Casual outfit

I wore this outfit running errands on my day off. It reminds me how much I like that blazer. The jeans and wedges evened out the potentially formal top. 

Green and Navy Geometric Top

This post is sort of a 1 item many ways post. However, in reality it is just the iterations I went through trying to get dressed and wear my new green and navy geometric top from Target. I tried it by itself with navy pants, with navy and green cardigans and navy pants, with khaki pants and cardigans. Ultimately I wore it with my khaki pants and navy cardigan (and tan shoes not pictured). I felt like wearing the navy cardigan and pants was too dark of an outfit. I really wish my burgundy cardigan had been clean, because I think it may have gone nicely with this outfit. A yellow necklace could also be a nice addition. 

Had to have

Ever have one of those outfits you just have to have? For me this dress is one. It's from Target and I saw it while I was looking for a birthday present. I tried on a couple of things, but they didn't have the dress in my size. I figured I would try the other Target in town. Well low and behold the dress was suddenly on clearance, but they still didn't have my size. Fortunately they had 3 in my size in the next town over. So off I went. I not only got the dress, but it was now on sale/clearance. Score! 

I also bought this belt to go with it. It's color is called raspberry. I think it will be a fun addition to my closet, I don't have many belts, and it goes perfectly with this dress. 

This dress screams spring to me, but it is fall (and cold now!) so I paired it with tights, boots and a cardigan. I tried it with the cardigan underneath and on top. I ended up wearing the belt on the outside, but looking at the pictures now, I'm not sure which I like better. 

Compliments

I got a lot of compliments on this outfit today. Not really sure why. I mean, it's just dress pants, a collared shirt and a cardigan. Which I wear pretty frequently. I think it might be because of the color combination. I know we are dead in the middle of fall, but these colors seem like spring for me. Oh well. I pulled it off and apparently others like it too!

I bought this cardigan from L.L. Bean when Don was stationed up there. I saw it and just had to have it. Then it sat unloved in my closet for the longest time. I always thought it was too large. However, it seems to fit pretty well. The weight of the cardigan with the cords makes it lay nicely and gives it a little more structure than some of my other cardigans. 

Black pearls

If you may recall from yesterday I have recently just purchased this black and white polka dot shirt. I tried to style it with a sweater yesterday, but I ended up wearing it with these black pants. I feel like the outfit is very dark, but I don't have a whole lot of options in terms of dress pants. I also feel like the shirt needs to be tucked in otherwise it is too boxy looking. However maybe if I try it some more I'll feel like it could be worn untucked. 

This is a close up of the black pearls that I wore with this outfit. My husband got me the pearls while on his first deployment. It's actually a set of necklace, earrings and bracelet, however I mostly only wear the necklace. I sometimes find this necklace very hard to style because it isn't just a string of pearls, they have some dimension to them. However, that uniqueness is also one of the things I like about them. 

These next couple of photos are what I would consider blog fails. As I mentioned previously I felt like this outfit was too dark, so to try and lighten it up I tried to add my tan cardigan. I don't think it turned out very well at all, either buttoned or unbuttoned. Maybe if it didn't have the ruffles, but even then I can't say that I'm much of a fan. Oh well. 

Polka dots

I'm going to be honest, I haven't actually worn this outfit yet. However I was trying on this new polka dot shirt and wanted to wear it with the burgundy pants (also seen here and here), however it is a little too loose to wear by itself untucked. It's also pretty long so I wanted to try it with a sweater, but it was a pain to try and find one that matched. I found this grey one tucked into the bowels of my closet, and I think it will workout pretty well. I'd like to get another sweater that is more like my blue one shown here. A color coordinated necklace would be good too. Check out tomorrow to see how I did end up wearing the polka dot shirt to work. 

Grey and burgundy fall colors

This is another outfit that screams fall. I wore this shirt here in another post that also reminds me of fall, but is work appropriate. I took this picture, because I was afraid it'd get too hot and it would be the outfit I would actually wear most of the day. However, I lucked out and could wear it with my sweater. I prefer the look of the outfit with the sweater more. 

 I also posted with this sweater here in a more work appropriate way. 

And once again, I'd like to show off my indecisiveness on picking out shoes. See my other post about that here. I like the contrast the cognac boot gives to the outfit, although if I were trying to make less of a statement with the boots, the grey ones would go just fine. 

 

Black and White

This is just a typical work outfit for me. Shown with and without a cardigan. I have to wear a white lab coat most days at work, so wearing something sleeveless won't be sleeveless for long. I feel like the cardigan pulls the outfit together better though. 

Preppy

This outfit looks a little preppy to me. Although I keep being drawn to the look of collared shirts being layered. I have a number of collared shirts, but I don't like to wear them that much. I like how this outfit turned out with the bright and dark pink and blues. The bright pink of the shirt goes along with the pink necklace while the light blue of the sweater lightens up and goes with the navy pants. It was a good outfit to wear to work. 

Here is a close up of the necklace and tops. I am in love with this necklace and have found it to be very versatile. Thank you Target clearance rack!

St Patrick's Day 2013

 This is a much more condensed version of my St. Patrick's Day mantle from what I did last year.  I forget that just because I have a huge mantle, I don't have to use it all. I think I had just seen a pin on pinterest that said mantles should have more of a triangular shape. While I prefer this year's St. Patrick's day mantle to the previous year, I think it in general I prefer to have my mantle more full. Last year I had about the same amount of stuff, but since it was so spread out it didn't look as cohesive.

I used the same shamrock pot o' gold that I used from last year. Helpful hint, fill the pot with paper and set the pieces of "gold" on top so you don't have to purchase as many. I also used the same candle covers. As you can see the two green candles are actually candles covered with pieces of scrapbook paper.  It's an inexpensive way to get some different patterns and colors in the mantle without buying new, big, candles for every holiday. Although I recommend cutting the paper to fit the candle and securing them with a tack. I was taking the easy way out with rubberbanding them at the bottom.

I used my small apothecary jar and filled it with green, silver and gold Christmas balls. I then topped it off with some green and white carnations purchased at the Dollar Tree. I also purchased the paper weights to the left from the Dollar Tree. They just give a little bit of spice and height. 

Animal Print Scarf

Not much to this outfit. Just jeans and a t-shirt with a fun scarf. One of my 12 scarves.This scarf has a touch of animal print to it, but it is still pretty subtle, so sometimes it's hard to tell if it's just geometric shapes or actually animal print. 

Indecisive

I couldn't quite decide which shoes I wanted to wear with this outfit. Since it's fall, I really wanted to wear my boots, but I was afraid it'd still be a little too warm. 

I ended up going with the flats, so no, I didn't go out wearing one of each!

My New Blazer

I bought this blazer from Sears a while back and am just getting around to actually wearing it. Remember it was summer! We had a flash of fall day so I styled it with my light teal shirt, burgundy pants, black heels and silver necklace. However it quickly became too hot so I actually ended up wearing the outfit below for most of the day. I think it's still fun, but I like it much better with the blazer. Now if only the weather would agree...

Fall Mantle 2012

We are now in the midst of fall. However, I hope you have a Halloween mantle up! You can see mine here. However, after Halloween I start will my fall/Thanksgiving mantle. This was actually taken last year on Thanksgiving day. For Thanksgiving we hosted my parents, and four of our friends. I had to work so I got out of kitchen duty, but I was home early enough to eat!

Here you can see  the wreath centerpiece, the leave garland and my "give thanks" decoration.

 Different color candles are quick and easy decoration to change out for fall. All of the craft stores seem to stock them, just be sure to buy them when they are either on sale or use 40% off coupon! I like these candlesticks as they have a bit of decoration, but since they are clear, they can be used for just about any holiday. I bought these piece by piece with 40% off coupons. Eventually I think I'd like to also get a simple black set so that I can have some variety.

 To fill apothecary jars inexpensively use nature. Here I'm using pine cones I collected from outside my friend's house. I put a couple of fake leaves that had fallen off of the garland too. For the other jar I have decorated cupcake wrappers. These can be found inexpensively at craft stores. They can be a little cumbersome to place, but they give added color and texture.

In addition to my mantle I also frequently decorate this buffet table in our living room. You can see this is also where we store our games. I have purchased fake flowers to match several of my holiday decorations that I put in the glass vase. Again, the vase is versatile enough to use for just about every holiday. I was searching for a long time for a cornucopia. I was able to find this one at hobby lobby and purchased the little fake pumpkins and items to fill it. 

Finally, as Christmas season is starting in the major craft stores, be on the look out for ornaments that are colored for other holidays. This year I used pine cones and cupcake wrappers to fill my apothecary jars, but as you can see in my Valentine's Day and Halloween mantles, I frequently use colored Christmas ball ornaments. 

Fall Scarf

This scarf just screams fall to me with the muted orange, red and blue. However, I feel like I have very little in my wardrobe to really match it. My wardrobe is much more of the jewel tones of burgundy, teal, navy. I styled it here with a navy tank top, jeans and flip flops. Cause it's still warm in Florida! I'm curious to see when the weather changes if I'll be able to get more use out of this scarf. 

Speaking of scarves I just made a homemade scarf hanger and realized that I have 12 scarves!! It's odd since I hardly ever wear scarves (did I mention it's hot in Florida?). One of my goals this fall/winter is to try and incorporate more of the scarves. And for those that I can't get use of, I've go to get rid of them. I'm not thinking Hawaii is going to be better scarf weather! 

Sundress for summer and fall

This is a sundress I got from Old Navy last summer. I ws thinking about getting rid of it when I tried it on and remembered how much I liked it. This first picture shows how I'd wear it out during the summer. A simple white belt and white sandals as accent pieces. 

However seeing how it is fall, I wanted to style it with a cardigan and some flats for more warmth. If it ever gets to be cold enough, I'd add some tights and boots, but this is Florida so it may never really get that cold. I really like the look of this and seeing how it is October I set out for the day wearing this outfit. 

However seeing how it is Florida, it quickly got too warm to wear the cardigan so I was left with the following outfit. White belt and blue flats. Oh well, still a cute outfit!

Black Cardigan, teal shirt, grey pants

This outfit pretty much follows my prescription for work outfits. Dress pants with shirt and cardigan. Through doing this experiment I'm finding I wear a lot of teal. Granted they are different shades of teal, but teal nonetheless. I guess that's why yellow and burgundy make such great additions to my wardrobe!

Serving Tray

It was my mom's birthday coming up and I was a little stumped about what to get her. Then I remembered seeing how some people had been using picture frames to create serving trays. So I went on a hunt to gather the supplies to make her a serving tray. 

The first thing you need is a sturdy picture frame that is preferably wooden. A picture frame, you think, not hard to find at all. And that's true, there are many frames out there, but ones that are a suitable size for a tray and are wooden are much harder to find. I used this project as a way to explore some of the local thrift stores that I haven't been to, or don't frequent often. The first place I looked had some good options, but the woman then said that she had set the frames aside for herself and the place wasn't really a thrift store, just a sorting facility for a thrift store. I tried two more places striking out, then I found this frame. It was perfect. It was the correct size, it had a wooden frame, it had a wide enough frame to add handles to, and it was already white. Bonus. 

After obtaining the frame I then had to purchase handles for the tray. This, too, was more challenging than I had anticipated. While the big box hardware stores have many different handle options, they didn't have many that I felt were pretty enough. I was ideally looking for one that had glass on it, and neither of the places I went to had them. I ended up going with a nickel plated cage handle that worked well enough. I marked holes on the frame using the handles as a guide and then used a drill for the holes. The holes on one side weren't quite lined up, but the handle was forgiving and it still screwed in. Afterward, we realized that the screw heads were rounded. This made the tray not quite lay flat on the table and also created a possibility for scratching the table. So I bought some felt stickers that were taller than the screw heads and placed them in the corners.

 

Finally I had to select the paper to go in the tray. The tray was shaped differently than the 12x12 paper I had selected. Since it was striped I had some added difficulty of having to line up the paper properly and cut it down to size. However, I was able to find some paper that complemented some of my fun napkings well. My mom loves bright fun colors and has dishes in several colors that would match these colors. If I had a tray like this I'd probably change it out for the seasons, but knowing my Mom she'll probably just leave it these bright summery colors.

All in all this was a quick project that took one afternoon to create including hunting for all of the pieces.

Work outfit

 Grey cardigan, teal tank top, navy dockers pants, navy shoes, silver ball necklace

This cardigan is so soft and comfy. It was good to wear to work to get my fix of fall colors. Added bonus you get to see my cat Callie. She's a cat who loves to be around people at all times.