Chaos theory

Happy Friday everyone!  So I tell you - I should never, EVER complain when things are boring - because the second I do, something happens and it isn't necessarily good!  Don't worry, everything is fine, I just ended up with a super crazy workday.

I think I've done a pretty good job of not complaining as much this time, but my boss has been out the last few weeks having her other knee done.  She figured she'd get it all done before she retires in January and I can't say I blame her. Anyway, she comes back on Monday and I was just noticing this week that everything has been pretty calm while she's been out this time.  Should have never had that thought either I guess!

So yesterday I'm plodding along minding my own business and thinking about how it was almost lunchtime when the power suddenly went out.  Then it popped back on right away so I didn't think anything of it at first - until I looked over at the wall and realized the generator had kicked in.  Being a clinic we have about half of our building - pretty much the essentials - hooked up to the generator.  So I realized the problem was a little bigger than just a power surge.  I couldn't get a hold of my maintenance supervisor and my phone was ringing off the hook from the other tenants in our building and then also the clinic right next door to us that we also manage.  I called the power company to report it and they had no clue of any problems, but said they'd look into it.  Within minutes though the outage map online showed a swath of people down for a good 5-7 mile radius around us.  I finally touched base with my maintenance guy and decided since we didn't know when we'd be back up and everyone had what they needed to get by, that I'd run to lunch real quick.  There were tons of lights out as I was driving a long so I knew it was a bigger problem at least than just our little area.  Fortunately by the time I came back after 45 minutes everything was back up.  Apparently some transformer blew at the power company or something.

Shirt - Apt 9, thrifted

Capris - Simply Vera, Kohls

Necklace - Camy Couture via giveaway

Sandals - Italian Shoe Maker, from cousin 

There were other dumb things that blew up yesterday afternoon then, mostly via email because some people do not read an entire email chain, they instead respond to the first message in a given email and maybe don't realize the problem has been solved if they would just scroll a bit....but I digress.  So it was just a day.  At least I looked cute yesterday - love this shirt I got on thrift store day!  It's not a maternity top but could be.  I plan to keep it around for after baby too!

Today so far is calm and I hope it stays that way!  And we're on to the weekend and I have a pretty decent looking one on tap!  I hope you all have a great weekend too!

26 in the mix

Happy Friday everyone!  Going to be a hot one here, forget that the calendar says September 6th. Apparently we're making up for our cool August.  That's ok, gave me an excuse to wear this cute tank top I picked up at Target.  Dang you Target.  I go in for milk and orange juice and come out with much more than that.  But I was lucky to find this on clearance - which is rare, the maternity stuff seems to never go on clearance as much as the regular stuff does!  I wish you could see the fun neon lines in this top though - they didn't come through real well on the photos.  I still like this shirt a lot though!

I always know I have a winner when the Pants Monkey compliments my outfit.  He said he really liked this one this morning.  Makes me wish we had more exciting plans for our day/evening besides work and music practice tonight.  Perhaps I'll treat him to a late night happy hour after practice somewhere just so this outfit doesn't completely go to waste!  I'm also excited that I finally have skinny maternity jeans - seriously, they have been hard to find at a reasonable price and I found these on my thrift excursion!  They should be outlawed they're so comfy.  I love them.

Tank top - Liz Lange, Target

Jeans - Indigo Blue maternity, thrifted 

Necklace and bracelet - S&D

Sandals - Italian Shoe Maker, from cousin

And another week checks off on our pregnancy countdown.  26 weeks today.  Two more weeks and we'll be in the third trimester (!!).  Trying not to look ahead in panic too much and just going one day at a time for the moment!

We have a rather busy weekend on tap with our music group which I'm not super excited about simply because I'm highly motivated to get some stuff done at home, but it is what it is.  I know the churches we travel to really appreciate it, so sometimes I just have to focus on that I guess!  I hope you all have wonderful weekends!

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!!

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!

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!

Truth

Today I want to get a little personal for a minute.  I keep things pretty upbeat here and often if I'm having a bad day I just put on my mask and I don't really put it out here.  But I came to a realization yesterday and I want to talk about it just a little bit.  Grab a cup of coffee.  Let's chat.

My outfit yesterday started out as a bit of a fail for me and it was very simple to fix, but in the process I learned something.  I've got some mild body image issues right now.  Yes I am thrilled to be pregnant and yes I realize a changing body is part of that process - but I think I've been kind of trying to hide from it a little bit.  I looked back over the last month or so since I've been showing more and I've been very hit or miss with my style.  Some days I think I've hit the nail on the head but others I can tell that I'm almost trying to disguise or hide the bump.  There really isn't any reason to do that.  Everyone knows at this point.  What am I ashamed of?

I'm not ashamed at all.  I think part of it is, I said from the beginning I wouldn't turn this blog into a pregnancy blog.  I didn't want to inundate you guys with all that stuff because I know some bloggers find that to be a turn off.  So I think I was letting that spill over into how I was dressing - "I'm not talking about the pregnancy too much so I should disguise it in what I'm wearing".  I don't have to do that.  I can still dress appropriately without sharing every last detail about what's currently going on.

The other thing is it has been an adjustment.  I prided myself on being someone who was in shape and who worked hard at maintaining their body type/weight.  And this has been a very easy pregnancy, to the point where I even forget at times that I am pregnant - then I look in the mirror and it's a little shocking to say the least.  I have to remind myself - there is a reason for this change and it's only temporary.  I know my body may never be exactly the same, but I can work at getting it back after the fact.  And the reward - a sweet cuddly baby of my own to love forever - is worth every last bit.  Gotta keep my eyes on the prize.

Sweater - Arizona Jean Co, JCPenney

Tank top - Old Navy

Skirt - Liz Lange Maternity, consignment

Necklace - Swap w/CC

Sandals - Italian Shoe Maker, from cousin 

So, I think I've reached a peaceful place where I am going to embrace my bump and try to dress more without fear.  And you know what, I may still crash and burn some days, this is a total learning experience, but I'll keep learning as I go.  And the further along I'm getting, the more and more this pregnancy is a part of my daily life and it may get harder to not talk about - and if that loses me some readers, so be it.  It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.  Or something like that.  I so appreciate the love and support so many of you have shown me so far.  And I especially want to thank Cara for her comment yesterday and the blog she pointed me to that truly helped me realize it's time to start embracing this phase of my life.  You helped me more than you can know Cara!

And that ends our serious coffee chat for today. Thank you for letting me put it out there.  In more upbeat Bethie news, today is my Friday already, you can't beat that - a short week right after a week's vacation?  Heck yeah!!

Soup

So I totally thought I would never have a chance to wear this pretty shirt from Cambria after I got pregnant, but then I realized it's practically perfect - it doesn't even come over the belly!  So, it was a good choice for this unbelievably humid day.  It is like soup outside, no joke.

I did add a little sweater for the air conditioning though, my office keeps the building SUPER cold.  And I didn't want to freeze.  The oranges aren't quite the same in these tops but it works well enough.  And bonus, the Pants Monkey told me he thought I looked cute this morning.

Sweater - Zara, from cousin

Shirt - F21, from Cambria

Cami - from cousin

Capris - Simply Vera, Kohls

Necklace and bracelets - S&D

Shoes - Italian Shoe Maker

And that's about all I have today.  I was a little late today due to an early morning OB appointment.  Everything is going great - next time we get to find out boy or girl, so I'm excited about that.  It'll be a long four weeks until then!

Inspiration Monday - Build an ark

Hey guys.  We had quite the storm over the weekend.  It was intense.  I'll share more about that in a moment, but first things first, it's Inspiration Monday with two birds (congrats again to Miss Megan on her wedding this past weekend!) and they chose this awesome casual look from Alessandra Ambrosio.

This was easy.  Comfy shorts, my current favorite peach top, sandals and a necklace.  Boom.  Simple and chic.  Mr. Monkey was kind enough to take my pictures yesterday.  Yesterday ended up being a rather nice day.  The rest of the weekend?  Totally different story.

Shirt - Mudd, Kohls

Shorts - Duo Maternity, consigment

Necklace and Earrings - S&D

Bracelet - Bead for Life

Sandals - Italian Shoe Company from cousin 

It all started Friday night.  We were over at our music director's house having a Friday night rehearsal.  Suddenly we all started getting government issued text messages that there was a Flash Flood warning in our area.  I looked outside and it was getting dark, but not raining.  I checked my Weather Center app and saw that there were severe storms approaching, but didn't think too much of it.  We get storms, it's not a big deal.  Well pretty soon the sky just opened up, I have never seen rain come sideways quite like it did.  You could see it was windy.  The lights started flickering and then the power went out.  So, rehearsal was pretty much called off at that point.  The Pants Monkey and I decided to head home when there was a brief lull.  We only live a few blocks away, so at least it wasn't far to go.  It was quite a drive though - lots of limbs and standing water in the road.

We got home and thankfully we had power.  Everything seemed more or less ok, but I was nervous because we have had water come in the basement before in these kinds of storms, sometimes it just takes awhile.  And sure enough, Saturday morning my fears were confirmed when I found water in the laundry room and a little bit on our main room carpet.  We need to grate the lawn away from our house in the backyard is what it boils down to.  At any rate, we spent the rest of the weekend dealing with that.  It's slowly getting better, but I think we're getting a new de-humidifier to speed up the process, the one we have seems to have failed!

Despite all of that, we salvaged a decent day yesterday.  The Pants Monkey brewed beer and we had dinner out on a patio.  I tell you though, I feel like I need a weekend from my weekend!

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

This "n" that

Hey it's Friday!  Yay!  Although I have another busy weekend on tap.  I swear I cannot wait to get to July, life will slow down just a hair then!  But for now, one day at a time.

We had some big storms move through last night.  They were a bit noisy, so I'm glad I have some coffee this morning!  Could be a long day otherwise!

 Tank top - Express, thrifted

Shrug - Mossimo, Target, old

Jeans - Old Navy

Sandals - Italian Shoe Company, from cousin

Bag - Coach Outlet

Necklace and earrings - Lia Sophia

Bracelet - Camy Couture via giveaway

It's been hit or miss finding maternity clothes at the thrift store.  I have found if I just go raid the regular shirt racks a size up from my normal size, I'm finding plenty of good shirts.  I look for some that have a higher empire style waist on them.  I have laughed too - if I would pull a shirt like these off the rack when I wasn't pregnant, I would say "This looks too much like a maternity shirt" and put it back!   Now I can't get enough of them!  They'll be great transition pieces for after baby too.

And I am giving you guys a bump picture today.  I'm officially 15 weeks.  Sara was so sweet to say yesterday that I still barely look pregnant - part of that has been how I've been standing I think!  So here, I'll bare all today!

We're moving right along.  I have my 16 week OB appointment next week and hope to talk about and set up my gender scan so we can find out just what is growing inside of me!

Hope you all have a great weekend! (And PS - my jury duty is OVER!)

Grown up Strawberry Shortcake

I feel like a grown up version of Strawberry Shortcake in my outfit today.  Something about the colors and the pattern on my sweater or something!  Just give me a hat and some green striped tights. 

Anyway, this skirt is another lovely goodie that the sweet Cambria gave me a couple of months ago.  Hasn't been the right weather to wear it until now.  It won't be 90+ again today but it will still be warm and nice out.

Sweater - Camy Couture

Tank top - Old Navy

Skirt - from Cambria

Necklace - Clothes Mentor 

Shoes - Italian Shoe Maker, from cousin

For lack of much other exciting things today, I'll leave you with two images of Strawberry Shortcake if you didn't know what I was talking about.  The one on the left is the Strawberry Shortcake of MY youth.  The one on the right is the modern version....eh.