Goodbye July

Anyone else staring to get summer fatigue?  I thought I was doing pretty well and then all of sudden I opened my closet today and went...I don't want to wear any of this stuff!  And it's silly, I have items I've worn only once or not at all yet but I was just like...nope.  I want a sweater and boots.  Or maybe it's not even that, I think I'm just a little uninspired lately.  I do like the outfit I pulled together today as I've only worn this skirt once so far.

Truth is, even if I claim summer fatigue, it's been a good summer.  And it's hard to believe that July is pretty much over and August is tomorrow.  We're into the last summer stretch already.  But we have fun plans throughout the month of August that I am very much looking forward to.  It could end up being the best month of summer!

We're going "up north" to one of my favorite places in Minnesota in just a couple of weeks for a few days and I'm really excited for it.  We also have a day trip to a brewery in Wisconsin one day.  We have our State Fair at the end of the month.  And hopefully many more dinners on patios.  We try to take advantage of the ability to sit outside for as long as we can!

So how about you?  Summer fatigue?  Wishing it would never end and you can wear tank tops and skirts forever?  Is your summer going fast or slow?  Are you having a good summer?

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - Heart and Soul via JCPenney

Skirt - Vintage via Savers

Sandals - Issac Mizrahi for Target, thrifted

Necklace - Butterfly Boutique

Bracelet - Target

Earrings - swap from CC

Baubles

Shock - I'm not participating in Inspiration Monday this week.  I know, I rarely miss it.  The closest thing I could come up with for today's choice of Ashlee Simpson wearing orange hot pants and a white blouse was an outfit I already wore for Inspiration Monday a few weeks ago!  She looks great, but it was just not something I was able to put together, especially having had a very busy weekend.  I will admit to having owned the first Ashlee Simpson CD though.  I have no shame, lol.  Anyway, do go visit the two birds and see what others came up with.  I am sure I'll be back at Inspiration Monday next week, it's one of my favorite parts of blogging!  

I do have another fun treat today though!  Through Jess of J's Style, I found out about a fun Bauble Swap going on at Because Shana Said So.  I checked out her blog and decided it sounded cool - basically you signed up and were paired with another blogger to swap jewelry with.  Since I love me some pretty jewelry I was all over that.  I was paired with the awesome CC from CC's Cheap Chic and I could not be more excited with the goodies I received - all handmade by her! 

She sent the cutest little box, three pairs of earrings, a necklace and a bracelet.  I'm wearing the bracelet, necklace and one of the pairs of earrings today!  They are just so fun and are wonderful additions to have in my closet!  BIG HUGE thank you to CC and thanks to Shana for hosting this swap!! You should definitely check out both Shana and CC's blogs, especially so you can see what I sent to CC!

Speaking of jewelry, I went to a Stella and Dot party at my sister in law's yesterday and got a couple of new pretties there too.  If you've been following my blog awhile, you know I'm pretty addicted to the stuff.  And now my SIL's BFF is selling it, so you guessed it, I'll be having a party too.  One can never have too much jewelry right?  I have to laugh though, we were talking yesterday at the party about how just a couple of years ago, none of us were jewelry people.  Now I feel naked without a necklace and bracelet!  It's pretty funny.

Finally, I have a HUGE favor to ask anyone who is so inclined.  I'm looking for a couple of guest posts for the week of August 13-17.  I have a little vacation planned and while I won't be gone the whole week, have decided to take the entire week off from blogging.  If you are interested in guest posting while I'm away, I would LOVE to have you.  I'm using the blanket theme of "the dog days of summer" and you can pretty much write what you'd like around that theme.  Please let me know in the comments if you'd like to be a guest and I'll email you more specifics.

Outfit rundown:
Tank top - Cinema Etoile (from cousin)

Sweater  - F21

Skirt - Salvaged Strawberry (via Band of Thrifters)

Shoes - DSW

Jewelry - Handmade by CC

Bag - Jenna Lou Designs

The beer cellar

A rare Sunday post to share my beer cellar with those who were curious.  This is a space we cleared underneath our stairs and we store beer here that we've collected but aren't planning to drink immediately.  If you look in our fridge, it's also pretty full and we have our homebrew bar stocked with seven taps at any given time as well.

This is not to say we get drunk every night though!  We just appreciate a good bottle or can of craft beer.  We like to try different and interesting flavors and we sometimes pair it with meals.

My favorite beers are MN beers Summit and Surly - I'm sure I'm biased because I live here and these beers are on tap like everywhere.  I have also really enjoyed Dogfish Head, though we cannot get that here locally and also there are a few from Sierra Nevada I've liked, Schafly from St. Louis was good, and yeah, my favorite probably changes depending on the moment!

So there you have it.  There is a specialty craft beer store in MN called the Four Firkins that we like to go and make our own six packs so we can try some different things, not to mention our liquor store of choice has quite a bit of fun craft beer in stock too, so we have slowly been collecting some.  When we went to St. Louis last summer we specifically sought out beer we knew we wouldn't be able to buy here and brought it home.  Stuff like that.  It's fun.  We like a good bottle of wine or scotch too, but apparently not enough to make a cellar out of them!  Yay beer!  Prost!

I'm a rainbow today

What do you do when you can decide what color you want to wear?  You wear ALL the colors!  I love this colorful top I bought back in June when Maurices had a buy one, get one sale and I realized you all haven't seen it yet!  I accessorized with some of my favorite multi-colored jewelry too, because it's Friday and why wouldn't you want to wear all the colors?

You know what else is awesome?  Wearing jeans!  It was actually chilly outside this morning.  I can't remember the last time I could say that!!  I'm so loving this weather.  I might even get to leave work a little early, though past experience says if I say that out loud it won't happen, but I'm going to be hopeful!  It'll just be our little secret and then it will happen!

I am pretty darn sure a patio will be calling our name tonight for dinner, even if it ends up just being our own backyard.  The rest of the weekend is going to be a little busy, so I'm really looking forward to tonight for me and my Pants Monkey!  I didn't get a chance to photograph my beer cellar last night to share with you all but I promise that is coming soon!

Look, I even have on colorful shoes!  I am just loving color today!  Speaking of which, I love this song by Kira Willey called Colors.  It's such a cute little song, maybe you've heard it before in a Dell commercial. Anyway, I found a fun video someone did with this song, so I will leave you with that and wish you a very happy weekend!!

Outfit rundown:
Shirt and jeans - Maurices

Sandals - Merona, Target (last year)

Necklace - Premier Jewelry

Bracelets - Stella and Dot and unknown

Earrings - Charming Charlie

Weather and beer

The heat wave has broken.  Finally.  I stepped outside this morning to go for my walk and was thrilled to be greeted by fresher, cleaner feeling air.  No more humidity.  I know it's not going to last long, summer is far from over, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

I wasn't planning to add this little sweater to my outfit today in fact, but it was cool enough that I grabbed it at the last minute!  Also, this skirt was heading for the discard pile, but then I realized, this shirt would look really nice with it.  And then I saw some other things in my closet and I decided ok, maybe I'm not done with it after all!  The reason I was considering sending it on is that it's a frustrating material and can get wrinkled really easily.  That's what irons are for right?

As you all know, or at least I think you all know, Mr. Monkey and myself are beer enthusiasts.  And one of our favorite local breweries released their annual anniversary beer this week and it's super difficult to get your hands on it as it sells out rather quickly.  But my awesome Pants Monkey knew where to go to get the goods and got his hands on four bottles of it!  I'm pretty excited, we're going to crack one open tomorrow night and  then we'll age the rest of them to enjoy later.  Some people have wine cellars, we have a beer cellar!  Not to say we don't love wine too, we just collect beer.  I'll take a picture of our beer cellar sometime to share.  It' fun.

Beyond that, I have not too much to share at the moment!  Life is just status quo and that is ok with me!  Fun post right - weather and beer.  What else do you need?

Outfit rundown:

Gingham top - Salvaged Strawberry/Band of Thrifters

Sweater - Maurices

Skirt - Ann Taylor (thrifted)

Necklace - DIY by me

Bracelet - Stella and Dot

Sandals - Italian Shoe Company

All the ruffles

Apparently when I was getting dressed this morning I felt like wearing all the ruffles.  There are ruffles on my shirt and ruffles on my bag.  And I hope you're not sick of my pink vintage pencil skirt yet because guess what, it's back!

I honestly cannot believe I haven't worn this top and this skirt together yet.  The pink in the shirt matches the skirt so perfectly.  Then again, this is the first time I've pulled out this shirt at all yet this summer.  I realized I probably should one of these days, especially when the massive heat might be breaking for a bit after today - yay!  But PS, I'm not done styling this skirt.  Not even close!

There are lots of pictures of my bag today.  I never got around to doing a separate post on it yesterday, I was so wiped yesterday, all day long.  So, instead I thought I'd share a bit about the bag today. This is the Estelle bag from Jenna Lou Designs.  I have to say, I haven't had a crush on something I bought this hard in a very long time.  And I know I have a purse addiction and I talk about them quite a bit, but seriously this one?  It's quite possibly perfect.  First of all, it's super feminine with the ruffles, which you know I love.  Secondly, it can be used two or even three different ways.  As a handbag, a shoulder bag or a crossbody bag.  And all three ways are super comfortable!

It's a great size, not too big, not too small.  The color goes with everything.  It's got nice soft leather at the top and bottom.  And it's soooo lightweight, even weighted down with all my stuff.  And my neck and shoulders have been bad as of late, so this is a very good thing.

It zips closed and look at the inside - not a light inside like I tend to like, but not super dark either.  And lots of pockets.  Plenty of room for my wallet, phone, Gussy pouch, etc.

So, there you have it.  I love this bag.  Hands down.  I didn't look too much at the other items in Jenna's booth at the craft sale the other day because I zeroed in on this guy and when the Pants Monkey said he didn't mind if I bought it, I pretty much bought it and that was that.  But I looked at her website and she makes lots of fun items - cute little clutches and wallets and it looks like she even does custom orders.  She does some larger messenger bags too.  Overall a very fun handmade shop and I'm pretty sure I'll order from her again or seek her out at more local events as I'm really loving supporting the handmade businesses like this!

I'm phasing out some of my other bags and hope to consign some of them soon.  My tastes are changing and evolving and there's nothing wrong with that, but I still have to stick to my one in, one out policy if I buy something new!  I also don't count this bag as a "summer" thing as far as my summer shopping ban goes, because I think this guy can be used year round!  Or maybe I'm just making excuses!  Oh well, going to stop babbling, this post is long enough!

Disclaimer - I link because I love, I receive nothing for the links in this post, I wanted to share because I enjoy this product.  All opinions are mine and mine alone.

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - Banana Republic, thrifted

Skirt - two birds vintage

Sandals - Mootsie Tootsie

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Bracelet - Stella and Dot wrap with Megan Mae buttonflower

Earrings - F21

Bag - Jenna Lou Designs

It's raining coffee

It's a rainy day today, so I had to take indoor pictures for the first time in ages!  That's ok though, we have a cute photo bomber in the below photo.  Told you Taylor can be just as cute as Pippin!  Even if her eyes are glowing wild.

Man I am tired.  The storms started around 4:00 am and I could not sleep through them.  I have ear plugs, but I often don't hear my alarm if I use them, so I chose to just deal with it.  So since my boss is out at meetings today and there's no point in making a large pot of coffee, I decided to stop by a Starbucks this morning and just grab a plain coffee of the day.  I don't typically go to Starbucks because when I go out to a coffee shop I like to get a latte and I don't really care for the espresso drinks at Starbucks, I prefer Caribou Coffee for those.  My Caribou is not on the way to work though.  Starbucks is sort of on the way and I have found I actually like the plain coffee there, so I figured, ok, I'll go simple today.  Well, it was my lucky day, after they poured my coffee they said "our computers are down so this is on us today."  Free coffee!  I will not complain about that!  Might have to stop there more often.

I still feel like this dress should be forbidden or something, it is too comfy to actually be a dress!  I swear it's like wearing pj's to work.  And yet it looks plenty dressy enough.  Best dress ever?  I think so.

That's about all I have for coherent thought today.  I'm going to drink some more of my free coffee and hopefully wake up some more.  Later today I may do my purse review, so keep an eye out for that!

Outfit rundown:

Dress - Merona, Target

Sweater - LEI, thrifted

Sandals - Merona, Target

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Bracelet - Bead for Life

Inspiration Monday - Dot, dot, dot

Well here we are on Monday again.  As wonderful and reliable as Friday is at showing up each week, it's annoying sibling Monday is just as reliable at coming back each week too!  At least Inspiration Monday makes it a little more tolerable!  Here is Kristin Cavallari from The Hills - a show I just never got into back in the day.  But I still like her fresh look here.

I chose to dress it up a bit for work.  I don't really have the right kind of striped top, but I figured polka dots were the next best thing right?  And a purple skirt instead of pants too.  And another excuse to wear these sandals from Old Navy so I can feel like I'm making them more worth the purchase!  

So as I said in my post yesterday, I'd talk more about my weekend.  It was hectic but good.  Thanks for the compliments on my dress for the wedding I sang at.  It was an interesting wedding.  The people in charge at the church are kind of scatterbrained and fly by the seat of your pants.  When I was getting married that just would not have worked for me.  I was way too anal about details!  Anyway, it was a lot of fun to sing at the wedding and of course, it made me nostalgic for my own.  The birthday party for my friend was fun too, though a lot of her family and friends with children were there, so we scooted out after about an hour, but then were able to have a nice movie night at home.

Yesterday we went over the craft fair I had mentioned last week.  It was so fun.  Lots of booths and two food trucks.  We tried out food from both of the food trucks since this was the first time either of us had an opportunity to do so!  I got a super cute charm from Erin and I may have bought the purse you see in the above pictures. Yeah I know I have a problem.  I'll actually talk more about this new purse in another post - it won't be a vlog this time, promise - because it seriously is rocking my world.  Apparently this purse also rocks Pippin's world.  Or she really didn't want me to leave the house this morning.

I swear Taylor does cute things too, I just never seem to get them on my camera as easily as I do with Pippin!  Anyway, after the craft fair we stopped at the 1st birthday party for our friend's daughter for a pretty short time and then crashed at home watching re-runs of Monk.

Finally today I'm guest blogging on The Pants Monkey's homebrew blog about women and homebrewing - check it out if you're so inclined, it's over here.  As always, don't forget to visit the two birds here to see the other Inspiration Monday looks.

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - F21

Skirt - Ragstock

Necklace - Maurices

Shoes - Old Navy

Bag - Jenna Lou Designs

Weekend wear

Not a lot of words as I'm going from one event to another today, but I wanted to share my wedding outfit from yesterday as well as what I wore to the birthday party in the evening.

I am in love with this dress and can't wait to wear it again.  Thanks again to the two birds garage sale!

Ignore my very messy house in the background of these pictures!  Eek!

That's Taylor's rope by my feet.  It's her favorite toy ever.

All right, told you it would be short and sweet.  I'll share more about my weekend in my next post!  Hope you are all having good ones!

Wedding outfit:

Dress - two birds vintage

Bracelet and earrings - Stella and Dot

Sandals - Italian Shoe Company (DSW)

Birthday party outfit:

Tank top - VS (gift from the Pants Monkey)

Shorts - Old Navy (old)

Sandals and jewelry - same as above

Bag - Cliche Minneapolis

Hair wrap - Target

Tie in a knot, tie it in a bow

Well hello there Friday!  Welcome back to my world.  I love how reliable you are and so appreciate you returning to me each and every week.  

I'm silly, I know.  I'm glad it's Friday though.  It's a rare Friday with nothing going on, so Mr. Monkey and I will probably have a date night tonight.  Usually we make Saturdays our date nights, but that isn't going to work out this weekend anyway as we have a birthday party for a friend, so I'm really glad tonight ended up free!  We try to do weekly date nights as much as we can, I always offer up as advice to newlyweds - make sure you keep "dating" each other - it keeps your relationship fun and alive!

This shirt was a steal for me, it was on a clearance rack at the Mighty Swell Vintage sale last weekend for only $2.  I feel like even if I only wore it once it would be justified!  The good news is I'm pretty sure I have other things to wear it with and the cute little bow tie is kind of on trend right now.

I tried something different with the picture below here, I made a little collage style picture so you can see the detail of the shirt.  Being so light colored it's very difficult to get a good picture unless I did one up close!

I love that the fabric in this shirt is super lightweight too.  I could also see myself wearing this shirt under a lightweight blazer or something too though.  It'll be fun to play with at any rate!

The weekend is kind of full as I said.  Not only do we have a birthday party tomorrow night but I'm also singing for a wedding - first time in a few years I've gotten hired to do so and I'm so excited about it!  It's such a nice way to make a little extra money!  Sunday there's a pretty awesome event going on close to my house called No Coast Summer Craft-o-rama.  My very good friend Jes will have a booth there and so will the fabulous Erin of Babes in Thriftland.  If you're local and you love homemade/craft goodies you should definitely check it out.  Not to mention the park where it's being held is is a lovely treasure in the middle of our city and I love that it's within walking distance of our house.  After that we're heading to another birthday party, a pretty special one, we have friends who have a baby girl that came into the world super early last year and she has just turned 1, so they're having a big bash to celebrate.  It'll be a crazy weekend but I'm looking forward to it!  I am most excited about my date with my hubby though, I won't lie about that! Have a great weekend everyone!

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - Mighty Swell Vintage

Skirt - Cliche Minneapolis

Sandals - Marshalls

Necklace - Butterfly Boutique

Party like it's 1995...

I am totally channeling the 90s in my outfit today.  I am pretty sure I owned a very similar sundress to this one in 1995.  I don't care though, when I saw this dress at the two birds garage sale I just had to have it.  And I've been crushing on denim vests I've seen other bloggers wearing for awhile now too, so I found this one at Mighty Swell the same day I bought the dress and when I saw these next to each other, I knew I had an outfit to wear.  Even if it makes me feel 13 again.

It's weird, summer often makes me nostalgic for my youth a little bit.  I mentioned yesterday I've been watching old Blossom episodes on YouTube.  While making dinner last night I seeded my iTunes Genius with a Cranberries song.  At dinner the Pants Monkey and I were marveling at the fact that you can hear Smashing Pumpkins playing on the radio again. I also hear No Doubt is back together too.  Yes, all these things do make me think fondly of the good old days.

I wouldn't actually go back to the 90s for anything though.  I was a pretty awkward pre-teen, so really, we don't need to relive those days!

I laughed when I came back in the house after taking my pictures this morning and found Disapproving Taylor hiding under the chair here. It's like she's saying "Mom, you aren't a teenager anymore, it's not 1995!"  Too bad Taylor, I like this outfit anyway.

Before I go, I will also share one of my favorite 90's music videos.  Remember those?  You know, singers and groups would make a little mini movie out of one of their songs and then these cool TV stations called MTV and VH1 would play them all day long.  Oh you've heard of those channels?  Yeah, I know, they just play reality shows and movies.  No such thing as music videos.  It's sad really. (For real, MTV should just drop the "M" from their name.  Oh and do you know what VH1 originally stood for?  Video Hits One.  Hmm...) Anyway, thanks for indulging me on a trip down memory lane!

Outfit rundown:

Dress - two birds

Vest - vintage, Mighty Swell

Shoes - Merona, Target

Necklace - Butterfly Boutique

Feeling the love

I'm just feeling the love today.  First of all, I'm wearing one of my favorite dresses, maybe not as much a favorite as yesterday's, but this one is up there.  Second of all, lovely fellow MN blogger Jasmine of the blog Cute N Comfy has featured me in her weekly Twin Cities Tuesdays over here.  Check it out and give her some love, she is a sweetheart!

Thirdly, I am feeling the love because Merry Alana has also gifted me the Liebster Award.  So very kind of her!  Since I already tagged some people in the post I did from Amanda's Liebster Award I won't tag anymore, but I will answer Alana's questions because I love doing all about me posts.  I encourage you all to play along with her questions too if you want!

Merry Alana's questions:
1. What is your favorite summer activity? Hands down it is sitting outside on a patio eating dinner or drinking a beer!
2. What is your guilty pleasure? Oh this one is hard, I don't have cable anymore, but I used to get really sucked into the reality shows on TLC like Big People, Little World and some of those kinds of shows that follow these interesting and different families.  I could sit and watch those shows for hours!  Now that I don't have cable, right now my guilty pleasure is watching re-runs of the show Blossom that I found on YouTube! Anyone remember that one?
3. Do you have a favorite book?  I do.  It's kind of sappy, but I love Judy Blume's adult novel Summer Sisters.  I've read it every summer since I was 17.  I'm just finishing it again for the 13th time.  There are few other books I can read more than once, but there is something about this book.  It doesn't feel like summer to me until I've read it!
4. What is your favorite topic to blog about?  Myself obviously.  KIDDING!  I honestly do enjoy blogging about my day to day life and what I wear along the way.  It's pretty easy subject matter.
5. Coffee or tea?  Definitely coffee.  I do like tea, sometimes I'll have tea later in the day, but I loves my coffee!
6. What decade do you most identify with?  Present day, past decade?  I am doing pretty well with present day, but I'm a hippie at heart, so I love the 60's too.
7. Where do you feel most at home? Obviously I feel very at home in my own home, I feel at home when I go to my parents as it's the house I grew up in, I feel at home at my in-laws, I feel at home when I step into Target...er, um, yeah.
8. What do you do when you're having a bad day?  I talk it out with the Pants Monkey or my mom if he's not available.  I listen to loud music in the car from my youth (grunge music at the top of my lungs, heck yeah!), I drink a glass of wine and enjoy a bubble bath.
9. Have you met blogging friends in real life?  I'm happy to say yes!  I've met both Megan and Nora of two birds, Amanda from Salvaged Strawberry, Erin from Babes in Thriftland, Lindsey of Ruby Girl, and a couple of others.  There's another MN blogger gathering coming up in September and I cannot wait to hopefully meet some more ladies too.  And any local gals reading - I am always down for a lady date if you ever want to meet up!
10. What is your favorite subject to blog about?  I suppose subject is a little different from topic.  I would say my favorite subject is shopping and clothes and good deals.  Thrifting.  Stuff like that.  But again, I still like infusing my daily life in here too.
11. What's your favorite way to relax?  Some of the same things I do on a bad day - bubble bath, glass of wine or beer with the Pants Monkey, reading a good book or sometimes a trashy magazine, lounging on the couch with favorite shows or a chick flick.  I'm pretty good at relaxing.

That was fun!  Thanks again Alana for the award and the fun questions!  Again, I tag all of you, if you want to answer her questions it would be fun to read them.  I am definitely feeling the love today - I send love to all of you.  Thanks so much as always for stopping by!

Outfit rundown:

Dress - Cliche Minneapolis

Sweater - Old Navy (old)

Necklace - Stella and Dot w/Megan Mae buttonflower

Sandals - Marshalls

Bag - Gussy Sews

A dress for all seasons

I am so excited about my outfit today!  I haven't worn this dress since winter and I've been wanting to pull it out all summer so far but haven't had the chance. Recently I got the idea to add my obi belt from Megan Mae when I saw Ki of Dressing Up For Life wearing her obi belt with a similar styled dress.  I was going to wear this together last week but due to the lady issues I mentioned yesterday I just had to put it off.  Today I was good to go though and I'm glad I waited because my newest order of buttonflowers from the fabulous Megan Mae came in the mail yesterday so I added one to my outfit as well and I love the entire look!

I still can't believe the versatility of this dress.  I've worn it in all types of weather now - nearly zero all the way up to 90 degrees.  Crazy!  It is probably one of my favorite pieces I own, if not the most favorite, it's definitely in the top five!

So last night we met up with a couple of friends at a nearby brewpub that we love, it totally has that Cheers "Everybody knows your name" vibe and they have amazing beer and a lovely patio.  We braved the heat and still sat on the patio because it was actually shaded pretty well and as the sun went down it was quite nice.  We were sending off one of our friends who leaves for Africa tomorrow for a two week trip.  We actually had a really interesting conversation about what type of clothes she should bring, not just for the weather, but what will be culturally acceptable.  It was a great night - though right towards the end I totally knocked over my glass of ice water and spilled the majority of it on my dress.  Let me tell you, if I was warm at all at that point, I sure wasn't after that!  I was proud of myself though, I did not break down in tears like I might have in the past and I even finished another round of cards before we left. (Yes we play cards at the pub.  That's how we roll.)

Today the Pants Monkey is off of work again and he is brewing his very first batch of all grain beer.  I won't bore you with tons of details as to what that means, but let's just say it's more "from scratch" than the other homebrew recipes he's done in the past.  I'm so proud of him for trying this out and I can't wait to taste the finished product in a few weeks!  As for me, it's work as usual and I should get back to it.  Have a great day!

Outfit rundown:

Dress - vintage, two birds

Obi belt - Megan Mae Daily

Buttonflower - Megan Mae Daily

Bracelet - Charming Charlie

Earrings - Butterfly Boutique

Sandals - Duck Head

Inspiration Monday - The best of times

Well, hello and happy Monday friends!  Did you all have good weekends?  I don't want to brag, but mine was super fantastic.  And it was so needed.  My week last week was less than ideal, I never like to overshare or anything on the ole blog here, but I felt like junk most of the week thanks to my lady business, so when the weekend came and I was feeling more human, that in itself was a victory.  But I had many fun times this weekend too and some relaxing times so life was just good!  

This week's Inspiration Monday is the lovely Marion Cotillard, right now all I can remember her from is Big Fish, but anyway, she's got a nice floral thing going on here.

So it's going to be 100 degrees F today - no joke - so I knew a sundress was a MUST.  And I didn't really have a floral one that I felt worked with this theme, so instead I went for the cut/color of this dress and kind of went from there.  Plus, I haven't worn this one yet this summer so it was a good time to break it out!

Back to my weekend - I was fortunate enough to hit up all three of the sales I mentioned last week!  I Google mapped them and discovered they were all minutes away from each other.  I got myself going by about 10:00 and first hit up the two birds garage sale and chatted with the awesome Megan and Nora Bird, bought mostly summer items but also a very sweet pair of boots that I can't wait to wear when it gets cooler again!  From there I headed to Mighty Swell Vintage - it was busy there but I scored a blouse and a denim vest.  Finally I headed to Band of Thrifters and was able to say hello to the fabulous Amanda.  Took home a t-shirt and a skirt from there.  The best part of all this shopping?  I set myself a budget for the day and I stuck to it!  I didn't go over at all!  I was so proud of myself!  And now my summer shopping ban commences - the rules are pretty simple though this time, it's not that I'm not allowed to shop at all - but no more summer clothes this year.  I can start looking for Fall if I want to, but I'm not bringing even one more item of summer clothing into my closet until 2013!

After my successful shopping trip I headed home and the Pants Monkey and I had a lovely afternoon together, we got to visit a brewery in town we have never been to before and it was so fun!  And then we had dinner out and home to a movie.  It really just was the best kind of day!  Sunday I did not end up either cleaning my closet out or watching chick flicks, I spent some time with my parents while Mr. Monkey was at his class and then the class got over early and he was back home again.  But even so, it was also a nice day! Overall it was a good and much needed weekend!  Next weekend should be more of the same as it's another weekend off from our music group, so that will be awesome.

Don't forget to head over to the two birds blog to see the other Inspiration Monday outfits!

Outfit rundown:

Dress - BCBG Maxima (thrifted)

Necklace - Maurices

Bracelet - Target

Shoes - Issac Mizrahi for Target (thrifted)

Sunshowers

So after a week of pretty fun and inspired outfits, today's is a little more boring.  It's Friday and I just didn't want to think too hard today, what can I say?  It was also totally raining while I was attempting to take pictures today.  Even though the sun was kind of out too.  Very odd.  You can even see a water spot in the below picture!  Keeping it real, friends.

I feel the week actually went by rather fast.  I have zero complaints about that of course!  This weekend I have many sales to look forward to as I mentioned before.  Tonight we're going on a double date with my parents.  Cute right?  And Sunday the Pants Monkey is going to a class on all grain beer brewing, so I'll have the house to myself and I'm thinking I need to check in on my closet and re-organize a bit and kind of do a mid-point summer clothes overhaul.

Of course, what will really happen is I'll have good intentions of working on my closet, but I'll end up lazy and watching chick flicks all afternoon!  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - LOFT, thrifted

Jeans - Old Navy

Shoes - Anne Klein, from cousin

Bracelets - thrifted and Stella and Dot

Necklace - b. (a resale shop)

The sweetest things

I can't really take credit for my outfit today.  I saw a very similar styled outfit on Callie from Coffee and Cardigans and I knew I had to recreate the look for myself.  I love how blogs are just as inspirational as fashion magazines!  Anyway, it also gave me an excuse to pair up items from my two favorite local vintage groups - two birds and Salvaged Strawberry.  I love how this turned out!

Speaking of the awesome Salvaged Strawberry, the very sweet Amanda has gifted me the Liebster award.  She states in her blog, "The Liebster award is given to upcoming bloggers who have 200 followers or less.  The meaning of Liebster in German is sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome".  (I'm blushing now).

The rules for the award:
1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves
2. Answer the question the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs.

So, I'm going to answer the 11 questions from Amanda because they are fun and will give you all another little glimpse into my life!  Here we go!

1. What is your favorite summertime activity?  This one is hard to choose because there are several I enjoy, but I would have to say going out to eat at an outdoor patio is my favorite, you have to take advantage of the chance to do so in Minnesota when half the year it's too cold to do it!

2. Favorite Holiday and why? I used to always say Christmas, and while I do still love Christmas, as an adult it isn't quite the same.  I think my favorite holiday is actually Thanksgiving.  My birthday and the Pants Monkey's birthday is right around then, we have a huge gathering with the Pants Monkey's family and I am all about giving thanks.  I feel like Thanksgiving gets kind of overshadowed being stuck between Halloween and Christmas, so I champion the little holiday that could.

3.Top 5 Favorite Movies. Go. Ho boy, only five??  Ok - The Muppet Movie, The Darjeeling Limited, Punch Drunk Love, Finding Nemo, Empire Records.  Boom.

4. Salty or sweet? I used to be more of a sweets girl, but I'm getting more into salty.  Chips and salsa are my favorite right now.

5. If you could live in any previous decade, what would it be and why? The 60's.  I feel like a hippie at heart sometimes.  Plus the music of the 60's is the bomb.

6. Do you have pets?  What are their names?  Tell me about them. Why yes of course!  Most of my regular readers know all about my kitties.  They are tuxedo cats, Taylor and Pippin.  I love my furballs.

7. Dream job?  Man.  I wish I had one.  I struggle with that actually.  I'll go with my standard answer of wedding singer.  I do sing at weddings here and there, but not enough to say I make a living at it!

8. How did you come up with the name for your blog?  I have told this story before but will repeat for the newbies - I love Winnie the Pooh, my childhood nickname was Bethie Boo - I played off of the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and got the name The Fashionable Adventures of Bethie the Boo.  

9. First blog you read everyday? I go to my Google Reader list and kind of pick up where I left off the day before to be quite honest!  I do have some can't miss blogs though - two birds, Megan Mae Daily and Tinfoil Tiaras I seek out if I only have a few minutes.

10. What's the latest recipe you really want to try? I want to make a Cookie Dough Cupcakes or Oreo Cupcakes.  From scratch.  I have pinned a few options to my Pinterest.  It's just been too hot for baking.

11. What's one thing people would be really surprised to know about you?  I get a rush out of shooting a gun.  I go to the range with the Pants Monkey sometimes.  It's a good stress reliever!

All righty, here are the lovely ladies I am choosing to tag -

An Alaskan Weredork/Babes in Thriftland/Black Cat Lies/Butterfly Loves Snapdragons/Dressing Up For Life/J's Style/Kezzie AG/Literate and Stylish/Mary Walker Designs/Practical Paralegalism/Thrifted Shift

My questions for you guys:

1. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

2. If money was no object, where would you like to travel most?

3. Describe to me your perfect day off.

4. What's your favorite guilty pleasure?

5. What is your favorite season?

6. (Stealing Amanda's) Top 5 Favorite Movies. Go.

7. What is your least favorite household chore?

8. Coffee or tea or neither?

9. Last book you read?  Do you recommend it?

10. What was your favorite childhood toy?

11. Do you have any bad habits?

Anyone else who I didn't tag is welcome to answer the questions too, because I'd love to know more about all of you!  And quite frankly, I wish I could tag you all too!  Thank you again Amanda, you are too sweet!

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - vintage, Salvaged Strawberry

Skirt - vintage, two birds

Necklace - Ribbon from Stella and Dot, buttonflower from Megan Mae

Bracelet - Target

Sandals - Mootsie Tootsie