WILLING SPRING

Oh, you guys! Can you smell it?  Can you hear it?  I think spring is knocking on the door!

Today's temps were still a little chilly, but mild.  I ran this morning with no hat and only 2 layers.  And the birds were just chirping away!  And because I'm ever so slightly (haha) stubborn, I didn't wear a coat today.  I wasn't outside very long, but when I was, it was rather comfortable.

I'm sure my high hopes will be dashed once or twice in the coming weeks, but I'll just keep my eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel.  Right now, the 2 things I'm most excited about are:

1. not having to wear a heavy coat

and

2. more sunlight.

I heard something about snow tonight, but then I plugged my ears.

Blazer: JCP, $25 - Oxford: Bitten, $10 - Dress: Fred Flare, $40 - Boots: courtesy of Payless

INSPIRATION COMES ALONG

I found this old Gap ad while flipping through a magazine from several years ago.  It doesn't seem like too much, but for some reason, I was really inspired by it.  It's just so slick.

So, behold my loose interpretation...

It was pretty easy.  I had all of these pieces in my wardrobe already.  Believe it or not, I had never even unpacked this turtleneck from my winter storage.  I can't believe I've been without it all winter.

Someone asked to know more about my silver ring.  It's actually a bit of an heirloom.  It belonged to a great aunt and I found it in my grandmother's jewelry when she passed away.  I'm pretty much addicted to it right now.  It's amazing to me how old it is, and yet, how modern.

After a long day of super-productivity, I'm off to work for a couple of hours and then bar trivia, courtesy of our local dive.  Luckily, John is a trivia all-star, and he's always on my team :)

Knit Jacket: Strawberry, $30 - Turtleneck: Target, $17 - Necklace: Target, $3 - Pants: JCP, $20 - Shoes: Madden Girl, $23

RAMBLINGS OF A MONDAY AFTERNOON

Ah, Monday...

1.  I have been working my tail off this weekend on my Etsy shop!  I hope to launch it this week.  Don't worry - you'll be the first to know!

2.  There are few better ways to spend a day working at home than sitting on the living room floor, surrounded by several projects, a to-do list, a cup of tea and my awesome little dog.  Oh, and a little CSI marathon on in the background.

3.  We went to a little games night party last night.  It was complete with Trivial Pursuit 80's Edition (won by John and I), Taboo, Trivial Pursuit 90's Edition, a humping pit bull, confetti cake, and an oven fire!  Good times.

4.  Boyfriend jeans suck!  Isn't the whole idea to have them look like boy's jeans, but fit like women's jeans?  Then, why are so many made to fit what I can only imagine is a melon on toothpicks - and not a woman's body? WTF?

5.So, I haven't quite been cooking a new recipe every week like I vowed to do in the beginning of the year.  However, the sentiment remains - I have been cooking a lot more and trying lots of new things.  One thing I've made a couple of times is spaghetti squash stir-fry.  It looks horrible, but tastes quite yummy.

Oh, happy day!

FRIDAY = FUNDAY

Not that all of my clothes aren't fun, but Friday's clothes are extra fun.  I can throw caution to the wind and be inappropriate, as casual as I want and just downright experimental.

I'm really surprised at how much I'm utilizing the tights + cut-off combo.  I think a majority of my obsession comes from the freedom and confidence I feel wearing these shorts with tights.  'Cause I'll tell you right now - when mother nature finally decides to turn on spring, I'll be packing these bad boys away.  Not a big fan of them sans tights.

As you can see, we have a little bit more snow.  It's actually worse than it looks.  The wind is wick-ed and so everything is drifting all over the place.  So, we took it easy this morning and didn't head out until 1.

Now, I must go be productive.   Perhaps I should clarify - I must go be more productive in the real world, as opposed to the blog world.  But really, on a day like today, where would you rather be?

Blazer: JCP, $25 - T-shirt: American Apparel, courtesy of Buffalo Exchange - Cut-offs: Thrifted DIY, $4

Boots: Wanted, $30 - Hat: Gap, $10

MY FAVORITE THINGS

Black and white stripes.

Knit moto jacket.

Springy skirt.

Side-swept braid.

Being ridiculously comfortable and pulled together.

Knit Jacket: Strawberry, $30 - Tunic: H&M, $25 - Skirt: self-made - Brogues: Target, $25

PROCRASTINATING JUST GOT BETTER

 

www.couturious.com

 Procrastinators rejoice!  Here's one more thing for you to do before that "to do" list!

Hop on over to Couturious and whip up some fancy looks.  It's like paper dolls, but better!  I'm loving the feeling of throwing together a look with no boundaries.  Try it yourself - just don't blame me when you get sucked in for the next six hours.

Like my looks so far?  There's more where that came from, so click on through to the other side.

SEASON'S FIRST

Looks like winter's going grace us with more snow again tomorrow.  Yippee...  On the bright side (quite literally), for the first time since October, I was able to take my pictures outside after work.

There wasn't a ton of light and my camera's batteries died, so I was only able to get off a few shots.  Most of which turned out something like this:

Either way, I'll take it!  Girl needs a little vitamin D!

This outfit was 100% blogger inspired.  It's been sitting in my inspiration folder for some time now, and I finally decided to pull it out.

In other news, I finally upgraded to Windows 7 last night.  I've only had it sitting around since October.  Unfortunately, I started it around 10:30 and was a little deflated when I saw "upgrade may take several hours."  So, needless to say, I was up rather late, dozing off in between prompts.  So far, so good, so I think it was worth it!

Trench: Old Navy, $35 - Dress: Old Navy, $4 - Tights: Hue, $4 - Shoes: Target, $25 - Scarf: Target, $13