Pink & Houndstooth

Day Twenty-Two: I was sick, so I did not take a picture yesterday. I wore a black maxi dress with a yellow and white striped shirt over it. Nothing fancy, but I was comfortable and sick as a dog.

Day Twenty-Three: What's more fun than a houndstooth dress? Adding bright pink and bows!

Dress: Target (old), Cardigan: Costco (very old), Belt: Came with the dress, Shoes: Guess, Watch: Guess, Earrings: The Bay, Lipstick: Covergirl #325

Bonjour!

Day Twenty-One: Today's outfit started with an inspiration from altantic-pacific.blogspot.com. I love every single one of her outfits, but I don't have nearly the same budget she does.

 She also puts everything up on Pinterest, so it's easy to repin and reference outfits later on. I started by buying a $12 shirt from Forever 21, and using stamps and fabric paint I already had on hand, made my own version of her shirt for about a fifth of the cost.

I then paired it with a bright orange skater skirt from Top Shop, cow print shoes by Guess (because, why not?)

I also added Eiffel Tower earrings because it seemed fitting with the shirt.

Within the next couple of weeks, I'm going to attempt making my own red skirt (hopefully it will turn out similar to the one above!) and then I will pair this same outfit with red ankle strap heels I have.

Jailbird Glam/Turquoise and White

Day Nineteen: A new striped dress from TopShop. Two things I'm realizing about my wardrobe as I'm doing this challenge is that, 1.) I wear a lot more black than I thought, and 2.) I rock a lot of stripes. I'm okay with that.

I wore this dress with plain black flip flops for a birthday party, and threw on an emerald cardigan when it got a little chilly towards the end of the night. I skipped jewelry since the stripes were pretty bold on their own.

 Day Twenty: A new dress from Dorothy Perkins. It's a lot looser fitting than I was expecting it to be, but sometimes that's nice. I added the belt to break up the colours a little bit, and wore cream opened-toed heels.

Only ten more days to go on the Dresses/Skirts Challenge. It's getting tougher since I only have one or two more outfits already planned ahead for.

Black, White, and Red All Over

Day Eighteen: One of those mornings where I started out wearing one thing, and ended up in about two or three different outfits until I decided on this dress. Mostly because it matched my new lipstick. I'm still not sure how I feel about the lipstick, since it's not usually something I wear, but it is kind of fun.

Dress: Macy's (old), Shoes: Guess via Macy's (old), Sunglasses: Forever 21

Florals and Neon

Day Seventeen: A fun floral dress with neon flats.

Dress: Prabal Gurung for Target, Flats: Lucky Brand, Earrings: Target

Pink and Orange Striped Maxi

Day Sixteen: I got up at five this morning to go register one of my kids for Kindergarten. I knew we'd be standing in line for a while, and that it would be pretty cold, so I sort of broke my challenge and wore pants because I didn't want to freeze to death. After the two oldest boys were at school later that morning, I went back home and "dressed."

I paired it with silver flats, and fun pink beaded hoop earrings.

Jacket: Ralph Lauren, Dress: Mossimo.

Black and Blue

Day Fifteen: Just keeping it simple with a black pencil skirt and blue top today.

On the plus side, I was digging through some bins at the bottom of my closet and found these shoes that I had totally forgotten about!

Skirt: Nordstroms, Top: Nicole Miller (JC Penny), Shoes: BCBGirls

Today also marks the halfway point of my challenge! Here's to fifteen more skirts and dresses...

Periwinkle, Aubergine, and Ombre Heels

Day Fourteen: A new striped shirt (that has a fun zipper down the back!) and an aubergine pencil skirt with ombre heels that have been sitting in the back of my closet for a few years.

Top: Forever 21, Skirt: Nordstroms, Heels: BCBGirls, Necklace: Macy's

Cruella

Day Thirteen: I look like a nicer, more sane version of Cruella Deville, but it's fun.

Dress: Prabal Gurung for Target, Shoes: Steve Madden, Watch: Target, Bracelet: Forever 21, Necklace: Macy's, Earrings: Nordstroms

Day Twelve: Yesterday was kind of a lazy (for me) Saturday, so I wanted to wear something really comfortable. 

Shirt: Forever 21, Shirt: Down East Basics (Old), Shoes: Chinese Laundry (really old!)

Black Lace and Turquoise

Day Eleven: a black crocheted lace dress and some turquoise ballet flats. I like the combo, but it feels a tad dressy for the daytime.

The hard parts of the 30 Days of Dresses challenge have been to not only choose something that's fun to wear, and pairing up things I normally wouldn't in my closet, but also making sure that it's appropriate for bringing my kids to school, running errands, etc... I've also learned that "dressing up" every day doesn't really take me that much longer to get ready than if I were just throwing on jeans and a tee shirt, it just takes forethought.

Navy & Emerald

Day Ten: sometimes it's nice to just have a couple things in your closet you can throw together when you're in a hurry, and come away still looking put together. I started out with a completely different outfit this morning, but was running out of time, and wasn't happy with it. Closet staples, like a pencil skirt, but in a fun Emerald colour, save the day!

Peplum, Watercolours, and Buckles

Day Nine: Yellow peplum top over a silky watercolour dress with buckled shoes from Report Signature.

Jeweled Collar and Florals

Day Eight: A jeweled collar top from H&M, and a floral skirt I've had for years with city flats from Gap. I feel a bit like a librarian, but kind of like the overall look.

Red, White, and Blue

Day Seven: a new dress from Forever 21. I'm excited about all the different ways to style this dress. Today,  went with a classic "red, white, and blue," but blush pink, lavender, caramel brown, or emerald green are all ways I plan on accessorizing it in the future.

Chevron Maxi

Day Six: Chevron maxi dress. I had a race this morning, and almost wore a running skirt to count for today's "dress" but it was cold and rainy. A maxi dress seemed like a comfy way to finish out the rest of the day.

Stripes and Polka Dots

Day Five: striped Old Navy shirt and polka dotted A&F skirt. Caramel colored Steve Madden flats and Fossil watch. 

Metallic Tweed and Leather

I didn't take a picture of my Day Three dress, but yesterday I wore a pink and orange striped maxi dress.

Today, since it's very rainy, I opted for a tweed dress and tights.

I'm also looking at purchasing these. Rainboots are a staple here, but since my dog ate mine last fall, I have yet to replace them. These are strong contenders! 

Leather and Raglan

Day two of my dresses and skirt challenge.

A burgundy leather skirt I've had for about twelve years (It still fits!) and a Tiffany blue raglan shirt. I'm also wearing a big, beaded necklace that matches the skirt pretty well, and some nude wedges.

Not the greatest picture. I'll try to get better.

Gingham and a Full Skirt

     I've always loved fashion, but being a mom, I usually wind up in jeans and a tee. It's a shame, because I really do have a lot of nice clothes. So, I've been inspired by a couple of the fashion blogs I follow to actually wear them. I'm challenging myself to have more fun with my clothes, AND I'm going to try for the next month to wear only dresses/skirts. 

Today is Day One:

Finished Living Room

The living room is finally finished! (Just have to get a 3-way bulb for our new lamp....)

I clearly did not prepare the rest of the house for the "photoshoot." Ignore all messy background rooms.

New quilt I made to match.

Not much else to add to this post. Just happy all the little things have been added, and that we're happy with the results.

Next up: moving Oliver into the bedroom downstairs so he'll have his own room. So a lot of cleaning out and painting is planned for this summer.

Grown Up

When we moved into our house just over five years ago, I was about seven months pregnant, had a one year old, and was taking a few college classes. That being said, decorating our new house wasn't much of a priority (even though I really wanted to!) and our budget went mostly towards getting as much house for our buck as we could, and then furnishing it.

Well, I've decided it's finally time to make our house look like a grown up house (yet obviously still kid-friendly) and add the "finishing touches" that are long over-due.

This past October, we pulled out our yucky, stained carpet and put in hardwood floors and tiled the entry way. It turns out Phil and I are a pretty good DIY team. We also repainted the living room since I was growing weary of the very bold green I had chosen when we moved in. 

Grody carpet had to go!

Pretty new floors, excuse the mess!

Our first attempt at tiling.

Loved the green for a while, but it was time for a change.

Phil also fancy-schmanced our lighting in the living room. He took out the unsightly ceiling fan that we never used, and put in four big LED can lights, and two small LED can lights to shine down on our family pictures on either side of the t.v.

So while it was looking nice, it wasn't looking quite "finished." But, the other day I was trolling Target, and taking pictures of things I would like for my upcoming birthday, and came across two curtain panels that had been bought online and returned to the store. Since they weren't in their original packaging, they were 75% off, and I snatched them up hoping that Phil wouldn't hate them. When I got home, I started scouring the internet for cushions, rugs, vases and other decorative items to complete the look (so much easier than dragging the kids from store to store!) and found a rug I loved, so I went back to Target and bought it. Phil has been great through out this, and this is why I have the best husband ever (well, one of the reasons.) He said he wasn't sure about the curtains, but would be willing to try them out, he surprised me by saying he liked the rug, and when we disagreed about the height to hang the curtains, we had a long talk about what style we want for the house, browsed Pinterest for inspiration and examples, and then came up with a compromise. We ended up hanging the curtains at the height I wanted, and if it ends up driving Phil crazy, we'll lower them, and I'll just be happy he let me put up patterned curtains in the first place. After we hung the curtains, Phil decided he actually really did like them up high, so yay!

Ignore the nasty stains on my couches, I haven't cleaned them in a bit..

I have a big floor vase on it's way from Crate & Barrel to go in the corner, and I'm planning on sticking some twisty branches in it; I believe they're called Mitsumata? Or I might just get some from the woods, strip the bark and spray paint them white. I'm also going to try something that if it works, will have saved me about $50 today. I have an old throw I got for free, and while I like how ornate all the embroidery is on it, it's pink and way too girly for our house, so I bought some black RIT dye today for under $3. And for my cushions, well I have a Target.com shopping cart full that I'm trying to decide among (because I can't really justify $250 worth of cushions....) 

HFA

On January 2nd, Oliver was diagnosed with High Functioning Autism (HFA.) I'm  not sure exactly how I feel about it yet, except to say that it's basically the diagnosis we were expecting and we've just been waiting since May of last year to have it official. Part of me is relieved. Relieved that maybe now that he has a "label" he can get the assistance we need. Relieved that our concerns were accurate and worth-while. But most of all relieved that it's nothing worse. For the most part, he's a normal kid. He likes stuff most little boys like: trains, legos, construction equipment. He just likes them a little more passionately than a typical six year old. Especially trains, since August 2009.

The parts of his diagnosis that scare me are that I don't want anyone making fun of him, and I realize that can happen to "normal" kids too, but.... I don't want him looked down on, treated like he's dumb and people have to be careful around him or making things purposely easier for him. I want him to grow, and you can't do that without challenges. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give him more than he can handle, I just want him to be able to do everything he dreams of doing.

It's been a hard eight or nine months. That's when we started the process of testing. Phil and I each thought over the past couple years that maybe something was up, but never (dared, maybe?) admit or say something to each other. When his Preschool teacher mentioned something at the end of the school year, it all seemed to make sense. I dove into making phone calls to his pediatrician's office, not sure where else to start with all this. Then I bawled. Not pretty, tiny tears you can wipe away with the back of your hand and look like nothing is wrong, but full-on blubbering, snot-running-out-my-nose crying. I also burst in on a friend at work (she's a Kindergarten teacher) to ask her advice and see if her school had any curriculum for kids with special needs. I felt awful to bust in on her lunch break afterwards, and even though we're very close, it felt uber unprofessional on my part.

After seeing his pediatrician and having her recommend further testing, it took a long time to find someone who could see us. Phil is so good about this stuff- he took care of everything from calling our insurance company to cold-calling just about every psychologist in the area. It seemed like most wouldn't take kids his age, or even more frustrating, wouldn't even answer the phone. When we finally did get a hold of someone, their office was a bit further away than we had planned, but they were great and everything else worked itself out.

Our next challenge is finding doctors/therapists that work for our family and for Oliver's needs. I've tried calling a local Autism group for any recommendations, but again, we're having trouble with people actually answering the phone. It makes me feel like we were given the diagnosis, then just thrown into the deep end. We're also trying to figure out exactly how we'll be able to fit everything into our schedule and not have our other boys feel excluded, and still be able to do stuff all together as a family. It's also tough to decide what to do about schooling. I don't know how we'd afford a private school with smaller class sizes, which I think he needs. He's only in Kindergarten, and I can tell he's struggling with doing the work. He's not dumb my any means, but I just worry about what will happen when the schoolwork gets harder. I know we'll make it work somehow, and God doesn't give us more than we can handle, so that's the good news.

Oliver is such a blessing and a joy, that I wouldn't want him any other way.