inspiration needed

details: dress(worn as skirt)anthropologie/turtleneck~old navy/shoes~steve madden/socks~target

Thank you all for the sweet birthday wishes for mom!
I was seriously lacking in inspiration this morning. I wasn't much in the mood for dressing up but I'm feeling bloated and there's nothing worse than being bloated and trying to squeeze into a pair of jeans! i usually have some idea of what I want to wear the night before or can think up a starting point in the shower but this morning...nothing. This was the best I come up with:(

I guess I'll keep this short. There's a lot on my mind but I'm always trying to figure out how much personal stuff to go into on this blog. Bloggers have been getting some grief about "whitewashing" their lives. Trust me, things are not always happy and shiny here, especially since my main job is being a mom and quite frankly, I feel like I've been struggling a bit in the mom department. I think I do a pretty good job of weaving my real life in with the fashion-y stuff...maybe.

Birthday Wishes

                                                     and this ladies and gents is how you rock a hat;)

                                              one is never to old to dance at your daughter's wedding

Today my mama turns 77! Happy Birthday to one of the most stylish women I know. I love you Mom:D

that is sooo yesterday!

details:top~ tucker for target/jeans~f21/shoes~steve madden

Today is cool and rainy so I've spent most of the day in yoga pants cleaning and surfing the internet for soup recipes:)

Yesterday was a perfect fall day-sunny with a little chill in the air. The hubby left me to watch football and obsess over his fantasy football team. I got dressed and spent a few hours with the John Hamm, Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner...not too shabby;)

No romantic dinner with my man this weekend because my son dogsat for our neighbors, but we did get a little cuddle time watching Rubicon last night. Which by the way, is the best show we still can't understand! I think last night was the first time we watched and sort of got what was going on. It's actually kind of nice to watch a tv show that makes me really think about the plot and the characters.

a little daytime sparkle

details:skirt~vitnage/cami~tucker for target/cardigan~f21/shoes~steve madden/socks~target?

Why, hello weekend...please come and stay for awhile:D Can I tell you this may be one of my favorite outfits EVER. When I saw this skirt in Paige's barefootandvintage etsy store I had to have it. Pleats,yes. Sparkle,hellz yes! As soon as it it arrived this outfit came together so easily. I loved most of the Tucker collection but this butterfly print cami was the one I had to have(although I ended up buying another top as well). I topped it off with this very vintage looking cardigan from f21. I'm not sure that you can really see all of the beading down the front. The socks and high heels made it a little quirky. A year of blogging has really opened my eyes to way the I put outfits together and given me the confidence to wear them. I absolutely adore this outfit!(Thanks Paige for your vintage thrifting genius!)

Any big weekend plans? My girls have Homecoming tomorrow and I'm sending my son to my sister's house so I can enjoy a nice quiet dinner with my guy.
Have a wonderful Friday!  

lunch lady

details:dress~vintage deargolden/shoes~bcbg/ring~urban outfitters/earrings~anthro/bracelets,necklace&belt~f21

Just a quick post because I've still got tons of stuff to do around the house. I met one of my friends for lunch. It was nice to sit and talk, really talk not just catch up on the kids and the spouses. I thought I would dress up for our lunch date. This is not what I'd planned to wear. I can't really explain why I'm suddenly in love with skirts and dresses in this mid-calf length. The length, the drapey top and the little slits at the shoulders felt perfect for today.

Have a lovely evening:)

summer, we are soooo over!

details:top~f21/white tank~f21/jacket~f21/jeans~jcrew/boots~target

Summer we are dunzo!!okay, not really since it's supposed to be a ridiculous 92degrees on the first freakin day of fall! what is up with that? I'm using the first day of fall as an excuse to bust out my new boots even if it's 90 d*** degrees. Like most of you I'm completely over my summer wardrobe. I'm ready to embrace boots, sweaters and layers, although I'm sure by January I'll be longing for these days. A pair of Frye boots have been singing their sweet siren song to me. I even had a pair in my cart on endless. Thankfully, my budget slapped me with a good dose of "girl, please!" I found these at Target. Not exactly Frye's but they didn't break the bank:)

Now it's time to finish all of the mundane-laundry,laundry and more laundry-so I can reward myself with a pumpkin spice latte and a matinee.

*edit-apparently the first day of fall is tomorrow...oops. Yeah, tomorrow is going to be a few degrees hotter so I'm still hating on summer's death grip!

secondhand roses

details:dress~dear golden vintage/cardigan~anthro/shoes~steve madden

I bought this dress from the very lovely Dear Golden etsy shop. She has some of the most perfect vintage! This dress is a little snug from all of the wonderful eating I did last week..oops! I love the soft cotton, the delicate floral pattern and of course the sweet heart shaped pockets.

Instead of dreading Mondays, I'm trying to embrace them as full of possibilities for the week;)

Have lovely evening.

a weekend in photos

Friday~good old German fun at Oktoberfest which included a wiener dog race! Our Henry won his heat and made it to the finals where he placed 6th..6th out of 100..not to shabby:)

Saturday~ We spent the morning at Findlay market where I had the.most.amazing.waffle.Ever! We also bought lots of goodies to make this week. I also purchased a huge bouquet of wildflowers for $10!

Sunday~I made three lovely arrangements out of my flowers. Got my Julia on by making Beef
Bourguignon for dinner and finished it off by making a Pushing Daisies inspired Apple-Gruyere pie for dessert..ohmygoshsofreakingooodicoulddie!!!!

Now it's time to relax~with another piece of pie~watch Rubicon and Mad Men and get ready for Monday. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! See you tomorrow:)

platform for change

details:dress~vintage/shoes~Jessica Simpson/cuff~f21

Hey there! I didn't mean to fall off the face of the earth but...blah,blah,blah!

I haven't been in the best of spirits. I think Holly Golightly called them the "mean reds". It's the whole ,"I'm so ugly, I feel so worthless"..woe is me thing that I sometimes let myself fall into. I loathe linking physical appearance to self worth but sometimes it's really hard for me to keep those thoughts out of my head.

Anyway, I really haven't worn much more than denim cutoffs and hanes white t-shirts for the last few days and no one wants to see that-trust me. I think the hubby was relieved that I finally decided to get dressed yesterday, even if it meant I was wearing the most ri-dunk-u-lous shoes. ever! I know these Jessica Simpson platforms are the toast of many a fashion blog but trust me when I say I was getting the big fat side eye in the burbs! I limited my errand running-or should I say errand walking(very carefully so I didn't kill myself!) I have to say that once I got used to them they are pretty easy to maneuver. I felt very Studio 54! These completely ridiculous shoes, a fantastic party last night, and lunch with one of my best friends was almost enough to pull me out of my funk..almost:(

Better outfits and less emo tomorrow-I promise!

perfectly plaid

details:dress~vintage from barefootandvintage etsy seller/shoes~anthro/jewelry&bag~f21

I planned on wearing something totally different today but when I got this lovely little frock from the amazing Paige I couldn't wait to wear it!It's equal parts Little House on the Prairie and awesomeness! It goes perfectly with my new kicks- as the kids call them:) I'm also diggin' the gold cuff on each wrist these days. It's very Wonder Woman, no? I totally wanted to be Wonder Woman when I was little. I loved my WW underoos even though it came with an undershirt instead of the little bra top. I think it was the boots! I've always been a sucker for a killer pair of boots!

Have a spectacular weekend!

hey shortie

details:romper~f21/cardi~anthro(very old)/shoes~anthro/clutch~vintage from etsy seller gogovintage

As much as I've been longing for fall to hurry up and get here, today I decided to embrace the last days of summer.

I bought this romper this spring and I don't think I've ever worn it. However, it did manage to make it's way into my daughters' room...I wonder how that happened!? Because I'm not very tall(5'2), for a long time I favored mini skirts. The shorter the better, but I've really loved wearing longer skirts this spring and summer. I think they're so feminine and pretty. I don't think I've shown this much leg in a really long time:P It's actually a little unsettling. I paired it with this ancient cardigan-hubby calls it my grandma sweater- from Anthropologie. I'll probably wear this sweater until it falls apart. It's one of my favorites. These shoes are the Anthropologie Felted Chrysanthemum shoes for which I fell hard! They went on sale last week and I was able to get them with a store credit I'd almost forgotten about!! It doesn't get better than (kind of)free shoes.

*I just noticed you can see our doxie, Henry frolicking in one of the pictures-Ha!

stripes and spots

details:striped shirt~h&m/cardigan~target/skinnies~f21/shoes~seychelles/scarf~??

It's Wednesday!!!!Actually, when you're not working Wednesday kind of loses it's significance. Yesterday was a bit of a mess, but I'm over it...mostly. New day, new opportunity to cross stuff off of my to do list. Or, in my case, look at the to do list and become paralyzed by the amount of things on it, think there's no way I can do all that, become overwhelmed and take a nap. So, yeah, life is good..Ha!

I'm trying to run a bunch of errands that didn't get taken care of yesterday. Getting dressed today was a bit much. As much as I hate the casual dress code of America, dropping off/picking up, grocery shopping, etc does require a bit of comfort. I think I forgot how much activity is required of a "stay at home" mom! Anyway, the weather is down right beautiful today-yay! So here I am in my casual but hopefully not sloppy jeans and tee look. I'm off to get things done so that I can spend my afternoon with George Clooney;)

ps- I've installed disqus for comments because I feel really terrible about not replying. What do you think? Is it a keeper?

happy (lazy) labor day

details:top~old navy/jeans~jcrew/shoes~gap

I hope you're enjoying your long weekend. I threw this on this morning to drive my kid back to school(which she adores!!!) and a quick jaunt to Loew's for a new ceiling fan. The rest of the day involves a House Hunters International marathon, reading Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night and my newest issue of Vanity Fair and a pitcher of mojitos:D

Have a happy Labor Day!!

deja vu

details:top&bracelet~f21/cardigan~anthropologie/jeans~william rast flares/shoes~steve madden/necklace~target

Friday!!!!Today is my last at work! I work for my father and while I love him, working with family is never easy. I'm a little nervous about what I'm going to do with the rest of my life but I'm excited by the possibities. I know the I'm going to get some rest and finish up lots of projects around the house we've started but haven't finished-master bedroom I'm lookin' at you!

Wednesday I decided to get back on my workout game. I did my 45 minute Jackie Warner dvd and felt really good after. Fastfoward to yesterday and I literally couldn't move! Muscles I didn't even know existed were screaming in pain!! I took some advil and rested yesterday but today I knocked it out again! I'm so proud of myself:) If you like working out at home I really recommend her dvd. While it's a sculpting workout I feel like I'm getting a good cardio workout as well. Plus, she's not as grating as that d*mn Jillian Michaels.

I feel like this my go to Friday outfit-breezy tank, cardigan and jeans. Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it:) I purchased these William Rast flare jeans from Rue La La in my quest for the perfect flares. The jury is still out on how I feel about them. I love the color. I think they're flared just enough but I don't the back flap pockets and....they are rhinestoned out...meh. I guess I'll only be able to wear them with longer tops or get used to my a** being blinged out.


And just because it's officially September....