Blue Christmas

I am back home after a week-long Christmas extravaganza with my family in Indiana.   We have a pretty good system, where we trade off Thanksgiving and Christmas each year, so we are all there at the same time.  We had 9 adults, 6 kids, 3 dogs, and 9 vehicles to move around anytime someone needed to go somewhere.  It was a really fun week, and I'm already trying to scheme up a plan to visit them again soon.

Since Christmas was a Sunday this year, we had to change our normal schedule for church in the morning.  We woke up and opened stockings, then had breakfast, got dressed up and went to church, and then came home, opened the rest of the presents, and had a later lunch.  It was a really fun day!   Here's what I wore for church: 

Skirt:  Express
Cardigan: Gap
Button-down shirt:  Loft
Boots:  Bare Traps

Later that day, we played some games that people got for gifts.  One of my nieces got "HedBanz", which is basically like twenty questions, but you get a cool Mickey Mouse hat:

You are only allowed to ask Yes/No questions, but there were several disputes among the participants about what the correct answers were.  Here are some of the arguments that came up:

-Is Piglet male or female?
-Can pigs be described as "furry"?
-Are insects animals?
-Where does Jiminy Cricket live?  And is he friends with Pinocchio?

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and were able to spend time relaxing and hanging out with friends and family.  Going back to work tomorrow is going to be pretty rough after 7 days of playing around.  I'm skipping my Wednesday/Thursday theme posts this week, to get back on track with outfit posts.

'Twas the Night before Christmas...

And we were taking pictures!  This is the Ann Taylor dress I wore to the Christmas party a few weeks ago.  I'm having fun styling it in different ways.

This is my sister/best friend.  She and I have very different styles, but always have fun shopping and sometimes even share things.  Isn't her sweater cool!?  I wish she lived in the same town as me so I could steal it sometime!   

I asked my nieces what they think about our outfits and got the following comments:

M:  First, say this is me and my big sister.  She's only wearing that sweater because she can't see it.  If she could see it, it would make her dizzy.
S:  I don't know
D:  They are both kind of white at the top, like the pearl necklace and the other necklace.

E:  That's BEAUTIFUL!!!

On me:
Dress:  Ann Taylor
Sweater:  Gap
Belt: from another dress
Necklace:  InPink
Boots:  Bare Traps

On Jill:
Necklace:  from China, borrowed from me.
Everything else:  Gap

Merry Christmas!!!

 Merry Christmas!!!!

 Merry Christmas!!!!

 Merry Christmas!!!!

 Merry Christmas!!!!

 Merry Christmas!!!!

I'm just a little bit excited about Christmas tomorrow!  We are having fun with my family, and I have been slacking on my every day posts.  For all 7 of the people who read this, please forgive me!  

I'm getting a lot of fashion advice from my nieces, like the following:

Those jeans make you look a little bit fat.

That sweater isn't very cute.  Maybe if it was red instead of orange. 

You look like a teenager in that outfit!!

 

These pictures are from Thursday night, when we went to the Yuletide Celebration.  I used it as another excuse to rock my gold skirt.  I kept it simple with a black sweater, tights and boots.  

We took a "coming down the stairs for prom" picture, just for fun.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas tomorrow! 

Sweater:  Gap
Skirt:  Gap
Boots:  Bare traps via DSW
Pearls:  gift - from China
Bracelets:  gift - from a friend's wedding

Wedding Wednesday - Flower Girl

I was sorting through old pictures the other day and found this one:

This is from 1990 or 1991.  I was the flower girl in my Aunt's wedding, and I was super excited.  I have no idea why I look so sad in this picture.  My mom was the Matron of Honor, and my older sisters were bridesmaids.  My mom made all of our dresses.  I got a lot of use out of this dress, for Christmas, Easter, and other fancy occasions that year.  A couple years ago, my nieces found it at my parent's house and I think they wore it a few times. 

I don't remember much from that day, but I'm sure I was happier than the above picture implies!

Lay off of my blue flannel shoes

These shoes were a total impulse buy at Gap one year.  Now I can't remember if it was last year, or 2 years ago.  They were cheap, and I thought I needed some plaid shoes.  They look much better without socks, but since they are flannel, it feels weird to wear them when it's warm enough to go without socks.  I mean, there is a pretty small window of weather where flannel and no socks are appropriate.  Maybe I should get some plaid socks to wear with them.  That wouldn't be too weird, right?


Cardigan: Loft
T-shirt: Mossimo from Target
Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Gap

Red Stripe

 No, not the Jamaican Beer! 

Saturday, I went shopping for Christmas presents, and somehow ended up in the dressing room at Loft with about 25 items to try on.  I have no idea what happened, I must have blacked out or something.  I was relatively good and just walked out with a pair of trouser jeans ($20) and this red striped top ($12).  I was pretty pumped about this shirt, so I wore it over to my in-laws for dinner and game night.

My sister-in-law said I looked like a candy cane.  Her boyfriend said I looked more like "Where's Waldo".  I don't have any idea why he thought that.  

At least I have a good idea for next Halloween!

Anyway, we had a great night, and my sis-in-law and I destroyed everyone else at Hand and Foot. 

Top:  Loft
Sweater:  H&M
Jeans:  Old Navy
Boots:  Wanted via DSW

Gray Boots and good friends

 I just got these boots back from the shoe hospital, and couldn't be more excited!  After being worn almost every day for 2 winters, they were in desperate need of some new heels.

Sweater: Old Navy
Skirt:  Gap
Tights: Target
Boots: Wanted via Piperlime


















I wore this outfit to work on Friday, and then to a cookie exchange with my friends from college.  This was the 4th year we have done this, and I hope we can keep it up in the future.  Here's a look at the spread of treats: 






We mostly just sat around and talked about life, while enjoying some hot chocolate and chowing down on treats.  It was such a great time!  And of course,  we had to snag a group picture:

Love these girls!!