The Girl Next Door goes to Mall of America!!

(This photo was taken post-shopping if you're wondering why I look so exhausted, and by a girl from Nashville, Tennesse, how cool is that? Her accent was amazing!!)

Mall of America. The Holy Land. I didn't even know about the Mall until I'd already applied to study in Minnesota, but boy was that a nice surprise!! I'd been desperate to go for months and when Whitney asked me to go shopping, I jumped at the opportunity to come here.
First a few fun facts:

1. Even in the sub-zero temperatures of winter, the Mall Of America is not heated. With thousands of people inside the mall at any one time, the combined body heat keeps the air temperature at a comfortable 70 degrees.
2. The Mall Of America has its own Wedding Chapel, Police Station, High School and College.
3. With over 520 stores, it would take over 8 hours to visit every one, spending 1 minute in each store. (I'd actually heard it would take 80 hours if you went in every shop for 10 minutes. Maybe that works out the same?)
4. It has the largest enclosed area of any Mall in the United States
5. It could hold seven Yankee Stadiums or 32 Boeimg 747s. It has its own zip code.
6. It also has a huge theme park inside and an aquarium.

(said theme park!!)

Anyway, so as soon as we arrived we came across Forever 21. I'd been admiring F21 from afar for years. It seemed like Primark, but better, and I went wild when I found out they were building one in Birmingham!!
It was everything I'd expected and more.
I spent 2 hours and $200 in there, and queued up to pay four times. The only let down was there was only one changing room open in one huge store and only two till points open. I think I spent an least an hour queuing in there in total.
But this is what I bought...

Yes!! I finally bought a pair of shearling boots!! And these were only $30. I'd seen them online before I came and I'd fallen in love!! I can't wait to wear them with thick brown tights.

An excessive amount of tights and knee high socks for the winter. Probably not completely practical when we get below -30 but for now this is what I shall be wearing!!

The camel pair are from H&M and the black ones from F21. I sometimes find my black denim shorts are a little too...short and denim. They can look a little slutty. So I thought these ones would be great with a jumper. And camel, of course, the colour of the season!!

Three snuggly warm scarves!!

Two gorgeous cable knit jumpers- one red, one grey. Perfect just with leggings and boots!!

 I bought this dress to wear with these cowl-neck tops underneath. They're shorts-sleeved but I'll probably wear a long top underneath for extra layers. They look fab on their own too!! Although the white one is a bit see-through so I'm getting my mum to get me a long-sleeved white top for underneath!!

Then on to H&M. These were literally the only two shops I bought anything from, but I had a feeling that would be the case. In H&M I bought...

The camel shorts I showed you above, and this long-sleeved brown top. I originally tried these one with what looked like a gorgeous leopard-print cardigan but it just didn't look right. These shorts are going to be a bit of a challenge though!!

A simple grey jumper- I love grey at the moment so this was perfect and cheap. I also bought some grey leggings, which aren't especially exciting, and a long black cardigan.

We shopped for about 7 hours and then headed home. I had such a lovely day, although I wanted to get a new back for uni and I couldn't find anything I liked. Ah well!! I was also desperate for foundation and stopped at Walgreens on the way home. There were no testers so I just guessed (the colours are different here). Big mistake. I looked like an Oompa Loompa when I tried out my new foundation this morning!! My mum is sending me some tomorrow I hope!!

I'm excited that my winter wardrobe is coming together!! I'm just waiting for my pink winter coat and a few jumpers from home, and then my mum is getting me a long-sleeved white top for layering, a couple of jumpers and a cardigan, some thermals, a scarf and a hat and warm socks. I was going to get snow-boots yesterday but they're about $100. I may invest in some for the future, but I only have a 5 minute walk to uni (I can see it from my apartment!!) and I have plenty of pairs of boots!!

I'm excited to post my new outfits on here this week!! I loved Sian's outfit challenge and I'm thinking of maybe doing that for a while. It's hard to get time to take photos but I'd like to try to take one every day and then do full outfit posts when I get time. We shall see.

Well, I better get started on my midterm revision and my reading for the weekend!! My To-Do list for today is huge!!

Have a lovely Sunday,

Charlotte xxx