Welcome to The Bally Resort

Is it poor form to regram yourself? I think not. This moodboard from two years ago is still pretty cool to me now. Still loving the shoes as well!

---

Original post from July 17, 2015

These beautiful Bally buckle sandals are currently available for pre-order on Moda Operandi, and I can tell you now that I would wear them this instant. The tricky thing is that they're not for right now, so if I do end up buying them on M'O I will receive them in January of 2016. That may seem like a long time as we're in the thick of 2015, but it sneaks up on you! 

So the question is, how do I know that this pair of buckle sandals will not only be on trend next year, but most importantly as beautiful to me then as they are now? Can I see myself in these next year or should I let them go and just see where my whims take me next year?

Future Abstract Paintings

via Another Mag

Number One Fan and When To Buy Full Price

Happy Easter to ya. I'm currently at home recovering from our Europe walking tour (receipts: according to iPhone Health App my daily step count abroad was around 18,000-21,000 steps a day). Nick has pneumonia and I have a cold which is feared can turn into pneumonia due to the proximity of, you know, my husband having said bacterial infection of the lungs. 

So I guess you could say I have some time on my hands at the moment. I've been plotting my next paintings (so inspired by the people-watching in Amsterdam and Prague!) and I've been creating this month's About An Hour playlist. What about a fun recap post or two detailing my photography and recommendations for Amsterdam, Berlin, and Prague you say? Well, that's an inertia problem. I literally have Amsterdam's post written down, but I can't seem to finish it by pulling and curating the photos from my phone to the computer. Excuses, excuses. 

I tell you what though: it's been 10 years of this whole blogging thing, which many times feels like I'm talking to myself, and while my viewership has taken a steady dip, plateau, and the occasional spike in traffic to do god knows what, I'm at peace with just forever speaking into a mirror. It turns out, the biggest fan of this blog has been me. 

I love the idea of looking back to my blogspot archives (which are still live, if you type twelveofour.blogspot.com) and laughing at some poor outfit choices, some experimental and silly posing, and most of all the documentation of my state of mind in relation to fashion and design at that point. I'm 31 now, but seeing my 21 year old brain? That's so priceless to me. 

So if you are here reading this and thinking you'll want to visit again: First of all, thank you, that's so awesome you're down for even more of my sometimes insightful but mostly ramblings on loving fashion, design, debt, growing up poor and then being very successful as a young adult, etc. If you're here and you're like, Man this girl is so full of shit, let me just say I agree with you and also too feel this way.

Guys, I feel another post coming on. Keep scrolling if you want to know more ramblings.

---

What's with the intro image? Those are some sick AF Comme des Garçons buckle shoes that make your feet look one part punk and one part witchy. They were for sale a couple years ago and I was not willing to drop almost $400 on them at the time, partly because I was drowning in debt, and other partly because I owned like 20 pairs of shoes at the time. But today in my usual window shopping/stalking for sales and promos I found them in my size and in excellent condition. For $125 I own them now and I feel like this further reinforces my idea that there's very little fashion out there worth buying full price. 

What are those exceptions for buying full price items?
Happy you asked. Here are my personal rules for such purchases.
a) payment for such an item must be in cash (lest we want to be in debt again)
b) item must have gone through the Pinterest test (these shoes have been pinned for 3 years, people)
c) item must have a resale value of at least 50%-80% 
let's face it, if the item is newer you will get sick of it soon and at some point (if it's a very on-trend item), then it will be on everyone which will make you feel like part of the herd. That's when you sell; when the interest and trendiness is still high in order to maximize that resale value.
I recommend The Real Real or Vestiaire Collective for resale because it's too damn easy. If you have more time to haggle and deal with potential scammers, then do Depop or eBay. 
d) the item must be wearable and realistic to your lifestyle
This means buying stupid dresses for special occasions that you never go to or heels for the fancy parties you never get invited to nor attend. Just buy real stuff for your real life. Ain't no shame in that.
e) item must be season-less — to a certain extent
I'm talking Gucci Princetown loafer status or ruffle off the shoulder tops. Those are last year, unless your entire life has been about this style you're going to look like a trend chaser. Go for classic shit that speaks to you!
f) item must be quality
This automatically rules out most polyester anything, unlined jackets and dresses, and most plastic shoes (I'm looking at you Zara). 
g) if you can afford it, buy ethically.
Buying used clothes is environmentally friendly, but so is supporting companies that don't kill the hands that manufacture them. 

Don't agree? Have an edit? LMK. I'm not perfect. And I'd love to hear your Full Price rules.

 

Worth Investing In

Kathleen Whitaker

Oh Boyy!

Pals, after two years of massive debt repayment I can finally say I am 100% debt free. Do you know what that feels like? It feels like the freaking party emoji.

I have been in debt since I got my first credit cards at 16. Since then the amount of debt has vacillated from completely manageable to massive. And the amount of stress and anxiety that goes along with that has been exhausting! Thanks to the past two years of busting my ass, and literally portioning out about half of my paychecks to debt repayment I am finally free of the mess I created over the past 15 years. 

As a reward (in cash, of course, part of my new habit of buying in cash only ever or not at all), came this Karl 24cm BOYY bag, purchased on sale if you can believe it from Farfetch. 

To anyone struggling to pay down cards, I will say this:
Keep with it!
It's a challenge to continually watch your paychecks essentially go to credit card payments and the urge to shop and reward your efforts will be strong sometimes. Just don't!

Pin it Instead!
Every time I felt like buying myself something new I would Pin the item to a new Pinterest board (private of course) and then wait for a couple days to truly asses if I could a) afford it in cash, b) would really need the item I wanted or if I could do without it. Shockingly, 99% of the time, the item was an impulse moment that I would have usually indulged. 

Google Sheets is your new Shopping Buddy
Make a new spreadsheet with a column on the far left and itemize every single mandatory payment you have to make per month and on the right two columns one where you document total owed to those companies and another column of what you plan to pay that month towards that. If it's rent then it's 100% of the amount, it if's debt it's what you can!

The goal with this is to add up the columns to see your debt to income ratio and to really get a grasp of where your money is going per month and what you truly have as discretionary income. It's amazing how much I was denying my bad financial habits until I started seeing the patterns with this new Google Sheets practice.

About An Hour : 03 : 2017

This is the Amsterdam/Berlin/Prague playlist. Please enjoy About an Hour of music for what is left of March. Check out my archive playlist, All the Time, to listen to previous months of music.

Internet Request: Seeking Brow Grooming Product

Dear Internet,

I need to find an eyebrow product that is great for holding the shape of the longer unruly brow hairs. I know there are plenty of eyebrow tints and gels and what not, and I'm not interested in that or Boy Brow (so please don't!). I'm looking for a hairspray, but for brows. Maybelline makes a clear gel that works well for about 10 minutes then completely evaporates and you're back to square one. Anyone know of a good option? A wax? Something with a brush?

Sincerely yours,

OMG

T - 5 Days to Amsterdam

Belstaff Fall 2017 is all I want to wear right now in this windy rain in the Bay Area, and all I want to wear in Amsterdam where the daytime temps are hovering from 45-50.