How do they do it?

Phone bill, $96

Car insurance, $50

Chapter dues installment, $285

Augusta's shopping habit, $Priceless

iTunes bills.... gas card bills.... tuition...

I used to pay my car insurance, phone bill, and groceries every month. But now I'm in the situation where my parents completely support me. WHICH I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR. But at the same time, it makes me wonder the age old question.....

Are my parents drug dealers?????????????

After brutally realizing how much I used to spend when I made my own cash flow, I was forced to severely pull the reigns on my shopping horse. My parents have all of the burden now. I cannot add the latest shoe trend on top of monthly billz. I just don't know how my parents finance me. Nooowwww I see why Destiny's Child found it significant enough to write a song about it.

Back in the old days when I would obsessively compulsively online shop, it was okay to splurge on the Audreys by Jeffrey Campbell. $125? I get paid next week, why nooottt???? I would think to self. Those days are no more. Those days came to a harsh and abrupt stop. I feebly tried to push this habit on my parents, but it was unsuccessful on many counts.

So now I'm left to watch Hoarders, the greatest way to feel better about any situation in your life. Happy online shopping.

Subliminal

Does this... Ruffle your feathers?? Make your kettle whistle???? Put a skip in your step??????

I have a huge Advertising exam tomorrow (oh and a 2000 word essay due Friday, I've yet to start on, don't worry, fun week) and I have naturally been cramming to death the past 2 days. I recently read about subliminal advertising in the 70s, and was so intrigued I had to stop studying and google the ad. I of course found a blog that answered all my questions. If you are bored or need a study break, I encourage you to read this lil tid bit. It's interesing.

click.

Just for the record, I WAS IN THE 38%, THANKS. Ok back to the cram-sesh.

Weekend in Pictures

Taking my dad's dog, Patriot, out for ice cream after a jog at the beach.

This is funny to me because I drive through Muleshoe to see my boyfriend.

Me and cardboard Beiber.

My house has the coolest shelves!

This bookcase is from the house my mom grew up in. It has the coolest pictures of old relatives, and old books and newspapers.

Kappa Kupcakes from a movie night at the lodge

Found this in my bathroom

Lil Patriot taking a dip in the Pecos

New earrings

Found a great leopard cardigan and brown sparkly romper in my mom's old closet, that I may or may not have to steal one of these days.

Cute poster

My mom's senior picture. HOW BEAUTIFUL, RIGHT???

Old cook book, that has no doubt been present at many a Neal dinner party.

Beach jog.

My sister's friend met Kris Jenner at Neimans in Vegas, and NOT the cardboard version.

fL0wErZzzz

My next blog is goig to be about faux fur vests that I made!!!!!

Bravril

Move over Brangelina and Jay-Beyonce. Hollywood has a new power couple in the house. Welcome Brody Jenner and Avril Lavigne to the list. I personally love this classic scenario of popular cute boy sick of dating blonde skanks with no soul (EXCEPT YOU, LC) and sees the petite girl with pink streaks in her hair scowling at the world Bella Swan style. Popular cute boy immediate becomes fascinated by the white beater, black bra, and black skinny tie. She's complicated and just wants him to laugh out when you strike a pose, take off, all your preppy clothes.

I'm personally fond of Avril, she was a major influence on my angsty hate the world teen years, and for that I am eternally grateful.

And then there's Brody. He has the face of a delicate angel-prince but other than that I have no effing idea why he is famous. I mean your dad was an Olympic athlete, what have you ever done for America, Brody??? Besides date the cast of Laguna Beach between bromances?????

I'm particularly curious as to how these two completely opposite-sides-of-the-cafeteria people met. I mean we all know that Avril went through a "What the hell" phase, after her divorce from Derek Whibley of Sum41. In the end, he was a sk8r boi and she said see ya l8r boi.

Her attitude says she doesn't care if you love her hate her or date her, and maybe that's what Brody can't get enough of. He's used to girls just melting around him. Well he finally found that pink streaked girl that for lack of better words DGAFs about his face. How COULDN'T he fall in love????????

I think America is ready for a Keeping Up with Bravril and hopefully Bravril takes Miami and Bravril Fairytale Wedding soon follows. I want Bravil to have an unplanned pregnancy, their own line at Sears, and awkward Shape Up commercials during the Superbowl.

My last and final aspiration for Bravril is the family Christmas card flipping the bird.



And I don't mean turtledoves.

Nordic Bananas

Unless you live under a rock with the Geico men, you're aware of the chunky/Nordic/Navajo/knit sweater epidemic that is taking the nation by storm.

Here we have the always fabulous Victoria Beckham, and a model from a D&G runway

Comfy cute trends like these amplify my dream of living in cold dreary places like Boston or NYC. But being steadfast on the trends, you can bet your bottom dollar I will rep me a Nord in the west Texas sun. Paired with denim shorts naturally.

You would think this trend would be easy to come by and easy to afford, I mean it's a granny sweater!!!! No no no. I have seen these garments running for over $200. Like really??!? Anyone who knows me at all knows I understand brand equity and will splurge on a $60 turban from Gold Saturn or a to-die-for ring by House of Harlow for $80. But when a free people chunky knit looks the same as my moms from the 70s is when I realize the bang, or lack there of, for my buck.

This cardigan by free people is $298. Click the pic.

This one is also by free people. $228.

And then there is this little number. A life changing Nordic sweater that can be YOURS TODAY with the small asking price of just $560. Saks.

iCringe. I don't care if it's Saks. It's a mountain man grandpa sweater and I'm not taking out a loan to buy the damn thang.

I have already blogged about my $20 shopping spree at a consignment store. I bought like 15 things, one of those items being a Nordic sweater.... for 2 dollars.

FOR TWO DOLL HAIRS, Y'ALL. And rest assured I be working that pull over like it's from Neimans. Rest. Ah. Sured.

Off subject, one of my favorite breakfasts is toast. I like to top them with butter and honey, butter and jelly, nutella and bananas, peanut pr butter and bananas. I also recently discovered the magic and wonders of the BeFunky iPhone pic editor app. So naturally I had to take a picture of my toast, edit it on the app, and blog about it.
Story of my life.

College Confessions

sh*t's getting personal.

I don't know who it was that invented the phrase, "Freshman 15" but it was probably a girl, probably a girl who partied a lot, and probably a girl who partied a lot and enjoyed the occasional (three times a day) mexican food platter. Well my friends, I am no freshman. I'm a junior. In fact, freshman year, I LOST weight. HAH. Yes, somewhere between dorm food, free food, and late nights at Josie's, I managed to decrease my adipose percentage. I mean, yes, Tech is the 2nd largest campus in the nation, hence you have to practically hike between classes, but it's still typically weird if you lose weight freshmen year.

Then junior year rolls around.

By junior year, I feel like you are supposed to have things figured out. You made the freshman rookie mistakes, and then had another year to get familiarized even more, and by the time you're a junior, you're an upperclassmen and should have everything chiseled to a fine art. This includes the art of eating, drinking, and still being @ $kInNY B!+

And then there are those juniors that still forget to buy an orange scantron for tests (me yesterday), sit in the wrong class on the first day of school (me this semester), and even somehow gain the daunting, much feared, but ever present, freshmen lbz. Also me.

When I came home Christmas break 2010, I thought I was fat. Not fat, but not like ecstatic about my body, just like normal/indifferent about it. My mom is always that mom that no matter what you look like, says: YOU LOOK GREAT! YOU LOOK SO THIN! I appreciate a mom who lies sweet nothings to me. I should have taken that complement more to heart. Instead I do what I always do and say something to the affect of, NO I DON'T MOM I'M A LARD. Healthy daily mantras.

So there I was last christmas walking around with my hot pants on, lah tee dah. 2011 continues month by month, and every month I realize that it was the best month ever. I have had such a blessed, amazing, fun, and wonderful year; definitely one of the best years of my life. But while I was prancing about Lubbock, it hardly occurred to me that I was gaining those freshman layers. Plus I worked out! I mean, who gains weight when they work out right???? Pshhh. I just think I'm 6 ft tall and queso proof.

The other day, I was pulling on some high waisted flared linen pants I bought at H&M in Boston. And to my surprise, they barely buttoned. Barley. Buttoned. It was then that my inner conscious-voice whispered @#$%^&*((*&^%$#@#$%^&*( into my ear. I immediately hauled my f@t jolly ass downstairs to the gym in my apartment. Holding a large Fuzzy's Taco Shop cup full ice water. It was like I was screaming to everyone else in the gym, I AM HOLDING A FUZZYS CUP. I HOLD IN MY HAND THE CULPRIT OF WHY I AM WORKING OUT.

All those coupons for free queso, which is like tasting liquid heaven by the way, finally did me in. Although I didn't gain an entire 15 pounds, I gained just enough to piss myself off.

In times like these, I like to call upon my friends that make self-loathing jokes even more than I do. THIS WOULD NOT INCLUDE MY ROOMMATE WHO LOST 10 POUNDS OVER NIGHT THIS SEMESTER, YOU BITCH. Rather, another friend, one of my favorite ginger friends, in fact. This girl is by no means even remotely chubby, but she always partakes in the self-loathe jokes, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

We've taken to working out together most days of the week, so watch out world, I'm on a health-kick.

Although I gained, what is a noticeable amount in my mind, my boyfriend sweetly lies to me and tell me he doens't notice. To which, I politely scream, "JUST ADMIT IT, I'M A COW." He knows he can't win no matter what he says, and that is probably why we have lasted so long. I found someone who puts up with me.

On my first day going through rush, I met 2 of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen in my life. Naturally, I wanted to kill myself. It is in these times, that I like to remind myself that even these girls gained weight this year with me.

I like that.

So there you have it. My college confession. I gained weight. Something I like to call "happy pounds" because I had the time of my life packing on my "winter coat." Some of the best memories of my life are from this year! It's not like this was Kirstie Alley-style, in a dark closet in hiding eating a stick of butter, while my children were asleep upstairs. No no no, I was definitely surrounded by people, alcohol, and Canes special sauce, at all times this semester.

I bet Kate Middleton didn't gain the freshman 15 when she was in college. No no no, she was too busy parading about, wearing fancy hats, talking about important things with a British accent.

Get off of my cloud

When I was a sophomore in high school, I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to see The Rolling Stones in concert with my dad. My mom was originally supposed to go, but couldn't make it. It was in El Paso, and my dad and I went with a few family friends (all my dad's age). They would tell me, "Is this music too old for you? You probably don't listen to The Stones."

I'm sorry, WHO DOESN'T LISTEN TO THE STONES???????

I reassured them I was MORE than happy to go. So whenever I find something Rolling Stones related, I am extremely partial.

Like this Chaser shirt from singer22.com.

In fact one of my favorite throw-on-and-go-anywhere tops is a Chaser Rolling Stones tee. I couldn't find it online, but I'll post it one of these days.

A young Mick Jagger and Keith Richards

Freshman year of high school, I took history of Rock & Roll. Totes on of my fav classes. I kept the textbook, duh. Fun fact about the stones, is that their band manager would lock Mick and Keith in a room together until they came out with the song. Also, the guitar riff for "I can't get no satisfaction" came to Keith in his sleep one night. Talent out the ass.

And here is a cool lil youtube vid with The Stones.

Dangy Blog

Lately I feel my blog has been a little dangy (enunciated dayne-gee). Dangy is a word I fabricated, a cross between "mangey" and "dingy." Sort of like "blories" a word I made up for a series of busy body activities. Ex: Sorry I was caught up in blories, and couldn't text you back.

ANYWAY, I created "runswithlipstick" because although it's not my major, or chosen career path, I love fashion, trends, style, beauty, brands, shoes, ruffles, and designer bios. I needed an outlet for that. Oh, and I like to write.

Taking notes from other style blogs, I thought about posting pictures of myself on the reg of my outfits... Yeah that is definitely not me. No one cares about my norts and kappa tees. Furthermroe, the 7 of you who keep up with this revolutionary blog can see my SaSsSyY outfits on Facebook, because Lord knows I be mobile snappin' and uploadin' that sh*t on the frequent.

So although I already had a blog, outrageouslyruby, which was sort of like a purposeless entity just summarizing events in my life (speeding tickets, fat girls, the usual), I didn't think it had the right "brand image" (advertising major) for a "style" blog . Thus was born runswithlipstick.

What does runs with lipstick even mean???? Who actually does that, runs with lipstick on? Stupid. In making up this blog name, I kind of did the play on words trick... like runs with scissors??? Sharp objects? People are scared of sharp things--people are scared to wear lipstick? Is anyone following?? Maybe my random mind connections will serve me well in the advertising industry one day. Oh wait, copywriters make squat, that's right. That's why there's Ross.

So I made a new blog, but kept the old. One is rubies the other is gold (?) Then when I wanted to write about daily events in my life, and not fashion, I felt awkward because it's like wait, should I use outrageouslyruby to post this? Or should I just post it in runswithlipstick? Should I make a tab in my new blog for posts unrelated to fashion? Why am I over thinking this, no one reads them any? It all just became exhausting and now I'm in this limbo between two blogs, one that has daily life occurrences (old ones) and one that has fashion topics with daily life occurrences. It's all so... so meh.

But lately, I've been noticing this new shiny lipstick blog take a turn for the worse. I'm not posting as much, and evidently all I do is shop for bargains. It's just a little boring. It's going through a drought. A wall of dust with 74 mph winds is blowing through my dry flat lipstick blog. Sound familiar Lubbock residents?

I suppose the main reasons I've been lackluster in my bloggage surround college and everything that comes with it. I have been socializing more than usual. Going out slash being hungover more than usual. Not to mention, this semester I'm in 2 writing classes, so I feel like all I do is write 2000 word essays. Plus I recently became the contributing editor for The Odyssey. Which is a campus newspaper I write little weekly diddys for. Needless to say, my fingers have been setting my mac keyboard to fire even though I have been slacking in the blog department. BUT I VOW TO MAKE TIME FOR IT. And working out. maybe.

So here is my promise to write COMPELLING, HEART-RACING, JUMP-OUT-OF-YOUR-SKIN, MAKE-YOU-WANNA-WEAR-A-LEOTARD, type posts. Maybe if I'm feeling particularly pity one day, then I'll post a picture of myself in a "don't-you-wish-you-were-me" outfit just like so many of the other style blogs I read.

With that said, I kind of just want give do a quick little list of my favorite "I-Wish-I-Were-Her" blogs that I obsessively follow. click on the titles.

1) romans-122.com It's like retarded how pretty this girl is. And she lives in the LBK, getting a degree at Tech as well, which is cool.

2) www.9to5chic.com. This woman lives in San Francisco and you would think that she was a prominent stylist or boutique owner by the looks of her BUT NO. She is just naturally cunning and chic all the time. (or at least from 9 to 5)

3) atlantic-pacific.blogspot.com This blog is where depression and self-esteem issues really start to kick in. This girl does work in the fashion industry though, so it does ever so slightly make me feel a little better that she has greater access to the best and latest clothes. Her closet must be RUH-DIC-U-LUSS. Her style/pictures/life makes my life look dangy.

4) ambersnotebook.com This is another girl that lives the dream. Her social life is like a cross between Carrie Bradshaw and Holly Golightly. Yet, I like that she's not too cool to show off the fact that her shoes are from Target. She werqs it.

5) fashiontoast.com I'm pretty sure that her blog is the top followed blog on bloglovin'. And THERE IS A REASON. She has the coolest hair, and outfits I wouldn't have dreamed to put together and she makes it all look so effortless. It really is unfair.

6) manrepeller.com I have also grown fond of this sassy blog. The girls are bold and daring enough to try out ANY trend. I mean, ANY trend. Like, wear leotards in public, type stuff. Also love their whole "man-repeller" theme goin' on.

Well there you have it. I am off to a meeting for a volunteer organization I am in. (See I am at least a little busy).

Happy Tuesday Shoesday!!!!!

Bargain Queen

Hello fans. I am so excited about this post because A) this is the first time I'm doing it from my shattered ass iPhone and B) I find pleasure in bragging relentlessly about the dirt cheap thingz I buy. Also C) I recently became obsessed with instagram.

I bought all of these items for $20, my friends. This includes a red blazer, 2 sweaters, 2 dressy tops, a boyfriend plaid tee, an oversized maxi cardigan, an oversized yellow clutch, a fanny pack, turband, and sunglasses holder. OH and need not forget the $0.25 fairy wings, simply because you never know.


If this were a tweet the hash tag would be #getonmylevel.

Hope everyone had a great fall break!!!

I'll pin if I want to

I've been spending 62% of my free time on pinterest lately.

I thought I'd post up a few of my recent faves.

Get on pinterest if you haven't yet. Click here to see more of my pinz.

Heather from Chelsea Lately

Well the title says it all. Tonight at a TAB event (Tech Activities Board) I watched Heather from Chelsea Lately do stand up comedy in the good ol' Allen Theatre.

SHE IS HILARIOUS.

My favorite part is when she talked about her children, one being her "favorite" and one being "the little ass hole." LOL. She was fearless up there. I also love the end of the routine when she leaves time for questions and answers, and the Tech students just aren't shy at all when it came to questions. Lets just say, I had no idea that Chelsea Handler went on a date with 50 cent before tonight.

She also did hilarious impressions of the Kardashians, Celine Dion, and Drew Barrymore. She said she might work in Texas Tech on her next skit for Chelsea Lately but....

we'll see about that...

I'm all fur DIY projects

I've really been wanting a fur vest lately. I feel like this was a big trend last fall and should probably be "out" by now, but I also feel like as long as Rachel Zoe is alive, then they are in style. Ok so the ones I really wanted were all super expensive (AKA not $20) so then I thought, it can't be that hard to make, right? I did a little more googling and found an easy tutorial.

This was the most affordable one I found. Revolveclothing, just $57.

But I also love this Michael Kors vest for 175...

But then I found this one!!!!

It's my favorite. It's $170 from milanoo.com

But like I said, I'm not about to spend that much for a fur vest. So I came upon this tutorial video...

And I'm so serious about doing this! How easy is that?!?

The end result...

Now back to homework...