A Few Days in November

The day before Thanksgiving I made three different kinds of pie: sweet potato, pumpkin and mini chocolate cream pie. I also ate WAY too much of these. It was fun while it lasted but I'm breaking up with pie now.  

Our Thanksgiving started with lunch with the Foxes, where Sean was being his sweet, silly little self! I am so thankful for my precious boy! We've had our tough moments adjusting to parenthood this year, but we wouldn't trade it for the world! 

We took some family pics with both sides of the family, minus Ryan's dad in the top picture (he was running late because he got called into work) and Sean in the below picture (he was napping). I am very thankful for the wonderful people I get to call family.

At my mom's house we celebrated my niece's first birthday and ate delicious Thanksgiving fare for dinner. I am thankful for my mom's good cooking and for the fact that she got to actually eat it this year due to certain food allergies getting better! God is so good!

The next day we went to my aunt's house for an all day get-together with the relatives. I'm thankful for the beautiful day we had, for how sweet the kiddos looked playing in the sunshine, and for more good food and company!

It was so great to see my cousins and reconnect with them! I'm thankful that they are kind and Godly in addition to being good looking and talented! 

So there you have it, my two day Thanksgiving extravaganza! (By the way, I'm also thankful for all you sweet people I've gotten to meet through blogging! Thanks for reading and taking the time to visit and comment!)

My Thanksgiving Outfits and Glitter Nails

(Sweater: Target, tank: Express, jeans: Old Navy, boots, earrings & ring: Kohl's, watch: Fossil, necklace: Ebay, fox ring: my hubby's)

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family, food and fun! I will definitely put together a post about it but first I wanted to show you all what I wore. I stuck with my favorite new boots and jeans and just switched up the tops and accessories to make two easy outfits for our Thursday and Friday activities. I'm so in love with my hubby's family ring and was happy he let me borrow it! I wish it was small enough to fit my finger, but since it's not I improvised and put it on a chain to wear as a pendant. I also jumped on the glitter bandwagon and gave myself a fun manicure to reflect my festive holiday mood! All it took was a base coat of Sally Hansen Wet Cement and the tips painted over with Orly VIP. Oh and for my second outfit I experimented with new ways to tie my scarf and ended up with something I call the scarf necklace! You just put the scarf around your neck, circle one end around your neck again, and then loop the two ends around a couple of times as if you were wrapping a wreath. My aunt liked it and said she was going to try it out with some of her new scarves.

(Top: Gap, jeans: Old Navy, boots, ring & bracelet: Kohl's, scarf: gift, watch: Fossil)

Comfy Shopping Style - Friday's Fancies

Comfortable Shopping Style by valfox 

I've never actually gone out shopping on Black Friday because we usually spend the day with family, but if I did hit the stores on that day I'd want to wear something like this! My feet are always killing me by the time I'm done shopping, so the first thing I thought of for this look was a pair of soft cozy ankle boots! After that I selected a pretty pair of jeggings (although I still haven't tried them in real life) and an adorable and comfy looking sweater. Sweaters are easy to pull on and off when trying things on. You definitely don't want to wear a button down shirt when you go shopping, it's a waste of time to be dealing with buttons! Grab a cross body bag to keep your hands free (this one is from JCPenney and it's very affordable) and some shades and earrings to finish off the look! (Linking up to Long Distance Loving!)

Thankful for...

Story time with Sean.

Every morning we snuggle in bed with a big stack of books and no distractions, it's one of my favorite times of the day! 

Naptime.

Not only is it the perfect cure for cranky baby syndrome, but it allows me to get stuff done. (Ok, ok, it's also the perfect time to veg out too!)

Sean's round head.

Sometimes I forget that he ever had to wear a STARband helmet! Seems like so long ago now. We're still waiting to see what can be done for his bowed legs (you can see how curved they are in the pic below) but we're so thankful his brachycephaly was corrected! 

I'm pretty darn thankful for my awesome hubby too, and my beautiful mom and all my family! Can't wait for us all to spend lots of time together this Thanksgiving! Take care everyone and let's not go into a food coma tomorrow! 

That Horse Tee

(Top & Jeans from Old Navy, Boots from Kohl's, Earrings from Forever 21, Bag from Target, Watch from Fossil)

I'm wearing the same horse tee and jeans from this post, but everything else is different. I'm in love with the three new items I've acquired recently: arrowhead earrings from Forever 21, cross-body bag reminiscent of a saddlebag from my hubby, and lastly my awesome new riding boots from my Mom! I'm totally embracing all the rugged, cowgirl trends in one look! I'm just one ten gallon hat away from being over the top. Yeehaw!   Anyway, I've been such an airhead today! At one store I accidentally gave a fake phone number because I blanked on mine, (You never have to call yourself!!) and at another I approved the email the cashier put down for me before realizing she had spelled it all wrong. Oh and when I got home I pretty much had to crawl into my car's trunk to retrieve a multitude of cherry tomatoes that decided to escape the confines of their container and roll into every crevice of the vehicle. So awkward...and it's not even Thursday.

In My Jewelry Box

Happy Monday all! I already did a "what's in my purse" post before, (find it here) so I thought I'd show you my new jewelry box and what's inside it! As I mentioned before, my anniversary is coming up and I thought I was going to pick a ring from Etsy as my gift. However I've been wanting to get all my jewelry in one place for a while now so when I saw this jewelry box yesterday I chose it instead! I love that everything is easy to find now and nicely organized. Before I had my jewelry spread out between two jewelry boxes and clear tupperware in my drawer, so this is definitely an upgrade!! So thanks for the anniversary gift hubby, even if I picked it out! :) My one complaint: I see from the pics it already collected dust overnight! Sheesh!

Blogger Fail

Quick recap of the weekend:

-Friday: Afternoon of shopping and then dinner with the Foxes.
-Saturday: Saw Breaking Dawn with my sister, her hubby and his niece, did some mall browsing, went grocery shopping, had pizza night and watched Psych with the familia. Oh yeah and got spat up on...twice.
-Sunday: Went to church early for Ryan to help with the audio visual team, stayed in the nursery with Sean and read to a group of kids, dropped a big bag of clothes off at Goodwill, shopped with Mom and ate out (super packed restaurant!) organized and pared down my jewelry collection to fit in a new jewelry box, cooked dinner, gave Ryan a back massage and snuggled with Sean...

...and yet I didn't get a single picture! (Not that you want to see the spit up part, but before that I was wearing something cute to the movie and I didn't document it... fail!) Anyway to make up for that I'll put up a picture we got of our little family a few weeks ago. Doesn't Sean look like a little angel? A second before he was struggling to get down, but we managed to get one good shot in! Thank you Steph for the picture!

Edit: Did I go to sleep a while ago? NOPE, I went to try on outfits for Thanksgiving and then recreated what I wore to the movie on Polyvore. :) I'm trying to atone for my blogger sins here!

Movie Outfit by valfox 

Pattern Mixing - Friday's Fancies & Wishlist

Pattern Mixing by valfox 

This week over at Long Distance Loving it's all about mixing patterns! We'll probably see a lot of stripes and leopard print action because they look really good together! I know this is a sweater, but I'd love it if it was a little longer and you could wear it as a sweater dress. Pair it with some tights and oxford heels and you've got a comfy outfit that I think would be fun to wear for Thanksgiving with the family. I must admit, mixing patterns with a scarf like this is actually the only way I've ever done it before! Although...it wasn't even really mixing patterns because I wore a striped sweater with a striped scarf! See?

You could do the same with a cute sweater and scarf like these ones. I think it "works" because one set of stripes is closer together than the other is. If they were too similar it might look a little busy in my opinion. I do plan to eventually get adventurous and wear a legitimate mixed patterns outfit, but this is as far as I've gotten so far! By the way, this picture is from last Christmas and speaking of Christmas...I pulled out my box of decorations today and came this close to putting everything out early. I refrained and packed it back up to wait a few more weeks, but no one can stop me from listening to Christmas music already and enjoying my cinnamon scented candle! I also just finished making my wishlist! If I happen to get any money for Christmas I might end up buying some of these items! However I truly believe it is better to give than receive and I'm really looking forward to shopping for a little two year old boy I selected through JCPenney's Angel Giving Tree. Click here if you'd like to adopt an "angel," you can do it all online!   

Christmas Wishlist by valfox 

Saves:

1. Essie nail polish "Case Study" $8 (A nice neutral color.)
2. Leopard Print Flats $17 (I actually want to check Payless tomorrow for these!)
3. Infinity Scarf $20 (This is cute, but I think I can find a cheaper one at Ross.)
4. Boot Socks $10 (I'll need these if I ever get my cognac riding boots.)

Under $50:
1. Laura Mercier Secret Concealer $22 (I've got horrible dark circles under my eyes.)
2. Victoria's Secret Gift Card $25 (I've got my eye on a wireless bralette to wear around the house.)
3. Raglan Belted Dress $30 (This would be such a pretty dress for church!)
4. Striped Sweater Dress $24 (This sweater dress looks so comfy.)
5. File Box $22 (I need to update my current file box because it's literally bursting at the seams!)

Splurges:
1. Leather Riding Boots $70 (I do want a pair of riding boots but I'd like to find them for cheaper!)
2. Kindle Touch $99 (I've been wanting some kind of e-reader for a while.)
3. Bronze Metallic Pumps $90 (These are just for fun, I just wanted to fill out the splurges section!)