Favorite Outfits of the Week

I’ve decided to start sharing all the outfits I love for the week. I see so many outfits on the blogs I follow, some I like some I don’t. I keep a little look book folder on my computer to refer to when ever I feel stuck. Those times I stare at all my clothes and irrationally believe I have nothing to wear. I can then flip through my saved look book and the creativity juices start flowing again. May sound a little neurotic to put so much stock in what I wear each day, but that’s me, I guess I’m a little neurotic. So each week (if I remember) I’ll share my favorite outfits that I find and let you know the ones that add inspiration to my closet.

Last week I was I drew upon these great looks and recreated them with my wardrobe:

Here are some other outfits that inspired me to copy one day:

Hurry up November!

Crazy Stupid GOOD!

Had a good Saturday. Started off early at the gym and then to get my hair cut. Had a nice afternoon in Winter Park with my boyfriend. We ate lunch, did some shopping and went in saw one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in awhile. CRAZY STUPID LOVE. Go see it! It just came out this weekend. Steve Carell is great as always, but Ryan Gosling really through me through a loop, I haven’t liked him since The Notebook, but I have found a new respect for him after this movie. He’s FUNNY, who knew!

Give Away from La Vie Petite!

I follow so many lovely bloggers and get so many fashion ideas from them.  One that I love to follow is Cori at La Vie Petite, check her out! She is absolutely adorable and has the cutest little family, not to mention a fun fashion sense.  Plus she is vertically challenged like myself which makes it more relatable in what clothes will flatter more petite girls like ourselves. Oh and she can sew, which makes me totally envious of her.  She is going to give away this custom made skirt in Navy, Red or Kelly Green.  I sure hope I’m the lucky reader, because I would love this skirt in Kelly Green. 

Here are some more great outfit posts by Cori.

Michael Kors for my Birthday!

The day has finally arrived. The day my birthday gift from my boyfriend got here. Super excited about it. Isn’t it so pretty!!!

Can’t wait to wear it. It’s a lovely upgrade from the $9 Target watch I’ve been sporting around.

To the Max!

I love LOVE this summer’s maxi skirt. I can’t get enough. I officially own 3 different maxi skirts, not to mention the 3 other mid calf length jersey skirts I own. I’m not sure if those would count as a maxi, but definitely in the maxi family, maybe like the maxi skirt’s 1st cousin. And I still have the need to own more maxi skirts in different colors, prints and styles. I may be going overboard on how many long skirts I own right now!
I’m so happy I fell in love with the Maxi, other than being super duper comfortable, they dress up and down very easily. I also think they make you look super skinny too, which is always a win win for me. They are such a great go to summer essential. I prefer to wear heels with my maxis mainly because I’m only 5’2’’ and I’d have to hike my skirts pretty high on my waist to be able to wear flats with out tripping.

I plan to use this look as my muse as I get ready for work tomorrow. Luckily at my office I can wear a bit more dressy casual outfits and get away with these looks. Wish I had this bright blue maxi. I’m still on the hunt for a bright color maxi, which I’ve added to my clothes wish list.

Here are some of my favorite maxi skirt styles.

Lunch Break Shopping Trip - Loft

Today on my lunch break I went to the Loft for a little window shopping, but ended up finding some fantastic summer tees! It’s hard to find a good t-shirt in the summer. Everywhere you look shirts have their sleeves hacked off. Plus some of them are $10 right now, which is even more alluring to me. They didn’t have my size in their other basic scoop tee so I ended up with only one shirt today on my lunch break shopping trip.

I bought this tee today in the Gypsy Rose color (faded red).
I also love these tees too.

Rose A La Mode Give Away!

One of my favorite blog ladies is having an awesome give away. I've never won one of these, but owning a pair of hunter boots is one of my fashion dreams. You should check out her blog here. Linda has such great style and what I love about it is her simplicity. She has taught me that jeans and a t-shirt can be stylish too, as long as you have the right accesories!

Here are some of my Linda favorites!

Sunday Night Movie Night

Tonight Matt came over and I cooked up a low calorie impromptu dinner of balsamic chicken, asparagus and garlic mash potatoes. We then watched my most recent Netflix pick of The Next Three Days with Russell Crowe. Talk about on the edge of your seat, I was so nervous the whole movie, near the end I couldn’t sit still.

Sunday evenings are perfect for lying around and watching movies. I remember growing up it was one of my favorite TV nights because of The Wonderful World of Disney Sunday Night Movie.I was excited each week for the new movie. Michael Eisner would always do his cheesy intro. TV in the 80s was so much better than the kids shows on these days. The majority of the movies I remember from my early childhood were ones that were played each Sunday night. The Leftovers, Spot Marks the X, Parent Trap II & III, Fuzzbucket, Save the Dog, Mr. Boogedy, Richest Cat in the World, Sunday Drive, The Thanksgiving Promise, Flight of the Navigator, Exile, Not Quite Human, Justin Case, Bigfoot, and Rock ‘n’ Roll Mom. Not to mention when they ran specials of the old classics with Donald Duck, Mickey, Goofy and Minnie.

Here are some images and videos to bring you back. There wasn’t a huge selection to choose from which made me kinda of sad. I wish these movies were available to buy.

Something to Blog About…

It’s Saturday night, but it feels like Friday to me. It was my first Saturday where I had to work from 10-7pm, YUCK! My internal clock is all thrown off. I don’t have anything specific to talk about just a bunch of randomness. Some of the bloggers I follow have a 5 things Friday and since this feels like a Friday to me, here are 5 things I want to blog about.

1. My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding
Oh my gosh you have to watch this show. It comes on TLC and you will just be fascinated by these people. You will have to decide if it is a good fascinate or a bad fascinate, I’m a little of both. There was nothing on the TV at the gym tonight so I stumbled and got sucked into the black hole of crazy reality documentary type shows. You know the types that you don’t want to watch but you can’t look away? For example, Toddlers & Tiaras. I’m not sure if it is just a few episodes or will be an on going show. So My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding is about the traveling gypsy community in the UK and the elaborate and ostentatious to say the least, weddings that they have. My only response I had to the show was, REALLY? I HAD NO IDEA! These girls getting married are like 16, it’s common for the modern gypsy community for girls to get married really young. CRAZY!

2. To buy or not to buy. I bought this hat at Target and then returned it because I just wasn’t so sure about it. Than I see one of the stylish ladies I follow on my blogs wearing it. It looks good on her, should I buy it again?

3. Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s no secret for those who know me that I have a crush on this man. Especially a bearded Jake. My boyfriend is well aware of this fact and let me know when he saw Jake on Man vs. Wild the other night. I found the episode replaying and recorded it for my viewing pleasure. Bear Grylls has also had Will Ferral on his show to brave the wild. Apparently he is really scared of heights, ate worms for breakfast and gut a dead sheep they wander across. Here is a little clip of what I have in store for later.

4. Fashion Blog Finds: I’m always updating the blogs I follow. Deleting the ones that have lost my interest or have gone a different way with their style that I don’t necessarily agree with. And then my favorite part of updating is adding new blogs I come across. The way I rate if I will follow a fashion blog is the level I’m able to copy the outfits. If all the clothes come from boutiques or designer labels than I will not follow. But if I see labels I know of and more real life outfits I will follow the blog for sure. Then you come across those few special blogs of ladies that have your same sense of style and shop at the same stores you do and even better, they OWN the same clothes as you! There is nothing better to have someone else style something you already own. Check out this new blog I’m following: Saucy Glossie.

5. The No. 2 Pencil skirt from J.Crew. I have been searching and searching for summery color pencil skirts for months now. Mainly purple or red. I have finally found them! But why do they have to be $120 at J.Crew??? So close yet so far away! Back to where I started looking for a more inexpensive version of these two lovely skirts.

Friday Night Fat

I’ve talked about how I had a no guilt eating weekend for my birthday, well more like 5 days, anyways…I put back on few pounds. I couldn’t believe 5 days of eating out could do that to you. I’m trying to back to my status before my binging started. I thought I was doing good today and I was all the way up till dinner. I innocently went to subway and got a veggie sub. The $5 foot long special sucked me in and before I knew it I was saying 12” Veggie on Wheat. Ugh! Now I’ll eat the whole thing. I know that a 6” Veggie is way within my spending calorie limit for a meal. Tonight when I was adding it to my fitness pal I was getting mixed calorie amounts. I came across a pretty cool website, Nutritionix. You select your bread, meat, veggies, cheese, condiments and it adds up all the nutritional facts. It’s pretty awesome!!! What wasn’t awesome was that my 12” that I inhaled as my boyfriend neatly wrapped up the other have of his foot long was 543 Calories! YIKES!!! 138 Calories over my limit! Luckily I’m still under for my weekly goals. I’ll have to be extra good tomorrow and Sunday.

My sister was asking me about healthy snacks the other day. I was letting her know that I’m very routine with my snack choices: Craisins, Granny Smith Apple, Yogurt, Miso Soup, WW desserts, etc… I’ve started to realize that all my snacks are very high in sugar. I consistently go over my daily allowable sugar content. I’m allowed 24g sugar a day and on days I work out that can increase to 30-35g a day. As you can see in the last 30 days I’m way up there in the sugar content.

I did some more googling and compiled a list for my next grocery trip this weekend to pick up these lower sugared snacks.
1. Part-Skim String Cheese
2. Hard Boiled Egg WHITES – that means remove the yummy yolk. I have tons of eggs in my fridge and this is a good excuse to boil them all up for next week’s lunches.
3. Turkey/Ham Lettuce Wraps – I actually used to do this back when I tried the Atkins Diet for like a week 5 years ago.
4. Cottage Cheese – will need to check the calorie content, but this could replace my high sugared yogurts I love.
5. Peanut Butter w/ Celery – Ok I would have to already portion out my 1 serving = 1 TBSP of PB to make this work – PB is a big big weakness of mine, I love the stuff! I also read about Celery and Cream Cheese: obviously a reduced fat or WW brand cream cheese, I’ll have to look more into this one.
6. Pistachios – I’m not a big fan of just eating nuts. But I like these. I’ve been wanting to incorporate them in my diet for a while but the big price tag on their bag always makes me not pick up a bag. However I read they are the least caloric of all nuts so for about 25 it’s only a 100 Calories.
7. Edamame – I do like these and they are fun to eat, but are they filling enough to keep me going through my day? I’ll have to mull this one over a bit.
8. Raw Veggies – I used to pack baby carrots or celery in my lunch but I stopped for some reason. It’s time to bring it back and this time I’m thinking an assortment of veggies; Carrots, Broccoli, Celery, Grape Tomatoes, Red Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, etc… I can pre-bag them each week for an easy grab in the morning. I could also look for a low calorie hummus or guacamole, but I’m doubting I’ll be able to find one that will do.
9. Sugar Free Jell-O or Pudding – the pudding is more filling. I currently have the Vanilla Pudding 60 calories a cup.
10. Rice Cakes – I love rice cakes. Depending on the flavor of cake you get it can have anywhere from 0-3g sugar each. White Cheddar ones are delicious!
11. 100 Calorie Smart Pop – if I can overcome my issue of always burning popcorn this may be a winner for the after lunch snack at work.
12. Make Your Own! I found some good recipes that I want to try of Sugar Free desserts! here is one that I think I could really enjoy!

CHOCOLATE ANGEL FOOD CAKE
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup(s) flour, whole-wheat pastry
1 1/2 cup(s) sugar substitute
1/4 cup(s) cocoa powder, unsweetened
2 teaspoon espresso, instant
1 1/2 cup(s) egg white(s), (from about 10 eggs)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

PREPARATION
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 10" angel food cake pan with parchment paper or coat with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar substitute, cocoa powder, and coffee three times. Set aside.
3. In a large metal bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt on high speed until they become stiff but not lumpy, 4 to 6 minutes. They should cling firmly to the side of the bowl when tilted. Add the vanilla, but do not mix.
4. With a spatula, gently fold one-third of the egg whites into the flour mixture. Repeat twice until all the egg whites are just combined, but not deflated.
5. Gently spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake springs back when touched, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and invert the pan onto its feet or the neck of a wine bottle. Let cool completely.
6. Gently run a long knife between the cake and the outer rim of the pan, pressing it firmly against the pan to prevent tearing the cake. Run the knife or a skewer around the inside of the tube. Invert the pan and remove the cake.

Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 40 mins Total Time: 50 mins 8 Servings

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 70
Total Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 144 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 15 g
Dietary Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 7 g
Sugars: 0 g

SYTYCD: Top 10

Here are my favorite dances and music from this week's SYTYCD. There were so many good dances this week, usually I only like 1 maybe 2, but I liked almost all of them and I'm going to post all 6, that's right 6 of my favorites right here. And the music was soooo good too. Enjoy!
(sorry not all the videos are the best quality)

I couldn't find some of the songs I loved.
If you are interested find them on Itunes.
1. David J. Roch - "Skin & Bones"
2. John Legend - "This Time"
3. Christina Perri - "The Lonely"
4. Tina Arena - "Everybody Hurts"

Birthday Weekend in Pictures

I haven’t blogged for a few days.  I haven’t done much of anything that required any thought.  I figured it was my vacation from thinking.  No work, no bill paying, no email checking, no nothin!  I just finished going through all my emails and responding to what was needed and deleting all the junk mail of past sales I missed.  I updated my calendar for the week to get caught up on everything:  I scheduled in gym time since I missed Pilates tonight. I have to pay a few bills that are due this week, tidy up the mail that is stacking up on my coffee table, go through my clothes purchases this month and make the final decision to have it enter my closet or take it back to the store and groceries.  I have gone out to eat almost every meal since Friday lunch and I need to do inventory bad.  I have no idea if I have food to pack for lunch tomorrow.  Back to work tomorrow too…ugh!  My time off has been nice and tomorrow I have to go back to the real world.  I spent my last day of freedom helping my sister paint my nieces bedroom pink.  Now my whole body aches.  I did some googling to see how many calories I hopefully burned from my 3+ hours of taping and painting.  From what I found I could have burned anywhere from 192 calories an hour up to 807 calories.  I just did the middle estimate of about 538 calories which made up for my 4 pieces of pizza dinner I had tonight.  My night did end on a high note with a much needed pedicure (foot rub included) and a diet Dr. Pepper for the drive home. 

Here a few pics of me and my family over the weekend: ok that was an understatement, here are A LOT of pictures from the weekend

We went out to eat at Hot Olives in Winter Park.  I’m in love with their Pear & Brie Pork Tenderloins, mainly because of the butternut squash risotto that comes with it…Delicious!  We played musical chairs so I could get a picture with everyone.  Some of the light is really bad in these pictures.
 
Matt thinks he is so funny making faces in my pictures. 
Little does he know them more faces he makes the more pictures he has to take.

There are several blurry versions of the pictures with my sister KT, I could not stop laughing and I couldn’t figure out why.  We finally got it under control for at least one good shot.

On Sunday we hung out at my sister’s house and ate a bunch of fried food and cookies.  I gave my niece Justine the job of taking candid pictures of what everyone was up to.  I think I’ll make this her permanent job for our family gatherings because I never take enough pictures. 

Baby Nola eating the shoes.A lot of Wii playing was going on
 
Here is a picture of all my nieces
(left to right)
Carson, Nola, Justine, Megan and Callie
 
Here are the nephews
(left to right)
Hudson, Christopher and Jack
Huddy would not come out from under the table for the picture, so we joined him under the table. 
Under there I discovered he was doing a little business of his own…STINKY!

Matt making funny faces again.  That just means more pictures!
Ugh 30!

I dragged Matt outside for some more pictures of us.  I was not satisfied with the ones from the night before.  Matt hates taking pictures and I love it.  I’ve told him if he ever runs out of ideas for gifts or wants to do something nice fore me just let me take a bunch of pictures of us and I’ll be happy.  Since it was my bday he suffered through a few pictures for me.
He still couldn’t resist trying to be silly in a lot of them.
 

The Birthday is finally over.  I’ve decided people should just skip the 30th just go straight from 29 to 31.
I have now finished my 5 day eating binge and my stomach will be happy to know it is back to its normal low calorie, low fat diet tomorrow morning. I’m not sure I could have taken much more anyway.

I’ll be back to blogging about fun things again tomorrow!