A Case of the Mondays

I went to a mommy's group at our church Monday night. It was a rush of errands, schooling, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and classes all day. I was sweaty and a little on edge. But I was determined to make it to the meeting and try to enjoy myself. I walked my kids to the daycare room, dropped them off and settled into my seat where the other gals were--giddy to be free of needy children before bedtime and happy to be conversing with likeminded adults. 

Not too far into the program, I could hear my baby screaming in the hallway. She has a hardcore case of separation anxiety. What was I thinking leaving her in the nursery? 

I ended up walking the halls with her during the speaker. Not because she was crying, but because she couldn't stop squealing with delight or crawling out of my hands and getting into some other lady's purse. It was just easier to walk with her in the hallway and let her be giggly and loud all she wanted there. Thankfully I wasn't alone in the halls - other moms joined me here and there for the same reasons, so at least I didn't completely miss out on socializing. Nevertheless, in the end, I decided it was much easier to handle Capri at home and put her to bed than continue to keep her happy while I tried to participate with the others. So we left.

After a day of feeling completely unraveled, I needed a day where I felt put together. So here's to being a little inspired. Instead of blue jeans, I chose white (somehow I'll keep them from getting stained). Instead of a slouchy tee, I chose this feminine lace covered blouse. Instead of thong sandals or sneaks, I chose my classy leopard flats. Tomorrow I'll probably be back to the basics, but it felt good to don a little lace today.

And now I have to gush about this bag. It is so far proving to be my dream diaper bag. Large enough to carry two diapers, travel wipes, extra baby outfit, diaper rash cream, bandaids, nursing cover, bib, baby spoon, and applesauce pouch for the baby - and also large enough to fit all my things: full size wallet, lipstick, hand lotion, hand sanitizer, coin purse, comb, make-up compact, nail file, iPhone, and keys. Plus, it stands up on its own, is easy to clean, has a cross body strap that you can easily detach, and has satchel straps. I'm in love! Oh, and did I mention it's genuine leather and I got it on clearance for only $60?!

Top - J.Crew via Goodwill - $3

Jeans - Gap - $.58 after coupons

Flats - Gap - $7

Bag - Dillard's - $62

Sunnies - Banana Republic - $17

Mid-Week Glamour

I put together this outfit for a bachelorette party, but I think this would be a really cute date night look, too.

I love the mint green shorts - so fun for summer!

Cassi changes her outfit at least twice a day. I never know what she'll come up with next. She watched an episode of Magic School Bus on Netflix this morning about butterflies and insisted that she dress up like this for the rest of the day. Of course I'm not going to get in the way of her sartorial endeavors.

I've also worn this top with a pencil skirt and skinny jeans. I love how it glams anything up without making the look too dressy because of it's casual shape.

In other news, if you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that we recently listed our house for sale. I kind of hope it doesn't sell. I love this house. It's just so large and needs a lot of upkeep. We're hoping that if it sells we can find something that is newer or smaller. Or maybe we'll just rent for a while. Either way, it's a lot to think about. I like change, though, so if a move is in our near future, I'll look forward to all the de-cluttering and organization that goes along with a move.

Top - Goodwill - $3

Shorts - Target - $5

Heels - Nine West via DSW - $20

White Jeans and Eyebrow Make-up

Posting in real time today. It's been a while since I've done that. 

Coming from 95 degree heat with humidity in Florida means that today's 78 degrees in Ohio calls for long pants. And what better way to celebrate summer than by pulling out the white jeans!

Top - JCPenney via Goodwill - $1.50

Jeans - Gap - $0.58 (due to GapRewards)

Wedges - Nine West via DSW - $20

Earrings and watch - gifted

I took the kids to a free movie today at the theatre. We saw The Croods. I love taking advantage of free kids movie days at the theatre. Such a special treat that reminds me that we're off of school and on summer vacation!

I thought my high/low shirt would be perfect for covering up in case my white jeans were see through (does anyone else have that problem with white jeans?).

Had to put my hair in an updo because I slathered it with coconut oil yesterday in hopes it would help my split ends. Not sure of the results yet, but at least I like the smell of coconut. I might need to do some research to find some other home remedies for split end hair repairs.

For the past few months or more I've really been into defining my eyebrows. I've always been good about keeping them tweezed and trimmed, but lately I've been using an eyebrow pencil, highlighter, brush, and gel. I only use the pencil and highlighter here and there, but I've been pretty religious about wearing the gel these days. I just feel like my face looks so much more polished with every brow hair in place.

I've also been trying to lay off the eye make-up, keeping my brows as the only drama point. I use light, neutral eyeshadows, and I've only been wearing mascara on my upper lashes.

I still wear winged eyeliner every now and again, and regular eyeliner on my bottom waterline, too. Today I'm just wearing a very slight smudging of brown on my bottom waterline.

I feel like this is an easy, fresh, and youthful look that is on trend to boot.

What are your make-up dos these days? Are you experimenting with anything new this summer?

Casual Sophistication

I don't think wool capes were meant to be worn in the Spring, but it's still chilly here if you haven't noticed by my outfits.

As you can tell by my post yesterday, I'm really obsessed with finding the right bag right now, but I'm having trouble committing to buy. While I waffle back and forth on what bag to buy, I decided to run to Goodwill to see if I could find an interim bag and found this one for $3. It is far from ideal as far as practicality, but I like the way it looks at least, and it's plenty large enough.

The billowy dolman sleeves are so comfortable, but very difficult to wear under a coat - the cape really did come in handy for this outfit!

I shopped each of these pieces either out of season clearance or thrift shopping, making this whole outfit round up to just under $50!

Top - Ann Taylor LOFT - $5

Necklace - thrifted - $2

Bag - thrifted - $3

Jeans - H&M - $2.50

Pumps - Target - $12

Cape - Ann Taylor LOFT (new with tags) - $5

Sunnies - Banana Republic - $17

Entire look for under $50. Bam.

Housework in Pink Heels

I wore this on Monday, even though all I had planned for that day was packing (another trip coming up), laundry, cleaning the refrigerator (yes, I actually cleaned my entire refrigerator and it looks spotless if I do say so myself), working on lesson plans, cleaning my oven, ironing, and getting the first coat of background paint on a 6x4 foot piece of plywood (I will explain that more later). I do this every once in a while--dress up on days when I should be wearing paint clothes. The heels came off for the cleaning part of my day, and I'll put them back on later right before the hubby gets home. He'll like that.

Sometimes you just have to let the girlishness overtake you and dress up when it's impractical.

So this plywood I'm painting is going to be a life sized painting of George and Martha Washington with the faces cut out so that people can stand behind it and get their pictures taken as the United State's first, First couple at a fair booth I'm volunteering at. The booth is going to have a Founding Fathers theme, so this photo prop seemed appropriate and is sure to catch people's attention. If the painting comes out halfway decent, I'll post a picture. If you never see it on this blog, you'll know I bombed.

Top - Ann Taylor LOFT - $4.88

Jeans - Old Navy Maternity - hand-me-down

Pumps - Target - $9

Necklace - thrifted for $2

Outfit Post: Summer Flowers

Vibrant hues of fuschia, orange, and persimmon - reminds me of summer flowers. I bought this top in Italy while my baggage was lost. On the trip before my bag arrived I only had the orange jeans I was wearing, so I thought this top would be perfect with those jeans. However, I ended up buying lots of other things to wear and then my bag arrived. Today is the first day I've actually worn this top. While I really love this top and hoped to wear it often this summer, it got stuck hiding in my closet and never got ironed. Now that I've finally ironed it, I think I should probably wear it at least once a week in August to get my money's worth out of it.

Top - H&M - 15 euros

Jeans - thrifted - $3

Espadrilles - Target - $8

Shell earrings - Target - $1

Outfit Post: Matchy Matchy

I picked this J.Crew top up at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago and found that it matched my J.Crew skirt that I purchased about 5 years ago. How lucky is that?

Top - J.Crew - thrifted for $1
Skirt - J.Crew - $19
Esapdrilles - Nine West - gifted
Hoop earrings - Premier Jewelry - $21

Outfit Post: Warm Tones

Top - Banana Republic - $3
Knit skirt - Old Navy - $.97
Boots - Jessica Simpson - gifted
Earrings - thrifted - $.50
Cami - Lunaire - $4

Outfit Post: Red Eyes

I have no idea what is wrong with my camera today, or what I did wrong in taking these pictures, but no matter what I tried, each photo ended up with red eyes. ARGH!

This top was given to me by my husband's aunt who picked it up in Mexico. She bought it for me when I was pregnant with my first, thinking it would be the perfect pregnancy top. Since I was pregnant through the fall/winter both times, I really haven't worn it until now. It's supposed to get up to 55 degrees, so I'm hoping I can get away with it. I added the scarf which I belted to give me some extra warmth and coverage (the top is somewhat see through).

Now that I see it in the pictures, I realize it is not very flattering. I look huge! But it is so romantic, and I feel pretty in it, as long as I don't see the pictures...so I plan on wearing it no matter what.

Top - gifted
Belt - Gap - $24
Scarf - Target - $6
Jeans - Old Navy Maternity -$25
Espadrilles - Target - $6
Earrings - F21 - gifted

Outfit Post: Is it spring yet?

Am I breaking the rules by wearing white when it is still 44 degrees outside? At least the snow is melted. That is what I'm telling myself. I just have to get some wear out of these jeans before it's too late!

Tunic - Gap - $6
Jeans - Gap Maternity - $5
Red pumps - Aerosoles - $29
Necklace - thrifted - $.25

Outfit Post: Mustard and Berry

Finally an outfit post! I'm running out of items in my closet that fit, so I was glad to have some product reviews to do so I could re-wear some of my previous outfits this week.
I found this great pair of pom-pom flats in a size larger than I normally wear to accommodate for my swollen feet, and am so happy to have something cheery to wear that fits and is comfortable!
With how cold it has been, I was also happy to find this warm knit scarf in a color that will be great for this coming fall.
I found some white Gap Maternity jeans for only $6 and am hoping I will have one spring-like day before the baby comes so I can pull them out with some espadrilles and maybe a striped top. Here's to wishing...

Jacket - F21 - gifted
Scarf - Target - $3
Jeans - Gap Maternity - $7
Top - Kohl's - $7
Mustard hoop earrings - B.B. Peppers - $.50
Pom-pom flats - Old Navy - $3

Outfit Post: New Necklace

My new necklace that my sister-in-law found at an antique mall for my Birthday...I just love it!
A well meaning lady asked me how far along I was today. I told her I had 5 weeks left and she said, "Oh my honey! That means you are not even as big as you are going to be...you are going to be huge!" Yeah...thanks.
Top - Ann Taylor - $5.88
Jeans - Old Navy Maternity - $25.50
Necklace - vintage - gifted
Metallic flats - Ann Taylor Loft - $3.88

Outfit Post: Yellow Shoes

I have my 34-35 week check-up this morning...so glad to be on the homestretch!

Top - Kohl's - $7
Cami - thrifted - $.25
Leggings - Kohl's - $5
Yellow patent flats - Dillards - $20
Yellow hoop earrings - B.P. Peppers - $.50

Outfit Post: 6 more weeks...

6 more weeks sounds like a long time to me, but I know in the end I will look back and say it went fast. I'm realizing there are a few things I have yet to do - like buy diapers, a few more clothes, and get the cradle in our bedroom set up for those first few weeks with the baby.
My resolve to wear flats is going down the drain since my feet are now too swollen to fit into my flats. I'm wearing tennis shoes or slippers unless I'm at church or going out - and yes, I'm in heels. So far, I haven't lost my balance and they have been fine - but it's probably because I'm mostly at home in my slippers anyway. These boots are getting tighter and tighter, though, so I don't know what I'll do in a couple of weeks!

Top - Simply Vera Vera Wang - hand-me-down

Jacket - Target - $7

Jeans - Gap Maternity - $7

Boots - Jessica Simpson - courtesy of eBay

Necklace - F21 - gifted

Hoop earrings - Premier Jewelry - $21