Wednesday, November 28, 2012

What I Wore Wednesday

My cousin Lisa is participating in a What I Wore Sunday blog link-up and I thought it sounded really fun. But I have no idea what a blog link-up is. And my Sunday outfits are rarely more than pajamas, so I decided to do it my way and do it on Wednesday! :)

pardon the poor picture quality - I have to take my own pic using the closet door mirror!

Shirt - Target $25
Pants - Target $28
Belt - Coach (old)
Shoes - Coach (old)

I've been contemplating green pants for forever and I finally bit the bullet and bought some. I honestly would have preferred a more kelly green color, but this teal color is omni-present out there right now. The first pair I contemplated was from Talbots, but I couldn't fathom spending $80 on trendy pants that I wasn't sure I'd love. I found these at Target the other day and I'm pretty pleased with them. And you can't beat the price. I had to size up so they'd fit my thighs correctly and now the waist is super big (story of my life!). But I think I like them enough to pay to get the waist tailored. Also, these are ankle length pants and hit me exactly where I want them to, but I can't imagine that they'd be long enough for anybody much taller than me - I'm only 5'-4".

I bought the top to pair with a striped skirt and haven't been able to wear them together yet. But I really like it; it's silky and flattering and polka dots are fun! You can't see it very well, but it has a really cute neck tie up by one shoulder and pearl buttons on the cuffs. It is a little boxy though, so I belted it with one of my favorite belts.

I actually dressed up for the "office" today. I had to run some errands, go to the Design Center, and meet a guy about John's car. Plus I have a Junior League meeting tonight, so I wanted to look nice. Honestly, I don't always dress this nice for the office - on Monday I didn't even change out of my pajamas!


UPDATED: Lisa encouraged me to link-up with another blogger who does a "What I Wore Wednesday", so I did! There are almost 300 people who have linked up with The Pleated Poppy and now I'm there, too! The button to get to her blog is over on the right side. You should check out her and all the other bloggers Wednesday outfits!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday

On Saturday. I got distracted yesterday and forgot that it was Friday. To make up for forgetting, this will be a picture filled post. :)

1. Once in a while, something from Pinterest actually works out! I saw a pin for a really pretty nail polish and amazingly, it was a current color! I actually found it at Target and the color turns out exactly as expected. I love it!

Essie Bahama Mama

2. I just read a really cute book - Awkward Moments with Men - Stories About the Sex We Can't Live Without by Shannon Lee Miller & Megan Leigh Byrd. It's short essays from their dating lives. Some stories are really funny, a few are kind of sad. I see a little bit of myself sometimes. And it's almost affirming to see that even the beautiful women who wrote this book had dating horror stories, like the rest of us. The book is only $2.99 on Kindle right now. I highly recommend it.



3. Recently Michelle and I went to the Jackson Browne concert. A young girl opened for him and she was fabulous! Her name is Sara Watkins. Jackson sang with her, she sang with Jackson. I really love her voice. This is the video for one of the songs on her Sun Midnight Sun album. Seriously, check her out.



4. Sometimes when I'm reading a book I don't like the clothes the author has dressed the characters in, so I change them. For example, in this one book, the main character always wears a plum shift dress. Like wears it way too much. And the characters talk about how sexy it is. I don't think a shift dress is especially sexy at all! So in my head, I've changed the dress to be a wrap dress. Now that is a sexy dress. Right? Another time, a character was wearing cut-off jean shorts. A guy. A guy with a lot of money and tons of style. No friggin way. I know he was dressed down at the time, but that just wouldn't have happened with the character I had in my head. So I changed them to worn-out cargo shorts. Much better.


5. I will never have a white ceramic sink in the kitchen. Stainless steel all the way. John has two white sinks in his kitchen - both the main sink and the prep sink. They show absolutely every speck of dirt and I feel like I'm constantly cleaning them. I feel like I'm going to scratch them with the movement of dishes or silverware in them. I hate them. Really. It's almost a passionate feeling. :)

6. Sometimes I don't get my blog numbers. I'm not trying to reach a ton of people. I just wanted an outlet to write a little bit about my life. But sometimes a post will get unexpected attention, and sometimes a post will get crazy attention. For example, my posts get somewhere between 20-50 reads. (Again, not a ton, and that's okay.) My Fifty Shades of Grey book reviews got over 100, so did my post about September 11 and my post about the lightbulb debate (almost 200). Pretty good. Then my Shadow of Night book review got over 300! Whoa! But my post about my meth addict neighbor has gotten over 3000! Ridiculousness! It totally screws with my stats; I have no idea how people are finding my other posts because the form is full of meth addict stuff. Weird, right?

7. Since living at John's, I watch most of my shows on Hulu. They still have some commercials and one of the commercials was a plug for their very own show Battleground.


It looked really interesting, so I added the episodes to my queue. Here's the description:

In Hulu's first original scripted series, Battleground is a workplace dramedy set in the world of political campaigns. Head campaign strategist Chris "Tak" Davis and his staff strive to win a Senate seat for their underdog candidate in a race with national consequences.It takes place in Wisconsin, a real battleground state, where Tak and his team manipulate the 24-hour news cycle, new media, and social networking to navigate the unpredictable ups and downs of state politics. All the while, a documentary crew exposes the behind-the-scenes chaos of idealistic twenty-somethings trying to make a difference.

Here's the trailer:


I was hooked after the first few minutes. Really good show. No idea what the future is, if they're going to have a second season with the same cast or not, but I really enjoyed the show. And I really enjoy the guy who plays the main character, Tak Davis. His name is Jay Hayden and he is HOT. Not only that, but he's a good actor, too. He portrays a range of emotions in the show and does so believably. I hope to see him on a more highly viewed show soon as I think he really deserves it. (One of the girls on the show is now on Chicago Fire...) Here's one last photo of Jay...


Friday, November 16, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday

I read a couple blogs that have been doing this and I really like it, so I'm copying them!

1. Interviewing is hard. I have a new found respect for all the people I've interviewed over the years for Junior League's Board of Directors. You think you've prepped enough, you've gotten an idea of what they're going to ask you from your friend, you've gone over potential questions and witty thorough answers in your head...and it's still not enough. You forget all those great words that were tumbling around in your head and talk with your hands too much.

2. My dog is getting old. She can't jump up on things like she used to. She can't hear or see very well anymore. She acts like a crotchedy old man most of the time. It makes me sad to think about it.

3. I love fall - the colors the leaves turn, the smell of fire (from a fireplace) on cold nights, bundling up under the blanket, hot tea. But I sure do hate raking. Add that to the list of chores I would pay someone else to do.



4. Denver is really a small town. You never know who you're going to encounter again, so make sure you are always nice and don't burn your bridges. (I'll expand on this another day.)

5. I'm super excited to have booked a trip to Portland for my birthday! I got notice from Frontier that my miles were going to expire in March and I had enough for a free flight, so PDX here I come!

6. Living in John's house has been interesting. Parts of it are wonderful and parts are not. I hate the yardwork (see #3 above) and the neighborhood isn't as friendly a community as I thought it would be. In apartment complexes, everybody says hello and I knew all the dogs names, but I was here for over a month before somebody said hello to me (sometimes not even a hello back when I said it first) and very few people let the dogs say hi to each other. But I do like the space and the quiet. His kitchen is fabulous, even if I don't like where his silverware drawer is.

7. Being without TV has been a serious adjustment, but I think I've handled it pretty well. I definitely watch less TV and listen to more music than ever before. It was nice not being bombarded with political commercials 24-7 and it will continue to be nice not having all the Christmas commercials blasting at me. But I do feel a little disconnected. Like, I didn't realize until just this week that the final Twilight movie was coming out! Gotta get to the theater for that one!

This has been fun. I think I'll continue to do it. What do you think?