My Advice - BE NICE

Day 8, Wednesday: A piece of advice you have for others. 

Here's my #1 piece of advice to everyone in the world:  BE NICE!!!!

There are many reasons for this advice.  

1. It's nice to be nice!  If someone is being rude to you, and you are rude back to them, they will probably keep being rude.  If you are nice anyway, it might change the dynamic of the whole situation.  It might not, but being mean back wouldn't make it better anyway.
2. You never know what that person is going through.  On any given day, we all have a lot of stuff going on, with friends and family, and health issues, and job issues, etc.  Or maybe they have just been dealing with rude people all day and finally gave up on being friendly.  One of my favorite things is to actually ask a fast food worker or grocery store cashier how they are doing, and then wait for an answer.  Or I tell them to have a good day.  It's amazing to see how surprised they look, and I think they must deal with grumpy customers all day long.  You may never know how much a smile or kind word means to someone.    
3. You'll probably be happier if you are nice.  I'll be honest, sometimes I am a jerk to rude people, and I always feel worse about myself.  This doesn't mean you have to be a pushover, either.  If someone is being terrible to you, you can point it out without being terrible back to them.  It's difficult, but possible, and they will probably be more receptive to your comments if you are being nice, instead of like "HEY, STOP BEING A JERK FACE!"  If you nicely point it out to them, maybe they will actually stop being a jerk face.  

There's my two cents.  What advice would you share with others?


Shirt: Sunny Leigh
Scarf: H&M
Jeans: Old Navy
Shoes: Loft

Closet Ultimatum #2-3 - White Skirt and Printed Top

This outfit is a 2-for-1 closet ultimatum deal!  I know that 2 wrongs don't make a right, but I was hoping that 2 closet orphans might make an outfit.

Top:  this is from Ann Taylor a few summers ago.  I think I wore it quite a bit that first summer, but it has mostly been forgotten in my closet since then.  I really love the print, but I think the black border on the top just lays funny on me.  I would say I love this shirt, but I'm not "in love" with it.  When I got home from work, I wondered if a different skirt would make a difference, so I grabbed my trusty black pencil skirt.  I don't know.  I'm still not convinced I should keep it  What do you think?

Old Navy Skirt, Loft flats

Skirt:  I got this at the BR outlet in Kansas City in the spring of 2011.  I'd had a white A-line skirt from Gap, that I bought for my high school graduation reception.  That skirt was fantastic, but it was starting to look a little worse for the wear, so I bought this one, and got rid of the old Gap one.  It didn't take long for me to decide this was a mistake.  The Gap skirt was just way more flattering.  I think the gathers on this skirt makes me look bigger and I don't need that at all!  I've actually worn this skirt a few times over the summer, but haven't taken outfit pictures on those days.  Maybe because I don't feel cute in it?  Funnily enough, I actually think it looks pretty good in the pictures.  Naturally, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration and found this picture of Kendi.  So, I pretended it was fall and pulled out my boots and a cable knit sweater, while hoping John wouldn't get home from work while I was in my fall outfit.   It's not quite perfect, but I think there is possibility.

Old Navy sweater, Wanted boots

So, what do you think?  Are either of these keepers, or do they belong in the "sell" pile?

Top: Ann Taylor
Skirt: Banana Republic
Shoes: Born

I'm linking up over here today, as well as the usual places!

Spiderwebs

Apparently, when I was out of the office, a large family of spiders decided to move in.  The other day, I was on a conference call, and pretty focused, when I realized there was a spider dangling about 3 inches in front of my face.  Cue total freakout as I grab a million Kleenexes to smash the spider mid-air.  Then the other day, there was a huge spider crawling under my printer table.  This one was too much for me to handle, so I asked a co-worker to come rescue me.  I've killed a few other little ones, too.  This is out of control.  I've requested a heavy dose of bug spray, so hopefully this problem will go away soon. 

Top:  I-N-C International Concepts
Cardigan and Shoes:  Loft
Camisole: Gap
Jeans: Old Navy

I'm linking up here today, too.

Easy Breezy

 

I'm in the home stretch of my break from shopping!  April 12th will be here soon, and I'll probably go out and buy some colored pants immediately.  I've been pretty good.  A couple weeks ago, Loft was emailing me about crazy sales, and I had a gift card from Christmas.  How could I resist?  I was pretty disappointed in the selection.  There was a reason most of stuff was on sale.  It was not so cute.

I ended up getting 2 shirts - an orange long sleeve t-shirt, and this striped top.  I was going for easy and comfortable when I paired this shirt with jeans.  It was a little ho-hum, so I did the reasonable thing and added bright pink shoes.  

Shirt & Shoes:  Loft

Jeans:  Gap

Sunglasses:  Fossil

Hermès, Is that you??

This afternoon, I went to Goodwill with one of my work friends.  After striking out in the clothing section, I wandered over to the purses.  I was about to give up and call it a day, when I noticed this purse staring right at me:

I had to pull out my phone and google tips for spotting a knockoff Birkin.  I'm pretty sure this isn't a real one, but I couldn't pass it up. I mean, what are the odds of an authentic Hermès bag ending up at Goodwill for $8? 

I'll probably let myself pretend it is real.  Perhaps a wealthy older couple retired to travel the world, and donated all of their fancy things to Goodwill.  The Goodwill staff knew to put the Coach espadrilles in the glass case for $50, but hadn't ever heard of Hermès so they just slapped the $8 tag on it and called it a day.  Right?  That sounds believable, right??  Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and pretend it's a real one. 

   

Top:  I-N-C International Concepts
Cami:  Mossimo
Cardigan:  Calvin Klein Performance
Jeans:  Loft
Shoes: Loft

Wedding Wednesday - Dancing Shoes

I feel like I have been to a million weddings in the last 5 years!  It's always a fun excuse to buy a new dress, or try to re-style an old one.  I've enjoyed other blogs that have theme days, so I figured I'll try a few out, and see what sticks. 

Here goes my first wedding outfit post.  This was in April 2009, when some of my college friends got hitched.  They had a live band, and we all danced the night away.  I had recently gotten these pink shoes at Loft and was pretty excited to wear them.  The best part was at the end of the night when my feet didn't hurt at all!   

Dress:  Max and Cleo (I think it was about $20)
Shoes:  Loft ($10)