Bobeau wrap

The other day I went to Nordstrom to return a Christmas present - I've never been more excited about the idea of a return before! Our mall just opened a beautiful Nordstrom within the last few years and I typically avoid it for "real shopping" because I tend to want everything!!

Right in front of the return counter was a rack of these Bobeau wraps!

I wasn't familiar with Bobeau, but if the other items are like this, I'm interested! This wrap is currently on sale for $39.90 and comes in a good selection of neutrals! I purchased it in black as I always seem to want another black sweater/ layering piece.

The fabric is SO soft and luxurious! Seriously! I feel like it should be meant for sleeping! In thinking about it, had I not had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket, I'm not sure if I would have been as attracted to it and bought it for myself with my own money. It's a funny piece to me, since it is trendy with the asymmetrical wrap look, but great for work (albeit the more casual end of the dress code) and play! Bottom line - I like it!

You will definitely see this wrap again, once I get the hang of taking pictures of outfits! Thank goodness Santa got me a tripod for Christmas!

The Art of Non-Conformity

I should read my emails more often...

In attempt to find more sanity and gain control (hmm..) I'm cleaning out my inbox! I found this from a dear friend that is worth sharing. It is from The Art of Non-Conformity blog. I find it very much captures my feelings about my "pivotal social work moment." Enjoy!

"Most of the time, the obvious way around an obstacle isn’t the only way.  Looking for another option is called the unconventional strategy—when you have the same goal as anyone else, but you find a different way to achieve it.  It works in education, career, personal finance, social causes, politics, relationships, etc. Oh, and it can even work in sports and contests too.

Take 27 seconds today to watch this video of a middle-school American football team that adopted an unconventional strategy to achieve a traditional victory.”

Chris Guillebeau

The Art of Non-Conformity"

Pivotal Monday

If you missed the first round of Manic Monday, check it out here! Here are my 5, a day late (sorry!).

1) Sneezy. I don't know what it is but I have this sneezing issue. I started a tally at work last week and I was always in the 7-9 range! Just at work! I don't know if this means I'm sick? Or allergic? Even worse - allergic to cats? Yikes.

2) Proud. Yesterday I had a pivotal social work moment that may just be career altering!! OK maybe that's being a little dramatic. I was forced with either following the word from my job coach (which I knew was wrong) or serve the client. I had this thought (I felt like I should be on a tv show and I should have a spot light on me- it was that pivotal!!) of "Ok.. I'm a social worker to: serve my clients. Not to make friends." In the end it was all very minor and inconsequential, but to me it set the precedent for myself that it is ok to question my job coach and look into alternate solutions.

3) Reminiscent. The situation in #2 really made me miss my Alabama social work girls! I could totally picture us out at a bar for happy hour discussing said situation and expressing our frustrations with older crusty social workers! I know by now we all have our stories!

4) Anxious. The husband flies home this week! Oh wait - tomorrow night! It will be just wonderful having him home! HAVE to remind myself to focus on the day at hand and somehow avoid this next goodbye. (It's gonna be a doozy, folks!)

5) Casual. Unfortunately I didn't get the memo that starting yesterday we can wear casual clothes at work until the end of the month "unless we have a meeting where we need to look professional." I wore normal work clothes yesterday, but today, JEANS! And UGGS! I really want to wear a sweatshirt, and let's face it, my co-workers find the extreme end of the casual spectrum, so it would be ok... but I can't! Not today at least. I'm tempted to wear a particularly loud Christmas sweatshirt tomorrow though. We'll see!!

There's my 5! Off to conquer this Tuesday!

Do you Groupon?

I feel like everyone out there subscribes to Groupon by now, but just the other day I was talking to a close family friend (Heyyy Enny!) and she didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

So. Groupon = daily emailed coupons on things in your town! I personally have not purchased a groupon, but awhile back there was a Gap one and I sure wish I had (for $25 get $50 worth of apparel)! Sometimes the daily deal is in a part of town that I don't really want to go to/ not convenient, or on some random thing, but there is definitely a good variety (food, spa, clothing, sky diving, dance lessons...) of deals!

Also. My in-laws told me about Living Social and its awesomeness. Apparently Living Social has a bigger variety of local restaurants and they don't limit the number of coupons you can purchase. One example of a deal they got was for $10 get $25 worth of food and drink at a local restaurant. Kind of a good deal, folks!

Just this weekend I signed up for Living Social! There are many other daily deal places out there, but right now 2 is probably enough for me!

Maybe someday I will buy a coupon and reap the benefit of this inventive way for people to spend money in hard economic times!

I don't get it?

Move over jeggings, there is another trend I'm just.not.getting.

Will someone explain the forehead-band to me? I'm seeing it all over the place, and I don't get it!

Found this on google image and it made me chuckle!

Admittedly, some are worse than others, but to me it just seems like part of a Halloween outfit? Sorry.

Even a few of the fashion bloggers I follow are keeping up with this trend.

What do you think? Is it here to stay?

By the way...

The other night, I did clean my room. I still have laundry to put away, but look at the improvement!

Thank you, thank you!

The after picture:

Dad asked if I would vow to never let my room get that way again, and I said I just couldn't do that!

It really was pretty terrible.. Most of that mess was from rushed mornings before work and not being able to figure out what to wear! I swear some days I have on 5 outfits before deciding on what to wear!

Back to laying out my clothes before bed? We'll see.

Lands' End Canvas

Are you familiar with this line? I've heard about it a little bit, but am just starting to fall in love! I feel like I have been really snooty about Lands' End because it makes me think about over sized turtle necks that don't fit properly! I'm not really sure why! I just have this image of wearing Lands' End turtle necks when I was a kid and the cuffs getting snot stained because I would wipe my runny nose on them! Gross! Needless to say, I have this stuck up bad vibe about Lands' End.

..until NOW!

Their new-ish line (a little over a year old!) called Lands' End Canvas carries items that look like they could be straight out of a J Crew or Gap catalog! Perfect neutrals and basics! I believe some Sears stores carry part of the line!

Here are my picks!

 Love, love, love this sweater!! 

 This sweater comes in many pretty colors!

 Love this layered look with this cowl.

Cord Shirt

 Poor Boy Turtleneck

 Essential V-neck Sweater

 Like this outfit with cords!

Cute cargo pants that still show off your shape!

 V-neck pocket cardigan

 Wool gathered wrap skirt in Aubergine

Pleated dress in Dark Sapphire

Turtleneck sweater- cute belt too!!

 Perfect summer dress!

Love this chambray skirt! It would go with anything!

What are your thoughts? Is there a place in your wardrobe for some Lands' End Canvas?

Confession

Just being honest that:
...right now my life feels out of control.

I'm kicking butt at work and most of the Christmas shopping is done, but boy at home: disaster! I don't EVEN want to go in my to do lists, because those areas of my life.. not rocking out on! I blame it on not being at my apartment much, but really I'm just a mess! Tonight, I walked into my bedroom and find this.

I'm surprised I actually thought to myself, "Oh gosh! How did this happen?!" - as if my cats snuck into my bedroom and had a rowdy party while I was at work today! 

Last night, I'm pretty sure I slept with 2 belts on my bed, and some of those clothes... 

I had to take a picture so I can maybe stop ignoring the chaos and remind myself of my hoarder (in remission!) client and have a goal to not get that way! Ok, so I'm kinda kidding, and it's probably not social worker of me to make light of the psychological trauma true hoarders have to work through.. but still.

You see that picture up there? Not proud of that, but, as of now, that is what my bedroom looks like.

I think tonight instead of cuddling into bed (with all of these clothes) and watching Army Wives, I'll turn on some music and clean. 

Well "tidy", because we know I'm not going to be dusting tonight.

quotable husband

I have to share this cuteness with you and then it's time to get out of work clothes and into some pjs. Maybe multiple pairs of pjs pants! It's frickin frigid outside!!!

Background: Today at work I got another 20 clients!!!!!! I've been pretty bored lately and am very eager to get to a full case load. I'm proud to announce I'm up to 94 (a full case load is around 120)!! Not only do I feel proud of myself for being ready to take on so many clients after only 3 months, but I'm hoping it will help keep me busy!!

Anyway, in going through my new client list, I discover I have gained a "unique" client to my case load. Please see following conversation (via text messages) between me and the hubs:

Me: I just got a new client that is a hoarder in remission!
Husband: Yeah? Do they have neat stuff?

BAHAHAHA!!

(later)
Husband: Well, it's a valid question!

He's such a cutie. LOVE him!

3am picture from yesterday. "Bless his heart!"

Tofu Shock!

Ok, so I cheated and ate one of my new frozen meals for dinner tonight. I picked the one that I thought would be the smelliest (I'm a considerate co-worker): Thai Yellow Curry. Boy was I shocked when I read that those cube looking things were not chicken, but TOFU! Er, TofuSteaks, to be exact. What the heck is a tofu steak? Aint no steak, I'll tell you that! Ok, I'm not a tofu hater, but was definitely not expecting to buy a frozen meal with tofu in it.

When I took it out of the microwave I thought "Ok take a few bites and you can pitch it, not worth getting sick over" but I was good and ate it all! Will I buy it again? No. The thing is, the curry flavor was great!! I'm curious to check out other frozen dinners from Helen's Kitchen. Next time, I won't be in such a rush!

Manic Monday

I've been wanting to start a weekly series on this blog, and today it begins! Start singing the Olympics theme song.... now!!

Why the "series"? I'm wanting something to get me blogging more regularly, and having a weekly Manic Monday post will help! ...Maybe. It's worth a try!

The rules - list 5 emotions, feelings, moods, or something related (I threw this last one in as a "catch all" if you see something that doesn't make sense! You see, I'm invincible on my blog! In life, not so much!) that you have experienced recently and give a brief description of what happened. Readers, you can play along too! You pick the 5!

1) Claustrophobic - I ventured to the post office today, which is always a weird adult-like experience for me anyway, but today it was sooo crowded! I guess why wouldn't it be? Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! I managed to get in and out without any really awkward encounters, and the post office lady was very nice and efficient (and boy do I love efficiency!). She even offered me "fur-ever" stamps for Christmas. Get it? The Christmas variety of the Forever stamp - it has evergreens!

2) Accomplishment - I finally went to the grocery store! Mom M. found a bunch of cereal on sale, so I'm well stocked in the mini-wheat department, but needed yogurt and frozen meals for lunch! I ventured to the organic section and picked up a few different kinds of meals for a change. I will let you know how those are - it is so easy to get burnt out on the standard lean cuisine/ healthy choice entrees!

3) Liking - Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! I'm thankful I only took 6 of these from my mom yesterday, I could easily eat.. a lot! I'm wondering if we added peanut butter chips in them, how they would be? I think YUMMY!!

4) Terrified - Last night on my drive home from my parents. Oh lawdy, lawdy! Let's just say the roads were snow covered so I could not see the lines, it was slippery, and my wipers were not behaving so visibility was limited -at best. By the grace of God I made it home in one piece (and so did my car). Not eager to drive in snowy conditions like that any time soon!

5) Christmas-y - I'm so proud of myself! Yesterday I wrapped all the gifts I have bought to date and only have maybe 3 or 4 gifts to pick up still! We decorated the family tree last night at my folks and our apartment tree has been up since the day after Thanksgiving! All my Christmas cards are mailed! And tonight (since my favorite trashy 90210 isn't on) I'm going to watch White Christmas!

Ok - your turn! Got 5 manic Monday moods?

A Very Glee Christmas

I watched the Glee Christmas episode and it was pretty awesome! They included one Christmas song that I really strongly dislike but other than that it was perfection! And actually, the cast made me hate that song a little less. Just a little though!

The episode also made me want more Christmas plaid in my wardrobe! Anyone else? 

Here is a quick review of what happened in "A Very Glee Christmas":

And a wonderful song: Baby it's cold outside 

Also loving this song (not from the Christmas episode)

What are your favorite songs from Glee?

It's here, it's here!!!!

No, husband has not arrived. And it's not Christmas, yet. But it is FRIDAY!!! Kittens got to celebrate this morning with Friskies turkey dinner in gravy. Mmmm mmm! I celebrated by being giddy at work and going out for happy hour with the in laws! Now, for pjs!

I don't know about y'all, but for me this week just draggggggged on. Sloooooowly. Getting up in the morning was just a chore and I often had thoughts of "ahw mom, do I hafta??" Mom wasn't here at the apartment (which would be weird at 6am!), but I knew if she was, she would say "YES - and stop hitting that snooze button!" (I could be a professional snooze button hitter! Really, I could!) or she would say that one saying her mom used to wake her up with in the morning that I can never remember.. something about scurrying!? Help with that one, mom?

So what are my big, hot plans tonight? Well I just happen to have another episode of Army Wives to watch as well as this week's Glee episode (which I've heard is super awesome and up there in top Glee episodes ever!) which goes perfectly with addressing Christmas cards and catching up on magazines (if I can muster up the energy! Pathetic readers, pathetic!) Oh - a hoodie, husbands pjs bottoms and slippers will definitely be involved! Hot Stuff!

Whatever you are doing, I hope you are staying warm and are scheduling time for yourself to relax! This time of year gets to be crazy, so do yourself a favor and relax!

OPI colors to watch!

My mom introduced me to an OPI color that I like very much! I'm a little concerned that it may be difficult to find, as my research tells me it was in the 2009 Holiday collection, but it's called "Glove You So Much"! As you can see, it's a very pretty, darkish, perfect, holiday red!

I also learned about "My Private Jet" this week. This color is in OPI's brights collection, which you'll have to explain to me, because it's... DARK!! 

This picture especially reminds me of Sally Hansen's prisms collection. Anyone else?

By the way, I feel it's my blogger duty to warn you about looking up nail polish pictures in google image. Some of these people have talons for nails! Talons I tell you!! Nothing worse than long nails painted red or other dark colors. *Shudders* Keep your nails short if you are going to do a bold color people! 

This picture however, was rather amusing, considering the nail polish title :)

Not quite what I was looking for, but nice jet!

Something in the Works

I want to prematurely share something with you, mostly because I'm very excited about the possibilities! There is a good chance you may find me in another blog as a fashion blogger! Whoa! Mind blowing, right? No - you saw this coming? Ok, fair enough!

Say hello to Mr. Nutcracker!

The thing is, the logistics have not been ironed out, and let's face it, I'm kinda a logistics gal! I did a trial run photo shoot today and the biggest issue is going to be location! I felt like a 3 year old playing with blocks! I was coming up with various stacking contraptions to balance my camera on and the best shot I got is without my head!

I guess normal people use a tripod? Me- I use the garbage-can-with-2-coffee-mugs-stacked-onto-each-other method. Didn't work! Even if I did purchase a tripod, the location is still tricky! By the time I'm realistically going to be taking a picture of my outfit it's dark outside. So! Logistics!

This one was taken using our Christmas tree box! 

The idea is to do this with another blogger - or 2! So stay tuned for details! :)

Informative Commute

Last week on my commute into work I learned of 2 new things that I had been completely oblivious to:
1) Some genius created beer for dogs! Finally!! Wait. Seriously?? Dog beer??

Released first in Poland, this dog beer is made from "a special blend of beef extracts and malt, giving dogs that clean, crisp lager taste while adding some meaty goodness ." Check it out here.

Are you sold?

2) What about the SodaStream? Have you heard of this yet? "Turn water into fresh sparkling water and soda" - at home! OK - I hate to sound like a cynic ALL the time, but I'm not sold on this either! The benefits according to the website: no lugging, no storing, no empties, and great value! YAY!! ha ha.

You can find SodaStream at retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate & Barrel (for $149.95), Macys, Williams-Sonoma and Sur la Table (for $179.95)! The fact that it's at all of these places makes me think I must be missing something - so fill me in!

This bottle of cranberry-raspberry flavored soda mix makes about 33 cans and apparently has 2/3 less sugar than store bought soda..?

I'd be curious to hear what nutritional experts say about the stuff! For some reason the packaging for the soda flavor just makes me think of those nasty sugary kids goo candy things that Blockbuster always seemed to have..

Let me hear it! What do you know? What do you think?

fun, family-filled weekend

Back to Monday again! Amazing how that seems to happen - every week.

I had a great weekend! It will filled with all sorts of quality family time. Saturday afternoon-ish Mom and Dad M. came over and looked at husband's car because last time he was home the car wouldn't start (I promised him it had been driven just a little over 2 weeks ago, I had been a good girl and not just leaving it completely!). Turns out, the battery is way dead. Like dead dead. Dad had this nifty battery tester thing that looked like something you'd find in the toy department, but it was real! And it told us our answer! After that discovery  we had a yummy lunch and I ran some errands with Mom M. It was fun to be out in the snow! It just poured down!! Well for 2-3 inches. That seemed like a lot though!! It was really pretty!! 

That night we all (both sets of parents, family and friends) went out to see my brother perform at his first ever real gig!! This was a big deal folks - not one of those coffee house open mic nights, but a real place where real performers go!! His group was the first opener, and they were just AWESOME!! I am so amazed with my brother's talent! We clearly have a musical family!!

I posted 2 YouTube videos from the night - one is decent, the other was on my phone so the sound quality is pretty bad! They named themselves Robin Hood & the Philthy Rich. My brother, Phillip, was "Philthy" - he even grew scruff for the event. Big sis is not sure how she feels about the man scruff!!!

Sunday I went on a date with my dad. It was long overdue as it was a "gift" from Father's Day this year! Leave it to us to wait until it's 30 something degrees outside to go for a walk!! It was really beautiful outside though, and with the proper layers, not too cold! Who knows how long we walked (we went to a local trail area) but it was followed up with coffee and a cookie - my treat! Yes.. I'm a big spender. It was good quality "pops time"!

Alright, gotta finish getting ready for work! BTW tomorrow is my 3 month work anniversary!!! As a present (kidding) I get to attend Bed Bug Training today. You would think that would be one of the first trainings we go to.. I'm pretty convinced it's because going to a 2 hour training solely on bed bugs in the first week of work would probably run people away, so they spread it out to make sure we're staying!! Actually it's probably something to do with HR and scheduling, but I like my idea better!

Here's our tree, as promised! If you have good eyes ;) you can spot a present under the tree! Kittttty cat.

(Hint: you can only really see a bit of a white blob.)

Top 10 List - Holiday Edition

Good morning!! I've put together a combination of my wish list/ top 10 list for surviving winter!!

10. Magazine subscriptions - for those cold, boring, occasionally lonely nights!

9. Urban Decay  Naked Palette - Eye shadow is just so fun! This eye shadow palette has been given amazing reviews and is one hot item, nearly impossible to find because it's so popular and versatile! 

8. Victoria's Secret Noir Tease Body Mist - smells so yummy!

7. Layering pieces - these two are from the Gap. 

How cozy does this sweater look??? OMG! 

A friend of mine was wearing this jacket one night and I fell in love! It's made of sweatshirt material, but polished enough for work or date night!

6. Sweatshirt tunic from VS - not so much work appropriate (haha!), but looks like something you could live in on the weekend and a good alternative to the hoodie!

5. Flannel PJs - duh!! I actually don't own any flannel pjs, but given the cool winter temps so far, I can already tell it will be much welcomed addition to my pjs selection!

Love these pink and white stripped ones from VS!

4. Moccasins - ok so probably not the most practical foot wear for winter, but I think they're cute!

This pair is by Minnetonka and can be found at DSW, among other places

3. Infinity scarves! A very cozy, fun new-ish trend! They come in all different fabrics / styles and I intend to learn how to knit one with the mother-in-law this winter, but I love this one from the gap!

2. Sweaters! Gotta have them! Here are a couple that I like!

Love this magenta cowl!!

Easy, and relaxed dolman sweater!

Pretty "gold nugget" zip sweater

1. Uggs! Now that I'm back "up north" and not living in Alabama, I can totally justify another pair! :) Love these "Classic Cardy" Uggs in Grey!