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Hope to see you there!

BAM! Blue Shoes

Orange Top - Ann Taylor
Green Pants - Gap
Cobalt Blue Shoes - Rock & Republic (Kohl's)

 

I stalked these shoes at Kohl's for several weeks...maybe nearly two months. And then they went on sale. And I had a coupon! 

Even through the horrible graininess of this photo, I love the pop of color that can still be seen with these shoes. I just love this shoe! Not only is the color gorgeous, but so is its shape. The toe is rounded with a slight point...kind of dainty-like. But when you view the shoe from its profile, then it's like BAM!

 

 

Sorry to gush over a pair of shoes, but they are just so beautiful.  They are from the collection that Rock and Republic is doing for Kohl's.  Good job, Kohl's.  You can rock my republic anytime.

Lucky Sack of...Potatoes (Dress)

Blazer - Target
Dress - Loft
Shoes - BCBG (DSW)

Normally, I would walk away from shift dresses because they are just too "potato sack-y" on me.  You know...no shape whatsoever and totally unflattering (especially from a side view).

With this dress, though, it was just my luck that it was on sale (with an additional percentage off), otherwise, I probably wouldn't have tried it on. Plus, it was the only one left, and it happened to be a wearable size.

So, since I just so happened to be going into the dressing room with several other items, I figured, why not try it on???

Well, what a surprise it was to me that this dress actually looked okay on me (even from the side)! I was so skeptical about shift dresses that I tried to convince myself that this didn't look good.  I really wasn't sure about buying it and decided to make a decision as I made my way to the register with the other items I was purchasing.

Luckily, though, after the additional markdown, the price was actually less than I thought it would be:  $17!  Okay, so, at that point, there really wasn't any need to continue second-guessing myself.

Can we say....SOLD!!???

AND, as if I couldn't get any luckier, once I got home, I realized that this blazer was the perfect topping for my new sack of potatoes!

Love Dogs? Wear Dalmation.

Top - Calvin Klein
Pants - Loft
Shoes - Nine West

When I first saw these pants, they called out to me. 

But when I saw the $70 price tag, my credit card called me back. 

I cannot bring myself to spend $70 on a pair of really cute pants.

But I can spend $35 on them after they've gone on sale!

Sigh.  I love these Dalmation print pants. 

Coincidentally, I love dogs, too.

In a Blaze(r) of Orange

Blazer - Target
Tank - ?
Jeans - Express
Shoes - Circa Joan & David (DSW)

 

 

 

Coming through in a blaze!

 

Actually, in an blazer!  And a vibrant orange one at that!

 

Here's what happened:

 

After staying away from Target for a while, I went in for the sole purpose of doing some grocery shopping.

 

And I did make my way to the grocery section...just via the women's clothing section.

 

And that's where this blazer, in all of its orange-ness, practically jumped off of the rack and into my basket.

 

It was a perfect fit, and it was on sale.  

 

So what if I was only supposed to be grocery shopping?

 

Technically, you could say that I all I did was just add orange(s) to the grocery list.  ;)

Welcome Back

Striped Sweater - French Connection
Blue Collared Top - BCBG
Navy/Red Skirt - Gap
Shoes - Ralph Lauren

Welcome back...
Where your dreams were your ticket out.
Welcome back...
To that same old place that you laughed about...
I played this song last week on the first day back to school as my new sixth graders entered my classroom.

And so, I figured, how apropos to "play" it right now as I find my way back to Blogger!

Sadly, it's been so long that I actually forgot my login...and then I stumbled around trying to remember how to upload a photo.  yeesh!

Anyway, I hope everyone has been doing well!  Although it may be a little late for some, welcome back to school for all you teachers out there...and welcome back to "freedom" for all you moms!  ;)

Lunch at the Beach

Dress - Ross
Hat - Forever 21
Sandals - Ralph Lauren (Dillard's)

I had lunch with another great group of ladies yesterday.

Under the sponsorship of our school librarian (and brain child behind the group), the five of us were organized to develop a program that would work toward increasing the reading interest level among the male population at our middle school.  This was our second annual summer meeting, and rather than having it at school or a local restaurant, we took a little jaunt to Galveston beach.

 

Since it was a casual occasion, I wasn't trying to get all dressed up.  A simple black summer dress with a few accessories and oh-so-necessary sandals seemed to fit the bill.

We found a nice stretch of beach that was lightly populated where we walked, talked, and shared ideas about our goals for the next school year.
Afterwards, we continued working through our agenda while having lunch at a seaside restaurant and then delicious confections from the sweet shop across the street from the restaurant.  In our four-hour long sojourn, we had some fun-in-the-sun and took care of business!

Wouldn't it be nice to have all school/company meetings at the beach?  ;)

A Maxi & a Fedora on a Hot Summer's Day

Green maxi - Bourdeaux Los Angeles (TJ Maxx)
White Tank - The Limited
Fedora - Target

I was just about to begin my hair-washing routine today, when my husband suggested we go to lunch.  Ugh. 

Agreeing to go, I was faced with the dilemma of quickly having to go from really-not-feeling-it to being date-ready-on-a-triple-digit-temperature-summer-afternoon-while-having-a-bad-hair-day.   So, how does one do that?  Here was my solution...

First, throw on a cute summer dress or maxi, and anyone can go from zero to cute in a matter of minutes.

Then, add a fedora, and you can go from cute to cool in a matter of seconds.

Lastly, step outside into the Houston heat and humidity, nice and ready for your date, and you'll go from cool to hot-as-hell (literally) in less than a fraction of a second (again, literally).  Then, enjoy your lunch while recuperating from your dissolution into a liquid state of matter.

And that's how it's done.

Hope y'all are staying cool!  ;)

In the Tropics!

 

Cardigan - from my sister
Tee - from my closet
Jeans - Gap
Scarf - Target
Shoes - Zara

Ok. Not true.

Obviously, I'm not in the Tropics since I'm still taking pics from my bedroom.  :/ 

However, this scarf makes me feel like I could be on a tropical island somewhere.

In reality, though, I've been in a Dyslexia training class all week.  Although I've learned lots of new, interesting, and valuable information about Dyslexia and how to provide instruction to dyslexic students, my brain is on a serious overload and could certainly use a vacation.

So, I guess I'll just keep staring at my scarf.

Aloha!

2 Shades of White w/ 50 Shades of Gray

Salmon Pink Racerback Tank - Cynthia Rowley (TJ Maxx)
White Linen Shorts - Loft
Shoes - Elle (Kohl's)

 

I had a great lunch with some co-workers/friends yesterday.

Shades of white:

Scorching temps here in Hades Houston led me to wear this racerback tank and linen shorts.

And, although I was in the company of familiar faces, there was a new introduction made:

 

White Shorts, meet Soda. 

Soda, meet White Shorts.

What's even worse is that I didn't even notice this until much later, which meant that the salacious Mr. Soda had ample time to permanently taint my innocent White Shorts.  (The last statement is my attempt to humorously segue into the next part of this post...)

Shades of gray:

So, during our lunch, I shared my recent, erm, adventure? into the dark world of Christian Grey and whats-her-name-who-he-f**ks-all-over-the-place.

I won't share with you what happens (although I kinda just did), but I will say this about the 50 Shades trilogy:

1.  I purposely took breaks while reading these books.

2.  I found myself skipping over lines...then paragraphs...and even a few pages.

3.  It was a feat to even finish book two.

4.  I didn't even bother to read book three.

5.  I politely asked the customer service rep at Target if they allowed returns on books...then I quickly dumped books two and three onto the return desk when he confirmed.  (Book one's fate was saved because I loaned it to my sister.)

So, can you guess what my review of the series would be?

(Tiffany said it best in her comment to my previous post.)

Ok...'til next time...

p.s. Sorry if my use of asterisks was kind of "vulgar"...just telling it like it is.
p.s.s.  And if that is too vulgar, um... you may not want to read the book.

Sparkle Sparkle, Dot Dot

Top - Gap
Shorts - LC Lauren Conrad (Kohl's)
Shoes - Zara

It's been four days of my summer vacation, and I've already begun to languish in the mundane routine of not having to get dressed (up) everyday.

So, today, I tried my best to be cute enough for my husband's birthday lunch at PF Chang's, cool enough for the hot weather, and relaxed enough to not have to shock my system into being stressed out to "get dressed".

The third goal didn't work out so well. Lol!

I had decided that I wanted to wear jeans, a white tee, and the animal print Halston scarf that I bought from a consignment shop yesterday, but after ten frustrating minutes of trying to find "the right" white tee, I came across these shorts and changed my game plan. 

I bought these navy/white polka dot shorts back in the Fall, and although I'm a little very particular when it comes to shorts b/c of my "drumsticks" (larger thighs, tiny ankles), with a clearance markdown to four bucks, I couldn't pass these up.  SN: This happens a lot. 

After deciding on the shorts, I surprised myself by reaching for this sparkly top... yet, again.  After owning it for nearly a year and wearing it only once in the first six months of owning it, this is the third time in one month that I've worn it.  (And, yes, it has been washed!)   SN: Lately, this seems to be happening quite often.

Finally, after going through at least a dozen pair of shoes, I settled on these Zara sandals.  Actually, I let my husband choose from several options, and I shocked the hell out of him and myself by wearing the pair that he picked.  SN: This has been happening way too much!  What's really going on?!!

On another note, earlier in the week, I was watching tv and pondering over a good novel or two to read for the summer.  Almost simultaneously, there was a news special about the hype surrounding a trilogy of novels that, I guess, were recently published.  I decided to step out of my "comfort zone" of what I normally read (teenage nonfiction...I teach sixth graders, remember...) and try something new.  Totally new.  So, I bought the first of the novels today:  Fifty Shades of Grey.

Have you heard of it?

Not sure what I'm getting in to, but wish me luck...



A Weekend of Pinks, Reds, & Greens

Friday's outfit

Saturday's outfit

Three members of my family graduated from high school this weekend!  Congratulations to my niece, Haley, and my nephews Devon and Eric!!!

To Haley's graduation, I wore a pink NY&Co dress that I found at TJ Maxx.  I have been vacillating for a long time as to whether I should return it or not because it came with a skinny matching belt that, when paired with the dress, created all kinds of wrong.  After trying several styles of my own belts with this dress, I was on the verge of tossing it back into its bag so that I could return it until my husband said that the dress looked fine without the belt.  (I don't know why, but he has a thing against belts....always wants to know why I have to belt everything....maybe it's just cuz he's a man...). 

Anyway, this time, he was actually right.  I paired the dress with a blue/teal/gold color-blocked shoe that I had passed up many times at Target because it wasn't really my style....
...But $8.98 is definitely my style, so I snatched those suckers up after I saw them on clearance!

Dressing for my nephews' graduation on Saturday presented itself with a whole new set of challenges.  First of all, it was ridiculously hot, and knowing that we would be standing outside in the heat, I knew that I would have to wear something that wouldn't cause me to wither away into a puddle because...
...melting in my clothes is not my idea of looking hot.  (pun intended)

My second obstacle was finding something to wear with the second pair of Zara sandal's that I got from the Fed-Ex guy last weekend.  I bought these shoes because I don't have a lot of red or fuschia in my closet.  Funny how the reality of that hit me when (surprise, surprise) I couldn't find anything red or fuscia in my closet!  (The dress that I wore in the link above matched perfectly with the shoes, but it was way too hot this weekend to wear that again.)

Again, I considered throwing the damn shoes back in their box and shipping them back to Zara in exchange for the blue/green ones that I could coordinate with more outfits (like this one!).  But rather than doing that, I decided to challenge myself to "match outside the box".  The seafoam green of this Loft ruffled top has nothing to do with the red/fuschia going on in the shoe, but I figured that separating them with the black Express skirt might just make it work.  I hiked the skirt up and belted it to add a little more, oh, should I say, flirtiness?  I liked the outfit at that point, but it was still missing something to draw at least one color from the shoe.  I decided to coordinate with accessories...again, a frustrating reality check!

I lucked up and found these hoop earrings with red dangly things that I haven't worn (or seen) in ages.  The bracelet is, like, the only red bracelet that I have (I think).  And the purse?  I had forgotten that I had it until I was rushing out of the door and realized that I couldn't take my big, black, everyday purse. 

So, in all, this Saturday outfit was a stretch for me, but I liked the way it turned out.

And now that all is said and done, I still find myself with another problem:

Now, I want need want need the blue/green Zara Basic Sandals!

Red (But Not Apple Red) Pants

Tank - Marshall's
Navy Cardigan - Loft
Red Cords - Gap
Shoes - Jessica Simpson (Dillards)

Earlier this week, I shared my woes about wearing a blazer in blazing hot weather.
Today, I decided to again test my sanity by wearing a pair of red cords.
Yeah, I live on the edge like that.  Surprisingly, though, it wasn't that bad. 

On another note, was it wrong of me to be jealous of my five-year old son this morning?  His last day of school was yesterday, and at 6:20 this morning, when I normally wake him up, he was still sound asleep.  I turned the TV on to Nick Jr.and watched "Go, Diego, Go" anyway.  (Why break old habits?)

Speaking of habits, do any of you teachers out there receive apples from students?  (okay, that's more like a tradition than a habit, but I needed a segway...)  Or do any of you parents give an apple to your kid's teacher(s)?

Well, today, I had a group of young ladies decide to give me a fruit as an end of year gift. But it wasn't an apple.  They had decided during lunch on the previous day that apples are too typical.  So instead, they decided to give me.....

a coconut!!!

How original was that?  I have to admit, though, I've never opened a coconut, so (according to one of the girls) I should refer to Google in order to find out how to crack it open.  It's cool, though.  I can't wait to try it.

However, if I don't like it, I received a gift from another group of girls today that will be sure to please:

chocolate!!! 

In case you didn't know, chocolate is a sure-fire way to a teacher's heart (and her a**...but on most days, who cares?!).

Has any other teacher (or anyone else) ever recieved a non-traditional fruit or gift from a student (or from someone)?

Jeans and a Half-Tuck



Navy Glittery Top - Gap
Navy/White Animal Print Scarf - Loft
Jeans- Old Navy
Sandals - Ann Marino (DSW)

So, these jeans.

I've had them for several years and hardly get any use out of them.

I love the length and the overall fit.  I love that Ican wear something fitted over it and not have to worry about lumps and bumps (because of the flat front).  And I love that they are unlike most of my other jeans.

The problem, however, is that because of the combination of the rise, flat front, and placement of the pockets, I am left with little choice but to wear a top either partially or totally untucked.

Otherwise, I will look like a block.  Or a brick. 

So, whenever I'm wearing something that doesn't accentuate my waistline, I find that (although seemingly counterintuitive) doing a semi-tuck actually does help to create some definition of my waistline. 

Maybe it doesn't really work, but it makes sense (and looks better) to me.

I mean, which would you choose?

Slimming silhouette or boxy brick?

Thought so.