Violet

Today's pick from the Pantone color challenge is African Violet.  I'm not sure what makes African Violet all that different from regular Violet, but nonetheless, here I am with a Violet/Orchid/some shade of purple tank top.  I'm really surprised this isn't a color shade I have more of in my closet, because I have always loved purples, but this is kind of it aside from a couple of wintery things.  (Side note, talking about the color Violet always makes me think of the line from Willy Wonka "Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!)

My color tastes have changed so much over the years though.  When I was a little kid and you asked me what my favorite color was, it was always pink.  Purple was a close second.  As a result, I ended up with a rather pink childhood bedroom, so when I came of age, I ended up resisting pink for a very long time.  I gravitated towards purple for a long time, in fact, my first car was purple!  Now if you asked me what my favorite color was I'd probably say anything in the orange family.  But I have a soft spot for purples.

Tank top and sweater - Arizona Jean Co, JCPenney

Pants - Sonoma, thrifted

Necklace and earrings - Lia Sophia

Sandals - Clothes Mentor

I did a couple of close ups on some newer things here.  The necklace is from Lia Sophia.  A friend was having a March of Dimes fundraiser before I put myself on a strict shopping ban and I wasn't going to buy anything, but then I saw this necklace and I loved that it has gold, silver and rose gold and it wasn't that expensive, so I caved.  And below here I also took a close up of my new sandals since you couldn't see them real well in my photos from yesterday.

Tomorrow may be tricky for the color challenge.  I wore my bright yellow skirt last week and I don't have much else that I would consider "Lemon Zest" but you just never know!  I may figure something out!  

Inspiration Monday and Pantone color link up

Whew, it's Monday.  And there is lots going on here on the blog today for a Monday!  Two different link ups going on!  First up is Inspiration Monday with two birds.  I love this picture of January Jones.  I'll never be caught dead in leather pants though!  No way I could ever pull them off.  I still pulled together a little something though!

I wore this yesterday and really didn't even need the jacket.  It was near 80 degrees for the first time in months!  The entire weekend was absolutely gorgeous.  Yesterday Mr. Monkey smoked some meats in his smoker and we had his family over for a barbeque.  Of course, as soon as the food was ready it started to rain so we couldn't eat outside, but it was still a nice day!

 T-Shirt - Tommy Hilfiger, from cousin
Jacket - White House Black Market, thrifted
Jeans - Mossimo, Target
Sandals - Clothes Mentor

So I went out shopping with my mom on Saturday even though I don't want to spend any money right now.  She was awesome and bought me some shoes!  She bought me the ones I'm wearing above that are unfortunately kind of washed out by the sunlight and she bought me another pair that I wore to the wedding on Saturday.  I'll have another post on my wedding wear at some point here!

My next outfit is for a fun link up that Literate and Stylish and The Modern Austen are hosting this week.  It's a week of outfits inspired by Pantone's top color shades for spring.  Today's color is emerald.  I don't have any true emerald, but I chose a shade of green that was sort of close.

 Sweater - NY&Co, thrifted
Skirt - American Eagle (very old)
Necklace - S&D
Sandals - Target (old)

It's still going to be warm today, so a skirt and sandals was a good choice!  I don't know how well I'll keep up with the color challenge all week as I'm lacking some of these hues in my closet, but we'll see how things go!

So, like I said, lots of linking up today!  Be sure to head over to two birds for more Inspiration Monday looks and over to Literate and Stylish for other Pantone inspired looks!

Hey you guyyyyys!

It's SPRING!  Finally!  I'm wearing sandals!  Finally!  I believe this is the latest I've ever gone into the year without wearing them, it's crazy!  Anyway, today's post is picture heavy as I celebrate all the wonderful things about spring: floral, sandals, arm parties, light colored bags.

I did wear these pants even through the winter as they seemed to work for year round, but I'm excited to wear them in the spring and summer, they have so many style options!

And I'm weak.  Yes, this is a new bag.  Yes I'm still on a shopping ban.  My sister-in-law's best friend (aka my Stella and Dot enabler) had a S&D open house last weekend to showcase the new spring/summer line and I fell in love with this tote.  I've had a rough month so I decided to treat myself.  It's a bit bigger than what I've been used to carrying, but I just love the color and it's surprisingly lightweight, so I think it's going to be a great spring/summer bag.

 Sweater - Christopher and Banks, from cousin

T-shirt - Ann Taylor, from cousin

Pants - Mossimo, Target

Sandals - Merona, Target

Jewelry and bag - S&D

Clearly I need a pedicure, very, VERY badly, but I'm just so excited to wear sandals anyway!!  Happy feet!

I took a close up of my arm part, it turned out a little blurry.  I'm really excited to wear bracelets again.  I just don't see the point in the winter when long sleeves cover them up!

And of course, I had to give you a close up of the bag.  It's a nice material that wipes clean.  I should have showed you the inside, it's a fun red print.  It has one outside pocket that is perfect for my cell phone.  And it just feels classy.  I'm getting to the time of the year where I'm going to start changing bags more frequently because I often match them to my outfits, I can't help it in the summer for some reason, but I do expect to get a lot of use out of this guy!

Welcome Spring, welcome.  Please stay as long as you like, we're so happy you're here!

Spring!

Shh...don't tell anyone...but I think spring is finally springing!  Long overdue.  Not quite ready for bare legs and sandals today - but sandals may be making their debut tomorrow.  Of course saying that out loud might jinx it!

I swear this is the latest into spring I've gone without wearing sandals at least once!  No joke.  It might be just as well, my feet are in desperate need of a pedicure.  I don't know how I can make that happen before the wedding I'm attending this weekend so I may just have to do a selfie.

 Top - M2M, via two birds garage sale

Skirt - Old Navy

Necklace - S&D

Shoes - Rampage, DSW

Flower barrette - C. Jane Create

It feels good to finally be whining about things like pedicures though!  I'd much rather be complaining about my unpretty feet in sandals than continuing to smooth them into boots!

Administrative Professionals Day

So I'm pretty sure most of you know - I am an "administrative professional".  And apparently today is Administrative Professionals Day.  So you should celebrate me!  Ok, I kid.  But if you are lucky enough to have an admin, go tell them you appreciate what they do!  My boss never remembers this day, but that's ok. She tells me pretty often how much she appreciates me!

Anyway, I thought today would be a good day for my pink pencil skirt.  Cause it's got that sexy secretary vibe or something like that!

 Gingham shirt - JCPenney

Blazer - American Eagle, thrifted

Skirt - vintage, two birds

Tights - Target

Shoes - Steve Madden, thrifted

Necklace - S&D

I have to admit, I have never been one who wants to be in charge, so I really do like having the kind of job that I do where I can stay behind the scenes.  And I'm pretty good at what I do I think.  I'm organized and I can multi-task.  Those are pretty much the biggest requirements to be an admin!  Oh yeah, and I can type like a crazy person.  Thank you Typing Class in high school!

Unoriginal

Ugh, you guys, my outfit is so uninspired today.  It snowed.  Again.  So I chose pants and a sweater.  Again.  Most original outfit EVAR.  They have continued to promise us spring weather for this weekend though, so I'll just keep pinning my hopes on that.  Because in MN, you just always have to have hope.

 Sweater - LOFT, thrifted

T-shirt - Maurices, thrifted

Pants - Nine and Co, thrifted

Necklace - S&D

Thankfully today the sun is back out and the snow will melt quickly.  And I know it will be all too soon that I will be complaining about heat and humidity!  One day at a time.

Inspiration Monday - Shameless

Well here we are and it's Monday again!  Did you all have good weekends? I did even if the weather wasn't perfect, I chose to bake cupcakes.  Lemons out of lemonade right?  Anyway, I'm back with two birds for Inspiration Monday and I love the actress they chose this week - Emmy Rossum.  She stars in one of my most favorite shows, Shameless.  If you have never seen this show, go Netflix or rent the season DVDs - it is kind of offensive at times, OK it's offensive all of the time, but it is also really well done and one of the better shows I've seen in recent years, the acting is awesome.  And Emmy is also a classically trained singer - she has a lovely voice and was in Phantom of the Opera.

So here is my take on her super springy outfit.  The sun is shining today - hooray - but it's still not terribly warm, so I added nylons.  Just can't do bare legs and sandals yet!

And again, since it's cold and has been cold in my office lately too, I decided to add a blazer.  I think it works and still keeps the spring like nature of the outfit - it's a yellow skirt, how can it not be somewhat springy?

 Shirt - Antlita Femme, thrifted

Blazer - F21

Skirt - Shabby Apple via giveawa

Shoes - DSW

Necklace and earrings - Camy Couture

I hear there is a chance we may actually get real live spring here in MN by this weekend which would be nice, we have a wedding to go to.  Before that can happen though, there is supposed to be some more slushy snow tonight.  Seriously.  I'm going to ignore that forecast and enjoy the fact that right at this very moment, there is sun.

Head on over to two birds and check out the other Inspiration Monday outfits!

Friday round up

So it's a very snowy morning in MN and I don't have an outfit post today, but instead thought I'd share some highlights from my week.  It was a week of all weeks but there were a few good moments.

We bought the kitties a new toy and they absolutely love it.  Surprisngly they haven't really fought over it yet either.  Taylor is using it the most, but as you see in the next picture, even Pippin kind of likes it.

When it rains it pours - this was during last weekend's storm, we lost another huge limb of a tree in our backyard.  I think the tree is sick, it just shouldn't be this weak otherwise.  I think we'll be looking at taking it down completely, which is unfortunate.  The Pants Monkey has never liked it's location, it makes mowing difficult in the backyard, not to mention, we've never been able to get grass to grow under it.  It did provide awesome shade in the summer though and a nice canopy over our firepit in the fall.  I will miss it, but it's just gotta go, it's not safe anymore.

 

Unfortunately other parts of our week included finding out the Pants Monkey's car needed some serious expensive repairs and other fun money type things, so again, as I said earlier this week, I think I won't be shopping much for awhile.  Life is just full of surprises sometimes and sometimes we need to make sacrifices.  I will just have fun remixing my closet in the meantime - if we ever get spring weather for me to start playing with some of that stuff again!

Third Thursday Threads - Florals

I decided to link up with Bri Marie's Work Clothes, I Suppose for Third Thursday Threads again - this month is florals.  And boy, nothing perks up a gross wintery day more than something floral!  I actually wore this outfit last Friday when it was a hair nicer out than it is today.  We aren't going to talk about the weather today or the white stuff falling from the sky. 

Anyway, I got this cute little cardi at the Camy Couture store in Stillwater, MN.  I think it'll be a great transitional piece into summer, could easily be thrown over a sundress or maybe worn with my red skinny jeans too.

Sweater - Camy Couture

Shirt - Thrifted Target Stock

Jeans - Gap, thrifted

Boots - Mossimo, Target

Necklace - Clothes Mentor 

I wish I had taken a picture of the first time I wore this cardi too actually - I wore it to the Good Friday service a few weeks ago with a cute red top underneath and black pants (red is a color featured prominently at Good Friday). I may even dabble with some pattern mixing with this guy at some point, you just never know!

Head on over to Work Clothes, I Suppose to see other florals.  Are you liking the floral trend for spring?

Minty goodness

Introducing....my mint pants!  I am so insanely excited to have these I can't stand it.  And I found a cute polka dot sweater that matched, so you just can't beat it!  I crossed two items off my wish list with one blow this weekend!  It is a little weird to not be wearing anything thrifted for once, that is becoming more and more rare for me these days, but I just finally decided if I wanted mint pants, I was going to have to go to a retail store.

Sweater - Old Navy

Pants - JCPenney (JCP Brand)

Necklace - Camy Couture via giveaway

Shoes - Clothes Mentor 

And of course it's still not very spring like, but at least I can wear a warm spring like outfit.  I am feeling bad for the weather guys.  They are just the messengers and you can tell they just feel so bad coming on the air and telling us we're going to get another winter storm.  They're grasping at straws "I see signs of spring in the extended forecast."  I don't blame them one bit, in fact, I kind of want to give them a hug and tell them it's going to be all right.

Anyway, back to these new items, I see so much potential for both the pants and the sweater, I think they'll be my new favorite things.  I'll be able to roll the pants when it finally does get warm, so that's a bonus in my book too!  Hope the rest of you are enjoying spring for us poor MN folks who can't quite yet!

Another "Pinspiration"

So I want to start off by saying, I don't want to make light of what happened in Boston yesterday.  It was horrific and terrifying and my prayers and thoughts are with all those who were affected.  I struggled with whether or not I wanted to blog as normal today, but then I thought about it and for my own comfort, I want to still do so.  It's a sense of normalcy and it's a way to show those who want to strike fear into our very souls that they do not win.  However, if this does offend anyone, I'll be more than happy to take it down.

It's still cold in MN.  Big shock.  But, it gave me an excuse to finally pull together an outfit I've had pinned on Pinterest for ever and a day.  I even pulled my boots out of storage to bring this look together.

This is a big reason I wanted a black striped skirt.  I finally found this one at Target the same day I bought the leopard print sweater from yesterday.  It wasn't terribly expensive.  I figure it's going to transcend seasons quite well too, obviously working in colder weather like today and it will work for warmer weather too.

After shopping with my mom this weekend my spring wish list is nearly complete.  I found mint pants and you'll be seeing those later.  I also found a polka dot sweater.  I still haven't found a white blouse, but I'm not too worried about that.  I'm pretty much putting a lock on my wallet, in addition to plumbing work we need to have done at home now we also have a tree that has to be removed from our backyard - we lost another huge branch during an ice storm this weekend.

Sweater - "A" brand from Herbergers

Denim shirt - Talbots, thrifted

Skirt - Merona, Target

Tights and boots - Target

Necklace - S&D

Bag - Vintage Coach via Tandem Vintage

I am glad I pulled these boots out of storage.  They not only look cute with the outfit, they're keeping my feet warmer too.  I hear there is a chance spring may find it's way to us by next week.  I guess we'll see what happens.

I have no right to complain about anything though, not after yesterday.  I have dabbled with running off and on and have never been a marathon runner, but have nothing but respect for those who are - and I especially respect the runners in Boston and I bow down to the ones who kept on running to the hospital to help give blood and help the victims.  They are true heroes.  Again, I'm lacking the words here, but my heart is with Boston today.  I also want to point you to a post written over at two birds - very well written.  I'll leave you with this - choose love, not fear.  And thank you for letting me blog mostly as normal today, again, I hope that didn't offend anyone.

What I wore to Wits

And somehow it's Monday again.  And we are just not going to talk about the MN weather.  Nope.  It'll get old fast.  Instead, let's talk about what I wore to Wits - and Wits itself.

Mr. Monkey came home before it was time to go to the show and said "you look all sorts of cute, you should put that outfit on your blog." So I said "ok, take pictures of me!"  It's so nice having an actual human take pictures instead of my tripod!  Anyway, I picked up this leopard print sweater at Target for quite a steal last week - a whopping six bucks.  Best deal ever!

Sweater and t-shirt - Mossimo, Target

Jeans - Gap, thrifted

Shoes - Mudd, Kohls

Necklace - S&D 

Now let's talk about Wits.  What a fun show!  It lasted about two hours, but they'll end up editing stuff to the point that when it is broadcast it should only run about an hour.  Kristen Schaal is hilarious in person - and I was so excited when they were interviewing her they asked what was one TV show or movie that helped define her as an actress, something she watches for inspiration - she said "The Muppets Take Manhattan" which is one of my all time favorite movies from when I was young!  Rufus Wainwright was fabulous as well - though somewhat humorous and not on purpose, he kept apologizing because he had just flown in from Australia the day before, so he was quite jet lagged.  All in all though it was a really fun evening and I'd love to go to another one of those shows!

Linking up with Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style.  Missed the boat on Inspiration Monday today, but still go over and see who is playing at the two birds blog!

Witty

Happy Friday everyone!  We have survived another week!  And I survived our freak spring snowstorm.  Fun couple of days around here, that's for sure.  It's finally over now and we just have to wait for it to melt, which it should start doing today.  That's the best part of a spring snowstorm!  It's short lived.  

It may have been cold and snowy yesterday forcing me to wear a sweater, but at least I could wear one that was springy in nature!

Pink thermal shirt - F21

Pink sweater - vintage, Salvaged Strawberry

Pants - Worthington, JCPenney

Necklace - from teen years

Shoes - Madden Girl, thrifted 

So do you all have exciting weekend plans?  I'm really excited for tonight.  We're going to a show in St. Paul called Wits.  It's a variety type show that features a comedian and a singer and it's broadcast on MPR (our local NPR station).  The guests for tonight's show are Kristen Schaal (Flight of the Conchords) and Rufus Wainwright.  We've been listening to the various Wits shows from the past and they just sound so fun, so I really can't wait to see one live tonight!  The rest of the weekend will be pretty quiet and that is just fine by me.  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Remembering a sunnier day

Today is another lovely day in MN - in fact the worst of the storm is today - so I'm bringing you an outfit from a much warmer sunnier day two weeks ago instead of depressing you all with snow photos.

So remember when I said yesterday that I swear Heather from Style Journey is my style twin?  Maybe she's my muse instead - the following outfit is one I stole from her.

I wore this on my nice sunny day off a couple of weeks ago.  I met a couple of friends for sushi lunch and we ended up doing a little shopping that day as well.  It was nice enough I didn't need much more than this - I just added a light jacket.  I saw someone say yesterday that there are some people that are hating on the denim vest trend - but I say bring it on.  I loved it in the 90's, I love it now.  It just adds a little something to an outfit.

Shirt - Eddie Bauer

Vest - Mighty Swell Vintage

Jeans - Old Navy

Shoes - DSW

Scarf - S&D

Oh look at that nice sunshine.  It will come back again someday, I know that it will!  In the meantime, I have started digging back out some of those sweaters and boots I put away last week....sigh.

Just call me Pollyanna

Hey everyone!  I am not going to talk about the awful MN weather today.  Nothing I can do about it, so I am instead making the most of my day with another Pinspired outfit.  I found this pin off of Heather from Style Journey's Pin boards - I swear sometimes her and I are style twins - anyway, I had some items to kind of duplicate this one, so I gave it a go.

 I opted for a blue sweater instead of a green one, I could probably wear this outfit again this spring with an actual green sweater instead.  Today I needed the extra warmth, so that is why I chose the blue one.

And hey, why not add a fun summer straw bag even if it's anything but summer like outside.  I love this one I bought at the Tandem Vintage sale, it has tons of room in it and will be awesome this summer for shopping or a beach day.  Today it is just brightening up a wintery day.

Sweater - Lands End

T-shirt - Mossimo, Target

Pants - Athleta (from sis-in-law)

Necklace/earrings - Camy Couture (from giveaway)

Bag - Tandem Vintage

Also giving me some sunshine today?  My fun new jewelry from Jasmine's giveway!  My package from her showed up over the weekend and I'm super excited about the goodies she sent.  Not only did I get this pretty minty colored necklace, but also a fun orange crossbody purse that will be good for a night out and a cute purple bracelet that actually fits my tiny wrist.  Here is a photo of all of the items - I can't wait to play with them more!  Thank you again Jasmine!

So I found a way to add some sunshine to my day.  To make lemonade from lemons.  To look on the bright side.  Just call me Pollyanna!