Glow baby glow

So note to self, don't photograph a yellowish based outfit in a room that has a yellow tint in the walls! Oops. Oh well. I'm just glowing today I guess!

I'm back at it after a nice mid-week day off to go to the MN State Fair. The Pants Monkey and I had a lovely time there yesterday! I was home early enough to get a haircut too, which was a good thing because the Pants Monkey said I was starting to look like Justin Bieber. Thanks babe. Anyway, it's all cleaned up and spiffy now!

My gaucho pants return again today! It's sort of cool outside, but also sort of humid. Tough weather to dress for. Tomorrow I hear 90's are coming back. Woo hoo. I'm in the minority I am sure but I am just so ready for the cool weather! I'm getting bored with my "summer" wardrobe! It happens I guess! Going to be going "thrifting" with a good friend on Monday as all the thrift stores around here have awesome Labor Day sales! I can't wait for that, hoping for some fun new pieces to transition to fall!

Today's rundown:

Shirt: J. Jill (thrifted)

Gaucho pants: East 5th Avenue (Thrifted)

Sandals: Marshalls

Bracelet: Stella and Dot

Pants party

Back to Monday again! I made the happy discovery today though that I have three short weeks in a row due to various things. This week it is because I am off tomorrow to go to the MN State Fair with the Pants Monkey. We're excited about that.

Speaking of pants...I love skirts, I really do. And this summer I have made it a point to wear skirts just about every day. Some days a skirt was the only thing that was comfortable in the extreme heat and humidity we had. But right now, I'm getting a little sick of skirts. It is warmish out this week, but I just had to bust out some pants. I kept my outfit still a bit summery with a tank top and sandals. It's a nice change of pace for today!

The rundown:

Tank top - Banana Republic (thrifted)

Pants - Worthington (JcPenney)

Sandals - Issac Mizrahi for Target (thrifted)

Necklace - unknown from teen years

Bracelet and watch - Butterfly Boutique

Easy like a Sunday morning

I love relaxing and casual Sundays, but I still like to be somewhat stylish! We have a picnic with some members of the Pants Monkey's family later today and I decided this outfit would be perfect, though I hope the sun comes out, it's a bit cloudy at the moment!

The rundown:
Under tank cami - Old Navy
Tank top - Maurices
Jeans - Free People (thrifted)
Necklace - Butterfly Boutique

Brunch with friends

I met up with a couple of college friends on Saturday morning. One of them is getting married at the end of September and leaving Minnesota, so we had to go to one of our old college haunts, The Copper Dome in St. Paul one more time. Even though it's a very relaxed atmosphere there, I spiced up my outfit just a little bit with my new necklace and broach from Stella and Dot!

The rundown:
Shirt: Maurices
Jeans: Old Navy
Necklace set: La Coco collection from Stella and Dot
Sandals: DSW
Bracelet and watch: Butterfly Boutique

Visual FBFF 8-26-11

Every other Friday, FBFF changes it up and does a Visual FBFF. This week it is being hosted by Ashley of Ashley Getting Dressed. She asked us to photograph our favorite clothing item, getting up close and getting more detail that is sometimes missed in a daily outfit post. I chose my favorite Coach purse.



It's a nice size, I would call it "medium". It fits well under my arm and can also be easily carried by hand if that is what I prefer. And it fits most all of my items. Not too heavy which is important to me as I sometimes have upper back and neck problems.

I like the patchwork pattern. I am a sucker for patterns - I adore plaids, argyle, stripes, polka dots, etc. Patchwork to me kind of fits in with the pattern them that I adore. What I love about this particular patchworking is that it is mostly denim, so it gives kind of a nice casual every day feel. Yet, it has a few spots that are shimmery and sparkly making it feel a little more special and fun.

I also like the fact that the hardware is silver - I am a big silver person, though I'm trying to get more into gold, but my wedding ring is white gold, so I tend to just gravitate towards things that are silver in color. I also appreciate that seeing as I got this off of Ebay, it had the "Coach" tag in tact. I have looked up my serial number as well and I know that this is an authentic "Carly" bag.

I like the top of this with the classic "C"s. The zipper is nice as well. It's in great shape and I prefer bags that have a zipper closure. I have a few that just snap or are "magnetic" and sometimes get paranoid with those kind that someone might be able to easily get inside of my bag while I'm walking in the mall or something.

As I said before, it has plenty of room and then some for all of my stuff. Though I'm trying to not carry as much with me at one time, I am trying to get by on just a few essentials.

Overall I just adore this bag and even though I have said before I think I have "Purse ADD" where I have a hard time carrying the same bag for more than few days at a time, I come back to this one frequently. It is a fun bag and yet is very practical. And I mentioned one other day when I had photographed this one in my out of the day post, that I get more compliments on this purse from MEN. Kind of funny!

To join in on the Visual FBFF fun, visit Ashley Getting Dressed. For regular FBFF visit Katy at Modly Chic.

Owl be seeing you

I adore this shirt that I thrifted that has Owls on it. My two favorite birds are Owls and Penguins and I have a number of items that relate to each. And it's casual Friday so it felt like a good reason to bust out this shirt.

Back to my favorite Coach purse and it will be highlighted in a separate post today for Visual Fashion Beauty Friend Friday. Stay tuned for that.

Pretty tired today, I did a 5k last night and it took awhile to fall asleep afterward and I'm a bit sore today. I'm sure you can see it in my eyes in the pictures. I'm wiped. TGIF, I can recover this weekend!

Today's rundown:

Owl shirt - Energie (Thrifted)

Jeans - LOFT (Thrifed)

Watch and bracelet - Charming Charlie

Purse - Coach (Ebay)

Getting there

The Pants Monkey helped me create kind of an "in home studio" last night. We're getting closer to getting better picture results again! Always learning, always room to improve!

Today I'm wearing a dress that is a bit of a staple for me in the summer. I added this little cardigan though and gave it a whole new look - I have never tried this combo before and I like it. The colors definitely are making me think of Fall and seeing that today is the first day of the MN State Fair, we are definitely getting to summer's end.

The rundown:

Cardigan - Decree from JcPenney

Dress - Unknown brand (cut the tag out) purchased new from Ragstock

Necklace - DIY by me

Bracelet - Stella and Dot

Technical difficulties

I'm struggling with my camera again. Both yesterday and today they simply have not turned out. It's a bit frustrating, but fortunately the Pants Monkey has agreed to work on it with me this evening, so I hope to have more pictures up again soon. In the meantime, I hope everyone is having a good week so far! It seems to be going by quickly, which is not a bad thing in my opinion!

Monday, monday

It's Monday again? Man. Sometimes the weekends just fly right on by don't they? I had a good one. The Stella and Dot party I was kind of lamenting about last week? Well I had so much fun and fell in love with the new collection so much that I decided to host my own show. Yep I am a sucker. Kidding. I did this all on my own, the consultant didn't even push for it, I just decided I'd love some pretty new things and figured, it can be a super early birthday present for myself, because while I dread turning 30 in November, I kind of want to do it up big. I'll be hosting my party in early September and I'm pretty excited.

Other than that I had a wonderful date night with the Pants Monkey and we brewed some more of our home brew beer on Sunday, so those things were lots of fun! I hope you all had good weekends too!

Today I am wearing one of my favorite skirts again along with a sweater that hasn't seen the light of day much this summer. I have had it a couple of years now and it's had some fading, so I don't know how much longer it'll be around, but it worked for today!

The rundown:

Sweater: It's Our Time (Herbergers)

Cami: Old Navy

Skirt: Old Navy

Sandals: Thrifted

Watch: Butterfly Boutique

Necklace: Premier Jewelry

Bracelet: Thrifted

Friday Outfit post

Gasp! A new backdrop? In my quest to make my blog "pop" more and continuing to improve my pictures, I have decided to really make an effort to do my pictures at home. More options and really, it's the way it should be. Working on some other changes/improvements to the blog as well so stay tuned for those.

So it's Friday, hurray! And hello, what's this? One of my finds from the Cliche sale that hasn't made an appearance here yet? Gasp! I have actually worn this shirt a couple of times this summer, but it was on days I wasn't planning to do an outfit post apparently! Anyway, it was warm and humid when we went on our morning run early today, so I dressed for a warm and humid day - though it's a bit chilly in the office today! Oh well! It's getting to the time of year that is hard to dress for sometimes.

Today's Rundown:

Gray tank - Old Navy

Floral Tank - Cliche

Skirt - Ann Taylor LOFT (thrifted)

Sandals - Marshalls

Necklace - Premier Jewelry

Watch - Mudd from Kohl's

FBFF: Dreams

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." - Eleanor Roosevelt

So today's Fashion Beauty Friend Friday is about Dreams. I am embarrassed that this topic is actually a tough one for me to blog about, but it's still thought provoking and I think I came up with some answers!

1. Fess up - if you could do anything professionally what would it be? I am such a huge nerd, but I would work in a library. I had a part time job in a library while I was in college and to date it was my favorite job I've ever had.

2. What draws you to this? I like helping people, I like reading books and learning new things and I think libraries are such a valuable resource. Plus I would love dressing all "Marion the Librarian" like - plaids and wool and all that? Right up my alley!!

3. When did you first start dreaming about this ideal? While I was still in college and had the part time job in a library! Although when I was really little I used to say I wanted to be a librarian too.

4. What's holding you back from going all in? Having to go to school for a library science masters degree and also the fact that it is a very tough field to break into as most library employees keep their jobs until they die. Plus I watched my mother-in-law struggle to break into library work once she had her degree and it has kind of scared me from pursuing it.

5. Sometimes the first step is the hardest... what's one step you can take now on the way to realizing your dream? Either look into going back to school or possibly seeing if there are any library jobs available that don't require a degree, which so far I haven't found! Maybe someday!

For more on FBFF visit Modly Chic.

Slight lack of inspiration

You ever have one of those days? Honestly I'm having one of those weeks. I like my outfit today, don't get me wrong, but I kind of lacked inspiration this morning. I am actually tired of skirts (gasp!) so I just had to do something different today. I still adore these capri pants, so they are doing the trick. This is another outfit that I feel is made better by my accessories too. Fortunately, tomorrow is Friday and the week will be over and next week will hopefully be better! This weekend I get to go to a jewelry party, which I am excited about, but at the same time, it's one of the more expensive in-home jewelry parties, Stella and Dot. I think I'll have to choose just one pretty new thing and that will be it!

Today's Rundown:

Tank - Arizona Jean Co. from JcPenney

Shrug - Old Navy

Capri pants - Mossimo for Target (thrifted)

Sandals - Thrifted

Bracelet and watch - Charming Charlie

Necklace - Butterfly Boutique

Closet discoveries

I realized today I had an item in my closet that I bought at the beginning of the summer and sort of wore once so far. I wore it to the outdoor concert that turned into a total washout and it was pretty much covered by my rain jacket the entire time! So, I had to pull it out today! It's still plenty warm outside, but I know the summer is winding down and it won't be long before long sleeves are the norm again!

Today's rundown:

Shrug - Maurices

Cami - Aerie by American Eagle Outfitters

Skirt - Ann Taylor (Thrifted)

Sandals - Tommy Hilfiger (DSW)

Necklace - DIY by me

Bracelet - Gift

Earrings - Butterfly Boutique

Watch - Mudd from Kohl's

Blue skies

A very "blue" outfit today! It matches the lovely blue skies outside - though I hear we might get storms later today. Going to be warm out there again too, summer isn't over yet!

I switched to what is probably my favorite purse ever and the first Coach bag I ever bought. I got it off of Ebay and it was a special treat for my birthday a couple of years ago. It is a super fun bag and I adore it. Funny story too, I get more compliments from men on this bag! Guess they have good taste!

The rundown:

Shirt - Antilta Femme (thrifted, originally from Macy's)

Skirt - American Eagle Outfitters

Sandals - DSW

Bracelet - Charming Charlie

Watch - Butterfly Boutique

Bag - Coach (Ebay)

Pink-a-dink-a-doo

Just like that it's Monday again! This particular Monday actually feels like a break to me, we had a busy weekend with a family reunion and a bunch of stuff with our music group. You can see in the third picture today in fact that I'm looking a bit wiped. I feel it. Next weekend we get to rest and I'm very much looking forward to that.

And no surprise, I'm wearing pink again today! Didn't I just say how much I love pink? Anyway, I adore this skirt - it is one of the few I have in my closet that I can wear year round. In the winter I can pair it up with tights, flats or boots and a nice sweater. But for today, it's still summer, so I put this ensemble together and was pleased. I even had a compliment on the skirt already today!

The rundown:

Shirt - Nine & Co (thrifted)

Skirt - INC Concepts (thrifted)

Sandals - Issac Mizrahi (thrifted)

Watch - Butterfly Boutique

Necklace - unknown

Friday Tie Dye

We've made it to Friday again! These days go by so fast sometimes. And other days seem slow. But at any rate, we made it.

First off, yep, that's right, you get a booty shot today. I wanted to show the back pockets on these jeans, so I chose to let you see my back end for a change. I like this shirt, it's sort of Tie Dye feeling. No I did not do it myself - though I used to do tie dye when I was a kid. Kind of during that first resurgence of "hippie" style back in the 90's. Overall a simple, but comfortable outfit today for Casual Friday.

The rundown:
Shirt: Thakoon for Target (thrifted)

Jeans: Kut from Cliche

Sandals: DSW

Bracelet: Charming Charlie

Earrings: Target

Watch: Gift

Channeling fall and a challenge

The last time I wore this dress it was rainy and miserable outside. Today it is sunny and glorious! I woke up in a slightly bad mood, but have decided to put it behind me and embrace the wonderful day outside! This outfit has certainly put me in a better mood, it is nice and cheery. I also think I'm channeling Fall just a bit today in the color choices, but that is ok, we're getting closer to that time of the year! And isn't my Charming Charlie necklace fun?

The purse you see is a treat - I've talked at length about Clothes Mentor and I love that they have an awesome "punch card" program. When you have your card all filled up (I think it's after you've spent $150) you can take 20% off your purchase and this includes designer items. And they had this lovely Coach bag and I do love me some Coach! I'm proud to say I still have never paid full price for a Coach item. Sure this has been used, but I think of it as being a little bit loved before it was passed on. And now I can love it. This is going to be a great bag for fall.

I have purse ADD, I can admit that. So, after purchasing this last night I have decided to challenge myself to something - no more purse purchases before the end of the year. Thrifted or not. Yep, you heard me! I can use any of the purses that I currently own, but no more new purchases. We'll see how it goes, wish me luck!

Today's Rundown:

Sweater: Old Navy

Dress: Gap (thrifted)

Sandals: Target

Necklace: Charming Charlie

Bag: Coach (thrifted)