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!!

Inspiration Monday - Must be the boots

Happy Monday friends!  For most of you here in the US it's probably a short week due to Thanksgiving.  It's sort of a short week for me, I still get all of Thanksgiving Day off, but thanks to working in health care that stops for nothing, I do have to work at least part of the day on Black Friday this year.  It's mostly due to my boss still being out on her leave, she just wants me here part of the day in case any of the clinics have facility related problems.  If all is calm by lunchtime though I'm free to go home for the rest of my day.  Could be worse I suppose!  

Anyway, taking the sting off of Monday, is Inspiration Monday and today's pick is Jenna Dewan-Tatum, aka Mrs. Sexiest Man Alive (she's married to Channing Tatum, whom People just picked as this year's sexiest man).  

I really want a sweater like hers - it looks like a blanket, yet it's stylish! I sadly do not have such a sweater, so I kind of went after the stripes and boots instead for my casual look this last Friday.

T-shirt - Maurices

Sweater - Jones New York (from cousin)

Jeans - Old Navy

Boots - Target

Sunglasses - Lillian's

Bag - Coach via Ebay

Jewelry - S&D 

So we sometimes practice with our music group on Friday nights, so we were over at our director's house and it was an early practice because my director had a work event, so I figured I'd treat MY sexiest man alive, aka the Pants Monkey, to a date at one of our local taprooms after practice.  I figured my work outfit would transition well to a date outfit.  I can't tell you how many of the other members of the group commented on my outfit.  "Looks like Beth is dressed for what she's doing afterward tonight."  I'm like, I did wear this to work all day too!  I think it had something to do with the boots.  I received more compliments on these boots on Friday and it's silly - I have had these boots for the better part of eight years I bet!

Anyway, we did go have a nice date at our taproom and I was laughing with Mr. Monkey about the comments and he said "well, they don't normally see you dressed up all that much."  I suppose he is right, we wear a uniform to our masses and often to practices I go in a sweatshirt and jeans!  They don't get the stylish Bethie very often!

For more Inspiration outfits head on over to the two birds blog here and while you are there, make sure you wish a happy birthday to Nora Bird too!

Not so gray

Well happy Friday one and all!  Today marks the end of the Fall Color challenge with a color I have way too much of in my closet - gray. I'm sharing an outfit from last weekend that actually has more color than just gray because it was way too fun so I just had to share it.  It features a recent thrift store find that I could not resist when I saw it.

Scotty dogs on a sweater!!  How can you not love that??  The tiny sparkle in the picture above toward the bottom of the sweater?  It's a charm on the dog's collar!  I pulled this on with my new gray leggings and then decided I needed to cover my booty a bit more so I added a little skirt before going out to breakfast and a movie with the Pants Monkey.  Sorry the photo quality is so poor, I should never pose near that lamp, but I was short on time and didn't have my tripod at home, so I did what I could while I waited for Mr. Monkey to get ready.

Pink shirt - F21

Sweater - thrifted

Skirt - thrifted

Leggings and boots - Target

Necklace - Maurices

 I could have gone all monotone grays for today, but a little pink mixed in never hurt anybody!  Thanks to Megan Mae and Keely for hosting the challenge this week!  Check out Keely's blog next week for a wrap up of all the bloggers and their favorite outfits!

And happy weekend to you all!

Colonel Mustard in the Office with a week old outfit

Did you see what I did there with my title?  I attempted to play off of the board game "Clue" a little bit.  Anyway, if you haven't guessed, today's color for the Fall Color Challenge is mustard.  And I was silly and wore my most prominent mustard colored item of clothing a week (well a week and some change) ago on Election Day - see the "I voted" sticker?  But I knew I'd want to have a Thursday outfit planned ahead anyway, so I just saved this one for this week!  Sneaky huh?

Sweater - St. John's Bay, JCPenney

Denim shirt - Talbots, thrifted

Pants - No Boundaries, thrifted

Shoes - Mossimo, Target, thrifted

Necklace - S&D 

Speaking of sneaky, "Clue" is one of my all time favorite board games.  I used to play it with my mom and well, when there's two people, it's pretty easy to figure out "whodunnit" pretty easily.  I didn't have siblings though and my dad was often working on things in the garage or around the house when we'd play games.

In my adult years, my in-laws and I have discovered that it is really fun playing family board games like "Clue" or "Life" when alcohol is involved.  And loud.  Very loud.  But mostly fun.

What is your favorite board game, either now or from childhood?

Bad days and fresh starts

If you have been following my blog awhile, you know I fell in love with orange tones earlier this year, so today's Fall Color Challenge choice of pumpkin had me very excited!  Again, I don't know that what I picked is super "pumpkin" like, this is a richer toned orange hue, but hopefully it's close enough!  I think it definitely screams "FALL"!

Yesterday was one of those trying kind of days.  I won't go into detail, but let's just say it's emotionally draining to have a disagreement with someone you love.  So I was a bump on the couch when Mr. Monkey got home last night, already in my PJ's in fact.  He was aware of my bad day and comes in the door, looks at me and says "you're not wearing enough clothes."  I'm like "for what?"  He said "well we can't go get you that burger you've been craving if you're wearing that."  So I put something more than pajamas on and he took me down to our favorite dive bar/grill, ordered us a half pitcher of beer while we waited for our burgers to cook and then we brought them home with us where we drank another beer and watched some TV.  It was just what I needed yesterday night.  I love that he just knows the right thing to do, no questions asked.  Yes I'm sappy and yes I'm bragging, but I'm just saying, the Pants Monkey rules.

Thermal shirt - Mossimo, Target

Sweater - Zashi, handed down from cousin

Skirt - East 5th Avenue, JCPenney

Shoes - DSW

Purse - Vintage Coach, via Rewind

Tights - Target

Necklaces - Stella and Dot, Charming Charlie

Headband - C. Jane Create

Today I'm embracing the sunny day outside and moving on.  It's a new day and a fresh start!  I'm focusing on the positive and the good things.  It's a fitting way to be with Thanksgiving just over a week away (holy cow!).  As Willy Wonka says "good, then, on we go!"

Wine a little, you'll feel better

The color for today for the Fall Color Challenge is wine.  I kind of cheated a little bit on this one, I think the true wine color I'm wearing is my long sleeved t-shirt, but I had this outfit in mind for this day all last week as I was thinking about it.  This sweater is another one of my Goodwill finds.  So between my pink, purple and wine colors, I'm just varying shades of wine.  I'm Merlot and White Zinfandel and Pink Moscato all rolled into one.

Long sleeve shirt - Mossimo, Target

Sweater - thrifted Target stock

Skirt - two birds vintage via b. (a resale shop)

Boots - Target, old

Necklace - S&D 

It's no secret that the Pants Monkey and I are beer people, but we do love a good bottle of wine too.  Especially in the fall and winter months.  I love wine with a good steak.  I love wine with Italian food, especially a good Chianti, yum!  Lately one of our favorite meals has been to take some good cheeses, some crackers, and a little meat or bread and then having a good sharp Chardonnay.  I never used to like Chardonnay but have found lately I like a drier wine.
 

Speaking of good wine and cheese, last week I had the chance to meet up again with lovely Maca from the Spanglish Life and we had wine and a fantastic cheese plate!  We didn't take a picture this time, we were too busy enjoying our conversation!  I was so full of cheese when we were done, but it really was delicious!  I can't wait until the next time her and I meet up!

Finally, I got a close up of my boots today because it's Everybody Everywear today and the theme is boots! I have had these boots a million years.  They're a bit beat up and loved, but I think it adds to their charm.  They are crazy comfortable and they keep me plenty warm on these cold days!  And every girl needs a good pair of tall brown boots right?

Two for one

Happy Monday friends!  I'm going to do my best to combine two challenges in one post today, instead of separating into two outfit posts.  So, this is a picture heavy post, I'll try to keep it less wordy.

First up, two birds' Inspiration Monday.  We have Elizabeth Hurley today.  Has she been in anything recently?  I am embarrassed to admit I don't think I've seen her in anything since the original Austin Powers!

Anyway, her chic travel look here made for a great casual Friday outfit for me this past Friday.  I did not choose to wear a scarf and chose boots instead of heels, otherwise I think I nailed her look pretty well.

 Blazer - Bill Blass, thrifted

T-shirt - Express, thrifted

Jeans - LOFT, thrifted

Boots - Target

Necklace - S&D

Bag - Coach, consignment

It was somewhat warm on Friday, so I barely needed a jacket since I had on the blazer.  I had high hopes that maybe Mr. Monkey and I would hit up a taproom or something in the evening, but then he ended up having to work late, so this outfit was abandoned on Friday night in favor of p.j's fairly early on!  Anyway, be sure to head over to two birds for more Inspiration Monday outfits.

Now onto the Fall Color Challenge day one!  Today's color is teal.  I used to have more teal in my closet and it's a color I've always loved on me - but I ended up getting rid of a bunch of stuff I had in the last couple of years because they had worn out or didn't fit anymore.  So when I saw teal on the list I panicked a little and then did what any good fashion blogger does - ignored my shopping ban and went to the Goodwill!  I found this Target Stock sweater and my problem was solved!

I added my fun necklace from CC and then also discovered that my current cell phone cover is a shade of teal as well - so I threw that in for fun too!

 Sweater - thrifted Target stock

T-shirt - Decree, JCPenney

Necklace - via swap with CC

Pants - Tangents, Maurices

Shoes - Xhiliaration, Target

I'm so happy to have teal back in my closet again!  I'll have to find some more, because it really is a color I love!  Head on over to Megan Mae's blog to find the master list of participants in the Fall Color Challenge - it's always a great way to find new blogs, I have always had a great time with these challenges!  At the end of the challenge, watch Keely's blog for a wrap up!

Phew.  Told you it would be a long, full post!  If you made it this far - thank you!  And if you're new to my blog, welcome!  I hope you will stay awhile!