Happy colors

I'm making good on my promise to wear something colorful all week!  Today I pulled out one of my favorite maxi dresses and my favorite new sweater and wore them together.  Both are Target items - bought two years apart! Anyway, it's going to be kind of the last nice day this week, so a skirt was a necessity.  And I've said it time and again, maxi dresses should be outlawed for how comfy they are, but I'm glad they're not!

I also had to share the fun new skirt I got for my Thirty One Skirt Purse - my Thirty One enabler consultant had a mystery host party and I snagged a few things to try and get my house more organized again, but I had to get this skirt too because come on, mint/aqua with peach flowers?  Yep.  All my favorite colors.  Had to have it.

Dress - Merona, Target

Sweater - Mossimo, Target

Purse - Thirty One Gifts Skirt Purse

Necklace - Camy Couture via giveaway

These colors are just making me smile. It's just been such a long dull winter, I need some brightness in my life!!

Comfort and warmth

It's getting to the point that I'm dressing for comfort as much as anything else.  If I can be stylish, well awesome, but man, the bump is getting big guys.  It's getting to be more and more of a challenge.  And then you throw lows in the single digits above zero this morning and it becomes about comfort AND warmth.  So this outfit is basically a repeat, I wore this combo earlier this Fall - but today I added my Mr. Rogers sweater for extra warmth.

You know what is not so much fun when you're pregnant and it's freezing cold out for the first morning of the season?  Getting up early to take your car in for maintenance.  I wanted to get it to the auto shop right when they opened - which didn't go exactly to plan, but I was still there within the first half hour so that counts right?  I'm not excited to do this, it won't be cheap, but should keep my vehicle going for a bit longer and with the baby coming, it's still more cost effective than buying a new car.

Shirt - TM Style, consignment

Pants - Oh Baby, consignment

Sweater - Vintage, Hill Valley Boutique

Bag - 31 Gifts

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Shoes - SO, Kohls 

I also got a haircut yesterday.  I try to go about every five weeks - so my next haircut may not happen for a bit depending on this little guy's arrival!  Crazy to think about that.  Thankfully she cut it pretty darn short so if I have to put it off for awhile post baby, that's ok.  Besides, I think I'll probably care a little less about it at that point in time!  That's what hats and headbands are for right?

Grunge

If there was ever a day to wear flannel to the office it would be Friday right?  I'm channeling my inner 90's teen with a little grunge look.  It's pretty chilly outside this morning so it also just seemed like a good day for this cute top.  Yes it's another swap item.  I promise I really wasn't trying to be greedy there!  This one I loved because of the fact that it had this high elastic band right under the chest - which meant the bottom half fit perfectly over the bump.  

So who else is glad it's Friday?  Raise your hand!  I swear these weeks go by faster and faster though. Tonight we're blessed to have no plans though, so it's date night.  We're taking advantage of these while we still can!  I think we're going to one of our favorite restaurants that we usually frequent in the summer because they have an awesome patio, but it sounded kind of good right now, so we'll just eat inside.  They have lots of meat which is good for my GD diet.

Tomorrow we're taking both cats to the vet.  At the same time.  Pray for us.  I kid - but we've never done the two of them together.  And I won't lie, I've been slacking in the pet parent department in the last couple of years so they're a little behind on their shots and what not.  I wanted them to have that all taken care of before the baby comes though, so tomorrow is the day.  We got the first appointment of the day, so we'll get it out of the way early and then bring the kitties home and they'll likely avoid us the rest of the day!

Long sleeve t-shirt - Old Navy

Flannel - Swap

Pants - Indigo Blue Maternity, thrifted

Shoes and necklace - Clothes Mentor

Bag - 31 Gifts 

It's a good thing we're getting some of this stuff done though - 35 weeks today, roughly five weeks left!  I just can't believe in just over a month this little guy will be here.  I've been making lists and checking them twice - ha - and I feel like we're accomplishing a lot.  I truly believe we'll be ready by the time he gets here, just hoping we're not surprised by a too early arrival or anything.  At least after this week's appointment though it sounds like he's pretty comfortable in there for right now, so that's fine with me!  I'd like him to bake just a little bit more!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Acai and 33

TGIF my friends!  We have made it through another week again!  I'm so excited today - my shower with my girlfriends is tonight.  I'm sure that will make the day drag a bit.  I love my families and those showers were fun and wonderful, but there is something about time with your closest friends you know?  I've been craving a night like this and I'm just so excited to hang out with my lady peeps!

Today's color for the Pantone color challenge is Acai - a nice shade of purple.  I wore the perfect outfit to my shower and Josh Groban concert last weekend and had every intention of using it for today but I never took the time to actually photograph it!  Blogger fail.  So, I chose to style my super comfy purple leggings for today instead.  The Pants Monkey said I looked cute this morning, so that's always a win.  And, I have had this shirt for a couple of months now but haven't shared it on the blog yet, so that's something too I suppose!

The button sweater is the gray one I was talking about earlier this week that I picked up at the swap.  And it may be my new favorite thing ever.  I don't know that I'll need to wear it all day, but it was below freezing this morning and the striped shirt is thin, so I needed the extra layer!  It's supposed to actually be pretty nice out later today though, so maybe I will be able to shed a layer!

 Sweater - swap

Striped shirt - Zulily

Leggings - Simply Vera, Kohls

Necklace - Stella and Dot with MMD buttonflower

Boots - Target

Bag - 31 Gifts

And of course, Friday is the day we count weeks and so we're at 33 weeks today, so there's my 33 week bump.  I'm trying to no longer panic over how much time is or isn't left.  We've made good progress at home and we still do have some time left.  And that's all that matters at the moment.  This weekend I'm treating Mr. Monkey and myself to a break, we're going to take some time for ourselves on Sunday, getting breakfast out somewhere and maybe just being lazy with movies all day.  We try to take a day and do that every Fall and I feel like we need a day like that before the baby comes.  We've been working hard on baby prep and house projects in addition to our regular jobs and our music group and it can get a little crazy sometimes.  So I'm quite excited for a "me and him" day!

And that brings us to the end of the Pantone Inspired Fall color challenge week!  I had a lot of fun!  I haven't decided what outfit this week was my favorite, but I loved all the colors, that is for sure!  Make sure you head to Heidi's blog to see other how other bloggers styled Acai today!

Random Wednesday stuff

So because Wednesdays are nutso for me right now, you get last Friday's outfit instead!  So this is still pre-haircut that I keep talking about.  I think I had a fairly decent hair day last Friday though!

It was hot, it was the day before a holiday weekend and the office was dead. So denim capris were the way to go.  This particular pair I haven't been super crazy about though and I think I'm going to just retire them. They have a great belly band, but it just doesn't stay up real well and by the time I think it will, it'll be too cold to wear them.  The sandals are a happy accident - I totally thought I had gotten rid of them. I was so excited when I found they were still in my closet!!

Sweater - F21

Tank top - Billabong via Cliche Mpls

Capris - Liz Lange, consignment

Sandals - Merona, Target

Necklace - Camy Couture 

Bag in background - 31 Gifts

And heck yes that is a penguin on my wallboard behind me.  I have to make my workspace fun!  Penguins are one of my favorite animals, my dad had received a free calendar from one of our local zoos last year with this large penguin photo, so I cut out the penguin to put on my wall.  He makes me smile every day!

Kind of a random post today, but sometimes that is how I roll I guess!  At least it's already Wednesday.  You have to love short weeks!

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!

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!

Inspiration Monday - Flip Flop

Greetings everyone!  Happy Monday!  Hope you all had good weekends.  Mine was pretty decent, a little busy but also some relaxy time which was great!  I never did get my Influenster Vlog posted, but I promise it's coming (cause I know you're all on pins and needles to listen to my babbles again...ha).  Anyway, it's Inspiration Monday and today we have Jamie Chung.

I went for the opposite of Jamie's look - instead of denim on top and white on the bottom, I did white on top and denim on the bottom!  Nothing wrong with a little flip flop!

Shirt - White House, Black Market (From cousin)

Skirt - Old Navy

Sandals - Clothes Mentor

Necklace - Butterfly Boutique

Bag - 31 Gifts

Bracelet - Charming Charlie

Boy this white shirt sure does make my nice pale white skin glow all the more though don't it?  I am your typical Scandinavian Minnesota girl - I don't tan, I burn.  So, I just opt to not tan.  Most of the time it doesn't bother me, but today I am just super translucent I guess!

I did a little bit of shopping with my mom yesterday.  Clothes Mentor was having their annual summer sale so I grabbed a few more maternity pieces for summer.  Mostly I've been worried about not having enough comfortable summer clothes to take on our trip to Northern Minnesota in a couple of weeks.  I am no longer concerned about that!  The deals were really great though, they were offering 55% off of all clearanced items, so you really can't beat that!  I do love though that I still have so many items of my regular clothing that still fit - like everything I'm wearing today.  Hooray for elastic!

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

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!