Zig zag

TGIF and cheers to a long weekend here in the US!  This will likely be my last long weekend before the baby comes - eek - so I hope to make the most of it.  Going to be a wee bit crazy at our house though as the Pants Monkey and my dad are going to be installing our front window with the help of some other family and friends.  If all goes well, they should get it all done tomorrow and we'll be able to enjoy the rest of our weekend, but we're prepared for every possible scenario just in case.  At any rate, the windows behind me in the pictures today should look different come Monday!

I am in love with this top.  I ventured out to a maternity/baby consignment shop that is about 25 minutes from my house and found this shirt.  I would wear it even if I wasn't pregnant - seriously, all my favorite colors, super fun pattern - it's fantastic!  I found a few other fall/winter items that should take me a little way in the next few months.  It was nice to shop a consignment store that pretty much only has maternity clothes and some baby clothes.  The prices were reasonable too!

Shirt - QT Maternity, consignment 

Capris - Simply Vera, Kohls

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Sandals - Merona, Target

The above picture I had to laugh, we almost had a Pants Monkey photo bomb and then he waited an extra second.  And below is our 25 week bump shot.  Well a couple of days early, I actually wore this outfit on Wednesday.  Today is the official 25 week mark.  I can definitely feel I'm getting bigger.

I need to start really curbing my shopping, but I think this weekend will be kind of one last hurrah, there are so many sales - including at the thrift stores on Monday - that I'm hoping to round out my maternity wardrobe a bit to get through the home stretch.  And then hopefully be done shopping.  Again though, I say that now and in the coming weeks that may change, I guess you never know.  I'll try my best though!

Happy weekend everyone!

Pinned It and Did It - Maternity style

Hey everyone!  I'm linking up today with Heather of Style Journey for a Pinned It and Did It linkup!  I love using Pinterest for style ideas.  Lately I've been pinning lots of maternity style ideas, especially ones that will work for me this fall and winter, but I found this cute one of Vanessa Lachey and decided, this is a good look for summer, especially when I pretty much had the necessary pieces to duplicate it!

Before we get into my outfit - I just have to say, I like Vanessa so much better with Nick than Jessica Simpson being with him!  I will admit to having been an avid watcher of Newlyweds back in the day (hey I was in college, MTV was on like all the time) but I always felt bad for Nick, I thought he kind of had to live in Jessica's shadow.  Vanessa is a much better fit for him and I was so happy for them when they got married and then had their baby.  So, anyway, I'm kind of excited to copy Vanessa's style!  Here's my take!

Jacket - LOFT, consignment

Dress - Merona, Target

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Bracelets - S&D

Bag - 31 Gifts

Sunglasses - Fun Sisters Nisswa

Sandals - Clothes Mentor

I am SO happy this dress still fits, it's always been one of my favorites.  It's like wearing PJ's to work, which I realize I say almost every time I wear it, but it's so true!!  I just love it.

I really love Pinterest too, I sing it's praises quite often here, but I really do like using it.  I have used it for ideas other than just style - I have tried a few recipes, I've pinned some short hairstyles I've liked and I've especially been pinning baby stuff lately.  Mostly though I love it for style ideas!!

 I also wanted to share a close up of my arm party - I really like how it turned out today.  Yes these are all Stella and Dot as usual, I have an addiction and can admit it.  I had to have help with one of these, I rarely wear the one on the top - the clasp is really hard to do, but Mr. Monkey happily helped me put it on today, so I was kind of excited!

So anyway, that's my Pinned and Did It for the week!  Check out the other bloggers Pinspired ideas over at Heather's blog!

The heat goes on

Uffda, another HOT one out there.  So, it's another sundress!  And it's another totally not maternity outfit.  I kind of love that I have some things that still work!  And I'm cool and comfy and that also makes me happy!

Dress as skirt - thrifted unknown

Shirt - Ruff Hewn, from friend

Sandals - Xhilaration, Target

Necklace - S&D with MMD buttonflower

Bracelets - Target and Bead for Life 

It might be crazy hot, but we're eating a winter meal tonight!  Got a nice crockpot of chili waiting for us at home.  We had all these tomatoes and peppers from our CSA and thought - what better than to use some of that up than with some chili?  Who cares that it's over 90 outside?  The crockpot doesn't heat up the house!  I remember we ended up doing that on a hot day last year too.  Eventually I get tired of summer meals, you just have to shake it up a bit!

In other news, you may remember I mentioned I had a friend who was due any second with her third child - she finally had him yesterday!  He's a big one, but I'm so very happy for her and excited that my little guy will have a playmate.  I went to visit over my lunch hour yesterday, got me pretty excited about meeting my little man too.  Lots to do before then though, so he can just keep right on cooking for now!

Excessive

We've been under an excessive heat warning here in Minnesota the last couple of days.  Kind of rare to have a heat wave this bad this late into August.  The joke is that it always heats up for our State Fair - but not usually THIS extreme.  Some of our schools started back this week and some will start back after Labor Day next week.  I feel for the kids who went back this week - many of our schools do not have air conditioning because we don't go year round.  I can only imagine how awful that is!

As for me, I am keeping the lights down low in my office, drinking lots of ice water and rocking out my sundresses.  This one is one of my favorites.  I don't know how many years I've had it now.  It's been featured on the blog many a time.  Thankfully it fits over the bump like many of my sundresses do.  The pattern and colors are so versatile, it seriously goes with everything.  Sadly when I went to iron it though I noticed some fraying and a small tear along the back edge - so I think it may end up retired sooner rather than later, we'll see.

Dress - Ragstock, old

Cami - from cousin

Sweater - Old Navy

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Bracelets - S&D

Sandals - Italian Shoe Maker, from cousin 

My hair feels like a hot mess these days too.  I haven't been drying it, it's just too hot to do that.  I feel like I need another trim, but I'm trying to stretch it out to five weeks now instead of four.  Hard to do with a pixie, but I'm trying!  I may give in though before the week is over - especially if this weather continues.  Gross.  I definitely do not want to rush the season too much - but I'm pretty much ready for Fall I think!!

Inspiration Monday - Rockin weekend

Good morning bloggy peeps! Did you all have a nice weekend? I did, went by way too fast once again.  Friday we were off for the Fair as I mentioned last week.  We had a great time - definitely ate a ton!  The rest of the weekend was good too - more on that in a moment, but first, here is today's Inspiration Monday - Selena Gomez.

This mama isn't doing any mid-drift baring shirts these days, but I still managed to semi re-create this inspiration for a girls karaoke night on Saturday with none other than our Inspiration Monday hosts - the lovely Megan and Nora of two birds!

It was fun, a couple of other gals I've been lucky to meet through blogging - Kimi and Erin, came out for the fun too along with a couple of other gals the birds know. And let me tell you - those ladies know how to rock it and have a good time!

Dress as skirt - American Eagle (old)

Shirt - Motherhood Maternity (thrifted)
Vest - Vintage Lee, Mighty Swell Vintage

Jewelry - Stella and Dot

Shoes - Target

Kimi was nice enough to take some pictures for me before we left Megan's house - can I just say her house is seriously the most adorably decorated house ever?  I absolutely love this wall up above here!

And yes...this happened -

I was joking that I usually need a little more liquid courage to get up and do karaoke, but they all were having so much fun that I just gave it a go.  Sang a little Sarah McLachlan and also some Walking on Sunshine.  Not my standard fare - hard to sing pop when you're not used to it, but it was still pretty fun, I will admit that.   The others are definitely better at it than I am - I'll have to practice a bit more for next time!

And finally, you have to see this adorable gift that Megan and Nora gave me for the baby.  I laughed so hard and when he saw it, so did the Pants Monkey.

A Diaper Monkey onesie in honor of his Pants Monkey daddy.  Too funny and too cute!  It was so sweet of them to do that - thanks again ladies!

The rest of the weekend I pretty much laid low, it got very hot on Sunday.  I am so glad we went to the Fair when we did - this whole week is going to be miserable!

For more Inspiration Monday outfits, check out two birds over here.

Put a belt on it

I'm excited about how my outfit turned out today.  It's even a bit of a happy accident.  I was going to try to pull together an outfit from one of my Pinterest boards for Heather of Style Journey's Pinned it and Did It Linkup - but nothing I wanted to wear was clean.  So, I was a little bummed and a little lost as to what to wear today.  Then I remembered that I've been wanting to try a belted look.  I've been studying the now defunct Academichic blog thanks to a suggestion from Cara and one of the girls wore a lot of belted looks with her pregnancy - and looked great in all of them.  So, I decided it was time to give it a try.

I LOVE it.  I can't believe how much more put together I feel.  It's a great way to add some definition too, it accents the bump but shows I still have curves as well.  This particular shirt I've been avoiding.  I bought it early on in my pregnancy at Kohls and in the end felt like it fit like a mumu - which of course leads to frumpy feelings.  Adding this belt however totally transformed it.

So expect to see more belted looks from me!  I've been back into kind of a rut feeling with my outfits again, so I'm excited to give some new ideas a try!  And yes....that's a new purse.  My 31 Gifts consultant - who happens to be a very good friend - had a mystery hostess party online and I picked up this Suite Skirt purse for a good deal.  Sadly I didn't win the mystery hostess credits, but I still like this new purse.  It's bigger than their old skirt purse if you're familiar with that concept.  What's neat is you can change the skirt on the outside instead of changing to a whole new purse.  This concept may be useful for me after my baby boy is here - I'll be toting a diaper bag of course, but I may not want to be switching purses all the time, so instead I can just change out the skirt on this one and keep my things separate from his.

Shirt - Kohls

Skirt - Tandem Vintage

Necklace - DIY by me

Sandals - Italian Shoe Maker, from cousin

Bracelets - Target and Bead for Life

Purse - Suite Skirt from 31 Gifts 

Again, I just overall love this outfit today and when you think you look good, you feel good too right?  And it's my Friday, so why wouldn't I want to look and feel good on my Friday?  Tomorrow we're off to the MN State Fair.  I can't wait.  I can already smell the corn dogs and mini donuts!!  If I don't get to posting tomorrow - have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Here fishy fishy

Another hot day on tap.  It seemed like a good day for this fishy print skirt again.  It's so lightweight, I knew it would keep me pretty cool and comfortable!  I would have liked to have worn a sundress, but I had an OB appt this morning and they needed to measure my belly, so a skirt was a better choice.  Everything is right on track and good, can't ask for more than that!

So speaking of fish, while we were up north, one day we spent a good chunk of our day on a pontoon boat and almost everyone fished.  There were 9 of us total and we kind of had a fishing contest.  While he didn't maybe catch the biggest ones, my dad certainly got the prize for catching the most fish.  It seemed everytime his pole hit the water he had one on his line.  I got two, one of which was a rock bass so we had to throw it back, but it was pretty impressive to pull out of the water!  Eventually it was just too warm for the fish to be biting so we took ourselves to a restaurant where you can just drive up your boat and dock it.  It was pretty neat!

 Shirt - Old Navy

Skirt - Tandem Vintage

Necklace and sandals - Clothes Mentor

Of course, it seems like our cabin trips are never without some sort of eventfulness.  On our way back on the boat we discovered some mechanisms had shorted out that do things like lift the motor out of the water when you go through a no wake zone.  So, at one point all nine of us piled into the front of the boat to get through the no wake zone to try and not drag the motor on the ground.  Other boaters looked at us like we were crazy - I can only imagine the site of nine people hanging out on the front of a pontoon!  We are pretty crazy though, so I guess it makes sense!

Hot Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!  The heat is on again here in Minnesota.  We're under a heat advisory.  Makes me very thankful for air conditioning!  I'm going out tonight for ice cream with my sister-in-law too, no better way to spend a hot day!

I feel for a friend of mine.  She's due pretty much any second and with this latest heat wave I have to imagine she's very uncomfortable!  Fortunately by the time I'm to that point it'll be cold and snowy - at least one would assume with December in Minnesota.  The weather has been odd this year though so you just never know!

Sweater - Mossimo, Target, old

Tank top - Express, thrifted

Skirt - Old Navy

Necklace and bracelets - S&D

Sandals - Italian Shoe Maker, from cousin 

I hate even adding this little sweater to this outfit, but the air conditioner is quite strong at my office, so it's almost necessary!  I just hope this little heat wave eases a bit later in the week, we're heading to the Minnesota State Fair and it's just not as much fun pigging out on junk food when it's hot outside!

Inspiration Monday - Summer returns

Hello everyone!  I am back again!  We had a fantastic weekend away, we couldn't have asked for better weather.  But it is very nice to be home too.  I have never appreciated my own bed more now that I'm pregnant than I ever have before, I know that much!!

I could do without coming back to work, but hey, as always, taking the sting off of that is Inspiration Monday with two birds.  Today's inspiration comes from another famous person I've never heard of - Poppy Delevigne.  Nice laid back look from her though!

I meant to do an outfit for this while I was up north, but totally forgot to pack the right things.  I was going to skip this week, but then decided, I can make this work for work.  So here we have it!

It's going to be hot and muggy later today, so I'll likely lose the sweater, at least when I'm outside.  We have been so spoiled by nice weather, this humid and hot stuff is going to be hard to take.  Summer is definitely not over yet even if the stores and coffee shops serving pumpkin lattes starting today are trying to convince us otherwise!

Tank top - Michael Kors, consignment

Sweater - Style and Co, consignment

Capris - Simply Vera, Kohls

Bag - Lulus

Sunglasses - Fun Sisters Nisswa

Sandals - Mootsie Tootsie, from cousin

Necklace - Camy Couture

Bracelets - S&D

Speaking of summer starting to dwindle down, I can't believe how much morning light we've lost in just about a week's time.  I got up early enough to go for a walk this morning and it was so dark I said, nope, going to do a workout DVD instead!  It was also a little cloudy, so outdoor pictures weren't going to work out.  Indoor ones sure are a challenge, but I do my best!

I also wanted to share a close up of my fun new sunglasses I bought up north to replace my favorite pair that I lost quite awhile ago.  And I haven't shown off a Stella and Dot arm party for awhile, so you get one of those today too.

And now I'll be making the rounds and trying to catch up with all of you!  I feel like it's been forever!  What's new in your worlds???

Be sure to head over to two birds over here for more Inspiration Monday looks!

Power color

 I think pink is my power color.  I'm not talking baby pink, I mean this hot, bright magenta colored pink that my pencil skirt is here.  And maybe it's the pencil skirt itself - but I always feel very powerful, professional and put together whenever I wear it.  It gives me an air of confidence.  Or something.  I am so glad I have still been able to wear it while pregnant.  Again, let's give it up for elastic waistbands!

I tell you, I needed a powerful, confidence boosting type outfit for work yesterday!  It was my "Friday" and it was crazy hectic.  It helped make the time go faster though!  And my reward at the end of the day was my favorite burger and fries and root beer.

 Shirt - Style and Co, consignment

Sweater - Old Navy

Skirt - two birds vintage via b (resale)

Sandals - Mootsie Tootsie, from cousin

Necklace - Maurices

Bracelet - Bead for Life

As of this posting, I'm likely in a car headed north for another short getaway.  It's our annual cabin weekend with our music group.  We often go in September and end up with lousy weather, so we moved it up a month and the weather sounds fantastic now.  I cannot wait to be out on a boat on the lake.  A beer in hand would be nice too, but I'll settle for a cold root beer, which has been my favorite lately!

And I had to do my weekly bump shot a couple of days early. Friday marks 23 weeks.  We're plugging along.  Still lots to be done, but getting closer every passing week!

Have a great weekend!

Stripes!

Apparently I'm in a striped mood this week.  Yesterday was a black and white striped shirt, today it's a black and white striped skirt.  It's also another "Pinspired" look that I figured I could duplicate rather easily even being pregnant.  Here is the pin.

And here is my take on the look.  In hindsight I wish I'd chosen a different necklace.  This shirt also looks a lot more red in the photos than it actually is.  It's much more of an orangy red when you see it in person.  Otherwise this is a nice comfy and summery outfit!

A little secret too - this was Monday's outfit.  My schedule is so goofy this week I knew I wouldn't be blogging outfits on the day they were worn.  And that's ok every now and then!  Also, this is another outfit made entirely of non-maternity pieces.  Yay for stretching out my own closet and yay for stretchy waistbands!

 Shirt - Gap, consignment

Skirt - Mossimo, Target

Shoes - Target

Necklace and bracelets - S&D

Today is my last working day this week before my cabin weekend.  I get the feeling it could be rather hectic, so I'm glad this was planned ahead of time!

I also have to share a picture of my mosaic from last night - the class was a lot of fun!  I still need to grout it after the glue dries, but here is the general idea - I made a mirror for the baby's room.

Getting my art on

I dressed for comfort today rather than style all that much.  After work I'm going to a mosaic class with my mom and a friend.  We bought a Groupon deal, so figured, why not try it out?  I'm curious, I've done many different art forms before, but never mosaic!  Apparently I'll be making some sort of mirror or something.  I'll be sure to take a picture and post it here!  Anyway, figured something comfy and simple would be good for getting my art side on!

I like Groupon and Living Social deals sometimes, especially for things like classes.  It forces me out of my comfort zone a little bit and gives me opportunity to try something new!  I've done glassblowing, beer and wine tastings, boat rides and now I'll do mosaic!  I've got a deal to go paint your own pottery with my sister in law too and I think we'll be doing that fairly soon as well!

 Blazer - American Eagle, thrifted

Shirt and capris - Motherhood, thrifted

Necklace - S&D with MMD buttonflower

Bracelet - S&D

Shoes - Target

Of course, the best part about Groupon or Living Social too is - you save money over what you'd spend normally.  I can say I don't know that I would have paid full price to go take a mosaic class, but getting a really good deal makes it much more worth it!  Have you ever tried something different through a deal website?

PS - I get nothing for mentioning Groupon and Living Social - just spreading the love because I like them, no compensation here!

Inspiration Monday - Crazy weekend

Well hello!  Welcome to Monday!  Anyone else's weekend go by way too fast?  Man, it was a busy one for me, but not all in a bad way.  I'll recap in a second, but first up as usual, it's Inspiration Monday with two birds.  We've got a bit of a menswear inspired look today from Vanessa Hudgens - or Eddie Redmayne if you'd rather!

I went more after Vanessa's look.  And sadly I don't think Mr. Monkey would be caught dead in Eddie's look, otherwise I would have made him play along!  At any rate, here's what I pulled together for brunch with a good friend on Saturday morning.

I wasn't really in the mood to tuck in my shirt and wear a belt given my pregnant self, so I opted for a long t-shirt instead.  I also missed the boat on the shoes.  I do have shoes similar to the ones Vanessa has on, but chose my leopard ones instead.  Oh well, they're cute right?

Jacket - F21, from two birds garage sale

T-shirt - Maurices

Capris - Duo Maternity, thrifted

Necklace - S&D

Shoes - Xhiliaration, Target 

After brunch with my friend I came home to discover my dad and the Pants Monkey had taken out a good portion of the wall where our new window will be going.  The good news is there is not mold there as we had once feared, but they're still going to replace it when the window is done.  I think they have a tentative game plan for installing it too which is great!  The downside, it'll likely be over Labor Day weekend, but at least it should be done soon!

The rest of our weekend was a little busy with our music group, a wedding reception picnic for one of Mr. Monkey's co-workers, shopping a little with my mom and Mr. Monkey brewed a little bit of beer.  And somehow we still had time on Saturday night to relax with a home cooked Mexican dinner and two movies!  I'm not sure how we pulled that off!

It's a short week for me this week - we have a cabin weekend coming up with our music group.  I'm looking forward to that!  But for now, must work.  Make sure you head on over to two birds for other Inspiration Monday looks!