Here we are again....

Seems like I always find myself in the same spot on Mondays... trying hard to pretend like everything is going to be okay and then by about 9 am being desperate to get out!!!!!!! I just keep praying something is right around the corner. I'm thinking the first opportunity that presented itself probably isn't going to happen, so I'm just hoping there will be something else really soon. 


Anyway.... it's rainy here today and supposed to be this way tomorrow as well; I've got tons to do this week, from running errands at lunchtime practically every day to getting some good workouts in to unpacking and cleaning the house up before company comes this weekend. With so much to do, it should make the week pass by quickly!!


My outfit today:


Navy dress: Banana $35 This is a recent "cheat" purchase I got when Mom was in town for T-Giving
Sweater: Willi Smith, TJ Maxx, $10-15 I think
Necklace: Can't remember where I picked it up!
Shoes: Nine West, Clearance, $20


Technically, these shoes are grey and black, and I'm wearing a navy dress. But I think it goes! :)

Atlanta!

I spent last Thursday-Sunday in Atlanta for the SEC Championship game. Had a really good time not doing much of anything! The game was great. I am just going to post a few random pictures from the weekend.

My Flight outfit:
Green skinny pants: Rick and Skinny, via Smart Bargains, originally $198, paid $30
Black sweater: around $10 from one of the discount places
Cream Jacket: Can't remember brand, got it on Smart Bargains as well, originally $220 (as if) got it for $28
Shoes: Furry Boots! kept my feet warm!! $28 on Endless.com

 View of CNN Center from hotel room

 One of my "going out" outfits...

 One of my other going out outfits... wish I'd gotten a better picture b/c I really liked this one... Skinny jeans with a polka-dot top and black blazer and super high Mauve-colored heels.

 Picture above is Christmas tree in Atlantic Station shopping area.
Picture below is me trying to take a picture of my handi-work on my sweater...see the sewn-on tiger on the pocket? :)

 We won!!! SEC Champs!

I did a tiny bit of shopping in ATL- I'll take pictures of what I got one night this week and post it on here.

About that wildlife....

It's so funny how things happen... yesterday Mom and I were talking about if I had deer in my backyard... (don't even ask how we got on that topic, there truly is no telling) so I said no, no deer not enough space, stuff for them to eat, etc... Well I still maintain there are no deer back there, but I can officially add a new animal to the list of things I've observed! The current list is this:

Snakes [black with green stripes (ok), brown (not good), brown pattern (even worse probably), black speckled (fine, hope he'd eat other snakes)]
Raccoons (huge)
Fox
Rabbit
Owl (s)
Hawks
Frogs
Lizards
Salamanders (or HUGE shiny black lizard things)
Baby brown tarantula (pretty sure)


And, this morning, in my driveway.... an armadillo! Yes, alive, and seemingly not rabid. He was just chilling and of course Jax and I bust out of the back door and he just kinda waddled along the driveway into the neighbors front yard. Even Jackson was looking at it like "What the heck is that?"


So, at this point, I'm not ruling out the possibility of any animal being in my backyard. I'm wondering if I can apply for federal funding for the Prest Wildlife Conservatory.....


It's rainy again this morning. I had a mini-wardrobe meltdown this morning. Had this dress laid out and put it on (first time I've worn it since trying it on several months ago) and I realized that the neckline falls way open. Almost too open. As in the next time I wear it, it will be with a black shirt of some sort under it, unless I always wear it with a jacket. So it took me a while to figure out what to throw over this. I tried 2 different cardigans with belts, didn't really like either. This is kind of a cop-out, but I was really pushing my time. So, here I am. :)


Today:
Dress: NY & Co, Clearance $10
Jacket:  Old Navy, had it forever
Shoes: Kenneth Cole

 Hard to tell here, but I have the dress pinned and just pulled the shoulders up as they want to fall even more open than this!

Monday!!!!

Normally, I'm not excited about Mondays, but I'm excited about this week in general. I feel like opportunities await and I'm really excited about them. :)
It's super foggy and moist out this morning. I had to put a baseball cap on to walk Jax b/c I was afraid of major frizz-head if I didn't. He enjoyed the walk and came back mostly wet and all the way happy. The temps are back up in the 80s for highs this week. I plan to do a solid week of workouts to really boost my calorie burn going into next week.
My outfit today:


Dress: Squense? No clue about the brand, got it at Marshalls on Clearance for $15 and its soooo comfortable
Shoes: Coach, via DSW
Watch: MK
Necklace: Hand-me-down from Gma :)


I love dresses. It's just the easiest way to get dressed! One and done. :)

Call me the grinch who stole Halloween....

So, I was out of town last year at Halloween; no clue where I was the year before... but somehow I missed the memo that my neighborhood takes Halloween quite seriously. I figured I'd just turn off the porch light (or not turn it on) and no one would bother me... So I'm finishing my workout and stretching (about 6 pm) and there are people knocking on my door. Seriously? It wasn't even dark enough to turn an outside light on! So, luckily I had some random candy still left from when the neighbors "boo-ed" me.... maybe that should've been a hint about the seriousness of Halloween... regardless, I was able to give the 2 Spider-men a few pieces of candy. Then I had to go into hiding. Luckily, the rest of the kids did heed the no-porch-light rule, but by stealing glaces through shut blinds, I realized I was not a good neighbor. All of the neighbors set up tables and chairs in their driveways and sit and wait for the kids to come to them.... which, by the way, does irk me a bit.... I mean, seriously how much lazier can we make the kids? At least make the sons of guns walk all the way to the front door!!! Anyway, there they all were sitting with their candy pots waiting for the kids. And I don't know if the kids in the neighborhood invited friends over or what, but we apparently have a lot of kids who do not get outside to play enough. (Not that they were fat, I've just never seen them before!)
Perhaps what made me sort of feel guilty last night was that other than the lack of doorbell ringing, everyone getting candy was a child, dressed in a cute outfit. I think in years past, I've been annoyed by Halloween and the 15 year olds not even in costume just looking for free handouts. But my little innocent neighborhood was doing it the semi-old fashioned way. Kind of refreshing. :) Although it did take all I had to not run outside and ask the 3 teenage girls who were "Playboy Bunnies" if they realized that the bunnies had a very strict appearance code and they clearly did not meet it.....not to mention the fact that they legitimately looked like cheap hookers and they were walking around a neighborhood with nothing but young kids trick or treating....  I'm all for cheap hooker Halloween, but not when you are not legal nor when you aren't at a party!
Anyway, I promise to be good next year.
Today I'm trying (again) to turn over a new leaf at work and brush off what I believe to be injustices and just breathe deeply and not let anyone affect how I am feeling. I should not be punished for having ambition but if that is a threat to some, I cannot control that, nor will I let it deter me. :) And that's that.

Today's outfit is comfy chic. (again, in my humble opinion)

Dress: Willi Smith, TJ Maxx, Clearance, $15
Cardigan: St. John's Bay, JC Penny, Clearance, $9
Scarf: World Market, $10 Yes, the wine and home store! They have great jewelry and accessories-check it out!
Shoes: Steven, Steve Madden
Earrings: Forever 21, $4
Watch: MK
Bracelet: Can't remember

Wednesday

Well, let's see..it's Wednesday. It's 2 days away from the weekend. It's my exercise day off. It's pretty out. What can I complain about? (Other than my job, but that's pretty much a constant.) Oh, I know. I can complain about the fact that I did my first dedicated abs workout last night and I'm feeling it today. The workout focused on the entire core and you know where I'm the most sore? My lower back. Go figure (I say sarcastically) My lower back is so weak. Every time I woke up last night I had to un-freeze my back and try to shift positions. I don't have any pain at all, it is just the weirdest feeling, almost like it just locks up on me when I'm not moving. This has been going on for awhile now, I'm hoping if I can ramp up the core workouts maybe I will strengthen it enough to keep it from tying up so much. (The back doc did say that I should focus on building my core strength....maybe I should've started sooner!) Regardless, I'm feeling good now. Just going to try to stretch occasionally throughout the day today.

Today I'm wearing a comfy Sunday-school dress mostly because I just wasn't feeling the outfit prep last night. I was going to wear some bronze heels with this but I decided I would just go comfy all around so I went with flats. Hence the over-all pentecostal feel of this outfit. :) The cardi is for function, not awesome-ness....


I'm wearing:
Cardigan: Banana Republic Outlet, $10
Dress: JC Penny Clearance, $ 8.99 (pulled tag off today)
Shoes: My go-to beat up favorite Candies bronze flats (had forever)
Watch: MK
Necklace: White House, Black Market

Trying not to panic....

So my Tuesday is off to a somewhat stressful start; Jackson had a seed (type-thing) in his eye this morning that I was able to get out of his eye, thankfully, but not before it had irritated the eye and caused the bottom of his eye to swell. He was holding his eye shut even after I got the thing out, and began to open the eye a little before I left, so I'm hoping by the time I get home, everything will be back to normal. If it is even just the slightest bit not normal, I will be taking him to the vet this afternoon. My poor baby dog. 
So I leave the house worried about him (and running a tad late) and Perkins is a mess. Worse than usual. Turns out they are talking about it on the radio and I-10 East had been shut down and they were diverting traffic onto Seigen, which meant the easiest way to continue East was Perkins! People were everywhere, blocking lanes, the intersection at Seigen etc... A nightmare!
So I finally arrived at work and I'm darn near exhausted!! I just hope the day moves by quickly so I can deal with Jax when I get home. :)


Today I'm wearing:


Dress: AB Studio, JC Penny, $24 ( and the best thing? It's big! This used to be very form fitting!! Notice the picture below)
Bracelets: Forever 21 $5
Watch: MK
Earrings: Forever 21, came in a set of 3 for $4
Shoes: Franco Sarto, from TJ Maxx $35 (Amazing soft deep purple leather!)

 I've got about an inch of room on both sides! :)

 LOVE!

Monday, Monday

Well, my Monday is actually off to a good start. Or maybe, I should be more accurate and say it isn't off to a bad start because nothing particularly good or bad has happened! Had a fabulous weekend... so that helps with the start of a new week. Also, looking forward to a 4 day week is not bad either. I will be taking off Friday to take a much needed quick weekend trip home! Yay!

Today I'm wearing:


Dress: Ann Taylor Loft, $10 (super sale!)
Cardigan: St. Johns Bay, JC Penny
Belt: Came with something else
Shoes: my go-to Kenneth Cole wedges
Necklace: Banana Republic Outlet, $19
Watch: MK

Ready for a long post? :)

So, I'm going to encompass my weekend along with my Monday post for the sake of efficiency. This weekend was the Kentucky game, which was at 11:20. I can't remember the last time we played that early and I hope we don't again any time soon! I did not anticipate traffic flow correctly and Amanda and I ended up parking at 11:05. Oops! We dressed casual for the game and the weather started very fall-like in the morning but warmed up quickly (hence my mistake wearing suede boots!!!) Oh well, what can you do?

 Can you see my cute Tiger-stripe cuff?

 Kickoff!

I ran errands Saturday afternoon, which was a nice change from the usual entire Saturday being taken up by football! Sunday, I took Jackson to the park I've mentioned before. What a nice place!! I was very pleasantly surprised and Jackson had a great time! Lots of walking paths and a small dog park. I'm really happy we went and we'll try to go as often as we can now. 

 Jackson and "Sprinkles" (no kidding) his new Schnauzer friend... notice J is doing his patented "leg kick"

 And this is J when we got back while I was doing laundry.....

 And J when I was putting the laundry away....

The rest of Sunday was spent napping and doing chores around the house. I got the pictures on the shoe boxes I missed during the big project and got a bunch of laundry done and put away. I also finally did some "craft-work" on a jacket I bought in August at Love Culture in the mall. It had an ugly fake hoodie sewn into the collar and I decided it would look much better without the hood... Red is so big for the fall and I like the look of a clean jacket and for 30 bucks, I wasn't going to let a stupid hood stand in my way!
With the stupid hoodie.... 

 And without... so much better :)

I'm loving that it is finally getting a little cooler so I can start wearing more jackets at work. Didn't plan one for today but will have at least 2 outfits this week with jackets I haven't worn yet. I decided to go for comfort on this Monday-day. This dress is comfy and cute! It looks like a crazy busy pattern in the first pictures, but you can see it's not all that loud in the closer-up picture. I have these earrings that ended up being perfect for this dress. Have had them for a while now and this is the first time I've worn them.

Dress: Bobbie Bee (???) From JC Penny...9.99 on sale
Earrings: Can't remember
Watch: MK
Shoes: Nine West