Birthday Recap

My birthday was a week ago, so I guess it's about time that I wrote up a recap of what I did, huh?  Well, here it goes:

I had a meeting at work in the morning that I couldn't really skip, so I went in for a couple hours.  Then I met John for a quick lunch at Which Wich (my favorite!) before heading to the salon/spa for a pedicure and massage.  Best decision ever!  I was so relaxed afterwards. Seriously, I want to get a massage every day.  I should at least do it more than once a year!

I heard a rumor that Gap was having an additional 50% off all sale, so I stopped in really quick and picked up a few things, and then ran home to get changed for dinner.  Then I picked up John from work and we headed downtown to meet his family for birthday dinner!  There's a restaurant with the most delicious smoked gouda mac and cheese, and we never go there, because it's kind of annoying to deal with parking downtown.  But for my birthday, we made an exception.  Dinner was excellent, and then we went over to their house for presents, dessert, and a quick game of Dutch Blitz.  As usual, I was sufficiently spoiled.

The other fun part of the day was just getting random calls and texts from friends and family.  It just made me smile all day long!

And I completely forgot to take any pictures the whole day!  Because I'm the best blogger ever.  Oh wait, opposite.  But as I've said before when I forget to take pictures of big events, sometimes it's important to just enjoy the day without trying to document everything.  I did wear a really cute outfit for dinner, so I'll have to repeat it and take pictures before it gets too cold! 

On Saturday/Sunday, John and I took a little road trip, and I did actually take pictures throughout the day, so I'll have to sort through those and write up a little recap on that soon as well.

Oh, and Happy Halloween, I guess.  I'll probably just pretend to not be home this evening, because I'm a Halloween Grinch.  So stay safe and have fun if you are out and about.  Or I guess stay safe and have fun even if you aren't out and about.

**This outfit is almost an exact replication of what I wore for John's birthday, which I also failed to take pictures of.  Seemed fitting to put it on my birthday recap with no relevant photos, right!  Plus, I was having a really good hair day in these pics. 

Cardigan: JCF (similar)
Top: Gap Factory (option, option, option)
Necklace: Old Navy (similar)
Skirt: Target (similar,similar)
Shoes: Target (flat version)

Lima Bean Necklace

John calls this my lima bean necklace.  I can't really argue with him.

**shortest post ever!


Necklace: Gift (similar style, similar color)
Top: Lucky (similar)
Skirt: Target (similar, similar)
Flats: Old Navy (option, option)

Long Weekend Recap

Happy Tuesday!  I'm going to pretend that I purposely skipped posting on Monday for Memorial Day, but really, I just forgot to schedule something.  This outfit would have been perfect, because it's all red, white, and blue.  Anyway, enough about my outfit.  How about a weekend recap??

On Friday, I left work early and had a late/long lunch with a friend.  Then I had the rest of the evening to myself and decided it was time to really do a full closet inventory.  I got about halfway done before I had to take a break for dinner.  Then I binge-watched Netflix while ironing for a few hours.  And I'm at a point in my life where I'm content with spending my Friday night ironing.  (Sometimes I still feel like I'm 19, but there are moments where I can believe I'm almost 30.)

Saturday involved more closet sorting, more ironing and folding laundry, AND a lunch/movie date with John.  We went to the new X-Men movie.  It was pretty good, but I have a lot of questions now.  I mean, time travel is always pretty sketchy, so it will be interesting to see where they go from here.  And how long Hugh Jackman can play Wolverine.  He's just getting a little old.

After church on Sunday, I spent the afternoon helping to make wedding mints for my friend's wedding.  It was fun to hang out with her, and the mints are delicious!  Then John and I went over to some friends' house for a good old-fashioned cookout.  Good food, fun people, and my team won at Catch Phrase!

On Monday, I finished my closet inventory (post coming soon), and did a few other things around the house.  Then we went to dinner at my favorite restaurant.

I'd say it was a pretty nice weekend!  Did you do anything fun with the extra day?  (my apologies if you had to work!)  

Top: Michael Kors via TJ Maxx
Cardigan & Shoes: Old Navy
Skirt: Target
Belt: NY&Co

Safety First

 

So, one weird thing about being married is that you end up with all these inside jokes, and no one else has any idea what you are talking about.  BUT, since I spend the majority of my free time with John (who is in on the joke), I forget that other people don't know what is so funny.  And it probably isn't funny, but we think it is, so that's all that matters.  Maybe this isn't a weird thing about being married.  It might just be a weird thing about being married to me.

Anyway, "Safety first!" is one of these things.  Last summer, John bought a few of those fancy workout t-shirts off the clearance racks and they are obnoxiously bright neon, which is probably why they were on sale! Like, I need sunglasses to look at him.  Since I'm the best wife ever, I was teasing him about his ridiculously bright shirts, and now every time he wears one, I say "Safety first!" in an obnoxiously nerdy way.  It's hilarious, trust me (it probably isn't).  This has evolved into us saying this and discussing the level of safety of any person we see wearing neon items.  And these people are everywhere!  Especially on a Caribbean Cruise - there was a lot of neon swimwear.  Needless to say, we felt very safe on our vacation.

All that to say, neon is the last theme I needed to tackle for Sarah's April Looking Lucky Style Challenge.  I don't have a whole lot of neon options, so I knew I needed to plan an outfit around this belt.  Then I remembered my confetti t-shirt is kind of neon-friendly, and then I added my bright yellow cardigan to be extra safe.  It was nice to be dressed so cheerfully on the dreaded first day back at work after vacation.

Tee & Shoes: Gap
Cardigan: Old Navy (dyed by me)
Skirt: Target
Belt: Chinese Laundry     

Fall Floral

The jacket was passed along!  It's that time of year when I can get away with wearing some of my lighter coats, so I'm trying to make the most of it.  It's also the time of year when I have fewer days that I can wear non-boots, so I try to take advantage of those, too.  I'm hoping to avoid tights as long as possible.  My unofficial goal is to make it through November, but I don't know if that is going to happen.  Rumor has it that some snow made an appearance yesterday around 2am.  I was asleep, so I'm going to pretend it's not true.

Oh, and another reminder that next week is all about the leopard print!  I'm excited to announce that Brynn will be co-hosting the theme week, and you can link up with us on Friday!

My TOPIO collage is growing....  Be sure to stop by Sarah's Real Life to find other participating bloggers.

Jacket: Relativity
Scarf: H&M
Sweater: Gap
Skirt: Target
Shoes: Born

Blue Skirt Remix

For some reason, I don't have much to say today.  It's been a long week and I am super excited for the holiday weekend.  I'm hoping to get some spring cleaning done around the house, and you know, maybe sleep in really late!

Here's a little remix of my blue pencil skirt.  Apparently, I liked wearing it with white-ish sweaters during the fall and winter.  I'll have to mix it up with some other options this summer.

1/2/3/4

Go check out the other remixers over at AJ Wears Clothes!

Do you have any exciting plans for the long weekend?

Outfit details:
Top: I.N. Studio
Skirt: Target
Necklace: gift - blog swap
Sandals: Carlos Santana via DSW

2012 Goal Review

Well, it is the end of the year, so I guess I should check in with my goals and see how terribly I failed!  I'm probably being too hard on myself, but maybe not.

1. Be more active - Ummm, no.  I just couldn't get into a routine of working out.  I think I need to come up with a more specific plan for 2013.  
2. Be a more discerning shopper - I'll call this a success.  I did the Jan-Mar shopping ban, and I think I am doing better at buying quality items that I will wear more often, instead of just buying things because they are cheap.  I still shop almost exclusively in the clearance section, but I make myself think of several outfits for an item before I purchase it.  
3. Be a better wife!  Mostly in the realm of dinner preparation.  I'm just so inconsistent with this.  I have no way of measuring success other than my feelings, and I feel like I am still terrible at making dinner most weeks.
4. Be more creative!  Success!  I've done quite a few crafty projects this year!  
5. Read 50 books in 2012.  Done!  I was way ahead of schedule until I started the Game of Thrones books, which are 1000+ pages each.  That can really hurt the total number of books!  I had to be strategic in the last week and read a few of the shorter books on my list, but if I look at total number of pages read, I more than doubled my 2011 reading.  

So, 3 out of 5 isn't too bad, right?  I tend to succeed at the things I actually enjoy, like reading books!  I need to figure out how to enjoy things like working out and making dinner.  Maybe I need to get a Wii so I can play Just Dance all the time as my workout, because that is fun!  Not sure how to make dinner preparation fun.

How did you do on your goals/resolutions in 2012?

Sweater: Old Navy
Scarf: Calvin Klein
Skirt: Target
Boots: BareTraps via DSW

Secretary

I felt very 1960's secretary-ish in this outfit.  I mean, a bow blouse and a pencil skirt kind of made me feel like I belonged on the set of Mad Men.  I was kind of a secretary for one summer in college, but I think it's more PC to say Administrative Assistant or something.  I was not a great secretary, mostly because I hated answering the phones (and I never got to wear a bow blouse!).  I just wanted to sort the files and be left alone.  It's kind of funny I ended up in a job where I talk on the phone all day.  At least I can wear ridiculous outfits at my current office!

Bow Blouse: Alfani via Macy's
Sweater: Gap
Skirt: Target
Boots: BareTraps via DSW

Trifecta Tuesday - Colorful Scarf

This is the only legitimate outfit I wore during the week in Indy.  This was my outfit for church.  I thought my nieces would like it, because it is kind of crazy, but D said it was a little boyish.  I don't know any boys who wear pencil skirts and polka dot cardigans, but maybe I am just out of the loop.  M was excited, because she was wearing polka dots, too.  I took advantage of my parents' backyard and took pictures in several different locations!

Scarf and Tee: Gap
Cardigan: Old Navy
Skirt: Target
Boots: Wanted via Piperlime

In honor of Trifecta Tuesday, here are 2 other ways I have worn this scarf:

In the Morning

Morning pictures might not be the best idea for me.  Sleepy eyes + wet hair = questionable photos.  But this might be better than indoor pictures at the end of the day.  It's so hard to be a fashion blogger when you have a full time job! 

I just got this skirt from Target, for $10!  I'm not sure I would have tried it on, but I have seen Kyla wearing it recently in a few different colors (here and here) and thought it was cute on her, so I gave it a try and loved it!  It looks like a regular pencil skirt, but it is super stretchy, so it's super comfortable!   Winning!  Then I remembered that I just recently bought a blue pencil skirt, and wondered if I really needed another one.   Then I decided that they were different enough that it was okay.  So now you know what goes on in my mind when I am shopping.  I also kind of want this skirt in the "bluff green" color, but it isn't on sale online, and I don't really believe in spending $20 on a Target skirt.  I will have to keep my eye out on the sale racks when I go grocery shopping!

Sweater: Gap
Jacket: Younker's
Necklace: Charming Charlie (gift from my sister)
Skirt and socks: Target
Boots: Guess