Manifesto

welcome to my week. 
the only wine i could find on the first floor of my grocery store and hbo girls season 1 on dvd  

i'm freaking obsessed with this show. (i forgot what it's like to be 2 years out of college and your biggest problems are trying to figure out whether a boy likes you or not and if it's normal to change jobs every year and a half.)

exciting right? well i have to say… i'm pretty darn okay with the way this week is shaping up. the sad part about this is that i feel like i'm still recovering from my weekend. i'm sure you are thinking…why do you have to "recover" from a weekend? you are 29. that's a great question…and my answer is…i have no freaking clue. 
about a week ago…i asked my friend what her new years resolutions were and she proceeded to tell me that she wasn't calling them resolutions but instead they were grouped into what would be her manifesto. deep right? she's "that" friend. (the one that unintentionally makes you feel like a slacker just because she does more between the hours of 6 and 9am on a saturday than i do in a whole day) after she explained this to me she immediately turned the question back on me. Well of course my "better me" list just didn't feel like it was going to cut it after hearing the deep detailed list she just spouted off.
so i decided to change it up a bit and say "meet more people and get out more!" well heck. at the time... i didn't realize that that would require so much "recovery" time and dedication. grrr

now i'm paying the price. 

wait. why am i already feeling guilty about the fact that i kind of want to sit at home this weekend watching this dvd set and indulge in my newest kale chip obsession. i mean come on…who doesn't want to know what newest dramatic event has happened to Hannah, Marnie, Jessa and Shoshanna.  
i do. i do. i do. 


dang manifesto. 


here's to more recovery time…


happy almost friday 

Moda Friday

the backstory

 sorry simal. these are the only throwback pictures i had. 
clearly this second picture doesn't reflect the story i'm about to tell.
i'm not sure why but we seem to be in a cemetery. don't ask. 

the first time i met simal was my sophomore year at good old indiana state university. 

(yep. we were sycamores. go trees.) 

we weren't instant friends; mostly due to the fact that we had a teacher that was pretty intense and didn't exactly allow chit chat and expected us to keep our eyes on our own sewing machine. 

so yea. there wasn't a lot of "hey, let's socialize and be friends" time. 

simal was "that" girl. and by that i mean..she was the girl who walked into a room and every single person would turn around to see what she was wearing. we are talking designer clothing here people. IN COLLEGE.   

no joke. the boys and girls were staring. i mean come on. we went to school for fashion…for "some" of us…getting ready for class was like getting ready for our own personal Mercedes Fashion Week. We didn't just roll out of bed and go to class in a sweatshirt and jeans. nope. we went in full makeup, full accessories and even heels from time to time. (less heels for me. considering i fall a lot and isu seems to have an obsession with cobblestone sidewalks. that combined with heels and no sense of balance = me face planting a few times.) so naturally we were all jealous. and just like typical girls…we all figured a "designer" attitude came with those designer clothes. 

boy was i wrong. 

so after 6 months of having practically every class together; simal and i were paired together for a class project. and the rest is pretty much history. we ended up bonding over our hatred for ten-gore dresses, 8am sewing classes and me being fascinated over the fact she had never had sushi before. turns out simal may be one of the most laid back, non superficial people i have ever met. u know the kind of person who looks shy and meek but when they open their mouth they kind of remind you of a randy trucker? yep. that's simal. 

so naturally…when i moved to chicago; simal was one of the few lucky friends that got to put up with my non-stop "where should i go and how do i get there" text.

a few months ago we were out for dinner and got to talking about style, fashion and all that…and she told me she had a fashion blog. of course i was super intrigued and looked it up immediately. after a few weeks went by i noticed my blog was coming up on 3000 views and i wanted do a little something special to represent this. i decided to ask simal if she would like to do a guest fashion post. after saying yes…she thought of an even better idea and suggested we start doing a weekly fashion post series. 

of course i said yes.

and here it is……

WELCOME TO MODA FRIDAY. 

from here on out. every friday…

simal & i will be here…sharing our love for fashion and all things style

i hope you enjoy!

TAKE IT AWAY SIMAL! 

Hey everyone!!! My name is Simal (Shamall) and T has asked me to add a little fashion touch to her fabulous blog. I know some of you are thinking... why should we trust what you say is trending? Well, good question! I've worked in the retail industry ever since I was 18 and now...I own my own clothing store called Kiz. Kiz has been open for 2 years and we are still going strong! We've been featured on a few shows; Chicagolicious and Mob Wives. Kind of cool huh? Have I gained your trust yet? Well, hopefully after reading a few of my post I'll turn you into a believer. 

A lot of the clothes I wear are obviously from Kiz. When a customer comes in I can't have them loving my outfit and then sending them out the door to another store. I believe in the clothes I sell and obviously LOVE them, and want to wear them since I picked them out. No.... my post are not going to be shameless plugs for my store, I do shop outside of Kiz. Some may call me a shopaholic. The minute I wake up... I grab my phone and check all my e-mails. Not business e-mails, shopping e-mails. Who is having a sale? Who is ideeli.com and gilt.com featuring today? I'm OBSESSED! My weaknesses are, shoes and pants. I don't have a favorite shoe designer but for pants...Rachel Zoe all the way! Rag&Bone and Jbrand would come in tied for second. As you get to know me you'll understand who I am and what my style is all about. I don't have a specific style, I don't stick with a specific brand other than Kiz :) 

My motto is: wear expensive pants with inexpensive tops. Tops styles change way too much! I can't spend $200 on a top that I'll only wear once! I'm not a baller yet, and even if I was... I don't know if I would do it then.

So there you have it... Tangled in the City's Moda Friday is officially a go. 

btw...

if you would like to know more about Simal or Kiz Chicago

you can catch up with her on instragram or like Kiz on facebook

go now.  

The Year the World Was Suppose to End

so 2012…

this year was without a doubt…one for the books. my books anyhow. in terms of life changing events i'm pretty sure packing up and moving to this beautiful city that is chicago in 72 hours qualifies. if i look back at where i was this time last year. you could not have told me that i would be smack dab in the middle of living my dream just one year later. 
(hmm. i wonder how many times i can say "year" in this post?) now i know that i talk about moving quite a bit but like i've said in the past. i'm going to be milking this whole "new to the city!" outlook for quite awhile. sorry. 

now don't get me wrong…moving wasn't the only good thing that happened to me this past year. there are quite a few more things i'm pretty pumped i got to experience.

for example...i got introduced to the musical stylings of Imagine Dragons, Of Monsters and Men, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and The Staves. 6pm.com pretty much changed my negative view of buying clothes and shoes offline. i officially can tell which direction is north without looking at a map. (sad but true) i got introduced to christian grey and boy was it good.   i tried quacamole for the first time and after 28 years of saying "no avocado"...i can finally say…i like avocados. i prayed for snow and got a blizzard on my birthday. i got to witness my mom doing the "gangnam" (yes people. she was quite proud)
and last but not least...i finally am ready to admit... i'm a Taylor Swift fan. (yep. that's right. the girl just knows how to write a good song. and before those of you who might judge…i dare you to just take 20 mins and listen to all the lyrics on the album. i know you will relate to at least one song. the girl knows how to verbalize the pain of a breakup. lord knows we've all been there) 

now on to 2013

considering this past year was suppose to be our last. i'm going to look at 2013 as somewhat of a bonus.  i don't know about you guys but i'm not one to make resolutions and actually keep them. I'm not sure why but for some reason by the time st. patrick's day roles around i've usually forgotten half the things on my resolutions list. so this time i have decided to make some what of a "better me" list. just for the year. (i'm not 100% sure what makes this that much different from a new year's ressie but hey…i figure this blog is mine and i can do what i want right?) 

i want 2013 to be the year of "getting back to the basics." i'm not quite sure what that means or entails but it sounds nice right? i feel like i let a lot of things get complicated that just didn't need to be. HELLO. DATING WAS FOR SURE ONE OF THOSE THINGS. so i'm taking it back. way back… and focusing on keeping life simple and just living. no bs. 
i'm not going to be so on the "hunt" this year for the perfect guy (cause let's be real, i went on enough non-perfect dates in 2012 to hold me over for awhile). i'm not going to start a work out plan and then stop just because Talenti was on sale at the grocery. i'm not going to promise a friend i'll do something and then cancel at the last minute because i was irresponsible and stayed out too late the night before and drank my weight in cabernat. 

so there you have it. my declaration. 2013…BACK TO BASICS. 
wish me luck. 

and i hope and wish each and every one of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
here's to us! 

xo, 

T