I'm not sure what you would call the pattern of this dress, its sort of "distressed giraffe" to me. I thrifted this beauty last weekend and wore it for the first time Wednesday... I personally don't care too much for the built in belt. I feel like I would have enjoyed adding my own belt to this dress a lot more, however I still really love it.

If any one who reads my blog is interested in reading Water for Elephants along with me... drop me a comment or send me an email letting me know that you want to read along. I purchased the book for my eReader already but want to give anyone who wants to read with me a chance to pick up a copy or download to their device... warning, I have never done a book club before so I may not be a great organizer... I figure we can decide the specifics together.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Target via Thrift/Goodwill

Shoes: Payless via Thrift/Goodwill

Bracelet: purchased from a jewelry stand at the Ybor City Farmer's Market

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no moshi cats were harmed...

Let me start this off by saying... The Moshi was not harmed during last night's Skype induced giggle fest with J... in fact she was receiving the best back scratching techniques that my fingernails can offer! Also, warning... not flattering photos at all, but too hilarious not to share :)

I give you... Mosh-stache

Yes... I admit it, I made a mustache out of my cat's tail ;) Happy Thursday everyone... the weekend is almost here!

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daily outfit: sunday stripes

So the weekend is over, so sad... it always goes by way to fast.  I did a whole lot of nothing on Friday night, Saturday was reserved for cleaning and napping, and then there was Sunday. My friend Alisha invited me to her church and then brunch afterward.

Brunch was AMAZING! This little place in my own backyard that I have never been to was super delicious. I cant wait for J to come home so that we can have a date night there. I love when you find little local treasures like that.

This is my Sunday outfit, its a dress that you may remember from here. I added some olive green leggings and a belt to change it up. I wanted to find that medium between dressy and casual since I didn't know what the dress code would be like at church.  It was an even mix of dressed up attendees and casual jeans and tees... my kind of place.

Outfit Details:

Dress: TJ Maxx

Belt: Target

Leggings: INC. via thrifted/Goodwill

Shoes: Jessica Simpson via TJ Maxx

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daily outfit: slouchy sweater and shorts, plus new hair

Finally and outfit post... and the new 'do.  The hair is a little The Glamourai meets Sunday Crossbow. I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out and I really think that this was just the pick me up that I needed to help add a smile to my face.

My friend Alisha gave me the cut, there are razored elements throughout... I have pretty thin hairs so I used Rusk BloFoam, an aerosol mousse, to add a little bulk to my tresses followed by some Rusk Being Rubber Gum to separate and add a few messy pieces. 

This is the first time I didn't get to see J right after a hair makeover :( I am really missing him tonight.

Above you can see my inspirations for my new hair and this outfit... a & b are The Glamourai and Sunday Crossbow, respectively. C. is an outfit found via Pinterest.

Thank you so much to all of you who have sent love and prayers to my Grandmother.  She is stable, meeting a cardiologist tomorrow to discuss options to improve her heart condition.  She also has some fluid in her lungs, but the fluids are becoming less and less thanks to medications.

Outfit Details:
Sweater: TJ Maxx
Shorts: Target
Shoes: DSW/Steve Madden

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inspired by: my grandma

This is a photo of my grandmother... It makes me so happy that I look so much like her.  I haven't been up for taking outfit photos, remixing, and haven't really been "inspired by" any celeb lately because I am a little (lot) worried about her health.  My Grandma moved to Tennessee (many of you know I live in Florida) this past weekend to live with my Aunt, there she can provide better care than I can right now. 

I am sad that I am not the one taking care of her anymore, that I don't get to see her every day and that she feels so far away... I just wanted to ask the wonderful people that read my blog to please pray to whomever you believe in, ask that my Grandma starts feeling better soon and is healthy enough to go thrifting with me ;)

She is an amazing woman, who raised me and she is the reason I am the person I am today. 

***Sorry for the emotional/heavy post... getting my hair cut tonight, so expect photos of that tomorrow and I promise, outfits again real soon!

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new treasures: accessories from eBay & etsy

I did a little retail therapy this weekend... I found a few little treasures that I wanted to add to my accessories collection and since I have been feeling a little stressed and worn out, figured that I "deserved" them.

(upper left) Betsy Johnson Leopard Hearts Earrings, J Well eBay Store

(upper right) Betsy Johnson Bow Ring, TomShop1111 eBay Store

(lower left) Peacock Necklace, Hello.Gaga eBay Store

(lower right) Friendship Bracelet, Tara Lane Designs etsy store

I am so excited to add these beautiful items to my collection... I am already planning outfits that will be able to incorporate these pieces!

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monsoon hairdos

Back in January 2006, I had this fun little chopped up mess on my head that was roll out of bed fun and lately I have been thinking a lot about it... missing it... and wanting to revisit that hair cut. Tell me what you think, should I chop?

Sorry for being lazy and not taking photos of yesterday's outfit... I will steam it and photog it over the weekend, I promise. Here in Tampa its a monsoon... raining and raining like cats and dogs. My weekend will be filled with cleaning and crafting {hopefully some thrifting}, maybe I will get to hemming all the pants I have piled up that need to be shortened to mini-proportions.

Happy Thursday lovies, if its also raining in your neck of the woods... stay dry!

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stay-cation with my love

As you all may know, I took a little vacation from my blog for 3 days while my sweetie was in town for a home visit. It was a bitter-sweet stay-cation because of course it was amazing to see him... however only three days, it went by so so fast.

We had a dinner date at the Cheesecake Factory, it was very yummy but the food was very rich - I got a stomach ache afterwards, I guess I am more a casual dining kind of girl - give me Chipotle and I am the happiest.

My sweetie is such a good sport - he got a pedicure with me, he even suggested that we go to get them together because he knows that I love pedicures.

Here we are just before leaving Lowe's... while my love was in town we picked out paint colors for our living room, I am going to paint as a little weekend project while he is at work so that when he comes home our place is complete... once I get the paint up and my baby is back, our house will feel like home.

I had to show off my "Love" hat... J really liked it a lot, it was c/o Swagger, who is a lovely sponsor of my blog... go check out all the new items recently posted in the FB Swagger store! Like Swagger on Facebook and let them know that you came from my blog.

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special day dress, wolfsburg edition

{Dress: Nordstrom's, Belt: Forever 21, Shoes: Payless}

This week has been so eventful! My Jeep had been causing a lot of stress in my life so after much thought, rather than address numerous repairs I decided that I wanted to try to trade it in. J was able to help me with the car buying process once I found the one I wanted - he couldn't be here in person but he helped a lot by talking to the dealership via the phone.

I ended up with a wonderful 2007 VW Jetta Wolfsburg and I couldn't be more happy about it! I just wish J were home so we could celebrate my "grown up" purchase.

Today was a special day - first day with the new wheels, so I wore one of my favorite dresses... to make it work safe, I threw on a black cardigan and wore flats to the office.

I hope that everyone is having a fantastic week so far :)

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closet chronicles - a peek inside my dressing room

I have always loved to organize and decorate... one room in my place that I enjoy organizing the most would be my closet. Some days I like to go through my clothes and re-group them based on color, style, intended use... its a little like shopping, but only its free and the store never closes. I have labeled the pictures below to better describe each section of my closet. take a peek at my current closet set up:

Shoe Organization (a): I bought this shoe rack from Target for cheap, threw it together in about 5 minutes and now have lots of room for my current rotation of summer shoes.  Yes, Febreeze... for refreshing shoes that get worn frequently. Next to the shoe rack is a bin, also purchased from Target to hold various sneakers, flip-flips, and yes... leopard print house slippers.

Full Frontal (b): This is a view from the doorway, as you can sort of see its a "U" shape and I am lucky enough to have a large shelf so I bought some smaller bins, yes - Target, and use them for various items... work out clothes, bathing suits, pool/beach cover-ups, one even holds my hat collection.

Cardigans/Accessories (c): Above the shoes portion of my closet is a high shelf and hanging room, this is where I hang cardigans, blazers, shorts, and my belts and scarves on specialty hangers - both were purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond for under $10.00 each.  You can also see the built in shelves where I keep a memento box of keepsakes shared between J & I, all of my purses and wallets, followed by jeans.

More Shoes (d): Above my collection of belts and scarves I have plastic shoe boxes where I keep special occasion or lesser worn shoes. Next to these boxes live a pair of cowboy boots and my "winter" boot collection - for a Florida girl, I somehow have 4 pair of cold-weather boots.

Finishing Touches (e): My jewelry selection has been in hiding for some time while I searched for a method to organize all my items... I found a bathroom organizer and some drawer inserts that fit together perfectly at none-other than Target and created a little corner of accessory heaven using unexpected items. Each drawer insert has 3 compartments and is clear plastic - perfect for separate chunky necklaces... I also have a mini 3-tier fruit basket from TJ Maxx that use for my bracelets.  Other items such as earrings and rings, real gold or silver live in a small jewelry box on my bathroom counter.

So that's it... my closet in a nutshell... let me know what you think.  What are some unexpected items you have found that work for organizing your closet? How do you separate your items, by color? Style? Intended use?

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little sickling

{Dress: Thrifted via Goodwill}

It is official... I am sick. All this week I have felt very run down and tired, then Tuesday came the sore throat, and today I believe I had/have the fever... thank goodness for sleep and blogging. I absolutely hate this feeling, I am uncomfortable and feel sweaty even though its about 70 degrees in my apartment.

I did manage to pull up the boot straps and go into work this morning, attended a meeting, and then my boss let me come home. They are so amazing there, I literally LOVE my job... I don't think that I have ever felt that way about a job before, but its a great place and the people I work for are very real and understanding.

I wore this dress to work this morning with the addition of a purple cardigan and grey shoes... then when I got home I slept in it, so I guess you could say that not only is it work attire, but also doubles as a nightgown.

Oh yes! Before I forget :) Thank you Tara of Haute-Lunch! OMG! I am addicted to Pinterest now! Love it! Find me on Pinterest and follow my boards, I will follow you in return.

Don't forget about my giveaway. Go here to find out how to enter, I will be announcing a winner June 15th.

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float on

{Float on it like you stole it! Basically did - Floats @ Wal-Mart for $2.50!}

I spent Saturday at the pool with Heather and the girls. We made a Wal*Mart run and bought these pink floats for $2.50 each, grabbed some snacks from the pantry and soaked up the sun pretty much all day {close to 7 hours!}. Some neighbors were grilling and offered up their coals to us, so we noshed on burgers and hot-dogs poolside. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing... just what I was looking for.

Earlier in the day I did manage to get a few things done around the house, I did a re-org or my kitchen pantry and now everything is super easy to access and see! Geeking out on organization... yes, I do that! Also cleaned up the dressing room {thats what I call the bathroom in my and J's bedroom}. Oh yea, I am in search of some jewelry organizers... please help me out with ideas if you have some cool way of organizing your jewelry.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Saturday... Sunday will be filled with hemming/refashion projects and laundry... I actually cant wait to do my "chores" because I am really excited to wear those amazing Banana Republic white jeans that Heather found for me at Goodwill. I will be sure to show off the before and after picture of them later!

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awkward and awesome thursday, volume 6

Awkward

• No outfit photo today :( I planned on it, for real... I wore a top from my recent thrifting adventure and skinny jeans, but alas, I was forced onto a vortex called my couch... I ended falling asleep listening to some program about civil war reenactments and well, I was a goner from there.
• Moshi's face in the above picture - our attempt at a family portrait before J left for work. Its silly, Moshi looks mad but it makes me laugh every time I see it.
• I was struggling at work today, trying to learn something new and it just wasn't clicking... I hate when that happens, I don't like not being able to figure things out right away.
• Missing my love, as days go by I miss him more. I thought that time would make it a little easier, but so far it hasn't... I wish that I could just hug and kiss that boy for a whole day. Hello chap-stick!
• Budgets... yuck, I hate that word... I plan on doing an extensive budget plan for myself to help me spend a lot less and hopefully save a little more. Time to be a grown up and eliminate unnecessary spending - after all its just stuff. 

Awesome

• Tampa Bay Rays Baseball - to be honest, I had no clue what was going on during the company sponsored outing yesterday, I didn't even know which was the home team {yikes} but the fact that the company I work for gave us a day to go see the game as a group was really amazing.  I have never worked somewhere that cares so much about having happy employees, its really awesome to feel valued at work.
• Sleep! Is it sad that I am looking forward to this weekend just for the fact that I can sleep in late on Saturday? I haven't been resting well with out J here, I haven't adjusted yet and I am noticing that I don't sleep as much or as well. I miss him.
• Free weekend! Yep, you read that right! I am going to buy groceries - probably tomorrow after work - and from there on, force myself to not spend a penny! I am only going to partake in activities that are free to me.  I have a feeling that will include an at home facial and pedicure, reorganizing my kitchen cupboard, maybe watching an Audrey Hepburn movie or two that I already own but have yet to view. Sounds pretty good to me!

More outfit pictures to come, promise... I will probably also have a fashion show in my bedroom this weekend and try to plan out some new outfits with the new Goodwill items I got recently, I may need some opinions and advice on what to pair with what too!

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thrifters gone wild

Recently inspired by this post by the wonderful Tara of Haute-Lunch my friend Heather and I decided to partake in a little retail therapy, thrift store style... needless to say, armed with Tara's tips and a burning desire to get more bang for our buck, we headed out on pursuit of the ultimate thrift find! I think it was a success...

We went up and down the aisles and kept an eye out for items that the other would like... we went to a local Goodwill {which was huge, think 24hour Super Wal*Mart huge - not joking} and kept an open mind... the above picture was intended to be a little joke, on the hanger this vest looked stiff and tacky, but then once I jokingly put it on, I actually loved it a lot. It goes to show that you never know what unexpected gems may be at the thrift store.

{yes, these are our carts!}

Once we went up and down all the aisles we could {we were at the Goodwill for about 6 hours and only looked at about half the store! I know - I cant believe it either} We headed over to an open space in the furniture section to sort through our carts. We each had one, but because we were looking for each other as well, we needed to come up with a master plan for organizing our trip to the fitting rooms... Best advice to anyone shopping in second hand stores is to try everything on no matter what the sizes say, you never really know until you give it a chance. I found shirts that were labeled as "large" and even though I typically wear an extra small they fit perfectly, you just never know.

Of our time at the Goodwill, we spent a good two hours trying on items and making sure they were worth the cost, we helped each other avoid regretful purchases, examined for stains and holes, and ended up finding each other some amazing items - Heather found a pair of white wide leg/flair jeans from Banana Republic for me, they just need a minor hem {which I can do myself} so for $8.00 I got one of the items on my "shopping wish list" that I expected to spend about $50.00 on at the mall.

So if you are wondering what I brought home, take a peek above at my shopping bag! In addition to these items pictured, I also was able to find a new rug for my living room and Heather found an original painting for me that goes perfectly in my bed room. All in all it was a super successful trip and I am really looking forward to our next visit to the Goodwill.

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awkward and awesome thursday, volume 5

{Sweater: Target, Top: NY&Co.; Skinny Cargos: Express, Shoes: Jessica Simpson via TJMaxx}

Awkward:

• This will be this first weekend without J, and to top it off... its a 3 day holiday weekend... never thought that I would NOT be excited to get an extra day off, but work keeps me busy and its a distraction that J isn't here to come home to. Hopefully its not too bad and I find some things to keep me occupied.
• I have to take my car into the shop AGAIN... yikes! I just spent a lot to get something repaired and it seems like that wasn't enough... hopefully its covered by the warranty and I wont have to dish out any more of my hard earned moola!

Awesome: 

• My Moshi cat! Look at her in my outfit picture, just being silly and rolling over like a puppy or something! She always makes me smile.
• Coming home for lunch - I have been trying to save more and spend less... ugh, my bank account has been suffering so I am trying to get back on track... coming home for lunch has saved me some loot as well as given me the opportunity to get more done, I did the dishes and a load of laundry while I had leftovers... not too bad.
• Getting organized. I am going to try to clean out my closet this weekend and organize the stuff I really love... anything that doesn't fit or is still nice but just not what I see myself wearing, I will post on the Life and Style Shop.
• Steffy of Steffy's Pros and Cons giving me some awesome blog advice! Thanks again Steffy :)
• Hosting my very first giveaway on the blog! You can still enter to win a $25 iTunes gift card here!

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orange you glad

{Shirtdress: Gap via Platos, Belt: Nordstrom's; Shoes: Express}

Well well well. I survived my first night without J, it wasn't fun but really the two hardest nights will be the first night apart and the last night before he comes home.... one down! I wanted to take a second to say thank you to all of the wonderful blog-friends of mine! I am truly lucky to have such amazing people read my blog and also care and send me love and support while I deal with adjusting to being in a long-distance relationship. I love you guys! I am such a lucky girl.

While in the process of updating the look and feel of my blog I decided that I wanted to revamp my "Shop My Closet" portion too... following in the footsteps of Steffy from Steffy's Pros and Cons, I decided to add a store feature. Check out the new page that will direct you to the shop. Luckily I have a 3 day weekend coming up so I will hopefully have plenty of fun items to add to the store after cleaning out and reorganizing my closets.

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on the road

My love left today to make way to his summer work destination... Leaving our apartment for work this morning while he was still getting ready was hard. Coming home after work was even harder. I just keep telling myself that this will pass, its just a chapter and the next 5 months will fly by. Our last weekend was bittersweet, filled with both laughter and tears, but at least I got to spend some time with my sweetie-pie and snap a few photos.

It was a great weekend that went by way too fast. J, when you read this - I love you and miss you already! I promise to non-J readers of this blog that outfits will be coming soon... I plan on wearing something bright and cheery to work tomorrow to lift my spirits, so - pictures to come soon. Promise.

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the last sunday

{Blog Redesign - Summer 2011}

While J packs I redesign my blog, I need a little distraction from what is really happening today. I am sad, its very hard to watch him pack up his belongings and know that he wont be back for about 5 months.

I hope that I am able to visit a few times while he is working, its going to be so tough to not have him home each night, but we have our phones and webcams to still talk and see each other. It is just going to be a hard adjustment but we will be okay, that boy is my all and everything.

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pink is the new black

{New bag, made by Poppy Jones - $34.99}

I guess I am slacking on the outfit posts again... no worries folks because after this Sunday {when J leaves for his summer work} I will have so much time on my hands that I will most certainly bombard your eyes with outfits-a-plenty!

While it will be a hard adjustment with J leaving, at least I have my blog to keep me distracted... I also have an ever growing list of super girlie things to do this summer, so I have that too...

I went shopping today on my lunch break, its very dangerous that DSW is so close to my office. I managed to snag the above pictured bag for only $34.99, visit this link for more styles. Its the perfect size for my small frame {I am only 5 foot tall} and its that yummy saturated pinkish shade that I adore. I also picked up two pair of flats, a silvery pair made by Dr. Scholls and a basic black pair made by LifeStride, similar to these. Since my back injury, my shoe choice is always comfort first - otherwise I end up just complaining about my back hurting and making scrunched up faces, and thats just not cute.

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his and hers

Date night in at our house usually consists of Chipotle... I guess you can say that we have a lot of date nights, so many that we are to the point where we have made "friends" with the guys that serve us our yummy burrito bowls.  They even went as far as to label our dishes with this cutesy little note tonight.  I love the guys at Chipotle, it is certainly going to be something I miss once J heads up for work this summer... a burrito bowl for one will still taste yummy, but part of why its so amazing is the company I have while noshing.

{J and I on the Starlight Majesty, Dinner Cruise - Clearwater Florida}

Here is another snapshot from this weekend.  We went on a dinner cruise out of Clearwater, Florida with J's family. It was such a good time and we were with great company. J's dad took this picture of us on the boat.  You guys may remember this top and belt combo from this post :)

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