My parents were nice enough to take Maya for a few hours, so I could get caught up on some work and go to a Dr’s apt. It just happened to stop raining for 5 minutes when they came over, so my mom grabbed a few pics of me and Maya.
She’s looking at my dad (who is making funny faces behind my mom and saying…”Um, BOPO, you are NOT funny…” (sorry Dad)
Then, she was ready to get going to their house! Seriously, so lucky to have them now living a few blocks away!
You can kind of see that it started raining again…
Bye Mom!!
A few hours later it stopped raining right before my apt, so I ran out and grab some of me. Literally had 5 minutes, before it started pouring again.
Scored this J Crew jacket for $7!
And since I didn’t have Maya with me, I broke out some booties with heels!
And…a non ginormous purse, since I didn’t have to haul around snacks, water, diapers, wipes, toys, etc 🙂
On me…
Author Archives: laurenkahan
Layering + Combat Boots
I was kind of on the fence when I got this jacket from StyleMint. I got it during their Black Friday Sale, so it was 50% off (point in it’s favor). When it came, it was kind of stiff and boxy. I threw it in the dryer (it says hand wash cold, but THAT is not happening!) That softened it up a bit, and now I really like it. I love that it shows the layers of what you are wearing underneath!
Um….”big hair don’t care”?? Ok, I kind of care, wow :}
I’ve ordered a bunch of stuff off StyleMint (of course when they have big sales!), but I hadn’t ever bought any shoes from ShoeMint. Well…another sale came up, so I snagged these boots for $44! They are real leather and SO soft and comfortable. I was very pleasantly surprised! Even walked around the neighborhood with Maya first time wearing them and still comfy! They still have some left, and I agree with the reviewers, size down a half size. Love the studded details and the zippers up the back!
Yeah, her coat lasted all of 2.3 seconds. NW girl at heart…who needs a coat??
Coated baby pants??!!! Died when I saw these on Zulily’s close out sale! May have gotten a few pairs…they were $5.50 and I had grandparent Christmas $$ to spend!
On me…
Another pair of Boyfriend Jeans…and a pop of color.
My hunt for the perfect boyfriend jean continues. Current Elliott is known for theirs, so when I found them at Funky Janes for $18 (I used my credit for items dropped off-so FREE TO ME!), I had to try them. They still have a bit of the saggy butt look (not a fan!), but again…they are SO comfortable, that I’m willing to overlook that. We went to a birthday party today, so I knew I would be bending down/sitting/running around. I wanted something that would be comfortable, and these definitely fit the bill.
I love this jacket (eBay!). I don’t know why I don’t wear it more often…
She’s running away from me as I insist that she puts a coat on….
She loves picking up sticks and taking them on our walks.
On me…
Masculine and Feminine
These mens 7FAM jeans are really becoming one of my favorite happy accidents. I thought it would be fun to pair them with something a little more feminine this time and dare I say it…sexy?? :}
LOVE these chevron earrings from Gorjana Griffin
She is such a goof….love her 🙂
On me…
Thrift Store Shopping…
To say that I love thrift stores would be a bit of an understatement. I’ve talked about it a little here and there on this blog and on Instagram, but I thought I’d do a post where Maya and I are wearing ALL thrift store purchases, and do a breakdown on the cost vs sharing links. We’ve worn everything below on the blog already, so links have already been provided for similar items.
Funny story. I thought we would venture out of our neighborhood for this shoot, but it was so sunny (out of nowhere!) and WINDY (neither is which is good for pics), so my hopes of doing this with a Seattle skyline backdrop got dashed, and….we ended up down the street from my house haha. Yes, all these pics are still taken with a tripod and self timer 🙂
In order of my favorite ways to get what you want at a fraction of the cost-
- eBay-By far the best way to get what you want for a fraction of the cost. The search bar and category/size features make it so easy to find what you want. That said, a lot of sellers don’t do a great job of listing what they have, so sometimes broaden your search and you’ll get the real steals! eBay tip-bid the minimum bid right away if it’s something that you want. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been watching something, then forget about it, see that it ended for no bids, then it gets relisted and snatched up-GRRR! On things I really want, I set a reminder (yes, I’m that big of a nerd) and then bid in the last 10 seconds. If you think that is extreme, I’m not alone! I’ve been outbid with 2 seconds left! Then…sell what you don’t want and make $$ to buy what you do want. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” FOR SURE! I’d say half of what I wear on here is from eBay 🙂
- Thrift Stores– By this, I mean Value Village, GoodWill, or something similar. Goodwill posts a monthly calendar of discount days. So, if you go and see something you like, but it’s more than you want to spend, look up the color and go back 🙂 Value Village has their Super Saver program, which obviously I’m a part of haha. You get email notifications for random days that are 30-50% off clothing, and you get to take part in holiday sale days a day earlier than everyone else. It’s free-sign up!! They also have 30% off punch cards every few months, where you get stamps for every $5 purchased or bag donated.
- Consignment Shops– These are a little more expensive than thrift stores, but not always. A lot of times, they don’t know the current designers and accidentally mark them lower. Ie-just scored a pair of Current Elliot boyfriend jeans for $18 (retail for $200+)!! And…because I had a credit for bringing stuff I didn’t wear anymore, they were FREE!!! Don’t we all have things that we are sick of wearing? Still cute? Someone else will LOVE it, and you get credit to buy something “new” to you that you’ll love! Or…just get cash to spend elsewhere 🙂
- Antique Stores– Not where you might originally think to shop, but there are SO many fun things to buy at a fraction of retail price. Clothing-think cool leather jackets, wool jackets, adorable dresses, awesome shoes that are totally on trend right now (cowboy boots, loafers, oxfords, and amazing heels if you have itty bitty feet which I don’t) and fun sweaters. Then…there’s furniture! I could do (and probably will!) an entire blog post on cool furniture you can snag at a fraction of today’s prices.
And…here’s what we scored recently.
Anyone else have any super thrifty tips?? I’d love to hear them 🙂
Skulls and Polka Dots?
So glad there are two of us that made up that title… 🙂
I actually wore this on a shoot. I’m not sure if it said “professional”, but it was for a 3 year old’s birthday party, so I was going for both fun and professional… What little boy doesn’t like skulls? Like he noticed 🙂
“Where’s Maya?” Her favorite game… 🙂
OMG, I have no words for how much I love these next two images!!
I know I’m biased, but she is so freakin cute, I can hardly stand it!

On me…
Comfy Sweaters…shocking, I know.
I was so proud that we were in no way matching today, and then it hit me. Hmmm, we kind of still are. Both wearing comfy sweaters and zipper jeans! Ugh. Oh, well. We don’t care 🙂
I got this Levi’s button down last Sunday too. I’ve been a little obsessed with plaid lately, and it was only $5. Yay for that 🙂
And Minnetonka’s for $2?!! Don’t mind if I do…
Someone is a liiiiittle obsessed with dinosaurs.
On me…
Fringe + Distressed Jeans + Thrift Store Score Shoes
I had an almost embarrassingly large haul at the thrift store on Sunday. It was an additional 50% off everything, and there was so much good stuff!! I mainly loaded Maya up, but snagged a few things for me too. One of which was these shoes. LOVE THEM. And the best part? They were $4, but when I googled them for this post, I found out they retailed for over $300!! SCORE!
I bought these jeans for Maya with the thought that I would make them into cut offs for the summer. They are a capri length, and I didn’t think I’d like them. Then…I kind of did. Plus, they show off the perfectly worn in Converse that I scored for $.99! 🙂
I love how her shadow looks like it’s touching her face 🙂

On me…
Color Blocking + my DIY Destroyed Skinny Jeans!
I showed a sneak peek of these over the weekend in the tutorial for how I made some DIY destroyed jeans for me and Maya. I love how they turned out, and can’t wait to do some more 🙂
One of the MANY things I love about Maya? She is freaking hysterical! Cracks me up all the time!!
And then turns around and is the sweetest thing ever…


I should add that I did not distress these jeans. They came this way 🙂
Doing her part to keep the dandy lion population alive :{ Don’t tell my neighbors… She loves them though. “LIONS!!”
On me…
DIY destroyed jeans with the strings attached…
I love the look of destroyed jeans. What I don’t love, is that they seem to add about 25% on to the price tag. Plus, they get snatched up on eBay immediately/usually go for more than my allotted budget. So…I googled it and found bunch of cool tutorials online. If you are more of a video person, there are a ton on YouTube. Anyway…here’s what I did.
First figure out what jeans you want to destroy. I have three pairs of these jeans (two in one size, and one in a size down-ALL purchased on eBay, mind you). I tend to buy in multiples when I find a pair that fits perfectly. Obviously, only if I can get them at a screaming deal, and usually with the intent on doing something like this! Then figure out where you want your holes to be. I totally braincramped, so I googled (what did we do before google????) destroyed skinny jeans and determined the look I liked vs didn’t like. I really wanted to start out minimally on this first pair. It’s so addicting though, so the next pair I’ll be more bold. I used hair cutting scissors because they are slimmer and more sharp. It’s not necessary though.
Make the cuts about 1/2 an inch apart for as long and wide as you want to hole to be. Again, I wanted smaller holes for this pair, because I knew I could always make them bigger later 🙂
Then, turn the jeans inside out, take tweezers, and pull a few of the white threads away. You need to pull at least 3 of the white threads to expose the blue threads that run up and down.
Then, use the tweezers to start pulling the blue threads out. It’s hard at first, but then you can get 3-4 out at a time. All that is left then is the white threads going across!
I did a small area on the back pocket too. I didn’t want to do it on the main part and risk things falling out, but the top part is lined. You can’t turn it inside out, but it still works.
And here they are! I think they are going to keep getting better and better with each wash 🙂
Then I decided to try it on a pair of Maya’s jeans. She had bit the dust a while back and started a tiny hole. I figured they would be the perfect pair. I LOVE how hers turned out! Isn’t everything cuter when it’s tiny?? I did a few around her pockets too, since it’s not like she’s carrying anything important in them!
I decided to reinforce hers though, just in case she bites it again. Don’t want her skinning her knees in the name of fashion… :} I just used iron on patches. Super easy!
And here she is wearing them in a post from earlier this week. So cute, right??
Happy cutting!










