Would rather be brunching

This entire outfit is courtesy of the Just Between Friends consignment sale I went to with my mom a couple of weeks ago.  I bought plenty of stuff for the baby too, trust me, but the prices were pretty darn good on maternity stuff too!  If you're a mom and you've never checked out one of those sales (they're all over the US from what I understand) look it up and head to the next one in your area - I still can't believe all the things I got for only $30.

My doctor appointment went really well yesterday.  The doctor we met was lovely!  I am happy to know there is more than one in the practice that I like enough if they're the one there on the day.  I had to laugh too, she complimented my outfit (the one pictured here, I wore it yesterday) and asked if we had plans other than going to work. She said "oh you should go out to breakfast, you just look so nice!"  Made me smile.

Sweater - Motherhood, consignment

Pants - Liz Lange, consignment

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Shoes - Mudd, Kohls 

And of course, it's Wednesday, my one busy day of the week, so I better dive into it.  Make it a great day everyone!!

Improvement

Today is soooo much better than yesterday.  My awesome handy Pants Monkey got our shower situation all fixed up.  I also get to sit outside today for my work's annual blood drive.  I get the fun job of checking people in.  I like to do my part how I can, even when I'm not pregnant, I am not a good blood donor myself, so this is a good way to help out!

It is threatening rain today, but hopefully not until later this afternoon.  I have a nice canopy over me where I am outside, so I should be protected at any rate!  It is even a hair chilly right now - may have to go in and get my sweater!  My office wi-fi extends out to where I am, so I'm able to stay connected today.  At least while my computer battery holds!

Shirt - Mudd, Kohls

Dress - Merona, Target

Shoes - Target

Necklace and bracelets - S&D

In other exciting news at our house, we have a new front window being delivered today.  Our house is old in general, but there are things like the windows that are really starting to go bad.  Our front window is this huge window with two that pop out to open - they don't seal well at all and we've been getting water during each melting cycle.  So it's time for it to go.  We're doing a picture window with two double hungs - one on each side.  My dad will be helping the Pants Monkey install it at some point in time...hopefully before the snow falls and this baby comes!  For now the window will live in our garage and we'll ogle it longingly!

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.

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!

 

Thanksgiving week...or Easter??

This is such an odd week.  Not only is the schedule all goofy for work and what not, but the weather outside is just not right for this time of the year.  I'm not complaining, but it's very strange that I may not even need a jacket when I go to Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday!

This morning it was a little cooler out, so I decided to wear pants instead of a skirt today.  And this is a combo I meant to try out last winter and never did, so today was a good excuse to do so.

Floral shirt - Decree, JCPenney

T-shirt - Old Navy

Pants - Squeeze (handed down from Megan Bird)

Necklace - Bead for Life

Shoes - Mudd 

Hopefully it doesn't make me look too much like an Easter egg!  With this weather I guess I could just use that as my excuse - you mean it's not the week before Easter?  It's warm enough!

I think the warm weather will be a good thing on Thanksgiving day though - I can go for a walk after dinner to walk off all the food!!  I think it will be much needed, our family has a private Facebook group and I saw the menu of what all will be at our dinner and holy cow, no one is going hungry!!

Keep calm and thrift on

Holy crazy morning Batman!  Thursdays are going to be hectic while my boss is gone, I get to meet her at a different location to keep her up to date on stuff.  This wouldn't be a big deal normally, but winter decided to arrive a little early today - not only has it been raining, but a little wet snow is mixing in too.  Getting around is interesting today.  Not to mention, while I was getting ready to take pictures this morning, I hear the Pants Monkey say "holy crap!"  That's never a good thing to hear.  I inquire what's up and learn a LARGE tree branch fell in our backyard last night, narrowly missing our deck.  I can't believe we didn't hear it.  I didn't have time to take a picture, but I will try to get one up on Instagram later - it's kind of insane.

In spite of my hectic day, I'm happy that I finally remembered Callie of Coffee and Cardigan's Thrifter Thursday!  Two pieces I am wearing today came from the thrift store.  And I'm so glad to have this warm sweater today.  Yikes it is chilly outside!

That's about all I have.  I am going to now catch up on things back in my office and try to catch my breath just a bit!

Shirt - Mossimo, Target

Sweater - Seven, thrifted

Pants - Nine and Co, thrifted

Shoes - Mudd, Kohls (old)

Necklaces - S&D, Charming Charlie

Earrings - Cookie Lee

This and That

It's kind of wet and damp outside today, so I decided to do my pictures inside.  And show off my cute Ikea pantry apparently.  I have to say - the pantry is one of the best things we've bought for ourselves so far this year!  I never used to be an Ikea girl, but I've kind of been converted.

The adorable Kelley of Threads and Buttons wore a shirt tied at the waste a couple of weeks ago and ever since then I've wanted to style a shirt like that.  I used to wear them like this all the time when I was younger, but haven't in a really long time.  I like the look of it today, it's just a different way to style this shirt.  Plus, double the stripes again for the Stripes challenge!

I'm so jazzed it's almost the weekend already.  This week has kind of flown by.  I'm hoping to convince Mr. Monkey to go see a late night showing of The Hunger Games tomorrow night after our music group rehearsal.  I'm crazy excited for this movie and there's a smaller theatre not far from us that I've gone to late night showings before and it's never terribly busy.  Added bonus, it's right next to a pretty awesome bar that happens to have really great Happy Hour specials, so you go have a beer and then go watch your movie and it works pretty well.  So I'll have to see if I can convince my Pants Monkey that this is a good idea.  We will see how things go!  Anyone else super excited for this movie?

Outfit rundown:

Tank top - Old Navy

Button shirt - Mossimo, Target

Pants - Old Navy (old)

Necklace and bracelet - Stella and Dot

Shoes - Mudd via Kohls

Sweater love

Hola friends!  Just like that we're halfway through the week already!  Not half bad, I thought the week would drag after last week being so short!

Thank to all who left such sweet comments on my post yesterday - I guess my pictures weren't as bad as I thought! We're our own worst critics sometimes aren't we?

So today I felt like a cozy sweater again. So I chose this very simple green one.  I'm getting all my colors out of my system this week because next week I'm doing Megan Mae and Keely's Fashion Challenge - Neutrals!  So this week, I am trying to wear colorful things and saving my less colorful things for next week!

This is a sweater I've had in my closet awhile, but it is still in great shape and fits well.  And I love how it matches my green striped pants.

And hey, with the Christmas wreath in the background of my office here, doesn't it just put you in the Christmas spirit?  The countdown is on!

Rundown:

Sweater - Karen Scott, Macy's

Pants - Alfani, Macy's

Shoes - Mudd, Kohls

Jewelry - Butterfly Boutique

What's up with that face

Man, today is one of those days I almost thought of cropping my face out of the pictures - I honestly do not know what is up with my smile in a couple of these.  I am really not in a bad mood!  I think I must be tired today.

So here is another birthday goodie - I wanted to replace a gold sweater I used to have, so this one from JCPenney fits the bill.  It is soooooo soft and comfy!  I love it!

These pants change color in the light - the line in them can look turquoise or pink or gold - I have always most liked pairing something in the gold family with these pants, though I'm going to try experimenting more this year.

Yeah, seriously what is up with my face in this picture?  Seriously! Makes me think of a scene from the movie Father of the Bride II, when they are driving to the hospital and George is on sleeping pills with his face on the window of the car and the gang bangers are like "hey man, what's up with that face?"  Oh well.  The outfit looks good at least!  I love this necklace I got at Charming Charlie on clearance.  CLEARANCE.  Clearance at Charming Charlie is like "why don't you just pay me to take it away." No joke.  But anyway.  It works!

And yep, definitely tired today, cause I just can't think of anything else witty to say.  Have a great day!

Rundown:

T-shirt - Mossimo, Target (they still have them and they're crazy affordable if you need to stock up!)

Sweater - St. John's Bay, JCPenney

Pants - StarCity, Juniors dept at Herbergers (several seasons old)

Shoes - Mudd (handed down from mom)

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Earrings - Stella and Dot

Got my high heels on

 I couldn't decide which of my pictures I liked best today so you get them all.  I can hardly believe we are halfway through the week already - this week is going fast.  I am not saying that is a bad thing though!

I pulled out this shirt that was in the bag of "hand me downs" from my cousin again.  It's funny, this is not a shirt I would have likely bought on my own, but I really do like it.  It's so soft, warm and cozy while still being pretty dressy.

And of course these are some of my favorite pants.  I think what really helps make this whole outfit pop and dress up quite a bit are the shoes and the necklace.  I used to only wear high heels, or well, dressy heels, with skirts, but I love wearing them with dress pants or even to dress up jeans on occasion.  There is something about high heels that transforms me into a "sassy in a good way" kind of lady!

I really think this is one of my favorite looks I've put together in awhile actually! 

Rundown:

Shirt - Coldwater Creek (from cousin)

Cami underneath - Old Navy

Pants - Studio Y from Maurices

Shoes - Mudd (from my mom)

All jewelry - Stella and Dot

All fancied up!

Yes, another picture heavy post!  A college friend of mine got married on Friday so I got all dolled up for the occasion! I had a wonderful time and just loved wearing this flirty fun dress I thrifted at the beginning of the summer!

Rundown:
Sweater - Old Navy
Dress - Dress Barn (thrifted)
Shoes - Mudd from Kohl's
Clutch with brooch - Stella and Dot
Necklace and earrings - Butterfly Boutique
Bracelets - Thrifted and Stella and Dot

My "suicide" shoes

Want to know what I love the most about this outfit?  It cost me next to nothing to put together.  The only thing I paid for in this entire outfit are the shoes, the watch and one of the bracelets. The rest of it was handed down or gifted to me!  I am not complaining!

I love, love, LOVE these shoes I thrifted last fall.  The Pants Monkey likes to call them my "Suicide" shoes though, because I had a bad habit of tripping in them and even fell down once.  I can admit it.  They are clogs though and I do have a hard time in clogs on occasion.  Still, they are fun shoes and they make me taller which I like and they only cost me $4!!!  You just can't beat that.

This weekend we're heading to a cabin with some friends, and I don't plan on being terribly fashionable up there, it's going to be a jeans and sweatshirt weekend and that is just fine with me, sometimes a break is good!

Today's rundown:
Cami - Mossimo for Target (gift)
Shirt - Coldwater Creek (handed down/passed along)
Pants - Alfani from Macy's (gift)
Shoes - Steve Madden (thrifted from Savers)
Necklace - Jerseymaids on Etsy (gift)
Bracelets - Stella and Dot and gift
Watch - Mudd from Kohls

Simple

Ok, not the greatest quality picture wise this morning, but I'm sleepy today, so I'm lucky to have cranked out what I did. My photographer friend gave me some tips on my flash, so these are at least not as dark as yesterday's photos turned out!

So today's outfit is a very simple one. The main pieces came from my favorite consignment shop, Clothes Mentor. If you are lucky enough to have one of these consignment stores in your town and you have to dress up for work like I do, it is honestly the best way to get good quality clothing on the cheap. I have often times found things that still have the original tags on them for 50-75% off the original cost. Love, love, LOVE this store.

The rundown:

Shirt - DKNY (thrifted)

Pants - Ann Taylor (thrifted)

Sandals - Mudd brand, from Kohls

Watch - Mudd brand, from Kohls