Sweater love

Hola friends!  Just like that we're halfway through the week already!  Not half bad, I thought the week would drag after last week being so short!

Thank to all who left such sweet comments on my post yesterday - I guess my pictures weren't as bad as I thought! We're our own worst critics sometimes aren't we?

So today I felt like a cozy sweater again. So I chose this very simple green one.  I'm getting all my colors out of my system this week because next week I'm doing Megan Mae and Keely's Fashion Challenge - Neutrals!  So this week, I am trying to wear colorful things and saving my less colorful things for next week!

This is a sweater I've had in my closet awhile, but it is still in great shape and fits well.  And I love how it matches my green striped pants.

And hey, with the Christmas wreath in the background of my office here, doesn't it just put you in the Christmas spirit?  The countdown is on!

Rundown:

Sweater - Karen Scott, Macy's

Pants - Alfani, Macy's

Shoes - Mudd, Kohls

Jewelry - Butterfly Boutique

What's up with that face

Man, today is one of those days I almost thought of cropping my face out of the pictures - I honestly do not know what is up with my smile in a couple of these.  I am really not in a bad mood!  I think I must be tired today.

So here is another birthday goodie - I wanted to replace a gold sweater I used to have, so this one from JCPenney fits the bill.  It is soooooo soft and comfy!  I love it!

These pants change color in the light - the line in them can look turquoise or pink or gold - I have always most liked pairing something in the gold family with these pants, though I'm going to try experimenting more this year.

Yeah, seriously what is up with my face in this picture?  Seriously! Makes me think of a scene from the movie Father of the Bride II, when they are driving to the hospital and George is on sleeping pills with his face on the window of the car and the gang bangers are like "hey man, what's up with that face?"  Oh well.  The outfit looks good at least!  I love this necklace I got at Charming Charlie on clearance.  CLEARANCE.  Clearance at Charming Charlie is like "why don't you just pay me to take it away." No joke.  But anyway.  It works!

And yep, definitely tired today, cause I just can't think of anything else witty to say.  Have a great day!

Rundown:

T-shirt - Mossimo, Target (they still have them and they're crazy affordable if you need to stock up!)

Sweater - St. John's Bay, JCPenney

Pants - StarCity, Juniors dept at Herbergers (several seasons old)

Shoes - Mudd (handed down from mom)

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Earrings - Stella and Dot

Pretty new things

So I have to show off a few of my birthday gifts!  I got a couple of fun new tops and the best thing ever - a red purse!!!  So excited to finally have a red purse!

Both shirts are the Decree brand from JCPenney - it is in the Juniors department and yes, I did just turn 30, but I find a lot of the items from this brand fit me well and I don't think are too "young" for me.  I will admit to retiring from a couple of stores now that I am 30 (I'm looking at you Aeropostale, sorry) but I think if it fits good and it looks good, it's not that big of a deal if it still comes from the Juniors section!  My mom knows my style so well and did a great job finding me some pretty new things!

My only regret is that I am not wearing darker tights - like brown ones - but I had a snag in the only pair I had and I have yet to replace them, so I should probably do that one of these days. Otherwise I really like this with the brown skirt and boots.

And finally here is my beautiful new purse!

She's roomy and she matches my coat, so I'm a happy camper!

Rundown:

Shirts - Decree, JCPenney (gift)

Skirt - Old Navy

Tights - Target

Boots - Target back in the day

Purse - Nine West (gift)

Inspiration Monday - Dressy Denim

Uffda, anyone else suffering from "Monday morning tough to come back to work after a long holiday weekend fatigue?"  I don't even have "the blues" so to speak, but it was tough to get up and get going today!  The weekend was just so wonderful, but then again, when you have two birthdays to celebrate in addition to Thanksgiving, that is bound to be the case!  The most exciting thing about my weekend?  I bought an iPhone yesterday.  I can't wait until it arrives!

Enough about all that though - it's Inspiration Monday!  This week's photo is the lovely Jessica Alba seen below here in a dressy denim looking shirt and dark jeans.  I was excited because I pretty much had the pieces necessary to try and "copy" this outfit!

Isn't her daughter adorable too? (If that is her daughter, which I assume it is?)  A good friend of mine from college is due at the end of the month with her first girl and I can't wait to shower her with pretty girly things.  Anyway, here's my interpretation of the outfit - worn yesterday to decorate my house and go iPhone shopping.

You'll notice my kitty is "photo bombing" a bit.  That's little Miss Taylor, she was kind of being my shadow yesterday, which is funny because the Pants Monkey is usually her favorite human in the house.

I've had this shirt a couple of years now actually, and typically wear it to work and dress it up more, so it was fun to try something in a more casual manner with it!  I like the look and the scarf helped keep me plenty warm!

Happy Monday and return to the grind!

Rundown:

Button shirt - Charter Club, Macy's

Cami - Old Navy

Jeans - Maurices

Shoes - Naturalizer handed down from mom

Scarf - Charming Charlie

Earrings - F21

For more Inspiration Monday outfits or to add your own, visit the lovely ladies at Two Birds!  And MN folks, don't forget their Holiday workshop is this weekend - I'm planning on checking it out!

It's time to meet the Muppets

So it's my birthday - I'm 30 today!  Woo hoo!  And as a huge Muppet fan, it is only right to go see the new movie in theatres today with my family.  And it was only right to put together the ultimate Muppet fan outfit, so here it is:

I actually have met the guy that designed this Kermit shirt from Threadless, he is an extremely talented artist and this shirt was the runner-up in a big "Design a Muppet t-shirt" contest that they had this summer.  I'm proud to wear this shirt!

I got the Kermit bag years ago - it's not super great as a purse, more often I put things like crafts in it to take to someone's house, but for this movie, it felt right to use it as a bag.

Been a busy weekend so far for me, tomorrow is my husband's birthday as well.  I hope to catch up on all your blogs soon.  I'm sorry to miss FBFF this week, but I hope to be back to it next week.  I'm excited to be joining up with Megan Mae and Keely (and thanks to her I won a $50 Maurices gift card!) for a Fashion Challenge week in December!  Fun things ahead on the blog for sure!

Rundown:
Long sleeve T - Mossimo, Target
T-shirt - Threadless.com
Jeans - Lucky Brand (thrifted from Plato's Closet)
Bag - Online, likely Ebay

Giving Thanks

We were beyond blessed yesterday with warm weather here in MN for Thanksgiving. I was amazed!  And because I knew it would be warm at my in-laws house, I dressed for comfort, but with style!

I received a lot of compliments on my sweater.  It was perfect, not too warm and the orange seemed like a nice Thanksgiving day color.

Added some of my favorite accessories from Stella and Dot and I was more or less good to go!

I decided in the end I preferred the sweater unbuttoned.  I'm glad I wore some comfy jeans too, since we had plenty of food!

Hope all you US folks had wonderful Thanksgivings!  I'm thankful for all of you who take the time to read, it means the world to me!

Rundown:
T-shirt - Maurices
Sweater: Zashi (handed down from cousin)
Jeans - Old Navy
Accessories - Stella and Dot
Shoes - DSW

Who's that girl?

Anyone watching "The New Girl" on Fox?  Something about my outfit today is making me feel sort of Zooey Deschanel and I don't know why other than the pants maybe.

If you've been following my blog awhile you've seen these pants a couple of times before, one of my new favorite finds from an early thrift store trip in September.  Anyway, they strike me as something Zooey would wear or at the very least her character on the show, Jess, would wear, because they are funky and fun.  And I have decided they make me look a little taller which I love.

And maybe it's the bright colored shirt that has me thinking her as well, she's pretty bright and bubbly when you think about it!  Though now that I think about it, she mostly wears skirts and dresses on that show.  Oh well.

Who's that girl?  It's Beth! (my attempt at being like "The New Girl")

Maybe I'm just in a silly mood today because it is my Friday!  You just can't beat a short work week!  I'm really looking forward to the long weekend ahead of me and I am ready to dive into the holiday season.  I will let you all in on a secret - this is my very favorite time of year.  I embrace it and welcome it with open arms!

I'll be sporadically posting over the holiday weekend, but if I don't come back before Thanksgiving, I would like to wish all of you here in the US a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Rundown:

T-shirt - Old Navy

Sweater - Mossimo from Target

Pants - New Boundaries (thrifted from Unique Thrift Store)

Shoes - Sonoma from Kohls

Necklace - jerseymaids on Etsy

Bonus Monday post

I wore my "Inspiration Monday" outfit on Saturday. I still liked the outfit I actually have on today, especially when the Pants Monkey complimented me this morning, so you get a bonus outfit post today.

Very basic, simple look today, but nothing wrong with that!

All of these pieces have been in my wardrobe for several seasons now and I love that they've all held up well over time.  

This might be the last year for these shoes however.  They're like a boot, I love them because they are warm and look nice with dress pants or jeans, but harsh MN snowy winters have taken a toll, so I'm sure they won't be around much after this year.

All and all a nice look for work and not bad for a Monday.  I only work for two days this week, today and tomorrow, so I only have to get really dressed up twice this week.  Though I plan to put together a nice outfit for Thanksgiving and I already have my birthday outfit planned out too for Friday!

Rundown:

Sweater - JJ Basics (juniors dept at Herbergers)

T-shirt - Herbergers

Pants - Studio Y from Maurices

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Shoes - SO from Kohls

Inspiration Monday - Wide stripes

It's Monday again!  And I'm linking up with the lovely ladies of Two Birds once again for Inspiration Monday.  This week's inspiration is Olivia Munn seen below:

She's lovely.  I didn't copy this look 100%, but when I was shopping with my friend on our day off last Thursday, I found a shirt that I thought was similar, but more to my taste.  And it was the perfect choice to wear out to dinner on Saturday night with the Pants Monkey for our early birthday celebration.  We went to Moscow on the Hill in St. Paul - fabulous food and vodka bar, if you live in MN you should make the trip over there.  Anyway, here is my interpretation:

This shirt from Forever 21 was a steal, so I didn't feel bad buying it, and it was the first day of my no longer being on a shopping ban, so I thought I deserved a treat.  Between this and the necklace you saw on Friday, I spent just around $20, so not bad at all.

I love the lace detail on this shirt.  Definitely need a little something under it because it's pretty see-through, but I have plenty of camis and t-shirts that should more or less fit the bill for that!

Added some simple black pants, shoes and jewelry and I was good to go!  I think the Pants Monkey liked it too. :)  

Head over to Two Birds to check out other blogger's interpretations of this look!  Also, if you are a local reader, check out details on the Two Birds blog for their next Vintage sale coming up the first weekend in December.  I was on my "ban" during their last sale, but this time I plan to check it out!

Have a great day!

Rundown:

Shirt - F21

Cami underneath - Old Navy

Pants - Style and Co. from Macy's

Necklace - gift from the Pants Monkey

Earrings and bag - Butterfly Boutique

Shoes - SO from Kohls

Photos by the Pants Monkey

Friday outfit post

I wanted to do an outfit post today, but wanted to keep it separate from this week's FBFF topic, since that one is all about giving thanks.

I had a great day off yesterday with my friend, we got our CDs after freezing in the cold for a bit.  We walked around the mall and had lunch out.  I was a good girl while shopping too and while I did treat myself to a couple of small things now that the "shopping ban" is over, I didn't go overboard.

The only new thing I have on today is the necklace.  I got it yesterday at Forever 21 and it was the deal of the century - $2.80!  Crazy!  

Going to be a nice day out today so I went for simple layers.  Tomorrow I hear snow is in the forecast.  Hopefully it won't be too bad, the Pants Monkey and I are going out to have an early birthday celebration just the two of us.  

Isn't the owl cute?  I still can't believe I got him for such a good deal.  This is possibly my new favorite thing ever.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Rundown:

T-shirt: "My Favorite Tee" purchased at Herbergers

Sweater: Old Navy

Jeans: LOFT thrifted from Clothes Mentor

Necklace: Forever 21

Shoes: DSW

FBFF - What we're thankful for

I love that today's Fashion Beauty Friend Friday is about recognizing what we're thankful for.  I have always felt that Thanksgiving gets no love, being overshadowed by Halloween before it and Christmas right after it.  So I want to stand up and shout my blessings because I have quite a few!

I am thankful for:

~The Pants Monkey: five years of marriage, 13 years together and every day is a new adventure.  He's my rock and he makes me feel beautiful and special every day even if I'm just in sweats and a t-shirt.

The Pants Monkey and I earlier this year (pre-Lasik)

~The fashion blogging community: I took a risk and started this blog this year and I never imagined I'd have people reading along and even being impressed by my style.  I am having so much fun and am so glad I decided to do this!  Huge thanks to all who stop by here and leave comments.  It's been so fun meeting all of you and I'm looking forward to what's to come!

~My family and friends: they support me and lift me up when I need it most and I would be nothing without them!

~New sight: Having Lasik eye surgery earlier this year and the amazing difference it made in my sight.  Not having glasses or contacts anymore is awesome.  And the fact that the Pants Monkey did it as well and the amazing results he had too.

~Muppets: Big huge Muppet fan here and the fact that they have a movie on the big screen for the first time in years is a gift to me.  I cannot wait to see the movie next week.

~My cats!  I have two of the most affectionate and sweet cats around.  They make me smile every day.

Taylor and Pippin, my furry loves

~Music: The ability to make music with our Christian group and the fact that it's something the Pants Monkey and I are able to do together.

~Coffee: I don't think I have a horrible addiction, but I do like starting my day with my cup!  It makes mornings easier.

~The fact that we completed a 5K this year: Might not have ran the whole time, but we still did it.

~Overcoming fears: I have an irrational fear of loud noises, but the Pants Monkey helped me start to overcome it finally, and we took a gun class together and I even fired a gun.  I am proud of the fact that I was able to do this!

~Acceptance: I wasn't looking forward to the big 3-0 that much until this month.  I am not sure what changed, but I have come to terms with it and am even looking forward to it!

~Easy to deal with hair: I love my short haircut every single day.  I don't think I'll ever go back to anything longer.

~A roof over my head, a job to come to each day, food on the table: I know that there are many in this world who don't have those things and I most certainly do not take them for granted.

I could go on and on if I wanted to but we'd be here all day.  Still, it is very important to take the time to step back and look at the many gifts we're given in life!  I'm curious to read others responses as well!

If you'd like to see what others are thankful for, or to join up with FBFF, visit Katy at Modly Chic.

Brisk

So it has finally gotten cold outside, much more like what we're used to for November here in MN anyway! I am one of those weird ones who don't mind cold weather too much, especially when we're not yet digging out from 12 inches of snow.  Anyway, since it was colder today, I went for a blazer.  I thought of doing a sweater, but then I thought this would be just as warm.

I have actually had this blazer for all five years I've been in a "professional" environment.  See, I started my career as a youth minister right out of college, but after two years decided it wasn't my thing and headed into office work.  As a youth minister I wore jeans and sweatshirts to work pretty much since I was just with kids, so when I got an office job, my parents helped me buy some what my mom called "grown up" clothes, and this blazer was one of them.  It's classic, has held up nicely over the years, especially when it is just from Target believe or not!

I do have to laugh, sometimes when I've worn it, co-workers have asked me if I had an interview scheduled or something because it is such a dressy look, and not one I do terribly often.  I've always responded, nope, just felt like wearing a blazer to wear a blazer!  I am hoping to wear this one more often again, it hasn't gotten as much use in the last couple of years.

I'm quite proud of myself today too because I styled my necklace in a different way than I've done before!  I wanted something not as long and almost more "bib" style to go with this outfit, which I don't really have, so I took my two La Coco strands from Stella and Dot and worked them into exactly what I was looking for!  I'm still not even sure how I did it, but I absolutely love the result.

Tomorrow there will not be an outfit post more than likely.  I am off of work to go with a friend of mine to stand in line in the morning for a copy of a CD that one of our local radio stations puts out every year.  It has live performances from various artists that they compile throughout the year and all the proceeds go to charity.  Only so many are made each year and then are sold at our area Target stores and they sell out FAST.  We get in line every year around 6:00 am and have never missed a copy!  So that is our plan for tomorrow and I'm pretty sure my attire will be layered sweats and a heavy jacket - not exactly blog worthy! It's going to be cold out there, but it is every year and we just dress for it!  It should be a fun day.

I'll be back on Friday!  Have a great day today and tomorrow everyone!

Rundown:

Blazer - Mossimo from Target (several years old)

Shell - Cinema Etoile (handed down from cousin)

Pants - Style and Co. from Macy's

Necklace - La Coco from Stella and Dot

Earrings - Charming Charlie

Shoes - Sonoma from Kohl's

It's easy being green

Lots of green today and lots of pictures today!  I'm getting increasingly excited by the day for the new Muppet movie coming out next week, especially with all the attention they are getting in the media at the moment (like a guest spot on Dancing with the Stars tonight!) and so in the spirit of my favorite green friend Kermit the Frog, I went for an all green outfit today.

It's going to be colder here in MN today so I thought corduroy pants would be nice and would keep me warmer.  I'm picky about corduroy - I prefer a thinner line as opposed to a thicker one.  I have had these green ones for several years now and they are just right.

I'm excited to pull out the bag I got up north at Thrifty Sisters again.  I have a plaid peacoat I wear when it gets cold outside and one of the lines is green, so this guy matches the coat nicely and matches my outfit today very nicely!

The finishing touch would be my lucky frog necklace from Butterfly Boutique.  At least Butterfly Boutique says it's lucky.  I don't know that anything terribly lucky has happened to me when I've worn it, but nothing terribly bad has happened either, so maybe that means it's working!

Maybe I overdid the green a bit, but over all I like the outfit.  The Pants Monkey even gave me input on my shoes today.  Sometimes I'm indecisive in the morning, what can I say?

Rundown:

Shirt - Alfani from Macy's

Pants - Old Navy

Shoes - SO thrifted from Clothes Mentor

Bag - Thrifty Sisters (Fun Sisters outlet store in Pequot Lakes, MN)

Necklace and earrings - Butterfly Boutique

Inspiration Monday

I started following a local blog, Two Birds, recently.  They do something fun called Inspiration Monday and I decided to play along this week!

Basically they give out a picture of an outfit the week before and then encourage bloggers to give their own take on the outfit.  So, this week is this picture of Kelly Ripa here:

She is entirely too goregous for her own good isn't she?  Anyway, at first I thought there was no way I would be able to come up with something for this outfit, but then inspiration struck - heh, guess that is the point of this exercise right?  Here is what I came up with:

It was warm on Saturday, so it seemed like a good time to try this out.  I had the perfect jeans and then I remembered this tank top I got from my cousin's bag of goodies awhile back.  When I bought the blazer I have on from Forever 21, they had it paired with a bright colored tank like this.  

The hardest part of recreating this look was in the scarf - I don't have a ton of scarves and the ones I have I usually use as head scarves.  I'm trying to get more into the scarf trend.  I have a hard time with tight things around my neck, but I think the right scarves tied loosely enough should work.  Anyway, I think this one did all right for me!

Topped it all off with my famed "suicide" shoes because while it was warm, I wasn't going to drag out sandals for one day.  I thought these looked nice enough though and similar to the sandals Kelly Ripa is wearing in her picture.

The Pants Monkey thought this made a pretty nice outfit actually, so I wore it out on our "date night" on Saturday.  How do you think I did?  For more Kelly Ripa inspired outfits or to add your own, visit the fabulous ladies at Two Birds.

Rundown:

Tank Top - Unknown handed down from cousin

Blazer - Forever 21

Jeans - Old Navy

Shoes - Steve Madden thrifted from Savers

Scarf - Target

Purse - Coach thrifted from Clothes Mentor

Bracelet - Charming Charlie

Earrings - Stella and Dot

Visual Friend Friday - To "makeup" or not to "makeup"

Today's Visual Fashion Beauty Friend Friday is being hosted by Franca of Oranges and Apples.  She asked us if we'd be so bold as to post pictures of ourselves not wearing makeup and to discuss our relationship with makeup.  So here goes nothing.  Me without makeup:

This is a brave move on my part, I'm not usually one to go without it these days.  And really, it's not that I feel I really, really need it, but I do not have nice skin.  I have a lot of blemishes and scars from old blemishes and also a touch of rosacea.  So I do what I can to kind of "hide" those things.  Honestly I don't think I look horribly, but I look pale and kind of tired.

I don't think I wear a TON of makeup and I try to keep it natural.  My staples are simple: Cover Girl Liquid Foundation, Cover Girl compact powder, various shades of eye shadows depending on what I'm wearing, Mascara and on the days the cheeks aren't too bad, a little blush.  Top it off with a shade of lip stick and that's that.  I don't do eye liner or lip liner.  I don't spend tons of money on my makeup either.  I wear what works and what keeps my skin from freaking out too much.

Here is the end result:

So really, I just try to use my makeup as an enhancement tool and a "cover up" for what isn't totally perfect.  I do not try to use it as a tool to hide behind (though it can really help me NOT look tired on days that I clearly am).  Can I go without it?  Sure.  Do I want to?  Not really.  Even on weekends or days I'm not planning to really be in public I try to wear a little bit.  I guess maybe I get that from my mom, she really doesn't go a day without wearing mascara.  I don't think I'm overly vein, I just feel more awake and alive with a splash of color.  I think keeping it simple is the key.

Here's a couple of pictures of my outfit today - 

I'm channeling 90's grunge a little bit with my flannel shirt.  It's casual Friday and my boss and I were going to be doing a little planting of some winter greenry at one of our clinics so I thought, this seems like an appropriate outfit!

It is definitely comfortable!  I like that the shirt is a little more fitted than the flannels we used to wear in 1992.  Gives it a more feminine and a more dressy feel.  I'm warm and cozy too!

To read more about others takes on makeup, visit Oranges and Apples.  For more information about Fashion Beauty Friend Friday or to join our Google group, visit Katy at Modly Chic.

Rundown:

Flannel and cami - Mossimo from Target

Jeans - Levis thrifted from Clothes Mentor

Necklace - Fun Sisters

Bracelet - Stella and Dot

Earrings - Butterfly Boutique