Inspiration Monday - Springing forward

Happy Monday everyone!  I'm currently enjoying a fabulous day off from work.  I ran into the whole "you have too much time off saved up again" problem so my boss insisted I take a day off (I know, I know, and my diamond shoes are too tight and my wallet is too big for my 50s - bonus to you if you know what that is from.).  I have a few more days coming later in the month, but for now I'm kind of glad to be off on a Monday for a change - as I mentioned on Friday, Spring Forward always kicks my behind.  So it feels good to have an extra day to try to get used to this!  I'm also keeping this a "Me day."  Lately when I've taken days off I've made a bunch of plans which has been very nice, but today I just wanted all for me.

Anyway, enough about all that!  It's Inspiration Monday with two birds and they chose this bright Springy look from Olivia Palmero here.

Now because I'm off of work today, I pretty much don't plan on getting out of my PJs and am milking this "Me Day" for as much as it's worth, but I knew I would want to do this ahead of time, so I dressed for this inspiration on Friday instead.  As soon as I saw this outfit, I knew that I'd be incorporating this scarf somehow.

The colors in this scarf are just so cheery and happy!  Because it was Friday, I did dress down a bit, but I think it still works with the inspiration picture pretty well. The layers were nice too because lately it's been getting really warm in my office in the afternoon, but it's rather cold in the morning.  This gave me options!

Thermal shirt - Eddie Bauer, gift

Sweater - Thrifted

Jeans - Old Navy

Shoes - Steve Madden, thrifted

Scarf - two birds garage sale 

Well I'm back to my day.  I really love that the most difficult decision I'll have to make today is whether to watch Mamma Mia or Rent!

For more Inspiration Monday outfits head on over to two birds over here.

Pride

Welcome to Friday!  Boy, I thought this week was going to turn out to be crappy, but in the end it turned out pretty good. I had been fighting with an issue at work with some software that I use and had been on the phone with the vendor for days trying to figure it out.  Finally on Wednesday afternoon I did figure it out - all by myself!  The vendor was no help to me at all, I just played with some settings and tested things until I finally figured it out all on my own.  I was pretty dang proud of myself!!

This is my outfit from yesterday.  I have been wanting to pair these items together for awhile and just hadn't done so yet.  Lots of blue, but I love it!  I had to laugh, I was in the restroom washing my hands and this lady comes in and right away says "I love your outfit!" So I smiled and said "thank you."  And then she said "it kind of reminds me of the school uniforms I had to wear in the 60's"  I laughed.  This skirt has often reminded me of a Catholic school uniform, but I don't mind so much.  I love plaid and I love the retro feel of it!

Sweater - Christopher and Banks, from cousin

Scarf - S&D

Skirt - LOFT, thrifted

Tights and boots - Target

Bag - Jenna Lou Designs 

So anyway, to celebrate my small victory at work (and because my boss said my STO is close to hitting it's cap again), I decided to treat myself to a three day weekend - instead of today off though I took off Monday.  And I think this will prove to be a very useful thing, it's Spring Forward this weekend with Daylights Savings Time and I have a much harder time with adjusting to this one!  Having the ability to sleep in on Monday and acclimate to the new time a bit more slowly sounds pretty darn good to me!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Cozy, chic and simple

Sometimes the most simple combinations result in the most compliments.  I wore this on Tuesday, in the midst of the snow, because I wanted something simple and warm.  I had more people tell me how cute they thought I looked!  Unfortunately, I only got one good picture, because I didn't take the time to take any at home with the snow, so I made do at the office real quick.

T-shirt - Old Navy

Sweater - Banana Republic (from Amanda)

Pants - Maurices (very old)
Necklace - Charming Charlie

Shoes - Rampage, thrifted

I'm glad I had a chance to wear this sweater again, because I hear there is a chance we're going to hit 50 in just a couple of weeks. Spring is coming!  Bye bye heavy sweaters and boots - bring on the sandals and bare legs!!

Are you getting spring fever?

Snow queen

Well, we just finished one of the bigger snowstorms we've had so far this winter.  About 9-10 inches of fresh snow fell Monday and yesterday.  Fortunately March snows do not tend to stick around real long!  Anyway, given the weather, it seemed like a good day to pull out my favorite Christmas gift from this last year, my H&M sweater dress.  Today I decided to try wearing it with my jean jacket.  Slowly pulling things toward spring!

Sweaterdress - H&M

Jean jacket - White House Black Market, thrifted

Leggings - Target

Boots - Old Navy

Necklace - S&D 

The other good thing about the snow yesterday is, we have good friends with access to a snow plow, so they came by and cleared us out most of the way.  That meant we only had a little bit of shoveling to do which took us no time at all.  Then we were able to hunker down with chili, grilled cheese sandwiches and some more episodes of The Sopranos (we've made it to the final season finally - eek).  Not a bad winter night!

eShakti Review

 Like quite a few of you around the blogosphere lately, eShakti recently contacted me and offered me a dress to review.  I had the opportunity last year too and loved the dress I received then, so I jumped at the chance to do another one, especially since I'm on a shopping ban right now!  They just released their spring line and let me tell you, it was hard to pick a dress, but I found one that was totally perfect for me and I was even more excited when I got to see it in person.

You'll see in a more detailed picture below, but the skirting on the dress is houndstooth with black cats!  Seeing as I am the black cat gal, this seemed like the perfect dress for me.  And, it has pockets!  I love that it has pockets, it makes it unique, not many dresses do that.

I love the sweetheart neckline, it is a little lower cut, but if I needed to, I could wear a cami underneath.  Now let's talk about fit - I did the custom sizing and it turned out perfectly.  This dress seriously fits like a glove.  There is some elastic in the waist too, so even if I gained a little weight, it would probably still fit.  And it is comfy.  Seriously comfy.  Nice and lightweight too.

I think this is going to be a super fun dress to have in my closet and play with starting now and going well into spring and summer. For winter I can throw a sweater or cardigan over it and wear it with gray leggings or tights as you see here and maybe a pair of boots.  And into the summer, it can be worn on it's own or with a lightweight cardigan and some simple black sandals.  Maybe even spice it up with some color accents, like red shoes.  Overall I am just in love with this dress.

eShakti is offering any of my readers a discount as well - valid through March 20th - simply enter FSHNBLEDVE at checkout and enjoy 20% off your purchase!  I highly recommend their dresses and I have had great success with the custom styling - it's worth the little extra cost in my opinion!  Happy shopping!

eShakti provided me this dress free of charge for review - the opinions I expressed are all my own.

Visible Monday - Laundry fail

Happy Monday friends!  Hope you all had good weekends.  We're in the midst of another snowstorm here in MN.  Winter isn't letting go of it's hold anytime soon.  So, I'm sure you're surprised to see I'm not doing Inspiration Monday with two birds today.  I had every intention of it, they picked an outfit that was right up my alley - but due to a laundry fail, I wasn't quite able to pull it together. They had chosen a fun casual outfit with a polka dot sweater.  I don't have a polka dot sweater, but I have one with stars, so I planned to wear that.  Except it was still sitting in a laundry basket waiting to be washed.  Oops. 

So I gave up on that and chose something else.  I like how this turned out. I'm warm and cozy for a snowy day!  And I feel very visible in my pink pants so I decided to link up with Not Dead Yet's Visible Monday for the first time.

Shirt - Liz and Co, from cousin

Sweater - Old Navy

Pants - Squeeze, from Megan Bird

Necklace - S&D with MMD buttonflower 

The other laundry fail was over the weekend.  We have a "uniform" for the music group we're part of - which is a shirt with our name embroidered on it and then black or khaki pants depending on the season.  Well Mr. Monkey has lost a fair amount of weight, so at this point he has one shirt for our group that fits.  And last week I was telling him, gee, I should really wash that shirt for you (typically he wears an undershirt so it lasts awhile).  So he put it in the laundry and I didn't realize it until we were getting dressed for church on Saturday and he didn't have a clean shirt.  Again, oops.  Anyone seen the laundry fairy lately?  Cause she hasn't been at our house apparently!

Flowers for Friday

Happy Friday and Happy March my friends!  Given that March means spring is just around the corner, I decided to wear my floral pants in celebration today!  Clearly it's still winter all around me, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.  

Hopefully I don't appear too awkward in these photos - there was a car driving down my street honking it's horn and I wasn't sure if it was at me or someone else.  Since they went past my house I'm guessing it wasn't meant for me, but man, that threw me off guard just a bit!

Sweater - H&M, thrifted

Denim shirt - Talbots, consigment 

Pants and boots - Mossimo, Target

Necklace - DIY by me

Bag - Jenna Lou Designs

I have been missing my Jenna Lou bag.  I still feel it is one of the most versatile purse I own, but I didn't want to pull it out in the dead of winter and risk ruining it in the harsh winter conditions.  Since it's been a bit nicer out, I decided to pull her out again.  Not to mention, she matches my fun Nine West coat that I've been wearing again now that it's a bit warmer (coat can be seen here).

I'm quite relieved that my boss returns on Monday from her long vacation.  Normally I don't mind her being out of the office now and then, but it just seemed like everyone had problems they needed her for these last few weeks and I was ill prepared to handle said problems.  So it's going to be nice to have her back and basically dump all those issues in her lap!

Have a great weekend everyone!