Different stripes (very different stripes)

Outfit Info

Tank - Target (kinda sorta similar here), Cardigan - Target, Skirt - Madewell

Belt - J Crew, Flip flops - Old Navy, Watch - Target 

Let's pretend that this outfit is wholly original and not at all similar to the one I posted yesterday.  We're all good with that, right?

I mean, really, they are different.  Yesterday's top was short sleeve, today's is a tank.  Yesterday's skirt was cotton, today's is chiffon.  Yesterday was all about the blue, today is all about the neutrals.  

See, HUGE differences. 

Blue stripe streak

Outfit Info

Shirt - Old Navy (maternity), Cardigan - Gap, Skirt - Thrifted, 

Shoes - Target, Belt - J Crew, Necklace - Tiffany 

Highlights from this weekend

• Movies at the Hill Country Film Festival (Local and Searching for Sonny were my favs)
• Shopping at Red and getting a couple fun things for the house and lusting after much more
• Breaking in some of my new comfy maternity clothes (sorry, no pics; but I know I'll be wearing them all a ton so you'll see them soon)
• Finally getting two new pairs of shoes that I desperately needed from Root (they'll also be making appearances soon)
• A much-needed return to brunch at Congo

Lowlights from this weekend: 

• Sadly, my pregnancy cravings don't currently include German food and that's the prime offering in Fredericksburg
• Sitting in the same row as a couple teenagers who were clearly doing things that shouldn't be done in the movie theater, especially if there are other people in your row (especially if one of those people is giving you looks that say "stop that right now")
• The cats didn't clean the house while we were out of town (but Magnum P.I. did put in a solid 4+ hours of snuggle with me yesterday when we got home)

Pants

Outfit Info

Shirt - J Crew, Pants - Gap, Heels that are sinking into the ground - J Crew

Bracelets - J Crew and J Crew Outlet, Earrings - Target

It's so infrequent that I wear pants that one of my coworkers totally called me out on it today.  And while she said I looked great in pants, my response was "Yeah but if I gain/lose a few pounds, pants = not so forgiving".  Which is one of the many reasons I prefer skirts and dresses.  Gain a few pounds, pull that formally hip hugger skirt up into a high-waisted number.  Gain a few pounds in pants and there's just nowhere to go. 

And thus concludes Part 1 in my 234 part series of why skirts and dresses are far superior to pants. Stay tuned for the thrilling follow ups.  



Flower checks

Outfit Info

Shirt - Gap Outlet (I actually have this in multiple colors and I have have two of the gray one.  I blame Christian), Skirt - Ralph Lauren Outlet, Shoes - Stella Says Go, 

Bracelet - Banana Republic, Watch - Target

I love all of the beautiful greenness in our backyard.  We have french doors in our master bedroom so I can just lie in bed (one of my favorite activities) (let's be honest, my favorite activity) and take in nature (in between naps, of course).  

You know who else loves our backyard?  This neighborhood stray cat who loves coming up to our french doors and trying to start a fight with our cats.  That little bugger tried to come up and make friends with me while we were taking pics today.  No, sir/ma'am, you torment my cats and you've me up in the middle of the night far too many times for us to be buddies.  Plus, you probably have fleas.  

If we could even get a curtain rod and some curtains hung in the bedroom, that would help dissuade these kitty battles, but that will involve me picking curtains and that's not my favorite decor activity.  So I'll probably just continue to blame the cat who doesn't know any better rather than take any culpability for myself.  Yup, that's how I roll.  

Under protest

Outfit Info

Skirt - Thrifted from hunt.gather.style, Shirt - Express (similar here), Heels - J Crew (similar here)

Watch - Target, Earrings - stolen from my mom

First, you should know that Christian took these photos under protest.  He's not a fan of leopard print.  He puts up with my leopard iPhone case and my leopard flip flops (which are actually missing right now hmm...), but when I came home on Saturday afternoon with this full-on leopard skirt he wasn't impressed.  Of course, when he saw how darn adorable it looked with a button up and heels, he was convinced that he should still take my picture. But I think there was a glint of leopard hating protest still in his eye.

Now that we've got that covered, let's move on.

Spending last weekend at Texas Style Council was a total blast and a great learning experience.

Plus, we got to go shopping and this skirt was one of the awesome finds I picked up at the hunt.gather.style pop up shop.  Those ladies really do find the best stuff.  If you need to see more evidence of that fact, well keep checking in here :)  And, check out my lovely buddy Alta over at Valliant Style who is ROCKING one of her finds - an amazing librarian-style dress today. 

More on Texas Style Council later this week when I'm more recovered from the weekend of activities. 

A word of warning (and some lovely dots)

Outfit Info

Shirt and sweater - Anthropologie, Skirt - Thrifted from hunt.gather.style, Boots - Aldo, Ring - Target

Hunt Gather Style is having another pop up shop this weekend during the Texas Style Council.  I'm super excited about the conference and about the opportunity to find some awesome new stuff at HGS.  For all the other blogger attendees, please know that I'm not afraid to bust out an elbow if you're going for a piece at HGS that I want. 

Just kidding.

Not.  

I watched Gladiator last night as part of my plan to study up on fighting techniques.  And because Joaquin Phoenix is hot.   

Peepers

Outfit Info

Sweater - Madewell, Shirt - Old Navy, Skirt - Thrifted from hunt.gather.style

Watch - Target

While we were taking pictures today there were these adorable girls peeking at us from a nearby stairway.  Normally, we just get folks walking their dogs giving as weird looks as they go by so it was a nice change to have some friendly onlookers.

In other fun news, my favorite (and basically only) place to thrift - hunt.gather.style - is having another pop up shop at Etcetera (super cute store!) during Texas Style Council.  I was already excited about all the events during TxSC but now it's even better since I can't wait to get some more goodies like all the great skirts I picked up back in October at hunt.gather.style.  

Also, I think I forgot to mention that they did a sweet profile of me on their blog a few weeks back.  So cool!  Even though I wrote my interview a little too fast - whoops! 

Variation on a theme (Target )

Outfit Info

Sweater - Missoni for Target, Tee - Target, Pants - Gap, Heels - Calvin Klein, 

Necklace - Coatt (personalized with a special phrase by Christian at Mercury), Watch - Target

Sorry for the late post but we went to see Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert tonight.  Their show was super funny and their friendship plays well.

Back to the business at hand, though.  Jason Wu for Target yesterday, Missoni for Target today.  I'm on a roll.  I'd wear Proenza Schouler for Target tomorrow but sadly I grew out of all of that.  And by "grew out of", I mean my butt got too big.  But I think it's much more endearing to say I grew out of something like I'm still 10 years old and going through a natural growth spurt rather than a not-so-cute-growth spurt brought on by too many brownies and cupcakes.  

Wu girl

Outfit Info

Cardigan - Old Navy, Blouse - Jason Wu for Target, Skirt - J Crew (similar here on sale!),

Heels - Michael Kors, Watch - Target, Bracelet - Tiffany

Yes, it's true, I have some Jason Wu.

I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!

Turns out, the West Texas town that my mom lives in and I was visiting this weekend didn't even get Jason Wu at their Target (which I finally discovered Saturday night at 9:00PM).  So Christian was all on his own to buy clothes for me and he did an admirable job.  He fought off the crazed women who practically attacked him for buying multiple things and multiple sizes since he didn't know what would fit me and even a Target manager who rifled through his bags to see what he was buying (for the record, ladies at the Arboretum Target on Sunday morning and Target manager, WE RETURNED EVERYTHING THAT DIDN'T WORK AND AREN'T SELLING ANYTHING ON EBAY).  

And he got me super cute stuff that I'm excited to wear, starting with this polka dotted blouse.  Navy plus dots?  Perfect for me.