Daily MelWear: Purple and Gray

Hi everyone!

Thank you for all of the happy and positive thoughts you've been sending my way.  Things are still really hard but your positivity is encouraging and contagious. :)

For any of you that don't know, I struggled with losing the baby weight after my daughter was born.  It was extremely frustrating and when she was about 2 1/2 years old, I won a contest (the Moms Get Fit Giveaway) through the local newspaper.  I, along with two other fabulous women whom I've grown to adore, won 12 weeks with Medi Weight-loss Clinics and 20 sessions with a personal trainer (along with some other prizes - for the full recap, click here for my "I won!" post and continue reading the subsequent posts).

Anyway, there were some clothing items that I really liked but after I hit my goal weight, they no longer fit.  Enter: Lori! She is the wife of my husband's friend, James, and apparently she is good at absolutely everything.  She mentored me when I was trying to get into face painting (my husband is a balloon artist on the side so I tried to learn Face Painting to supplement that business - but I just don't have the extra time to learn and practice) and then come to find out, she's also a fabulous seamstress! 

Heh.  The little things you don't know about your friends.  So, in exchange for my many, many face painting supplies that I'm not going to use anymore, she agreed to tailor some of my old clothes that I just didn't want to get rid of.

This jacket is one such item.  I love the professional look of it because it's a simple black blazer, but the 3/4 length sleeves adds some style and makes it much easier to wear in warmer weather.  I've missed this jacket so!  It's the perfect addition to dresses like these, to make them look more professional and office-appropriate.

I can't wait to wear some of the other newly altered pieces!  

The dress is another Plato's Closet find from this weekend.  I love the fact that the waistband isn't the hard elastic like some of my other tank dresses; rather, it's a soft, stretchy cotton.  The colors of the skirt are so pretty, I love the muted purples and gray together.

By the way, if you're on Facebook, don't forget to join A Working Mom's Closet there too!

I think this post has been wordy enough.  Here's today's outfit:

Purple/Gray/Black Tank Dress: Plato's Closet

Black Blazer: JC Penney

Purple Belt: Salvation Army

Gray Pumps: Payless

Purple Necklace/Earrings: Beya

Daily MelWear: Polka Dots and Flowers

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a good Monday.  The beginning of the week is hard, isn't it?

Today I'm incorporating another Plato's Closet find: this belt.  I think it's fabulous. It's elastic so there's some give to it.  I love the bunched up look and the polka dots. 

My process in this outfit started with the dress.  This dress is old.  O.L.D. My husband remembers it from around the time that we met.  Which was approximately 11 years ago.  I can't even remember the last time that I wore it! I saw it in my closet and decided that it has a classic look to it so it'll still work.  The white band at the neckline continues to the straps of the dress and around the armholes.  Maybe I should've taken a picture without the cardigan.  Next time. 

I haven't worn this cardigan in a few months and I love it, so I thought I'd wear it today.  I wasn't going to belt it at first, then figured I'd throw on a black belt, then I decided I'd do a little bit of pattern mixing and wear this new belt instead.  I like how it came together!

The shoes were my mom's.  Technically I think they're navy and white.  Technically.  But with a black and white dress, the shoes also look black and white so it's okay.  They'll look navy when paired with a navy something-or-other.

{Am I way off base?  Do they look navy and thus ridiculous with this outfit?}

There you have it. Wasn't that entertaining? Hm.

Today's outfit:

Dress: From the store of ANCIENT (really, I don't remember)

Cardigan: Kohl's

Belt: Plato's Closet

Shoes: From my mom (I think she got them at Payless)

Daily MelWear: Flowers Full of Pockets

A skirt with pockets.  Seriously, is there anything better?!

This is one of the pieces I picked up from Plato's Closet over the weekend. It's from The Limited and I love it!  So many colors to play around with and also - POCKETS!

This weekend was kind of rough for me.  I just want to apologize in advance for not commenting on very many blogs over the past few days and I probably won't be commenting very  much for a while.  There are a lot of things going on right now and I'm finding it difficult to be positive.  I don't want to spread negativity so I'm just kind of keeping to myself for a bit.  I hope you all understand. 

On a lighter note, I took the plunge and created a page on Facebook!  Check it out, feel free to offer suggestions for content - and don't forget to "like" it while you're there!

Here's today's outfit:

Floral Skirt: Plato's Closet

Yellow Tank: Victoria's Secret

Black Cardigan: Kohl's

Purple Belt: Salvation Army

Black Bow Pumps: Wal-Mart

Pink Necklace/Earrings: Beya

My First Award!

Kimberly from Fab Finds Under $50 has bestowed upon me my very first ever Blog Award!

Holy Cow! I really am not even sure what to say.  She's so sweet and finds the BEST deals (hence the title of her blog!).  If you haven't checked her out yet, you should.  Now.  Or...after you're done reading this post.  Yes, immediately afterward.

So the award that Kimberly has presented me is the Stylish Blogger Award.  That means that I'm supposed to share five fun (do they have to be fun? I'm quite boring) facts about myself and then pass the award on to five other bloggers.  Only five?  This'll be tough.

Okay first, five {fun?} facts:

1. During the first year that I met my husband, we, along with his sister and two other friends, put together a 5-part a cappella group that ended up getting contracted to sing at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party for about four years in a row.  My character was Candy Cayne.  Please don't try to picture the costume.  We still sing at Christmas time, mostly as the traditional Victorian carolers. 

2. I have a horrible, horrible fear of flying and elevators and water.  Not necessarily in that order.  I think I need to get hypnotized to get over them. 

3. I'm a vegetarian.  Not vegan, I'll eat dairy products (hello chocolate and cake and ice cream!), but I don't eat any meat, eggs or seafood.

4.  I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.  Although I'd love to be a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. 

5. I tend to speak primarily in the language of Sarcasm.  Is anyone else fluent in that?

And now, for my five bloggers on to which I shall pass this award (really, only five?!):

Taylor Wears Everything
California Dreams
byhillary
Modly Chic
The Joy of Fashion

If there are any of these that you haven't read yet, read them!  And read Kimberly's blog too!

That's all I've got for now! Oh, in case you're wondering, I did go to Plato's Closet and they were not having a sale.  Sad.  I did, however, end up getting two skirts, a dress and a belt.  Yay!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Sale at Plato's Closet?

I've heard a rumor that Plato's Closet is having a huge summer sale this weekend - so guess where I'll be!  

I'm spending the morning watching a movie with my mom and grandma, then I'm hitting the Plato's Closet that's practically right across the street from my parents' house.  

I only have a teeny tiny budget but that usually goes pretty far on a normal day at Plato's, so I'm hoping with this sale my budget will go even further!

If you have one near you, check it out this weekend!  I've found some of my most frequently worn items there.

Have a great weekend, everyone!