Pretend

Today I bought some new nail polish. I'm really excited about it. It's OPI Show It and Glow It and it's in the glitter line. I painted my nails already and I really really like it!

So let's pretend that I took a picture on Friday. In the picture, I was wearing my black dress pants, my blue sweater, my gray booties, my great grandmothers old owl necklace, with curly hair and a yellow headband made by my friend. Wasn't that fun? Good, that was day 25.

So this weekend has been full and crazy. Friday after work I went to the youth girls retreat at church, called Unify. It was really cool. It's student led and the whole thing is about how to be unified as girls in the youth group. I thought they did a great job!

Saturday, I went to a wedding shower for a sweet friend that is getting married in 2 weeks. Her wedding will be my first experience as a wedding director/coordinator. FUN! This is what I wore to the shower (Day 26 part 1):

Later that evening, our college ministry was invited to a game night with the singles group from church. We played bunko and this random fact get to know you game. It was really fun. This is what I wore to that (Day 26 part 2):

Today was a great day at church. We've been in Ecclesiastes this week. We talked about how everything in life is really meaningless unless you are following God. True purpose comes from Him and Him alone. We can pursue lots of things and be really successful at them, but it is useless outside of a relationship with God.

Great reminder for motive and why we do what we do. Thankful for purpose!

Not in the mood to talk...

Yesterday, Day 24:


Five Things Friday:
1. Ethan. Cause he's awesome.
2. My relationship with Jesus. Cause he's awesome too.
3. Salads FULL of vegetables.
4. A perfectly timed hug.
5. A really good laugh!

Glimpse of Plaid

My heart is full and my brain is tired. I've given God quite an earful over the past few days! Let me state this: Ethan and I are both totally fine! There is just a lot going on around us and with people who are close to us and on top of school and work it can get a little bit overwhelming. Thankfully for us, our God is good and is in control. We are so glad that we don't have to handle anything on our own. He's got it and he's much better at that stuff that we are. We can't heal people. He can. We can't change people. He can. We can't patch up other people's relationships. He can. So we cling to him and cling to each other for support and we push through.

So, here's day 23 of 30 for 30:

(shirt: target - dress: target - shoes: uo - bracelets: mom's 80's jewelry)

This is a new outfit for me. I've never worn them together and I'm glad I did. I liked it. It was highly complimented so I think I will probably end up wearing it again or trying something like this again.

My friend, Patti, just told me that my favorite jelly beans are now in stores. I cannot wait! Sweetart jelly beans are the best!!! They make me miss my sweet friend Michelle.

I hope you all have had a great Thursday and Friday is great for you too.

Finally...a blog post!

Today is Wednesday and I've been a terrible blogger lately. I have not had a lot of time to post, we've been so busy!

Actually, I really hate being busy. I don't like always feeling rushed and feeling like I don't have enough time to dedicate to the things that really need it, i.e. my husband and my school work. We don't have much going on for a few days so I plan on taking advantage of this break and getting a lot of work done.

I have a few things to tell you:

1. My parents are awesome. They are on this really cool, super healthy diet. And by diet, I mean that they have just changed their eating habits to be really healthy. It's all stuff anyone can do! Ethan and I used to be better about our food intake and we are inspired to be better again.

2. I love the show Parenthood. I really enjoy the characters and think it's a great show.

3. I bought this new product:

I tried it this morning and I think I'm going to love it. I put too much in my hair and I don't have the right kind of brush. My round brush did not do a good job of getting the powder out of my hair so I ended up washing it in the shower anyway. Which was my back-up plan in case it was an epic fail. I think I might get a cheap flat brush and try again. I'll update.

And now on to 30 for 30...

I hit a wall this weekend. I am really tired of the pieces in my 30 and I have run out of creative ideas. Apparently, I'm not the only one because the few other blogs I have read all said the same thing this weekend. Kendi, who is hosting the challenge, actually blogged about how to get past this wall we've run into. I read it on Monday afternoon, so I think my outfits will get better.

Here's day 21:

(sweater: khols - skirt: gap - tights: walmart - shoes: uo - bracelets: forever 21 - tired eyes: caused by monday)

I didn't wear the tights to work. I thought they might be...too much. What do you think? Too fishnet-y?

Day 22:

(blazer: wish nola - shirt: wish nola - jeans: target - shoes: ? boutique in nola)

I love this outfit. It's my New Orleans one because everything but the jeans came from there. Love it. I did not wear this to work. To work, I had on black tights and a black pencil skirt with the shoes, shirt tucked in, and blazer. I went to a Premiere Jewely party last night so I through on jeans. I really liked the jeans version much better.

Ok. I'm done now with my ramblings. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Monday Monday

Today felt kind of crazy to me. It was a really good day, but it was busy and fast.

We have some ministry stuff going on tonight, i.e. playing church dodgeball, what what?!

Actually, I do not like dodgeball, but I'm excited about going with our college students and hanging out.

I did take my picture for today, but I'm not in the mood to edit/upload/write about it, so I'll do it tomorrow. Is that ok? Thank you.

For the record, the black belt seen in my Day 20 outfit in the previous post is borrowed. I'm not usually all about borrowing clothes, or lending for that matter, but with some people, it's just different. My sweet sweet awesome friend, DeAnna, is someone I trust. She has borrowed a dress from me before and I borrowed this belt from her this weekend. I needed it to wear with my recruiting attire, but since I had it in my possession on Sunday, I wore it again. I returned it today. :(

I'm off to finishing eating dinner and get ready to head out to dodgeball. Wish me luck!

Home Sweet Home

This past weekend was a whirlwind. A really fun whirlwind.

I work in the Admissions Office for our school and was given the opportunity to recruit at the college where Ethan and I met. We flew in a day early and spent the afternoon with my parents, eating a lot of good food my mom cooked. Friday, we went out to the college and got all set up. We spent the whole weekend recruiting in the room where we met and where our wedding reception was. It was really neat to spend the whole weekend there. We got to meet a lot of really cool people and make some really good contacts. We were able to see several professors and catch up with them. We were able to see a few of our great friends from college who were kind enough to take time out of their Saturday to see us. We are always thankful for the people God has brought into our lives over the years. We are blessed.

The flight home was a bit scary. We had one of those pilots who likes to take the descent quickly. There were at least 4 distinct times I thought we were going to die. But alas, he was a good pilot, just taking us down more quickly than I like. We made it. Thankfully. :)

So, now for 30 for 30...

This is Day 16. Ethan was dressed up that day so we took the picture together. Isn't he handsome? (Do not be alarmed by my extremely white legs. It is February people.)

Day 17, I forgot to take a picture. Let me tell you what I wore. My denim skirt. My striped short sleeve shirt. My yellow cardigan. My TOMS (not in my 30, don't hate. I needed comfy shoes for the plane).

Day 18-19 were spent wearing my recruiting attire, which consists of my wide leg jeans (in my 30), a blue button down with the school logo embroidered on it, and a plethora of accessories, namely a great necklace and/or scarf, earrings, bracelets, fun shoes. Whatever. This would also have fallen on Five Things Friday, which would have gone something like this:

1. Ethan.

2. Ethan.

3. Ethan.

4. Ethan.

5. Ethan.

Day 20 is today. This is what I wore to church. It was VERY windy today so my hair is lookin a mess. Oh, Texas. I love you and hate you all at the same time.

Again, I really had such a good weekend. A lot of time with my Ethan. A lot of fun visiting. A LOT of good food. And I love Mississippi. What a great place to be from! I love the South!

Travel

This weekend Ethan and I are on the road for work. We were given the opportunity to go back to Mississippi for my job so that is always nice. We just finished a delicious belated birthday dinner made by my momma who is an amazing cook. And she bought me king cake. Delicious.

So, where are my pictures for 30 for 30? Good question. They are still on my camera. It's kind of a funny story actually. Let me explain:

Yesterday when Ethan and I got home around 3 (because I got off work early because we're working this weekend), our electricity was out. Weird. So I called the school to make sure they knew and someone had already reported it. We were told that it was being worked on. At 5, it still wasn't on so we ran out to get some dinner on our way to church. When we came back around 8:30, still no electricity. So we took my daily picture, which turned out weird, but I'll post it later anyway. We were sitting at the table talking about what was coming up this weekend with our trip and we noticed what was going on outside: someone was getting arrested. It was fascinating to watch and not something you see everyday at the seminary. Made for an interesting evening!

I'll post the pictures later from the 30 for 30 challenge. I'm kind of getting stuck with my options. I'm going to need to get creative or ask for help!

Happy day, everyone!

Day 15

Have you ever had one of those days that didn't go quite as you planned it? I'll spare you the details, but today was one of those days. Not really bad or anything, just weird. I don't really feel like writing much, but what you do get is a picture of day 15:

(shirt: target - skirt: forever21 - shoes: urban outfitters - necklace: claires - bracelets: compass trading company, I really like these bracelets because they have Scripture on them so I can read them all day no matter where I am)

Instead of boring you with my day, I'm going to go cook some Pioneer Woman sour cream enchiladas.

Hope you have a great evening!

V-Day

For the record, I do not hate Valentine's day.

I used to. But that all changed when a really good friend of mine gave me a vase full of hot pink Gerber daisies to let me know he thought I was special no matter what the day was. Three days later, that friend became my boyfriend, then my fiance, then my husband. All the while, he's been my best friend (still is!).

Now I think Valentine's day is kind of cute and sweet. I like that everyone gets excited about it and wears pink and red. I like that people are so full of love on this day! We don't really celebrate it, because we celebrate our dating anniversary on the 17th. Apparently, Ethan has something up his sleeve. I'm sure I'll love it. Tonight, though, we are having dinner tonight with a friend and then probably studying for class. But I will be with my favorite person the whole time and I love to do that any day!

I hope you are all enjoying your Valentine's day!

This is what I wore today, day 14:

(cardigan: gap - dress: target - leggings: target - boots: target - sweet red necklace: my Mimi)

I like this outfit for many reasons:
1. This is my go-to dress. I like that I can wear it with many things and the look changes and I like that it has pockets.
2. I really like my boots with black tights/leggings. I learned from Kendi that it's cool to wear brown with black.
3. I am liking the length of my hair so I feel like it looks cuter more often. Not really about my outfit, but you understand.

4. I love wearing old jewelry from my grandmothers. Both of them were pretty fabulous and their jewelry is a way for me to channel that!

I am really tired today (as is quite obvious from the picture). Should have gone to bed earlier last night, but I watched the Grammys. 3 words: Bieber was robbed.

Update: I don't know how well I did today praising God in all things, but I definitely was more aware of it. I'm sure this is one of those things that will get easier with time.

This post ended up being longer than I wanted, but I just had a lot to say today for some reason.

Happy V Day!

Sunday Sunday

I love Sundays. I love being with my church. I love worshiping with them and I love hearing the Word of God taught and preached. It's my favorite day of the week. We love working with college students...they keep us young! Today we were in Psalms again. I have loved studying this book the past two weeks. Today we specifically talked about what it means to praise God. My goal of the week is to be more intentional to praise Him in everything I say. After all, the Psalms do say that everything with breath should praise Him. I hope the words that come out of my mouth are pleasing to Him!

And for day 13, this is what I wore (pardon the fact that it says day 12 on the picture. wasn't thinking):

(cardigan: kohls - shirt: old navy - jeans: target - shoes: urban outfitters - ring: forever21)

Ok, I'm going to finish baking some delicious brownies for a little dinner get together tomorrow night and watch the Grammy's while I'm at it.

Good night, all. Remember to praise the Lord!

Confession

So I have a confession. I like Justin Bieber.

I can't help it. His songs are so catchy and he's just adorable. He was on Ellen this week while we were off for the snow/ice day and I watched it. I seriously think he's precious.

Ok, that's it. I feel better now!

Today was a fantastic day! Ethan had to work this morning so I stayed at home and got so much done around the apartment. I felt very wifely! Got more done this afternoon, watched Pride and Prejudice, did a little school work, went to the grocery store, got Starbucks with Ethan, made a dessert, made salsa and washed the dishes. I say all that to say that I was more productive today than I usually am on Saturdays and it felt good!

Today is also day 12 of 30 for 30, so here ya go:

(cardigan: kohls - shirt: target - skirt: old navy - tights: target - shoes: target - necklace: vintage, from my great-grandmother's collection of awesome jewelry)

I don't love this outfit. I was trying to wear things I hadn't worn yet in the 12 days so far. I also put my hair in a side ponytail mostly because it is finally long enough to do that now. I'm not so sure how I feel about it but I did keep it when we went out tonight so I obviously don't hate it that much. Ethan really liked it though.

Now, off to get everything ready to church tomorrow. I love Sundays!

Five Things Friday and Day 11

So today is Day 11. We're loving this challenge! Since today is Friday, we get to wear pants to work. Hooray! This is what we wore:

(cardigan: old navy - shirt: gap (gift) - pants: limited - shoes: some boutique in new orleans)

And it's Friday so it's time for 5 Things Friday!

1. My good looking hubby: This is us in Puerto Rico last year.

2. My Job: Look how awesome we are. Who wouldn't want to work there?

3. Pride and Prejudice. Enough said.

4. Mississippi College: Our alma mater. Where we got married. We're going there next week!



5. The Pioneer Woman. I don't have her cookbook, but I use her recipes from her website ALL the time. She's truly amazing. Here's a link to her website: here.

There ya go! Happy weekend, everyone!

Well, hello again. I took a day off. We had another snow day and I enjoyed the day with my sweet hubby. But this is what I wore:

(sweater: forever 21 - shirt: gap - jeans: target - boots: target - scarf: gift)

The snow boots aren't in my 30. But it was so so so so so so cold. Like crazy cold. And I just couldn't bring myself to put on cute heals and traipse through the snow/ice. I'm counting them as an accessory. That's my rationale. There you have it.

And THIS is today:

(jacket: wish (new orleans) - shirt: old navy - scarf: wish (new orleans) - skirt: old navy - tights: target - boots: target)

Today was record breaking cold in Texas. It was insane. We did have to go to work/class today, which was nice, but walking around outside was painful. My fingers were crazy cold even through gloves. Anyway, let me tell you something: I love this jacket. I rarely wear it because I never know what to wear it with. I put it in my 30 to force myself to remix it. I'm so glad I let the girl at WISH talk me into buying it. It's my new favorite piece of clothing that I own.

I love Diane's color combination today. Blue and gold is one of my favorites. I think we decided that we liked this outfit better with the belt underneath the sweater. We both wore our denim and boots today. Great minds think alike, as you know!

That is all for today. I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Good night.

Blazer Day

We remembered! So this, again, is Diane. She's my friend and we work in the same office. She's the only one who was brave enough to do the 30 for 30 Remix Challenge with me. For that, I am so grateful. She's a big encouragement, too. So here ya go, day 8:

(my outfit: dress: target - blazer: wish (in new orleans) - scarf: compass trading company - tights: target - shoes: target - earrings: forever 21 - lip gloss: origins once upon a shine in sheer ruby)

Also, there is a site called Everybody EveryWear that asks people to wear something on a particular day and upload a picture for it so you can see how everyone wore that particular item. Confused? Well, today was Blazer day. I didn't know that until after lunch, but I just happened to wear my blazer today. So here ya go, my submission:

On a much more serious note, have you ever had friends around you hurting so badly that all you want to do is just sit and cry with them? Well, I'm there. I have some friends going through some really tough times adn I just can't seem to find the right words. One of my best friends wrote a blog about what to say and I thought I'd share a link to you about what she recommends. Click here for that post. She has been through the same struggles and was willing to share with me what was most helpful to her during that time. Apparently, sometimes just an "I love you" is enough. Anyway, check her out. She is the best writer! I hope she writes a book one day. I would read it over and over again.

We are preparing for more snow and ice tomorrow. I will say this, we are not used to this winter weather here in Texas! My friends up north, how do you handle this everyday?!?

We'll see if I'll be wearing outfit #9 or pajamas tomorrow....

LSU

I love purple and yellow together. Today at work one of the first things someone said to me was "Good morning, LSU." Could be worse, because I am in fact an LSU fan. But I digress...

Here's outfit 7:

(cardigan: target - sweater: kohls - skirt: forever 21 (from love21 line) - tights: target - booties: target - scarf: gift, vera wang at kohls - cuff bracelet: charlotte russe)

My friend from work and I forgot to take our picture together at work. Lame. We'll do better tomorrow.

That is all for today. I have GOT to finish writing a paper.

Good night.

Day 6

Super Bowl day. Do I care? No. The Saints are not in the game (WHO DAT!?!).

But I do love a good party. We are headed out the door in a few minutes to the party we're having with the College Ministry from church. Fun people. Good food. So while I probably won't be paying much attention to the actual football game, I will be watching the commercials in outfit number 6:

(shirt: target - belt: urban outfitters vintage - jeans: gap - shoes: target - bracelets: charlotte russe)

Enjoy the game, everyone! Who are you rooting for?

Day 5

So this is outfit, day 5. I like it. It was comfy at the grocery store. I do not, however, love my hair. Tried something new. I will maintain that it looks better in person. Maybe not. Who cares.

(cardigan: Old Navy - tshirt: Old Navy - belt: Express circa 200 - skinny jeans: target - boots: target)

You want to know something crazy? Behind me is all melted snow. Yesterday we had 6 inches of fresh, powdery snow on top of an inch of ice. Today...gone. Well, mostly gone. And the sun was out and lovely. It felt soooooo good I didn't even wear a jacket.

In other and in MUCH more important matters, our church is reading through the Bible in a year and a half. This week we have been reading through the first half of Psalms. I have loved that this week. Need a pick me up? Psalms. Need to remember how to praise God? Psalms. Need encouragement to seek God? Psalms. Need words to express how you feel? Psalms. I have really enjoyed it, can you tell? So if you need any of those things, try reading through Psalms. They are lovely. Our God is so wonderful!

5 Things Friday...on Saturday

Since yesterday's post was long enough, I decided to wait for 5 Things Friday and do it today. So here are my top 5 favorite things this week:

1. My husband. If you don't know him, you are seriously missing out. He's incredible.

2. Snow/Ice days. With four of them this week, we adequately got to experience being iced in. It was so nice to get some stuff done and be with Ethan all day, four days in a row!

3. Snow Boots. Technically they are just rain boots made for the winter, but they were so nice to have this week when we had to go outside. They are not particularly cute, but very functional.

4. Yuban coffee. We drink Yuban at home and it is my very most favorite coffee to brew at home. If you haven't tried it, pick it up next time you're at the store and prepare to be amazed.

5. TV show seasons on DVD. Without cable, daytime TV is not the best. Luckily for us during these snow days, we have all the Seinfeld, all the Office and some How I Met Your Mother seasons on DVD. We love being able to watch our favorites over and over, knowing we will have good "TV" all day if we want it.

There's mine...what are yours?

Day 4 of 30 for 30 and Day 4 of Snow Days!

Well, friends, today was fun.

I got out of the house and went into the office for a little while. Of course this means that I did not wear pajamas so I got to take part in my 30 for 30 challenge finally. While this is NOT my favorite outfit, it was certainly warm. Diane came into work too and she's doing the challenge with me. We took our picture at work on my phone which is why it is not great. For the record, Diane's hat and scarf were both made by her mom. How cute are they!?

(my outfit: gray sweater: Gap - black turtleneck: Old Navy - wide leg jeans: Gap - black wedges: Target - belt: Express circa 2000 - hat and scarf: handmade by my Mimi)

To get to work, Ethan and I had to walk. Well, we didn't HAVE to but we decided to. We were supposed to get a dusting of snow overnight, but by 7 am we had already gotten 6 inches and it was still falling. Seriously, it was the most peaceful thing! Here's a few from our walk:

The sun finally came out later! When we got home, this was our view:

And we had this waiting outside our door, thanks to our sweet neighbors:

Overall, fabulous day! We even got to play Apples to Apples with some friends in the student center. Now, we're watching a movie and doing absolutely nothing *cough cough* I mean, working on some school work. Looking forward to a lazy, but productive day tomorrow: getting out to the store, finishing up a paper, playing games with aforementioned neighbors, and reading. What a blessing this break has been!!

Snowpocolypse

Really more like ice-pocolypse.

So we are on ice day #3. And we just found out that we get ice day #4 tomorrow.

So what did we do today? Clean!

Well, more like I cleaned and Ethan worked hard on his Hebrew.

So, as you know by now, I have not been doing the 30x30 because I have not worn anything other than pajamas and sweats in multiple layers because it is so so cold and these clothes do not count in my 30. BUT I did decide after going through my list that I can actually do 30 full days. (Well, not a full 30 because of the snow days) I had only been planning on doing the work days, but I've revamped my list and I'm going to do the whole thing. So, since we are iced in, while watching TV I decided to take pictures of all my picks. Here they are:

4 Skirts

2 Dresses

6 Sweaters

8 Shirts

2 Jackets

3 Pants

5 Shoes

And that equals 30!

As for now, I'm going to finish cooking dinner. Too bad my favorite sushi place doesn't deliver.

Another Giveaway

Pretty Life Anonymous is doing another giveaway!

This one I would love to win. The necklace they are giving away is gorgeous! You should go to their site, look around, sign up for the giveaway and enjoy their fashion tips!

Snow Day #2 plus Day 2 of 30 for 30

February 2.

Day 2 of the snow/ice days. It looks exactly the same as yesterday, just more tire tracks in the street. However, that does not mean they are any more drivable than yesterday. We have seen so many cars slip and spin out just in front of our building. We did notice this today:

Can't really see it, but that's ice right above the towel.

Ice up the window frame about 4 inches.

Yep, that would be ICE on the inside of our window in our living room. Our building is really old so we put those towels down around our door and window to help the cold air stay out. We couldn't move them if we wanted to today because they are strongly secured to the glass with ice.

The whole state of Texas is in a power emergency and are doing rolling blackouts to help conserve. We have not experienced this yet and hoping we don't. We are, however, very thankful for the heat we do have in our apartment. Several people we know have already lost power for a little while today and from all reports, it gets really cold really quickly inside.

ALSO, it is day 2 of 30 for 30 and I have no intentions of making it out of my pajamas today so it looks like I'm delayed on this journey another day. I am getting to cheat a little bit and get inspiration from some of the other people who are doing the challenge and have already begun.

Well, Ethan is reading in the other room and I should probably make sure he hasn't turned into a popsicle. I need to write that paper anyway...

Happy snow day, everyone!

Snow in Texas

Hello, February.

Last year you brought snow. This year you brought snow, sleet, and ice on your first day.

This is what Ethan and I woke up to at 6 am this morning:


The roads were crazy icy so school and work was canceled. Ethan and I have been studying all day in our pajamas and enjoying some rest. Ethan made some more Pioneer Woman salsa and our laundry is almost done.

In other news, 30 for 30 started today. However, pajamas do not count in your 30 pieces, so my outfit today will not count or be photographed, for your benefit.

Right now it feels like 2 degrees outside, which is better than the -3 it felt like earlier this morning. I think I will curl back up with my cup of coffee and write that paper I've been dreading. So thankful for today.