Thrifty Wife Happy Life

Helping women love what they wear on a budget

Fall Outfits in the Heat

by Katie Haller

I absolutely love fall and everything that comes with it, especially the fashion.  Fall fashion is my favorite.  I love to layer and I love scarves, boots, and jeans.  Summer is difficult for me because the heat makes it hard for me to dress the way I want to, but with fall, I get to pull out some of my favorite pieces in my closet.  However, in Las Vegas, our fall feels more like summer to most people.  It creates a bit of a challenge because the mornings are cool, but the highs in the afternoon are in the 80’s and 90’s.  It’s okay though because I always love a challenge when it comes to styling my daily wardrobe. 
Here are some outfits I’ve come up with for my transitional fall wardrobe. 
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Dresses are always great for transitioning into the fall weather.  I love being able to wear a dress in the warmer weather and accessorize it with some of my favorite fall accessories, like boots and denim.  I am loving my new ankle boots (exact) I bought last month.  They give the perfect fall touch with a few of my favorite dresses.  I also always love to layer with my denim jacket (similar).  Here are a few looks I’ve come up with. 
Dress- H&M (exact)

Dress- Nordstrom Rack (similar)
Dress- Pink Blush (exact)
You can never go wrong with a great pair of jeans.  I miss my jeans in the summer, so I always get excited when the temperatures cool off enough for some jeans.  Right now, I am loving the distressed denim look.  I have a few pairs of distress jeans that I rotate through.  I really love wearing flats with my jeans while the weather is still warm.  Flats and jeans are pretty much my workweek uniform.  Here are a couple looks wearing my jeans with some of my favorite new pairs of flats and accessorizing with my new Linea Pelle cognac tote handbag (exact) from Neiman Marcus Last Call.  I’m kind of obsessed with this purse right now. It’s the perfect fall accessory. 
 Top- Target (exact)/ Jeans- Target (similar) Shoes- Ross (similar)
 Top- Target (similar) Jeans- Kohl’s (similar) Shoes- Burlington Coat Factory (similar)
Who doesn’t love leggings?  They are so comfortable, I could literally wear them every day.  I love wearing leggings in the early fall because sometimes they are lighter than wearing jeans.  I love to style them with a long t-shirt or tunic top.  Here are a couple ways that I styled my leggings with my ankle boots to give them that fall touch.  
Top- Nordstrom Rack (similar)
Top- Old Navy (exact)
Those are some of my transitional falls looks for this year.  You can check out some of my older falls looks from last year’s post here to get some more ideas on how to style your fall wardrobe in the heat.  Enjoy the rest of the fall and remember that just because it’s hot out, doesn’t mean that you can’t embrace the new season and also stay on budget with your wardrobe! 

Family Weekend Trip to LA

by Katie Haller

Last weekend we went on a weekend trip to California to visit family.  It was Jack’s first road trip and he did great!  I always feel a little overwhelmed traveling with a baby, but I think I’m slowly getting used to it.  You can’t let having children stop you from doing all the fun things that you would like to do. 
 On Friday morning we left our house extra early because we wanted to make a quick stop at Seven Magic Mountains.  It’s a piece of artwork that is in the middle of the desert.  It’s defiantly a great photo stop if you’re ever in Las Vegas.  We got there right after sunrise so the sun was hitting the colorful rocks perfectly, making for some awesome pictures.  On Saturday we spent the morning at the beach in Santa Monica.  I love the ocean and I was so excited to take Jack to the beach for the first time.  He loved watching and listening to the waves, but he didn’t love getting his feet wet.  Here are just a few pictures from our trip.

I just love those tall skinny palm trees.

Family picture at the beach.

Sleeping on the drive home.
I look forward to many more family trips like this.

Making the Most of Your Wardrobe- Striped Dress

by Katie Haller

I always love doing my “Making the Most of Your Wardrobe” post, because I love sharing how I accessorize my clothes.  My closet is full of simple clothing pieces that can be re-worn over and over again, I just accessorize it a little differently each time.  I feel like this is the practical way to make the most of your clothing.

 I bought this simple stripe racerback dress at Walmart back in August (similar here here and here).  Every August, I go get my school supplies at Walmart and I can never help myself but to take a quick peek at the clothes.  I found that a lot of their junior summer clothes were on clearance for really low prices between $1-$5.  I stumbled upon this little dress and couldn’t reset it.  It was only $5.  As I’m sure you can tell, I have a bit of an obsession with stripe patterns, especially black and white stripes.  I just find stripes to be so classic and simple to accessorize.

Here are some ways that I’ve worn this little dress.

This first look is my favorite!  I wore my black blazer from Forever 21 (similar), my new turquoise pendant necklace from Nordstrom Rack (similar), my nude flats from Target (exact) and my cross over blush purse from Ross (similar). 

This is a perfect weekend look.  I wore the denim jacket that I bought a couple summers ago while grocery shopping at Meijer (similar), my white sandals from Target (exact), a coral statement necklace from Charming Charlie (similar) and my coral Coach purse.

This is a great transitional fall look, perfect for the Las Vegas fall temperatures.  I wore my long cardigan from H&M (similar), my gold pendant necklace from Burlington Coat Factory (similar) and my new ankle boots also from Burlington Coat Factory (similar).

For this last look, I really love wearing sneakers with a dress.  It just helps to dress it down and give it a casual look.  I wore my same denim jacket as above, with a simple long silver necklace (I’ve had this one so long I can’t remember where I bought it.) and my pink sneakers from Target (similar).

  This dress has quickly become one of my favorite dresses.  I love how a little $5 purchase can add so much to your wardrobe.  Look for more posts like this, because I have a lot more closet favorites that I would love to share!

Baby on a Budget- Homemade Baby Food

by Katie Haller

 
When it comes to baby food, I always knew that I wanted to make my own when I had a baby of my own.  For one, I feel like it’s healthier for the baby to have fresh food.  Another reason is that it is so much cheaper!  I’ve browsed the baby food aisle and what I’ve found is that it would get pretty expensive to feed my baby store-bought food every day, especially if I wanted to use the organic baby food.  
 

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Instagram Outfit Review

by Katie Haller



I love Instagram right now.  It’s probably my favorite form of social media at the moment.  I decided to start an Instagram account for my blog about 6 months ago.  I’m so glad that I did because I feel like I have a second blog.  I love sharing my outfits of the day, my shopping finds and of course a few cute baby pictures here and there.  Sometimes I get really busy and it’s hard to find the time to put together a blog post, that’s why I love being able to take a quick outfit selfie and post it on Instagram.  It’s much faster than putting together a whole post. 



Today I wanted to just share some of the outfits I wore in the last 2 months that never made it to the blog.  Here is a quick recap.

Top- Target
Sweater- Old Navy
Jeans- Target
Shoes- Target 
Necklace- Charming Charlie
Dress- Walmart
Sweater- Target
Shoes- DSW
Necklace- Target
Top- Kohl’s
Sweater- Old Navy
Jeans- Target
Shoes- Target
Necklace- Target
Top- Forever 21
Sweater- Target
Pants- Target
Shoes- Target
Necklace- Target
Dress- H&M
Shoes- Target
Necklace- Target
Top- Nordstrom Rack
Blazer- Target
Jeans- Target
Shoes- Burlington Coat Factory
Necklace- Nordstrom Rack
Top- Target
Sweater- Old Navy
Jeans- Meijer
Shoes- Ross
Necklace- Nordstrom Rack
Top- Old Navy
Cardigan- Nordstom Rack
Jeans- Target
Shoes- Burlington Coat Factory
Necklace- Nordstrom Rack

Top- Nordstrom Rack
Jeans- Target
Shoes- Ross
Necklace- Charming Charlie

Those are my looks.  Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @thriftywifehappylife for more quick outfit selfies and my latest blog post! 

Bloggers Brunch at Neiman Marcus

by Katie Haller

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a bloggers brunch hosted by Christie Moeller at Neiman Marcus here in Las Vegas.  It was such a treat for me to attend an event surrounded by so many talented and creative women.  I have to say that one of the major high lights for me was sampling some of the latest beauty launches for fall at Neiman Marcus.  We sampled luxury brands such as Jo Malone, Clive Christian, Fresh, Tom Ford, and Kevyn Aucoin.  I may be the Thrifty Wife, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a soft spot for the finer things.  I even won a $100 gift card to Neiman Marcus!!

Here are just a couple pictures that I took from the morning.

These are just a few of the fabulous table displays.
Me and my friend and co-worker, Lori. Her Instagram page @stylewithlori is a great place to find great style inspiration.
The goodie bag I came home with.  I can’t wait to try out all my new samples!

For me, one of the best parts of the brunch was having the opportunity to mingle with the other bloggers from Las Vegas.  It was such a privilege for me to meet so many other talented bloggers.  One thing that I love about blogging is that there is this awesome blogging community that is out there.  It was nice to have an event where the small community of bloggers who exist here in Las Vegas can meet and support each other.

I started this little blog over 3 years ago and I’ve never thought of it as more than just a hobby.  It’s just a place for me to share my interests and passions with others.  As you get older in life, your friendships change.  With careers, husbands, and babies it gets harder to keep in touch with the people you have the most in common with.  I love that I have this space to communicate with my friends and family.  Even more, it’s exciting that I get to share my interests and ideas with new readers who come across my blog.  I just love having this creative outlet to share with all of you.

  Honestly, I’m honored that anyone actually reads my blog.  Every time I get a repin on Pinterest or a new follower on Instagram or a like on Facebook, I’m so flattered.  I learn a little more about blogging each day.  Even though life gets busy with work and my family, I know that I always have my blog to turn to as my own space.  Thank you to everyone who has supported me and read my posts over the years.  I love hearing from you and I’m so grateful for everything!  I hope that you continue to stay with me and keep following me to find out what I’m up to next.

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