And the winner is…

Congrats to Megan Hess! She won the Lolly & Pop giveaway! Thanks for entering, everyone, and don’t forget to check out Lolly & Pop’s store for some adorable hair clips and bows!

 

11th Day of Christmas: Christmas Outfit Linkup

Like I’ve said before, I really love dressing up for Christmas. I think it’s because you can get by with wearing sequins, leather, and sparkles much easier. So, obviously, we dressed up in our Christmas Best on Sunday. I wore a gold sparkly sweater (fun fact: I got that sweater at JCP at the end of the season for like $2 so I bought one in three other colors!) with a textured black skirt, my wedges, and a green statement necklace. Eva wore a sparkly red dress, and TJ wore a Christmas skinny tie with a red sweater and blue blazer. Finny Babe was wearing a cute button-up but slept through pics, so we did classic gang only pictures. To make up for it, I took a picture of him in his cute “Santa’s Favorite” onesie and little red mocs which remind me of elf shoes.

I can’t believe Christmas is right around the corner. I’m so ready, but don’t want it to be over because January and February are the wo0o0orst!

Make sure to check out Danica’s blog for her final Christmas outfit linkup! It’s been fun!

9th Day of Christmas: Christmas Outfit Linkup

0Weeks0Days0Hours0Minutes0Seconds

Why do I set up for Christmas and start listening to Christmas music so early? ^^^ This is why! Christmas is almost here. I cannot believe how quickly this month has gone.

So, my pictures for this outfit linkup is just as bad as usual. But at least we took them! On Friday night, we went on a date so I got dressed up but because we were trying to get out of the house so quickly and then got home so late, I skipped the pictures. On Saturday, we went to see The Christmas Carol with TJ’s family, meaning I had another chance to dress up and snap a photo of the outfit.

Unfortunately, you really can’t see the outfit details from these photos, but I’m wearing suede wedges, leather leggings, a silk top under a sequins sweater with my red plaid coat. I kind of love all the different textures in the ensemble and how fancy it looks, yet it’s so comfortable! That Christmas tree photos is SO poor of quality, it makes me laugh, which is why I included it. Sometimes TJ purposely takes funny photos just to make us laugh, like where he’s zoomed up really close on a body part, or looking up so you see a great angle of my double chin. Thanks for being such a good sport, dear husband.

 

5th Day of Christmas: Christmas Outfit Linkup (Family Edition)

Lacey from Lacey Lii Photography took some family photos of us for our Christmas card and I’ve wanted to share some with you guys. So, I’m killing two birds with one stone here and linking it up on the 12 Days of Christmas Outfits series with Danica.

Figuring out what to wear for family photos gets exponentially harder as you throw kids into the mix. Trying to get everyone to coordinate is pretty much my worst nightmare, and I’d be lying if it didn’t bring me to tears the night before (postpartum hormones… yikes!). I wanted it to be Christmasy, obviously, and casual… yet classy. So, we came up with this little number and I think they turned out pretty great, thanks to Lacey!

I’ve worn my outfit bunches (I’ve had the sweater dress for years), and most recently wore it to Eva’s Christmas dance showcase but with black boots. It took me a long time to get over the fear of wearing brown and black together, but if you get the right color brown, I think it looks good.

One more thing. Can we just take a moment to wish that Eva’s leggings came in our size? I love them so much, plus they’re the softest material! Oh man, those kids of mine… I can’t get enough of their cuteness! That husband’s not that bad looking either 😉 !

IMG_3565 IMG_3498 IMG_3614 IMG_3686 IMG_3605

Outfit Details: Do you really care? If so, then message me and I can tell you.

2nd Day of Christmas: Christmas Outfit Linkup

I’m sure you all have seen that Instagram Husband video by now, right? I showed it to TJ today and we were laughing so hard… then I asked him to take some photos for me for my blog. Because we had just watched the video, he was teasing me so much which made it even harder to take non-terribly-awkward photos for this 12 Days of Christmas Outfit Linkup! Guys, I just will never be a fashion blogger but like I said on instagram, I really love dressing up for the holidays, so why not give it a shot this time?

So, this skirt from the Loft is probably one of my favorites of all time. It’s leather with pockets and has an elastic waistband so I even wore it when I was pregnant! The only thing about it is that it’s on the verge of being too short, so I have to wear it lower on my hips if I don’t wear it with leggings. Oh, well! I still love it. And the top is from Old Navy-got it on Black Friday for 50%. I was going to have TJ give it to me for Christmas but I just couldn’t wait. Button-ups are my jam right now because of breastfeeding. I sure wish I had it in all colors and patterns because I love the fit and the soft material. As for the shoes, they’re just some black wedges from Target I got several years back. I rarely wear heals anymore but these wedges are quite comfy and bearable for the three hours at church.

IMG_3021 IMG_3020

Make sure you check out Danica’s outfit linkup over here! She’s my outfit inspiration… I wish I was as cool as her 🙂 !

Outfit of the Day

photo-2A couple of you told me you want to see more outfit posts after posting the Sunday Best photos. Without further ado, here’s a post for ya!

The other day was relatively warm out, so I ditched my winter coat (probably a bad decision because 43 isn’t really warm) and wore my light, khaki jacket instead. I got that back in 2008 guys. 2008! And I’m still wearing it six years later. But I think it looks good still, so who cares?

I bought some bright pink lipstick a couple weeks ago and it’s officially my favorite makeup purchase ever. But I normally only buy Almay makeup from the grocery store, so I guess I don’t have much expertise!

Another piece to this ensemble is my necklace which is from The Limited… surprise, surprise! I got it on clearance with an additional 50% off in the store. Major score.

My pink collared top is a nice transition piece from Winter to Spring. It’s long sleeve, but the neon color brightens up a drag wool sweater. I’m a huge fan of Mindy Kaling and on her Instagram feed, she’s always buttoning the top button of her buttonups. T.J.’s been doing this for years, so I don’t know why it took me so long to try it out. But Mindy gave me the extra style motivation that I needed to give it a try! Thanks, Mindy… can we be best friends now?

And finally, my kicks. Back in the day, I worked on an advertising competition in college and it was for Diesel. My brother surprised me with these shoes since they were from Diesel — he wanted to support me and the project. Pretty awesome brother, right? (Wish I could work on a Michael Kors competition right now… maybe he’d send me some MK gear? 🙂 ) Anyway, I think they are a perfect pick for a a casual day in the city, when you are walking a lot but still want to look nice.

Sunday Best

When T.J. was getting Eva dressed this morning, he put her tights in between the layers of skirt, and so all that was left was the peplum part of the skirt. It looked like we dressed Eva in a mini skirt, keeping it really classy here in Jersey. But guys. Her peplum denim skirt… I got it on clearance back in the fall at Baby Gap and wished I could buy one for me (although I would not look as cute in it as this girl)!

IMG_2401

 

I’m not wearing anything special, but I am a teensy bit obsessed with my necklace. I’ve been scoping out The Limited for a couple of months now and buying out all their clearance necklaces. They’ll be on clearance and every once in a while have an additional 50% off. When they’re that cheap, you have to buy it.

IMG_2402 IMG_2393 IMG_2399 IMG_2400

It was a good thing we took these pictures before church because mid-Sacrament meeting, Eva was stripped down to her undershirt and tights. It looked like she was wearing long johns at church. By the time we got home, her hair had come out of the pig tails, her mouth was a mess from all the food we bribed her with to sit in her stroller, she wasn’t wearing her skirt, and instantly wanted to change to her princess dress.

Hope you guys had a great Sunday. The weekend continues tomorrow… woo hoo!

Sunday Best

My good friend, Sarah, over here at Life is Beautiful, does a post series called His & Hers Sunday Best. I think it’s such a cute idea, plus I love seeing pictures of her darling son dressed up. So, I thought I’d start doing a Sunday Best post each week. Since I don’t dress up much anymore, but I still love fashion, I think this will motivate me to add a little style posts to my blog. (Please don’t compare these to Sarah’s posts… she’s crazy talented and fashionable. If you don’t follow her, start now!)

Ignore my “I feel very awkward posing” face.

IMG_2377

Then Eva and I did cheesy faces. Doesn’t Eva look darling in her pink skirt and leopard print top? Of course, she had to wear a necklace like her momma.

IMG_2381 IMG_2382

 

Style Worth While

I wrote a post over here today about preparing your holiday outfits this season.

,

Jean Shopping

So I wrote this post two years ago, but I went jean shopping today and needed a reminder, so I thought I’d repost it again for all of you!

—–

I love shopping. I love finding deals, I love looking at the cute clothes, and I enjoy trying new styles.

But I loathe shopping for jeans. Pure hate. And last night I had to go jean shopping for school. Even if you lost weight and know you’ve gone down a size or two, just trying to find the right pair that you are stuck with for years is a dreadful venture.

First, finding the appropriate wash is very hard. Usually they have some bleach stains on them or a lot of crinkles. Why can’t you give me plain dark jeans?

Next, there’s the fit. Trying to figure out if I want boot cut because they’re more practical or skinny jeans because they’re cuter is also another hard task.

They have to make your behind look good. No, let me reword that. They have to flatter your behind. If they don’t fit right, they could be too loose. No one likes a saggy bottom. But if they are too tight, people will point and laugh at you.

Also, the waistline has to be just right. I like mine a little higher, that way, love handles aren’t an issue. But if they are too high, you will look like a mom in the 90s. So many companies are still making those dreadful super-low rise jeans that barely cover anything. That trend needs to go out of style. And make sure there’s no gap in the back when you bend over… that’s the worst!

Lastly, you have to get the whole “you’ll grow into them” mentality out of your minds. Remember when you were growing up and you got all of your clothes a little loose because you were growing? Also, your mom told you your jeans would shrink and so you needed to get them a little bigger.

Forget all of that. Forget everything your mom told you about jeans. You have to get them to fit exactly right. They will stretch when you wear them, then go back to they way they were when you wash them. So if you get them loose, bad news bears. Also, you aren’t growing any taller, so don’t get them too long. But for some reason, I really have to go through that each time I go shopping. I think, “oh maybe I should get them a little bigger.” No! Get your size.

So I go through all of that for each pair of jeans I try on. Store after store, dressing room after dressing room. Stacks and stacks of jeans. Oh, and then you finally find that perfect pair of jeans and they’re the only ones not on sale so you can’t afford them. It’s awful, I tell you.

Last night, after going to a bunch of stores and having no success, I went to Forever 21 and they had all of their jeans on sale for 15 dollars! Nice dark wash, without holes or bleach, perfect waist and length, little zippers at the bottom of the legs, and the right price. So, after all that toil, I finally had some luck!