Crazy cat lady rides again

Well today I'm putting the "crazy" in "crazy cat lady".  I decided to try pairing my kitty cat sweater with my houndstooth dress.  I like how it turned out!  I was a bit nervous before I put it on, worrying that maybe the patterns would clash too much, but I think it actually works pretty well!.

Sweater - ModCloth

Dress - two birds vintage

Tights and boots - Target 

Got a little blinky in the above picture - guess the flash caught me off guard!  I am just so happy to be able to take outdoor pictures again!  I know I'll lose this morning light for a bit after Daylights Savings time next week, but at least it will be short lived!  It's also become very apparent to me that it's time for a haircut.  That will be happening in the next couple of days, guaranteed.  I love my short hair, but it sure gets shaggy quickly once it gets a bit too long.

It was actually starting to snow on me a bit as I took my pictures this morning.  Just nice light flurries though, nothing major thank goodness!

And I will leave you with a picture of my kitties, since I'm getting all cat crazy this morning, can't not include them!  They love these new stacking chairs we got from my in-laws - they climb on them and lay under them and I tell you, they're better than cat furniture!

Just can't get enough

Well I told you guys I'd try and get as much mileage out of this dress as I could before the winter was over!  And while it sounds like we can expect at least another month worth of winter here in MN, I still wanted to pull it out again before it got too late!  I just love it so much and I still have other ideas for it!

Sweaterdress - vintage, Salvaged Strawberry

Blouse - Decree, JCPenney

Necklace - S&D

Shoes - DSW 

Also as an FYI, Salvaged Strawberry is running a huge 40% off sale in her Etsy shop.  If you love vintage as much as I do, you should really check it out.  If I wasn't on a shopping ban I'd totally be buying this sweater. Sigh, just a few more weeks!

Even though it's still winter, it is finally getting lighter in the mornings so outdoor pictures are getting easier again!  It was plenty cold though this morning, as I'm sure you can see by my poses here!  I'm not freezing at all, nope.

It's also staying lighter later into the day as well which I just love.  It's making me less in hibernation mode to have it be sunny when I'm leaving work as opposed to it already being dark out!

A night with the girls and Audrey

So what could make a crap week totally better?  Hanging out with two good blogger buddies, watching Audrey Hepburn, drinking hard cider, eating chips and salsa, popcorn and chocolate peanut butter bars and then finishing the night with an hour's worth of crazy YouTube videos.

On Saturday evening, I had the pleasure of hanging out with the fantastic Lori of A Little Slice of Special and the adorable Cambria from Jupe and we had a ton of fun.  Of course we took pictures to document the evening, because what kind of bloggers would we be if we didn't?  Thanks to Lori for the pictures - though I have to say I was way under dressed for the occasion!

 Shirt - Mossimo, Target

Pants - Old Navy

Shoes - Consigment

Necklace - S&D

This next picture makes me laugh, Lori was taking pictures and Cambria told me to pose a certain way (I have a bad habit of looking down all the time in my photos, Mr. Monkey complains about it too) and so I did, resulting in this, immediately afterward I was on the ground laughing hysterically.

We watched Wait Until Dark - it was a rather suspenseful and somewhat stressful movie, but I enjoyed it, even if the outfit Audrey wears for 75% of the movie was extremely unflattering!

 Seriously - how cute is this girl?  Check out her shoes!!

After we finished the movie, we were going to start another one, but ended up on YouTube sharing our favorite funny videos that give us a pick me up when we're down - we laughed a lot.  I have some new favorites now in my list!

This girl is just as bright and beautiful in real life, she makes me smile!

Both girls were kind enough to share things with me they both no longer wanted/could use - some clothes from Cambria and some makeup from Lori - so now I'm like, hey, what shopping ban?  

Anyway, it was just the pick me up I needed after a tough week and since we only got through one of Audrey's movies, I'm hoping we'll have a chance to do it again soon!  

PS - be sure to check out their blogs, they are seriously two of the nicest gals ever.  Links are up above.

Inspiration Monday - Needed

Hello my friends!  Did you all have a good weekend?  I did.  After last week it was really needed.  Sadly, Monday has come too soon, but it's Inspiration Monday and also, I'm just bound and determined to make this week better than last week!  We'll see how I do.  Anyway, here is this week's Inspiration Monday pick - Elizabeth Olson.

Jacket, dress and booties?  I'm there.  Especially when it's not too cold outside today and it's not snowing.  I can totally handle this!

Jacket - Positive Attitude, handed down from cousin

Dress - Axcess by Claiborne, thrifted

Tights and boots - Target

Necklace - S&D

So anyway, it was a nice weekend.  We hit up the latest new taproom to come to Minneapolis (yes there have been a lot of these lately) on Friday night and it was ok.  The beer isn't bad but the place is a little too nightclub-ish for my taste!

Saturday we had to do church with our music group and then after that I met up with the lovely Lori and Cambria for an Audrey Hepburn movie night - another post to come on this actually - and then I got home at a pretty reasonable time, went right to bed and slept a looooong time.  It was so nice to sleep in on Sunday morning, I think I needed it!

Mr. Monkey and I went to brunch on Sunday morning at a nice place not far from home and then went and saw Silver Linings Playbook since it was playing at the small theatre in our town and I wanted to see it before the Oscars last night.  We grabbed BBQ takeout from our favorite restaurant for dinner and managed to sneak in the third Harry Potter movie before the Oscars began.  Then we watched the Oscars, which made for a late night, but it was fun to watch.  My favorite dress of the night was Jessica Chastain's.  Anyone else's attire strike a bell with you?

Overall it was just the best kind of weekend, one that I think was just really needed.  I feel a bit more refreshed and ready to take on this week anyway!  For more Inspiration Monday outfits, visit two birds over here.

TGIFF

Nope, I did not misspell the acronym in my blog post title.  It simply stands for Thank Goodness It's Freaking Friday!!  I promise I am not going to whine again like I did yesterday, but I will just say yesterday was not much better than the day before.  It's just been a week of all weeks.  And Friday is finally here.  And of course it snowed and I was late to work because of the snow, but it's still Friday.  Friday is good.

 Sweatshirt - Mossimo, Target

Flannel shirt - Primp Boutique

Jeans - Old Navy

Boots - Target

This isn't exactly the outfit I had planned today, but I think it still works fine for a Friday.  Especially a snowy one.  I am warm and cozy and right now that is all that matters.  It should be a good weekend ahead too, especially once the snow stops later today.  How was your week?  And do you have fun weekend plans?

Basket Case

No, the title of this post is not referencing my state of mind, but is instead in reference to the Green Day song, specifically the opening lyric "do you have the time, to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once." Because I'm a little whiny today, I'm not going to lie.  Yesterday was a DAY my friends.  You know those kind of days that every time you turn around you want to scream?  Yeah.  Most of it centered around getting a new PC at work.  This was supposed to be a very good and exciting thing since my old one was really getting slow, going through cycles where it wouldn't load anything, etc.  But, nothing ever goes smoothly with these kinds of things!

The problem is, I run a program on my computer that allows me to print the employee security name badges.  And this program is not super cut and dry.  Oh no.  So, my IT guy spent all afternoon trying to get it to work and then we called the outside vendor that supports the program, who wasn't available until the last half hour of my day.  We got it all solved just under the wire.  But while this was going on it was next to impossible to do my job, which ok, wouldn't normally be so bad, but my boss is on vacation right now so things are a little busier than usual, so it was mildly frustrating.

I got home and was all thumbs with stuff there it seemed, I needed to boil potatoes so we could make pierogis last night (I married a good Polish boy after all) and I kept dropping them everywhere, but fortunately they seemed no worse for the wear.  Then we made the pierogis which led to a delicious dinner, but we made a double batch, so it took a couple of hours.  My back was killing me by the time we were done. (Side note - if you're on Vine, I made a video of what all goes into them)  So we crashed on the couch for a bit and then more or less went to bed.  So I felt like I didn't get much downtime after my crazy day.

Sweater - LOFT, thrifted

Plaid button shirt - Vintage Lee, Hill Valley Vintage

Shorts - Old Navy 

Tights and boots -Target

Bag - Vintage Coach, Rewind NE

Necklace - S&D

Today I hope is better, but I'm not going to lie, I'm not feeling great in the lady department and I am missing out on a super cool event at the Minnesota Institute of Arts tonight that is all about fashion - specifically vintage - so I'm sad panda about that, but I had other plans I couldn't miss unfortunately.  So I wore a cute outfit that includes some vintage in the spirit of the event and I'll live vicariously through my other blogger friends that I know will be attending (looking at you Miss Cambria - I expect a full report!)

So there you have it.  Told you I was whiny today!  It's all so trivial, first world problem stuff, but I gotta say, I feel better getting that off my chest!  Here's to a better day today!

One week down

You guys....this no shopping thing is hard this time around!  I really do not NEED anything, but man, sales are tempting me and I keep seeing things in my closet and going "how else can I wear that item?  It needs something else."  Take for example, this pink gingham shirt.  I wore it once with the sweater it was gifted to me with, but have been at a loss since then.  Of course, the more I looked around, I realized I had many options, including this blazer I haven't actually worn in quite some time.  So, in the end, I know it's best for me to keep shopping my closet.  I'm really excited about how this outfit turned out.

I feel a bit like Ellen DeGeneres in this outfit, but you know what, I love Ellen, so I don't mind.  I'm not kidding though, this gingham shirt is from JCPenney and she's been their spokesperson and I swear I've seen her wearing it on her show!

Blazer - F21

Shirt - JCPenney

Pants - Sonoma, thrifted

Bag - Coach Factory Outlet

Necklace - S&D

Shoes - Madden Girl, thrifted

At least it's one week down on the shopping ban.  I know I'll get by, and if I remind myself that I sort of did this for Lent, it makes sense, it should be a sacrifice - but as I said last week, I decided to do it for more than just Lent, I just really needed to do it.  And once I'm off the ban I just need to start taking more of a budgeted approach to my shopping, which you'd probably assume with so much thrift shopping would be pretty easy, but it does add up after awhile.  Just need to learn a good balance.

Sweet on you

Hello everyone!  Thanks for all the sweet comments on my love story yesterday.  I promise you'll hear the rest of the story later on!  It would take until later in March before we finally became a couple, so you'll have to wait like I did when I was a teenager!

Today I wanted to share two outfits.  First up is what I wore to my Valentine's dinner with Mr. Monkey.  We had decided to skip the crowds on actual Valentine's Day and have a nice dinner out this past Sunday instead.  I still dressed in a Valentine type theme though!

I pulled my favorite red sundress out of summer storage and attempted to winter it up a bit.  I like the result, kind of sassy and fun.  We went to a newer Italian restaurant (Louis Ristorante, attached to Cossettas in St. Paul for you locals) and had a really nice, though somewhat spendy meal.  We figure we only do a big meal out like this a couple of times a year, so we deserve a treat every now and then.  We had fantastic red wine, Caesar salad, veal chop and some sort of pasta with Italian sausage in a thin wine type sauce.  Delicious.

Dress as skirt - thrifted

Floral shirt - Decree, JCPenney

Jacket - Mossimo, Target (old)

Boots - Target (very old)

Necklace - thrifted

Today it was crazy cold once again, which ok, I know, it's Minnesota, what do I expect?  But man, we have had a lot more cold, windchill type weather this winter than we had last year for sure.  So anyway, I had to do layers today.  Added a touch of flair to my sweater with my newest Megan Mae buttonflower.  I realized later I should have done a close up.  I will next time!

Sweater - H&M, thrifted

Green shirt - thrifted Target stock

Pants - Alfani, Macy's

Necklace - Bead for Life

Buttonflower - MMD

Shoes - Mudd, Kohls

Can you guys believe that February is more than halfway through already?  This means spring has to be around the corner though right?

Inspiration Monday - The story begins

Hello all, welcome to Monday.  Today's Inspiration Monday outfit is Charlize Theron in a pretty laid back look.  It wasn't too hard to come up with something for this one!  But anyway, I'm not going to talk much about my clothes today, I want to share a story instead.

The Pants Monkey and I are coming up on a fairly significant milestone I feel - while we'll have been married seven years this coming May, in March we'll celebrate 15 years together as a couple.  I don't always recognize that anniversary, but this year it just feels significant.  But while we made it official in March, the story really began about 15 years ago this past weekend.  We both attended a birthday party for a mutual friend in high school.  I actually went to that party with a different guy believe it or not, but he and I were pretty much done for at that point anyway.  And there was a pool, so we all went swimming.  Teenage boys being teenage boys decided it would be fun to do things like throw us girls around in the pool.  My Pants Monkey approached me and asked to throw me and I was like sure, since the guy I came with wasn't even swimming.  We ended up talking (and flirting) a lot that night and I knew that somehow he was going to be in my life in the near future.

Shirt - M2M, two birds garage sale

Pants and boots - Mossimo, Target

Scarf - World Market

Earrings - S&D

So anyway, flash forward back to this weekend and on Saturday night, we went to a birthday party for that very same friend.  And I couldn't help but smile when I remembered that other party so many years ago.  I told my friend again as I have in the past, her birthday will always be important to me because if it wasn't for her, I might not have my Pants Monkey now!

Of course there is more to the story of how we got together - but we'll get that next month, you'll just have to stay tuned!

For more Inspiration Monday outfits visit two birds over here.

Preppy

Happy Friday everyone!  I'm actually working again today!  It was nice having the last couple of Fridays off, but my boss is gone on vacation now, so someone has to hold down the fort!  Fortunately I can be casual, so I chose a fun preppy layered look today.  It was colder again this morning, so layers were a must.

Sweater - Polo Ralph Lauren, from cousin

Button shirt - Charter Club, Macy's

Jeans - Gap, thrifted

Shoes - Mudd, Kohls

Necklace - S&D 

This button up under a sweater look has always been one of my mom's favorites and she used to buy me clothes back when I was in high school encouraging me to dress like this, but I never liked it back then.  Funny how the times change I guess! I've said it before though, I wasn't horribly stylish in high school - it was mostly flannels and oversized sweatshirts for this girl.  Definitely not a preppy chick back then!  And somehow I still landed my Pants Monkey!

Speaking of the Pants Monkey, this outfit got the stamp of approval from him once again.  We had a nice evening together last night, he ended up home a little late, so we gave up on making dinner and grabbed burgers from our favorite bar instead.  I am looking forward to our nice dinner out on Sunday, but nights like last night are my favorites too!

Have a great weekend!

My snowy valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!  We woke up to this here and I thought it was so pretty, I decided to take some pictures outside today.

So Mr. Monkey and I are not going out tonight, we're saving our nice dinner out for this weekend.  But I still decided to dress up a little and throw some pink into my wardrobe for today.

Instead of going out tonight, we're going to make dinner together at home and just totally chill out with some favorite shows and maybe even a bottle of wine.  So in other words, it won't be that much different that most of our days together, but you know what?  That is ok with me!  It's one of the reasons I love him so much, we do even the most mundane activities together and make them fun!  Isn't that how marriage should be?

 Dress - handed down from Lynne

Sweater - Merona, Target, gift

Boots - Target (very old)

Necklace - Maurices

Bag- Coach Factory Outlet

Looking at these pictures I don't think spring is coming anytime soon.  We're definitely having more of a true winter this year!  Oh well.  How do you celebrate Valentine's Day?

A ban is in effect

Well guys, it's Ash Wednesday, which is the start of Lent and if you were following me last year at this time you know that during Lent I went on a shopping ban.  I have decided I want to do it again.  Now yes, I am a religious person, but that's really not why I'm doing this.  The "giving something up" thing was never pushed in my house growing up.  I am doing it more because it's a good time of year to do it honestly.  I do not need anymore winter clothes.  By the time we get to Easter, it'll be very close to spring.  I need to work with what I've got in the meantime.  So it's just a good time to do a shopping ban.  

I've also gone kind of overboard lately in some things I've bought and while it's all stuff I can use and have been wanting, it means I've spent a bit of money that I really didn't need to.  So more reasons it's just time to put myself on the ban.  So what are the rules of my ban?  Pretty simple - absolutely no clothes, shoes or accessory shopping.  I am making an exception for one thing and one thing only - I have a hole in my black leggings, so I will be replacing those to get through the rest of winter and I'll just buy a five dollar pair at Target so I feel it hardly counts.  Otherwise that is it.  I'm also trying to avoid buying any bath and beauty items as I am well overstocked on those types of things.  So, here we go.  40 days and 40 nights.  I made it before so I know I can make it again!

Sweater - Merona, Target, Christmas gift

T-shirt - Mossimo, Target (old)

Pants - Express, consignment

Shoes - Etienne Aigner, thrifted 

Not much to say about my outfit today.  I bought the pants a couple of weeks ago at the consignment shop.  They are a bit too long, I found after I added a belt they looked better as you can see in the last picture.  My mom had hemmed them a little bit for me but I might have to have her do some more.  I like them, they are almost denim in color and they're very comfy!

My newest favorite thing ever

Ladies and gentlemen I now present my "new to me" vintage sweater dress from Miss Amanda's Salvaged Strawberry shop.  I could.not.love.this.dress.more.  Seriously, my new favorite thing - I mean it's freaking plaid and has loads of orange!  I layered it up a bit as it's sleeveless and it's chilly out, but believe me, I have many ideas for styling this beauty.  It's going to be right up there with my vintage houndstooth dress as far as favorite remix pieces.  

 Sweater dress - Salvaged Strawberry

Cardigan - Christopher and Banks, from cousin

T-shirt - Mossimo, Target

Tights and boots - Target

Necklace - Charming Charlie

I am guessing due to the weight of this dress though I won't be able to wear it too far into the summer, it is quite warm, but I'll just have to get my fill of styling it up over the next couple of months!

The Pants Monkey said I looked all sorts of cute this morning.  I always know I have a winner when he makes a statement like that!  What is your favorite piece to remix?  What is your favorite new item in your closet?

Inspiration Monday - G(l)eek

Happy Monday everyone!  After a little silence over my three day weekend I'm back!  It was another good weekend, I swear one of these weekends are going to be very dull and uneventful and I think I'm going to end up disappointed!  Anyway, today is Monday and for Inspiration Monday we have Dianna Agron from Glee.

I'm a gleek you guys.  I am not ashamed to admit that.  I have been watching from the beginning and I feel that it's not nearly as good now, but I still like the show.  So yeah, I'm not just a geek, I'm a gleek.  Speaking of geeks, the Pants Monkey's work had a belated holiday party on Saturday night, so I chose to wear my inspiration outfit to dinner with a bunch of geeks and their wives.  I have to thank Amanda for this sweater dress, it's not the one I bought from her, but she was nice enough to give me this one!  Wasn't that sweet of her?  And check out the Pippin photo bomb in the picture - I couldn't get her to leave the room!

Sweater dress - Banana Republic, from Amanda

Blazer - Calvin Klein, thrifted

Leggings - DSW

Boots - Old Navy

Necklace - S&D

Clutch - Coach Outlet Factory

We went to a restaurant in St. Paul that is known for having a very large beer list and also very interesting and different sorts of food.  Mr. Monkey and I split a charcuterie platter that was amazing.  It was a fun night and even better when we weren't the ones paying for everything as it's a place that can get rather spendy!

More kitty photo bomb - see the tail?

I didn't partake in too much beer though as I promised Mr. Monkey since it was his office party that I'd be his DD.  Fortunately the snow/ice storm didn't hit until yesterday too so it was a pretty smooth ride home, which I was grateful for since I dislike driving at night!

For more Inspiration Monday outfits, be sure to check out the two birds blog over here!  

Obi Beth Kenobi and the Phantom Stain

Man alive, the best laid plans you guys.  So first of all, I decided not to wear my cute new sweater dress today because I need to wash a couple of things that I want to wear with it and the laundry fairy hasn't been to my house in a little while.  So then I decided to try an outfit suggested to me by Heather from H&K Style Journey which would be my cream cowl neck sweater (last worn here) with my red skinny jeans.  I pulled it all out and was ready to put it on after my shower when I discovered some ugly stain all down the back of the sweater.  I have no idea where it came from or how it happened, as I definitely washed it after I wore it last and don't recall anything being on the back!  I'm so bummed, I don't know if it's fixable.  We'll see what I can do.  So anyway, after all of that, I was then inspired by my newest Megan Mae obi belt, and managed to pull something together I'm quite pleased with.

 Sweater - St. John's Bay, JCPenney

Pants - Old Navy

Belt - MMD

Necklace - S&D

Shoes - Etienne Aigner, thrifted

So in the end, it all worked out just fine, but I'm still really sad about that other sweater!  I hope it's not a problem with our washing machine, I know that happened at my parents once where there would be rust stains and they ended up replacing the machine.  Eek.  Not high on my list right now of things to replace!  Homeownership.  You gotta love it.

At least it's my Friday once again.  As I mentioned last week I was lucky enough to get a couple of Fridays off here before my boss goes on a super long vacation and I'm a slave to my desk again.  And honestly I need to save some time off for this summer too, so I'll probably not have much of a chance to be off again for awhile, so I have to enjoy it while I can!

I may or may not blog tomorrow.  I have a couple of things going on and Mr. Monkey is off in the afternoon with me as our music group is putting on a concert tomorrow evening.  The rest of the weekend should be pretty relaxing.  We have his office party on Saturday evening at a fun local restaurant and then I decided if this snowstorm comes to fruition on Sunday that I might spend the day baking. We'll see where things go!  Have a great weekend my lovelies!