[Life] Sunday Soup

Ok, so I have a ton of outfit photos waiting in the wings, but I also have a lot of other things I want to talk/write about. So I'm starting a "Sunday Soup" post. You know, because soup is a mix of random things in one delicious pot. This is my soup. Hope you all enjoy.

It's Saturday as I write this, and we've got some storms coming through. My dog is terrified of them so she's squished herself up under my feet, under my desk.

Earlier this week I wrote a ranting post. I've resolve some of the issues, so let's catch up.
My speakers - in short, Sony couldn't repair them so they said my only other option, aside from having them sent back as is and not working, would be a refund. However, they were only offering $44 when I paid $125 for them. Basically, they were purchased open box so I didn't qualify for the full refund, but I didn't think that was fair since I was informed when I bought them that the warranty was intact (which would entitle me to a full refund). After speaking with 6 different people, they refused to do me any better. So I tweeted @SonySupportUSA about being terribly unhappy with their customer service. In 2 short days, my full refund was processed. Yay!
My hair - I did a home fix. It's not perfect, but it's good enough that you can't notice the root issues. You saw in Friday's post my hair down - those were taken Thursday post-hair-fix.

So what did I do this last week?

On the 3rd, I had dinner with the hubs at Buca di Beppo, one of our favorites. (I really think it's hubs' favorite solely because of the Tiramisu. It's his favorite dessert and they give you SO MUCH of it!!!)

Went to see the fireworks on the 4th with our friends Ty and Jodi, then stuck around for ice cream afterwards.

Friday I had a half day off from work. Hubby had a tee time late afternoon so while he was golfing, I treated myself to this lil pedicure. Seriously, my salon has the best pedicure ever. Their technicians give amazing massages. If you're in the Atlanta area, check out Elegant Nails in Roswell. A-mah-zing.

Saturday I was super busy in the morning - gym, grocery shopping, laundry, giving the dog a bath, etc - then I rewarded myself with an afternoon of playing around with my hair, reading, and sipping a margarita. And you can see, I had some company from a little boxer dog who was pooped from fighting her bath.

Today I'm having brunch with my friends Jodi and Natasha - I'm looking forward to some girl time! Then perhaps doing some outlet shopping with the hubs. We shall see.

What else.....

Oh! I made some dip this week. I've been enjoying it for days.

I took plain yogurt (8 oz), cream cheese (1/4 cup), and feta (3/4 cup) and threw it in the food processor with about 2 cups of fresh spinach. It's quite a tangy dip but I like it.

Now, some of my favorite links this week!

• IFB gives ideas on how to get blog posts ideas from a summer vacation
• Cupcakes and Cashmere shared an amazing Banana Cream Pie recipe
• Kate teaches readers how to do a fancy ponytail
• A fab club makeup tutorial over at Makeup Geek
• How to tackle a tough task

[Life] Weekend Flashback

I've really loved revisiting all the fun pictures I've been scanning into my computer. I'm having fun reliving some of my favorite times of life and thought it would be fun to share here on the blog!

This week? High school graduation!

Ya'll, I'm about to date myself.

I'm a graduate of Nazareth High School, class of.....1999!!!

My friend Jon and Me

My friend Tara and my HS bestie Alison...or should we now call her Dr.?!

Me and my friend Taylore, who went on to play college basketball at UNH

And then what happens after you graduate???

SENIOR WEEK!

Sorry but you don't get to see those pics. However, I will share this one, which kind of sums up the whole week...

My friend Beth, Ocean City, NJ, Senior week 1999

[Fashion] Moroccan Tiles

Last Saturday, I came home from a nice dinner with the hubby and another couple to find our mailbox stuffed full of mail. Among the contents was a package c/o Sugarlips! As soon as I got inside the house, I excitedly ripped it open to find this beauty inside!!!

Dress - c/o Sugarlips | Heels: ShoeLand | Earrings: Ardene's (Canada) | Bracelet: Betsey Johnson via Macy's

I have to be honest, I was nervous about how it was going to fit. I have odd proportions and I can wear multiple sizes. I was ecstatic to put the dress on and find that it fit perfectly!

This Moroccan Tile dress is made of a super lightweight material and features two of my favorite trends - asymmetry and flowy sleeves.

I love the print of the dress, and found that the dress was so interesting on its own that I kept accessories to a minimum.

I went with a more "neutral" shoe - although my heels are silver, the color doesn't compete with the pattern in the dress.

I also kept jewelry to a minimum, only accenting the dress with a simple charm bracelet and long gold earrings.

The dress was the perfect length. If dresses are too long, then tend to cut off the length in my legs, and I'm not comfortable in anything too short. The hem of the dress hit at the exact right spot! I'm sure this is going to get a lot of wear this summer. I adore the dress and am excited to try more of what Sugarlips has to offer!!

[Fashion] Dance and hang all night

Coat - Old Navy | Skirt - old | Shoes - Boscov's

This outfit post is the beginning of many hotel-room outfit photos, so beware! These are pics from my work trip to Toronto mid-June. This outfit was from my first day of teaching.

Earrings - Kohl's | Necklace - old | Watch - Japan | Bracelets - homemade, F21, JoAnn

The room that I was teaching in was SO COLD. I wore my coat almost the entire time.

Top - Japan

For whatever reason, I packed 2 all-black outfits for 3 days of teaching. I have no idea why and while I had brought some other options I liked the all black options best!

[Fashion] Happy 4th of July!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday today. Hopefully you take a second to thank those who have sacrificed so that we can have our freedom. And don't forget to go watch some fireworks!

I wasn't planning an outfit post for today but then as I was taking outfit pics yesterday it occurred to me that I was wearing red, white, and blue. Obviously that was not the original intent but I thought it was fitting to post it on the 4th of July! So, without further ado....

Top: NY&Company (old) | Jeans: Gap (old) | Shoes: Burlington Coat Factory (old) | Watch, Earrings, Belt: Target  (watch here)

I've always loved using a red shoe to make a outfit pop. I was kind of surprised to find that my red, white, and blue was an accident! (There are white stripes in the shirt if it's not clear from this distance - I'm not insane and imagining it in case that's what you thought, haha!)

Notice my awful hair bun. See previous post for why. Ugh.

Sometimes I have this problem - ok, all the time - with button down tops. Here you can see it looks like it's pulling a bit in the center. I canNOT find button downs that fit correctly - my chest is a size 10 and my waist is a size 6. Annoying!

Just love these earrings!!

And one more bit of fun for ya'll...

How are you wearing your red, white, and blue this week!?

[Life/Quoteable] TGI4? TGIH?

You guys. I'm having a bit of a rough week, although it's nothing major. Do you ever have a few days where there are just nonstop minor irritations that do nothing but build and build and build and push your mood lower and lower and eventually you're just having a crappy day or couple of days? That was me this week, brought on by the compilation of the following:

• My car. It stopped blowing cold air (aka the AC went out - just in time for the 3 digit temps) a few weeks ago and I've spent the last 2 weeks just getting it diagnosed. The diagnosis finally happened last Thursday. Followed by a ridiculously high price. So I said I'd go to my normal mechanic for the work. He doesn't have anyone who can do the detailed work but they could replace a larger bit of equipment for slightly more money, also a ridiculously high price. A third mechanic thinks the diagnosis is crap and wants me to bring my car in. I'm just so tired of dealing with this. I have made 3 different trips to the shop for diagnosis, talked to 3 different mechanics for prices, and am no better off than I was before. And it's taken me 2 weeks to get this far. Plus, Hubby's car also needs brakes which are going to run us $1200 because of 3 little letters: B.M.W. So basically, $2500 in *surprise* repairs have cropped up in the last 2-3 weeks and I just want them to be done and paid for already.
• My speakers. Hubs bought me speakers with a wireless transmitter that plugs into the computer so you can stream music from your computer to the speakers in other rooms. They worked for 4 months, then stopped. I sent them in for repairs and now I'm fighting with Sony about the outcome because they can't repair them. I will delve into this in another post I'm sure - it will either be singing Sony's praise or ripping them to shreds based on how this all shakes out. This also has been going on for nearly a week.
• Work. I was in a training course for 2 weeks with an exam at the end. Passing score was 74%. I need to pass this test because I'm expected to teach the course in the next few months. The first time I took the test I got a 71.43%. The second time I got a 73.33%. Also, I've had a work trip to LA tentatively scheduled for the week of July 16th for weeks, if not months. Here we are, 9 days away, and nothing has been confirmed - which means unless confirmation comes in first thing Thursday, this trip is postponed. I have to have the course documents to the printer by Thursday afternoon and I can't do that without payment info that comes with the confirmation of the course. I hate the unprofessionalism of this lack of client commitment, and I'm guessing the sales team hasn't been pushing for it. They take me and my time for granted and it's annoying.
• My hair. Yes, this is totally stupid but hear me out. I'm graying, ya'll. Like, probably 25% of my hair is gray now. Thanks, Mom and Dad. Anyway. I have to keep up on dying my roots pretty frequently. I've been trying to go blonder and blonder for awhile, starting with my hair dresser last summer. Basically, he was doing a color touch up with highlights. SUPER. EXPENSIVE. Like, $70 for root touch up alone expensive. So when Hubby started school in January, I stopped going to the salon. We're paying for his school out of pocket, so we're trying to be frugal where we can. This is fine - honestly, I'm actually pretty good at hair and the main reason why I went to the salon was because I'd rather spend the money than the time. When I do my own hair, it takes hours. But I've done it, and figured I'd just do it again. I do my roots, then a day or two later, I do my highlights. I do them by pulling my hair through one of those highlighter caps. This takes 2-3 hours. No lie. I've done this 2 times already since Jan without issue, so I did this again last weekend. Saturday I spent 3 hours watching Mad Men and pulling my hair through that stupid cap. I have no idea what I did wrong but my hair came out terribly. My blond looks orangey at the roots, then highlights are not even really highlights as I apparently pulled the entire top layer of my hair through the various holes...trust me, it looks terrible. So now I've been trying to figure out how to remedy it and in the mean time wearing a lot of ponytails. And I'm annoyed that I have to do that and I'm annoyed that I don't know how it happened and I'm annoyed that I wasted 3 hours of a perfectly good Saturday afternoon for nothing.
• Other random stuff having to do with others and their moods. Other's moods rub off on me, especially if I'm having a rough day. And my mood has been negatively affected by some moods around me the last few days. There have been arguments (though I am not entirely at fault). There was a style blogger meetup that found me grumpy. Housework I had to do that was difficult for me because Hubs had to go out of town for a funeral. Just all piling up.

Bit by bit these things have been building up. None of them are huge, most of them are merely annoying, but it's put me in a crap mood for the last week or so. I'm hoping this day off will repair a bit of the damage of the last 7 days. TGI4! (Thank goodness it's the 4th?) Or TGIH? (Thank goodness it's a holiday?)

This quote is a bit dramatic in light of what I've just written, but I was originally going to post it sans story, so I thought I'd just leave it.

[Fashion] Shoe Problem - HELP!

Do you ever have a pair of shoes that you absolutely love? I have lots of pairs that I just love. But what do you do when your favorite shoes start to fall apart?

I don't have anything falling apart right now, but I have an adorable pair of Chinese Laundry light pink satin heels that have been worn so much that they are CRAZY dirty. I mean, it's awful.

Does anyone know how to clean these? Or are they a lost cause? They are so stinkin cute!!!

[Fashion] Fever all through the night...

Thought the holiday week would be a good time to post a smattering of random outfit photos from the last few months that have been hanging out on my computer.

Enjoy!

Tank - Gap | Shorts - TJMaxx | Belt - Target | Flip Flops - Old Navy | Necklace - Macy's

The above outfit was something I wore to ladies night at a dive bar with some of my girls.

Yes, this picture looks like something that was worn to an Atlanta Braves baseball game. But it was not. This was for a Braves Bar Crawl. Super fun!! Also note: I am a Pirates fan, first and foremost. But since the Pirates are so stinky, and I live in Atlanta, I sort of secondarily root for the Braves since they aren't ever really competing against the Pirates. Though when the Pirates play the Braves I most definitely root for the Pirates!!

Top - Bebe | Jeans - Express | Shoes - Steve Madden

I have no idea what I wore this outfit for, but I like it!!

Top - LC Lauren Conrad for Kohl's | Jeans - Target | Shoes - Payless (here)

WOW what an awful face!!! See? Blogger warts and all. This outfit is typical of what I wear on Wednesday nights when I go dancing. Obviously I don't dance in these shoes, but this is what I wore there!