A Soberly Striped Saturday of Skee-ball

Liked that l'il tongue twisty?

Tee - Gap
Dress - Target

 

Soo... I think I cleaned up pretty well today.

Considering that last night's game night at our friend's/neighbor's house turned into:

(1) a concoction of alcohols,

(2) prank calls to each other (see #1), and

(3) an early morning bedtime (a 3:48 early morning bedtime, to be exact).

And I had a 7 a.m. hair appointment today.

Fortunately, the "beverages" had worn off by the time we did get home, and two hours later, I was up and, at 6 a.m, out of the house.  I was very awake and alert, but my tummy didn't know what hit it (was it the Orange Petrone? Nouveau ((was that what it was called??)) or that third drink that I definitely can't remember the name of?)!!

Anyway, other than an unsettled tummy (I'm not much of a drinker...yet still downed three different drinks!  Makes sense, huh?), I made it to my appointment on time, stopped at my mom's for a visit, and made it home by noon.  After a two-and-a-half hour power nap, I cleaned myself up and wore this outfit to spend an afternoon with my little tootie.

With P and his mommy playing Skee-ball...it was Chuck E. Cheese's that didn't know what hit it!

(By the way, I was well aware of the peek-a-boo stripes that could be seen through the tee, but I was too lazy and it was too hot to consider adding another layer. So, peek-a-boo it was.)

Bon week-end!

I'm Having Breakfast With Tiffany Today

Hello!

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to do a guest post by my blogger buddy Tiffany from Breakfast With Tiffany.  After some excitement, nervousness, many ideas, and a several drafts, I did it! 

Okay, maybe I'm making too big of a deal about it, but please check it out anyway.  (By the way, I'm sure the link to her blog is not going to work once I post this, but you can find her on my reading list...sixth one down from the top.)  And, if you don't follow her already...you might just want to do that, too! ;)

Also, on Saturday I passed along the "Best Blogger Award" to many bloggers, but I forgot about a special one:

Melissa from A Working Mom's Closet  (third down on my reading list)

Her blog oozes positivity and she always has something nice to say (or says things in the nicest way possible)! 

Have a great day!

Awards Day

I was out and about today running a couple of errands and then picking P up from my sister's (he's been gone for one whole week!!!). I tried something new with the scarf tied around my head...it's different for me and I kind of liked it...but I'm not sure if I have the right "oomph" to pull it off the way I've seen others do it.

I actually didn't leave the house like this, though. I swapped this belt out for a skinny red one, tightened the cuff on the pants, added several bracelets and a watch.  And, of course, I changed into flat sandals.

Scarf - from a pair of pants from The Limited
Tee - Gap
Belt - Gap
Khakis - Gap
Shoes - Ross

So, earlier this week, the dynamic duo from H&K Style Journey and the wonder-mom from Breakfast With Tiffany both recognized me with a Best Blog Award.

                                                        

First, I'd like to say thank you to The Academy H&K and Tiffany for bestowing such a prestigious award upon me. Secondly, I'd like to pass it on to several other bloggers (refer to my blog list for the links to these blogs if they do not work below)***:

1. Right back at y'all H&K...for their mother and daughter cuteness

2. Right back at Tiffany...for her covet-worthy dresses and sandals

3. Erin from Moms Have Style, Too! ...for her sense of humor on motherhood and her ability to look good in it (motherhood, that is) every. damn. day.

4. Callandra from Petite Early Morning Style...for her insane ability to put together magazine-worthy looks

5. A dIvAmOms Journey...for her calming insight on life and her ability to pull off just about any outfit

6. Ambular Logic...also for her insight on motherhood (and her two cute little ones!)

7. Economy of Style...for her classic looks at great prices

8. Style & Poise...for her great use of colors and patterns

9. Two Stylish Kays...for their insane chic-ness

10. Jenn from The Suburb Experiment (and also from Secondhand Stylist)....for her "I want that!" vintage pieces and shoes

11. Style in General... for her classic looks and ability to tie a belt in the best. knot. ever.

12. Not Just a Pretty Face ...for sharing her journey with the insane Insanity workout videos...and her pretty face ;)

13. Hot Southern Mess...for making me laugh EVERY time I read her blog

14. Fashion for Giants...for her classic and colorful looks

15. Em's Fashion Finds...for her great shoes and the best necklaces

16. Style Chic 360...for her diva-factor every time

All righty. Next, I'm supposed to give seven random facts about myself. Here goes:

1. I absolutely cannot eat anything at anytime with my hands, unless my hands have been thoroughly washed with soap and hot water.

2. I hate to hear other women pee-ing in the restroom.

3. I'm not a huge Coke fan, but I love to get a large-sized order of it from McDonalds.

4. I despise washing dishes. My philosophy in my household is: If you dirty it, you clean it. (Unless you're P.)

5. I'm addicted to a game that I have on my phone called Ka-Glom. Really addicted. Unhealthily addicted.

6. Brown rice. Sliced turkey hot dogs. And ketchup. Those are the three ingredients for my own special recipe that I created about ten years ago called "Rice Dog Pie." Mm.Mm. (When M & I were dating way back then, I offered to "cook" for him one night after a work out at the gym. When I put his bowl of Rice Dog Pie in front of him, he looked at it and said, "What the he...!" You may be thinking the same thing as well...and that's okay.)

7. I was in a college pageant. And I actually won.

And here's a bonus:

8. My son has the largest boogers in the world. And I was put on this Earth to pull them out.  Aaaaaand, I'm secretly obsessed with examining them afterwards. Gross, but definitely random.

Lastly, I need to answer the following questions:

Favorite song: 
I don't have ONE.

Favorite dessert: 
Chocolate cake with some kind of raspberry or chocolate something drizzled on top of it

What is pissing you off right now: 
Not a thing.  At the moment.

When you are upset you:
Stop talking and/or shut down.

Favorite pet:
Awww....that's easy.  My Pomeranian named Monty.  He was my first child.  But I had to put him to sleep back in 2005.  I still miss him.

Black or White?
Black

Biggest Fear:
Death

Best Feature:
ay-yi-yi............umm......my eyes?

Everyday Attitude:
playful/serious/focused/unfocused

What is perfection?
Neatly and symmetrically threaded eyebrows.  Perfection.

Guilty pleasure?
Coconut Tart (Pie).  It's a Caribbean dessert chock-full of calories and fat, but soooooooooo sweet and good that I can eat an entire 8" pie. Aaaaaalllll. Byyyyyy. Myyyyyyyy.  Self.

That's it!  If you are one of the sixteen bloggers to whom I passed this award along, please do what I did:  link back, pass it along to (15) others, tell seven random things about yourself, and then answer the last set of questions.  Can't wait to read your responses!

Have a great weekend!

P.S.
(*** Can anyone help me with this problem that I'm having with the links?!? They show up on my draft, but once I do a preview or publish the post, the links disappear!)

Red, White, and Booooo!!!!

Dress - TJ Maxx
Cardigan - Loft
Shoes - Jessica Simpson, Dillards (recent purchase)

Booooo!!!  After my third meeting this week, and more to come in the next couple of weeks, my summer vacation is pretty much over. 

I wore this today to two meetings.  (I actually wore my staple summer shoewear of flat sandals.) Regardless, with the style of the dress and my hair in a french braid...I felt a little pin-up-y. 

So, maybe yea for that!

Meet My Alter Egos

Hat - old Old Navy
Dress - Gap
Belt - old Old Navy
Shoes - Michael Kors, Macy's
Flower Pin - Talbots

My husband went to lunch today with  a newspaper  boy wearing his hat, a prom teen and her corsage, and a bridesmaid still in her (short) dress and sash.
 
Random, huh?

Yep. 

Well, apparently, I have three alter egos.  And they all just randomly met each other today.

But I promise, I'm not as crazy as I look.  I promise, I'm not as crazy as I look.

Oh, and the blue handbag in the background?

Don't worry.  I did not throw that into the mix, too.

My alter egos and I didn't think it would match.

Black Friday Find: In The Name of Love

After yesterday's outfit rant, I decided to go very basic today.  A black tee and Gap skinny jeans.  I mean, that's like boiling water...can't muck that up, right?  {with the exception of the one special gal who told me that she can...you know who you are! ;) }

I haven't done a Black Friday Find post in a while...this one is special to me (and recent).

Yesterday, my sister mentioned that she had gone to the Talbot's Outlet store, which reminded me of a skirt that I had fallen in love with during my first visit to Talbots (not the outlet) a couple of months ago.  I was so enamored by the skirt (love at first sight does exist), that I took it straight to the fitting room and fell in love even more with the fit.  We were made for each other.

And then I looked at the price tag.

$129.

Really?

That wasn't going to happen, so with my heart strings still attached, I returned the skirt to the rack and heartbrokenly left the store.  I even went home and told my husband about "The One That I Had to Let Get Away".  (He's not so much the jealous type, so he was okay with that.)

Anyway, after not having followed up with the skirt since our first chance encounter, I called around to find it, but because the skirt had been out for a while and was so popular, every store in my vicinity was out.  I wasn't going to give up this time, so I decided to call every store in the state of Texas (and beyond, if need be) until I found it.  I did a store locator search on the Talbots website and began at the top of the list in Austin. 

Sadly, my heart couldn't keep taking the rejection after the fourth store in Austin said that they didn't have the skirt (a couple of people laughed out loud when I told them the name of the skirt, as if I was crazy to even believe that it would still be available...kind of like the nerd asking out the jock).  So, I decided to contact customer service...you know, kind of like a matchmaker.  And my matchmaker hooked me up with the numbers to three prospects, one in Arlington, TX...the second in Friendswood, TX...and the third in Santa Clara, CA. 

Friendswood came through for me.  With husband and son in tow, we took the hour drive to meet the new addition to our my family.  Even though M and I were having a great conversatioin along the way, I was mentally cheating on him.  My mind was totally consumed by the skirt.

There was a moment of fear/pissed-offness after we arrived at the Talbots in Friendswood.  The sales clerk had placed it on a hold rack, but it was no longer there.  I'm not the type of customer to ever be rude or get irate, but she was about to bring that out of me if she didn't find my skirt.  Luckily, after ten (very intense) minutes, my skirt was found and we were finally able to finalize our union with my purchase.

And so, I'd like to introduce you to the skirt that stole my heart:

The Daisy Lace Pencil Skirt

OH!  And the best part:

And the "bestest" best part were the words
that I love to hear:
Additional 40% off
Bringing the final price to
$38.39
sigh.

So, if you've recently had an encounter with an item that you were unable to take home with you, give it another try.  Love will always prevail.  (Lol!)



Yes, Your Madras-ty

Although it's officially Friday, this here is still going to be my Thursday post, 'k?

This must be my summer of shorts because I honestly think that I've worn shorts more times this summer than I have collectively over the past...ten years, maybe?  As a result, I feel a little insecure like a novice when it comes to putting together an outfit around a pair of shorts. 

This afternoon, I took P to our local mall to meet up with one of my sisters and her daughters (ages 17 and 19 and whom P adores).  I almost always make it a point to wear flats when I'm venturing out with P (high heels + active 30-plus pound child + nearly equally weighted purse = frustration/back pain), and I just wanted to be very casual.  Soooo...shorts, a shirt, and some shoes.  How hard could that be, right?

An hour-and-a-half-long-hard, I tell you.  An hour and a half.

That. is. ridiculous.

I mean, I could understand if I were getting ready to go somewhere important or special, but geez, I just wanted to take my kid to the mall and be comfortable, cool, and kinda cute.

I guess today was just an insecurity day.  I was whining complaining telling my husband earlier that if "it takes me this long" to put together a casually stylish outfit that just ends up looking like I spent a long time trying to put together a stylish outfit, then I must really not have any sense of style.  His response was actually a pretty good and uplifting one that should have completely obliterated my sour disposition, but too bad... I was not trying to hear it.  Misery was looking for company, and his invitation was quickly revoked

So, this outfit was the final result: 
Plaid madras Loft shorts (that I've already worn twice before, but obviously not well enough to post). 
An "unruly-necked" Gap tee (that kept shifting around...I think some poor soul at the mall was flashed). 
A flower pin from Talbots (that was awkardly placed and kept aiding the "unruly-necked tee" with the flashing).
And Old Navy flip flops (that I hardly ever wear).  

(Hmmm...and why was it again that was I skeptical/miserable/insecure to begin with???)

Seriously, I'm okay with the outfit, though. 

And I'm okay with myself, too.

Just so you know, I'm not going through some kind of crisis.

I'm just mad.

In plaid.

Go-To Sundress for Sunday

Today, it's just me and my little man.  We're gonna hit the neighborhood for a bike ride and then the playground...provided that the dark clouds battling with the sun don't open up and unleash a downpour.  But then again, we do need the rain.

This dress was purchased from Old Navy several years ago.  Last year, it was my summer go-to piece.  Go to the grocery store?  Wear this dress.  Go to the mall?  Wear this dress.  Go to the pool?  Wear this dress. 

You get the point.

So, when it's time to go, what summer piece do you go to?

Sans Maxi-Boobs

Today, I'm just hanging with my boys, so it's a relaxed look for me.

Don't be frightened by the hair...I'm trying low-maintenance hairstyles for the summer.  This was the result of sleeping with two french braids.  I haven't worn my hair like this in probably ten years...and back then it was longer with cool blonde streaks in the front.  Man.  I'm getting boring.

Anyway, because we were actually going out and about for a little bit, I decided to (again) combat the heat with an easy dress, while still trying to look mommy-cool and wifey-hot (but not easy). 

The result was this hot pink maxi. 

Now, this isn't the type of maxi that I would normally gravitate towards.  I really wasn't going to buy it (from Ross) at first because if you look at the front (from the above pic) and then the back (from the below pic), this dress (in my opinion) requires more than what I have.  This dress (again, in my opinion) requires
maximum-gravitational-defiance-via-artificial-saline-or-silicone-mammary-inserted-sacs
boobies.

SEE?!?!?

(even though it's blurry, you still get the picture!)

In other words,  I don't have "maxi-boobs"...my assets, in this dress, would be more like liabilities. 
 
Anyway, I couldn't pass this dress up because it was on clearance for $8, and lucky for me, I was able to find one of my strapless bras that was low enough to not be seen from the back and looks like a tank from the front! 

So now me and my girls can go out and enjoy the day with my boys! 


(By the way, if you don't have fake ones and can pull this dress off without a bra...please share your secret.)

Have a great weekend!

Stripes, Dots, and Plaid

This post is going to be short and sweet.  I haven't seen my little Tootie since Sunday, so I'm off to go and pick him up from my sister's. 

I did add a few extra photos, though, to kind of chronicle the, uh, patience that Coco, the "cat-dog" has while he's waiting for me to feed him the "good stuff":

He's waiting paitently.

Getting a little tired of waiting.



Now I think he's mocking me.



I think he may have called me
 a name as he walked out...

As far as the outfit goes, the tank and the skirt both are from Forever 21. The skirt is two sizes too big, so it's being held up by a sash that I took from a tunic.  It wasn't intentional, but I think this may be my first triple-pattern mix! 

Happy hump day!

The Fish, the Jaguar, and the Leopard

The Fish

  

To say that yesterday was simply "hot" would be an understatement.  I was lucky to get some pictures taken before I went out and melted, and in order to combat the heat, this was what I wore.  I found this "dress" at Ross on the clearance rack for $4.99.  On the hanger, it was so huge and shapeless that I wasn't sure what it was and passed it up.  But then it reminded me of this dress from I Take Photos in the Bathroom*, and although this Ross piece is not as lovely as Kate's Lilly Pulitzer dress, curiosity got the best of me and I brought it home.  I've had it for a couple of weeks and attempted to wear it a few times, but chickened out...I mean, I'm still not sure what it is...a beach cover-up?  a muu muu?  a really large, sized-small shirt?  But for five bucks, I'll just do what Tim Gunn always says on Project Runway:  "Make it work."  So, for the summer, I'll make it work as a little dress, and for the fall, maybe I'll wear it as a tunic over leggings.  And to add a bit more color interest to the blue, I finally decided to wear my yellow thong sandals from Gap...they're still being sold online, but I got them a couple of weeks ago for about $10.

Anyway, yesterday, I took P to visit his Grammy.  One of my brothers, one of my sisters, and each of their (older) sons stopped by to visit also.  My sister and my nephew brought their huge Retriever/Chow mix dog named Joey that is three times the size of P, but equally as playful.  We were all curious to see who would get tired first...P or the dog?
Poor Joey.

I actually wish we had a dog of our own.  But, as you can see from the first pic, we have a cat. Coco.  I really don't like cats, but Coco is special....he doesn't act like a normal cat.   He's actually kind of like a dog.  Truthfully, we call him our cat-dog.
Poor Coco.

The Jaguar
(sorry for the sucky picture)                 

Dress - Forever 21, Shoes - Ralph Lauren (TJ Maxx, '10)
Cuff Bracelet - my sister (but she got it from F21)
Bangle - The Limited
Jaguar Pendant - F21

After my battle with the excessive heat, I came home, showered, refreshed, and attempted to, ahem, transform  into a decent looking human being for a night out at the movies...Guess which movie we saw??

The Leopard

Tank - Forever 21, Jeans - Gap ('10)
Shoes - Steve Madden (TJ Maxx, '10)
Belt - Liz Claiborne (old)

Today, I went to my in-laws and filled up my belly with some great barbecue!
Although this really was the best picture out of the few that I took (trust me, I didn't choose it just so I could expose my freakish shoulder to you all...or my pink bra strap), it's kinda hard to see the little leopard print belt (with red buckle) that I threw in to add a little fun to my stripes and boyfriend blue jeans.


So, that's it!
3 (outfits) + 1 (post) = 4(th of July)

I hope everyone is having, or has had, a good one. 
Happy Independence Day!

*for some reason, the links that I embed aren't showing up on the published versions of my posts (is anyone else having this problem???), so for added reference, the link is http://itakephotosinthebathroom.blogspot.com/2011/06/love-letters.html

MOMents

Hello Weekend!

Old shirt from Marshall's,
Loft Shorts, Target belt,
Havaianas from Gap

I was left to my own devices yesterday to take pics, so this is what you get...a little peek into that place where you know what happens!  (That would be sleeping, by the way.  And obviously watching t.v.)

This is what I normally look like when just running errands to the Bank/Target/TJMaxx/Ross/Grocery Store that are all conveniently located within a five mile radius from our neighborhood.  Nothing special on this menu.  Just a t-shirt, bottoms (which usually aren't short-shorts cuz these tree trunks might scare some folks), and a good ol' pair of Havaianas.

Now, if I had to go six miles away from home, then maybe I would dress up.

Anyway, I spent the day in the hot-as-Hades sunshine with This Guy:

This Guy, who wanted to take the pictures for me...but only while he was doing his Power Rangers Ninja moves.  ("Umm...thanks, but that's okay, Preston.")

This Guy, who after his PK4 assessment this week was introduced to scissors, so I bought him a pair of kid-friendly ones to practice cutting with.  And now, when I ask him to go outside to ride his bike, he tells me he's busy b/c he has "paperworks" to do (read: cutting up paper).  Oh, and he's also asked me several times to cut the cat's whiskers. 

This Guy, who, while laying in bed and watching t.v. with me two days ago, discovered a new, um, "feature" of his...you know...and, out of genuine curiosity, asked me, "Mom, where did this come from?  It's tall!"  (Trust me, although I was trying not to laugh, I was totally taken aback, too!)

For you moms out there, do you remember when you first got pregnant, THE go-to text that everyone would tell you about was "What to Expect When Expecting"??? 

Yeah, I looked through it, but didn't refer to it as much as I thought I would. 

But I'm wondering now if they ever come out with a version that covers What to Expect From the Unexpected? 

Cuz I may need that one.

Have a Happy and Safe 4th Everyone!