Hippie chick

I don't know what it is about this skirt, every time I wear it I feel a bit like a hippie.  I'm sure it's the length and material of it.  And I like pairing it with peasant tops, especially since I've been pregnant.  So I guess overall it just gives off that hippie vibe!

Can you believe it's October 1st today?  Where is this time going?  I'm going to start having baby showers this month which is so exciting.  I plan to really start getting things ready in the baby's room and such this month.  My hope is to have the majority of that done by the end of the month so I can spend November getting ready for Christmas so I'm less stressed closer to the birth...these things are just going to sneak up so fast!!

 Shirt - Faded Glory, thrifted

Skirt - Old Navy

Necklace - S&D

Sandals - Marshall's

Looking ahead is too daunting, I think I'll just stick with my hippie persona for the day instead.  "Whatever man, it's all about the love."

Wrong side

Man, I feel like I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  And it's silly too, I got one of the best night sleeps last night that I've had in awhile - but maybe that is the problem!  Anyone else ever get that?  You're almost more tired from sleeping well?  Anyway, I decided the fix to my crankiness was to wear my favorite maxi dress of all time.  

In other better news, the water situation at home is improving by the day.  Mr. Monkey bought a better dehumidifier on the way home last night and it seems like things are finally starting to dry out.  Thank goodness for that!  We are getting more storms later tonight it sounds like and then we're finally heading for a dry stretch, so maybe we'll be able to address the area of the yard that caused us to get water in the first place!

 Shirt - Old Navy, thrifted

Dress- Merona, Target

Necklace - DIY by me

Sandals - Marshalls

The other thing I think will help cheer me up will be getting a haircut.  It's been only four weeks since my last one, but let me tell you, the thing about prenatal vitamins doing amazing things for your hair and nails?  Partly true in my case.  My nails still suck, but my hair is a hot mess - it grows so fast right now!  I suppose this would be the perfect time to grow it out if I really wanted to, but I've done the long hair thing before and it just doesn't work on me.  Anyway, I can't go until tomorrow but I know I'll be much happier after I go - get rid of this Justin Bieber look!

Best dress ever

This is the best dress ever.  I have had it almost two years now and I cannot get enough of it.  I love the colors, I love the style and now, I love that it will be the perfect dress for my growing bump too.  Right now I love that if you look at me straight on, I still look semi-skinny in it!

The other reason I love this dress, like most maxi dresses, is because it seriously feels like wearing pajamas.  I only have one other maxi dress in my closet right now, I may need to change that!  And I still find it hilarious that this is my favorite dress - I resisted the maxi trend for such a long time.  Now I can't get enough.

 Dress - Cliche Minneapolis

Sweater - F21 (last year)

Sandals - Marshalls

Bag - Tandem Vintage pop-up

Necklace - S&D

Bracelets - S&D, Clothes Mentor

It seems the weather is finally settling a bit here too.  And it's glorious - high 70's and sunshine - anyone want to play hooky?  Seriously.  I wish it had been like this last Tuesday when I ended up with a little time off! Oh well, I'll just look longingly out my window!

Crayons

What does one do on another gray, rainy day?  Wear happy bright colors!  This is a color inspiration I saw on Pinterest, but honestly, it's a color combination I've loved for years.  I've always loved to color in coloring books, it's something my mom and I would do together on vacations (and I still do, it's sooo relaxing!).  There was nothing better than a brand new box of Crayola 64 Crayons.  And my favorite two colors I'd always pull out and put together were called "Melon" and "Sea Green" - not unlike my peach and mint here!

 T-shirt - Mudd, Kohls

Jeans - JCPenney

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Sandals - Marshalls

I currently own a box of Crayola Crayons that has I believe 98 colors in it or something like that.  It's awesome and yes I'm 31, I don't care, I love my crayons!  And now they have weird color options like "Macaroni and Cheese".

And now because I'm being a nostalgic dork, I'll leave you with this old clip from Sesame Street about how crayons are made that I was fascinated with as a child.  Apparently there was an episode of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood that showed how crayons were made too, but this is what I remember!

 

Feeling the love

I'm just feeling the love today.  First of all, I'm wearing one of my favorite dresses, maybe not as much a favorite as yesterday's, but this one is up there.  Second of all, lovely fellow MN blogger Jasmine of the blog Cute N Comfy has featured me in her weekly Twin Cities Tuesdays over here.  Check it out and give her some love, she is a sweetheart!

Thirdly, I am feeling the love because Merry Alana has also gifted me the Liebster Award.  So very kind of her!  Since I already tagged some people in the post I did from Amanda's Liebster Award I won't tag anymore, but I will answer Alana's questions because I love doing all about me posts.  I encourage you all to play along with her questions too if you want!

Merry Alana's questions:
1. What is your favorite summer activity? Hands down it is sitting outside on a patio eating dinner or drinking a beer!
2. What is your guilty pleasure? Oh this one is hard, I don't have cable anymore, but I used to get really sucked into the reality shows on TLC like Big People, Little World and some of those kinds of shows that follow these interesting and different families.  I could sit and watch those shows for hours!  Now that I don't have cable, right now my guilty pleasure is watching re-runs of the show Blossom that I found on YouTube! Anyone remember that one?
3. Do you have a favorite book?  I do.  It's kind of sappy, but I love Judy Blume's adult novel Summer Sisters.  I've read it every summer since I was 17.  I'm just finishing it again for the 13th time.  There are few other books I can read more than once, but there is something about this book.  It doesn't feel like summer to me until I've read it!
4. What is your favorite topic to blog about?  Myself obviously.  KIDDING!  I honestly do enjoy blogging about my day to day life and what I wear along the way.  It's pretty easy subject matter.
5. Coffee or tea?  Definitely coffee.  I do like tea, sometimes I'll have tea later in the day, but I loves my coffee!
6. What decade do you most identify with?  Present day, past decade?  I am doing pretty well with present day, but I'm a hippie at heart, so I love the 60's too.
7. Where do you feel most at home? Obviously I feel very at home in my own home, I feel at home when I go to my parents as it's the house I grew up in, I feel at home at my in-laws, I feel at home when I step into Target...er, um, yeah.
8. What do you do when you're having a bad day?  I talk it out with the Pants Monkey or my mom if he's not available.  I listen to loud music in the car from my youth (grunge music at the top of my lungs, heck yeah!), I drink a glass of wine and enjoy a bubble bath.
9. Have you met blogging friends in real life?  I'm happy to say yes!  I've met both Megan and Nora of two birds, Amanda from Salvaged Strawberry, Erin from Babes in Thriftland, Lindsey of Ruby Girl, and a couple of others.  There's another MN blogger gathering coming up in September and I cannot wait to hopefully meet some more ladies too.  And any local gals reading - I am always down for a lady date if you ever want to meet up!
10. What is your favorite subject to blog about?  I suppose subject is a little different from topic.  I would say my favorite subject is shopping and clothes and good deals.  Thrifting.  Stuff like that.  But again, I still like infusing my daily life in here too.
11. What's your favorite way to relax?  Some of the same things I do on a bad day - bubble bath, glass of wine or beer with the Pants Monkey, reading a good book or sometimes a trashy magazine, lounging on the couch with favorite shows or a chick flick.  I'm pretty good at relaxing.

That was fun!  Thanks again Alana for the award and the fun questions!  Again, I tag all of you, if you want to answer her questions it would be fun to read them.  I am definitely feeling the love today - I send love to all of you.  Thanks so much as always for stopping by!

Outfit rundown:

Dress - Cliche Minneapolis

Sweater - Old Navy (old)

Necklace - Stella and Dot w/Megan Mae buttonflower

Sandals - Marshalls

Bag - Gussy Sews

Who's in charge here?

TGIF man, amiright?  The end of the day yesterday was one of those days I wanted to just curl up in a corner and cry, but more on that in a minute.  First off, it's the last day of our This and That Summer Trend challenge week.  Today is pastel or neon.  I more or less went for pastel as I have virtually no neon in my closet.  I love what I've seen other bloggers do with the neon trend but I just haven't been able to get on board with it.  However, I chose my bright pink bag today, closest thing to neon I actually own and probably the closest thing I will own.  So this outfit is really more about the pastel!

So back to my day yesterday.  It was going along just fine and then my boss had to go to one of our clinic sites.  This isn't unusual as she is the director of facilities for several clinics in our organization.  We were expecting a delivery for the 2nd floor construction project in my building, but she said she knew I could handle it.  So I'm doing my thing and getting ready to shut down for the day and realize the delivery hadn't shown up yet and like magic, the front desk called to let me know that the delivery guy was here.  Better late than never I guess.  So I said, have him meet me up here and I will show him where to put it.  Now mind you it's a giant box and weighs about 300 pounds.  I go to the elevator to wait for the guy and it's taking FOREVER.  This is not a good sign.  He finally gets off the elevator.  Without the box.  It won't fit.  At all.  Crap.  So I called my boss - who always answers her cell phone, but apparently not when it's important - I could not reach her.  Now I'm officially on overtime at this point.  A half hour later I finally get in touch with my boss and we figure out a temporary solution after I spent the entire time flustered, looking like an idiot in front of patients and doing everything I can not to just break down and sob.  And let me just say the delivery guy was kind of a prick about the whole thing.  At least I get paid overtime.

After I got home I had a well deserved beer and relaxing bath and then everything was better.  But seriously.  There is a reason I am just an admin - I do not do crisis management very well at all!!

Anyway.  It's Friday and I'm much happier today!  You will want to make sure to check back here later today or possibly tomorrow - I will be posting my one year anniversary "favorite things" giveaway!  Yes you heard me right, it's Beth's Favorite Things, ala Oprah.  I can't wait to share the fun things I have for you!  And I also can't wait to share some thoughts on one year of blogging - man time flies!

Be sure to check out Megan Mae's blog to see the other This or That participants from this week and also make sure to check Keely's blog for a round up of each participants favorite look from the week!  I have to decide on which one is mine!

Outfit rundown:

T-shirt - Shlomo, thrifted

Jeans - Old Navy

Sandals - Marshalls

Bag - Lillians

Necklaces - Jerseymaids via Etsy/Stella and Dot

June is busting out all over

Happy Friday!  Happy June!  It is super gorgeous outside today, would be a good day to play hooky!  It's really my favorite weather outside today, not too hot, sunny, lovely.  Sigh.  Oh well, I'll just look out my window and dream!  If my whole summer ended up looking like this, I'd be one happy camper.  Although maybe not, because then I'd never want to work!

I'm loving this pastel vintage shirt I picked up on my recent thrift trip.  It's hard to see in the pictures, but it is multi colored stripes. The main color is peach, which drew me to the shirt because I'm loving peaches and oranges right now.  I'll admit, the seersucker fabric this shirt is made out of does remind me of something my grandmother would have worn, but that's ok.  The fit of the shirt is nice and I like channeling my grandma in a way!  The shirt also matches my sandals like perfectly, almost like they were made to go together!

First weekend of June ahead and it's a busy one for us, a sure sign summer is here.  We tend to get very busy in the summer and I am resolving this year that no matter how busy we get, we enjoy every moment of it.  Last summer was not the best, so I am going to make sure that this summer kicks last summer's behind!

I'm also pretty excited, since it's June, that means my first year blog anniversary is coming up.  Wow!  Can't believe it's almost been an entire year!  I think it will be cause for something fun and exciting, like my first ever giveaway.  Stay tuned for that!  I have a couple of fun posts in the works too for the coming days, working on another video blog review and also a "what's in my bag" type post.  And I hear Megan Mae and Keely have another fashion challenge in the works, so I'm excited for that.  At any rate, fun times to come around the ole blog for June!

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - thrifted vintage

Jeans - Maurices

Necklace - Minty Koala (from giveaway)

Sandals - Marshalls

Bracelet - Bead for Life

Floral Fun

Today I am wearing one of my finds from the Band of Thrifters sale this past weekend. This dress is my new favorite thing EVER.  It's the perfect spring colors, it's nice and lightweight, I am in love.  It is going to be a frequent flyer this summer, you just watch!

I didn't even add a necklace today, which is rare for me, but I feel like this outfit has enough going on that it doesn't need it.  Flirty and fun, you can't beat it!

I went on a thrift date with Erin last night and found a few more fun summer things for just over $20.  We found vintage there and I found a vintage shirt and skirt that I am super excited about.  You'll see those items soon.  I had no idea that this particular thrift store had vintage until Erin told me about it, so now that I know, I'll be checking in there a little more often.  

I am sharing a kitty picture today for Megan Mae - she likes my kitty pictures and I thought she could use some cheering up, so here are my lazy girls from this morning.  Pippin's out for the count, Taylor's not so sure quite yet.  Neither of them really cared all that much that I was leaving.  "Bye mom, we're sleeping."

I had two questions yesterday that I thought I'd answer real quick.  For those who are curious about how I did my blog header, I found a really helpful guide on another blog - link is here.  I used Picasa to create it as this guide suggested and it worked pretty well.  I did find that I had to chose "shrink to fit" when I uploaded to Blogger, but then it worked just fine.

Then as far as the Target shoes go, I was clued into the fact that there are often apparel and accessories coupons on Target.com by fellow MN blogger Heidi - she always is on top of the good deals and had posted last week that there was a buy one, get one 50% off coupon on shoes on Target.com, so I printed that bad boy off right away!  I was lucky too in that both pairs of sandals I chose were already on sale and the coupon made them even cheaper.  So, moral of the story, check out Target.com from time to time for deals like that!

Outfit rundown:

Dress - vintage, Band of Thrifters

Sweater - Decree, JCPenney

Sandals - Marshalls

Bracelet - Stella and Dot

Earrings - Charming Charlie

Glow baby glow

So note to self, don't photograph a yellowish based outfit in a room that has a yellow tint in the walls! Oops. Oh well. I'm just glowing today I guess!

I'm back at it after a nice mid-week day off to go to the MN State Fair. The Pants Monkey and I had a lovely time there yesterday! I was home early enough to get a haircut too, which was a good thing because the Pants Monkey said I was starting to look like Justin Bieber. Thanks babe. Anyway, it's all cleaned up and spiffy now!

My gaucho pants return again today! It's sort of cool outside, but also sort of humid. Tough weather to dress for. Tomorrow I hear 90's are coming back. Woo hoo. I'm in the minority I am sure but I am just so ready for the cool weather! I'm getting bored with my "summer" wardrobe! It happens I guess! Going to be going "thrifting" with a good friend on Monday as all the thrift stores around here have awesome Labor Day sales! I can't wait for that, hoping for some fun new pieces to transition to fall!

Today's rundown:

Shirt: J. Jill (thrifted)

Gaucho pants: East 5th Avenue (Thrifted)

Sandals: Marshalls

Bracelet: Stella and Dot

Back to the grind

Hello fashion friends! I am back from my week long vacation! We had a great time in St. Louis, even though it was crazy hot there! I didn't manage to get any fun outfit posts, though I did have some cute ones - mostly tank tops and shorts!

Today I am back to the daily grind at work and chose items from my closet I have had for quite awhile actually. I do have one new addition that I bought while in St. Louis - the purse I am carrying today. I didn't like the bag I brought with me, so I sought out a Kohl's and found this really neat bag by Relic, it can be carried multiple ways which is awesome! The rest of my outfit almost entirely came from Old Navy, which is kind of ironic actually! I'm happy to be back to my regular routine!

Today's rundown:
Sweater - Old Navy

Cami - Old Navy

Skirt - Old Navy

Sandals - Marshalls

Purse - Relic from Kohl's

Bracelet - Thrifted

Watch - Mudd from Kohl's

Necklace and earrings - Butterfly Boutique

Ready for vacation

Greetings! We have made it to Friday and it's Casual Friday again for me - made even better because today I work a half day and then I AM ON VACATION!! I am very excited if you couldn't tell. Today's outfit is simple and not terribly special, though I do like this shirt a great deal, it is very fun. I'm also wearing some of my favorite jeans ever, not surprisingly by Ann Taylor LOFT. This stuff just fits like it was made for my body.

After today the blog will be quiet for about a week. Fear not, I am packing some fun clothes for my trip and I will hopefully have some good outfit posts when I come back. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great week and I'll see you all soon!

Today's Rundown:

Shirt: Daytripper (thrifted)

Jeans: LOFT (thrifted)

Sandals: Marshalls

Bracelet: Thrifted

Necklace: Premier Jewelry in home party

Butterfly in the sky

I adore this shirt I got at Clothes Mentor two summers ago. It has butterflies. And I love butterflies. I also got these pants at Clothes Mentor, no surprise there. Added some of my favorite accessories and there you have it!  Also, these sandals are fairly new as of a couple of weeks ago - they are soooo comfy! And cute too!

The rundown:

Shirt - Shlomo (thrifted)

Pants - Mossimo for Target (thrifted)

Sandals - Marshalls

Sunnies - Shop Suey Boutique

Necklace -jerseymaids for Etsy

Bracelet - prize from in home jewelry party

Bag - Lillian's Shoppes