Painting Pups

If you've ever wanted to know what my dogs would look like as a painting, here they are:

We went to a local painting place, Pinot's Palette, and painted pictures of our sweetymcsweeties. We sent in pictures of the pups beforehand, and the studio converted them to a black & white gradient, then glued them to the canvas. With some beer and wine and lots of instruction, we slowly but surely painted our pets. I really enjoy doing this type of thing, but lack any artistic skill, so about twenty minutes in, when I've botched up my painting more than a few times, and lost all patience, I'm donnnnnne. And start creeping on everyone else's projects. And drinking more wine. 

And questioning my purpose on this earth if I can't paint a decent picture of my really sweet and handsome Turbo...

But anyways, here are our finished projects. We hung them up in our living room. While they DO resemble our sweeties, I prefer the real live ones to love on :)

Oh, and here's what I wore to paint. Of course I wore an apron over this ensemble. I also wore this to have breakfast with a friend that morning, which was splendid.

And then I ran a 10k that evening

and

LIVED TO TELL THE TALE!!!

We'll call that a success. Who cares about time or pace? I didn't stop and I didn't die, and I didn't feel like dying right after, or the day after. #winning

chambray: Kohl's

shorts: Old Navy

sandals: Target

Creativity as a Muscle

The pieces for this outfit just came together, and I have to say, I really love the result. The more I wear this skirt, the more ideas I can come up with for it - creativity at its finest. Don't they say creativity is a muscle? And the more you use it, the better it gets? Truer words have never been spoken, my friends.

I picked up these shades before I went to Florida for the 4th of July. Festive, no? Needless to say, I love America - if you didn't already know...

shirt: Old Navy

skirt: J. Crew Factory

shoes: Old Navy

necklace: Old Navy

sunglasses: WalMart

Minted

I don’t know what it is about my mint jeans, but every time I wear them, without fail, I spill something on them.

Coffee.

Lunch.

Bug guts.

Margarita.

They’re almost as much of a magnet for spills and stains as white pants.

Or maybe I just notice stains more on these pastel pants than, say, dark wash jeans.

Whatever the case may be, I wore this outfit.

I wore it to work. I wore it to a jobsite.

I wore it to see a friend. Wore it all day long.

Have I mentioned before that I really like this top from Eddie Bauer? I have the same one in purple, and I can’t help but wish the store had had 18 more colors to choose from…probably would have bought them all…

shirt: Eddie Bauer

pants: Lauren Conrad via Kohl’s

sandals: WalMart

Mr. Picks Mondays: Purple Plaid

The Mr. chose this purple plaid shirt, and I paired it with dark wash bermuda shorts to beat the heat. I love summer, but this heat lately is draining me - this girl is exhausted by the time she gets home from work, and ready for bed super early. Call me an old lady, but I sure do love my sleep ;)

shirt: from a friend (American Eagle)

shorts: thrifted (Citizens of Humanity)

sandals: Target

Summer LBDs: Dress #4

Here's the last of my 4 LBDs for this summer - the shift/t-shirt dress I mentioned earlier. This one might not be as fun as the other three (one, two, and three), but it fills a very important LBD role - the simple one you can dress up or down. Really - throw on a statement necklace and some fun shoes, and you've got yourself a snazzy little outfit for a special occasion (I went the opposite direction with this look, but you get the idea, amiright??).

dress: Old Navy

sandals: Shoe Carnival

Summer LBDs: Dress #3

And here is the dress I wore for the wedding itself (rehearsal here). I found it at Target, on the sale rack, just a week before we left for the wedding. I’d felt blue all day, and wandered into Target, as one often does when one is sad. Or happy. Or hungry. Or bored. Or just wants to go shopping. I’d decided some retail therapy would cheer me up, and even after finding these black wedges in my size, I still needed another filler-upper, so I checked out the clearance racks. And found this dress. In my size. On sale (I think it was under $12?). So, that helped. As did the peanut butter M&M’s that also found their way into my  basket…

This dress has a bit of a scuba/sports-inspired feel. The fabric is light and ALMOST of a sports/technical quality (but not quite!), and the piping on the front really adds interesting detail, as well as outlines the shape of the dress, while mimicking the seams on a wetsuit…

Having been to Missouri before, I was expecting TONS of HEAT and HUMIDITY and BUGS, but luckily, all three of those unpleasant elements were not very present! Sure, it was warm, but not unbearable – we spent most of the reception outside, instead of inside in the air-conditioning. It WAS humid, but not as oppressive as I’d experienced before (I’m a humidity wimp after living in Colorado)…and the bugs seemed to be staying away! At least from me, which never happens (I got eaten alive last week in Florida…)!

And of course, the wedding was lovely and beautiful and it was good to see family and friends we hadn’t seen in ages, as well as make some new friends that mentioned they’d love to come out and visit us in Colorado...!

dress: Target

wedges: Target

Summer LBDs: Dress #2

This floral LBD from Aéropostale made an appearance at a rehearsal dinner for D’s cousin’s wedding in Missouri - we took a few days off and made the drive.

The rehearsal at the church was quick, and then we headed to the party at the groom’s parents’ house. The dinner was a fish fry, but the fare was not just limited to fish – there was chicken, shrimp, green beans, asparagus, not to mention countless casseroles and side dishes. I also had my first fried Oreo. And by first, I mean I had several. Divine. Really. #getyouone #rightmeow

I ended up getting pretty cold as the evening wore on, even when a HUGE Great Dane sweetie named Magness decided to sit on my lap and keep me warm (probably my favorite part of the evening - not kidding), so I grabbed my father-in-law’s drywall sweatshirt and wore it over my dress. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of that to share, but just know that I looked pretty great with my cute floral dress sticking out the bottom of a big black sweatshirt covered with paint and drywall mud :)

dress: Aéropostale

shoes: Target