Strike out

Hey peeps, welcome to Monday!  I hope you all had lovely weekends.  My lovely weekend ended up 1 for 3.  Out of the three things I had planned and talked about on Friday, only one really came to fruition.  Sometimes that just happens I guess!  More on that in a minute.  First up, my outfit today.  I also struck out on Inspiration Monday today - it's a super cute look that the birds chose from Drew Barrymore.  She's wearing a maxi dress and a flannel shirt.  Sadly I just couldn't come up with a reasonable combination that would also look decent for work.  So instead, I opted for my favorite alternative to the maxi dress for winter - the sweater dress.  With a second sweater on top because it's cold and it snowed.

Sweater dress - H&M, gift

Button sweater - Aeropostale (old)

Tights - Target

Boots - Old Navy

Necklace - S&D

So yes, the best laid plans this weekend I tell you.  Friday night after we were done rehearsing with our music group we got ready to head on down to the new taproom and then Mr. Monkey noticed he had a text from one of his friends that there was line just to get IN to the taproom that was so long it stretched down the block.  And it was in the teens-single digits on Friday night so we're like, no we are not going to go stand in line.  His friend said they were going to the tiki bar in the same neighborhood and we were welcome to join them.  I called my friend who was going to meet us and told her of the change in plans and then we ended up with a fairly large group down at the tiki bar and had a fun evening anyway, that comes complete with it's own stories for another day or we'd be here all day, but I was still bummed to not have gotten into the taproom.

Now Saturday was a good day.  Everything went according to plan on Saturday.  We did our Mass with our music group and we were able to enjoy our date night at the polish restaurant with our Groupon.  We even were home early enough to rent a movie (Ted) and got to bed at a fairly early hour given our late night on Friday.  But it felt nice.  It was a good day.  

Sunday I slept in, got up and grabbed some coffee from out and a couple of things from the store for our breakfast.  I planned to eat, shower and then head on down to South Minneapolis for my friend's spa party a little early so I could hit that clearance sale at b. (a resale shop) and maybe find something to wear for today.  Well Mother Nature had other plans for me, while we were making breakfast I looked at the weather forecast and found it was due to ice/sleet/snow at any second.  And within minutes it was raining.  Soon I got a text from my friend that the party was cancelled.  She said I was welcome to come and visit if I still wanted to, but as I'm watching the radar I decided better of it.  I don't like freeway driving in good weather conditions - add in ice and snow and it's just not a good mix for me.  So I opted to stay home where it was safe and warm.  And I cleaned out my bathroom closet and drawers and I vlogged.  Not a total waste of a day but again, I was kind of bummed!

Close up of my necklace as requested from the last time I wore it

So, it wasn't a horrible weekend by any stretch, but it did sort of feel like a little bit of striking out!  In the end, staying home yesterday was probably what I needed, we've been go-go-go since the holidays and it's nice to have downtime every now and then!

Even though I'm not there, go check out two birds for the Inspiration Monday looks - it really is a cute outfit that maybe I'll try another time!  How was YOUR weekend?

Sad Elf

Oh you guys.  It is so not my day.  First of all, this wasn't my intended outfit for the day.  You ever visualize an outfit in your head much better than when you go to put it on?  Oh yeah, that happened.  I had on an entirely different look this morning and realized with about five minutes to spare that it was so NOT going to work, so I threw this together rather hastily.  First world problems, whomp whomp.  This isn't even the thing that is really getting me down though.

I had bought the Pants Monkey an amazing Christmas gift before Thanksgiving even.  It was a Living Social event, which we have done several of before, where we'd get to go on a trolley tour of several area breweries, finishing up with dinner at Pizza Luce.  It appeared to be a pretty popular deal as I saw it sold out very quickly.  But I guess shame on me, I should have been prepared that sometimes things don't work out, because yesterday I got an email from Living Social stating "we regret to inform you that this event has to be cancelled.  You will be refunded your entire amount."  Um, crap!!!

Floral shirt - Decree, JCPenney

Sweater - Aeropostale (old)

Jeans - Maurices

Necklace and shoes - thrifted

Earrings - swap with CC 

So now with 11 days until Christmas, I suddenly have more shopping to do.  I do have an idea for a partial replacement, so that's a good thing I guess, but I'm still really depressed that this happened.  This is my one time of year to really spoil my Pants Monkey.  He works hard at a job he really doesn't love, he participates in our music group even though it isn't always his favorite thing to do, he cooks us so many yummy meals during the year and he is the best husband ever so he deserves the best gift.  So, I'm not just a sad panda, I'm a sad elf. And it's going to be crappy weather this weekend now, so shopping isn't going to be easy.  But it will happen.  I will prevail!

Then as soon as I got to work this morning, I spilled my coffee.  So the pictures today aren't my best effort, but you do what you can when the universe is telling you to go back to bed!

I hope you all have a great weekend and I promise, come Monday I'll be a much happier Bethie!!

Inspiration Monday - And it snowed

Hello Friends! Happy Monday!  I just had quite a weekend, we had a really big snowstorm here in MN.  They had said they thought we'd get some snow early on last week, but then things shifted and we hit the snow jackpot.  We'll have a White Christmas for sure now, which actually, I'm not going to complain about!

So snow or no snow, it's Inspiration Monday and this week the birds picked Mrs. Justin Timberlake, aka Jessica Biel.  Did you know she's a MN girl?  Apparently she grew up in Northern Minnesota.  Useless trivia.

 So, my outfit here is actually quite a few weeks old, but I had it saved in an "extra outfit pictures" folder and realized it matched the look quite well, which is a good thing because I didn't have a chance to wear something like Jessica's look this weekend or today.  It's not a great photo, the Pants Monkey took it on my iPhone before we went on a date night because I loved the way it looked so much.

Red shirt - Michael Kors, from Lynne

Jacket - Mossimo, Target, old

Jeans - Old Navy

Necklace - thrifted

Boots - Payless

For today, I actually did keep the inspiration look in mind as I selected my outfit, but I wanted to be warm and cozy since after the snow fell the temp seriously dropped.  So I kind of kept her orange shirt in my head, and that's about it.  

T-shirt - Maurices, thrifted

Sweater - Aeropostale, old

Corduroy pants- Old Navy

Boots - Mossimo, Target

Necklaces - jerseymaids via Etsy (gift) and S&D

I had a good day off on Friday, the calm before the storm.  I did some baking with my mom and we did a little Christmas shopping, so I'm off to a good start there!  That makes me super happy.  How are you doing with your Christmas shopping?

For more Inspiration Monday looks, head on over to two birds.  And to all my MN friends, be careful out there, roads still aren't super great!

Spring into Fall

TGIF!  I just had another one of those weeks, kind of a recurring theme I think until my boss comes back.  I won't dwell on it though, the weekend looms ahead and that is all that matters!

Sweater - New York & Co, thrifted

T-shirt - Aeropostale, old

Pants - Athleta, from sister-in-law

Shoes - Etienne Aigner, thrifted

Necklace - DIY by me

Bracelets - S&D, A Little Bird on Grand 

This outfit turned out a lot more springy than I was expecting it to.  I had one co-worker comment that it was very spring like in fact.  And another one said something about it giving a St. Patrick's Day vibe.  Oh well, I liked the look, I adore these pants even if they are a super light color.  And I had an arm party for the first time in a while too!  I tend to not wear bracelets much once it gets cold!

Last night Mr. Monkey and I had a nice relaxing evening together for the first time in several days, poor guy has been just as crazed and stressed at work as me, except his work has been extending past traditional working hours a bit.  So it was nice that he was able to just chill with me last night.  We made one of our favorite dinners, homemade fajitas.  Oh so delicious!  We also caught up on some shows we enjoy.  You want to know what show I'm enjoying more than I expected to?  Revolution.  I am finding I am really addicted to some of these post-Apocalyptic shows like Revolution and The Walking Dead (which was a doozy this week, oof).  I had to laugh though, this morning the Pants Monkey told me he had a dream last night in which he killed someone who actually thanked him for doing so.  I told him maybe we are watching a few too many of those shows!  I promise, he's a peace loving person even if his subconscious says otherwise!

Onward to the weekend!  I hope you all have great ones.  And next week will be pretty exciting, Megan Mae and Keely's Fall Color Challenge will be taking place!  It's not too late to sign up, just head on over to one of their blogs for all the details!

Green Day

It's too bad that today wasn't EBEW because we're having a "Green Day" at work today.  Kind of an early St. Patty's Day celebration tying in with our fundraising efforts for the March of Dimes and the Heartwalk.  So, we're also having a potluck lunch and if you wear green, you get yours for free.  I happily chose a green shirt again today, like I said earlier this week, I'm a bit Irish so the more green the better!

We're also able to pay to wear jeans today, but I opted for a "jean skirt" to kind of cheat my way around that.  I'm so glad I picked up this Old Navy maxi skirt in a clearance sale last fall - since it seems maxi skirts will be popular again this year.  This skirt is so freaking comfortable, I love it.  I also love that it almost has a vintage feel to it without actually being vintage!

And finally, just for fun, I thought I'd add a little flashback to the early 90's with my favorite old Green Day song.  I'm a fan of way old school Green Day.  They were my first introduction into edgier "grunge" or "rock" instead of the bubblegum pop I always listened to.  I was in middle school when they came on the scene and I remember one of my friends had such a crush on Billie Jo - and before we knew who he was we were all like "Billy Joel?  He's so old!" and she'd be like "no Billie JO" and then we discovered who he was and what Green Day was all about and well, my musical world changed forever. Ha ha ha!  Can't say I love much of their newer stuff unfortunately, but give me the old stuff and I'll rock out!

 

Outfit rundown:

T-shirt - Aeropostale (old)

Sweater - Mossimo, Target

Skirt - Old Navy 

Necklace - two birds vintage

Shoes - SO, Kohls (thrifted)

Inspiration Monday - Let it rain?

It's Monday again.  And it's raining.  On March 12th.  It should be snowing.  I'm not complaining though, the weather this weekend was amazing and I hear it's only going to continue.  It's an early spring I guess!  Anyway, what makes a rainy Monday better?  Inspiration Monday!  Today's pick is Julianne Hough - who I know was in the new Footloose movie and even though I'm an 80's purist, I admit I'd like to see it.

Due to Daylights Savings time and the rain, I had to go with indoor pictures today.  Boo to that.  Anyway, I love her casual chic look but I chose to dress it up a bit for work today.  Also chose to skip the boots and scarf since it's quite warm outside, even with the rain.

Also having trouble with my photo editor today and could not get rid of the red eye to save my life.  I can't wait until it's lighter again in the morning so I can go back outside, but for now I'll have to make due with indoor pictures.  I do not like the whole Daylights Savings time thing, my sleep pattern will be messed up for the next week guaranteed.  I know I was awake until almost midnight last night and then I nearly slept through my alarm this morning.  Awesome. Thank goodness for coffee!

The unseasonable weather is making my shopping ban a bit more of a challenge, because I'm so tempted to go out and get new spring goodies since I could pretty much wear them now.  I'm holding strong though!  Just under a month left!  In the meantime I'll try to get creative with what I've got!  Is it springlike where you are?

For more fun with Inspiration Monday, visit two birds over here.

Outfit rundown:

T-shirt - Old Navy

Sweater - Aeropostale (old)

Pants - Old Navy

Shoes - Maurices

Bag - Lillian's Shoppes

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Earrings - Charming Charlie

Hobby ADD

I imagine by now most of you know about the craze of Pinterest - man is that place addictive! I see all these cool crafty things that people make and I'm like "I want to do that!"  It is a fun site, I really enjoy it, but it does not help me with my hobby ADD.  Yep, you heard me, I have hobby ADD.  See, I get really interested in something and decided I'm going to start doing it in my spare time but then something else catches my eye as something I want to try and before you know it, I'm bouncing from hobby to hobby.  Honestly, blogging has been the one hobby I've consistently stuck with, all the others I've tried, not so much.

I have recently started baking homemade cupcakes as my newest "hobby" (thanks once again to ideas I kept seeing on Pinterest).  So far I've made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and then vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  I even bought decorating tips over the weekend to make the icing look prettier on top!  It's been fun trying out these recipes and I have ideas for more elaborate flavors now that I have the basics down, but I think I'll take a baking break this coming weekend so I don't get burned out on this hobby - and so the Pants Monkey and I don't each gain 20 pounds!

So what are the other hobbies I've dabbled in?  Let's see: Decoupage, scrapbooking, learning guitar, learning piano, jewelry making, crochet, knitting.  But I either lost patience with some of them, didn't have the time for some of them or simply lost interest in them.  The Pants Monkey and I have a shared hobby of homebrewing beer - it was really his hobby first, but I've gotten to where I enjoy helping him with it and I've even come up with a recipe of my own!

Getting back to Pinterest, it's really a very dangerous site for a person like me, but I just can't help being addicted to it!  I've added a "follow me on Pinterest" button to the side of my blog - feel free to stalk me and my boards and if you do, I'll follow/stalk you back.  Because even if I do have self proclaimed hobby ADD, I still like finding new ideas and fun new things to try!  If you are someone who hasn't received an invite to Pinterest yet (I think it's still invite only) let me know in the comments and I'll be happy to send you one.

So, are you like me and bounce around from activity to activity?  Or do you stick with one singular thing?  I have to say, I don't really mind being this way so much, because I like experiencing and trying new things and life is never boring!

Outfit rundown:
Thermal shirt - Mossimo, Target
Sweater - Aeropostale (old)
Pants - Nine West thrifted via Clothes Mentor
Necklaces - jerseymaids via Etsy (gift from friend), Stella and Dot
Shoes - Mudd, Kohls