This and that

So I swear these are two different photos, but man, I stood almost exactly the same.  You could play the "What's Different" game with these pictures almost!  Anyone remember that game?  I know they used to have it in Highlights magazine when I was a kid.  It was one of my favorites.

Anyway, I'm glad this outfit photographed better than I did the last time I tried to wear it.  The last time I wore it I had to take indoor pictures and those never turn out quite right.  I'm already dreading winter for that reason and it's only July!


Speaking of summer, I'm kind of going on a summer clothes shopping ban, but not until after this weekend.  Yes, excuses, excuses, but there are a couple of local events I want to check out this weekend and I can't do that on a shopping ban!  Band of Thrifters is having another sale and I hear another vendor has been added to their group, so I'm excited to check that out.  Mighty Swell Vintage is also having a sale and I've yet to attend one of their events.  And I've heard rumors that my two favorite birds are having a garage sale too, so I think I just might have to swing by that as well.  I also hear my cousin may have another bag of goodies for me too, but we'll see what comes of that.

After this weekend though, no more summer buying.  I have plenty of things I haven't worn much or at all yet so you know what, we're getting to the halfway point of summer, so gotta stop adding to the pile! Save a little money and then start shopping for fall!  Might seem hard to believe but it will be here before we know it!

Outfit rundown:

Tank tops and skirt - Old Navy

Sweater - Maurices

Necklace - Minty Koala (via giveaway)

Sandals - Marshalls

Bracelet - Bead for Life

EBEW - Block Party

Yay, I'm so glad I remembered EBEW this month!  As soon as I saw the choice of color blocking, I decided I wanted to wear my yellow Shabby Apple skirt.  And no joke, I totally Googled "yellow skirt" and "color blocking" for some ideas yesterday.  I saw a couple of cobalt blue/yellow combinations and based on those, put together this.  I'm actually really loving how it turned out!  It may be my favorite way I've worn this skirt so far!

It also finally gave me a reason to wear these darn sandals again.  I have hardly worn them at all and I don't like that.  I need to find more ways to use them.  What's funny to me too is I wore these the last time I managed to participate in EBEW, even though it was a couple of months ago.  If you have only been to my blog on EBEW days I swear I own more shoes than this!

Looking at this outfit some more, I still absolutely love it, but now I'm also realizing, these were my school colors in high school.  Woo, Hylander Pride!  My senior year for some reason the popular thing for homecoming was to take a pair of jeans and attach a ton of blue and gold ribbons to the legs to look like pom poms.  I do remember doing this, but looking back, it was a waste of a good pair of jeans, because you cut holes in the legs to tie the ribbons through.  And it's not like you wore them again after homecoming.  But when you're 17 you don't really care that much about little things like wasting money I suppose!

Back to present day here, I added my favorite roomy bag because not only does it match my outfit, but it also is color blocked on it's own.  This is a better choice of a day to day bag than my cute little one from yesterday's outfits - though all the nice compliments I received on that bag have convinced me to not totally give up on it!  

Outfit rundown:

Shirt and sandals - Old Navy

Skirt - Shabby Apple 

Necklace - Stella and Dot w/Megan Mae buttonflower

Bracelet - Stella and Dot

Bag - Lillian's Shoppes

Inspiration Monday - Nailed it

Happy Monday friends!  I was so excited about this week's Inspiration Monday choice.  I knew I had the perfect outfit, plus we just started watching Modern Family, so I adore Sofia Vergara right now.  Plus, I still can't get enough orange, so this was perfect.  And I don't want to toot my own horn too much or anything, but I feel like I nailed this one pretty well.

I decided to try out this fun purse I got at the Cliche sale, because yes, I still have a purse addiction problem.  Anyway, it's a nice fun summer purse, but the problem is, it's not going to be suited to everyday use.  I don't think I carry all that much in my bag, as I shared back a few weeks ago, but apparently I have enough that it doesn't quite all fit in this little guy.  So I think he'll be downgraded to a "going out only" type purse.  Oh well, at least it was cheap!

We had a pretty full weekend.  We got a ton of errands run, we did a church service with our music group and we celebrated my sister-in-law's birthday.  And somewhere in there we managed to have a lunch out just for Mr. Monkey and myself and we sat outside since the heatwave FINALLY broke.  Sitting outside on a nice day drinking beer with my Pants Monkey is my favorite.

We also went shopping to get the Pants Monkey some new clothes.  I'm very proud of him, he's been controlling his diet for a few months and has dropped about 25 pounds.  So, he needed some shirts to fit as well as a new belt.  Since we had to get a present for his sister anyway, we picked up a few things for him.  He's looking quite dapper if I do say so myself!  I'll have to get another picture of him to share.

And that's about it.  After what was probably one of our busiest stretches of summer we have a couple of weeks of calmer days and I'm planning to enjoy them.  I just hope the extreme heat stays away, but that isn't sounding terribly likely.  So it goes!

Please head over to the two birds blog to check out more Inspiration Monday looks.

Outfit rundown:
Shirt - Thrifted

Pants - Maurices

Necklace - Charming Charlie

Bracelets - Stella and Dot and thrifted

Bag - Cliche Mpls

Sunnies - Old Navy

Sandals - Merona, Target

Ruffles have ridges

Definitely dating myself a bit here as I'm sure you younger gals don't remember the Ruffles potato chip commercial with the little boy going "rrrr ruffles, have rrrrr ridges."  Heck, I think it was already in pretty old rotation when I was a kid, but I do remember it!  Anyway, why am I talking about ruffles having ridges?  Just because I'm all sorts of ruffle-y today!

I got this shirt at the same little vintage shop I bought that whimsical denim shirt at.  I've been all over pretty girly things like this lately, so I just had to have it.  I thought it would look nice with my maxi denim skirt that sort of feels ruffle like and of course I'm back to my Gussy bag since it's all full of ruffles too.  So I'm just triple the ruffle-y fun today!

It's quite odd that it's already Friday.  These holidays that fall in the middle of the week are SO strange.  I keep saying we should petition Congress to change Independence Day to be observed the first Monday of July.  Then you'd automatically get a three day weekend!  That will be the first thing on my agenda when I become President.  Cause I'm so going to run someday. (Um, yeah right!)

So if you watched my little video yesterday - first of all thank you for indulging me in something a little different.  Secondly, below is the result of the nail polish I was talking about.  If you missed the video, I'm testing out the Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Color for Influenster.  They provided me with the nail polish in the color of Polar Purple.  I have to say - I LOVE it.  It was so easy to use, unlike some of the other Sally Nail Art products.  You apply two coats and hold this little magnet over your nail for 10 seconds - and this is how it turns out.

Pretty neat huh?  It's recommended after it drys to put a clear top coat on, which I didn't do, so I'm sure this won't last long, but I'll enjoy it while it does.  I would love to get another color of this stuff.  It's fun and again, I can't stress how easy it is!

Onward to the weekend!  Here in MN we're finally getting some relief from the heat wave.  I cannot wait.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Outfit rundown:

Cream cami - Mossimo, Target

Ruffled top - Hill Valley Vintage (NE Mpls for the locals)

Skirt - Old Navy

Sandals - Merona, Target

Bag - Gussy Sews

Necklace - Premier Jewelry

Bracelet - Bead for Life

Influenster provided me with the Sally Hansen nail color free of charge for testing purposes - review and opinion are strictly my own.

Vlog - Influenster

Hey guys, I am trying out the Influenster program - www.influenster.com.  I decided to do a vlog on the beauty products I received because clearly I need "Vloggers Anonymous."  Anyway, more info is in the video below.  It's a pretty neat program - worth checking out if you like free things!

Disclaimer - All products discussed in the above video I received from Influenster complimentary for testing purposes.

It ain't the heat...

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the phrase "It's not the heat it's the humidity".  That has never been more true than today.  I went outside this morning to take my photos and first off, couldn't do it in my front yard where I usually do as the morning light is better because my neighbor was having their lawn service done.  Then secondly, my camera kept fogging up because of the humidity!  That is a first my friends.  It was so bad I had to keep wiping the lens off.  So, my first picture ended up with a bit of a dreamy look to it thanks to the fogging of the camera lens.

Anyway, I'm back to work today and tomorrow.  It will be quiet and slow which I don't mind that much. Plus my building is nicely air conditioned so I don't have to endure today's heat and humidity!  It was so nice being off for a couple of days though!  I really enjoyed myself the last few days.

I kept my outfit simple today and kind of kept with the patriotic theme just a hair.  Mostly I picked this for comfort though, nice cool sundress.  You just can't go wrong.

 This heatwave is supposed to break for a bit sometime tomorrow.  80 degree weather sounds so nice right about now.  I can only wonder what the rest of the summer has in store and it's only early July!  One day at a time right?

Outfit rundown:

Dress - F21, thrifted

Shrug - LEI thrifted 

 Buttonflowers - Megan Mae

Bracelet and watch - Charming Charlie

Sandals - Duck Head

Necklace - Vintage Pearl

Happy Birthday America

Whew. This is going to be one of the more "hot" Independence Days in my recent memory. I don't have to tell my fellow MN friends, they know it is pretty bad.  Anyway, I chose to go a bit cliche today in my 4th of July attire - which is semi appropriate as I hit up the annual Cliche Minneapolis sale this morning (local boutique for those unfamiliar).  I did not walk away with as much as I have in years past, I pretty much blame the heat as I didn't want to take the time to try on anything and neither did my friend.  I did get a cute denim skirt and a fun summer purse, so I'll have to share those later.  For now, on to my red, white and blue look!

This flag shirt was in that bag of goodies from my cousin from way back this spring and I wasn't going to keep it, but then I thought, maybe I'll feel like wearing it on Memorial Day or the 4th of July.  I didn't wear it on Memorial Day, but decided to wear it today.  I didn't originally plan to wear this skirt, I had on some fun blue and white striped shorts, but then after sweating at Cliche I got home and decided a skirt would be better today. Oddly enough, I got this skirt at Cliche last year!  And actually, I like the way this all looks better too.

Added my new reddish purse from Clothes Mentor, my blue flip flops and some red jewelry and I'm good to go.  We're heading to a picnic at my parents, though with the near 100 degree heat I will bet we'll be eating inside.  Later we will attempt to go out for fireworks, at least after the sun goes down it doesn't feel quite so oppressive.  I hear relief is coming in another couple of days.  I can't wait.  Hope all of my fellow US citizens have a wonderful holiday today and to all of you dealing with this crippling heat - stay cool and hydrated!

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - Tommy Hilfiger (from cousin)

Skirt - Cliche Mpls

Flip flops - Old Navy

Purse - Tommy Hilfiger (thrifted)

Necklace and earrings - thrifted and Target