But still, this is progress, right?

Next week will be a bit of a test because not only do I work early part of the week, but I have morning classes too. No late mornings here! But I don't think it will be too bad- if anything, it will force me to go to bed and get up more consistently, which should help.

I also have some more incentive now: sleep makes me feel great!

• I get lots more done during the day, so I feel more accomplished.
• I have more energy to work out and I'm not downing sugar to stay awake, so I feel healthier.
• I know that sleeping puts me in a much better mood now :)
• AND- remember when I brought up the acne/insomnia link a couple weeks ago? Well, my skin has looked a lot better lately! That's not necessarily what I started this sleep makeover for, but it's such a huge bonus since my skin has been stubbornly bad lately. I'm so excited by it!

We'll see how next week goes when I'm back to being a responsible adult and getting up in the mornings.

You can see the rest of my sleep makeover posts here.

PS: I know you all like canopies, but what about more alternative headboards? I think the yellow canvas on the one above is super cool.

I took a Blogger Break.

Sorry I've been MIA for a couple days everyone. I decided to visit my grandma and give the computer a rest, since it IS my Spring Break and all. Together we were lazy, watched tv, shopped, and ate way too much candy. Which is totally my idea of a good time.

via Kohls.com

Plus I picked up these cuties from Kohls, and since they were a gift from grandma they technically don't count against the spending hiatus. I know, I'm such a cheater. :)

It's back to your regularly scheduled blogging from here on out though.

What do you do when you visit family?