[Shopping] No More Help Needed!!!

Ya'll are never going to believe this, cause I couldn't myself.

I posted this morning about the BCBGeneration Jubilee shoes. Love. Remember?

I asked for help finding a suitable replacement. And some of you were so kind and so thoughtful as to search for me. I so, so appreciate it. (I'm look at you, Molly!!!)

But search no more.

You guys.

I found a near exact stand-in. And they are Elizabeth & James heels, no less.

I subscribe to all those flash sale sites like I'm sure many of you do. Most of the time I delete the emails without even looking cause goodness knows I'm tempted enough just walking into a Target let alone looking at those sites with amazing clothes at amazing prices.

But today's Rue la la was a shoe sale.

A. SHOE. SALE. Talk about right place, right time, stars aligning type stuff. So of course I had to "just see".

And they had these Elizabeth & James "Love" heels.

Swoon.

Are these not a dead ringer for the BCBGeneration ones??? 

(in case you forgot what they look like)

Ya'll, I am so pumped. The Elizabeth & James shoes were a teensy bit more than the $40 BCBGeneration ones I found at Ross, but they retail for $250 at Asos compared to the $105 of the BCBGs. And they're in my size!!! Yay for having big feet because these beauties were sold out in every single size below a 9.5.

So, I've bought myself a fun little early birthday present. Woot woot!!!!

[Shopping] Help!!!

I need help from all you fashionistas out there. I have had my eye on this pair of heels:

but I've been hesitant because I already own a pair of cobalt heels and really - I don't need another pair. More than anything, I'm obsessed with the style - the gladiator/cutout/bootie type combo. So I've been looking for a pair in black.

I was shopping at Ross this past weekend and I found these:

In. Love. They are BCBGeneration Jubilees. In black. Be still my heart.

But they only had a size 8.5. No other pair in the entire store. I could actually squeeze the 8.5s on but they were sooooo tight. I usually wear a 9, 9.5, or 10 depending on brand. I loved the way they looked but not the way they felt.

So I went to 2 other Rosses in the last 2 days. I can't find them. Anywhere. I found one other pair, also a size 8.5. I've asked about being able to search other store's inventory and Ross (shocker) can't do that. I've searched online. NO ONE HAS THEM! :( Honestly, if they weren't $40, I would just squeeze my giant feet into the 8.5s and hope they stretch. But unfortunately, that's a bit too much money for a pair of shoes that doesn't quite fit. $20, sure. But not $40.

What I'm hoping is that one of you amazing shoppers will be able to help me find these or something similar in black. Any ideas? Suggestions? I've searched online and can't find them in stock or in my size or in some cases for a decent price (I won't pay $115 for them like one site had them listed at!). I'm totally cool with a lookalike but I haven't been able to find one. Help!!!

On another note - I'm at 42 followers. I'm thinking when I hit 50....it may be time for my very first giveaway? Maybe? :)

[Life] Busy Bee

Ya'll are going to have to bear with me here. I'm so sorry, but I'm currently in the midst of a "horrible blogger" phase. Last week I was pretty busy so I didn't have a ton of time to write posts, and while I had high hopes for this past weekend, I spent 8 hours on the lake on my friend's boat this past Saturday. Yours truly, being the pasty gal that she is, got a nice, crispy shoulder burn. That meant 8 hours of boating goodness = no blog posts. Then a Sunday of feeling run down from the lake day and sunburn = no blog posts.

I do, however, have pictures that will maybe make it up to you?

This week, I'm teaching all 5 days. Granted, I'm teaching in my home office, so I don't have the run-down from travel problem, but teaching still takes a lot out of me. That means I probably won't feel much like writing each evening. And next weekend hubs and I are going to the beach for a long weekend and I certainly have no desire to spend a minute of my vacation worrying about blogging. If I have time and feel like it, I will, but I'm not letting myself feel required to do so.

Basically, I'm apologizing for last week and apologizing in advance for the next week of crappy blogging.

Forgive me?

[OOTD] Can You Hear Me or Do I Need To Turn It Up?

Whew. I finally have time to breathe over here. What a busy week it's been - I usually write my posts the night before they show up on blogger so I've been scraping together rando posts this entire week. Tuesday night we hung out with our new neighbors. Guys, I'm not lying when I say the majority of people who live on our street are members of AARP. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but they're definitely not in our age range. Until a few months ago, anyway - a couple our age bought the house next door. So, last night we had them over for drinks and it turned into hanging out all night. It was so much fun but we didn't have a ton of time outside of that!

And then Wednesday was hubby's birthday, so we celebrated by going to see The Dark Knight Rises - which, if any of you have seen it, is a nearly three hour movie. I love a great movie but man do I have a hard time sitting through a movie that's 2 hours or longer. I get so restless. Anyone else have that problem?

Anyway. It's Thursday night as I write this and I am enjoying catching up on all the crappy reality tv I missed this week - you know, the Bachelorette finale, Bachelor Pad, the Housewives - and catching up on my blog reading and commenting and writing.

Now that I've "talked" your ear off - here are some outfit photos!

Top: Kohl's, $15 | Jeans: Seven for All Mankind via local boutique sale, $65 | Shoes: ShoeLand, $18 | Scarf: Street Market (London), $5 | Sunnies: Florida boutique, $18 | Watch: Target, $13 | Earrings: Ardene's via Canada, $5 | Bracelets: both gifted | Grand total: $139

I've been trying to think of something to add to my blog to make it a little more than a collection of outfit pics. I'm brewing a few ideas and hopefully will be moving on them by next week. Yay!

[Life] Another birthday

Every year, the fun day I spend celebrating my wonderful husband is followed immediately by a day that makes me sad. July 26th is the birthday of my high school best friend, and she passed away just over 3 years ago. I have a lot of guilt and sadness surrounding her and her passing, which I wrote about here. Regardless, on this day every single year I think of her, and I feel the twinge of sadness since she's gone. I pray that's she's smiling down on her loved ones, because there are a lot of us down here thinking of her.

Happy birthday, Dayleen! I miss you more than you know.

[Life] Happy Birthday to my Most Favorite Person

You guys, today is such an important day. Today is my hubby's birthday.

I'd like to take a moment to celebrate him. Yep, this guy.

Hubby please don't be mad about this picture. I wanted to show your fun side.  : D

I'm so thankful that he was brought into my life, and I'm so lucky to be married to him. 

Hubby is kind, compassionate, loving, and fun.

He makes my life better simply by being in it.

The day I married him was the best day of my life. 

And the day he was born is to be celebrated because I'm so happy he's here. With me.

Happy birthday, hubby. I don't ever want to imagine life without you. 

You're my best friend and my everything. Let's celebrate accordingly! 

[Beauty] Crackle

There is something I was curious about for the longest time - crackle topcoats/polishes. I bought one at Ulta a few months back and have tried it once or twice. I think I like it, but I also think it's not something I want to wear every week. Also, I think it might be prettier in another color? Mine is in black. I paired the black with a mint base and really liked the 2 colors together.

Base is Revlon Minted, topcoat is OPI.

What do you think? Do you wear crackle polish? Would you?

[Reality TV] I hate to say I told you so....

But I totally called it. Back here. Remember?

For my fellow Bachelorette fans: what do you think of Emily's choice?

[Shopping] Dressing Room Conundrums

Let's talk shopping and dressing room pics. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. Do you find yourself taking pictures of stuff as you try it on to decide if you like it? I find that things can look so different on camera and sometimes that's a deciding factor to me!

Without further ado, some dressing room pictures. These are over the last 3 months. Did I buy or not?

This was a top I tried on at Winner's when I was in Toronto. Thoughts?

I didn't like it, so I didn't buy it. I really love the interesting stripe pattern and the nautical navy/white color combo. I like how it fits up top but the fabric paired with a flowy bottom just looked odd.

Next, another top from Winner's.

I wasn't sure about this one. I still am not sure how I feel about this one. Every now and again I've thought "man, I should have bought that orange top in Toronto" but sometimes I look at this pic and think "eh, it's just ok". What do you think?

When Webster at Target went on sale, I was pretty psyched. I tried on some things. Like this:

and this

and this

I also tried on this dress, though it wasn't from the Webster collection.

I bought the white tunic at the top, and the 3/4 sleeve print dress. I did not buy the dress with the puffy short sleeves or this last one right above.

I also tried on these 3 tops:

I didn't buy any of these when I first tried them on. I went back to get the pink top (and actually bought it in white instead) and saw the grey top was on sale for $6, so I bought it (but in green, haha). I also tried the one-sleeve top on AGAIN, but still didn't like it enough to buy.

I hardly ever go into Banana Republic, because I adore their clothes but I do not adore their prices. They are generally way more than I'd like to pay so I don't like to go in and get excited about a piece only to struggle with whether to buy it because of the price tag. But this particular day, I had been on a roll finding deals so I popped on in. I tried on this dress:

Oh. My. Goodness. It was like this dress was made for me. There was no way I wasn't going to buy it. And it was on sale from $130 down to $70. I got another 40% off that. Worth it.

I ended up back at Target to once again peruse what was left of the Webster collection. I tried on this adorable cardigan:

Bought it. It was about $10. Couldn't say no.

On a fairly recent TJ Maxx trip, I tried on this Ralph Lauren Polo top (please excuse the running skirt, haha!):

I debated. And debated. And debated. Then bought it.

I loved this bag at Forever21. I thought it would make the perfect weekend bag!

I, however, have enough bags. I didn't get this one.

I had my eye on this maxi dress at Kohl's forever but the price tag kept me from trying it on ($70!!!). I went in last week and it was on sale, so I tried it on.

I decided no. But I kept thinking about it. And thinking about it. And then a coupon came out for 20% off. And the dress was on sale. So I scooped it up just last week.

What do you think? What would you have bought?

[Quotable] Happy Saturday!

[OOTD] Two Step

Whew. Thank goodness it's Friday.

I'm a little bit bummed. My camera was supposed to arrive yesterday. It didn't.

Top: Macy's $15 | Capris, Ring: H&M $15, $5 | Shoes: Shoe Carnival $10 | Earrings: Ardene's, Canada $10 | Watch: Target, $13 | Grand Total: $68

I selected 2 day shipping because it was only $3 more than standard, and 1 day shipping was a bit more than I wanted to spend.

The estimated arrival date for my camera was yesterday. But as of late Thursday night, the item was "still awaiting shipping" and had no tracking number yet.

I sent an email asking why it hadn't shipped and of course haven't heard anything yet. Seems like a bit of a lie on the 2 day shipping, no?

Hopefully my camera is on it's way. But I'm not holding my breath.

However, Sony did send my speakers back. Even though they're sending me a full refund. Soo....I get all my money back AND my stuff? Stupid Sony. That's ok. The speakers will work with the right rigging, it's only the wireless transmitter that doesn't work. So I guess I got a pair of speakers for free.

But that still doesn't cancel out my camera. Hmph.

On another note, how do you feel about full fledged capris vs the currently trendy crops? This is the only pair of capris I own and I thought I liked them until I saw these pictures. Now I'm not sure. Maybe they need to be cuffed?

Anyway.

Happy Friday? Yes, Happy Friday.

[Fashion] Mish Mash

You guys.

Finally.

I got through all the blogs that have been piling up since Friday. With Friday and Saturday of last weekend finding me in the house for a very, very small amount of time, I have not been able to keep my head above water on my blog reading. FINALLY. I'm done!!!

You will notice I've added a fun little section on the side detailing things I'm reading/listening to/watching. Hopefully you'll get some new ideas or find stuff you've also read/listened to/watched and we can discuss them! I'll do a recap post at the end of every month as a record of what's been in the sidebar.

For today, a bit of a mish mash of a post. Just a smattering of outfits I only had a chance to snap with my phone.

Enjoy!

Wore this to see Magic Mike with the ladies:

Top: Old Navy | Shorts: H&M

You guys, this is totally a wear around the house outfit but I LOVE these shorts. I got them at Target a year or two ago and they're awesome.

Shorts: Target | Tank: Macy's

 This was a date night outfit when I went to dinner with the hubs:

Top: Target | Shorts: Macy's | Wedges: Shoe Carnival

I finally got around to wearing the dress I posted about back here, when I went dancing with my girlfriends on Friday night:

Dress: Kohl's

And this is what I wore to Neal and Liz's wedding this past Saturday:

Dress: New York & Company