Easy dressing

dress: Anthro / shoes: Jeffrey Campbell / necklace: gift'd
This week has been all about keeping things simple. I'm not sure where the time went or how Friday crept on me so quickly. Too bad it's a working weekend, so no rest for the weary.


I love this dress. And I love seeing how "blonde" my hair was last summer. That was a fun phase but I think I'll be sticking to more "natural" color from here on out.

I hope you have a lovely weekend planned!

Seriously hot

dress: J. Crew / shoes: Tory Burch / cuff: Tiffany's / necklace: AE

Summer is definitely upon us and the days seems to be getting hotter. Getting dressed, however, is a bit more difficult that it seems. I hate wearing layers because the sweat starts dripping as soon as I walk outside, but office building are kept ice cold. Luckily I do wear a white coat at work, which helps keep me warm inside, while a simple sheath keeps me cool outside.


Just in case you didn't believe me ;)

My cuties

My nephews were feeling especially affectionate yesterday and I snapped a rare self-portrait of all three of us. The lighting in the room was a bit dim so the quality is not the best but I love the emotion captured here. They both have their moments (don't we all?), but overall they are really the sweetest and cutest babies around. I simply adore them and they make me happy.

project life | week 23

{June 3 - 9}
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The summer seems to be on high speed!

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I haven't been taking as many photos lately, but it's ok.

left side
At least the photos I have been taking have been good ones :)

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These are the two items from the Trina Turk for Banana collection I took home with me. Not sure when or where I am going to wear the dress, but I had to have it. (Don't you love my bright green socks too?)

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I love the time of year when cherries are in season. It's usually pretty short-lived so I gorge myself as much as I can!

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We saw Willie Nelson on Sunday of the summer fest. He looked and sounded great, especially for being 79!

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I am so thankful that I have been keeping this weekly record of our life. The little details are the best to remember but the first forgotten.

weekend snaps

We ran with the sun.


We celebrated a new baby.


We squeezed on a pedi-cab.


We escaped the heat.

finally Friday

tank: J. Crew / shirt: NY+Co / skirt&necklace: Loft / shoes: Tory Burch / bag: LV / earrings: gift'd

Funny how taking photos of yourself can teach you how to have a more critical eye on what you are wearing. The length on this skirt works much better with flats, but I should have done something to define my waist a bit more as now I look square shaped. The beauty of taking outfit photos is that eventually you learn what really works for yourself, for me anyways.


This tank is great for layering or by itself.


Love this shirt too.

I am so ready for the weekend to get started. How about you?

A little stumpy

top: Anthro / skirt: J.Crew / shoes: Old Navy / earrings: gift'd

In keeping with my "new clothing items should not be too precious to wear" motto, I finally wore this top I bought from Anthro last month with my birthday discount. The neckline and shape of the tee is very interesting and flattering, as are most tees from Anthro.

Because of where the hemline of the skirt hits my leg, I realize I probably shouldn't wear flats with this skirt as they end up making my legs look a bit stumpy. Or I should belt it and raise it up a bit.

I have been semi-good in keeping up with my 1-in-2-out closet policy. Pencil skirts generally fit and flatter me more than full skirts so I decided to donate a few in my wardrobe that I like but never wear. I'm getting a bit better at being brutal with my closet - moving will do that to a person!

A new favorite

top&belt: M+O / skirt: J. Crew / shoes: Payless / earrings: gift'd

This is seriously the favorite look I've worn to work in a long time. Usually when I buy new clothes, I let them sit for a while before wearing them. Not so with this neon pink pencil skirt. I absolutely adore it! The color is so bright and happy and so me, I can't help but smile when I see/wear it. The only thing that would have made this look even better is if I had those Valentino bow pumps ;). Be prepared for a lot more pink this summer.

project life | week 22

{May 27-June 2}

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Finally getting into June here! This week was pretty photo&text heavy - I love Cathy Z's tiny templates to add lots of little photos and a bit of journaling.


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Looks like most of the stuff I like to take photos of are food and people, which sounds about right :)


right side
This year is simply flying by! So I love being able to go back and look at everything that we've done. I think taking the time to acknowledge and appreciate little everyday moments make me a happy girl.

colored and neon bottoms

My grand plans to post on outfit everyday this week fell a bit to the wayside. I have been wearing outfits inspired by the challenge but didn't have a good opportunity to photograph them when working out of town.

One (dis)advantage to working in Dallas is that the mall is 1 minute from our office and when I had nothing to do I had to stop by, mainly to check out the H&M but also to check out the summer sales going on.


Neimans was having a giant shoe sale and I fell in love with these Valentino kitten heels, but, as they still cost the amount of a plane ticket, I let them go. My Jeffrey Campbell bow heels are slightly reminiscent of these shoes anyways, although not quite as fabulous. Sigh.


I did stock up on some practical items at VS.


And almost didn't walk into J.Crew but I am glad I did because they were having an extra 30% off their sale items. I had been eyeing their neon pink pencil skirt but didn't want to drop $110, but at less then $30 each I came home with that one and a bright purple one. So my JC and VS purchases were still less than the cost of the shoes and I felt a bit less guilty shopping. These summer sales are killing me and my wallet...

Summer floral

I am bit brain dead as I just arrived home from working in Dallas. I thought I had scheduled this post, but apparently not 


top: J. Crew / shorts: Loft / shoes: Sam Edelman

I have a closet full of floral prints but my go-to for the summer are these shorts. They are cute, comfy and can be worn with virtually everything in my closet. A win-win! {And notice how I added a bit of neon in my new sandals!}

project life | week 21

{May 20-26}
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I sound like a repeating record, as do many Project Lifers out there, but still loving this project.

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The week started with my birthday (always bittersweet - I love the celebrating but hate the getting older part). So happy to have a place to keep my cards now.

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I went a bit more scrappy-style on this side. I have so much scrapbooking crap that I am trying to use up. Some of this paper is from 2006 or '07. Not sure what I was saving it for!

front of cards
One of my high school girlfriends is so thoughtful and sends me a card on my birthday every year. I wish I could say I was just as thoughtful but unfortunately I am not. Hopefully this will be a reminder to me.

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I bought a pack of the new G style page protectors and I love them. You can use both vertical and horizontal 4x6 photos on the same page, as well as some 3x4 slots.

Joe organized a painting party for us and our friends for my birthday. Painting is definitely a creative outlet I enjoy, but I like the copy cat method at Pinot's Palette instead of trying to think of something myself.

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Once we finished painting we went over to Boheme for drinks and cake! Is that E not my perfect shade of pink? And I love that Ting surprised me by bringing the boys over to help celebrate.

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I kept the rest of the spread pretty simple.

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My album is becoming pretty fat. I hope to be able to get all of June in the album and start a second volume for the last half of the year.

P(F)latforms?

top: F21 / shorts: Gap / shoes: Target / sunnies&bag: Gucci / bangles: Alexis Bittar&Tiffany's

I bought these sandals a few months ago and love them, mainly because they give me the height of a tall shoe without the angle of a high heel. Yoga has me avoiding heels most of the time, but that's a story for a different day.

This outfit actually combines 3 of this week's challenges in one: bright bottoms, neon and platforms. Sometimes I like to be efficient ;)

Summer brights

top&belt: Anthro / skirt: J. Crew / shoes: Jeffrey Campbell / sunnies: Gucci

The bright colors in stores right now make me happy! I've got quite a bright wardrobe anyways, but I will be adding to to this summer, I can tell.


I bought this shirt last summer and it has proven to be a wardrobe staple throughout the year. It works as a great layer for our mild Houston winters.

And in the interest of full disclosure, most of my outfits for this week's challenge will be at least a day or two old. I find that real time blogging a bit too stressful and no one needs more stress in their life. Have a great week!

on the mat | be kind

This quote was from my Yogi tea last night and got me to thinking. I have always been a rather impatient person and my number one pet peeve is tardiness. But learning patience seems to be a big part of yoga asana (pose) practice. You won't be able to do so-and-so pose without being able to do the pose before it proficiently and the pose before that, etc. etc. If you try to hurry yourself along and force your body into a movement it's not ready for, you end up hurting yourself.

So what does patience have to do with compassion and kindness? I, like most people, tend to take things personally (someone being late means they don't value my time) when, in reality, it's all about the other person (they were late because they got stuck in traffic/forgot their phone/ran over a squirrel/{insert any number of reasons that have nothing to do with me}). So one personal goal I have for my 42nd year is to take a deep breath, put myself in the other person's shoes, and try understanding instead of assuming. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one!

Day in, day out

top: J.Crew / skirt: Old Navy / shoes: Seychelles / sunnies&bag: Gucci

Been in bit of a rut these days with my wardrobe and routine. Don't you wish you could take summer break from work like we did in school?


I am hoping Miss Trina will help shake things up a bit in the wardrobe front today! 

project life | week 20

{May 13-19}

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20 weeks in and I am still loving this project.


left side
I love keeping track of bits and pieces of each week. Things that normally wouldn't get their own large scrapbook page are now documents in mini pages. And I have been finally using up the supplies I have been hoarding for years and years.


right side
I particularly like how this side turned out. And I definitely enjoy having a mix of photos from my "fancy" camera in with the iPhone snaps. I have made a goal for the rest of the year to make sure I take out the new dSLR at least once a week!

FPSF

We spent a couple days in the heat this weekend at Houston's version of Coachella to see a few performances: Snoop and Afrojack on Saturday and Willie Nelson on Sunday. Even though we had the "fancy pants" tickets, this was about as close as we got to the stage. Just being at the concert for part of the day wore me out, but the people watching was worth it.


A little photo fun :)


tee: F21 / jeans: Gap / shoes: Target / sunnies&bag: Gucci

I am loving that neons are popular this summer. I may have to update all my summer tanks and tees! And for the record, I did NOT wear this to the show - only tanks and tees and the 90+ degree weather makes anything more super uncomfortable.