Inspiration Monday - Vintage chic

Well, welcome back to Monday.  And October?  Where did that sneak up on us?  Crazy.  I'm not complaining, there are many wonderful things coming up in October that I cannot wait for, but still, it's already here?  Wow.  Well, I'll stop calendar obsessing and instead get right to this week's Inspiration Monday - this week's actress is Busy Phillips. 

I wanted so badly to find some cute short boots this weekend for this look, but other stuff got in the way of that happening.  So instead I took my slouchy black boots and rolled them down to make them short!  Fun fact about the rest of this outfit - it's all vintage!  I kind of love that I could pull off a trendy look with vintage pieces!

In the end I decided my feet were going to be too warm as these are very warm boots and it's unseasonably warm for October 1st today - so while I love this look, I swapped them out for basic black flats, seen in the next picture.  I like the look of the boots a little better though!

I may prefer the look of the boots because they hide my skinny white legs a little more!  Oh well.  I've never been one to tan very much!

Head on over to the two birds blog for more Inspiration Monday looks!

Shirt - two birds vintage

Skirt - Band of Thrifters vintage

Boots - Target (old)

Flats - DSW (old)

Necklace - swap with CC

Earrings - Butterfly Boutique

Baubles

Shock - I'm not participating in Inspiration Monday this week.  I know, I rarely miss it.  The closest thing I could come up with for today's choice of Ashlee Simpson wearing orange hot pants and a white blouse was an outfit I already wore for Inspiration Monday a few weeks ago!  She looks great, but it was just not something I was able to put together, especially having had a very busy weekend.  I will admit to having owned the first Ashlee Simpson CD though.  I have no shame, lol.  Anyway, do go visit the two birds and see what others came up with.  I am sure I'll be back at Inspiration Monday next week, it's one of my favorite parts of blogging!  

I do have another fun treat today though!  Through Jess of J's Style, I found out about a fun Bauble Swap going on at Because Shana Said So.  I checked out her blog and decided it sounded cool - basically you signed up and were paired with another blogger to swap jewelry with.  Since I love me some pretty jewelry I was all over that.  I was paired with the awesome CC from CC's Cheap Chic and I could not be more excited with the goodies I received - all handmade by her! 

She sent the cutest little box, three pairs of earrings, a necklace and a bracelet.  I'm wearing the bracelet, necklace and one of the pairs of earrings today!  They are just so fun and are wonderful additions to have in my closet!  BIG HUGE thank you to CC and thanks to Shana for hosting this swap!! You should definitely check out both Shana and CC's blogs, especially so you can see what I sent to CC!

Speaking of jewelry, I went to a Stella and Dot party at my sister in law's yesterday and got a couple of new pretties there too.  If you've been following my blog awhile, you know I'm pretty addicted to the stuff.  And now my SIL's BFF is selling it, so you guessed it, I'll be having a party too.  One can never have too much jewelry right?  I have to laugh though, we were talking yesterday at the party about how just a couple of years ago, none of us were jewelry people.  Now I feel naked without a necklace and bracelet!  It's pretty funny.

Finally, I have a HUGE favor to ask anyone who is so inclined.  I'm looking for a couple of guest posts for the week of August 13-17.  I have a little vacation planned and while I won't be gone the whole week, have decided to take the entire week off from blogging.  If you are interested in guest posting while I'm away, I would LOVE to have you.  I'm using the blanket theme of "the dog days of summer" and you can pretty much write what you'd like around that theme.  Please let me know in the comments if you'd like to be a guest and I'll email you more specifics.

Outfit rundown:
Tank top - Cinema Etoile (from cousin)

Sweater  - F21

Skirt - Salvaged Strawberry (via Band of Thrifters)

Shoes - DSW

Jewelry - Handmade by CC

Bag - Jenna Lou Designs

Weather and beer

The heat wave has broken.  Finally.  I stepped outside this morning to go for my walk and was thrilled to be greeted by fresher, cleaner feeling air.  No more humidity.  I know it's not going to last long, summer is far from over, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

I wasn't planning to add this little sweater to my outfit today in fact, but it was cool enough that I grabbed it at the last minute!  Also, this skirt was heading for the discard pile, but then I realized, this shirt would look really nice with it.  And then I saw some other things in my closet and I decided ok, maybe I'm not done with it after all!  The reason I was considering sending it on is that it's a frustrating material and can get wrinkled really easily.  That's what irons are for right?

As you all know, or at least I think you all know, Mr. Monkey and myself are beer enthusiasts.  And one of our favorite local breweries released their annual anniversary beer this week and it's super difficult to get your hands on it as it sells out rather quickly.  But my awesome Pants Monkey knew where to go to get the goods and got his hands on four bottles of it!  I'm pretty excited, we're going to crack one open tomorrow night and  then we'll age the rest of them to enjoy later.  Some people have wine cellars, we have a beer cellar!  Not to say we don't love wine too, we just collect beer.  I'll take a picture of our beer cellar sometime to share.  It' fun.

Beyond that, I have not too much to share at the moment!  Life is just status quo and that is ok with me!  Fun post right - weather and beer.  What else do you need?

Outfit rundown:

Gingham top - Salvaged Strawberry/Band of Thrifters

Sweater - Maurices

Skirt - Ann Taylor (thrifted)

Necklace - DIY by me

Bracelet - Stella and Dot

Sandals - Italian Shoe Company

Inspiration Monday - The best of times

Well, hello and happy Monday friends!  Did you all have good weekends?  I don't want to brag, but mine was super fantastic.  And it was so needed.  My week last week was less than ideal, I never like to overshare or anything on the ole blog here, but I felt like junk most of the week thanks to my lady business, so when the weekend came and I was feeling more human, that in itself was a victory.  But I had many fun times this weekend too and some relaxing times so life was just good!  

This week's Inspiration Monday is the lovely Marion Cotillard, right now all I can remember her from is Big Fish, but anyway, she's got a nice floral thing going on here.

So it's going to be 100 degrees F today - no joke - so I knew a sundress was a MUST.  And I didn't really have a floral one that I felt worked with this theme, so instead I went for the cut/color of this dress and kind of went from there.  Plus, I haven't worn this one yet this summer so it was a good time to break it out!

Back to my weekend - I was fortunate enough to hit up all three of the sales I mentioned last week!  I Google mapped them and discovered they were all minutes away from each other.  I got myself going by about 10:00 and first hit up the two birds garage sale and chatted with the awesome Megan and Nora Bird, bought mostly summer items but also a very sweet pair of boots that I can't wait to wear when it gets cooler again!  From there I headed to Mighty Swell Vintage - it was busy there but I scored a blouse and a denim vest.  Finally I headed to Band of Thrifters and was able to say hello to the fabulous Amanda.  Took home a t-shirt and a skirt from there.  The best part of all this shopping?  I set myself a budget for the day and I stuck to it!  I didn't go over at all!  I was so proud of myself!  And now my summer shopping ban commences - the rules are pretty simple though this time, it's not that I'm not allowed to shop at all - but no more summer clothes this year.  I can start looking for Fall if I want to, but I'm not bringing even one more item of summer clothing into my closet until 2013!

After my successful shopping trip I headed home and the Pants Monkey and I had a lovely afternoon together, we got to visit a brewery in town we have never been to before and it was so fun!  And then we had dinner out and home to a movie.  It really just was the best kind of day!  Sunday I did not end up either cleaning my closet out or watching chick flicks, I spent some time with my parents while Mr. Monkey was at his class and then the class got over early and he was back home again.  But even so, it was also a nice day! Overall it was a good and much needed weekend!  Next weekend should be more of the same as it's another weekend off from our music group, so that will be awesome.

Don't forget to head over to the two birds blog to see the other Inspiration Monday outfits!

Outfit rundown:

Dress - BCBG Maxima (thrifted)

Necklace - Maurices

Bracelet - Target

Shoes - Issac Mizrahi for Target (thrifted)