FBFF - Mix it up

I'm back for Fashion Beauty Friend Friday again! It's been a long time since I've taken the time to participate, but this week's topic intrigued me. It's all about wearing clothing more than than once or not. So, without further ado, on to the questions and my thoughts!

1. Are you a one-time wearer? Only on a couple of special occasion items such as my wedding dress or a couple of bridesmaids dresses. I even managed to wear my prom dresses twice back in the day, I re-used them for the annual formal my sorority held each year.

2. Do you feel the need to purchase something new for an evening out or a special event? It depends, some years I splurge on a new outfit for Christmas or I'll sometimes use someone's wedding as an excuse to get a new dress, but I try to buy things that I think I'll use again in the future if possible.

3. Re-mixing is something a lot of bloggers are proud of being able to accomplish - are you a re-mixing pro or do you shy away from posting items frequently? Why? I LOVE to re-mix. I started my blog as a way to encourage more re-mixing of my wardrobe in fact, because I used to pretty much cycle through the same outfits week and and week out and I was getting so bored with getting dressed for work. I have no problems wearing things on my blog again and again. I just can't justify buying something for a one time use unless it is for the type of special occasions I mentioned in question one. I'm very upfront with my readers when I am wearing something that I've worn multiple times too, not that I expect anyone to point fingers. I'm just not ashamed of having "Frequent flyers" so to speak.

4. Do you have a clothing budget or are you an impulse buyer? I used to be more of an impulse buyer but I'm really working on budgeting myself better. I'm in the middle of a shopping ban actually, I had some major car repairs and I'm saving for a new laptop so I needed to curb it for a bit. When I'm able to start again I'd like to set myself a monthly limit as I've seen some other bloggers do to help keep me from going overboard. Though I do a fair amount of thrift shopping, so I don't know that I've ever been terribly out of control, but I know I can do better. We have an older house that is in need of some pretty major TLC, so that's going to be my motivation!

5. Do you find yourself bored when reading a blog in which clothing items are often remixed and appear frequently? Nope! I find it to be very inspiring when items are remixed, it gives me more ideas to remix my own wardrobe! The more mixing the better I feel!!

For thoughts on remixing from other bloggers, visit Katy at Modly Chic.

Patterns

Hey guess what?  The shirt I have on today is ANOTHER shirt from my cousin!  Yeah, it's going to take awhile to share all the goodies I received, no joke.  But anyway, I decided to continue the pink vibe from earlier this week and chose this shirt for today.  One thing I love about my cousin's style - like me, she loves things with fun patterns!

Man I have been in a pants streak lately.  I won't lie, I am a wimp.  See, we were teased with that nice unseasonably warm weather a couple of weeks ago and it's cooler now and while it's still warmer than it should be, it feels colder to me and therefore I'm not risking bare legs!  At least I have some cute pants.  But I am excited to break out more skirts again!

Thinking of patterns this morning, I remembered a weird and trippy video by Weird Al that was used in a show from PBS called Square One TV that I used to watch as a kid.  I knew it was out on YouTube, so I brought it here for you all to enjoy.

Told ya it was trippy! On that note, I wish you all a wonderful day! Today is my Friday at work, but tomorrow I still plan to actually participate in FBFF for the first time in ages as the topic is very interesting.  Stay tuned for that!

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - Ann Taylor (from cousin)

Pants - Worthington (JCPenney)

Necklace - unknown from teen years

Shoes - Sonoma, Kohls

Bracelet - Butterfly Boutique

Earrings - Patina

I get by with a little help from my friends

Hola peeps!  You know what I love about my outfit today?  The only things I bought myself are my shoes and jewelry - everything else was either a gift or a hand me down from someone else!  The jacket I adore, it's another item from my cousin and it's so much fun - and the brand name is awesome - Positive Attitude.  How can you not love that??

The pants are from my sister-in-law and what I love about them is they have ribbon inside of them to help "cinch" a bit.  I'm sure other curvy girls get what I'm saying about the "gap" you get in pants sometimes at the back even when they fit everywhere else.  These help alleviate that issue.  They're from Athelta, I haven't tried anything from them before but now I kind of want to try some other stuff!  I like the color of these pants, they borderline almost a pale yellow, great for spring even if they are corduroy.

So I didn't get around to even half of your blogs yesterday, we lost network at work (yes I do read blogs periodically through my workday, I'm naughty) and then I had my eye appointment, which even though it was a year follow up to Lasik, it was a regular eye exam which means they dilated my eyes.  So then I couldn't really see for the rest of the day!  I have some catching up to do today!

I took this last picture to show off the detail on the jacket sleeves - the fun plaid pattern is so cute!  And you all know I love anything plaid!

Outfit rundown:

T-shirt - Old Navy (Christmas gift)

Jacket - Positive Attitude (from cousin)

Pants - Athleta (from sister-in-law)

Shoes - Steve Madden (thrifted)

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Bag O' Fun

Once again, thanks for all your kind words re: my cat.  I just love this little blogging community, seriously, means more than you can possibly know!

I decided to feature the first of my fun new things from my cousin's Bag O' Fun!  It's a fun and funky shirt from Christopher and Banks actually.  I haven't been in there in a very long time, it's always been kind of hit or miss.  It used to be one of my mom's favorite stores, but even she hasn't had as much luck there as of late.  At any rate, this shirt is fun and is a great material, it'll go a long way into the spring and maybe even the summer.

I promise this isn't another new handbag.  I told you I have a million purses.  There are still some that haven't been on the blog yet.  I have a problem.  And the first step is admitting I have a problem, right?  Anyway, this fun pink bag just spoke to me because of the bright pink flecks in the shirt.  And I usually pull this bag out in the spring, so it seemed like a good time to do it.

And the pictures just don't do justice again to this outfit, because the pants have a pink stripe in them, but that isn't showing up real nicely in the photos I took.  Oh well.  You believe me because I said that is what they look like, don't you?

Short day for me, get to leave early for my one year follow up to Lasik appointment.  Granted, last month was the actual one year "anniversary", they couldn't get me in until today.  It is still the best thing I have ever done in my life.  I highly recommend it!

Edited to add - linking up to Tammy from Silverstyle's Trending through the Decades for "Brights" - I think this handbag definitely qualifies!!

Outfit rundown:

T-shirt - Old Navy

Printed shirt - Christopher and Banks (from cousin)

Pants - Ann Taylor (thrifted)

Bag - Lillian's Shoppes

Shoes - Sonoma, Kohls

Inspiration Monday - Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da

So first and foremost, I want to thank you all for your kind words on Friday on my vague "got bad news" statement - it really helped me throughout that day more than you can know, you are all too sweet.  I couldn't say the words that day as what was wrong, but I can now.  My family had to put down our 19 year old cat Cleo on Friday morning.  She had a stroke on Thursday and so it was time.  And even though I haven't lived in my parents house for the last six years, it was still very sad.  It's much harder on my mom as Cleo was her constant companion for the last almost 20 years, but we went out for some retail therapy this weekend and she's doing a little better with each day so far.  It will be a process.  Anyway, you've all been so kind and I try to be as up front and honest as I can here, so I wanted to let you all know specifically what was going on.

Life goes on (Ob-la-di, ob-la-da - my apologies to the Beatles) and it's Inspiration Monday!  Our model is Emma Stone once again.  I think she's really adorable and really funny - she was too cute at the Oscars.

I chose to dress up her look a bit so it would be "work appropriate".  And it's chilly here in MN again, so a layered look was nice this morning!  It's also a bit rainy and yuck, so I'm in front of my pantry again!

Despite the events of Friday, we did manage to have a good weekend.  The Pants Monkey and I did go to the Hunger Games on Friday night - drop what you're doing and go see this movie, for real.  I do feel like we may have been the oldest people in the theatre, but we also chose a theatre that isn't far from the University of MN, so that may be part of it.  I didn't care though it was SO good!!  You don't even need to read the books to appreciate it I think.

Saturday I took my mom for the aforementioned retail therapy.  Even though I'm on a shopping ban, she's not!  We walked around the mall, she got some new sandals for summer that are super cute, we hit the Bath and Body Works and got some new scents there and she was nice and bought me a new shirt cause she's awesome like that.  We also visited my aunt who would be the mother of my "rich cousin" and I went through two bags of clothes she had for me and came away with enough stuff to take one bag home!  You'll see plenty of fun goodies soon from it.  And then my sweet sister-in-law gave me two pairs of pants that didn't end up working out for her that had the tags still on them!  I owe her like five drinks or something I swear.  So for someone who isn't shopping right now, I sure ended up with a few new things this weekend!

Phew, this has been a very wordy post today!  So I think I will now bid you adieu, and remind you to go visit the lovely ladies at two birds for more Inspiration Monday goodies.

Outfit rundown:

T-shirt - Mossimo, Target (old)

Jacket - Thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Pants - Style and Co, Macy's (old)

Necklace - Vintage Pearl (gift)

Shoes - Maurices (old)

Foggy Friday

Well we've made it to another Friday.  It was another yucky morning out, not only is it sort of rainy and misty again but now we're also adding fog to the mix.  Seriously gross weather.  Fortunately I have decided that the Ikea pantry is my new favorite indoor backdrop, so at least I have something!

I myself am in a bit of a fog today regardless of the weather.  Got some unpleasant news yesterday and then didn't end up sleeping the greatest.  I still think that the Pants Monkey and I will try to go see the movie tonight, but we'll see how I'm doing by the end of the day.  Right now I have coffee.  Mmm, coffee.

It's the final day for the Super Stripes challenge!  I went for a very bold stripe look today.  I love this shirt, it's appropriate for work and fun enough for a date night too.  I had a lot of fun with the stripes this week, I own so many striped pieces of clothing that I could probably keep this going another week easily!  Thanks again to Megan Mae and Keely for hosting this fun week!  Visit the main participant post on Megan's blog here to see other bloggers showing off their stripes!

Hope you all have wonderful weekends!

Outfit rundown:

Cami - Mossimo, Target

Shirt - F21

Jeans - Old Navy

Shoes - Payless (old)

Necklace - Butterfly Boutique

This and That

It's kind of wet and damp outside today, so I decided to do my pictures inside.  And show off my cute Ikea pantry apparently.  I have to say - the pantry is one of the best things we've bought for ourselves so far this year!  I never used to be an Ikea girl, but I've kind of been converted.

The adorable Kelley of Threads and Buttons wore a shirt tied at the waste a couple of weeks ago and ever since then I've wanted to style a shirt like that.  I used to wear them like this all the time when I was younger, but haven't in a really long time.  I like the look of it today, it's just a different way to style this shirt.  Plus, double the stripes again for the Stripes challenge!

I'm so jazzed it's almost the weekend already.  This week has kind of flown by.  I'm hoping to convince Mr. Monkey to go see a late night showing of The Hunger Games tomorrow night after our music group rehearsal.  I'm crazy excited for this movie and there's a smaller theatre not far from us that I've gone to late night showings before and it's never terribly busy.  Added bonus, it's right next to a pretty awesome bar that happens to have really great Happy Hour specials, so you go have a beer and then go watch your movie and it works pretty well.  So I'll have to see if I can convince my Pants Monkey that this is a good idea.  We will see how things go!  Anyone else super excited for this movie?

Outfit rundown:

Tank top - Old Navy

Button shirt - Mossimo, Target

Pants - Old Navy (old)

Necklace and bracelet - Stella and Dot

Shoes - Mudd via Kohls

Pile it on

I decided the more stripes the better today for day 3 of Super Stripes week.  So today I chose a striped t-shirt, a striped skirt and the same striped shoes from Monday.  I didn't go totally crazy, they are all in the same color family.  

I thought I had actually gotten rid of this skirt. I was wanting to wear it on Monday with the shirt I wore for Inspiration Monday but thought, nope, I sent that one down the line last fall.  Then I opened a box of spring/summer clothes last night and there it was.  The thing is, I've had this skirt for a million years, but apparently I just can't let it go!  Considering it's a Target skirt, I'm glad it's in as good of shape as it is!  Not to insult Target, I just find a lot of stuff from there breaks down a bit more easily than others.

Another cloudy and yuck day out there.  I miss the sun!  I'm glad it's not quite as warm as it was over the weekend, I kind of like to ease into that kind of weather, not just flip a switch and go.  It's still warmer outside than it should be, but this is easier to take for now!

Don't forget to check out the other Stripes participants over at Megan's blog!

Outfit rundown:

T-shirt - Maurices

Sweater - H&M, thrifted

Skirt - Target (very old)

Shoes - Rampage, DSW

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Happy Spring!

We wished winter farewell last night with thunderstorms - so very odd for March, but hey, this year it seems anything goes.  I loved it, I love a good storm as long as there is no serious damage or anything.  And as long as we're having an early spring, I want the rain to green and brighten everything up!  

So you knew I wouldn't let Super Stripes week go by without wearing my favorite striped Anthro pants!  It was so cloudy this morning though I couldn't quite get these pictures light enough for you to see they actually have stripes.  I was looking back through other posts and I have worn these pants so many times already since January 1st.  Hope you're all not sick of seeing them yet because I guarantee I'm not done with them yet!

I have liked wearing these pants with a red top the best so far, I think it really is a nice color contrast.  And no, I still haven't hemmed these pants even though I keep talking about it!

And this last picture is a repost from another day that I used to show off the buttons at that time, but today, it's to prove these pants really are striped, ha ha ha!

Don't forget to check out Megan Mae or Keely's blogs to find the links to other bloggers participating in the Super Stripes Challenge!

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - two birds vintage via b. (a resale shop)

Pants - thrifted Anthropologie

Shoes - Merona, Target, thrifted

Necklace - b. (a resale shop)

Earrings - F21

Inspiration Monday: Melancholia

Linking up all over the place today.  It's Inspiration Monday with two birds and it's also day one of Megan Mae and Keely's 2nd Annual Super Stripes challenge!

Here is the pick for this week's Inspiration Monday - the lovely Olivia Wilde.  I think she's pretty, but the Pants Monkey thinks her face is too "manish" which I think is kind of funny.

I didn't have a cool maxi dress or leather jacket like hers but I do have this awesome shirt that was another hand-me-down from "Rich Cousin" and it kind of made me think of this picture.  It's technically not striped, but I think it's close enough for jazz. And there are also stripes on my shoes!  My stripes will get better as the week goes on, though it would be a little easier if it was cooler outside.  I have a lot of striped winter clothing!

So want to watch a bizarre and depressing movie?  Rent the movie Melancholia.  The name pretty much says it all.  It was recommended to us because we like movies that are "arty" and this one is definitely "arty" and is very well done but, spoiler alert, it does not have a happy ending at all.  And we were already having kind of a downer weekend and chose to watch it last night - not the smartest thing we've ever done.   Thank goodness we had a few episodes of Up All Night to catch up on afterward.

The sun is out now, but it wasn't yet when I was taking my pictures and was kind of cloudy and yuck so the melancholy/blahness from the weekend is kind of carrying over to today.  But it's only Monday, doesn't mean the whole week will be like this.  Can only go up right?

For more Inspiration Monday outfits or to add your own, visit the two birds here.  For more Stripey goodness or to sign up check out Megan Mae's blog here.

Outfit rundown:

Dress as skirt - American Eagle Outfitters (old)

Shirt - Ann Taylor (hand me down)

Shoes - Rampage, DSW

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Time warp

Any Rocky Horror fans in the house?  "Let's do the time warp again!"  Seriously - it's March, but it sure doesn't feel like March!  You have to forgive me, I'm from Minnesota and talking about the weather is just what we do - I'm not complaining, but I am scratching my head.  75 F high today.  80 F high tomorrow?  On St. Patrick's Day?  It makes me wonder what we're in for this summer....not going to dwell too much though and just try to enjoy it while it lasts!

If you're newer to my blog then you aren't aware of the story that I have a cousin who is about the same size as me and is also a high powered executive at a pretty major corporation here in the Twin Cities, which means she buys NICE clothes. What does that have to do with me? Well, last fall, she sent a bag of "hand me downs" my way figuring I could probably use them for work. Isn't that nice of her? The top I have on today is one of the goodies I received.  My mom was talking to my aunt this week and my aunt said my cousin is getting ready to go through her closets again - so I should be expecting another bag of fun soon!  I say you are never too old for hand me downs!

I also don't think I've ever worn these jeans on the blog before, so I had to give you a booty shot because the pockets are fun!  I like it when jeans have a little something something on the back without being gaudy.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend - if you are heading out to celebrate St. Patty's Day, have fun and be safe!  We'll be potlucking and rehearsing with our music group, nothing too exciting!  Coming up next week on the blog - Super Stripes Week with Megan Mae and Keely!

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - Donna handed down from cousin

Jeans - Old Navy (thrifted)

Shoes - thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Necklace - Maurices

Bracelet - Bead for Life

Green Day

It's too bad that today wasn't EBEW because we're having a "Green Day" at work today.  Kind of an early St. Patty's Day celebration tying in with our fundraising efforts for the March of Dimes and the Heartwalk.  So, we're also having a potluck lunch and if you wear green, you get yours for free.  I happily chose a green shirt again today, like I said earlier this week, I'm a bit Irish so the more green the better!

We're also able to pay to wear jeans today, but I opted for a "jean skirt" to kind of cheat my way around that.  I'm so glad I picked up this Old Navy maxi skirt in a clearance sale last fall - since it seems maxi skirts will be popular again this year.  This skirt is so freaking comfortable, I love it.  I also love that it almost has a vintage feel to it without actually being vintage!

And finally, just for fun, I thought I'd add a little flashback to the early 90's with my favorite old Green Day song.  I'm a fan of way old school Green Day.  They were my first introduction into edgier "grunge" or "rock" instead of the bubblegum pop I always listened to.  I was in middle school when they came on the scene and I remember one of my friends had such a crush on Billie Jo - and before we knew who he was we were all like "Billy Joel?  He's so old!" and she'd be like "no Billie JO" and then we discovered who he was and what Green Day was all about and well, my musical world changed forever. Ha ha ha!  Can't say I love much of their newer stuff unfortunately, but give me the old stuff and I'll rock out!

 

Outfit rundown:

T-shirt - Aeropostale (old)

Sweater - Mossimo, Target

Skirt - Old Navy 

Necklace - two birds vintage

Shoes - SO, Kohls (thrifted)

Copycat

I caved and took my pictures outside this morning even though the sun wasn't quite up yet.  I just couldn't resist, it is so nice outside and is only going to get nicer!

One of my favorite things about reading other blogs is that I can gather inspiration.  I can't take credit for today's outfit.  I saw the idea on the blog Messy Jess C found here.  Her blog is adorable and she wore an outfit that I thought, hey, I can just about duplicate this! So, I gave it a go today - I think she wears this look better, but I gave it a good old fashioned try!

Unfortunately I don't have a lighter colored jacket, I think that is the one thing that would fix this look just a bit.  Just another thing to add to the list for after the shopping ban.

I am trying hard not to match my bag to my outfit as I could be really bad about that last summer when I was first blogging, I always wanted my bag to match.  So I've more or less broken the habit, except I couldn't help it today, I had a bag that ties all these colors together.  It's one I haven't even carried in close to a year as I wasn't even planning on keeping it, but today I thought, maybe I'll give it another try.  Yes it's a Coach, but let me tell you, got it for a steal.  I have never ever paid even close to full price on a Coach bag.  Yay for Ebay and thrift stores!

Halfway through the week.  Jealous of Mr. Monkey, he took tomorrow and Friday off.  He's going to have outstanding weather.  He needs the time, his job has been beyond stressful for close to a year now and as much as I'd love to be off and home with him, I know he needs some time for himself.  That doesn't mean I can't still whine a bit about being jealous though!  Happy Wednesday!

Outfit rundown:

Blue button shirt - Charter Club, Macy's

Jacket - Bill Blass, thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Skirt - Two Birds vintage via b. (a resale shop)

Necklace - Maurices

Shoes - DSW

Bag - Coach via Ebay

EBEW - Wearin O The Green

It's Everybody, Everywear day and the theme this month is green which ties in with St. Patty's Day and is also awesome for spring.  Today is not the last time I'll wear green this week either, we have an event at work on Thursday where we're encouraged to wear green and then being a bit Irish, I'll be wearing green on Saturday as well.  Good thing I own quite a bit of it!

I was ironing this skirt over the weekend and thought, hmm, there are so many colors in it, I'm drawn to the red, but I think I want to pull out the green.  So, I added this tank and blazer and I'm so excited with how well it matches.  I swear this skirt is going to be the most versatile thing I own.

It was a little lighter out this morning since the sun is back, but I was running late, so I grabbed my tripod and took these photos as soon as I got to work.  Fortunately my boss always comes in about a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes after me, so I had plenty of time!  I did choose to wear nylons today even though it will be in the 60s.  Tomorrow we're going for 70 and I think I just might attempt bare legs!  In March!  This is just unheard of and I'm still scratching my head, but I'm also still not complaining!!

I am kind of laughing at the fact that by my feet in the above photo is two buckets of ice melt...don't think we'll be needing that here for awhile!

I think my little green flats here will be getting a lot of love this week with all the green I plan to wear!  Although the way this weather is going I may be digging my sandals out of storage!!

Outfit rundown:

Tank top - Mossimo, Target

Blazer - Calvin Klein Jeans, thrifted via Unique Thrift

Skirt - American Living, JCPenney, thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Shoes - SO, Kohls, thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Inspiration Monday - Let it rain?

It's Monday again.  And it's raining.  On March 12th.  It should be snowing.  I'm not complaining though, the weather this weekend was amazing and I hear it's only going to continue.  It's an early spring I guess!  Anyway, what makes a rainy Monday better?  Inspiration Monday!  Today's pick is Julianne Hough - who I know was in the new Footloose movie and even though I'm an 80's purist, I admit I'd like to see it.

Due to Daylights Savings time and the rain, I had to go with indoor pictures today.  Boo to that.  Anyway, I love her casual chic look but I chose to dress it up a bit for work today.  Also chose to skip the boots and scarf since it's quite warm outside, even with the rain.

Also having trouble with my photo editor today and could not get rid of the red eye to save my life.  I can't wait until it's lighter again in the morning so I can go back outside, but for now I'll have to make due with indoor pictures.  I do not like the whole Daylights Savings time thing, my sleep pattern will be messed up for the next week guaranteed.  I know I was awake until almost midnight last night and then I nearly slept through my alarm this morning.  Awesome. Thank goodness for coffee!

The unseasonable weather is making my shopping ban a bit more of a challenge, because I'm so tempted to go out and get new spring goodies since I could pretty much wear them now.  I'm holding strong though!  Just under a month left!  In the meantime I'll try to get creative with what I've got!  Is it springlike where you are?

For more fun with Inspiration Monday, visit two birds over here.

Outfit rundown:

T-shirt - Old Navy

Sweater - Aeropostale (old)

Pants - Old Navy

Shoes - Maurices

Bag - Lillian's Shoppes

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Earrings - Charming Charlie

80s Cowgirl

I think if you just gave me a cowboy hat, I'd totally be an 80's cowgirl with my outfit today.  Oversized sweater, boots, jean skirt?  Yep, I'm a cowgirl!  Truthfully it is likely one of our last cold days as highs are going into the 60F range (!) this weekend so I thought, you know I haven't worn this sweater in awhile and I really want to again.  No use saving this for Megan and Keely's Super Stripes week coming up in a couple of weeks - cause I don't think it'll be cold enough by then!

I decided to wear this with a skirt even though it is actually really chilly outside today, because it's a different way to style this sweater.  And I love the result, even if I am a cowgirl stuck in the 80's.  It's comfy and is also giving me an excuse to wear colored tights again!

I was smart with these boots today guys - remember how I said I almost fell when I wore them another time?  Well if I was really smart I'd have gotten insoles for them, but instead, I added an extra layer of sock! It seems to be keeping my foot more stable, so I will hopefully have no problems.  I was wearing them one day after the day I nearly fell and one of my co-workers is like "what's wrong?  You're walking strangely"  because I was kind of being really over-cautious in them.  So my hope is to not appear that way today!

The sun is shining, I have coffee and it's Friday and the weekend looms ahead of me free and clear.  Could you ask for more than that?  Yipee-ty-ay-yay!  That's cowgirl for Happy Friday!

Outfit rundown:

Sweater - two birds vintage

Skirt - thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Tights - Target

Boots - Target

Necklace - American Eagle Outfitters

Winter is back

I've been in a pink mood this week I guess!  It was another one of those mornings where I just couldn't decide what to wear, then saw this sweater and thought, hmm, been awhile on this one, what can I do with it today? I keep forgetting every time I wear these pants that it's really hard to see the pink stripe detail in them, it is so subtle, but it is there!

Winter appears to be back today.  I seriously managed to take these pictures moments before it turned into a snow globe outside.  Fortunately it's the light fluffy stuff that goes away pretty quickly, but it was really coming down by the time I started driving to work.  It's also quite cold out, but I hear this weekend it's going to be in the 50's again, so I'll deal with it today!

I'm so excited for the weekend - we have zero things going on.  That is very rare for us, since our church group usually rehearses one of the days and does a mass somewhere one of the other days.  But this weekend we are completely free.  I'm looking forward to some quality time for just me and The Pants Monkey.  Of course, I fear I may start to really miss shopping this weekend, but the Pants Monkey has a couple of gift cards to spend and he's not on a shopping ban so I'll just have to live vicariously through him!

Outfit rundown:

Floral shirt - Axcess by Clairborne (thrifted)

Sweater - Maurices

Pants - Worthington, JCPenney

Necklace - Maurices

Shoes - Kohls

Wacky Wednesday

When I was in elementary school we used to have a day called "Wacky Wednesday".  I don't remember what all it involved, I think it was usually some out of the ordinary fun activity in the afternoon, maybe based on a book we read or something.  But anyway, today feels like a Wacky Wednesday.  First of all, I spilled milk all down my pants and on my couch only mere seconds after I put this outfit on this morning.  Fortunately I got it all cleaned up pretty quickly.  Secondly, today's weather, totally wacky.  The high for the day is right now - at 8:00 am.  It will be 20 degrees colder or more by the time I leave work today.  So strange.

You can see the snow behind me is dwindling.  It was 59 yesterday.  It's still 50 right now.  Bye bye snow.

I totally had a different shirt in mind to wear with my favorite pants today and then I saw this shirt in my closet.  I realized I've only worn this shirt one other time on the blog since I bought it last fall.  And the day I wore it I was not even that crazy about it.  Looking back, I think it's maybe what I paired it with and the fact that I was in severe need of a haircut that day so I felt overall frumpy.  Today I think I like it better.  It's unusual and kind of fun.  And kind of perfect for this odd weather day, comfortable now, should still be warm enough later as well.

Thankfully you can't tell I spilled my milk this morning.  I do hope the couch will be all right as well - nothing worse than the smell of sour milk.  And on that note, I wish you a happy Wednesday.  Things can only go up from here (except the falling temperatures outside).

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - Alberto New York thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Pants - No Boundaries thrifted via Unique Thrift

Necklace - thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Shoes - Sonoma, Kohls

Heart in Motion

Something about my outfit today reminds me of the cover of an old Amy Grant album, Heart in Motion.  When I was about 9-10 years old, I was oddly obsessed with this album.  No joke.  My parents liked that Amy Grant was nice, wholesome music (not to say they didn't let me listen to normal 90's sensations like New Kids on the Block) so they were happy to let me listen to her as much as I wanted.  I specifically loved the song Every Heartbeat and would listen to it all the time.  Like all the time.  Wholesome as Amy was, I probably drove my mother crazy listening to her every single day for an entire summer.  Eventually Paula Abdul and a spin off group from the New Mickey Mouse Club called The Party entered the mix too, but I know I spent an entire summer listening to Heart in Motion daily.  So again, what does that have to do with my outfit today?  Well here's my outfit:

Oh Sunshine making me squint, I love you, but come on.  Anyway, here is the album cover of Heart in Motion:

If nothing else, I feel the color scheme just kind of matches.  Maybe I'm crazy.  I can't explain the way my brain works sometimes!  I do know I've had this CD on my mind ever since Every Heartbeat was recently used in an episode of House.

So, me and my strange brain and odd references aside, I had planned to wear this outfit back on the Sarah Jessica Parker Inspiration Monday.  Then I found that other dress at Old Navy and so I ended up pushing this one back.  When I heard that it was going to be near 50 today, I realized that our winter days are numbered and so are the days left to wear sweaters and colored tights, so that made my decision today.  Quite frankly, I'm probably even overdressed, but I just knew I wanted to try this combo with this dress before it gets terribly warm.  Believe me, I'm still not done styling this dress too - I can't believe all the mixes I've come up with so far.

So anyway, that's my story, I feel strangely like an album cover from my childhood and I'm overdressed for a mild day. I never said I was normal!  How's your Tuesday going?

Outfit rundown:

Dress - Axcess by Clairborne, thrifted

Sweater - Old Navy, thrifted

Tights - Target

Shoes - DSW (old)

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Earrings - thrifted

Inspiration Monday - Saturday on Monday

What day is it again?  The picture for Inspiration Monday this week is the group "The Saturdays".  Anyone else know who they are?  Please tell me I'm not that out of the loop?  Ok, well here they are:

I love the bright, happy, springy vibe from these ladies even if I don't know who they are!  I chose to mostly copy the gal on the furthest left there - while I don't have awesome printed pants like hers, (adding them to the list for the minute I get off my shopping ban though!) I do have other pieces that kind of worked, so I gave it a go!

I chose my fantastic Megan Bird pants once again and added a denim blazer and I'm good to go!  Oh and this bag is another one from the "Closet of Mom" store.  I totally forgot to add a bracelet today too, I should have since this jacket is 3/4 sleeves and you would actually be able to see it for a change.  And this is also the only picture I took that turned out today.  It's so a Monday.  Or Saturday?  I wish.

For more Inspiration Monday fun or to add your own picture, visit the two birds over here. 

*Side note, I wrote my outfit rundown below here and should totally call this outfit the "hand me down" outfit - half of the items are things that were passed off to me by someone else!*

Outfit rundown:

White cami - handed down from cousin

Blazer - American Eagle Outfitters thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Pants - handed off from Megan Bird

Bag - Lillian's Shoppes borrowed from mom

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Earrings - Charming Charlie