american girl

details:

banderole tank~anthropologie

field game cardigan~anthropologie

denim pencil skirt~bebe(a hundred years ago)

melrow clogs~steve madden

happy wednesday and hello to all the new followers and commenters! i started this blog for me, to help me streamline my style a little better and to get more comfortable in my own skin. i can't believe that people outside my family read it and actually take the time to comment so thank you:)

this outfit features two anthro items that have hit the sale section. i don't think the tank is still available online but my local store had lots of them in the sale section. i should have probably sized down because the straps are too long but i didn't try it on in the store and i guessed on the size. eventually i will have the straps shortened but i really wanted to wear it this week. the cardigan went on sale yesterday. i love this sweater! i bought it full price and have never regretted it. i've paired it with so many things in my closet. i'm contemplating getting the gray one but i've made a decision to buy only the things on my anthro wishlist and there is so much pretty that i want right now. curse you anthropologie!!!!!

i paired it with this denim pencil skirt that i've had for a million years. to be honest after reviewing these photos i hated the way it looked! the skirt is bit too short and too clingy. it's a little too bootylicious! i think it's time to retire it:) i ended up changing into a pair of skinnies before i left the house:O

omg...these shoes!!! i've seen them on several bloggers that are way younger and cooler and i wasn't sure about them. i kept looking at them online. i wanted them but the price was a bit more than i wanted to spend. then i found a coupon for 30% off plus free shipping so i caved. i loooove them! the leather is so soft and they are comfortable. i put them on yesterday as soon as the ups man dropped them off and i wore them until about 9:30 last night with no aches or pains in my legs or feet.

i feel so patriotic in my red/white/ivory/blue outfit today. the fourth of july is one of my favorite holidays. warm weather, barbeque, fireworks...does it get better than that?

don't worry be happy

details:

dress~vintage

belt/bracelets~f21

shoes~jeffrey campell

hello! isn't it funny how a small adjustment in your thinking makes things so much better? lately it seems like i've been really sad. there are a lot of changes going on especially with my daughter leaving for school in the fall. i don't do well with change and i'm really handling it as well as i thought i would. yesterday i woke up thinking how lucky i am. i have a nice home, children that are happy and healthy and a relationship that i treasure...everything else is fixable or changeable. that small tweak has made a huge difference in how i'm feeling this week:)

all of that brings me to this dress today! i found this dress a few years ago in vintage store and i fell in love with it. red and white are such happy colors. every time i wear it i smile all day long. i'm pretty sure it's homemade and there are no labels or tags on the inside. the flowers down the front are actually cut from fabric and then sewn on to the dress and there are rhinestones attached to center of the flowers. it is fantastically sewn. i'm also wearing my wedding shoes today. every time i look down at my feet i giggle thinking about how fun we had dancing the night away! seriously...this outfit is like prozac in a dress:O

hats off

details:

blouse~anthro

mossimo wide leg jeans~target

hat~tj maxx

shoes~jeffrey campell clogs

happy start of the work week!-unless you're on vacation and then i'm seriously jealous!! how was your weekend? saturday we went to a surprise party for doug's grandparents both of them turn 80 within days of each other so the kids threw them a big bash. they were so surprised that so many people turned out for them. the best part was they put together a video of them over the years and everyone sent in a clip of their favorite memories of joe and glo. it was cute and touching. both sets of my grandparents are gone and i'm thrilled doug's grandparents have not only embraced me but my kids as well. sunday my daughters were in a fashion show. they were a-maz-ing!! the lady that puts on the show said my oldest walks down the runway like she's 6'2. she doesn't let the fact that she's only 5 feet tall keep her from working the fierce!

so with all of the excitement of the weekend i wanted something cool and casual to wear today. usually when i wear a hat i pair it with a dress but i knew i wanted to wear jeans today. i thought my wide leg jeans paired with anthro top would be perfect to wear with the hat. hmmm....i'm not sure i'm thrilled with the results. i think i like hats and dresses a bit more.

hot, hot heat

details:

skirt~odille~anthro~very old

top/belt~f21

shoes~bakers

hey all! i know it's been awhile but this has been the busiest summer of my life! just when i think things are going to slow down we have another function or commitment. i've been trying to get my workouts in before work which leaves little time for picture taking or blogging and at the end of the day i've been spending time with the hubby:)

it's a hot one today! this odille skirt from anthro is something else i found while cleaning out the basement. it's so old i'm not sure when i bought it. the cotton is so soft and lightweight it almost feels like i'm wearing nothing:) i've been wanting to wear this top all week and i couldn't figure out what to wear it with to keep it from looking to heavy. i love it with this white skirt. the tan shoes give it a little bit of an edge.

i'm off to have a night swim with the family before heading to bed:)

wedding recaps~part 3

the reception.so.much.fun.

our priorities for the reception~good food, good music and for me,amazing decor. we had an amazing dinner with some southern flair. shrimp and grits appetizer, bourbon bbq chicken, kentucky honey ham, chocolate chip pecan cookies served with a shot of milk...yum and our specialty cocktail-lovers lemonade(vodka,lemonade and strawberries)! the dj was not happy that i gave him a detailed playlist but he stuck to it(mostly, still annoyed he claimed to have no lady gaga..wtf!). i danced, i managed to get my non dancing groom on the floor, my son was the hit of night, i had a dance off with one of the flower girls and one of ring bearers, and my in-laws took to the soul train line with gusto! it flew by quickly but we enjoyed every single moment!

some of the details~i made burlap table runners for all of the tables, a photo collage of pictures of the two of us growing up(he's still getting shit from co-workers about the picture of him rocking a sweet 1980's mullet!), our card box was a mailbox my girlfriend painted our names on it and i attached gingham ribbon to it, "eat, drink and be married " coasters for the bar.

we're about to be introduced as "mr and mrs!"

the first dance. we could never agree on a song. in the end i let him pick. we danced to nora jones "come away with me"

i love all of the black and white photos. the first dance is odd thing. it's this private moment but you're kind of aware that a room full of people are watching you.

a quiet moment watching our families celebrate..amazing!

one of my best friends and a good shot of some of the table decor. there was lots of anthro there:)

our cake was sooo freaking good! the bottom was french vanilla cake with cookies and cream filling, the middle was lemon with raspberry filling and the top was carrot cake. i had a slice of each! you can also see the eyelet sleeves i made for some of the hurricanes.
you check out our slideshow at shoesinthewindow.com/blog
i think we're the second one down:)
all photos courtesy of ashley steele browyer~shoes in the window photography

wedding day recaps~part 2

we'd originally planned to have our ceremony and reception in the same venue. the more we planned the more we unhappy we were with that choice. we don't belong to a church and despite the fact that my dad is a minister, i have some unresolved issues about organized religion(i'm working on sorting those out). we found this beautiful non-denominational chapel on the grounds of an orphanage. we were allowed to bring in our own officiant and the fees are used to support the children the orphanage helps.

our officiant was amazing! we wrote most of the ceremony ourselves and he offered help and suggestions.doug wanted traditional say the traditional vows so we did but it was important to me that we honor our new family in some way. we made a pledge of family to the kids and presented them each with a gift. the girls received bracelets with a heart charm. their initials were engraved on one side and our wedding date was engraved on the other side. zachary got a pocket watch with his initials and the wedding date engraved. this was my favorite moment in the ceremony. doug was crying as he made this pledge to my kids, our kids. when we gave them their gifts they all starting crying which made me cry:)

" Doug and Courtnee walked down the aisle as two individuals but they will exit this church as a family. To honor this commitment they wanted to make a promise to their children and present them with a small gift as symbol of this family.

Rian, Logan, Skylar and Zachary, we vow to always cherish your intellect, to support and inspire you, to delight in your happiness and to offer comfort when you are in pain. We promise to always maintain a home that celebrates individuality, encourages laughter and disciplines with love. Please accept these small gifts as a symbol of our commitment to our family"

we wanted a ceremony that was thoughtful and joyful and that's exactly what we got. guests are still telling us how beautiful the ceremony was:)

the first time i got married my older brother gave me away. i am so thankful that my 80 year old dad was able to walk me down the aisle.

the entire time we were planning. i kept telling him i wasn't going to wear a veil."i'm too old. i'm not traditional. it will look stupid with my glasses" i decided to surprise him with one at the last minute! he loved(and secretly so did i!)

doug's stepfather serenaded us with a version of jack johnson's "better together" one of the flower girls dropped her basket which provided a funny moment.

my mom in her derby hat:)

i lost it during our vows but so did he:O

next the recption....

all photos courtesy of ashley steele bowyer~shoes in the window photography

wedding recaps~part 1

omg...the dress!!!









my handsome groom tying his bowtie.












coming around the corner for the first look! and the bouquet....love,

love, love!!!!!

"hello, handsome! come here often?"

the family~doesn't my son look dapper in his tux?

i love this picture of them

three teenage girls smiling at the same time~priceless!

the wedding party

we don't have all of our wedding pictures back but i've been dying to do recaps so i decided to use the ones we have:) we really had the most amazing day. i'm saying everything was perfect but i happen to believe perfection is highly overrated! we got married on may 1, derby day! we wanted the day to have a little bit of a southern feel. our first decision was to have the reception in a renovated barn. it was beautiful and because we could bring in our caterer and own alcohol, it saved us a lot of money. the downside was that it was completely unstaffed. this meant that we had to set up everything the morning of the wedding. this meant that doug and i not only spent the night together before our wedding but we spent the entire morning together...the horror! that morning was amazing! we had a group of family that helped us. we all had breakfast together and laughed and joked. it definitely made us feel like the day was not just about us but about our families too.

i'd prepared a very detailed(umm...three page)timeline that kept everything running smoothly. i also forced myself to leave the venue by 11:30 so i could start getting ready. we decided to do pictures before the ceremony. i was surprised that doug agreed to this because he's so traditional but in the end we didn't want to miss out on our party to take pictures. this is something i highly recommend and trust me it does not take away from him seeing you walk down the aisle. we got ready in the same hotel in rooms right next door to each other. spending time with my daughters, getting our makeup done, laughing, singing....i will never forget how special that was. i think being surrounded by friends and family and spending time with each other relaxed me. i wasn't nervous or anxious at all.

we did a first look at a local park. the car picked him up first and drove him to the park and then came back to get me. i still get goosebumps when i think of how handsome he looked standing on the overlook waiting for me. we spent about an hour with the photographers before the rest of the bridal party showed up. the one thing i wanted from the day was to have a great photo of the kids and one of us with the kids. our super talented photographer nailed it!

next, the ceremony...

all photos courtesy of ashley steele bowyer~shoes in the window photography

sometimes simple is good

details:

dress/bracelets~f21

hat~eugenia kim for target

shoes~jeffrey campbell

i can't believe it's wednesday already! i've been horrible about blogging and reading/commenting on blogs lately. i'm sorry. there don't seem to be enough hours in my day to get everything done. we are trying to get our bedroom decorated(finally) and getting my husband who debates and thinks and rethinks everything to make decisions is not easy but we're making progress! i'm hoping it will be done in the next two weeks.

anyway, it is has been ridiculously hot and humid here so it's more of the same in terms of outfit. a simple dress and a pair of sandals.it's so simple it almost feels like i'm cheating. people seem to think that you made much more of an effort than you actually did when you wear a dress. i found this dress the other day at f21. i think it's part of the love 21 collection which is a little bit better quality and supposedly targeted at the "more sophisticated" f21 shopper. i love the color and the details but once again it's a wee bit short. i'm only 5'2 so it's not such a problem for me but really if the average woman is 5'6 how is she supposed to wear this? i couldn't pass up this hat in target and i'm still not sure i can pull off the fedora but it is keeping me cool so i don't really care if it looks silly:O

my son is spending time with my sister, the girls are off being teenagers and the man doesn't get home until late so it's just me and the dog for the evening. these days everyone has their own schedule. i'm getting a taste of what life will be like when the kids leave the house. i'm not sure i like it. i like to have my family all in one place. the upside...i don't have to cook dinner tonight. i'll probably eat a bowl of cereal and watch a movie.

monday blues

today is....not great for whatever reason. i don't want to spend too much time putting negative energy out there so i'll be back tomorrow in better spirits. i promise!

*these lovelies are on my kitchen table:) white roses, peonies and lavender.

watching the ships roll in

details:

skirt~anthropologie~very old(2003?)

striped tank~anthropologie~part of a undies set

cardigan~jcrew

belt~anthro~snakebite

shoes~steve madden

this skirt is way old but it is one of my husband's favorites. today we're having lunch so i thought i would dress up in something i know he loves:) i usually wear it with white but i decided to go for one of my favorite color combinations(red/pale blue) instead. i got this tank as part of set-it came with super cute boy shorts-at one of my showers. i think it's way too cute to wear under something or to bed so it's having it's daytime debut today:) the rest of the oufit is fairly basic-cardi, belt and a pair of heels-but i'm happy with the way it turned out.

we have a huge storage space in our basement that has become the dumping ground for everything we don't want. in an effort to make room for wedding presents and other stuff that we actually need to store Doug really wants to clear some stuff out. last night, i started going through bin after bin. i'm embarrassed by the amount of stuff i have, especially clothes. i ended up with about 7 heavy duty trash bags full of stuff to donate and two large bins of shoes! i did find some great stuff that i'd virtually forgotten about. six years ago i went through a period where i was in love with vintage dresses and i started buying them off of ebay. i found several of those dresses that i can't wait to wear again! it felt really good to let some of that stuff go.

have a beautiful thursday:)

lobster roll

details:
dress~salty seas dress~anthropologie
belt~f21
wedges~enzo?

i can't believe it's already tuesday! i'm still recovering from the very busy weekend. anyway, i was delighted that this dress went on sale! i was considering it for our rehearsal dinner but i ended up wearing another dress(the polka dot one) and then i i got tired of spending money....seriously, did i just say that?! i decided to pass but would still visit it from time to time on my wishlist. when it popped up on sale it was a go. i'm so glad i decided to get it. i love it and the fit of the petite size ordered online fits much better than the regular size i tried on in the store. my daughters aren't giving this little number much love but the lady that chased me down in the grocery to tell me she loves it, is giving it two thumbs up:) i added a little braided belt to give it a little more interest and threw on the green suede wedges to make it a little more fun(as if a dress covered in lobsters needs more fun..ha!).

i thought last month was busy but this one appears to be just as jammed packed! i think we have every weekend booked until after the fourth of july. i'm not a person that likes to have a jammed packed social schedule. i'm more of home body so all of these obligations have me a little frazzled. i love spending time with family and friends but i'm hoping for a nice quiet afternoon where i can lounge by the pool and read sooner rather than later.

our photographer said that we should be getting our pictures in the next week or so and i am planning on doing a wedding recap post. i also wanted to do a little mini recap of our wonderful honeymoon in savannah(which we loooooved!!!)but i haven't managed to find the time for that either:( as much as i lecture my kids about time management, i haven't been doing a great job of it lately. oh well, i'm off to watch the season finale of glee! have a lovely tuesday evening.

a proud mom post

*the graduate is the tiny one in the front:)*
sunday, my oldest daughter graduated from high school. school has never been easy for her but by working her but off she's always managed to get pretty good grades. her senior year managed to make the honor roll for the entire year. we are immensely proud of her! she is smart, funny, compassionate, fiercely loyal, beautiful and all kinds of awesome. in the fall she's headed off to college. congratulations r!!!



outfit details: anthro/polka dot dress/cuff bracelet f21/cardigan steve madden/shoes

strike a pose(n)

details:

dress~zac posen for target

shoes~steve madden

i was super excited about the posen/target collaboration. the line didn't really live up to my expectations:( i ordered three dresses from the collection and this was the only one that was remotely flattering. even after getting it i couldn't decide if i wanted to keep it. the print is not for the faint of heart! in the end the details-the neckline and the sweet little sleeves-won me over. but guess what after pulling it out and trying it on again over the weekend...i dig the print too! i can say with absolute honesty that it's not like anything i else i have in my closet. sometimes you gotta shake things up:D

i hope you're having a fantastic wednesday!

mr. wright

details:

dress~wright dress~anthropologie

belt~snakebite belt~anthropologie

cardigan~f21

shoes~bcbg

i hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend! it was so nice to do absolutely nothing:) well, almost nothing. i did find time to go see satc2(still not sure how i felt about it) and use my brand spankin' new kitchen aide mixer to make something yummy!

today, it's back to the grind. because i was feeling lazy i decided to wear my wright dress,umm mainly because it required no ironing and very little thought. nothing spectacular here today-a dress, a belt, and a sweater-i have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot of this combination when days get hotter and i get lazier:O

the younger kids have four more days of school. my oldest daughter is finished and is waiting for her graduation on sunday. i can't believe i have a kid graduating from high school! i have to figure out some sort of graduation party and a birthday celebration for my dad's 80th birthday which is also this weekend. i need to get busy!!

p.s.-i didn't have the patience to try to get a decent picture of this outfit:(for whatever reason the photography gods were not cooperating with me today