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Lace Tunic, Fringed Booties & Layered Necklaces: And Now For A Break From Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

02.17.2015

I’d have to say I’ve been pretty dedicated to getting outdoor shots for the blog this year. I’ve sucked it up, bitten the bullet and braved foot deep snow all in the name of getting that ever-elusive natural lighting that makes us all look ten years younger and a hundred times better. And yes, all of the shivering while looking like I’m not shivering has been worth it. But with that being said, a girl has her limits. My limit would be any temperature made up of a single digit or any combination of digits with a minus sign in front of it. Therefore, forgive the lighting and focus on the outfit at hand because damn, it was freakin’ cold outside today! And it may well be for the rest of the week, so let’s keep that in mind.

You saw the original iteration of this lace tunic here and here. I had purchased it from Viva la Jewels, but alas, they were out of the mocha shade which is the one I really wanted the most. So I was as happy as a honey badger with a cobra when I found it in mocha at shopriffraff.com. I layered it over a black slip for a bit of additional warmth. Ya, ya, I know. How much warmth was I really getting from a black slip? It was a mental thing and it worked, okay? The now seemingly ever-present fleece lined leggings and fringed booties worked on the bottom half. Actually, the addition of these particular booties gave it a bit of a boho twist. I finished it with delicate layered necklaces instead of a scarf or statement necklaces. Although I think the layered necklaces are a statement in themselves. Especially the beautiful white gold/rose gold/and diamond skeleton key necklace that my husband and daughter gave me for Valentine’s Day. Pretty spectacular, right? And for the epitome of high/low mixing, the three strand rose cold necklace I paired it with was on clearance for $7 at JCPenney. Just another example of two seemingly dissimilar items working together to create a mighty fine end product.

Linking up with: Confident Twosday, Celebrate Southern Link Up, Tremendous Tuesday, Trend Spin Link Up, Style Sessions Fashion Link Up, Tardis Tuesday At My Closet Catalogue, Bloggers Who Have Inspired Me.

Tunic: Riff Raff; Booties: Tilly’s; Leggings: Walmart (Hane’s brand)

White Skater Skirt, Faux Fur Vest & Over The Knee Boots: Insta-Peeves

02.5.2015

I started my Instagram account not quite a year ago. I honestly only started one for the blog, and I don’t have a personal account. I know I’ve said it before, and I know that’s it weird considering I have a blog, but I’m a pretty private person. Thus, I don’t feel the need to have a private Instagram. In any case Instagram has become my most favorite social media platform; I’m very visual and love looking at photos. I’ve also made some really cool friends that I wouldn’t have had the good fortune to meet through either blogging or in real life. There are however, a few things that I find rather irksome.

It’s really one peeve broken into two distinct groups. First, are the Instagrammers who follow you only because they are trying to get you to follow back. I have found that typically bloggers or Insta-bloggers who have a large number of followers will follow you and once you follow back they drop you like a prom dress. Then there are the individuals who follow you and when you don’t follow back, again they drop you. It’s all well and fine if you unfollow me because you’re not diggin’ my vibe, but just because you’re trying to boost your numbers and/or I didn’t reciprocate, c’mon, what is this, high school? I do have an app that tracks my followers and unfollowers. And yes, that in itself might be high schoolish, but the trends interest me and I like to know what’s going on with my account. And yes, I do reciprocate with juvenile behavior. Even if I truly love your account (which in most cases I do because I only follow accounts that interest me) if you unfollow a day after I followed you it’s obvious what you’re up to. Therefore, I unfollow because I find it to be incredibly rude to play games like that.

The second group are the people who follow you because they’re hawking one thing or another and want you to buy something. I understand you’re trying to grow your business, but instead of playing silly follow/unfollow games how about trying to grow it organically? Or maybe post something other than 1,000 wrap pictures trying to convince me I’ll be built like a Victoria’s Secret model if I wrap my belly up in some Saran Wrap like substance? I do actually follow a couple of babes who sell those wrap thingys because they post lots of other cool stuff. All of the silliness that transpires on Instagram, and Facebook as well, is just that, silliness. Trust me, I don’t lose sleep over it, but it is irritating and I thought I’d share.

How’s this outfit for breaking the “don’t wear white after Labor Day” rule? I went for it with this one…all I’m missing is white tights. But I’m pretty sure I would’ve felt (and looked) like a nurse circa 1973. I love these Boohoo skater skirts and this white one is one of my favorites so why should it languish away in the closet until May? The faux fur vest was simply an added layer of warmth as were the fleece leggings. And the over the knee boots? I’m pretty sure the skater skirt was just crying out for over the knee boots to go with it, so I obliged. Ya, I’m nice like that.

Linking up with: Style Me Wednesday, I Feel Pretty, Wednesday Blog Hop, Throwback Thursday, What Wives Wear, Spotlight Weekly Link Up, What I Wore To Work, A Labour Of Fashion, Fashion Item Friday, Style Elixirs Friday Fab Favorites, Welcome To The Weekend Blog Hop, Fashionomics Friday, Favorite Fashion Friday, Fun Fashion Friday, Passion For Fashion Link Up.

Striped Maxi Skirt, Floral Hoodie & Long Layered Necklaces: The Snowpocalypse…Seriously??

02.2.2015

As you all know, I have an ~~obsession with~~ interest in the weather and all things apocalyptic. The snowstorm that is now raging towards us like a spider monkey on crack is not, I repeat is not the snowpocalypse. But you would think it was with the way people are behaving. I mean seriously, do we really believe the end of days is going to start with a snowstorm in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Um, no. I watched the news Friday night with amusement while they interviewed people in various stores stocking up on water, milk, bread and whatnot. I did not laugh when I arrived at Walmart for the weekly Saturday morning grocery run and had to park five miles away and take a shuttle back to the store. Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but still. There were aisles inside that I could not even go down with my shopping cart. One of them was the shampoo aisle….think about that for a moment. If the world really was ending, is it necessary for one’s survival to stock up on L’Oreal products?

After mumbling a plethora of cuss words under my breath and developing a stress knot in my neck, I finally got in line to check out; although line doesn’t do it justice. The gentleman in front of me took it upon himself to strike up a conversation with me using this as an opening line, “You really don’t have enough food in your cart. It should be heaping.” My response was, “Well, I’m pretty sure that even if we get the 11″ they’re predicting, the roads will be cleared and you’ll be able to leave your house by Tuesday. So I really don’t see the need to buy a bunch of extra food.” He gave me a smirk and in a patronizing tone of voice said, “Uh, ya. We’ll see about that.” Are you kidding me?! Did these people all just move to this area? There has never been a time in my life span that we were snowed in for months or even weeks for that matter. Should we stay off the roads Sunday and Monday? Yes. Will school be delayed or cancelled Monday. Yes. Do we need to squirrel away enough food and survival supplies in our basements to last until June? No. Craziness I tell ya.

I’ve been on somewhat of a hoodie kick lately for reasons I cannot explain. Recently I’ve been subbing them for cardigans and blazers for work. I realize that you can’t do that in a stricter business environment, but if you work somewhere with less restrictive rules I suggest you give it a try for a little somethin’ different. I decided this floral hoodie would give just enough print mixing interest to the striped maxi skirt and guess what? It did. I could have thrown a graphic tee under it to give it a bigger kick, but the need for warmth won out over the need to be the uber cool girl so I went with the black turtleneck. The long layered necklaces with the sparkly necklace added a little something more over the plain black. I used to have this weird aversion to wearing necklaces with turtlenecks, but now I’m really diggin’ it. I think the key is the length of the necklace; too short would be a bad thing, but longer works well.

Linking up with: Sunday Funday Linkup, Creative Mondays Blog Hop, Style To Inspire, Let It Shine, How I Fall, Share-In-Style, Personal Style Link Up.

Hoodie: Walmart (In-store purchase); Skirt: JCPenney (Old); Turtleneck: Old Navy

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Baseball Tee, Distressed Skinny Jeans & Bearpaws: You Might Be A Teacher If…

01.27.2015

…you are equally as excited to receive a giant box from Kurtz Bros. as you are a box from Nordstrom. Yep. That’s a pretty good indicator in my book. For those of you not familiar with Kurtz Bros. it’s a giant school/office supply company that we order most all of our classroom supplies from. And yes, when a box from them arrived at my room today I did a happy dance. Literally. A happy dance in circles like a puppy getting a new bone. I tore into that thing like it had ten pairs of new shoes inside. It was like the party pinata of school supplies…dry erase markers, colored pencils, construction paper, calculators…the list goes on and on. My new program starts tomorrow (Wednesday) and I had nothing, seriously, nothing for my classroom. Several boxes of my stash of supplies was somehow lost when I moved back to the middle school, and I had also left a lot of my stuff for the teacher who replaced me at the elementary so I had nada. And now I’ve got lots of cool new stuff. Yes, it was a good day at the middle school my friends.

I realize that distressed skinny jeans, a baseball tee and Bearpaw boots don’t make for a super exciting outfit, but I gotta say, I thought it was pretty cute for a casual goin’ to the backwoods Walmart outfit. When I went outside to take the shots my husband told our daughter I was going out to take pictures of my redneck hick outfit. True perhaps, but a pretty cool redneck hick if I do say so myself.

Linking up with: Confident Twosday, Celebrate Southern Link Up, Tremendous Tuesday, Trend Spin Link Up, Style Sessions Fashion Link Up, Random Wednesdays At Because Shanna Said So, Style Me Wednesday, I Feel Pretty, Wednesday Blog Hop.