Chambray & Mustard

I hate that my habit is to go weeks without posting anything, but it has been quite the busy two weeks. 

In this two weeks I have:

Finished my graduate degree

Received a promotion at my job &

Celebrated my brother's wedding

In other words, it's been an amazing past two weeks.  I'm overwhelmed with all the love in my life.  All of events surrounding my brother's wedding allowed me to see my family and my in-laws more than I would normally and it has reminded me how much I have to cherish my time with them.

Next Saturday, I'll be graduating with my Master's of Divinity and I could NOT be more excited.  These four years in Dallas really have flown by.  So you can imagine I'm super sentimental right now.  I literally cried watching The Office last night.  I understand that this is how life goes.  We go in and out of seasons but I'm blessed to be able to stay in my current work place. So it feels like I'll finally be able to fully my time and effort into my work place. 

All that to say, I've missed being in the blogging world but I've loved being in the real world.  Hopefully I can master the two soon...

This mustard skirt is one of my favorites.  I've worn this outfit quite a few times and it just doesn't get old for me.

P.S. This article has officially ruined me, but we can talk about that in another post.

{Skirt: Thrifted ($3.99), Chambray Button Up: Thrifted ($2.49), Shoes: Target ($14.99) similar}

24 Hours

We spent an incredible 24 hours in Houston to visit our friend Chris who is all sorts of talented.  Austin and I moved to Dallas in May of 2009 and by August, two of my cousins and Chris moved into the city too.  Our first year in Dallas was so fun. We leaned on each other so much and Chris was already part of our family, but he became even moreso once we were thrown in a city where we really only knew each other.  

Chris moved to Houston two years ago and we finally made it down there to visit.  It was a blast.  We ate way too much food and I did ton of window shopping. 

The menu below is from Paulie's restaurant. 

My husband is an expert in awkward faces.

Christopher

Cousin

The Chocolate Bar

Pavement, which is one of the many resale shops we visited.

I spent my entire clothing budget by the second week of March so when we visited all of these incredible shops, I was filled with regret.  Next time we visit, I will definitely have some money set aside specifically to come back to this shop.

All in all, it was an incredible 24 hours.  

Despite the humidity, we will definitely be visiting Houston again soon.

Um, can we just talk about how amazing polka dot jeans are? I really don't usually like jeans...probably because it always so dang hot in Texas, but I can work with some cute printed jeans.  Go get them at Target...I dare you. 

{Top: UO ($5.00 on sale), Jeans: Target ($24.99), Flats: Target ($9.99), Necklace: H&M ($1.99)}

Off the Grid

So it's a bit of an understatement to say I've been off the grid for awhile, in terms of blogging.  I'm more than a little excited about the fact that after months of saving, my husband bought us a Canon Rebel T4i.  So my plan is to get back into this whole blogging business.  

Let's be honest, I'm in need of a hobby and I'm in need of some motivation when it comes to being creative.  I'm currently reading Michael Gungors, The Crowd, The Critic and the Muse , and it is completely challenging me to do all of the things I say I want to do (i.e. sewing, cooking, staying organizing) and get better at the things I do well now (singing, piano and guitar, diet & exercise, thrifting).  

This dress comes to you courtesy of my madre who happens to know me well enough to buy me clothes from ModCloth for Christmas because I'm too stubborn to pay for just about anything at ModCloth unless it's 75% off.  I also got some Minnetonka moccasins and these sweet Ray Bans from my brother and his fiance'.  Overall, I got some pretty cool material possessions for Christmas.  

But aside from material things, my favorite part of this winter break was spending quality time with my husband and family.  Highlights included breakfast with both of our families on Christmas Eve day, making paper flower's with my brothers fiance and my cousins, playing Monopoly till al hours of the night, and helping my brother find a suit for his wedding. 

Overall, it was an incredible Christmas break and while I love my job, I'd love to have this much time to spend with my family more often which made it difficult to jump back into work today, but I'm so confident that this year is going to be a good one.  This past year honestly went above and beyond my expectations- I started a new job, my husband started a new job, we had a couple move into our house, and we gained a slew of new friends from church.  

This year, I'm most looking forward to celebrating 4 years of marriage on our first ever cruise and graduating from grad school in May.  

Here's to 2013!  

{Dress: ModCloth (gift), Boots: Plato's Closet ($14.00), Leggings: Target ($8.00)}

Bullseye

 (

As you can tell, I had some difficulty getting some decent pictures of my entire outfit.  Oh well.

Funny story, my husband claims that years ago when we were dating, I told him fedoras were lame.  Now, I don't remember saying these words nor do I claim them because truthfully, I've been wanting one for awhile now, however, the husband guilts me about wanting one when I supposedly thing they're "lame."  I imagine I might have said this at one time, but let's be real- my tastes change quite often so yeah- I might have thought at one point that fedoras were lame but when they're on sale for $4.48 at Target, I'll go ahead and say that it's worth it to try.

Point being, I really like my $5 fedora even though I got a funny/mean Facebook status update put up about me by said husband about this said fedora.

I wore this outfit Sunday for church and I'm pretty much entirely reppin Target with this outfit.  Seriously, they should pay me to be a walking advertisement.  I'm a lover of all things Target, especially their apparel.  Target...I know you're out there.  Holler at yo gurl cause I love yo sto. Or, contact me because I love your corporation.  

So I was inspired to get this dress when I saw it on this lovely lady's blog, I jokingly commented on her blog that I may have to go out and buy it...but I wasn't joking at ALL, which is why I'm now the proud owner of it.  It's a miracle really.  I haven't bought a dress for $20 in a loooong time.  I just loved the fit of it.  The top was bought almost five months ago and initially, I thought I would return it because I just couldn't justify how expensive it was (by my standards), but I've already worn it enough times to justify the cost.  It really does go with just about everything.  

That's enough, time for bed.

Ani

{Dress: Target [Xhiliration] ($19.99), Top: Target [Xhiliration] ($17.99), Fedora: Target ($4.48), Shoes: Thrifted [Seychelles] ($6.49), Necklace: F21 ($3.99)}

Christmas Doll

A lady at church this morning saw me as I was standing on stage in front of our Christmas tree and said that I looked like a Christmas doll. First of all, I'm not sure what a Christmas doll is. Second of all, I'm not entirely sure how a life-sized Christmas doll would go over in church, but I think I may have pulled it off today.

Pretty sure I was telling Austin, "It's so cold," which, annoyingly, becomes a filler statement of the obvious when it's cold outside.

During winter, I'm totally a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer lookalike. As you can tell, it was quite chilly (AND rainy) all day so my red nose is here to stay.

I'm sitting in front of a lit fireplace as I type and I honestly feel good about my final tomorrow, so I figured what better time to make a quick blog update?!

Austin snapped these pictures (very quickly) after lunch at Chipotle, which is like a second home for us. He's addicted to Chipotle and I am an enabler of his addiction. Ah, the things love will make you do.

So now I am so looking forward to these winter days ahead so I can finally wear some winter outfits. I'd been waiting to wear this jacket which I scored at Target for $20.00 almost a month ago. It was already on sale and then I had $5 off outerwear coupon. I saw it on sale at Target just yesterday so if you like it, I say run and grab it. The hood is huge if you can't tell.

Also, these Target tights are brown, but it's difficult to tell. The dress was a gift that my mom got me almost four years ago from a boutique in Fredericksburg. I still love it.

Our electric guitarist made a jab at my "30's looking shoes" and I proceeded to show him the bottom of my shoe where the price of $3.99 was written on the sole. I felt pretty cool.

Ok, I'm going to get back to it.

Till tomorrow..

{Dress: Gift from my madre, Shoes: Thrifted ($3.99), Sweater Tights: Target ($12.00), Jacket: Target ($20.00)}