Made in USA at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

Top Row (L-R): Pleione Shirt // Trina Turk Wine Berry Dress // Theory 'Lanai' Open Blazer // Amanda Uprichard Cobalt Dress // Elie Tahari 'Kelsa' Skirt //

Bottom Row (L-R): Paige Denim 'Skyline' Jenna Jeans // Munro 'Ann' Boots //  NYDJ 'Megan' Faux Leather Trim Jeans // Munro 'Jerrie' Flats // Joe's 'The Skinny' Coated Jeans

If you haven't had a chance to stop by Nordstrom yet, I'd suggest you drop everything and get there fast because the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is in progress and it's one of those yearly sales you don't want to miss.

This sale couldn't come at a better time for a variety of reasons. First and foremost - it's hotter than heck on the East Coast and thinking about fall is a welcomed relief. Thinking about fall fashion is even better. Thinking about fall fashion items on sale before the season even begins is just the proverbial icing on the ice cream cake (hey, it's HOT out!).

Purge your closet now and figure out what go-to basics you're going to need for the rest of your life. Then, scoop them up while they are on sale now at Nordstrom's!  Yes, I consider coated denim skinnies a basic necessity. They are like leather pants without the irrational fear of leather pants.

I'm definitely getting at least one of those items above. I completely torn between those suede boots or the blazer. If Kate Middleton can wear her suede boots every day, why can't I? But then as soon as I make up my mind those dresses and jeans call to me. Looks like I have to make up my mind soon because this sale ends sooner than I want it to!

What are you picking up during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale? If you haven't thought specifically about buying more American made clothes, then this is a great time to give a chance to one of many amazing American made items sold at Nordstrom's.  This isn't a sponsored post by Nordstrom, but I'll vouch for their impeccable customer service until I'm blue in the face. So take a chance, buy American.

Something Old, Something New

Top: J. Crew // Belt: Target // Pants: ESPRIT // Shoes: Cole Haan Air "Violet"  // Bag: Rebecca Minkoff M.A.B. Mini Convertible (Gilt) // Bracelet: BaubleBar Rainbow Stud Wrap

Confession: I've had these gray pants since 2001. As in I bought them during my senior year of high school specifically for spring break when I acted like a complete and total tourist in Italy's most famed churches.  I do not mess around with dress codes when it comes to churches and I was more than happy to keep my knees and shoulders covered. 

The pants then got "lost" in a box for who knows how many years and I'm glad to say I've found them! They're probably more appropriate for my 29 year-old self than my 18 year-old past and I'm happy to have them back in my closet. 

Recently I've had my eye on an adorable little Rebecca Minkoff clutch that was on sale at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.  Well that yellow lover is sold out online and out of stock at my local Nordstrom. However, I did get an email notification from Gilt regarding a massive Rebecca Minkoff sale.  I told the hubs, "dude, I'm buying a purse today, will keep you posted."

Thank goodness he's okay with my craziness.

I've been looking for a black purse because oddly enough I don't have a black purse that can be worn over the shoulder and that bad boy comes with an over the shoulder strap.  That quilted leather, studded, beauty was on sale for $299 (down from $595!) and I had a coupon from Gilt for an extra $75 off.  It still amazes me given my proclivities for online shopping and bargain hunting that I hadn't previously made a Gilt purchase, but I deemed it fate that Gilt sent me a coupon enticing me to make my first purchase when there was  Rebecca Minkoff boutique primed for the plucking.

Come on, spending $229.95 on a gorgeous purchase isn't that bad especially given I'm wearing eleven year old pants! Honestly, I still have a few things in my closet that are from high school and that buys me points with the hubs because he knows if I buy something I'm going to hang out to it forever.

Okay, that's enough fashion talk! Jax needs to be spoiled and it's a drool-filled job, but someone has got to do it! 

Any fashion scores lately?  I'm officially on shopping lock down now, but I can live vicariously through the deals of others! 

Window shopping at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

If you haven't gathered by now, I'm a bit of a bargain shopper.  I don't have a ton of money leftover in my wallet for clothes shopping after spending money on home renovations and running related expenses. I have to maximize my limited shopping budget as best as I can.  There is also this guy who lives in my house who makes a few subjective comments from time to time about how I have too many clothes.  The only downside to buying things on sale is sometimes the selection isn't the greatest or the items are on their way out of fashion.  

However, one time a year a glorious event happens that every bargain shopper like me gets ready to dig deep into a wallet and pick up something on sale before its season!  Fall is my favorite season, which makes the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale the perfect excuse for me to pick up something on sale before the season begins.  Let's be honest though, I don't have a ton of money this year lying around, which means I can probably only convince my husband that I "need" one of these things (sorry Burberry coat, I still think you're priced a bit too high, but I'll covet you anyway.) 

Here's my wish list of items from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. Hurry prices go up August 6th! 

Tory Burch 'Horsebit' Satchel will be $450, but now $298.90 

Stuart Weitzman 'Accumulate' Boot (Nordstrom Exclusive) will be $625, but now $399.90

Vince Camuto 'Gettila' Boot will be $239.95, but now $159.90

Vera Wang 'Royce' Bootie will be $350, but now $229.90

Via Spiga 'Yardley' Pump (Nordstrom Exclusive) will be $225, but now $129.90

Burberry Brit Double Breasted Trench Coat  will be $1,095, but now $695.90

Movado 'Bold Chrono' Small Bracelet Watch will be $650, but now $434.90

French Connection Colorblock Crepe Sheath Dress will be $288, but now $191.90 

And I even picked out something for the hubs! The hubs has a few pair of AE shoes and he loves them. Allen Edmonds 'LaSalle' Oxford will be $295, but now $199.90 

I love everything on the list above, but I think my best chance of bringing something home is either one of these two items below. 

Rebecca Minkoff "MAC" Crossbody Clutch will be $295, but now $169.90

Tory Burch 'Noel' Ballet Flat (Nordstrom Exclusive) will be $225, but now $169.90

The age old question - pair of shoes or a purse!  Which would you get?  Anything else you're eyeing at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale? 

Fashion Orgasm

I'm a bit behind on this post, but I wanted to share some of the amazing deals I got recently on Bluefly. Two weeks ago I was cleaning up my email inbox and an email from Bluefly caught my eye because the subject line read, "Believe It: EVERYTHING is $29.97 (10-hour private event!)."

Are you freaking kidding me? There has got to be a catch.

So of course I clicked over and I saw that shoes from Prada, Dior, Jimmy Choo, etc. were in other member's carts for $29.97. Yeah, right.

I started looking through what was available in my size and thankfully due to my big feet a few things were left in my size. With the rest of my birthday money I was able to pick up the following beauties.

Um, yes please! I can't wait for the summer sandal season.

Why yes, I did wear these while washing dishes the first night they came. The hubs looked at me, but I just told him, "I have to break them in!"

This blazer fits like butter. It's also made in NY!

This is by far my favorite LBD. It's super structured. The belt is detachable and I plan on wearing it with tons of other outfits. Entire outfit is made in the USA!

Total Retail Cost of four items: $1480

1. Tod's Sandals - $475
2. Pour La Victoire Boots - $310
3. Alex Lane blazer - $365
4. Mark & James by Badgley Mischka dress - $330

Oh wait, did I have a coupon for free shipping? Oh, yes I did!

Total cost to me: $119.88

Yes, I saved 92% off of retail costs.

Point. Set. Match. - GINGER

I even wore my new blazer down in Puerto Rico last week during a work trip.

However, I am officially on shopping lockdown. We're planning some major home renovations and funds are being siphoned off to those projects. BOO!!!

Any other great shopping deals you've scored lately?

Stella and Dot Trunk Show

I previously posted that I attended a Stella and Dot trunk show hosted by my friend, Miss M, down in DC. I'm not going to lie, I was thinking a trunk show would be like those old school Tupperware parties my mom and her friends used to host, but thank goodness that was definitely not the case.

I, for one, do not remember champagne being present at any Tupperware party. I do fully acknowledge that I was a child at those parties, so I was probably more occupied with the punch bowl. Nor do I remember as much sparkly jewelry.

These parties are full of peer pressure! "Oh, you should definitely buy that!"

It was a fun night down in DC. These golden Stuart Weitzman pumps haunted me the entire evening and continue to do so! I'm on the hunt for something similar, but in the silver variety.

What's old is new again

Inexplicably, I've wanted a pair of black leather pants my whole life. There is no rationalization for it or any semblance of rhyme or reason. Whenever Anh, from 9 to 5 Chic, wears her leather Balenciaga leggings I feel the need to drop some serious dough on a pair of leather pants. I either need to start selling things on the black market (like what I have no idea) or pick up a side job to pay for all the things I want to put in my closet.

However, reality usually sits in. I think to myself, "where the heck are you going to that you'll wear leather pants? Do you realize you hate your thighs and leather pants will highlight those bad boys?"

Darn.

Of course, I then recall the episode of Friends where Ross gets stuck in his leather pants. Hehe! I just get giddy and realize there's no way in heck I'll ever own leather pants.

Last week I joined some friends at a Stella and Dot trunk show hosted by my dear friend Miss M over at District Sparkle. The show was held at Second Affair Consignments store in Dupont Circle (a future post on that it coming). While oogling all things sparkly and shiny two black skirts caught my eye. The one was a very simple velvet ballet type skirt on sale for $2.50 even though it still had the tags on it. The other was tagless, but was a leather skirt that looked about my size.

So I snatched that bad boy up and made my over to the dressing room. Sure enough, it fit. Even better... it was only $25. I walked out of that store with both skirts. Honestly, who doesn't need two more black skirts in their closet?

Um, yes please!

Yesterday I had to drive to work and decided since I wouldn't be spending much time outside it was the perfect day to rock my new leather skirt.

Blouse - Express. Seriously, I've had it since high school or college, so it's super old.

Skirt - Vintage

Shoes - Cole Haan. Scored for $50 at Rue La La.

The greatest thing about this skirt, beside of course that it's leather? The sucker fits me perfectly. It tapers at my waist and has enough room for my big ol' soccer butt.

The only foreseen problem with such a cool skirt is that I can't wear it all the time. That's the tough part of statement pieces. They lose their unique value if they're worn over and over again.

Anyone own leather pants? Leather skirt? Leather dress? Or do you stick to leather handbags and purses?

Hello Lover!

I sent out a calendar appointment to my female co-workers in July asking if they wanted to accompany me to Target on Tuesday, September 13th. Why? Because that's when the limited run Missoni for Target line arrived in stores.

Confession: I went to Target on Monday night just in hopes that they would have some of the stuff out early. Verdict - NO!

Then, on Tuesday morning I hopped online at 6:35 am to check out what was available in my local stores. Yes, stores. I checked every store from my office outside of DC to my house just outside of Baltimore. The store closest to my office listed everything as "limited stock."

I almost thought about going to work late and hitting up Target early in the morning. However, I couldn't do that and leave my girls behind.

At 5:00pm sharp we piled in our cars and raced each other to Target. I've wanted the chunky heels since the moment the first look book was visible online! My girls knew this and as soon as we entered the store we bypassed the clothes section and ran right to the shoe section. I swear, we looked like a SWAT team because we immediately broke off from formation and went down separate aisles.

That's when I heard one of my comrades scream, "HEIDI! They're HERE!"

CRAP! I was four aisles over and a mass of 10 women were heading straight for my shoes. Without missing a beat my friend instinctly pulled the size 8.5 and 9 shoes off the rack and charged over to me.

That, my friends, is what a good shopping partner does! We giggled and laughed as I tried on the shoes, decided the 8.5s fit better, and happily danced in the aisle. Afterwards, we had a fun girls trip trying on everything imaginable in the store and running around to see what Missoni items were left. In a nutshell: all that remained with a decent selection were the tights.

It was hilarious, I was the one who wanted to go to Target and I was the one who ended up buying the least amount of stuff! I never knew that four women could have so much fun in a Target store.

And now, these lovely shoes are all mine.




I'll randomly check to see if any of the scarves are in stock the next time I'm on a Target run. I'm not an addict and I'm not paying above retail price for anything listed on Ebay.

How about you? Did you like any of the Missoni for Target pieces? Did you get anything on Tuesday? Are you ordering anything online now that the website is back up and running?

Taking photos is not one of his strengths

The hubs is afraid of cameras. There's really no other logical explanation for his anti-camera stance than pure, absolute fear because I can't fathom why a grown man would be so hesitant to ever take a picture of his wife. It's comical because every year for Christmas I put together a photo book for our grandparents and ever year it's a struggle to find a decent picture of me.


I had a somewhat important down in Washington, DC the other day and decided to ditch the traditional power suit and instead wear a somewhat cute and youthful dress. I am on the team as the technology person, so I really shouldn't hide from the fact that I'm there because I'm young and I know the current technology systems that pertain to my work's project. I wore, what I considered, to be a cute dress I just picked up from Banana Republic. I'll be honest, it's more fitted than what I normally wear, so all day long people at my office kept saying things like, "I really like that dress" or "you look great!"

Then, at my meeting an Assistant Deputy Secretary at a very important government entity said to me in the hallway, "that dress is fantastic. It's business, but with a side of fun." I replied, "I just got it at Banana Republic and there are a quite a few more to be purchased." She laughed.

When I came home late (again!) from work I asked the hubs if he could take a picture of me in my supposed cute dress. I made the mistake of already pulling my hair back in a pony tail, but figured at least I could show my aunt that I don't wear only ill fitting clothes.

That quasi head-less shot above is what the hubs took. Thankfully, the pups wanted in on the action and the hubs kept shooting away.










Seriously, all I wanted was a picture where I was smiling and both of my eyes were open, how hard could that be?




Finally, here's a picture of the dress. It's cute and I love it.



As for the hubs... I'm working on that situation!

Perhaps there is hope for a new pair of jeans

Finding the perfect pair of jeans is a fashion myth. I haven't actually heard of a flesh and blood friend finding the "one" pair of jeans for them. Finding the perfect man, piece of cake, but the perfect pair of jeans... totally not going to happen.

I, myself, didn't wear jeans for nearly four long years because I grew to get so frustrated with the limited options available for curvier women (aka the jeans at JC Penny's weren't doing it for me!). I've always been a white girl with a big ol' bubble butt and in the late 90s to early 2000s that translated into jeans that didn't fit. I'd have a size 6 waist and a size 10 butt. Jeans just weren't cut for the masses to include curves. Thank goodness J.Lo and Beyonce came along! Then, it was cool to have curves. I think Nelly even came out with a line of jeans for curvier women (not that I ever purchased a pair).

Still, finding the "one" never happened for me. It's mostly because I'm a cheapo when it comes to jeans and I can't stomach to pay more than $80 for a pair of pants. Actually, that's a bit high, I don't like to spend more than $50 on a pair of jeans. Basically, I can't even shop at Express anymore for a pair of jeans and I'm too old to go in with my grandma and have her buy me a pair (man, I long for those end of summer ritual back-to-school shopping sprees thanks to a very generous grandma).

Lately, I've been rocking my Old Navy jeans because I've scored them every Black Friday for $15 the past few years. The suckers shrink in the wash and then I have to go through that jumping up and down routine post-washing to get them to fit right again. Insert massive amounts of laughter by the hubs and you can see why I avoided jeans for quite some time.

Last year, I believe it was the Gap that became the moderately-priced "go-to" jeans place. Like a lemming I went in and tried them on and left the store empty handed. The dreaded waist gap got me again. Sure, I'll take my ill-fitting ON jeans because they're $15! That's like three cups of coffee! But if I'm going to spend more than $50 on a pair of jeans well then I want them to fit. Is that too much to ask?!?!?!?

Apparently so because I'm at the point where all I have are ON jeans and a few leftover Express jeans from back when flared leg jeans were all the rage. Seriously, buying or attempting to buy jeans for me is like a Road Runner episode except I'm the darn Coyote. I know full well going in that the jeans aren't going to fit and yet I'm shocked when I come out of the fitting room and hand back the attendant a mountain of ill-fitting jeans. Okay, skinny jeans are solely responsible for my .000 batting average as of late, but that's just because my damn calves are too big. Seriously, I tried on a pair Citizens because I was willing to spend $150 on a pair of jeans if they would fit and my frickin' calves were too big! It's bad enough that my calves don't fit into Hunter boots, but now I can't even try to buy a pair of fancy trendy jeans.

Sigh....

Anyway, the original makers of jeans have apparently heard that women experience some frustration in their endless quest to find the "one." I'm a bit skeptical of the perfect pair of jeans coming to my womanly butt by a man, but whatever. I'm also skeptical that 80% of the world's women fall within three body types, but again I'm willing to suffer the humilation in effort to find a pair of jeans that fit me. I'll even slide for a pair of jeans that make my butt look bad if the suckers fit the rest of me!!!

A fellow curvy and frustrated friend sent me the video below and suggested we make a shopping date in the near future. Levi's please don't let me down!!!



Anyone else struggle to find the "one" and care to share? As soon as I try on some new Levi's I'll report on how I faired.

Do you Rue La La?

I admit, I'm definitely guilty of over indulging in internet shopping. Purses, shirts, jeans, scarves, bags, toothpaste, whatever... sometimes it's just easier to have things shipped to my house.

The one thing I don't normally order online- shoes. I have to try shoes on before I order them. It's a weird distinction, but I've had a few bad experiences with ordering shoes online.

Yet, I had a cool $50 credit to Rue La La that expired December 30th and I wasn't about to let $50 go to waste... so I bought a pair of these lovelies.



Yummy Calvin Klein pumps in a Bordeaux color. Yes, winos, my new shoes are wine colored. They're perfect.

Now, I know some of you fashionistas are looking at the stacked heel aspect and giving them the side-eye. I understand that, really, I do. I felt the exact same way.

That is until I spied the sole of these babies:

Yes, comfy. Again, giving them the side-eye. Don't worry, these pumps blow stilettos out of the water. When your day involves the potential of hopping between trains and subways, you need a cute and functional shoe.

These babies were on my doorstep last Friday and they made the start to my weekend that much better. Especially because I had to work late... on a FRIDAY!!!!

I've worn them to work twice this week and I must say, they're more comfy than my Cole Haan shoes. The very best part, because of my Rue La La credit these shoes only cost me $9.

Yes, $9.

Which is also the same price the hubs and I spent at Starbucks last weekend. Guess which thing is still around a week later and will still be around in a year or two. Certainly, not the coffee!!!

If you want to join Rue La La (a cool boutique where members enjoy premier-brand private sales), because membership is FREE, then click here. You need an invite and I'm more than happy to share the yummy goodness of cute shoes, bags, and clothes.

I love a good bargain! (and you can too!!!)

Thank you Cyber Monday!!!

I planned on buying someone a canvas print as a Christmas present this year. Oh, who am I kidding??? It was for my sister and she knows all about it. I wanted to make sure I got her a print she actually wanted. So sue me for taking away a bit of her Christmas surprise. I don't think she'll mind that I'm sharing my bargain shopping habits.

Normal price of a 20 x 30 inch canvas print at Shutterfly- $129.99
Shipping and handling- $19.99
= $149.98 (plus tax!)

Current sale price of a 20 x 30 inch canvas print at Shutterfly- $85.79
Promo code for an extra $10 off any order over $30- JOLLY10
Promo code for free shipping for any order over $25- SHIP25
= $81.95 (including tax!)

Then, throw in an Cyber Monday deal at Ebates and I'll receive 20% cash back for my purchase at Shutterfly.

Point. Set. Match.

Needless to say, now I saved a few bones and can buy my sister something and actually surprise her!!!

If you planned on buying any photo items I suggest you mozy over to Shutterfly before December 2nd. Those promo codes are only good until then. Happy Shopping!!!

(I didn't receive any freebies from Shutterfly for writing this post. I haven't reached that level of blogging power yet and I doubt I ever will.)

Attention Weekend shoppers!

Click over here if you want a 30% off coupon at GAP, Banana Republic, or Old Navy to use this weekend. You'll also be doing some good while you're shopping because 5% of what you spend will be given to Teach for America. It's a win/win situation.

Click Here.

InStyle subscription for $5!!!

If you're a fan of InStyle Magazine then I suggest you hop over to Amazon and pick up a year's subscription for only $5.

Yup, five dollars. There are a ton of five dollar deals going on right now, but I'd prefer a non-greasy magazine that keeps coming for a whole year as opposed to a single sandwich or meal.

Here's the link. Enjoy!!!

I PPH Nordstrom's Rack!

I'm on the hunt for adorable pink shoes to wear to my sister's wedding. I'm trying to find shoes that come as close in pink coloring as possible to my pink sash, are comfortable, are preferably a satin material and somehow won't make me hate them because they are pink. Basically, I want these, but there's no way in heck I'm spending $300 on a pair of shoes.

Especially since they are pink shoes and I'll most likely never wear them again.

So I sauntered down to Nordstrom's Rack today and thought I might walk out with a pair of shoes. Unfortunately, I struck out on the pink department, but these amazing Cole Haan shoes caught my attention. I first spied these shoes in Nordstrom's over the winter and quickly put them out of my mind because they were over $200. I'm more of a Nine West shoe budget type gal, so dropping $200 on a pair of shoes is well beyond the scope of my normal rational behavior.

You can only guess my excitement when I saw the sticker on these babies.

Seriously, normal retail price of $214.95 and they were on sale for an additional 65% off of the sale price. Yes, I had to whip out my cell phone and use the calculator to make sure my mind wasn't tricking me into buying these shoes. It's been a really, really, really long time since I've purchased any shoes that weren't of the working out or flats variety.



Retail Price= $214.95
Price I paid= $45.46 (plus tax)

Point. Set. Match. Me!!!!


Oh, PPH means "Pink, Puffy Heart." What can I say, I'm trying to open myself up to a little bit of pink related things.

Ikea: Almost a rite of passage

I'm 99.9% certain that my parents don't own a single thing from Ikea. I never even stepped foot into an Ikea until I was a junior in college. Knowing those two things, it makes it funnier that now I don't have a single room in my house that isn't chocked full of Ikea goodies. The hubs and I went on somewhat of an Ikea splurge when we first moved in together, but I am looking forward to the day when I don't have to rely on an Allen wrench to put my furniture together (or the day when I don't even have to assemble furniture!). Anyways, without the cheap prices at Ikea I think it's safe to say that our first post-college apartment would have been pretty bare.

With that information in mind, I sent my brother an e-mail last week informing him of some big sale Ikea was holding over the Memorial Day weekend. He doesn't graduate from college for another week, but I know he's moving once he graduates. At first he was like, "nah, I don't need furniture yet because I haven't really seen what my roommate is bringing to the apartment." Okay, that sounds reasonable enough, but then he saw that the Expedit bookcase was on sale for $50. He wanted the bookcase and so did I.

Saturday afternoon, the three of us made a trip over to Ikea and hoped to pick up a bookcase. My brother was amazed with the cheap prices and kept commenting, "okay, once I move in I am definitely coming back here. $13 for a side table!"

I did notice quite a few early twenties looking individuals perusing the various aisles at Ikea on Saturday. I'll go out on a limb and say that quite a few of them just graduated from college and are thinking they need furniture for their apartments, but Pottery Barn just isn't in their budget. Trust me, I've been there. Plus, you can find a ton of smaller furniture pieces at Ikea, which is perfect for those small apartments.

The hubs was the sour puss of the group and I wasn't able to persuade him that we did indeed need a bookcase. So, we left empty handed. Grrrr! He did however eye up a new coffee table. One of the first things we bought at Ikea was a plain brown coffee table and I'm not longer a fan of it's traditional look. So when the hubs said that he liked the modern black coffee table I was ecstatic. Hopefully, that means we can start buying more modern pieces and start ditching our old traditional looking furniture. Sweet!!!

Fabulous Find

You may or may not have already discovered this cool little website and if you have already visited, well I apologize for giving you the link... again.

http://labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr/

One of my weaknesses is definitely experimenting with color. My decor, wardrobe and even my dogs all fall within various monochromatic schemes. Let's just say that the hubs does a better job of mixing colors than I do. My biggest problem is I listen to that old adage that red heads can't wear red (or shouldn't wear red, because so few of us actually look good in it). So there goes red. Then, add in pink, just because I loathe pink. Of course pulling off orange and yellow is rather difficult as well, so there goes those two colors. You can see where this ends up going. It leaves me with a whole lot of black, gray, and white in my closet, which isn't terrible because we all know that black is slimming.

This is all hilarious because I'm sitting in my spare bedroom and I notice that the carpet and bedding are all various forms of blue. Crap, I just realized that there are probably four complimentary shades of brown in my living room. I am the most boring person ever. Honestly, the only decor item that I have that doesn't fall into my room's various monochromatic schemes are the throw pillows I made last month. My house is so boring!!!

Woah, momentary freak out. Must.chill.out.

It seems that my confidence in mixing colors isn't great and I'm hoping that by using the above website I can have a better visual representation of how certain colors look together. Maybe, just maybe that will give me the confidence to mix things up a little bit. Clearly, I would start small, because I think an abundance of various color schemes might throw my entire world off track.

One more reason I can't go to Target by myself

I certainly hope that I'm not the only one who can't control their spending at Target. I'd like to think I'm not the only one with that weakness. I swear I just run in for a few items and then I have to force myself to give up a few things before I hop in the checkout line. There's always a few cute things floating around and the tempting prices add to my lust.

Sigh....

These pot holders and towels would be absolutely perfect in my kitchen. I mean, they would even go with my mellow yellow tiles (oh how I wish they were a happy yellow and not a dumpy yellow).



Now I'm going to have to completely avoid Target for the next few weeks, which is almost as torturous as giving up ice cream. I could sabotage my current pot holders, but I think I better show some self-restraint. I think the hubs could be on to my game and I have to switch things up.

These babies were featured on Black and White Delight, which is becoming one of my favorite blogs for cute accessories.

Is it spring yet?

I love winter, as it's the perfect season for a pale person like myself. I love bundling up in cozy sweaters and wearing knit hats every possible second. I love hot chocolate and baking fresh muffins. I love skiing and snow ball fights. So it is with a great deal of difficulty that I have to admit I want it to be spring time.

I don't know if you heard, but Pantone declared Mimosa as the color of year. Thank goodness! I love yellow and now there are plenty of yellow accessories to choose from this year. Of course, my favorite color palette is black, white and yellow. You could say that I'm inspired by my dog:




Coach Parker Satchel. Okay, it isn't quite Mimosa, but it is definitely a playful shade of yellow. For a person who doesn't wear yellow well, such as myself, a bright yellow bag is a perfect way to get in on the trend without looking like a light bulb. The price tag, $458, is way out of my price range, but I can certainly dream. I could spend all of my birthday money on this one bag, but I'd rather buy a few items instead.


Kate Spade "Idiom" Thin Enamel Bangle. Even the name, "A Place in the Sun" is calling out to be worn during the spring and summer. There is even a bangle with polka dots if you like those better.


J. Crew Nicolette Strappy Heels. A list of yummy yellow accessories wouldn't be complete without something from J.Crew. Preppy and bright go hand and hand at J. Crew. These sandals are yellow without being too much yellow material. I think I could pull these off a lot easier than say a pair of bright yellow patent leather pumps.


CB2 Daisy Pillow. The poster child of Mimosa! I would have bought these pillows already, but I don't live anywhere near a CB2 store and I'd rather see them in person before purchasing them (oh, who am I kidding, I'll probably end up buying these!).


Pottery Barn Organic Embroidered Dot Duvet Cover & Sham. Yellow, check. Polka dots, check. Organic, check. Perfect for those who don't want a ton of yellow, but still want to brighten up their bedroom a tad.


Pottery Barn Lemon Toile Salad Plates. Cuteness overload! How could anyone criticize anything about your cooking with these adorable plates. Now, I know the hubs will object to these plates because we already have yellow plates. Grrrr!


Hunter "Original" Rain Boot. Now these babies are perfect for all that spring time rain! If you happen to have a vegetable or flower garden, well these would be perfect for working in your garden.

Any other yellow items that you've coveting?