Obsessed.

You guys.  I am obsessed.  I made the mistake of putting a sample of this on my keyboard at work, and I have found myself re-applying more often than a 13 year old girl who just spent her entire weekly allowance at Walgreens' makeup counter.  But in my defense, it actually moisturizes!  And smells like roses!  And has just a hint of color, so no one can tell that you've put on 50 layers before lunch.  That, in my book, is a win win.

Simple Bracelet Solution

I recently decided to attempt to wear more bracelets, so I dug out my box of old assorted jewelry to find some.  I went through a huge bracelet phase in high school, but haven't really used them to accessorize in a long time.  (I think part of the reason for this is that I had the wonderful honor of having to wear wrist braces for a year or two due to carpal tunnel, and that period of time broke me of the habit of putting anything else on my wrists.  Gawd I'm cool.)  I've been seeing the trend of layering tons of bracelets on your arm, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  The result:

I kinda like the look, but halfway through the evening I realized that the majority of the bracelets on my wrist were purchased and worn during the golden age of 1999-2001, also known as junior high.  Thus, the following conclusions: a) I do indeed have slight hoarding tendencies, as these bracelets survived the mass cleansing of personal items that happened before my move a year ago and b) If you hold onto something long enough, it WILL become fashionable again.  Who knew power beads could be worn in the new millenium?

After rocking this look for a night and making 13 year old manda OH SO PROUD, I decided I needed a better way to store bracelets to encourage future bracelet wearing.  They currently were shoved away in a box, allowing my "out of sight, out of mind" tendencies to reign supreme--so I wanted something in plain sight.  Enter 40 cent IKEA solution!

I bought a pair of these vases for 40 cents each in the As-Is section of IKEA about a month ago, and they make for the perfect solution!  I can quickly throw bracelets on and off the vase,  and keep them in sight so I remember to add bracelets to my outfit in the morning.  And so, a simple solution to enable...err...encourage my accessory addiction!

My name is Manda, and I have an addiction.

Ok kids, it's time to get real.  I am addicted, hardcore, to...accessories.  I would say this problem has been going on since....well, since birth.  There's just something so exciting about the pop of color accessories can add to your outfit, and it's really the place where you can get away with crazy and unexpected.  You remember that board game Pretty Pretty Princess?  I have NO CLUE how to actually play the game, but I have vivid memories of bartering over accessories with my friend until we were COVERED in plastic heaven. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think much has changed since then...I still don't pay much attention to how I SHOULD be doing something, and I do my not-paying-attention with at least 5 accessories on.  (Grown-up-hood, I have arrived.) My accessory of choice often rotates, from necklaces to earrings to rings to headbands to bags to shoes to sunglasses.  Which is most definitely my current obsession, as I have bought several pairs of wayfarers this summer:

In my defense, you really do need them in every color!

I really am like a three year old, with an out of sight out of mind problem, so I like to keep my accessories in view when I'm getting dressed in the morning.  Including my prized headband collection:

As prized as "purchased in Target's kids section" can be

The only problem with this brilliant solution is it made me realize I had far more warm colored headbands than cool colored.  Oh yay, another excuse to buy more headbands!  (Good thing the Target kids section is so economical!)


My addiction runs so deep that on most days I have an accessory in mind BEFORE I pick my clothes.  You don't know how many times sleepy 6am Manda has thought to herself "I really need to wear my pink headband today...ok, that shirt isn't horribly offensive when paired with it."  Sometimes I get sad when I go out at night, because I can't wear the sunglasses that would match my outfit perfectly.  Sad, guys.  SAD.  Over SUNGLASSES.  (This is the part where I SHOULD be realizing how pathetic this reaction is, but instead I'm revisiting the outfit in my head and...the sadness...here it comes again...)


To be honest, I don't really see myself changing anytime soon, and I will probably be the 82 year old woman rockin a flower headband and assorted other crazy sparkles all over me.  But seriously, how can you not appreciate accessories?  I can't be the only one who picks accessory first, outfit later, right? Right? ....Bueller? Bueller?