Inspiration Monday - Cat craziness and a request

Hello friends!  Happy Monday!  Did you all have a nice weekend?  Ours was a little busier again, but not too bad.  More on that in a moment, but here is today's Inspiration Monday look from two birds - Jessica Hart.

So I have never found a trench coat that I've ever liked.  And layering is getting to be more of a challenge for me these days, so this is kind of a loose interpretation - I kind of went for the overall color scheme more than anything else!  I'm excited to be wearing a Megan Mae obi belt today - I had been thinking, there's no way I'm going to wear them again until after I have the baby, but actually, I like how it changed up the look of this sweater and kind of accentuates the bump.

 Sweater - Motherhood, consignment

Obi belt - MMD

Leggings - Simply Vera, Kohls

Boots - Target

Necklace - S&D

So yes, our weekend was a little hectic - mostly due to the cats needing to go to the vet.  It was an interesting experience bringing them both at the same time - though the vet was nice and offered us a discount for doing that.  My Pippin cat was NOT happy about being in her carrier at all and wasn't afraid to let us know.  Taylor on the other hand just kind of resigned herself to the fact that it was happening and curled up in silence.  Thankfully the vet is five minutes from our house.  Both girls seem quite healthy, though it makes me sad that Taylor is over 7 years old so she is now considered a "senior".  She has a lot of spunk and I believe will have many more good years with us yet, it's just strange to think of her that way!

After we got them home they pretty much hid from us the rest of the day, no surprise there, but at one point before we were heading out to rehearsal with our music group, we could not find Taylor anywhere.  We called for her, looked under every bed and piece of furniture and started having a panic attack when the Pants Monkey remembered he had left the front door open for just a second when bringing in some groceries.  The cats have never snuck out before, but there is a first time for everything.  So we frantically looked outside, kept on calling for her, then decided to do one more sweep of the house and thankfully found her under one cabinet we must have somehow missed.  She was just lethargic and out of it from her shots so she didn't hear us calling her and she wanted to be left alone.  Thankfully she was better yesterday! Never a dull moment sometimes.

One more thing before I go today - I am putting out a request for guest posts to be used when my son is born and the first few weeks I'm home with him - obviously blogging will be put on the back burner for me a little during that time, but I'd like to schedule some posts to keep things active around here.  So, if you're willing to submit a guest post for me, I'd love to have you!  Suggestions for topics include holiday shopping tips, holiday dressing tips, thrifty Christmas ideas, DIY, recipes, mom styling tips if you're a mom or even just a plain old OOTD post - I'm really not picky!  I'd like the posts by November 25th so I can start scheduling them.  I may reach out to some of you personally too, but I wanted to throw this out here for anyone to respond, I'd love to have each and every one of you!

Head on over to two birds for more Inspiration Monday posts!

Grunge

If there was ever a day to wear flannel to the office it would be Friday right?  I'm channeling my inner 90's teen with a little grunge look.  It's pretty chilly outside this morning so it also just seemed like a good day for this cute top.  Yes it's another swap item.  I promise I really wasn't trying to be greedy there!  This one I loved because of the fact that it had this high elastic band right under the chest - which meant the bottom half fit perfectly over the bump.  

So who else is glad it's Friday?  Raise your hand!  I swear these weeks go by faster and faster though. Tonight we're blessed to have no plans though, so it's date night.  We're taking advantage of these while we still can!  I think we're going to one of our favorite restaurants that we usually frequent in the summer because they have an awesome patio, but it sounded kind of good right now, so we'll just eat inside.  They have lots of meat which is good for my GD diet.

Tomorrow we're taking both cats to the vet.  At the same time.  Pray for us.  I kid - but we've never done the two of them together.  And I won't lie, I've been slacking in the pet parent department in the last couple of years so they're a little behind on their shots and what not.  I wanted them to have that all taken care of before the baby comes though, so tomorrow is the day.  We got the first appointment of the day, so we'll get it out of the way early and then bring the kitties home and they'll likely avoid us the rest of the day!

Long sleeve t-shirt - Old Navy

Flannel - Swap

Pants - Indigo Blue Maternity, thrifted

Shoes and necklace - Clothes Mentor

Bag - 31 Gifts 

It's a good thing we're getting some of this stuff done though - 35 weeks today, roughly five weeks left!  I just can't believe in just over a month this little guy will be here.  I've been making lists and checking them twice - ha - and I feel like we're accomplishing a lot.  I truly believe we'll be ready by the time he gets here, just hoping we're not surprised by a too early arrival or anything.  At least after this week's appointment though it sounds like he's pretty comfortable in there for right now, so that's fine with me!  I'd like him to bake just a little bit more!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Feeling good

Hello everyone!  This week is just rocking and rolling along isn't it?  I'm kind of in love with my outfit today.  I actually meant to wear this for Inspiration Monday this week, but the leggings I wanted weren't clean that day, oops!  

This sweater and dress are both from the swap - though I only intended to take home the sweater. Confused?  Well what happened when we were done is everyone took a bag of leftovers to give to our designated thrift store or charity of choice.  I had the bag in my car for the longest time and then brought it in my house over the weekend because I was going to be hauling some stuff home from Sam's Club.  I decided to peek in the bag and see what was left in it - and saw this dress that I completely missed the day of the swap.  And I decided to try it on and see if it would fit over the bump.  And well, it did.  So, hopefully none of the fellow swappers mind that I kept one more small thing!

Sweater and dress - swap

Leggings - Simply Vera, Kohls

Boots - Target 

And even if it is making me look quite big in profile, there is something about this outfit that is making me feel really good.  Clothes that do that are just the best aren't they?

Speaking of other good things, we had an ultrasound yesterday to check on little man's progress - both because of the Gestational Diabetes and also because the doctor was concerned I was measuring small.  Well the good news is, he's doing just fine and is exactly where he's supposed to be!  They estimate he's about 5 lbs 10 oz and should probably get close to 8 lbs over the next five weeks or so.  He's in the right position and everything else looked great.  Such peace of mind I tell you - I wasn't that worried, but then again, it's so easy to let Dr. Google try and tell you something is wrong when your doctor says "well you are a little on the small side for what week you're on."  So anyway, all is well.  And it was so fun to see him at this stage, we haven't since 20 weeks!  I think he's going to be pretty darn cute if I do say so myself!

My Birthday/Christmas wish list

Just wanted to say thanks for letting me be in a somewhat grumpy mood yesterday.  The day did improve as it went on, especially because I chose to do something fun - I made my Birthday/Christmas wish list.  Well my wish list at least as far as clothing is concerned!  I have chosen to participate in a No Shop November along with Heather at Style Journey - which means no clothes or accessory shopping for myself.  I tend to do this at this time every year with my birthday (Nov 25th) and Christmas so close together.  It's a good time of year to do it.  And I have enough maternity items to get me through to the end I think, so no more shopping for me. Plain and simple.  

This doesn't mean it isn't fun though to "window shop" through the magic of the Internet and pick out things that I might enjoy having!  Here is my wish list as of this moment!

This peplum cardigan from Target is adorable.  The peplum would hide my extra belly after baby is born and cardigans are going to be great to throw over a nursing top.  This red and blue stripe is festive for the holidays too!

What does the fox say?  I am obsessed with all things fox.  My poor son already has a ton of fox themed clothing - might as well have mom match with these fun socks from ModCloth right?

I have been loving the embellished sweatshirts I've been seeing all over the place this year.  I know once the baby is here I'm not going to want to take the time to accessorize as much if I am going somewhere, so this would be a good option instead!  And it'll still be cozy because it's a sweatshirt!  The one above here is from Target, but there are some really cute ones at Old Navy too.

Even though I don't shop there as much as I used to, I still love me some LUSH products.  My favorite time of year for LUSH is always the holiday season - this fun hat box is awesome, it has all my favorite bath bombs and bubble bars.  I may not get a lot of relaxing time after baby comes, but this might be nice to have for relaxation before he arrives!

I have been really pairing down my purses but I can't help but love this one from Nine West.  I saw it at DSW a few weeks back, but it's not on their website.  It's available a whole host of other places though. What I think is awesome is the matching wristlet - I could throw that in a diaper bag with my personal items or throw it in the bag if I'm out sans baby.  And the colors match everything!  Brown, black, gray, etc.

How could I not love this scarf from ModCloth with black cats on it??  It looks nice and warm and is a great way to pay homage to my furry loves.  Cause even if I'm having a baby, I am still a crazy cat mama too. Always will be!

Another scarf and another fox item from ModCloth.  This one is more of a fashionable scarf, less for warmth, but I can think of plenty of sweaters in my closet this would go with.  I see scarves working into my new mama wardrobe quite nicely!

I've been ogling these adorable handmade bags from Rouge and Whimsy for quite some time now.  I love this polka dot crossbody fold over and also the polka dot tote bag that she has for sale.  The crossbody seems like a logical choice for after baby - again, I can put most of the stuff in the diaper bag, but a few things for me in this little guy, throw it across my body for hands free access to my little guy and I'd be good to go!

And finally we have this lovely Aztec sweater from H&M.  Again, I'm seeing Aztec print almost everywhere, but I do love H&M quite a bit so I chose this one.  This sweater seems perfect to me - warm, cozy, easy to wear with leggings while I'm still losing baby weight, can again be worn over a nursing tank pretty well. What's not to love?

So there you go!  I've been telling my family to pretty much just do gift cards for me since I don't know quite how my body will be post baby quite yet, but I wouldn't cry if any one of these items showed up as a birthday or Christmas gift for me (PS, hey Pants Monkey?  You reading this? wink wink nudge nudge).

Are you already looking ahead to Christmas?  What's on your wish list this year?

*All stores and websites mentioned are because I enjoy, no compensation is received from these mentions!*

Moody Gypsy

This tunic kind of has a gypsy vibe to it.  Or maybe it's just my perception, I'm not sure.  But I'm going to go with that!

Not going to lie, a little short on words today.  Little sleep last night (yay pregnancy), work stuff has got me down and I'm just a little blah in general.  I'm sure it will turn around, but today sadly, if I'm honest, I'm just in a bit of a mood.  It does not help that there is snow on the way either.  I'm not ready for that!

T-shirt - Mossimo, Target

Tunic - swap

Pants - Old Navy Maternity

Necklace - Bead for Life

Boots - Target 

Anyway, I'm off to get some coffee and attempt to turn this day around!  I'll be back to sunshine and roses by tomorrow hopefully!

Inspiration Monday - Quiet

Hello everyone!  Welcome to Monday.  It's a rather gray one here, we're getting some rain today and then maybe some snow tomorrow.  Lucky us!  I guess it is November and it is Minnesota after all.  Anyway, being Monday, it's also Inspiration Monday with two birds - today we have Freida Pinto (??? anyone ???) dressed in a super cute ensemble from an upcoming collection from H&M.  I have been avoiding fast fashion when I can but I can't help but love me some H&M!

I did my best to copy this look - I even incorporated an item of my own from H&M from last year.  It sort of works with the baby bump - I wish it tied over the bump than under it, but what are you going to do?  I'll just look like I'm carrying high today.

Sweaterdress - H&M

Blazer - Bill Blass, consignment

Leggings - Target

Boots - swap

Necklace - S&D

Did you all have nice weekends?  Ours was very quiet for a change and you know what?  That was ok with me.  I did get a bunch of baby clothes washed and put away so that was nice.  Mr. Monkey had to work for a bit on Saturday, so opted for a pretty quiet night at home with a couple of movies.  Finally watched Behind the Candelabra - I highly recommend, it's very good.  We also watched an indie flick called Free Samples that was kind of cute.

Sunday I met a couple of friends for some mall walking before the mall opened.  It was great, we could window shop without risking spending money and I got some good exercise which was nice too!  I headed home and was pretty much lazy the rest of the day, save for one trip to Sam's Club to stock up on a few things.  I really don't mind that it was such a quiet calm weekend, we've kind of been needing one of those.

The extra hour of sleep from daylight savings time was nice too!  I don't like how dark it is at night now, but getting up in the morning feels just a little easier!  I'll enjoy it until that winter hibernation mentality sets in anyway!

Head on over to two birds for other Inspiration Monday outfits.

Welcome November

Well look at that, it's November.  November is one of my favorite months of the year, my birthday and the Pants Monkey's birthday are later this month and as I mentioned yesterday, I love Thanksgiving! (PS, thanks all for not disowning me over my less love of Halloween)  This particular November I hope to slow down and enjoy each moment as it's pretty much the last month I'll be entirely child free.  We have a couple more classes coming up, this time not pertaining to the birth but instead are about actually taking care of said child. Cause did you know that after you have a baby it goes home to live with you forever?  Ha.  At any rate, it should be a good month.

I adore this cardigan I got at the last Tandem Vintage sale.  I am a cat person as you all know, but I have a soft spot for dogs and I when I saw that this was a plaid scotty dog, I just had to have it.  And then I decided this cardigan would look super cute with this yellow shirt I scored at the swap.  Instant outfit, you have to love it.  And speaking of the lovely ladies of Tandem Vintage, I'm super happy for them, they have a permanent home!  They'll be housed with a local vintage shop here called Junket two weekends a month every month.  They've worked super hard for this, they totally deserve it! Congrats Amanda and Ashley!!

Cardigan - Tandem Vintage

Shirt - Banana Republic via swap

Jeans - Indigo Blue Maternity via Gordmans

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Boots - Target

And being that it's Friday, it's weekly bump shot time.  34 weeks today.  You can clearly see how pregnant I am when I stand to the side! I'm still so thankful to be pretty much all baby.  I hope it means the after baby weight loss goes a little easier.  I miss my old jeans, lol.

Have a great weekend!