Sweet 16

Happy Friday all!  We've successfully made it through another week, hooray!  I have another semi-busy weekend on tap, but nothing like last weekend.  And after this weekend, my July looks lovely.  Really I just need to get past tomorrow.  Then summer can really begin in my book!

Went for a simple t-shirt and jeans today for a casual Friday look.  Dressed it up with one of my favorite Stella and Dot necklaces with brooch and my awesome thrifted Steve Madden heels.  Simple little touches that really add a lot!

Nothing terribly exciting planned for my day though - meeting a couple of blog friends for happy hour and then heading home for dinner with Mr. Monkey.  Speaking of which, we're splitting a CSA share with my in-laws this summer and the first box came last night.  And the Pants Monkey is a pretty darn creative chef and whipped us up a lovely dinner of pork chops (which we already had), radishes, collard greens with kale and a fried egg (we're getting 1/2 cartons of fresh eggs too).  It was delicious!  We're going to be eating really well this summer, I can already tell!

Shirt - Ann Taylor, from cousin

Jeans - Liz Lange, from friend

Necklace and bracelet - Stella and Dot

Bag - 31 Gifts

Shoes - Steve Madden, thrifted

And here's my weekly bump picture - we're at sweet 16 today!  As I said yesterday, four more weeks until we find out boy or girl and at that point we'll be halfway through.  Crazy!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend.  Later today I will be posting a Vlog about my newest box from Influenster - kind of excited about it!

Fresh and re-freshed

I got a haircut!!  Oh man do I feel ten million billion times better.  I brought a picture of what I wanted this time and I think that really helped the stylist a lot.  Then again, I think I also had a stylist who really knew what she was doing this time too.  At any rate, I feel so fresh and renewed.  I just hope it stops growing so darn fast, but again, with the darn prenatal vitamins, there are no guarantees.

 Also helping me feel fresh is this outfit.  My mom was sweet enough to pick up this shirt for me at our favorite consignment shop.  I realized yesterday I had been wearing a string of peach and orange for the last several days - no surprise as it's been my favorite color as of late - but I decided I needed to change it up a bit.  So you get blues today!  And yes, in the next picture is a new bag - I hosted a 31 Gifts party to help out a friend of mine and was able to get a few fun free things.  I mostly chose storage items (gee, wonder why?) but also was able to pick myself out a new wallet and I decided to give this Inside Out bag a try.  I have the Lotsa Dots pattern facing out, but the reverse side is really fun too, bright colored floral pattern.  You can knot it and wear it as a shoulder bag or un-knot it and wear crossbody.  Kind of fun.  And it's washable - which will be useful when the little one arrives I'm sure!

Shirt - Duo Maternity, consignment

Skirt - American Eagle (very old)

Sandals - Old Navy

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Bracelet and earrings - swap with CC

Bag - 31 Gifts

It's much less humid outside today too.  It started improving last night.  We have so many things to do at home and chores and yard work and the list goes on - but Mr. Monkey has been stressed at work and so we just took last night to grill some burgers and sat outside on our deck for quite some time.  He had some beer, I had some lemonade and then we shared a little Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream (Late Night Snack flavor - crazy good, it has caramel and chocolate covered potato chips in it, no joke!) while playing some cards.  It was so nice and I think what we both needed to feel more refreshed.  Sometimes you just need to do those things!

Soup

So I totally thought I would never have a chance to wear this pretty shirt from Cambria after I got pregnant, but then I realized it's practically perfect - it doesn't even come over the belly!  So, it was a good choice for this unbelievably humid day.  It is like soup outside, no joke.

I did add a little sweater for the air conditioning though, my office keeps the building SUPER cold.  And I didn't want to freeze.  The oranges aren't quite the same in these tops but it works well enough.  And bonus, the Pants Monkey told me he thought I looked cute this morning.

Sweater - Zara, from cousin

Shirt - F21, from Cambria

Cami - from cousin

Capris - Simply Vera, Kohls

Necklace and bracelets - S&D

Shoes - Italian Shoe Maker

And that's about all I have today.  I was a little late today due to an early morning OB appointment.  Everything is going great - next time we get to find out boy or girl, so I'm excited about that.  It'll be a long four weeks until then!

Wrong side

Man, I feel like I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  And it's silly too, I got one of the best night sleeps last night that I've had in awhile - but maybe that is the problem!  Anyone else ever get that?  You're almost more tired from sleeping well?  Anyway, I decided the fix to my crankiness was to wear my favorite maxi dress of all time.  

In other better news, the water situation at home is improving by the day.  Mr. Monkey bought a better dehumidifier on the way home last night and it seems like things are finally starting to dry out.  Thank goodness for that!  We are getting more storms later tonight it sounds like and then we're finally heading for a dry stretch, so maybe we'll be able to address the area of the yard that caused us to get water in the first place!

 Shirt - Old Navy, thrifted

Dress- Merona, Target

Necklace - DIY by me

Sandals - Marshalls

The other thing I think will help cheer me up will be getting a haircut.  It's been only four weeks since my last one, but let me tell you, the thing about prenatal vitamins doing amazing things for your hair and nails?  Partly true in my case.  My nails still suck, but my hair is a hot mess - it grows so fast right now!  I suppose this would be the perfect time to grow it out if I really wanted to, but I've done the long hair thing before and it just doesn't work on me.  Anyway, I can't go until tomorrow but I know I'll be much happier after I go - get rid of this Justin Bieber look!

Inspiration Monday - Build an ark

Hey guys.  We had quite the storm over the weekend.  It was intense.  I'll share more about that in a moment, but first things first, it's Inspiration Monday with two birds (congrats again to Miss Megan on her wedding this past weekend!) and they chose this awesome casual look from Alessandra Ambrosio.

This was easy.  Comfy shorts, my current favorite peach top, sandals and a necklace.  Boom.  Simple and chic.  Mr. Monkey was kind enough to take my pictures yesterday.  Yesterday ended up being a rather nice day.  The rest of the weekend?  Totally different story.

Shirt - Mudd, Kohls

Shorts - Duo Maternity, consigment

Necklace and Earrings - S&D

Bracelet - Bead for Life

Sandals - Italian Shoe Company from cousin 

It all started Friday night.  We were over at our music director's house having a Friday night rehearsal.  Suddenly we all started getting government issued text messages that there was a Flash Flood warning in our area.  I looked outside and it was getting dark, but not raining.  I checked my Weather Center app and saw that there were severe storms approaching, but didn't think too much of it.  We get storms, it's not a big deal.  Well pretty soon the sky just opened up, I have never seen rain come sideways quite like it did.  You could see it was windy.  The lights started flickering and then the power went out.  So, rehearsal was pretty much called off at that point.  The Pants Monkey and I decided to head home when there was a brief lull.  We only live a few blocks away, so at least it wasn't far to go.  It was quite a drive though - lots of limbs and standing water in the road.

We got home and thankfully we had power.  Everything seemed more or less ok, but I was nervous because we have had water come in the basement before in these kinds of storms, sometimes it just takes awhile.  And sure enough, Saturday morning my fears were confirmed when I found water in the laundry room and a little bit on our main room carpet.  We need to grate the lawn away from our house in the backyard is what it boils down to.  At any rate, we spent the rest of the weekend dealing with that.  It's slowly getting better, but I think we're getting a new de-humidifier to speed up the process, the one we have seems to have failed!

Despite all of that, we salvaged a decent day yesterday.  The Pants Monkey brewed beer and we had dinner out on a patio.  I tell you though, I feel like I need a weekend from my weekend!

For more Inspiration Monday outfits head on over to two birds over here.

This "n" that

Hey it's Friday!  Yay!  Although I have another busy weekend on tap.  I swear I cannot wait to get to July, life will slow down just a hair then!  But for now, one day at a time.

We had some big storms move through last night.  They were a bit noisy, so I'm glad I have some coffee this morning!  Could be a long day otherwise!

 Tank top - Express, thrifted

Shrug - Mossimo, Target, old

Jeans - Old Navy

Sandals - Italian Shoe Company, from cousin

Bag - Coach Outlet

Necklace and earrings - Lia Sophia

Bracelet - Camy Couture via giveaway

It's been hit or miss finding maternity clothes at the thrift store.  I have found if I just go raid the regular shirt racks a size up from my normal size, I'm finding plenty of good shirts.  I look for some that have a higher empire style waist on them.  I have laughed too - if I would pull a shirt like these off the rack when I wasn't pregnant, I would say "This looks too much like a maternity shirt" and put it back!   Now I can't get enough of them!  They'll be great transition pieces for after baby too.

And I am giving you guys a bump picture today.  I'm officially 15 weeks.  Sara was so sweet to say yesterday that I still barely look pregnant - part of that has been how I've been standing I think!  So here, I'll bare all today!

We're moving right along.  I have my 16 week OB appointment next week and hope to talk about and set up my gender scan so we can find out just what is growing inside of me!

Hope you all have a great weekend! (And PS - my jury duty is OVER!)

Bands

I'm pretty much dressed for comfort today.  It's warm and humid out and I'm going right from work to a ladies night with the ladies from my music group, so I kind of planned my outfit around that.  I LOVE these new capris I thrifted from Savers - they are from Motherhood (I vow during this pregnancy to never buy anything new from there - too expensive!) and they are probably the most comfy pants I now own.  Elastic bands are awesome.

Tank top - Cliche Minneapolis

Cami - Old Navy

Capris - Motherhood Maternity, thrifted

Shrug - Old Navy

Necklace - Camy Couture

Bracelets - Clothes Mentor, a Little Bird on Grand

Sandals - Mootsie Tootsie, from cousin 

Speaking of bands of a different type - this morning while we were both getting ready, the Pants Monkey and I were talking about bands we liked in high school (aka the mid to late 90's) and whatever happened to some of them.  Groups like Smash Mouth and Chumbawumba.  They gave us a couple of sing along (or shout along) anthems and now they are gone.  Sometimes I wonder what gives one band staying power and another one a trip to the musical graveyard.  Random thoughts in my head.  You have to love it.

Mod

Hello everyone!  It's another beautiful sunny day!  It makes me happy to see the sun!  The other thing making me happy?  This super fun sort of mod like shirt I bought at the thrift store last week.  It reminds me a little of something out of the 1960's.  If it was just a little bit longer, it more or less would be a mini dress.  But since it's not and this mama doesn't want to look too odd, I added capris too.  

Tonight Mr. Monkey and I are going on a rare weeknight date night.  Our days and weekends have been just full of stuff lately.  Told you this baby wasn't slowing us down.  But it has left us with no time for each other and we need to savor those kinds of moments as much as possible over the next months, so we decided, let's treat ourselves tonight and get some dinner somewhere.  As long as this weather holds, you bet we will be eating outside somewhere!

Shirt - MixIt, thrifted

Capris - Simply Vera, Kohls

Sandals - Clothes Mentor

Necklace - Maurices

Bag - Coach Outlet

I might not be able to indulge in beer any longer when we go out but I'm rediscovering a love of many non-alcoholic drinks that I forgot how much I enjoyed - lemonade for example.  Especially places that make their own and make them with fun flavors.  Also, root beer - if it is good quality like 1919 or something, man, that tastes good on a nice warm day!  And you can never go wrong with an ice cream shake, but I try to limit those just a wee bit!  Trying to keep weight gain to baby only if I can help it!  Any of you have a favorite non-alcoholic drink that isn't sodapop?

Best dress ever

This is the best dress ever.  I have had it almost two years now and I cannot get enough of it.  I love the colors, I love the style and now, I love that it will be the perfect dress for my growing bump too.  Right now I love that if you look at me straight on, I still look semi-skinny in it!

The other reason I love this dress, like most maxi dresses, is because it seriously feels like wearing pajamas.  I only have one other maxi dress in my closet right now, I may need to change that!  And I still find it hilarious that this is my favorite dress - I resisted the maxi trend for such a long time.  Now I can't get enough.

 Dress - Cliche Minneapolis

Sweater - F21 (last year)

Sandals - Marshalls

Bag - Tandem Vintage pop-up

Necklace - S&D

Bracelets - S&D, Clothes Mentor

It seems the weather is finally settling a bit here too.  And it's glorious - high 70's and sunshine - anyone want to play hooky?  Seriously.  I wish it had been like this last Tuesday when I ended up with a little time off! Oh well, I'll just look longingly out my window!

All the color

Good day all!  Welcome back to Monday.  Sadly, I'm not doing Inspiration Monday today.  I had the perfect outfit on yesterday, no joke, but never got time to photograph it because we had a very busy and hectic Father's Day.  The best laid plans I guess!  Instead, I have this fun and colorful ensemble today and at least I'm not at Jury Duty, so that's something right?

I've been running late in the mornings as of late, so I've been sneakily taking pictures at the office as soon as I get in.  I regret it today, it was very nice out this morning, would have been a good outdoor picture day!  Perhaps tomorrow will work out better!

Shirt - Style and Co, consignment

Capris - Simply Vera, Kohls

Sandals - Issac Mizrahi for Target, thrifted

Necklace and bracelet - Bead for Life

Did a little jewelry close up on these two items, because while I think I have before, it's been awhile and some folks were asking when I wore this necklace last week.  I love these pieces because not only did I support a good cause to get them, they go with just about everything given the multiple colors in them.  I'm just in a big color mood today!  More color!  All the color!

And finally, if you missed it yesterday, it was my 2nd blogiversary and I did a huge blog love post highlighting the reasons I love many of you - so head on over here to check it out - and again, thanks for all the nice words!  You are all the reason I love to do this!

You've come a long way baby

Thought it would be fun to take a little walk down memory lane for my two year blog anniversary (which is officially tomorrow).  I have definitely come a long way in my prose, my photos, my style, just about everything.  I had no idea when I started this adventure how far I'd go and what it would become - but it has been one of the best things I've ever done.  I love this community so much - and I'll be posting a separate post to say thank you to more than a few special people, because seriously, without many of you, I wouldn't have lasted this long!

First post - June 16th, 2011

February 2012

 July 2012

 December 2012

April 2013

June 2013

And this next year on the blog guarantees to push me further and will definitely be a whole new ride with the addition of this tiny human growing inside of me.  First we'll watch me get bigger - and then hopefully we'll watch me get smaller and re-adjust to life with a newborn - hopefully keeping my style in the process!  I'm up for the challenge, it may not be all sunshine and rainbows, but we'll just go one day a time.

Be sure to stop back tomorrow for my giant love fest for my fellow bloggers - because again - I could not do this without all of you.

Moving right along

Well hello there Friday!  You sure showed up quickly this week!  I suppose it helps that I was away for the one day for my Jury Duty/Me Day.  At any rate, Friday is here and I'm quite happy.  Although our weekend is rather jam packed again, it's still nice that it's here!

Tonight will be fun, we have a barbeque/hopeful bonfire with some friends.  The weather is threatening rain later, so the bonfire may or may not happen, but I'm hopeful. Of course, this would have to be my husband's craft beer group, so there is going to be a ton of awesome beer around that I can't have, but I'm bringing myself a couple of fun sodas.  I also baked some really yummy cookies to bring along too.

 T-shirt - Express, thrifted

Sweater - Lands End

Skirt - Liz Lange, consignment

Bag - Lulu's

Necklace and bracelets - S&D

Sandals - Mootsie Tootsie, from cousin

And I have to mention, I'm officially 14 weeks pregnant now which means I'm in the coveted 2nd Trimester. A lot of women describe this as the best time of pregnancy because your energy comes back and if you were feeling sick (which thankfully, still haven't) it starts to go away.  I definitely feel more energetic - although this morning I was dragging a little, which is why I took pictures at work, running so behind.  Overall though I am waking up easier each morning!  So anyway, here's a bump picture for fun - a little fuzzy, but I think you get the idea.  Still kind of tiny, but it's coming - I definitely notice it each day!

I hope you all have wonderful weekends!  Oh and also - it's my 2nd bloggiversary on Sunday - I can't believe I've been doing this two years!  Anyway, come back for a big celebratory post on Sunday, I will also be giving shout outs to many of you who have helped fuel my fire over the last two years!

Hello sunshine!!!

Well once again, I didn't have to report for my Jury Duty.  I found out I won't have to report tomorrow either, so that's a good thing too!  And there is finally SUNSHINE!  Not hazy fake through the high clouds sun.  Real, live, beautiful sun and beautiful blue skies with only a few white puffy clouds.  And it's not blasted hot or anything.  If I could bottle today and keep it for the entire summer, I totally would!

This shirt I thrifted from the regular clothes over at Unique Thrift Store last month.  It hasn't been nice enough to wear it yet, it's sleeveless, but I decided to throw on a cardi with it today and figured it would work great. I love how blousey it is, I know it'll be a fine shirt this summer even if it isn't a maternity top.  And I can't get enough of this color right now - aqua, teal, mint, anything that shade is a total win!

Shirt - thrifted

Cardi - Arizona Jean Co, JCPenney

Pants - Anthropologie, thrifted

Necklace and earrings - Camy Couture via giveaway

Bag - Lulu's

Sandals - Mootsie Tootsie, from cousin

And of course I am loving that I can still squeeze into my favorite Anthro pants - and button them!  I'll keep wearing them with a belly band even after I can't button them anymore because they are my favorite pants ever!

Hope you all have wonderful days and that the sun is shining where you are too!

Regularly scheduled programming

For today anyway!  Yesterday ended up not being all that bad.  I got out to our county courthouse, went through orientation, waited about 15 minutes to see if I'd get to go into the courtroom and then the judge came to talk to us and said that the act of just assembling the jury was enough to get the two parties to settle, so no trial would be held.  Our two week term is not up yet, we still have to call in each day, but yesterday we got an early release for the day.  And I may have just opted to take a me day for the rest of the day....

So, I'm back to the grind today and hoping I may not have to go in again, but if I do, at least I know what to expect now!  It was very interesting to be at the courthouse and see the happenings there.  One of the women that was in the jury waiting room with us had been summoned five times!  FIVE!  Twice in two different counties and once federally!  We all asked her "do you play the lottery?"  Seriously!

 T-shirt - from Lynne

Sweater - Camy Couture

Skirt - Merona, Target

Necklace - Clothes Mentor

Earrings - swap with CC

Shoes - DSW

And can I just say how much I love my outfit today?  First of all, it is all my regular clothing, no maternity stuff today.  And, I think it looks pretty good, in fact, I turned to the side in the last picture so you could still see my bump and even there, it's not as noticeable today.  Not to say I'm ashamed of my bump, I most certainly am not.  I guess I just like wearing things that look good and make me feel good if that makes sense!  I did hit up a thrift store with my extra time yesterday and found about five maternity items for about $20, so I was happy about that!

My civic duty

Well folks, I'm off today to report for Jury Duty.  When I called the information line last evening they asked my group to report.  It could be an interesting day.  I hope to be back here soon, otherwise, I am on a mini-hiatus for the moment!  Have a great day!

Inspiration Monday - No hiding it now

Hello!  Happy Monday!  I hope you all had good weekends!  We did, but it was a busy one.  We finally got nice weather on Saturday so in addition to our golf lesson we did some work in the yard - harvested almost ten pounds of rhubarb.  The Pants Monkey mowed the lawn.  We went to an anniversary party for some dear friends of the family celebrating 50 years of marriage and we sat outside on a patio for a little meal too because the rain held off long enough!

And now it's Monday and thankfully I'm not at Jury Duty today, so I can do Inspiration Monday.  Here's Katherine McPhee in a fun maxi skirt and denim vest.

And here is my take.  It's a bit cloudy/foggy today and not quite warm enough to go sleeveless.  Also, I'm noticing it's starting to get harder to hide my bump.  I am going to be 14 weeks this week though, so I guess it was inevitable!  In the end, I guess this look is a tad on the frumpy side, I did try tying the shirt but it just isn't quite long enough for that to work, and I really didn't want to tuck it in.  I think these next couple of weeks until I really pop may be a bit more of a challenge for dressing, but I'll do my best.  At the very least, I'm super comfortable because this skirt is like wearing PJ's!

The lighting was posing a challenge outside this morning too.  The sun is sort of poking out from behind the fog a little bit, just enough to wash me out a little bit and make my necklace look more or less invisible.

 Shirt - Talbots, consignment

Tank top, skirt, sandals - Old Navy

Necklace - S&D

The other perk is, these are my regular clothes.  It's nice that my closet is still working a little bit!

Head on over to two birds for more Inspiration Monday outfits that I'm sure are far less frump girl than me!

EDITED to add - ok, I tucked in the tank top and I like the result a little better - so here's a quick shot of that.  I should have just done this from the start!  Oh well, we learn as we go sometimes!