Florals. 2 Ways.

Here are two different ways I wore my floral pencil skirt from J. Crew Factory.

One with a chambray, the other with a navy blue top from Eddie Bauer. I wore these outfits a few weeks apart, and didn't realize until I was putting this post together that I wore the same shoes both times! I know heels would be more flattering on my short little legs, but I navigate much better in flats. And I tend to trip over my feet barefoot sometimes, so the less obstacles I put in my own way, the better.

 

 

 

 

skirt: J. CREW Factory

shoes: KMart

on the right

chambray: Lauren Conrad via Kohl's

on the left

shirt: Eddie Bauer

Edgy...with a side of Warm & Fuzzy

 

 

  

 

This is me trying out "edgy." I know it doesn't look like it, but I assure you, it is. 

If you look REALLY closely at the outfit on the left, my red shirt under the chambray has little bitty gold studs. They're in a polka dot pattern, but that is besides the point!

And, for my outfit on the right, I'm wearing coated denim, which is #2 on the edgy pants scale (#1 being leather pants, obvi). And nothing says grunge like black and white flannel, except for ripped acid wash jeans... 

However, I am obviously more interested in unicorns and rainbows, than in being edgy, as evidenced by my heart print scarf, and bulldog tee (below)...

Better luck next time!

SHOP THE LOOKS, OR SOMETHING SIMILAR

on the left:

tank: Old Navy

chambray: thrifted similar below

scarf: Aéropostale exact

jeans: Aéropostale exact

shoes: KMart similar below

on the right:

bulldog T: J CREW Factory similar below

flannel: Old Navy similar below

coated denim: Kohl's similar below

shoes: Target similar below

Mr. Picks Mondays: Fancy Pants

This week, the Mr. chose the polka dot pants AND the white button up - normally he chooses one (typically tricky) item and it's up to me to style around it, or in the words of Tim Gunn, "Make it work!" But this time around, he chose the main parts of the ensemble and I statement necklace-d and glitzy shoe-d myself.

How'd I do?

Better yet, how'd HE do?

Hope your week is off to great start headed towards a great hump day!

SHOP THE LOOK...OR SOMETHING SIMILAR

shirt: Gucci (from a friend, can you believe it?!) [similar below]

pants: Ann Taylor LOFT [similar below]

shoes: KMart [similar below]

statement necklace: local consignment store [sort of similar below]

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

Mr. Picks Mondays: More Monochromatic-ness & Mint

what? you don't make weird faces and post them on the internet for all the world to see?

always wearing a pink ribbon - it's Zeta Tau Alpha's national philanthropy

What is the deal with me being so behind on my outfit posts?! I wish I could explain, or at least have a better excuse than 

"I got busy."

But really though, I got busy!

My Mr. picked out this get-up, and was really excited for me to go monochromatic again. Maybe this will be a trend every week? We'll have to wait and see!

It's time for me to get to bed, so that's all the regularly scheduled programming for tonight :)

linking up this over here today, check it out!

jacket: Old Navy (from a friend's closet)

shirt: Target

pants: Lauren Conrad via Kohl's

shoes: KMart

Yesterday

Before I tell you about our epic day yesterday, I have to wish my Dad a happy birthday. 

**************

Happy Birthday to the best Dad in all the land! Have a great time with your bestie in the land of Jimmy Buffett, and enjoy your dives with my sweet mama! (My parents are with my Dad's BFF and his wife on a scuba diving trip. Offspring were not invited - bogus)

**************

Now, onto what us landlocked kids did in Colorado...

Yesterday we did some serious adventuring. Don't believe me? Check out some pics on InstaGram. First, I must tell you that the theme of yesterday was my husband's birthday/our dating anniversary/we had several gift cards to use.

#giftcardsarethebest

First, we went to Cabela's. Dustin had a gift card from his parents for his birthday (which is tomorrow) and couldn't wait to use it. TWO Cabela's locations opened in Colorado this summer, and so far, we've only been to one. I'm sure there will be many trips to both locations in the future...

So, off to epicenter of hunting & fishing we went. The place is INSANE. And it smelt so good - there's a little cafe inside that was selling roasted almonds (my mouth watered as soon as we walked in). There were SO many people, and SO much stuff to look at. First, we did a lap around the store to do a little recon, with me asking: 

"What's this?" 

"How does this work?" 

"Why would you need this?" 

"Do you have this?"

and Dustin patiently answering my questions. I think he was a bit surprised to see me so excited about Cabela's. I don't hunt or fish, but I can appreciate it in others - namely the men in my life, especially when they get something that can stock the freezer for a long time. 

the entrance

hanging with a moose - I don't think I fit in

posing with some wildlife in the middle of the store

After our lap around the store, we went back to the hunting/gun section, and spent a good 20 minutes in this one little area, while D decided between this kind or that kind of rifle stick. Oh, and a strap of some sorts. I have no idea how it all works together, but I do know that new "toys" make my husband happy, and since his birthday is Monday, and work has been very draining, and our dating anniversary was Friday, I was in the business of making sure my husband was happy. Oh, and we had some delicious vanilla kettle corn in the parking lot.

Then, we headed to Little Man Ice Cream in Denver. A friend of ours is the manager, and if not for him, we wouldn't know about some of the best ice cream this world has to offer. The building is a milk jug, and it's in the middle of this super cute neighborhood, right off the interstate. This month was "Sweet & Salty September" at Little Man, so most of their HOMEMADE flavors reflected that. I chose Salted Peanut Butter Cup (YUM), and Dustin chose Salted Maple Bacon (also, YUM) - real bits of bacon in there, no joke.

the milk jug building - there's always a HUGE line for this place

don't worry, one of those cones was mine ;)

After ice cream, we headed to a golf course. Birthday Boy had a gift certificate from a work-sponsored golf tournament there this summer. He had the longest drive in the tournament, so he won a gift certificate to the pro shop. And while at this tournament, he lost his sand wedge. So he was in search of a new one. He found one, and of course, it came home with us ;)

And then, we went INDOOR SKY DIVING! Like I mentioned yesterday, we had a gift certificate from my in-laws from our 1st wedding anniversary in June. We each had 3 minutes in the wind tunnel with an instructor. 

SO. MUCH. FUN. 

If you ever get the opportunity to try it, I would highly recommend it. Our instructors were very knowledgeable, fun, and made sure we didn't make complete idiots of ourselves in the tunnel. Sky diving looks really easy (just hanging/falling), but it actually requires a lot of balance and positioning your body just so. We bought the video of our adventure, and since both of us were participating, I unfortunately don't have any photos to share. If I can find a way to get a freeze frame from our video, I will definitely post it. Or, if you REALLY wanna see the whole video, shoot me an email and I'll send it your way ;) But really, you should definitely try it sometime. I cannot recommend this activity, or Sky Venture Colorado enough. We will definitely be back.

bullie & hippo salt & pepper shakers at Pottery Barn. love.

Our last stop of the day was dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (there was a long wait for our table, so we did some browsing in the surrounding shopping center [pics above]). Long story short, we had a gift card from our wedding we wanted to use, so we ate lots of delicious food, and made sure we had plenty of leftovers for today :) I don't think this place has anything on the menu that isn't delicious. For the most important part (dessert. obviously.), D ordered the Toasted Marshmallow S'mores Galore™ and I had the Godiva® Chocolate Cheesecake. 

When we were done with dinner, we headed back home to our sweet pups, tried to watch a movie and fell asleep early - all day adventuring can really take it out of you. All in all, it was a great day, and I loved being able to spend so much time with my husband/high school sweetheart/birthday boy/best friend/hunting master/fellow ice cream enthusiast/golfer/sky diving partner/and adventure pal. 

Oh, and what I wore:

peplum top: Daisy Fuentes via Kohl's

jeans: GAP

shoes: KMart

purse: Kohl's