Bill Grogan's Goat

Who wants another weird goat story??  No one?  Oh, well.  This is going to be awkward then, because I'm telling the story anyway.  

When I was telling my husband the riveting story about the Three Billy Goats Gruff, he was like "wait, wasn't there a train?"  No no no.  Silly husband!  That would be Bill Grogan's Goat.  With very little encouragement, I started singing, and made him repeat each line, because that's how the song goes: 

Bill Grogan's goat was feeling fine

Ate 3 red shirts right off the line

Bill gave that goat a great big smack

And tied him to the railroad track

(Something something something)

He coughed up the shirts and flagged the train. 

I couldn't remember a couple lines in the middle, so I consulted Google, as one does.  This is what I found.  My memory was about right for the beginning of the song, but while my version ends with the goat getting the train to stop, the real version continues.  To summarize, the engineer sees the goat and cuts his throat.  If that wasn't horrible enough, the goat goes to heaven (headless) and St. Peter is like "hey goat, where's your head?" and the goat is like "no one knows..."  I'm sorry, WHAT?  How is this a children's song?  I'm about 95% sure the goat didn't die in whatever version I knew as a kid.  Or maybe I just blocked out the bad memories.

And I think that's my last blog post about goats for awhile.

Cardigan and Top: Gap factory
Shorts: Gap
Sandals: Target

Summery Third Thursday

It's the Third Thursday of the month again, so I'm linking up with Bri for summer style!  Since I'm not working anymore, I wear shorts most of the time this summer. A fun floral tank and sandals make an easy outfit.  I added the cardigan because I was meeting some of my old coworkers for lunch and restaurants tend to be freezing.  

These shorts are probably going to be done soon.  I can pretty much fit into my normal shorts now, but I don't have a mint pair and still have ideas of how to wear these.  But I'm starting to feel weird about wearing maternity stuff, so we shall see.  

Top & sandals: Target

Cardi: Gap

Shorts: Loft Maternity 

Wedding Baby

You guys don't mind if outfit photos occasionally include a baby, right?  What if he is dressed better than me? 

Last Saturday, some of our friends got married.  We very nervously took the baby, hoping he wouldn't cry or scream at any awkward moments (like "if you oppose this union, speak now").  So we got all dressed up and ventured to the church.  He was pretty content during the prelude and processional, but once the music stopped, he started squirming and grunting.  So I quickly escaped out the back doors before he started crying.  And then he was pretty popular at the reception.  People tend to think he's kind of cute.  I agree.

Since we were all dressed up, we took a little family photo!  

And this might be my new favorite picture.  He doesn't really know how to smile yet, but it sure looks like he is grinning here.   

Cardigan: Gap factory

Dress: Gap

Shoes: Target

More Shorts

Well, here's another very casual outfit from a day that was warm enough for shorts.  I'm loving the warmer April we are having this year!  And I'm loving these Loft maternity shorts.

I don't really have much to say today.  Here, I'll just throw out some random thoughts:

• My hair has been pretty amazing during pregnancy, but for some reason was extra fluffy on this particular day.  I've heard rumors that your hair can change drastically after having a baby, so I'm kind of nervous about what might happen.
• This tank top is one of my Top 10 Remix items, but this is the first appearance in April.  I guess I didn't really need 10 items?
• People are still telling me I don't look very pregnant.  Really???  I think I should just wear this tank top all the time, and then they will know the truth.  Not to mention these pictures are 11 days old, so I'm even bigger now.  

Cardigan: Gap factory
Tank: Old Navy Maternity (top 10 remix item)
Shorts: Loft maternity
Shoes: Sperry (top 10 remix item)

#24 - Mostly Repeat

Here's an outfit that I wore at the very beginning of the challenge (during the Des Moines weekend), but I didn't take official pictures.  I really liked it, so I wore it again and just added a cardigan for my cold office.

Cardigan: Gap (option, option)
Necklace: Old Navy (similar)
Belt: Madden (similar)
Dress: Target (similar)
Sandals: Target (exact, similar)

#20 - Two-Thirds Done

Outfit #20!  Which means only 10 more outfits in the challenge.  Here are my middle ten looks.

I think my favorites are the floral skirt and the pink blazer (#11 and #13).  Which one do you like the best?

Also, if you haven't yet, please take my blog survey!  

Cardigan: Gap (option, option)
Necklace: F21 (similar, similar)
Tee: Gap (option, option, option)
Skirt: Loft (similar maxi, similar mini, similar knee length)
Shoes: Old Navy (option, option)

#11 - Navy Week - Floral Skirt

So many things going on today!  First off, it's NAVY WEEK, so be sure to link up (after the jump) with your looks featuring one of my favorite neutrals.  But more thoughts about navy later this week.  (I know, the suspense must be killing you!). 

Second, if you have been paying attention to the 30X30, you are probably like "flag on the play!" because 75% of this outfit is not in my official 30 items post.  Well, here's what happened.  It's Danielle's fault.  Her floral skirt inspiration post reminded me that I wanted a multi-colored floral skirt.  And then she went and linked to this one at Macy's, which is pretty much exactly what I had in mind.  And it was on sale, and they were having an additional 30% off.  So I ordered it with the full intent that it would be my 30th item.  

Then, I just haven't worn either my white jeans or my anchor print tee.  I think they are too similar to other items.  I mean, the white jeans pretty much make the same outfit as the white shorts and the white skirt.  Which makes it easy, but not really interesting.  And the anchor print tee is white with navy/blue on it.  Just like my floral oxford and striped tee.  Again, great idea for easy remixing, but kind of boring.  So I was planning on dumping those items.  Which meant I had 2 open spots.  I thought about not filling them.  28X30 would have been fine.  

When this skirt arrived, I wanted to wear it the next day.  And most of my 30 items were in the laundry.  This space-dyed tank was hanging right at the front of my closet and it caught my eye.  I was going to wear my navy flats, but I felt like the length of this skirt needed heels, so I grabbed my trusty nude pumps (which have been so neglected recently).  I think they will play nicely enough with the rest of the items.  

Cardigan: Gap (option, option)

Tank: Gap (exact)

Skirt: Macy's (exact)

Shoes: BCBGeneration (similar)

#8 - This Shirt

I bought this shirt back in April.  It was $6 and I loved all the colors in it, and how the print is sort of floral, but not really.  Then I just kept wearing it with jeans.  So when I wore it with my white shorts for shorts week, I decided to really plan some outfits around it.  My first thought was all "pair it with white jeans!" which is basically exactly like wearing it with white shorts.  So I went for a bolder look and grabbed this reddish-orangey-coral skirt, which is the exact color of the smaller accents on the shirt.  And I officially loved it! 

But then my normal picture spot by the gym was full of people who actually parked their cars in the parking spots?!!  Who would do that?  So here I am in the bright sunshine with my purple sunglasses.  But I get extra points for remembering to take a close-up picture of my jewelry situation.  I usually wear a watch and one ring on my right hand, and then just my wedding/engagement rings on my left.  But this day - I added a bracelet and an extra ring.  Because I like to live on the edge.  One of my pearl rings is real (a gift from my parents for my 16th bday, I think?).  The other one was recently purchased in a 3-pack from Old Navy for about $3.  But I think they look good together. 


Cardigan: Gap (option, option)
Top: Gap (option)
Skirt: J.Crew Factory (exact style in other colors)
Shoes: Old Navy (option, option)

Shades of Blue

After rediscovering this dress recently, I wanted to try wearing it again soon.  I thought it might look nice with a few different shades of blue, and I really like the result!  I even used Heidi's backwards belt trick!  This belt has a big silver buckle (as seen the last time I wore it, a year ago), which I didn't like with the color of this dress, so flipping it around was perfect.  Now, it wasn't super comfortable to have a belt buckle digging into my spine when I sat down, but hey, that's the price of fashion sometimes, right?    

Dress: Old Navy (maxi, leather, lace)
Cardigan: Gap (option, option)
Necklace: H&M (option, option)
Belt: NY&Co (option, option)
Shoes: Old Navy (option, option)

Getting Nerdy

After doing the Closet Inventory, I started playing around in my Excel spreadsheet.  Because I'm cool like that.  This may not be interesting to anyone else, but I thought it was fun to slice and dice the data by different pieces.  And then I made some pie charts.  Because I'm cool like that.

First up, where I buy all this stuff!  It is no surprise that Gap is far and away the leader.  If I add the Gap brands together, it's almost half of my wardrobe (Banana Republic and Piperlime are in the "other" category). I was surprised that I have more Loft than H&M or Limited.  I haven't had as much luck at Loft in the last year, but I guess I still have items from prior years.  Which brings me to...

Over half of my wardrobe has been purchased in the last 18 months.  I think this is largely due to the fact that I've been getting rid of stuff, and also because I like to shop.  (and also because I've gained some weight, but let's not talk about that, mkay?)

Finally, I wanted to see what colors are most represented.  And isn't this a pretty little graph?  Other than the random assortment in the upper left quadrant, the sections look pretty cohesive.  I've read a few things about building a remixable wardrobe, and I've never purposely shopped for certain colors, but somehow it has worked out.  I buy what I like, and I tend to like greens, blues, and pinks, as well as the black/white neutrals. Which means most items go well with most other items!

So now you know what my closet looks like in graphical form.  You're welcome (and I'm sorry).

Cardigan: Gap
Top: H&M
Skirt: Chaus
Shoes: Old Navy

Ain't No Party like an Engineer Party

This outfit is from last week sometime.  It has nothing to do with the next paragraph, but I was excited to wear my floral shoes again!

Last night, I went with John to an engineering awards banquet.  I wore my floral dress, but managed to take zero pictures.  It was actually pretty fun, as far as engineering awards banquets go.  The keynote speaker was much livelier than previous engineering keynote speakers I have heard.  I met the former mayor, who complimented my smile, and then proceeded to be very politiciany.  And I couldn't remember if he was still the mayor, so I didn't really know what to say to him.  Part of the evening was a backstage tour of the fancy baseball stadium downtown, during which I embarrassed myself by choking on a sip of Pepsi when everyone was quietly looking around the locker room.  You can't take me anywhere.  The tour was pretty cool, but I should have worn more comfortable shoes for all the walking and stair-climbing.

Anyway, it's been a busy week and next week is even worse!  I have something going on every evening next week, so I need to have a productive weekend to get ahead of the game.  And then I need to stop committing to weeknight activities all the time!

Do you have any fun weekend plans?  Remember to get a nautical-inspired outfit ready to link up with Laura and me!

Top, Cardigan, Jeans: Gap (actually all 3 are from Gap Factory!)
Shoes: J.Crew Factory

Cropped - er... Folded

Well, if everything went according to plan, I'm back from vacation.  I'm sure I had a lovely time, but probably got home too late on Sunday evening to worry about blogging, so this post was scheduled before I left.  The internet is so fancy!

Anyway, one of the final themes for Sarah's April Looking Lucky Style Challenge is "cropped."  Which, I mean, I don't have anything cropped.  I thought about buying a crop-top at Forever 21, but then I remembered that I am not a 17-year-old stick-thin hipster.  (No offense to anyone who actually wears crop tops, but they aren't for me).  

So, I decided to roll my skinny jeans into a cropped length.  Because you won't catch me showing off my tummy, but I have no shame when it comes to ankle exposure.  Scandalous! 

Top: Tinley Road
Cardigan & Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Old Navy

Colors of the Wind

If you happen to fall in love and/or marry a boy named John Smith, there are certain things that you should be prepared for.  One of these is jokes about Pocahontas, even though she totally married a guy named John Rolfe, which everyone seems to forget!  Anyway, people pretty regularly call me Pocahontas.  I guess we do kind of look alike when it's windy out:

Dress, Belt, Cardigan: Gap
Tights: Target
Boots: Madden

Circular Inspiration

By the lack of leaves on the ground, you may guess that this is from a few weeks ago.  You'd be right.  This was an outfit I had in mind to use for Stripes Week, but then I had too many striped outfits.  And now it's a couple weeks later.

This outfit was inspired by this pin, because I really liked the green jeans with the navy stripes.  Then I felt like I had worn it before, and searched through my archives.  It's really similar to this outfit that I wore back in March.  Inspiration is a strange thing.  I think I came up with the first outfit on my own.  Then did I like the Pinterest outfit because I remembered liking that combination when I wore it myself?  I don't know.  And when I clicked through to the original source, I'm pretty sure she's not wearing navy at all, but black.  So, my interpretation wasn't even true.  The internet is so weird.

I'm linking up with Pinned It & Did It, What I Wore and What I Wore to Work.

Cardigan & Top: Gap
Skirt: Target
Shoes: BCBGeneration

Stripe Week - Tank Top

Day 2 of Stripes Week continues with lots of blue!  

I really liked this outfit.  It felt very me.  I continued my pattern of wearing a cardigan of the same color over a striped top.  Pretty soon I'll have covered all the colors of the spectrum and then I'll have to come up with a new idea!

The striped top is actually a tank, but I try to stretch my summer clothes into fall and winter with layers.  Sure, I have a navy and white striped top with sleeves, but it doesn't have the lighter blue borders and it isn't as long, so I am glad I have options!

Make sure you stop by A Journey in Style to see Kate's look for today.  I'm also pretty excited that Inge has decided to play along all week!  Go check out her striped outfits! 

Top & Cardigan: Gap
Skirt: Limited
Shoes: BCBGeneration

Stars and Maps

Stars are the new polka dots, haven't you heard?  Or maybe I'm just making that up.  Either way, I really liked these star print tees at Gap over the summer, but I didn't want to pay $25 for them, so I just waited patiently and bought it over Labor Day weekend.

In completely unrelated news, have you seen this?   40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World

One of my friends posted it on Facebook and I just think it's really cool.  Especially #40, where South is on top - so weird to look at the map that way!

Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely weekend!  

I'm linking up with Favorite Fashion Friday and Casual Friday.

Tee, Cardigan, & Shoes: Gap
Jeans: Limited

Back to Reality

 

The first few days at work after a vacation are rough.  It's been such a busy week, just trying to get caught up on everything I missed, and on top of that, we are having some internal training this week, so I'm in meetings most of the day.  Trouble.  I'm tempted to go back to the mountains where the internet doesn't work.

I'm hoping to find time this weekend to sort through my vacation pictures so I can share them with you. Warning - Glacier National Park is sort of beautiful, so you might want to go there!

Top, Cardigan, Skirt: Gap
Shoes: Michelle D