Outfit 51: Gold Bracelet

Today's been a long day... I took multiple naps yesterday and it totally threw off my schedule. I took a nap from 8-10pm last night, and then stayed up til 2am... got up at 7:30 and then spent the day at work. I was fine until my lack of sleep caught up with me later in the day... and I'm going to bed soon now, instead of going to the gym... whoops. So this outfit is what happens after work, when I still have places to be and things to do but I don't want to still be dressed up. I wore the pants I wore yesterday in Outfit 50 to work, but I put on jeans tonight. Much more comfortable.

$5 - Target

The cardigan you see in the top picture was featured in Outfit 16 - going WAY back now, hang on :) This green shirt I'm wearing with a green cami underneath it, which was in Outfit 42. I like this shirt mostly because of the color- I've always loved green and this darker green is easy to wear with anything- jeans, brown, khaki, black... and it pairs nicely with almost any cardigan. It's subtle. And comfy. Oh, and I got it on sale at Target last summer :)

Boots - Gift

Oh, my love of boots. These were a Christmas present this past year, and I am so thrilled to have them. You can't really tell from the picture, but they are brown leather boots. And they go with everything. They are a little on the pricey end - these were about $85 on clearance - but definitely worth it. They're what's "in" right now, and I can definitely tell why. My favorite. Oh, and the jeans are skinny jeans from American Eagle - in Outfit 4.

$3 - in a set

My earrings came in a set with about 8 other pairs of small studs- and I got them for about $3 at Claires last summer. I really like them because I think they're very simple and understated. I've grown to really like small earrings, especially small studs like this because of that. Yay little gold studs (I'm getting tired...) My ring and watch are featured in Outfit 50.

Gift

This bracelet is the inspiration for my post today. Back in October, I found out that my great aunt was very sick with cancer, and only had a little bit of time left. I was devastated- we'd never been close, but she was family, and I'd been telling myself for a long time that I wanted to get back down to Florida to visit her before I ran out of time. The rest of my family made it down there to see her back in June, but I was busy working and couldn't go with them. My mom texted me the news on a Friday afternoon in October, and I remember very clearly how little work I accomplished when I was there the rest of the day. My mom said that she probably didn't have enough time for me to make it down there, and that she wouldn't want me to rush down there anyway. As her health stabilized for a few days, I decided that I'd write her a letter. So I did. And I sent it down to her, in the hopes that it would get there in time and that she would either read it or someone would read it to her. She passed away that Saturday night, and I could only pray that my letter had reached her in time.

In late January, my mom called me to tell me I'd gotten a package in the mail from my cousin, my great-aunt's niece (I think, I'm really quite awful with family relationships and what not, but you get the picture). She said it was addressed to me and she asked if she could open it! I said of course, and she read me the letter that was in it- which thanked me for my letter, shared how it had helped her and had helped my great-aunt (someone did read it to her!), and how she didn't want to miss the opportunity to tell us she loved us. How awesome is that. I would also like to add that we've had a lot of problems communicating and staying in touch with this part of our family, and now we're working on repairing things! 

In addition to her letter, my cousin sent me this bracelet, which belonged to my great aunt. She said "I know Bernie would like for you to keep it, and maybe even wear it, sometimes." It's gorgeous. And  I love it. I feel like she's with me when I wear it, and I smile thinking of her. What a blessing. 

I'll leave you with my song, "Second Chance," that I wrote as a reflection. Oh, and today's total cost is on the high side, because of quality pieces: $140