Holiday Sparkle

By Kristina Suko @eccentricowl

These heels are probably the closest I will ever get to owning a nude shoe. And as you can see, they’re not even nude. They’re gold and sparkly and deliciously glamorous and guys, I found them at the thrift store for $12. I can’t even express how excited I was. I don’t normally buy anything over about $7 if it’s not on a tag sale, and these heels were not on a tag sale, but when you come across unworn sparkly gold heels, you don’t leave them behind.

  

I haven’t really felt like taking outfit pictures lately, due to having some very not fun stuff come up in the last few weeks. I am pretty embarrassed to admit that I have terrible, terrible teeth, and we’re finally having to face the facts and fix all the cavities. Tomorrow, to top it off, one tooth is so far gone that I’ll have to have it extracted. I never talk about my teeth because it just embarrasses me that they are so bad, but there it is. I had a very large number of years in my teens/early twenties where I didn’t care about oral hygiene, and now even though I’ve turned myself around and taken good care of my teeth, our lack of funds and that big chunk of years has come back to bite me. So, we’re having a frugal Christmas due to the dental bills, and I’m trying hard to get the rest of my pile of vintage listed in my Etsy shop to help bring in what extra I can.

I think some lingering PPD has been hanging on in addition to that, plus this year not feeling very much like Christmas since I had to miss out on Christmas tree hunting — one of my favorite yearly traditions — and it’s just been a few days of feeling pretty down about things.

But things will turn around! I really like our dentist, after years of meeting dentists that I wasn’t too fond of for one reason or another (feeling judged for my teeth was a big one), and they’re incredibly kind at the office. We’ll be able to fix all my issues and not be broken with too much debt.

It’s the first time in my life that we will have debt, which is… odd. Up until now, we’ve been able to successfully pay most of our emergencies or large purchases (cars) up front with some careful saving, but dental work isn’t something we can really put off until we’ve saved enough to pay it all at once. So it’ll be a new learning experience for me, budgeting even more carefully and applying as much as I can towards paying off that chunk of money.

I debated even talking about it here, but I feel like… I don’t know, you guys know me. I like to keep it open and I always hope that by sharing my own ups and downs in life, I can encourage someone else that they aren’t alone. And I feel like everyone just has perfect teeth in this day and age, except me. So maybe I won’t be the only one, or maybe you’ll realize you aren’t the only one, and we can both be encouraged that having cavities doesn’t make us worse people. 😉

To talk about something much more fun, this month brings my Rocksbox blogging to an end – if I could afford to keep up the subscription past these complementary days I SO would, but even a meager $20 per month is a cost we have to cut for now. I have absolutely loved getting to work with Rocksbox and receiving boxes full of gorgeous jewelry in the mail a few times a month. The stylists there do such a great job choosing jewelry based on your wishlist (and they always send one of the items on your list!), and it’s so much fun getting to play with new pieces of jewelry every week or two!

All in all, I think Rocksbox is the best subscription I’ve ever done! The necklace, earrings, and ring in this post are all from my latest (and possibly last) box, and I decided to keep the ring and earrings. They are absolutely perfect! This necklace is also gorgeous, but it wasn’t quite practical enough with small kids for me to keep. Which is what I love about Rocksbox — you don’t have to keep jewelry that you might not wear all the time, but you can still play with it for a little while!

If you want to sign up for a free month while you still can, use the code eccentricowlblogxoxo and see how you like it! I highly, highly recommend them. And not just because I got to blog for them, but because after we can afford a few extras, I’m going to go subscribe again because I loved it that much.  And, happily, I got to keep the earrings and ring! I am super excited about that — I have worn the earrings and ring almost every day since I got this box!

Shirt, shoes, and belt, thrifted | jewelry all c/o Rocksbox | skirt c/o Cut and Chic Vintage

I hope your holiday season is going well! I am brainstorming a bit to figure out what to wear to a formal Christmas party this weekend. I thought about this dress, because it’s the most holiday-esque thing I own… but we’ll see. If it doesn’t go with these heels I might have to change my mind.

Happy Wednesday!

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