Heading to a "Tropical Oasis"

After work today I'm meeting the Pants Monkey to go to his office Christmas party at a really fun bar here in town that is like a little tropical oasis in the middle of the north country.  They have super fun tiki drinks, decent food and the atmosphere inside makes you feel like you're on the island of Fiji or something.  In the summer they have a lovely patio that you can sit out on that is by the river, but even as warm as it's been here lately, it's not quite warm enough for that, so the indoor setup will have to do.  It should be a good time and thankfully, it's not far from home.

Today's outfit I once again have to give a little kudos to my mom for - she suggested this combo and I like the result!  I was a little nervous that the sweater wouldn't be long enough, but it works out just fine actually! And hey, any excuse to wear these gray boots that I adore I will take!

I accidentally cut off my head a bit in the one above here, whoops!  Oh well, you all know what my hair looks like, ha!

What's even better, is that while this outfit is cute, it's super comfy too!  And it will be fun to wear to the party tonight!  The Pants Monkey himself even said I looked cute and as you all know, I love it when the hubby is pleased!  Even more so today since it's his work party we're going to!  He can be like " hey co-workers, look at my hot wife".  Ha ha ha!  

Happy Friday everyone!  Have a great weekend!

Rundown:

Sweater - Decree, JCPenney

Thermal shirt - Mossimo, Target

Leggings - Target

Boots - Target

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Belt - Unknown

Jerseymaids jewelry giveaway

From time to time you have seen me wear jewelry from an Etsy shop called jerseymaids. jerseymaids is a shop run by a unique artist who makes jewelry from Polaroid pictures.  A friend of mine became friends with her via Twitter and I ended up becoming friends with her as well!  Here are two of the items from her shop that I have:

Hard to see in the one above, but it's a picture of a hand making the shape of a heart.

This one is called "the Little Village" it is a locket - I adore this one to bits and pieces, I wear it quite a bit!

Lauren, the owner of jerseymaids, is celebrating her one year anniversary of the day she went full time with her shop and to celebrate she is holding a giveaway and it's a good one - the winner gets to pick out ANYTHING they want from her store.  Anything!  You cannot beat that!  Believe me, you're going to want everything once you start browsing in her store.

All the details for her giveway are on her blog found here.

I wouldn't spread the word for just anyone, but as I've said, I've come to know Lauren via Twitter thanks to my friend who introduced me and even though she is halfway across the country from me, I consider her a friend and a very talented lady, so I had to do my part to spread the word for her!

What month is it again?

Believe me, I'm not complaining one bit, but I cannot believe they are forecasting a high of almost 50 today here in MN.  On January 5th.  Wow.  It's just mind blowing.  But again, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth - driving is a breeze, no shoveling, no heavy bundling up in coats, I'll take it for now!  I hear real winter is coming back in another week or so.  In the meantime, since the temps are like Fall, I pulled out my favorite thrifted dress from this fall to wear today!

I have really enjoyed finding different ways to remix this dress, I just love the colors in it and it has just been so versatile.  My only complaint today is that I've been dealing with a little static cling with my nylons.  Oh well.

So are any of you in other parts of the country having an odd winter so far?  Are you like me and like the warmer less snowy weather?  Or do you wish it was colder and snowier?

We had been originally planning a getaway to a warm destination this winter but ended up pushing it back due to finances and in a way, I don't mind, there is nothing to escape from right now!  

Man did I spend this entire post talking about the weather?  I must be getting old!

Linking up to Thursdays are for Thrifters today at Spunky Chateau - since I'm wearing a few thrifted things today!

Rundown:

Dress - Axcess by Claiborne, thrifted via Savers

Blazer - Bill Blass thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Nylons - Target

Shoes - DSW

Necklace - Bead for Life

Earrings - Thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Surprise of a deal

 I did a little thrift shopping over the week I was off because that is just what I do.  I went to my favorite little consignment shop Clothes Mentor because they were advertising 50% off winter items.  I ended up not buying anything that was marked down, but their prices are good even without that.

So anyway, I have talked a little about Clothes Mentor before, but if you're not familiar with them, they buy gently used name brand clothing - anything from Old Navy and Gap all the way up to Designer brands like Seven for All Mankind and even Coach bags and things like that.  When I shop there I try not to pay too much attention to the brands, it doesn't matter what they are as long as it fits well and I feel like I'm getting a good deal.  So I found these cute pants and they were a nice price, they fit nicely and I brought them home, never once really paying attention to the tag.

I get them ready to be washed and take the Clothes Mentor tag off and then notice that I ended up getting a really good deal because the original price tag was still on them as well.  And then I looked at the actual tag and got a really fun surprise - these pants are from Anthropologie!  May not seem like a big deal, but let's just say the prices at Anthropologie are not something I can just easily dish out, so the fact that I got these pants with original price tags just makes me beyond excited.

Aren't they cute?  They are so different from other pants in my closet right now.  I love the piping on the legs and the button detail.  I took a close up so you could see more of the detail, seen in picture below.

It was a fun surprise for me!  Now I can pretend that I bought them in the real live store and that I can actually afford things like Anthropologie new.  Ha ha.

In other news, I have a link to my Facebook page at the right now, no pressure, it's just another way to connect, so feel free to "Like" my page on Facebook if you wish.  

Hope you are all having a great week, we're halfway through!

Rundown:

Shirt - Charter Club, Macy's

Pants - Anthropologie, thrifted from Clothes Mentor

Necklace - Butterfly Boutique

Shoes - Mudd via Kohls

She wears short shorts

I can't help loving the show 2 Broke Girls on CBS.  I know the humor can be a little crude at times, but there is something about the show that I love.  And today, I used one of the two main characters, Caroline, as my inspiration for my outfit.  She has a pair of shorts similar to these - that were actually purchased in a hilarious episode about thrifting at Goodwill (or "The Will" as they call it in the episode).  I got mine on sale at Old Navy and kind of went from there.

A year ago I don't think I would have tried this look - this is something that blogging has helped me with, giving me confidence to try something new.  And I have to say, I love the result!  I have other ideas for these shorts too.

The sweater and the shirt are more Christmas gifts - yes I'm spoiled, I'm an only child, so it happens.  I can tell you my mom finds amazing deals though!  That's where I get my thrifty sense from anyway!

It's crazy cold out today though which is the only negative about my outfit choice today!  Funny to be whining about how cold it is, it is supposed to be this cold right now, we've been very spoiled by an unseasonably warm winter.  And more of it is on the way, today is the coldest in sight actually.  It's very odd, but I'll take it!

Today feels more normal as most everyone I know is back to work now too.  A lot more people on the road today, glad I have a short commute!  Have a great one!!

Rundown:

Oatmeal colored shirt - Old Navy (gift from parents)

Brown cardigan - Lands End (gift from parents)

Shorts - Old Navy

Tights - Target (wish you could see the detail on them - they are cute!!)

Boots - Target

Necklace - Stella and Dot

Earrings - F21

Winter winds

So man, it is cold out there today.  Old Man Winter sure does still exist here in MN.  We have been so spoiled as of late, but were gifted with snow over the holiday this weekend and it brought with it cold winds and colder temps!  I hear warmer type stuff is coming back later this week though.  

So I decided with the cold weather, a sweater was a must today.  This is one of my Christmas gifts from my parents.  It's a nice simple warm sweater but it is so awesome when you see it up close - it has flecks of different colors so it can go with more or less anything.  You have to love that.

My shoes were a POOR choice today.  The parking lot that my office shares with the city is not cleared real well.  And of course, the city is CLOSED today so I can't call and complain.  But if they were open, they'd be hearing from me because even in more practical shoes, it is slick out in that lot.

It is pretty slick in spots for driving today too, makes me almost glad that many businesses are closed so not many folks are out on the road.  Seriously.  I drive a little CRV and it's a great car for getting through heavy snow, doesn't do so well on ice though.  I have done 180s several times in this car.  Speaking of my car, I have learned I have a fair number of repairs to be made on it, so I think I may be putting myself on another little shopping ban.  We'll see how things go.  The Pants Monkey's father used to work on all of our cars, but as of Jan 1st he's retired - how dare he!  Totally kidding, I'm happy for him.  Bummed for us though - full price car repairs are going to be an adjustment!

This week I am planning on rolling out a Facebook page for the blog - so you can "like" me there if you wish!  I am just using any outlets I can to connect with folks, especially with rumors of Google Friend Connect going away - though feel free to follow me with it for now.  I hope Google changes it's mind about getting rid of it.  But anyway, fun things ahead here, so stay tuned!

Rundown:

Sweater and undershirt - Old Navy (gifts from parents for Christmas)

Pants - Herbergers

Necklace, earrings - Charming Charlie

Shoes - Mudd, Kohls

Inspiration Monday - Out of the loop

I love participating in Inspiration Monday because I love a good challenge, especially when it comes to my wardrobe, but I gotta tell you, I don't know that I've known who about half of these young actresses have been that I'm copying!  I'm so out of the loop!  I blame it on two things - 1. I am getting older and 2. I don't have cable TV, so I really don't see many commercials or do a lot of channel flipping.  I do read People magazine though so you'd think that would keep me up to date!  Oh well.  Our inspiration model this week is this girl here - Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

This was an easy look for me to copy - while I don't have booties like hers, it gave me an excuse to wear the new boots I bought at Old Navy's after Christmas sale and it was perfect because I wore this outfit for my low key New Years and it did start snowing before we got home, so I was happy to have boots on!

I wore the shades here to try to be just like her.  Overall it really wasn't very sunny on Saturday.  The Pants Monkey and I ran a bunch of errands during the day and I did bring my shades, but didn't really end up needing them.

I love these boots - they are so warm and comfy!  I hope they'll be making another appearance soon.  I have switched back to my Olivia & Joy bag that I got at TJ Maxx early in the fall - I have decided that when I'm running errands or shopping it is nice to have a crossbody bag and be hands free, this one lets me do that and fits nicely over my heavy winter coat!

I was excited to wear a scarf too, I'm really trying to incorporate more scarves into my outfits because it's so popular right now to do so!  I have had this one for a number of years actually, just never knew what to do with it until now!

And once again, I accidentally deleted a comment on my last blog post instead of hitting publish.  Maybe I should have another New Years resolution to not moderate comments from my phone....At any rate, my apologies!  I don't want to alienate anyone!

There will be another outfit post today as I'm wearing one of my Christmas goodies on my first day back at work, but I didn't want to make this post too long, so that outfit will be posted a little later.  Hope everyone had a great New Years and enjoy today if you're luckier than I am and don't have to work!  Don't forget to head over to Two Birds and check out what other folks posted for Inspiration Monday!

Rundown:

T-shirt - Maurices

Sweater - Mossimo, Target

Jeans - Old Navy

Boots - Old Navy

Bag - Olivia & Joy, TJ Maxx

Sunnies - Fun Sisters

Scarf - Target

Earrings - Stella and Dot