donuts v cupcakes.

We're several years into the big wave of artisanal cupcakes. Since then, we've seen artisanal everything else, from tiny bundt cakes to cookie dough. 

I'll admit, I was fully on the cupcake bandwagon to begin with. I am a huge fan of dessert, and it seemed totally incredible to be able to get cupcakes in different flavors instead of one giant pack of one flavor at HyVee.

The first cupcake shop I ever visited was in Sioux Falls, and it is called Oh My Cupcakes. They have good cupcakes, to be sure, but the cupcakes are served with a heaping side of Jesus. And you know I don't like Jesus shoved down my throat.

Queen City Bakery in Sioux Falls has my favourite cupcakes. Not only are they Jesus-free, but they are much more moist and with less sugary frosting than Oh My Cupcakes. The only downside to Queen City Bakery is they typically only have one or two cupcake flavors available at any given time, compared to Oh My Cupcakes' dozen or so.

The most entertaining cupcakery I have visited was a cupcake vending machine in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was called Sprinkles, and you picked out a cupcake just like you'd pick out a bag of chips. I have no recollection of the cupcake itself, but the vending machine experience was delightful.

James and I had cupcakes at our wedding instead of the traditional sheet cakes. That's old news now, but in 2013, we were the first people I knew who had done it. It was GREAT - no extra plates/silverware, no poor relative who had to be employed to slice cake, no having to choose just one flavour. 

But you know what I love even more than cupcakes?

DONUTS.

When I visit someplace new, the first thing I look for is a specialty donut shop. 

Like Do-Rite Donuts in Chicago.

Or Psycho Donuts in San Jose.

My all-time favourite donuts are Flyboy Donuts in Sioux Falls. And you can get them shaped like letters! When I left my job at the Sioux Falls library, my boss got me farewell donuts spelling out a message.

They were the best donuts ever.

My second favourite donuts can be found in Minneapolis at a place called Bogart's Doughnut Co. They have gigantic donuts stuffed with Nutella, and you have to get there early before they sell out.

I am almost never disappointed with donut shops. I love the mini donuts at Sleepy V's in Minneapolis and the DIY donuts at Donutology in Kansas City and at the Fractured Prune in Glendale, Arizona. I'll even take Dunkin' Donuts.

How cute is this guy?? This was in Connecticut.

My sister bought me an Air Fryer for Christmas 2018, and she included a cookbook filled with ONLY DONUTS.

Made with crescent rolls and love!

In my humble opinion, which both are lovely treats, donuts always have been and always will be superior to cupcakes. I hope the donut trend never dies.

Next time, we'll talk about ice cream.

top ten songs: Prince.

(Please forgive the weird font sizing in this story. I have tried to fix it five times, but for whatever reason, my changes won't take. I'm super annoyed.)

Growing up in South Dakota, I didn't feel the deep connection to Prince that most Minnesotans do. I knew who he was, obviously, and had an appreciation for his unusual sound and stunning outfits, but that's about as far as it went.

Then, in 2005, I moved to Minnesota for college.

Granted, I was not a true Minnesotan back then. I still went home to South Dakota for the summers and told everyone I was from South Dakota. My driver's license listed my parents' South Dakota address. I was not yet assimilated.

I moved to Minneapolis in January 2010, during which time I became more connected with the state of Minnesota. I became weirdly proud to be living in the home state of Target, Bob Dylan, and Grain Belt. (South Dakota has much less to boast about). And Prince.

Though I never SAW Prince out and about in Minneapolis (every Minnesotan's dream), I was honored to be living in somewhat proximity to him. I did drive by Paisley Park a time or two, and I obviously knew where his star was at First Avenue. 

And thanks to my new Minneapolis-based favourite radio station, the Current, I became much more familiar with Prince's catalogue. 

Then, in late 2011, I moved back to South Dakota. Gone were all my feelings of Minnesotan pride and Minnesotan boasting rights. Thankfully, I got them all back when James and I purchased a home in Minnesota in summer 2013. I got a Minnesota ID and everything, so I was finally official.

Prince died in 2016, and I was crushed. I had spent three years as a card-carrying Minnesotan, but six years living in the state before that. I felt like Prince was one of my own. I was working at the downtown library in Sioux Falls at the time, and I was not the only one devastated by the news. Many of us wore purple for the rest of that week. 

MPR "strongly encouraged" Minnesotans to wear purple on Prince's birthday that year, which we definitely did.

James and I visited Paisley Park the following month, overwhelmed by the tributes left there. It was a sight to behold.

All that's to say I have ten favourite Prince songs. Prince and ABBA are the only two artists I've covered so far in which the lyrics are not that deep or meaningful.  Like ABBA, pretty much all of Prince's songs are about love. Typically, this completely turns me off from an artist. However, Prince is such an artist that I'm willing to overlook it all. That's what Prince does to me.

(I'd like to apologize in advance for some of the the videos. YouTube would only let me embed really weird ones, but you can find all of Prince's music videos on YouTube. Which I highly recommend you do after you read this. They're so weird and amazing.)

7

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V-vcXOpG9g
(I couldn't embed any relevant video at all, so just click the link and watch the video.)
 "7" is my all-time favourite Prince song, despite the religious undertones. I first heard it on the Current when I was living in Minneapolis in 2010. I don't know who these seven are, but apparently they'll all die. Have you ever watched the music video for this song? It is the WEIRDEST. Yet another reason I have tons of respect for Prince: he wasn't afraid to be strange. 

Purple Rain

Don't hate me, but I have to say it: Purple Rain is a TERRIBLE movie. While a top-notch musician, an actor he is not. The movie is just under two hours long, but I could've sworn it lasted an entire day. The soundtrack, though, is awesome. The next three songs (and this one, obviously) are all from the Purple Rain soundtrack. I bought it on vinyl a while ago, and I have never been so excited for a package from Amazon. "Purple Rain" is so full of emotion, and you can't help but feel every bit of it.

When Doves Cry

You may notice my entries for Prince's songs are much shorter than my typical ramblings for other artists' top ten songs. That's because with most artists, I have something to say about the lyrics and how deep and affecting they are. Prince's lyrics just aren't. With Prince, it's the instrumentation and the tunes, through and through. He's got such a distinctive and experimental sound that you can pick out a Prince song pretty quickly, even though it sounds nothing like any of the other songs he's ever done. Just try and think of a song (by Prince or anyone else) that sounds even remotely like "When Doves Cry." You can't do it. And that's why Prince is Prince.

Let's Go Crazy

After Prince's death, this song was so widely quoted, as it opens with an organ and what sounds like Prince giving a eulogy: "Dearly beloved/we are gathered here today/to get through this thing called life." But the rest of the song is basically a dance party... which honestly sounds like a super fun funeral. I guess we can all hope for that.

I Would Die 4 U

This is the last song on my list from the Purple Rain soundtrack, and it's back with the religious messaging. Again, I can ignore it because I love Prince too much. Whenever I write these blog posts, I listen to the song in question as I write its paragraph. (Which you probably assumed, but it's worth telling you.) With all of Prince's songs, I find myself dancing involuntarily. Even if it's just my shoulders moving, it's like the song takes over. SUCH IS THE POWER OF PRINCE.

1999

This song, as well as the next two, are from Prince's album 1999: another masterpiece. I was only 12 in 1999, and I really wish I had known this song in 1999. I do love that this song is so ubiquitous to celebrating that many of us still say "let's party like it's 1999." I'm pretty sure I said that in Iceland, and I'm really sure I said that at James's and my wedding. 1999 was 21 years ago (!!!), and if you can believe it, this song is 38 years old (!!!!!!!). But the sentiment will never die.

Delirious

Yet another truly danceable piece of music. My friends and I used to have dance parties in college (who didn't?), and as we attended a Minnesotan liberal arts college, plenty of our dance tracks were Prince. "Delirious" was always one of them. (PS - how great is this video of Prince and the Muppets??)

Little Red Corvette 

You should know: I don't think "Little Red Corvette" is a particularly good song. It made it to my list because of its deep integration into my life. "Little Red Corvette" was the first Prince song I ever heard, though I could not tell you when or where. But it is so much a part of pretty much everyone's psyche that I would challenge you to find one person who does not immediately get this song stuck in their head upon seeing a red Corvette. I bet it can't be done.

Kiss

Prince's sound is called Minneapolis funk, and I think this is my favourite example of it. Also, I LOVE a good falsetto, and Prince can truly pull it off. And you should watch this music video. It's amazing and shows Prince in his prime. You should watch all these music videos, really. They're something else, but in a GREAT way.

Raspberry Beret

Like "Little Red Corvette," I don't think "Raspberry Beret" is an actual good song. but I have such a soft spot for the same reason as "Little Red Corvette": forced life integration. As a young teenager, my older, cooler cousin Ethan gave me his raspberry beret. Years later, I bought one for my friend Bob. Raspberry berets never looked so good.

That concludes my ten favourite Prince songs. There are SO many more I could talk about, as Prince was quite prolific. Instead, I'll leave you here with a picture of me posting as Prince for a library bookface photo. Happy listening.

If you can't get enough of my musical taste, here's a list of ten other artists I've given the ten-song treatment to. (They're in order from newest post to oldest. Can you believe I wrote the first one in 2014?!)

Paul Simon 

Vampire Weekend 

The Rolling Stones

Twenty One Pilots  

Queen

the Killers

ABBA 

the Clash

David Bowie

Simon and Garfunkel

one day in Copenhagen.

This past summer, I spent a week in Berlin for a graduate school class. (Best class ever, by the way.) Ahead of Berlin, I went with my friends and classmates Kim and Amanda to Iceland and Copenhagen. Iceland was the most beautiful place I have ever seen, and Copenhagen was a blast.

Oh, except for that one day.

We had flown from Minneapolis to Rekjavik, and we were continuing on to Copenhagen after two days in Iceland. The story of this day in Copenhagen is riddled with bad luck and mistakes, and mistake number one was staying up too late after too much brennivín (unsweetened schnapps/the worst thing you will ever taste), Icelandic beer, and adventure. Iceland is tricky in the summer - the sun is out almost all night, which will make your dumb brain decide that you should not go to sleep. So we maybe slept for a couple of hours, if at all, before it was time to get on our very early flight to Copenhagen.

The flight to Copenhagen was about three hours, but it felt like an entire lifetime. We were smushed in the middle of this ridiculously huge five or six-seat row of a monstrous plane. With all those bodies on the plane, you can also imagine how hot it was. I am a notoriously bad plane sleeper, so I spent much of my time staring straight ahead and wishing for the sweet relief of death. 

Upon our blessed release into the airport, the first thing we did in our sleep-deprived haze was find food. Airport food is rarely a good choice, but when you're starving and don't know when or how you'll locate your next meal, you just eat it. Kim and I got røde pølser, which are these bright red Danish sausages. They were totally ok (we would have truly glorious røde pølser later on from a street vendor), but the Coke I had was the best thing I'd ever tasted.

This was the GOOD stuff.

Our next major project was to somehow find our Airbnb. We were so tired that we decided to spring for a Lyft or Uber to just get there: no muss, no fuss. Until we found out Lyft and Uber do not operate in Denmark. Plan B was to take a taxi... until we found out a trip in a taxi would cost upwards of $300. Not doing that. So that left only one option: brave public transit while our brains were operating at sub-prime capacity.

We hauled ourselves onto the first train, which was stuffed to capacity. When it came time to get off at our stop, we shoved through the throngs of people towards to door. Kim and Amanda made it to the platform, and as I was about to step off, the door slammed shut. Kim and Amanda looked at me, wide-eyed, from the platform. I looked back at them, equally wide-eyed, and held one hand up as the train sped away.

Had we been in the US, this would have been no big deal. I would have called them and told them where I was. We would have figured it out from there. However, as we were in Europe and did not have cell service, it was not that simple. But no big deal, I thought. I will just get off at the next stop and take the train going the opposite direction.

But there was no train going the opposite direction.

Ok, I'll just walk back to the other platform. It wasn't that far.

Except the train was elevated, and there was no walking back. In between the platforms was just grass.

The platform where I got off was two levels, so I descended a level and tried to find a train heading the direction I wanted. However, there was a red line and a green line, and of course I hadn't paid any attention to the colour of the line from whence I had come. I got on a train I thought would work, but it ended up taking me even further in the opposite direction. I was SO lost... and did I mention I have a poor sense of direction to begin with?

By absolute and pure luck, I eventually got on a train that dropped me at the platform where Amanda was standing. Alone. I got off, only to be told Kim had just gone to look for me. Luckily, Kim returned shortly (as she is not directionally challenged like yours truly), and we resumed our journey to the Airbnb.

I honestly have very spotty recollection as to how we eventually got to the Airbnb, but Kim and Amanda were kind enough to fill in some of the blanks for me. After the train, we got on a bus we thought was taking us the right way. (We had gotten directions from Google Maps before we left the airport, which is how we had any semblance of which way to go.) There was no signage telling us which bus stops we were approaching, so we had no way to gather where we were. The announcements were made only in Danish. Every street sign we read started with the same word as the stop we were looking for, so we really thought we were going the right way. We started to relax and even spotted a very grumpy-looking pug-like dog, who had the same face as we'd had all day.

Until we reached the end of the line, and the driver turned the bus OFF. We shared a look of panic, and the bus driver (who spoke little English, but we were in Denmark, so that's how it goes sometimes) told us we needed to ride the bus back and find another bus that went the other direction. So we'd been on the right bus line all along, but it was the wrong direction. This added another hour or so to our already painfully lengthy trip to the Airbnb.

Ah, the Airbnb. When we finally got there, we were flooded with relief. We retrieved the key by having to fit our adult-sized bodies into a tiny playhouse in the yard, in which a safe was hidden away. We wearily climbed the stairs to the apartment, wanting nothing more than to drop into a soft bed. As we reached the top of the stairs, the door was opened by a woman with a baby. "Uh... is this the Airbnb?" said Amanda. The woman confirmed that yes, it was, and we could come in.

Confused, we traipsed in and set down our luggage. We were now at least two hours past the check-in time, so we were naturally surprised to find someone there. The woman told us she was just packing up a few things and would be gone shortly. 

An hour passed, and she was still there.

The three of us holed up in one of the bedrooms and talked in hushed tones about how badly we wanted that lady to leave. Our plans for the evening were to meet up with two of our cohort friends for dinner. They would be continuing onto Serbia, the other class offered through our graduate program, and we had decided to all meet in Copenhagen. However, none of us were in any shape to socialize, and we were all in desperate need of naps before attempting to conquer the streets of Copenhagen.

Finally, FINALLY, the woman left. We each staked out a nap spot, eager to regain a little sanity through sleep. I had just barely dozed off when the door opened. The woman was back. She spent another 45 minutes or so getting some more things and proceeded to use the bathroom before she left. The fact that she used the bathroom, the bathroom we had paid to rent, was SO WEIRD to me.

Oh, and I did I mention the bathroom was TINY with the shower located BEHIND THE DOOR?

This is the picture they put on Airbnb. Imagine trying to shower behind that door. It sucked.

After she left again, we decided we'd better give up on sleep and get going if we wanted to find our friends.

We decided to try a taxi service again, as we were short on time. It turns out that in order to get a taxi in Copenhagen, you need an app. No problem. We had wifi at the Airbnb and could download apps. However, it ALSO turns out you need to verify the app with a code you get from the taxi service calling or texting you. Guess what? We couldn't call or text. So a taxi was out.

Ok, we'll take a bus. The bus was cash only, and we had spent what Danish krone we had on the first incredibly long bus ride. So off to find cash. We first stopped at a gas station, where we found no ATM and were denied cash back on any purchases. It took ages to find an ATM, and the one we finally found (just by walking until we saw one). The ATM we found was next to an abandoned building and was surrounded by Danish teenagers skateboarding. It was actually pretty scary.

Finally, we had cash. But then? No buses. The bus schedule was a little wacky, and we couldn't seem to find one to take us back into the heart of the city. We waited and waited and walked from bus stop to bus stop, but nothing was going to work. By this time, it was dark and restaurants were beginning to close. We finally decided we would have to call it: we'd meet our friends the following day after a good night's sleep.

However, we needed to eat something. After our sub-par airport lunch hours ago, we were getting desperate for food. We found a nearby Vietnamese restaurant and headed inside. As we sat down, our waiter spoke to us in Vietnamese. Then, receiving no response from us, he tried Danish. Nothing. He handed us menus, which were written in Vietnamese and Danish. No pictures. Once again, we were screwed. Our poor waiter did his best to communicate with us as we tried to figure out what meat was what. It was late, and we were about the last people left in this restaurant. We were about to take our chances with whatever we happened to point at on the menu when the KINDEST SOUL overheard our struggles from another part of the restaurant. He approached us and asked if we needed some help, which about brought us to tears. This man listened to what we wanted, then told the waiter in Danish. I will never forget that beautiful soul.

Our day finally ended with us getting on a late bus into downtown Copenhagen for goat milk ice cream. It was delicious, and our spirits were on the mend. We decided just to collectively forget that day ever happened and start fresh in the morning.

(Obviously, none of us could forget that ridiculous day if we tried.)

Our next two days in Copenhagen were incredible. We finally found our friends, toured the Round Tower, took a river cruise, went to Tivoli Gardens, saw the Little Mermaid, had some amazing food and drinks (notably: our first Aperol spritzes at the oldest gay bar in the world!), explored Nyhaven, and more. 

But it all started with that first day.

ten outfits under $35, part XIII.

Welcome back to the "outfits under $35" series! This is my 13th edition of outfits under $35, and my 15th edition of cheap outfit posts. And my seventh year. 

This is quite possibly the smallest gap in between cheap outfits posts EVER. I typically take months - in some cases, almost a year - in between posts, primarily because it takes a while to plan the outfits and get all the pictures taken. However, this time, things fell together very quickly for a couple of reasons. First of all, the holiday season is a spectacular time to get some great deals on clothes. I was also more prone to buy new clothes in larger sizes because I'm pregnant. Finally, because I'm pregnant, there's a bit of a sense of urgency to complete this blog post before I can't fit into any of the clothes on my list. 

I would like this blog be a lesson to you that you do NOT have to go out and buy a whole new maternity wardrobe when you're pregnant. Anything new I bought was simply vetted a little more closely: is it oversized enough so I can wear it? If I purchase it in a larger size, will it still work for me when I'm not pregnant? In regards to pants, can I make them work with button extenders and/or those stretchy belly things? So here's how I kept my inexpensive style and created a workable maternity wardrobe in pregnancy months five, six, and seven.

 

(If you're curious, take a look at my old stories and see how my style (and bargaining prowess) has evolved since 2013!)

 

$40 or less
$30 or less
under $35, part I
under $35, part II
under $35, part III
under $35, part IV
under $35, part V
under $35, part VI 
under $35, part VII
under $35, part VIII

under $35, part IX

under $35, part X  
under $35, part XI 

under $35, part XII 
You can also see some of my specific rules in these older posts if you're really curious, but let's get down to business: here are ten more outfits, $35 or less. 

shirt – Beautique – $11.25 (clearance + 25% off)

jeans – Maurices – $23.50

shoes – DSW – FREE! (were $40, $100 off)

pearl ring – gift from Mom/Grandma

TOTAL: $34.75

I got this shirt during a clearance sale at one of my favourite local boutiques. It's called Beautique, and it's located in Brandon, SD. I love it because a) they have great stuff, b) they have great sales, and c) shipping is always free. Plus, Brandon is close enough to consider it shopping local, and it's definitely shopping small. I love embroidery, so I'm pretty much sold on anything with embroidery. Especially if it's in the clearance section. (See: the shirt in the third picture for exactly the same deal.) My purple shoes were a hell of a deal with DSW: if you bought a certain number of items, you could get up to $100 off your order. So I did, meaning I really didn't pay anything for these shoes. Plus, I didn't own any purple shoes... time to remedy that, right?? My teeny pearl ring is hard to see in this photo, but it was my great grandmother's engagement ring. My grandma gave it to my mom, who then gave it to me. I never met my great grandmother, but it's neat to have this little piece of family history I can wear.

dress – Closet Revival – Providence – $26

booties – DSW – FREE! (was $80, had coupons/discounts)

Lake Poinsett sea glass necklace – Michael’s/Etsy – about $6 for supplies

TOTAL: $32

I actually bought this dress off a mannequin in a store window. That NEVER happens. Mom and I were in Providence, Rhode Island on a fall trip and saw this dress in a consignment store window. I brought it home with me, obviously. It's hard to tell in the photo, but my Lake Poinsett sea glass necklace is embellished with a teeny South Dakota-shaped charm. 

shirt – Beautique – $17.99

jeans  – AE – FREE! (free jean coupon, was $70)

shoes – Modcloth – $16.79 (additional 40% off clearance)

TOTAL: $34.78

Like the shirt in the first picture, this embroidered shirt came from the clearance section of Beautique, the boutique in Brandon. I love it for all the same reasons as the shirt in the first picture, so no need to repeat myself. I got these jeans with my favourite American Eagle perk: the free jeans coupon.

dress – Maurices – $22.19

boots – DSW – FREE! (was $50, had $50 off coupon)

belt – Country Peddler – FREE! (was $5, used credit)

headband - DSW - $12.50

TOTAL: $34.69

 
Here I am, in my natural habitat at work. This plaid dress is actually a super long shirt, but the thing reaches my past knees. It would be a ridiculous shirt on a 5'5" person such as myself, so a dress it is. Did you know that DSW sells not just shoes and bags, but hair accessories too? I didn't until I bought this headband on a whim. I really super like it, but I don't have many occasions fancy enough to merit wearing such a headband. So I wear it to work. With former shirts-turned-dresses. It works for me.

cardigan – Modcloth – $19.99 (on sale + 50% off coupon)

pants – Maurices – $10 (on sale + $15 off)

shoes– DSW – FREE! (were $60, $100 off)

necklace – Tyanas – $5 (clearance)

TOTAL: $34.99

 
Modcloth has some truly remarkable sales if you are lucky enough to catch them at the right time - AND if you're lucky enough for your size to be in stock. They also have tons of rainbow stuff, which is not only good for Pride Month (June), but all year long. The shoes are SO incredible comfortable; it's like wearing squishy slippers to work. 

dress – Saving Paige – $30.40 (clearance + 15% off)

booties – DSW – FREE! (was $80, had coupons/discounts)

earrings – Etsy – $3.95

TOTAL: $34.35

  
Maxi dresses are so tricky. They're incredibly comfortable and acceptable to wear to work, but if they're not cut in exactly the right way for your body, you inevitably look pregnant. In this photo, I actually am pregnant, so I suppose it is fine to look as though I am. My earrings are hard to see, but the are tiny little white lucky cats. Ever since visiting Chinatown in San Francisco for the first time, I have a serious love for lucky cats.

jacket – Next Door Boutique – $23.50 (50% off)

jeans – AE – FREE! (free jean coupon, was $90)

shoes – DSW – FREE! (were $60, $100 off)

necklace – Modcloth – $10.19 (clearance + 15% off)

TOTAL: $33.69

Every May, Mom and I go to the Tulip Festival in Orange City, Iowa. It's so great, even though it's raining 90% of the time. But we love it, and we've been going for years. During our annual pilgrimage, we are sure to visit the fun stores lining downtown Orange City. One of them is called Next Door Boutique, where I never fail to find something I can't live without. This past May (2019), the lucky find was this jacket. I almost had myself talked out of it for fear of looking like Sergeant Pepper, but Mom insisted I did not. Thank goodness, because this jacket has become a true wardrobe staple. The jeans came from another free jean coupon from American Eagle. My secret to getting all these free jeans? Buying American Eagle jeans/pants on super clearance still earns you credit for free jeans. Then, I use the free jean coupon to buy the super expensive jeans for which I never would pay full price. (What you can't see is these jeans are held together by pregnancy button extenders, but that can be our secret.) 


cardigan – Amazon – $13.77 (5% discount)

pants – Maurices – $19.79

booties – DSW – FREE! (gift card!)

book page earrings – gift from Tomi

TOTAL: $33.56

I am not ashamed to admit I have an entire rainbow of these snap button cardigans. I love them so much. As a librarian, I'm predisposed to cardigans anyway, so it was really meant to be. These pants are incredibly soft and comfortable - one of the few pairs of regular pants I can happily wear this far into pregnancy. My earrings are amazing: they were a Christmas gift from my brother's girlfriend Tomi, and they're tiny folded up book pages. So basically, my outfit screams 
"librarian." Which is pretty much my goal for every outfit.

dress – Modcloth – $29.97 (final sale)

booties – DSW – FREE! (gift card!)

druzy and rhodonite bracelet – Etsy – about $3 for supplies

TOTAL: $32.97

  
This dress came from the same kind of sale as my rainbow cardigan a few pictures back. This dress was originally some outrageous price like $125 - a price I would NEVER pay for a casual dress. But $29.97? Absolutely. It's a tad tight at this stage in pregnancy, but then again, so is every item of clothing I own. When you're seven months pregnant, you just can't expect that much from your clothes. In any case, this dress should fit beautifully after I have the baby. The bracelet is one I made after seeing some very expensive versions available to purchase on Etsy. The things you can do with a pair of needle-nosed pliers.

shirt – Target – $2.99 (save $20)

jeans – Maurices – $27.30

boots – TOMS – FREE! (post office lost)

lapis slice and moonstone bracelet – Etsy – about $4 for supplies

TOTAL: $34.29

Target has some pretty stellar deals on clothes if you catch them at the right time. The deal was something like "spend $50, get $20 off," and I was in dire need of maternity pants at the time. Therefore, with that $20 off, I paid very little for this red shirt. Funny story about the boots: I ordered them ages ago from the TOMS website... and they never showed up. I checked the tracking, and it said someone had picked up the shoes at the post office at 6am one day. The post office isn't open at 6am. I talked to the Luverne post office, and they had no idea what happened. They suggested I call TOMS and ask for a refund, which I did, and they granted. Fast forward two months, and the shoes miraculously appeared. I called TOMS to let them know the shoes arrived, and they were generous enough to let me keep my refund. So... free boots. I made this bracelet as well, with the same pair of trusty pliers.

-----

This concludes the eighth edition of outfits under $35! The next installment will certainly not follow so quickly, as I have all but exhausted my supply of inexpensive clothing that actually fits me. So I hope this holds you over for a while until I'm back, post-baby!