Inspiration Monday - Thankful

Hello there!  Happy Monday!  Tough to get back into the groove after an amazing day yesterday for my first Mother's Day!  More on that in a moment.  I'm linking up with two birds today for Inspiration Monday. They chose an awesome look from one of my favorite style icons, Jessica Alba.

I will never turn down an excuse to wear a maxi dress!  I really love the look of this with the vest and scarf. But because it was damp and rainy here today, I opted for a slightly different take - so it really is another "if you blink" type interpretations I guess!

So my first Mother's Day was wonderful.  The Pants Monkey seriously outdid himself.  He (and Oliver too I suppose, but daddy paid for it, lol) gave me a spa day as a gift - I get to go get a massage, mani/pedi, facial and lunch at a local salon.  I cannot wait!  We also went out for brunch.  We didn't go to the place I originally wanted to go (Psycho Suzi's for you locals) because while we got there more or less right when they opened, it turns out they were having a big brunch buffet and there was a line just to get in.  Oliver had just fallen asleep and we were hoping he'd sleep a bit longer, so we opted to go somewhere else (Eli's East). In the end it worked out great, we got the last table at that restaurant, the food was amazing and Ollie stayed asleep the whole time!  I had a pretty pink mimosa and it was tasty!

Dress - Stitch Fix, Sweater - American Rag (thrifted)

Necklace - Zulily, Shoes - Merona (Target) 

After brunch we stopped to see my mom and then my awesome Pants Monkey spoiled me even more by saying "if you want, I'd even go thrift store shopping with you today".  Um, do birds fly?  So we stopped by Savers on the way home and I had fun trying on a few things for Mr.Monkey and Ollie - they gave me their opinions too and I picked a few nice new things!  After that we got Oliver home and down for a nap and Mr. Monkey and I sat out on the deck enjoying the day.  The sun wasn't out but it was still pretty nice! After Ollie woke up we went to see the Pants Monkey's mom and then came home to have a light dinner and get the babe to bed.  Overall it was just the best first Mother's Day.  I feel so blessed and thankful to have Oliver for a son and the Pants Monkey for a husband!

For more Inspiration Monday outfits visit two birds over here.

Linen

Today's color for the Pantone color challenge is Linen.  I don't have any actual linen pieces in my closet, but I have plenty of neutral tones that I think are close!  Thankfully we didn't get the snow here last night that they were threatening, but it's still chilly outside, so I have nylons on and boots.  And a sweater.  Brr.

Sweater - American Rag, thrifted

Dress - VS, gift from Pants Monkey 

Necklace - S&D

Boots - Mossimo, Target

I'm a sad panda today.  The Pants Monkey left today for a four day trip with some buddies to Chicago.  I've done plenty of girls trips before so it's only fair, but I am still sad he's gone.  The house is lonely without him! Thankfully he'll be back Sunday so it could be worse!

Again today we're linking up at the Modern Austen.  Check out how other bloggers are styling linen!

Ice, ice, baby

Hello and happy Friday!  Boy, for having a short week this week it sure felt long to me!  And here I thought I was outsmarting my body by taking Monday off and tricked it into not feeling the effects of Daylight Savings Time - but I was wrong.  The extra day really made little difference.  Oh well, the weekend is here and that is all that matters!

It is miserable outside today.  Freezing rain and ice pellets (when did this become a term - I thought we used to call it sleet).  But I refused to dress in something drab and boring, I needed a pick me up, so I pulled out my favorite flirty denim skirt for summer and then just winterized it a bit.  Leggings and boots FTW.

Pink shirt - F21

Sweater - American Rag, thrifted

Skirt -  thrifted

Leggings - Steve Madden, DSW

Boots - Old Navy

Necklace - S&D

Bag - Olivia and Joy, TJMaxx

So even though I'm not panicking, I feel it's worth at least mentioning - Google announced that Google Reader is going away July 1st.  Now I don't know about other Blogger users, but I don't use Google Reader, I just use my Dashboard list that pops up when I log into Blogger of all the folks I follow on Google Friend Connect.  Google has not said if Google Friend Connect is affected by this change or not. Some folks are speculating that it's going away as well, but I don't know that an official announcement has been made on that (if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me).  So to make a long story short - I just wanted to say that IF GFC does go away, I am on Bloglovin, I have a Facebook page and I'm on Twitter - those links are on the right hand side at the top, the cute little buttons that Laura made me when she designed my new site - feel free to use any of them.

As for blogs I follow, sometimes my Blogger Dashboard doesn't load all my favorite blogs properly, so I'm already double following some of you on Bloglovin anyway, so if GFC does go away, I'll be set.  But like I said, I'm not freaking out too much yet.  Maybe I should be, but I'm not.  That's my story for now.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!! Be safe if you're out celebrating St. Patty's Day! And, in case I haven't said it in awhile - thanks for stopping by and sharing in my world just a little!

Baby it's cold outside

Yep, you will see I look cold in these pictures.  But the light has been decent in the morning so I've been wanting to take pictures outside again.  I'll have to try to do a better job of hiding it!  When it's 20 degrees that is a bit of a challenge though!

Dress - Axcess by Clairborne, thrifted

T-shirt - Old Navy

Sweater - American Rag, thrifted

Boots - Target, old

Necklace - S&D 

I have been finding on these cold days I've been gravitating towards pants because it's easy and well, I don't want to be cold.  But I have fun colored tights that are begging to be worn and many skirts and dresses and boots that work well in winter, so I need to suck it up and wear them!  Besides, I'm from Minnesota, I'm supposed to be tough when it comes to the cold!

We've been spoiled by warmer weather though lately and so these cold days are harder to take!  I mostly like the warmer weather even if it is a bit unnatural - but at this time of year I won't lie, I do want some snow.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas without it!  We had a brown Christmas last year, I'm really hoping that won't happen this year!  I hear it might snow this weekend.  Here's hoping!

Bootie boot

Oh hallelujah it's Friday.  It has been a week my friends.  I don't know if I mentioned that my boss is out on a six week medical leave and I'm pretty much her backup, so it's been trying at times already.  Thank goodness I have a wonderful maintenance staff that does all the grunt work, but still, it's kind of me, myself and I right now.  But hey, we're one week down too.

Not my greatest attempt today.  Very, very tired this morning so my creative juices weren't flowing the greatest.  Most nights I have an idea of what I'll be wearing the next day and last night that just didn't happen.  I had forgotten that I don't like to wear these dark jeans with dark boots, so I may swap them for my gray ones before going out later tonight, but for now, I'll have to go with it.  Otherwise I guess it isn't all bad.

Sadly, I have also realized it's about time for my annual Fall shopping ban.  It's not for a bad reason - my birthday is in about a month.  And this year I'm not banning ALL the things.  Example, I'm allowed to buy myself some replacement tights for some pairs that I have found holes and runs in.  I am also allowed to buy myself shoes, such as tan/brown booties I've been wanting, because who is going to buy me boots as a gift?  Otherwise, I have to start scaling it all back.  Which is too bad, I'm kind of in the mood to go thrift shopping!

I have a closet full of clothes that can be worn though, so honestly, I just need to shop my own closet some more.  With magical finds like yesterday's skirt, I think that is more than do-able! Have a great weekend everyone!

Black shirt - Gap, thrifted

Sweater - American Rag

Jeans - Maurices

Boots - Payless

Necklace - S&D

Earrings - Swap with CC

PS - I was selected to do another Beauty box from Influenster, you may remember I was fortunate enough to get to test one back this summer as well.  So, I'll be putting up a Vlog on my samples, hopefully later today.

Lighter

Well after such a dark colored outfit yesterday I thought I'd lighten things up a bit today.  Which is especially helpful since it was raining this morning.  We haven't had much rain at all, we're totally in a drought, but I kind of wish it wasn't raining.  We've been working on sealing and staining our deck before a big party we're having this weekend so this is not working well with my plans!  Oh well, my lawn will finally be happy!

Today I'm wearing my "changing with the light" pants.  The picture never reflects the fun colored lines in these pants.  Still, they are one of my favorite pairs and if you saw them in person I'm sure you'd see why.  They go with nearly everything.  Also thought I'd give a close up of my shoes because I don't think I did the last time I wore them.  These are my new favorites because they are plaid!

And that's about all I have today!  Super exciting I know!  I do want to point you all to Sheila's blog, she has a post up with all the party dresses from her virtual birthday party and it's a ton of fun to see.  Thank you all again for your sweet comments on my sassy little number!  It's a fun dress and for those wondering, yes, the Pants Monkey loves it!

Sweater - American Rag (thrifted)

Shirt - F21

Pants - Herbergers (very old)

Shoes - Rampage (thrifted)

Necklace - S&D