Florals

This is from May, before my 30 for 30 Challenge. But I still wanted to share it with y'all. 

Maybe this is all in my head, but I think skinnies look odd on my lately. Don't get me wrong, I love 'em. Love 'em love 'em love 'em, But in the past few months, I can't help but feel they're less than flattering on my legs - they're tight in the wrong places, and baggy in other wrong ones. Aaaaand, I'm short. Like 5'4'' short. Maybe that's it. Definitely not my love of sweets or carbs. Definitely not...

We've got a busy weekend ahead, so I'll apologize in advance if there's radio silence over here ;)

and I'm linking up over here today :)

Tank: WalMart

Short-Sleeved Sweater: Ross

Pants: Lauren Conrad

Sandals: Shoe Carnival

Jewelry: Kohl's

melting like a popsicle on the 4th of July

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We slept in, lazed around, and I got some pool time in before we went out to dinner with a friend and then home to watch the fireworks from our patio. It was great to have a day off in the middle of the week - now if I could take the rest of the week off...

Anyway, let me tell you about these anchor shorts. I found them while shopping with my sister-in-law at our family reunion last week. I was ready to pay a whopping $10 for them, and then, lo and behold, they rang up at $5.49! You betcha they came home with me. And I've been hoarding them for the 4th of July. As for my shirt, I don't have a lot of red in my closet, so, I opted for obnoxious patriotism. Again. And my flip flops aren't that fancy, BUT the straps have fancy beads on them, so let's pretend they're like sparklers :)

Happy Friday - have a great weekend!!

tank: WalMart

shorts: Gap Outlet

flip flops: Rocketdog via DSW:

bag: thrifted

linking up today with Coffee Beans & Bobby Pins and FACE IT Catalog over here

oo oo! and over here, too!

...and the rocket's red glare

I wore this the day before Independence Day. I tied my polka dot chambray over my dress for work, and took it off as soon as I left - it was so hot! I know it's busy with two competing patterns, but when else can I obnoxiously wear red, white & blue because I love America?! Oo oo, and the shoes! I can't quite say comfortable, but as far as heels (ok, wedges) go, top 5 most comfortable I've ever worn. Good chat.

Hope you enjoyed your holiday and celebrated our great nation's day of independence from Great Britain :)

polka dot chambray: Liz Claiborne - thrifted

dress: Target via Plato's Closet

wedges: thrifted

linking up today:

Mr. Picks Mondays: Back at it

When it was time to pick out my outfit, my Mr. asked where my 30 for 30 clothes were. I started to tell him, then I realized he was going to choose from them:

Me: "Noooooo! You can't choose one of those! Pick something else - I have a WHOLE closet to choose from!"

Mr: "But you got dressed so much faster with only 30 things to pick from."

Me: "Soooooo. They're all in the laundry. The dirty laundry."

Mr: "No they're not."

Me: "I lost them. All of them."

Mr: "No you didn't..."

He finally came around and chose the pink shirt you saw above, I chose the pants and the sandals. I realized after we took these pictures that I was wearing Old Navy from shoulders to ankles. What can I say? They have a lot of stuff I like, at oober reasonable price points.

Any suggestions for next week to help him get back into the groove of picking out my clothes? Should he just pick out my clothes EVERY DAY this month? There's an idea...

Shirt: Old Navy

Pants: Old Navy via Plato's Closet

Sandals: Maurice's

Sunglasses: KMart

30 for 30: What I did/didn't do/learned/saw/discovered/decided

Above are the items I started my 30 for 30 challenge with. I tried to choose some things that would lend themselves to mixing & matching, and some that would stand on their own. Not sure how well those ideas worked out in practice, but that was the thought I started with.

And here is what I came up with. All 30 of them. Any favorites? 

So let's recap/reflect, shall we?

What I learned from my first 30 for 30 challenge...

- I get dressed a lot faster with less items to choose from. My Mr. thinks I should always do a 30 for 30 for this reason alone...

- I love to wear my white sandals.

- It's too hot for pants.

- Next time, I should choose items that are all brown OR black (or all tan, etc.), not a black blazer with brown wedges.

- I think this challenge would be easier for me in the winter - I could layerlayerlayer and come up with different combinations to my hearts content.

- More neutral shoes might have been a better choice, instead of pink sneaks & sparkly white ones.

- This past month has made me realize I really don't need any more clothes - I need to pare down my HUGE closet AGAIN and keep what I LOVE and reflects ME, and is flattering. So, why did I go shopping this month? Great question, friends. The items I bought weren't that expensive - but maybe that's the issue. I buy inexpensive (but cute!) things and then just hang onto them foreverrrrr. Ask my BFF, she'll tell you.

- I'm impressed with myself that I kept this up and didn't flake out. Not that I'm flaky, but it would have been easy to throw my hands up in frustration and call it quits.

- This challenge made me experience a whole range of emotions regarding blogging: overwhelmed, excited, underwhelmed with myself, sad, happy, excited, apprehensive, and looking forward to posting. Sometimes, all within 1 day!

- Packing only a carry on with only these 30 items to choose from was pretty simple.

- I sometimes looked forward to having a limited number of items to choose from when getting dressed - less decisions to make.

- But I was also really excited to have full use of my closet again :)

So, there it is! I did it! Maybe I'll do one again this fall or winter. What do you think about completing one? I can only recommend it! Any other challenges I should try?

Happy Tuesday!

Aaaaand, I'm linking up today with My Thrifty Chic :)

30 for 30: Day 30

Day 30

my skirt looks kind of purple here, but it's really gray

Ta-da! I finished my first 30 for 30 challenge! Wahoo! Happy dance! *THE CARLTON*

Anywaaaaaaays, it's done! And I've got a "recap/what I learned/what I would do differently/what I've taken away from this" post coming your way. Some of my professors always said one of the most important parts of the learning process is reflection, so, you'll get some of that shortly :)

*cue the song "Reflections" from Mulan*

30 for 30: Day 29

Day 29 

I successfully put my hair into a top-knot! (with the help of a bun shaper thingey-deal...)

what I wore to my friend's shower

I DO love my monogram

the metallic wedges I wore to another friend's wedding a few weeks ago

As I mentioned in my initial 30 for 30 post, I planned to wear something NOT in my 30 for my friend's shower this weekend and another friend's wedding a few weeks ago. This dress I got at Old Navy last week for a song - a less-than-$13-song. 

And then I put on something a lot more casual for the rest of the day. We had a nice date night that started off with dinner at Noodles & Co., saw Monsters University, and then indulged at Coldstone. AND THEN I got word that a group of friends was at dinner, and then were heading downtown after. So, we went! And had a great time catching up with friends we don't see too often. We called it a night around 11 (early for some, late for us) and headed home to the pups, and kept saying to each other "We should be social more often!" And really, we should! And we will! Sometimes we're just homebodies and would rather have a night in than head out downtown. 

And you know what? 

That's ok, too ;)