Tuesday 6.15

The work day after vacation is never fun. I decided to take advantage of our casual day for a $1 program and wear jeans today! Made the day a little more bearable!

You will also notice I'm taking my own picture today. Typically, J would take my pic after work. However he heat really does a number on my outfit during the day! So after I finally found my own camera, I decided to take my own pics before I leave work in the AM.



Cardigan: Gap
Ruffle Top: Spence, via Marshalls
Jeans: ATL outlet
Shoes: Michele D, via Dillards (currently on sale for super cheap!)

Write up on vacation coming soon!

Wednesday Friends

The oppressive heat makes for bad pictures! So taking a little side trip to a non-fashion related topic....

When I moved back to FL, I was fortunate that a lot of my friends from college were still in town. It was easy to pick back up where we left off. Three friends in particular served as my "husbands" and I'm very lucky to still have them in my life.

I was extra fortunate as well that J's friends readily accepted me. For a long time, I was the only woman that came out on their Wednesday weekly outings. As the dynamics of life change, the women in our friends lives came out on Wednesday nights. Sounds cheesy but all 8 of us get along great. We've spent many NYE's together--celebrated birthdays, engagements (including me and J's!) and promotions. Drowned our sorrows together when things got bad. For almost five years, some combination of our group has gone out on Wednesdays. We've invited other friends from work, college etc to hang out also. It has been and continues to be a wonderful tradition!

Last night, we actually did a Guys night and a Girls night. Love the guys, but it was fun to share time with great girlfriends. Wine, food, and wedding photographer websites (one of us is engaged!) make for a great Wednesday evening. However, looking forward to the group going out again next week.

So here's to all our friends--past, present and future--IRL and of the blogging/twitter variety :)

Monday 6.7

On Saturday, we had J's 30th birthday party! We rented a private room in one of our favorite wine bars. Around 25 people attended and we enjoyed good food and great company! Pics coming soon..I hope there are some pics of me in the yellow dress!

On Sunday, I recovered! Enough said :)

Back to the grind!



Dress: Merona, Target
Cami: Gap outlet
Necklace: Triple strand Coral, Premier
Shoes: Naturalizer

I'm holding a book that we are giving to a good friend for his birthday. I love PostSecret!

Beautiful Blogger Award

Andie, of What Andie Wears, bestowed this lovely honor upon me! Andie and I have been blogging friends for a few years now. She is a wonderful spirit and I always love seeing what delightful looks she puts together! She is a wonderful photographer also!

With this award, I'm supposed to share 10 random facts about myself. Hope you enjoy!


1. I love watching sports, including golf (my favorite golfer is Sean O'Hair, football (pro and college), baseball (Go White Sox!), and men's tennis (Federer, Nadal, Roddick).

2. I worked at Disney one summer during college just so I could get into the parks for free!

3. If I could live anywhere, it would be Vancouver.

4. Music from my jr. high and high school days instantly put me in a good mood. Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, DMB, Boyz II Men....

5. I once ate corned beef hash at 5 consecutive Sunday brunches at 5 different Chicago breakfast places so I could pick my favorite place to get Corned Beef Hash. The winner? Tweet !!

6. Coffee gives me much pleasure. Favorite coffee company is Intelligentsia. We can finally buy the beans here in NE Florida!!

7. I collect cookbooks and love reading them. But I still go to the internet to search for recipes first! Go Figure.

8. I moved to Chicago and ended up falling in love with someone in my hometown.

9. J and I are guaranteed to laugh if the following shows are on: How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Community

10. Summertime to me means daily thunderstorms, golf on sundays, amazing produce from our farmers market and my parents garden, and steamed blue crabs!

I hereby nominate the following lovelies for this award!

Lola at Lola Looks

Bianca at Deals for the short and Curvy

Lesli at Pretty Random Thoughts

Cynthia at Closet Bliss

and

K at Excavating K's Closet

Shoe diet, stat!

J and I both love shoes. His most recent purchase was a stylish pair of John Varvatos casual loafers. He also favors his Sperry Top Siders (blue canvas and brown leather). Where J tends to buy classic, higher end shoes, I am a girl of the Target, Discount store variety! One brand I have become reacquainted with is Naturalizer. I bought the Visitor style a few weeks ago. Most recently, I ordered these. I received an email about a one day 20% of all sale items promotion on Naturalizer's website. I also had a coupon code that took $10 off my total!

Aren't they cute?!!



When I was in our closet yesterday, I realized that my shoes can't even all fit on my shoe rack anymore! Definitely a clue that I need to go on a shoe diet, stat!

Trying to make these shoes plus the new sandals I bought from Target to be the last shoes I buy for a while! Wish me lots of luck on this one!

For you Target fans!

In my last issue of Real Simple magazine, the Target ad had a 20% off discount card on any Merona item: accessory, apparel or shoes. There was also a discount code, which can be used multiple times until July 15th! The code is: MRNADSRS. I just ordered the below shoes, which were on sale for 14.99 + 20% off with the code! Score!!!



Since I am a prep on a budget, these Jack Rogers-inspired sandals work just fine for me!

Blogging Break

I will not have any posts for a few more days. I've developed a sinus infection. Boo! So I'm in bed, waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. See you once I'm out of the funk! I have to be better by Saturday as that is J's 30th birthday party!!