Friday, January 31, 2014

{A Little Sparkle}

Just a simple little warm and cozy outfit...

With a little sparkle. 

Sweater: J.Crew Factory {old}
Vest: Old Navy {old}
Black Jeans: Loft
Boots: Steve Madden {old}






And....I almost went down :) 


Happy Friday! 

Have a fabulous and fun weekend!

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

{Black and Brown}

Who said you can't mix black and brown? 

I say that rule is donzo! 

Sweater: Groopdealz
Black Sweater Tunic: Target
Black Workout Pants: Target
Boots: Steve Madden {old}
Purse: TJ Maxx






As long as your shoes and purse match, I'm all about mixing brown and black. I think it looks chic and a little boho. 

Have a great Wednesday! 

Monday, January 27, 2014

{January Project...Check}

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

One of our New Years Resolutions was to complete one project a month. 

I shared that we decided our first project would be building some storage for our garage. 

Between my mom putting her house on the market and us re-doing our basement, our garage has turned into our family storage area. For a few months it's been craziness, so once the snow hit {oh my goodness...so much snow already this year!} we decided we needed to get this space into shape so we can park at least one car in the garage! 

So Wendel went to work whipping up this beauty. We followed this tutorial, but changed up our measurements to make the best use of the space we had.

The cost of the materials came in at around $100, which is not cheap by any means, but less than buying a buying a pre-made shelf. Plus, this fits perfectly in our space and holds more than my brain can understand! 

{Oh and warning...this is not pretty...it's functional. These crazy bloggers who can turn their toilet bowl into a work of art annoy me. Not everything has to be perfectly pretty. My car doesn't need a pretty home.}

Anyhoo...boom...here he is. We'll call him Eduardo...Eduardo Wendel. 


The best part of this whole thing is that if Wendel gets into trouble...he has a place to sleep in the garage...thumbs up! 


And a few hours later, we had our things packed away, organized, and labeled !


We were able to fit our containers in two rows, I put a piece of duck tape on the shelf, labeling what was in each row. 

Oh and the black bag...filled with nerf guns. Normal people have a bag full of nerf guns right? And we might have matching nerf shirts...embarrassing? Nope.



We were even able to add some storage on the side. Making the most out of this little space. And there's our movie sign we made. A tutorial will happen this spring for that little ditty! 


We found a lot of crazy things while organizing. 

Like my husband has a ton of freaking knifes...ridiculous! 


And Wendel's cute little woodworking apron from when we was little...which is a bib on me now. 


We also did some organizing of my wreaths. I'm very aware that I have a problem. I blame it on my mom.   


We still have things on the other side of the garage to get to. Things to sell, things to get back to my mom, and a pile of scrap wood that Wendel refuses to get rid of. 


Oh and here's the other end of the wall where the big storage shelf is. This is the tool bench that Wendel's dad built him, and shockingly this is very organized! And that's a sliding door from upstairs...not really sure why we still have it. But there it is! 


Well...so glad I got to introduce you Eduardo. He's a gem. And we love him! 

January project...donezo! Woo hoo! 

Friday, January 24, 2014

{2013: A Year of Outfits}

I know, I know...we're almost a whole month into 2014 and I'm stuck on 2013. I'm a little slow, okay? 

Anyhoo...

I've been doing outfit posts for a little over a year now. Insane! 

While it's at times wayyy out of my comfort zone, it's a blast to go back and look at the different outfits over the past year! 

It's fun to see how our photography has changed and how much we have learned. The struggle for the perfect lighting is always the most frustrating thing, especially when it's getting dark at 5:30 but we're getting the hang of it! 

I definitely am not an expert in this whole fashion post thing, but I would say just be confident in yourself, practice a lot, don't be afraid to look stupid, take your flippin' hand off your hip...please, don't take yourself too seriously, and have fun! 

These aren't in order by any means, but enjoy the little trip down my fashion memory lane!





See...hand on hip...dumb dumb dumb!
















This isn't all of them...but the majority! A lot of outfits, and far more than ever got shot. Sometimes the five minutes it takes to shoot an outfit doesn't happen. 

On a side note, fashion posts are one of my biggest hits on the blog...right behind my "I'm crazy posts" like this one, this one, and this one

I'm not quite sure I want this to turn into a fashion blog. I started this to document our lives. And I'm for sure not a fashionista by any means. 

But I'd love to hear: what are your favorite posts to read? 

Fashion, house stuff, what we're up to, DIY projects? I'm in the midst of updating the blog and would love my reader's opinions! 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

{Winter Staples: A Little Red}

This red gingham from Old Navy has probably been one of my favorite purchases this year. You may remember it from here. It's warm, has held it's shape, and goes with pretty much everything! 

So today I have two looks wearing my favorite red gingham. 

For the first look, I paired my red with my new fur vest from Target that I got for Christmas. I'm a little embarrassed by how many times I've already worn it already!  


Gingham: Old Navy {similar}
Vest: Target
Jeans: Loft {similar}
Boots: Target {similar}
Clutch: DSW
Sunnies: Target
Watch: Fossil
Bow Ring: J Crew {similar, similar, love this too}
Love Necklace: Etsy
Earrings: Silver Mountain Jewelry {you know those kiosks in the mall?}






Next, I've paired my red with my favorite sweatshirt of all time! The red is just a tiny pop of color to make this sweatshirt a little more fun. But let's be honest...the shirt is awesome on it's own. 

So let's chat about this sweatshirt for a moment. Guys, I know...$50 for a sweatshirt is ridiculous. But it is the softest and most precious sweatshirt ever! I kid you not, when I wear it, I get at least 3 compliments on it! I've been wanting one for about a year now, and I finally got this beauty for Christmas from Wendel. I distinctly told him not to buy it unless it went on sale. Low and behold, they had a big black Friday sale. So just be patient...it will go on sale! 


Gingham: Old Navy {similar}
Sweatshirt: Hello Apparel {Wendel just ordered me this pretty for Valentine's Day and I squealed with excitement! Best hubby ever!}
Jeans: Loft {similar}
Boots: Target {similar}
Sunnies: Target
Watch: Fossil




So here they are...two outfits using my favorite red gingham.

Do you all have a favorite piece this winter? Why is it that we always gravitate towards one or two pieces. Is it that they're comforting? Make us look good? Who knows?

Happy Hump Day!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

{2013 Christmas Fun}

I don't typically blog on Tuesdays {I'm a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday kind of gal} but before I forgot everything, I wanted to be sure to get all of our Christmas festivities in our virtual journal, so here's what we were up to for the Christmas 2013 season. 

Here was our advent calendar that we completed very few of...oops. 

{ Side note...I outfit repeated A LOT this season...so no judgement please :) }

We went to see The Grinch the musical with Wendel's family...it was precious and the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season! 


Fancy Christmas hot cocoa is kind of my jam...I love it a little too much. 


Making Christmas chocolate covered pretzels for small group...bad bad bad because I ate as I made...bad bad bad


Here we are at Breakfast with Santa at Brio with all the littles.



Our church's Christmas show, Awatied. We had a fancy dinner date, then the show. It's a tradition and one of our favorite nights of the year! 

Side note...Wendel planned his pattern mixing all by himself! Argyle and gingham...I was so impressed! 


After Wendel finished finals, we had a little date night seeing the trains and live nativity at Krohn's Conservatory  



Dinner and a movie with the family


Decorating a gingerbread house is a tradition...this year we did a little gingerbread town! 



Christmas party with Wendel's family



Awaited again with my mom and sister-in-law


We hosted a fancy schmancy Christmas party for our friends! 



After Awaited, we headed to Wendel's parents for dinner. We sneaked away for a few moments to Facetime with my sweet friends in Bham. One of my best friends, Camille, is pregnant and we got to virtually be apart of the gender reveal...GIRL! 


A Tavola for dinner with my brother who was in town from San Fran. 


After dinner, we headed to Wendel's grandparents to do Christmas with his family. This view always has my heart! 


Passing our Christmas goodies to our neighbors in my favorite Santa shirt


Christmas Eve service with Wendel's parents. 


Christmas Eve Dinner with my family! 


My sweet siblings and mom...it's a miracle we got this photo! 



We got to open up one present on Christmas Eve. Mine was a Tory Burch bracelet


Christmas morning sleepies opening up presents! Stockings are always first!



Christmas day dinner with Wendel's family! 


Then, a few days later we were off to Florida! But that's for another day :) 



If you're curious...go and check out our advent fun from last year here and here