fancy

When your best friend has a birthday, and invites you out for margaritas at your favorite margarita place, you might wear something like this. Or you might wear something like this for a fun party, or a nice date. Or your own birthday celebration at above-mentioned margarita place.

You might especially wear something like this if you hadn't taken your new skirt out for a test drive yet, and/or your new polka dot tights were burning a hole in your dresser drawer.

I kept it simple up top with a white v-neck tee, and fancy on the bottom, with a bow skirt, polka dot tights, and suede magenta wedges.

And we had a splendid time celebrating my friend.

So much fun, we didn't even get a picture of the two of us :/

shirt: WalMart

skirt: c/o Aéropostale

similar: Solid Pucker Skirt / Chevron Jacquard Pleated Skirt

tights: Target

wedges: ALDO

Aéro - plaid, leather, leopard & bows

I did some shopping recently at Aéropostale, and got some new goodies - a few that I've had on my list for quite some time. Keep reading to see what I found, and why I love it.

The first is this plaid button-up. You know me - I love me a good button-up shirt. And in a color scheme I don't already have. Online I can't find this blue/red plaid, but here is the shirt's twin, in blue:

Long Sleeve Double Cloth Plaid Woven Shirt.

Next is this cute black skirt from Aéro's Bethany Mota line. It's a full skirt, with a cute, yet understated bow at the waist. I wear it at my actual waist - right around my belly button, and it hits a few inches above my knees (look for an outfit post featuring this skirt soon!).

some similar skirts:

Solid Pucker Skirt / Chevron Jacquard Pleated Skirt

Solid Diamond Lace Skirt / Pleated Uniform Skirt

I also found leopard print flats - the ones I've been wearing since my days of working retail were looking pretty rough. We're talking holes in the soles and torn leopard... so, needless to say, I've been on the hunt for new leopard print flats. And I found some! AND, they're very light and incredibly comfortable on my tender, prone-to-blister feet.

similar: Pointed Flat / DV8 By Dolce Vita Scrunchie Ballet Flat 

And this jacket. This jacket is what faux leather jacket dreams are made of. I purchased a black faux leather jacket this summer from Target and got TONS of wear out of it this fall, so I added a brown one to my closet wish-list. This jacket was the first thing I saw when I walked into Aéropostale a few weeks back, and I knew immediately that'd found THE ONE (I opted for one size larger than I normally would, so that I could comfortably wear a sweater or long sleeves underneath it, to maximize all the ways I could wear it).

exact: Classic Faux Leather Jacket

Here's everything. I've gotten the most wear (so far) out of the jacket - it's been on repeat on the sunny days we've had the past few weeks. But don't you worry - we're back to snow and freezing temperatures, though...

Festive

This outfit is several weeks behind - it's what I wore Christmas Eve. I had to work (bummer, huh?), but we did get to go home early, so I was able to take outfit pictures outside during daylight! Woot woot! I figured if I had to work on Christmas Eve, I might as well wear something with a bow, something sparkly, and something red - it doesn't hurt that the item with the bow was in the form of my new bulldog tee. 

Christmas Eve started my 5 days in a row off. I'm going to be completely honest with you - it was aaaaamazing. I slept in, wore sweatpants, drank lots of coffee with Irish Cream, and spent lots of time with my favorite men & woman (husband, bulldog & bulldog). I had a huge list of things I wanted to get accomplished, but I hardly did any of them. Instead, I lounged, relaxed, soaked in the time with my sweetheart, and truly enjoyed my down time. We had no plans to go anywhere for Christmas, so the two of us stayed at home and laid low. Going back to work was TOUGH. OY. SO. TOUGH.

Now that Christmas is about three weeks behind us, do you think I'm the worst blogger ever? 

Or, are you thankful that I keep reminding you of the holidays & celebrating well into January?

We're having (belated) Christmas with both sets of parents this weekend - I'm a fan of drawing out the celebrating :)

linking up with:
Two Thirty Five Designs for Casual Friday
Simply Lulu Style for What I'm Loving Friday

shirt: J CREW Factory similar below

sweater: from a friend - Banana Republic similar below

pants: Aéropostale similar below

shoes: KMart similar below

Navy & Some Hot Pink

the shoulders of this dress have a fancy-bow-thing that I'm a fan of, except for when I try to layer a sweater over my dress, then it looks like I have lumpy & knotted shoulders

Nothing super fancy for you today. Just layering a shirt under a dress, and matching my shoes ;)

Hope your weekend is off to a great start! I'm at a Women of Faith conference with my sweet mama. She attended this same conference last fall and really enjoyed it, so invited me to attend with her this year. It's gotten so big they had to change the venue from previous years, so, we'll be battling the crowds by the time you read this, with coffee and snacks for the day in hand!

Happy Saturday!

shirt: Hollister via Trends

dress: thrifted via ARC

sandals: Maurice's