[Life] For Your Love

This weekend I'm out of town but of course there are some scheduled posts for you, starting with this one!

Life over the last few weeks....

Sharon and Kevin's wedding

And my super hot hubby...

Afternoons in the sunshine

Random shots ... the slippers my hubby loves but my mom makes fun of, the wonderful world of teaching network architecture, and horrific Atlanta traffic. Yay!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

[Fashion] GASP! An Outfit Post!

As promised!!!

Yet another look with the flowy top and skinny pants. I love this combo. Please, style gods, don't let this go out of style any time soon. :)

Today I decided to go to Old Navy on my lunch break. I've been eyeing this coral sheerish shirt there and wanted to see if they still had it in my size. I went, found it, bought it, and went on my way. Well.

I went back to my office and in my email was this.

Literally timed 4 minutes after the time stamped on my receipt.

Top - Kohl's
Jeans - JC Penney (here in white)
Shoes - Shoe Carnival (2011)

Thankfully I was able to go to the ON by my house and they returned what I bought and re-rang it with the coupon. I saved myself $6.00! Yay! And, the sales clerk said tomorrow their bathing suits go on 40% off and you can still use this coupon which will be 20% off tomorrow.

Enjoy!

[Laugh] Maybe It's Only Funny to Me....

But this week I got my first blog hits from keyword search.

Most made sense.

But somehow someone got my blog by searching for blue+hour+poultry.

HAHAHAHA. WHY is someone searching for poultry, period??!

Thanks to Gentri Lee's poultry question in her 7 Questions Wednesday.

Bahaha I'm still giggling.

And as a bonus, you get one more thing that makes me giggle: this picture of my dog, with her jowls in all their smooshy glory.

Lexi is funny without even trying. 

[Thoughts] Housecleaning (Or Brain Cleaning?)

Hello lovely readers! Just a few thoughts for this lovely Friday:

• I will have an outfit post for you today. (YAY! I can feel your excitement) For being a style blogger, my blog has been lacking that for the past week or so. Frankly, I haven't been taking a whole lot of pictures because I've been playing catch up all week in all facets of my life. I haven't really worn an outfit I'm proud of until today. But I also have a few stockpiled pics along with the ones I snapped today. I'll get some up. Promise.
• Speaking of today's look - have you ever had one of those days where you wake up and your hair is just freakin perfect?!?! This almost never happens to me, but today it did. I'm ecstatic about it. 

Ignore the face. I'm not good at the forced smile, apparently.

• I was so excited to go to the Sassy City Chicks event last night but my friend who was going with me had to bail last minute. And then another friend who is moving across the country put together a ladies night for last night and I felt that I would rather feed my soul at her apartment than my closet at the Sample Sale. So I won't have a report on that.
• From yesterday's post....blue it is! I'll be placing my INPink order today and will show you what else I picked in a future post!
• I'm going on a little weekend getaway this weekend; I can't give too many details right now (I will later) but know that I'm flying to Detroit tomorrow morning on a SEVEN AM FLIGHT. Yikes. I have to be at the airport by 6AM. On a Saturday. And I'm not packed yet. And it's stressing me out.
• Are there any Torontonites out there? (See how I just made that word up? Or is that really a thing?) I'm going to Toronto in about 3-4 weeks for work, and I'm going to have a free Friday night in the city. I'm also debating the merits of flying home before lunch on Saturday or sticking around and flying back around dinner time so I can do some sightseeing. Are there things worth seeing/doing in the city that I should stick around on Saturday for? Anyone who's been to Toronto or lives there? Bueller? Bueller?

I debated posting this last point because I really don't want to offend anyone. I'm really not trying to do that. But this has been weighing on me a bit and has been my first bit of disappointment in the blogging community since I started doing this last month. I guess I just have to think that most of you reading this don't fall into this category. And I know others have said they just ignore this issue but it's so, so prevalent that it's bugging the crap out of me because it's rude. There's little I dislike more than rudeness.

• I joined IFB this week. It's done amazing things for my blog traffic, and welcome to those of you who got here from there! If you are enjoying my blog and you came here from IFB, this next part is NOT about you. 
• Warning: <rant> I'm not sure how many of those coming to my blog from IFB are actually reading it. I had no idea it was going to be like this when I joined. For those of you also on IFB, you should know what I'm talking about. A thousand messages and more than half of them just asking you to follow their blogs and not really caring at all about yours. I actually had someone stop by my blog, then send me a message about liking a particular post, but then followed it up with "let me know if you follow my blog - then I'll come follow yours." Shouldn't you just follow it if you like it and not follow it if you don't? Why is your following me contingent on me following you? Yes, blogging relies on give and take, and if you approach me and my blog in a genuine way, I'll probably follow you regardless of whether you follow me, but so many of these messages are disingenuous and these bloggers have no interest in you or your blog unless you "do them a favor" by following them. I want people to follow me because they like my content, not just to make my numbers look good. I'll take 10 active followers over 1,000 who never actually read a word. You don't really seem like a nice, caring, friendly person when you send those messages. And I really, really like nice, caring, friendly people best. </end rant> To those of you who came over here from IFB and are enjoying my blog - thanks!! I hope I blog well enough over time to keep you coming back. :)
• (In keeping with my goal of trying to put myself in others shoes, I can see how people would just want numbers to beef up their blog. I just don't feel the same and I have put in my IFB profile that I'm not interested in that kind of thing. But apparently no one reads that. And since they still insist on pushing their agenda without care for mine, I feel I'm allowed to rant. :)  )

So....I think that's it for now. I'll have an outfit post up later today. I know you'll be waiting with bated breath.

[Shopping] YOU Decide!

Ok, folks. A little while ago I won a $40 INPink giftcard giveaway from the lovely Erika Marie over at Fashion Chalet. Now I'm getting ready to make my purchases. However, I'm stuck. There is a bracelet that I like, in three colors, and I can't decide which color! (And you can't say all of them because I can't justify 2 or 3 of the same bracelet!)

So....vote! Do you like the pink....

Here

The orange....

Here

Or the blue?

Here

Leave your vote in the comments!

[Quotable] So True

[Caution] IT Geek at Work...

Hey guys,

You've probably noticed my new blog design as of yesterday. Yay!

However, I don't have the comment reply working yet. I'm currently trying to fix this. I really like to reply to everyone who has been so kind as to stop by and comment on my blog! So....

Bear with me and hopefully this will be fixed soon!

J

[Link Up] 7 Questions

It's time again for Gentri Lee's 7 Questions!!


1. Are you a thrift shopper?
No. I really, really would love to be but I find I don't have the patience. Also, I tend to be a bit skeeved out by the scent that accompanies most thrift stores. I know this is ridiculous but it's true.

2. You just had a very bad dream, what do you do?
Wake up scared and make sure it was actually a dream. Then toss and turn for the next 30 minutes because whatever image scared me so much comes back every single time I close my eyes.

3. What is your favorite flavor of Ice Cream?
I have to pick just one!?! I love ice cream! Let's see....I'll go with Phish Food.

But I also love anything cheesecake!

This is the one we ALWAYS have in our house because my hubby loves it...

We actually get the Cupcake Party one - but this is the only pic I could find.

And I would just love to get my hands on a chocolate ice cream that has peanut butter swirled in! (Someone please tell me where I can find this!!!!) When I have a hankering for that, I settle for this:

Hmmm...think I like ice cream???


4. What do you do with your money? (spend it, save it, invest it, bury it, etc)
Oy. I do a little bit of each. A certain amount goes into retirement investment each month. Saving goes by the wayside as long as the emergency fund and school fund for hubby stay at a certain amount, because we're trying to pay down debt. But it's always a painful fight to not spend money because man do I love to shop. There. I said it.

5. What was the last quote or statement you heard that really hit you?
Hurt people hurt people. It was in a blog this morning when a mother was writing some words of wisdom for her daughter. It was referencing bullying, talking about how those who bully do so to hide/retaliate/deflect from their own insecurities and pain. I think that can be applied to our adult world too - people who are mean, speak ill of others, or judge without knowing are often trying to cover up their own insecurities, and I try so hard to remember that each day. I've been judgmental in the past (and who hasn't?) and I don't want to be - I make it a point each day to try and put others' comments in perspective and to not talk badly about others just because I'm insecure about me. This was a great question! Here is the full post if you want to check it out!

6. What do you do when you're driving alone? (ex: dance, sing, listen to talk radio, etc)
In the morning I listen to talk radio. Kind of. Seriously, I generally hate talk radio but the Bert Show (which is in Atlanta, Nashville, and Indianapolis!) is ridiculously entertaining. Check it out here! When it's not a weekday morning, I am definitely that person in my car singing at the top of my lungs. And I really, truly don't care who sees. I'm having more fun than anyone who wants to look at me funny!!!

7. Did you watch the premier of Bachelorette? If so, who was your favorite bachelor?
I did not watch it yet. I do have it on my DVR. Hubs and I watch the How I Met Your Mother/2 Broke Girls/Mike & Molly lineup (yes, you'll notice 2.5 Men is missing because we think that show is awful and have thought that for years), so I always have to DVR the girly Monday night shows - The Bachelor, Bachelorette, Dancing With the Stars, and Gossip Girl. (Hehe yes I watch GG). I tried to watch the premier of the Bachelorette last night while going through my RSS feed but I wasn't paying enough attention and after 30 minutes I realized I had no idea what had even happened to so I turned it off. I'll get back to you on my fave once I actually have time to watch it!!

[Life and Shopping] Waiting for the End

Hello readers! I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. I spent my weekend away from my computer enjoying time with my parents who were in town for Mother's Day. I hope all of you mothers out there had a great Mum's Day and for those of you who are not yet mothers yourself, I hope you were fortunate enough to spend some time with your own mother!

I had such an amazing time with my parents this weekend and will share all the fun and pictures in another post later this week. Hopefully my few scheduled posts over the last few days gave you a little something to check in for. I also have a few other things lined up for the rest of the week, but I wanted to stop in to mention a few quick things!

Payless Shoesource is currently offering a coupon for $10 off any order of $25 or more when you use coupon code 68537. They have some adorable shoes right now! I own these:

Buy

And these are on my wishlist!

Buy

Buy

Also, most of their jewelry and hair accessories are buy one, get one 50% off and they should also work with the coupon code!

New York & Company extended their 40% off the entire store sale to today. They also have 50% off jewelry - these are my favorites:

Buy

Buy (3 colors available)

        

This Thursday I'm headed to the Sassy City Chicks Spring Fashion Bash! I'm super excited for this event and will have a full report afterwards!

[Fashion] If It Kills Me

So I wore this outfit last week and debated.....

Hat?

(excuse the ridiculous facial expression and meathead stance)

Or no hat??

I've been trying to incorporate more hats into my wardrobe but I have so many casual ones that I have trouble making work. I ended up choosing to not wear the hat. Do you think it worked?