Well, hello there!

Hi all!  It's been way too long...longer than I planned!  Apparently a lot of people were on the Internet hook-up wait list in our area because it took forever and a day to get ours hooked up.  Finally, we are plugged in and I am back!!  We are loving it here in Ohio...everyone has been so friendly and we've felt welcome every where we've gone.  The mid-west is proving to be all it's cracked up to be, thus far! We are getting settled into our new home a little more each day. The unpacking is coming along...it'll take another week or so probably to get through every single box.  It would have gone a little quicker but we had the worst packers ever and they decided to mix up items from different rooms.  I've found computer gear with towels, old college books that were in the garage with the kids' current clothes, blankets with sand toys from the garage...seriously, terrible packing etiquette.  It's made it that much harder to get everything organized, but we're getting there.  

Since it's been so long, I've got quite the back log of outfit photos to draw from so I thought I'd post a few of them today for my first post back.  Here are three outfits I wore this past week:

Thursday

Swept Aside Top-Down East Basics

Highlighted Frequencies Cardigan-Anthropologie

Toothpick Ankle Denim-J Crew Factory

Gold Wedge Sandals-Banana Republic Factory

I snapped this picture before I put any jewelry on...whoops!  I did add some, no worries.  I wore this to a girl's night a new friend of mine was having at her house...so fun!

Friday

Cabomba Blouse-Anthropologie

Curvy Jeans-Gap

Sam Edelman "Javi" Wedge Sandals-Endless

Necklace-Anthropologie

Bracelets-Tiffany

Repercussive Light Earrings-Anthropologie

Fireworks Ring-Banana Republic

Date Night!!  Hubby and I enjoyed a night out on our own.  We went to dinner, saw The Dark Knight Rises (it was really good!!!) and stopped for ice cream at Graeter's on the way home.  Perfect night out!  We have already found a great babysitter that our boys love so that's been great.

Saturday

Tee-Gap Outlet (OLD)
1969 Denim Bermuda Shorts-Gap
Madden Girl Sandals-OLD from DSW
Pieced Prism Necklace-Anthropologie
Bracelet-Silpada Jewelry
Earrings-Nordstrom (BP)

After working on unpacking the garage and basement all day we went over to a movie night in our new neighbor's driveway.  We watched Bolt up on their garage door and got to know some more of our neighbors.  Lots of fun!

As you can see I finally have a full length mirror in my house so I'll probably snap most of my pictures there from now on.  Much easier than dragging my kids to the front porch to take pictures!  Behind me you'll see my closet.  That was one of the first spaces all unpacked and I'm loving it!  A walk-in all for me!  Hubby gets the closet behind the mirrored door all to himself.  That was one of the things I was very excited about in this new house...more closet space!

I'm off to get the kids registered at their new school today...we don't start for another 3 1/2 weeks so we still have some time to play.  Thanks for being patient and hanging in there while I've had such a crazy summer...I'll be much more regular in my blogging from here on out!

Have a great day!!!

PS--Anyone else glued to the TV now that the Olympics are on??  I'm loving it!!!  

OOTD and some sale shopping!

Hello from Ohio!  We made it!

We've past the three week mark of living out of suitcases and I'm so happy to say tomorrow is the day that ends!  We close on our new home here in Ohio this afternoon, and then the moving truck arrives tomorrow with all our household goods...yay!  Of course it'll take a while to unpack and feel at home I'm sure, but the prospect of saying goodbye to these suitcases for a while is pretty thrilling.  

I had a few free moments this morning before needing to go run some errands (furniture shopping anyone???) so I thought I'd dig out a picture of an outfit I wore while we were in AZ.  I bought this shirt right before leaving CA specifically for our trip and the rest of this summer because it was short sleeved, and I could wear it without any other layers.  I ended up wearing it a few times on our trip so it's served me well so far.  

Here's how I wore it the first time:

What I Wore

Unexpected Artiste Top-Anthropologie

Skinny Jeans-Gap Outlet (AG Neon Stevie Ankle look-a-likes!!!)

Shimmered Seagrove T-Straps-Anthropologie

Necklace-Anthropologie

Strung Hoop Earrings-Anthropologie

Bracelets-J Crew Factory and Gap Outlet

This past week brought a whole new set of markdowns at Anthropologie...I have to say I was a little surprised!  I thought they'd take a week off with all the recent sales, but I'm never one to complain about a sale.  I picked up a few goodies:

Rusicada Asymmetric Top

Bedecked Flounce Tee (grey motif)

 AG Polka Dot Ankle Stevie (grey motif)

Mezzanine Earrings

Does anyone know what tan sandals those are in the picture of the AG Polka Dot Ankle Stevies?  Love those!

J Crew is also having a great sale right now with 40% off sale items...I decided to pass on this except to pick up this cute top I've been eyeing for quite some time:

Silk Bow Cami in Stripe

I scored this for just $24 and change in-store...love a good sale!

How about you?  Have you picked up any fun things on sale lately?  Do tell!

As if all these sales haven't been enough, the Nordstrom Anniversary sale opens up to the general public this Friday!  I always love shopping this sale...so many great deals to be had!  I'm on the lookout for a new pair of black riding boots this year, as well as any rain gear I can find.  I need a cute raincoat now that I live in the mid-west.  It rains out of the blue whenever it feels like it, I hear!  Do you plan on shopping the Anniversary sale?  What do you have your eye on?

Today we're off to look at a few more furniture stores...I'm looking for a new sofa with a chaise lounge on the end of it for our family room.  I didn't know it would be so hard to find just what I want!  We went to about 4 or 5 stores yesterday and came up empty handed in the sofa department, although I found a few possibilities for a corner chair and dressers for my boys.  Baby steps, right?!  Hopefully we can find something today...I'd love to get it ordered soon!

Alright...better get my day started.

Have a great day!!!

I jumped on the High-Low Band Wagon

I like to follow the trends.  I don't always jump on all the band wagons, but every now and again I find myself joining in on the fun.  When the high-low dress trend sparked up this past spring I was intrigued.  I looked for quite a while to find the perfect high-low dress and after a bit of trial and error, I found what was to be my token high-low piece in my closet:

What I Wore

FELICITY & COCO High/Low Hem Jersey Tank Dress-Nordstrom

Jackie Cardigan-J Crew Factory

Shimmer Dust Belt-Anthropologie (now on sale for $29.95 in gold online)

Shimmered Seagrove T-Strap Sandals-Anthropologie (now on sale for $19.95!)

Color Goes On Necklace-Anthropologie

Skinny Resin Bangle-Banana Republic

Repercussive Light Earrings-Anthropologie

Fireworks Ring-Banana Republic

I took this cute dress in an XS and the winning moment for me was the fact that the high section in the front actually covered my knobby knees somewhat...score!  I tried the cute Striped Terry Midi Dress that went on sale this week at Anthro and loved the cute color and striping, but it just didn't hang on me the way I wanted it to.  The fabric is heavier so it just sorta flared out at the bottom instead of hanging straight down and the "high" section was about an inch above my knees, which did NOT cover up my knobby knees.  Sadly I passed on that one. I just really liked the way this Nordstrom dress fell and the fun Kelly green color.  It's a color I don't have a lot of so it fit great into my closet.  I would highly recommend this dress to anyone in the market!  

I ended up wearing this dress last week while we were staying in Scottsdale.  I felt like relaxing a little so I went with flat sandals, which I rarely do with a dress.  It made walking around the mall pretty darn easy though, I must admit.  I think I'll go for wedges next time though...change is good. =)

Hope you're having a great week!

I'm Alive!!!

Hi everyone!  It's been a while!  We are starting in on week two of our vacation in the hottest state on the planet at the moment, Arizona.  It's been fun though...no complaints!  Hubby and I had a fabulous time for a few days sans kids (thanks to my wonderful in laws for taking them for us!!!) in Scottsdale at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel.  Oh my goodness, it was heavenly!  We enjoyed a few days to ourselves and managed to fit in a lot...we lounged by the pool a few times, went shopping a few days, had some great meals out together at nice restaurants, made a few trips to the gym, got a massage, saw a few movies...like I said, heavenly.  By the time we left I was starting to miss my kiddos though so it was the perfect amount of time away.  It was just what we needed after a crazy few weeks.  

We have one more week here in the desert before heading east to our new state.  And when I say we're in the desert, I couldn't think of a more fitting word.  I'm living in a sauna out here!  It's been hot, for sure.  I guess it's just preparing me for what's to come.  Since we're still homeless for another week and a half I'm still living out of a suitcase and not quite on a normal routine, so the blogging will continue to be sporadic.  Bare with me!  I do have a few outfit shots to share with you today...I have a two-fer for ya!  I wore my Modcloth version of the Layered Column Dress to church the last Sunday we were in CA and then decided to bring it on our trip since it's such an easy piece to pack...it hardly wrinkles.  I wore it again, just a little differently,last Sunday.  Here's how both outfits panned out:

What I Wore

Building Your Repertoire Dress-Modcloth

On the left

Eunice Cashmere Cardi-Anthropologie

Steve Madden Veta Wedges-DSW

Drawing Room Necklace-Anthropologie

Beachcombing Bracelet-Anthropologie

Baroness Bliss Teardrop Earrings-Ruche

Ring-Forever 21

On the right

(never mind the streaks on the mirror)

Waterfall Floral Cardigan-J Crew Factory

Lemon Stick Wedges-Anthropologie

Sweet Drops Necklace-Anthropologie

Bracelet-Twisted Silver

Strung Hoops-Anthropologie

Ring-Forever 21

Similar looks, yet different...all it takes is some different jewelry and a new color of shoes and you have a whole new look!  

So I mentioned hubby and I did a bit of shopping while we were on our little getaway...I picked up a few things, but our last night there hubby surprised me by taking me into Kate Spade and having me pick out a new wallet and purse for MY graduation present.  No, I didn't actually do any graduating myself but I think I managed to pulled my weight on the home front the past 4 years.  

Here's the cute purse that's currently hanging on my shoulder:

Love!!!  It's a reddish-coral color...so in for summer!  I've been carrying a very neutral color bag for the past many months so this is a fun way to change it up.  Happy graduation to me!  =)

Alrighty, off to a family dinner.  Hope your week gets off to a great start!  We don't have any big plans for this coming week...just some swimming, a little shopping, some more visiting, and celebrating my youngest son and hubby's birthdays at the end of the week.  Fun times!

Have a good day!