Colorful Casual

It's officially summer here in my household!  All the kids school and activities are done for the year, and the only thing between here and September is the beach, the pool, and swimming lessons!  Wahoo!  So how do I entertain the kiddos during the day now that they are home with me all day everyday?  By taking self portraits and giving them the remote of course....

Ehhhhh....

Sometimes I put on clothes in my room and think "this looks so cute!"  Then I take pictures, or come home and take a second look and think "what in the hell was I thinking???"  This may have been one of those days.  Ok I don't look HORRID...but it's not my favorite.  I think its the skirt.  I'm not sure...it's just one of those outfits that you go "Eeeeeehhhh...."






 

PS:  my boobs look huge...they are not this huge.....

The Deets:
Tank and Skirt: Old Navy
Cardigan: Forever 21
Shoes: Macys
Necklace: Target
Watch: D&G

Modern Day Hippie

Saturday night my neighbors through me a birthday party.  Well...not just me.  We have a group of 3 couples that we love, and coincidentally, 2 people have birthdays within days of each other.  So we get together 3 times to celebrate that duos b-day...am I losing you? Possibly.  But anyway, it's always a fun get together with drinks, and food and games.  My birthday rocks because it's held at my next door neighbors house, so we never need to find a sitter, we just bring the monitors over to there house.  No seriously...look

I don't even plan to wear shoes over there ever since it takes about 7 steps to get inside their door...where I take my shoes off.  So in order to enjoy a totally relaxing and fun night...I wore a totally relaxing and fun outfit!  It was perfect for loads of eating, drinking, laughing, and celebrating!

You ever feel pretty good about your outfit...and you start getting stupid and silly?  That's fair warning for the remainder of these pictures...

The Deets: 

Tank: Target

Shirt: Target

Jeans: H&M

Leather Bracelet: Target

Watch: D&G

Beaded Bracelet: Gift

Slack-a Lackin!!

Holy shnikies I have been slacking around here lately.  I guess after that long run...I've had 2 weeks of jello time.  Meaning I've literally been a blob around the house.  But no more!  I've made an April 6th resolution to get the bootie back in gear...which means more good posts coming up!  I did manage to pull myself together last weekend though, for an outing with my handsome hubs, some Dunkin Donuts, and a birthday party at my in-laws!  Can't wait to get crackin' again next week folks!  I've missed you all so much!

The Deets:
Shirt: Jason Wu for Target
Sweater: Old Navy
Jeans: Express
Shoes: Macy's
Cuff: From my mom's closet (I think it was originally bought in Arizona)
Sunnies: Target

Flashback

Craig and I were supposed to go to a fantastic party on Saturday themed in the best decades ever....the 80's/90's!  Heck yes!  That's  my era, baby!  But...ish hit the fan and we didn't end up getting to go.  First the baby sitter got sick and then when she was better, the dog slipped a disk in her back.  It was so sad.  She kept falling over like a drunken sorority girl because her back legs wouldn't work right.  Poor Pepper.  So I decided, since she IS my first baby ever, I had to stay and keep an eye on her.  So no 80's/90's fun for us.  Which is why I decided to bust out a little best-era-ever fashion today...moderned up a bit.  Considering alot of this fashion is back in style now...it really wasn't hard.

This sweater is from Forever 21 from a couple years ago.  I just love dolman sleeves so that's what initially attracted me to it.  And I got it right after having Hunter...and I just felt that the banded bottom and the dolman sleeves were super forgiving to my post partum figure.  I think it even looks better now!!

Sorry about how noisy these pictures are.  It's fah-reezing outside and I really didn't feel like going jacket less out there.  Anyway.  I don't know if anyone knew this...but I used to be a AVID, nearly obsessive, earring collector and wearer between ages 10-15.  Then I started doing cheer and wasn't aloud to wear them and that obsession faded.  When I was in California visiting my parents not to long ago I got to go through my old jewelry box and found some insane (and some insanely cute) pairs!  This was one of the cute ones.  Seriously!  I bought these just about 20 years ago!  AH!

{My favorite flats...and my favorite little pairs of feets next to mine.  He's between sizes, hence the totally long pants}

The Deets: 

Sweater: Forever 21

Jeans: Old Navy

Shoes: Loeffler Randall for Target (about 4 years old

Necklace: Gifted (My 21st birthday present from my parents.  Still a treasured item!)

Earrings: Old...old old old....

Transitions

I hate this time…this time RIGHT between seasons where you have no idea how to dress appropriately.  Today started off in the 40’s…still too cold to go without tights (plus my legs are blindingly white), and it was still raining after downpours all day yesterday so my Hunter boots were totally needed. But then Bill Henley (my local morning weather man….I heart him!) told me it was going to be near 60 and sunny later.  UUUGGGHhhhhhh!!!!  I hate that.  So, light layers it was, with a super fun bright skirt, and no jacket, which means I would just have to shiver a little on our morning errands.  Oh well.  All for the sake of looking cute!

The Deets:
Turtleneck: Old Navy
Cardigan: Old Navy
Skirt: Missoni for Target
Tights: Target
Boots: Hunter
Watch: D&G

A lesson on Fit, Flattery, and Forbearance...

Happy Leap Day, y'all!  Anyone watch the leap day 30 Rock?  It was hilarious.  The gist was that leap day was an actual holiday, complete with a patron saint and official colors

Damn my embedded video isn't working.....anyway.....

So, because it's leap day, I wanted to dress in full holiday regalia...blue and yellow, blue and yellow.  Yeah-yah!  So here's where the lessons come in.  First...FIT.  This is the outfit I initially went with today, having full intention of wearing this today when I took the pictures

I thought I looked pretty good in the mirror...but then I took these pics.  First of all...don't I look terribly uncomfortable?  That's because I am.  And I wanted to wear my hair down...and because it's so long it's just not happening.  But that's under the lesson of flattery...let's get back to fit.  These pants were ones I bought when I was (unknowingly) 3 months pregnant with Jagger....my second little nugget of love.  So that means I had lost the baby weight with Hunter and was again 3 months pregnant.  They fit...just not well.  They are still just that LITTLE bit of tight that makes your back hurt a little.  Anyone else know what I'm talking about?  Anyone?  So the lesson here is no matter how much you WANT to where something...make sure the fit is correct or else your going to show it ALL OVER your face all day that you are completely uncomfortable.  And no matter how much makeup you put on, you can't cover up a constipated look because your pants are pinching just a little.

Anway,  I had to change...which brings me to flattery...and to this outfit (I just noticed my puppy Pepper photo bombed my picture)

Do I not look about 20 pounds thinner...no joke.  And not that I am like "oh look at me I'm so skinny!" because I'm pretty far from that point...but this picture is more true to form (or at least what I see in the mirror) than the before pic.  Let me break it down on why I think this outfit is WAY more flattering.  Right away would be the pants.  They fit.  I do not have to suck in to button them, or worry about anything twisting, turning, bunching or falling.   Then, the cardigan.  I think it perfectly skims my body to create a leaner line..and I'll be real, it's still way to cold to have my arms exposed. And lastly, the hair.  My face does not do well with extremely long, non-layered hair.  I say non-layered because I've had long hair before that had great layers and I loved it...but right now my hair is blllllaaaahhhhhh. So off my face is best right now.

I mean...look how much HAPPIER I look!  Because I feel good in what I'm wearing...not trying to feel good in pants I really really want to wear.

So my last lesson.  Forbearance (which is a synonym for patience...but I need another "F" word...ooooooo....."F" word......).

I really wanted to wear those striped pants.  SO badly that I picked an extremely poor outfit to wear.  So poor that my posture was bad, my hair was bad, and I just looked....bad.  My whole personality changed when I changed my clothes.  I am more confident, and happy, which in turn changes how I look completely. I often get hung up on the fact that I am not losing weight as rapidly as I did with my first child as I am with my second.  By Hunter's first birthday, I was already down to my pre-pregnancy weight, and 3 months later (when I found out I was pregnant with Jagger) I was still there!  With Jagger...we're approaching his SECOND birthday and the weight just isn't coming off as easy, despite the fact that I'm training for a marathon.  Don't even get me started on diet.  

The point is patience.  Things don't ever happen the way that you think they will, and it's hard to come to a realization that  you can't compare your situations with anyone else...or with your own!  What happened with Hunter unfortunately didn't happen with Jagger, but I'm on my way.  I've lost 6 pounds and have about 10 more to go...and its taken about 3 months....but it's going.  Just not as fast as I'd like.  And in this fashion blogging world, it's terribly difficult not to compare yourself to others.  You wonder how the heck girls have fit back into their skinny jeans and you're still rockin' your "big jeans."  But, it's important to realize that you are not like those girls (um...rock on to you ladies that do that BTW....I'm jealous...but applaud you) and that you are just YOU.  And, if you dress for how you fit NOW and not how you want things to fit...you will look your best for sure!  I'm so glad I took pics of myself and saw what I was doing....I just FEEL happier!

Gut feeling

This outfit started the day of with no leggings.  I threw them on at the last minute while the kids were waiting for me in the car and I'm SO glad I did!  I severely misjudged the weather (yes its 65...but WINDY...), and upon taking the kids out of the car at school...somebody decided to have a mini meltdown which required me to hunch and squat while picking him up.  Would not have been so good sans leggings.  Which leads me to firmly believe that you should ALWAYS go with your gut feeling!

The Deets:
Dress: Old Navy
Vest: F21
Leggings: Target
Boots: Target
Watch: Gifted
Bead Bracelet: Gifted
Leather stud Bracelet: Target
Belt: Kohls

Nights Out

One of the great things about visiting my family and friends in California is I get a little break from the kiddos!  I was lucky enough to get 2 nights out with my best girlfriends after my little guy went to bed (with the g-rents making sure he wasn't running around upstairs naked...as it's been known to happen).  As it's in the 20's in NJ at night, I wasn't positive how to dress for CA.  The first outfit, with my girl Megan, I think would have been really cute without the tights.  And I can't tell if it's the angle of the camera that's making my legs seem super short, or if it was the mirror I was getting ready in that made me think my legs looked really good.  Anyway...I felt cute in my Grellow colored sweater.  But something about this worked when trying it on at home and then was off when actually putting it into application.  And of course...I didn't have time to really do my hair as it was a bathe-the-little-butt-and-get-him-in-bed-so-I-can-go-out kind of night. But isn't my little Megan so totally adorable?  She is this cute ALL the time....I know...we were roommates once...

The next night I got to go out was with my chicky, Heather.  You guys saw her when I featured her here.  This was kind of an unexpected going out event, so I worked with what I packed in my suitcase already.  It's nothing spectacular...but I felt great!  Easy pieces, worn in a casual way.  And we munched alot and drank some..so the oversized sweater was quite perfect.  And doesn't Heather look fantastic too?  I was loving that scarf she was wearing with the owl print.  If it wasn't tied around her neck, I totally would have stolen it...

And don't you just love the homecoming-esque picture in front of the piano?  It was like my parents go to back drop and prop for when we were little.  Apparently when we are not so little as well!

Pinterest Challenge Day 4: Cuddle up!

Throughout this week I've been showing you guys images I picked off of Pinterest and also showing you the outfits that those images have inspired.  I've also been saying how I've been discovering items that I either forgot I had, or have re-discovered them in a whole new way.  Which is way I literally squealed when I was determining how to be inspired by this image:

The coziness of all the knits, the softness of the pinks and grays...I was in love.  And as I said last week, I didn't even know if I owned anything in these colors.  So I was going to focus on the textures instead.  And as I was digging through my closet I found this...which is when squeals erupted:

UHHH....HELLO!  Could this BE any more perfect?  

It's been cold and super unfriendly around here...and I loved all the softness going on in the inspiration pic, which is why I threw on this super chunky scarf too.  SO cozy!  And the colors on this sweater are just the right amount of softness.  I wore this to a little children's museum so I paired it with my Uggs to be able to run around after 2 crazies in comfort...but you can't beat Uggs when it comes to being cozy as well!

 Ha!  I didn't realize in this pic that the timer had one more left!  so CHEESE!

I am so enjoying finding "new" pieces in my closet that I am thinking that this week of Pinterest might be a monthly challenge for me!  Feel free to submit any inspiration pics for me to have...that way you know for sure that I'm not just pulling pics based on what I already have in my closet.  I want challenges!  :)  Maybe you guys will join in the fun next month!

The Deets:
Turtleneck sweater: Old Navy
Chevron sweater: Forever 21
Chunky scarf: Target
Jeans: Old Navy
Boots: Ugg
Earring: gifted