Chelsea and Ginny Take On: Cocktail Hour

This week  Chelsea and I are taking on "Cocktail Hour." Gone are the days of weekends at the bar, but getting invited to a cocktail hour or Girls' Night and home can be great.  I'm going to cover how to dress and Chelsea has the best idea for a "Mix Your Own Beer" Bar.  Say what?  Look for the link down below to go check Chelsea's post out!

As I've gotten older I feel like I've done a pretty good job of perfecting work wear, weekend wear, my casual style, and church clothes. However, I feel getting dressed for a girls' night or cocktail hour is tricky.  My 20-something's self was a pro at this...my 30-something self is not.  Today's look is one that I think is perfect for a cocktail hour after work or night with the girls.  I really like the polished look a blazer gives, but the sequined top takes this out of the normal realm of work wear. I also love the contrast of the black top with the fitted white jeans. Add a heel and some jewelry with bling and you've got a great cocktail hour look.

Blazer: Loft $30 (gift card from Chippmuck.com) same

Top: Express cute option

Jeans: CAbi $5 (thrifted) similar

Necklace: Stella and Dot Sutton

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Renegade, Peacock, Urbane

Heels: Bandalino $30 similar

I've decided to start showing you some options for similar pieces and take some of the work out of shopping for you. Here are some great cobalt blazer options; I'm loving the second one. 

                                    Wallis Blazers · Anne Klein Blazers · Macy's Blazers


Now, go stop by  Whatcha Makin' Now to see all the details for how to recreate Chelsea's awesome "Mix Your Own Beer" Bar.  If this idea isn't amazing, I don't know what is!

Outfit Perfection

You are looking at two of the best purchases I've made lately. One, this dress and two, this blazer.  If you read my post Wednesday you know I felt like I was playing dress-up with my clothes while trying to prepare some posts lately. I wasn't feeling like "me." This outfit today is me. I wore this to church recently and felt like a million bucks. I feel like I've been working to create a polished look and a cohesive closet. Over the last few months I've stepped away from thrifting and shifted towards more purposeful shopping; this blazer and dress have come from that. I still pay attention to the price tag, but that's no longer the biggest contributor into me deciding to make a purchase. I'm thinking tats a good thing.

Dress: Loft $35 same (with giftcard from Chippmunk giveaway I won)

Blazer: H&M $25 similar

Necklace: Stella and Dot just bling from Sutton

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Renegade, Urbane

Shoes: Bandalino $30 similar

On Being Yourself

About a week ago my husband was out of town for work, so Grant and I had more weekend time than normal. I decided to try to get a bunch of outfit pictures taken, and Grant pretty happily obliged. I was gearing up for an exciting mini-series set for next week, and other than this outfit, none of the other looks were working out.  It was windy, too sunny, and I didn't feel great in the clothes. I was frustrated. What I should have done was just call it a day and try again later, but darn-it, I had a plan.  

What I realized as I was looking at the pictures I'd attempted to take was I looked like I was playing dress up; I didn't look like myself. Boo. Bad blogger.  I took a step back and had some fun with the Grantster at the splash park, had a movie night, went to church the next day, then came home and scrapped a few outfits and tweaked a few more. I made the outfits me. Surprise, surprise, pictures were suddenly a breeze. When I started this blog almost a year ago it was because I was getting excited about my clothes and style again. Each look was "my new favorite outfit" I need to keep that in mind as I get dressed each day; I shouldn't be dressing for my blog, my friends, of even you (sorry) I should be dressing for myself. 

Dress: Loft $5 (thrifted) similar

Cardigan: Jones Wear $5 (thrifted) similar

Necklace: Charming Charlie similar

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Renegade, Moxie, Triple Wrap

Shoes: Coach (circa 2002ish) cute option on sale

Linking up with:

What I Wore Wednesday

Get Your Pretty On

One Piece: Twelve Ways

I'm Excited to take part in Audrey's "One Piece Many Ways" challenge today.  It was easy for me to decide to focus on my denim jacket.  I love them and found 12 ways to share with you today, with three for each season.  I love how they can be the perfect addition to so many outfits and can be worn all year round.  My new look for today includes me wearing the jacket with my favorite floral skirt and a polka dot top.  I love pattern mixing, but breaking up the look with a denim jacket made the outfit perfect for me.  Check out my ginormous college below with 12 other ways to wear this piece.

Jacket: The Limited similar

Top: Old Navy $4 

Skirt: Target $12 same

Necklace: Stella and Dot Rebel Pendant same

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Renegade, Triple Wrap and Chimera 

Shoes: Target $30 same

 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12

Chelsea and Ginny Take On: A Picnic

This week Chelsea and I are taking on what to wear and eat at a picnic. It's been pretty stinking hot here, and as much as I like to be wearing my fall clothes I'm still wearing shorts whenever possible. We also have a splash park right down the street and it's works out perfectly to let Grant run around and play like a crazy man then eat lunch there. I really like this shirt because it's really light-weight and breathable, but still protects my shoulders from the sun. I decided to pair it with these Lauren Conrad shorts which I have declared the perfect denim shorts;the length is great and they don't stretch out when I'm wearing them. I added a nude wedge because I love the elongated look I get with theses as apposed to flip flops. 

Also, I still have a few sponsor spots available.  I've reduced my spot prices and have decided to us PayPal to send invoices (therefore cutting out the middle man).  Check out my option here.

Blouse: Target $7 cute option

Shorts: Lauren Conrad similar

Necklace: Stella and Dot same

Bracelets: Chimera, Triple Wrap, Renegade

Shoes: Kohl's  $26 c/o Chippmunk  similar

Now stop by Whatcha Makin' Now where my sister has the perfect side dish for your picnic: a delicious Brown Sugar and Pecan Grape Salad! Yum. I kid you not, the first time I had this I finished like half the pan.  Seriously.

Chelsea and Ginny Take on: Labor Day!

Today is a big day on the blog! I'm starting a new series with my sister, Chelsea at Whatcha Makin' Now, and I'm starting a new mini-series this week to help you all transition your clothes from Summer to Fall.

Chelsea and I have so much fun blogging and wanted to come up with a weekly way to collaborate. We came up with this "Take On" series.  Each week we will take on a topic, adventure, or holiday that you'll need to dress and prepare food for.  This week we're taking on Labor Day.  I call this the unofficial end of summer. Whomp, whomp. It's a great opportunity to get together with friends and grill, for sure.  The weather starts to change some too, so today I'm showing you how to make shorts last a little while longer, and dress comfortably and stylishly for your Labor Day celebrations.

I think the jean jacket is the perfect addition to many outfits, including this one.  This summer I wore these shorts a ton with a simple chambray or tank top; that won't cut it as it begins to cool down.  Adding a jean jacket keeps this outfit casual, but will make sure you don't get too cool grilling with friends and family.

Comeback Wednesday for my second tip to making the "Season Switch" with your wardrobe. And make sure to check out my sisters link below for a fabulous Labor Day drink!

Jean Jacket: The Limited (circa 2004ish) similar

Top: Loft $20 similar

Shorts: Loft $20 similar

Necklace: Stella and Dot Rebel

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Renegade, Triple Wrap, Moxie

Shoes: Aero 2 $26 similar

Now to my fabulous sister Chelsea.  This week she is sharing the recipe for a delicious drink called "Strawberry Lemonade Beer." She's also come up with a non-alcoholic  version too, sweet!  Make sure to stop by Whatcha Makin' Now for the details on how to make this delicious drink, perfect for your Labor Day Celebrations!

Be Original. Be Yourself.

I had such an amazing time at Go Blog Social and I want to take some time to share my takeaway with you all.  A lot of this will obviously apply more to bloggers, but I hope to tie it back to you non-bloggers as well, and share with you how I'll apply it to my blog too.

 I feel like I heard time and time again at the conference the importance of being who you are and not a copy cat of someone else who is successful. I definitely think this applies to blogging and life in general. Meg Biram Jeanette of J's Everyday Fashion and Corrie McFadden  all discussed the importance of finding what makes you unique and focusing your blog on that. What's your passion? What gets you excited? The answer to that is what you should blog about. "There's a reader for everyone, be the voice for them."-Corri McFadden

As for me, I definitely think fashion and finding great deals gets me excited.  I feel like that's definitely been a focus here, so for me to go start spending hundreds on outfits (not that I would, or could) wouldn't make sense, because I feel a lot of you readers like a good deal just like I do.  I want to stay true to myself and my budget. Jeanette touched on this too. She's had a $250 a month clothing budget for forever,but even with her phenomenal success, she's stuck to that budget because that's the focus of her blog. She's living what her blog is. I love that.

That being said last year I thrifted A LOT because I was really trying to build up my wardrobe. I don't need clothes like I did before (don't tell my husband). What I do need are some closet staples like blazers and pencil skirts. Pieces like this can be very hard to thrift (trust me, I've tried). I definitely plan to shop the sale racks, but thrifting isn't something I've done all summer and something I don't see myself doing much this fall.

I'm also passionate about teaching and plan to do more how-to posts here as well. You've seen some of that from me this summer and I have a new tips series coming next and an exciting collaboration starting at the end of the month with my fabulous sister.

Tomorrow I'll share with you another takeaway from Go Blog Social, and today's outfit is what I wore to the fun cocktail hour last Thursday night.

Have you entered my Swag Bag giveaway yet?

Blazer: Kohls $20? similar

Blouse: Target $7 (can't find on line, instores now)

Shorts: Kohl's $20 similar

Belt: Kohl's $6 similar

Necklace: Stella and Dot Rebel

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Renegade,  Triple Wrap and Chimera similar

Shoes: Kohl's $26 c/o Chippmunk  same

Bag: Coach same

Linking up with:

What I Wore Wednesday

Get Your Pretty On