Almost April

 Rainy Day by valfox

It's almost April and you know what that means... April Showers! We've actually had two thunderstorms in the past two days. Last night the rain and hail was so loud on our window it woke both Ryan and I up at 4:00 am. I LOVE the sound of raindrops on windows, but hail... not so much. Thankfully we fell right back asleep though. We also drove home through another storm today and Sean was all smiles in the back seat despite the thunder and lightning! My brave boy!

I actually wore this exact chambray top and khaki shorts to my niece's first birthday party last weekend. For the sake of this week's Friday Fancies theme of April Showers I added in some cute rain boots and a lovely clear umbrella. The lime colorblock clutch and the bright earrings are just some examples of the kind of accessories I've been liking lately. I don't own anything similar yet, but I did find a blue colorblock bracelet on sale at Target for just 3 dollars that I love! You can see it and my lovely nieces, sister and mom in some of the pics from the party below! Oh and by the way, thanks for the sweet comments about my Old Navy dress! I liked it whether I looked like an okapi or not! And yes, my sis was just being silly by pondering the similarities of the striped and solid sections of the dress to those of the mammal! :)

The Day I Was Compared to an Okapi

(Dress from Old Navy (13 dollars on clearance), sandals from Marshalls, necklace chain from Ebay and the pendant was my Grandma's)

What is an okapi you ask? It's an animal closely related to the giraffe, but with stripes similar to zebras. I had never heard of them until my sister said I reminded her of one in this dress. What do you think, compliment or insult? Hah! I wore this on a double date with Ryan and my sis and her husband on Sunday afternoon. We went to go see The Hunger Games (my second time, I went the day before with my mom!) and I think everyone was pretty impressed by it! I of course would have liked it to be longer. I hate when parts of a book have to be taken out when it's made into a movie! 

(source)

Gone with the Wind

(Top from Old Navy, belt & skirt from the Gap, wedges from Ross, gifted purse, Steve Madden sunglasses)

Trying to take pictures of this outfit in the wind was pretty tricky, almost every photo was some variation of the one above, except crazier blowing skirt action. I'm surprised we got that first pic! This is one of my new tops from Old Navy. I love the pattern (it reminds me of hourglasses), but I don't like how bunchy it got around the belt and I'm not too keen on the flared sleeves either. Perhaps I will like my next attempt to style it better? We shall see. My other observation about these pics is how glaringly white I am! I definitely can't tan in the sun (I just burn) so when I saw this post by my friend Shanna (from Because Shanna Said So) I ran out and bought the self tanner she recommended! Let's see if I can get rid of my extreme paleness by the time the wedding I'm a part of comes around this Friday!

Flashback:

(Same skirt and belt, same belt tied on)

Running Errands with Sean

(Shirt and yellow bracelet from Target, white tee from Ross, jeans and shoes from Old Navy, watch from Fossil, earrings from Ebay)

I love my new slip-on sneakers! They were on sale for twelve dollars at Old Navy and they're ridiculously comfy... perfect for running errands with Sean! I'm also crushing on my dollar anchor earrings from Ebay. I wore them for a few days straight already! These pics are from last Thursday, when I took Sean with me on errands so Ryan could have a few hours of peace at the house. We went to Old Navy to exchange a few things, (I got Sean the cutest shirt for Easter with a clip on tie!) ran inside Petland to look at all the cute animals, picked up Wendy's for dinner and then went to my Mom's house and watched a movie. (Don't waste your time with Like Crazy, we thought it was pretty boring.)

Flashback:

(Left, Right)

La Cantera

I am getting all out of order with my posts now, but I just wanted to share these family pics my bro-in-law took at La Cantera mall (in San Antonio) this past Friday. I still want to post some pics from the pool a few weeks ago and also a super casual running errands outfit from Thursday...I even have some outfit pics from Sunday too! Woot! Look at me attempting to post more! Anyway, my mom and all our families made a quick day trip to SA to visit my oldest sis and her boys and also to celebrate my other sister's birthday. We got a beautiful cloudy morning for our drive up and enjoyed Chik-fil-A for breakfast, delicious soup for lunch (with chocolate cake for dessert) and Cheesecake Factory for dinner! I had the best mint green tea there! Yummmmmmmm. I wish we had a Cheesecake Factory in town!

Adrienne was so sweet to cook for us and let us descend upon her house with tired (and a wee bit cranky) kids! Well Sean was for a while anyway, he does NOT do well when his sleep is interrupted and we had to wake him up several hours earlier than usual to make the drive up to SA. Thankfully he slept most of the way home though! 

Don't you love Helena's smile and Sean's blue eyes? I know I do!

P.S. I didn't spend a cent at the mall, except for dinner of course. I did run in to Zara, Banana Republic, J.Crew, Aldo and Steve Madden, but in the two minutes I spent in each one of those stores I didn't see any sales or clearance prices so I walked out. I prefer outlet mall prices instead. Old Navy is good too, I wore it head to toe! Minus the sunglasses! 

Wearing Green Again

(Tee & scarf from Target, jeans from Old Navy, wedges from Ross)

You saw what I wore the first half of last Sunday on my previous post for EBEW (thanks for the sweet comments btw!), and now I'm posting my second outfit from that day! It had gotten warmer so I took off the poncho and then added a scarf to liven up the basic tee. I also rolled up my jeans a bit and wore my new wedges for the first time. Don't you love the stripes on the heel? I have a feeling I'm going to be wearing them quite a bit! Since green is the theme for Friday's Fancies this week I decided to recreate my casual weekend look for you all (with lots of green of course!). Hope you like it and have a wonderful weekend! I'm excited to spend time with family celebrating not one but TWO Saint Patrick's Day birthdays. My sister and father-in-law even have green eyes too!  How appropriate!

(my polyvore)

It's Green They Say

(Top from Target, jeans & ring from Kohl's, flats borrowed from Mom, really old poncho from who knows where, 

earrings & silver bracelet gift from Mom,  DIY bracelet info here)

Green, green, it's green they say, on the far side of the hill.

Green, green, I'm going away, to where the grass is greener still.

As I was sitting here thinking of what to write about my green outfit I started humming this old folk song. Has anyone heard it? I'm pretty sure I know it from my mom singing it when I was younger. Anyway, many thanks to the aforementioned lady for taking these pictures for me! (Love you Mom!) I knew I wanted to join in on EBEW this month so I donned a green poncho and found a green leafy area filled with vines and clovers for our "photo-shoot." By the end of it I didn't even stop to pretend we were just going for a stroll or admiring the scenery when a car drove by! Oh and yes, I wore green earrings and a green ring too! Overkill? I think not! Happy Saint Patrick's Day (almost anyway)!

(My pretty Mom)

Mint Chocolate

(Left, Right)

I think pale mint and rich brown look exquisite together! The combo definitely inspired my Friday's Fancies this week, and I just had to throw in a little tangerine for good measure! Now I've got two fresh colors to add to my closet!

 Getting Minted by valfox

I think this mint dress paired with some adorable wedges would make a lovely and sophisticated spring break outfit. I chose a pair of beaded earrings that somewhat mimics the print of the dress and a great bag, watch, and ring to finish off the look. To continue with my color theme this week I put together a collage of many minty lovelies for your viewing pleasure! My favorite item is the bow-front blouse! Wouldn't it look nice with some dark skinnies and nude heels?

The Mint Mix by valfox

It was warm enough to go swimming today! We packed up our beach bag with towels and snacks and took Sean to the lovely wading pool on the other side of our apartment complex. The water was still cold but Sean loved it! I'll post pics soon. Oh and the mini juice fast I did on Monday went really well! I lost 2 pounds in one day and felt quite energized. I wish the story ended there, but sadly just eating normally the next two days put it right back on... C'est la vie!

An Afternoon at the Fair

Precious moments with Sean baby at the fair!

Sean really likes cows, so I was happy he got to see them up close! 

My sister and her sweet little girl.

I pet this turkey that was out of its cage and it gave me the evil eye!

What a good name for a goat!

He was so brave in amongst all the animals in the petting zoo! He especially loved the tortoise and the pig.

Guess the camel was getting a deep tissue massage?? Too funny.

Sean and I got to feed the goats.

My niece loved the pony ride!

Some turquoise jewelry for sale.

Trying to pass off as a cowgirl!

Well our trip to the fair on Saturday was quite fun, despite the crazy wind that came up and blew dust in our eyes and a turkey with intent to peck me! We met up with my sister and her family and the kiddos really enjoyed getting up close and personal with all the animals (except for that turkey of course)! Ryan and I were thrilled to watch Sean experience so many new things! Getting to see everything through his eyes gives us new perspective and lets us enjoy the simpler things in life. (Petting a pig, sharing an Italian ice...you know, the good stuff!) Having kids really does let you relive your own childhood!