Mustard and Cognac

I crossed something else off of my Clothes Wish List, mustard tights! $5 at Tar-jay. You can also tell they are $5 quality because they "grow" throughout the day. They weren't sliding off or anything but I could definitely tell they were a little bigger when I got home from work than when I left. I also picked up this cute burgundy dress at Target. I think this is one of my new favorite outfits. I LOVE this dress. I want it in blue too! It is so comfortable and it's an appropriate length. I felt very "fallish" with these colors on.

Dress: Target $29.99

Mustard Tights: Target $5

Boots: Steve Madden Intyce in Cognac $129 (in store)

Sweater Tights: Target $10

Belt: similar to what I have from Target a few years ago, Agaci $7.50

Earrings: gift from my little sister

I can't wait until it actually gets cold so I can try this outfit with the sweater tights instead of the mustard tights. Does anyone notice a theme? A lot of my clothes are from Target. What can I say, they are good quality for the price and affordable so I can replace them often with new styles. 

Most importantly, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am thankful for so many things in my life. My amazing husband, our cozy home, opportunity to work and go to school, great health, and the list goes on. 

I hope you enjoyed a wonderful and blessed day with your family and friends. 

Interior Design Bingo: Flowers

Chris and I saved his boutonnière from the wedding and I decided I wanted to display it in a shadow box next to my vanity in our bedroom. I was lucky enough to score a free shadow box from my sister-in-law when she was cleaning out a closet. It was raw wood when I got it so I spray painted the outside white and painted the inside with a purple that matches the mirror that is already in there.

(sorry for the glare)

I put our unofficial monogram from the wedding in the bottom right corner to commemorate the day.

(again, sorry for the glare)

I've been wanting to complete this project since, oh ya know {APRIL}, so I'm glad that I finally got around to it. I haven't hung it up yet because I am waiting for my lovely husband to spray paint a few other frames for me to put Barbie sketches in. I want to wait and hang them all at the same time. 

I originally had the idea of framing the Barbie sketches after I got a Thank You card with one of them on it. I was on a hunt for the rest of the card series when I stumbled upon a calendar at Bed, Bath, & Beyond and decided that would be even better. Well evidently someone beat me to the punch because I saw it on Pinterest. Such is life. Here is what it will look like (except I plan on only framing 2 or 3):

I can't decide which 2 or 3 to use!

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I'm participating in the Interior Design Bingo challenge hosted by His Birdie's Nest- check out her blog for more info and for a list of participating bloggers.

Interior Design Bingo: Wallpaper

You are looking at our version of wallpaper. After I started trying to brainstorm ideas of what I could use for the "Wallpaper Bingo" square I expirienced a palm to forheard moment. Duh! Use the wall in the office.

So it all started with a little pillow that I came across at the local tar-jay before Chris and I moved into our house. Well truth be told it all started when Chris put his foot down and said it would not be a horrible idea to sand down our orange peel textured walls to apply wallpaper. le sigh. This said pillow was also featured in the first season of Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami. 

Back to the business- I found this pillow and told Chris that I wanted to try and paint the same pattern in the office. He happily helped me tape off the wall. He is such a perfectionist, which is great because if it wasn't for him the squares would have been wonky for sure! We used his precise measuring and leveling skills instead of my normal "eyeballing it" technique that he does not particularly care for.

After a few hours (literally) of taping, a few hours of painting, and a few hours of entertaining spectators (Cody and Rachel) we were left with the final product at 3:30am on a Saturday night, well Sunday morning that is. The top left hand corner matches the pillow and the rest is our own little flavor. After we finished painting I immediately wished we had used the pillow as inspiration but used different colors.

This is an old picture. We have since replaced the two chairs with a more comfortable office chair since I spend a lot time in the office doing homework. It's so weird how little that desk looks since it is actually very large in person. If I took a picture today you wouldn't be able to see the surface of the desk. I need a new filing system other than the desktop!


Here is my dream "wallpaper" from Pinterest.
If only my husband would be down for this. Sequin Wall? Yes, please!

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I'm participating in the Interior Design Bingo challenge hosted by His Birdie's Nest- check out her blog for more info and for a list of participating bloggers.

Interior Design Bingo: Storage

You are looking at our fancy new storage shed. It's glorious. We are able to store the lawn mower and everything else lawn related, a few random household items that can't be stored inside due to space (huge seafood pot),  plus all of our holiday decorations. 

This makes both of us extremely happy for multiple reasons:

Chris:

1. Doesn't have to climb in attic to get down decorations for 3 months straight (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).

2. There is a lot of extra room in the garage for motorcycles, parts, etc.

Brittany:

1. Doesn't have to ask Chris to get decorations from attic for 3 months straight (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).

2. Will one be able to park car in garage because of the extra space (I only want to park in the garage during winter months).

I decided that it would be a great idea to paint it the same colors as our house...worse idea ever. I am extremely happy with the results, but it was painful. Do any of you recall the temperatures we had this summer? Over 100 degrees (most days 102 or higher) if you have already forgotten! Plus my neck was sore from craning it for 4+ hours to paint the top half and the trim.

I can't wait to put a little flower box under the window and pavers in some type of design in front of the doors. Ignore the small jungle growing around the perimeter...we have a major weed epidemic in the backyard. That is a story for another day. 

I am so thankful for a handy husband. We saved over $1000K pouring the concrete and building ourselves.

I'm going to take this one further...

Here is my dream storage area found on Pinterest. 

Everyone needs a Washer and Dryer in the Master Bedroom Closet. 

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I'm participating in the Interior Design Bingo challenge hosted by His Birdie's Nest- check out her blog for more info and for a list of participating bloggers.

Interior Design Bingo

A blog that I follow, Love & Renovations, is participating in an Interior Design Bingo and I decided it would be fun to play along.

It's a 30-day photography challenge. Each day you post something interior-design related. There are 30 different prompts and you decide on your own interpretation of each and the order you want to do them in.

I think it sounds really fun and maybe it will get me to blog regularly. I'll want to *try* to post at least every other day.

I brainstormed a few ideas already, now I just need to take pictures. I will probably take a lot of them this weekend since I will have some light. Have you adjusted to driving to work in the dark and driving home in the dark? This is my least favorite time of the year. Each night I have to convince myself it is only 7:30, not 10:30 which is my bedtime.

Back to the topic at hand...after I read through the prompts I realized there are still a lot of things I want to get done around here! A few of them I will have to get creative with like wallpaper and mid century modern.



**Interior Design Bingo created by hisbirdiesnest.

Frosted Peach

I got a new shirt this weekend and thought I’d share my new outfit, well newish outfit, that I wore today.

Shirt: Old Navy Women's Collared Breezy Blouse in Frosted Peach {new} $19.50

Pants: Skinny Ponte Pant {from last winnter}, similar J.LO for Kohls sale $37.50

Belt: Borrowed from dress, similar Embossed Native Skinny Belt F21 $3.50

Shoes: Target Leopard Morela Flats {new} $24.99

Ring: Betsey Johnson, permanently "borrowed" from my little sister. I know it doesnt really match but it goes and I think it's fun. Plus I got a lof of compliments on it.

Pretty much everyone that knows me knows that blush is one of my favorite colors. It was even one of our wedding colors! All in all I really like the outfit, it was really comfortable.

Side story: My older sister had her Bridal Shower this past weekend so I met my mom on Friday night to see if we could find something cute to wear. My mom ended up with a really cute black dress and green cardigan. We went in to Target to look at shoes and I told her she should get a pair of leopard flats (different pair) to go with the dress and cardigan. She did not believe me that they went together. I just consider leopard print to be a neutral that can go with almost any color. Am I wrong?  

Do you pair leopard with other colors or do you like to keep it with black?

Guess Whoooo is Invited?

Piper is hosting a costume party to meet all of her "Bradley Baby" pals on the outside. Rachel and I made the invitations for her because she's not really into crafts yet. Well that and she hasn't quite figured out that her arms, hands, and fingers can be controlled instead constantly swatting herself. On Tuesday I was spending time with her while Rachel was getting beautified since she is going back to work on Monday (gah! Piper is already so old) and Piper supervised me punch out all of the eyes. That only interested her for about 10 minutes until she realized it was time to eat and then she started screaming her head off. There was a moment when I thought I was going to have to call for back up (in reality she was only screaming for about 2 minutes but it felt like about 2 hours passed). She is a demanding tiny boss! I love her though so I'll go whatever she asks of me!

She sleeps with her eyes open sometimes.

I found these cute treat boxes on Pinterest that Rachel and I thought we could turn into a cute invitation.

treat box

 Here is what we came up with! I hope Piper's guests are impressed by her handiwork.
(sorry for the crappy iPhone picture with horrible kitchen lighting)

I think they turned out super cute!

Now it's on to the rest of the party decorations.


Do you have any Halloween party plans?

Piper June...my new love

In case you haven't heard I'm an AUNT!

Piper June

August 11, 2011 

9:54am

7lbs. 15 oz. 20 inches

It's amazing how much you can love such a tiny little person that
doesn't speak or even know who you are.

Enjoy these pictures for now and I'll be back with a
special birthday celebration and her new born pictures. 

Fresshhhh out of the womb.

Lounging with Aunt Macy

Uncle Chris and Piper

Soooo snuggly!

Chipmunk Cheeks!

My first babysitting duty. I checked her literally like every five seconds 

to make sure she was still breathing. I'm a helicopter aunt!

Her first big night out. One of Rachel's college friend's 

got married in Austin. This is Piper's Rehearsal dinner outfit. 

SUPER PIPER

Missoni...I missed it!

If for some reason you have been living under a rock for the past week let me explain...

Target released their Missoni line on Tuesday and by the time Rachel, Piper, and I made it there the racks were completely wiped out. It literally looked they were never even stocked. Believe me when I say it was a MAJOR BUMMER. How was I to know that people were gonna go all Black Friday style kah-razy over this?

See what I mean?

Style Carrot

Style Carrot

Well if I would have had my crystal ball handy to know that people were going to be throwing stuff all willy nilly in their baskets just so they could rush home to list it on eBay you better believe I would have skipped school to get my hands these beauties. 

Target

I wanted this bike soooooo bad but it sold out within minutes!

Target

The collection was supposed to be in stores until early December but I read somewhere online that the stores would not be restocked according to early reports from Target, only the website. That’s fine by me as long as they restock those shoes and the scarf that Rachel wants. 

Can you tell that my big puffy heart for Target has deflated a little bit?

I feel like I should write them a letter. I definitely think that when they do these designer collaborations there should be a quantity limit. I just don’t think its right that people were listing it on eBay. It takes all the fun out of it for the rest of us. The same thing happened when they released the Liberty of London collection last year. If you're keeping track that means Target has two strikes in my book. 

So I guess the silver lining in all of this is that our bank account (and my husband) can breathe a sigh of relief that my Missoni dreams were dashed. Chris talked to his friend the other night and he said his bank account wasn’t so lucky. His wife took him to the store with her for an extra pair of hands. That’s my kind of shopper.

If you’re wondering what the big fuss is about, feast your eyes...

Target

Target

I was able to get a few things luckily…

a mug for work, an accordion file for school, a set of stationary (because we all know I am a hoarder of stationary), and two boxes for my craft room. See:

LOVE EM!

The shower curtain is still available...so shout out to everyone that has me on their Christmas Shopping List consider this your not so subtle hint. 

You may be asking yourself the Moral of the Story. Well here it is: 

Peeps be crazy for Missoni! 

(well said YHL)…

Style Carrot

What were you lusting over? Were you one of the lucky few to get what they wanted?

Style in the City

I decided to follow a few fashion blogs for a couple of different reasons:

    a. I love Fashion...

    b. I love Fashion but can never seem to put together outfits other than the standard pants, top, and shoes that are all matchy-matchy.

    c. I love Fashion but keep buying stupid jersey T-shirts like I’m a College Frat Guy.

    d. I love Fashion and need a kick in the pants (inspiration) to get over this current trend.

I currently follow Kendi Everyday, J’s Everyday Fashion, and Mix and Match Fashion each for different reasons. Not to mention all of the style inspiration I get from Pinterest.

I took a Fashion Tip from Kendi and created a list in the Notepad app on my phone of clothing items that I need to match with items I currently own in my closet. It never fails…I’ll have a little extra cash and want to buy a shirt or accessory and can not remember for the life of me what it was I wanted/needed. By creating a list you are always able to overcome your blonde moment.

Here is what I am currently wishing for:

Add to List:
-Missoni Flats (a seperate post for another day)
-Cobalt Blue Pencil Skirt
-Tom’s Ballet Flats (coming Spring 2012)

Already crossed of the list:
-Striped 3/4 or long sleeve shirt [found at Target]
-Leopard flats (not fake printed suede, hair like…do you follow?) [found at Target]
-Steve Madden Intyce boots in Cognac (these have been on my list for about…3 years now) [bought at Steve Madden store]

I am currently loving these looks and wish I could use this month’s mortgage payment to invest in some of these items. Will any of you take Chris, Max, and me in when all we have is my closet worth of clothes…

I have similar boots and love denim shirts. I need a long enough one

to cover my tushi if I decide to wear is with leggings. Maybe I'll just

wear one of Chris' works shirts instead of buying a new one. Uhh, yea right.

Pinterest

Again, I have hav similar boots and now own a similar shirt. I love

the mix of patterns and the pop of color in the bag. Everyone needs

a little color in their life during winter.

 Pinterest

Love, Love, Love the skirt. Not sure how it would actually look on

me or where to find such a thing but I'd like to try to this look. Only problem

 is, my striped shirt isn's as baggy as this one so I'm not sure how it'd all play out.

Pinterest

Ok, so my new favorite color for fall is mustard.

Not the French's brand but more of the honey dijon variety.

Pinterest

I NEED a cobalt blue pencil skirt. The one pictured in thrifted but

I have seen a similar one from Express that I would like to own. I love the mix of

colors and would like to try the new color blocking that all the celebs are doing.

Kendi Everyday

Pink, Black, and Chevron. Love everything about it.

Chevron is my new favorite color.

Mix and Match Fashion

**BTW can anyone explain to my mom why it is called Chevron instead of Zig-Zag? She is very dumbfounded by this. After she brought this issue of hers to my attention I considered it for awhile and decided that Chevron sounds classy and Zig-Zag sounds like you have an issue.

Again, loving the cobalt skirt mixed with pattern on top.

Mix and Match Fashion

I think I might just like pencil skirts all of the sudden...

Kendi Everyday

I like the mix of colors on this one. I would have never thought to put

those together but like they way they look.

J's Everday Fashion

Cute and whimsy. I need to learn how to mix patterns. You can't tell very

well in this picture but the skirt is striped. Looks pretty cute with the polka dot top.

Kendi Everyday

I'm working on recreating a few of these looks and I might post the Inspiration vs. Reality!

What trends are you currently in love with and trying to recreate?